The Imperial Palace of the Kazen Empire, the innermost office.
With towering ceilings and an interior sprawling with marble and gold, the room was the epitome of luxury.
On the ceiling, fresco paintings recorded the moments of victory when the Kazen Empire trampled the continent, while tapestries and statues on each wall boasted of its majesty.
The Emperor’s throne was installed higher than any other point, a structure that forced visitors to crane their necks and look up. Opposite the throne, a gilded statue deifying the Emperor emitted a brilliant glow.
“What is the meaning of all this commotion!”
The middle-aged man sitting on that throne crumpled a letter and hurled it away.
Clad in a magnificent black robe embroidered with thick gold thread, he was a man of a neurotic disposition. Upon closer inspection, the handsome features of his youth remained.
However, his thick eyebrows, sunken eyes, and overgrown black beard exuded an eerie sensation. His pitch-black hair, stuck to his forehead with sweat, radiated a grotesque sense of urgency.
He was the current Emperor of the Kazen Empire, Perdicas II.
“Angelique, has she lost her mind or not! I sent her to choke the life out of Baldina, and not only does she personally feed those Northerners by bringing relief supplies, but she’s carrying a child with the blood of those vulgar wretches?”
Perdicas II trembled violently. Unable to contain his rage, he began to smash the furniture with the long gold staff in his hand.
“How much of this must I endure!”
*Crash!* The furniture struck by the swinging staff collided, shattering glass. A white marble statue was reduced to fragments.
The young attendants gasped in shock.
“Please refrain from such excitement. It will only harm Your Majesty’s person.”
Only the elderly Chief Attendant, who had served the Emperor since he was a mere Prince, spoke to him in a soothing tone with a calm face.
“Do I look like I shouldn't be excited right now?!”
“Calm yourself, Your Majesty. Since your unworthy daughter has caused such concern, how can this heavy sin ever be repaid?”
The Eastern Empress was also in the room. She, too, had been appalled by the news of her daughter from Baldina.
*‘Angelique, you foolish thing! Where did you leave your mother’s advice to cause such a disaster!’*
However, finding out the details and scolding her daughter could wait. Right now, the priority was to calm the Emperor’s rage and bring her daughter back here as quickly as possible.
“Your Majesty, please save Angelique. She has fallen into the trap of wicked people. She may have grown, but you know she is still an immature child. So…”
“There is a limit to immaturity! To be pregnant with a bastard—is this something that can be overlooked so easily? I told you to keep that girl in check from the moment I heard she was taking in a paramour!”
When the Emperor’s rage showed no signs of subsiding, the Eastern Empress changed her tactics. Tears began to fall steadily down her flower-like face.
“Then, what are we, mother and daughter, to do if Your Majesty turns your back on us? Your Majesty, do you intend to cast a stigma upon Angelique, your own daughter born of your flesh and blood? To let rumors spread that she is pregnant with a bastard whose father is unknown?”
It was a question, but it was closer to a cry of despair.
“Your Majesty has always been cold-hearted. I know that even while you cherished Angelique, she never quite met your expectations. But, Your Majesty. Do you remember? That child is the only bloodline I gave birth to while risking my life during a difficult labor.”
The Eastern Empress looked up resentfully. She had climbed to her current position by surviving the numerous power struggles of the Imperial Family.
After the Empress died, she had to split power with the Western Empress, but there was no doubt she was the most noble woman in this Imperial Palace. Furthermore, Perdicas II favored the gentle and lovely Eastern Empress far more than the arrogant and cold Western Empress, who resembled the deceased Empress.
She had gained the Emperor’s love, but she had also lost much. Her most painful sorrow was becoming unable to have more children after falling victim to the Western Empress’s schemes.
“Your Majesty has countless other children, so it may not matter what happens to one daughter. But to me, Angelique is all I have!”
The Eastern Empress rushed toward the window. At the sight of her looking as if she were about to throw herself out, the Chief Attendant hurriedly caught her.
“Let go! Your Majesty, if I am a mother who cannot even protect my daughter, there is no reason for me to stay in this Imperial Palace any longer.”
“When did I say I would turn my back! Empress, do not let your tongue wag so lightly!”
At the sight of the beautiful woman, whose beauty had not faded even with a grown daughter, weeping and beating her chest, even the cold Perdicas II could not help but be shaken.
*Sigh.* Letting out a deep breath, he stepped down from his throne and walked toward the window. He opened his arms naturally as if to embrace the Empress.
“Your Majesty, please kill that wretch. If that man and the child disappear, there will be no reason for our Angelique to bear a stigma…”
Catching the Emperor’s opening through her tearful vision, the Eastern Empress clung to his sleeve.
“It is already too late! I said even the Holy Kingdom has been informed! Do you intend to have Angelique treated as an apostate?!”
The conservative doctrines of the Holy Kingdom taboo both adultery and abortion. To go against the natural order of marriage and pregnancy is considered an act of apostasy against God and treated as heresy.
“The—the Holy Kingdom?”
The Eastern Empress’s face was dyed with despair. She instinctively felt that this was irreversible.
“Therefore, the best course of action now is to unite the two and protect what remains of Angelique’s reputation. Samon Claudio is still royalty of Baldina, so he is not a completely absurd match—”
“No! *Sob*, Your Majesty, no. How can you dare attach that filthy blood of Baldina to our daughter…!”
However, the Eastern Empress shook her head violently in refusal. A union with Samon Claudio, who was from a small nation and had become a commoner after completely falling due to rebellion, meant that Angelique would be entirely pushed out of the succession.
Tethered to such a burden that couldn't even serve as a decoration, it would be far-fetched for her to bypass the other Princes.
Perdicas II also noticed her intent, and his gaze turned cold.
“Empress, if you do not change direction when the tide shifts, you will only be swept away. I wish to at least leave Angelique with her title of Imperial Princess.”
The Emperor’s warning snapped the Eastern Empress to her senses.
“I—I only spoke out of worry for Angelique, *hic*, Your Majesty…”
“I understand, so Eastern Empress, you may leave now. You lot, escort the Empress out.”
“Your Majesty, but—!”
“I told you to return. Do not worry about Angelique. I will not let my bloodline bear a hollow stigma.”
Scattering tears, the Eastern Empress was practically dragged out of the office by the attendants.
*Click.* Once the door closed, Perdicas II pressed his temples. He had a massive headache. His head was throbbing.
“Baldina, Peleus, Claudio… every single one of them is nothing but a headache!”
“Your Majesty, now is the time to think strategically.”
The Chief Attendant pointed out calmly. His neatly groomed white mustache stood out on his wrinkled old face.
“The King of Baldina has finally secured the plains. However, since even the Regent Duke’s coup failed…”
Furthermore, that damn brat Samon Claudio said that if he weren't saved, he would reveal evidence to the King that the Kazen Imperial Family had assisted the Regent Duke.
Despite that, he couldn't kill the boy.
“Setting aside the Regent Duke, since he has already lost one eye, there is Samon Claudio. He is the only bloodline of the former King besides the current King. If he disappears, it means that young brat Peleus’s absolute royal power will be realized.”
Perdicas II trembled with rage. The power of a throne with no alternative is formidable.
Now that he had even reclaimed the plains, there was no telling what influence he might have on Kazen in the future.
*‘With Peleus’s reckless temperament, he will surely try to avenge his past resentment against our Kazen.’*
That was why he had tried to set up the shallow and talentless Claudio—who had nothing but bloated dreams—as King while the boy was away from home, but…
“That stupid moron! How could it end up like that after I pushed him so much! How could he fail so miserably!”
Perdicas II bit his nails, *crunch, crunch*.
“It cannot be. Baldina… that Philosopher’s Stone must fall into my hands…”
He muttered anxiously. He didn't even notice the blood flowing from his already tattered and torn nails.
“Your Majesty.”
“The demonic beasts will tear our Kazen apart here and there! They will invade the Imperial Castle and try to destroy my throne!”
He shouted violently.
Baldina, where demonic beasts do not invade thanks to the Philosopher’s Stone, is called the land of protection. However, Kazen was still plagued by the troublesome attacks of demonic beasts.
Even the Kazen Empire, which had conquered tribes and established itself as the hegemon of the continent, failed in the eradication of demonic beasts. Every quarter, hundreds of knights were conscripted solely to handle them.
Therefore, the Emperor’s wish and plan were to set up Claudio as the King of Baldina, extract the Philosopher’s Stone, and establish an ultimate and lasting safe zone.
“Everyone! They are all nothing but flawed, deficient fools. I have to point out and decide every single thing for them. If even one thing goes wrong, they come running to me for help.”
If only Cezare were here.
“If the 1st Prince were alive…”
The Emperor spat out the words that had surfaced in his mind.
“I wouldn't have to rack my brain like this! That boy would have already brought me that young brat’s head! I wouldn't have to worry about the future of the Empire like this, nor would I have to target Baldina!”
It would have been different with Cezare; with him, everyone would have knelt and bowed their heads in terror. The glory of the Empire would have prospered forever.
The Emperor repeated the same thing, as if trying to grasp a vanished haze.
“Therefore, a measure is needed. The Philosopher’s Stone—only with that can this country be protected even after Cezare is gone.”
The Chief Attendant thought his master was hypocritical even as he listened to his soliloquy.
*‘He treats the 1st Prince as a dead man already while longing for him.’*
Even though the 1st Prince was terminally ill, he was still clearly alive and breathing. But the Emperor’s hypocrisy was nothing new.
When the 1st Prince was so prosperous and solidified as the successor, the Emperor was constantly anxious about when his throne might be taken and remained wary of his son. Thanks to that, even after achieving so many accomplishments, the 1st Prince never even received the title of Crown Prince.
Even now, the 1st Prince’s forces and the prestige built by his notoriety were all created by the 1st Prince himself. Thus, the sight of the Emperor despairing over Cezare’s absence was… inevitably contradictory.
*‘It’s a relief that the 1st Prince is a cold person with no such thing as affection.’*
If it had been him, he might have gone mad a long time ago. However, the Chief Attendant hid every thought flickering through his mind behind his wrinkled face and bowed politely.
“I understand Your Majesty’s concerns well. Then, what shall we do?”
“Claudio’s life must be preserved.”
“But he is a man who has even been removed from the royal genealogy. Would it not be difficult for him or his son to stand as the King’s opponent?”
“As long as their lives are preserved, anything else can be rebuilt. Look at me. What is there that I haven't been able to fix after sitting on this throne? The important thing is the blood flowing in that body! That identity of being of the Baldina royal bloodline!”
Perdicas II turned around.
*Whoosh!* He threw the letter he had scribbled.
“Tell the King of Baldina. Since Samon Claudio is the father of my grandchild, he and his family must be kept alive.”
“The King’s side may ignore it and proceed with the execution.”
“Therefore, we must throw a bait tempting enough that they cannot do so.”
The Emperor’s eyes shone with madness as he looked at the map of the continent.
