The Emperor, as if expecting he would be unable to answer, patted Iason’s shoulder with a veneer of generosity.
“However, do not worry. I do not abandon my own blood. Surely, you didn't think I would leave you, my nephew, to wander without a home?”
“…….”
“I shall grant you Armandy in the North. Fortunately, the Northern Lord has also generously agreed to this.”
Perdicas II put on the warm face of a family member who cared for his nephew’s situation and bestowed favor without stint.
However, what he actually handed over was trash.
Armandy was a massive territory, nearly half of Northern Kazen and one of the largest in the Empire, but it was also a discarded land.
Because it was a region where monster waves occurred frequently, it failed to function properly as a territory, let alone prosper.
*‘Furthermore, the Northern Lord is my uncle’s confidant. Does he mean to keep me under his surveillance!’*
Iason’s eyes flickered toward the Emperor.
At that moment, rage toward his uncle, toward Perdicas II, boiled within him.
That throne, this Imperial Palace—all of it was supposed to be his.
He hated this uncle who, far from apologizing for stealing it all, was now recovering even the things Iason had barely managed to protect.
“Why is there no answer? Do you still have lingering regrets for the Castulo territory?”
However, Perdicas II was not one to be outdone.
The eyes looking at Iason shimmered with madness, yet they were as sharp as a blade.
“Did you perhaps have some treasure hidden in the territory?”
It was also the stern gaze of a ruler who had maintained this throne for decades, having practically snatched it from his nephew despite the opposition of many.
*‘My uncle is wary of me.’*
Iason swallowed hard. He had read the Emperor’s intent.
Perdicas II was seizing this opportunity to cut off Iason’s hands and feet and completely uproot the remnants of the forces supporting him from beneath the surface.
When he discovered that vivid killing intent, Iason bowed his body with the feeling of severing his own arm.
“No. How could I…… uncle. I shall uphold your command.”
If you lift your head, you are cut. If you raise your body, you die. Endure. Withstand. I cannot be caught here.
“I apologize repeatedly for the sin of bringing dishonor to Your Majesty and Kazen’s prestige.”
Iason answered calmly and softly, as if his previous thoughts had never existed.
No matter how much he wanted to scream in madness, he still possessed enough presence of mind not to immediately reveal his weakness in this place.
The Emperor’s eyes remained cold as he watched his nephew, who had suppressed his emotions once more to apologize politely.
*‘Cunning snake-like bastard.’*
He, too, knew that Iason had tried to plot something through Romagna.
“Your nephew shall take his leave now. May you look over state affairs in peace, Uncle.”
Iason bit his lip and left the office.
In an instant, he had lost a fertile territory and came to possess a barren land in the name of a fiefdom.
*Step, step.* Hiding his trembling fists beneath his sleeves, Iason walked through the corridors of the Imperial Palace.
“We greet the Castulo Grand Duke.”
“We greet the Grand Duke.”
The attendants bowed their waists as they saw Iason walking past. Iason nodded with his usual benevolent smile.
He passed the corridor and the windows.
And finally, when he was alone, the smile that had been hanging on his face vanished like a lie.
*Crash!*
Iason’s fist shattered a mirror.
Blood seeped through the shards of glass. Without even feeling the pain, Iason lifted his head.
The young man reflected in the glass shards muttered with eyes full of rage.
“I will surely rise again. Surely, I will not crumble like this.”
As if God Himself were opposing him, everything he possessed was being snatched away, his fingers forced open one by one.
“Even if God blocks my path, I will not stop. Iason. Iason…….”
He called his own name repeatedly.
“I am no mere Castulo. As the true master of Kazen, of this land, I shall walk my path.”
It was a verbal oath close to a vow.
Merely letting it out of his mouth steadied Iason’s heart and held him so he could not collapse.
One day, when he sat upon the throne, there would be a time to reminisce about these current hardships. He repeated this to himself incessantly.
However, Iason did not realize. That the entity stealing things from his grasp one by one might not be God.
Because he never dreamed of the possibility that someone could hate him enough to defy God.
***
The Emperor’s Office.
In the place where Iason had withdrawn, a cold silence lingered.
Only three people remained in the room: the Emperor, the Chief Attendant, and Kensington.
“Tsk, if it weren't for the eyes of the people, I would have killed him to end my worries. His life force is so tenacious that he survives every time I send assassins.”
Perdicas II clicked his tongue as he watched the space where Iason had departed. The way his dark red tongue flickered slightly made it look as if he were savoring a taste.
“There was at least one proper thing among those Romagna wretches' demands.”
The corners of his mouth curled up. As his pupils, larger than the whites of his eyes, shone pitch black, his madness became even more prominent.
For under that pretext, he was able to seize the Castulo territory from Iason, which he had been eyeing for a long time.
Thinking that far, handing over the Elamuz Strait to Romagna wasn't a completely losing trade.
“Yes. Thanks to that, our traces that secretly passed between the Regent Duke can also be buried under those of the Castulo Grand Duke. This is a clear gain, Your Majesty.”
The Chief Attendant chimed in.
“Once the Castulo Grand Duchy is reclaimed, a new wind will blow through the Royal Capital. The Imperial power will also be strengthened.”
It would serve as a small warning to the neutral and conservative factions who still remembered the former Emperor.
At the Chief Attendant’s words, Perdicas II looked down at the map fixedly, as if pondering something.
“Speaking of which. It would be best to reclaim Romagna and Alphanon while we're at it.”
The Chief Attendant faltered for a moment.
Kensington, who still held her place on the red carpet, also doubted her ears.
“Do you mean the territories of…… the 1st Prince?”
The Chief Attendant asked back. Having served in the Imperial Palace his entire life, he certainly wasn't asking because he didn't know the owner of the territories.
Romagna was the place the former Empress’s faction had bequeathed to protect the young Cezare, and Alphanon was the merit land Cezare had earned by winning the Continental War.
Each could be called the source of the 1st Prince’s power, where the Old Faction that traditionally supported him and the New Faction fascinated by Cezare’s personal ability were concentrated.
Even after Cezare received his terminal diagnosis, his forces had stubbornly maintained their existence in the Royal Capital, withstanding the pressure pushing down from all sides.
But if the Emperor reclaimed those two territories now, the 1st Prince’s forces would no longer be able to endure.
They would have no choice but to collapse just as unsightly as Iason.
“Yes, once Cezare dies, a bloodbath will erupt in the Royal Capital because of the hyenas targeting those forces. Rather than having them torn to shreds until not even a shape remains, it is right for me to take them intact and utilize them beforehand. Yes, indeed.”
Perdicas II, who could not possibly be unaware of that, was coveting even the final breath of his dying son.
Kensington, who had been listening in silence, could not contain herself and spoke up.
If the 1st Prince, lying on his sickbed, heard this news, he might cough up blood and die prematurely on the spot.
“Your Majesty, the 1st Prince’s health is poor, so he will not be able to endure long with a broken heart. Romagna and Alphanon are matters Your Majesty will eventually handle after the 1st Prince’s passing, so even if you proceed slowly with more time—”
“That child has no hope anyway. So what is the problem if I move that timing forward a little?”
“…….”
Both the Chief Attendant and Kensington were lost for words.
Iason’s situation just moments ago seemed better by comparison. At least he was the Emperor’s political rival.
He wasn't a biological son bound by blood, nor had he brought countless achievements to the Emperor.
But the 1st Prince, Cezare, was different…….
“Do you think this is for my personal sake? It is all for the Empire. Only when I am strong is Kazen strong, and if I collapse, this country collapses with me.”
“…….”
“Cezare will understand. That I only worry and wish for the survival of this Empire!”
Knowing it was a flimsy excuse even to himself, the Emperor stopped his rationalization and suddenly barked.
“It belongs to my son, so it naturally belongs to me as well. What is wrong with that! The 1st Prince’s blood and flesh were all given by me!”
Feeling a sudden wave of dizziness, Kensington closed her eyes for a moment and tried to calm her racing heart.
Her sovereign felt strangely unfamiliar.
It felt as if she were witnessing the true nature of the human she had been loyal to, behind the veil that had been hidden.
*‘He had ambition, but he was never this cold-hearted. Has that high authority of the throne changed Your Majesty so?’*
“Your Majesty, the attention the 1st Prince receives has long surpassed that of the Castulo Grand Duke. The eyes of the world are watching, so I pray you display the generosity of the Supreme Ruler.”
Despite everything, she offered her counsel solely for his sake.
“Kensington. Is your defiance against me for the sake of the Empire, or for the 1st Prince?”
The Emperor’s paranoid gaze turned toward Kensington. A meaningful question. Startled, Kensington bowed her waist.
“How could that be! My only master is Your Majesty the Emperor, and no one else.”
The Emperor’s finger tapped his sleeve anxiously. It seemed he no longer heard her words.
“Tsk, tsk, let us set aside the fine-sounding words in this situation and be honest for once, Kensington. You have disappointed me several times during this trip to Baldina. Am I wrong?”
“…….”
“It was full of things unlike you. How could you handle matters so sloppily?”
“I have no excuse, Your Majesty. I shall humbly accept any punishment.”
Kensington answered politely.
“I told you to pull out the pillars so that Baldina would collapse completely. Yet you have returned after giving them wings instead.”
The Emperor scolded Kensington severely.
He did not hide his displeasure at Kensington, who stood with her head held straight.
Even though he knew Kensington was not at fault for this incident or the Princess’s duel.
“Furthermore, you even rejected my Imperial decree and stayed in the Baldina Royal Capital. Has another master caught your eye? I hear you remained inside the Royal Capital even when Baldina was suppressing the rebellion?”
At the Emperor’s repeated suspicion, Kensington quickly stood up and prostrated herself. A cooled teacup overturned on the table.
In truth, from the moment she entered the Emperor’s office, Kensington had intuitively realized that her treatment had changed.
*‘Your Majesty always met with me alone.’*
Whether it was Iason or an attendant, he never met her while including someone else.
The Emperor was already suspicious of her.
“No. How could I serve two masters while leaving Your Majesty?”
“The disappointment is great.”
“I was negligent. Please forgive me, Your Majesty. Please believe in my loyalty. From beginning to end, I have never for a moment harbored any other thought—”
Kensington, who was speaking, faltered. It was because red blood was dripping down in front of her.
She lifted her head. Her eyes were filled with disbelief.
She met the eyes of the cold-hearted Emperor looking down at her.
“Your, Your Majesty…….”
