Chapter 78
“What?!”
Bang!
The moment the emperor muttered in disbelief, Ludbrid roughly slammed the table and shot to his feet.
“Tch.”
“Ooh, a fight? You wanna fight?”
The emperor let out a low groan, while Jedrian’s eyes sparkled with excitement as he bounced in his seat.
Oblivious to it all, Kiriel stared at the thoroughly enraged Ludbrid with a completely impassive, deadpan expression on his blunt face.
“I never heard about that! When and where is it happening?! And it’s that little one’s birthday—why wasn’t I told?!”
Jedrian, who had been brimming with anticipation, deflated like a punctured balloon at Ludbrid’s barrage of words.
The emperor’s eyes widened slightly before his shoulders began to shake.
“It’s a family party, so you don’t have permission to attend.”
“…What?”
“I said my son is hosting a family party for his daughter, so you don’t have permission to attend. Anyway, I’ll be taking my leave now…….”
Kiriel paused mid-turn and glanced at Jedrian, who looked half-melted.
As soon as their eyes met, Jedrian’s lit up as he lifted his head.
“Why, why? Got something to say to me, Young Master?”
“Do you happen to know a way to repair broken or shattered objects?”
“It depends on the situation, but if the fragments are intact, it’s usually possible to restore them perfectly. Otherwise, you’d have to rewind the object’s time a bit, but since I’m human, I don’t have that kind of ability yet……?”
Jedrian winked and floated lightly into the air, bringing his face right up to Kiriel’s.
“Why? Got a favor to ask me?”
The corners of Jedrian’s eyes curved slyly.
Like a predator that had spotted a chink in its prey’s defenses, his gaze gleamed dangerously.
“I’d be happy to do you a favor, but in exchange…….”
“Knowing there’s a repair spell is enough. I’ll find another mage.”
Kiriel turned away sharply.
“I have prior commitments, so I’ll take my leave first, Your Majesty.”
“Hmm… We can’t just leave those ancient elves like that, and if they turn into monsters, it’ll be a real problem. I fully understand your concern for the child… but couldn’t you at least ask her yourself?”
At the emperor’s words, Kiriel stared at him blankly with his usual impassive face before opening his mouth.
“Isn’t it a parent’s duty to stop a child from doing things they shouldn’t? She’s still too young. I want her to…….”
Kiriel trailed off, then spoke very slowly.
* * *
“I want her to grow up normally. To throw tantrums, act spoiled, and not have to do a thing. To be a child who doesn’t have to bear any responsibility or weight.”
“…….”
That scene he’d witnessed upon first stepping foot in the Demon Realm.
An utterly ordinary landscape.
“You and I both know how suffocating that is.”
Kiriel swept his gaze over everyone in the conference room, then turned away with an indifferent expression, adding one last thing.
“You’ve all lived your lives crushed under that weight your entire lives.”
They were the ones gathered here—people who had never been able to live the ordinary lives even the demonkin enjoyed.
Click.
The door shut without a hint of hesitation.
“Ahahaha!! Good lord. The Young Master has zero tact, just like always. Not that he’s wrong, of course.”
“Haa…….”
The emperor sighed, resting his chin on his clasped hands with a troubled look.
He tilted his head slightly and glanced at Ludbrid Yudia with that same awkward expression.
“What can we do about it? Duke Yudia. That elf seems like he has something to say, but he’s impossible to reason with, and he’s not exactly cooperative either.”
Ludbrid narrowed his eyes at the emperor, who let out a weak-sounding complaint while openly displaying his embarrassment with a faint smile.
“That guy’s stubbornness isn’t anything new. What do you expect me to do?”
“That’s exactly why I’m asking you to handle it.”
The words were a request, but the tone was decidedly commanding.
Ludbrid knew full well the emperor was playing the sly fox, acting weak—it wasn’t an issue.
“If I come down hard on the Young Master, he’ll end up hating me. It’d be awkward to be hated by the next duke, wouldn’t it?”
Ludbrid narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue inwardly.
Wasn’t that basically saying he’d resort to force if things didn’t go his way?
Refusing wasn’t a problem. The Yudia family wasn’t so weak that rejecting the emperor once or twice would cause trouble.
However……
‘It’s certainly a serious matter.’
The ancient elves were already half-transformed into monsters.
If beings with that level of intelligence and intellect turned into monsters, the world would plunge into chaos once more.
Monster subjugation was a hassle, but it never became a massive issue because they lacked intellect.
To be precise, they lacked intellect surpassing that of humans.
But what if ancient elves with true intellect became monsters?
Right now, they were deprived of reason due to demonic qi addiction, but there was a clear possibility they could become monsters capable of communication.
They were steadily being purified, but there was no telling when—or if—they’d regain their senses.
“Kiriel that rascal isn’t entirely wrong. The child is still too young.”
“Exactly. That’s why you’ve kept your mouths shut about how you ultimately tracked down the ancient elves’ location.”
The emperor spoke with a leisurely smile.
The corner of Ludbrid’s mouth twitched once. He opened his mouth with a thoroughly irritated expression.
“And you just had to pry it out of us by force.”
“Hmm, but I am the emperor.”
His expression was utterly brazen, as if to say it was only natural he find out.
“The internal affairs of the Yudia Ducal Family and the Temple are my purview.”
The emperor, chin still propped on his clasped hands, let out a low chuckle.
When he slowly closed and opened his eyes, all traces of benevolence had vanished from his gaze.
“Duke, I don’t have a hobby of beating around the bush when the answer’s right in front of me. I get what you’re worried about. So arrange a meeting—keep the numbers minimal, and I’ll ensure information and identities are protected. Just know that’s the most I can do.”
“Tch.”
Ludbrid openly clicked his tongue at the emperor’s warning.
The emperor shrugged. He’d caught that the tongue-click was as good as surrender.
“I appreciate it, as always.”
“…Do you know how infuriating you are, now and then?”
“I’ll take that compliment too.”
The emperor replied leisurely with a gentle, affable smile.
Even with that sly, good-natured look, thinking of how tumultuous his path to the throne had been only made him more loathsome.
He’d beheaded the previous emperor, his brothers.
He’d killed everyone except his sister the princess, and clawed his way to become emperor.
“By the way, what happened to the ones who kidnapped my granddaughter? I heard the imperial family took over the matter.”
With the Crown Prince involved, the emperor’s fury was no small thing.
The moment the culprits behind it were revealed, the kingdom and the family would vanish without a single seed left.
“Aah…….”
The emperor smiled chillingly.
“Seems the king of the Reversdal Kingdom heard about the divine beast your granddaughter summoned while he’s on his deathbed. The Phoenix, I mean.”
“…….”
Ludbrid’s lips pressed into a hard line.
The emperor chuckled softly.
“Why didn’t you manage to contain the information leak? Has peace made you lax, or are you just getting old?”
“It was too public a place to block it completely. Tch. Loose-lipped fools are everywhere.”
“Then you should’ve grabbed them properly when you had the chance. You’re too soft. You need to be stronger—make sure they wouldn’t even dream of defying you.”
At the emperor’s words, Ludbrid clicked his tongue shortly and rose from his seat. Or tried to.
“…What the hell are you doing up there?”
If not for the man dangling in midair like a bat, hair hanging down, floating objects around him.
