Chapter 21

***

“I almost died.”

“…What?”

“Your Majesty definitely tried to kill me.”

As soon as the morning sun rose, Viester stood and opened the library door before rushing in.

He started the conversation while waiting for the Emperor to open his eyes.

The Emperor, who hadn’t fully regained his consciousness, narrowed his eyes due to headache.

“….”

The Emperor had nothing to say as well. He knew that his night self despised Viester.

Because he already tried to kill the guy once in the past.

But he had no one to ask, so he asked one more time.

“But I told you to stay outside the door. How come I almost killed you?”

“Because you almost came out of the door.”

“Ha…!”

A crooked smile was caught around the Emperor’s lips, as if he was taken aback after hearing sheer nonsense.

“Take a look here.”

The Emperor was dragged by him not long after he regained his consciousness toward the other side of the door.

The door, which seemed just fine from the inside, was on the verge of being destroyed.

“If you hit it one more time, the door would most likely fall apart. And I would’ve died as well.”

In the first place, Viester was a civil servant who didn’t know anything about swords.

The reason why the man who started his career as a secretary and became an aide learned the sword was because of the Emperor.

“The sword was useless. Just because I’m learning swords, it doesn’t mean that I can injure or beat Your Majesty.”

The Emperor swallowed and remained deep in his thoughts. It was true that he was good at swords. It was true that he was also superior in terms of physical strength and stronger than others.

But he had never used a sword this way before.

His night self carried the sword obstinately on the thing that he had no memory of, as if the man laughed mockingly at himself.

Now it turned out that the sword hanging around his waist was spread on the floor in half.

‘The heirloom…..’

It was a very valuable heirloom that was passed down within the Empire from generation to generation.

The decoration was completed with the pattern of the country engraved in the handle, but the blade was sharp and heavy. It was said to be a gift crafted by the blacksmith for the First Emperor in the past.

Yesterday, the man broke it.

But the sword was not important.

An uncrushable fine sword had been broken, and even the barrier, famous for absolute defense, was only one step from being destroyed.

This library could no longer stop him.

“You have to come up with a plan.”

For the first time, the Emperor agreed with Viester who spoke in a serious voice.

“Sigh….”

What was he supposed to do?

Viester suggested secretly at Carmun’s absentminded look.

“I have a good plan, but….”

“What’s going on?”

The Emperor’s eyes held a gaze full of curiosity.

If only there was a way to deal with that beastly man…!

However, Viester did not simply open his mouth.

The Emperor did not approve of his resignation. A long vacation? Not even close. He had never rested more than two days ever since he got a job in the palace.

Viester spoke gently with an ulterior motive in mind.

“I’ll let you know if you give me a week off.”

“…What?”

“A week. Just a week.”

“No way. What would happen with your work if you aren’t here?”

“I’ll take care of that as well.”

The Emperor refused firmly. He turned back toward the palace, lightly fixing his disorganized appearance and disheveled hair.

[t/n: no carmun, that’s such a sexy gesture in my imagination ㅠ_ㅠ]

Viester continued to beg while following behind him.

“Just a week is enough! A week! I nearly died again this time. Don’t you think I should go to the hospital?”

“Huh? You didn’t even get hurt, b**t*rd…”

Carmun flicked his eyes upwards while looking at Viester, as if it was a ridiculous thing to say.

Then Viester dramatically pointed to his chest with his finger.

The Emperor’s gaze followed where his finger headed to.

It was a gaze that stated ‘What do you mean?’

“My heart was greatly hurt yesterday. Do you know how surprised I was? That’s why I have a doubt that I might suffer from an irregular heartbeat.

“I…Irregular heartbeat?”

“Yes. They say it’s likely to be the disease if your heart hurts a lot.”

Carmun frowned, he didn’t know anything about such a disease.

“If I fall ill, I can’t work anymore, right? I’ll be back after taking a rest and get myself examined for the disease.”

Carmun nodded forcefully.

Viester was a talented person in many aspects. In particular, he was even more precious to him because the guy was one of the few people that were stuck around him.

He clicked his tongue and said.

“I’ll put you into the Imperial Pharmacy. And then, a week is too long, I’ll give you five days.”

Viester had a bright smile on his face.

He also thought it was likely to be reduced to five days anyway. That was the reason why I pleaded for one week off.

Viester showed a timid smile on his lips when things went according to his plan.

The eyes that carried the purple pupil were bent beautifully.

The Emperor frowned, the sight was so annoying to him.

It was because he never had such a thing called vacation. He was swamped by political affairs everyday, and his only aide, who hung onto him this whole time, was asking for a vacation.

This punk and that punk, all of them tried to torment him.

Carmun, who had become slightly petulant, turned his heavy head.

“We’ll talk about it after the morning assembly is over. If I’m not pleased with things, you have to return from your vacation.”

He had to return from his vacation, what?

Viester gulped.

***

The morning assembly began.

Twenty ministers sat on the left and right sides of the long table, meanwhile the Emperor sat in the centre seat at the top of the table.

The first seat on the left side of the emperor was occupied by the aide and the duke, Viester, on the right seat was seated by the father of the Empress and the Emperor’s father-in-law, Duke Torre.

Below it were occupied by the nobles and they brought up the agendas to be discussed in today’s meeting.

He thought it was the same as usual. Except for two things.

The first of which was regarding Cecillia, the Third Concubine who was kicked out flatly by the Emperor without any doubt last night, and the other was the concern that there was not even one descendant who was going to succeed the country.

There was a probability that they read the same script together while waiting for his presence, that’s why they all said the same thing.

“What did she do wrong to be kicked out from the palace without doubt?”

“That’s right. If you’ve sinned, you should’ve punished her properly.”

“The Direxion Empire won’t stay put either.”

Carmun frowned in return for an answer.

Did they think he only wanted to do that according to his own will? If she was sent to trial, there might be a series of stories about medicine containers and books, and it all would have been intertwined with her.

Starting with the topic about Direxion, the ministers continued to recite what they had held back since earlier.

“It won’t look good to other countries if you treat your concubines so cold-heartedly like this.”

“That’s right. It’s your duty to spend the night once a month with each of them, but now….”

One year has passed by, but he had never met a concubine personally, let alone once a month.

The people gossiping about the Emperor’s lower part would’ve been likely to intensify.

Carmun couldn’t stand it anymore and opened his red eyes furiously.

“Then. Are you saying that you’re dissatisfied with my way of punishing a war prisoner?”

“N-no…. That’s not what I’m….”

“She is a war prisoner. She might have been called a concubine on the surface, but to me, she’s not more than that. She became a war prisoner due to her fault, so why do I have to spend my precious time and money to send her to trial?”

They wanted to say that it was etiquette and the law of the court, but when Carmun spat out those harsh words, the ministers shut their mouths tightly.

Usually, he was a snappy Emperor, but he had never interfered too much in political affairs nor ignored his ministers’ opinions.

Asking them this way was his way of giving warning in some sort so they wouldn’t bother him with this kind of stuff again.

The ministers noticed it right away and shut their mouths tightly.

It was when all of them avoided eye contact with Carmun that he finally raised the corner of his mouth, as if he was satisfied at the sight.

“You’re the ones who suggested bringing princesses from each country as concubines instead of war prisoners. Not me.”

“Yes….”

The ministers nodded their heads slowly.

“So you don’t have to say anything about it. Because I had approved your request.”

Carmun snorted as he glared at his ministers.

The reason why the ministers suggested that he should have received them as concubines was that the number of concubines increased compared to the prisoners was good to showcase the country’s strength, but they could also prepare for another possible war.

Who would have been willing to start war when their daughters’ lives were at stake?

Besides that, some empires even handed a considerable amount of money to the high-ranking nobles.

It was meant to show his Majesty well, but it wasn’t really effective.

Both the concubines that were delivered with money and those who didn’t were treated the same way, and also the residence for concubines was located in the furthest corner of Imperial Castle.

They were concubines who arose to the position due to war, and solely for war. Therefore, he wasn’t interested in any of them, and because of that, the settled budget for the concubines was also small.

Still, because they were princesses of each country from the beginning, they would lead a luxurious life on their own.

‘They seem greedy.’

Viester broke out in a cold sweat seeing Carmun’s keen gaze.

The ministers didn’t gain any benefit by pretending in the presence of the Emperor.

Viester clapped his hands and spoke brightly.

“So now, shall we move on to the next agenda?”

The atmosphere eased up a little when Viester, who was considered young among the ministers, said so.

At that time, someone, who seemed to lack common sense, spoke out.

“I heard that the maid who served Concubine Cecillia died in the dungeon at dawn….”

At that moment, the eyes of the ministers were all fixed toward Carmun.

“Huh?”

His gaze seemed overbearing, as if he was the one who truly killed her.

Carmun was overwhelmed with annoyance. Because the ministers whom he should have trusted the most were certain that he had killed her.

Carmun was suspicious that it was them who probably spread rumors about him being a crazy warmonger.

No one opened their mouths. They only exchange glances.

Carmun eventually opened his mouth first as he faced the ministers who had been silent for some time.

“Why don’t you spread rumors that I killed her everywhere?”

He gave a sarcastic remark with honorifics which was unlike him.

The ministers hurriedly lowered their eyes at his sharp gaze.

Carmun’s temper grew while looking at the sight. Each time he spoke, they trembled as if they were scared to death.

But at the same time, they often spread rumors that the Emperor is a tyrant and he had a vicious nature.

What did they want him to do? Did they expect him to treat people who debut into society and even politics like a baby?

He couldn’t stand them when he heard the word ‘tyrant’.

“I didn’t kill her. The maid committed suicide at dawn.”

“….Ah….”

The words ‘suicide’ made the murmur of the ministers intensified. Some people said that bad luck would come to Imperial Castle because clearly it wasn’t a good word to be said.

“Please remain quiet.”

The Emperor was also questioned regarding it. He had never threatened that he would kill her. He intended to let her go secretly soon after she confessed.

He just sent her to the dungeon because he thought about separating the concubine and her maid.

She probably became terrified, and a sudden sad news arrived unexpectedly at down.

He didn’t expect her to be so scared.

I ended up making a mistake. Cecillia was already on her way back to her home country, Direxion.

Rumors regarding the medicine tube had eased out at the concubine residence. On the contrary, no one even mentioned it.

Who would easily let that topic come out of their lips when they were certain that they would have ended up dying?

Therefore, this was completely his mistake.