Chapter 11

The Revelation of a Companionship and the Beginning of a Relationship

“……is that woman in the picture the Royal Daughter of Rakain?”

Kergel laughed in vain several times as if he was utterly dumbfounded. His servants, who had been standing behind him, all bowed down in dismay. It was a gesture that was no different from a tacit affirmation.

He opened his mouth again while grinding his teeth to the point where it could be heard completely.

“To welcome a woman who had ridiculed and regarded my country with contempt as a companion? Do you want me to believe that such a revelation has descended?”

Kergel’s face became contorted. The anger and misery that he felt were so vivid that even his expression alone could convey through. He clenched his fist and turned around while opening his mouth to any of his servants who had been standing right behind him.

“Petoan, since you have seen the Princess the closest during the mission that you went as a representation before, you would have known her better than anyone else here. Let’s have a good look once more. Really…… is that woman in the painting truly the Royal Daughter of Rakain?”

“……of course, it’s the Royal Daughter of Rakain.”

The elderly servant’s voice slowly trembled. The voice seemed to confess the fact that he wanted to deny the undeniable truth, but that he couldn’t at all.

Kergel gave no response to his lieutenants.

In fact, the room was leaden with utter silence.

Kergel looked up again and gazed towards somewhere across the stone wall.

Right on the wall of the stone chamber, he could see the figure of a single woman.

Blonde that seemed just as sweet as honey.

Blue eyes that resembled the vast sea as they exuded a very clear impression.

Such pure and fair skin.

Red lips that looked as sweet as a luenell fruit. She appeared just like a beautiful woman whom anyone would really admire. However, none of those in attendance were actually admiring that woman.

“I’ve no idea what the hell you’re trying to do to actually welcome her as my companion. I think that my grandfather has been asleep in his grave for so long that he finally lost his mind a little.”

“Your Majesty! How could you say that to Cainbert? He was the founder of the Empire, the present Imperial Family and also the forefather of Your Majesty.”

Kergel’s rather self-motivating remark had made him open his mouth to his old friend and attendant, Heinez Bashel. Then, Kergel shot his gaze right towards Heinez.

Heinez’s silver eyes were obviously in pain as well. Nevertheless, he had no choice but to offer such bitter advice.

‘Yes, I’m no longer a child. What’s the point of complaining anyway?’

Kergel closed his eyes and opened them heavily before staring at the woman in the picture once more. Then, he slowly parted his mouth open.

“Heinez.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Heinez was standing behind Kergel and he was called, he took a step closer before bowing down. Kergel instantly gave out an order while still keeping his eyes on the woman in the painting.

“For now, try to get a portrait of the Rakain’s Princess. Everyone collectively said that she must be Rakain’s Royal Daughter, but that doesn’t mean I can just send her a proposal without checking it thoroughly with my own eyes first.”

“I will, Your Majesty.”

Heinez bowed politely. As Kergel said, there was a need to really double check it all. It was merely natural to actually greet the Empress.

Moreover, it was all the more so since she was the only ‘companion’.

“By the way, I should be more careful if Rakain’s Royal Daughter truly is my ‘companion’. If Rakain ever finds out that I can only see the future through a ‘companion’, they will never give their Royal Daughter up.”

“Just as we have done so far, everything that is related to the revelation will remain strictly confidential. Who would ever take a word out of their mouths when the fate of the Empire is at stake.”

Heinez responded to Kergel in a low voice. Kergel then replied with a bitter smile as he listened to him.

“The survival of the Empire…… To be exact, it would just be about the survival of the present Imperial Family—this Imperial Family, which is with the blood of the wolf.”

“Your Majesty is a Seroif. How could you even say that?”

Heinez snapped back at Kergel’s words. Other officials also bowed down while saying similar things as if they all agreed so. Then, Heinez began speaking to Kergel once again.

“It was founded by Cainbert. And it is this country, Seroif, that was ruled by a brave wolf descendant. We are all absolutely proud of that, Your Majesty.”

“However, the problem is that the foundation of this Imperial Family is not so solid, as it is only possible to welcome and see the aftermath solely through ‘the revelation’.”

“It’s…… just that everything merely proceeds according to the will of Cainbert.”

Heinez hesitated for a moment—presumably speechless against Kergel’s words—before responding once again. However, Kergel only shook his head while smiling at those words of his friend.

“Well, I wonder if it’s truly the right thing to do by just welcoming a companion in accordance with the wishes of someone who had been asleep for such a long time and even being buried over here… I actually doubt that in itself—after having seen this kind of revelation.”

Kergel was a descendant of an ancient wolf tribe and his pair of golden eyes were the proof of that.

On top of that, the wolves had to greet their chosen companion through a ‘revelation’. The cost of failure in doing so would result in an end to greatness. There had never been a single exception to it at all.

Even though he had scoured through the Royal Family’s genealogy as well as the old records, it was much more important to find a companion in the ‘revelation’ right after becoming an Emperor—significantly so than anything else.

Still, it had already been found within the Seroif Empire so far. Nevertheless, it was clear that it would be far more troublesome than ever for this time since the Royal Daughter of another country had been chosen as his companion.

Moreover, that Royal Daughter was the one who had caused some diplomatic issues between the two countries by mocking and disregarding Seroif as a mere barbaric country……

Kergel swallowed down a sigh while feeling the throb in his head before he casually poured the thoughts out of his mouth.

“Oh, what’s the name of Rakain’s Royal Daughter anyway?”

“Erita Rakain. It’s King Lenoff’s only sister.”

“His only sister…… it’s a matter of whether they will be able to turn over the Royal Daughter of Rakain’s Royal Family, which was supposedly said to be the noblest of all.”

Kergel murmured to himself while raising his hand inadvertently over his left chest. The seal that was stuck right near to his heart vibrated as if it had felt of his own touch.

A seal that bore the power of the wolf. The inherent power in the seal was writhing to escape into the world whenever a chance had emerged.

Kergel was born much more powerful than any other preceding Emperors in history. Therefore, the risk of having the seal broken was even far greater.

Of course, no one had ever known that exactly. Only Kergel himself was very well aware of his own condition.

“Still, I’ll have to attain her somehow.”

“You don’t have to worry at all. Your Majesty, she will definitely come to Seroif.”

“Heinez, I never doubted your ability.”

Kergel smiled before lowering his hand over the seal.

It was also due to the fact of having heirs, but for the sole sake of the seal, a ‘companion’ was absolutely essential.

Apart from the next Emperor’s period of reign, if the seal was to be broken then, Seroif—or the land of Cesan itself—might have been destroyed immediately.

If the seal had truly been broken, the only thing that could actually put a stop to him was the companion.

Once again, he looked at the woman in that painting, the Royal Daughter of Rakain. His golden pair of eyes were indifferent and cool. Nonetheless, there was a wave of anger towards his inescapable fate deep into the abyss of his gaze.

*  *  *

Two weeks after Kergel, the Emperor of Seroif Empire had received the ‘revelation’, a delegation eventually left for Rakain—along with the Emperor’s own handwritten proposal to Erita, the Royal Daughter of Rakain.