Chapter 48

Chapter 48 – Intense Upheaval (2)

The flameless tool collapsed the walls with a terrible roar. This hastened the entry into the fort, and the casualties in the battle were far below expectations. The battle was a sweeping victory.

‘That doesn’t mean there weren’t casualties at the eastern gate.’

Considering that the drain was underwater, they had to carry a considerable load of magic tools, and it took over half an hour. The number in the report to Cesar reached four digits. It was a tally of those killed at the eastern gate.

Pharrell handed the report in private and could not raise his head. Drunk on the heroism of his comrades, he couldn’t recall the sacrifices made. In the glow of victory, it was too easy to forget the lives of those who had died to secure it.

“Indeed.”

Saville paled as he realized the target of the woman’s accusation.

“To you, they would be nothing but meat. You don’t even care.”

With that, the woman emptied her glass of wine. Immediately afterward, she rose from her seat with the most graceful and smooth of movements. The corners of her mouth twisted as she continued.

“I should probably leave first. Just being in the same room with ‘those’ makes me sick.” The woman spoke to Cesar and turned away.

Pharrell rose, too, and followed suit, scanning the dining room. Cesar would clean up the mess… but the ripples she’d cast would not go away easily. He worried about what would happen after he left, but there was nothing he could do about it. Suppressing his sigh, Pharrell followed the woman out of the banquet hall.

“The carriage…”

“I’ll go to the gardens. Let me know when your master comes out.”

Her voice sounded confident as if she had seen the future again. But it wasn’t the woman’s foresight that pricked Pharrell’s interest.

“Are you… telling me to stay behind?”

At his question, the woman, who had been walking ahead, turned around.

“You think there’s someone here to threaten me?”

If he agreed he would put Cesar’s power into doubt. Unable to respond, Pharrell just stared at her back as she walked away until she was completely out of sight. Left alone in the empty hallway, he glanced to his side. There was no one there. Why did that make him feel empty inside? He felt a little dazed as he stood there in an empty hallway.

“Pharrell.”

A familiar voice broke through his daze.

“Your Majesty.”

As soon as he greeted Cesar, Etrada jumped up and hugged him.

“How have you been? I’ve missed seeing your face every day!”

Pharrell stroked Etrada’s hair out of habit, finding an answer to his previous question. After nearly two months of being at the woman’s side every day, it was natural for him to feel a bit empty.

“You seem to be doing well, Etrada.”

“Of course!”

“Stop.” Cesar tugged on the back of Etrada’s head, who was still in Pharrell’s arms. He looked around and asked, “Where is she?”

“…She headed to the garden.” His brow furrowed for a moment as if he was thinking about something, and then he released Etrada.

“Let’s deal with this.”

There was an implied order not to follow him. Cesar turned toward the garden where she would be.

“What? Why did you bring me if you weren’t going to take me with you?”

Etrada had been left behind with Pharrell and grumbled. He couldn’t help but chuckle at how much she looked like a sulky toddler. Pharrell patted Etrada’s head and said.

“It seems it has to be a private talk. Did things go well?”

“So-so.”

After exchanging lighthearted updates, they moved on.

He needed to get the carriage ready in case Cesar and the woman were done talking. As they walked along, Etrada raised her head and asked abruptly.

“By the way, you’re not sick, are you? I noticed you barely ate.”

Pharrell shook his head without much thought.

“I just don’t enjoy seafood.”

“Mh? I’ve never heard that before. Does Cesar know? If you’d mentioned it in advance…”

“I hid it from him because it wouldn’t do him any good to know.”

“…It’s not that you don’t eat, it’s that you can’t?”

“Yes, only the emperor and my father knew. Allergies are an easy weakness…”

The words that should come out naturally to him were suddenly cut off, and a voice from his memory shook him.

“You’re not sick, are you?

“Allergies are a vulnerability, so if there are foods you cannot eat, try hiding them.

“You might not be able to know what’s next.”

Pharrell forgot to breathe from the sudden shock.

“Pharrell?”

He couldn’t hear the worried voice calling out to him.

Alone in the garden, Evelyn felt helpless. It was because of Pharrell, whom she had left in the hallway.

“Are you… telling me to stay behind?”

There was no way anyone would try to harm her in this great nest that Cesar had built. Even if there was someone that reckless, Evelyn’s safety was assured as long as the oath with Cesar remained intact. The Original would not allow Evelyn to be harmed as long as it was meant to protect Cesar.

It was a new feeling. She was once threatened with death by the Original, and now she was protected by the same fate. It was a new, bittersweet, and satisfying feeling.

She turned her head away toward the direction she came. Only one person would come up from that direction. Now that she’d brought Cesar’s biggest concern to the surface, he wouldn’t be able to leave it. Evelyn decided to organize her thoughts before Cesar arrived. Her words at the banquet were meant to stir infighting.

‘It was something that should happen when the Eastern troops arrive but…’

She wanted to prevent it if she could. That’s why she was squeezing the pus out of it in advance. There are currently four factions that cover Cesar’s force. The vassals of Arangis, who had protected Cesar since before he was born. The ones who refused to betray Arangis and chose to share Arangis’ downfall. Forces with talented people regardless of their status like Etrada. And soldiers who resented the unjust treatment of the nobility.

‘Most of them had different lords.’

All four were mixed in the banquet hall. Evelyn’s remarks were sensitive to the last faction. In fact, it was a big issue in the original story. Arangis’ vassals, who were inherently of noble lineage, got carried away with their victory and neglected the memorial service for the dead. This led the former soldiers to believe that Cesar was no different from the nobles who exploited them. The result was a mass exodus of former private soldiers from Cesar’s camp. Being in the same position as the outlaws in the South, they turned their backs on Cesar.

Troubled by the problems in the south, Evelyn couldn’t stand idly by.

‘What if I can stop it?’

What if her intervention changed things? After much deliberation, Evelyn decided to try to help the South. Even now, lives were being trampled there. Looted, ravaged, and killed by marauding soldiers, the number of people dying in the South was beyond comprehension. Things would only increase as time went on. Wouldn’t it be in Cesar’s best interest to stop it? The people of the South would praise him for saving their lives. It wouldn’t harm Cesar’s reign, so the Original wouldn’t object.

“You seem to have a lot to think about.”

Evelyn was still in the middle of her train of thought when Cesar arrived. She tossed her gaze out to the garden and retorted nonchalantly.

“I always have a lot to think about. By the way, you don’t need to thank me.”

“…Did you see something?”

“You, wearing the crown without solving the Southern problem.”

This was certainly the case in the original, but this time it could be different. Evelyn had already organized everything she knew about the South. If she delivered it at the right time, Cesar will succeed, and the original story, which favored the protagonist, will certainly help him.

“You should suppress. There will be a time when you’ll need their voices.”

And that was all she had to say. After summarizing, Evelyn turned around. Approaching Cesar, who was standing in the doorway she had come through, she passed him by. And that moment he spoke,

“You must be really kind-hearted. Either that or you have a soft spot.”

Evelyn’s brow furrowed as she stopped walking.

“You have a soft spot in your heart for the people of the South?”

Her lips twitched reflexively. She tried to retort, but then she was at a loss. What are you supposed to say? And how?

“Maybe… you’re trying to point out this emperor’s self-inflicted evils?”

Cesar kept talking as Evelyn remained silent.

“Do you know?”

Evelyn couldn’t read Cesar’s intent. She gave him a questioning glance, and he bowed, taller than her, silently looking at her. His eyes pierced her as if peering through a veil.

“You think what this emperor should do, and advise him on what he should do.”

“. . .”

“There were things in your report that someone would think were so trivial, so unimportant. But when you think about it, they were all things I needed to know.

Evelyn flinched and trembled.

“How the hell do you bring to me all the things I need to see?”

Cesar’s hand reached out, slowly enough to be avoided, but Evelyn didn’t move.

“That thought made me wonder.”

Evelyn held her breath, guessing what was coming next. And then, Cesar poked his finger into her forehead.

“How on earth did you live to think such things, and see such things?”

“. . .”

“I suppose it’s possible if you’ve lived to be in the same position as me but… what do you think?”

People can look at the same thing and think differently. Human behavior varies greatly depending on personality, upbringing, experience, and current circumstances. A baker and a starving beggar see different things when they see bread baking. Cesar knew that much. That’s why he realized that Evelyn wouldn’t stand by and watch the innocent suffer. And at the end, he concluded that she had lived her life to protect and care for an unknown number of people.

Evelyn chewed the delicate flesh inside her mouth to remain expressionless. She’d said what she needed to say; there was no point in delaying her departure with more chatter.

“Nonsense.” Evelyn shot back before he could respond. “If you have time to run your mouth, deal with your underlings. You have been rude enough.”

She raised her voice on purpose to show her displeasure and make it seem a little less awkward to leave. Instead of leaving like a cornered person, she acted as if offended.

Evelyn hurried from the garden before Cesar could catch her.

A persistent gaze followed her back until she was out of sight.

—