Chapter 197 – Recovery (2)

Chapter 197 – Recovery (2)

Before knocking on Heretia’s door, Haild took a deep breath and made sure that his clothes were neat and the bandages were neatly wrapped around his face. Upstodatee from n(0)/ve/lbIn/.(co/m

A man who was known to be Heretia’s guard looked at Haild suspiciously from beside him.

As far as Haild knew, the guard was the man who had a broken leg when he first met Heretia when the carriage was overturned. Haild thought that he knew the guard’s name, but he forgot—not that it was important anyway.

“Please feel free to go inside.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Haild cleared his throat and nervously prepared to knock on the door. He had encountered Heretia several times in the Imperial Palace, but it was the first time that he was invited to Heretia’s room.

Whenever he ran into Heretia in the Imperial Palace, Haild had tried to hold a conversation with her as he recalled his memories from the Magic Tower, but she didn’t seem to care much—it was as if it wasn’t a big deal. Heretia had too much work to do and did not have time to have a good laugh while reminiscing about the past.

Although Haild was considered one of the closest acquaintances of the emperor, no specific job was assigned to him. This was only natural, since Haild was taken to the island to be taught about the Crack and train his swordsmanship even before he had a chance to receive proper education. While he did not have the knowledge needed for administration or tactics, he wasn’t even used to having a conversation with women.

Haild eventually failed to find a common interest between him and Heretia. Thus, Heretia’s invitation this time was quite meaningful to him.

At last Haild knocked on the door.

“Miss Heretia, this is Haild. May I come in?”

“Yes. Come on in.”

Haild placed his hand over his beating heart and walked into the room. His face brightened up upon seeing Heretia sitting at the tea table. However, his heart stopped beating the moment he saw the person sitting on the opposite side of the tea table.

Hela Henna was sitting in front of Heretia.

“Welcome, my son,” Hela said.

Haild was about to turn around and leave the room, but the door suddenly slammed shut behind him, almost as if Hela already expected his next move.

As he contemplated whether or not he should run out the window, Hela grabbed him and quickly sat him down next to her at the tea table. He could have easily resisted if he wanted to, but for some reason, he couldn’t move a muscle.

Heretia smiled and stood up using her crutches.

“I’ll get going then. Enjoy your conversation.”

“Miss Heretia! Your legs!?”

Haild was surprised to see Heretia standing up. Although she was relying on crutches, it was impossible for Heretia to ‘stand up,’ since both of her legs had been cut off.

Heretia slightly lifted up her skirt as if she already knew how Haild would respond. At that moment, the carved prosthetic leg was exposed through her skirt.

“It’s a prosthetic leg made of ivory that was brought in from the south. I requested it from a skilled craftsman and it was only completed recently. Using a wheelchair was comfortable enough, but it was difficult to use it to climb the stairs.”

Haild blushed at the sight of Heretia lifting up her skirt despite it only being prosthetic legs beneath it.

Then, Heretia smiled at Hela and left the room.

Soon, there was only silence in the room where only Hela and Haild were left.

“I didn’t think it would be so hard to just have a one-on-one conversation with you, son.”

“...I’m sorry.”

Unlike how Haild tried his best to run into Heretia, he had been trying his best to actively avoid Hela as much as he could. He had been avoiding Hela without even knowing why he was avoiding her.

He could give dozens of excuses—Hela had already seen his funeral; he felt awkward talking to her when he had been hiding the fact that he was still alive for decades; or that he lost his chance to tell her the truth after failing to talk to her several times.

Yet he had no excuse about him avoiding Hela, even though she had tried to talk to him several times.

Hela slowly scanned Haild and then opened her mouth.

“What was that corpse I saw?”

“Father was...”

“It was that asshole, Gerard’s work, huh? I assumed it was him when I found out that you were alive. Then tell me what you’ve been up to. Make it short.”

“Yes. Everything becomes a game rather than a conversation if you understand it. Then it only becomes the matter of whether you win or lose, succeed or fail.”

“Is that how father—no. Mr. Gerard Gain treated you, mother?”

Hela smirked.

“No way. I’m the one who seduced him. He came on to me even before he finished a cup of tea.”

***

It was the next day when Juan found Hela.

Hela appeared at the Imperial Palace, smelling like alcohol with dark circles under her eyes. Juan had a dumbfounded look on his face when he encountered Hela sitting in front of the office.

“I was wondering what you were up to after taking the blame for me. I see that you’ve been drinking.”

“It’s the perfect example of a person who’s committed a massacre and feels guilty of her own actions. Don’t you think so?”

Juan grabbed Hela’s hand to help her up and injected mana into her body at the same time. The heat from Juan’s mana quickly drove alcohol out of Hela’s body. The smell of alcohol spread around her, but Hela quickly came back to her senses.

“Ugh, keuk. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I’ve never seen you so messed up like this before. Is it because of Anya?” Juan asked.

“No... I had a drink with my son for the first time. He fell asleep after only one shot, so Miss Helwin and I were the only ones who actually drank, but it was still a good time.”

“You drank at a time when our friend was abducted?”

“That’s all the more reason to drink.”

Hela stared blankly at Juan. Her eyes looked tired from hangover and fatigue, but he could see a certain determination in them.

“Your Majesty, please send me to the west. I will negotiate with Dismas.”

“You want to negotiate with Dismas?”

“Come on, Your Majesty. Your Majesty and the rest of the empire already knows that Dismas was the one behind this treason attempt. It was Dismas who tried to resurrect a god, it was Dismas who abducted Anya, and it was also Dismas who killed Dilmond. There’s only one reason why your Majesty is still here, not taking any action.”

Juan did not answer.

“It’s because Your Majesty is afraid that Anya might die. I mean, Anya would probably say that she doesn’t mind sacrificing her life for the sake of Your Majesty. But we should still try our best if she is still alive. So, I will go and negotiate with Dismas. This kind of work is way too trivial for Your Majesty to take care of. By the way, I’m not being sarcastic. I'm more serious than ever.”

“Do you think that Dismas will be willing to make a compromise?”

“Your Majesty would have run and killed Dismas at once if he was a being like god or a monster. But unfortunately, Dismas is not only a human being, he is also an adopted child of Your Majesty. Yes, I do think he will compromise. I’ve prepared a very attractive bait for him. Oh, of course. It’s not a condition that Your Majesty won’t be able to accept.”

“I’ll be counting on you in that case. Also...”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“The reason why I didn’t take action is not because I’m afraid that Anya might die. I only sent the army first rather than stepping out myself because I was afraid that Dismas would become frightened and lock himself up. Pavan was already moving the Imperial Army westward while you were getting drunk. We are preparing for a war—the war that would have been fought anyway.”

Hela grinned upon hearing Juan’s words.

“As expected, Your Majesty is definitely the perfect emperor.”

“I don’t know if the war will actually begin; it will all depend on your negotiations. I might be able to forgive him if he sends back Anya, my original body and the Pope. He will also have to reflect on himself and be ready to suffer from the consequences of his sins. Dilmond’s funeral will be done after Anya’s return.”

“I think it’s going to be the most difficult negotiation ever. But I guess I have no choice but to try my best,” Hela murmured with a sigh.

But Juan shook his head.

“There have been several opportunities when I could have been quite terrifying.”

Hela remained silent.

“But I think it’s thanks to you guys that I did not turn out that way. Going to the west will be a test of how terrifying I can get. I wish all the problems would be solved by me being terrifying, but you wouldn’t want that.”

“That’s exactly right, Your Majesty.”

Hela answered with a chuckle.

“It is my dream to manipulate Your Majesty to take my test and thus make you be remembered as the greatest emperor ever, to be praised for generations to come. I don’t mind if I have to be painted as a petty traitor for it.”