episode_0131

“Jeros-kong. I have one thing to ask you as I look at you.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Please speak.”

Padishah speaking to herself with a gentle smile

At this, Zeros felt nervous again and answered in a polite tone. ”

“It’s nothing special, but… You seem to have something to tell me. Don’t you?”

“!..That..That’s..”

Words that seem to see right through one’s inner thoughts.

At this, Zeros felt embarrassed, but he also realized that there was something different about the ruler of the empire, and he began to feel inwardly impressed.

“Haha, that’s okay. You don’t have to be so surprised. If you have something to say, feel free to say it. I always see old officials and greedy bastards, so I want to talk a little more with a young man like you who gives me a good feeling.”

A Padishah speaking purely out of goodwill.

And regarding this, Zeros thought it would be better to say something indirectly, rather than making some lame excuses, and answered as politely as possible.

“Yes, Your Majesty. If that’s true, I have something I’d like to ask Your Majesty.”

“Okay, tell me.”

Padishah speaks with a rather interesting expression.

Then, Zeros opened his mouth while looking at Padishah with a serious face.

“Your Majesty… What do you think is the most ideal monarch?”

Zeros asks questions that are more in-depth than I expected.

At this, Padishah reacted as if he had never expected such a story to come out of the mouth of this young boy. But soon he continued speaking with a light laugh.

“The ideal monarch… Hehe. That’s quite an interesting question. Yes… But if you think about it, it’s also a question that suits me, the monarch of this empire.”

Padishah thinks about the answer to Zeros’ question for such a short time.

And after a while, Padishah looked at Zeros with a much more serious expression on his face and said.

“The most ideal monarch… That is. A being who prepares the next generation well. I guess you could say that.”

“Is that so?”

Zeros looks slightly surprised at the answer, which is a bit different from what he expected.

Looking at his expression like this, Padishah spoke with a smile on her lips.

“Yes. As you know, there is a limit to the lifespan of a human being. No matter how great one’s power is, no matter how great one’s achievements are, the final destination of all monarchs is the dirt of the grave.”

Then, after calmly sipping a cup of tea, Padishah continued speaking.

“On the other hand, the empire and history will remain and continue to flow with time. I believe that the ideal monarch is someone who can lay the foundation for the empire to stand well on that flow and prepare for future generations.”

Fidisha speaks with a voice full of conviction.

At that moment, Princess Maeb, who was listening to his words from the side, asked in a cautious voice.

“But Abamama… Aren’t there people in the world who have surpassed the lifespan of such humans? For example, even a girl can live for a long time as a witch. If a capable person among such people sits on the throne and runs the country forever, wouldn’t that be the ideal monarch?”

“Hahaha. Well, that’s not wrong. A capable monarch who reigns forever. That’s definitely ideal.”

The words of Princess Maeb, which contain bones.

To this, Padishah gave a light laugh and gave her a tentative yes.

But then he slowly shook his head and looked at his daughter with gentle eyes and said.

“But, daughter.. I think that even a monarch who has the right to reign forever will step down from his position soon.”

“Huh? Uh… why are you saying that?”

Maev questions Padishah’s words.

Looking at his daughter like that, Padishah spoke to her with a deep sense of fatigue on his face for a moment.

“That is.. The weight of this place I am sitting in right now is not that light. Everyone looks up to it, everyone longs for it, but there is no place as lonely and painful as this. If someone were to tell me to sit here forever, I would probably do whatever it takes to refuse.”

“..ah..”

For a moment, Maev realized what his words meant as he realized that his father’s appearance before him looked more difficult than usual.

‘Come to think of it, Abamama would often look at me and talk as if she was jealous. The reason for that was probably…’

The burden that the monarch always carried was certainly enormous.

No matter how mentally strong a person is, it is nearly impossible to carry that for tens or hundreds of years.

In fact, the great saint who resided in Rome in the west also had the right to wield power as the head of the church for eternity, but she soon handed it over to the Pope, and it continues to this day.

In that respect, Maev began to agree with his father’s story about the ideal monarch.

There are physical and mental limits to what a single monarch can accomplish with his own hands.

Therefore, it is most important for them to prepare a successor and help him to pave his own way.

In other words, the best monarch could be said to be completed through his successor.

‘In that sense, you could say that he was a successful monarch in his own right, even though he had a fierce power struggle with Abama. It was based on his achievements that Abama was able to establish this powerful empire.’

As Maeb came to understand her father’s will, she felt as if the worries she had been holding in for so long had been resolved.

At this, Maeb shows a much more relaxed smile on her lips.

At the same time, her gaze turned to Zeros, who was sitting next to her and listening intently to Padishah’s words.

‘As expected… This is how you comfort my heart again… Zeros. A man like you… is truly the best.’

Maeb blushes slightly as she thinks about that.

Meanwhile, at this moment, Princess Maeb was unaware of this, but Zeros was also finding comfort in Fidisha’s answer.

A question that can provide an indirect answer to a question about a fact that was not accurately described in the original work.

And as a result, the better answer allowed Zeros to comfortably relieve the guilt he had unintentionally felt toward someone he could call a friend.

‘Saladin’s vizier, Padishah Mehmet, wanted to rule forever. To achieve this, he conducted experiments to artificially create a magic user. However, in the end, Padishah did not want this. From what he says now, even if Saladin had perfected it, he would have refused it.’

Feeling relieved at that fact, Zeros began to feel a renewed sense of respect for the great monarch sitting before him.

A character who is comfortable and ready to let go of everything without being obsessed with it, even though he holds everything in his hands.

A being who does not try to do everything in his own hands, but knows how to look down on future generations and prepare for the future for them.

In that respect, Zeros began to understand, just a little, the loyalty of Duke Radu, whom he had previously found pitiful and frustrating.

‘Having worked for this master for half my life, it is impossible for me not to be loyal. Of course, that does not mean that I would turn my family and the duchy into dust because of this…’

With that thought in mind, Zeros looked at himself and Maev, and bowed his head slightly with deep respect as he looked at the Padishah, who was smiling with a pleased expression.