Ch.108Blood and Iron Rejects You (4)

In the morning, Evan carefully rose as soon as the sun came up.

He chuckled as he looked at the woman nestled against his chest, Irene.

Nothing had happened last night.

When she suggested they sleep together, he had panicked internally, but Irene had truly meant just sleeping together in the purest sense.

Evan closed his eyes quietly and chided himself.

To think of such things when hearing the word “sleeping together”… No, perhaps it was natural to think that way?

After pursing his lips for a moment, he carefully removed Irene’s hand and got up from the bed.

It was dawn, before the sun had fully risen, and darkness still lingered in the bluish sky.

The moon and sun were visible together in the sky.

After getting out of bed, careful not to wake Irene, Evan nodded to a maid standing by the door.

“His Majesty has summoned you.”

“Yes. He apologizes for calling you so early, knowing you must be tired from exerting yourself last night, but says time is limited.”

“…I didn’t exert myself at all.”

Evan laughed awkwardly, but the maid simply bowed her head with an expressionless face.

The reason Evan woke up early—he moved his feet, recalling an order he had received at dawn.

The carpet woven with red silk and bordered with gold covered the entire palace floor.

How should one interpret the fact that the Emperor, who reigns over the pinnacle of the Empire, Evangelium, holds goodwill toward him?

‘…Simply put, it’s good for me.’

The Emperor was one of those beings who never fully revealed himself even in the novel.

He always operated behind the scenes, never showing his full self in any situation.

The Crown Prince had carried out his will, and from Evan’s perspective, this would be his first time meeting the Emperor up close.

“What kind of person is His Majesty?”

Evan opened his mouth with a gentle smile toward the maid.

He felt sorry toward Irene, but Evan knew well how to use his appearance.

The maid, her face slightly flushed at his smile, stared at Evan for a moment before hurriedly bowing her head and speaking.

“…I don’t know well. His Majesty is not one to casually show his face to others. However.”

“However?”

“I do know that he knows and sees more than people realize.”

At this abstract answer, Evan could only nod.

A person who knows and sees much. He himself was already born with dragon blood.

Who knew what special bloodline might have continued from the founding Emperor Alarr.

Contemplating the maid’s answer as he walked for some time, Evan’s footsteps finally halted before a massive door.

It was an enormous door. The border was engraved with phoenix feathers,

and toward the center, a dragon and tiger seemed to compete, each flaunting their splendor.

Blue jewels were set in the dragon’s eyes, red jewels in the tiger’s.

The rest of the door, entirely gilded in gold, seemed to fully display the Emperor’s majesty.

“I cannot go any further.”

“…I see.”

At the thought of entering alone, Evan felt a chill run down his spine.

He felt a coldness despite being inside the palace where no wind could possibly blow.

Thud, he took a step toward the door. When he pushed the massive door with both hands, it began to open smoothly with a creaking sound.

As the door opened, what was revealed beyond was a place difficult to simply call a space.

A corridor with no visible end, in the middle of a space much wider than any ordinary room, a cloth woven with yellow gold thread was spread out lengthwise.

Dragons carved from jade decorated both sides.

Dragons holding orbs in their mouths and ascending toward the sky existed all the way to the unseen end of the corridor.

Though light entered and reached Evan, his gaze was fixed on the painting on the ceiling rather than the bright light.

A dragon with massive inflated wings blocking the light of the sky,

and beneath it, a small dragon spreading its wings in resistance against the larger one.

Since the dragon was protecting Evangelium, the capital, Evan tilted his head at the painting.

Wasn’t it rather ominous for a palace?

It seemed like a painting depicting the fall of the Empire to anyone who saw it, so why would it be here?

As he stared at the painting for a long time, Evan suddenly flinched at a voice from beside him.

“Because no one knows what comes after that painting yet.”

“…You are.”

He was slightly shorter than Evan. But his build was larger, and his red eyes shone brightly with intelligence.

The man, touching his black hair while dressed in a splendid uniform, quietly moved his lips as he looked at Evan.

“Pleased to meet you. I should introduce myself as the Emperor, I suppose?”

At that moment, Evan’s eyes widened.

#

The man sitting calmly in the middle of the massive throne, far too large for a single person, quietly observed Evan who was kneeling.

One born with dragon blood, protector of the Empire… though he had recently gained various titles, the title he was interested in was elsewhere.

“I hear you possess Ascalon.”

Ascalon, the holy sword said to have been wielded by Alarr, the dragon-slaying sword.

Evan quietly bowed his head at those words. This was something even Evan couldn’t argue against.

He had used it well until now, and even slew Biltain with that sword.

But if the imperial family, which valued legitimacy, demanded ownership, Evan would have no choice but to surrender it.

“…That is correct.”

“You must know the origin of Ascalon. The sword with which the founding Emperor fought the great dragon Mabet. I knew well before this that a mere knight possessed it. Well, it feels odd to call a Master a mere knight.”

The Emperor gazed steadily at Evan. Ascalon, it was good to have it.

As a sword symbolizing imperial legitimacy, the founding Emperor was a very important element in the power held by the Emperor.

‘Is there really a need for this now?’

The power held by the Emperor was very important.

In an absolute monarchy, the power held by the monarch meant the ability to implement policies.

But was he so desperate that he needed to gather power by reclaiming Ascalon now?

The Emperor shook his head. No. Throughout history, there had been many emperors, but in times of national crisis, all power comes to the Emperor.

The sword was broken, but the shield still supported him. Magic, the eyes were still intact.

Diminishing the strength of Evan Fried, known as the natural enemy of black mages, would essentially diminish the support of the imperial citizens.

Though it might not please the Emperor to be mindful of others, the Emperor was generous in that regard.

This was wartime, and as imperial citizens felt threatened by extinction, power was concentrated in him.

A mere holy sword… he could afford to give it up.

“Keep it.”

“Pardon…?”

“Do I seem so petty to you? Ascalon, I’m saying you should keep it as your own.”

Evan stared blankly at the Emperor. Though he had prepared himself for the possibility of losing it, he found it difficult to read the Emperor’s true intentions when he so readily allowed him to keep it.

The Emperor chuckled once at Evan’s expression, then waved his hand and spoke.

“Don’t read too much into every word. I simply said keep it, so you should feel free to wield the sword. Do you have any objections?”

“Objections?”

“Yes, we have too much to do to harbor objections. Hatan, and…”

The Emperor looked at Evan for a moment, tilting his head, then tapped the armrest of the throne lightly and spoke.

“Fried.”

“…You knew.”

“You don’t deny it. Well, you would have seen the darkness up close. I won’t press you. I understand your position, and you haven’t been exposed to the dragon language for long.”

“If I may ask, how did you know I learned the dragon language?”

“Because I ordered it to be taught to you.”

Evan laughed dejectedly at the Emperor’s answer. So Lord Theorad teaching him about the dragon language, and his deciphering the letter that came to him through that paper…

“Well, I’m not monitoring you or anything like that. I simply thought you would exchange letters with your family, and if I were Fried… I would have tried to turn you toward extinction somehow. You may not have known, but Fried is one of the families I’ve been watching.”

The Emperor pointed to his red eyes, then smiled bitterly and murmured softly.

“These eyes, sometimes they show me many things whether I like it or not.”

“Do they have some special ability?”

“It doesn’t exist in Kaisel. It’s a power that manifests rarely, even among the imperial bloodline. Well, it’s not a special power. It just makes me think a bit more than others, deduce a bit more.”

The Emperor’s eyes, slightly darker than the Crown Prince’s, writhed.

Like something alive, like a heart beating, the Emperor closed his eyes and continued.

“…That’s why I came to suspect Hatan and Fried, and a few others. And regarding Fried, I eventually had no choice but to call for you.”

“……”

“I won’t deal with Fried alone. I won’t handle them together with Hatan either, and perhaps they’ll be dealt with alongside a family whose name might be unfamiliar to you.”

The Emperor, who had briefly closed his dry lips, spoke to Evan, who was bowing his head quietly.

“Terazein. Do you know it?”

Evan’s eyes widened. At the mention of Terazein, Evan’s thoughts had already reached Scarlet Terazein.

The Emperor felt the same, as he slightly frowned while thinking of the red-haired woman.

What was it about that ordinary woman that bothered him so much? She was ordinary.

Apart from being born a commoner and then adopted into a noble family where she was raised with love, there was nothing ordinary about her.

Even during her time as a commoner, she had no notable history, so she was hardly a person to be wary of.

But the Emperor’s eyes read anxiety in that woman.

More precisely, he read the anxiety he felt when looking at her.

She was harmful to the Empire. Even if not now, he felt she would be harmful later.

“…I plan to meet her and judge. How I should handle the Terazein family, or whether to leave them be.”

“Do you need my help?”

“Rather than help, I want you to observe. Haven’t you faced the most black mages? See for yourself and remember. What kind of existence the Terazein family will be for the Empire.”

“I am due to return soon. How can I see them?”

The Emperor snorted at Evan’s words.

Resting his elbow on the throne’s armrest and propping his chin, he looked at Evan and spoke.

“The adopted daughter of Terazein is coming here tomorrow.”

“Your joke goes too far.”

“Joke? I’ve never been told I’m good at jokes.”

Evan’s expression hardened. Scarlet is coming to the palace.

That means Irene and Scarlet will meet.

As Evan’s complexion visibly paled, the Emperor tilted his head.

“Are you perhaps acquainted with the adopted daughter of Terazein?”

“…No, it’s not that.”

“Your complexion looks quite bad. If you happen to suspect something…”

“The young lady is a bit jealous…”

Ah- The Emperor frowned and nodded.

The story of Evan and Irene was already famous in the capital, so the Emperor smiled warmly as he recalled it and looked at Evan.

He thought it was a pure and devoted love, but was it actually a case of being firmly controlled by the woman?

To think that a knight called Master would be dominated by a woman…

“But that’s that, and this is this. How about meeting her once?”

At the Emperor’s firm request, Evan could only bow his head.

In truth, what he feared about Irene and Scarlet meeting wasn’t that Irene would be jealous.

It was the scene from the novel—if Scarlet were to become involved with the Crown Prince as in the novel, and through him try to check Irene…

‘Even so, it wouldn’t change much.’

Evan decided to lean toward reassurance. Many things had changed.

Wasn’t that what the last four years of effort had been for? To be anxious now would be tantamount to not trusting everything that had been done until now.

As Evan’s expression calmed, the Emperor, who had been watching him for a moment, spoke.

“So, what I want to talk about is that painting I mentioned earlier.”

“The painting, you say.”

The ceiling painting, the Emperor’s finger was pointing toward the painting covering the entire ceiling of the palace where the Emperor resided.

The painting of a massive black dragon blocking the sky.

“The great dragon Mabet.”

“…You’re referring to the black dragon.”

“I’ve been thinking. What is extinction aiming for? What is the purpose of the sacrifices they speak of? Why do they go to such lengths to kidnap, imprison, and kill imperial citizens?”

The Emperor, who had been sitting in a poor posture, corrected his posture.

His writhing red eyes glowed bizarrely, shining brightly with the light filtering through the window.

“Decades ago, extinction is known to have failed to destroy the Empire. It’s a funny story. I, who was the Crown Prince then, watched everything and know everything.”

“Could it be—”

“They chose not to destroy it. The dragon protected the Empire? What a joke. It wasn’t the time they wanted, because destroying the Empire then would have gained them nothing. They simply chose not to.”

The Emperor’s finger pointed toward the sky.

At the tip of his finger was the fierce and cruel great dragon symbolizing the extinction of this world.

Mabet.

“They are trying to resurrect Mabet. The day when the red moon rises, that’s the day they’re aiming for.”

“But how could that be easy? Roman has already fallen, and Maloric is dead. Many of the sacrifices to be used in the subjugation of Roman have also disappeared. And the day when the red moon rises, do you know when that is…”

“Do you know about a total lunar eclipse?”

The Emperor answered coldly. Total lunar eclipse, as a modern person, Evan knew that term. And because of that, he flinched at the coldness running down his spine.

“On the last night of this year, a total lunar eclipse will begin.”

Evan smiled bitterly at those words. It seemed there would be much to do before the year ended.