Ch.172While She Sleeps (1)

=======[ERNST]========

The night air was particularly cold that day.

Perhaps because the warmth of another brother had vanished forever.

Ernst sat in his office, receiving a midnight visitor.

His younger sister, Leonore.

“…Brother. Matthias is dead.”

In Leonore’s quiet murmur, not a trace of her usual cheerfulness could be found.

Ernst silently stared at his sister, who looked as if she might collapse at any moment, his face expressionless.

“No, he was killed. Just like Josef…. You know who did it, don’t you, brother…?”

“…It must have been the work of monsters.”

Leonore’s expression twisted.

Her fists trembled. She was filled with murderous rage, as if she might draw her sword at any moment.

“Cut the nonsense…! Monsters? Leopold’s guard knights? You know perfectly well it’s all lies!”

Unlike Leonore, who openly displayed her fury, Ernst remained consistently calm.

He simply picked up the Mana Herb he had quit smoking before and lit it.

Like a statue made of steel, without expressing any emotion.

“No. They are monsters.”

“Don’t be ridiculous…!”

“If we don’t call them monsters, what should we call them?”

Ernst sighed as he exhaled the Mana Herb smoke.

Leonore, who looked ready to grab him by the collar, couldn’t help but hesitate at her brother’s words.

“…What?”

The ashes he tapped off piled up in the ashtray.

“A mass of evil without a shred of human heart. Something so vile it would devour even its own children—if that’s not a monster, what is, Leonore?”

For the first time, Ernst revealed his true feelings to Leonore.

Long ago, since the death of his youngest brother Josef, Ernst had stopped considering Isabella human.

The results of his private investigation into his brother’s disappearance had been shocking.

Isabella had killed Josef.

Though he couldn’t discover the reason then… that too, he would learn soon enough.

“If you know that much, then brother…!”

“So what would you have me do, Leonore? Tell me. Would you kill that woman with your own hands? Or are you asking me to kill her?”

“Well…!”

“Even knowing that if that woman dies now, we would lose our faction’s center and collapse completely?”

Leonore was momentarily speechless.

Ernst’s words struck at the heart of their situation.

Just as the core figure of the First Prince faction was not Leopold but the Margrave of Landenburg, the core figure of the Third Prince faction was not Ernst.

Though conveniently called the “Ernst faction,” it was essentially Isabella’s power structure.

A collection of garbage gathered by Isabella through obscene secret banquets and incomprehensible under-the-table deals.

They weren’t particularly loyal to Ernst himself, and if Isabella died, they would scatter like sand.

Ernst knew well that leaving them alone would only harm him.

However, it was too late to do anything about it now.

Cancer cells that had been growing since decades ago, when he was still a child who knew nothing.

By the time he was old enough to determine his own path, they had already grown too large to handle.

If he tried to cut them out rashly, he would lose everything himself.

“…So you’re just going to leave it be? For the sake of your ascension to the throne?”

Ernst didn’t answer.

…He had no choice. Until now.

To safely eliminate them, he needed to gather forces loyal only to himself, and while he had made some progress with the military… time was still lacking.

‘If only I had three more years…’

Ernst, who had been muttering excuses to himself, soon let out a bitter smile.

Come to think of it, the urgency of the situation was also Isabella’s doing.

She must have guessed.

That Ernst was gathering his own forces to get rid of Isabella and all the trash beneath her.

As a result, Ernst now had no choice but to rely on Isabella’s faction.

If he wanted to become emperor.

He had a reason why he had to.

“Do you think Leopold would leave us alone if he ascended to the throne? Though he tries to hide it, his heart is clearly filled with nothing but revenge against all of us.”

“That’s…!”

“Yes. It’s a natural grudge. Look at what Isabella has done. She killed Empress Anna, practically exiled Karl to the north, and forcibly sold Eleonora to another country. Now, if our mother did such things, and Leopold becomes emperor… what do you think will happen to us?”

Leopold’s revenge would not stop at Isabella.

Ernst, as well as Leonore and Matthias, would fall victim to his vengeance.

That was precisely why Ernst pursued the throne he never wanted.

He wanted to protect his siblings. And he didn’t want to die himself.

…That was how he felt until a week ago.

“Ha, how wise of you! ‘Us’? ‘We’? So, who’s left among us? Josef died long ago. Matthias is dead too! Now only you and I remain, so I must be next!”

“Leonore.”

“You can wait calmly. If you die, Leopold will become emperor, so even that woman won’t touch you! But what about me? How long will it take before that woman gets to me? You’re not telling me to die or become a whore worse than death for the sake of making you emperor, are you?!”

Leonore’s eyes shook violently, mixed with anxiety, resentment, hatred, and fear.

Unable to bear the sight of his sister who looked ready to burst into tears, Ernst closed his eyes.

His sigh turned into white smoke that drifted around the room.

“…Yes. That… cannot be.”

Ernst once again inhaled the smoke until his lungs were full…

And exhaled a long, very long sigh.

As if expelling everything that had bound him, everything he had planned.

It was time to make a decision.

“…Brother?”

“Leonore. Yes, Leonore…. As you said, now only you and I remain…. And in the end, only one will remain.”

‘Or perhaps… not even one.’

He couldn’t let that happen. Absolutely not.

Ernst crushed out his cigarette in the ashtray and rose from his seat.

Startled, Leonore took a step back.

“Leonore. This is the last advice I’ll give you, so remember it well. Right now, immediately, pack only your essential belongings and leave the palace. Find a place where no one, not even the Rose Knights, can find you, and hide there for at least four days.”

“What? Last? What are you saying…?”

“If within four days you hear that Isabella has died or been imprisoned, you may return. However, if nothing happens… never come looking for me again. Either leave the Empire and live with your identity hidden, or… hmm… yes. It would be best to seek out the Aishan-Gioro Princess and place yourself under her protection.”

His words were definitive and one-sided, as if leaving a last will.

Leonore was so taken aback by her brother’s sudden declaration that she could only listen, unable to respond.

“Leopold will try to use or kill you, but the Princess will protect you. If she were cruel enough to sell out someone asking for help for the sake of power, she wouldn’t have been chosen as the master of the Oath Sword. Under the Princess, in Landenburg, find your life and live it.”

“No, no. Wait, what are you suddenly talking about? What are you going to do?”

“…Something I should have done long ago. Remember, Leonore. Right now. Leave without a moment’s delay. Do you understand me?”

Ernst’s hand reached for the longsword hanging on the wall.

Though not an Oath Sword, it was a pure silver longsword.

He didn’t possess a better sword than this.

“Stop, if you’re going to do this, then let me come with you…!”

Ernst naturally deflected Leonore’s attempt to grab his shoulder with a slight twist of his arm.

In pure physical strength, he actually had the advantage over Leonore.

“It’s pointless. Value your life, Leonore. That is this brother’s last wish.”

Ernst left his room without even waiting for Leonore’s response.

The prince with a sword walks unhindered through the imperial palace at dawn, when most servants are asleep.

No one was foolish enough to stop a prince who claimed to have urgent business with his mother.

—-

Isabella’s bedroom was heated with passionate pleasure.

After the Emperor’s death, did she no longer care about others’ eyes?

The embarrassing moans of intermingled men and women echoed clearly through the corridor beyond the door.

It would cause a great scandal if rumors spread, but there wasn’t even a single guard in the inner corridor, so Isabella’s activities wouldn’t leak outside.

‘Yes, they must all be inside.’

He could guess why there were no guards.

They were probably enjoying “the grace bestowed by Her Majesty the Empress” while joining their bodies with their mistress.

It was a banquet of whores and trash.

“Ahhh…! Yes, more…! Hnnngh!”

Ernst knocked on the door, ignoring Isabella’s whore-like moans.

The ecstatic cries abruptly stopped.