Ch.95Damon’s Choice (1)

# The Garden of Starlight

The “Garden of Starlight” is known as the paradise of the Imperial Academy.

Usually a place with heavy foot traffic, today Damon was alone.

[Under Construction! No Entry.]

This was thanks to Damon immediately putting to use what he had learned from Ruide.

Damon reclined in a picnic chair, swirling a brilliant golden wine glass.

‘This has excellent flavor.’

Just as Damon was leisurely sipping his wine…

“Damon.”

“Hmm?”

The Second Imperial Princess Irina approached with a flawless smile. Damon looked at her with interest.

“Oh? What brings you here, wench?”

“…Still as crude as ever with your language. And that alcohol. You’re too young to be drinking it.”

“If you’re here to act like my sister now, get lost.”

Damon spoke savagely.

Blood relations sharing the same bloodline.

The imperial family had come too far to care about such things.

Competition, intrigue, conspiracy.

Even if one couldn’t become Emperor, there had been many wars fought to become the head of House Kairos, second in the line of succession.

“Hmm… I still think I’ve been kinder to you than our brothers.”

Damon raised the corner of his mouth in a sneer.

“A woman who tried to kill me twice sure has a lot to say.”

“Huh…?”

Irina smiled sweetly and held up two fingers.

“I only tried to kill you twice, right?”

“Cut the small talk. Tell me why you’re here.”

“His Majesty is making his move.”

Irina whispered to Damon with her hands behind her back.

“He plans to make Amelia Windsor the head of her house.”

Damon’s eyebrows twitched.

“Well? Isn’t that splendid?”

“…Is that true?”

“I have no reason to lie to you.”

Irina wore an amused expression. Damon spoke with a cold gaze.

“Tell him to withdraw it.”

“Hmm?”

“If this reaches Irene Windsor’s ears, it will become dangerous.”

Irina covered her mouth and laughed.

“Wouldn’t that actually create a good justification? Duke Windsor—can never betray the imperial family. No matter how impressive Irene Windsor is, she’s not stronger than the Duke.”

“This is absurd. You’re saying you’ll treat a loyal subject who has protected the imperial family for generations like this? Is this truly His Majesty’s words?”

“Well… I don’t know all the details.”

Irina tilted her head.

“But even I would see beheading the Emperor’s personal guards in front of the nobility as… rebellion against imperial authority.”

Damon set down his wine with a look of distaste. He stood from his chair, put his hands in his pockets, and looked down at Irina.

“That man must be going senile despite his youth.”

Such language about the Emperor!

Even for family, Damon was surprisingly bold.

Irina covered her mouth and chuckled.

“Move aside. I need to go offer my advice immediately.”

“Ah, that’s not why I came.”

“Do you have more to say?”

Irina opened her eyes. Her eerie red eyes—identical to Damon’s—gleamed.

“Damon Kairos.”

Irina extended her hand.

“Since you’re close to Ruide Christopher, His Majesty’s plan would go more smoothly with your help. What do you say? Shall we be on the same side?”

Damon answered immediately.

“I refuse.”

Irina turned around with a bright smile.

“That’s unfortunate.”

Irina whistled.

At that moment, Damon gave a hollow laugh.

“You’re still a gloomy woman.”

People appeared from between the buildings.

Faces he had seen before. Commoners he had bullied.

Each of them was holding a weapon. Swords, staves. Some even held hoes.

Damon remained motionless with his hands in his pockets.

Looking at the commoners approaching with faces full of hostility, he called out haughtily:

“What safety makes you dare to raise your heads, commoners! Bow your heads and show respect immediately!”

**

Ruide heard astonishing news.

“Damon… knocked down 30 commoners?”

“Yes. All with serious injuries.”

‘How much must they have displeased him.’

Seeing the behavior of commoners here, Damon’s actions weren’t entirely incomprehensible.

Ruide asked with half-open eyes:

“Why?”

“…Probably the same reason as always. Because he didn’t like them. But this time the situation is different.”

As Ella brought tea, Hersy slightly bowed her head in greeting before sipping her tea.

“They say the commoners attacked first.”

“The commoners?”

Even Ruide found this surprising.

‘Did they eat something wrong…?’

“Right? Everyone doubts Prince Damon. The professors too. In a way, he brought this on himself. He’s always been so violent.”

Hersy hesitated briefly, then spoke to Ruide with sincerity.

“But… I want to believe Damon. He may be a strange person, but he’s not the type to lie.”

“I think so too.”

Ruide nodded in agreement.

No matter how outrageous Damon’s actions were, he wasn’t the type to hide them. If anything, he would openly boast about them.

“I should help him.”

The timing was good.

Ruide was fully recharged. He had slept for about 30 hours.

As evidence, his eyes were clear rather than drowsy as usual.

“That might be difficult.”

“We just need to prove the commoners attacked first, right?”

Hersy shook her head.

“Even if it’s recognized as self-defense, there’s still a problem.”

“Why?”

“Damon’s demerits are at 49 points. No matter what happens, he can’t avoid receiving at least one more demerit.”

“Ah.”

The laws of the empire and the rules of the academy were different.

Under imperial law, there was no possibility of Damon, a royal family member, being punished.

But this was the academy.

Under academy rules, “self-defense” was difficult to recognize.

For example, if a robber broke in and you beat them up, both the robber and the person who did the beating would be punished for assault.

Being fair to everyone included criminals too.

‘The First Emperor was really…’

He left behind the concept of human rights like a pile of dung in the medieval era.

“…What if we give him merit points equal to his demerits?”

“Um… did you know the rules regarding demerits changed recently? A new standard was distributed to all students a week ago. Even for you, Ruide, it would be difficult.”

Only after Hersy pointed this out did he realize.

‘Unnecessary meddling.’

Mikael had been tampering with things.

Who knew it would play out like this.

“…Is there any possibility of making him completely innocent?”

Hersy shook her head again.

“Probably not. Given the academy’s characteristic of absolutely following the First Emperor’s will, the value of ‘equality’ cannot be undermined.”

“It is equal. If 30 people attacked me, I would have been worse. I might have killed one or two.”

“I think so too, but… you know how important perception is. If Prince Damon receives no punishment this time, there will be controversy about preferential treatment. Especially since Prince Damon’s reputation is already at rock bottom.”

Hersy refrained from saying more.

It could serve as a good example. Taking down Prince Damon would create the slogan “The Imperial Academy punishes even the imperial family!”

“Would His Majesty approve that?”

“…It’s too early to be certain, but yes. Personally, I think it’s 100%. The benefits of expelling Damon outweigh the losses. Besides, ahem, because of the recent incident… His Majesty is probably looking for ways to strengthen imperial authority.”

In short, raising the reputation of the academy as an educational institution was far more important than lowering Damon’s already rock-bottom reputation.

The academy is the power of the imperial family.

‘…I’m glad Hersy is here. Otherwise, I would have just slept while Damon got expelled.’

Moreover, Hersy, as the heir to House Minerva, had extensive knowledge of politics.

Without her, he wouldn’t have been able to properly read the situation.

“So the conclusion is that it won’t be easy.”

Hersy nodded with a grim face.

“Yes, at minimum he won’t be able to avoid expulsion.”

Ruide had set up Damon as the villain instead of Hersy.

Damon was good bait. From the commoners’ perspective, Damon was nothing short of a disaster.

Thanks to this, he had been able to keep Justin and his iron-headed group at bay. The aggro was divided.

In other words, this was his intention.

He had marked Damon as a sacrificial lamb for poetic justice. He had anticipated this would happen.

After all, Justin was the protagonist. His justice games needed to begin for Ruide’s convenience.

But recently, his heart had changed.

‘I dislike commoners. I like Damon.’

A very simple, childlike logic.

However, Ruide was no longer a careless character who just slept through everything.

Ruide stood up.

“If there’s no way, I’ll create one to help him.”

Above all, he owed Damon a debt.

“Let’s go see Damon.”

After receiving help all this time, it was now his turn to help.

**

Gilbert was flustered.

“P-Prince Damon, this is problematic.”

“You dare ask me to sit in such a chair! It’s far too inadequate for my royal presence!”

Crash!

Damon kicked the wooden chair.

The chair hit the wall head-on and shattered.

This was the Investigation Room of the academy’s Fencing Department.

It was a space prepared for interrogating students who had committed serious offenses.

Even in an academy without discrimination, nobles couldn’t be confined in cold facilities for questioning, so this was a converted reception room.

However, even this displeased Damon.

“J-just a few questions, if you could bear with us for a moment?”

“This is the third investigation. I’ve responded sufficiently.”

“…Well, there are discrepancies in the testimonies.”

Damon’s face colored with obvious anger.

“You dare suggest I would lie about those commoners?”

“No, that’s not it…”

As the commotion continued, several students from the Fencing Department brought in a chair.

It was a chair lavishly decorated with gold and jewels.

Seeing it, Damon’s expression softened slightly.

“Now this is a chair befitting my dignity.”

Damon sat arrogantly in the chair and crossed his legs.

“Very well, speak.”

“……”

‘So the chair really was the issue.’

Gilbert was dumbfounded.

But with Damon’s anger subsided, now was the opportunity.

Gilbert began his investigation solemnly.

“The part where testimonies conflict is about who initiated the attack. So…”

“Enough.”

Damon cut off Gilbert’s words.

“Looking at how things are unfolding, expulsion from the academy seems inevitable.”

“…!”

Damon raised one corner of his mouth and spoke with disdain.

“So be it. I was getting bored of playing along with this childish game anyway. I permit my expulsion. However.”

Damon spoke savagely.

“I will have all the commoners who dared soil me executed for insulting the imperial family.”

Having investigated crimes for a long time, Gilbert understood.

This was Prince Damon’s line in the sand.

It meant he had compromised this much, so they should compromise too. Gilbert recognized this, and Damon’s demand was reasonable.

But… that’s why he couldn’t speak.

‘Damn. I wonder if I’m going to catch unnecessary flak for this.’

Second Imperial Princess Irina had declared she would protect the commoners involved in this incident.

The Emperor had also issued an imperial decree to “punish Damon and uphold the First Emperor’s will.”

That the imperial family had abandoned him, and the game was over.

It was extremely difficult to say.

First, because Damon’s anger might be directed at him. Second, out of human sympathy.

Damon was 15 years old. Not even an adult yet. Learning that no one was on his side would cause immense loss.

Gilbert bit his lip. Damon looked at him with calm eyes.

“Don’t worry.”

“…Pardon?”

“I bear no ill will toward you. Nor will I in the future. So speak freely. What decision has the imperial family made?”

“……”

Gilbert bowed his head.

Damon already knew everything.