episode_0130
by fnovelpiaAs he climbed the stairs, there was no one to stop him.
Red eyes with bloodshot veins.
Even the servants of the palace and the shadows of the emperor could not stop Yulrian, who looked so ominous.
“Y-Your Majesty.”
Only the head butler behind him tried to stop Yulrian from heading to the emperor’s office.
“Is it just a mere head butler trying to block the way for the master?”
Christian grabbed the head butler by the collar and ended up punching him in the corridor.
As he climbed the stairs and passed through the dark, sticky corridor towards the office, there was not a single shadow trying to stop Yulrian.
The shadows guarding the emperor’s office in front of the heavy wooden door pushed Yulrian away despite their ominous voices.
“His Majesty has ordered not to let anyone in.”
Of course, Yulrian did not pay any attention to their words.
“Your Majesty, it is I, Yulrian.”
Son.
At the word that came out of Yulrian’s mouth, directly revealing himself as the emperor’s son, the shadows standing in front of the door, as well as the following Christian and the head butler, looked surprised.
However, there was not a single sound coming from inside.
“Yulrian is here.”
The room remained silent.
With a nonchalant response, Yulrian approached the firmly closed door of the office.
“If you do not summon me, I will go see my father myself.”
“Y-Your Majesty. What are you trying to do right now!”
The shadows finally tried to stop Yulrian. They froze in place, staring at his red eyes.
Bang-
Yulrian kicked the door of the office.
The shadows and the head butler, Christian, who were left behind, just stared at Yulrian entering the office where the emperor was.
Yulrian, who entered the office, looked around. The room where the emperor stayed was not much different from the last time he saw it.
The only thing that had changed was one thing.
The emperor, who was sitting at the desk and looking down at himself, was now leaning against the sofa, pouring himself a drink alone.
As the uninvited guest burst into the office, Emperor Duard Galatea turned his head nervously and glared at the shadow standing behind Yulrian.
“I said not to let anyone in.”
“I-I apologize, Your Majesty.”
In a rage, the shadows approached Yulrian and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him away.
However, even as the two men tried to pull him away, Yulrian did not budge in front of the emperor.
“Your mother has passed away.”
At the word “mother,” the emperor furrowed his brows. Twirling the glass in his hand, he replied with an annoyed tone.
“So she did. Jumped out the window, I heard.”
He took a sip of whiskey from the glass and then placed it back on the table.
“Sad turn of events. To take her own life like that. She was quite clever in many ways.”
Despite the harsh words, his voice remained calm. The emperor looked at Yulrian’s red eyes and asked, “Tell me why you are making such a fuss.” He raised his chin slightly.
“They say she was strangled at the church.”
“Isn’t that the law of the land?”
“I ask that Your Majesty intervene.”
“As you know, funerals are not up to me. It’s like saying we can’t be together because I want to marry you off to someone else.”
With that, the Emperor waved his hand dismissively. Turning his head back to the wine bottle as if annoyed, he shouted, “I have nothing more to say, so leave.”
“Yet, aren’t you the man who once shared affection with a woman? The result of that joke is standing right in front of you. And yet, do you still plan to heartlessly abandon her?”
Thud-
The thick whiskey bottle landed loudly on the table as the Emperor slammed it down roughly. He turned his gaze back to Yulian, whose face displayed a look of displeasure.
“Your mother threw herself out of the window. When I was taking care of her, I placed her in a safe room in case of any accidents.”
Chuckling, the Emperor continued, “And I gave you the responsibility. It was you who moved your mother to a room without any safety measures. And on the fourth floor, no less. Stop bothering me and just jump out of the window, didn’t you push her?”
Yulian’s clenched fist trembled at his words. The Emperor looked at him, a cruel smile on his face, and continued speaking.
“Yet here you are, speaking in front of me like this?”
Yulian couldn’t even muster a response to the Emperor’s words. His red eyes, now looking down at the floor, remained silent.
“Hah, I thought you were somewhat intelligent, like your mother.”
Seemingly intrigued by his reaction, the Emperor turned his gaze back to Yulian, who was still holding onto the whiskey bottle.
Perhaps due to the earlier shock, there was a white thread inside the thick glass bottle.
“That’s enough now. Don’t worry about that matter and finish what you’re supposed to do. Or rather, with that attitude, the outcome won’t be good. So, bid farewell to your mother properly.”
However, Yulian didn’t back down so easily.
“Should I drive out the Empress?”
His voice was filled with anger. But the anger wasn’t just directed towards the man in front of him.
“What did you just say?”
“Drive out the Empress and make me the scapegoat.”
And the Emperor also sensed that anger. The lifeless look on his face was replaced by a predatory gleam.
Turning his head, he saw the red eyes staring back at him.
Yes! It has to be this way to be enjoyable.
“Wasn’t the order I gave you that?”
Yulian approached the sofa where he was sitting. Kneeling in front of him, he met his gaze with his red, bloodshot eyes wide open.
“I will drive out the Empress. If you want me to tear apart Princess Dominique, I will. If you want me to kill all the people in the capital, I will even bathe in the blood of newborns.”
The eyes, now red with rage.
Perhaps due to the words he spoke, the eyes under the trembling silver hair seemed devilish, causing Eduard to smile slightly.
“So, what is it that you desire, Your Highness? Your mother is already dead, so do you want a new woman from the Bearen family?”
“Women are no longer necessary. However…”
The voice, previously low with anger, soon faded away. Yulian closed his stiff, angry eyes for a moment, then calmed and composed himself, pushing down the cold anger in his chest and raising his head.
In the end, it was all because of his lack of power.
Mother’s life was not protected, and his own woman was taken by the Emperor.
Because he was not an ordinary child, but the Emperor’s illegitimate son.
Because he had no power, this was the inevitable outcome.
And now.
Ironically, the only thing left to him was a half-bloodline as the Emperor’s illegitimate son.
“I will move as you wish. Please give me the strength to protect what I have. I have no intention of losing my possessions so easily in the future,” said Yulrian. The Emperor looked at Yulrian, his half-blood son, deeply into his red eyes, where something deeply buried seemed to overlap with the unwavering emotions he had towards power in his younger days.
Indeed, bloodlines cannot be hidden.
He chuckled and patted Yulrian’s shoulder.
“As the woman I once loved, I will do my best to ensure Lady Valatie’s safety.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“For now, this is all I can offer you.”
The Emperor poured whiskey into an empty glass and handed it to Yulrian.
“First, it’s about the Empress. If you bring me a satisfactory answer to the task I have given you, I will personally grant you the shadow of the Crown Prince.”
Yulrian accepted the glass handed by the Emperor. He bowed his head and quickly drank the whiskey in one gulp.
As the glass was full, it took some time to drink the liquid through the neck.
“I will bring you the answer you expect.”
Standing up, Yulrian replied. Then, he bowed again, turned around, and headed out of the reception room.
The Emperor watched Yulrian leave, then called him back at the door.
“Crown Prince. I can offer you Lady Valatie’s handmaiden as a bonus.”
Standing still at the Emperor’s voice, Yulrian turned his back and quietly replied.
“As I mentioned before, I will conquer that woman myself.”
#
“Pick out some useful men to attach to Yulrian from the shadows,” the Emperor said as he poured whiskey into an empty glass. The steward standing behind him looked surprised and glanced at the Emperor’s side.
“Your Majesty, do you really trust Duke Valatie?”
With a subtle hint of anger, the Emperor glared at the steward.
“Just because I showed my son the image of a father, do you also see me as an ordinary man?”
The steward quickly approached him, knelt down, and pressed his forehead to the ground.
“No, no, Your Majesty. I apologize. I have been rude-”
“Hahaha.”
The Emperor laughed heartily.
Eventually, he playfully tapped the steward’s head with his foot.
“It was a joke. Why are you kneeling down like that?”
“Your, Your Majesty.”
“Well, since you’re already on your knees, why don’t you have a drink from my glass?”
The Emperor quickly drank the whiskey in the glass. Then he extended the empty glass to the steward, who was still kneeling with his forehead on the ground.
“Do you trust Yulrian?”
“I, I was just… influenced by Duke Valatie…”
The steward accepted the glass offered by the Emperor. The Emperor tilted the empty whiskey bottle over the glass and said, “Drink up.”
“That bastard of a bastard has no support base anyway. Realizing the fact that he couldn’t even protect his own mother’s neck from being cut with his own strength, he turned his back on me. To the man who imprisoned and killed my mother.”
The thick brown liquid overflowed at the entrance, but the Emperor kept the tilted bottle as it was. The whiskey flowing down the glass was moistening the floor through the butler’s arm.
“Well, now that an interesting chess piece has come into my hands, I should have some fun for a change.”
#18. Final Prelude 完
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