episode_0141

Hwangdo Luthes’ situation was rapidly turning around. His bookkeeper, Ernst, would be working at the palace by now.

The security official of the Ministry of the Interior, Yulrian, knew the structure of the palace well. He had already thoroughly identified any vulnerabilities in the palace’s defenses.

Taking on the position without any power or honor was all part of the plan.

Finally reaching the end of the long corridor, Yulrian came face to face with the stern-faced butler of the mansion.

“Where is the Emperor?”

In response to his question, the butler simply replied, “He is inside.”

With a stoic expression, it was understandable. The situation was completely under Yulrian’s control.

So, someone like the butler was already outside of Yulrian’s concern.

Yulrian opened the tightly closed door of the office. Now, no permission or polite knock was necessary.

The Emperor, like the day Yulrian became his chess piece, was sitting on the sofa in front of the desk in the office. Behind the Emperor, Yulrian’s subordinate had a sharp blade pointed at his neck.

“Who are you, this person? Are you not my father?”

The Emperor casually greeted his son, but he couldn’t hide his expression and stiff demeanor. Yulrian picked up the whiskey bottle that the Emperor used to enjoy, shaking it carefully as he approached.

“Have you been well, Your Majesty?”

The Emperor revealed his hidden fangs.

“I didn’t know you were so foolish.”

“Now that you know, isn’t it fortunate?”

The Emperor chuckled. As the laughter echoed in the darkness, the Emperor spoke again.

“So, Yulrian. How did you plan to strike your father?”

A steady liquid filled the transparent glass. Yulrian smirked as he handed the glass to the Emperor.

“Ha! You call yourself my father? What a truly amusing statement.”

Yulrian had always thought that way.

“You have never been a father to me for a moment.”

And a glass of alcohol was handed to the Emperor.

The Emperor, Eduard, gazed at the whiskey-filled glass for a moment.

“Is it poison?”

“…As if.”

With a cold smile, Yulrian emptied the glass first.

“Just a final courtesy.”

If not for the dried red bloodstains on his wrist, the scene would have looked like a gathering of nobles.

However, unlike the burning liquid going down his throat, his red eyes were calm and long cold.

The Emperor just laughed.

He must have thought that the scoundrel was more like his other children than himself.

Although he had the ability, he had been eliminated from the competition for the throne due to the flaw of being a bastard.

What Eduard saw in his own son, Yulrian, was his past self. The third prince who had no power or foundation. That was Eduard.

That’s why Eduard deliberately trapped Yulrian. It may have been a rather cruel move.

Perhaps he didn’t want to see Yulrian achieve anything. The remnants of twisted inferiority in Emperor Eduard were manifested in his son in such a way.

Yulrian resembled him.

So, he took the opportunity given by him and went on a mission to the eastern coast of the continent, almost accepting the seemingly insignificant position of the security official.

And that’s the end of that.

The emperor’s power is authority. Countless sacrifices have been made for that power, as Eduard had abandoned many things. Yulrian, of course, was no exception.

Enduring harsh persecution for power, swallowing his mother’s disgrace, and even after his mother’s death, he swallowed sharp insults.

“But it seems I underestimated you.”

Eduard said.

“Or perhaps, on the contrary, overestimated?”

This rebellion would soon be quelled anyway.

“Gathering and dragging, you only have the military power of the Imperial Guard and the Palace Guard at your disposal. Praise yourself for piercing my defenses with that force.”

Indeed, his defenses were pierced.

Eduard did not know that his son was secretly tightening his grip around his neck. There was no reason for that to happen.

Surely, if it were Eduard himself.

If it were Yulrian, resembling himself, he would have sacrificed anything for power.

Even if it were his own mother.

“But to make such a foolish and incompetent choice.”

Dominique, let alone those in the northern Berbrites, would have been better off not knowing.

“Would the nobles crown a filthy bastard like you as their emperor?”

There was no chance of success, the emperor said. Then he suddenly began to express anger.

“You ignorant commoner.”

Thud-

He roughly set down the glass and glared at Yulrian.

“Even if you struggle like this, what difference will it make? Do you think Galatea will bow down to you? Have you lived your life, used all the means around you. Will you be able to conquer Galatea with the power I have given you alone?!”

Yulrian’s red eyes flashed at his words.

“Who, like this, asked to be kept alive? Is this rebellion meaningless because it failed?”

A very cold smirk lingered on Yulrian’s lips.

It seemed that his wise father still did not understand what was truly important to him.

So, being pierced by him so carelessly and defenselessly was inevitable.

“Of course, it could fail. But what will change by staying still?”

Yulrian’s words grew shorter.

“For years, have you not faithfully followed what you told me to do? So what is left for me now?”

Success or failure of the rebellion was not important. Yulrian, too, had once sought unattainable dreams from the power that would bring him upward.

What was completely shattered was the desire for power that he had considered to be everything.

It was after his mother’s funeral. It was after he accidentally found a letter in her bookshelf.

He could understand why his mother had thrown herself away.

No, perhaps not.

Maybe the letter was just a detonator. He couldn’t admit for a while that his mother had left him like that.

Even though she felt like a dead being in the world. Even if he, her son, felt that way. There was no way his precious mother, who was his only one, would die like that.

He lived for his mother. For the day he would rescue his mother trapped in a cage.

He remembered the beautiful nightingale before losing its color, the mother who chirped so beautifully in those days.

After his mother’s death, all the persecution and neglect he had suffered, all the unfair treatment.

All the tangled resentment and anger towards the world were directed to one place.

Yulrian spoke.

“You know nothing.”

The emperor overlooked one thing. It was as if the perpetrator did not know the sins I committed.

“I didn’t live like this because of you.”

He didn’t want this.

The situation he didn’t want, the emperor forced it upon him. His mother, Louise, and then himself.

“…You seem like a despicable person.”

“You don’t know anything.”

Julian, repeating the same words, felt his body tremble. His always cold face was now tainted with a devilish aura. The anger filling his entire body was now difficult to control.

He was going to kill the man in front of him.

The reason the emperor stabbed him was ironically because Julian’s actions had been fueled by a desire for power. He must have thought that he would repay all the anger and unfair treatment he had received by ascending to the emperor’s position.

Of course, Julian had once thought the same.

“Now, no.”

He had lived avoiding it because he had too much to lose.

No, perhaps.

He had nothing to lose, but that one thing was precious, so he lived avoiding it.

“It’s okay, Julian.”

When Julian was still young, his mother always had a sad face. But even then, she always smiled at her son.

“Don’t cry, Mom.”

Young Julian didn’t understand why his mother could smile and cry at the same time. He only learned the reason much later, after he had already realized the harshness of the world and the coldness that adults should possess.

He gave up too late.

Had he missed the most important thing by not giving up until now?

The emperor’s expression changed.

“Even if all this fails, I’m fine. I’ve already lost so much out of fear.”

Julian moved his body.

“So I will struggle. Even if this struggle leads me to the end of hell, I will still do it.”

Because I curse you. Because I resent you so much.

The blade of the blood-red rapier flashed at Julian’s waist.

“So please go first.”

“…Yes, you bastard!”

The emperor’s expression, which rarely showed emotions, crumbled. With a squelching sound, a dark and thick blood stain splattered on Julian’s face.

Julian’s face was the opposite. Now devoid of any emotion, Julian turned his back. Christian, who had been watching over him, and his subordinates followed behind him with the clinking sound of armor.

“One goal has been achieved.”

At Christian’s words, Julian nodded.

In fact, those following Julian, Ernst and his subordinates, would be at the imperial palace. Gathering such people and nurturing them for a long time was almost the only thing Julian had done well in his opinion. Those who would have been useless if things had gone smoothly were now a source of strength for him.

Anyway, one goal has already been achieved.

“Now that the knot has been untied, it must be tied firmly.”

From now on, this rebellion is not solely his.

“Let’s go to the imperial palace now.”

Julian’s clock was still ticking. The night of the rebellion is just beginning to unfold.

#20. On the blood-stained fallen leaves, The End