Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 38

Chapter 38

“……So, why is the Emperor in a place like this?”

I’d be more understanding if he were a prince who’d lost out in the succession battle. Looking back at Earth’s history, siblings killing each other for the throne was common.

But Isana doesn’t have any siblings, and he’s already the Emperor. Moreover, the people with him are the Imperial Knights, directly serving the Emperor! I couldn’t understand what they lacked that they were hiding in a place like this.

That’s not all. He clearly looked emaciated, and it was obvious he hadn’t properly washed in days. The environment was so poor that even the injured couldn’t be cared for. Anyone could see they were in hiding.

“That’s…… because of the Grand Duke.”

It was Alex who answered in a heavy voice. I frowned slightly at the mention of an unexpected figure.

“The Grand Duke……?”

“Grand Duke Yukarte, the High Priest of the Demon God Temple and the younger brother of the late Emperor.”

“Ah, the brother who was said to have a deep bond with the late Emperor? So, he’s Isana’s uncle. But why him?”

The moment I asked, I noticed that everyone’s faces, including Alex’s, subtly contorted. It was a sight that gave me a bad feeling.

As expected, I couldn’t help but be shocked when I heard Alex’s answer.

“He tried to assassinate Emperor Isana.”

“Excuse me? Assassinate? His uncle tried to kill his nephew?”

To my bewildered reaction, Alex began to explain the past situation in detail.

After the late Emperor’s death, Isana was greatly shocked and did nothing but cry, neglecting food and drink. As a result, even after the coronation, he was unable to properly focus on state affairs for some time.

Then, his uncle, Grand Duke Yukarte, used that as an excuse to criticize Isana. Honoring the Emperor of Calamity was an act that would lead the empire to ruin, so he demanded that all mourning for him be stopped immediately.

“How could he……?”

“That was also the official position of the Demon God Temple. Since the founding of the empire, it has been customary for all citizens to wear black clothing for several months in mourning when a member of the Imperial Family dies. But the late Emperor wasn’t even given a proper funeral because he was cursed. They claimed that mourning the late Emperor’s death was an act of heresy against the Demon God.”

“So?”

“Of course, the Emperor did not accept the Demon God Temple’s claims. Rather, he tried to rebrand the late Emperor’s death as a sacred sacrifice for the people, and the rain that fell was to comfort his noble spirit. At the same time, he tried to set a mourning period of about three months. And then that happened.”

“That?”

“The Grand Duke led soldiers and stormed in the middle of the night.”

“……!”

That day, Isana had fallen asleep, exhausted from crying. Defenseless, he was caught completely off guard by the sudden attack at dawn. The Grand Duke quickly seized the palace and declared a regency in front of everyone.

‘The Emperor is cursed by the late Emperor and has gone mad!’

That was the reason he announced to the world after taking the throne as regent.

“The Grand Duke tried to confine His Majesty the Emperor in the ‘Final Tower.’ The ‘Final Tower’ is a place where heinous criminals or mad members of the Imperial Family have been imprisoned since ancient times. Once someone enters that place, they can never come out again until they die. They are alive, but not truly living. Even those who weren’t usually favorable to His Majesty felt that it was somewhat excessive. But the Grand Duke’s influence was too strong, so no one stepped forward to object. In the end, all we could do was help His Majesty escape.”

Even after the explanation, I couldn’t say anything for a while. He seemed like a completely different person from the impression I had when I first heard about the Grand Duke.

“How…… how could he do that? No matter what the oracle said, he was his brother. And you said they were brothers with a deep bond? How could he do that to his nephew who was grieving……?”

“That’s all a lie.”

I turned around at the voice. Isana was standing there with a hardened face, having returned at some point.

“You…….”

“The deep bond between brothers was just an image he created. If he really cared about his brother, he wouldn’t have killed the Demon God priests who questioned the oracle.”

“……He killed the priests? You mean the Demon God priests?”

Then Ferris, who was standing next to him, calmly nodded and continued the explanation.

“As the Spirit King has already pointed out, there were many strange things about the process by which the oracle was given at that time. The fact that the rare oracle was given in a public place, and the content of the oracle itself.”

“The content of the oracle?”

“It was written in a form that anyone could easily understand.”

According to Ferris, the content of oracles is usually written in a divine language, or the content is quite ambiguous. Therefore, even a High Priest cannot immediately interpret the exact meaning.

For that reason, when the oracle was first revealed, there were those within the Demon God Temple who doubted whether it was forged. And all of those people were turned into cold corpses by the Grand Duke’s sword. He claimed they were heretics because they doubted the oracle given by God.

“The Demon God Temple never forgives heretics. Even if they escape, they are chased down and killed. According to the doctrine, his actions weren’t wrong, but if he had even a shred of concern for the late Emperor, he could never have done that. In the end, all the ways to save the late Emperor disappeared because of him.”

“Hmm, that’s definitely suspicious. Could it be that he did it on purpose? If the oracle was really forged and the culprit was the Grand Duke, he might have killed the priests to hide that fact.”

“We thought so at first, but…….”

“But?”

“Conversely, we may have been wrong.”

It was Isana who answered. A fleeting, empty smile flickered across his lips and disappeared.

“The fact that the oracle came true is undeniable.”

“Your Majesty, that’s…….”

“It rained after the late Emperor passed away. Even if it was a coincidence, no one can deny that. No, rather, it was even more so *because* it was a coincidence……. Isn’t that right?”

“…….”

Could he have heard all the conversations I had with Ferris? From the way he mentioned the word ‘coincidence’ without hesitation, I sensed that he had resolved his misunderstanding about me and that he had fallen into an even deeper sense of loss.

Isana stared blankly into the air.

“Actually, I don’t even know what’s what anymore. If the contents of the oracle are all true, then what my uncle did isn’t entirely wrong either. Rather, he was just the first to grasp and execute the will of God as a High Priest. It’s just that I’m foolish for not being able to accept it.”

“Your Majesty…….”

“Kuh-huh-huh!”

Before I knew it, the surroundings were filled with sobbing.

I frowned slightly as I looked at the knights who were covered in tears and snot.

“Even if the oracle is correct, I don’t think the Grand Duke is right, is he?”

“……What?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean? The last phrase of the oracle was that, ‘Only death can atone for it,’ right?”

At my answer, Isana and the knights looked even more bewildered. Their faces seemed to ask what that had to do with anything. I answered, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Um, well…… as far as I know, atonement means erasing sin. So, according to the oracle, the late Emperor has already been forgiven by facing death. But mourning him leads the empire to ruin? No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t make sense. Rather, it’s right to commemorate and mourn him because all the people of the continent lived because of him.”

“Why? Isn’t it the opposite? In the first place, the disaster on this land was caused by my father…….”

“Anyway, that disaster ended because your father decided to die, right? Isana, didn’t you say that too? That the late Emperor’s death was a sacred sacrifice for the people. Was that just something you said?”

“That’s…… not true.”

At the firm answer, I nodded resolutely.

“Then don’t waver until the end. Everyone seems to be accepting it as if he just paid the price for his sins. Why don’t you look at the other parts? Was the late Emperor really such a bad person? Enough to deserve death?”

“N-no! The late Emperor……! My father was a really good person. He didn’t spare a single piece of food or a drop of water for himself, and shared it with the people.”

“See? Then he’s a good person. If the oracle says so, does that mean that even the kindest person becomes a heinous criminal? If he unknowingly became the cause of the disaster, then you should feel sorry for him. Why is it wrong to mourn someone who even went to the execution ground himself to save others? No matter how I think about it, that Grand Duke is going too far.”

“…….”

Isana didn’t say anything for a while. The knights also remained silent. All of them had faces as if they had been hit hard by something.

I sighed softly and continued.

“Besides, even from an ethical point of view, an uncle who doesn’t comfort his young nephew who is crying over the loss of his father, but instead slanders him as being crazy, is not a good person in anyone’s eyes, right? In the first place, he’s such a ruthless person that he even cut down his fellow priests just for questioning the oracle. There’s no need to follow what such a person says. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong…….”

“Of course not. Just looking at the current situation, you’re clearly a victim. You don’t have to force yourself to accept this unreasonable situation.”

That was what Taejin, who used to be my friend, often told me. At the same time, it was the word that kept me going during those days.

“You’re a victim, Kang Jihoon! So, cry, get angry, do something! Don’t just hold it in like an idiot!”

I’m now giving the words that I always used to hear to someone else. Is that why? Doing this makes me feel like I’ve gone back to that time.

Isana stared at me intently. The blue eyes that looked straight ahead held a resolute light, just like I did back then.

“This is the first time I’ve heard these words.”

“Ah! Sorry, I meddled too much in other people’s business, didn’t I? No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t understand, so I just…….”

“No, that’s not true. Thanks to you, things have become clear.”

“What’s clear?”

“My position and the path I must take from now on.”

Isana answered in a calm tone and smiled faintly.

“Actually, until now, I didn’t know what to do. The future was just a dark abyss with no end in sight.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nearly a hundred Imperial Knights fell while protecting me. The survivors are just the dozen or so people here now. I sacrificed everyone to get here, but I’ve been constantly wondering if this is really the right thing to do.”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“Why are you saying such things!”

“Because that’s the truth. It was a short time, but you all know that I wasn’t a very good Emperor.”

The knights couldn’t say anything for a while at the words he muttered with a self-deprecating smile.

Thanks to that, I was able to hear the previous situation in more detail. The reason why Isana didn’t take care of state affairs after the death of the late Emperor wasn’t just because of his mourning for his father. He wandered around quite a bit because he was too heartbroken.

Every day, he would lock himself in his room alone like a madman and cry, or he would get drunk, shout, and cause a ruckus towards people. If he heard even a little mention of the late Emperor, he couldn’t stand it and would draw his sword.

The young Emperor’s licentious behavior was enough to make the people inside the Imperial Palace uneasy. As a result, that behavior later gave the greatest strength to the Grand Duke’s claim that he was crazy. At least most people supported the Grand Duke’s regency rather than Isana.

“Why am I in this position? Should I really embrace the people who abandoned even the Emperor who loved and cared for them? What meaning would there be in doing so? ……My head was only filled with these thoughts. Even if it wasn’t my uncle, I would have faced the same result.”

Then the knights, whose faces had turned pale, shouted in unison.

“N-No, Your Majesty! You were just too confused at that time!”

“That’s right, Your Majesty! We all know Your Majesty’s days as the Crown Prince. You said you’ve changed, but that’s not true. When the captain fell, didn’t you immediately embrace him without abandoning him! Seeing that, I realized for sure. You are our one and only Majesty, who has inherited the late Emperor’s warm heart and wisdom!”

The knights’ loud voices echoed throughout the cave. I smiled at Isana, who couldn’t speak with a choked expression.

“That’s what they say? Don’t you think you don’t have to blame yourself so much?”

“But I…… was really an incompetent Emperor. At that time, I had no purpose or meaning to live. If I died like that, I thought it would be okay.”

“But what about now?”

“What about now?”

“You said a little while ago that you found the path you have to take. What about now? Do you still think the same way as before?”

At my question, Isana hesitated a little but answered with a resolute expression.

“No, now…… it’s different. Now I have a reason to live. It’s all thanks to you.”

“Huh? I didn’t really do anything.”

“No. You told me that the late Emperor’s death was a sacrifice for everyone. I myself have believed that, but I wouldn’t have been sure if it wasn’t for your words just now. Then I will regain my position by any means. I will take it back and protect those whom the late Emperor loved at the risk of his life. I will never let his death be in vain.”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty!”

At that moment, all the knights shouted with faces filled with emotion. Isana looked around with a relieved yet apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry, everyone. Thank you for your hard work because of me so far. But the journey ahead may be more difficult and harder than before. Will you still trust me and follow me?”

“Of course, Your Majesty!”

“This Alex! I’ve been waiting for this moment!”

“I will follow and protect you to the end of the road you take!”

It felt like my ears were going numb from the shouts that poured out like a waterfall.