He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 38

Became the Greatest Crazy Emperor – Episode 38

Not long ago, I accidentally discovered that there were two identical people in the Imperial Palace.

At first, I thought I might be mistaken, but after carefully investigating with Head Butler Jurgen, I confirmed that there was definitely another person who looked exactly the same.

There was only one being with such an ability.

“Why? Can’t you eat it, Doppelganger?”

Doppelganger.

A mimic demon, known only in legends even on Earth.

Stories vary on whether they actually exist here, but it seemed the theory that they do exist was gaining traction.

“Wh-What are you talking about, Your Majesty? I am not such a thing.”

As soon as I was sure it wasn’t my mistake, I tried to capture the Doppelganger.

However, the Doppelganger changed its appearance from time to time and even altered the nature of the magic it displayed through its aura’s web. [Aura’s web refers to the network of magical energy signatures that can be used to identify individuals.]

Thanks to that, tracking it became difficult. The fact that I was able to confirm the existence of the Doppelganger in the first place was actually due to a stroke of luck.

However, if I searched recklessly, I worried it would escape.

“If you’re not, shouldn’t you prove it by eating this?”

“Th-That’s…….”

So I set a trap.

To make the Doppelganger come to me on its own.

It wasn’t a difficult task. Considering the current situation, it was obvious that its purpose was to kill me, whoever was behind it.

Well, it’s obvious that Karstein is involved behind the scenes.

Thud- Thud- Thud-

While the Doppelganger in front of me was sweating and at a loss, the door to the training room opened.

Head Butler Jurgen, Guard Captain Ulfman, and several guards appeared, entering the room.

And the ‘real’ maid, whom the Doppelganger had transformed into, was also brought along.

“Well done, Head Butler Jurgen. It was perfect enough to deceive the Doppelganger.”

“It’s all thanks to Your Majesty’s brilliance.”

According to the literature, Doppelgangers copy memories, personalities, and habits.

It’s not easy to deceive someone specialized in spying, but it was possible to set such a trap because we had an imperfect means of detection.

Of course, Jurgen’s skill in making him target my meal was also crucial.

“Well, aren’t you still hungry?”

“……I, I am innocent, Your Majesty. The woman over there is the fake!”

“Are you stupid? The fact that this food is poisoned is proof that you are the Doppelganger. If not, prove it by eating it?”

“…….”

I don’t know if he’s genuinely stupid or just pretending.

In fact, he seemed embarrassed that he was caught without any way out.

Perhaps he never thought he would be caught like this.

“Honestly, this is a bit boring. Are Doppelgangers originally this stupid?”

“Keuk…….”

Perhaps realizing that it was impossible to deny it any further, he lowered his head with a resentful expression.

I snorted at the anticlimactic feeling and gestured.

Then the Guard Captain ordered the guards to arrest him.

The Doppelganger seemed to be trying to be caught quietly, standing still until the guard approached.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Do you think I’ll give up so easily!”

Bang!

But the moment the guard tried to arrest him, he dropped something on the floor.

Then, an explosion occurred along with intense smoke.

“Ugh! It’s spicy!”

“Cough! Cough! Wh-Where is he!”

……Was I a little careless? Because I was trying to capture him alive without killing him, it was a mistake not to subdue him with force in advance.

It was a smoke bomb, but it seemed to be made using magic, and it was interfering with the detection using aura.

“That way! He’s running away that way!”

In the midst of the commotion, Head Butler Jurgen’s voice was heard from within the smoke.

Perhaps because he could see faintly, some of the guards immediately ran towards where he pointed.

“Everyone stop! That was the guy’s trick!”

Having realized that it was the guy’s trick after seeing Jurgen, who had fainted and fallen in the smoke at some point, I immediately shouted, but in the meantime, the Doppelganger began to escape through the gap that had been created.

He didn’t seem to have any combat ability, but he was very fast at escaping.

I tried to catch up with him using high-speed movement right away, but he quickly hid, perhaps having grasped the structure of the Imperial Palace in advance.

“This is going to be annoying.”

It was good to corner him, but the ending was sloppy.

“I am sorry, Your Majesty. It was my fault.”

“No, I was careless too, so it’s not your fault, Guard Captain. And anyway, he’s a rat in a trap.”

If the Imperial Palace was sealed off and all the servants and lower-ranking officials who were good at disguising were checked, it wouldn’t be difficult to find him.

Because all you have to do is find the same person.

There’s no way he’d disguise himself as someone who has nothing to do with the Imperial Palace; that’s just asking to be caught.

However, it became difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake when someone was transformed.

Because it’s not a situation where you can simply deny it like before.

First of all, searching is the priority, so I immediately started looking for him.

However, I soon realized that he was using his head as much as I was.

* * *

“Damn it, how did you find out?”

Miro, who had a strong sense of pride in his abilities, grumbled in humiliation at the fact that he had fallen into a trap.

He was ashamed that a foolish human had driven him like this.

Fortunately, he managed to escape the immediate crisis, but the Imperial Palace was immediately closed, and everyone seemed to be getting checked.

“Huh, do you think I’ll be easily defeated?”

But Miro was now presented with a chance.

I don’t know how he figured out his infiltration, but the fact that he had to set a trap meant that the means of finding it was not perfect.

If so, now that the trap has been neutralized, there was a high probability that he would not be able to distinguish between the real one and himself like before.

“But I can’t transform into insignificant guys like servants.”

If he transforms into someone like a maid like before, he could just kill both the real maid and himself to solve the problem.

Therefore, he must target someone whose identity cannot be easily killed.

Since it was physically impossible to escape, there was no choice but to become ‘real’ somehow.

Then there was only one person who was the most suitable.

Miro headed straight to where that person was.

* * *

“I have to take back what I said earlier. He wasn’t a stupid guy.”

Was he acting like a moron because he was embarrassed?

I had predicted that the escaped Doppelganger would transform into someone.

But he had really transformed into a difficult opponent.

“Your Majesty! I am the real one!”

“No, Your Majesty. I am the real Empress Dowager.”

The person he transformed into was none other than Empress Dowager Selina, ‘my’ mother.

Compared to when he transformed into a maid earlier, the identity of the opponent he chose this time was much higher, but I could tell that it was definitely a calculated action.

Unlike others, if he transforms into the Empress Dowager, the radical solution of ‘killing them both to solve the problem’ is impossible.

In fact, it would have been just as difficult if it had been the Prime Minister, the Head Butler, or the Guard Captain, not the Empress Dowager.

“Your Majesty, can’t you tell the difference with that detection ability you mentioned before?”

“That won’t work. Whether he realized it or not, the magical properties are almost identical now.”

I shook my head and answered Jurgen’s words.

It was slightly different, but not enough to distinguish the real one.

In the first place, even as a genius with innate talent, it was difficult to completely remember exactly what the magical properties of the ‘real’ Empress Dowager were.

[Reading thoughts failed due to the opponent’s deception.]

Moreover, I couldn’t read their thoughts even with the ‘Emperor’s Eyes’.

It seemed impossible unless I could identify the real one even if I had it.

“I’ll have to distinguish them through questions.”

“Doppelgangers are said to copy even memories. Is that possible?”

I already knew about the characteristics of the Doppelganger that Jurgen mentioned.

It’s close to the description passed down as a legend, so I don’t know if it’s true, or if it’s true, how much memory it copies in detail.

But after thinking for a while, I was able to come up with a slight possibility.

“Maybe it’s possible. I’ll ask myself.”

It may be a gamble, but even if it’s a Doppelganger, if it can’t copy ‘that’, there was a possibility that I could distinguish it.

“First, tell me where your mother’s family is.”

I don’t know who the real one is, but I asked politely.

“It’s Orlant.”

“It’s the Orlant family.”

They answered at the same time. Well, I didn’t think they wouldn’t be able to answer this either.

Next, I asked a more difficult question.

“When did you become Empress Dowager?”

“Maybe 20 years ago…….”

“It’s been 20 years and 5 months.”

One side seemed a little unsure, while the other side answered in more detail.

The side that seems unsure naturally looks suspicious, but I couldn’t be sure that she was fake.

Rather, I don’t know if it’s because she’s real that her memory is vague.

After all, it seemed impossible to find contradictions only with the presence or absence of memories.

“Then I’ll ask you just one more question.”

But the question I was really aiming for was the last question.

“Mother, have you really loved me over the past years?”

A question about emotions, not memories.

I wasn’t sure, but I asked on the assumption that the Doppelganger couldn’t copy even the vague parts of the mental realm of emotion.

Perhaps this question was a bit difficult, as neither of them answered for a moment.

“Franz.”

But soon one person answered.

“Of course I loved you.”

“…….”

“The reason I couldn’t even talk to you over the past years was all for you.”

She said in a resentful voice, as if releasing suppressed sadness.

“I had no choice but to do that to protect you from my father and in-laws.”

Everyone who heard her words on the spot looked surprised.

I already knew about the Empress Dowager’s situation, but officially, the Empress Dowager was supposed to have been neglected by the previous emperor.

In fact, it was the first time she had spoken honestly even in front of me. We knew each other, but we pretended not to know each other.

“So I loved you more than anything else in the world. Please believe that.”

With those words, she sobbed.

Everyone there was in a solemn mood at the sight.

Meanwhile, the other person in the form of the Empress Dowager had an expression full of hesitation and embarrassment.

“Your Majesty, this is probably…….”

“……Don’t say anything, Guard Captain.”

I passed the Guard Captain and approached her, who was sobbing.

“Mother…….”

I also reached out to her in a solemn atmosphere.

“……Do you like imitating me?”

“……!”

Pow!

“Keuheok…….”

I landed a straight hook on the thing that looked exactly like the Empress Dowager without hesitation. [A straight hook is a powerful punch in boxing.]

The guy who was hit by the hook made a terrible noise as if he couldn’t breathe properly, and soon fainted, and his transformation was undone.

The transformed appearance was that of a young demon boy, but I don’t even know if that was his real appearance.

“Heal him so he doesn’t die.”

“……Yes, Your Majesty.”

Everyone else was shocked, perhaps because they seemed to believe that she was the real one, but they immediately followed my orders and dragged away the Doppelganger whose transformation had been undone.

“Your Majesty.”

“Feel free to call me comfortably, Mother.”

“……Franz.”

The real Empress Dowager Selina didn’t look very happy even though she had been judged to be real.

“How did you know I was real?”

“Well, I thought my mother would hesitate to answer.”

At least, I didn’t think she would have answered ‘I love you’ without any hesitation.

“My mother would have loved my father more than me.”

“…….”

The Empress Dowager must have been wary of her maternal family, the Orlant family, interfering as in-laws, and acted like that.

The Emperor must have already agreed to do so, and the Doppelganger copied that memory exactly, so he would have said it accurately.

But could a person who felt maternal love for his child really have acted like that for 18 years?