Chapter 255
Chapter: 255
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 255
>Chapter Title: Attic Room (4)
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>"Your Majesty, you cannot do this! No matter how loyal Sigismund is to Delcros, marching into our territory with knights without any prior notice is a blatant disregard for holy law and imperial law!"
The one who stepped forward to block the Holy Emperor and his Holy Knights, who had arrived without warning, was Hendrick Sigismund, who was not yet the family head at the time.
But the young Holy Emperor's stride showed no hesitation.
"You dare say that after deliberately hiding the existence of a daughter of the imperial bloodline all this time? If I had given prior notice, what would you have done to my child?"
"That is—!"
"If you're so curious, I can show you firsthand what it means to threaten a territory with force. So step aside. Before I hold you accountable for all of this."
At those words, Knight Commander Katrina, who moved like an extension of the Holy Emperor himself, raised her long shield and shoved the young lord aside.
"Father! Say something to His Majesty!"
Hendrick turned back in panic, but Vincent, the Margrave, simply watched the Holy Emperor's actions in silence.
"...Father?"
Hendrick called out again in bewilderment, then flinched and drew in a sharp breath.
The Margrave was not merely tolerating the Holy Emperor's actions. He was frozen stiff, paralyzed by overwhelming terror.
Was it because he had recently stepped into the realm of the Decaron Knight? He sensed an unprecedented, immense danger emanating from the young Holy Emperor.
"What in the world is His Majesty...?"
Yes, it felt just like a mere ant facing a colossal storm. The moment he dared to move, he would be swept away helplessly, torn to shreds without even preserving his form.
In the midst of it all, the Holy Emperor finally reached the top of the mansion. He ordered his knights to fall back a bit, then personally opened the attic door.
Creak.
In the faint light seeping in from the entrance, a gaunt girl appeared. She wore ragged clothes, and one leg was twisted at an unnatural angle—a pitiful sight.
The Holy Emperor seemed deeply shocked, staring at her in stunned silence for a moment, at a loss for words.
"Daddy...!"
At that moment, Amel's eyes widened upon seeing the Holy Emperor, and she broke into a delighted smile.
It was clearly their first time meeting face-to-face, yet she seemed to recognize her parent at once.
But as the girl stumbled toward him, she spotted the armed knights and froze in fright, hesitating.
"...Amelia, what is it?"
His voice, slightly low and husky, called the name of the daughter he had never spoken to before.
The girl replied in a tiny, creeping whisper.
"Um, my daddy is someone who travels alone all over the place. He doesn't go around with so many knights like this..."
But it does look like Daddy's face. How strange.
As the girl tilted her head, the Holy Emperor approached slowly, lest he frighten her.
"Yes. It's a good habit not to judge hastily. You're clever, Amelia."
"That's just how you praise people weirdly, like Daddy does. But my daddy doesn't wear clothes that shine so white like yours."
"......"
As the Holy Emperor silently drew near and stopped, the girl looked up at him after a moment's thought, as if having made up her mind.
"Then I'll ask just one thing. Can you name my friend? My friend is the happiest girl in the world, with the most family members."
The Holy Emperor pondered deeply before answering.
"Then your friend must be Belluna of the night sky. She is the happy goddess who bears the beautiful daughters of the sun's Calyke and the moon's Olivier, and leads countless sons of the stars."
At that response, little Amel's face visibly brightened.
"Then, um... what words start with A and have 'Arrhc' in them? It's the first word in the Brittany tongue that Daddy taught me."
"That word is probably 'angel,' Amelia. Anyone who sees you would think of it first."
Only then did Amel smile broadly in relief and approach the Holy Emperor.
"You really are my daddy!"
"......"
Orden couldn't understand it. How could a father and daughter, who had never even seen each other's faces before, have such a conversation?
"What the hell are they talking about?"
Even Hendrick, the father, muttered in confusion.
Meanwhile, the Holy Emperor gazed for a moment at Amel, who was barefoot despite the chilling weather. He removed his ceremonial robe and knelt on one knee to meet her eyes.
He draped the robe over her shoulders and gently embraced her.
"The pretty clothes will get dirty, Daddy. The countess always called me a dirty child."
"That could never be. You are the most precious and beautiful child in the world."
"But the clothes will get dirty..."
"This robe exists because of children like you. So if you don't accept it, it would have no meaning at all."
The Holy Emperor's expression as he spoke was astonishingly calm.
But everyone present saw the veins bulging clearly on his neck. For a fleeting moment, his eyes seemed to flash with a strange silver gleam.
"I'm so sorry for finding you so late, Amelia."
Amel let out a small laugh at the Holy Emperor's quiet apology.
"The sister in the black veil already apologized. She said she's really sorry for taking away the only daddy I have."
"......"
"But she said that because of it, I'll get to meet so many family members, so I'll end up even happier in the end."
"...I see. Did she?"
The Holy Emperor slowly stroked the girl's hair and murmured something incomprehensible.
"It was then, at Regina's crossroads. That changed everything for you and me."
And soon, divine power like a miracle poured down upon Amel.
The girl's pale cheeks turned rosy pink, and luster instantly returned to her disheveled hair. Her twisted leg made a series of cracks and straightened perfectly.
"Angel..."
Orden watched the scene in a daze. The little girl wrapped in the white robe looked just like an angel, ready to fly up to the heavens at any moment.
And Orden realized that the time for parting with her had come. Amel was no longer just his little Amel.
His heart swelled with overwhelming joy, yet at the same time felt achingly empty.
Murmur murmur.
As everyone in the count's mansion exchanged glances and whispered.
The Holy Emperor, holding Amel dear in his arms, slowly rose and turned to them. His lips curled up in a ferocious smile.
Chill.
The moment they met his piercing gaze, Orden felt a bone-deep cold pierce straight to his soul, for some reason.
He had happened to be the closest, worried about Amel, so he was the first to face that terrifying look.
"......"
But after coldly staring down at him for a moment, the Holy Emperor simply brushed past, lightly tapping the boy's shoulder.
Tap.
"......!"
At first, Orden thought he had been coldly shoved aside.
But he soon realized that for a judgment upon the Sigismund household, it was remarkably lenient.
Because the next person to meet the Holy Emperor's gaze did not escape unscathed.
"Gaaahhh!"
Crack, snap!
The legs of a maid who had been standing fine, untouched by anyone, suddenly shattered and twisted on their own. She was a young maid who had done all the countess's errands.
"......!"
"Aaaahhh!"
In the sudden chaos, as everyone paled in horror, the young maid foamed at the mouth and writhed on the floor.
Bones tore through her skin, splattering blood, while her muscles were crushed and burst all at once. It was as if an invisible demon in the air was whipping her legs from multiple directions.
In that grotesque scene, only the Holy Emperor and his accompanying Holy Knights stood with composed faces.
Of course, the seemingly gentle knight commander did give her a pitying look for a moment.
"Grgh..."
Finally, overwhelmed by the excruciating pain, the maid rolled her eyes back and fainted.
The Holy Emperor gazed down at her with eyes as cold as icicles. Even then, he didn't forget to wrap Amel's head with the robe and block out all sound with his aura.
"...Is it over?"
In the brief silence that fell, someone's terrified voice rang out unusually loud. But unfortunately, it was merely the prelude to the coming bloodbath.
"Kraaah!"
"Kyaaah!"
Soon, screams erupted from here and there.
Some clutched arms twisting at horrific angles, others grabbed splitting skin as they shrieked until their throats tore.
Crunch—
Snap snap—
The agony was terrible enough, but the extreme terror of the inexplicable phenomena occurring in thin air strangled their breaths.
Thus, only horrific rending sounds and dying gasps completely engulfed the count's mansion.
Frozen in place, watching it all, Orden spotted a few familiar faces among those twisting in pain and jolted in shock. And he soon realized one fact.
There was a clear cause for each phenomenon! Those who had slapped Amel's face had their facial skin ripped off entirely, and those who had twisted her arm had theirs mangled and snapped mercilessly.
He couldn't fathom how the precise abuses Amel had suffered were being recreated at even greater intensity.
But it was clear that all of this was the revenge exacted by Amel's father, the Holy Emperor.
"Uuugh..."
After that wretched chorus of screams and bloodbath passed. Fewer than half remained standing unscathed.
"So many people took part in tormenting Amel."
Orden was stunned by the shocking truth anew when the Holy Emperor, slowly surveying the blood-soaked scene, pronounced judgment in a calm voice.
"But rest easy. You committed crimes deserving death, yet considering my daughter's feelings, I won't take your lives. Moreover, since you've been punished as recompense for carrying out Sigismund's orders, Sigismund will care for your ruined lives henceforth."
And the Holy Emperor's gaze next turned to where the direct line of the Sigismund family had gathered.
"Y-Your Majesty...!"
The pale-as-a-ghost Hendrick stepped forward, blocking his wife and young children. Behind him was Orden's grandmother, trembling in fear.
The Holy Emperor sneered coldly at the young lord.
"Feigning protection of your household to beg for sympathy? You, who would discard even blood kin like excess firewood for the sake of your territory."
"Please, have mercy! You cannot lay hands on a noble without a trial!"
"Surely you know that insulting and harming a member of the imperial family allows for summary execution."
"Then at least grant a formal trial! Though our treatment of Her Highness was lacking, it happened because no one knew she was a princess!"
The Holy Emperor silently tilted his chin slightly, as if to say, go on.
The young lord bit his lip hard at that icy demeanor, but there was nowhere left to retreat.
"Of course, even Mother had no inkling. She merely sought to discipline the family bastard according to house law, in line with the Lord's will against lust..."
Boom.
Hendrick could say no more. The temperature around him plummeted sharply, sending a chilling shiver through him.
As the frozen Hendrick's jaw chattered, the Holy Emperor, watching him, smiled gently for a moment—though his icy eyes grew even colder.
"Did you think I truly wouldn't know that you, the first to realize it, sowed confusion in the guild's investigation to cover it all up? That you could forever hide the secret dealings to silence outsiders who knew my daughter's whereabouts?"
"......!"
"Even going so far as to pretend to defend your mother while shifting all blame onto her. What drives you to so easily forsake human decency?"
Only for the territory. To minimize anticipated damage as much as possible.
The instinctive answer flashed through Hendrick's speechless mind.
But as if reading his thoughts, the Holy Emperor nodded with an amused tone.
"Yes. For the territory. You can't even imagine what results your choices will bring later."
"......"
"No need to worry for now. I have no intention of breaking the imperial law I myself established just to harm you. Simply exist as you are and continue making your decisions without hesitation. Solely for that territory of yours."
It was not forgiveness.
The cold silver-gray eyes fixed on Hendrick conveyed but one meaning.
—I won't stop it. I'm quite looking forward to the outcome.
"What in the world...?"
While the young lord drowned in confusion, the Holy Emperor turned and approached Vincent the Margrave, who was still trembling.
"Eek!"
The Margrave collapsed to the floor with a strangled gasp. It was hard to believe this was a man who had recently ascended to the Decaron Knight ranks—such a pathetic sight.
"Y-Your Majesty! Forgive me! Her Highness! Forgive me! Please spare me! I-I...!"
The Margrave kowtowed frantically on the floor, babbling madly. To Orden, his half-mad behavior from terror was shocking.
The Holy Emperor's eyes flickered with silver gleams now and then as he gazed down at him calmly, as if anticipating the old man's reactions—clearly weaving some invisible spell, just like before.
"Grk, grh!"
How long did it go on?
Only when the old man lay collapsed on the floor, half-unconscious, did the Holy Emperor turn away. Toward the countess, who had been deathly pale and on the verge of fainting.
"...Grandmother!"
Orden grew anxious. Undoubtedly, in this matter of Amel's abuse, his grandmother bore the greatest share.
Setting aside right and wrong, as blood kin, Orden couldn't help worrying about her fate.
But then, something unbelievable happened right before his eyes.
"Countess."
After silently staring at his trembling grandmother, the Holy Emperor bestowed upon her an immense blessing.
Bewildered by the sudden holy power enveloping her, the countess looked around in confusion.
Enveloped in sacred white light, the Holy Emperor smiled more radiantly than ever.
And Orden still clearly remembered the quiet murmur he uttered then.
"Be remembered in Amelia's eyes as your happiest self. So that whatever befalls you later, my children will bear no guilt whatsoever."
* * *
"...A blessing?"
Seongjin, having heard the full story from Orden, couldn't help but be puzzled. Why bestow such a thing on someone who deserved to be beaten to death?
But the moment he faced the countess in person, Seongjin suddenly understood everything perfectly.
The extent of punishment a single soul could endure. The karma, perhaps a bit short, balanced precariously through someone's blessing.
"This is my chance!"
A chance for the cruel revenge only he could exact. Knowing I wouldn't hold back, Father willingly left my share for me.
Seongjin grinned ferociously, his lips stretching wide.
Ah, how could he not be thrilled!