Chapter 190: The Divine Empire
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 190: The Divine Empire
“There’s free food! And drinks, too!”
El Nova was in a festive mood. The seemingly endless construction had been halted, and in its place, all sorts of food and drink were being distributed for free.
Laborers and merchants, of course, but even well-to-do people from other regions came after hearing the news of the new king's emergence.
Thanks to them, El Nova, already the size of a metropolis, was so crowded there was barely room to stand. It was plain to see even looking down from the royal castle atop the low mountain.
Knock, knock.
“The preparations for the coronation are complete.”
The one who informed me of the coronation’s progress was Mari, the head maid who used to work at my mansion. For the past two months, she had been serving as the head maid of the royal castle.
“Alright.”
I rose to my feet, fully attired in chainmail, a surcoat embroidered with a golden eagle, and a red cloak embroidered with a cross.
“Allow me to assist.”
At a glance from Mari, two maids who had followed her scurried over and gently lifted the ends of my cloak to keep it from dragging on the ground.
Mari positioned herself one step behind me to my left, matching my pace. Just before leaving the room, I spoke.
“Aren't you disappointed?”
Mari would not be the star of the wedding ceremony scheduled after the coronation. Despite being the woman who had served me the longest, she was in a position where she could only watch.
“How could I not know that my current position is already more than I deserve?”
She was the head maid of the castle where the emperor would reside. It was a role that should have been filled by a noblewoman of at least a count’s family.
The problem was not only that the nobles of the West Continent had been all but wiped out, but also that I had made many enemies as a result.
I couldn't very well establish an empire only to be killed in my bed by an assassin, could I? That was why I had summoned the trustworthy Mari to the royal castle.
“However, if Your Majesty would just call for me from time to time when you are lonely, I would have no other wish…”
“Alright. I’ll remember that.”
As a sign of my promise, I gave Mari’s buttock a light squeeze.
The maids holding my cloak showed no reaction. It seemed Mari had gotten them properly under her thumb in just two months.
She was always a cunning woman.
As I left the room, Mari followed with quick, short steps. I was quite sure the subtle excitement in her gait was not my imagination.
A rather high platform had been set up in the central plaza. The guest seats were occupied by high-ranking nobles and influential figures from each continent.
The seats for the West Continent were mostly filled with carefully selected clerics. After the wedding ceremony was over, they were scheduled to be appointed as provincial lords.
In the seats for the North Continent sat high nobles led by Duke Signir. Even though his daughter was about to become my concubine, he wore a constant smile as if he were perfectly satisfied.
To his right was a delegation from the East Continent. All their exposed skin was dark, drawing the gazes of the other guests.
At their center was the immortal witch with ashen skin, Ophelia. She looked exactly like Jin, but she was a beauty with a much more mature charm.
But one would be in for a rude awakening if they were fooled by her appearance. Inside that body was an old monster who had lived for hundreds of years. Just then, our eyes met, and she gave me a warm, smiling glance.
What is her purpose?
When I had asked her the reason for her visit a week ago, she had postponed her answer, saying she would reveal it after the coronation.
That made her all the more suspicious. And for good reason—the person in the witches’ assembly with the deepest friendship with the Star Witch was none other than the immortal witch, Ophelia.
This meant she might have come on the Star Witch’s orders. Of course, the fact that she had come in person made that less likely.
She’s a woman to be wary of.
After all, Ophelia was also the mastermind who ruled the East Continent. Unaware of my thoughts, Ophelia even gave me a wink.
I ignored her and turned my gaze to the opposite side. The nobles from the South Continent, the smallest contingent of the four continents, looked bewildered.
“This is a different story, isn't it? It was hard enough to believe he unified the West and North Continents, but for the East Continent to be so favorable as to send a congratulatory envoy?”
“Did you see the soldiers encamped in the city? There are thousands of them, and the quality of their equipment is superb. And what about the look in their eyes? They are definitely not a ragtag bunch of mercenaries.”
“And what about this city? The districts are laid out as if measured with a ruler. It’s a structure that would be impossible unless you started from scratch. It means he’s wealthy enough to build such a metropolis in a wasteland, so he won’t be short of war funds for a continental expedition.”
“I heard he was calling himself emperor and thought he was a madman, but he’s not to be taken lightly.”
They were, in all likelihood, spies recruited by the Star Witch. Otherwise, there was no reason for even a small number of high-ranking nobles, who were usually reluctant to move, to attend from the South Continent, with which we had extremely little interaction.
Even if I had invited them.
In any case, it seemed the goal of showing off my power was sufficiently achieved. Now, even if the Star Witch tried to win them over, the rulers of the South Continent would not act rashly.
However, it appeared that even this was not enough for Ophelia. It was when the coronation had ended and the wedding ceremony was about to begin.
Ophelia, drawing everyone’s gaze, stepped forward, knelt before me, and bowed her head.
“On behalf of the Khan family and the three families that rule the East Continent, I pledge this oath. From this moment on, all humans of the East Continent will be loyal to Your Majesty.”
“Gasp—!”
“What did she say?”
The nobles from the South Continent were terrified. The ruler of three continents? He was not a being that the South Continent, still a chaotic mess of minor lords, could handle.
I couldn't be entirely pleased either. It was because I didn't know Ophelia’s intentions.
The wedding ceremony ended, and the after-party was underway. I moved to the inner castle with the women who had become my wives. Ophelia, with audacious boldness, stood before me alone, without any attendants.
“I wonder if you liked my gift.”
“Watch your words. This is Allen I, ruler of two continents.”
Eleanor immediately shot back. She was already in a bad mood for having to share her once-in-a-lifetime wedding with other women, and it seemed she was holding a grudge over how Ophelia’s bombshell had thrown the ceremony into disarray.
The other women seemed to feel the same way, glaring at Ophelia to pressure her. However, the smile on Ophelia’s lips only deepened.
“You’re the one who should watch her words. After all, I am an elder of your family.”
“What—!”
“It seems you don’t know that we all originate from the same lineage?”
“...!”
Having silenced Eleanor in a single stroke, Ophelia turned her head to me and continued.
“All witches are of the bloodline of the Old God. That is why witches feel a sense of kinship from their very first meeting.”
Eleanor and Aenya, who were practically the basis for Ophelia’s claim, looked at each other.
Eleanor blushed as if recalling a past memory, while Aenya let out a faint smile.
No matter how great my power, I couldn't marry my own sister, so Aenya had been forced to just watch the wedding. It seemed her mood had lifted slightly.
Cynthia also stared intently at Aenya. She seemed to be recalling how she had clung to Aenya and fawned over her the moment they met.
From my perspective, it seemed less like a pull of blood and more due to a beauty that could make even women swoon.
“The relation seems a bit too distant to be treated as an elder. Well, there’s no need for honorifics. An old person who has lived a long life deserves respect.”
“Old person…?”
A crack appeared in Ophelia’s smile. Seeing her react so sensitively to the topic of age, it seemed that even an old monster who had lived for hundreds of years was still a woman.
“Was my expression inadequate? True, it’s a bit much to simply call a being born in the distant past who is still alive today an ‘old person.’ Hmm, what would be good? Ah, would ‘living fossil’ be more appropriate?”
Ophelia’s smile vanished. She glared at me quite fiercely.
I snorted. As the saying goes, you reap what you sow. This was the price for not learning such wisdom despite having lived for hundreds of years.
“You recognized me at our first meeting. It seems you know quite a lot about me, don’t you?”
“I also know that you are the mastermind who rules the East Continent. And that you have a deep friendship with the Star Witch. That’s why I don’t understand. Why suddenly show up and pledge loyalty? What the hell are you plotting?”
It was a story I couldn't take at face value. She might be pledging loyalty to my face while buying time to prepare an army to attack me from behind.
That’s more likely.
But there was one thing I didn't understand: Ophelia had come in person. She couldn't have been unaware that I wouldn't let her return so easily.
“Child. Do not doubt. I am merely trying to follow fate.”
“Fate, you say…?”
It was the worst of all excuses for persuading someone. Even as I stared at her with a look of disbelief, Ophelia’s face remained calm.
“Fate cannot be denied. Even if you see the future, that fact does not change. Fate is like a great current; even if you block its path and create a detour, it will eventually flow back in its original direction in the end.”
Ophelia’s gaze fell on Aenya, Eleanor, and Cynthia in turn.
“If the future could be changed, why did our ancestor, the Old God, fall and the False God take his place?”
“Swindlers are always long-winded.”
“How rude you are.”
Ophelia frowned at being treated like a swindler. I paid her no mind and looked down at her. Then, I placed my hand on the sword at my hip.
“It seems you’ve never experienced true rudeness.”
“Tsk, I’ll speak at your level. The moment a king—a male—is born to the matrilineal bloodline of the Old God, the witches are given a destiny to be ruled by him. They are instinctively drawn to him.”
“Like how witches are drawn to each other?”
“The power of fate is stronger than blood.”
There was some logic to it. Despite our poor first impressions, hadn't Eleanor and Cynthia quickly taken a liking to me? However, there were exceptions.
“But I wasn’t?”
Aenya, who had been listening with a fascinated glint in her eyes, tilted her head.
Until I had gained my modern memories, we had been siblings more distant than strangers.
“The Star Witch, who can see and interfere with the future, can resist this chain of fate to some small degree.”
“Aenya is not the Star Witch.”
Ophelia shook her head.
“If fate had run its original course, that child should have become the Star Witch of this generation. But the previous Star Witch twisted fate.”
Honestly, I had thought it was strange. The other witches’ abilities were close to magic, but Aenya’s only ability was her beauty.
Of course, one could never say that her beauty was in any way inferior to the other witches’ abilities.
Ophelia continued.
“Isn’t she an arrogant woman? Then again, there has never been a Star Witch in history who wasn’t. The power to see and interfere with the future is so strong, they can’t help but become arrogant.”
I paused for a moment to organize my thoughts.
“So… you’re saying that because you’re fated to be ruled by me, you’ll tuck your tail between your legs without even putting up a fight? And you expect me to believe that?”
It made a certain amount of sense, but it was nothing more than Ophelia’s one-sided assertion.
This could all be a conspiracy cooked up with the Star Witch to make me let my guard down. A kind of Trojan Horse.
“I am a specter that has existed since the distant past. I have witnessed with my own two eyes how those who defy fate, like the Star Witch, fail without a single exception. I’m not a fool who invests in a losing hand, you see.”
“…But you’re friends with the Star Witch.”
“I’m friends with all the Star Witches in history. After seeing the future for the first time, every single one of them came to find me first. Just like the current Star Witch.”
I shook my head.
“It’s not enough. Not enough to earn my trust.”
“To me, the appearance of a king is merely a moment in the flow of time. A king is but a mortal, after all. Once the king dies, everything will return to how it was. Is there any reason to waste my energy resisting?”
It occurred to me that this might not be the first time Ophelia had experienced the appearance of a king.
“Wouldn’t it be good for you as well? Taking the East Continent, with its disparate religion and culture, by force would be an arduous task. Furthermore, my power, which has ruled the East for over hundreds of years, far surpasses your imagination.”
“Look who’s talking. You’re just as affected by religion and culture.”
The people of the East do not tolerate a woman sitting above them. To them, women are nothing more than treasures to be cherished and protected.
This meant that even if the situation deteriorated to the point where the leader had to step forward, Ophelia, being a woman, could not.
The moment she did, her control would crack. In other words, she could only exert her influence as a mastermind in the shadows.
The reason I had pushed for an expedition to the East, even knowing that Ophelia was the mastermind who had ruled it since the distant past, was because I could exploit that very point.
“The absence of a leader at a critical moment is a huge weakness.”
“That’s why I’ve come to you, bowing my head. I don’t understand. You must know that my coming here alone is no different from baring myself naked before you.”
“Is your value greater than the entire East Continent?”
What is easily gained is easily lost. If I accepted Ophelia, I would gain the East Continent easily, but conversely, if she had a change of heart, I would lose it just as quickly.
The important thing was that Ophelia would hold the initiative. I could not tolerate that.
Ophelia, as if she had expected me to react this way, calmly changed her terms.
“Then I shall place another weight on this side of the scale. The name of this weight is the identity of the Star Witch.”
“That’s not important. Whatever her identity, the fact that she is an enemy to be dealt with does not change.”
Ophelia shook her head.
“No. It is important. Because everything starts with her. Once you know her identity, you will realize that accepting this deal was the right thing to do.”
Ophelia’s eyes were filled with conviction.
I narrowed my eyes. It wasn't that I had no idea. It was just a hypothesis I had been forcing myself to ignore. Thump. Thump. My heart pounded.
“If the opposite is true, I will take you prisoner and commence the expedition to the East Continent.”
Thanks to Ophelia coming of her own accord and bowing her head, I had firmly instilled fear in the nobles of the South Continent.
Furthermore, with the mastermind captured, the rulers of the East would be unable to respond quickly. In other words, the expedition to the East had become easier than planned.
Ophelia was still brimming with confidence.
“Why is the Star Witch hostile to the king? To resist fate? Well, there’s some of that, but the real reason is that she hates men. Hatred? No, it’s closer to revulsion.”
“That’s absurd. For such a ridiculous reason?”
“What if such a woman were to conceive a son? What’s more, if she were fated to be ruled by that son? Could there be anything more horrifying for the Star Witch?”
“Don’t tell me—”
My heart began to race. It was pounding so hard I thought the sound might be audible outside.
Unaware of my state, Ophelia calmly spoke the truth I had been trying to ignore.
“Yes. The Star Witch, Vivian Luna, is your mother.”