Chapter 117
Chapter 117
Chapter 117
Discreet Punisher was having a private audience with the Emperor of the Helios Empire, Antares von Helios.
“You are no fun, my lord.”
“……”
“Honestly, it makes me doubt whether I’m even speaking to a person.”
Antares muttered, looking at Discreet, who showed no particular reaction no matter what was said.
“You must have something you want to ask me, don’t you? Am I wrong?”
“How dare I express any sort of question to Your Majesty.”
“You are a fine man, but you are far too cautious of me. That… is honestly disappointing.”
“……”
Discreet broke out in a cold sweat at Antares’s words. If the emperor so decided, not only Discreet but the entire Punisher family could be in danger.
The emperor’s absolute power made such a thing possible. This meant he couldn’t help but be conscious of every single word.
“For what reason do you think I have summoned you this time?”
“Is it not about Her Highness Stacia, who is set to transfer to Scientia next semester?”
“Correct. In that case, what is there for you to do for Stacia?”
“You can’t be talking about something like… assisting with her daily life.”
“Do you know why I designated Stacia as my successor, despite facing so much opposition?”
Stacia was insane. That was a fact known by most palace officials, even if they weren’t royalty.
For that reason, her designation as the heir had caused a great stir.
It was an issue that would normally have caused nobles from all regions to rise up. However, Antares possessed the strength and authority to suppress even that.
She was not the child of his wife, but a half-breed with a demon. An alien existence born from a one-night dalliance.
In other words, Antares had used his power and authority to elevate a mere child of that sort to the position of heir.
“Is it not because Her Highness Stacia thinks of the empire the most?”
That was the reason Antares had given for choosing Stacia. He had said it was because she thought of the empire the most.
“Surely you don’t think I chose her for a mere play on words like that? You are more naive than I thought.”
“…Then?”
In response to Discreet’s question, Antares answered with a smile so eerie it was unsettling.
“It is because that child possesses the power most suited for absolute authority.”
What Antares had taken note of was Stacia’s unique power, which manifested because she was a half-breed: the ability to glimpse the memories of others by absorbing their blood.
“As long as I am in this position, I cannot help but always be suspicious of what the men around me are thinking. In that case, what if there was no need to be suspicious in the first place?”
“That is…”
“Stacia is lacking in many ways. But when she becomes emperor, who would dare to dream of treason?”
How could one harbor futile thoughts against an opponent who could read memories?
Antares believed that the most necessary quality for an emperor was insight. Who could know if those standing right beside them were dreaming of rebellion? That was why it had to be Stacia.
It wasn't insight, but she possessed an ability even greater than that.
“But that child, too, is lacking. No matter how well she can read memories, if she cannot understand the human heart, would she not fail to notice herself falling into a quagmire?”
“In that case, is our mission to teach Her Highness the Princess human emotions? Is that why you have sent Her Highness to Scientia?”
“Indeed. But that is not all. I am fond of you. That is why I have appointed the Punisher family, a noble house in name only, to important posts. Why do you think that is?”
“…Is it because we resemble Her Highness Stacia?”
“It is because you were in the same situation as Stacia, yet you escaped it.”
The state of the Punisher family and Stacia was similar in a way.
The Punisher family, who killed their own emotions to live as executioners, and Stacia, whose emotions had been diluted after countless acts of absorbing blood.
That was why he had appointed Discreet of the Punisher family—a family he would normally not have even spared a glance for—as a Legion Commander.
“What I want to ask of you is, of course, to see to Stacia’s convenience, but… I would like you to make her into someone who has regained her emotions. Yes, just like that child named ‘Lucia.’”
For a moment, Discreet felt his throat tighten. It felt as though a noose was around his neck.
The emperor knew of Lucia’s existence. Of course, it was information that could easily be found if one were to investigate out of simple curiosity.
However, it shouldn’t have been something the emperor, who was always overwhelmed with his duties, would look into.
Discreet had made it so. He had skillfully diverted topics to keep them from reaching the emperor’s eyes.
For the emperor to know this fact, despite all that, meant one thing.
‘Besides us, His Majesty has other sources of information.’
And some of them must have infiltrated [Tenebris].
The emperor suspected everyone. That included [Tenebris], his own direct legion.
He had intended not to let his guard down, but…
The emperor was even more extreme than that.
“Stacia possesses the strongest weapon a person in power can have. But as I said before, that is not enough. It’s emotions.”
Antares had granted Stacia the power over the life and death of death-row inmates.
It was meant for her to come into contact with a multitude of emotions. But it had failed.
The inmates' dense fear of death was something difficult for Stacia to comprehend.
“If she tastes a variety of emotions, won’t that child change? Of course, it would be even better if she could experience them herself.”
[Scientia], an institution considered to be a small world in itself. The reason for enrolling the princess was not for the sake of academics, but to have her meet a variety of people.
“Whether that child becomes a monster or a person… I am truly looking forward to it. Heh heh.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
King of the Dead.
The name [Death King] was by no means a light one. That held true even if the one holding it was a half-formed and deeply immature being.
Marie Sistus was a person befitting the epithet, King of Death.
“Ah…”
The encroaching demonic miasma.
The encroaching death.
At Marie’s power, which seemed to dye space itself into the [Underworld], Stacia was indirectly experiencing death.
“What overwhelming power this is…”
Stacia was not weak.
Was she not a member of the royal family of the most powerful empire in the world?
The empire's overwhelming wealth and power could make even the untalented comparable to the talented.
Moreover, she was a dhampir who grew stronger by drinking blood.
Just a moment ago, she had been drenched in the blood of some 70 death-row inmates.
And yet, she was outmatched in raw power.
“Kuh!”
If she was outmatched in power, how would she fare in skill? Stacia could do nothing but backpedal and flee from Marie’s relentless, driving assault.
To make matters worse, among the members of [Tenebris], there was likely no one who could intervene in the middle of a battlefield where wings of blood and a thick miasma raged.
“Ah…!”
As she was backing away, feeling isolated, Stacia’s foot caught on a stone and she fell.
It was a ridiculous mistake, one she made because she had only ever developed her power without any formal training.
‘This is…’
Stacia thought to herself as she looked at the giant sword that had arrived before her eyes.
Yes, the movements of that being, which seemed to be the personification of death, were able to draw out the emotion of fear from within her.
‘The view that those people saw!’
She could finally understand.
The reason for the miserable feelings of the death-row inmates who had died looking at her.
So this is how it felt.
As Stacia understood the fear before death, she hugged her trembling body and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Enough.”
But the sword never fell upon her.
There was someone who had blocked it.
Stacia squinted her eyes and looked up at the person.
Oz Quabadis.
With an endlessly furrowed brow, he was deploying magic to block the giant sword of death.
But that alone seemed to be insufficient, as the incarnate body’s sword penetrated the magic and lodged itself deep in Oz’s arm.vEven then, had Marie not stopped, it would have been severed completely.
“Umm… Oz, are you okay?”
“…No, not at all. I can’t even tell if this is phantom pain or just regular pain anymore.”
Oz scowled and looked at Marie’s dazed face.
So much had happened that he had forgotten why he had even gone to find the Disciplinary Committee.
Oz shouted harshly through the throbbing pain in his limbs.
“Dispel your power. Now. Marie. Who told you to do this?”
“O-Okay… I’m sorry. I don’t know what it is, but I did something wrong…”
She didn’t seem to even know what she was doing.
It was likely due to her inherent trait of taking the weight of life lightly, combined with being dead drunk.
“Marie, you are never to drink alcohol again. If Baekyang offers you a drink, just punch her.”
“Is Baekyang going to become family?”
“…I’ll explain that later, so can you just withdraw your power first?”
At Oz’s words, Marie obediently gathered the miasma she had scattered.
She was like a well-behaved puppy.
“Ah…”
Stacia stared blankly up at Oz, who could remain composed even in the face of overwhelming death.
What an incredible mindset.
If what she was feeling now was the emotion felt by those facing death, what kind of person could respond to it so calmly?
Did he have something that she did not know?
After staring blankly at Oz for a while, Stacia’s gaze eventually fell and fixed upon his bleeding arm as if nailed there.
‘What I cannot understand…’
What she was lacking.
The driving force that could allow one to overcome, not just understand.
‘If I just drink this…!’
As if possessed, Stacia reached out a hand toward the flowing blood.
“Your Highness?!”
Despite Lucia’s desperate attempt to stop her, Stacia caught the blood dripping from Oz’s wrist with her finger and drank it.
“Ah…”
One drop.
With just a single drop, one cannot learn much.
The amount of blood is the amount of memory.
For Stacia, this act was a kind of taste test, a mere formality to understand the other person.
That was why she did not hesitate.
I want to know about this person. I am curious what the blood of this special human, who does not yield even in the face of death, tastes like.
“Ugh?!”
But Stacia realized that something was different.
It was on a completely different level from the blood she had drunk until now.
What it contained was so dense that it vastly surpassed the volume of all the blood she had consumed before.
She could not understand.
“What is this…”
An overwhelming amount of memory contained in a single drop.
She was seeing it, but she couldn't understand it. It wasn't a matter of emotion. She couldn't accept the memory contained in the blood itself.
“Ughhhh?!”
What a dense life this was.
Stasia couldn't bear the heat flowing through her body.
The blood’s concentration was too high.
That single drop was denser than the blood of the 70 people she had just drunk.
It was an overwhelming life, one that felt like it could become an addiction, one that made her feel for the first time that blood was delicious.
“I don’t know…”
She doesn’t know. No matter how closely she examines the memories flowing through the blood, she cannot understand them.
The seeping memories repeatedly vanished in an instant, as if telling her she was not yet worthy.
“I don’t know something like this…”
She cannot understand. Therefore, she wants to covet it more, until she can.
“Hah…”
Stacia’s face began to flush red. The blood of 70 people was being pushed back by a single drop, flowing in reverse.
She drinks blood to understand others. She is not concerned with taste; everything is for the sake of the empire. But now was different. Beyond understanding, she simply wanted to covet the blood.
As if drunk, she reached out her hand again toward the dripping blood.
“Your Highness, you must not!”
But fortunately, there was someone to stop her.
It was the agents of [Tenebris], who had belatedly rushed to the middle of the battlefield.
“Ah…”
At their intervention, Stacia staggered and collapsed.
“Dammit…”
As they served the princess, they could tell what state she was in. Anyone could see she had exceeded her limit.
It was just one drop. If she were to drink more of that blood in this state, it could lead to an uncontrollable situation.
“Ulla, bring a change of clothes immediately. The rest of you, clean up this scene now.”
Lucia commanded in an orderly fashion as she caught the reeling Stacia, who was drunk on blood.
Just as Ulla disappeared from the spot in an instant and the [Tenebris] agents began to clean up the scene with practiced movements.
“Lucia? What are you doing there…”
A familiar voice rang out as if cutting through them.
“Uh… um?”
Eleanor, who had come looking for the dead-drunk Marie, appeared in the chaotic scene.
Her gaze swept over the area.
“No…”
And at this encounter with Eleanor, Lucia felt an indescribable sense of guilt.
This couldn't be contained.
There was no way it could be contained.
If it were just this single moment, perhaps it could be managed, but her actions up to this point had been too blatant.
Eleanor was sharp.
For someone like her, who was always sensitive to the gazes of others, she would easily be able to tell that this situation was anything but ordinary.
The people Lucia was with were moving systematically according to her commands.
And at the center of it all was a famous figure even Eleanor knew, Stacia von Helios.
In that case, what about Lucia?
From the very beginning. Yes, from the moment Lucia had approached her, Eleanor had sensed that she was hiding something.
But she hadn't paid it any mind, knowing that Lucia was accommodating her difficult personality.
And what about Oz?
Oz and Lucia had an air about them that suggested they knew each other before Eleanor had introduced them.
And Oz was someone who knew that Eleanor was, in fact, royalty from Chrysos.
Lucia and Oz sometimes met alone. The two were sharing some kind of secret.
“Lucia is…”
Eleanor knew.
She had actually known for a long time that the people around her were hiding something.
And the things revealed at this very moment were as follows:
Her own identity.
The secret the two of them shared.
The systematically moving people in similar attire.
And Stacia von Helios.
Eleanor pieced together all the information like a puzzle and slowly formed the question on her lips.
“Are you… actually an intelligence agent for the empire?”
And the uncertain answer she muttered hit the mark.