Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Emperor's Benefactor (2)
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Emperor Leonhardt.
He gazed out the window where brilliant sunlight poured in.
A grand arena.
Countless spectators gathered there.
They all eyed the event with eager anticipation, wondering who would claim the title of the Empire's Greatest Sword this year.
"Rozanna hardly ever attended any imperial events."
The emperor turned his head to look at one man.
Me, with my jet-black hair and sharp eyes.
"Yet she made a point of showing up for this tournament. And the first outsider she approached was you."
His massive finger pointed right at me.
As if a god were anointing a mortal.
"What do you think drew that girl's interest to you?"
I offered no reply for a moment.
Then, taking a deep breath, I met the emperor's gaze.
"Even back in her homeland of Epina, Rozanna was a handful. She possessed this bizarre talent blending magic and sorcery."
Indeed.
The shadows that had attacked me weren't fueled by life-draining black magic.
Otherwise, a woman in her early forties like Rozanna couldn't possibly look as youthful as someone in her twenties.
"Only men with sword master-level strength or greater—those with robust life force—could handle her. That's why she was sent to me."
The emperor stared straight at my heart.
It looked even more fortified than the last time he'd seen it.
Its shape, as if someone had personally molded it by hand, made him furrow his brow.
"However, I cut off all contact with her for several years."
Did he think Rozanna had refined my aura? Leonhardt's demeanor grew solemn.
A glint flashed in his blue eyes from beneath heavy shadows.
"That leaves only one grand master remaining in the Empire..."
His eyes on my enhanced aura.
I swallowed hard.
"Could it be Rozanna tried to seduce you?"
Seduce.
The word left me momentarily stunned.
Then, I rolled my dark pupils as I sorted through my thoughts.
*Seduction...?*
I'd certainly been attacked by a horde of shadow weapons.
Interrogated about my identity.
*Why did it feel like seduction...?*
I squeezed my eyes shut against the sensual vision of beauty rising in my mind.
A single black dot amid the warm embrace, like a mother's.
It kept surfacing, leaving me deeply unsettled.
*Maybe it was...?*
The moment I unwittingly nodded to myself and half-opened my eyes.
I caught the emperor's grim face and quickly shut them again.
*Get a grip...*
I pictured Lea's voluptuous skin, Irina's pure gaze, Lydia's adorable gestures.
Miya's friendly tear mole, Christina's plea to leave in search of freedom.
"Hoo..."
Only by summoning those noble women could I finally calm down.
"No."
My black eyes flashed.
Bathed in sunlight, my pupils took on a golden hue.
"It wasn't seduction. I was interrogated and attacked."
If anything, I was the one assaulted.
Only then did the crease between the emperor's brows begin to ease.
"As I mentioned before, I'm assisting the princesses. I'm training their vice-captains, their top forces."
"Indeed, Richard has developed qualities of a true captain that I've never seen before."
The emperor and I turned to look out the window together.
He fixed his gaze on Lea in the VIP seats and Richard standing guard at her side.
"He was nothing but a beast obsessed with others' gazes in the past."
"Now he's finally acting human. Back then, he was really—"
Even amid everyone's acclaim, Richard's eyes burned with resolve.
He hadn't even slicked back his hair with pomade; he simply stood steadfast by Lea's side.
"Leopold means well, but he raised his son too harshly."
"You're right. The ones you cherish most should be understood from the heart, disciplined only when necessary."
I smirked as I watched the reformed Richard.
But the instant my eyes met the emperor's.
"I heard you and Richard are the same age..."
Every time, he asked with that look of fascination at me.
"Sometimes it feels like I'm looking at someone my age or Leopold's."
He himself had risen to grand master by felling countless sword masters from enemy nations during the conquest wars.
Yet here I was, reaching that level at just twenty-one.
The emperor chuckled wryly as he regarded my extraordinary self from all angles.
"With character and skill like yours, refusing to serve the nation..."
He picked up the teacup on his desk.
He drank it elegantly, offering the saucer first like Lea.
"Isn't that a bit much in front of the nation's leader?"
The emperor made no effort to hide his disappointment.
Was I choosing personal rest over the nation? Or did I have ulterior motives? He seemed eager to know.
"I hope your reason for disliking it isn't Rozanna."
"I can assure you, Your Majesty, I have no connection whatsoever to Her Highness the First Imperial Consort."
I answered firmly to put him at ease.
In turn, the emperor revealed his own honest feelings.
"My prying about Rozanna wasn't mere jealousy."
"I know. You're not the type, Your Majesty."
The emperor smiled faintly.
Yet I sensed an inexplicable murderous intent in his eyes.
Like when Lea had glared at Christina in the past.
"It was to warn you how dangerous she is."
The emperor placed a hand on his chest.
He pointed to his dulled grand aura and spoke.
"I didn't realize it at first, but after waking from my coma, I understood. How hard she'd worked to kill me."
A massive accumulation of subtle poison in his body.
Even his grand aura struggled to hold it at bay; he was greatly weakened.
Attacking me during the lunchbox incident had been a near-miracle.
"If Irina hadn't told me, I might have kept ingesting the poison even after waking."
*Irina told him...?*
She knew of Rozanna's schemes too...
That explained her obsession with building and strengthening her own knight order.
Though lately, she'd been focusing more on 'other things.'
"Knowing that, why do you still tolerate Her Highness the First Imperial Consort...?"
When I asked cautiously, the emperor fell silent this time.
He looked upon her with pity, his eyes tinged with sorrow.
"That's... something I can't say yet."
It was the first time.
The emperor who commanded the Empire had hesitated to answer.
"You're only concerned as long as the Empire stands strong. Since you seem reluctant to get involved, I won't say more."
Leonhardt set down his teacup.
Then, he casually tossed out a remark.
"Well, if you promise to protect the Empire now, maybe I'd tell you."
His offhand mutter left me exasperated.
No wonder where Lea got her silver tongue from.
"Hmm..."
I bowed my head briefly upon hearing his words.
By custom, one should respond promptly to an emperor's proposal or request.
Yet I had earned the right to deliberate even before him.
"Once she's set her sights on you, Rozanna will stalk you like a shadow."
Hearing that, I recalled the woman I'd just met.
The sensual queen who so resembled Lea.
"She'll either pull you to her side or kill you."
The emperor closed his eyes gently.
As if imagining her in his mind.
In truth, he'd tried not to share her bed often.
He'd wanted to protect the woman twenty years his junior.
But Rozanna, at twenty, approaching him that way...
She was extraordinary enough to captivate even a lusty conqueror king like him.
Right after their wedding night, she'd conceived Leon.
And after recovery, she'd borne Lea.
Had their relationship not soured, she might have given him countless children.
"In the final stages of the conquest wars, a palace sorcerer from an enemy kingdom told me. He said Rozanna was a woman forsaken by heaven."
He'd called the golden lioness beneath the pomegranate tree Rozanna herself.
And since he was the pride leader's image, they needed to get along.
Their discord had caused this mess, he'd said.
"If you incur that woman's wrath, you won't see a good end either."
Even a palace sorcerer had deemed Rozanna extraordinary.
Caught in her gaze, I now faced a choice.
"So, step into the light as the Empire's Guardian Sword."
"..."
I sank into thought at his earnest plea.
Considerate as ever, the emperor rose from his seat.
He clasped his hands behind his back and silently gazed out the window.
"That way, I can officially protect you."
The crowds filling the spectator seats.
He looked upon them—the people he must shepherd—with compassion.
Seeing him like that, I swallowed deeply.
With resolve, I answered.
"Understood."
My ready response made him glance back.
"Really...?"
"Yes. But I have a condition."
I stood from my seat.
Kneeling before him, I made my firm request.
"I won't retire. Instead, I'll continue as a defense knight and give my all to what I do."
Not the Empire's poster hero, but the ultimate reserve force, stepping up only when needed.
Satisfied with that, the emperor nodded.
"That will suffice."
Leonhardt returned to the sofa with a more lenient expression.
Sitting across from me, he asked.
"Then, let's hear your demand."
"Yes, I..."
I looked at the emperor with eyes full of determination.
And said.
"When I ask, grant me one wish—just once."
A wish.
The vague reward gave the emperor pause.
"A wish...?"
"Yes, just once."
Hearing my ambiguous request, the emperor stroked his thick chin thoughtfully.
Then, with a deep sigh, he nodded.
"Very well. But nothing absurd, like demanding the Empire itself."
"Yes, I wouldn't ask for *that* much."
I smiled at him.
My eyes narrowing fox-like.
"Since I've secured your promise to stay in the Empire, I'll tell you now."
The emperor began his tale in a somewhat relaxed tone.
The reason he'd fallen out with Rozanna.
"Rozanna was Epina's sole princess. Daughter of the great sorceress Epina."
Epina, a mercenary nation, boasted powerful mages.
Thus, King’s daughter Rozanna inherited immense magical power.
"Influenced by her sorceress mother, she learned both sorcery and magic. She fused them into a unique, unprecedentedly powerful spell."
The emperor clenched one fist tight as he spoke.
"That child's singular magic made her famous in mercenary Epina. Power determined the next ruler there, after all."
"Princess Rozanna, having developed her own strength, must have been in a strong position."
"Indeed. Her brothers grew wary as her influence swelled."
The emperor gazed at his portrait hanging in the center of the state room.
The image of a majestic hero.
"But Rozanna loved her brothers. She wanted to marry off and show she had no interest in the throne."
"So that's why she came to you."
Leonhardt nodded silently.
"Yes. That's all I thought it was."
The emperor sighed deeply, hinting at hidden circumstances.
His heart's aura writhed faintly.
"Then one day, I was locked in war with southern cities that had rebelled and ambushed us. I requested aid from Epina."
Leonhardt rubbed his forehead, regretting the request.
"The situation was dire, so my requests grew frequent. Epina began to feel the burden."
Information I'd already heard from Lea.
I nodded in acknowledgment.
"The burden turned to suspicion, and they decided to eliminate me—the one draining their national strength."
The emperor eyed the portrait of Rozanna beside his own.
"With my death, First Imperial Consort Rozanna and the infant Leon would naturally inherit the throne. Epina could then easily seize my Empire."
They hadn't sent just Rozanna to eliminate her alone.
Born a warlike nation, they harbored ambitions to devour others.
"I only uncovered this through an informant."
Informant.
As he spoke, the emperor glanced at old Mosian.
"No way..."
I followed his gaze to the aged prime minister.
He wore a bitter expression.
"It couldn't be helped, Veil."
Mosian had come from Epina with Rozanna, a talented individual.
To protect the consort, he'd informed on this plot.
"After learning the truth, I bided my time for a chance to punish Epina."
The emperor approached Rozanna's portrait.
He traced it gently with a finger.
"Then that night, Rozanna came to me as I slept."
Leonhardt swallowed hard.
"And raised a dagger to my throat. As if under orders."
The emperor closed his eyes tightly, reliving the moment.
"If she attacked, I planned to kill her on the spot."
Even knowing she meant to kill him, the emperor hadn't struck first.
I wanted to ask why.
But just then.
"For some reason, Rozanna couldn't bring herself to do it."
From his expression and response, I realized.
"Her eyes trembled madly as she looked down at me."
The two had loved each other.
Enough that she couldn't kill him despite her homeland's command.
"In the end, she hid the dagger and embraced me. She wept until she fell asleep."
The emperor's voice trembled softly.
"The next day, I drugged her with a sleeping potion and sent her to the border temporarily."
Leonhardt slumped into his chair, drained.
"Then, when I invaded Epina, punished them all, and captured them."
Finally, he revealed why Rozanna now hated him.
"Seeking to shock me to the last, Rozanna loudly proclaimed her own involvement."
The emperor had known this fact, of course.
But it posed a different problem.
"The Empire was seething with rage toward Epina at the time. Amid the war, everyone was on edge."
They hunted down every visible Epinan, interrogating them.
Like a witch hunt.
"If in that atmosphere, it came out that Rozanna had tried to kill me too..."
The emperor recalled the young woman who couldn't kill him and had held him instead.
His own eyes began to quiver.
"What do you think happened to that child?"
Even if she'd refused out of love for him, she would be executed.
"I had no choice but to eliminate them all before they could spread it."
Leonhardt, knowing this truth, squeezed his eyes shut.
"..."
It made sense.
But did he have to kill them all?
I stared at the emperor for his extreme choice.
Then asked him.
"But did you really need to kill them all and earn the hatred of the consort you loved...?"
Hearing me, the emperor's lips drooped.
With a sorrowful look, as if he had no choice, he said.
"There are things in this world that no amount of effort can undo."