Chapter 216
Chapter 216
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 215. The Emperor's Circumstances (1)
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"Come, let's go up."
I lightly clasped hands with Rozanna and ascended the grand staircase to the opulent banquet hall.
And finally, when we arrived before the majestic round table.
I came face-to-face with Leonhardt, seated alone upon the throne.
"..."
Rozanna glanced up at the husband who had once confined her.
Then, she abruptly turned her head away.
With eyes sharp and beautiful as a rose.
"Why did you summon me?"
The First Imperial Consort asked the emperor, who sat slumped with his head bowed.
However, no reply came from him.
"Are you ignoring me after calling me here?"
Rozanna indifferently brushed back her lustrous golden locks that covered one eye.
The straps of her dress clung precariously to her shoulders.
"Sir Veil, what is the meaning of this? I came because His Majesty wished for a serious conversation."
The First Imperial Consort regarded me with indifferent eyes.
In response, I approached the emperor, who had his head bowed deeply, and checked his condition.
"It seems he's fallen asleep for a moment."
I said as I held my finger to his nose.
Judging by his shallow breathing, he appeared to be dozing.
"Perhaps it's due to the accumulated poison in his body all this time."
"Ahem."
Rozanna cleared her throat at my pointed remark.
Then, she quietly drew near the emperor's side.
"Perfect. I didn't want to face him and relive the memories anyway."
"You're planning to use mind-reading magic on His Majesty while he's asleep...?"
When I asked with wide eyes, Rozanna gave a cynical smile and told me not to worry.
"It's fine. It's the exact same method I used on you."
Rozanna grasped Leonhardt's thick hand draped over the throne's armrest.
Then, with her own slender fingers, several times thinner, she gently intertwined them.
"..."
I stared openly at the sight.
And soon, as a brilliant white glow enveloped both their bodies.
I lifted the corner of my mouth.
As if I had anticipated Rozanna acting just like this.
As the two delved into the memories, I too approached quietly.
And, as the emperor had requested beforehand, I placed my hand over their interlaced fingers.
As if aiding Leonhardt's weakened mana compatibility with magic.
Thus, we entered one memory of the empire's ruler—the emperor who commanded the continent.
Into his life story, stained with rivers of blood.
「―――――」
If I had any desires, there were exactly two.
First, the peace of my homeland.
Second, protecting my loved ones.
They were very short and simple things.
But safeguarding them was never an easy task.
The Kingdom of Leon, situated at the very heart of the continent.
It was surrounded by countless hostile foreign nations.
Amidst that, my father, Leonil I, strove to defend our homeland.
He was by nature a benevolent ruler who always placed the people first.
Yet even such a father had no choice but to take up the sword, so dire were the straits of our Leon.
「To avoid being taken, you must take first.」
Until he fell in battle, my father impressed this truth upon me in my youth.
After his passing, the empire entered a period of chaos.
In that critical moment, the one chosen as the next emperor was none other than I, Leonhardt I.
My father had not even bequeathed me his own surname.
Unlike his frail self, he wished for me to grow strong and steadfastly protect the kingdom.
As if repaying that wish, I possessed 'talent.'
Not only swordsmanship, but a hero's exceptional physique and potent mana.
Thanks to it, I won countless victories in war and elevated the kingdom to an empire.
Then, the gazes of our neighboring nations toward me began to change.
They sought peace treaties, even proposed marriage alliances.
And among them, the most prominent was Epina, the nation of elite mercenaries.
「Marriage, you say? I'm already over forty—how could I take a wife!」
At first, I had no interest in marriage.
To me, steeped in the slaughter of the battlefield, love was a luxury.
But if I, the empire's sole imperial blood, were to die, the line would end.
Thus, my retainers urged me to sire heirs to prepare for any contingency.
So, reluctantly, I took a wife whose face I did not even know.
And she was...
Rozanna.
"I look forward to serving you, Your Majesty."
She was truly beautiful.
Golden locks shining like the sun.
A sensuous figure that even a giant of a man could easily embrace.
Yet her allure went beyond that.
Unlike other princesses who thought marriage their endpoint, she possessed the keen intellect in her blue eyes.
「I look forward to it as well. Shall I call you Empress Consort now?」
"Please call me as it pleases Your Majesty."
At first, our relationship was unbearably awkward.
I was already forty-one, while the golden-haired woman before me was barely twenty.
'How could I embrace such a young child...'
Better to spare her tears from forced relations with an innocent girl ignorant of the world.
With such thoughts, I avoided meeting Rozanna often.
But.
Rozanna was different from other naive princesses.
"Have you returned, Your Majesty?"
Unlike princesses who shrieked at the sight of blood, she approached me readily.
She would wipe the blood from my face with her handkerchief herself and tend my wounds.
"Men who wield the sword often accumulate fatigue in their wrists."
With her delicate hands, she frequently caressed my wrists.
And if her ample bosom brushed my shoulder, making me flinch...
"Hehe... It's alright."
With eyes sensuous beyond her twenty years, she chuckled and eased my tension.
Like a goddess tending a hero returned victorious from war.
「I never imagined a beauty like you would understand men's affairs so well...」
"I am Your Majesty's wife. It is my duty to always know what you endure and attend you."
I still can't forget the touch of those slender hands caring for me.
Even when the long wars of conquest drove me to madness with slaughter.
Even when the tide turned and despair hung heavy.
Rozanna was always at my side, tending to me.
"Even if it's for the sake of the nation... please treasure your body sometimes."
As she wiped my bloodied brow, Rozanna fretted over me.
Her sea-blue eyes may have been what kept me sane.
On the road home from blood-soaked battlefields.
I found the leisure to gaze once more at skies blue like her eyes.
And perhaps to pick golden flowers like her hair.
「Rozanna!!」
"Leonhardt... oh my...!! How fiercely did you fight...!"
Upon returning from the front, I ran to her calling her name.
Unaware blood streamed down my forehead.
"You should have at least bandaged your head. Do you know how dangerous it is if you don't staunch the wound?"
By then, we had grown close, and Rozanna would come out from the celestial palace to greet me personally.
Welcoming me with her fresh smile.
「Forgive me. On the way back, I stopped to pick this...」
"This is a golden chamomile... Just a common roadside wildflower..."
「Common? It might be to others, but not to me.」
"How is it different?"
To Rozanna's question, I, fresh from the battlefield, smiled brightly and replied.
「How could I pass by something that so perfectly matches your hair?」
"..."
Her sharp gaze usually gave her a cold impression.
But that day, when she took the flower, it was different.
"Sometimes you seem younger than me like this..."
Rozanna, gently tucking the yellow flower behind her ear.
She gazed at me with a radiant smile.
"Next time, treat your wounds first, without fail."
I vigorously shook my head at my wife's words.
For seeing Rozanna's smile alone healed all my wounds.
「I promise. Next time, I will.」
But...
The moment came when that faith of mine was utterly shattered.
After conquering most nations, the great war with our final nemesis, the Kingdom of Bern.
In that war, I had no choice but to request aid from our allies.
Among them was Epina, Rozanna's homeland.
At first, they dutifully sent reinforcements.
But repeated campaigns led to heavy losses among their key personnel.
Of course, many from other nations perished too, but for Epina, who prized their elite few, it was a devastating blow.
From that point, their resentment toward me began to build.
But I was not in my right mind either.
Just once more against our final foe.
Just one more push to end this interminable war.
I made ever harsher demands even of Rozanna's homeland.
「I should never have done that then.」
My impatience and battlefield madness returned as a massive wave.
That wave began two days before the final battle with Bern.
From a man who came to me.
"Your Majesty...!!"
Mosian.
Epina's foreign minister, he visited me late at night and revealed the Epina royal family's conspiracy.
"The Rodri royal house of Epina has secretly allied with Bern and is plotting Your Majesty's assassination!!"
「Assassination...?」
It was a shock to me, focused solely on our ultimate enemy, Bern.
"Yes, and it's said that among the many Epinans who have entered Leon, several are assassins!!"
Among the Epinans, several.
At those words, I instinctively thought of one woman.
「Could it be...」
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Mosian bowed his head deeply, confirming my ominous premonition.
And revealed the painful truth.
"Her Highness Rozanna... was on that list as well..."
He was a man who had risked his life to come from Epina with this report.
There was no reason for him to lie.
Yet I still couldn't believe Rozanna was one of the assassins plotting my death.
She who had always understood my heart...
In truth, filled only with thoughts of killing me.
「Understood... I'll handle Rozanna myself...」
Through countless slaughters, I had decisively eliminated all traitors.
But with Rozanna, I couldn't.
There remained a shred of faith.
And the love that had grown unbeknownst to me...
For the first time in my life, I wanted to give her a chance.
「...」
So on this night, when she was supposedly set to assassinate me, I did not confront her.
I simply lay in bed as usual and pretended to sleep first.
The dark bedroom.
The faint footsteps of the barely twenty-year-old woman drawing near.
"Leon. Are you asleep...?"
I gave no reply to Rozanna's question.
Then, I felt her voluptuous thigh gently lift onto the bed.
"He's sleeping soundly..."
I sensed the First Imperial Consort's shadow fall over my face.
And...
Even the dagger coated in poison gripped in her hand.
"I'm sorry..."
I heard Rozanna's sorrowful voice.
Followed by her tear falling on my cheek.
Yet even then, her sight did not shake me.
I simply feigned sleep, silently awaiting her next move.
"..."
But no matter how long I waited, the First Imperial Consort's dagger did not move.
Instead, for the first time, I heard her voice trembling with sobs.
"I can't... How could I now..."
Soon, she hurled away the sinister object in her hand.
And instead...
She hugged me tightly, trying to calm her pounding heart against mine.
「...」
By then, we had become each other's pillar in our darkest hours.
Thanks to that, I could resolve myself.
To protect her no matter what, and to vanquish all who stood in our way.
The next day.
I launched a full purge of the traitors.
Having foreseen their plot, I raided the Epina royal house and seized all evidence of their attempt on my life.
When I returned to the celestial palace afterward.
I made a request of her, who smiled innocently, feigning ignorance.
「Rozanna, will you grant me one favor?」
"Of course. What is it?"
「They say the violets in the empire's northern provinces aid wound recovery. Could you fetch some...?」
"Got it. Your wounds haven't fully healed yet...? I'll bring them right away."
Thus, I evacuated Rozanna to the distant north, where even messenger birds arrived late.
And began the 'Bloody Tribunal.'
First, I interrogated her father, Lordri I.
But rather than beg for his life, he hurled curses at me, as if to shock me.
"Those who wish you dead in this world could fill a cart, Leonhardt."
The king of Epina spewed all manner of curses to unsettle me.
"You must always be cautious. On walks, at meals, even 'in your sleep'!!"
As the leader of a mercenary nation, he knew well how to stab at the heart.
"Who knows? Even this one you believe loves you with ironclad faith might seek your death!!"
Just before the king's lips named Rozanna.
He assumed he'd been caught because Rozanna had defied the assassination order.
In retribution, I finally severed his head.
「Shut that filthy mouth.」
Thud...!!
As Lordri's head rolled across the floor, his royal kin gulped deeply.
They glared at me with eyes brimming with rage.
「If you don't wish the same fate, keep your mouths shut from now on.」
I warned the only royals who knew Rozanna's secret.
Afterward, I thought the matter settled.
But from that moment, a hellish cycle of fate began.
Exactly one week after sparing the royals.
Rozanna's brothers, vowing revenge, rallied remnants and incited rebellion.
And their fury turned not only on me, but on Rozanna for refusing the assassination.
「Rozanna...!!」
To save her, I rushed back from the front lines to the imperial palace.
But when I found her amid the burning ruins, it was already too late.
「How could this happen...」
Revenge begets revenge.
I had overlooked that truth.
Just as I had taken their most precious person.
The ones I spared took from me my most cherished woman.
「...」
In that hollow despair, I stood motionless amid the collapsing palace engulfed in flames.
Simply trembling in fear, clutching her—her once-radiant golden locks charred black.
――――――!!
Even as a pillar of fire crashed into me.
Even as scorching flames devoured my flesh, I offered no resistance.
My mind held but one thought.
「If only I'd killed those vermin royals back then...」
「Would Rozanna have lived...?」
If only I could return to that time.
Clinging solely to that thought, I accepted death.
And in that instant.
A fierce grand aura erupted from my left chest.
――――――.
Somehow after that, I returned...
As I wished...
"Those who wish you dead in this world could fill a cart, Leonhardt."
Back before the dregs of Epina's king I so desperately wanted to kill.
As if time had rewound.
Thus, I...
Repeated countless 'slaughters' and 'suicides' until Rozanna would not die.