Chapter 217
Chapter 217
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 217. The Emperor's Circumstances (3)
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At first, I only killed the king of Epina.
Then his sons conspired with enemy nations and incited a rebellion from within.
So in the second regression, I killed the sons as well.
After that, the grandsons grew up and sought revenge.
Whether infants, elders, or women.
As long as they harbored thoughts of vengeance against us within their hearts.
I had no choice but to kill them all.
Monsters hiding behind pitiful, innocent faces, thinking only of killing us.
「….」
When I had killed every royal captured and brought to the palace.
Only then did I think I had escaped the fate of death.
But.
「Rozanna, we've arrived at the mausoleum.」
When we returned to Epina to lay her and her slain kin to rest.
The younger brother who had survived only because he wasn't there drove a dagger into her.
"Sister. It's because of you.... If only you hadn't betrayed us...."
The shock of his father and brothers suddenly killed by a mere boy was immense.
Especially upon learning the culprit was his own sister.
"Siding with an outsider to kill us all.... And now you have the gall to hold a funeral?"
"Robin...."
The brother, out of his mind, had been biding his time to kill her.
「These filthy scum dare...!!」
Having killed the same kinds of people dozens of times already, I wasn't particularly surprised.
I could just end my life and regress to wipe them out again.
But.
With each regression, something started going wrong with my body.
My aura weakened as if I were losing my life force, my vitality fading.
I thought I could overcome it for Rozanna's sake, no matter what.
But....
For the first time in my life, doubt crept in about this endless task.
When she was stabbed by the younger brother she cherished so much.
The words she left as her dying testament in the carriage were utterly shocking.
"I'm sorry.... Robin...."
I had turned back decades, time and again, to block every enemy threatening her.
Yet from the very person herself came words apologizing for failing to kill me.
From an enemy I had slain countless times, no less.
"If only I'd died with Leon back then.... It wouldn't have come to this.... I'm sorry, sister...."
「Rozanna....」
What had been the point of repeating that nightmarish cycle?
Was I less than the kin who had used her like a toy?
「….」
That thought stirred something in my empty chest.
Rage began to boil within my hollow, emaciated shell.
Soon, that rage exploded.
「You parasitic Epina clan scum...!!!」
I grabbed Robin's throat with my bare hands and twisted.
The boy's neck snapped like a chick's.
I flung his corpse next to Rozanna, who had died from the dagger wound.
Yet my fury didn't subside.
I glared contemptuously at Rozanna's body, scorning her for valuing the leech-like Epina clan over me, who had tried to protect her.
I had always given her lavish funerals before each suicide.
But not this time.
I abandoned the carriage on the roadside and returned to the palace alone.
I drowned myself in alcohol, trying desperately to forget Rozanna.
But.
"Your Majesty.... You must attend to state affairs!!"
"The people's resentment is growing!!"
"Please, snap out of it...."
My already shattered body and mind could not recover.
Every time I tried to sleep, curses from the Epina royals I had killed rained down in my head.
「Handle it yourselves.」
I sprawled in my chambers like a rotting corpse.
Afterward, I didn't even appear at the palace, spending time alone.
Rumors spread that I had gone mad, shaking the empire's foundations.
Enough that the recently conquered nations plotted rebellions.
「….」
But I was too far gone to even notice.
The extent of it was an occasional stroll in the garden before my chambers.
―――――.
Filthy pajamas, unwashed.
I wandered the grass barefoot like a ghost.
Whether due to rumors of my madness, no one approached the garden.
Even the imperial knights on guard feared meeting my eyes and kept their distance.
But.
One person was different.
"I greet Your Majesty, the Emperor."
A calm voice.
Turning toward it, I saw a black-haired man appear.
「Who are you...?」
"I am Berti, the new imperial knight assigned to guard Your Majesty."
Berti.
Among all the imperial knights I had seen, he was the most extraordinary.
A middle-aged man with golden aura in his chest, having reached swordmaster at a young age.
Even seeing me, rumored mad, he showed no flicker of emotion.
「Strange.... I've never even dreamed of having a guard until now.」
"Indeed, there were scarcely any volunteers. Even I am a replacement for a predecessor who quit."
Black hair, black eyes.
Even sly, fox-like features.
Frankly, he wasn't the type to appeal at first glance.
Yet, for some reason, his tone didn't grate.
"They were all terrified by rumors of Your Majesty's mania."
「I see.... Well, as you can see, I'm not exactly in fine fettle. Your face sometimes looks like Lordri's, whom I killed.」
Normally, such a jest would drain the color from my aides' faces.
They all half-believed the madness rumors anyway.
"I know."
But the middle-aged knight before me was different.
"Your Majesty's eyes have lost their light. You could hang yourself right now and it wouldn't seem odd."
He stated his thoughts plainly.
In the past, I would have deemed it insolent, but now it felt different.
After Rozanna's death, everyone feared my mania and groveled.
To me, that looked just like the Epina royals before I struck, utterly repulsive.
In that regard, this man was far preferable.
「My neck.... I've hanged it countless times already....」
“...”
Even another malicious quip, and the man remained impassive.
Just staring coldly with his narrow, fox-like eyes.
「What's wrong, Sir Berti? Do I look utterly pathetic to you?」
"Yes, I do."
Like Rozanna, bluntly spitting truths.
I couldn't help but smirk.
「I understand. But I have no intention of changing. No reason or will to.」
My obsession with Rozanna, the source of my life, had long faded.
Like the withered garden leaves before me, I awaited only death.
"Is it because of the late Empress?"
My budding fondness soured.
The middle-aged man had invoked the one person never to be mentioned.
「Do you grasp the weight of your words...?」
A withered garden leaf dropped.
As if the thread of my fragile sanity had snapped.
"Yes, I do. I'm staking my life on saying this."
Yet he didn't flinch at my killing intent.
He merely caught the falling leaf midair.
"Does Your Majesty know the empire's current state?"
「The empire's state...?」
As I blankly echoed, the fox-like man spoke.
"Rumors of Your Majesty's madness have the barely conquered nations plotting rebellion—all of them."
Beyond the leaf in Berti's hand, countless more began falling.
Uncontrollably, in droves.
"In this chaos, there's no successor to a mad emperor."
Bluntly calling me mad to my face.
I began inwardly pondering what to do with this insolent fox.
"Even your aides have held meetings on whether to confine or kill Your Majesty."
「So what is it you want to say.」
I crossed my arms alone and asked.
In the interim, my arms had grown far lighter, more gaunt.
Knight Berti stared at me with cold black eyes.
Then he spoke.
"Who is Your Majesty."
He extended his hand to me.
Then asked gravely.
"I know you were close to the late Empress. But did Your Majesty live solely to meet her?"
Lived for Rozanna.
My lips parted and froze.
"You did after meeting her, perhaps. But before that, what Your Majesty cherished and protected most was...."
Berti let the gathered leaves fall indifferently to the ground.
He pointed to the grass strewn with countless leaves.
"Not this homeland, Leonhardt, entrusted to you by your predecessor?"
「….」
"Like the last of the Empress's family for her, you are the father to the people."
The middle-aged knight swallowed deeply.
Wrinkles forged by years etched his eyes.
"Even if all say you must be dragged down and confined, I differ. Because you are the empire's pillar, I want to believe in you once more."
The black-haired man knelt.
And beseeched the aged, gaunt emperor.
"Rise again for the empire."
「….」
As I gave no reply, he cried louder.
"The late Empress would not wish to see Your Majesty like this."
Hearing him, I blankly thought of Rozanna.
She who, amid countless victories, tended only my wounds.
Though she regretted saving me for her slaughtered family.
Just as Berti had saved me, could I not change her regrets?
As that thought swelled.
「I understand.」
I grasped the shoulder of the kneeling man.
「Sir Berti. Forgive me for ignoring your counsel.」
And asked the one who had awakened me.
「What is your family name.」
“...”
Hearing my question, the middle-aged knight raised his head.
"A common name. Half the empire's population shares it."
Staring up at me with black eyes, he answered.
"My house is Mikhail. Knights guarding the Epina border for generations."
「I will remember your name.」
Hearing him, I left the garden.
Dodging protests from my gaunt, resentful people, I headed to one mausoleum.
To where Mosian had buried Rozanna in my neglect.
「Rozanna....」
I stood blankly before the empress's tomb for a long while.
Then, steeling myself, I drew the dagger always kept in my bosom.
「I've thought endlessly while fleeing reality.」
In white pajamas.
I raised the dagger to the air.
「But in the world I vowed to create....」
Tears welled in eyes I thought dry.
They soon traced my sunken cheeks.
「It seems I can't do without you after all....」
I thrust the dagger between my white pajamas.
Red blood stained my body.
Yet I felt no pain.
Humbly closing my eyes as one empire's emperor, one woman's husband.
「――――――」
Thus regressing to the past once more.
I beheld Epina's king, Lordri, again.
"Those seeking your death fill a cartload from across the world, Leonhardt."
In the past, I would have charged like a beast.
But not this time.
「I know.」
As I had dozens of times, I raised my sword.
And decisively severed the old king's neck.
「So this time, I'll kill the entire cartload.」
Calmer than ever, I began the task.
Starting with Epina's royals before me.
Extending to Rozanna's distant kin.
Perhaps too indiscriminate.
Even Rozanna, sent far away, hurried back to the capital.
Clutching her brother Robin, she begged me to spare him.
But I did not stop.
"Why are you doing this? What revenge could such a young child possibly take!!"
"Please spare him, Your Majesty...."
「Rozanna. Stand back.」
My white uniform soaked in blood, turned yellowish.
In that state, I strode toward Rozanna.
「This is for all our sakes.」
For her, whom I loved.
For the homeland I loved.
"Ahh...!"
Leonhardt roughly shoved his wife aside.
He seized the boy's nape.
"If you kill Robin, I'll curse you forever...! Please, stop...."
The empress, tears blurring her vision.
She wailed loudly, thrown to the floor.
But I did not stop.
「The last variable ends here.」
I looked down at Rozanna's brother like a parasite.
Then decisively swung my sword.
"Robin...!!"
The empress's lips parted at her brother's bisecting before her eyes.
The boy's pure blood splattered across the white tiles.
Thud.
The empire's First Imperial Consort crawled frantically to her brother's corpse.
Trembling at the halved form.
"How could you.... Even a child this young...."
「One day you'll understand, Rozanna.」
Rozanna shook her head at my resolute, impassive face.
Then rose and fled the blood-smeared palace.
「One day.... You'll understand....」
No leisure to ache for her grief.
First priority: deal with the remnants of Epina's king.
I swiftly donned armor and prepared to march.
「Mosian.」
"Yes, Your Majesty...!!"
Before the capital's walls, I asked him.
Thinking of the contemporary man who awakened me.
「Order the border knight orders to prepare to suppress remnants immediately. I'll join personally.」
"Understood, Your Majesty!"
Mosian hurriedly wrote the letter.
「Ah, and if possible.... Check if there's a knight named Berti Mikhail among them.」
"As you command."
The prime minister scrawled swiftly.
Tied it to a messenger bird and sent it off.
Hours later, the reply arrived.
"Your Majesty, the border regions are already clashing with rebelling remnants!!"
My lips parted at the Epinans striking faster than feared.
「Is that so...? Then Mikhail? What of Sir Mikhail?」
"Forgive me, Your Majesty...."
I asked the prime minister urgently.
His response was....
"Sir Berti Mikhail fell in battle."
So ironic.
「He's dead...?」
"Yes, his name is on the casualty list."
The old man handed me the document.
With trembling hands, I confirmed again.
「Impossible.... He was an exceptional man, swordmaster at a young age....」
But the prime minister had no reason to lie.
'Berti Mikhail, killed in action.'
As the eldest son of his house, his home burned in clash with Epina forces.
Presumed to have children, but missing, presumed dead.
Thus, in saving all, I lost the precious soul who awakened me.