Chapter 124
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: Normalization of the Family Meeting
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"S-Sorry for being late...!"
Slightly delayed after breaking through the southern gate and getting a bit lost on the way, Kairen finally arrived at the imperial palace.
"Huh?"
He blankly opened his mouth at the sight unfolding before him.
"Down from three. Again."
"...Ugh."
"One: Do not engage in reckless destruction."
In the middle of the imperial palace garden, which was on the verge of total ruin, the Emperor rode on the back of the eldest daughter, her expression icy as she barked out the chant.
"...Do not engage in reckless, destruction."
And for some reason, the eldest daughter's arms trembled as if they were giving out while she followed along with push-ups—unlike her usual self.
"Two: Think before acting."
"Two... Think before... acting."
"Hm, down from two. Again."
Kairen watched the absurd scene with his mouth agape for a while before hurriedly stepping forward and asking the Emperor,
"H-How did you do that?"
"Ah, Belverk's cute mascot has arrived."
Only then did she turn her head, quietly lifting the corners of her mouth as she extended both arms forward.
"I'm not cute...! Whoa?!"
"Saying that with such a face kills your persuasion."
"...Eek!"
In the blink of an eye, she scooped Kairen into her embrace and added his weight on top.
"Anyway, to answer your question: Belverk's eldest daughter is my natural counter."
The Emperor's eyes burned golden.
"Any living being strains their heart if they overuse their power."
"......?"
"So imperial bloodline power is plenty enough... Ah, come to think of it, was that classified too?"
Kairen, wriggling in the Emperor's arms, furrowed his brow at those words and observed the situation more closely.
- Rrrrrumble...
What caught his eye belatedly was the eldest daughter's chest, enveloped in golden aura.
"Classified?"
"Haha, curious, are you?"
Just then, as Kairen confirmed a similar phenomenon around the Emperor's heart and asked with a curious expression—
"It's classified, so stop there."
"Oh, Astridje's here."
"I'll discipline the eldest daughter myself."
Astridje had arrived from afar in the garden, her eyes dyed red, cutting off the Emperor's words.
"......"
Only then did the eldest daughter slip free from the Emperor's restraint. Drenched in sweat, she glared coldly at Astridje before walking away.
"...Even at maximum restraint, she can still move."
"......"
"And her killing intent is undiminished... As expected of the Eastern Continent War's legend."
The Emperor glanced at the eldest daughter's retreating back and muttered in a slightly serious tone.
"...His Majesty the Emperor is scary."
The eldest daughter's grumbled words, her face downcast, went unheard by anyone this time too.
"Well then... Looks like we're all gathered now."
Putting the little incident aside, the Emperor set Kairen down and rose from her seat, gazing at those present with a low murmur.
"The empire's headache-inducing monsters."
The Belverk clan, having breached their respective gates and assembled in the palace garden, stared back at the Emperor with eyes dyed red.
"...Monsters? Talking about us?"
"...Hehe. Monsters? How rude, Your Majesty."
"Right? From our perspective, Your Majesty is the real monster."
The infamous Belverk triplets, already lined up behind Astridje, reacted in unison to the Emperor's words and began emanating killing intent.
"Will you block our entry, Yustina?"
"......"
"We decided on the grand conference hall for this family meeting."
And ahead of those three sisters stood Astridje, her question laced with killing intent several times denser than her daughters'.
"Lately, I haven't had any chances to boost my prestige among the bureaucrats..."
"Ho ho."
"I was planning to at least pretend to block you..."
The Emperor pondered the question briefly before smiling at the competitive Astridje and shaking her head.
"Guess I'm the type who prioritizes fun over duty."
The Emperor's gaze fixed forward for a moment.
"...Something fun will happen today too."
Her words were directed at the small, cute monster nestled in Astridje's arms—the one who had single-handedly revolutionized the unchanging Belverks—sniffling away.
- Creaaaaak...
The tightly shut doors of the grand conference hall swung open, and the familiar red glow that bureaucrats dreaded began to shine within.
"It got breached again this time too..."
"How long will His Majesty tolerate their arrogance...?"
"Ugh... Do they think the palace is their backyard?"
The bureaucrats' reactions to the chilling sight varied.
"Give up. The Belverks have always been like that."
"If you value your life, hide your expression."
"Heh heh, I wonder what antics they'll pull this time."
Younger bureaucrats ground their teeth openly in disgust or anger, but seasoned or quick-witted ones had already resigned themselves, relaxing their stances.
"...You lot need to watch your words from now on."
"B-But...!"
"Hah, you don't know?"
One particularly sentimental old bureaucrat warned the young ones.
"They've always been like this, but this generation's Belverks are especially unhinged..."
"Don't flap your loose lips carelessly."
But at that very moment, a cold voice flew into the hall.
"Whispering behind our backs is one thing, but letting it reach our ears is unforgivable."
The atmosphere in the conference hall turned frigid in an instant at the arrival of the young Duchess who had become the bureaucrats' new terror since the Emperor's lethargy led her to abandon state affairs.
"......"
And that chill plummeted to rock bottom with the entrance of Edelasia, the eldest daughter who had once punched a high official's head to pulp right before the bureaucrats' eyes three years ago.
"Lots of new faces I haven't seen before~?"
Of course, Uriel, standing beside her with hands behind her back, scanning the room with a smiling eyes, contributed equally to the mood.
Many had witnessed the shredded high official's corpse vanishing into her black maw.
"What are you gawking at, you bastards."
And with Lilien's arrival—the very one who had torn that corpse apart—scarcely anyone dared lift their gaze forward.
No matter how much they despised the Belverks, few showed open resentment in their presence.
Not because of their guaranteed immunity, permission to enter armed, or the entire clan's overwhelming might.
"Ufufu, the new bureaucrats are a bit boring."
"Better than last time when they didn't know their place and insulted us."
"Agreed."
It was simply because this generation of Belverks was bizarrely twisted—even compared to all previous ones combined.
"E-Eh..."
Thus, the hall echoed with the terrified breaths and fake coughs of bureaucrats as usual—
"...Ach oo!"
When a cute sneeze suddenly shattered the silence.
"Sniff..."
The bureaucrats, heads snapping up at the sound, saw the cute boy trailing behind the Duchess and her three daughters rubbing his nose, their faces puzzled.
"“......!!!”"
And right after. The Belverks froze in their seats before whipping their heads around in unison.
"Kairen, what's wrong?"
"Little brother, you okay?"
"Are you... feeling ill again?"
"D-Did you catch a cold?"
Seconds later, they rushed to Kairen with pale faces, each firing off questions.
"I-It’s just... I got lost for a bit and caught a chill..."
Caught off guard by his suddenly swarming family, Kairen answered in a hoarse voice.
"See? I said we should go together!"
"Little brother's forehead feels hot."
"Individual breakthroughs are such an outdated tactic, yeah."
At his words, the infamous sisters—who even bureaucrats couldn't meet eyes with—frowned and unanimously blamed Astridje.
"...Is that so."
And astonishingly, Astridje meekly admitted fault with a downcast expression.
"Uwaaaah..."
Meanwhile, Kairen—receiving care from his mother and three sisters—sweated coldly, cheeks puffed, glancing around the hall.
"......"
The bureaucrats, beholding Belverk's fabled fourth child for the first time, stared at him in stunned silence.
"Skip the tedious formalities and get to the point."
About ten minutes later, in the somewhat settled conference hall.
"Kairen has a cold. Present solutions."
Astridje, seated in the red-decorated throne reserved for the Belverk house head at the center, declared the family meeting's start with eyes dyed red.
"How about making him run ten laps around the drill field? A healthy body houses a healthy spirit."
"Forget pointless family meetings—renting out the capital's entire hospital sounds good."
"I'll use my Unique Ability to adapt and make those... antibodies? Then inject them into Kairen..."
The three sisters, holding their feverish Kairen from both sides, vied to suggest ideas.
"......"
To reiterate: this "family meeting" was in the imperial palace's grand conference hall, packed with all the bureaucrats—not Belverk's living room.
"What in the world is..."
"...Shh."
"This level of eccentricity is actually tame."
Though better than murderous glares aimed at them, the bureaucrats held their tongues cautiously—
"Um, pardon the interruption."
When a maid near the entrance timidly raised her hand.
"I think stripping off his clothes first and cooling him with wet towels is best."
A brief silence followed.
"......"
What happened next was unprecedented in imperial history.
"Any discomfort?"
"I'll keep fetching cold water."
"I'll get the towels."
"I-I'll... prepare a lap pillow..."
The Belverk house head and kin who had seized the hall's center by force, usurping the Emperor's authority on imperial matters.
That much had precedents in history, but the entire clan scrambling in panic—fetching buckets of cold water and towels—was utterly ridiculous and unheard of.
"...Um."
In the midst of that chaotic takeover, the instigator himself spoke up.
"My head..."
Astridje and the three sisters froze at Kairen's pitiful request, then leaned in toward him in unison.
- Thonk!
The next instant, Kairen's knuckle rapped straight into Astridje's pale forehead.
- Thonk! Thonk! Thonk!
Then, one by one, into the bewildered sisters beside her.
"Hm?"
Seconds later, Astridje belatedly realized she'd been knuckle-rapped and tilted her head.
"Little brother?"
"Oh my?"
"Wh-What?"
The three sisters reacted the same.
"Everyone's watching us!"
Kairen raised his voice with a fierce glare at the headache-inducing beasts.
"I'm fine, so..."
".........."
"Stop being a nuisance and hold the meeting!"
Hard to believe, but among Belverks who had occupied this imperial hall, Kairen was the first to utter something so normal and sensible.
"“......!!!”"
Thus, the bureaucrats silently watching with bated breath gaped wide-eyed—a perfectly natural reaction.
"Or I'll get mad!"
For the one who had finally leashed these reigning terrors had appeared before their very eyes.