Chapter 41
Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Council of Meritorious Houses (3)
“Ah, Father.”
“Don’t call me Father.”
“...W-Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
The Marchioness Opstein, Aridna, who was trembling violently in the face of killing intent she hadn’t felt in ages, asked her father with a pale expression.
“The Opstein family was ruined because of fabricated evidence manipulated by the Belverks’ schemes. You said that with your own mouth, didn’t you?”
“Y-Yes! It was all those Belverk bastards...!”
“Then what about the scars on the youngest son of the Belverks that he showed me today?”
She was about to raise her voice in indignation, but she faltered at Marquis Scharhen’s sharp interrogation.
“...Th-That’s...”
In that instant, countless excuses and deceptions flashed through her mind as her eyes darted around.
“Don’t make things worse than they already are.”
“......”
“Do you think I haven’t seen through your petty tricks all these years?”
But the man before her was her own father—the one who had overlooked her desperate schemes to wriggle out of such situations time and again.
“I-I had no choice. Do you think I had the power to stop it?”
“You could have at least told me.”
“Y-You’re right. But as a wife, I only followed my husband’s greater cause...”
As Aridna finally gave up on excuses and spilled everything in resignation, Marquis Scharhen, who had lost his last shred of hope, wore a hollow expression and retorted coldly.
“Greater cause?”
“......”
“Did you just say ‘greater cause’?”
He repeated the words several times before turning away with a look of utter disbelief.
“Ha, haha...”
Aridna urgently grabbed her father’s arm to stop him.
“Father, if that experiment had succeeded, my husband... the Opstein Marquisate could have pushed aside the Belverks and claimed the highest seat in the empire.”
“......”
“No, the empire wouldn’t even be the issue. We could have made even the Holy Church kneel...”
Marquis Scharhen glared at her as she rattled on anxiously, then spoke in a low voice.
“You know far too much for someone who claims to have merely stood by.”
“Th-That’s...”
“For a daughter of House Scharhen, which lives and dies by honor, to be blinded by power and sully that honor.”
Realizing her father’s heart had fully turned against her, Aridna forced a smile and changed tactics.
“B-But I treated that child well, didn’t I? Even Dorsia here took such good care of Kairen.”
“...Y-Yes, Grandfather.”
“Do you know how wilted Dorsia has been lately from not seeing Kairen? Surely he misses her too...”
But with every word she spoke, Marquis Scharhen’s eyes filled with growing disgust.
“...I saw the nail marks on his back and the wounds on his legs with my own eyes.”
As he muttered wearily, Aridna’s eyes widened in shock.
“What? That can’t be!”
“......?”
“B-But we gave him healing salves periodically to make the wounds fade...”
She clamped her mouth shut upon realizing her slip, and at that moment, pale-faced Dorsia glanced at her mother before speaking up.
“M-Mother.”
“...Dorsia?”
“I-I’m sorry. I took away that medicine a while ago.”
A heavy silence filled the carriage for a brief moment.
“But Kairen... th-that look suited him more... Mmph?”
“...Ah, Father! There must be some misunderstanding.”
Aridna frantically covered Dorsia’s mouth in the silence, but it was already too late.
“Shut your mouth. I don’t want to hear any more.”
“Father!”
“I thought marrying into Opstein might have cured that selfish nature of yours somewhat.”
With his last vestiges of affection gone, Marquis Scharhen regarded his former daughter with icy detachment, brushing off her hand ruthlessly as he muttered.
“...You’ve become a monster now, not a person. Aridna.”
Turning away once more, Marquis Scharhen delivered his cold decree.
“As of today, I disown you.”
“Ah...”
“Your name will be struck from the family register. And after Opstein’s fall, you are forbidden from ever using the Scharhen name again.”
Aridna listened with a breathless expression, then spoke in a trembling voice.
“F-Father, you’ll need Opstein’s power too!”
“......?”
“Y-You’re not as young as you used to be, are you? Don’t you miss the days when you were called the World’s Greatest Swordsman?”
At her words, Marquis Scharhen slowly turned to stare at Aridna.
“My husband’s research is nearly complete. Just a little more, and it’ll bear fruit.”
“......”
“So, I’ll give up on reinstatement. But if you could just fund the research a bit, Father, you could relive those days of glory...”
As Aridna’s eyes gleamed with hope and she pressed on, an unprecedented chill of killing intent filled the carriage.
“Call me ‘Father’ one more time, and I’ll make sure you never speak again.”
Marquis Scharhen glared at her as if she were no longer human, then left those words behind and quietly exited the carriage.
“Y-You’re stepping down as family head soon anyway!”
“......”
“Don’t be stubborn! When your time runs out, you’ll regret it!”
Aridna spat venomously from behind, trembling with rage, but Marquis Scharhen was already half-ignoring her.
“Aaaargh!!!”
“...M-Mom.”
“That damn little brat!!!!!”
But when her shriek of fury echoed inescapably, Marquis Scharhen shook his head and muttered softly.
“...To think I wasted affection on those things.”
After that, he never looked back again.
“It seems Opstein must be utterly eradicated.”
About 30 minutes later, those were the first words Marquis Scharhen uttered upon reentering the Council chamber.
“Leaving a house like that among the meritorious families would be a disgrace to the empire.”
“I’ve been anti-Opstein from the start!”
As soon as he spoke, Border Count Harkfried and Marquis Magnaris, who had been seated quietly, voiced their agreement while glancing at Kairen.
“Did you all go take a break and come back with a script?”
“......”
“Or did our little family head work some magic?”
The emperor gazed at Kairen, who sat innocently at the Belverk seat with a bright expression.
“...Well, I like it when opinions align. Then Opstein’s disposition is settled.”
She set aside the documents she held, cleared her throat briefly, and spoke again.
“Now, onto the final agenda...”
At once, the family heads’ gazes focused on her.
“Just yesterday, the crown prince came to me with an imperial wish.”
In that fleeting moment, the family heads’ eyes—save Kairen’s—filled with annoyance.
“The request is simple: Expel the youngest imperial princess from the palace immediately.”
“......”
“Of course, expulsion doesn’t strip her status, but for an imperial, it’s practically a death sentence.”
She glanced over them briefly before resuming her explanation.
“The moment the youngest princess used her imperial wish, my son pounced with this one. What a vile brat.”
The emperor smirked mockingly for a moment before reverting to a businesslike demeanor, fixing her gaze on the family heads.
“Anyway, it’s a formality, but the meritorious houses must decide within 24 hours whether to exercise veto rights.”
“......”
“That’s why I called you all here today. Normally, I’d send letters, but given the urgency of the wish, things are pressing.”
But the family heads’ eyes already brimmed with clear irritation.
Of course, the veto was a power unique to the meritorious houses, capable of checking even imperial privileges. Yet, past heads excluding Belverk had always been reluctant to use it.
Especially in cases like this imperial wish, which was a special circumstance.
Exercising it might only earn the ire of a potential successor, and imperial wishes were usually internal palace squabbles or absurd requests not worth blocking anyway.
Even as the four great houses that supported the emperor, they saw unchecked imperial power as something to monitor.
In that sense, imperial wishes—which mostly harmed the requesters themselves—passed without issue unless they damaged the meritorious houses.
This one, targeting the unsupported youngest princess to cull her early, naturally drew no intervention from the houses.
“Well, it’s just procedure. No one’s going to dust off that archaic power now...”
The emperor, well aware of this, scanned the mood and tried to wrap up.
But then...
“I exercise veto!”
The unexpected struck right then.
-Huff, huff...
Kairen had shot to his feet, breathing heavily with an angry scowl, activating the faded veto token.
“Kairen, I don’t know why you’re complicating this... but vetoing an imperial wish requires unanimous consent from all four meritorious houses.”
“......”
“And us old fogeys find it extremely bothersome to use.”
The emperor explained while looking distinctly annoyed at Kairen, who glanced around at the seated heads.
“...Then I’ll convince you all myself!”
With that, Kairen puffed out his cheeks hugely and toddled out of the chamber.
“Pfft!”
The emperor stared blankly before bursting into laughter, then gestured to halt the imperial knights rushing after him.
“Things are getting fun again...”
Her eyes sparkling, she slowly rose from her seat.
“So, what will you do?”
She shot a sidelong glance at the three heads, asking in a sly tone.
“...You lot.”
She addressed the leaders of the three meritorious houses, who had sat silently with stern expressions until then.
About 15 minutes later. The crown prince’s chambers.
“A-Are you His Highness the Crown Prince?!”
“......Hm?”
“Your Highness! Withdraw the wish immediately!”
The empire’s crown prince, lounging leisurely in bed, doubted his eyes at the uninvited intruder bursting through the door.
“What’s this brat?”
“...I’m not a brat!”
“How did you even get in here?”
But only for a moment. He rose, drawing the sword from his waist.
“I don’t care who you are or where you’re from. Get out of my sight right—”
The crown prince approached the kid who had appeared at the door with his usual obnoxious sneer, but he froze mid-step.
“......”
“......”
“......”
The guardian of the snowy plains and de facto king of the north. The veteran once unanimously hailed as the World’s Greatest Swordsman just years ago. And the mistress of the imperial magic tower, also serving as academy headmaster.
Titans whose single word could shake the empire stood behind the kid, arms crossed.
“...Huh?”
Behind the cute little intruder who glared at him, fists clenched and fuming.