Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Banquet (5)
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“Lis Lis Elis. Just where the hell did things go wrong?”
“Haven't heard that nickname in ages. If you're asking where it went wrong... wasn't it right from the moment you got that invitation from Princess Cornelia?”
As I let out a deep sigh, Elis giggled beside me and held out a bite-sized piece of meat skewered on her fork.
I obediently took it into my mouth and quietly watched the scene unfolding before my eyes.
“Auntie! Haven't you been way too close to Grand Duke Zahav this whole time? Y-You're practically touching!”
“No idea what you're talking about. Banquets have always been places to arrange meetings between men and women, you know. Even if you're my niece, interfering in someone else's love life is a bit...”
“It's not love—it's hunting! And if you keep throwing yourself at Grand Duke Zahav with a face that looks just like mine... you'll start those weird rumors again!”
“Oh, you mean the rumors from your academy days? The ones where you wouldn't even let anyone weaker than you meet your eyes.”
“Exactly! Because of those rumors, people even said I liked women instead of men!”
“Sorry, but you need to get your facts straight. It's not that I look like you—it's that you look like me and your mother.”
“Argh...!”
“Besides, you need to consider your aunt's position. When some fresh-faced kid suddenly sidles up pretending to be friendly and slyly checking you out, it's only natural to want to swing your sword first.”
“Who the hell swings a sword at a time like that!? I've told you a million times, you're the weird one!”
“Sigh. Listen up. To become a Swordmaster, you have to obsess over the sword constantly, to the point where everything in life ends with a slash.”
“I have zero interest in becoming a Swordmaster!”
Cornelia and Adriana bickering right in front of me.
Because they were squabbling on either side of me, all I could do was fetch Elis, whom I'd set aside for a moment, and vent to her.
Even though the banquet had been going on for quite a while, I hadn't danced a single time.
Of course, as far as I was concerned, that was a relief. I'd learned the basics of etiquette and the minimum movements... but I still had no confidence in dancing.
As I let out another sigh mixed with relief and a touch of disappointment, Elis chuckled and handed me a glass of wine she'd received from a servant.
“Still, politics-wise, it seems fine, doesn't it, Enoch?”
“...Yeah. At least we've dodged that kind of attention properly.”
At first, the nobles' gazes toward us had been incredibly varied.
Some feared me simply because I was a Zahav, others warily eyed my martial prowess, some felt burdened by my feat of ending a calamity, and others watched my every move, wondering if I was jumping into the imperial succession race.
But now it was different.
Not just the nobles sensitive to imperial politics—even the imperial family members scattered in the distance.
Even those who shaped the political landscape rather than followed it had withdrawn their suspicions toward me.
Ah, but that didn't mean they welcomed me or showed unconditional goodwill.
“Well, well. I was wondering why the Zahav was being so docile... so he's already satisfied.”
“What? You mean the Third Princess...!”
“Insolent fool. Look at Lady Adriana beside him. It's not some personal whim or scheme. If anything, it's closer to political maneuvering.”
“...I see! His Majesty the Emperor had it all planned out! But I've heard the House Zahav focuses on pure bloodlines because of succession issues.”
“Oh, friend. That was the dumbest question you've asked today. The opponent is Zahav. The owner of the bluest blood, who accomplished feats rivaling an invitation to the fold.”
“In other words...”
“I'm curious how many candidates there'll be for the next-generation Zahav heir.”
I shook my head at the conversation drifting from the elderly nobles in the distance.
“Anyone hearing that would think I'd taken Jevella sis as a wife and now Princess Cornelia too.”
“Wife... I suppose. If you were actually a noble, and the head of House Zahav at that, it would be natural...”
“Elis? What's up? Why the sudden change?”
“Hm? Nothing. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”
“That's new. Never thought I'd see the day Elis spaced out.”
“It was something important. Utility or justification. Who to ally with, who to push aside... And whether you'd like me thinking like that, Enoch.”
“Silly worries.”
I chuckled and shook my head.
“Of course I'd trust whatever conclusion you reach after careful thought. You've never done anything to harm me.”
“...That's exactly what makes it harder.”
Elis gave a wry smile. As I shook my head at her, a sudden blare of brass instruments echoed through the banquet hall.
Bwooo-!
The music had been playing faintly since I entered the hall, but this was the first time it asserted itself so strongly.
It was like a sound that cut the flow of the banquet—or seized the attention of everyone present.
If this wasn't a mere mistake or accident...
One of the servants guarding the entrance shouted in a loud voice, confirming my suspicion.
“All pay your respects!”
With those words, every noble in the hall—even Cornelia and Adriana, who had been bickering over dessert—straightened up and turned toward the entrance.
“King of Kings! Descendant of the hero who ended the Night of Tragedy! Guardian of the continent's peace! Sovereign of the Millennial Empire Ortenzia! His Majesty Wilfried enters!”
A lengthy introduction that hadn't been given for me or anyone else. As the servant finished speaking, the brass instruments blared again, and amid the grandeur, a man appeared.
His first impression was that of an ordinary old man. White hair and beard. A slightly hunched back attested to his age.
But as his steps continued, as he drew closer and details became visible, the sense of ordinariness faded.
Though his back was bent and his stature diminished, his frame remained imposing. His hair, having lost its original color, was filled instead with profound depth of time.
His leisurely gait evoked a lion, and the gaze overlooking the assembly carried arrogance befitting his station.
The servant had listed “King of Kings” first among the Emperor's titles.
I understood why the moment I saw him.
Charisma, dignity, presence. Whatever you called it, Wilfried exuded the unmistakable aura of one who stood above others.
Even if dressed in the raggedest clothes and thrown into an unknown place, he would still be emperor.
He needed no land, no followers, not even those who remembered him.
A sovereign standing alone in his purity.
A paradoxical description, but I couldn't think of anything better.
...However, all this was mere admiration. What truly shocked me was something else.
The instincts honed from desperately surviving whispered to me.
Strong.
Even after leaving Calypso Territory and gaining all sorts of experiences, making me far stronger than before... he was much stronger than the current me.
In a way, it was only natural.
The imperial bloodline ability was inheritance. Before my eyes wasn't just an old man in a crown—it was the passage of time accumulated through a single lineage.
...But at the same time, weak. So weak I could snap his neck right now if I wanted.
Was it because Wilfried had aged and grown frail? Or something else?
I didn't know the reason. I just felt that certainty.
Like we both held spears pointed at each other.
A strange sensation I'd never felt from other imperial family members—like Cornelia, or the princes and princesses watching me intently from afar.
A power that existed as pure result without process, passed only through blood. Bloodline abilities were the privilege of nobles, and the imperial family stood at their pinnacle.
Far more arcane than aura or magic, a force even the people of this world couldn't fully explain.
There was probably something I couldn't comprehend.
It reminded me anew that this was a fantasy world where superhumans truly existed.
Because of that, I forgot.
-We pay respects to the master of the Empire!
“Ah.”
Was I too lost in thought?
While everyone else knelt, I alone stood straight.
My eyes met the Emperor's, who looked at me in bewilderment.
...Screwed up?
While Enoch admired Wilfried,
Wilfried was equally astonished by Enoch.
'He's just barely over twenty, in the prime of his youthful vigor, I heard.'
From afar, he seemed like a relatively normal young Zahav.
Being fed by his mistress and watching a princess and Swordmaster engage in lovers' quarrel(?) seemed mild enough.
But up close, he was even more reserved than imagined.
He was considerate enough to suppress his presence for the banquet guests (he just wasn't used to his expanded mana circuits yet).
He'd brought his mistress but wasn't brazenly indulging in debauchery to the point of frowning (Adriana had just drained him).
He enjoyed his wine but wasn't chugging crates and causing a drunken scene (he was just a proper young man).
Above all, aside from his mistresses Cornelia and Elis, he showed no interest in other women.
For Wilfried, who had considered sending Cornelia to the Zahavs someday, this was truly fortunate.
'As expected, Zahav blood shines brightest in adversity.'
Knowing pain, he doesn't harm others lightly. With a mother scorned as a whore, he doesn't take women by force. Raised resisting among criminals, he always holds honor close.
How perfectly shaped a Zahav this was.
The early emperors of the Empire must have governed alongside such Zahavs.
At least they wouldn't have broken into a sweat cleaning up after naked perverts whose hobby was abduction and training, like himself.
Why only now...!
Wilfried felt unjustly aggrieved for no reason.