Chapter 170: He Cherished Him (1)
He set down a book containing the method of contracting with the Demon King and spoke.
[I stake this book and request a transaction.]
.......
***
The Duke's heart was devastated upon hearing the news of Paras Territory's fall.
The Duke was a politician. Tactics were not his domain. If he still had private soldiers, he could have lent a hand, but he had lost even those to the Revolutionary Army, so the only thing he could do was a public opinion war using the Salvation Church.
His pride couldn't help but be wounded.
'Actually, I do have magic, but....'
If the Demon King's half-contractor used the demonic energy granted by him against the demon army, would the Demon King simply stand by and watch?
'He might withdraw that power.'
There was no certainty that he could take back what he had given, but neither was there certainty that he couldn't.
Moreover, since he could not guarantee how much he could accomplish with this demonic energy, he thought it better to save it up and use it decisively in a single, perfectly timed moment, pouring it all out to ensure results.
Thus, the Duke resolved to hold back his magic until the very end.
'So I must find another card to play.'
He needed another card. For example, absolute power that would allow him to hold many things in his hand and control everything.
The Duke merely lacked the pieces to participate in the war on the chessboard; given the pieces, he was confident he could play better than anyone.
'Of course, I have no excuse for losing the pieces I once held, but....'
He slowly clenched his fist.
......The same thing would never happen again. The Duke had paid dearly for his arrogance and complacency.
If only the Emperor would yield just a little.
'He's so damn stubborn.'
He frowned slightly.
If it were up to him, he would forcibly take over power, but the current state of affairs was not one where such a thing could be done. On the contrary, it would only increase chaos, breed resentment, and cause internal strife.
'Foolish.'
He couldn't understand.
There was someone here who welcomed power. A man so mad for power that he would accept any price for it. With a nation already in peril, why did he stubbornly refuse and insist on going mad when there was someone willing to bloody his hands and shoulder all responsibility in his stead?
He saw the Emperor repeatedly rubbing his fingertips and clenching and unclenching his fist. The movement, as though trying to brush off something stubbornly stuck, allowed the Duke to infer the scene that only appeared to the Emperor's eyes.
'No doubt it looked like blood was on his hands.'
The level of hallucination had gone beyond sight and sound, even manifesting touch. Then, perhaps the sense of smell had also been realized.
Come to think of it, he was a man who did not fit the vessel of an emperor. At least in this era, that was so.
In a peaceful era, ascending the throne through peaceful means, he might have become a sage king. But he was not. The emperor needed now was someone who could sacrifice the small for the great without hesitation, and who was so shameless as to act that way without feeling guilt.
Yes, someone like me.
The Duke twisted one corner of his mouth upward.
"That brother and younger brother alike—so weak yet so uselessly stubborn."
Long ago, the 1st Prince he had encountered back when Edoardo Desert was the 9th Prince, not the Emperor, came to mind.
The man who had finally secured the succession among countless candidates, yet had been poisoned and given a limited time.
'He was so pathetically weak that it made one wonder how he had secured the succession.'
Was it for the sake of protecting his family that he had desperately joined the succession struggle?
Because if any of his other brothers took the throne, not only he and his most cherished younger brother, but even his own children would surely die. He seemed to have realized this viscerally when he lost his wife.
What was the big deal about a mere family? A mushy, lukewarm word like 'family' did not suit the Duke. That was why he, hiding in the shadows, had always sneered at people who shone like that.
So he had fed him poison.
Wanting to extinguish that light, he had fed him a poison that slowly gnawed away at his life.
Coincidentally, what the Duke needed was not the unmanageable 1st Prince, but other successors who could serve as scarecrows, so he had no hesitation in acting.
Then, the 1st Prince, now terminally ill, came to him.
***
"There is a book that I believe will pique your interest, Your Grace."
An untitled book was placed on the desk. The Duke glanced down to check the book, then looked back at the 1st Prince.
It was a completely unexpected opening. He had come to the very person who poisoned him, and that was all he had to say? Could it be that the man before him didn't even know that he was the culprit who poisoned him?
The doubt was brief. The main point would come if he played along. The Duke spoke first.
"What is this?"
"A forbidden book detailing the method to make a contract with the Demon King."
"......!"
He's insane.
Had his shortened lifespan truly made him blind to everything else? What kind of madman would even think of smuggling this out?
But separate from that, it was true that he found it intriguing.
"A dangerous item. Why are you showing this to me?"
"I stake this book and request a transaction."
"A transaction, you say...."
Now I see. In exchange for this book, he intends to demand the antidote. Perhaps he might even demand the support of 'Illustar' to solidify his succession on top of the antidote.
The Duke, his tension slightly eased, relaxed his posture a little.
......Still, just in case, I ought to confirm.
"What do you have to receive from me, that you request a transaction like this?"
"The condition is to protect my children... Alethaea and Elpidius, and... Edoardo."
"......."
It was a completely unexpected answer.
The Duke lost his words for a moment and blinked.
......Foolish. An absurdly foolish condition. Did he truly not know who the mastermind behind the poison was? The 1st Prince, who had ultimately reached the peak of the succession struggle, really didn't know?
"I know that you are the one who poisoned me, Your Grace. You must be wondering why I do not demand the antidote."
"......!"
"I already know of your ambitions. I know your greed will not end there. Even if I obtained the antidote through this transaction and ascended the throne, I would not be able to control you once you gain the power to contract with the Demon King."
He would be dragged down by the Duke's hand, and the family he had sheltered would all die at the Duke's hand. The 1st Prince smiled bitterly.
He had thought about it a lot.
Could he not offer something else instead of this book as a condition? Was there no offering appetizing enough in his hands for the Duke to accept the transaction?
'Not only is there no such offering, but even if the Duke wasn't contracted with the Demon King, I have no confidence in controlling him.'
The Duke was no easy opponent.
So he shifted his line of thinking. If he used this book for the transaction, what conditions should he set?
'What I want is the safety of my children... and my own life.'
'What the Duke wants is power.'
No matter how much he thought about it, there was no way to secure both. Even if he found out how to contract with the Demon King, if the condition blocked the opportunity to gain power, the Duke would refuse. And in the first place, he could not set too many conditions.
So, to set a condition that balanced the scales enough for the Duke to accept....
The 1st Prince cleanly gave up his own life.
"Whatever condition I set, if I cling to life and ascend the throne with that, I will end up wearing a leash."
He would become a king who constantly feared being dragged down, forever reading the Duke's moods.
"I have no intention of handing you a leash."
"......Are you saying you are giving up your own life?"
"If I must say so, that's how it will be."
The golden sunlight shattered and fell upon the 1st Prince as he smiled and spoke.
Though his life was clearly being eaten away by the poison, leaving him gaunt and shadowed under the eyes, he was still so dazzling that.
"......I cannot understand this."
The Duke furrowed his brow.
Truly, he could not understand. Even with death at his side, the man before him shone brightly.
......It irritated him a little.
"Have you not considered the possibility that I will not accept the transaction? What about the possibility that, since it is a life that will die anyway if left alone, I could simply wait until Your Highness dies, or even kill you on your way back today and take the book?"
"If the transaction is not accepted here and now, I intend to burn this book immediately. And before coming here, I told several people that I was going to meet you. Furthermore, no matter when or how I die, I have arranged for proof that you are the culprit to spread the moment I die."
"......."
"Do you think I cannot fabricate a piece of evidence?"
In other words, even if he died without concluding this transaction, was attacked, or even if he was unlucky enough to be ambushed by bandits on the move and died, the culprit would be the Duke.
"If I report that Your Highness arbitrarily smuggled out a forbidden book...."
"I said I will burn this book the moment the transaction is not accepted. Naturally, by the time an investigation takes place, this book will no longer exist. Of course, the empty record in the archives has already been dealt with since the moment of its removal. You, Your Grace, will become the noble who dared to falsely accuse the 1st Prince."
"......It seems whether I accept the transaction or not, I take a loss."
Even if he accepted the transaction, the condition did not include the 1st Prince's life. The damage he would incur when the 1st Prince who never received the antidote died would not disappear.
The 1st Prince smiled gently.
"Of course, if you accept the transaction, Your Grace, I will switch the culprit of my death to Duke Gradis."
"......Ha."
There were two ducal houses in the kingdom.
The Duchy of Gradis and the Duchy of Illustar. Since they kept each other in check, it was only natural that the Duchy of Gradis was a thorn in the eye of the power-hungry Duke, Stabe Illustar.
"Now that I see, this was blackmail."
"It is a request."
"......Very well. I accept the transaction."
***
After that, the 1st Prince summoned a sorcerer as if he had been waiting and sealed the contract.
He was an opponent he had mocked as weak for clinging to his family. How could he have known that a patriarch with so much to protect could be this terrifying? For a Duke raised in a household without affection and thoroughly educated to aim only for the top, it was as good as being outmaneuvered.
[Allow me to reiterate the conditions. It is simple. Protect my children, Alethaea Desert and Elpidius Desert, and Edoardo Desert. However, protection includes not only their lives but also their free will.]
[.......]
[Since you, Your Grace, might roughly lock them up somewhere and call that 'protection', I added that condition. It seems it was a good thing to state it clearly. You must respect the children's free will.]
[......Even if your children and His Highness the 9th Prince try to kill me, must I regard it as free will and respect it?]
[As you are, Your Grace, you will be able to protect yourself without harming the other party. Since you must be alive to protect them, that moment will likely be considered an exception, but you must not harm the children.]
Just hearing the explanation felt onerous, and the Duke frowned.
Thinking he would have to do that for a lifetime already exhausted him. The moment he considered simply nullifying the contract, the 1st Prince spoke.
[The duration is ten years.]
[......?]
[All of this contract will be terminated after ten years.]
From the 1st Prince's standpoint, it was a losing deal. Why insist on this?
The 1st Prince, who could not have missed the question written plainly on his expression, smiled gently.
[After ten years, I leave it to the children and you, Your Grace.]
[.......]
[Ten years is enough time for the children to become sufficiently strong, and also enough time to grow fond of you. They are lovable children. Especially Eddie... you will not be able to help loving Edoardo. Even though he is one of the brothers I should keep in check, not my own child, he is a child I came to love.]