The Fragment of Disaster Arrives with the Storm (2)
“Well now, the lady of Edenberts truly has quite the substantial assets. Just a moment ago, I forgot my age and felt my heart racing.”
Emperor Karik Romancia, slightly disappointed that Emilia was absent, tossed a jest at the Melrn Count.
The Melrn Count smiled, but no one could know what thoughts truly lurked in his heart.
“Your Highness, as I mentioned earlier, allow me to congratulate you once more. With Your Highness at the helm and the wise Mine Hwangnyeo by your side—renowned for her intellect—this nation’s future is surely bright for ages to come.”
“Heh heh, I must have heard that line a hundred times today alone. I appreciate it, but I didn’t come to you for such flattery.”
The emperor flashed a smile at the Melrn Count with his stern yet finely sculpted features. But that smile carried an eerie, damp undertone, unlike his previous dignified ones.
The Melrn Count lifted his head, narrowing his eyes at the emperor’s gaze.
“Your spells are unparalleled. You’ve turned my daughter—once called the Empire’s Prophet—into a proper woman.”
Normally, sycophantic nobles would trail Emperor Karik Romancia wherever he went, hanging on his every word. Yet, whether by prior warning or not, no one lingered around the emperor and the Melrn Count.
Even so, one wouldn’t expect such brazen talk. Yet the emperor spoke confidently, without even lowering his voice.
...Of course, even if someone overheard, they likely wouldn’t grasp the meaning.
“I’m glad you’re satisfied. I trust you’re enjoying her thoroughly.”
“Indeed. Morning, noon, evening... even at night, I summon her three or four times a day. She’s my daughter, yet how can she be so alluring? She’s the spitting image of Yeripe now. The tightness of her pussy, those lewd curves of her ass, the way her hips sway so wantonly... Heh heh, I’m quite pleased.”
Yeripe was the name of the first empress and Mine Hwangnyeo’s mother. She had succumbed to illness years ago. Given her frail health, it seemed unlikely anyone had intervened in her death.
And around that time, the emperor began to change. Perhaps his excessively deep love for the first empress had twisted him so.
—At the very least, before then, for all his incompetence, he hadn’t been the sort of man to lay hands on his own daughter.
“Your joy warms my heart as well, Your Highness.”
The Melrn Count placed a hand on his chest and replied with a radiant smile.
Emperor Karik Romancia and the Melrn Count shared a secret deal unknown to the world. One key element was Mine Hwangnyeo.
The emperor knew the Melrn family had inherited special spells and ties to certain demons across generations. The Melrn Count exploited this, subtly dangling a possibility before him.
He claimed his spells could bewitch specific individuals’ minds. For a man, he could send a lust-enchanted whore to steal his heart. For a woman, he could bind her body and soul into a puppet slave, utterly devoted.
The emperor had indulged in this several times. And just recently, he’d even named his own daughter, Mine Hwangnyeo.
His daughter. Despite her being his daughter.
He desired her and commanded the same Lust Spell.
Even with the cheating aid of the demon Mona, abducting Mine Hwangnyeo—guarded by the Royal Knights and court mages—was no easy feat. But with the emperor orchestrating and manipulating every circumstance, it had been laughably simple.
He had handed over his own daughter, steeped in his depraved lust.
Pathetic. To think such a man sits on the throne.
The Melrn Count inwardly scorned and mocked him.
The emperor trusted him deeply, but seven out of ten words the count fed him were lies.
What the emperor sought was to turn the wise Mine Hwangnyeo into a lewd bitch-slave enthralled by him. But after abducting the real Mine Hwangnyeo, the Melrn Count had merely handed over one of Mona’s shadow kin to the emperor.
Oblivious to it all, the emperor didn’t even suspect the imposter and reveled in her sloppily.
He might have noticed minor changes, but he probably dismissed them as side effects of the Lust Spell.
...No, this man has always hated his own daughter.
He probably never even got close to her to begin with.
When commissioning the deed, the emperor had briefly confessed his feelings. The excessively wise Mine Hwangnyeo. Her intellect and popularity sometimes even overshadowed his own. Jealousy festered at the sight of her—more beloved and wiser than he.
How foolish. How utterly pathetic.
Unable to rejoice in his child’s brilliance, harboring only envy.
But he understood. He even pitied him.
Mine Hwangnyeo was too wise and too pure. Had she a single flaw, a touch of humanity, the emperor surely wouldn’t have gone this far.
Her perfection might have felt like violence to an imperfect emperor. Even if she never rebuked him outright.
Even if the jaded princess merely gazed at him now and then with those upright, untainted eyes—like a glare of judgment.
That alone made him confront his own wretchedness and inadequacy, driving his already unstable mind even madder.
...It was a wonder such a woman could spring from this man’s seed.
In any case, that was the situation. The emperor envied and loathed his daughter. He fell for the Melrn Count’s temptation and sold her off.
Or rather, entrusted her.
And oblivious as ever, he gleefully defiled the fake Mine Hwangnyeo—crafted from Mona’s shadow kin—every day, believing her real.
It was no different from hugging an onahole doll shaped like his daughter.
While the real daughter—the true princess—was being defiled by the Melrn Count in his mansion.
“Your Highness, regarding the matter I requested earlier...”
“Of course, it’s all prepared. How could I refuse your request?”
In exchange for providing such delights, the Melrn Count reaped various benefits. Introducing clients for his trained women, vouching for reliable patrons, even aiding abductions for political reasons.
And more besides. For instance, that day years ago when Edenberts Mansion was raided—
“Your spells truly are remarkable.”
The emperor brought the wine glass to his lips and continued, his flushed face suggesting heavy intoxication.
“Or is it the magic passed down your family? But I’ve heard no such tales from anyone else... so it must be your own prowess.”
“As an alchemist, I merely refined my research to better harness the family lore. And Your Highness’s willingness to indulge me rather than cast me aside made it possible.”
“Ahaha, then I’m glad indeed. It means I was right to trust you and listen.”
Quite so. No wise man would ever heed the likes of me.
He swallowed the mocking retort.
“So, will you train the Hero with the same spells?”
“...Yes.”
“I see. Bringing her as today’s partner means you intend to take her as your wife, then? Come to think of it, you’ve always been a bachelor...”
“Indeed. To me, a ‘Hero’ is truly special.”
“I see, I see. And she’s grown quite beautifully. I only saw her as a child, but even then, I could tell she’d blossom magnificently. She takes after her mother—and she’s grown exactly to my tastes.”
The Melrn Count’s eyebrow twitched faintly. But the motion was so subtle, the emperor likely didn’t notice.
“...She has grown beautifully. And her steadfast, honest nature seems straight out of the First Hero’s mold.”
“Heh heh, you speak as if you’d seen him yourself.”
“I’m a fan of the Hero, after all. I may not have witnessed him, but I can picture him from every document.”
Trivial banter followed. From a short distance, other nobles conversed while stealing glances their way. They kept a respectful gap but couldn’t hide their fixation on the emperor’s every move.
As the Melrn Count thought it time to end the talk, the emperor—sensing the close—dropped a cryptic remark.
“The lady Edenberts is stunningly beautiful. Those eyes like her father’s are so captivating. How to put it... her aura, perhaps... I quite like it.”
“...I’m glad to hear that.”
“Yes. But it seems some nobles still doubt she’s the Hero.”
Doubting Emilia as the Hero was natural enough. The only proof she was the missing Edenberts lady and Hero was the Hero’s Blessing on the back of her hand.
Had she proclaimed it and shown it everywhere, she might have garnered a bit more trust—but even then, most would remain skeptical.
That no re-proclamation of her title or return of Edenberts lands occurred today was likely for that reason.
Emilia Edenberts—had to prove herself the Hero on her own.
But that mattered little to the Melrn Count, who desired precisely that from her. It was part of his plan, the reason he’d brought her here...
Not an immediate concern, though.
Or so he thought.
“Worry not. I’ve prepared for that myself.”
“...Pardon?”
“The Hero is the nation’s light, its lifeline. The hope of many. ...Thus, we must prove her survival to all as soon as possible.”
The emperor tilted his wine glass again and continued.
“So—I’ve arranged it. If all goes well, everyone here today will know Edenberts endures and can rest easy.”
With that, the emperor strode away as if he’d said all there was to say.
The Melrn Count, left behind, could only watch his back, unable to fathom the true intent.
...What on earth was about to happen?
A sickening premonition stirred.