Chapter 111
Chapter 111
Translation: godsn
The plaza before the Royal Palace.
"Samon Claudio! You vile wretch! How dare you attempt to harm Her Highness the Princess!"
"Just twenty lashes? That villain won't repent unless he gets at least a hundred!"
Amidst the crowd's jeers, the Regent's only son shamefully endured his caning.
Perhaps the humiliation hurt more than the pain itself—Samon's eyes rolled back, and he fainted before the punishment was even complete.
Yet the stern official overseeing the execution showed no mercy, meticulously delivering all twenty strokes before finally releasing Samon.
"Sob, sob... Samon! My poor boy!"
Catherine collapsed over her unconscious son's body, bursting into loud sobs.
"That witch Medeia turned my son into this... I'll never forgive her! I'll break every limb in her body and make her suffer ten times worse than Samon!"
Tears streaming down her face, Catherine examined her son's wounds.
"Are you satisfied now? Your precious dignity cost our son this humiliation!"
She shot her husband a resentful glare.
What kind of father wouldn't protest when his own flesh and blood was being caned? He'd obediently accepted the order without a single word of objection—just like the dutiful son he always played for his mother.
"Would you rather I'd openly defied my mother right then and there, revealing our ambitions for the throne to everyone? You know better—why act so foolishly?"
The Regent made no effort to conceal his displeasure.
"Take care of Samon. I must meet with my vassals."
As if he enjoyed seeing his heir suffer so terribly.
If anything, the rage burning in his gut was even fiercer than Catherine's. Samon was, after all, his only successor.
"Calm yourself, Duchess. I've already summoned the Divine Physician of Kazen to examine the young Duke. He'll be back on his feet soon enough."
Count Laju attempted to console Catherine.
"Your Grace, leave this place to me. You should go."
"Then I entrust this to you, Count Laju."
Swallowing his surging fury, the Regent failed to notice how Laju's hands lingered just a bit too long on Catherine's shoulders as he comforted her.
The moment he stepped outside, the rage he'd suppressed came exploding out.
"Damn it all!"
He kicked the door open in frustration.
His study was filled with members of the Regent's Faction who had answered his summons.
"Your Grace, you've arrived. We've been waiting... Is the young Duke alright?"
The Regent's sharp gaze swept over the room like a blade. Both the number of attendees and their morale had noticeably dwindled.
"I ordered everyone to attend without exception."
"W-well... Lord Anjou's chronic illness flared up, and Baron Salamia said his elderly mother fell ill today..."
The Regent didn't believe a word of these flimsy excuses from absent members.
'Hyenas, the lot of them. Now that the tide has turned, they're testing the waters before abandoning ship.'
Though his niece Medeia had returned safely from her disappearance in the hunting grounds, the Regent's position had only grown more precarious.
Public sentiment against him refused to die down.
It had become commonplace for people to curse his name in the streets and hurl filth at the ducal carriage. Some third-rate newspapers had even branded him the kingdom's public enemy.
No matter how many people he paid to silence, within a day or two, rumors would rise again like the sun—whispers that Duke Claudio's household had tried to murder Princess Valdina.
Even the sycophants who used to grovel at his feet were now cautiously distancing themselves, afraid of being tainted by association.
Not that their accusations were false. He had, indeed, targeted Medeia.
'This won't do. At this rate, even if the grand scheme succeeds, I'll be remembered as a tyrant who murdered his niece for the throne.'
But the truth has a way of striking hardest when it hurts most.
'Wherever I go, those damnable glares follow—everyone believes I tried to assassinate the Princess. The people's perception has shifted entirely.'
Joaquin Claudio, once revered and respected by all, was now nothing more than the cruel, greedy uncle who tried to kill his own niece.
The seesaw had tipped completely, reversing their positions, and the Regent was fit to burst with frustration.
'I must create a crisis. Something to make the people of Valdina physically feel how indispensable House Claudio truly is!'
The only way to reclaim his former glory and respect was to make Valdina itself vulnerable.
When the azure flames of rebellion engulf the royal castle and he emerges as its savior, the people's perception will shift once more.
"...Your Grace?"
The retainers gazed uneasily at the Regent, who had summoned them only to fall into silent contemplation with an icy expression.
At length, his tightly sealed lips parted.
"We must accelerate the coup."
Cornered from all sides, the Regent had finally reached his decision.
"Your Grace, surely you can't mean—!"
"A coup? It's far too soon!"
The nobles under his faction immediately attempted to dissuade him.
"Moreover, the Kazen delegation still remains in Valdina. Count Laju would never agree to hastening our plans either."
Count Laju was, after all, Grand Duke Castulo's man. He would stubbornly insist that the coup must wait until after he had safely departed Valdina, unwilling to be entangled in the chaos.
The Regent's eyes frosted over.
"Have you all forgotten whose command takes precedence in this kingdom?"
"......"
The Regent also harbored resentment toward Iason.
It was true—only in the face of adversity did one see another's true nature.
The Grand Duke, who had once boasted of their unshakable alliance, had distanced himself over nothing more than his son choosing a different path.
"What an arrogant bastard. Does he expect me to grovel before him while I, too, lower my head to evade the Emperor's notice? Tell me—what exactly does he have over me now?"
They were both coveting a throne they had no right to.
Had it been the former Grand Duke Castulo, the Regent would have tread far more cautiously.
But after the duel at the banquet, he had witnessed firsthand how the Grand Duke's influence had visibly weakened.
Having alienated even the Fourth Imperial Princess and lost his standing within the delegation, he had also been abandoned by 10-Star General Jared.
Yet Iason's persistent arrogance, still acting as if he held the upper hand, grated against the Regent's refined pride.
"I, too, must verify whether the Grand Duke is truly fit to inherit the imperial throne."
Resentment toward Iason coiled like mist, rising thick and suffocating.
"Once the rebel army arrives, we'll see if they're truly our allies. Isn't that right?"
"......"
The members of the Regent's faction exchanged uneasy glances.
With the late Minister Etienne gone, and now Grand Duke Castulo and Count Laju withdrawing their support—could this rebellion, bereft of any substantial backing, truly succeed?
A thread of unease unfurled in their uncertain hearts.
"Do you lot truly believe you can withdraw now, after the signature document has already been burned to ashes?"
Noticing their hesitation, the Regent snorted derisively and glared at them.
"Do you think you'll be spared if I fall? When Pelleus returns, do you imagine that stone-hearted king will overlook how you've fattened yourselves by embezzling the people's wealth? Who, exactly, do you think will step forward to save your wretched hides?"
The retainers jolted to their senses.
For the past decade, they had wallowed in decadent indulgence.
The young and righteous king would undoubtedly make them pay for their corruption and sloth.
Hadn't that been why they had joined hands with the Regent in the first place?
"This is our only chance. We must finish everything before Pelleus returns."
"...Understood."
At the Regent's words, resolve finally hardened in their eyes.
The fate of a failed rebellion was death—nothing less.
"We will follow your lead, Your Grace. By any means necessary, we must place you on the throne—for that is the only path to our survival."
After the nobles, now steeled in their purpose, had departed, the Regent issued his command.
"Send word to the rebel army as well. The time to rise has come."
"But, Your Grace... Even if this coup succeeds, what will you do when the King and the Agema return?"
The attendant couldn't suppress his apprehension.
The Agema's formidable combat prowess was renowned across the continent. Could the royal castle's greenhorns truly hold them off?
"The Agema? Keuk. They won't be a problem. I've already taken measures."
By now, his spies would have received their orders.
On the blood-soaked battlefield, in the final clash, Pelleus' elite warriors would meet their end.
And when Pelleus, barely clinging to life, staggers back alone—what choice would he have but to acknowledge the usurper seated upon his throne?
The Regent swallowed a vile chuckle.
Even now, he imagined his niece gazing up at the same sky, her face streaked with tears.