Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Wanna Marry Me After I Rip Your Limbs Off? (1)
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His Imperial Majesty's audience chamber.
After the 1st Princess departed, the space fell into utter silence. The Holy Grail floating in the air simply tilted wordlessly. The apple wine that had spilled outward soon vanished without a trace.
At the same time, part of the space parted like a curtain being drawn back.
A figure wearing a mask that expressed no facial features whatsoever—the Emperor's kin, Ilarep. She slowly dropped to one knee, observing proper etiquette.
"His Imperial Majesty."
"I'm listening."
"Sending the 1st Princess off just like that... it's hard to fathom your intent. Even if she's been raised in that vein from birth, there's such a thing as discipline..."
"That vein?"
"Yes. She was raised amid a freewheeling atmosphere brimming with competitive spirit, true enough. But it's gone too far—she needs correction. Letting her go like this..."
"Hmph."
The Emperor snorted derisively.
"Ilarep. Haven't shaken off sleep yet? Or have you grown dull?"
"Yes?"
Though her face was hidden by the mask, Ilarep was visibly flustered. An apple was tossed into the air.
Crunch!
"My kin, Ilarep."
"Yes."
"Am I a weak emperor?"
"No such thing."
"Or perhaps an incompetent one?"
"You are more capable than anyone. No matter where one searches the continent, none rivals Your Majesty as a leader."
"Hmm. I think so too."
"Then why the 1st Princess..."
"Step aside."
At the Emperor's command, the entire floor of the audience chamber began to rumble, and his kin swiftly retreated.
"And watch closely."
What rose from the floor was a massive rock shaped like a blackboard. Its impeccably smooth surface cracked and reformed in real time, manifesting images.
...Ilarep understood. It resembled a map.
"First, the continent looks like this."
Crack, crack!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the surface, delineating the continent's power blocs.
"My Empire, the northern snowfields, the southern deserts, the central great forests... that's the gist of it."
The Holy Grail floating in the air sloshed as if pondering.
"Right, can't leave out the Demon Realm and Celestial Realm either."
Gazing at the stone tablet map, detailed down to other worlds, the Emperor let out a chuckle.
"Hmph."
"...Your Majesty?"
"Ilarep."
"Yes."
"It's odd to think there'd come a day I'd explain this to someone. Proof the world's getting more entertaining."
Rumble!
The Demon Realm section protruded emphatically.
"You know the Demon Realm's been acting up lately. It'll return with a force even a desperately united continent couldn't guarantee victory against. Isn't that right?"
"Yes, it is."
"When we lack time to unite... the continent is this fractured. Truth be told, even the Empire isn't truly one. The Magic Towers alone are split into six, all competing."
"Yes."
"In this Empire, on this continent, could there be no rotten corners? No obstacles hindering perfect unity?"
Ilarep silently bowed her head.
"There'd be too many to count. So many prioritize immediate gains and survival—how many harbor ambitions as grand as Your Majesty's?"
"Exactly."
The Emperor drained the Holy Grail in one gulp.
"Of course, it's not their fault. Born with lowly natures, what can you do? Yes, resolving such matters is precisely the mission of the great."
"Indeed."
"Good. Then we must resolve every last rotten bit. Now, who could manage that?"
"...No way."
Ilarep cocked her head.
"Are you saying Zekiel can wipe them all out?"
"Wipe out... tsk, Ilarep. Wrong."
The Holy Grail traced a circle at its rim.
"You still haven't grasped my words at all. You must see the forest, not the trees."
"Forgive me. It's my boundless lowliness."
"Ilarep, tend to this flower."
His robe's hem tossed a single flower downward from the jade throne. Even at a glance, it was in poor shape—its stem visibly rotted in patches.
"I shall obey Your Majesty's command."
Ilarep immediately set to work.
Her method was exceedingly simple: excise the rotten petals and stem, nothing more.
"As expected."
The Emperor examined the flower offered up from the throne.
"Most treat resolution and removal as synonyms. Not incorrect. Simply erasing the problem—how easy and convenient."
"Forgive me."
"No. Even I employ this method. But the world is a vast machine of interlocking gears. Reckless removal breeds new problems."
The flower, hanging in midair, was flicked away.
"Now then. What if I resolve it myself?"
Rumble rumble rumble!
A portion of the stone slab warped, and soon enough, a section of the map vanished entirely.
"Ah, certainly..."
"Erasing is simplicity itself, but you can't call it resolved. The continent merely loses that chunk wholesale."
Another apple was tossed into the air.
Crunch!
"Of course, the chaos from such a loss is delightful. Nothing quite like spectating a blaze."
"Yes."
"But recognize that's precisely the spectacle the Demon Realm craves. We cannot handle things by excision and erasure. We must mend."
"...Is Zekiel different?"
"He is. Behold."
Another flower with a rotten stem was tossed down from the throne. But that wasn't all—a Zekiel flower was added.
Shhh!
The Zekiel flower slowly purified the rotten one.
"Breaking, erasing, destroying—surprisingly simple. But purification... who could achieve that?"
"..."
A strange excitement laced the Emperor's voice.
"The northern barbarians brute-forcing strength? The prideful elves of the great forests? No, no one could!"
Bam!
The stone slab shattered wholesale.
"Yet Zekiel... he purifies. In him, I see potential unseen anywhere else."
Ilarep bowed politely.
"Thank you for sharing such profound intent. In my lowliness, I hadn't the slightest inkling."
She then lifted her head ever so slightly.
"But might I presume to ask two questions? Parts I failed to grasp."
"Granted."
"...Then all the more reason not to send the 1st Princess. Zekiel's such a vital asset—attaching a woman to him?"
"It's fun."
"...Pardon?"
Crunch. Another apple vanished.
"Don't misunderstand. It's not mere amusement that stayed my hand. This is Zekiel's own doing. He must bear the karma himself."
"Karma?"
"This fool proposed marriage to all five princesses."
"...?"
Ilarep failed to comprehend at first.
And in the next instant...
"...!"
She was greatly startled. Nay, aghast.
"Sooner or later, the princesses will learn of it too."
"..."
Ilarep instantly grasped the karma the Emperor meant. Happiness teetering on a razor's edge of truth, liable to turn to calamity.
"Ilarep, observe these pots."
The Emperor tossed down two pots bearing Zekiel flowers. They tumbled down the steep jade throne steps before shattering on the floor with a crack.
Identical in appearance, yet starkly different.
"...!"
The frail Zekiel writhed like a worm before dying, while the relatively sturdy one began gathering soil on its own.
Not content with its own—it claimed even the soil lost by the frail one. Ultimately growing several times hardier.
"Who knows. It might be a chance to become even finer."
"..."
Ilarep could only break into a cold sweat.
A chance to become finer. A chance to become finer. A chance to become far finer, so long as his back didn't explode from the princesses' clashes...
In essence, taming every last princess.
...Was that even possible?
She emptied her mind. Best to simply watch.
"Your Majesty, one final question."
"Yes."
"Granting three drops of sunwater... isn't that excessive? It contradicts proper cultivation..."
"Ah, that's a separate matter."
The Emperor's robe unfurled a single drawing.
A form of the Emperor invisible to the naked eye.
Zekiel had rendered it at his own discretion.
Handsome, bearing the 1st's eyes, 2nd's mouth, 3rd's nose, 4th's hand, and 5th's ear.
Of course, the Emperor looked nothing like it. What impressed him wasn't Zekiel's deductive prowess.
Blood.
Fresh blood.
In the midst of their game, Zekiel had painted the Emperor in blood.
"...It means he forged an emperor from his own blood."
"Pardon?"
"The meaning is clear. He intends to challenge me someday."
Ilarep broke into a cold sweat. Whenever someone spoke of challenging him, the Emperor had always been annoyed at best—never pleased.
Yet now...
He was more delighted than ever.
"Hahaha!"
The Emperor laughed heartily.
Even his kin Ilarep beheld the sight for the first time.