The Imperial Banquet (3)
With the monorail destroyed, the locomotives ground to a halt one after another. We had no choice but to endure the inconvenience of switching to carriages that had been hastily airlifted in.
“I’ll take the next carriage. Sister, you and the Duke should go first.”
“Huh?”
Alexis stepped back with a bright smile. What was he talking about? I stared at the crown prince, baffled by his sudden display of courtesy.
I soon learned exactly why Alexis had declined to ride with us. Ludmilla must have realized it at the same moment, because her pale face flushed bright red like an apple.
“What are you saying…! I-it’s a misunderstanding!”
“There’s no need to be so startled. I’m fifteen now, aren’t I? I may not be as wise as my sisters, but I can at least tell right from wrong.”
Faced with his sister’s flustered reaction, the younger brother wore the expression of a humble, understanding observer. It seemed he had misunderstood the relationship between Ludmilla and me.
Hmm. I suppose it wasn’t an entirely unreasonable assumption.
The scandal involving the Second Princess had surely spread all the way to the Holy Kingdom. If he had heard about it, it was only natural for him to assume Ludmilla and I were lovers. Of course, the whole thing was a misunderstanding born from fake news.
“Your Highness, the carriage is ready.”
“Understood.”
Knight Commander Malbert arrived with a new carriage. Alexis waved lightly and boarded it together with the commander and the newly arranged vehicle.
“……”
“……”
Ludmilla and I froze solid at the crown prince’s unnecessarily perceptive behavior. We could neither agree nor deny it. We hesitated even to meet each other’s eyes. We couldn’t even move our feet. Boarding the carriage with Ludmilla now would only prove the crown prince’s misunderstanding was correct. Ludmilla knew this too, which was why she was hesitating.
“As expected, the rumors were true.”
“Ahem, let us quietly cheer for Her Highness.”
To make matters worse, a huge crowd had gathered at the scene. More than ten maids attending Ludmilla. The troops assembled both to escort the princess and to investigate the monorail bombing. Even the railroad staff summoned to the platform were watching the situation unfold.
If there were a mouse hole nearby, I would have crawled into it. It felt like hundreds of people were spectating an intense confession scene.
But we couldn’t delay the schedule any longer. The sooner we boarded the carriage and moved, the more we could recover the lost time.
In the end, I reluctantly summoned my courage and decided to ride with the princess. I could instinctively feel countless eyes boring into us, but I endured it and stepped forward.
“S-sorry…. Alex spoke out of turn.”
“It’s fine.”
Ludmilla, sitting across from me, spoke in a tiny, crawling voice. I offered a bitter smile and shrugged.
“……”
“……”
With a clatter, the carriage began to move. Ludmilla and I exchanged no words. Only an awkward silence flowed between us. Even meeting eyes felt too burdensome, so I stared out the window. Two complete novices in romance, we simply read each other’s moods and prayed desperately for the journey to end quickly.
The monorail carrying the princess and crown prince had been severed. Immediately afterward, mysterious fires broke out in territories under direct imperial control, and other disastrous incidents occurred in rapid succession.
It was clearly the work of impure forces. The Valtaria Empire immediately identified the cultists as the culprits behind it all. After all, they had already committed the treasonous crimes of invading the imperial castle and setting the capital’s streets ablaze.
When Emperor Barbarosa received the report that Ludmilla and Alexis had nearly fallen into danger while traveling to the capital by train, he flew into a towering rage and declared a state of emergency.
“Those vermin dare!!”
Hadn’t we already exterminated every last one of the cultist bastards who invaded the empire before? Yet the worshippers of the forgotten god had reared their ugly heads again, persistent as venom.
Come if you dare. I’ll turn the whole affair into a mountain of corpses and a river of blood.
The emperor, known for his fiery temperament, refused to yield even slightly to the successive attacks. On the contrary, he revealed a burning desire for revenge, determined to repay the current humiliation in the most brutal way possible.
“Thanks to the Earth Mother’s protection, the casualties caught up in the disasters were minor.”
“Hmm. You believe so?”
Although ominous disasters had erupted simultaneously, the actual damage remained light. Barbarosa found that suspicious. Whenever the cultists caused such incidents in the past, they had always been followed by massive bloodshed.
This had to be the work of cowards without a shred of backbone.
After pondering for a long time, the emperor began to suspect the empire’s long-dormant impure elements. It was highly likely they were carrying out sabotage, taking advantage of the chaotic atmosphere created by the cultists’ rampage.
“Your Majesty, what shall we do about the nobles gathered at the imperial castle? They will surely have received the bad news by now.”
“There will be no cancellation. The event will proceed as scheduled.”
A great number of nobles had already assembled to attend the hunt and banquet the emperor held regularly. The total came to roughly fifty people—all of them central high nobles with numerous distinguished achievements.
He worried that forcing the event might invite disaster. Yet Barbarosa declared he would not show weakness to the cowards who only plotted and whispered behind his back, and decided to carry on regardless.
It was a decision truly worthy of an emperor famous for his fierce stubbornness.
“Your Majesty, Crown Prince Alexis and Princess Ludmilla have arrived.”
“Bring them in at once!”
Alexis and Ludmilla, whose arrival had been delayed, finally entered the imperial castle. Barbarosa’s face brightened, and he immediately granted them an audience.
“Have you been well, Father?”
“Our crown prince has finally returned!”
His son, who had enrolled in the Holy Kingdom’s theological university, had come back after half a year. The emperor spread both arms wide to welcome the now noticeably more mature crown prince.
There was no greater doting fool in the world. Just as he treated his daughters with special affection, he showed the same blind love toward his only son.
Ludmilla, who had entered alongside them, watched the scene with a warm, pleased smile.
“Y-you’ve come as well!”
“…I arrived in the capital upon Your Majesty’s summons.”
Barbarosa, who had been lifting Alexis like a newborn baby, suddenly met eyes with Edanant who had entered together with Ludmilla. An extremely awkward moment unfolded. The emperor looked embarrassed and quickly set the crown prince down.
He was the one who had summoned me, so why was he getting angry? Did the man suffer from mood swings?
Edanant inwardly grumbled at the way Barbarosa so openly regarded him with wariness.
“Didn’t Father summon Duke Edanant to the capital as well?”
“Ahem, yes… that was the case.”
When his second daughter stepped forward to defend the damn thief, Barbarosa felt a sting of displeasure. Ludmilla no longer even tried to hide her feelings and immediately showed open favoritism.
Resentment surged through him. The moment she found a man she loved, she had changed completely. The daughter who had once cherished her father with all her heart no longer existed.
Suddenly demoted to second place, Barbarosa glared at Edanant with even more murderous eyes.
“You will accompany us on the hunt with the nobles! The young duke of House Hohenberg shall attend me!”
“I will serve Your Majesty with all my heart.”
Was he looking for an excuse to find fault? Or did he intend to humiliate me in front of the nobles…? Most likely the latter.
Edanant felt suspicious about the emperor’s decision to bring him along to the hunting grounds. He simply could not understand why the man would deliberately take the thief who had stolen his beloved daughters to the hunt.
“Then I shall accompany you as well.”
“No. The situation is dangerous right now, so the crown prince will remain to guard the imperial castle.”
Alexis, who had been listening quietly, requested to join them. Barbarosa shook his head, deeply concerned for his son’s safety.
The playboy who had taken his precious daughters could drop dead for all he cared. But the son who would inherit the empire was more precious than anything else, so his safety came first.
Crown Prince Alexis, who had departed for the Holy Kingdom, had finally returned. The curtain had risen on the stage. It was the perfect opportunity to eliminate both the emperor and the crown prince in one fell swoop.
The impure faction that had threatened the Valtaria Imperial Family and heightened tensions gathered at their hideout. In a dark space sealed off by thick blackout curtains, numerous figures exchanged sinister whispers.
“It seems that damn emperor intends to proceed with the hunt as scheduled.”
“Truly, his arrogance knows no bounds.”
The hand of death was already at his throat, yet the emperor still planned to carry out both the hunt and the banquet. How arrogant. Did he truly believe himself immortal?
The tyrant who had sacrificed countless lives as mere scapegoats was indeed an arrogant bastard.
“Let us kill the emperor at the hunting ground! The nobles who promised to join us will be participating in the hunt as well, won’t they?”
“The Red Dragon of the Empire will not stand idly by. Every attempt so far has failed because of her.”
The Red Dragon of the Empire—Ludmilla Draig Valtaria. How many nobles had been discovered by her and executed? They had to eliminate the Red Dragon first. It was no exaggeration to say that the success of their great undertaking depended on it.
“But Princess Ludmilla is one of the Seven Strongest of the Warring States! How are we supposed to remove a monster who rivals the hero Maximilian?!”
Had the countless nobles executed for treason over the years simply been fools? No. It was because none of them had been able to deal with Ludmilla.
Even after mobilizing every clever scheme imaginable, they had failed to deceive the guardian dragon of the Valtaria Imperial Family. Instead, their disloyalty was always discovered, leading to repeated tragedies of execution.
That was why the group planning this rebellion had first sought a strategy to remove Ludmilla.
“They said they have a method to exclude the Red Dragon. It seems they plan to trap her inside a barrier. Once Ludmilla disappears, even the Valtaria Seven Swords who serve as her subordinates will lose their power!!”
An elderly man whose identity was concealed behind a black veil finally spoke. At his words, everyone swallowed dryly.
They had chosen this path to judge the Valtaria Imperial Family that had repeated bloodshed and purges for so long. But bringing in the worshippers of the forgotten god was far too extreme an option. That was why, even with the date of the operation right before their eyes, they had been unable to reach a decision.
“What are you hesitating for? All of you carrying out this great cause have lost family to that immoral emperor! Yet you still weigh your means and methods?!”
It was absurd. Was their conscience still more important than their thirst for revenge?
The elderly man harshly criticized the indecisiveness of those planning the rebellion. He declared that if it meant ending the cruel and immoral emperor, he would join hands even with the devils of hell.
“T-that’s right! I will join as well!”
“If it means killing the butcher emperor…! If it means I can avenge my father…!!”
Tears of vengeance flowed. Voices filled with hatred and rage poured out.
Kill the emperor. End the Valtaria Imperial Family. Our only desire is the realization of revenge. Nothing else matters.
Whether the worshippers of the forgotten god swallowed the empire whole, or whether the greedy nobles raised troops and tore the empire apart—it made no difference.
“The demon who has received the blessing of the Calamity God has agreed to cooperate!”
The Calamity Gods were evil deities in direct opposition to the creator gods to which the Earth Mother Gael belonged. They gained power through death and chaos. Therefore, the demons who worshipped the Calamity Gods boasted unmatched combat prowess.
They were on an entirely different level from the demon that had attacked Princess Elizabetta. A demon who had received the blessing of a Calamity God would surely resolve their long-cherished wish.
“But if those bastards betray us…”
“I will accept even that! As long as we can kill the emperor!!”
Excessive thirst for revenge always breeds extreme ideas. Such was the case with the empire’s rebels who hid in the shadows and blindly cried out for vengeance.
They had accepted the proposal of the cultist forces who, like themselves, harbored a deep hatred for the Valtaria Empire. They would release the divinity of the Calamity God into the capital.
All to kill the emperor.
The empire’s vengeful spirits believed it was a decision born of their own resolute will. But they had already been manipulated by the demons who worshipped the Calamity Gods long before they became vengeful spirits.
That was why these pitiful, foolish vengeful spirits had agreed to a path of mutual destruction that would consume even themselves.