The emperor, who had finished his morning routine, returned to his residence and was talking with Yeosang.
“What did you think of eting him?”
“Hmm… He seed more reasonable than I expected. Do we really need to fight with him?”
“Ha ha, it seems that you quite like that crown prince.”
Yeosang was smiling on the outside, but he was quite tense inside.
‘This will ruin my plan.’
As he had feared, the emperor said with an indifferent expression.
“How about we cancel the banquet plan for now? Even if we send their army back, they don’t seem like they would cause any trouble…”
“What! You want to cancel the plan after I brought him here on purpose?”
Yeosang’s plan was to capture Eurius by luring him here.
Of course, he had prepared everything for that.
He quickly knelt down.
“Your Majesty! Do you trust that foreign crown prince more than your loyal minister who has served you for over twenty years?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Please reconsider your words! Didn’t all the other ministers agree that he is not trustworthy?”
“Hmm…”
The emperor’s brow furrowed deeply again.
He was used to his opposition, but he seed to do it more often since he got involved with the Western Continent.
“Then let’s postpone the plan for now and give him a final answer later.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Yeosang smiled inwardly again.
It was practically the sa as agreeing.
He had almost all the ministers in his grip, so the emperor would have no choice but to follow him.
After he left, the emperor thought of Eurius, whom he had t today.
‘He doesn’t look much older than . I guess the Imperial Family in the Western Continent is more free than here?’
Eurius had shown him respect, but he had also confidently stated his opinions.
He didn’t show any fear in a place surrounded by enemies, and the emperor admired that.
If he could act like that in a foreign country, he must have a lot of power in his own country.
‘I envy him. I wasn’t like this when I had the Golden Army. Sigh…’
***
At that ti, Eurius was guided to a room provided by the imperial palace.
“We will bring you so tea soon. Please wait a mont.”
“No need. I have sothing to think about, so don’t let anyone in here.”
“Understood.”
Eurius nodded to the few knights who had followed him to escort him.
‘Don’t let anyone in and guard outside.’
After giving them orders, Eurius looked around carefully.
This place was no different from enemy territory, so he had to be careful.
‘There doesn’t seem to be any suspicious person or trap.’
The interior was quite splendid, as expected of a place where they entertained a crown prince.
He sat down on a chair and sank into his thoughts.
‘That young emperor is almost like a puppet, right?’
It was obvious that Yeosang, that eunuch bastard, had almost all the real power.
To be honest, Eurius felt disgusted.
It reminded him of his previous life.
‘But does that emperor have no loyal subjects? He doesn’t look incompetent, but there’s no one who would side with him…’
No matter how bad a ruler was, there should be at least one or two loyal subjects.
Even he, who was executed in the end, had Mareus and the nobles of the north.
Clack!
As he thought up to there, the door opened slightly.
“We brought you so tea.”
“Hmm?”
Eurius had clearly told them not to disturb him, but a young maid ca in with a tray.
‘And there are knights guarding outside?’
“…”
He lifted his head and stared at the maid who put down the tray.
‘Ah!’
Eurius opened his mouth with a delighted expression and spoke softly to the maid who was standing nervously.
“Is this the first ti since Black Tortoise Cave? It’s been a while.”
The maid shivered slightly and bowed her head.
“As expected of Your Highness. You recognized even though I hid my presence as much as possible.”
Eurius spoke again with an amused tone.
“Did you try to test ?”
“Of course not!”
The maid exclaid in surprise and shook her head.
“Then you disguised yourself as a maid for the sake of Magyo?”
“That’s right.”
“Tsk!”
Eurius bit his tongue.
What the hell was wrong with this palace, that there were followers of the Dark Sect among the servants? But then, a question popped up in his mind.
“By the way, didn’t you say you were the second in command? Is it normal for soone of your status to take on such a mission in the Dark Sect?”
“Of course not, this is an unusual situation.”
The Maid made a bitter expression.
“The Dark Sect is surprisingly closed-off. Even though I’m a vice-sect leader, I can’t get the trust of the sect leader unless I’m from one of the three great families in the sect.”
‘Three great families?’
Eurius felt a slight snag at that word, but right now, the palace was more important.
“Is that so? Well, I’m glad I can grant your wish soon.”
“Thank you, my lord!”
The Maid bowed her head and then trembled slightly.
Her na was Gung Jeok-yeong.
She was a survivor of the Phoenix Martial Arts School, who joined the Dark Sect for revenge. But while she was fighting over the divine artifact in the Black Tortoise Cave, she beca Eurius’s subordinate.
And her previous identity was none other than the leader of the royal intelligence agency, the Imperial Star Agency (Yellow Star Agency)!
Eurius had promised her when he accepted her as his subordinate that he would help her defeat the Dark Sect and the traitor Yeosang who were ddling with the Imperial Family.
“I have a rough idea of the situation in the palace.”
He had already grasped the state of the Imperial Family with just his divine vision. Gung Jeok-yeong hurriedly opened her mouth.
“The Dark Sect has deployed twenty elite experts and a secret weapon called No. 2, including .”
“No. 2?”
“It’s a monster created using the Four Divine Artifacts.”
She explained about the weapon nad No. 2.
“The Dark Sect has already collected three of the divine artifacts, excluding the Formless Divine Armor. But they couldn’t use them.”
“Oh…”
“So they researched how to draw out the power of the artifacts. That’s how No. 1 and No. 2 were born.”
“Do you know what kind of being that weapon is?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have much information on that.”
She bowed her head deeply.
It seed that it was a top secret within the Dark Sect, and only those close to the sect leader knew its identity.
“From what I saw…”
Eurius had seen Shin Ja-seong swallow the Phoenix’s divine artifact and transform into a fire giant several ters tall at Jeongdo-maeng.
It was probably sothing like that.
When he told her that, Gung Jeok-yeong continued with a cautious expression.
“I suspect that Jeongdo-maengju is No. 3, which they said was incomplete. But I heard that No. 1 and No. 2 have much higher completion rates than No. 3. Please be careful.”
“I see.”
That was enough talk about the Dark Sect’s power!
The important thing now was to restore order to the palace, so they moved on to that topic.
“Just give your order and I’ll cut off Yeosang’s head and present it to you right away!”
She gritted her teeth with hatred for Yeosang. But Eurius had a different idea.
“Do you think we can just barge into that bastard’s place and kill them all?”
“Well, no…”
Eurius raised one finger in front of her sullen face.
“And our most important goal is not to destroy the enemy.”
“…!?”
“Our most important goal is to clear your nas. Weren’t you originally close to the emperor?”
“How could that be possible…”
Gung Jeok-yeong was skeptical about that point.
The Imperial Star Agency she belonged to had been falsely accused and executed ten years ago, and it was not easy to restore their honor suddenly.
But Eurius had a confident expression.
“It’s easy if we persuade this emperor!”
“Do you an His Majesty? But Yeosang is soone he loves very much.”
She was shocked.
The emperor was gentle and hated conflict.
Even if Yeosang was infringing on his authority, would he have a reason to tolerate them by shedding blood?
Eurius shook his head with a click of his tongue.
“Tsk tsk… You don’t know him very well.”
“What do you an?”
“He may be gentle, but if it’s about that traitor, it’s a different story.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There is no ruler who would tolerate soone who takes away what is theirs in this world!”
Eurius declared with certainty.
“…!?”
Gung Jeok-yeong looked at him with wide eyes, but he smiled and continued.
“Shall we talk about that now?”
***
Ti had passed and it was late at night.
Except for a few guards and soldiers on patrol, the palace was shrouded in pitch-black darkness.
“Is everything normal on duty?”
“Yes, sir!”
A middle-aged officer in armor was walking around and inspecting the soldiers.
He smiled with satisfaction as he heard their loud salutes.
The soldiers were all spirited even in the hard dawn shift, perhaps because they were guarding the main palace where the emperor resided.
“Then keep up the good work.”
And just as he was about to turn away!
Swoosh
“…!?”
The officer felt a faint presence and looked around, but he saw nothing.
‘How strange. I thought there was sothing for sure?’
Tap tap!
“Ah…”
He nodded his head in relief after hearing the sound from the ceiling of the palace.
“It must be a rat running around on the ceiling. Was I too sharp?”
Swoosh.
But it was not only rats that were running around on the ceiling.
Surprisingly, there was a narrow passage in the ceiling that a person could barely pass through, right where the officer had just looked.
This was the secret passage of the imperial palace!
It was a secretive place that was made so that important people, including the emperor, could escape from the palace in case of ergency.
The narrow passage was dusty and infested with rats because it was hardly used, but a black shadow quickly passed through them.
Clack!
After running for a few minutes, the shadow suddenly stopped at a certain point.
‘According to the map, this is where that bastard emperor is.’
The shadow paused for a mont and felt the presence in the room.
Of course, there was no way that the security of the place where the emperor slept would be lax.
‘There’s no problem.’
But the shadow sneered and jumped out of the passage into the emperor’s bedroom.
Creak!
“…!?”
“Huh!”
The guards who were in charge of protection were startled.
They were patrolling the corridor in front of the bedroom as usual, but suddenly a wall turned and a masked intruder in black appeared.
They hurriedly tried to alert that soone had broken in.
“How did you?”
“Who are you…”
Flash!
But the intruder’s attack was fast.
A blue light flashed from his hand.
“…!?”
Shriek!
The blue light split into three and disappeared from their sight.
And the next mont!
“Gah!”
“Ugh!”
“Damn…”
The three experts who were guarding the corridor all fainted without even lifting a hand.
This was the sword of mind!
The intruder amazingly drew out three swords of mind with a single gesture and subdued the excellent experts who were in charge of protecting the emperor.
But he had no ti. Others would soon co to know that they had been subdued.
Bang!
Creak!
The intruder broke open the door of the bedroom almost violently.
The emperor woke up at that sound.
Whoosh.
“Huh!”
But he was also dumbfounded.
He woke up from his sleep at the sound of breaking door, but wasn’t there a suspicious-looking masked person in front of him?
“Who are you?”
The emperor surprisingly did not scream.
“You have so guts, after all.”
“What?”
Swoop.
The intruder stepped into the room and took off his mask, showing his face.
The emperor’s face hardened in an instant as he saw his face.
“You are…”
And so Eurius, who entered the emperor’s bedroom, spoke with an amused face.
“It’s been a while. I ca to say sothing I couldn’t say to you back then.”
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