The Emperor Who Was Chapter 1 : Chapter 1

Chapter . 1

Armatia, a country founded by a hero who triumphed in a battle against a dragon.

Since then, the descendants of the hero who contracted with the dragon ascended to the throne, and the dragon, obeying the Emperor, protected the country.

However, the guardian dragon could not protect the country in the war of succession surrounding the dragon.

‘A paradox as colossal as the dragon itself.’

Young Emperor Leontes, facing his own brother's rebellion, thought this.

In fact, his own brother was not the only problem. Because the Emperor himself was a scarecrow for his stepmother, Empress Dowager Rhiannon, and his half-brother, Prince Desmond.

-You lost your mother as soon as you were born, and you were hated by your father and brother as the child who killed his mother. Even if you refuse this contract and die now, who would mourn your death? But if you just make the contract, why would we harm you when you have beco our servant? As long as you do not disobey us, you will live.

The mother and son conspired and forced a magical contract upon him. Afterward, when the previous Emperor died and Desmond failed to contract with the dragon, they put Leontes forward.

-You were a contingency plan for my failure from the start. Prove your worth.

After painstaking efforts, Leontes contracted with the dragon and ascended to the throne, but he was branded a tyrant because of the mother and son who wielded arbitrary power through him.

-Defeat the tyrant Leontes!

-Step down, tyrant Leontes!

His own brother, Prince Maximilian, and the previous Emperor's illegitimate son, Marquess Steiner, each raised a rebellion aiming for the throne.

“The rebel army led by the traitor Maximilian has won this battle, Your Imperial Majesty.”

The ssenger announced grimly.

In the vast audience chamber where the subjects were lined up, a golden relief of a dragon soaring to the ceiling surrounded the jewel-adorned throne.

However, the young man with black hair and blue-gray eyes sitting on that luxurious throne looked not only pale and young but also incredibly sickly. It was hard to believe he was the one possessing the greatest power handed down in Armatia.

“Oh dear, is Her Majesty the Empress Dowager safe? What about Desmond?”

Under the light of the chandelier carved from athyst and citrine, the Emperor, who looked like a decorative doll, spoke as if reciting lines with a beautiful face.

“Both of them are safe by the grace of God Traneha, and they are returning to the capital in haste.”

“You must send Armatia’s guardian dragon imdiately!”

Duke Lauderdale shouted roughly, his eyes wide open. He was the Empress Dowager’s brother and the maternal uncle of Desmond, who had been a prince and beca a Grand Duke after the previous Emperor’s death.

But Desmond’s half-brother, Emperor Leontes, still repeated the sa excuse.

“The dragon… does not listen to …….”

“Your Majesty is the contractor of the guardian dragon! If you use the treasured sword Juratio, how can the dragon disobey!”

“Because I have beco too weak…….”

Duke Lauderdale clicked his tongue at the Emperor’s excuse.

However, it was true that the Emperor’s body had recently beco extrely weak. He frequently vomited blood and would faint from pain.

‘A scarecrow daring to disobey Desmond’s orders, that is the price.’

Leontes had a brand on his heart identical to the one engraved on the dragon. Just as the dragon obeyed the Emperor, the Emperor obeyed them. If he disobeyed, he suffered just like the dragon.

Lauderdale snorted and signaled to the other subjects with his eyes.

The subjects, all from Desmond’s faction, raised their voices in unison.

“The Duke is right!”

“Your Imperial Majesty, please move the guardian dragon quickly!”

“You must hurry before we suffer a greater disaster!”

CRASH! At that mont, a commotion arose outside.

“Your Highness Grand Duke! Your Highness Grand Duke!”

“You, you cannot do thi―”

BANG! The next mont, the two doors of the audience chamber swung wide open, and Desmond galloped in on horseback.

His snow-white stallion was sweating profusely all over its body. The subjects hurriedly dodged the horse that did not stop its speed.

The Grand Duke pulled the reins and stopped the galloping horse right below the platform of the throne.

NEIGH!

The white horse reared up on its hind legs. It looked as if the two hooves raised in the air would strike down on the Emperor.

The young Emperor froze, unable to even scream.

“It is dangerous, Your Highness!”

Lauderdale, worried his nephew might fall, shouted. However, the Grand Duke with blond hair and green eyes easily subdued the rearing horse and nimbly jumped off.

THUD. As he threw the reins onto the floor, the horse that had run without rest collapsed. Spouting bloody foam onto the marble floor.

Desmond did not even look back and strode forward, kneeling on one knee before the Emperor. Unlike his usual self that ignored the Emperor.

“Your Imperial Majesty, I have failed to capture the traitor Maximilian who dared to raise a flag of rebellion against Your Majesty. Please punish this sinner.”

Unlike the content of his words, his tone was dripping with coldness.

“…I, I understand… I forgive you.”

“Forgiveness, when did I ever hope for forgiveness?”

Desmond sprang up and ascended the platform. He put his hand inside his robe, took out a letter, and threw it at the Emperor’s feet.

“Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has flushed it out. Here, the operations and organization of my army are listed in their entirety. This is the reason for my defeat. It is proof that a spy conspiring with the enemy exists brazenly within this Imperial Palace!”

Groans arose from all directions. The Grand Duke, who did not even glance at others, grabbed the trembling Emperor by the collar.

“I am telling you to punish this spy! You must catch him and throw him as feed for the dragon!”

“I, I know nothing―”

“You do not know? Then who would have given him this information? Perhaps so cowardly monarch who pleaded to spare only his life in exchange for handing over secrets.”

Desmond, who had been growling, suddenly lowered his voice and whispered.

“Do you think your own brother will forgive you now? That madman who was jumping up and down saying he would kill you with his own hands, calling you a traitor who joined hands with his mother’s enemy?”

“I did not betray―”

But Desmond now gripped the Emperor’s throat instead of his collar. Then, while the Emperor could not speak, he looked back at the subjects, his eyes flashing.

“It is the order of His Imperial Majesty. Bring the dragon.”

Those who were nominally the Emperor’s subjects only bowed their heads.

Soon the dragon was dragged in.

The audience chamber built hugely to allow a dragon to enter; its marble vault featured a ceiling painting of the empire's founder fighting an evil dragon. A dragon writhing after being struck by the hero’s sword.

Beneath it, the dragon, bound in chains and stamped with the Emperor’s brand on its chest, stood tall.

“Order it to attack the traitors imdiately!”

Desmond shouted at the Emperor.

A fight that would have been won long ago if only that mighty dragon were present. However, utilizing the gap when Desmond and the Empress Dowager left the capital to march, the Emperor made all sorts of excuses and did not send the dragon.

At first, they did not suspect. Because if he disobeyed them, Leontes, bound to them by contract, would be in more danger.

-Would Leontes, who wouldn’t have even beco Emperor if I hadn’t taken him in, have the guts to plot a conspiracy?

Even that cold-headed Empress Dowager said as much.

-Surely Maximilian must have been maneuvering behind the scenes. Since Leontes is so weak, it is not surprising that he fell for his brother’s sweet words.

In the end, his conjecture, which the Empress Dowager also agreed with, must have been correct.

“I, I… do not want to…….”

“Why can you not do it? Use Juratio!”

Just like that, Desmond snatched the treasured sword the Emperor was wearing.

The blade, famous for shining pure white even in the dark, was engraved with a spell resembling an intricate pattern, and a gem that looked like a mass of light was embedded in the hilt.

The weapon with which the first Emperor and Dragon Slayer killed the dragon, the famous sword Juratio inherited only by the dragon’s contractor.

The pattern on the blindingly beautiful sword is the sa shape as the brand stamped on the dragon’s chest. If one stabs the brand with that sword, even a dragon succumbs to the pain.

He wanted to ta the dragon with his own hands using this sword, but the sword’s effect only activates for the contractor.

Desmond, gripping the hilt of the sword he could not use tight enough to crush it, aid it straight at the Emperor.

“Do you think you can live even after betraying ?”

No matter what, it was such a ruthless act that breathless groans arose from all sides. However, when Duke Lauderdale glared, everyone turned their heads away.

“…T, Then… You do it.”

“What did you say?”

Leontes continued speaking while trembling. Before the anger of not being treated as a person, let alone an Emperor, was locked away behind fear again.

“Y, You do it, you do it yourself.”

“Don’t speak nonsense. Do you not even know that only a dragon’s contractor can command the dragon?”

The next mont, Leontes’ blue-gray eyes flashed.

“Why did I contract with the dragon?”

The eyes that were always filled with fear shone strangely. Just this once, a clear voice rang out without stuttering. Loud enough for everyone in the place to hear.

“Because you failed.”

Desmond’s face turned pale with rage. The hand holding Juratio trembled violently.

The only stain on the life of Desmond, who was praised as a prince flawless in both appearance and ability.

The dragon’s contract was mysterious. In other words, there was no certain basis for success or failure.

Besides him, there were many royals who failed the contract with the guardian dragon. Including the Sword Master who was the illegitimate son of the previous Emperor.

“You were just lucky.”

Unless that was the case, there was no way Leontes, who had not received emperor education and was treated with contempt to the point of being banished despite being a prince in na, could have succeeded in what he failed.

“I was lucky? I, who live as a scarecrow for you and your mother because of the slave contract forced upon

before that, even though I contracted with the dragon, am lucky?”

Leontes’ blue-gray eyes were like a winter sea with rising waves. Desmond felt madness in the eyes of his half-brother whom he had always looked down upon and sucked in a breath.

Still, he was the Emperor, and he had gone too far. The feeling of being bitten by a cornered rat was not pleasant.

First, he had to end the rebellion raised by the first prince.

“…Thanks to that, you ascended to the throne, did you not, Your Majesty.”

“I did not even want to beco Emperor. Even more so, I did not want to beco a scarecrow Emperor for you mother and son.”

“Why are you suddenly acting like this? Why do you not do as you are told like you have until now?”

He tried to appease Leontes, but Desmond, whose patience was short, shouted him down again.

“I said I do not want to.”

The blue-gray eyes rippled.

“…I do not want to participate anymore in the acts of you and your mother using

and my dragon to tornt my people, exploit them, and ruin my country!”

The young Emperor scread from deep within his chest.

“Everyone calls

a tyrant who indulges in luxury and sucks the blood of the people! Even though I was rely forced because my life was held by you!”

Shaking the barrier of fear that had taken root deep in his heart all this ti.

“I will never beco a tyrant again!”

Desmond was speechless. What nonsense was a man who did not even know the truth that the country and the people are the possessions of the monarch spouting? Instead of repaying the grace of raising him to the throne!

“Shut up! No matter what Maximilian promised, you can never escape the blood contract!”

Desmond shouted in malice and aid Juratio at Leontes’ chest.

Pressing the sword tip against the spot under his clothes where the seal of the contract was stamped, just like the guardian dragon.

Leontes’ lips turned white. No matter how much he tried to overco his fear, the mories of pain accumulated until now did not disappear at once.

At that mont, a ssenger who ran in hurriedly announced.

“Your Majesty! Maximilian’s army is invading the capital!”

“That makes no sense!”

Desmond shouted furiously. It was too fast, that could not be―

“…Do you think I would have passed secrets only to Maximilian?”

Beside the shocked man, Leontes spoke quietly.

“What did you just―”

Another ssenger ran in.

“Duke Steiner is also invading!”

Sothing touched Desmond’s hand, which was frozen on the spot, and snatched the treasured sword he was holding.

“You traitor!”

Desmond yelled. But Leontes moved surprisingly fast for an Emperor who looked so weak. As if he had been waiting only for this mont, no, as if he had been preparing for this mont.

He ran to the dragon and raised Juratio. The next mont, the chains engraved with binding spells were shattered under the blade engraved with higher-ranking spells.

CLANK, the chains fell to the floor and the dragon was freed.

“Aaaah!”

The subjects who were watching with their hands covering their mouths were terrified that the Emperor would order the dragon to attack them.

“If you do not want to die, stop your useless resistance.”

But Desmond rather mocked Leontes.

“No matter how much you struggle, do you think you can escape the stigma of a tyrant? Everyone, everyone in Armatia calls you a tyrant! A tyrant lost in luxury and pleasure!”

Tears welled up in Leontes’ eyes. As if his struggle would matter, that weak guy, Desmond sneered.

However, Leontes spoke resolutely, no longer trembling even with tears in his eyes.

“Yes, I am a tyrant. If so, I will punish those who would beco tyrants like

with my own hands!”

With those words, Leontes pointed Juratio at the window and shouted.

“My dragon!”

The next mont, the dragon Leontes had released from the chains moved, even though he did not stab the brand. Carrying Leontes as he was, it smashed through the window and flew up into the sky.

Everyone stared blankly at the receding backs of the Emperor and the dragon.

It was a shock for Desmond, who never knew his always fearful and weak half-brother had such backbone.

The scarecrow Emperor Leontes, whom the people cursed as a tyrant and the nobles looked down upon and despised; who would have imagined that he had been secretly moving the civil war from behind?

‘In the end… I got caught up in his conspiracy… No, everyone did!’

Was it even possible? Neither the first prince nor the illegitimate son knew of the contract Leontes was forced into. Due to the plot of Desmond and his mother, who used any ans necessary to isolate Leontes, their already bad relationship had beco irreversibly twisted. Even if he gave them information, they would have considered it a trap.

However, all those conspiracies, all that surveillance returned to nothing.

A civil war stained with betrayal, fratricide, and immorality; amidst those complex grudges and interests, Leontes finally accomplished the unprecedented feat of dragging three factions into one place.

And right under the noses of the enemies surrounding him.

What a spine-chilling strategy. Could the first prince or the illegitimate son who always looked down on him, or even Desmond himself, have achieved this?

‘But… by doing that, what on earth does he intend to do? If he supported his own brother, he wouldn’t have called the illegitimate son, so is he trying to raise his ransom by gathering everyone for negotiation?’

Desmond would never let that happen. Leontes would die as the price for breaking the contract before that. But…….

‘…Would the guy who planned things up to this point really not know that?’

Punish with my own hands……. The words Leontes left behind were ominous. For the first ti since he had lived thinking he was the real Emperor, fear arose.

But, to feel fear towards the half-brother he had subdued?

He was caught because he let his guard down, but it would be over if he caught Leontes before he caused more trouble.

To dare speak of punishnt, Leontes was the one who would be punished by Desmond. The harshest punishnt.

Desmond gritted his teeth and ordered.

“Chase him imdiately!”