The Emperor Who Was Chapter 117 : Chapter 117

Chapter . 117

“How dare you do this in front of His Highness!”

“What is this outrageous behavior!”

“House Lauderdale has dared to insult our Prince!”

The noblewon who saw the severed head fainted, and the knights erupted in fury. Desmond rushed forward in alarm.

“Escort my uncle away! Brother, I apologize. I will take responsibility for this and offer my apologies—”

However, Prince Leontes ignored him and turned toward Duke Lauderdale.

“Duke, do you intend for your nephew to bear responsibility for your actions in your stead?”

“Brother! My uncle is not in his right mind right now! Please show rcy!”

“In war, there is a legend that says a man placed the head of one he killed upon his shield and brought it to the victor’s banquet, only for that head to open its eyes and mouth and recount how it died. Have you not heard it?”

Ignoring his nephew’s desperate pleas, Duke Lauderdale spoke with a broad, grotesque grin.

At his words, with Michelon, Sir Rolf, and the Count of Montova at the forefront, all the knights of Montova Castle drew their swords. Even the re ntion of that legend was blasphemy.

Yet Leontes, with a calm expression, accepted the duke’s words.

“All who heard that tale fell into slumber. All but the victor.”

“And when the severed head finished its story, it spat into the victor’s eyes. Though the head was burned, the victor’s eyes rotted away from poison, and he lost his life in the end. What lesson does that legend teach?”

It was a story widely spread during mage hunts, of an evil mage who cast a spell upon his son’s severed head to take revenge on the ruler who killed him.

Though he was effectively declaring himself a mage, Lauderdale did not care how others judged him.

“Prince Leontes, give but the order, and I shall place that man’s head beside his son’s head before you!”

Sir Rolf shouted, raising his sword in rage. Michelon’s blade was already extended to the duke’s chest.

Though he was an insolent commoner, Edward had always said Michelon was more honorable than House Lauderdale, and how Edward had hated that family. His son had not been wrong in a single word.

“To Prince Leontes, the head of Lauderdale!”

“To Prince Leontes, the head of Lauderdale!”

When the Count of Montova shouted after Sir Rolf, all the knights of the castle followed suit, raising their swords and shouting in unison. Desmond and Arthur, standing on either side of Lauderdale, drew in sharp breaths.

Before Lauderdale were enemies, and behind him were enemies as well. The reason those behind him were quiet while those in front raged was simply because they were enjoying the spectacle of his humiliation.

But he did not care. Before him stood Prince Leontes.

“Unfortunately, my son’s head cannot open its eyes, nor can it open its mouth. So shall I speak in his stead and tell you how my son died? That is, if Your Highness wishes to hear it!”

Desmond’s hand touched the duke’s arm.

“Uncle, please… if only for Edward’s sake—”

“I am doing this for Edward!”

He was suffocating with frustration. He had to know how to speak to Edward’s mother, so that Edward himself could rest in peace.

“I permit it.”

Prince Leontes spoke.

That single word filled him with joy beyond asure. In his utter confusion, it was the only thing he could cling to at this mont.

As much as those blue-gray eyes that understood his turmoil.

The duke’s mouth, at last, was about to open to speak of his son’s death. But Desmond did not allow it.

“Brother Leontes, I sincerely apologize for every insolence my uncle has committed, and I thank you for the boundless magnanimity you have shown. However, is it not obvious that he has lost his sanity due to his son’s death?”

Grinding his teeth, Desmond shouted. He had tried to endure it, but his emotions finally overwheld him. Considering how much he had restrained himself until now, it was remarkable in itself.

“Do you think the story of my cousin’s death is ant to serve as entertainnt at your banquet? If you are that curious, why not first listen to the stories of the parents of those bodies scattered outside?”

In the next mont, Sir Rolf and the Count of Montova raised their hands, and the knights who had long been aiming their swords at Duke Lauderdale shifted into a full encirclent of the Empress’s faction. Desmond himself was included as a target.

Even the Knights of Saint Romola stepped forward and joined in surrounding the knights of Lauderdale. They could not possibly be Leontes’s knights, yet there they were.

The knights of the First Prince’s faction and the Illegitimate Prince’s faction withdrew, either to avoid being drawn into the conflict or to wait for an opening to join the encirclent.

Only that commoner, Michelon, did not move. His sword remained extended right up to Lauderdale’s chest. Without moving the blade at all, the commoner rely turned his head to look at Desmond.

Then he smiled brightly, as radiant as any noblewoman, with murderous intent brimming in his eyes, delighted at the thought that he might kill the duke next.

Already battered to the brink of collapse, the knights of House Lauderdale wore expressions devoid of blood and spirit after the consecutive blunders of their lord and the prince they served.

Though they were accustod to such murderous tension, the mages were different. Already shaken badly, the mages instinctively raised their staves in fear, and that too was a grave mistake. This ti, the prince’s two mages raised their staves as well.

“Ahhh!”

“Aah!”

In the next instant, the mages of the Empress’s faction scread. Their staves burst into flas all at once.

When they dropped them to keep their hands from burning as well, the staves turned to ash at their feet.

“H-hhk!”

“Hhk!”

“Aaaah……”

The mages sobbed.

“How is this even possible……”

“I cannot believe my eyes… this is utterly impossible……”

Mages and knights of other factions murmured in disbelief. No matter how powerful the prince’s two mages were, it was impossible to disarm other mages en masse.

They must have activated so kind of barrier installed throughout the castle. It could not have been a simple one.

Even that proclamation alone proved it. Until recently, this castle had been a direct domain of the Empress, but now it stood as a powerful symbol of its new master’s overwhelming authority.

“The power of the Armatia imperial family……”

“The sacred power of the imperial bloodline……”

It had long been believed that the imperial bloodline of Armatia possessed a sacred power distinct from magic, allowing only them to contract with dragons.

From ti to ti, heroic emperors had displayed miracles surpassing magic itself, such as valor on the battlefield or the healing of the sick.

Other rulers even spread similar beliefs, claiming that a monarch’s touch could heal scrofula.

Of course, nothing was certain. Leontes might have secured far more mages than he let on, or he might be conducting special magical operations within his domain using artifacts and magic circles.

“The mysterious miracles of Armatia……”

Yet for those who had lost family and comrades to strange magic starting from Mount Petrafis, who had returned from the brink of death only to brace themselves for yet another battle, the power of Prince Leontes that crushed the very seed of conflict at the outset could only be described as mystical. Sotis, enemies are the ones who offer the most honest praise.

“Do you think I am doing this out of curiosity or a thirst for revenge, Desmond?”

At that mont, regardless of how swiftly his subordinates moved to protect his honor, Prince Leontes’s voice rang out, the only one that never lost its smile. In this murderous atmosphere, it sounded almost gentle.

“Then for what reason?”

Desmond was intelligent and patient, yet strangely, he lacked restraint when it ca to Leontes compared to his other brothers. Perhaps it was because they were closest in age, or because this was the brother he once scorned as no threat at all. As he desperately awaited Leontes’s answer, Lauderdale suddenly wondered whether Desmond himself truly knew the reason.

“Because that is how I rule.”

Leontes replied.

“So long as they do not harm my people, so long as they do not break the law, even if they are my enemy, if they lose a son within my domain, I will hear them as its lord.”

…They had gone straight from Montova Castle to Mount Petrafis, so unlike the corpses outside Montova, they had no chance to harm the people of the domain. Truly fortunate… no, wait. Then does that an my son, the prince’s cousin, the heir of Lauderdale, the only son of a noblewoman like Margaret, is worth less than a lowly serf? If my son or I had killed even a single serf, would he not have listened?

The duke was seized by boiling rage once more, but the prince continued calmly.

“And unlike that legend, even if I hear the words of a father who lost his son, why would I be murdered in my land, in my castle?”

“Oh, my proud younger brother Leontes.”

Maximilian, who had been eerily silent for so long, finally spoke.

“Mount Petrafis is also your land. Did you not acknowledge in your own proclamation that you were attacked, abducted, and imprisoned there? That is why I and our maternal uncle rushed to rescue you. And yet you believe such a thing will never happen again?”

At those words, Duke Lauderdale grinned broadly again, then suddenly his eyes flashed. Why could my nephew not strike Leontes at his core like that?

Had Rhiannon not told him ti and again that he must surpass the First Prince?

Now, led by Sir Rolf, whose reputation was already poor across all factions, Leontes’s knights began to glare even at the First Prince.

However, the cunning First Prince blurred the line of insult in the current situation, making it awkward for them to act, so they rely stood by. Prince Leontes smiled brightly at his elder brother.

“You are correct, Brother. Having endured that trial, I returned stronger. That is why I dared to punish those criminals who defied

in my land.”

The mont he finished speaking, the shield wall behind him erupted in a blinding flash. It was so dazzling that those facing him, whether of the First Prince’s faction, the Illegitimate Prince’s faction, or the Empress’s faction, all shut their eyes tightly. Knights dropped their weapons, and mages dropped their staves.

Raising a staff first is an act of attack, but this ti, the other side had already used magic first, so raising only a defensive barrier would have been permissible.

Even so, none of the mages of the First Prince’s faction or the Illegitimate Prince’s faction dared to raise their staves. They dropped even those they had rely been holding.

“My beloved elder brothers, my beloved younger brother, my beloved dukes, my beloved cousins, their attendants, and all guests who have co to my castle. I welco you, and I wish that all of you bear witness to how I rule.”

Leontes’s words rang out as he calmly took that blinding radiance as his halo.

Even through eyes streaming with tears from the glare, Duke Lauderdale realized sothing.

Leontes was the only one who called all his siblings both elder brother and younger brother, and who was called both elder brother and younger brother by them all. It was not because he was the second-born. It was not rely a matter of proper titles while casually using nas otherwise.

The First Prince regarded him as a younger brother, the Illegitimate Prince did as well, and Desmond regarded him as an elder brother.

If such a man were to hear of Edward’s death, the whole world would hear it.

Those who caused Edward’s death as well.

Margaret too.

“…And so the marquess saved Prince Desmond. In the process, there were grave insults from Prince Maximilian and Duke Grimiati, yet the marquess endured them with remarkable restraint to save his younger brother. He listened to every insult until the First Prince sheathed his sword. It was truly extraordinary. Anyone who understands honor will acknowledge it. Those who do not are neither nobles, nor knights, nor even human. I wished to kneel before the marquess then and thank him with tears. I swear upon my dead son’s neck, I truly wished to do so. The insults were such that even I am unsure I could have endured them.”

And thus, at last, the father began to speak of his son’s death.

“But then Edward ca running, screaming. I knew at a glance that he was far too agitated for his nature. As his father, I must admit it—he was completely out of his mind.”