The Emperor Who Was Chapter 122 : Chapter 122

Chapter . 122

People let out cheers that were close to screams. Long ago, the Crystal of Truth had been a national treasure, Armatia’s pride. It had originally been displayed at every national ceremony.

However, once it beca a crystal defiled by the blood of a filial-impious prince, it was no longer a source of pride, but the nation’s sha.

And now, Prince Leontes had purified the Blood Crystal.

People were exhilarated. As if his victory were their victory.

“His Highness Leontes purified the crystal!”

“Prince Leontes spoke the truth!”

“We must strike down Duke Lauderdale at once for trying to kill His Highness Leontes!”

As a violent uproar rose, Prince Leontes lifted his hand. People fell silent imdiately, their faces alight.

Normally, it is not easy to calm a crowd’s excitent, but their expectation for the prince was that great. And they had accumulated enough experience of always having that expectation satisfied by Leontes.

“Royal Father, I thank you for granting

the opportunity to prove my truth. Please grant the sa opportunity to Her Majesty the Empress.”

That was right. Now it was ti for the Empress to prove the tearful words she had spoken. A chance to witness the imperial family use the Blood Crystal twice before everyone. People’s excitent swelled, and they beca astonishingly quiet.

Co to think of it, the prince had also agreed to the Crystal of Truth in order to prevent the Empress from avoiding an oath.

He had only said he could swear upon it. Yet in the end, it was the Empress herself who demanded the crystal be brought. Now it was ti for her to face the result she had caused.

“Empress, swear upon the Crystal of Truth that your elder brother is innocent.”

The imperial command fell. The Empress turned eyes that were bloodshot, unlike the tearful eyes from before.

“…How would I know? How would I know whether my elder brother was involved in an attempted assassination of the prince or not! No matter what his intent was, am I not his sister, bound to protect him! I admit that I was led by affection and rashly trusted my elder brother, but how could I possibly know whether he truly committed a cri or not!”

Even courtiers who treated shalessness as a talent could not help being stunned at this.

No one doubted that Rhiannon was capable of trying to kill Leontes and more. Even so, the reason Leontes had accused only Lauderdale was likely because Rhiannon had not acted directly but had ordered Lauderdale.

Besides, Lauderdale would never give testimony unfavorable to his sister, so Leontes could not accuse the Empress. In the first place, accusing the Emperor’s wife and the prince’s own stepmother was difficult even with witnesses.

“Duke Lauderdale tried to kill the prince without even Her Majesty the Empress’s command?”

“The duke is practically timid compared to Her Majesty the Empress, and yet he boldly did such a thing alone. If the duke heard that, he would faint.”

“You are being too harsh on an elder brother who lost his only son.”

As they criticized, a question suddenly rose in people’s minds.

If it was the Crystal of Truth, it could have caught even the Empress, not only the duke. If they had not used the crystal, then targeting only the duke was more realistic.

So why had the prince not accused the Empress?

As that question swelled in everyone’s heart, Prince Leontes made an unexpected proposal.

“Then do not swear about Duke Lauderdale.”

What? He was releasing her from the demand for an oath that easily? In that mont, Rhiannon and everyone watching thought so.

“If everything was Lauderdale’s sche and Her Majesty the Empress did not know, and thus you are innocent, then swear only that.”

So that was the plan.

To let neither the duke nor the Empress escape.

The sa realization flashed through everyone’s mind again.

If the prince had targeted the Empress first, the Empress would have refused entirely, whether it was an accusation or the crystal, and would have left it to a legal battle.

In a long and complex trial, both the Empress and the duke would have slipped away. But because he accused only the duke, the Empress had believed she could save him without the scandal of being a defendant on trial. Subtly wielding her influence to steer events in her favor was Rhiannon’s specialty.

Yet the prince’s frighteningly sharp insight, seeing exactly how the Empress would respond, was collapsing her from the feet up.

“I… I am the Empress of Armatia. If I say it is not so, then it is not so. My word is enough. Do you dare demand that I swear upon my life!”

“Then stake Desmond instead.”

After the duke and the Empress, Desmond as well.

“You, as an elder brother, how can you demand your younger brother’s life!”

“It is not my younger brother’s life. I demand my younger brother’s obedience.”

Perhaps it was sincere, but it was advantageous to counter the Empress’s probing by denying any hidden intent.

“Are you going to order my son to die?”

“No. If he dies, he will not be able to obey my command.”

“Then are you going to order

to die?”

By now, the Empress no longer looked sane. She writhed to escape the crisis, but Leontes had blocked every exit. Her rage and hatred toward Leontes burned vividly. No one could doubt the truth that the Empress stood behind the duke who tried to kill Leontes.

“No. I ask that Your Majesty the Empress, even if Desmond cos to obey , do not harm him.”

“Lies, lies! Your Majesty the Emperor, I cannot trust him! Your Majesty, everything the prince says is a lie! I am innocent!”

Rhiannon scread like a madwoman. Having lost her nephew, about to lose her elder brother as well, and with even her son perhaps not free, she could no longer restrain the madness she had suppressed before this crisis that shook the Empress’s faction.

“Royal Father! Royal Mother!”

At that mont, the doors of the audience hall flew open, and Prince Desmond appeared. Sir Arthur was beside him, panting for breath. It was obvious they had hurriedly summoned Desmond when the Empress was in danger.

“My son, your half-brother is framing !”

A mother pleading desperately before her son.

But it only raised suspicion that she ant to sacrifice even her son to ambition after her nephew and elder brother. Her plea had already lost its force the mont she refused to swear.

“Now the one who will swear in your place has arrived.”

Then Grimiati spoke lightly. People nodded as if entranced.

That was right. If Rhiannon could not do it, Desmond could. If Rhiannon were truly innocent, there was no way the Empress’s faction would have no witness to support her innocence. Especially since the Empress had forced Leontes to swear, that witness had to be of the sa status. Everything fit together.

It might feel unfair to Desmond, but if Rhiannon’s sche had succeeded, he would have been the one to benefit most. And the real victim was Leontes, who had nearly fallen to Rhiannon’s and Lauderdale’s plot. He had sworn on his life, so neither Rhiannon nor Desmond could simply refuse to swear and let it pass.

“I curse you, Grimiati! Follow your woman into hell!”

Rhiannon shrieked at Grimiati. Anger flared in Maximilian’s and Leontes’s eyes, but if they lost their temper here, it would only look like they were admitting that Grimiati’s woman was their birth mother, so they had to endure it.

Yet such vicious attacks from Rhiannon instead raised suspicion that her madness was not an act. That she was only pretending to be insane briefly to evade an oath.

There had been emperors who suffered madness, and madness was sothing that could be cured by the blessing of the God of Traneha.

What if the Empress had exploded the emotions she had suppressed, while also finishing her calculations in that brief mont, reading through the possibilities?

For anyone else it might be impossible, but for Rhiannon it was possible. No courtier was unaware of how formidable the Empress who held power the longest had been, that there was nothing she could not do.

“Desmond, will you swear to save your mother?”

But then Leontes ignored Rhiannon and asked Desmond.

“I… I truly know nothing! How could I know what Royal Mother and my uncle did. Did you not always treat

like a child wrapped in Mother’s skirts!”

Desmond poured out his resentnt. His ominous look toward Leontes made it seem as if he was furious at being unable to join the plot of his mother and uncle who had targeted his half-brother.

“Then swear that Her Majesty the Empress and your uncle did not try to assassinate . Swear that Her Majesty the Empress is innocent, that she never once tried to kill .”

Leontes pointed at the clear crystal as he asked. People’s eyes gathered on the crystal.

Though it was clear now, the blood-red crystal they had seen before hovered again in their minds, and Leontes’s voice rang out.

“As a prince of Armatia, I truly purified the Blood Crystal. As a prince like , how can you not do the sa. I believe, as your elder brother, that you will not stain the crystal red again with your lie.”

Desmond flinched. If he truly had not noticed, he would only be a fool played by maternal relatives even before ascending the throne. And how far could that ominous crystal see through… why had Mother dragged that thing out to this point?

-The bolder an attack against an enemy, the better. The more you are cornered, the more you must strike at their blind spot.

Mother’s teachings were excellent in ordinary tis, but before a stronger opponent, they were useless.

Especially if that stronger opponent was a forr weakling who had grown explosively, shattering both her expectations and his.

“I do not know! I cannot swear about sothing I do not know!”

“And yet after the Empress’s faction forced a true oath upon , whom they tried to assassinate, they cannot pass without paying any price. An imperial must bear responsibility within the Empress’s faction as well.”

“What do you want, exactly?”

“Either Her Majesty the Empress makes an oath of truth, or you make an oath of obedience to .”

“Why must I obey you because of Mother’s wrongdoing!”

“The Empress’s faction committed a cri. I have already proven the truth of my accusation. If there is no imperial within the Empress’s faction to prove their truth, then they have lost the leader who should guide them.”

“What are you even saying—”

“Therefore, I will guide them in their place, so that they never commit cris again. Including you.”

The blood drained from Desmond’s face.

“No! No! Why would my son obey you! The son of that woman! Never! No! I would rather you die!”

Rhiannon, venomous, raged wildly.

“Royal Mother!”

Desmond cried out in shock and embraced his mother.

“Royal Father, Royal Mother is not well. Please grant permission for Royal Mother to be escorted away.”

It was a reasonable request. A ploy to summon her son, pretend to be mad, and escape this place.

Contempt flickered in people’s eyes. And fury as well, toward soone who had made a boy prince risk even this, yet now tried to slip away with a shallow trick.

However, the Emperor’s answer was unexpected.

“Do you think your mother would want that? To withdraw without proving her innocence.”

“Her Majesty the Empress has already beco angry at my son. This affair is sothing the Empress herself started, and just because it did not go as she wished, she must not beco angry at you as well, since you too are my son.”

It sounded as if he was thinking of Desmond, yet it was also asking him whether he would follow the Empress or follow the Emperor.

“Now, whether it is Her Majesty the Empress or you, it is ti to decide.”

Then Leontes pressed again.

“Either Her Majesty the Empress makes an oath of truth, or you make an oath of obedience to . One of the two.”