Two days later, Duke Erbe’s request for an audience was officially approved by the Imperial Palace. The Duke, with a melancholic smile, headed towards the palace.
The palace was almost unchanged from what he remembered. Every time the Elector Duke summoned him, at least during the time when the Imperial Palace supported Ribue, the relationship between the Carvelier and Tremule families had been quite good. The Duke had never refused a summons from the Imperial Palace.
But the atmosphere. That alone was different from before. Even as he underwent the armed inspection by the eunuchs in front of the audience hall, Duke Erbe couldn’t shake off the chilling sense of pressure and a subtle feeling of alienation.
‘It’s cold.’
The air in the corridor of the Imperial Palace’s audience hall. And the fingertips of the eunuchs searching his person were cold. Freezingly so.
Their expressions were almost inhuman, as if painted pale like porcelain. The eunuchs mechanically rummaged through the Duke’s belongings with monotonous precision.
The armed inspection ended quickly. It wasn’t something that would take long in the first place. Suppressing the unpleasant sense of alienation, the Duke watched as the corridor doors slowly opened.
Darkness spread out before him. Far into the distance, like an abyss. The thick darkness made the scattered candlelight seem insignificant. The deep red silk-adorned inner audience hall of the Imperial Palace. Once called the Hall of Light, this splendid hall was now entirely dyed in black.
‘No. It just looks that way.’
Duke Erbe swallowed hard and stepped forward. His survival instincts were screaming warnings at him. The darkness in the hall wasn’t just visual.
His instincts didn’t want to acknowledge the scene before him. His gaze slid away, avoiding the light. Unable to focus straight ahead, Duke Erbe lowered his eyes.
Still, the hall was bright, splendid, and luxurious. But all he could see was darkness. It wasn’t a matter of color, but the presence of ‘something’ inside that distorted his vision and made his heart pound as if it would burst.
-Thud.
Suddenly, a nosebleed gushed out. Duke Erbe wiped his nose and walked forward. Slowly, step by step, along the path lined with crimson silk.
“Do you like it?”
The Emperor’s voice echoed in his ears. A distant, faraway voice.
“Do you know what you’re stepping on?”
“……?”
Duke Erbe forced his eyes open. The texture of the silk beneath his feet felt unusual. As his vision, blurred by instinct, slowly focused, the shape of the object became clearer.
Duke Erbe recoiled in horror, taking a few steps back. This wasn’t silk. The reason he had thought it was silk was because that’s what had been laid there before.
Not crimson silk…… but blood-soaked shrouds, still oozing fresh blood.
“This…… what……!”
“Haha, surprised?”
A laugh echoed from the distant throne. More blood trickled from his nose. By now, sticky blood tears were streaming from his eyes. His vision began to turn red.
“My, my. Your immunity is quite poor, Duke Erbe. Shouldn’t you have eaten well and lived better?”
“You…….”
Duke Erbe gritted his teeth and forced his head to turn. His neck creaked, making a horrifying sound as it was forced to move. He almost forcibly fixed his gaze straight ahead.
A man sat on the throne. Looking down at him with eyes dulled by boredom.
“You’ve been quite entertaining, Duke. Thanks to you, I’ve been busy.”
“What are you doing……!”
“Well. I’m just making what’s mine, mine.”
-Crunch.
A sound of chitinous collision came from somewhere. Rustle, crunch, crack. The noise, like insects crawling, struck his ears.
“All of it is just futile struggles. The outcome is already decided, so why resist? It’s utterly foolish.”
“You cannot succeed!”
Duke Erbe shouted, struggling to breathe. Blood seeped from his throat, and red blisters swelled up on his hands, bursting one by one.
So this is where I die. Is this the end? I must tell him. I must inform him of the situation in the Imperial Palace. If I fall here…… the soldiers of Ribue are finished.
“Erbe. You and I had a rather good relationship, didn’t we? An ideal relationship between a vassal and a sovereign. I liked your rationality, but have you gone senile with age?”
Mortal life is truly pitiful. The Emperor laughed loudly. As Duke Erbe tried to speak, the Emperor raised a finger to his lips.
“Shh.”
-Crunch, crack.
The sound of insects moving grew louder. As Duke Erbe tried to say something, the Emperor declared in a low voice.
“You will become one with us.”
“He will stop you……!”
Duke Erbe shouted with a voice boiling with blood. Soon, his vision darkened, and he could see nothing. Blood tears stuck to his eyelids, making it impossible to open them.
In the darkness, Duke Erbe slowly knelt and collapsed, shouting. He will stop you. You cannot succeed.
And.
My beloved daughter.
Rene Philippa. My daughter.
*
The meeting room was shrouded in gloom. None of the Duke’s knights dared to speak first. The bravery they showed on the battlefield was nowhere to be seen. They simply remained silent, heads bowed.
A cold solemnity permeated the dim meeting room. The knights just sat still, hoping someone else would speak first.
Fernandez let out a short sigh. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand their feelings…….
-Cowards.
‘Don’t say that, Faijashi. They understand.’
-Understanding and acceptance are different. They’re not accepting it.
‘That’s not stubbornness or fear…… it’s loyalty.’
Fernandez comforted the sulking Faijashi and slowly stood up. The Duke’s knights all turned their gaze to him. Their eyes were trembling.
Yes. Comforting the bereaved is also the duty of a priest. Fernandez smiled bitterly and opened his mouth.
“The Duke has likely passed away.”
He swallowed the word ‘probably.’ He didn’t want to give the knights false hope. The Duke’s death was almost a confirmed fact.
Five days had passed since the Duke entered the Imperial Palace. If he were alive, he would have contacted them long before now. During that time, the Duke’s legion had simply stayed in place, consuming the capital’s food supplies.
“…….”
The Duke’s vassals remained silent. They were suppressing their grief. Understanding and acceptance are different. And it wasn’t fear-driven escape but loyalty-driven reluctance.
“With Duke Carvelier’s passing, I will no longer hide this from you. You have three choices left.”
Fernandez looked each person in the eye as he continued.
“First. There is no one in the military camp with command authority equivalent to Duke Carvelier. This means that even Knight Commander Borua cannot command the entire army. Therefore, you must go to Rene Philippa de Carvelier, the Duke’s daughter, and reorganize the troops.”
Rene Philippa, the Duke’s daughter, is currently leading naval battles centered around Guir. If there’s anyone who can be accepted as the rightful lord of the Ribue army, it would be her.
But the knights didn’t respond. Fernandez nodded briefly and said.
“Right. This is the least favorable option. The Duke’s daughter is nominally anti-Emperor, while Duke Carvelier built his reputation as pro-Emperor. Not only would you lose all the reputation the Duke built with his life, but turning the army north would also leave the western Ribue region unprotected.”
Currently, Duke Carvelier’s army is defending the capital, Paltennoia. But this also means they are in a position to deploy in any direction and flexibly respond to any sudden events in Ribue.
Heading north to Guir would buy time to reorganize the troops, but it would mean losing both Ribue’s safety and the Duke’s reputation. After that, Duke Carvelier would be reduced to just another ambitious Elector Duke, unable to contend for the throne, making this the least favorable option.
“The second proposal is to march on the Imperial Palace. There’s the satisfaction of avenging the Duke, the immediate supply and resources, and the thousands of benefits that come from occupying the palace and deposing the Emperor.”
About a third of the knights in the meeting room flinched at his words. Fernandez carefully observed their faces and secretly clicked his tongue.
These knights are at least high-ranking officers equivalent to commanders. Their reaction was too incompetent for their supposed expertise.
Of course, most of the knights just looked at him without any change in expression. Fernandez sighed inwardly.
