TPOP 98

Chapter 98

***

Sponsored by Curufin. Thank you ❤️ (3/10)

****

With the Emperor bedridden and the Crown Prince disengaged from politics, security at the palace must have been lax.

The northern wall, in particular, bordered a forest used for hunting grounds. It was relatively small in scale, and few people passed through the North Gate, so its defenses were not stringent. They believed their forces were sufficient to overcome it, and indeed, they breached the North Gate with relative ease.

But from here on, every step forward was perilous. The urgent priority was to encircle the chapel where the Crown Prince and nobles gathered. Soldiers at the vanguard drove their horses madly toward the church spire rising behind the main palace.

Eisen moved at the rear of the line, mingling among the soldiers.

A fifty-fifty chance of success meant a fifty-fifty chance of failure. Even if all this ended in failure, it wouldn't matter, Eisen thought, whipping his horse's flank.

If it meant shattering Felix Astean’s stronghold and tearing off that detestable mask, he was willing to take any gamble.

Eisen wore a cloak and concealed his face with a mask. Count Montagne, pressed close beside him, spoke in a voice tinged with discontent.

"There was no need for Your Highness to come here personally."

"Once my brother ascends the throne, you and I are as good as dead anyway."

A peculiar sense of elation washed over Eisen's face.

"Then I'll die here, if I must die."

Truthfully, Eisen harbored little ambition for the imperial throne.

It was Count Montagne who dreamed big. Having crawled his way up from the bottom, his hands stained with every kind of sordid business, he yearned for the imperial palace and its air of noble dignity.

He had bought his title of Count with money, but as a commoner fundamentally different from the pure-blooded nobility, his reality was that he could never truly belong in that glittering world, forever an outsider. To transcend his birth limitations, he sent the woman he had raised as his mistress and kept as his lover into the imperial palace, disguised as his sister.

After several calculated attempts, that courtesan captured the Emperor's heart. She was Eisen's biological mother. Count Montagne's ambition planned to culminate by placing the woman’s son, Eisen, upon the imperial throne.

It should have been simple: eliminate the Crown Prince, and it would be over. Yet despite sending countless assassins over thirteen years, the Crown Prince survived. Whether due to Duke Christen's skill or the Crown Prince's own ability, the man never fell.

Far from falling, he likely viewed them as mere inconveniences. Eisen could never forget the gaze his half-brother had fixed upon him at the Emperor's birthday banquet.

That look, as if he were observing something inherently inferior to himself.

Ever since Felix was a kind and gentle boy, Eisen had been consumed by a gnawing sense of inferiority. It began that spring when he was twelve, after accidentally witnessing the secret tryst between the Count he believed to be his maternal uncle and his own birth mother. That day, he realized no matter how much he struggled, he could never truly belong within these beautiful palace walls.

"Then let us transform this palace, this empire, into a world befitting us, Your Highness."

When Eisen confronted Count Montagne, he grinned, his lips stretched wide.

"But my brother, and Her Majesty the Empress, regard me as family... How could I repay that kindness with enmity...?"

"Kindness? Did you say kindness? No, Your Highness. What they offer is nothing but arrogant pity. The Empress knows everything. Do you truly believe she would cherish the son of the whore who seduced her husband as her own flesh and blood?"

"......"

"Foolish and pitiful Prince, from now on, the Empress and the Crown Prince will look down on you and despise you. They will trample you and your mother under their boots, use you, and finally discard you like a used piece of paper."

"But Father cherishes me…!"

"Does His Majesty the Emperor live forever? One day, the Crown Prince will ascend the throne and rule this empire. Then, Your Highness will live your entire life trembling in fear of when you will be discarded, lamenting your fate as their plaything, existing like a vermin in this palace. Is that a life you desire?"

"My brother... my brother wouldn't do such a thing..."

"Nothing in this world is certain. People change. It could happen at any moment."

"......"

"Oh dear, how pitiful—your face has gone pale. Do not worry. The solution is simple. We trample those detestable creatures underfoot and become the masters of this place. Then who exactly will be the one out of place here?"

If you don't like it, just watch silently what this uncle does. Count Montagne embraced Eisen and patted him, but even a child's mind could tell he was a vile man.

Truthfully, even his mother was a woman without any dignity. All day long, she would bathe in milk surrounded by maids in the luxurious chambers the Emperor had prepared for her, buy dresses and jewels, and wait naked in her bedroom for the Emperor after sunset. Yet behind closed doors, she carried on an affair with a man she pretended was her brother. Such a vulgar woman.

If you don't become like them, you will be cast out from here someday.

For a boy who had breathed the air of the empire's highest echelons since birth, that truth was pure terror. The fear of being discarded suppressed his conscience and self-loathing.

But now he realized the problem wasn't him. The problem was Felix, who refused to treat others as human. He was a demon.

Therefore, he must be purged.

'I am right. I am absolutely right!'

Wherever Eisen advanced, blades flashed and a wind of blood blew. Dozens of horses kicked the ground, hundreds of soldiers swung swords, clearing the path. Every weapon they wielded was coated in poison. A deadly venom that seeped into even the smallest wound, instantly traveling through the blood vessels to the heart.

Far off, fire arrows shot skyward over the church spire. Count Montagne roared in triumph.

"They've surrounded the chapel! It's done, Your Highness. Now all—"

But his joy was short-lived. Just as the rear ranks drew near the church, the rebel army's second-in-command rushed toward Eisen.

"Your Highness, the nobles in the chapel have all been bound and imprisoned. But..."

"My brother, is he there?"

"Well, the Crown Prince wasn't in the chapel. Neither was Duke Christen."

"Not in the chapel? But isn't His Majesty the late Emperor's coffin enshrined there?"

"That's correct. According to the nobles who were in the chapel, they left abruptly a couple of hours ago. Some say they were seen heading not toward the main palace, but toward the secondary palace. We should lead the rear guard toward the secondary palace. Grant me permission, Your Highness."

Not in the chapel? Eisen bit his lip. Count Montagne gritted his teeth.

"Is surrounding the secondary palace enough? Encircle the main palace too! Seal it off so not even a single ant can escape!"

"It's difficult to spread our forces any further than we are now, Count! Until reinforcements arrive, we must hold the church and the secondary palace. Your Highness, issue your command!"

"No, no."

Suddenly, a premonition pierced Eisen's mind.

"Diana, where is that maid?"

"We pursued her into the forest, but there's still no word."

"The forest... the forest..."

The maid had gone into the forest. Trained assassins pursued her, yet even after several hours, they still hadn't captured her... A hint of agitation crept into Eisen's voice.

"No, my brother won't be at the secondary palace or the main palace."

"What do you mean?"

Count Montagne turned to look at Eisen. Eisen was facing the mist-shrouded forest. Rainwater trickled down his pale face. Eisen vividly remembered the day he first made the maid kneel—her wheat-colored hair, her empty, pale green eyes.

She had served her master for seven years without incident, blind as she was.

Even clad in her humble maid's attire, she captivated people.

She was a raw gem, beautiful enough to make the Crown Prince covet her, mysterious enough to ignite his creative fire. Eisen's discovery of Diana in that insignificant baron's mansion had been nothing short of fate.

That day, too, he had felt a premonition similar to now.

If this feeling was correct.

Then perhaps he had already achieved his goal.