Chapter 56
Chapter 56. Thorny Brambles
The thirty-fourth regression, that terrible nightmare. The memory of that day, as vivid as last night, pulled him deep into the abyss before spitting him back out into reality.
Tatar opened his eyes. A sinister aura swirled in his pupils before dissipating. The lingering energy sharply pulled at the night air.
Somehow, he had a bad feeling. As Tatar stepped out of the carriage, Deron approached him with a grim face.
“Your Majesty! The Empress—”
* * *
Gartan clicked his tongue.
“Where on earth did he go?”
“I’m sorry. After leaving the banquet hall, all we know is that Emperor Emeritus Maxiul went towards the Empress’s palace…”
Though he had sent his agents to make contact with the Emperor Emeritus of Tessibania, he would have preferred to meet and talk directly if possible.
He was well aware of the other’s hatred towards Veshnu, and he himself didn’t harbor particularly good feelings either, but they could temporarily join forces since they could give each other what they wanted.
They had already been bound together once by marriage as a means to quell rebellion, so why not a second time?
The problem was that the Emperor Emeritus had received his agents but then kept his mouth shut.
“I managed to attach some pawns to a man who can’t do anything after being pushed aside by his own child, and this is how he backstabs me?”
As expected, the Tessibanian royal family couldn’t be trusted.
“Find a way to contact the Emperor Emeritus immediately. Before we return to Veshnu!”
“I receive your command.”
The sharp tip of the cane he was holding struck the ground fiercely. With a thud, the well-maintained grass of the imperial palace was dug up, and dirt splattered onto Gartan’s black shoes.
‘What is it that’s bothering me so much?’
Ever since coming here to Tessibania, something had been constantly grating on his nerves.
‘No. To be precise, it started from the moment we departed from Veshnu. Right from when we failed to assassinate Vante.’
If Vante hadn’t suddenly come out of the carriage and revealed himself, he would have already been dead before reaching Tessibania.
However, when they reached exactly the midpoint between Veshnu and Tessibania, he showed his face to the delegation, making everyone aware of his presence. Because of this, they couldn’t take his life recklessly until they arrived in Tessibania.
It was a different choice from his previous obedient self who would follow this uncle’s words without resistance, though intelligent. Just like his sister who changed after marrying into Tessibania.
Gartan heavily closed and opened his eyelids as if to shake off the uneasiness.
There had been such a small accident, but didn’t they take his life here anyway? Now all that was left was to figure out how to use the corpse.
As his thoughts reached that point, his hand gripping the cane loosened slightly.
‘Right. Using the Emperor Emeritus’s hand to kill Vinea is something that can be done later. As long as I have Vante’s corpse in hand, I can use it whenever and however I want.’
He could reveal that the anti-Veshnu forces within Tessibania noticed Vante’s existence and instigated assassins. If the agents sent to the Emperor Emeritus testify that they received instructions from him, it would ignite the spark of war.
His weak-willed brother would hesitate to go to war despite this, so what if he were to face the death of his beloved daughter as well?
The elder brother, the original emperor, naturally taking his rightful position to resolve the chaos in place of his irreparably damaged younger brother.
The picture that was being drawn as smoothly as flowing water was easy and clear.
Gartan’s dark eyes glinted like snake scales. A sardonic smile spread across his lips. However, at the report of his subordinate who approached him with a stern face, a thin crack appeared over that smile.
“…What did you say?”
The subordinate pulled out a ring from inside the cloak he had pulled down to the tip of his nose. Though the fingertips that handed it over trembled slightly with fear, Gartan snatched the ring as if he didn’t notice such things.
As he examined the inside of the ring, his name ‘Gartan’ was clearly engraved in intaglio. It was indeed his.
When he put on the ring, a faint shimmer of light enveloped his face. Soon, a man with brown hair and a common impression looked down at his hand with a cold gaze.
“The effect?”
“It is… indeed Your Majesty’s ring.”
With a grinding sound between his teeth, he removed the ring he had been wearing. He raised the hand holding the cane and struck down mercilessly.
“—Ugh!”
He twisted the cane that had struck down on the subordinate’s instep even harder. As a groan escaped from the subordinate’s mouth, Gartan spoke in an icy voice devoid of even a shred of mercy.
“Shut up.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Hah—”
He let out a long sigh. After putting the ring in his breast pocket and bringing the cane back in front of him, he straightened his posture. Behind his rigidly straight back, an uncontrollable fury surged.
“Whose corpse was it?”
“It was said to be the servant who shared the room with him.”
“And Vante’s whereabouts?”
“We’re in the process of figuring it out. We tortured the ones who were in charge of the assassination, but it doesn’t seem like they know anything either.”
“That impudent…”
He had watched his nephew grow up since he was young. It’s true that he had grown fond of him, so he had intended to end his life as painlessly as possible with a single strike.
‘I was willing to bestow mercy, yet you ruin my plans like this?’
Now that things had come to this, even the last mercy was over.
“Chase him. Find him and kill him. As long as he’s recognizable, you can damage the body as much as you want.”
His lowered dark eyes swept over the subordinate.
“If you fail this time as well, using your face skin as a substitute for that child to send to Veshnu might become an alternative.”
“…I receive your command.”
After the subordinate disappeared, Gartan, left alone, turned around. There were about two days left until returning to Veshnu, so there was time later to convey the cards prepared for the deal with Emperor Emeritus Maxiul.
For now, he needed to return to the banquet hall and show his face, playing along with those fools discussing harmony.
It was when Gartan was about to move. His eyes caught sight of someone familiar yet unfamiliar in the distance.
“Vinea’s maid?”
Lineue, wasn’t it? Where is she going in such a hurry?
The person following her was wearing an old brown cloak pulled down deeply, so their face wasn’t clearly visible.
He had certainly heard in the investigation that she rarely left Vinea’s side, so for such a person to be wandering around alone outside the banquet hall, it must be necessarily related to that child.
Gartan’s steps, with his eyes narrowed, headed towards where Lineue was going.
He could faintly hear the voices of two people. One was that of the maid called Lineue, and the other…
“That voice sounds familiar somehow.”
Gartan’s steps gradually quickened. At the sound of footsteps that made no attempt to reduce their presence, Lineue turned around. Recognizing Gartan’s face, Lineue’s face turned pale as she stammered.
“Grand Duke Aktavil…!”
Gartan reached out towards the man following behind Lineue. It was the moment his fingertips touched the old cloak.
* * *
Uncle had started to move. Vinea, who had left the banquet hall, clicked her tongue briefly.
After receiving news from Tatar a short while ago that his forces were in contact with the Emperor Emeritus, she had been having people keep an eye on him. Although she hadn’t expected him to move on the day of the banquet when all eyes were on him, when he had been staying quietly within the imperial palace.
‘It seems he slipped out of the banquet hall while talking with Balak.’
A displeased look flashed across her beautiful face.
Now that Uncle had joined hands with the Emperor Emeritus earlier than in any other regression, many things had gone awry, making it impossible to predict the future recklessly anymore.
‘The Emperor Emeritus’s side, while annoying in the current situation, isn’t that big of a threat.’
Tatar had already cleared out most of the Emperor Emeritus’s forces.
Now that the bill to restore the number of private soldiers of the nobles to pre-war levels had passed, even if they moved for the Emperor Emeritus, they wouldn’t pose a significant threat.
‘The problem is Uncle.’
What could that snake-like character have offered to the Emperor Emeritus?
It wasn’t the first time the two had joined hands, but in the regressions experienced so far, it had always been at a level where cutting ties was possible.
In some of the past regressions, Uncle had visited Tessibania as the head of the delegation, but it was the first time Vante had accompanied him, or that he had tried to contact the Emperor Emeritus face-to-face like this, so she couldn’t predict what kind of plan he would devise.
‘I’d rather not have things get more troublesome here.’
That was why she had left the banquet hall, facing Tatar’s piercing gaze.
This was a man who had dared to bring assassins disguised as servants all the way into the Tessibanian imperial palace. If she hadn’t prevented it beforehand, Vante would have met a miserable death at their hands last night.
‘By now, he must have realized that the corpse isn’t Vante. Of all times, Vante, you…!’
Unspoken curses burned her throat and fell into her heart.
She had received news of Vante leaving his lodgings and entering the palace at the same time as the report that Uncle was attempting to make contact with the Emperor Emeritus. It was already taking all of her patience not to rush out of the banquet hall in an unseemly manner.
‘What a fool. Entering the palace knowing that Uncle is after his life?’
The reason was obvious. Vinea knew the look in Vante’s eyes as he gazed at Eurene on that day. How could she not recognize it when it was so similar to the way Balak looked at her?
Of all people, to have feelings for Eurene Castallo, that woman. At this point, it seemed as if God himself had cursed them to be entangled with each other in this tiresome way.
Vinea, having left the banquet hall, descended the stairs with anxious steps.
She had sent Lineue to secure Vante, but if Vante had entered the palace looking for Eurene, there was a high probability that his path would cross with Uncle’s.
‘Uncle wouldn’t move through conspicuous places. Then, towards the garden?’
After coming down the stairs, she turned right. Please, let it be this way.
As if her desperate wish had been heard, Vinea’s blue eyes caught sight of Gartan’s familiar back in the distance.
Seeing him standing still as if he had discovered something, Vinea ran quickly towards that place with a crumpled face. At the sight of Lineue and Vante standing beside her, Vinea bit her lower lip.
‘I can’t let Vante and Uncle meet.’
If that happened, Uncle would do whatever it took to kill Vante before he returned to Veshnu. At the very least, Vante and Father needed to protect the Veshnu imperial family until they found the clues left by Sefitiana.
The moment Gartan reached out for the old cloak Vante was wearing, Vinea, who had arrived just in time, called out to him.
“—Uncle!”
The desperate voice sounded almost like a scream. Vinea grabbed Gartan’s hand as he turned towards her.
The dress crumpled from running in a hurry, shoes ruined with dirt and grass, reddened eyes, and tears just barely forming. Vinea spoke with trembling lips, as if sobbing.
“Please help me! Vante, Vante has disappeared!”
Gartan’s face, who had given her the ring to hide Vante’s existence and even tried to cover up the failure of his assassination attempt, froze terribly.
“…How did you know that Vante was in the imperial palace?”
