Chapter 80
Chapter 80. The Black Empress
Agasha, the only witness who could have cleared the Emperor Emeritus of charges of attempted murder of the Empress, turned her back on him. She testified that he often made excuses to go for walks, dismissing her and the servants to spend time alone.
With this, the Emperor Emeritus’s detention was confirmed.
Though a criminal, he was still imperial family, and once the Emperor of Tessibania. He couldn’t be confined to an underground prison, so he was placed in the western outer tower, where nobles awaiting trial or serving sentences of less than six months were held.
It wasn’t luxurious, but it had basic furniture and meals typical of middle-class commoners were provided for each meal.
However, none of this could satisfy the Emperor Emeritus, who was accustomed to only the finest imperial luxuries. Before being dragged into the outer tower, he first contacted the nobles who followed him.
Marquis Aksimund rushed to enter the palace first, but the outcome of his attempt to save the Emperor Emeritus was not good.
Marquis Aksimund boldly blocked the Emperor’s path, demanding that the investigation authority be delegated to an external body rather than the imperial family. But for daring to obstruct the Emperor’s path, and on top of that, for interfering with the investigation, both his hands had just been cut off.
The red blood splattered on Tatar’s sleeve cuffs as he stood before the Emperor Emeritus was evidence of this.
The silver-gray eyes looking at Emperor Emeritus Maxiul gleamed ominously. With the sword that had cut off the Marquis’s hands planted on the floor, his right hand on the hilt, his gaze turned to the Emperor Emeritus sitting across from him.
It was a cold gaze that was hard to believe was directed at his own father, connected by blood.
The Emperor Emeritus’s eyes trembled with anger as he looked up at Tatar.
“Do you think God will forgive you for committing such an unfilial act! Tatar de Tessibania!”
“God abandoned me long ago. It’s a fact I know well without you pointing it out. But the Emperor Emeritus is not in a position to worry about that right now.”
A kite with its string cut. The nobles who had followed the Emperor Emeritus turned their backs on him as if they had never supported him.
Once, they had hoped that if the Emperor Emeritus produced an heir with ‘Agasha’, they could use the woman’s unclear background to challenge the imperial authority in the future. But that was only possible if their own necks remained attached.
Inhuman ruthlessness, decisiveness impossible at such a young age, and even the ‘luck’ to pull every incident in his desired direction. The nobles didn’t dare to confront Tatar, who had changed since the wedding, head-on.
Deron, standing behind, scanned the list of nobles slated for purge in his hand. Almost all were crossed out with black lines, with only a few names remaining. They were all names Tatar had dictated to him before the various incidents occurred.
Watching the fall of one who once sat at the highest position in the empire, Deron shook his head inwardly.
The Emperor Emeritus would need to realize soon that he was the only one in the Tessibanian Empire underestimating the current Emperor.
The Emperor Emeritus shouted at Tatar in an angry voice.
“Did that woman seduce you with her body, asking you to look at her again? Is that why you’re doing this to me! You ungrateful bastard!”
“It’s the opposite. Even if she tried to seduce me with this lowly body, it wouldn’t work. I wonder if I should lay the empire at her feet, but she says she doesn’t want it. That’s the problem.”
“You, you’ve truly gone mad!”
“Oh my, even you can see that? That’s troublesome. To gain the Empress’s trust, I’ll have to play the role of a ‘sane Emperor’ even better from now on.”
He narrowed his eyes, wearing a languid smile.
Seeing the clearly visible black greed and obsession within, the Emperor Emeritus trembled and rattled the arms of the chair he was tied to.
“What on earth is that woman to you! Veshnu is finally ruining the bloodline of Tessibania! How dare you harbor such a devilish woman in your heart…!”
“How amusing. Wasn’t it none other than you, Emperor Emeritus, who pushed for my marriage out of fear of rebellion? Consider it the price for continuing what you call the ancestors’ mission, which is really their mistake.”
“How dare you, who inherited the blood of Tessibania!”
Tatar turned his head with an annoyed expression and spoke to Deron standing behind him.
“Set a trial date. Seal off the outer tower until the trial begins and only allow the defense counsel to enter and exit.”
“The investigation into the Arpanium tea the Empress drank is still ongoing. If it’s concluded that it wasn’t life-threatening, there might be criticism of the decision later, Your Majesty.”
“Once the trial begins, that tea won’t matter much anyway.”
Tatar’s head turned back to the Emperor Emeritus. The sneer on his son’s lips made the veins in the Emperor Emeritus’s temples bulge.
“Do you dare to deceive the sacred court with fabrications!”
“How could that be? You know better than anyone that you’re not in an entirely innocent position, don’t you, Emperor Emeritus?”
“I never tried to harm that woman!”
“Haha—”
Tatar suddenly burst into laughter as if he had heard nonsense.
How many assassins he had sent had died by his own hands, yet he was so brazen. Boredom flashed in Tatar’s eyes as he wiped his dry eyes.
“Do you really think Grand Duke Aktavil wouldn’t have left any evidence when he handed over his subordinates to me?”
“The Grand Duke? I only briefly greeted him on Empire Foundation Day. How dare you slander a political act showing true harmony between the two empires! Can you still call yourself an Emperor after this?”
The Emperor Emeritus tried hard to hide his nervousness.
No one knew the contents of his deal with Grand Duke Aktavil that day. Moreover, would he be the type to willingly hand over evidence that could endanger himself as well?
He had received confirmation that the aftermath regarding ‘Agasha’ had been thoroughly handled, so there should be no trail to follow. All the subordinates he received from the Grand Duke were mutes, so there was no chance of the story leaking.
However, Tatar’s face looking down at him wore the smirk of someone who knew the truth.
Sitting across from the Emperor Emeritus, Tatar twitched his thumb on the hilt of the sword planted on the floor, then soon stood up.
“Well, it won’t take long. Given how things have turned out, I would have had to deal with you or the Grand Duke at some point anyway.”
“You arrogant…! Do you think I’ll crumble so easily? Do you think everything will go your way? You should know that anyone can fall at any time unless they’re a god!”
Yes, it wasn’t completely over yet. Didn’t he still have a card left to play?
Gartan Aktavil.
If he succeeded in reigniting the war in any way, he could easily create a justification to depose Tatar.
However, Tatar, with eyes that seemed to read even this confidence of the Emperor Emeritus, let out a low laugh and said,
“Just watch. Whether I can imitate God or not.”
Tatar turned away with a face that said there was no more value in exchanging words.
* * *
Leaving behind the Emperor Emeritus’s shouts, Tatar returned to the main palace and stood briefly in the corridor, pressing his tired eyes.
It had been an exhausting day. He couldn’t properly remember how he had made it to the Empress’s Palace, his mind reeling from the news that Vinea had met with Balak.
Should he have stayed in the glass garden after being intimate with Vinea? If he had spent a day neglecting work and holding that lovely body, he might not have felt this awful.
The fatigue and weariness that washed over him held his ankles in place, left alone without Vinea. Soon, along with short breaths, a familiar discomfort began to creep through his entire body.
“Damn it…”
Sure enough, when he opened his eyes, the corridor where he had been standing just moments ago had completely transformed into a different space.
He turned slowly. Though Deron and the knights who had been following him until just now were surely standing before him in reality, he couldn’t see them.
A deep hallucination. There was a sharp sword at his waist that he could draw at any moment, and the only being who could control him was, cruelly, buried in memories in the abyss, fast asleep.
He looked straight ahead again and closed his eyes tightly before opening them.
The palace corridor, which had lost all color and turned completely gray, seemed as if no life should exist there, even denying his own presence standing in the corridor.
It was a space where a damnably terrible loneliness had settled.
Tatar exhaled a long breath, grinding the inside of his mouth. If he didn’t want to see this entire corridor dyed in blood when the hallucination ended, he needed to have people cleared out. Without looking back to where Deron would be standing, he opened his mouth.
“Clear the people out. Empty the corridor until I order otherwise.”
No answer came. Or rather, he couldn’t hear it.
He moved to stand in front of the office door. Due to the loss of color, the golden doorknob was painted pitch black.
Frowning slightly, he grasped the handle and turned it.
He had intended to stay holed up in his office to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed until the hallucination ended, but the hallucination wouldn’t move according to his will.
When he opened the office door, someone was sitting in a chair. A pitch-black silhouette, slumped as if with an arrow pierced through its heart, looked familiar.
“Ha…”
He let out an irritated sigh. How cunning of the hallucination to remind him of someone else’s death like this.
He walked steadily towards the black silhouette and pulled out the arrow piercing its heart without hesitation.
With a vivid feeling of flesh being torn, the extracted arrow disappeared into smoke. The silhouette did the same.
The unbearable stress seemed to be breaking down his body and mind. No matter how much he shouted, ran away, or fought, who would pull him out of this hallucination?
The only being who could invade his hallucination in a complete form was Vinea, her alone.
Yes. Only Vinea—
Click.
Just then, with a small sound, the colorless office door opened. His lips parted as he turned to confirm who it was.
“Empress…?”
At his call, platinum blonde hair swayed gently. It was the only thing with color in the colorless space.
He approached the other person with a dazed expression and reached out his hand.
“Empress, is it you?”
Soft hair slipped between his fingers. He cupped the back of the other’s neck and slowly lowered his head.
