Chapter 153

By nature, Casval was not exactly a distinguished combat knight.

At best, he could fight one knight to a draw; facing several at once was unthinkable.

So it was no surprise when he was subdued in an instant and dragged without resistance before Lucian.

“Your Highness! What does this mean? Do you realize what you are doing to an imperial inspector?! Do you truly intend to become a rebel?”

“A rebel?”

At Casval’s words, Lucian formed a faint smile and lifted his chin. In response, Denis, who had been waiting to the side, stepped forward.

Fixing Casval with a cold gaze, he spoke.

“Pleased to meet you, Sir Casval. My name is Denis. As you can see, my official position is nothing more than that of a simple attendant.”

“Damn you! And what is that supposed to mean? I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care!”

“Of course you don’t know me. I didn’t know you either. But I do know one of your lies.”

“Lies?”

“My other position is that of one of the eyes of the former emperor. I was included as part of the gifts His Majesty granted to the duke.”

“…!?”

Casval jolted at that unexpected confession.

For a spy—especially one of the emperor—to reveal his identity was, in itself, a grave affront to the empire.

The confusion soon turned into anger. That someone who claimed to serve the former emperor would sully his name with his own words was despicable, both as a knight and as a vassal.

“If what you say is true, you should be ashamed! If you truly were one of the eyes of the former emperor, you should have bitten off your tongue rather than stain his honor!”

“You are correct. Revealing myself like this is, for an eye, an unforgivable sin. Once your treason is made clear, I will accept whatever punishment is due.”

“Treason? What the hell have you been talking about all this time?”

“You know it. You know that His Highness the first prince attempted to communicate with the outside using a magical artifact. Do you know who received that communication?”

Casval felt as if someone had struck the back of his neck with a hammer.

It was true that the second prince’s faction knew the first prince had briefly attempted to contact the outside using a magical artifact. But they had not considered it serious.

The former emperor had never allowed that artifact to circulate outside an extremely limited circle.

By logic, whoever received the message would be nothing more than a minor knight or a spy. Even if they learned something about the palace’s situation, they would have no way to influence anything.

‘And that spy was here…?’

Not even the worst luck could be so cruel.

While Casval cursed silently, Denis continued.

“The first prince told me this it is treason. Gather an army. Call the duke. Tell him to come immediately to help me. Cedric, that bastard.”

“……”

“He was agitated, and there was interference as well, so it was hard to understand everything. But there was one thing that became very clear.”

That the second prince, Cedric, had won the struggle for power and was holding the first prince under arrest.

For Denis, who knew whom the former emperor truly wanted as his successor, that was a devastating blow.

“Sir Casval, allow me to ask you a question. Why does the second prince covet a throne that does not belong to him?”

“Does not belong to him? He is also a son of the former emperor! He has a legitimate right to the throne!”

“Don’t play dumb. The person the former emperor wanted as heir was the first prince.”

“The former emperor left no testament. Therefore, he designated no heir either.”

That the former emperor wanted the first prince to ascend the throne was a fact known to all, and Casval did not deny it.

But a personal inclination and an official designation were different things.

Who could be certain that, in his final moments, the emperor had not changed his mind for the sake of the empire’s stability?

“Therefore, neither I nor His Highness the second prince deserve to be called rebels. As long as there is no official designation, he also has a right to the throne.”

“But even the second prince knew the former emperor’s will, which is why he placed the first prince at the forefront. Then, using any excuse, he will claim to have received an abdication and usurp the throne.”

“I don’t know. The future is uncertain. And even if the first prince were to abdicate voluntarily for the sake of the empire, there would be nothing strange about it.”

Cornered, Casval began shamelessly shielding himself with excuses.

He could not hide the truth, but he was also unwilling to yield even an inch on political ground.

“Duke! I don’t know what this man may have told you, but if you reject the imperial invitation based solely on conjecture, the entire world will doubt your loyalty. Keep that firmly in mind!”

Even with everything exposed, Casval did not bend and even went so far as to threaten Lucian. Then he bowed his head calmly, as if his life no longer mattered.

Lucian watched him and smiled with contempt.

“Even if you die here, you cannot block your lord’s path? An admirable attitude for a vassal.”

“……”

“But at the same time, you are pitiable. Because the second prince never had the right of succession.”

“What…?”

“Do you remember what I told you earlier? About the conditions to activate the magical artifact.”

Any member of the direct imperial line could activate it.

At that simple sentence, Casval’s face froze.

At the same time, he remembered the second prince trying, again and again, to activate the artifact without success.

Lucian passed by Casval, who had been left petrified, and gave the order.

“Lock this traitor in the underground dungeon and bring the messenger. I am going to confirm what the second prince’s true intentions are.”

***

Lucian’s actions in imprisoning the imperial inspector spread rapidly throughout the neighboring territories.

The feudal lords were horrified by what appeared, at a glance, to be an act of rebellion, but it did not take long for them to receive an explanation from Lucian’s side.

“What? The second prince is keeping the first under arrest and merely using his name?”

“They say he even tried to lure the duke with a false order from the first prince to assassinate him.”

“Does he intend to dump all the filth onto the first prince and then receive the abdication with clean hands?”

“Well, who would have thought that such a pure incarnation of ambition had lived until now pretending to be a meek lamb?”

Of course, not all lords trusted Lucian. As long as the truth had not been fully clarified, everything remained a unilateral claim on his part.

Some even suspected that Lucian himself intended to start a rebellion, using the safety of the first prince as a pretext.

“It’s unclear. Perhaps the assassination attempt was planned by the first prince himself, but Lucian doesn’t dare blame him and so shifts the responsibility onto the second.”

“Rather, Duke Lucian’s intentions are suspicious. Perhaps he seeks to exclude the second prince and remain as the final winner.”

“After receiving so much grace from the former emperor, does he dare dream of becoming the master of the empire?”

“Tsk, tsk. There isn’t a trace of honor left. From the seed of a lion was born a dog.”

Amid the conflicting opinions, Lucian announced to the entire empire the dispatch of an emissary.

If there truly was nothing to hide, the first prince should appear in person before that emissary and explain the situation.

If he could not do so and only the second prince appeared, then Lucian would have no choice but to mobilize in order to rescue the first.

It was Lucian, the dominator of the north and lord of Asagrim, who had uttered the word “war.”

The situation could easily escalate into a large-scale conflict that would drag the entire empire into it.

In the midst of that explosive tension, Lucian gathered his vassals.

“The agreed date for dispatching the emissary is almost here. How is public opinion within the empire?”

“It is unfavorable. Most lords do not openly express their stance, but it is evident that they distrust Your Highness.”

“As expected. For now, my claims have no proof.”

Lucian was convinced of the spy’s identity thanks to the red stone he used to communicate with the emperor, but the other lords did not even know of the existence of such a magical artifact.

Even if he revealed all the details, not only would they fail to understand them, they would think it was merely a well-embellished story.

“Your Highness, this time you acted too hastily. We have enough information to trust that spy’s words, but the others do not. If you fail to secure public support, you will be the one labeled a rebel.”

“Even if the truth is revealed that the second prince is using the first as a puppet?”

“I hesitate to put it that way, but the second prince also possesses a right of succession. People will think he simply won the struggle for the throne and subdued the first prince, not that he committed treason.”

Naturally, it was nothing worthy of praise, and the image the second prince had built until now would collapse. However, for those who hold power, corruption was almost an inevitable sin. People would frown upon his actions, but they would not question his legitimacy to the throne.

“What matters is the legitimacy of the succession. Unless a testament from the former emperor appears declaring that the first prince would inherit the throne, that legitimacy cannot be shaken.”

“…Huu.”

At Raymond’s words, Lucian let out a deep sigh.

It was not regret for what he had done, nor remorse over a mistake.

It was the tension of being on the verge of revealing a secret he had kept for so long.

In times of peace, knowing the inner secrets of the imperial family in detail would have been a crime in itself.

But in an era of chaos like this, that knowledge could become a blade sharper than any sword.

After steadying his breath, Lucian looked around and spoke.

“The emperor asked me to look after the first prince. In truth, Asagrim, the Order of the Blue Rose, the numerous troops, and even the rights over unauthorized mages were nothing more than the price for that.”

“That is something we all know.”

“It may sound irreverent, but I could never understand the emperor. No matter how I looked at him, the first prince lacked the qualities necessary to rule. I did not understand why, even while making so many concessions, he insisted on making me his main support.”

The vassals nodded in unison. Even if he wanted to hand the empire to his favored son, there had to be a limit.

If too much power was granted to a subordinate to create a supporting faction, there was the risk that that very faction would devour the heir.

The former emperor was not someone who ignored that danger, and yet he had invested excessively in Lucian.

“At first, I thought it was simple favoritism, a father’s blind love for his son. I believed that even a ruler as wise as the former emperor could not escape human weaknesses.”

“Was it not so?”

“No. He had no alternative. The second prince never had the right of succession from the beginning. No matter how incompetent he was, the first prince had to ascend the throne.”

“What? Is the second prince not a legitimate heir of the imperial line?”

“The former emperor made it known to me by letter.”

After a brief pause, Lucian revealed the secret he had kept hidden until now.

“The second prince cannot use at all the magical artifact that any member of the direct imperial line should be able to activate.”

“…!?”