Chapter 263 : Chapter 263
Chapter 263
The Emperor, Ferbias Caseptus, was a man who did not know how to give his heart.
He had three blood relatives.
Naturally, that number excluded half-siblings and the like.
One of the three was Great Emperor Continua, and another was Kerenneus Cansella Caseptus.
Great Emperor Continua was Great Emperor Continua.
Kerenneus was Kerenneus.
If Ferbias had to choose the two most heartless men in the Empire, he was certain those two would be the ones.
Then, who was the last blood relative?
It was his mother.
She was the first wife of Great Emperor Continua and the only daughter of Kerenneus.
Usually, they say that just calling out the word 'Mother' makes one’s heart swell with emotion.
However, Ferbias still did not understand those words.
It was because blood relatives held no meaning for him.
He could not even remember when he last saw his mother's face.
She was clearly alive and well, but since she kept herself confined within the detached palace, he rarely had a chance to meet her even after becoming Emperor.
Perhaps their last meeting was 7 years ago, at the ceremony where he took the throne.
Thinking about it like this, it felt truly distant.
Although blood relatives held little meaning for Ferbias, for his mother, blood relatives seemed to be not just meaningless, but hatred itself.
The daughter of the proud Caseptus family had dreamed big when marrying the Great Emperor.
She must have imagined becoming the First Imperial Consort and wielding the country at her will by the Great Emperor’s side.
However, Great Emperor Continua was a man who did not tolerate others’ pride.
Whatever means he used, he not only broke his wife’s pride but trampled on it.
Ever since then, Ferbias’s mother hated Great Emperor Continua and everyone associated with him.
Even if they were her own father and son.
The Emperor received many things from his three blood relatives.
Indifference from Great Emperor Continua, Burden and a sense of duty from Kerenneus and undeniable hatred from his mother.
It was a family environment sufficient for him to grow into a man who did not know how to give his heart.
He came to believe that bluntness, and merely not actively hurting the other person, was a great kindness.
That was why Amethus was special.
Because he was a friend to whom a man who did not know how to give his heart had given his whole heart.
Because even while being afraid, he poured out his entire heart, and Amethus responded to it.
Even if he had betrayed him now, he was a man who once approached him with greater meaning than anyone else.
He remembered the time he first saw Amethus.
His swordsmanship was truly excellent.
Despite being a freshly enrolled cadet, he defeated not only seniors but also instructors in an instant.
Yet, his attitude was not conceited.
Rather, the face that deeply felt futility, as if asking what changed just because one’s swordsmanship was good, planted a strange admiration in the teenage Ferbias.
After learning that he was an Aretion, the fondness deepened even more.
The tragedy of Arete Island, even though life was deceiving him, Ferbias coveted Amethus who polished a single sword amidst contempt and misery.
So he abruptly requested a duel.
They crossed swords behind the academy, he was defeated spectacularly, and he revealed his identity, saying he was actually the 1st Prince.
Although Ferbias usually detested acts of flaunting one's status, he wanted to become close to Amethus even if it meant imitating such acts.
Amethus, a genius.
However, a man born with misery greater than his talent.
Yet, those jade eyes that polished only the sword without missing a single day, as if he knew not how to break, or rather, as if he had broken so many times that he was now sick of it.
Yes, it was those jade eyes.
There were only about ten people above Ferbias.
Everyone else was below him.
Ferbias, who judged people by whether they were below or above him, realized for the first time upon seeing Amethus that he shared the same eye level as himself.
He was the first life-sized human being he faced.
Therefore, Amethus meant countless things.
First admiration, first friend, first vassal.
He learned friendship.
He learned about friends.
He learned admiration, and he learned the responsibility of one who leads.
Thanks to Amethus, he also built friendships with Bukenos and Nana.
Although he didn’t show it, Ferbias cherished them as well.
While he had learned only heartlessness, duty, and hatred from his blood relatives, he learned so much from one person, Amethus.
“…But… you….”
Ferbias wanted to shed tears.
However, the hatred was so severe that even his tears had dried up completely.
Upon the debris of the detached palace that Secundus had destroyed, the Emperor recited quietly.
“…You followed Zionis, that kid…. Why, Amethus, why….”
There was no one to answer the Emperor’s recitation.
Only Hermai Merhes was listening.
Hermai had even discreetly cast a magic barrier so that others could not eavesdrop.
“Zionis at that time was just a child…. Even on the day of the Succession War proclamation, he was an eleven-year-old… who only looked for pumpkin pie…….”
The golden pupils stopped.
He recalled the events of 7 years ago.
What did Amethus say to Ferbias, who laughed saying Zionis was just a child?
7 years ago, a very old memory.
Conversations shared with Amethus.
‘Ah. Funny, it’s funny! Even this Ferbias must have been nervous. To think I almost used the Prince’s Eye on a child for whom sweet pumpkin pie is priority, Succession War or whatever!’
‘Still, I think it would have been better to verify.’
‘Zionis is just a child.’
‘Why, just why! Even putting Leniar aside, was there a reason to lag behind even Secundus who has nothing but strength-!?’
Still, I think it would have been better to verify.
‘…Somehow, Prince Zionis’s joining….’
‘That damn, Zionis--!!!’
“……Ah…….”
Ferbias’s face seemed to melt down. It died pitch-black like mud.
“…Were you, right… again, Amethus…?”
An indescribable eeriness flowed down from the top of his head.
A very old memory, Amethus’s intuition that he had gotten angry at because he couldn't understand it then, was now understood.
Realizing that his intuition had been pointing to the present, the future 7 years later, just gave him goosebumps.
“From the first day of the Succession War… seeing Zionis, you continued, continued to be anxious…. That we shouldn't leave him be, that he would twist us up… Were those words, the truth…?”
The Emperor covered his face with his hands.
Even though it was his own face, he tried to crumple it as if handling cheap paper.
Long nail marks were left on the well-maintained white skin.
“Ah…!”
A lament, short breath.
“…Ah, ah… Aaaaaaah-!!!”
A scream.
The Emperor vomited a wail while covering his face. Things he could not handle flowed out of his throat, so there was nothing he could do.
“Asking me!”
He just vomited in anger.
“Asking me what, what to do! From then, from that long ago, you were looking ahead to now? You bastards have been doing that all along?”
Pent-up anger rose.
“I, I, I! How was I supposed to know!!! Then was I supposed to listen to that crazy talk and kill Zionis immediately or something!?”
His eyes were completely bloodshot.
Not just his eyes, but veins popped on his neck and forehead, making his appearance hideous. Ferbias shouted while looking at an unknown place, but just toward the West.
“If I had done that, if I had only done that, would you not have left me, Amethus!? Huh?”
Hermai just watched quietly.
He let the Emperor, harboring anger in his chest, behave like a madman.
Hermai was only thinking intently about Cornelius, who would still be alive somewhere.
Ferbias was familiar even with that indifference.
“You bastards-!”
Spittle seeped out like foam between his clenched teeth.
“You bastards!! You all only leave me!”
He does not know how to give his heart.
However, it is not that he did not give his heart.
Rather, he tried to give his heart with even more effort.
If someone gave him their heart, he tried to respond.
“Why! Why-!!!”
He was just clumsy.
He was just twisted.
Because he was twisted from the root, he often ended up giving his heart in strange and violent ways.
“I, I also did my best. It was always my best, my best, my best…! What am I supposed to do if my best amounts to only this much. Is it something to criticize to that extent? Is it something to leave me for while struggling so hard…!!!”
Even if it was a mistake that could not be rationalized, Ferbias was clearly sincere and did his best.
The fact that his chest was burning so fiercely was proof.
The sight of him unable to cry even though he wanted to cry was quite pitiful.
“A-methus-!!! Where are you! Answer me quickly!!!”
The Emperor turned his head sharply, soaked in madness.
Before anyone knew it, he was holding a blue sword in his hand.
It belonged to the Ten-Vigorous General.
“No, Bukenos! Nana! You guys answer at least! Are you not there either!? Then Kentil! Director Kentil! Where are you hiding instead of coming out like the flatterer you are!?”
“…Your Majesty, Kentil is dead.”
“…Huh?”
Hermai intervened, unable to bear it any longer.
Ferbias’s golden eyes glistened.
“Kentil is dead? Right. That was it. Secundus crushed his head from the beginning, like a rotten tomato… like a rotten tomato… like a, rotten, tomato…….”
“…….”
“Then Secundus! You answer at least!”
The Emperor moved his steps.
He stood in front of his half-brother’s corpse.
Even though Hermai had laid him down, Secundus still had one fist raised proudly. Ferbias kicked at it. A part of Secundus’s body, burnt black, turned to ash with a crumbling sound.
“I! I clearly said it! Wouldn't you give your loyalty as a General under me!! The one who refused was you! It was you, Secundus! And then, once your own power grew sufficient, you shamelessly came back and said you would offer loyalty!”
“…Your Majesty!”
“Do I look like a cripple? I looked like that, didn’t I? You thought you could do that to me, didn’t you? Do you know my feelings watching you refine the sword you would stick into me under me? Huh? Do you think only you endured 7 years? I also endured you. I endured you!!!”
The half-destroyed Great Imperial Palace.
The dead former 2nd Prince.
The Emperor kicked the corpse of his half-brother.
“…….”
Hermai Merhes let out a deep sigh. A terrible loss had already occurred because of Secundus. He could not watch Ferbias any longer.
“Your Majesty! Please stop!”
“Grand Dean! You are going to leave too, right?”
Ferbias’s golden eyes blazed.
“I don’t know what words Secundus said, but your eyes changed after hearing that story! You are thinking of leaving right away, aren't you!!”
“……Have I not completed the command? Please let me go.”
“If I give another command?”
“……Regrettably, I only obey the commands of the Great Emperor.”
“Why!!!”
A shout.
“The Emperor is me! This Ferbias Caseptus is the 50th Emperor! The great Continua has already retired!”
“…….”
“……No.”
Ferbias’s eyes took on a flash.
“…No, it’s not.”
He muttered as if realizing something.
“…Right, I see, so it becomes like that….”
The Emperor slowly raised a finger.
He recited toward the old mage.
“Grand Dean, did you say you aged 400 years…? Then since the time of the Golden Emperor….”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“…You mean you have lived since the time of Sen Sorti.”
“That is right, Your Majesty.”
Hermai spoke quietly.
“This Hermai was one of the only two assistants of Sen Sorti.”
“…Assistant of Sen Sorti?”
“Yes. Since he said he would not take disciples, I begged him to accept me even as an assistant and stayed by his side.”
The assistant of the greatest mage in history; it was a topic that would interest even a crazy emperor. Ferbias slowly turned his eyes.
“Then who was the other one?”
“It was Ma-aya.”
“…Who is that?”
“It is the name Four-Fiend General Karkarsso used until he was around two hundred years old.”
“…Isn’t that a woman’s name? One that would be used in the South….”
“Because it was actually a girl from the South.”
Although I don’t know what wind blew, from around two hundred years old, she continued to pretend to be a man.
Hermai glossed over the story of his old lover. Instead, he began to advise the Emperor with a serious voice.
“Your Majesty.”
The old mage bowed his head without hesitation.
“Please let this old man go. Even if I leave, there will be no problem on the front lines. Also, the Great Emperor is fair. He is bestowing grace upon Your Majesty Ferbias as well. Even if my empty spot is large, he will fill it somehow.”
“In short, you mean you will leave, right?”
“…….”
“Fine, go! To your eyes, I must be ridiculous!”
Ferbias huffed and puffed.
“To a Great Mage who has lived 400 years and served many Emperors, how ridiculous must a brat like me look? Ha! But it’s fascinating that my father doesn’t consider you ridiculous!”
Hermai remained silent.
He seemed to be holding back words he wanted to say.
Just as Ferbias ran wild, Hermai also felt like running wild.
It had been like that ever since he heard the news of Cornelius’s survival.
It was just that he had 400 years of experience, so he was composing his emotions a bit more.
Ferbias babbled on without knowing that.
“…Even the Imperial Father, truly, thought there would be such an old monster among the three confidants. To have lived since the time of the Golden Emperor, since the time of Sen Sorti….”
Ferbias began to sneer.
It was to transfer his unpleasantness to Hermai. He blatantly scratched the old mage’s insides.
“I wonder if people know. Especially, does Dean Cornelius know this?”
“……I intended to tell him when the time came.”
“That has become truly regrettable. Since you won’t be able to now.”
Hermai felt anger rising.
Ferbias was speaking like that even while thinking Cornelius was dead.
Hermai was certain that if he hadn't heard the news of Cornelius’s survival, he would have unconsciously unleashed lightning.
“Then what about the other two? Do the other two confidants, and also my grandfather know? That you are a monster who aged alone?”
“What are you saying?”
Hermai Merhes smacked his lips.
He was suppressing his anger firmly.
While thinking that this guy was hard to pity even if he tried, and while still thinking of Cornelius, filled with all sorts of distracting thoughts and anguish, he opened his lips with difficulty.
Because of that, he ended up spitting out words he should not have said.
“I am the youngest of the three.”