Chapter 102: Emperor Aethelgard (2)
The Grand Imperial Hall was not designed to welcome guests. It was built to crush their spirits.
It was a vast canyon of polished black marble and jagged gold accents. High above, suspended by thick iron chains, magical chandeliers burned with a cold, piercing white light. Lining the aisle were hundreds of the Empire’s elite mages and heavily armored knights, standing shoulder-to-shoulder like a forest of steel and death.
Adam and Arlene took their designated seats among the foreign dignitaries. The sheer, overwhelming display of military might was suffocating.
The Elven princess seated a few rows away was trembling, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. The politicians from the Southern Republic looked physically ill, their eyes darting nervously toward the glowing staffs of the imperial mages.
A deafening horn blared, echoing off the high vaulted ceilings.
Crown Prince Valerius walked down the central aisle. His white and gold cape dragged across the black marble. He did not look left or right. He looked entirely like a god descending to claim the earth.
He reached the raised dais at the end of the hall. The imperial throne, forged from the melted swords of conquered kings, sat empty.
Beside the throne stood the High Bishop of the Imperial Church, dressed in his grand, heavily embroidered robes, holding a golden holy text. The tradition of the Empire dictated that the church would bless the new ruler, securing their divine right to rule.
But Valerius did not even look at the High Bishop.
He walked right past him.
The Prime Minister stepped forward from the shadows of the dais. He held a velvet cushion, and resting upon it was the heavy, jagged crown of the Aethelgard Empire.
A collective, quiet gasp rippled through the foreign delegations.
"Look at the Bishop," Arlene whispered softly, hiding her lips behind her decorative fan. "He is shaking."
Adam’s eyes narrowed. He watched as the Prime Minister—a man of bureaucracy, politics, and the state—lifted the crown.
Valerius did not kneel. He remained standing tall, his chin raised proudly, as the Prime Minister reached up and placed the crown upon his blonde head.
"He is cutting out the church," Adam murmured, a cold realization settling in his stomach. "He is making a statement. He answers to no god. He answers only to himself."
"The State is his religion," Arlene agreed, her voice laced with a grim fascination. "And he is its only deity."
Valerius turned to face the hall.
"I claim this Empire," the newly crowned Emperor announced. His voice was magically amplified, rolling over the crowd like a thunderstorm. "Not by divine providence. But by strength. By blood. By the absolute, undeniable will of Aethelgard."
The imperial knights slammed the butts of their spears against the floor in unison. The booming sound shook the foundations of the hall.
Valerius raised a hand, and the hall fell dead silent once more.
"A new era requires a unified court," Valerius continued, a chilling smile curling on his lips. "Let the imperial household be presented. Let the old blood merge with the new."
The heavy doors at the side of the dais opened.
The foreign delegates leaned forward, expecting a display of loyal generals or perhaps a foreign bride taken as a political hostage.
Instead, a lone woman was escorted out by two heavily armed guards.
She was beautiful, with long, dark hair and delicate features. But she looked entirely broken. She was dressed in the sheer, crimson silks of an imperial concubine—a garment meant for the private chambers, deeply inappropriate and humiliating for a formal state ceremony. Her eyes were hollow, staring blankly ahead as she was marched to the foot of the throne.
Adam felt his blood run entirely cold.
Arlene’s grip on her fan tightened so fiercely that the delicate wooden frame let out a sharp crack.
"Is that...?" Adam started, completely horrified.
"Lady Seraphina," Arlene breathed out, her eyes wide with absolute shock. "The favored concubine of the previous Emperor."
"The mother of the youngest prince," Adam finished for her. The prince that Valerius had just ordered assassinated.
Valerius stepped down from the throne. He reached out and gently tilted the woman’s chin up. She flinched, a single tear rolling down her pale cheek, but she did not pull away. She couldn’t.
He was claiming his dead father’s woman. He was parading the grieving mother of his murdered brother as his newest plaything in front of the entire world.
It was the ultimate, barbaric humiliation of the old regime. It was a display of absolute, unchecked dominance.
The politicians from the Southern Republic looked completely nauseated. The Dwarven representative closed his eyes and turned his head away in quiet disgust. The Beastkin chiefs ground their teeth, recognizing the brutal, animalistic assertion of an apex predator claiming the spoils of his rivals.
"He is a psychopath," Adam whispered.
"No," Arlene replied, her eyes completely locked on Valerius’s calm, smiling face. "A psychopath does it for pleasure. He is doing this for a purpose. He is showing everyone in this room exactly what happens when you oppose him. He will not just kill you. He will degrade everything you leave behind."
Valerius turned back to the crowd, keeping one hand resting possessively on the weeping woman’s shoulder.
"Long live the Empire," Valerius declared smoothly.
"LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR!" the military barked back in perfect, terrifying unison.
Adam sat back in his chair. The cold stone of the hall seemed to press in on him from all sides.
He looked at the young Emperor standing on the dais.
Valerius had the ultimate magical weapon. He had completely subjugated the military. He had broken the power of the church. He had humiliated his own bloodline and erased all internal opposition.
He had absolute power. He had completely won the game of thrones within Aethelgard.
But as Adam watched the cold, calculated ambition burning in Valerius’s golden eyes, a terrifying mystery settled heavily in his mind.
If this man already possessed everything... what did he plan to do next?
You do not build a weapon that can erase cities just to sit comfortably on a throne. You do not terrify the entire world just to keep the peace.
Valerius was preparing for something much, much bigger.
Adam’s eyes narrowed. Something. Something must be up, and he would uncover it.