Chapter 10 ….
Bloden answered in a playful tone, but Raven was taken aback and swallowed hard.
‘Her name sounds feminine, but what is her status? When and where did you meet? What happened between the two of you? Does she know His Majesty is the emperor? Could she be a fraud? Is His Majesty in his right mind?’
Many questions flashed through Raven’s mind, but he carefully chose what to ask.
“Your Majesty, I apologize, but maintaining even the army, including the Dullahan, must consume a tremendous amount of magical power, isn’t that so?”
Ignis Patus—often shortened to “Ignis” by Bloden—was a high-ranking spirit.
Due to the nature of Bloden’s innate curse, unlike his predecessor, it wouldn’t threaten his life…
“But if you summon Ignis Patus here as well, returning to your original form will take an incredibly long time.”
For Raven, this was the natural thing to say. From Bloden’s response, he could immediately gauge just how important this woman named Hayley was to the emperor.
Bloden replied comfortably:
“That’s the plan.”
‘Oh, this is bad.’
It meant that Hayley was far more than an ordinary person in Bloden’s eyes.
Raven sighed inwardly and spoke respectfully:
“Then wouldn’t it be better to comfortably escort her to the palace?”
“No. For now, I’m pretending she’s an orphan I’m raising.”
“Excuse me? An orphan? Raising Your Majesty?”
“So just tell the palace that I’m in the north. You move nearby, act as if you’re a neighbor, and assist me. Oh, and Hayley knows me as Baron, so don’t make any mistakes.”
Raven could hardly believe his ears. He didn’t understand Bloden’s intention and couldn’t help but question it:
“You will turn twenty in two years, right? From then on, Your Majesty must take the throne and rule the nation. If you remain here…”
“I’ll have cleared out the Gates by then, so I plan to enjoy some vacation here until that time.”
“….”
Raven was at a loss for words.
The Empire knew Raven, the emperor’s aide, as a human, but in truth, he was a Death Knight who had made a pact with the previous emperor, Lienda. That pact had passed to Bloden, and Raven’s loyalty was inherited.
Skilled in close combat and advanced magic, he wielded his own network to eavesdrop on noble gossip in the palace and collect information as the emperor’s aide.
Most of the information he gathered was the nobles’ misunderstandings about Bloden.
Their perception of Bloden varied between ages ten to fifteen.
Thus, the more Bloden used his powers, the more they mistakenly thought that the curse was also physically and mentally aging him backward.
They had almost no interaction with him, and the regent, Duchess Anna Beldenburrow, subtly spread false information, so it was understandable.
Bloden was fully aware of this misconception among the nobles. For now, he left things be because the regent was managing the empire reasonably well.
“To comfortably consolidate your imperial power, it’s best to stay in the palace when there’s time at the Gates, and show the majesty of a grown adult often. If you always appear as a child, everyone will underestimate you.”
Bloden responded to Raven’s counsel:
“I know. But if I stay a little longer, someone will show signs of rebellion. I’ll use that as an excuse to make an example of a few. Isn’t that the perfect justification to cleanse the rot?”
“…That’s also correct.”
Raven nodded. With that kind of military power, it was indeed easier to sweep things clean in one go. And since Bloden could command more subordinates than any previous emperor, Raven had no reason to worry.
“Alright. Then what’s the current state of the palace?”
“Everyone’s busy calculating their moves before Your Majesty directly takes control. Duchess Beldenburrow says she will find a suitable empress for your reign.”
“My empress… Anna Beldenburrow?”
Bloden chuckled lightly.
“She’s busy spinning her wheels without even teaching me the art of rulership to turn me into a puppet emperor, I see.”
Reading Bloden’s displeasure, Raven kept his mouth shut.
“Just leave her be. She thinks what’s mine is hers and manages it well. I’ll just let her work for now and dispose of her when convenient. Ah, here it comes.”
Bloden saw a bright light approaching from afar and gave Raven his final instructions:
“Tell the palace some excuse and move quickly. I’ll be more comfortable once you’re here.”
“Understood.”
Raven bowed and left.
As Bloden had said, Regent Anna Beldenburrow was busy with her schemes.
There were less than two years left before the emperor would reach adulthood at twenty.
Until recently, Anna hadn’t worried too much about this.
As long as monsters kept emerging from the Gates in the northern mountains, Bloden would be tied there.
Then, regardless of whether he came of age, Anna would naturally become the power behind the palace. She could continue ruling under the pretext of assisting the emperor.
But a variable arose. Bloden sent an unprecedented report: he had struck inside the Gates, eliminating the monster source completely.
Unlike previous emperors, who only dealt with monsters spilling out of the Gates, this was a total sweep.
Furthermore, he claimed there would be no issues for the next three years.
This was a message that Bloden would end Anna’s regency era and ascend as emperor to directly rule the empire—a thunderbolt to Anna.
‘That cannot happen. How could I give up the power I seized?’
Anna had spent ten years as regent, tasting the sweetness of power.
Originally, she had been the daughter of Duke Roan.
She had beauty and noble status, but no freedom. Anna had only been a tool for political marriage to restore her family.
Anna knew this well and had long given up on a happy future.
She expected to marry a man of similar status, not to end up in Beldenburrow’s remarried seat.
Moreover, the duke had a child with the previous emperor, whom Anna despised.
Unable to even respond in disbelief, Anna received orders from Duke Roan:
‘That child is our emperor. Since he’s young, it will be easy to manipulate him. He’ll lean on you, and if successful, the Roan family will prosper further.’
Anna did her best to entice the child as her father instructed. But Bloden did not act as they expected.
He was an unreadable child. Most of the time, his face was indifferent, and no matter how gently Anna coaxed, he responded in a flat tone, showing no sign of being moved.
Already disliking children, Anna found it impossible to warm to Bloden. Then an unexpected event occurred:
Duke Beldenburrow suddenly died, and by imperial law, Anna became regent.
Overwhelmed by her sudden position, Duke Roan began issuing her orders.
‘From now on, do as I say.’
Roan acted as if he were emperor himself. If Anna didn’t obey, he even struck her.
At first, Anna trembled and obeyed her father. But soon doubts arose:
‘Everyone bows to me. The empire’s fate changes with my words. I am great. So why must I obey my father and get struck by him?’
Except for Bloden, everyone in the empire bowed to Anna. Even Duke Roan had to show respect when others were watching.
‘Shouldn’t the one being obeyed be my father, not me? Then why does my father strike me? How dare he?’
The thought angered her. But Roan, unaware of Anna’s inner feelings, kept giving orders. After much thought, Anna assassinated her father, and her younger brother naturally inherited the dukedom.
Afterward, she began making massive donations to temples using imperial funds, ensuring the clergy sided with her.
The priests, already disliking an emperor who used demons and spirits as subordinates, quickly supported Anna. From then on, political affairs went according to her will.
Of course, powerless commoners often died under the nobles’ tyranny, but that was none of Anna’s concern.
The lives of the powerless, especially those with no guarantees, were worth less than livestock.
Soon, Anna’s ambitions grew.
No matter how she looked at it, she had ruled the empire well. Considering she had never been properly taught governance, it was as if she had innate talent as a ruler.
‘If I have powers, I can just eliminate the monsters. There’s no need to sit on the throne for generations, right?’
