Chapter 88 - Nobles, Princes, the King, and the Empire (5)

The Royal House of Leonberk summoned the nobles of the kingdom.

Usually, it would have taken quite some time for them to gather from all over the kingdom, but this time was different.

The nobles, who had already been staying in The Capital or nearby cities at the behest of the imperial ambassador Marquis Montpellier, headed to the royal palace the moment the summons was issued.

In just two days, half of the kingdom's nobles had arrived at the royal palace.

And they were immediately guided to the banquet hall.

"I heard that the Northern lords were received with the honors of a victorious army this time. I wonder if they are planning to hold a victory banquet."

"For something like that, isn't the atmosphere a bit too stiff?"

The nobles, gathered in small groups in the massive banquet hall, chattered about the visit of the Northern lords that had recently caused an uproar in The Capital.

"Who would have thought that stubborn old knight would go like that."

"Even the great Silver Lion couldn't defeat time in the end."

Even the former Count Ballorhard, who had passed away after fighting fiercely,

"Anyway, it's quite a pity for the First Prince. Having lost his sponsor, hasn't his situation become truly pitiful?"

"There's a rumor that the North suffered such a disaster because they unreasonably tried to push all the credit onto the First Prince. If that is true, it is truly a regrettable matter."

And the First Prince, who had returned after leaving The Capital as if being chased out, were both nothing more than mere objects of interest to the majority of the nobles.

Although they said it was a pity with their words, their expressions clearly showed they were gloating.

"From what I've heard, he's already caused a scene."

"They say he humiliated respectable people with some hideous object brought from the North, so it seems his true nature hasn't gone anywhere even after experiencing a war."

"Perhaps he didn't even truly experience the war."

Both the stubborn old knight and the First Prince with his filthy temper were thorns in the eyes of the nobles; tales that were elegant in word only, but bordered on mockery and insult, went back and forth throughout the banquet hall.

"Tsk. How can they be so frivolous?"

"To not even know how to express condolences and mourning for a knight who devoted himself to the kingdom, isn't that just showing off their own vulgarity?"

Only a small number of nobles, including Marquis Bielefeld, expressed their condolences for the fallen and honored his noble death.

Marquis Bielefeld, who guessed that today's gathering was somehow connected to the imperial ambassador, simply hoped and hoped again that the kingdom would not suffer a great humiliation today.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear; right at that moment, the imperial ambassador arrived at the banquet hall.

"Ambassador Cliang de Bourgogne Montpellier of the Marquis Montpellier of Bourgogne, whose authority is legitimately recognized by His Majesty the Emperor of the Bourgogne Empire, the eternal ally of our kingdom, is entering!"

It was a truly unprecedented event for the imperial ambassador, who usually flaunted his power by entering later than the King, to make his appearance so early.

"Hoh. Is something really about to happen?"

Marquis Bielefeld looked at the imperial ambassador with a stiff face.

However, whether anyone was looking at him or not, the imperial ambassador simply moved his steps quickly. Without a hint of arrogance, he looked as if he were being chased by something, which was also unlike his usual self.

"Ambassador. You have arrived."

A few tactless nobles approached and fawned over the imperial ambassador.

"From now on, until I speak to you first, absolutely do not speak to me."

The ambassador gave a stern warning to those nobles.

Blinking their eyes in confusion, the nobles retreated with embarrassed faces. Returning to their seats, the nobles chattered, perhaps lacking any pride, that the ambassador seemed to be in a bad mood today.

"Could it be that a higher-ranking official has been dispatched from the Empire?"

A certain noble who had been observing this carefully whispered to Marquis Bielefeld.

It made sense.

Because his restless behavior and the way he straightened his posture was exactly like that of a subordinate welcoming their superior.

"I am uneasy. Uneasy."

While Marquis Bielefeld was observing the imperial ambassador in this manner, the royal family members revealed themselves one after another.

"The legitimate bloodlines of His Majesty the King Lionel Leonberk, the rightful ruler of the Leonberk Kingdom and more noble than anyone else, His Highness the Second Prince Maximilian Leonberk, the second son of the Royal House of Leonberk, and His Highness the Third Prince Gillian Leonberk, the third son, are entering!"

The princes who revealed themselves each stood right in front of the banquet hall's platform.

The Marquis felt a strange sensation as he looked at those princes.

The sight of the Third Prince swaggering and boasting his power while surrounded by his follower nobles was the same as usual, but the Second Prince, who always wore a gentle smile, having a stiff face was not like his usual self.

It seemed the Second Prince knew something about what was going to happen today.

Marquis Bielefeld subtly shifted his position and tried to approach the Second Prince, but the doors to the banquet hall opened and a royal servant shouted resoundingly.

"The legitimate bloodline of His Majesty the King Lionel Leonberk, the rightful ruler of the Leonberk Kingdom and more noble than anyone else, His Highness the First Prince Adrian Leonberk, the eldest son of the Royal House of Leonberk, along with Bert of the Northern House Shurtl, and of House Quern..."

Beyond the wide-open doors, the First Prince revealed himself, accompanied by the Northern lords and his knights.

"Gasp."

The nobles gasped upon seeing the First Prince.

The First Prince, who had been nothing more than a youthful boy just a year ago, no longer existed.

His face, stripped of its baby fat, was sharply angled, and his physique was in no way lacking compared to that of a sturdy knight. Above all, what caught the nobles' attention were the scars all over his body, which could not be hidden even by the formal attire he had painstakingly dressed in.

His exposed hands and neck were full of hideous scratches, and scars resembling crawling snakes were engraved on his jaw and forehead.

"S-Scars..."

"Hoh. I definitely heard he was in the rear..."

While the nobles whispered, the First Prince swept his gaze across the inside of the banquet hall.

The nobles who met that gaze gasped and stepped back. Goosebumps fully broke out on the bodies of those retreating.

Looking at those nobles, the First Prince grinned.

"You're not kneeling?"

His laughing tone was so friendly it was almost affectionate, but the nobles instead felt a chill as if they had been thrown into a frozen river in the middle of winter. By the time they came to their senses, they had already slammed their knees into the floor as if they would shatter and bowed their heads.

STEP, STEP.

It was fundamentally different from the gait of high-status individuals; a menacing sound of footsteps, much like a giant beast prowling right before their eyes.

The nobles held their breath and pricked up their ears.

Like small beasts hiding in the tall grass, waiting for a predator to pass by.

And when the First Prince's footsteps finally stopped, the nobles exhaled the breath they had been holding as if on cue.

However, they dared not raise their heads.

They welcomed the King in that state.

"His Majesty the King Lionel Leonberk, the rightful ruler of Leonberk and more noble and wise than anyone else, is entering! Everyone, pay proper respect!"

Beyond the open doors, the King revealed himself.

"Hm?"

Perhaps feeling the strangely subdued air of the banquet hall, the King paused his steps for a moment.

The King turned his head.

And he discovered his eldest son, standing alone amidst the nobles who were kneeling and bowing their heads, looking back at him.

The King's face stiffened rigidly, and the First Prince smiled pleasantly.

The King ignored his eldest son's gaze and moved his steps.

Coming face-to-face with a bastard he didn't want to see was an uncomfortable matter, but seeing the nobles bowing their heads even deeper than usual made him feel a little better.

When he discovered that even the imperial ambassador in the distance was bowing his head, his lips twitched into a smile without him realizing it.

But that was nothing more than his own delusion.

The reverence shown by the nobles and the imperial ambassador was not directed at him; the nobles did not feel the presence of the man walking lightly like a deer before their eyes, but only the presence of the beast-like boy crouching behind them.

Only the King was unaware of that fact.

* * *

The moment I saw the healthy complexions of the plump nobles, the anger I had suppressed came pouring out.

But I held it in.

Because it was not yet time to unleash my anger.

For now, it was a time to take comfort in the sight of them trembling on the ground like dogs with their tails tucked.

I reined in my anger and waited.

For the King to reveal himself.

"His Majesty the King Lionel Leonberk, the rightful ruler of Leonberk and more noble and wise than anyone else, is entering! Everyone, pay proper respect!"

And finally, beyond the wide-open doors of the banquet hall, the King revealed himself.

The King, discovering me, flinched and stiffened. But he soon ignored me and began walking among the nobles.

Forcefully pressing his feet into the floor,

feigning a dignity he didn't even possess.

Passing through the nobles like a clown,

he took his place on the emptily elevated platform.

"Raise your heads, everyone."

The King spoke with forced dignity.

The nobles stood up awkwardly.

I watched them before turning my head.

The royal house's treasured swords, which had been painstakingly forged only to be broken before they could even be used, were trembling.

The emotions that surfaced on their faces were so complex that it was hard for me to understand them.

It seemed as though they welcomed their reunion with the King, yet also resented the King who failed to recognize them. Or perhaps they were relieved that he did not recognize them.

"If you wish, I will give you an opportunity to meet him privately later."

"We do not wish for it."

When I spoke quietly, they refused.

"Then watch."

They asked me with their eyes.

What exactly they were supposed to watch.

I quietly looked around.

An irresponsible and incompetent monarch who left noble men to fade away in vain, a blind king trapped in a delusion of his own making, is on the platform.

Treacherous sycophants clinging to a completely rotted giant tree, flicking their tongues like snakes, are falsely bowing their heads below him.

Crippled loyalists, struggling with all their might to hold up the leaning giant tree, are observing the situation with faces full of vigilance.

The mistletoes of the North, trampled once by the harsh winter winds but sprouting even more firmly, are looking at me.

A dog, who originally stood guard for the Empire but has now been tamed by me, is waiting for its leash to be undone.

The unfunny farce they are about to create.

While the Royal House was distracted with forging three hundred and twenty-three swords,

the true face of a kingdom rotted to the core.

That was exactly what I wanted to show them.

Finding the answer was something they would have to do themselves.

Because I would do the same.

Today, I will watch from this place. And I will judge.

"The reason I have called you lords to this place today is in accordance with the 「Imperial Ambassador's Authority for Emergency Summons」 based on the treaty between the Empire and the kingdom."

The one who started first was the clown feigning delusion, the blind King.

"Since a majority of the kingdom's nobles have gathered, there should be no problem beginning now."

At the blind King's words, the fat watchdog barked.

"The reason I have invited the many busy nobles to this place is because I wished to discuss the future of the kingdom."

A dog of another country is barking about the kingdom's future, yet no one raises an objection.

Once.

Now nine times are left. For me to tolerate the lethargic nobles and the King's impotence, that is.

"Before that, we must talk about the war in the North that occurred not long ago."

The fat dog looked at me.

I took a step forward.

"Bring it."

The moment I finished speaking, Arwen and the knights placed a large crate in front of me.

I opened the crate as if smashing it.

And I threw out the head of the Warlord, whose tongue was sticking out, from inside it.

Right in front of the King's platform, the place where the nobles had gathered.

ROLL, ROLL.

The head, which was larger than the upper body of an average adult man, rolled across the floor and stopped.

"U-Uh?"

"Gaaah!"

The nobles screamed, and the banquet hall instantly turned into a chaotic mess.

"What are you doing!"

Pale with shock, the King lost his composure and scolded me.

But whether he did or not, I pulled the Warlord's arm out of the crate and threw it as well.

A noble who was struck by the forearm rolled his eyes back and fainted without even being able to scream.

"Aaaagh!"

"You are out of your mind! You're crazy. You couldn't do this unless you were crazy!"

Amidst the rampant screams and groans of the faint-hearted nobles, and the furious King shouting,

"Since we won the war, it is only right to present the enemy commander's head before the King."

I bared my teeth.

"Is that not so? Your Majesty?"