Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 45
* * *
And from the next day onward, my earnest courtship began in earnest.
The information Raulus provided proved far more valuable than I’d anticipated. His timing for approaching me was admittedly rather arbitrary, but simply hearing snippets about what Auredhian Belgot was doing and where proved sufficient.
Once I’d discovered which floor and wing of the Imperial Palace housed Auredhian Belgot’s office, the rest was child’s play. The third floor, he’d said.
I gazed up at the center window on the third floor. One pane stood wide open, and I could see a deep purple curtain fluttering in the breeze. It was rather high, but if I shouted loudly enough, my voice would certainly carry that distance.
I drew in a sharp breath. The method to make Auredhian Belgot look out his window was simple.
I braced my abdomen and bellowed at the top of my lungs.
“Faaaaatheeeeer!”
The effect was instantaneous. I spotted a glimmer of silver near the window and broke into a broad smile.
Just as I thought. He’s easier to read than I expected…!
* * *
That day had been remarkably quiet.
A day no different from Auredhian Belgot’s usual routine. There were vexing matters, certainly, but nothing that demanded frantic urgency.
In truth, his disruption was scarcely different from the Princess of Lebovni herself—a woman who trampled through his meticulously scheduled days and intruded without warning.
Of course, considering that he himself had been the one to abduct her, Auredhian Belgot had essentially placed the architect of his own chaos right beside him.
Yet old habits died hard. On days when he didn’t see the Princess of Lebovni, he remained as serene as he had been throughout his twenty-six years of life.
Or so it appeared. He was not the type to reveal his inner thoughts.
In truth, there was much to handle. Troublesome matters abounded. Nearly a month had been consumed by them—one problem resolved only for another to emerge, and another still.
And more fundamentally, his days were as regular and rigid as an unwinding clockwork mechanism. He was suffocated beneath the weight of the chains that bound him, gasping for breath in the oppressive monotony.
He cherished languid peace and quiet, yet he could not fully enjoy them. Especially not lately.
The most pressing matter was the Glucaman Tripartite Agreement. He’d thought the negotiations with Lebovni had concluded smoothly, but now Azekien—which had remained conspicuously absent until now—was causing trouble.
The Glucaman Agreement had originally been a tripartite accord between western Azekien, central Lebovni, and eastern Belgot. He’d anticipated that Azekien, as the source of mana stones, wouldn’t remain idle, but he hadn’t expected them to announce a dramatic increase in mana stone fees.
For Belgot, the terms were unacceptable. Their intention to piggyback these demands onto the toll negotiations with Lebovni was transparently obvious.
With such unreasonable conditions being presented, negotiations had stalled interminably. Raising tolls was an entirely different matter from raising the price of mana stones themselves.
Moreover, he’d recently detected signs that Azekien was subtly extending overtures toward Lebovni. The negotiations with Lebovni were nearly complete—all that remained was the seal.
“What do they take Belgot for?”
Auredhian Belgot’s expression hardened as irritation suddenly welled up within him.
Ever since he’d launched a surprise attack on Lebovni and abducted the Princess, the prestige of being a guardian nation of the Laigar Peace Alliance had already been tarnished. Since things had come to this, why not sweep Azekien clean as well?
Auredhian Belgot’s lips curved upward at that tempting prospect.
He possessed formidable patience. He was generally loose and composed in most matters, favoring peace and harmony over discord and intrigue. But on the day that steel-wire patience snapped, when the chains surrounding him tightened beyond their breaking point—
Every nation in Laigar would come to understand that the surprise attack on Lebovni was nothing more than child’s play.
“…Sigh.”
Unaware of this, they brazenly crawled forward. Auredhian Belgot exhaled a long breath.
Of course, he harbored no genuine intention of sweeping away both Lebovni and Azekien. His patience remained intact. For now. He didn’t wish to escalate to extremes. Not for the sake of the Princess of Lebovni.
Auredhian Belgot recalled the woman who could conjure generosity from nothing, and a hollow laugh escaped him. This too bordered on the extraordinary. When had things become this way?
Knock, knock.
The sound of knocking interrupted his thoughts. Auredhian Belgot straightened from his reclined position in his chair.
“Come in.”
It was his aide, Felix. He entered awkwardly, his arms laden with heavy ancient tomes.
“I’ve brought the books you commanded, Your Majesty.”
“Leave them here.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Felix carefully set the thick ancient tomes upon my office desk and ventured a question.
“But why would you suddenly need such texts…?”
I offered no reply. My reddish eyes swept methodically across the stacked volumes.
《The World’s Boundaries: Udeta and Remordi》
《On Those That Touch Darkness》
《The Continent’s Age of Chaos, The Era of the Dead》
There was another matter that had been gnawing at me. Soleia Elad. The true power of the Magic Tower, who had grown suspiciously quiet of late.
“….”
The day I had sealed off Ugel Square entirely and mobilized the Magic Tower’s mages to comb through it exhaustively, nine barrier stones in total had been discovered. Four had been destroyed by me. One that the Princess had nearly touched. Four more that had been hidden scattered throughout the square.
Transparent magical crystals swirling with black vortices.
“They are indeed barrier stones, Your Majesty.”
When asked about their nature, Chernata Rosel, the aged master of the Magic Tower, had answered only thus.
“It is a failing of the Magic Tower. Such items should never circulate freely among the populace…. We shall redouble our efforts in their safekeeping.”
The culprit who had scattered the barrier stones proved to be a young apprentice of the Magic Tower. Rosel himself had dragged the boy from his hiding place in an alley corner and forced him to kneel before me.
“Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness just this once!”
The young apprentice wept profusely as he pleaded with me. I had considered expelling him from the Magic Tower immediately, but reason stayed my hand. Young apprentice or not, he was a precious mage. How much had already been invested in his magical training?
I summoned every last shred of patience and imposed a period of confinement upon the apprentice.
Moreover, I declared that Bellirook Palace harbored no problems whatsoever. It was not Soleia Elad who had scattered barrier stones through Ugel Square, nor had she brought any harm to Bellirook Palace.
Did that mean all suspicion had vanished? Absolutely not. It had only deepened, if anything—it was no simple matter to be resolved.
Why had Soleia Elad been standing before Bellirook Palace that day?
Could a woman who turned savage merely at the sight of another woman passing near me—a woman toward whom I extended a generosity that even I found surprising—truly overlook the Princess of Lebovni?
The fact that the spirited Yerenika had grown noticeably listless of late only fueled my suspicions. Yet even when I had ransacked Bellirook Palace a second time without the Princess’s knowledge, nothing had been found. Something should have emerged, yet the complete absence of anything was itself suspicious, only deepening my doubts.
Soleia Elad. A woman who reeked of ulterior motives, yet whose tracks were suspiciously clean. I had believed I understood her intentions quite well. She sought to become Empress and secure autonomy for the Magic Tower—to make it a power unto itself, not merely the Magic Tower of Belgot.
Thus she could not help but be at odds with me, who sought to place the Magic Tower entirely under Imperial authority through marriage. The invisible tug-of-war between us stemmed from precisely this misalignment of interests.
“….”
Until now, that was what I had believed.
But recently, cracks had formed in that conviction. Perhaps what Soleia Elad truly desired was something else entirely.
The black vortex spinning within the transparent crystal flashed through my mind. Simultaneously, Yerenika’s voice echoed with crystalline clarity.
“It was pulling me toward it. Just, just…. As if it were begging me to hold it….”
‘Pulling.’ That was the word.
Tap. Tap. My extended index finger drummed against the table in measured rhythm. Did magic exist that could entrance a person?
“No such magic exists, Your Majesty.”
When I posed this question, Chernata Rosel, the aged master of the Magic Tower, answered with unwavering certainty.
“Magic capable of penetrating the human spirit does not exist. It is a feat beyond even this old man’s power.”
If I doubted even that assertion, I furrowed my brow. Then I would have to suspect the entire Magic Tower. And in a most absurd direction at that.
That the Magic Tower, belonging to the Belgot Imperial Family, had dared to take root in forbidden darkness….
“…That cannot be.”
Auredhian Belgot let out a dry chuckle. It was a suspicion bordering on sheer nonsense. Rather than exhaust himself pointlessly on such trivial doubts, he could simply ignore the Princess’s words.
Mana stones—mere rocks wrapped in magical energy—drawing people toward them? Absurd.
“….”
Under normal circumstances, he would have dismissed it at that. But her unusually pallid complexion continued to gnaw at him, refusing to be ignored. Auredhian Belgot let out another hollow laugh. When had this begun? When had he become so concerned with the Princess of Lebovni…?
And in the next moment, a crystalline voice pierced through the open window.
“Faaaaaather!”
“…?”
It was a cry like a gale wind, sweeping away every thought and worry in its path. The timing could not have been more exasperating.
“What….”
Auredhian Belgot reflexively looked down from the window. Below, a cascade of pale pink hair rippled in the breeze.
“Wow. Success on the first try, as expected!”
Yerenika gazed up at him, her eyes sparkling with delight. She fluttered her small hands as if beckoning him down. As always, it was a sight impossible to ignore.
“Father—!”
Auredhian Belgot pressed his fingers to his temples.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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