I Became the Wife of the Hero Who Killed Me - Chapter 144
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 144
The Emperor urgently asked his attendant.
“Where is Lady Perez right now?!”
“The lady says she is nursing her son who is unwell.”
His mistress, who always stayed by his side to please him, had escaped using her son’s illness as an excuse. Then Count Germano, his younger brother, would likely be the same.
Unable to bear the fact that he was left alone, the Emperor brought up the next name that came to mind.
“What about the Empress? What are Mariana and Joseph doing right now?”
“I, I’m not sure about that. Shall I go find out?”
“….”
The Emperor rubbed his face with trembling hands.
And impulsively blurted out.
“Go to Mariana and tell her I’m giving Joseph the Crown Prince position. Then that bitch will have no choice but to come.”
“Your, Your Majesty?!”
“No, no… I can’t hand over the throne so easily. I’m still so vigorous.”
Half out of his mind, not even knowing what nonsense he was spouting, the Emperor gulped down the liquor on his nightstand.
There was only one option left now.
“Bring Nigel.”
“However, His Highness the Prince is unwell…”
“Then drag his corpse here! Use whatever means necessary to bring him! Tell him if he doesn’t resolve this situation, I’ll finish off Nigel first!!”
The enraged Emperor overturned the table as if having a seizure.
The frightened attendant rushed out of the room in panic.
“Huff, huff.”
Left alone, he breathed heavily and continuously gulped down liquor.
The angry citizens’ shouts rang in his ears. He screamed and covered his ears.
Just then.
Step, step—
Footsteps echoed in the quiet corridor. Had Nigel already arrived?
As expected, that bastard could make pathetic excuses and try to avoid it, but in the end he had no choice but to come.
As long as he wanted greater power, the Crown Prince position!
As expected, the door opened shortly after.
However, there was something different from usual—normally the knights guarding the entrance would announce the visitor’s arrival, but today the door opened directly without any word.
Not noticing this, the Emperor shouted.
“Why are you so late! Come up with a plan to resolve this situation immediately…”
And he froze like a statue.
The man who had removed his robe was not the son he had been waiting for.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a private audience with His Majesty like this. Have you been well?”
“Du, Duke Lombard.”
“I’m glad you haven’t forgotten my face.”
Unlike Edwin who smiled softly, the Emperor’s expression hardened stiffly.
A dangerous premonition crept up his spine. The appearance was certainly that of Duke Lombard as he knew him, but his eyes were completely different from usual.
It was like looking into the eyes of a beast.
“Is, is there no one outside?! Hey there!”
“….”
“Hey there, hey there!!”
“It’s useless to shout like that. No one will come.”
He was calmly stating facts, but his eyes were colder than ever.
“Killing you directly—this would be the third time, I suppose. Though the method has changed, of course. It’s nice to have a new experience for once.”
“Wh, what nonsense are you spouting?!”
The Emperor kept crying out for help, but no sign of life could be felt beyond the closed door.
Only his hollow cries echoed in the corridor.
Truly sensing danger, the Emperor quickly changed his expression. He forced a pleased look.
“Duke Lombard! Aren’t you my nep, nephew-in-law? We’re like family, but I’ve been too indifferent.”
“….”
“Wouldn’t you like to stay in the Imperial Capital? If I remove Count Germano, the command of the Royal Guards will be vacant—”
“I heard you tried to rip out my wife’s heart and lock her in an Iron Maiden.”
The Emperor closed his mouth.
Everyone knew that Duke Lombard was obsessed with his wife.
But he never imagined that spies had been planted even in the most intimate places of the Imperial Palace, around himself.
It was true.
The Emperor had indeed tried to kill Elisia that way in the plaza today.
“Wh, where did it leak from.”
“Does it matter where? My eyes and ears are everywhere—in the palace walls, floors, all around.”
“….”
Edwin leisurely approached the Emperor who was stumbling backward.
Soon he reached a point where he could retreat no further. He felt the cold touch of the wall against his back.
Edwin looked down at the Emperor who had turned pale with fear.
“Blood for blood, life for life.”
“Wait, wait…!”
The Emperor’s words could not continue.
The screams filled with pain continued for a long time, until dawn broke.
* * *
“Your Highness! Your Highness the Prince…!”
Outside the Imperial Palace, torches of civil unrest were gathering one after another.
As the Emperor’s atrocities became known, the number of citizens joining the uprising was visibly growing over time.
Even in the midst of this, Nigel, who had been sitting at his desk calmly copying scriptures, looked up at the urgent call of the Chief Chamberlain outside his bedroom.
“What’s the matter?”
“You must hurry to His Majesty the Emperor’s bedroom! His Majesty, huff, His Majesty—”
Unlike the Chief Chamberlain whose face had turned deathly pale, Nigel’s expression was calm.
Following the Chief Chamberlain, he witnessed his Imperial Father’s corpse lying on the floor with his heart torn out, yet didn’t even blink an eye.
Instead, the Chief Chamberlain trembled with fear and stamped his feet.
“An, an intruder must have entered! We must immediately form an investigation team!”
“An intruder? Didn’t Imperial Father pass away from a heart attack?”
“…What?!”
“He had been suffering from a chronic illness, after all.”
That the Emperor had tried to purge him and the forces following him, that he had tried to shift the blame for the uprising onto him and make Joseph the Crown Prince.
And that Edwin Nazar La Lombard had visited during the night.
Nigel knew everything.
Even if not the North, this Imperial Capital was the land where Nigel was born and raised. It was his domain.
But he had watched while knowing, remaining a bystander.
Duke Lombard wasn’t someone who could be stopped even if he tried to stop him anyway, so it was closer to withdrawing his involvement as a sign of cooperation with the revenge.
He continued in a calm voice.
“Imperial Father overexerted himself greatly due to what happened during the day. It must have been fatal to his already weak heart. Thus he passed away from a sudden heart attack without even being able to call the Imperial Physician.”
“Your, Your Highness…”
“Your form of address is incorrect.”
When Nigel gestured, the servants waiting at the entrance came inside.
They removed the blood-soaked curtains and carpet and cleaned the furniture spotlessly.
They also arranged the Emperor’s corpse with the devoured heart as if nothing had happened.
Only then did the Chief Chamberlain, realizing his mistake, belatedly bow his head.
“Long live the new Emperor, His Majesty!”
* * *
The death of Vittorio IV was sudden.
As angry citizens pitched camp in front of the Imperial Capital with torches, Nigel pushed aside his restraining close associates and stood directly before the people.
He announced that the Emperor had passed away from a heart attack during the night.
Furthermore, he bowed his head and shed tears, apologizing on behalf of his Imperial Father’s enormous mistakes.
“I never dreamed that His Majesty would allow foreign armies into the Imperial Capital.”
“….”
“My relationship with His Majesty grew distant during the process of opposing Rosalind’s marriage, and I was unable to see him for some time. However, even so, my failure to detect the signs of such a tragedy in advance is clearly my oversight.”
It was indeed a clever choice.
He unhesitatingly acknowledged his Imperial Father’s mistakes and apologized in his stead, even bowing his head before the angry people.
A member of the Imperial Family, who had been regarded as a being above Heaven.
Of course, if this had been all, the civil unrest would not have been quelled.
However, upon ascending to the throne, Nigel declared he would change the following things and executed them without hesitation in just one day.
First, he greatly strengthened the authority of Parliament and officials.
Second, he imposed taxes on Imperial Palace assets and voluntarily relinquished the Imperial Family’s immunity privileges for various crimes.
This was tantamount to abandoning the Imperial Palace’s greatest privileges.
Since everything proceeded smoothly like flowing water, some raised questions.
Nigel seemed as if he had prepared everything in advance.
“Did Vittorio really die of a heart attack?”
“Well….”
There’s a saying in the world that what’s good is good.
The existence of Vittorio IV, who had been excommunicated by the Pope, was a great threat to the Empire’s security. In contrast, Nigel, first in line for succession, was a devout believer in name and reality.
As he had said, he had distanced himself from Vittorio starting from his sister’s marriage and had taken a politically opposing stance to his Imperial Father.
Most importantly, he treated Elisia, who had enormous popular support, as the highest-ranking relative.
As an apology for his Imperial Father’s atrocities, he elevated her ceremonial rank to just below Grand Duke Heidelberg, his great-uncle, and appointed her as a Privy Council advisor, granting her enormous influence in state affairs.
He also granted her the Southern Granary Region as territory, lifted Elisia’s banishment order, and allowed her to freely enter and exit anywhere in the Imperial Court.
As a result, Nigel was able to be accepted as the next Emperor relatively smoothly.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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