Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 168

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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 168. That Night
Prince Gail’s palace lay shrouded in darkness to receive the intruder. In stark contrast, Marib’s quarters remained as brightly lit as always. This night proved no exception. The only difference was that instead of sitting at his desk as usual, he now reclined on the sofa, merely counting the passing hours.
Creak.
“Your Highness. You’re not sleeping again tonight?”
Paal, Marib’s steward, asked carefully. I couldn’t even remember how many days it had been. Sleep had never been abundant for him, but lately it had become excessive in its absence. My superior grew increasingly irritable and sharp, often lost in vacant thought.
“…I closed my eyes during the day.”
“Only for a moment. Your judgment will become clouded.”
“Yes, it seems so. I feel like throwing you out this instant.”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips, devoid of any real force. With a gesture toward the cold teacup, Paal sat across from me and produced a stimulant.
“If something happens like this, you won’t be able to respond properly.”
“My patience is reaching its limit. Just report what you’ve observed.”
“…All the lights in Prince Gail’s quarters have been extinguished.”
“…All of them?”
“Yes. Not a single one remains lit.”
At the steward’s report, the exhaustion that had been creeping over me vanished instantly. I held the stimulant in my mouth and tilted my head back. A chill ran down the nape of my neck.
“In any other place, perhaps, but not in Gail’s palace. What of movement?”
“There is none.”
House Haiman had completed their mana armor, and the troop movements of nobles who had made contact with Gail were suspicious. These days were saturated with the tension that either side could launch a surprise attack at any moment. Gail, like myself, should be cautious through the night, so why would he extinguish every light in his palace?
“…With eyes closed, one cannot evade a blade that flies toward them. One cannot even know who threw it. Issue the order to assemble my forces.”
“Are you certain?”
Paal did not move despite the command. It was merely that the lights in the quarters had been extinguished. If he moved too hastily, it could create difficulties for me instead. Like a false start in a race, one must move fastest when the signal comes, but rushing forward beforehand becomes a disqualification. Besides, my superior’s judgment was currently impaired by sleep deprivation.
“What if it’s a trap set by Prince Gail?”
“Even if it is a trap, would it be a hole large enough to ensnare everyone within the palace?”
The chamberlain, sensing my mood, approached and helped me don my regalia. I accepted his assistance readily while muttering. My gaze toward Paal grew increasingly fierce. A silent urging to obey the command.
“Will you take responsibility if our departure is delayed because of you?”
“…I beg your pardon.”
Tap, tap, tap!
The steward had no choice but to rush outside to assemble my forces.
The office fell silent. I gazed at my own eyes in the mirror and thought of Gail. We shared no resemblance, yet this alone proved that we were brothers.
‘Gail. So a day like this has finally come.’
I couldn’t remember when it began. It was a curse inherited from our respective mothers, a destiny that had taken root even before our births.
My heart pounded in my chest. Whether from the stimulant or from the exhilaration of finally being able to end Gail, I couldn’t say. Or perhaps it was the tension before a momentous event.
But what mattered was that this feeling was not entirely unpleasant.
“Your Highness, all those within the palace under Minister Taiha have assembled. The nobles from outside will enter the palace as soon as word reaches them.”
I received Paal’s report and stepped outside. The moon still shone brightly in the sky. Those who had endured the night under my command gathered and waited before the palace gates.
Minister Taiha of the Imperial Defense Ministry approached me and whispered.
“There was an intruder in Prince Gail’s quarters.”
Minister Taiha, who frequently engaged in heated debates with Wesley. His reappointment had seemed impossible, yet after the New Year’s conference, he miraculously secured his position again. It was because the next Imperial Defense Minister had been particularly close to Wesley.
“I suspected as much.”
Extinguishing all the lights in the palace must have been to receive the intruder. A bitter smile played at my lips.
“We offered to handle the intruders on our end, but were rejected outright.”
“What is there to interrogate? He will call out my name. This is Prince Gail’s fabrication. Minister Taiha, focus on securing the intruder’s custody. Use security as justification to seal off Prince Gail’s palace.”
“However, there is something rather unusual.”
Marib’s brow furrowed. His expression demanded a swift explanation.
“Prince Gail’s condition is dire, I’m told. He’s been taken to the infirmary due to severe bleeding, and all the doctors on duty are currently attending to him, attempting to stop the hemorrhage.”
Marib’s brisk stride halted. By any measure, this should have been a scheme Prince Gail orchestrated for justification. Yet his condition was this grave?
“Are you certain of this?”
“My subordinate witnessed it directly.”
Marib stood motionless, gazing up at the fluttering banners. The circumstances were undeniably clear. Something had gone wrong in the process. Marib’s mind suddenly turned to a certain boy.
‘Ian.’
A boy whose depths could not be fathomed even an inch. I had ordered him to kill Prince Gail, but I never believed he would execute it straightforwardly.
Back then, when I failed to finish Prince Gail on the judgment platform, I felt Ian was not a piece on the chessboard, but rather a fellow participant seated beside me.
‘Did Ian do this? Did he approach Prince Gail with the fabrication as bait, attempting to eliminate him?’
“Prince Marib. What shall we do?”
As his lord stood frozen when he should be moving swiftly, Paal asked with concern. In that moment, a cold wind swept fiercely. Marib’s long hair billowed, and his tangled thoughts dissipated on the breeze.
“Follow me.”
Clack.
Paal, Minister Taiha, high-ranking officials from each department, knights and soldiers—all followed behind Marib at the forefront, walking swiftly. The torches they carried multiplied one by one.
A massive river of light cutting through the imperial palace.
A tide that changes history.
“To the Emperor’s quarters.”
“To the Emperor’s quarters!”
“Seal Prince Gail’s palace and forbid House Haiman from entering the imperial palace.”
With each command Marib issued, subordinates flanking him dispersed, and the standing guards scattered in confusion, clearing the path without understanding what was happening. Something extraordinary was occurring, yet they could not fathom what was transpiring.
Clack.
“Prince Marib. What is the meaning of this?”
Upon reaching the Emperor’s quarters, Marib was confronted by Beols, one of the Imperial Guard commanders. Under normal circumstances, Beols would not have interfered with Marib’s entry, but the atmosphere was far too ominous. Who were all these people gathered behind him, and what was that sword firmly secured at Marib’s waist?
“I have come to see the Emperor.”
“That is impossible. The hour is far too late, and under these circumstances, I absolutely cannot permit it.”
He was resolute. Protecting the Emperor’s safety was his duty. Marib muttered as the sky gradually brightened.
“Beols. If I cannot see the Emperor now, His Majesty’s safety will truly be in grave danger.”
“What do you mean by—”
The seal—a symbol of the Emperor’s authority and the instrument through which all matters great and small in Bariel are decided.
If I cannot obtain it before sunrise, precisely before the intruder and I become formally entangled, I will have no choice but to resort to drastic measures.
“Beols. Step aside.”
“Good heavens, Riama!”
A woman emerged from behind Marib. It was Riama, one of the Three Great Commanders. Beols reflexively grasped his sword hilt at the sudden appearance of his colleague.
“Prince Marib means no harm to the Emperor. He simply has urgent business. If you obstruct us now, we will have no choice but to take your head.”
“…We? Did you just say we?”
“Step aside. No harm will come to His Majesty. I guarantee it. Prince Marib, please explain yourself.”
The power of the Three Great Generals was known throughout the imperial palace. Jairot, Beols, and Riama—those who had clashed with Berik. There was no one who could stand against these three individuals alone.
“I swear it. A son has come to see his father. If you wish, naturally, you should come as well.”
Marib smiled faintly and raised both hands. He could not overcome them, but if necessary, he would break through. If the generals crossed blades, the damage would be beyond imagination.
‘Above all, with Jairot absent now, if I too am gone….’
It would be as if there was no one left to protect His Majesty the Emperor directly. Beols, having finished his calculations, slowly released his grip on his sword hilt.
“Only Prince Marib should disarm, Your Highness.”
“Very well. If you promise not to harm me.”
“Look at the current situation, Your Highness. Who would harm whom?”
Marib gestured for everyone to wait, then brushed past Beols. Beols glared at Riama before immediately pursuing the Prince.
Tap, tap, tap!
The two figures disappeared into the darkness. Marib’s forces looked up at the increasingly brightened sky and squinted. A morning when new history would be written had arrived.
* * *
“His Majesty the Emperor handed over the imperial seal to Prince Marib? That’s absurd!”
“Why do you think it absurd? The evidence is right here.”
“Don’t you understand what it means to hand over the imperial seal!”
“I am currently His Majesty’s sole heir. Since the Emperor’s health has deteriorated and he cannot attend to state affairs, regrettably I shall take the seal in his stead. I don’t understand why you raise your voice so.”
“Prince Marib!”
The council chamber was in chaos. And no wonder—overnight, Marib had secured the Emperor’s seal and claimed to exercise its authority in his place. The bureaucrats all raised their voices, clamoring over one another.
“Allow us an audience with His Majesty the Emperor!”
“Denied. His condition is far too precarious.”
“Is that truly the case? Your Highness, at this moment—”
“Are you suggesting I have imprisoned my father?”
At Marib’s words, one bureaucrat could not finish speaking. To be accused of insulting the royal family would be nothing but disadvantageous. Everyone murmured nervously, clearly panicked about what to do.
“An intruder entered Prince Gail’s quarters last night. His Majesty collapsed, and this represents a crisis unprecedented in Bariel’s history. Those who compound the chaos should be prepared.”
As Marib spoke, the atmosphere gradually grew heavy.
A coup. This was, without question, treason and rebellion. Marib proudly fingered the seal and called upon Ian.
“Does the Minister of Magic agree with this?”
“Your Highness.”
“The Ministry of Magic oversees all access and security of the imperial palace. How an intruder entered Prince Gail’s quarters is unclear to me. On this matter, the Minister of Magic should have a report to give.”
Explain about the intruder. That was the meaning.
Ian felt a throbbing in his head as he gazed at the gleaming golden seal.
Setting aside everything else….
‘Indeed, this seal is not the one I know.’
It was certainly different from the one used when I was Emperor. I had felt it before when receiving the provincial lord’s appointment at the frontier, but the seals from before and after one hundred years ago were clearly different.
‘Why?’
Marib tapped the seal impatiently, urging Ian’s response.
That was when it happened.
Crash—!
A loud sound from outside. Everyone flinched and turned around.
Prince Gail, sword in hand, was entering the chamber.
My hands were stained with blood—whose, I could not say.

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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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