Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 428

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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 428
Fire. Ian’s Lie
The servants’ hands moved delicately through Jin’s hair and collar, carefully draping fabrics one by one. Blue or green? They prepared the ceremonial attire for the grand conference with meticulous care.
Jin gazed at himself in the mirror, yet he could not deny that his entire attention was fixed on the Magic Ministry. Count Ian had returned! And he’d brought the runaway mages with him!
Now he would return to those familiar days. He would ask Ian about things he didn’t know, Ian would kindly explain, and with each sunrise and sunset, he would draw closer to the Emperor’s throne.
The moment Jin smiled faintly, Xiaoxi sensed movement outside and announced it.
“Your Highness. The Clerk from the Magic Ministry has arrived.”
“Let her in.”
Jin tilted his head in puzzlement, watching the door in the mirror’s reflection.
The door opened, and the Clerk approached Jin. She appeared urgent. She knelt gracefully and exchanged glances from behind the Boy.
“What is it? Has King Damon’s interrogation already concluded?”
“No, Your Highness. King Damon’s interrogation has been temporarily halted at Minister Ian’s request.”
Rustle.
The Clerk handed Jin a piece of paper and whispered. The servants, sensing something unusual had occurred, slowly withdrew and closed their ears.
“During King Damon’s testimony, something problematic has emerged.”
“What?”
“Minister Ian is said to be connected to the imperial family.”
“What?”
Jin frowned and quickly scanned the paper. Though the handwriting was slightly hurried from rapid note-taking, the content was unmistakable.
“King Damon claims that he and Count Ian once shared a secret, and that this information was exchanged at that time. Even with the truth serum before him, King Damon did not recant—so from his perspective, this is subjectively true.”
Subjectively true. It meant that at least Ian had mentioned something related to this to Damon—that much was fact.
Jin suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu. When Duke Haiman had been cornered, hadn’t he made a similar statement? About why Ian would help someone as inconspicuous as himself?
Haiman’s answer had been that Ian harbored imperial family secrets and thus naturally positioned himself behind Jin to protect them.
“Preposterous.”
“But Your Highness, at the grand conference, King Damon will surely attempt to make this public. His momentum is unusual. It would be wise to prepare questions for Count Ian.”
“….”
Though he called it preposterous, it had now been stated twice. And not as baseless street rumors, but as a final weapon wielded by those who possessed everything—Haiman and Damon—when cornered.
Was it truly preposterous?
Could it really be false?
Could it possibly be… false?
“Your Highness.”
As Jin’s complexion paled, Xiaoxi called out with concern. The Clerk bowed her head and rose on her knees, then whispered.
“Minister Ian and Captain Akorella’s reactions seemed unusual. The fact that they halted the interrogation is proof of that. Your Highness, as you well know, the Magic Ministry oversees all truth serum production. Would it not be difficult to believe that it would be ineffective against Count Ian, against the great young mage?”
He knew. Jin might believe it, but the other officials would never. They would sooner cry out that one could cover the sky with their palm. How could a potion made by the Magic Ministry conceal a minister’s truth?
“…The interrogation?”
“It seems it will resume shortly.”
“You maintain your post and fulfill your duty. Report again before entering the grand conference, and ensure the other officials remain silent.”
“I shall obey faithfully, but it appears already too late.”
“How so?”
“It is not a matter of the scribes—there is much talk within the Magic Ministry itself.”
Those closest to one another inevitably find themselves conversing. The mages under Ian’s command were loudly debating amongst themselves about exactly who this Ian truly was. Having witnessed the Idgal Pendant’s reaction firsthand, their fervor burned all the more intensely.
Jin pressed his temples and faintly furrowed his brow, while the Clerk hastily bowed before slipping from the room.
“Xiaoxi.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“What are your thoughts?”
“…Regarding Count Ian’s origins, Your Highness?”
“Yes. Frankly, I believed it mere rumor, but the fact that it’s surfaced twice suggests something exists. Not about his origins, but about his very existence.”
Proving one’s origins was hardly difficult. His biological mother, Philia, bore such striking resemblance to him and occupied a central position in the capital.
“Those harboring doubts will seize upon Philia rather than dig into Count Ian himself. It troubles me that she might suddenly vanish from sight. She will inevitably have to stand upon that platform, and I fear what that portends.”
“Philia is a formidable woman.”
“Only where Ian is concerned. But now she’s taken his younger brother under her wing as well. Should she overextend herself, everyone becomes uncomfortable.”
Ian would not welcome it either, nor would Jin himself. Without a single willing party, only harm would remain.
Jin gestured lightly to the servants preparing his attire, urging them forward.
“Make haste. No matter how I consider it, seeing and hearing things myself will prove faster than receiving reports from the Scribe.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I shall have a carriage prepared to take you to the Magic Ministry.”
“Very well.”
It would be better to meet with Ian directly, discuss this matter together, and then attend the grand assembly.
Doing so would prevent any faction from rising up to antagonize the Magic Ministry as they had before. With the Crown Prince Jin personally accompanying Ian, the matter’s central figure, it would be tantamount to completely refuting baseless rumors.
Yes, that was the course to take. Now that the Imperial Defense Ministry had come under Jin’s command, there was no reason for Ian to grow distant. For Bariel’s sake, and for his own. Jin needed to preserve the distance between them, ensuring Ian would not drift further away.
Whinnnnny!
Clop clop clop!
With preparations complete, Jin made swift passage toward the Magic Ministry. Dozens of servants scrambled urgently at the sudden departure, yet Jin paid them no mind and treaded the familiar path.
The Magic Ministry where, until recently, he had made his nest to escape Deilaina. The stairs had seemed so imposing then, but now they appeared far less daunting than he remembered.
“Your Highness. What brings you here?”
“Where is Count Ian?”
“He should be in his office at present.”
“Show me the way.”
“Ah, yes! This way, Your Highness!”
Jin proceeded toward the office under the guidance of the Magic Ministry Guard. The building seemed quieter than expected, as most of the mages had descended to observe the interrogation.
“Stand aside. I shall enter myself.”
Upon reaching Ian’s office, Jin raised his hand to stop the servant before he could announce his presence. Then, with his own hands, he opened the door and stepped inside.
Creeeeak.
Within the dim interior, thick with the scent of dust, Ian gazed intently at something, his back to the light.
In his composed gaze lay something cold and crystalline. Snow so pure it seemed it would scatter if one merely breathed upon it—resolute yet frigid, pitiful yet detached.
“Count Ian.”
Jin found himself calling out to Ian, and met his gaze as only his eyes moved.
* * *
“Your Highness.”
Ian brushed back his hair and laughed briefly, as though taken aback. The question was unspoken: how had he entered without a sound?
Jin stepped closer to Ian by one pace and asked.
“What were you looking at?”
“…Imperial palace records regarding the Rift. It concerns an incident that occurred near northern Bariel a thousand years ago, and it’s proving quite helpful.”
Jin examined the cover of the documents Ian held. They were different from materials that came from the palace archives.
“These appear to be court records?”
“…Yes. There’s something rather intriguing about them.”
“Show me.”
“It’s nothing of particular importance.”
“Hand them over.”
Jin strode forward and stood close to Ian. His entire being seemed to proclaim that he was no longer the Jin of old. The boy who once accepted everything as instructed had died and matured; now only the Prince remained alive—one who verified everything with his own eyes and ears.
Ian smiled wryly and reluctantly handed over the documents.
The papers rustled.
“Bandor?”
“After the Rift was sealed, these are court records concerning a man who called himself the Mage Bandor.”
Was it truly nothing? The boy furrowed his brow as he read through the text, then paused at the same passage.
“An abyss beneath the Rift? Isn’t the abyss the place where mages who practiced forbidden magic are said to fall?”
“It is.”
“…’Beneath this ground where we stand, there exists a world of their own.’….”
“Bandor was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to imprisonment. He died under mysterious circumstances while incarcerated, and no further records remain.”
“Then why bring this up?”
It was clear what they urgently needed to discover. How to stop the Rift. And moreover, whether there was a way to close it again as before.
It was natural to prioritize finding information to overcome the current situation, relegating court records of some unknown individual to the background. At least, that would be true of the Ian that Jin knew.
But the fact that this had surfaced meant there was certainly something in this content that had caught Ian’s attention.
“Bandor was the mage who led other mages and jumped into the fissure when it first appeared. I thought there might be some connection, so I looked into it. Please pay it no mind.”
“He jumped into the fissure? Is that actually true?”
“If the records are accurate. Ten years after the mages entered the Rift, the earth sealed the fissure again. We should verify whether there’s a meaningful causal relationship.”
“Wait!”
Jin interrupted Ian in alarm, startled by what he was implying. Surely he wasn’t suggesting sending mages into that fissure? Was he asking to sacrifice Bariel’s mages for Cliffford?
“That’s absurd. How could you send mages in? What’s the difference between that and sending living people into a pit of fire?”
“There is certainly another world beneath the Rift, separate from Gaia. Therefore, monsters exist there as well. We need to dispatch personnel for investigation. After a thousand years, Bariel has virtually no information about the Rift. And if we’re speaking of expertise, mages are indispensable.”
The situation a thousand years ago, when Bandor led mages into the Rift, was not so different from now. Surely Bandor then had also ventured forth with a sense of mission toward an unknown world.
“That incident occurred in northeastern Bariel then, but this one is happening in Cliffford now. If anyone goes, it should be Cliffford’s people.”
“Cliffford will certainly dispatch personnel as well. However, since they lack mages, they will naturally request support from nearby regions. Not only Bariel, but those wandering Ruswena and the northern territories will heed that call—”
“Count Ian!”
Jin cried out urgently. Sweat began to trickle down his spine without his realizing it. The nuance in Ian’s words seemed to suggest….
“Count Ian. You’re not thinking of going yourself, are you?”
It seemed as though he might throw himself directly into the Rift.
Jin grasped Ian’s sleeve and asked again.
“You cannot. I will not permit it. Not only you, Count Ian. Not a single mage of Bariel shall set foot into that unknown world. You are my subjects before you are mages.”
“…How admirable. The mages would be deeply moved to hear such words.”
“Ian!”
Ian patted Jin’s shoulder in a gesture of reassurance.
“Your Highness. Please do not worry. You know me, do you not? I am no reckless fool.”
“That sounds like you’re saying you’ll go once the information becomes more credible.”
“My, is that what it sounded like?”
“Count Ian is always like this. You never answer directly, only smile, so it falls to me to divine your meaning.”
As Jin’s brow furrowed, Ian’s smile only grew brighter, as if lamenting how such delicate features could be marred by displeasure.
“Your Highness. You heard from the Clerk, did you not?”
“The Clerk? Ah, yes. I was so bewildered that I came here directly—”
“King Damon will make the same statement at the grand council. That I am connected to the imperial family.”
“Then it would be better to strip him of his voice.”
“That cannot be done. Though he is a prisoner, he remains Burgos’s official king in name. In any case, once King Damon speaks, surely some among the officials will demand that my mother be summoned.”
“Yes. I had considered that as well.”
“But I do not intend to give my mother the truth serum. What difference would there be between what I drink and what she drinks? It would be meaningless. Besides, Captain Akorella has found no evidence of harm to a pregnant woman who consumed it.”
Jin’s eyes widened gradually. Then what was he planning to do?
“Your Highness. I have no means to clarify this controversy.”
The Boy, who had been studying Ian’s face intently, suddenly spoke, gripping Ian’s sleeve tightly.
“…You’re lying. You simply have no intention of explaining.”

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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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