Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 515

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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 514
Fire. Special Orders
The Abyss.
When Damon heard that word, the faintest spark flickered across his eyes. Life kindled in those faded violet pupils. It was the moment when the single thread of hope I’d been clinging to through endless despair threatened to snap.
Damon lurched to his feet, lunging toward Ian, but was immediately restrained by his straitjacket and the soldiers surrounding him.
“Now you look like a man again.”
Thud.
Ian, legs crossed, tossed the paper and pen back in front of him. Damon didn’t pick them up. Ian added quietly.
“You think you’ve lost everything. That’s nonsense. It’s not over yet, Damon.”
For the past ten years, I had craved only death. Enduring this dark, damp solitary cell, I had repeatedly yearned to sever my own breath—all for the sake of the next life.
Regression. It was worth more than any treasure I had ever grasped from the throne.
“The Abyss held countless deaths. But that’s not the death you want, is it? I won’t waste words. Confess everything about your regression and the secrets of your bloodline. If you don’t, today will be your last day in Gaia.”
Damon would have lived according to my wishes until now. To one whose purpose was death, Jin could inflict no harm. He could remain silent, using his severed tongue as an excuse.
But not anymore. With Ian crawling up from the Abyss, his death was no longer a hostage or a hope.
“Write.”
At Ian’s gesture, a soldier pressed the pen into Damon’s hand. His fingers tightened slowly around it. Scratch, scratch. Like Ian before him, Damon hurled the paper and pen aside, glaring directly at him.
-The regression was Rutherford’s doing, and the bloodline was the price I paid.
“What a waste of paper. This is your last chance. Remember, this too is imperial property.”
Eventually, I would send Burgos a detailed bill for King Damon’s detention costs anyway.
Damon swept his hair back with the pen, and the soldiers standing behind him flinched. It was telling of what kind of disturbance he usually caused.
-In my first life, my brother killed me, and as I killed my brother in turn, drenched in blood, I heard a revelation. I would be given a next life, and it would be thanks to the royal blood on my hands.
A revelation. Ian’s brow furrowed, and he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Before he could crystallize what it was, Damon’s confession continued.
-So I needed many bloodlines. For what comes next, I required the sacrifice of those who shared blood with me.
“How did you meet Rutherford?”
-I didn’t meet him—I received him. Like a predetermined fate. He was the source of that voice that gave me the revelation.
No. The revelation came from the Underworld Deity. Rutherford is a mortal without magical power, and his reincarnation and my regression share a similar texture.
Royal bloodline. Was it their death that was needed? Suddenly, Ian grasped what that sense of déjà vu was.
‘The Arcen incident comes to mind. The royal family, demons. And bloodline.’
If the Underworld Deity rules the rifts, then all demons were born beneath his breath. To topple Bariel, the god’s blessing and the foundation of faith, destroying the imperial house was the most effective method.
‘But then, why Burgos?’
Was Burgos also a piece that formed Gaia? Or perhaps, by the Underworld Deity’s standards, ‘noble’ blood produced a special effect.
“Hmm.”
As Ian tapped his toes while lost in thought, Damon picked up the pen again.
-All the bloodlines went to Tooluun. That’s where Rutherford was. I didn’t receive reports on what happened to those who were sent, but they must be dead.
“What of your half-sister? Why was Bania alive?”
-Rutherford must have found her useful. Whatever role that was, I had no need to care or know what happened after she left my hands.
Having already sacrificed so much blood, he seemed to believe there would be a next life.
But truly? Like Rutherford, everything happened under the Underworld Deity’s grasp, masquerading as chance and fate. Would he really have a next life?
“…Does the House of Burgos also possess something like divine blessing?”
At the sudden question, Damon’s brow furrowed.
But for Ian, it was quite an important question. The Underworld Deity was targeting Bariel because Bariel’s faith formed the axis of the god’s existence. So if the Underworld Deity needed the blood of the Burgos royal family, there had to be a reason for it.
Damon chuckled and scratched out the letters.
-There’s no such thing. That Bariel over there gets to boast about being chosen, about divine blessings and whatnot, but Burgos has always been alone.
Ian’s eyes narrowed.
Then it meant the Underworld Deity desired something within the very ‘blood’ of the Burgos royal family itself. Ian decided he had learned enough and rose from his seat, issuing orders to the soldiers.
“Continue watching him as you have been.”
“Yes, understood.”
Clang!
As Ian turned to leave, Damon thrashed violently once more. It was a desperate resistance, demanding to know what would become of him, insisting he could not go to the abyss. His struggles were a wail of anguish.
Ian merely turned his head and looked back at him coldly.
“Prince Jin does not wish for you to live a third life. He desires that Bariel in the world where you will live remains steadfast beneath endless glory. He hopes your schemes will not leave even the smallest blemish upon it. However—”
Screech.
Ian grasped the iron door and murmured coldly.
“I, on the other hand, do not wish for you to be granted a complete death. Beyond death, my colleagues whom you killed await.”
Selena, who died in war without even closing her eyes. The greedy hands stretched out to possess the bodies of mages falling from the sky. The schemes that dared to toy with a colleague’s life as a means of propaganda.
Though ten years had passed, for me it felt like only yesterday, and the memories remained vivid. Of course, these were not memories that would fade with the passage of time.
“As for your disposition, I shall give it thought. It won’t take long, so wait as you have until now, as if dead. Soon there will be war between Bariel and Burgos, which means all the history that led to your existence will be severed.”
Isn’t it truly wondrous? That above oneself stretches an endless chain of parents and children, and through them one exists. But Damon, who left no children, would not be granted that wonder. Legitimacy would end here.
“You’ll have to watch that before you die, won’t you?”
Boom!
Ian’s provocation, laced with laughter, proved effective on Damon. His eyes reddened. The soldier restraining him secured his right arm once more, marveling at this change in Damon he had never witnessed before. Prince Jin had shown no such reaction.
“Thank you for your service.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
Ian left the tower accompanied by the soldiers’ farewells, with Romandro scurrying after him.
“Ugh, why does it smell so moldy in there? Really. It was quite something, wasn’t it? Ian?”
“Romandro. There is one thing I would like you to look into.”
“Hmm? What? Just tell me! God’s blessing upon Burgos? How would one even investigate such a thing? Hmm.”
Romandro pulled out a small piece of paper and prepared to take notes, but Ian shook his head.
“That would be helpful, but that’s not what I’m asking for.”
“Then what?”
“It’s about Princess Kaila of Marquis Hollin’s family. I would like you to investigate whether she shares bloodline with Burgos. She has seven children, but I haven’t heard much about the Countess.”
Now that he thought about it, Romandro had no recollection of hearing about her either. Likely because Princess Kaila had taken on the role of mistress of the household, the absence wasn’t felt. It didn’t seem to be due to death.
“Right. Yes. I’ll make some inquiries. But why?”
“I suddenly realized that King Damon and Princess Kaila have the same eye color. Their hair color is the same as well. That’s not common in Bariel. I’m suspicious whether the Marquis Hollin family’s trade in military supplies with Burgos is truly coincidence.”
“Well, that’s true. It’s not a common eye color. But, hmm. There wasn’t any major commotion in the process of obtaining the business contract, as I recall.”
“Yes. I ask as a matter of confirmation.”
“Understood. Royal family characteristics and all that—in any case, I’ll bring everything connected to it all linked together! But until when?”
I already have a mountain of work, you know?
Romandro blinked his eyes pitifully, waiting for Ian’s instruction. But as always, the answer that came fell short of his expectations.
“By this week. Before the matter concerning payment takes clearer shape would be ideal.”
“You certainly do take your time explaining something as simple as ‘bring it as quickly as possible.'”
First, I’d need to wipe away tears the moment I returned to the Magic Department. Romandro nodded in understanding and added the task to his list on paper.
“By the way, Ian, tell me more about what you mentioned earlier—the scarecrow of the Hollin Family.”
“Well, it’s exactly as it sounds. Transferring the territory to someone else. To someone like a scarecrow.”
Since the royal palace kept eyeing it, the solution was to let it slip from my hands entirely. I could transfer the territory’s ownership outright, or I could structure it as a lease with special clauses—terms that couldn’t be terminated midway, or penalties so astronomical that breaking them would be ruinous. The crucial part was creating a reasonable pretext to reject the royal palace’s transaction proposals.
“It can be used as a last resort, and if we do that, monitoring it moderately would be wise since the work becomes troublesome. There shouldn’t be any central nobles bold enough to challenge us, so we need to be cautious of foreign powers. Fictional figures are possible too, but they’d collapse too easily to be meaningful.”
A similar example would be Countess Merelrof. When the legitimate heir of the Merelrof line who could have succeeded the family disappeared into Toluun just before inheriting, she was left in limbo—yet she continues to rule that place now, doesn’t she? At least nominally.
The Marquis Hollin’s situation is much the same. The ownership could belong to someone else, but the influence could be maintained and pushed forward.
“If it’s a member of the Hollin Family who is absent from the capital, whose whereabouts are unclear, or who is practically missing, that would be ideal.”
“Are you perhaps talking about the Countess?”
“No. I was merely giving an example.”
“Huh? Right. Got it. The Countess… I should… look into… more carefully… Mm-hmm. Noted it down perfectly!”
As we discussed work matters, we arrived at the Magic Department before I knew it. I stopped short at the sight of the lobby, which was even more chaotic than usual, and Romandro, who had been studying his tattered papers, stumbled as he collided with my back.
“Ah, Ian!”
“Where have you been? We found you!”
“What is the matter?”
“Well, there’s nothing, but there is. Please approve these documents first, and I’ve placed the materials you asked for last time in your office. The report is currently being copied. I’ll have it ready within an hour—no, thirty minutes.”
“I’m next! I’ve been waiting since earlier!”
“Don’t joke around, I’ve been waiting since way before that!”
I stepped back and raised one hand as the commotion surged toward me. It was a signal for everyone to calm down for a moment. I knew they always worked in chaos, but why was it suddenly like this?
Romandro also sensed something was amiss and asked.
“What’s gotten into you all? Have you lost your minds?”
“You don’t have time for that either, Romandro.”
“Me? Me, why? What?”
“Prince Jin issued a special order. We’re to finish all work by the day after tomorrow. He said you and Ian were going somewhere?”

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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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