Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 53

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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 53. Hang the Rope
Yet the gag remained firmly in my mouth. I was meant to witness the world’s end in shame, carrying the frustration of being unable to leave even a final word behind.
Count Derga’s eyes burst crimson as he blinked, his expression becoming utterly indescribable.
“Die!”
Countless voices cried out for his death. With his clothes stripped away, he was nothing but a pathetic human, yet I couldn’t fathom what had made him so abhorrent.
“Hang the rope.”
“Hang the rope!”
The noose tightened around Count Derga’s neck. Five investigators below began pulling the thick rope. His body rose gradually into the air.
“Gaahhhhh….”
“Whoever harbors grievance against this man, cast your stones. The stones you throw shall become the counterweight of Bariel and the wall that fortifies the imperial palace’s dignity.”
He thrashed and convulsed, but only caused the rope to tighten further. The suspended Count resembled a freshly skinned pig.
Laughter erupted from the crowd, while the Cheonrye warriors, led by Kakantir, rose expressionlessly to witness his final moments.
“Waahhh!”
“Throw! Kill him!”
Thud! Crack!
Dozens of stones flew at once toward the execution platform. Erika retreated under the protection of her investigators, watching Count Derga suspended in the air, pelted by rocks.
Then it happened.
Whoosh! Thunk!
A spear shot like lightning, piercing Count Derga’s ribs. One of the Cheonrye warriors had hurled it. The crowd hesitated momentarily in shock, but the fever that had risen could not be so easily quelled.
“Derga!”
Whoosh! Whack!
Dozens of spears flew into Count Derga’s writhing body. It was retribution born of Cheonrye vengeance. Most lodged in his thighs and back, blood dripping steadily down the shafts.
Whoooosh!
And finally. Kakantir, who had been honing the sharp spearpoint, furrowed his brow as he traced the trajectory. Count Derga’s body had begun to sag. Kakantir threw without hesitation, and it pierced his chest with a sound incomparable to the other warriors’ throws.
It must have been precisely the heart, I thought.
“Ughhhh….”
Count Derga, his eyes rolled back in white, exhaled his last breath. Soon after, the rope ceased its trembling entirely, and everyone witnessed Count Derga’s death.
“Count Derga Bratz is dead.”
“Count Derga Bratz is dead!”
Boooooo—
The horn’s call signaling the end. The crowd cheered, hurling insults at the corpse. They celebrated the festival, using the commander’s declaration as their refrain.
I merely observed the spectacle with a peculiar gaze.
“Are you quite well, Lord Ian?”
“…Pardon? Are you speaking to me?”
“You didn’t throw anything. In truth, shouldn’t your hands have strangled Derga’s neck instead of that rope?”
Kakantir glanced at me obliquely. Strangling someone’s neck in another’s stead—hardly a pleasant matter.
“I’m not sure. But now that he’s dead, I feel strangely unsettled. Words I never got to say come to mind.”
“Words you never got to say?”
Words demanding an apology to the illegitimate Ian.
Not to Emperor Ian, but to the illegitimate Ian.
In this life, history had changed, but had things gone as they originally would have, I would have crossed the border and become nothing more than a handful of sand. At such a young age, for no reason other than carrying the blood of a count. After my death, Philia, the boy’s biological mother, would have followed. Mrs. Mary would never have allowed otherwise.
“Doesn’t it feel refreshing now that it’s over?”
“It does, but I know this is only the beginning.”
I gazed silently at Count Derga’s body swaying in the wind. From this moment forward, the name Bratz would vanish from the world forever.
* * *
Count Derga’s corpse was scheduled to hang in the square for several days. It was necessary to make certain that those who defied Variel understood the fate that awaited them.
Erika asked her subordinate while cleaning up after the execution.
“Any word from the Central Army reinforcements?”
“Yes, it came. But the thing is….”
“What? What else?”
“The traces of Mrs. Mary and Chel have disappeared.”
“Damn it. From where?”
“It seems they never even spotted the targets entering the forest. They’re continuing the search using traces of fire and such, but the trail cuts off abruptly near the valley. They’re having a hard time. And….”
“And?”
Please, let it not be more bad news.
The subordinate, reading the look in Erika’s eyes, answered with considerable difficulty.
“They also received a dispatch from the Assembly.”
“…What?”
“If the pursuit of Mrs. Mary and Chel is delayed, the soldiers are to return to the capital. There’s an order to recall all soldiers dispatched to the provinces, but I’m not sure if this is an Assembly decision or not.”
It was Prince Marib. Since he had noticed that Prince Gail had stationed soldiers in the provincial territories, this was an appropriate countermeasure. But Erika, unaware of this, simply squeezed her eyes shut and muttered.
“This is infuriating.”
Mrs. Mary and Chel couldn’t be found even with the Central Army reinforcements thrown at them, so how was she supposed to pursue them with only her investigators? Even if she did chase after them, she would certainly be torn to shreds by those two Cheonrye tribesmen.
“But Erika, didn’t you receive a letter from Mollin?”
“What letter?”
“The support commander said that Mollin received instructions to follow the Assembly’s decision for now. He’s asking what we should do, but since I hadn’t heard anything, I couldn’t respond.”
“Mollin received contact?”
Erika’s head snapped around in surprise. If Mollin had sent word to the Central Army commander, he would never have failed to send word to her. It was then that Erika realized something was wrong with the dispatch.
“With the mana stone, there’s no way it could have gotten lost.”
Like the brooch, mana stones formed from a single piece developed a magical affinity with each other, guiding the pigeon’s destination with even greater precision. It would wait motionless right in front of the window.
The subordinate pondered before offering an opinion.
“Aren’t there many hawks at the mansion? Could one have eaten it….”
That made sense. Erika’s expression darkened immediately, and she rushed out without another word. Her subordinates called out to her as she was cleaning up the square, but Erika charged straight toward the mansion.
Crash!
“Ian! Ian!”
“…What is the matter?”
“I need to cut open the bellies of every hawk chick we have here.”
She appeared suddenly demanding to cut open the hawks’ bellies. I set down my documents, and the Cheonrye warriors also looked bewildered. But they soon realized she was serious and began to threaten.
“Don’t mess around. We’ll cut open your belly before any hawk’s gets cut.”
“If a single feather is plucked, we’ll handle it ourselves. Do you want to hang next to Derga?”
“The hawks must have eaten the dispatch!”
“Ah, the carrier pigeon.”
I nodded as if I’d finally understood. Erika, witnessing this, hesitated and wore an expression of suspicion.
“You knew?”
“To be precise, it wasn’t eaten by a hawk—there was an accident. I buried the carrier pigeon properly and set aside the mana stone separately.”
“How dare you steal the imperial palace’s carrier pigeon? That’s treason, Ian!”
“It wasn’t the palace’s. Mollin sent it personally.”
Upon hearing those words, Erika’s heart sank. What could Mollin have written? He wasn’t foolish enough to leave their plans in writing. Yet it could appear as evidence of rebellion if examined later.
Erika’s attitude softened.
“Return it to me.”
“Of course. I intended to give it as a gift when you leave Bratz. Dispose of Count Derga’s corpse within three days.”
Leave within three days, and I’ll return the letter—that’s what I was saying. Either way, she’d be driven out regardless, but I was giving her a convenient excuse to choose her own path.
“The letter from Lord Mollin seemed quite urgent. If you leave immediately rather than in three days, we’d be even more grateful.”
Erika’s pupils trembled as she guessed at the letter’s contents.
In truth, it was merely that there were problems with the lord’s appointment and that I’d soon descend with an advisor. But Erika had no way of knowing that. It was essentially a letter written to console her heartbreak rather than convey news.
Erika’s hands trembled as she recited word by word.
“Fine. Tomorrow at once—I’ll retrieve the corpse and leave.”
“A welcome decision to hear.”
“Ian, just as I’m leaving, you too must depart before the advisor arrives. Don’t think you’ll be free simply because you haven’t inherited Bratz’s name.”
She spoke as if cursing with desperate longing.
But her words had no effect on me whatsoever. When I showed no particular reaction, Erika glared at the Cheonryeo warriors and continued.
“An advisor is officially appointed to manage the territory. It means you’re not someone to play nobleman with, a bastard from the red-light district backed by savages.”
“I’d suggest retracting the word ‘savages,’ Captain Erika. When the advisor arrives and inquires about your whereabouts, it could become difficult for me.”
It would be hard to deliver such a threat to kill so gracefully. But for Erika, stripped of her title and forced to wander the borderlands chasing after Mary and Chel indefinitely, the words barely registered.
“I’ll return. When I do, you’d best prepare yourself. I’ll grind every grain of sand in the Great Desert to dust.”
“I don’t believe that will happen.”
“Don’t harbor vain dreams, Ian. It’s pathetic.”
At Erika’s words, I placed my hand over my chest and offered a nobleman’s bow. Then came the surging tide of mana. My green eyes shifted to gold as an incomprehensible flow of power manifested. Erika could only stare, entranced and bewildered.
*Zing.*
“You too should abandon your vain hope of returning, Captain Erika, and instead search for Mary and Chel’s corpses to report back to the capital. If luck isn’t on your side, you’re destined to die abroad.”
“…A mana user?”
“Then please go. I cannot see you far on your way.”
“…”
Even the warriors, seeing it for the first time, watched me with interest. But that was brief. Upon witnessing me return to normal moments later, their enthusiasm deflated entirely.
“Is that what magic is? That’s it?”
“Ah, that’s what Berik showed us back then.”
“They say it’s different once you become a mage?”
“What is that anyway? How does it work?”
“I don’t know either, just picked it up somewhere, man.”
Leaving the Cheonryeo warriors chattering away in excitement, Erika walked out the door in a daze.
A mana user.
I could see how Ian had manipulated the Cheonryeo Tribe and gained the confidence to become a lord.
“Erika, are you alright? What do you think?”
“A mana user, no less.”
Rather than being demoted to slavery, the capital would be clamoring for her to come up.
Erika realized for the first time that she had been utterly defeated by Bratz. Her subordinate approached to gauge her condition, but she was in no state to respond.
“Erika?”
“…Pack our belongings.”
“Pardon?”
“We’re leaving the territory. Go hand over Count Derga’s corpse to the Central Army, and we’ll pursue Mrs. Mary and Chel.”
There was nothing more futile than chasing the dead. Since hardship awaited regardless, it was better to begin as quickly as possible and at least show sincerity to the imperial palace.
Meanwhile, Ian reviewed documents while listening to the warriors’ banter. He gazed toward the distant blue forest and thought of someone.
“It’s about time…”
Time to see Philia. His biological mother, hiding somewhere in the forest. With Count Derga and his family dead and his son returned, there was no need to remain hidden any longer—but what truly mattered was something else.
‘How Ian came to possess the flowerpot.’
She was the only one who knew that clue.

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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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