Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 65

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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 65. Hearts Gathering
“Good heavens, what in the world is all this?”
“They say there was chaos in the middle of the night?”
“What happened? Who did it?”
“Ian was attacked on his way back to the manor.”
“What?! How did it happen?”
“Isn’t that what they’re investigating right now? I came out to distribute Gula and got caught up in this mess.”
“Ian? Is one of these corpses Ian?”
As dawn broke, everyone learned what had transpired in the early morning hours. With corpses piled like mountains blocking the alleyway, there was no way to keep it secret. And what of the blood flowing out onto the main street?
While the guards lined up the bodies in a row to identify them, everyone else stepped back at a distance and whispered among themselves.
Meanwhile, the manor itself was equally chaotic, particularly the basement of the main building.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
Only two of the attackers had survived.
One was presumed to be Petreio, and the other was an unidentified man. Among them, Petreio screamed with a gag in his mouth, his entire body drenched in sweat, tears, and blood.
“Do you know how terrible your condition is right now?”
“Ugh….”
“At this rate, you’ll die. Once we confirm your identity, I’ll have a physician attend to you.”
In truth, a physician had already visited while he was unconscious. But given how grotesque and severe the wounds were, the examination concluded he would be lucky to survive three more days. Berik pressed cloth against his face repeatedly, expressing his frustration.
“Just open your mouth already!”
“Aaaahhhhh!”
“Stop that noise! Damn it, anyone watching would think I’m torturing him!”
Bound to a chair with a gag in his mouth, what they were doing was closer to nursing than torture. They wiped away filth with lukewarm water, but because so much skin had been stripped away, even that felt like agony to him.
“Ugh…”
“Berik. That’s enough. Strip off all his clothes.”
“His clothes? All of them?”
“Don’t leave a single piece of fabric.”
“Got it.”
Berik complied with my order despite his displeasure.
Petreio was military. While I didn’t know exactly how he operated, it was clear he had served under the Imperial Palace’s command. Based on his age, he seemed to have participated in numerous large and small battles, and in such cases, soldiers often had their status marked on their bodies. This was so that even if they became corpses torn to shreds on the battlefield, they could still return to their homeland.
“Ah? Is this it?”
As Berik removed his upper garment, he discovered a tattoo on the left side of his ribs. But someone had deliberately scarred it, scratching away the flesh. It had been prepared very thoroughly.
“Tsk.”
I bent slightly at the waist to examine the wound, then met his eyes. Even with his abdomen pierced and his face melting away, his eyes hadn’t lost their light. Men like this rarely opened their mouths easily. Mollin would know that very well.
“I don’t want to torture someone who’s about to die anyway.”
“….”
“But a true warrior never forgets revenge. I hope you have no one dear to you. The man who carries the name Petreio will meet the same death as you.”
It was a calm but extremely cruel statement. In truth, I had no real intention of doing so, but I threw it out to probe for any weakness in Petreio. As expected, he showed no reaction.
“…Keep watching him carefully.”
“Okay. Phew. The smell of blood is nauseating. Really.”
I had no choice but to leave the cleanup to Berik and slipped out into the basement corridor.
Creak.
“…Aaaaaahhh!”
Petreio’s scream leaked through the closing door before cutting off abruptly. As I moved toward the opposite end of the corridor, I heard someone tumbling down the stairs.
Thud! Clatter! Bang bang!
“I, I, Ian!”
“Ah. Romandro. You’ve awakened.”
“This! This! Good heavens….”
He rushed over immediately, dressed in surprisingly light clothing. Grabbing my shoulders and scanning me up and down, he seemed flustered to find me in such perfect condition.
“I heard that more than a dozen strong men died….”
“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Indeed, indeed! Mana users truly are different! Indeed!”
“Please, calm yourself first.”
Berik would have been astounded had he heard this. I was the one who fought desperately, yet somehow I couldn’t understand why Ian was receiving such praise.
“A man named Petreio conspired and caused this incident. He appears to be one of Mollin’s subordinates, but the moment we captured him, he destroyed his face with poison, making identification impossible. We’re investigating, but he keeps mentioning strange names.”
“W, what about Mollin and his group?”
“They’re in much the same situation.”
In response to Romandro’s question, I gestured with my chin toward the room at the end of the corridor. It was where Mollin and two other men were confined.
“What will you do now?”
Romandro paced before me, then asked as though he couldn’t see any clear answer. In truth, even if it were proven that Mollin had tried to kill me, there was nothing that would officially trouble him by custom. Mollin was an administrator of the Imperial Palace, and I, by his own account, was a commoner stationed in the desert. Though I was a mana user and responsible for the estate, none of that constituted an official position.
“Will you kill him?”
“No. I wish to decline any further investigation teams being sent down from the Imperial Palace.”
If I killed Mollin, the Imperial Palace would simply send more people. If luck was poor, Prince Gail’s faction might even send an army to eliminate me entirely.
“Then?”
“This is not a decision for me to make.”
“…Eh?”
“Did I not tell you? That I would prove myself. So please convey this to Prince Marib. I will comply with his judgment.”
Proving that I was not on Gail’s side was the cleanest and most flawless approach beyond this. I could roughly predict the situation at the Imperial Palace, but that was merely speculation. I couldn’t be certain what Mollin’s death would bring, so I was deferring that role to Marib.
“Then until a response arrives….”
“We’ll keep him there. That much is fine.”
“Understood. I’ll send a messenger immediately.”
“Ah. Wait a moment, Romandro.”
I caught him as he rushed toward the stairs. I handed him a ring wrapped carefully in cloth. The simple design was a silver band, with a small needle inside and discoloration from poison around it.
“Have you perhaps heard of anything like this? When it pierces, the face melts away instantly.”
“Hmm. Let me see….”
Romandro leaned his head back and narrowed his eyes.
“Are they trying to use this again?”
“Can it be used again?”
“Well, you’d need a craftsman to reinsert the needle, but it’s not entirely unusable. The poison is likely Tebarfin. It’s used by assassins to hide their identities, or there, human traffickers primarily use it for crimes…. That’s it.”
Human trafficking or organ smuggling, and the like.
It was a toxic substance actively used in crimes where the victim’s identity must not be revealed. In my era, it was never used, so it was somewhat shocking.
“Such a thing exists?”
“You might not know about it. Why are you so surprised?”
A hundred years ago, they actually used such a potent toxic substance. A chill ran down my spine. How many crimes had been committed and buried because of corpse desecration?
Certainly, in my time, this poison wasn’t even recognized as such. It must have been designated as a prohibited substance at some point, but I couldn’t determine when or why.
Romandro glanced at me, then said he would write a letter and ascended to the upper floor.
“I’ll send it as quickly as possible.”
“Yes. Thank you for your help. I’ll see you later.”
I wrapped the ring in cloth again and placed it in my inner pocket. Then I approached the end of the corridor where Mollin and his group were confined.
“Has there been any disturbance inside?”
“No, there hasn’t been.”
“Open the door.”
Click.
At my command, the Gatekeeper unlocked a lock the size of an adult’s fist. Wooden dishes lay scattered on the floor as if someone had thrown animal feed.
Mac reflexively stood up at the sound of the door opening.
“Ian, you bastard!”
But he was immediately restrained by the guards. I picked up the overturned wooden bowl and placed it on the table, then asked.
“Did you sleep well?”
“How dare a lowborn wretch act so carelessly! Do you know who we are and still do this? Open the door at once! If you don’t, I’ll kill you! The Imperial Palace won’t let you off!”
This time, Dgor also made no effort to hide his agitation. He rushed forward as if to grab me by the collar and began to protest.
“We came on the orders of the Imperial Palace! Treating us this way is an insult to the center! Act as befits the Borderlands! Cheonrye Tribe! You should also conduct yourselves properly! Ian currently belongs to the Cheonrye Tribe, as everyone knows! If someone of his standing treats an Imperial Palace administrator this way, do you not understand what that means?”
“That’s precisely why you’re still alive.”
“What, what did you say?”
“If it weren’t for the Imperial Palace flag, you wouldn’t be eating right now—you’d be sitting in Petreio’s place.”
As I spoke, I pulled out the ring. Holding the band with cloth, I thrust it close to Mac’s face. He flinched and instinctively recoiled, knowing what the object was.
“Petreio!”
“The investigation is ongoing. Even if the face has necrosed, the existence doesn’t disappear. And haven’t you already heard about it?”
The red brooch Berik had shown me. Their secret conversation had been recorded intact. But Mollin’s group wasn’t intimidated. Instead, they shouted defiantly and claimed injustice.
“We know nothing of this! If you’re so confident, hold a formal trial! What kind of process is this? How dare a nameless wretch—”
“The estate itself has lost its name, so how could a person retain theirs? Dgor, this is the Borderlands. Not the Capital where you came from.”
I brushed dust from Mac’s disheveled collar as I muttered.
“A subordinate’s mistake is the superior’s mistake. Above all, the Warriors of the Great Desert don’t take vengeance lightly. There’s a conclusion that naturally follows from the brooch, and I have no intention of simply letting this pass.”
To be precise, I would punish Mollin’s group according to Prince Marib’s orders. I looked at the barley porridge scattered on the floor and issued a warning.
“Food is precious.”
It was a warning that if they did this again, they might end up eating what fell on the floor. I signaled the guards to watch them carefully and stepped outside.
Clang.
“Ian! Ian, sir!”
That’s when Hena came rushing down into the basement, calling for me.
“What is it?”
“The Estate Villagers have all come—in a huge crowd!”
The Estate Villagers? Why on earth? What could be the reason?
But Hena was in a hurry, her feet barely touching the ground as she rushed ahead.
Following her, I considered several possibilities. Was this to plunder Gula? Or perhaps reinforcements Mollin had arranged?
“Ian!”
As I emerged from the basement, sunlight poured down brilliantly. Below, the Estate Villagers had gathered, each holding wildflowers or small fruits. They too looked startled to see me.
“You’re perfectly fine!”
“Thank goodness! Thank goodness!”
“Who, huh? Who was spouting nonsense? They said you took a terrible blade wound across your back?”
“We were so worried. They said you were attacked fiercely in the middle of the night… the alley was soaked with blood.”
“You’re alright, aren’t you? We were concerned when you came out in the middle of the night.”
“Shh! Keep quiet! The central bastards might hear.”
“Ian. Please take this. It’s small, but substantial.”
The Estate Villagers surrounding me poured out their worries without pause. They examined me with their eyes for any wounds, and pressed gifts into my hands. In an instant, my arms overflowed with flowers and fruit.
“This is all….”
I fell silent for a moment, gazing down at the flowers. Only then did I remember what had sustained me through the weight of the crown these past three short years.
Such small smiles. This was everything.
“You’ve all arrived at the perfect time. Romandro has finally given his permission.”
“Really? He’s given permission?”
“Permission for the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of Gula.”
“Incredible!”
“Thank you! Thank you!”
At this unexpectedly good news, everyone embraced and bounced excitedly. I gestured for them to calm down, and they all looked at me with sparkling eyes.
“But there are conditions.”
“Just tell us!”
Everyone chattered cheerfully, imagining a prosperous winter in their hearts. I handed the flowers and fruit to Hena and spoke.
“Have all the Estate Villagers gather in the square this afternoon. I’ll announce it and explain the details.”

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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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