The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 98

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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 98
Serion recalled his younger brother’s face.
Gentle as a puppy’s, always wearing a melancholy expression.
Being his only brother, Serion had bullied and provoked Arnen since childhood, yet Arnen had never once sought revenge.
He would startle at the mere pretense of a blow, and obey whenever Serion commanded.
He rarely disobeyed or resisted his will.
If pressed to recall an exception, there was only that one time—the day Arnen had traveled to a Different Dimension and contradicted him before the Emperor and Empress.
Serion had beaten him several times for it, though it wasn’t something he dwelt on long.
After all, the loss of composure that day had been Serion’s own fault.
As Arnen grew older, he became even better at placating his elder brother.
Whenever nobles praised Arnen’s virtue over his own, Serion would think of killing him—only to change his mind each time.
The fool kept proving useful.
“Brother, the pirates in the South Sea have attacked another vessel. The Emperor still doesn’t know.”
“…I should reduce the stationed imperial garrison by half.”
“To let the situation worsen? Then you’d go down with the excuse of exterminating them?”
“Perhaps.”
“While you’re at it, I’ll go hunting with the Emperor!”
Sometimes Arnen had blinded the Emperor’s eyes to things.
“Count Bendalian broke the drinking ordinance? And gambled too?”
“If it becomes known, he could lose his title.”
“…Then threaten him to hand over that Golden Mana Stone.”
Sometimes he helped Serion obtain what he desired.
Yet Serion had still considered killing him several times.
The fact that he was the only other Direct Line royal blood besides himself had always grated on him.
And seeing Arnen grow cleverer as he matured.
Serion had sent him to war a few times out of spite, but the fool had somehow survived, then praised Serion to the Emperor for his safe return, crediting his brother’s grace.
Recently too—hadn’t Arnen taken the blame for several of Serion’s own blunders?
It would have been wasteful to kill him.
Sometimes Serion wished that men like Teo would scratch his itch as thoroughly as Arnen did.
“Well, you have your uses, I suppose.”
Serion turned his gaze back to Teo and gestured subtly to Akto.
“For instance.”
“Agh!”
Before Akto could even settle on what or how to swing, Teo let out a scream.
At the same moment, hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor, and the door to Serion’s chamber burst open.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince!”
“You’ve arrived, Duke Osborn.”
Serion smiled as if he’d been expecting this.
Osborn’s gaze swept between Teo and Serion, then caught sight of Teo’s swollen cheek.
His brow furrowed sharply.
“Leave us, Teo.”
He gave the order as Teo was already departing.
“You’ve done it again.”
Once Teo was gone, Osborn’s voice rang through the chamber, heavy with anger.
There was no concern in it, no paternal warmth.
Only rage and humiliation.
Osborn’s pride had been wounded—his only son, his firstborn, being treated so poorly.
“Don’t be alarmed. He was insubordinate, so I merely reminded him of order, for once.”
Serion answered lazily, and Osborn’s expression hardened further.
“You have everything you want, don’t you? Must you do this?”
“Everything I want? Are you certain?”
“I’ve scraped together every Special Mana Stone I could find and brought it to you. Do you have any idea what that costs?”
“Not particularly useful, as it turns out. Opening that object requires something of a higher dimension, as you were told. And besides—”
Serion’s expression showed not a trace of apology.
“If you dislike it, you’re free to withdraw now. Once you let go of me, I wonder what remains for the Duke’s House.”
“……”
Osborn gritted his teeth.
His position within the Duke’s House hadn’t changed in years.
Or rather, it had declined.
The seat he’d only recently secured on the Nobility Council—Cain had obtained it far too easily.
With two seats representing the Duke’s House, whatever Osborn did no longer carried the same weight with the Duke.
Melina and Debron had both subtly distanced themselves from him, and he could no longer command the House’s resources and wealth as freely as before.
“Don’t worry too much.”
Serion smiled, as if he knew exactly what Osborn was thinking.
“As I’ve said before, I have no intention of letting Cain Bellaon or Bael Bellaon become the Duke’s heir. Do your part well, and once I become Emperor, I’ll see you get what you desire.”
“…Thank you, Your Highness.”
“As for the 7 Knights… look into them a bit.”
Serion murmured, and Osborn tilted his head.
“What do you mean?”
“Weaknesses, secrets, origins—anything at all.”
He answered.
“I believe all people are capable of betrayal.”
“…I’ll investigate.”
“Keep Teo out of my sight for the next two days.”
His tone grew colder, more imperious.
“He’s becoming duller by the day.”
“Teo…”
Osborn’s face fell with sudden concern.
“What of any others?”
“Others? Surely you don’t have a bastard as well?”
“…I have a daughter.”
At this revelation, Serion burst into laughter.
“Ha—you mean to attach that little girl to me and produce an Empress?”
“…!”
At this uncomfortable truth, Osborn fell silent, and Serion shook his head in disbelief.
“I have no interest in little girls, and her father is merely a Duke—which is to say, you.”
“…Your Highness!”
Osborn trembled at such naked arrogance.
“Unless she happens to suit my taste, of course.”
Serion paused, gazing into empty space.
Sunlit blonde hair appeared in his mind, and green eyes that sparkled when they smiled.
“A girl with eyes as sorrowful as your daughter’s is nothing like what I want.”
“……”
“I have other plans anyway. You may withdraw.”
Serion waved his hand dismissively.
He didn’t even watch as Osborn turned to leave, his face burning with shame.
Serion’s golden eyes fixed once more on a point in the void.
“Time to focus.”
He murmured to himself.
That fool had actually survived, and now far more people crowded around Luciel.
“……”
Serion’s long fingers drummed against the armrest of his chair.
The face of that girl—laughing as she’d claimed victory and the 7 Knights on the day of the tournament—kept surfacing in his mind.
A face that wouldn’t bend to his will.
He could bear it no longer.
It was time to act again.
* * *
“Ha, swear loyalty to you? Who said that?”
The Mage Scholar Barkcliff snorted and popped a fried zucchini slice into his mouth.
He greedily grabbed an egg roll as well.
“The knights said so. They all did, you know?”
Luciel protested plaintively.
“I brought a whole batch of choux pastries, and they all loved them.”
“Choux? Those little breadcrumbs made of flour and cream? The overly sweet ones?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Those men, really—falling for a single dish like that…Slurp, smack.”
He set down his chopsticks with a clatter after cleaning his plate, and asked,
“They have no pride whatsoever, it seems.”

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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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