The Slave Is Too Handsome - Chapter 96

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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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The slave is too handsome!
096.
“In any case, we are truly grateful that you have returned safely, Your Highness. I’m certain His Majesty will be delighted…….”
The Aide’s eyes blinked as if he’d forgotten what he was about to say.
His field of vision, which had held only the young prince, suddenly took in two men slung over a horse like cargo. By their dress, one was an assassin.
The Aide turned to look at the other man.
“And this person…….”
The Aide’s face stiffened as he recognized Felix from the Count’s house.
“Where is His Majesty? I’ll explain the details once we’re inside.”
“Ah, yes. We shall escort you to the Main Palace at once. His Majesty has not slept a wink these past several days.”
Before heading to the Main Palace, Lucian glanced back at Eloïse.
“I’ll go ahead to the Main Palace.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Lucian called over one of the knights.
“See that the young lady reaches her Quarters safely.”
“Very good, sir.”
Eloïse departed first, escorted by Frederick and a Royal Guard knight.
The Commander of the Guard approached Lucian with a question.
“Your Highness. What shall we do with the bodies? Should we move them to the mortuary for examination?”
Lucian shook his head.
“No. These come with me to the Main Palace.”
“Sir?”
“Grand Duke, you come as well.”
At Lucian’s words, Dominic, who had been leaning against a tree in the distance catching his breath, was aided by his two attendants.
“Let’s go. There’s no time to waste.”
Lucian set foot toward the Main Palace. Behind him followed his Aide, the Royal Guard knights, Grand Duke Dominic and his attendants. Last of all came the corpses of the assassins, bundled like cargo.
The end with Camilo was drawing near.
***
The persistent rain had cleared, and for the first time in days, the sky opened wide.
Through the great windows piercing the walls of the Central Hall, sunlight like silk poured in and illuminated the spacious interior, yet the gloom that filled the chamber refused to lift.
The Emperor, who had lost all appetite and sleep, sat upon the high seat with bloodshot eyes, waiting for news from the Royal Guard. His resolve to search for his son personally had been broken by everyone’s entreaties.
Even when the Empress, Nora the Empress Consort, Greta the Empress Consort, and his own children urged him to think of his health, he would not listen.
This was the second time now. The reality that he might lose his beloved son a second time filled him with despair.
“Is there still no word?”
The Emperor, barely supported by the firm chair, turned his gaze toward the Aide.
“……I’m afraid I have nothing to report as yet.”
Seeing the Aide hesitate, the Emperor brought his fist down on the armrest with a bang.
“What are these so-called knights of the empire doing? I’m not asking them to search the entire realm—can it truly be so difficult to find one man in the Imperial Palace Hunting Ground?!”
Just as his voice cracked with bitterness, the firmly shut doors of the Main Palace swung open.
Hope flickered across the Emperor’s dark face, only to fade.
The one who entered was not the eldest son for whom the Emperor had been so desperately searching, but his second son, Camilo.
“Your Majesty! I have urgent news!”
Camilo strode toward the Emperor, his cloak billowing behind him.
The angered Emperor fixed him with a fierce stare. His expression made clear that if the news was not what he wished to hear, there would be consequences.
“Do you know where I have just come from?”
At Camilo’s troubled expression, the Emperor’s face, already lined with deep wrinkles, grew heavier with concern.
“If this is idle talk, Camilo, I will not spare you.”
“I’ve just come from an Emergency Regular Council Meeting, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor’s suspicions had not deceived him. Right now, a mere council meeting was hardly the matter at hand.
“Get out of my sight.”
“No, you must hear this.”
Camilo, now close enough to speak face to face, looked down at his father with a tone that bordered on disrespect. The Aide moved to stop him, but Camilo raised his hand, blocking the older man’s intervention.
“The Council of Elders has decided in today’s meeting that the Royal Guard must cease their search.”
“What?”
The Emperor rose sharply from his seat at this infuriating news. Camilo continued with a regretful expression.
“I do not agree, but the Council seems to have concluded that there is no longer any hope of finding your brother.”
The Imperial Palace’s Royal Guard was primarily composed of the younger sons of the nobility. In other words, the Council of Elders had made clear their desire to withdraw their own children from what they deemed a pointless endeavor.
“Who dares halt the search?!”
“The Council of Elders is coming to the Main Palace now to state their position directly. I hope you will mediate carefully, Your Majesty. Surely, even if he is of royal blood, we must at least recover his remains.”
At the word “remains,” the Emperor swayed, and the Aide quickly steadied him. A deep cough racked his frame, violent enough to wrench his chest, and his face flushed crimson.
Camilo watched his father’s pitiful state with cold indifference.
‘How pathetically he clings to his thread of life.’
Just then, the doors of the Main Palace swung open again. At the welcome sound, Camilo smiled thinly.
“It seems they have arrived at last.”
Camilo turned to greet the guests warmly, but his expression twisted almost immediately.
Beyond the open doors, sunlight—so bright it was almost sharp—came pouring in.
The Emperor, Camilo, and the Aide all had to close their eyes once before they could make out the figure standing confidently before the threshold.
“I have returned, Your Majesty.”
A powerful voice echoed to the very ceiling of the hall.
Valensio, the empire’s firstborn prince whom the Emperor had sought so desperately, rode his horse boldly through the entrance. His expression was composed as he directed his gaze toward the high seat.
“Valensio.”
As the distance closed, the faces of the three who beheld him became increasingly clear.
The Emperor, whose countenance shone with the joy of witnessing a miracle; the Emperor’s Aide, visibly taken aback; and finally Camilo, whose eyes blazed with anger he made no effort to conceal.
Lucian met Camilo’s stare unflinching before relaxing his gaze and speaking with unhurried deliberation.
“There were various complications, and I have arrived later than intended. If I have caused Your Majesty any worry…….”
Before he could finish, the Emperor pulled his son into an embrace with all the strength he possessed.
“It is enough that you have returned alive. That is all that matters. How much you must have suffered.”
“…….”
“Go now and rest well.”
As he had done when they first met on Camilo’s birthday, the Emperor gently stroked Lucian’s back. Resting quietly in his father’s arms, Lucian parted his lips to speak.
“No, Father.”
The hand that had been caressing his grown son’s back stilled.
Hearing “Father” for the first time, the Emperor drew back slightly to examine his son’s face.
The young man who had returned from the brink of death carried an air of greater maturity.
“There is much I must tell you.”
Camilo let out a bitter laugh, grinding his teeth, while Lucian’s head turned slowly backward. The Emperor’s eyes followed.
The gaze of father and son fell upon a weary horse bearing muddy tracks, and upon the man bound atop it.
“Who is this…….”
“F-Felix!!!”
A young man who had just arrived with the Council of Elders at the Main Palace cried out in anguish.
He was Felix’s brother, Cedric, the eldest son of the Count’s house. He had remained at the Imperial Palace unable to depart while searching for his brother.
From a distance, Cedric recognized his brother at once and rushed toward him with no thought for propriety.
But his beloved brother was rigid, his body cold and stiff.
As Cedric lifted his brother from the horse and shook him desperately, he came to understand that Felix was beyond saving, and he howled like a wounded beast.
Watching this, Lucian’s face hardened.
Beyond the collapsed Cedric, the members of the Council of Elders finally appeared in the Main Palace.
Their expressions, which had been dark, changed at once.
“Your Highness!”
“Your Highness!!!”
The firstborn prince, whom they had believed dead, had returned alive.
In the faces of those who spotted Lucian shone expressions of wonder. Of course, some of them, like Camilo, allowed their inner disappointment to show before hastily composing themselves.
They passed by the Cedric brothers and approached the royal family, falling to their knees.
“We are relieved to see you unharmed.”
“But what in heaven’s name has occurred?”
One nobleman, raising his brow at the sight of Felix returned as a corpse, posed the question.
“Did you encounter a bear in the Hunting Ground?”
The Emperor too sent a look urging explanation toward Lucian. He pulled one corner of his mouth into a smile.
“A bear……. That would have been far preferable. Had it been a bear, the innocent Sir Felix would not have met such a terrible fate at so young an age.”
The councilors exchanged glances, eyes flickering rapidly between them.
Cedric stepped forward past them toward the royal family, his gaze upon Lucian fierce as if he beheld a mortal enemy of his house.
“Then what was it?! Why has my brother returned as a corpse?! Tell me!”
A Royal Guard knight moved instinctively to block Lucian’s path, but he waved the man aside.
“Sir Felix was murdered by order of someone in this room.”

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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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