This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 256

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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 256

A vanguard rider heralding the victory galloped ahead, clearing the path, while knights bearing drums followed in his wake. Then came riders carrying the Imperial Flag, and behind them rode the Emperor Bloden astride Crockel, his bearing magnificent and unassailable.
To either side of him, the Captain of the Knights and Kimarise sat mounted on white horses, and directly behind them came the carriage in which I rode. The rest of the Knight Order stretched out in a long column behind me, following in formation.
“Long live the Emperor! Sob, sob, sob!”
“We behold the eternal savior of Ilpein!”
“May the Empire endure forever!”
As we passed through the capital’s gates and entered the Imperial Palace, the tears and cheers of the imperial subjects erupted so thunderously that my eardrums felt ready to burst.
The noise was so deafening that the drums of the knights riding ahead became inaudible.
Unable to restrain my curiosity, I peeked out through the gap in the curtains that shielded the window.
The crowds lining the thoroughfare bowed repeatedly and shouted acclamations, welcoming Bloden’s triumphal return with unbridled enthusiasm.
“Hailey, if you stepped out now, you’d have a much clearer view.”
It was Raven, seated across from me, speaking with a note of regret.
“You could also make it known who contributed to this peace.”
I started at this and quickly returned to my seat.
“Come now, don’t say such ominous things! I was merely curious about the scenery outside.”
Truth be told, when we entered the capital, I had wanted to skip this triumphal procession and make my way directly to the Imperial Palace. But Bloden insisted that I either ride beside him or mount an open carriage and wave to the imperial subjects.
He argued that having rendered such service in a matter concerning the very survival of the Empire, I deserved to be received with honors befitting a hero.
‘It’s a very honorable proposal, but I absolutely cannot accept it.’
If I revealed my name, face, and deeds in a place like this, from that moment forward I would be the object of endless attention.
‘Would that attention stop at being a private citizen? Wouldn’t nobles of every stripe approach me with political calculation in mind?’
The mere thought exhausted me.
‘I have no desire to wage war against mountains of bureaucratic documents.’
I was content to live as an ordinary imperial subject—Hailey—someone who could admire beautiful landscapes, laugh brightly when offered skewered rice cakes, and find joy in simple things.
I said I would go separately; Bloden said we would go together.
After much back-and-forth, the compromise we reached was for me to ride in an Imperial Palace carriage with curtains drawn on all sides, following directly behind Bloden.
Originally, I had planned to use the excuse that a carriage would take time to arrive, thereby making my case stick.
‘But I never imagined the Pocket Dimension would contain a carriage as well.’
Now that we were here, riding in a carriage to the Imperial Palace seemed rather fortunate.
‘Even though I can only see through the cracks, I can still witness the faces of those sending their trust and affection to Bloden.’
“Still, I do wish all the imperial subjects knew of your contributions, Hailey.”
If only Raven would stop complaining from beside me.

* * *

Bloden and Hailey were swallowed whole by Iturn. And once inside Iturn’s belly, no one had ever come back out.
Nelloa laughed as she relayed this news to Anna and Duke Roan.

‘Once we’ve cleared away all the Monster corpses piled beneath the Imperial Palace Gate and climb back up, you’ll become the first Emperor of the Roan Empire, and I’ll become the ruler of the entire world.’

Upon receiving this information, they distributed handbills they had prepared in advance and raised their forces.
Having waited and prepared for this day all along, the troops moved with perfect coordination.
Subduing the knights standing watch within the Imperial Palace proved remarkably easy. Anna knew the internal layout of the Palace better than anyone.
When Utra and Aer—along with the other key figures—were released from their confinement, the occupation of the Imperial Palace became even easier still.
Surrounding Count Enox and Raven Aner, who had been handling the Emperor’s duties in his stead, was child’s play.
Anna had won.
‘It should have been.’
Hanging upside down near the top of the Imperial Palace, Anna ground her teeth in the wind.

Her soldiers surrounded the area, then told Raven that Bloden was dead.
She had expected him to be so deeply shocked that he would surrender without resistance, but something beyond imagination occurred. An eerie aura shimmered across his entire body, and he transformed into a knight clad in black armor.

‘If His Majesty has fallen, you should not be drawing breath either.’

His gaze was extraordinary, and his voice—strange and suffused with rage—sent chills down her spine.
The black aura rippling across the knight’s form instantly became a skeletal steed with fire blazing in its eye sockets and a skeletal rider atop it.
The tide turned in an instant.
The skeleton legion seized Anna and all the soldiers she had brought with her alive and hung them upside down throughout the Imperial Palace.
Anna, Duke Roan, Utra, and Aer hung from the highest point in the Palace. The world spun before their eyes, and blood rushed to their heads.
Every time the wind blew, my body swayed. Not long after being suspended, an Imperial Palace building some distance away collapsed. The building I now hung from could tilt at any moment—the fear was suffocating.

‘If you curse each other in agony and die painfully, it will be a fitting end for wretches like you.’

The monster Raven, having spoken those words, did not kill them outright but vanished elsewhere.
Anna suppressed her terror and clenched her teeth.
It seemed over, but it wasn’t. Nelloa’s monster army still remained.
‘Once they arrive, the tide will turn again. If Raven could have finished everything alone, he would have revealed himself long ago.’
Having reached this conclusion, Anna surveyed the atmosphere below.
Suspended from the highest point, she could take in the capital’s chaos at a glance. The Imperial Palace staff fled from the skeletal cavalry, and a refugee procession had already begun forming along the capital’s main thoroughfare.
“Hehehehe.”
Witnessing that spectacle, laughter escaped her.
The military had failed to seize the Imperial Palace, yet the Ilpein Empire was collapsing. If she could endure this final trial, the birth of House Roan would be assured.
But Anna’s laughter did not last long.
From far away, an enormous bird emanating an ominous presence flew toward her, and the refugees’ procession froze in its tracks.
Moreover, the bird settled directly atop the Imperial Palace itself, just above Anna, and began grooming its feathers with disturbing elegance.
‘What on earth is this bird?’
The moment she opened her eyes wide to observe it, something pale entered her field of vision.
Splat!
A viscous sensation engulfed her entire body in an instant. She reflexively clamped her mouth shut and held her breath, but the problem was that she hung inverted.
As the revolting sensation reached even her nostrils, Anna grasped the true nature of what had befallen her.
“Ahhhhh! Ahhh! Hack! Cough!”
Confronted with an experience more horrible than death itself, Anna lost her composure and screamed hysterically.
“Uhhhhh! Ugh!”
“Shriek!”
“Gag! Cough!”
Duke Roan, Utra, and Aer, bound slightly below her, reacted identically. Despite the sudden bird-droppings assault causing complete chaos, the bird continued grooming its feathers with perfect composure.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately.
The ordeal—tears, mucus, and saliva pouring forth in torrents—ended an hour later. As light flickered across the filth coating their bodies, it vanished of its own accord.
Only then catching her breath, Anna found her eyes doubting what the landscape had become.
From far away, riders came galloping rapidly toward the Imperial Palace. The refugee procession split in two, and a formation soon advanced through its center.
‘What in the world is happening?’
Soon the ringing voice of the foremost rider reached Anna’s ears.
“The long battle has ended! His Majesty the Emperor approaches—clear the way!”
Disbelieving the news, Anna fixed her gaze intently upon the city.
Behind the rider, knights bearing drums appeared. Then the Imperial Flag was unfurled, cutting through the wind.
At that moment, Anna’s face went deathly pale.
Bloden, mounted upon an enormous wolf—the very man said to have been devoured by Iturn—was returning to the Imperial Palace amid the people’s acclaim.
“……N-no, that’s impossible. Nelloa? What happened to Nelloa?”
Whether Nelloa had fed her false information or circumstances had changed midway was beyond her knowing.
Yet one thing she could sense with absolute certainty.
She was finished.

* * *

Anna and the rebels hanging inverted, all having incurred Raven’s wrath, were forced to kneel at the Grand Parade Grounds. Bloden would handle appropriate measures himself; there was nothing more for me to concern myself with.
My only task was to feed the lunch box to the bird that had waited so patiently atop the Imperial Palace.
The bird, pecking delicately at first, soon gleamed with new intensity in its eyes and devoured the contents voraciously.
The lunch box emptied in moments. Rather than departing immediately, the bird gazed at the empty container with longing eyes before spreading its wings wide and soaring into the sky.
I thought that was the end of it.
—I want more of the food you made. Where should I fly you?
Not until the next day, when it placed a pendant in my hand with its beak and attempted direct communication, did I understand.

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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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