Chapter 87

"A few palace guards conspired with the black mage to harm His Majesty. Fortunately, Prince Le'an discovered and thwarted their plan in advance, but they immediately fled after the plan failed and are now nowhere to be found. Whoever captures and brings them back alive will be greatly rewarded."

In the room where only two people were present, a slow voice echoed. In a lackluster tone, Le'an, who had been sitting at his desk examining the recent simultaneous disappearances of bodies, turned his head. Shait was sitting in a rocking chair, holding the proclamation as if he were about to deliver a speech.

"Does it not sit well with you?"

When Le'an asked, Shait put down the official document.

"Xunet is also your friend, and to Latil, he is a knight more loyal than anyone else. If you announce this, what will happen if Latil is not the lord?"

"What can we do about what has already been announced?"

Shait sighed.

"If Latil tries to kill you, I won't be able to stop him."

The sound of crumpling the document rustled. Le'an dipped his pen into the inkwell.

"If it turns out that Latil is not the lord, we can reannounce that it was a misunderstanding."

"Will Xunet's misunderstanding be completely resolved by that? Will Xunet forgive you? What about Latil?"

Shait noticed that Le'an was dipping his pen in the inkwell for too long. But by the time he realized it, Le'an had already taken out the pen and was signing the document as if nothing was wrong.

"Someone has to play the villain."

* * *

"Father said to pretend not to know that the imposter is an imposter and to get closer to him?"

Gesta frowned in confusion after receiving his father's instructions from Tri.

"Father doesn't intend to get involved in this matter?"

Tri quickly defended the Prime Minister.

"Of course not. He plans to solve this matter by working with Duke Artaxi."

"How?"

"He didn't go into detail about that."

"Right..."

"In my opinion, he gave these instructions because the imposter might realize and prepare if he detects his true identity in advance."

Gesta muttered weakly.

"Is he doing this because he's worried about my safety?"

"Of course, that's part of it."

Tri admitted and observed Gesta's reaction.

"Will you listen to the Prime Minister, young master?"

Gesta, unusually dissatisfied, eventually nodded.

"Alright. I won't show it."

Tri was relieved. He was worried that if Gesta openly distanced himself from the fake emperor, something might happen to him. Fortunately, the Prime Minister's advice was just right, so such an incident was unlikely to occur.

"Tri."

"Yes, young master."

"I'll do as Father says, but please do one more favor for me."

"A favor?"

After thinking for a moment, Gesta approached the desk, took out paper and a pen, and quickly wrote a letter after dipping the pen in ink. Before Tri could read the content, Gesta sealed it in an envelope and firmly sealed it with wax. He blew on the wax to dry it, wrote the address, and then handed the envelope to Tri. Tri, who had received the letter envelope by reflex, was surprised when he saw the address written on it.

"Why are you sending a letter here, young master?"

* * *

At the same time. Although in the same situation, having received letters from their fathers and decided to follow their fathers' orders, Lananwen's approach was completely different from Gesta's.

"If His Majesty comes to my room, please tell him I'm not feeling well and ask him to leave."

Lananwen instructed, and Cardun muttered weakly.

"Whether it's the real or the fake emperor, he rarely comes to the harem anyway."

When Lananwen gave him a cold look, Cardun reluctantly changed his words.

"Still, if he comes, I'll tell him not to enter."

Lananwen noticed the charred edges of the letter fragments from yesterday, which had fallen to the edge of the carpet, and picked them up, tearing them into small pieces with his fingernails. Cardun asked worriedly.

"But is it really true? Is the current emperor really an imposter?"

"How would I know? I haven't even seen His Majesty from a distance."

"Ah..."

When Cardun gave him a sympathetic look, Lananwen frowned.

"Don't look at me like that. Everyone else is in the same situation."

But life is full of surprises. Just as they were talking, the emperor really came to visit that evening.

"What do we do? Should I really say I'm sick? Really?"

Although they had discussed it beforehand, Cardun, finding it hard to refuse the emperor, asked Lananwen again, fidgeting.

"Say you're sick. Your stomach is churning, your stomach hurts, your head hurts, and you have muscle aches."

Still scared, Cardun fidgeted and finally mustered the courage to go out into the corridor. * * *

"Suddenly, the mercenary king has fled for love, Gesta is favored by the emperor, Lananwen is lying in bed sick to avoid the emperor, and the emperor has stopped visiting the high priest and me. I was wondering why."

As Tashir, who had been walking well, suddenly muttered strangely in front of a strange graffiti, his attendant, Hiellan, frowned.

"Sir, it's scary when you mumble to yourself while looking at the wall. And why did you leave out Klein? Is he being ignored?"

Hiellan didn't know that the graffiti was a secret symbol of the Black Forest, so he couldn't help but react this way. But to Tashir, the graffiti read 'Black Market, Flounder, Ice Tashir, Shrimp Cream.' The only person who could combine these words was... the real emperor.

"No, I don't understand how it came to this."

As Tashir muttered, Hiellan echoed the same words.

"Exactly. I don't understand why you're doing this."

Although Tashir seemed to get along well with the emperor, the emperor suddenly stopped visiting Tashir and started calling Gesta for walks and meals. Although he didn't visit at night, this was enough to say that the balance of favor had changed. But instead of thinking, the sub-leader calmly mumbled to himself, making Hiellan feel frustrated. Tashir, seeing Hiellan's frustration, chuckled and patted his back.

"A crisis is an opportunity. It's not my crisis, but an opportunity has come."

"What are you talking about?"

"The current emperor is an imposter."

After dropping this bombshell, Tashir turned and walked quickly ahead, leaving Hiellan standing there in a daze. The statement was so shocking that he couldn't process it immediately. Only after Tashir had walked far ahead did Hiellan jump up and run to his side, lowering his voice.

"Really?"

"Yes, he's in Carisen."

"Did you figure that out from this graffiti? But where are you going? This isn't the way to your quarters?"

If the current emperor is really an imposter, shouldn't we inform the leader immediately and come up with a plan? We should gather all the smart people in the guild and prepare. But where is Tashir going...?

"Why are you going to Lananwen's room?"

It was Lananwen's room.

"Hiellan."

"Yes, sub-leader."

"Bring the high priest too."

"Excuse me?"

* * *

Hiellan, who had called the high priest to Lananwen's room, could hear why Tashir had called the two of them.

"The current emperor is an imposter. I think Lananwen and the high priest also know this, so I thought we should discuss what to do among those who know the truth."

Tashir seemed to recall the story of Lananwen suddenly distancing himself from the emperor and guessed that he knew the truth. But even if that's the case, how can he be so sure? Hiellan, amazed and confused by the sub-leader's incredible drive, glanced at Lananwen. Fortunately, Lananwen was as expressionless as usual, which made Tashir's words seem true. Then, does the high priest already know? Hiellan, surprised, noticed that the high priest's expression was almost identical to his own. The high priest, who seemed to be hearing this for the first time, opened his mouth in surprise and quickly closed it when he met Hiellan's eyes.

'So he didn't know either.'

After all, there were no rumors about the high priest. Then why did the sub-leader insist on bringing the high priest? If the high priest didn't know about this, wouldn't it be dangerous to involve him along with Lananwen? Hiellan frowned, unable to understand the sub-leader's intentions. Meanwhile, Tashir sat at the table, calmly interlocking his fingers. Soon, the three men sat facing each other around the round table. Hiellan, worried about what the sub-leader would say, looked at Tashir. Lananwen, perhaps sharing the same concern, asked coldly.

"Do you know where His Majesty is? Is that why you came to me?"

Tashir raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not. I don't know that either."

A natural lie. It was so calm that Hiellan would have believed it if he hadn't heard about Carisen earlier. Hiellan became even more confused. After all, it didn't seem like the sub-leader was trying to solve the problem by being honest. What exactly is the sub-leader trying to do by bringing the high priest and Lananwen here? * * *

Even after hearing Aini's question, Kalain, who had already said he didn't know, Aini came to him again. Latil, at this point, suspected that Aini might be in love with Kalain and was being stubborn.

"Are you not human?"

Moreover, this time she asked an even stranger question. When Kalain made an unpleasant expression, Aini returned to her pained expression, but Latil, this time, felt that it was a bit too much.

'Why does she keep doing this when he says he doesn't know?'

In the end, Latil assigned Kalain to do something else and followed Aini, who had gone outside.

"Her Majesty, I apologize for the intrusion."

When Latil called from behind, Aini, who had been walking in thought, stopped.

"What is it?"

Although their relationship was objectively difficult to be good, Latil generally had a good opinion of Aini. Because of this, Latil had always pretended not to notice Aini's strange questions to Kalain. But if Aini continued like this, it would not only affect her reputation but also Kalain's. Aini might not care about the reputation she would receive for talking to Kalain without regard for others' opinions, but it was unfair for Kalain, who was only answering the empress's questions, to suffer the same reputation.

"I have a request. Please don't take my words too personally."

Aini nodded, as if inviting him to speak. Although he had come out of frustration, Latil hesitated a bit when it came to actually saying it. But if he didn't draw a clear line, both Aini and Kalain would be caught up in rumors. Latil steeled himself and made his request.

"You seem to visit too often, Her Majesty. Kalain is uncomfortable, so if you have no other business, I hope you won't visit anymore."