novelraw Chapter 114 : Learning the Correct Way to Use the Profound Other (1)
Chapter 114 : Learning the Correct Way to Use the Profound Other (1)
"I was being serious, you know."
At the Crown Prince's words, the Sword Empress let out an elegant laugh and retorted.
"Then, I suppose I must show my sincerity as well."
Shing.
She drew the sword hanging at her side. Watching this, the Crown Prince still maintained his smile.
For a conversation between a nephew and an aunt meeting after a long time, it was quite bloodthirsty. Anyone watching would think it was a conversation between enemies, not between members of the royal family.
Watching this scene of a fucking, affectionless family conversation, I once again felt grateful for being born in the affectionate Demonic Path.
The Orthodox Faction, who smile to your face and stab you in the back without hesitation.
The bloody Imperial Family, who kill their siblings to take the throne.
The Demonic Path at least stabs you from the front, not the back, and they don't kill their siblings when passing down the position of the Cult Leader.
I, too, in the past, when I gave poison to my junior sister, didn't have someone else do it; I fed it to her myself. Ahem! Is this a little different from that?
Well, anyway, the situation was now touch-and-go.
"Your Highness, please stop."
"Your Highness, please stop."
The Black and White Twin Elders, who had been hiding like rats somewhere, pointed their swords at the Sword Empress. Calling the Sword Empress "Your Highness" felt a little awkward.
Even with swords pointed at her neck, the Sword Empress, far from reducing her aura, amplified it even more.
No matter how much of a spectacle a fight is, when the subjects are members of the royal family, it's bound to be uncomfortable for the spectator. If you're going to have a family feud, do it outside. Or just go all out and kill each other.
In my time, we really went all out. As a result, my junior sister stuck a knife in my gut. As expected, the straightforward Demonic Cult is the best.
And at the scene that followed, I let out a small sigh. It was because it ended surprisingly anticlimactically.
The Crown Prince shrugged and opened his mouth.
"That stubborn personality of yours is still the same. I've lost."
The Crown Prince had taken a step back. At that, the Sword Empress also sheathed her sword. The Black and White Twin Elders also hid themselves again. Here, I had a slight question. Since their identities were already revealed, they could have just stayed, so what was the point of using stealth to hide themselves again? Could it be that this was their identity? If so, I acknowledge it.
The Sword Empress, still standing tall, opened her mouth.
"The Imperial Family does not forget favors or grudges."
"I am aware."
An atmosphere emanated from the Sword Empress that didn't overwhelm people but naturally drew their attention. I naturally focused on the Sword Empress's following words. A soft voice echoed in the room.
"I received help from that child, and I was merely trying to repay it."
"Yes. I am aware of that as well."
Afterward, the Sword Empress suddenly knelt on one knee. I was flustered by it but also considered it natural. It should have been like this from the beginning.
"Your subject, the Sword Empress, greets the small sun of the current Imperial Family. Please forgive my rudeness just now."
The Crown Prince returned the words the Sword Empress had said to him just before.
"You are still quite playful."
The Sword Empress was still kneeling on one knee.
Anyone could see that it didn't look like a joke.
It seemed the Crown Prince had no sense of tact.
＊
Fortunately, the misunderstanding between the two seemed to have been resolved well through some process I was unaware of. The two sat side by side next to me and talked.
I watched them with my eyes open and thought. There are many other places, so why must they talk so loudly next to a patient?
"Ahem!"
I gave them a hint by clearing my throat, but the Sword Empress and the Crown Prince lightly ignored it.
With this, I was certain. The lack of tact in the Imperial Family is the identity of the Imperial Family.
"What is your purpose for coming here?"
At the Sword Empress's question, the Crown Prince just smiled brightly. For some reason, an urge to slap that face hard welled up inside me.
Fortunately, unlike me, the Sword Empress was a patient person.
"I should change the question. Is the Imperial Family involved in this matter?"
The smile disappeared from the Crown Prince's face, and a cold, stern expression was revealed.
"Yes. That is correct."
I could vaguely tell that this was the Crown Prince's true nature.
After a moment of silence, the Crown Prince made a proposal to the Sword Empress.
"Please return to the Imperial Family."
At that moment, I unknowingly shot up from the bed and opened my mouth.
"You can't!"
When I came to my senses, I realized once again that the parties conversing in this place were a Princess and a Crown Prince.
As if they hadn't expected anyone to dare interrupt their conversation, the two looked at me with puzzled eyes.
Nevertheless, I emphasized again.
"The Sword Empress!"
"Must go with me!"
I couldn't just let the Imperial Family snatch the Sword Empress away like this.
What was the reason I went through all this trouble, crossing the line between life and death twice!
Wasn't it all to recruit the Sword Empress!
I do all the hard work, and the Crown Prince gets to gobble up the sweet reward?
Shit! Does being royalty mean you can do anything!
Of course, it does. Still!
I looked at the Sword Empress with a pleading expression.
The Crown Prince glanced at me with a confident expression and then fixed his gaze on the Sword Empress.
The Sword Empress was looking only at the Crown Prince, not at me.
'Is it... over!'
Honestly, even I would probably follow if the Crown Prince asked me to go.
Isn't there a saying that if you're going to be a dog, be a dog of a high-ranking official's house?
In the end, I worked hard for nothing.
"As you know, Your Highness, I do not wish to be involved with the Imperial Family any longer."
"The Imperial Family is in a greater crisis than you think, Aunt. We need your strength."
"I am sorry, Your Highness. Instead, if you wish to punish me for this, please punish me as you see fit."
"If that's the case, I have no choice."
The Crown Prince rises from his seat. Shing, he draws his sword. Gulp. I swallowed my saliva.
Look at him drawing his sword right after his proposal was rejected!
'Ah, did I act out of turn earlier?'
I had jumped into their conversation in a fit of anger, but now I once again realized that the one who had come to snatch my rice bowl was not a dog, but the Crown Prince.
The fact that the sword currently pointed at the Sword Empress's neck would soon be pointed at me made me want to jump up and run away immediately, but I had no strength to do so, perhaps because I hadn't recovered from my injuries yet.
The Crown Prince put strength into his sword and opened his mouth.
"I, Crown Prince Ju Go-chi, on behalf of the Emperor, respecting your opinion, hereby strip you of all positions you hold in the Imperial Family as of this moment."
"Your subject, Ju Hae-ryeong! I accept the command!"
The Sword Empress's name known in the martial world is Ma Hae-ryeong. That was probably an alias, and Ju Hae-ryeong must be the Sword Empress's real name.
"Furthermore, the affairs of the Imperial Family are top-secret matters that must never be leaked to the outside."
"Yes. I am aware."
"I believe you also know what this means. Is that correct?"
"Yes. I am aware."
"Nevertheless, you have no intention of changing your mind?"
"Yes. That is correct."
'Is he going to kill her to silence her!'
"I, Ju Go-chi, taking all these circumstances into consideration, strip you of all authority as a member of the royal family. I hereby declare that you are now a person with no connection to the Imperial Family."
'Is he going to cut off the tail and then kill her to silence her!'
As expected, the Crown Prince raised his sword. Now he would bring it down on the Sword Empress's neck. If it were me, I would just say I'd go to the Imperial Family! Freedom is good, but you have to live first!
The Crown Prince brought his sword down. However, the sword was not aimed at the Sword Empress's neck, but at his own scabbard.
Click!
The Crown Prince turned away from the Sword Empress as if he had finished all his business. And then he suddenly looked at me.
"I apologize for using you. Due to the circumstances of the Imperial Family, I cannot explain in detail, but I could not enter Hainan recklessly."
Looking at the situation, I could somewhat understand what those circumstances were.
There would only be one thing in this world that even the Crown Prince couldn't do anything about.
An imperial decree.
And if the Crown Prince says he's sorry, I should just accept the apology. Who in their right mind would throw a tantrum here? Doesn't he know this? I don't know the Crown Prince well, but having experienced him twice, I know a little, and he definitely knows what he's doing.
"Your grace is boundless!"
Heh. Look at that smirking corner of his mouth!
"Thank you for understanding. Instead, if there is anything you desire, speak. I will grant it within the limits of what I can."
Ordinary people might get excited in this situation. But I am a person who, in the past, though not as much as the Crown Prince, has been intoxicated by the sweet taste of power.
Therefore, I knew that behind the sweetness, there always follows a bitter taste.
Just like alcohol.
When you're drunk, you're happier than anyone in the world, but when you wake up the next day, your head hurts as if it's going to break, and you resolve never to drink again. And then, when night comes, you find yourself drinking again.
This is the addictive nature of the drink called power.
"If you want money, I will give you money that will not run out even if you spend it until you die."
"If you want a woman, I will give you a woman of peerless beauty."
"If you want land, I will give you land so vast that it cannot be contained in your sight."
"If you want power, I will give you a position that no one in the world can treat lightly."
"What is it that you desire?"
It's sweet! Fuck, it's so sweet! If I don't take this, I'm just a pushover!
That's right. A person is someone who drinks until they are completely drunk, even knowing they'll be screwed the next day!
A gift from the Crown Prince?
This kind of opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, a true stroke of luck!
"Then, I..."
＊
The Crown Prince left.
He ordered me to keep silent about everything that had happened in Hainan. The threat that he would come to take my life wherever I was if I broke this was a bonus. And the Crown Prince took everyone involved in this incident with him.
According to rumors, those who were captured as slaves and those who were unjustly killed or suffered because of it would receive appropriate compensation, and those who participated in the bad deeds would probably rot in prison for the rest of their lives or lose their lives.
Well, since it was a matter of touching the salt business, one of the pillars of the Imperial Family, it was a natural result.
And now, I was lying silently in bed, feeling very depressed.
"Don't you regret it?"
The Sword Empress was looking at me with interest. I was sure I would do the same in the opposite situation.
Because I had a chance to have anything, but I kicked it away for all to see.
My money! My peerless beauty girlfriend! My land! My power!
This is how a pushover cries.
Let's meet again someday!
And the Sword Empress remained in Hainan.
Still, as family, he didn't give her any disadvantages except for taking away the Ju surname.
From now on, the Sword Empress would live her life as Ma Hae-ryeong, not Ju Hae-ryeong. She seemed satisfied with it, so it was a good thing. It is... right? I'm depressed. Should I have taken the money?
"You know, Sword Empress. If I had demanded something there, the Crown Prince would have demanded something more from me."
The drink is sweet, but the aftertaste is bitter. If you get drunk on that sweetness, you will learn the bitter taste of life that rings in your head the next day.
This is an immutable truth.
A poisoned chalice that, if swallowed, will surely lead to addiction, not just the pain of a ringing head the next day, but a threat to one's life.
So I couldn't demand anything.
"You endured well."
"I've always been good at enduring."
"I also have something I want to ask you."
I also had something I wanted to say to the Sword Empress. To be more precise, I had to hear the answer to the words I had blurted out in a fit of anger just now.
'I'll recruit the Sword Empress!'
And I was so bewildered by the Sword Empress's subsequent words that I couldn't say anything.
"Child of the Sword Emperor."
"Yes."
"Why do I feel the energy of the Heavenly Demon from you?"
A chilling killing intent constricted me.
"Speak correctly. Depending on the circumstances, I may have to kill you, my benefactor who saved my life."
Gulp.
It seems I'll die before I can recruit her.
(End of Chapter)