Chapter 332

(332)

Jeilliris’s sedan chair was painted pure white on the outside, adorned with gold trim, and a red flag hung from it.

She boarded it under the escort of the Platinum Knights, and I was about to summon my own carriage.

“Your Excellency?”

Jeilliris turned to look at me, one foot already lifted into the carriage, as if asking why I wasn’t following.

Her golden eyes were filled with a pure sense of inquiry.

“Yes, yes?”

In that moment, countless calculations raced through my mind.

We couldn’t seem too friendly, nor could we seem too uncomfortable. Even if we were twins, for a grown man and woman to share the same carriage would give the impression of being too close.

We were in front of the Great Cathedral on Sunday, and countless people were watching us. A careless move could trigger rumors, like “The Emperor kicked the Duke out of the carriage” or “The Duke refused to share the carriage with the Emperor.”

I hesitated for a moment before following her.

Thump.

The murmurs of the crowd lingered until the moment the door closed.

“The Emperor… actually let Duke Valencius ride in his carriage.”

“Perhaps this is to prevent him from rushing off to the red-light district and accumulating more sins.”

“Oh, you’re right. The Emperor is certainly no one to let even a relative run rampant without control.”

The reactions weren’t as bad as I feared.

Or perhaps… the rumor mongers were simply working hard.

“Your Excellency. What are you thinking about?”

Jeilliris looked at me intently and asked.

I was pondering how people might perceive our relationship. To respond this way would invite a question like, “Why bother worrying about what others think?”

So, I answered offhandedly.

“Upon reflection, Your Majesty’s carriage is completely the opposite in color tones compared to mine.”

She nodded slightly.

“I’ve also heard of the black carriage in the capital. It was painted black, adorned with gold embellishments, and a small purple flag hung from it. Thinking about it, it shares the same color scheme as my royal attire.”

Jeilliris liked black dresses embroidered with golden threads and purple jewels.

“Ah, may I ask if this reflects some inner desire of yours to drag me around wherever you please?”

“!?”

Her lazy voice carried a peculiar mix of mischief and a heavy sense of pressure. Her red lips curled slightly, revealing her canines.

To say something wrong here could potentially make me a traitor. If that happens, I’d likely be blamed and handed some wretched task.

I chose my words carefully.

“This carriage has a white base, gold trim, and a red flag hanging from it. However, there is no one who would claim that this reflects Your Majesty’s desire to drag me around.”

“Ho. How did you know? It precisely reflects that very desire.”

“Your Majesty doesn’t need to reflect such thoughts onto a carriage. Can’t you already drag me around and send me wherever you wish in real life?”

When reflecting on what I knew before my return, whenever Jeilliris wore such a sadistic smile, it was actually quite surprising—she was extremely bored.

Compared to past emperors who indulged in extravagant feasts when bored, held chariot races in the Colosseum, or even started wars, her expression of boredom seemed relatively healthy.

…Then again, if she’s bored, it’s possible she might think about starting a war, just like those emperors of old.

Today, I had already heard her talk about meteorites countless times.

I shook my head to dismiss the distracting thoughts.

In any case, when these moments arise, it’s best to give uninteresting answers; that way, she quickly loses interest.

“From the highest mountain in the north to the depths of the southern sea, wherever Your Majesty wishes to go, we can travel. Please do not use the carriage’s colors to pressure me.”

* * *

As I expected, Jeilliris did not try to turn me into a traitor anymore over the issue of the carriage color.

She leaned back on the seat, resting her head against the backrest.

I thought she might have fallen asleep, so I kept still, making sure my movements didn’t make any rustling noises.

At that moment, she lazily muttered,

“The Saint is wise indeed, attempting to conquer the Amir Dukedom with the strength of the Imperial Court.”

I calmly replied without hesitation.

“Yes, it will likely be a case of being properly utilized.”

“Since you serve the remnants of the old ways, one day you will inevitably clash with me. I plan to uproot all those remnants from this land.”

If someone else heard us, they might think we weren’t having a conversation but were merely confirming matters we already knew.

“Would Your Majesty not heed advice to first deal with the Infiltrators and the heterogeneous races before proceeding?”

“I know you well. I have no intention of postponing today’s tasks for tomorrow… Besides, they will only grow stronger, swelling like a tide. I must finish them off while I am still stronger.”

That was true, according to Jeilliris’ words.

“Rightly so.”

The numbers told a story.

The annual increase in the number of Infiltrators, magical realms, and the alien entities emerging from them was steadily rising.

It was incomparable to how it was a thousand years ago, even compared to a hundred years ago, there was a remarkable increase.

…It was as if this world itself was becoming more vulnerable to the old forces.

“While the Church creates public support for the war, we must tidy up internally.”

“Are you referring to Admiral Jin and the Merfolk?”

“I believe they have completely forgotten the thousand-year-old oath. Ridiculous. Neither I nor the late emperor could ever forget. Even during the civil war when emperors were changing every year or so, the oath was never forgotten.”

“So, Your Majesty plans to use maritime routes for this invasion?”

Jeilliris turned her head slightly to look at me as she remained leaning back.

Her posture, neck stretched out, was both eerie and beautiful.

“Yes. Only then can we effectively apply pressure both by sea and land.”

She then stretched her hands out into the air, drawing a map connecting the southern desert region of the empire to the Southern Continent.

“There’s the sea in the east and the desert in the west. It’s impossible to maintain supply lines by crossing the desert. We must advance while occupying the eastern coast of the Southern Continent.”

“Your Majesty, I understand what you’re about to say, but merely gesturing in the air doesn’t draw lines… Please don’t waste your Aura on such things.”

“Give me your hand.”

Thump.

Without even looking, she reached over and grabbed my right hand.

I promptly absorbed the ‘Invisible Hand’ Magic Tool gloves into my body in a rush.

She gripped my hand, forming a ‘7.’

Her hands, befitting a Sword Master’s perfect physique, were as smooth as porcelain and as soft as a carpet.

She spoke confidently, “This protruding peninsula will be the major battlefield. We must simultaneously attack this area while also advancing along the coast below.”

“Both the Tianchu Fleet and the newly acquired Ham Fleet seem necessary. This time, I will also participate personally. Do not interfere under any circumstances. This is an imperial decree.”

“When that happens, you should stay behind at the palace. All sorts of riffraff will crawl out while I am away. Deal with them accordingly.”

* * *

To be honest, from the moment she grabbed my hand, I didn’t quite hear anything properly.

I barely caught and responded to her final words.

“Your Majesty, the moment I remain alone in the capital, all sorts of suspicious eyes will be trained on me.”

Jeilliris clicked her tongue.

“The talk that you might usurp is truly getting tiresome. If you had such intentions, you would have done so long ago, when I disappeared into the magical realms.”

“Your Majesty.”

She looked at me with a careless smile.

Her golden eyes shone transparently.

“If you so desire, try calling yourself Emperor once. Just return when you’ve turned the Southern Continent into rubble and reclaimed my throne. You even hold the power to grant pardons, so isn’t it worth trying once? Success puts you at the pinnacle of the world, and failure still lets you keep your life.”

She had once said something similar.

“Even a world that can be seized whenever desired…”

In her eyes, this world might appear as though it was made of sugary craftsmanship.

I trembled at her tone and bowed my head.

“Your Majesty, please do not say such things even as a joke. It is most troubling.”

Bored by the conversation, she carelessly lowered the hand she had raised.

“Fine. Understood.”

Her hand remained gripped around mine as it fell onto the carriage seat.

I hesitated for a moment but asked:

“But Your Majesty…”

“What is it?”

“Will you not let go of my hand?”

It seemed she responded without much thought.

Had she given it much consideration, she wouldn’t have said it.

“I’m cold.”

It was August, the season when heatstroke patients were rampant, and Jeilliris had long reached the level of immunity against cold or heat.

Still, she continued to tightly grip my hand.

After pondering what to say, I remembered this was a carriage devoid of prying eyes.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I am cold as well.”

“Huh?”

A surprised exclamation escaped Jeilliris’ lips. Her golden eyes darted wide, transformed into a penetrating gaze, and her red lips visibly trembled.

It was a moment I wished to preserve in memory.

She soon leaned her head back again.

“I’m tired. Do not wake me until we return.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Her neck and ears grew unusually red, then the unique glow of blood magic flashed in her veins before quickly subsiding to white.

Without a word, I leaned my head back.

Still holding her hand…

…Pretending not to notice the gradually increasing weight on my shoulder…

* * *

Shaming the ancestors through my own mouth is akin to spitting on my own face, but since I’ve already spat quite a lot, I’ll be honest.

The emperors of the Solletarass Empire were bullies among bullies.

And it wasn’t just about conquering foreign lands, eradicating war prisoners affected by erosion to prevent them from becoming Infiltrators, conspiring with high nobles to wring out the common folk – they fundamentally distrusted others.

Even the first emperor did.

By marrying a dragon, he reached the pinnacle of the hybrid noble bloodline, ended the centuries-long race war with humanity emerging victorious, and founded the Solletarass Empire.

Of course, all humans celebrated at the time, ecstatic at their liberation from the oppression of other races.

“Long live humanity!”

“Finally, we are free.”

“Now we can live well too.”

He foresaw that human-on-human killing would soon begin and prepared in advance by keeping other races alive.

“Peace is a lie, and conscience grows cruel as it gathers. Only ambition truly exists. Relying solely on humanity won’t eliminate violence and oppression.”

“Knights and magicians are both hybrid races. If we consume all knights and magicians in the war process, we should be able to recreate them.”

This was the mindset of the emperor who ended centuries of racial oppression and ushered in a human-dominated era.

Despite having fought his entire life, he refrained from indulging in his own created peace.

He preserved other races to ensure the continuity of the knight race, spread the Church of Radiance to establish cultural hegemony across the continent, and patronized the Ivory Tower to preserve precious knowledge.

Critically, he reformed inheritance laws to implement the primogeniture without gender bias, suppressing civil wars over succession.

Thanks to this, we, the Solletarass Empire, have remained a great power after a thousand years.

In my humble opinion, as a human, I’m unsure, but as an emperor, he was the best.

He tied different races to this land in various forms.

The much-hated Elves were sent deep into the forests of unexplored territories, the Merfolk were positioned at the national borders with other countries to create a form of neutral zone, and the Dwarves were granted their own autonomy.

Merfolk were slightly different, though.

In reality, unlike the three races mentioned, they didn’t socially oppress humans.

Yes, historically, Merfolk had climbed to the surface to raid coastal villages and capture people, but that was in the unfortunate era when humans preyed on each other as well, and they were, compared to other non-human races, relatively angelic.

Plus, fundamentally, humans live on land, while Merfolk live in the sea, so naturally, they had fewer entanglements than with other races.

However, the first emperor had foreseen this.

He thought that the empire would expand, and only those who ruled rivers and seas would survive.

So, he pressured the king of the Merfolk.

The emperor’s consort, with her great divine power, boiled the deepest depths of the ocean.

In the end, he summoned the Merfolk king to the shrine on a moonlit night and made an oath:

Do not step onto land for the next thousand years.

Guard our seas for the next thousand years.

Do not become enemies with the royal family for the next thousand years.

There isn’t much time left now.

They are still deep in the ocean, dreaming and waiting.

We, too, have not forgotten.

Even though everyone else believes we have, we haven’t forgotten.