Chapter 104

Helena stood in front of Duke Valencius’s villa, where the spring flowers were beginning to bloom.

It was a magnificent palace filled with towering evergreens, remaining verdant even in winter and early spring.

She struck the bronze door knocker against the bronze plate below, making her presence known while thinking that it was less splendid than the rumors suggested.

It had been the same seven months ago when she last saw him; Valencius was still an enigmatic half-brother she could not understand.

Despite that, he possessed outstanding swordsmanship and magical skills, pushed matters forward with bold decisiveness, occasionally used power and title to force his way, and other times took a step back to summon people.

He was aware that he had various strengths and knew how to mix those strengths according to the situation.

‘He’s dangerous; he’s exactly the kind of person fit to become a major player.’

Such individuals often meet their end in the hands of a similar older sibling.

Lions do not nurture challengers.

Yet, despite the numerous incidents he was believed to have caused, Jeilliris had never beheaded Valencius in sacrifice.

Helena, who loved the army, quickly understood what that meant.

All his transgressions were either overlooked by the Emperor or helped the Emperor in some way.

This meant that he had led Infiltrators into the cathedral, assaulted holy knights, exiled Bishop Hong, cut down people in the slums, accepted bribes in the red-light district, decapitated dukes, sought to commit mass murder alongside the Ivory Tower, and even kidnapped a saint.

The realm he could be overlooked in had long since passed; it made sense that he had provided help.

That said, it was difficult to view Valencius as merely Jeilliris’s thoroughly controlled chess piece.

Helena was one of the few surviving royals who had personally witnessed Jeilliris’s blood-soaked coronation.

The Jeilliris she had discerned was not someone who played chess with opponents but one who wielded the chessboard like a bat to strike down their foes.

Having arrived in this world after killing her mother and then her father to sit at the pinnacle, the idea of her manipulating a duke was beyond imagination.

Thus, Helena concluded internally about Valencius.

He was someone who would, ‘When the Emperor had to resolve matters with force, step in first and resolve them with far lesser force and some trickery.’

From the Emperor Jeilliris’s point of view, there would surely be no minister who scratched that itch as well as he did.

Especially if that minister resembled him closely as an older brother.

What mattered was how long Jeilliris would trust Valencius.

‘Forever?’

If he became a threat to power, he would be removed, and since Jeilliris’s power derived from force, it had been proven two years ago that one could not defeat Jeilliris with force.

Rumors from the Marquisate of Purioaito suggested that she had captured a dragon from the Dragon Vein.

Valencius couldn’t possibly be unaware of that.

He was versatile but not supremely powerful.

Crucially, he always resolved issues in a way that went against public sentiment.

If the public sentiment towards Jeilliris was ‘the fearsome Emperor,’ then the sentiment towards Valencius was ‘the world’s scoundrel.’

Those who cannot win public sentiment, no matter how competent, do not pose a threat to power.

The twin siblings were certainly aware of that.

‘They both know. At least Valencius knows that even if people rise in rebellion because of him, he cannot win over public sentiment.’

At that moment, the door opened.

“Please come in, Your Excellency, Duke Helena.”

The villa’s steward was Rudi, a maid with kind features and bright green eyes.

With her wavy brown hair neatly tied up and thin-framed glasses on, she presented a tidy and modest demeanor, dressed in a black dress over a white blouse-style dress.

However, Helena couldn’t take her eyes off Rudi as they made their way toward the spacious reception room that doubled as a small banquet hall.

Trained to walk without wobbling as if drawing a triangle with her feet, her balance was solid enough not to falter even if a bull charged at her, yet she could leap to the second floor in an instant.

Despite walking quite quickly, her arms remained steady, indicating that it was the result of training to draw hidden daggers at any moment from her thighs or within her cloak.

The glasses she wore were ‘four-point glasses’ worth dozens of gold coins, and with them, she could swat a flying fly with an arrow.

Most importantly, the faint aura of prayer emanating from her slender shoulders was unmistakably that of a mana user.

‘An assassin. And a mana user at that. The maid rumored to be that cruel duel madman raised by Duke Valencius. Is that what I’m supposed to think?’

“Please disarm from here onwards.”

Helena genuinely hesitated when Rudi said that.

But that short-haired red-haired knight she had seen earlier on the palace’s side path, Tenitia, who boasted of her unmatched strength against the Infiltrator thugs in the slums, it would be meaningless to resist whether armed or not.

Fortunately, no blood scent wafted from inside the banquet room.

“I hope you take good care of this.”

She willingly relinquished her ornate longsword and stepped into the banquet hall.

* * *

Hadrian and Denia waved at the arriving Helena.

“Did you come?”

“Sister, you’re here?”

“It’s been a long time, you two.”

They had survived seven months and gained recognition for their abilities, allowing them to remain in the Imperial Palace.

Helena had joined ‘The Imperial Guard,’ Hadrian was part of the Finance Ministry under the Interior Ministry, and Denia entered the Imperial Magic Guild.

While they could meet if they wanted, and sometimes they even crossed paths by chance, they never had any private encounters.

Even if they did have a private meeting, it would be something beyond mere friendship, but Jeilliris and Valencius would not consider it that way.

‘Three royals with high nobility backgrounds are meeting.’

‘One is associated with the military, one with the finance department, and another with the magic guild.’

If they were Valencius, they would have likely had their heads chopped off on the spot.

Though it had been three months since Lancea was burned to death at the hands of the saint, there was no awkwardness between the three.

“Did you all just sit like vegetables for seven months?”

“Don’t even get me started. I only read novels for seven months.”

“That’s the same for me. The only number I saw in the Finance Ministry was the coffee cost after lunch.”

They had been crammed together in a small space for a whole year, adventuring and succeeding as comrades.

The five, who had been confined in a monastery a few days away from the capital, joined them, and they devoted some time to gossip.

“After praying all day for about four months, I really received grace. I feel like I could live there forever.”

“Don’t even say that. Here’s a forbidden book, and there’s a forbidden book. I tried to read and got caught in a three-day fasting prayer. They don’t hit you because you’re royalty, but they make you starve.”

“Over there… How should I call those sisters? They’re the concubines of the late Emperor. Technically they’re our mothers’ age, and their noble rank is much lower than ours, but they all stay in that convent. More of them are alive than I expected.”

“They seemed to be having a decent time. Sewing things with their own hands, praying, and having spent a few years caught in the power struggles between the First Prince and the Crown Prince, they all seemed to have shed any ambitions for power.”

As they were blooming with chatter, servants arrived to set the appetizers and plates.

However, despite the fragrant foods, none of the eight could focus on eating.

“The Duke Valencius enters.”

The maid, who had clearly witnessed several deaths, alerted them to the villa’s master with wide, gleaming eyes.

“Hmm.”

Hadrian stood up altogether, clearing his throat and straightening his appearance.

“Brother, what are you doing… and sister too?”

Denia was astonished at Hadrian’s demeanor toward his younger sibling, who was much lower in the line of succession.

She was even more shocked to see Helena rise and pull back her chin and puff out her chest.

“Aye!”

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

As the footsteps drew closer, everyone ultimately stood up.

“Why is everyone standing? Please eat. I prepared fresh ingredients.”

The eight survivors, also known as the eight traitors, all secretly held their breaths.

The imposing aura felt as strong, if not stronger, than when they last saw him seven months ago, projecting an even greater intimidation.

Merely having turned one year older, it felt like gazing upon a seasoned royal who had traversed the battlefields of the border and parliament for decades.

The gold-trimmed white uniform and red sash reminded them that he was favored as the Elder Brother in the Imperial Family, and his bright yellow eyes radiated a dangerous, inhuman atmosphere.

His cheerfully tousled platinum hair brought to mind the unpredictable nature of a runaway fireball, while his gaunt cheeks concealed the pressure behind a frivolous smile.

The scale marks remaining on his hand and the slight tilt in his gait due to the weight of a sword he always carried revealed that he was a skilled and powerful warrior.

The way he poured wine into his goblet and confidently drank it first conveyed a message of reconciliation and safety from a mature power player.

‘Still, he doesn’t seem intent on poisoning us outright.’

‘If he forces it, our necks will drop in an instant.’

‘This is a chance that could change our lives. I’ll prove my worth on the battlefield.’

‘Let’s get started, huh.’

‘Oh, God of Radiance, please let me get out of this damned monastery.’

‘Right. I wouldn’t die, would I? No, I could die.’

‘I want to go home. Please.’

With each of their thoughts, the meal began.

The royals felt as if they were merely chewing on paper, not tasting the expensive spices within the soup or the roasted beef and pork bathed in olive oil, nor the deep-fried chicken coated with starch flour, nor the smoky fish fillet from which the flesh had been stripped, nor even the fresh fruits whose origins they couldn’t perceive at all throughout the winter.

‘Does the seasoning taste weird? It’s delicious to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve only eaten undercooked lamb and jerky for days?’

Valencius, who was enjoying the fine cuisine, found it quite perplexing.

“Brothers and sisters, is the food not to everyone’s liking?”

Helena, eating in a dignified manner, firmly shook her head like a proper knight.

“No! It’s very delicious!”

Afterward, Hadrian, who aimed to pursue a path of administrative nobility, chimed in.

“I was eating less because I didn’t want to finish it all before the other siblings could taste it!”

Denia, leaving her pride behind outside the villa, added in.

“I’m eating a lot!”

Thus, the awkward meal came to a close.

* * *

Valencius sensed the atmosphere and decided to bring up business.

That would surely ease their minds.

“First, sister Helena, brother Hadrian, and sister Denia. Have you gotten accustomed to your work?”

Hadrian was about to yell that he hadn’t even touched his documents but refrained upon remembering that Valencius was a fighter who had survived after kidnapping a saint.

The three shared similar expressions.

“I’ll take your silence as agreement. And to the five beside you, I feel a bit sorry. I hadn’t actually planned to confine you to the monastery, but it was the Emperor’s order, so I had no choice but to comply.”

One replied with gritted teeth.

“It’s alright. Thanks to you, I escaped the chaos of central affairs and could clear my head.”

“Then I’m relieved.”

Valencius smiled gently and continued.

“You all remember the message I sent a few months back? I asked you to write letters, right? Do you recall?”

The three nodded first, followed by the five later.

“An oath of loyalty.”

“To persuade the maternal family.”

Valencius continued with a satisfied smile like a well-fed beast.

“I’m glad you remember well. The tone doesn’t matter. Pleas, persuasion, threats, or appeals. It doesn’t matter how many you write, but the more, the better. Whatever it may be, just make sure they say they’ll come to the capital to swear their loyalty. That’s all I need.”

Valencius made eye contact with each of the eight.

“If you succeed… as promised, I’ll give you what you desire. Opportunities for advancement or freedom, something like that. Of course, if you fail, you’ll have to return to a dull routine and weary days of being watched.”

“!”

“Of course, I’m not saying you have to do everything. The royal family will also send official documents, and there will be various means of carrots and sticks employed. You are merely one of those carrots or sticks, so don’t feel too burdened.”

What he said was, in fact, rather light-hearted.