All the nobles who left the conference room were lifeless. It was because Aslei did not save any of his energy for them.
Some of the aristocrats praised the boldness of Duke Atreille and his ability to express his opinions in front of Aslei. And a few nobles close to him came up and asked:
“In the air… … Was the magic-written text ordered by the duke?”
At that question, Duke Atreille’s eyes grew fierce.
“Do you think I would have done something so childish?”
“If not, then who was it?”
If that person hadn’t intervened in time, they would all have died. Aslei’s eyes seemed to be on the verge of going berserk; they were sure of it.
“The Spirit King… … . Did the Duchess have those qualities?”
“… … .”
Even Duke Atreille didn’t know. Because there were only a few elementalists or spirit masters left in the empire. He wasn’t the type of father who had wanted to empower his daughter to become a wizard or swordsman in the first place.
Even as a child, the Duke of Atreille could not recall a two-way conversation between himself and Frisia. She simply obeyed and behaved well, and then compiled when she was told to marry the man he chose… … It was all he could think of.
The pair of father and daughter were not talkative and never had much to talk about, to begin with.
Their most recent conversation was when she came to the capital to do her duty as a noble and attended a party for the imperial family. They exchanged formal greetings, and he scolded her for a few things. Then he spotted Ryan pulling her aside to interrogate her.
“You’re unable to fulfill your duties as the Duke’s wife, aren’t you?”
What did he say after that? Frisia showed signs of displeasure, and Aslei, who had been elsewhere, started heading back in their direction.
The conversation ended abruptly. What Ryan pointed out was a very private and sensitive issue, so it was not something he could mention in front of Aslei.
The ‘duty’ Ryan was referring to was children.
“The important thing is that the person who will become emperor now believes that his wife is alive.”
In the Duke of Atreille’s eyes, it was a disrespectful, shallow lie, but in Aslei’s eyes, it seemed to be the truth.
He listened to the nobles’ words with a much-improved expression, as if that willingness to hope had restored and recovered his sanity and frozen and shattered heart.
“What do you plan to do? Don’t tell me you believed the words of some unknown wizard and became weak-hearted after?”
If Aslei were as crazy about his wife as he suspected, it would be possible for him to be installed as a puppet emperor. Assuming that Frisia came back alive.
However, no one else believed she was alive.
Frisia Tintalion fell to her death from the top of a deadly cliff. The most likely scenario was that the fire magic consumed her to her very marrow before she even had the chance to fall off the cliff.
Calmly, Duke Atreille thought objectively it must be true while neither too angry nor too sad about the fact.
‘Still, the child, her worth as my daughter…. her value is now exhausted.’
At least his daughter seemed to have a good grip on her husband. She was a stiff, cold, and guarded aristocratic child, so he had never considered her likable.
“… … My decision is still the same. We cannot leave a threat to the empire alone.”
Aslei Tintalion was troublesome.
As long as he existed, no one would want to become the empire’s emperor. Additionally, he was too strong and difficult to kill.
Since the empire could not function like this, they had agreed to elect Aslei as emperor for now.
And after he was established as the emperor, he would slowly kill him with poison. After that, the plan was to replace him with a new emperor.
‘Just because the madness of a madman has become less and more manageable, it doesn’t mean that he is no longer crazy. I can never allow a lunatic to remain on the throne.’
The only reason for elevating Aslei as emperor was because there were no other options.
The Duke of Atreille loosened his collar, feeling like he was being strangled.
For some reason, it felt like his dead daughter was begrudgingly glaring at him with resentment.
❁ ❁ ❁
Marianne never intended to recover Jeremy’s body.
She was shocked to find Jeremy’s head in the village. Because he wasn’t supposed to die yet.
In case of the worst-case scenario, she intended to regress again by sacrificing Jeremy again. Since the offering, Jeremy died first, Marianne was in a difficult situation.
But he was already dead, and his body was useless.
Jen misunderstood why Marianne looked so crestfallen and terrified. He thought she was mourning his murder.
So he took the initiative to retrieve his body without the slightest clue as to what she was truly feeling.
‘Who on earth brought this village to this state?’
It was Marianne who instructed how to lure Aslei. However, she had advised to pretend that a monster had attacked someone, not to use the entire village as bait.
By searching through the village looking for Jeremy’s severed limbs, Marianne was able to gather clues.
Blade marks were left on the villagers’ bodies; they were not injuries done by monsters.
Julien, intent on killing Aslei, must have massacred the villagers and lit an incense that attracted demons.
All the nobles who left the conference room were lifeless. It was because Aslei did not save any of his energy for them.
Some of the aristocrats praised the boldness of Duke Atreille and his ability to express his opinions in front of Aslei. And a few nobles close to him came up and asked:
“In the air… … Was the magic-written text ordered by the duke?”
At that question, Duke Atreille’s eyes grew fierce.
“Do you think I would have done something so childish?”
“If not, then who was it?”
If that person hadn’t intervened in time, they would all have died. Aslei’s eyes seemed to be on the verge of going berserk; they were sure of it.
“The Spirit King… … . Did the Duchess have those qualities?”
“… … .”
Even Duke Atreille didn’t know. Because there were only a few elementalists or spirit masters left in the empire. He wasn’t the type of father who had wanted to empower his daughter to become a wizard or swordsman in the first place.
Even as a child, the Duke of Atreille could not recall a two-way conversation between himself and Frisia. She simply obeyed and behaved well, and then compiled when she was told to marry the man he chose… … It was all he could think of.
The pair of father and daughter were not talkative and never had much to talk about, to begin with.
Their most recent conversation was when she came to the capital to do her duty as a noble and attended a party for the imperial family. They exchanged formal greetings, and he scolded her for a few things. Then he spotted Ryan pulling her aside to interrogate her.
“You’re unable to fulfill your duties as the Duke’s wife, aren’t you?”
What did he say after that? Frisia showed signs of displeasure, and Aslei, who had been elsewhere, started heading back in their direction.
The conversation ended abruptly. What Ryan pointed out was a very private and sensitive issue, so it was not something he could mention in front of Aslei.
The ‘duty’ Ryan was referring to was children.
“The important thing is that the person who will become emperor now believes that his wife is alive.”
In the Duke of Atreille’s eyes, it was a disrespectful, shallow lie, but in Aslei’s eyes, it seemed to be the truth.
He listened to the nobles’ words with a much-improved expression, as if that willingness to hope had restored and recovered his sanity and frozen and shattered heart.
“What do you plan to do? Don’t tell me you believed the words of some unknown wizard and became weak-hearted after?”
If Aslei were as crazy about his wife as he suspected, it would be possible for him to be installed as a puppet emperor. Assuming that Frisia came back alive.
However, no one else believed she was alive.
Frisia Tintalion fell to her death from the top of a deadly cliff. The most likely scenario was that the fire magic consumed her to her very marrow before she even had the chance to fall off the cliff.
Calmly, Duke Atreille thought objectively it must be true while neither too angry nor too sad about the fact.
‘Still, the child, her worth as my daughter…. her value is now exhausted.’
At least his daughter seemed to have a good grip on her husband. She was a stiff, cold, and guarded aristocratic child, so he had never considered her likable.
“… … My decision is still the same. We cannot leave a threat to the empire alone.”
Aslei Tintalion was troublesome.
As long as he existed, no one would want to become the empire’s emperor. Additionally, he was too strong and difficult to kill.
Since the empire could not function like this, they had agreed to elect Aslei as emperor for now.
And after he was established as the emperor, he would slowly kill him with poison. After that, the plan was to replace him with a new emperor.
‘Just because the madness of a madman has become less and more manageable, it doesn’t mean that he is no longer crazy. I can never allow a lunatic to remain on the throne.’
The only reason for elevating Aslei as emperor was because there were no other options.
The Duke of Atreille loosened his collar, feeling like he was being strangled.
For some reason, it felt like his dead daughter was begrudgingly glaring at him with resentment.
❁ ❁ ❁
Marianne never intended to recover Jeremy’s body.
She was shocked to find Jeremy’s head in the village. Because he wasn’t supposed to die yet.
In case of the worst-case scenario, she intended to regress again by sacrificing Jeremy again. Since the offering, Jeremy died first, Marianne was in a difficult situation.
But he was already dead, and his body was useless.
Jen misunderstood why Marianne looked so crestfallen and terrified. He thought she was mourning his murder.
So he took the initiative to retrieve his body without the slightest clue as to what she was truly feeling.
‘Who on earth brought this village to this state?’
It was Marianne who instructed how to lure Aslei. However, she had advised to pretend that a monster had attacked someone, not to use the entire village as bait.
By searching through the village looking for Jeremy’s severed limbs, Marianne was able to gather clues.
Blade marks were left on the villagers’ bodies; they were not injuries done by monsters.
Julien, intent on killing Aslei, must have massacred the villagers and lit an incense that attracted demons.
