Chapter 296

Tara and Lloyd decide on a plan and we get an update on the other players.

This chapter is dedicated to PetCodePeter! Thank you for your support!

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Episode 296: About Two Months (4)

My father’s tirade began with “That damn brat” and progressed through a string of curses before ending with, “That scoundrel was always a good-for-nothing! It was my mistake to expect anything from him. My mistake.”

Then he added, “I should have known long ago that he was such a dark-hearted wretch, but oh well… Our family is just too kind-hearted…”

I listened quietly, feeling guilty.

On the day I was captured and arrested in the Palace, my family—my father, in particular—believed my words completely without question. Their faith filled me with new resolve.

I would do anything to prevent our family from completely falling into ruin.

“Father,” I said calmly.

Only then did he let out a deep sigh and finish his long tirade.

“Haa… Yes. I’m sure you’re going through worse.”

“We must separate public and private matters, Father. And I’m fine. It was largely my fault. It was an easy assumption for him to make given the circumstances… But... That’s a matter for another time. In any case, it doesn’t matter now. I just need to make sure our family doesn’t fall into ruin. So, if the best option isn’t available, I’ll strive for the second-best, and if not that, then even the lesser of two evils. All of it is better than the worst-case scenario of our family being completely destroyed.”

My father’s eyes looked at me with more pity than ever before. “Yes, yes. “So, how exactly do you plan to help that rotten bastard?” 

“The Second Prince has severed ties with our family. So we have no justification to intervene now. But what if we help him anyway? We’d be at least making up for the mistake Logan made.”

Father listened to my words while quietly gazing at the reddening evening sky.

“Separate the public from the private... If we redeem ourselves to the public, Logan’s crime—merely being on the list of Club members—might not be pursued. After all, he didn’t actually participate in the protest. But your espionage case...”

“It will be resolved once the Second Prince returns and deals with the people who are actually pulling the strings. My lawyer and I are fully prepared to fight the charges. Even if the ringleader isn’t caught, they can only accuse me of being a spy—they won’t have enough proof. If I insist I copied the map out of simple curiosity they won’t have any concrete evidence to prove the charges.”

To be honest, I wasn’t entirely confident that was the case. I was the only person who had approached the map. No further proof beyond that would be necessary to convict me. But I didn’t want my father to know I had those concerns.

He nodded at my discreet explanation.

"Yes, I see. It would be preferable if things turn out as you predict, but it's also prudent to plan a defence for the alternative outcome."

"Indeed. Now. Please elaborate on the order you were given to move the knights."

“On the day of the incident, that very morning the Second Prince suddenly came to see me and said he had a request. He asked me to redeploy our knights, the ones who had been sent to the East for the joint training. He told me to order them back to the Capital’s training grounds in preparation for impending chaos—specifically, an attempt to usurp the throne.”

At the mention of “usurp the throne,” my neck stiffened with tension. I rubbed it to release the pressure. The timing of it seemed significant. The Emperor had been on the verge of naming a successor, and the Second Prince had been discussing the possibility of someone trying to implement a coup. The timing lined up very intentionally.

"When did he ask you to move them?"

"I took it he wanted me to move right away."

“Ah...”

A sigh of regret escaped my lips before I could stop it.

The knights of both House Kezak and House Elias had disbanded two weeks ago.

My father turned his gaze away from the window bathed in the red glow of the sunset and looked me straight in the eye.

His voice was calm. “I don’t know whether it was fortunate or not, but the Second Prince’s request arrived after only some of our Knights had already departed for the Central Region. And the next day, he canceled the request, and we didn't issue an order for the remaining Knights to return to the Capital. So, that means part of our forces are still intact in the East. Of course, the order of disbandment has already been sent to them, but they will be returning to their quarters here to pack their belongings first.”

“What do you mean?”

"Perhaps the troops would benefit from one final training session near the Capital Training Grounds before coming here to pack their things. It would leave them with fond memories, don't you agree?"

I swallowed hard, my throat tightening.

Somehow, it was possible!

This was the man who had led the Elias Trading Company to become one of the top five merchants in the Empire. Even though it didn't always seem like it, my father certainly had the spirit of a gambler.

“But something seems off.”

"What?" 

“Both the Kezak Knight Corps, gathered near the Capital, and the Spencer Knight Corps, who left the joint training exercise, have also been disbanded. Could something have gone wrong?”

“Hmm… The operation might have failed.”

For a moment, the two of us were enveloped in a deep silence. If the Second Prince’s operation had failed, it could mean he was dead somewhere—or, since his Aurore still lingered within me, he wasn’t dead, but otherwise stuck.

Even if he was still alive, he might have been so severely injured that he couldn’t carry out the fight for the crown.

Feeling my heart race, I placed my hand over my chest and pressed down gently.

"Tara? Are you alright?"

“I’m fine, Father. I just realized that we need to find confirmation.”

“How?”

"Tomorrow I'm going to accompany Bernard to Tandra. I'll verify our suspicions with the Emperor myself. After that, then we can properly decide the future of this family."

"I will come with you." 

I immediately shook my head.

“We’ve already had our property confiscated on suspicion of aiding the Second Prince. If you get involved with the Emperor, Father, things will only get worse. I’ll go by myself and make my way back as carefully as possible.”

“.....”

Father fell silent for a moment, lost in thought, then spoke as if he had made up his mind.

“I will issue you a letter certifying that you are acting on behalf of the Head of the Elias Family.”

"Why would you do that?!"

“We don’t have time to waste. We can't wait for you to confirm the truth with the Emperor, return, discuss, and then go back to Tandra again to negotiate. So go there, get the confirmation, and if it is as we suspect, we will offer our help, effective immediately. If there’s still a chance for our family to escape this quagmire and climb to greater heights, we must seize it! As you said, we must do everything we can to avoid the worst-case scenario.”

If the transfer of imperial power concluded like this, it went without saying that our family would be utterly ruined. That outcome was so easy to foresee that it was almost tangible. In that future, not even a glimmer of hope for recovery would remain.

***

The Imperial Palace./ The following evening.

In the Grand Banquet Hall of the Imperial Palace, the National Foundation Day banquet—the first to be held without the Emperor’s presence—was in full swing.

Although he had not yet been formally named Crown Prince, Joseph sprawled upon the Imperial throne where the Emperor typically sat, draped in the Crown Prince’s regalia. His table was surrounded by a flock of nobles, his mouth curved into a benevolent smile.

The room was filled with unceasing laughter and chatter. Most of the banquet guests watched intently, their eyes gleaming as they tried to find a way to position themselves closer to the throne.

Everyone knew the story of how the Emperor had collapsed upon hearing the news of the Second Prince’s death and been paralyzed on one side. He was reportedly incapable of leaving his bed.

The Imperial physicians had strongly recommended a period of convalescence, and the Emperor, barely able to speak, had accepted their advice and left for Tandra Mansion.

As soon as the Emperor departed, the nobles insisted that the throne could not remain vacant and elevated the Third Prince to act as regent. It was as if they had been waiting for this moment.

On the first day of the regency, the Emperor’s personal guard was reduced by a third, and the Duke of Toulouse replaced the leadership of the Military and Security Department with his own loyalists.

But the changes didn't only apply to those two positions – other key Palace posts of equal importance were quickly filled with people loyal to House Toulouse and Prince Joseph. In the blink of an eye, petitions demanding the Emperor’s abdication had begun to arrive.

Just one week after the petitions were submitted, the Emperor, who had been recuperating at Tandra Mansion, announced his future abdication.

As a result, an abdication ceremony was scheduled for the first Monday of October. All of this had transpired within a month of the Second Prince's death.

Hans Burton, the Consul, was seated at the head of the podium, in a chair set at the same height as the Imperial Throne. He had been immediately appointed to the position of Chief Consul to the Emperor.

Despite having a bounty on his head, Hans had appeared at the Palace of his own accord the day after the Second Prince's death and posthumous declaration of treason. He'd looked like he'd been reduced to skin and bones. A summary trial was held, and he was released without charges. The next day, Hans was appointed to the highest post in the Consul's Office.

People eager to make his acquaintance flocked to the podium. Hans was clearly enjoying the banquet, graciously answering each of their requests.

After chatting with the nobles amicably for quite some time, Hans excused himself briefly, left the banquet hall, and entered the lounge.

***

A vagrant shelter near the border of the Principality of Ga’an / That same night.

Nick was still lying there. Even though he had regained consciousness, the injury to his spine meant he was still unable to move on his own.

There had been countless knights and soldiers surrounding the canyon, and they had already known that mercenaries had lain in wait for them.

The knights had surrounded the gorge, just as Kyle had anticipated, and that had allowed his operation to proceed as planned.

The battle had been grossly unfavorable to the Phoenix Knights. Or rather, it had needed to appear that way. Kyle and about 20 members of Phoenix Knights had practiced together several times to make it look convincing, and Nick had done the same.

However, something had gone wrong. The plan was that all of them would fall into the gorge and be caught by the carefully placed safety nets Fred had devised using his architectural talents. But Nick had been caught off guard by Kyle getting slashed by one of their assailant's swords.

Kyle hadn’t tipped off the rest of his knights in advance either. Their looks of surprise had to be convincing to their enemies.

There were others who, like Kyle, had deliberately taken a sword strike, but none had been hit in as critical a spot as Kyle had.

Most of the wounds were in relatively safe locations, such as a hip or forearm. The Phoenix Knights disappeared one by one into the depths below, bleeding from minor slashes.

Kyle and Nick had been the last remaining knights. Nick had raged through their enemies like a madman, slaughtering mercenaries and knights alike. Despite being outnumbered, Nick was the most martially skilled of the three commanders, so their enemies charged at him frantically, desperate to kill him at all costs.

The same was true for Kyle. But like Nick, Kyle was gradually pushed back as he fought off the enemies.

Then, at the agreed-upon final moment, Kyle fell into the gorge while under a coordinated assault from three Toulouse Knights he had met once before, and as he fell, he deliberately allowed one of their swords to pierce his side.

However, that was where everything had gone wrong. Perhaps Kyle's performance had been too convincing, because Nick had caught Kyle as he fell and used his Aurore to brace himself behind Kyle's body on the way down.

Nick had shoved Kyle towards the safety barrier and fallen halfway down the steep, jagged cliffs of the canyon and the sharp rocks below.

When they found him, most of his bones were broken, and he was a hair's breadth from death. Kyle had immediately tried to save him despite his own unhealed injuries.

Despite Matilda's attempts to dissuade him, saying it was futile, Kyle poured all the Aurore he could from his body into Nick's.

However, Nick's body rejected the foreign Aurore and, more often than not, he ended up vomiting blood.

Today was another one of those days.

____

Editor’s Note -

Man, the end of this chapter makes me want to cry at how deeply Kyle cares about Nick. T.T

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