Chapter 309

Where Joseph finally snaps... And Kyle interrogates the Empress.

This chapter is dedicated to Lindsay ! Thank you for your generous support and heartfelt comment!

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Trigger Warning!

This chapter contains violence and gore.

Chapter 309. About One Month (9)

The Emperor’s Bedchamber / Afternoon.

In the blink of an eye, Joseph plunged his knife deep into Hans’s neck.

“Gah!”

The Empress stumbled back in shock, covering her mouth with both hands, while the Duke watched in stunned disbelief.

“I told you to be quiet! You're too loud! Too loud! You always talk too much! You talk....”

Hans collapsed with a thud, the light gradually fading from his eyes as blood spurted from his neck.

Despite his pierced throat, Hans struggled to speak, his breath coming in ragged, wheezing gasps.

“Urgh... *cough*... Instead of an incompetent fool like you, I... *kgh*... I built this position... A pathetic prince... *kgh*... *cough*... who couldn't even seize the opportunity... *kgh*... All you have... *gack*... is the blood... in your veins... *kgh*... *kgh*...”

“Right to the very end. That loathsome tongue!”

Joseph raised his dagger high once more.

He repeatedly stabbed Hans in the chest until the last spark of life had left him. Wiping his blood-drenched hands on the carpet, Joseph stood up and turned toward the Empress.

“Joseph... you!”

"What? Didn't you see this coming? Who do you think I have to thank for making me like this?"

With every step Joseph took toward the Empress, she retreated further and further, until she found herself trapped against the wall, unable to move. Just then, the Duke sprang to his feet.

"Y-Your Majesty! Please, stop, Your Majesty. First, calm down and let's find a way...!"

"Step aside. Otherwise, I’ll make you suffer the exact same fate as that wretch!"

“...Your Majesty!”

“My son. My son.”

“...?”

The Empress spread her arms wide and stepped forward. Her face, usually so benevolent, was filled with worry and regret. Joseph froze, his gaze fixed solely on her.

"It's all my fault. I had no idea how hard a life you had to endure; I simply assumed that you were just a good, obedient son..."

Struggling to steady her trembling body, the Empress pulled Joseph into a tight embrace. He gently rested his face against her shoulder and wrapped his arms tenderly around her.

“Mother.... My mother.”

"Yes, my son. My dear Joseph. I'm going to save you now. So, let's stop this. Let's rest. I will beg the Emperor—plead with him with all my might—to spare my precious son's life, at the very least."

“Mother… sniff. Mother…”

Patting Joseph on the back as he shed tears, the Empress continued softly, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Yes... Yes. It's alright. It's all right. If we save your life first and have you stay in a remote castle reserved for the Imperial Family, an opportunity will arise."

“...An opportunity?”

Slowly stroking Joseph's back as he took in her words, the Empress spoke even more gently and deliberately, as if comforting a small child.

"Yes... an opportunity. Once this whole mess is sorted out, Franz—who is currently unjustly imprisoned—will be released. Since my eldest son Franz is naturally first in line for the throne, I will see that he ascends to it, one way or another. When that time comes, I, his mother, will plead with him to bring you back to the palace. He cherishes my words above all else, after all. My dear boy... my Franz...!"

Josef pulled back slightly and gripped the Empress’s shoulder tight.

"Heh... hehehehehehe. 'My Franz,' 'My Franz'—is that really the sort of thing you should be saying to me at a moment like this?"

The grip on her shoulder was so painfully tight that the Empress was unable to move or escape.

“J-Joseph?”

Seeing the look of utter madness in Joseph’s eyes, the Empress tried desperately to break free from his grasp, but she couldn’t take even a single step backward.

"Why is your head filled with nothing but that fool Franz! Why?"

Joseph swung his dagger, bellowing loud enough to shake the walls.

“Aaargh!”

“Your Majesty!”

Joseph frantically slashed the Empress, and didn’t stop even when blood splattered everywhere. Eventually the Empress collapsed. But even that wasn’t the end of it, Joseph brutally struck the fallen Empress in the face again and again.

He took his time, raining vicious kicks on her body. Yet, the Duke couldn’t bring himself to approach, held back by the sheer madness of the scene.

Joseph kicked the Empress’s limp body a few more times, panting heavily.

Then, as if nothing had happened, Joseph walked to the en-suite bathroom, washed off the blood, tidied his hair and clothes, and slipped back out through the secret passage he had entered through.

***

When Kyle heard the news, he made his way to the bedchamber. The royal physician standing by the bed shook his head grimly.

The Empress lay in a ghastly state, struggling to draw ragged, wheezing breaths. It was a wonder she was still alive.

The Duke of Toulouse had been sent to the Imperial Palace underground dungeon. Soon after that, word arrived that Joseph had been captured after putting up a fierce resistance at the sewer exit–he too was sent to the underground prison.

Hans, who had been hacked to death leaving a pool of his blood on the Emperor's bedroom carpet, was handed over to Palace Security and taken to the morgue.

The Emperor had been on his way back after watching the troops depart from the city gates when he received the news about the Empress’s death.

Inside the bedchamber, the royal physician and his assistant, maids and servants cowered against the walls, while the Empress lay dying. Kyle had brought an Imperial Chronicler to record the interaction.

The Second Prince stood at the bedroom door while gazing quietly at the Empress on the bed.

"How much time does she have left?" He asked indifferently.

"It appears she has at most thirty minutes to an hour left. He narrowly missed her heart, but she has lost too much blood. Her nose is broken, and her throat is swollen, making it difficult for her to breathe."

“Can she speak?”

“Her speech is slurred, but simple communication is possible.”

“Clear the room; only the chronicler is to remain.”

At Kyle’s command, everyone else in the bedroom quickly filed out.

“Chronicler, record everything without omission.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The historian replied, visibly tense at Kyle's command.

Then, as if preparing to record this deathbed scene in excruciating detail, he carefully dipped the nib of his pen into the ink.

Kyle slowly approached the bed and sat down beside it.

The Empress's face, swollen beyond recognition, was covered in angry red bruises. Lifting her eyes, the only part of her face that wasn't inflamed, she slowly looked at Kyle, blinking as tears steamed down her face, then struggled to open her mouth.

“Hng... ugh... haa... ch... hng... sa... ve... me... hhh... hng.”

"Do you admit that it was you, the Empress, who sent mercenaries to kill my mother and me that night thirteen years ago?"

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

The historian’s pen tip raced across the paper.

“...”

Tears continuously welling at the corners of her eyes, the Empress breathed raggedly, making choked, sobbing sounds.

"That night... Do you also admit that it was you, the Empress, who ordered the massacre of my mother and the villagers with the intention of framing enemy raiders?"

“....”

Kyle repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists, suppressing the emotions surging within him.

He didn't know exactly when it had started, but at some point, controlling his emotions had become difficult.

No, that was a lie. Kyle knew exactly when it had started and who was to blame. He simply didn't want to admit it.

He asked again.

"I asked if it was you, Empress, who ordered the massacre of the village where my mother and I lived thirteen years ago."

At Kyle’s question, the royal chronicler gasped deeply, and the Empress struggled to speak.

“Ugh… sniff… No… no… it wasn't… me. Haa…”

Kyle looked down at the Empress with a cold gaze and issued a warning in a chillingly low voice.

"This is your last chance, Empress. If you do not confess, this matter will be made public as an official investigation, and everyone involved will be apprehended."

“...”

"For the record, public disclosure will happen after my reign has been established, and when that time comes, the incident from thirteen years ago will certainly not be concluded as a mere attempted murder of a royal bastard."

Indeed. If the Second Prince were to ascend the throne and investigate the incident from thirteen years ago, the case would be reclassified as an attempted regicide and the murder of the Emperor’s mother. Should that happen, no blood relative of any family even remotely involved in the affair would survive.

Naturally, once the Empress was dead, the First Prince—as the direct descendant of the primary culprit—would face immediate beheading. Moreover, with the Empress gone, it would be easy to frame the incident entirely as an atrocity she had committed. Of course, the Second Prince was not the type of person to resort to such schemes; however, the Empress, being all too accustomed to such tactics herself, perceived him as someone fully capable of employing such despicable methods.

Furthermore, as things stood, the Second Prince was the most likely candidate to ascend the throne next.

The Empress fixed her gaze squarely on Kyle’s face and spoke.

“...W-will... you... sp... spare...?”

“I will not hold others accountable for the crimes of their kin.”

This meant that Franz would not be implicated in this matter.

“ I... know...Fr... Franz... Hehehe...”

Overcome by a sudden sense of futility, Kyle rose from his seat and gazed down at the Empress lying on the bed. His face hardened, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.

“There will be no forgiveness. The House of Toulouse will fall so low that its name will never again be spoken in the Empire, and the Third Prince, the Empress’s son, will be recorded in the annals for all time as a depraved scoundrel—a member of the Imperial Family who attempted to usurp the throne and massacred its citizens.”

“Huh... huh.”

“The First Prince will be released from prison. I wonder how long he will survive in this cruel Imperial Palace without the protective shield that once cherished and guarded him so fiercely.”

“Fr... Franz... is still the first in line... to the throne...”

She was implying because the First Prince was still first in the line of succession, there was still hope.

Kyle couldn’t help but sneer.

“You won’t live to see my brother, then. That is a pity. There was so much more for you to witness. But tell me, Your Majesty the Empress; who do you think will truly ascend the throne next? Will it be the First Prince? Or will it be me—the one you've been so desperate to kill?”

“Hngh... hngh...”

Her breathing grew rapid and labored. Kyle stared at the dying Empress for a moment with a completely expressionless face before leaving the room.

Behind him, the sound of her breathing grew even more labored and hurried before abruptly ceasing. Then came the voice of the imperial physician.

“Her Majesty the Empress has passed away. Inform His Majesty the Emperor and prepare for the funeral.”

***

Elias Mansion, Tara's room/Dawn

As soon as I returned to the mansion, I did nothing but sleep.

Then, at one point, my eyes snapped open. Staring blankly at the ceiling, I turned on all the lights in the room.

I selected the essentials and began packing my bag.

"Damn this Empire! You bastards!"

Editor's Note -

OK.... Well this was not fun to edit.

Not only is the subject matter difficult, but also conveying the violence and the agonies as well as make it understandable and work emotionally for the reader was a bit of a challenge.

On another note, What do you think about the fact that Kyle gets his revenge on the Empress 'stolen' and the fact that our main villain, Hans, is also gone from the story?

I must admit I was very surprised by the author's choice to have Joseph kill Hans and his mother instead of the more classical them going to prison; go through a trial for their crimes and get a fitting punishment.

But I also find it very interesting that she used the devolving psychopath route for Joseph quite accurately.

Can't wait to read your comments on the subject!

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