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Chapter – 37
There wasn’t a shred of mercy.
“Let this knock some sense into you. There are people you can mess with—and people you can’t. Well. Not that it looks like anything I say is getting through to you.”
The man rolled helplessly across the ground. In contrast, the Emperor looked at me with an almost unnervingly calm expression. Then, slowly, his hand brushed through my hair.
“Vulgar blood’s gotten on you.”
“Ah.”
“Vulgar? Vulgar?”
The Count of Avalon instantly realized the words were aimed at him. Gritting his teeth, he glared at the Emperor.
“Then what should I call it? Filthy, stinking trash blood? Or waste not even animals would eat?”
“Hah…! Th—th…!”
The bleeding seemed to have stopped. Pressing down hard on his own hand, the Count stared at the Emperor with resentment.
“That idiot may have fallen for it, but I won’t give up. Raviel is my daughter. My daughter!”
“So? I never said she wasn’t.”
“Wh—what? Well, anyway! I have no intention of handing over my daughter!”
“You keep saying ‘hand over,’ but Raviel isn’t an object. You’d do well to stop talking like that.”
Pouting, the Count of Avalon glared at me.
“Anyway! I won’t give that bitch away cheaply! If you want my daughter so badly, then pay for her. Give me the money you were about to give that guy earlier, and I won’t complain—I’ll hand her over.”
Money. Money. It was revolting.
I wanted to just give him the money and end it all—but the moment I did, that man who dared call himself my father would realize I had money and make an even bigger fuss.
So I clamped my mouth shut.
“You want money?”
“Yeah. I’ll give you my daughter if you pay.”
“Puhahaha.”
That was when the Emperor burst out laughing like a madman.
“What are you laughing at?!”
“It’s my first time witnessing something like this. Just how obsessed with money do you have to be to pull something like this?”
“I’m not obsessed with money! I’m just exercising my rightful claim! Do you have any idea how much money I spent raising that girl? Always sickly and useless!”
I was about to argue, but the Emperor was faster. He wiped the smile from his face and spoke coldly, enunciating every word.
“It’s not funny at all. A parent supporting their child is the bare minimum of responsibility. And yet you prattle on as though you deserve praise for it. Perhaps I should have cut out your tongue after all.”
But the arrogant Count of Avalon wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.
“You know what? That money you tossed to that guy earlier—it was fake, wasn’t it? That’s why you can’t give it to me. If it were me, I’d hand it over instead of running my mouth. The fact that you can’t says it all.”
The Emperor’s gaze shifted to the forty-four-year-old butter-faced man still rolling on the ground. At that, the knight from earlier flipped over the money pouch.
A heap of gleaming gold coins spilled across the floor.
“How about now?”
“W—well! Th—that… it could still be fake!”
“Well. I don’t feel the need to explain things to idiots, so we’ll leave it at that. Count of Avalon—if I give you money, will you stop tormenting Raviel?”
“Of course!”
“But I hear you kept demanding money from the family that married your other daughter as well.”
The house I was originally supposed to marry into.
“I—I never did! What would you know?!”
“I know plenty. Far more than you do.”
The Emperor slowly approached him. With no physician yet arrived, the Count—still groaning in pain—seemed to sense danger and instinctively shrank back.
“W-what…! Are you going to threaten to kill me too? Even if you do, nothing will change!”
“Well. Whether things change or not, we’ll see. But shall I explain just how foolish a mistake you’ve made?”
Smiling pleasantly, the Emperor removed the hood he had been wearing.
His hair wasn’t dyed red as usual. It was jet black, like the night itself, and his eyes gleamed with noble gold. He looked elegant and precious beyond measure—yet an overwhelming pressure radiated from him.
But the Count of Avalon, blinded by greed, didn’t seem to realize who he was at all.
I couldn’t help laughing.
“Why are you laughing?!”
The Count snapped irritably at me.
“Because it’s funny.”
“What’s so funny about this?!”
“The funniest part is—”
The Emperor spoke in my place.
“—that you dared demand money from the Emperor.”
“Th—the Emperor? You might resemble him, but how dare you invoke His Majesty’s name!”
“I can invoke it because I am the Emperor. Do you carry your head around as an ornament? Because if you’re going to wear something that useless on your shoulders, it’s honestly embarrassing.”
“W-what?!”
“No matter how rarely I appear outside official settings, and no matter how selectively I grant audiences… to think you wouldn’t recognize the one you’re meant to revere.”
Only then did the Count realize how badly he had erred. He turned to me, as if begging for confirmation.
“Looking at me like that won’t help, Father. He really is His Majesty the Emperor.”
“D-don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way His Majesty would appear in a place like this!”
“Well. Sometimes ridiculous things do happen.”
“W-what…?”
“And didn’t you also demand money from His Majesty, get angry, and even insult him?”
“I—I didn’t insult him! I was just a bit worked up—”
Still unable to believe it, the Count frantically scanned his surroundings. Only then did it seem to click—the intimidating imperial knights, the gold coins scattered across the floor, and the Emperor who hadn’t flinched even once at the forty-four-year-old butter man’s nonsense.
An awkward smile crept onto the Count’s face.
“A-are you truly… His Majesty?”
“Finally catching on to reality?”
“Th-then why would Your Majesty be with my daughter…?”
“I told you before. Raviel is necessary to me.”
“If you’d said you were the Emperor back then, I would’ve handed her over immediately.”
Muttering and laughing awkwardly, the Count fidgeted. Meanwhile, the Emperor’s expression hardened with every word.
“I told you not to treat people like objects. Have you already forgotten? It seems cutting off your tongue wouldn’t be enough—perhaps your head would do the trick.”
“N-no! Hahaha… I’m sorry.”
“You act as though you wouldn’t mind dying.”
“Not at all! If I died, how sad my daughter would be!”
“I wouldn’t be.”
“Raviel!”
Seeing my shoulders shake with laughter, he cried out desperately.
“If you wouldn’t be sad, then at least this time—”
“No, no. Hahaha… I—I should be going now. Raviel, take care.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
The Emperor clearly had no intention of letting him go.
“Well… staying here any longer would be… inappropriate.”
“Your apology.”
“Pardon?”
“Apologize.”
“Th—then… I’m sorry.”
“How stupid do you have to be not to know who you should be apologizing to? Apologize to Raviel. For everything you’ve done to her until now. Things far too serious to go without an apology.”
Who would dare ignore the Emperor’s command?
“…I’m sorry, Raviel. I’m sorry for everything. For today, too. But today was that bastard’s—”
“Enough excuses.”
“…Anyway, I’m sorry. Is that enough, Your Majesty? I… may I go now…?”
His gaze fell on me.
“Is that acceptable?”
Without the Count, my life would be easier. He was my greatest concern. Without him, I wouldn’t need to accept the Emperor’s request, and my stepmother wouldn’t need to be divorced to gain her freedom.
‘But would that really be the end?’
The Count had a son—my brother—just as vile as he was. What if he kept tormenting me? What if he went after Mother? What if, upon learning I was involved in this, he caused even more trouble?
‘And asking the Emperor to kill my father… that would put me in his debt.’
Countless thoughts rose and sank like bubbles on water.
“Doesn’t seem like you want him dead.”
“…No. Not really.”
“Fine. He can be killed at any time. There’s no need to decide now.”
Right on cue, the Count of Avalon bolted and fled. He moved so fast there wasn’t even time to stop him—astonishing for a body like his.
“I—I… I…”
The forty-four-year-old butter-faced man, who had witnessed everything, looked up at us with tears welling in his eyes.
“You there.”
“Y-yes…”
“I’m sorry! I failed to recognize Lady Raviel—no, Lady Raviel in the presence of His Majesty the Emperor—and spoke out of turn. I deserve to die, but please spare me. I—I truly…”
