🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 143
It was then.
The head of the palace administration, who had been waiting for the conversation to end behind the emperor, cautiously spoke up.
“Your Majesty… Duke Rowen is waiting for you.”
“Ah, right. I almost forgot my duties as emperor, caught up in the joy of seeing family.”
The emperor laughed heartily and patted the back of the palace administration chief.
The excuse of forgetting was just that—an excuse.
It was one of the emperor’s bad habits to keep people waiting endlessly.
The emperor believed that the longer someone waited, the more his authority was solidified.
“Call for Duke Rowen.”
At the emperor’s permission, the palace administration chief hurriedly went to bring Keith Rowen.
“Your Majesty, Keith Rowen pays his respects.”
“No, no. How long has it been since I received greetings from a duke in such a formal setting?”
The emperor greeted Keith with a delighted face.
Although unofficial meetings had been regularly held, showing their relationship off in front of others was a different matter altogether.
“Please forgive my disloyalty.”
Keith bowed deeply, as if admitting his mistake, at the emperor’s reproach.
But no one at the scene thought Keith lacked loyalty.
The victories Keith achieved on the front lines became the emperor’s accomplishments.
“What a ridiculous thing to say. Who could be a better ally to the emperor than Duke Rowen?”
The emperor grabbed both of Keith’s shoulders and lifted him.
“By the way, Duke…”
Looking into Keith’s eyes, the emperor scanned the nobles gathered in the hall and added.
“Who is the next Duke of Rowen, the one who will swear unchanging loyalty to me? I, of course, am ready to trust anyone who inherits the name of Rowen, but I do not know what others think.”
The emperor didn’t care whether it was Christi or Sage who became the next Duke of Rowen.
To him, what mattered was that the Duke of Rowen was a dog leashed to his authority.
The chaos caused by an incompetent person becoming the commander of the capital’s defense was nothing significant to the emperor.
To him, everything in the Kyros Empire was just a tool to maintain his power.
However, it was true that Keith had been pleasing to the emperor, so he showed some leniency.
“Considering the merits you’ve earned for the empire, I want to give you some leeway for Rowen, but you know, don’t you? The succession ceremony must be followed.”
The emperor didn’t blame Keith for not naming an heir at the succession ceremony; he was simply waiting for it.
This was the gift the emperor gave to a dog retiring.
“If your daughter doesn’t attend the succession ceremony by the third bell, I’ll have no choice but to intervene.”
In the Kyros Empire’s nobility succession ceremony, three bells were rung.
The first bell was to awaken the family’s guardian spirit, the second was to announce the change of the family’s head to the heavens, and the third was to signify the heavens’ approval of the rightful successor.
For this reason, the heir had to be present at the third bell, or it was believed that the guardian spirit of the family had rejected the heir, and the succession ceremony could never be held again.
Most people were sure that Christi’s succession to Duke Rowen would fail.
It was laughable to see the nobles engaged in trivial bickering, Keith thought, but she had broken through enemy lines countless times on her own.
Such games were no challenge for her.
Keith slowly rose to her feet.
Simply standing up, she now occupied the highest position among those gathered in the hall, her eyes locked onto her target.
Keith’s gaze landed squarely on the first princess, Florence.
Fixing her eyes on Florence, Keith spoke in a low, firm voice.
“Your Majesty, Christi has led Rowen magnificently during the fourteen years I was away from the capital. Who else could bear that weight besides Christi?”
With every word Keith spoke, the hand holding the fan in Florence’s hand trembled slightly.
She knew full well that Keith was not speaking to the emperor but directly addressing her.
“I swear to you, Your Majesty. Tonight, a new Duke of Rowen will be born, and the process will not be marred by any discord. And Rowen, led by Christi, will soar higher than ever before.”
The words of the general, filled with certainty and belief in Rowen’s rise, made people nod involuntarily.
There was trust in the trajectory of Keith’s life.
“….”
The emperor lightly infused magic into the sword of the emperor hanging at his waist, discerning the truth of Keith’s words.
If they were false, the magic would bind and punish Keith.
Once again, the loyal subject who had never betrayed him spoke the truth.
Keith’s words were true.
At least, she believed them to be true, regardless of whether they would come to pass.
“If the duke says so, I suppose I’ll have to wait and see. It’s well known that Duke Rowen does not speak falsely, isn’t it?” The emperor muttered under his breath, stroking his chin, and some of the nobles brightened.
They were those who fervently hoped Christi would become the next duke.
Florence, watching from the side, ground her teeth.
Hope made despair all the more bitter.
Wasn’t this too trivial to end like this?
Most importantly, Keith Rowen’s arrogant behavior could not go unpunished.
“Your Majesty, since Duke Rowen is so confident, would you allow me to make a wager for entertainment?”
Florence asked the emperor, bowing as she grabbed the hem of her dress.
The emperor looked down at his eldest daughter with an amused expression.
“You seem confident that Christi Rowen won’t make it to the succession ceremony. Or is that your hope?”
“Of course not. But since the main character hasn’t arrived yet, everyone is getting bored. Surely a little entertainment is in order?”
Everyone knew that Florence and Christi Rowen did not get along well.
People believed the first princess would be happy to see Christi fall.
“How about it, Duke? Florence’s proposal is interesting. It’s getting a little boring waiting like this.”
The emperor, who had once been known for gambling during his youth, would never miss such an opportunity.
Pretending to ask the other party’s opinion, he subtly pressed for the wager.
Keith, however, did not bat an eye.
“There is no general who would refuse a wager. However, if I win tonight, I’ll get the prize of the wager, but I’m worried that the first princess will have nothing to gain.”
“Who knows who will win or lose?” Florence retorted sharply before the game even started.
“A wager must have a prize. Shall I offer gold in the emperor’s name to the winner?”
“The fun of a wager is taking something precious from the loser, isn’t it? If I win, I want the sword of Duke Rowen.”
To a warrior, the sword was as precious as life itself.
Losing the sword was one of the greatest humiliations a warrior could endure.
“Don’t tell me you’re backing out now because you’re not confident?”
At Florence’s provocation, Keith laughed dismissively.
The entire hall buzzed with excitement as the wager was suddenly announced. It quickly became chaotic.
‘Well, this is going well.’
Lishtea chuckled, finding it almost absurd.
For Lishtea, Florence’s challenge was an unexpected stroke of luck.
Whether the wager between Florence and Keith succeeded or failed didn’t matter. This opportunity was too good to pass up.
Lishtea, now dressed in a different outfit, exchanged glances with Scylla, who was lingering nearby.
Lishtea had signaled to Scylla about the exact location of the emperor’s sword, and Scylla confirmed that everything had been prepared without a hitch.
‘Almost there.’
Lishtea looked up at the balcony on the second floor, where the highlight of the succession ceremony was soon to take place.
Soon, the person the emperor had longed for would appear.
The way the emperor would greet her, his long-lost daughter, would be something to behold.
While Lishtea finished her final checks, the meaningless tension between Florence and Keith continued.
“If you’re not confident, you should bow to me—”
“I’ve already said no general would refuse a wager. So, I’ll accept the first princess’s request for a duel.”
At that moment, everyone’s gaze in the hall turned toward Lishtea.
‘Wait, a duel…’
It was only then that Lishtea fully understood the meaning of Keith’s request.
