Chapter 5 · The Deposed Princess's Disposition

The emperor’s office was in the midst of a meeting.

Those filling the long-stretching table were none other than Rastain’s former ministers.

From the Minister of Internal Affairs to the Minister of Military Affairs.

The emperor had changed, but the ministers had kept their places as they were—a strange state of affairs.

Beside the throne stood a man with ash-blond hair, Sis, like a ghost.

The emperor’s right hand and a strategist with an extraordinary mind.

The eerie air he gave off was a fear distinct from the emperor’s intimidating presence.

His colorless eyes, sweeping the meeting room without the slightest movement, seemed to peel away and dissect the other party’s inner thoughts layer by layer.

Because it felt as if even their hidden intentions would be exposed the moment they met his eyes, the ministers even avoided meeting his gaze.

“Ahem, the next item.”

Marquis Cadens, the Minister of Internal Affairs, cautiously turned the documents while watching Erhan’s mood.

The emperor had no interest at all in the meeting, yet cold sweat beaded on the marquis’s palm.

Because he had to bring up the most sensitive item in a situation where no one knew when the emperor’s mood might hit rock bottom.

“It concerns the handling of the remnants of the Lacent imperial house.”

The emperor’s gaze, which had been consistently indifferent, sharpened at once.

“Remnants…”

Erhan lightly tapped the desk with the tip of his pen.

“Yes. Specifically, it concerns the disposition of the deposed princess, Isadel Lacent.”

The moment Isadel’s name was spoken, the air in the office froze sharply.

The ministers hunched their shoulders at the chill brushing the backs of their necks.

“I believe I told you not to bring that matter up any further.”

Erhan’s brow narrowed finely.

But despite the emperor’s strict order, the ministers’ opposition hardly subsided.

“But Your Majesty, Princess Isadel is the last bloodline of the Lacent imperial house. As long as she lives, she can be used for rebellion at any time.”

“Indeed, she will surely be a future threat!”

“How about establishing the dignity of the new empire through a public execution?”

Even while watching the emperor’s mood, the ministers did not yield their own arguments.

Amid the mad chorus crying for execution, Baron Esban, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, calmly opened his mouth.

“I believe execution is excessive.”

Everyone’s gaze focused on the baron.

At his remark, as he rarely offered an opinion, the hall stirred.

“Excessive? What do you mean by that!”

Admiral Pryer, the Minister of Military Affairs, shot back roughly.

Baron Esban took a moment to catch his breath and spoke again.

Unlike the other ministers gathered here, he was one of the few who wished to avoid unnecessary bloodshed even now and see the succession to the throne concluded peacefully.

“If Princess Isadel is also eliminated not long after Your Majesty’s accession, this will not end as a mere domestic matter.”

“What?”

“As everyone knows, Princess Isadel is the last bloodline of the Lacent imperial house and at the same time a princess with a right of succession to the throne of the Ceres Empire. If she is executed, there is a strong chance it will appear to the Ceres Empire and its allied nations not as a political purge but as a diplomatic provocation.”

“Does that mean war could even break out?”

To someone’s question mixed with derision, Baron Esban replied placidly.

“Yes. It is as plain as day.”

“Hah! With the emperor and even his sons already all eliminated, war over killing one more wench? That is a wild leap!”

Admiral Pryer snorted arrogantly.

The crowd following him also joined in with mockery.

“Indeed. How would the Ceres Empire dare speak of war against Rastain?”

“A few sheets of diplomatic protest will fly in. We need only tell them to send them.”

The admiral’s associates nodded and raised their voices.

The meeting room was instantly engulfed in heated debate.

The side insisting the deposed princess must be executed at once and the side insisting she must still be kept alive faced off tightly.

It was then, when voices grew louder and the meeting room seethed with clamor.

The brown-haired man standing at the back of the meeting room burst into a hollow laugh.

“You all fight well.”

It was Serik, the emperor’s left hand and captain of the imperial guard.

Sis slightly turned his head and gave him a warning look.

But Serik merely shrugged nonchalantly and did not withdraw his smile.

Unlike Sis, the coldly rational strategist, Serik was a man who had learned how to survive by roaming the underworld since childhood.

He was more accustomed to primal violence than scheming, and had always found his place in chaos rather than order.

To him, the highborn ministers’ war of words was no different from a lowly brawl of clowns.

With his head tilted askew, Serik leisurely enjoyed the commotion.

His crookedly raised lips seemed to anticipate who would bite the other first.

It was then.

Tap.

The sound of a fountain pen coming down on the desk was not loud, but its ripple silenced the commotion in the hall in an instant.

Erhan raised his head.

“Let us end the discussion concerning the deposed princess’s disposition here.”

“But Your Majesty…”

“I said that is enough.”

Erhan’s eyes sank coldly.

The ministers swallowed dryly and closed their mouths all at once.

The emperor’s gaze lingered briefly on the foreign minister.

Baron Esban.

He was the man who had been solely in charge of foreign diplomacy since the days he served the Lacent imperial house.

Thanks to his seasoned ability to read situations before emotions, he was also a statesman who had protected the country through numerous crises.

Erhan was still not certain whether his loyalty was directed at him or at the already fallen Lacent imperial house.

But it did not matter what his intentions were.

What mattered was that the baron’s remark had given his own intention to postpone Isadel’s execution the most perfect justification.

“If there is nothing more to say, let us move to the next item.”

Discontent swirled in the hall, but no one dared defy the emperor’s command.

Just as a heavy silence was about to dominate the meeting room.

Bang!!

With a loud crash, the office door opened as if to break.

“Your Majesty!”

A blood-soaked imperial guard staggered in.

“What insolence is this!”

Angry voices burst out among the ministers.

The guard immediately dropped to his knees before the emperor and gasped for breath.

“Your Majesty, I have an urgent report! The deposed princess—!”

At the mention of Isadel, Erhan’s eyes sank coldly.

“Speak.”

“The deposed princess has escaped the room where she was confined! She is currently attempting to throw herself from the roof of the western tower!”

At the urgent messenger’s report, the hall instantly fell into chaos.

But Erhan slowly rose from his seat without any sign of haste.

He had long since received reports that she would rather die than be addicted to him, and that she attempted suicide at the slightest provocation.

But to think she had finally broken down the door and gone out…

“What were the imperial guards doing?”

The tone was extremely calm, but a fierce reprimand was embedded within it.

“That is…”

The guard’s voice trembled thinly.

“Seven soldiers died in the process of stopping her!”

The meeting room stirred once again.

Sighs leaked out here and there at the hard-to-believe report.

“How could such a thing happen!”

“For seven to die because they could not stop a single woman—the imperial guard’s dignity is in shambles…”

Without taking his eyes off the guard, Erhan asked.

“There should have been more than ten people watching inside and outside the room.”

“The deposed princess took a maid hostage and confronted the imperial guards… In the process, she seized the guards’ swords and swung them.”

Erhan’s lips twisted subtly.

It was a method truly befitting Isadel Lacent.

A violent, cunning way that pushed forward without mercy.

It seemed driven by emotion, but in truth it was a meticulously calculated move.

“The meeting ends here.”

Erhan left the office without a flicker of hesitation.

Serik followed after him as he strode away, but Erhan waved his hand without even looking back.

“No need to follow.”

At the emperor’s command, the captain of the imperial guard halted his steps abruptly.

There was a greater speed than usual in Erhan’s steps toward the western tower.

A fact he had momentarily forgotten came to mind.

Isadel Lacent was never a woman who would quietly give in.

Had she not even targeted his life with a glass shard the other day?

She was born with tenacious venom and persistence, and on top of that, she had trained with the sword since childhood and possessed skill comparable to a knight commander.

It had been a miscalculation from the start to think such a woman could be simply locked away.

A faint smile brushed Erhan’s lips.

‘No wonder she was so quiet.’