Chapter 131
12.
The news that Crown Prince Reinhardt had been struck by divine punishment after lying at the Great Temple quickly spread throughout the entire Empire.
Originally, the Imperial Family made frantic efforts to prevent this matter from becoming public.
What a bizarre and scandalous thing it was for the one who should become the Sun of the Empire to be punished by God.
Unfortunately, however, the Temple was not filled only with tight-lipped individuals.
In the end, the situation of that day became known to everyone through word of mouth.
The Emperor, who had failed to clean up the aftermath, summoned Reinhardt and vented his fury.
“Do you know what the nobles are saying about this incident?!”
Bang!
The Emperor struck the armrest of his chair hard.
His eyes, looking down at Reinhardt, were full of disappointment.
Among his children, the Emperor had greatly favored the Crown Prince, who resembled him most in appearance and possessed a uniquely soft-spoken nature.
However, starting from the Fear rampage incident seven years ago, he had been continuously disappointed as the Prince became increasingly different from his former self day by day.
“They say the Crown Prince has incurred God’s hatred! They say that after you became the Crown Prince, a mishap occurred with the Empire’s Divine Beast!”
“I have no excuse.”
“You were so intelligent when you were young, so why on earth have you become like this!!!”
Since this incident, petitions began to arrive claiming that the Crown Prince, who had bought God’s hatred, should be deposed, which caused him a massive headache.
The enraged Emperor lost his dignity and the veins in his neck bulged.
“It is not just the nobles! An official protest has also come from the Great Temple! They say they cannot recognize an Imperial family member punished by God as the next Emperor!!!”
“I was not punished by God.”
“Then for what reason did you vomit blood at that time!”
Reinhardt fell silent.
It was because his mana circuits were twisted due to the backlash from the necklace he had given to Sol, but he could not tell the Emperor that.
This was because the ‘real Crown Prince’ he had swallowed was not a mage.
At his silence, the Emperor let out a roaring voice once again.
“Even if you were not punished by God, the timing was poor. I favored you from early on and established you as the Crown Prince, but now that things have turned out like this, I can no longer just stand by and watch.”
“…….”
“During this Divine Beast Thanksgiving Festival, you must explain the fact that you were not punished by divine retribution, by whatever means necessary. This is the last chance I can give you. Do you understand?”
“……Tsk, I can’t even just swallow him up.”
“What did you just say?”
“It is nothing.”
Reinhardt, who momentarily emitted murderous intent toward the Emperor, bowed his head deeply.
“I will make good use of the opportunity Your Majesty has given me and will surely clear up the misunderstanding.”
Then, as he left the audience chamber, he muttered lowly.
“He keeps being annoying. Makes me want to get rid of him…….”
But if the Emperor disappeared now, he would become the Emperor himself.
That would make the situation complicated, so he had to endure it.
Above all, restoring his twisted mana circuits was the top priority right now.
He immediately returned to the Crown Prince’s Palace.
And as he was preparing to welcome a guest who would soon arrive at the palace, he heard unpleasant words from an attendant.
“Your Highness. A reply has come from Young Lord Sunrise saying that he is sorry, but an urgent matter has arisen, making it difficult for him to visit today.”
It was news of the absence of the Young Lord of Sunrise, Leon.
Ever since the day he vomited blood, Leon had been blatantly avoiding him.
“Tsk.”
Reinhardt felt a surge of genuine murderous intent.
He had intended to use the Monlepe ducal house to handle the Monlepe ducal house, which hindered his work at every turn.
But it was ruined by an absurd matter.
‘Why on earth did the bead break?’
The aftermath of the magic tool being forcibly broken was so strong that blood was still occasionally rising up his throat.
Given his current physical condition, using magic was impossible for the time being.
If he had endured just a little longer, he could have broken the one remaining final covenant…….
According to what he had learned through his research, a Divine Beast whose covenant was broken would have its presence grow faint the more it used its power until it disappeared from this world.
Monlepe and Starafit had already had their covenants broken, and since Skya the Divine Beast itself had disappeared, only Sunrise remained.
His goal was to destroy both humans and beastmen alike by starting the war again after breaking even the last Divine Beast’s covenant.
But the perfectly fine bead had broken without warning.
Just why.
‘Could it be that there is a beastman near Sol?’
If so, the breaking of the bead made sense.
In order to avoid having the bead’s identity detected, Reinhardt had created the bead using the magic system of the beastmen.
Human mages wouldn’t have even noticed if that bead was a magic tool, but if it were a beastman…….
Thinking that far, Reinhardt’s eyes sank gloomily.
‘That there is a beastman in this Empire with enough power to approach Sol…….’
Right then, an attendant announced the visit of a guest.
“Marquis Skya requests to see Your Highness.”
“Marquis Skya?”
Reinhardt was slightly surprised by the appearance of an unexpected person.
Come to think of it, today was the return date of those who had gone on the expedition to the Beastmen’s Forest.
Although the result of the war was inconclusive, originally, a triumphal ceremony should have been held.
It was just that because the incident of the Crown Prince receiving divine punishment broke out, everyone’s attention was focused there, and they were unable to do so.
Soon, the Marquis of Skya, Karon, paid his respects before Reinhardt.
“Have you been well in the meantime?”
“I was well until the Marquis arrived. What brings you all the way here?”
Reinhardt did not hide his discomfort.
That was because, after he had gone to the trouble of humoring the Empress to provide the sparks for war, the man was a fool who returned after only wasting his efforts instead of utilizing it properly.
If he had at least prevented the Duke of Monlepe from contacting the messenger of the Beastman Kingdom, the Empress would still be lying on her sickbed, acting as the trigger for the war.
“I have come to comfort Your Highness, who must be suffering from the strange rumors.”
Karon, bowing his head deeply, took a pouch from his bosom.
It was something he had secretly brought when withdrawing, a rare spice so precious that a single pouch could buy dozens of grand mansions.
Of course, it didn’t even leave a dent on Reinhardt.
“I don’t need it. Take it away.”
“…….”
Flustered by the more cold-hearted reaction than expected, Karon rolled his eyes. Then, he suddenly fell to his knees.
“What are you doing now?”
“There is something I would like to earnestly request of Your Highness.”
“What is it.”
“I have brought an animal that could serve as our family’s Divine Beast.”
It was so.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Karon’s aide hadn’t tried to frame Dylan with poaching charges for no reason.
It was because the master, Karon, himself poached, so his thoughts only went in that direction.
Reinhardt replied indifferently.
“And?”
“I will handle all the preparations, so please just make a little space for me……. I will package it well as if God, impressed by Your Highness’s character, has bestowed a new Divine Beast.”
In other words, he was asking for a hand in taking a poached animal and turning it into a fake Divine Beast.
“There will never be any disadvantage to Your Highness. Even if the truth is revealed, I will shoulder all the responsibility alone. If you could just extend a small hand of compassion, I will never forget this grace for the rest of my life.”
As he bowed his head deeply once more, Reinhardt’s mind worked quickly.
If he was talking to this extent, it seemed he had really found an animal worthy of being presented as a Divine Beast.
Seven years ago, the reason the Skya ducal house, which had lost its Divine Beast, could not summon a new one like Monlepe was due to the opposition of the Great Temple.
‘Particularly, the Saintess said that Skya’s Divine Beast had not disappeared yet and would appear if we waited.’
However, even until now, the disappeared Divine Beast had not returned.
At this point, many would feel doubt about the truth of those words, and no one would harbor questions if a new Divine Beast was bestowed upon Skya.
If that happened, the rumors that he had been hated by God would also naturally die down.
Furthermore, it meant gaining one Divine Beast family that would even pretend to die if he ordered it—
‘It’s not bad.’
After thinking it over, Reinhardt opened his mouth.
“You must have heard the news that the Divine Beast Thanksgiving Festival is being held? I will give you the opportunity for the Marquis’s new Divine Beast to appear then.”
“……! Thank you!”
The Divine Beast Thanksgiving Festival. It was truly a perfect setting.
Deeply moved, Karon repeatedly bowed his head.
“I will certainly make sure to be of help to Your Highness through the new Divine Beast!”
“I shall look forward to it.”
After hearing nothing but a series of bad news, it seemed this was the reason.
Karon’s proposal was like a pumpkin rolling in on a vine.
Unless the disappeared Divine Beast appeared in that spot, Karon’s plan would be successfully carried out.
There was no way a Divine Beast that hadn’t appeared for seven years would suddenly show up on that day, at that time.
Thinking that things were finally going well for the first time in a while, Reinhardt smiled languidly.
