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Chapter 232

Joshua stopped just as he was about to leave his private office in the Imperial Knights’ headquarters.

“Is it about paperwork again?”

Ash walked by and opened the doors before Joshua could do anything else.

“Ahem!” The elf put his hands on his waist and officiously demanded. “Who’s there?”

“Battalion Commander, sir…”

“Cazes?” Joshua had a foreboding feeling as he examined the familiar face coming through the door. Why would they announce Cazes as a visitor when he was working for Joshua? Something was going on.

As expected…

“It has been a long time, Joshua. I mean, how have you been, Count Sanders?”

“Sir Armstrong.” Joshua\'s eyes flashed.

There was a middle-aged man with a fierce demeanor, angled chin, and bright eyes standing by the door. He was none other than Count Armstrong. Based on the emblem of a golden mane on his chest, he was a member of the Golden Mane Corps. More specifically, he was the Commander of the Golden Mane Corps.

‘Ah, this is going to be a bit difficult,’ Joshua thought with a bitter smile.

“Congratulations!”

“I owe it to the house’s nurturing.”

“You’re too modest. I don’t think anyone in the Agnus household would say that.”

“I mean, I’m serious. The family did help me.”

“The world would see it as a tribute rather than a donation.”

“I never would have thought that you came here to gild my image…”

“It’s Duke Agnus’s call, Count Sanders.” Armstrong gave him a small smile.

“If that’s true, then he could have just sent a servant rather than you, Count Armstrong.”

Ash snorted and interrupted. “Does a servant even have their own life?”

“...” There was a short pause. Armstrong made a sidelong glance at the busy Ash and said, “Everything has already changed for you, Count Sanders. Lady Lucia’s standing in the family has changed as well.”

The mention of his mother’s name made Joshua freeze.

“That’s great news.”

If it had come from Chiffon, it would have been a different story—but Joshua knew that Armstrong wasn’t like that. He seemed like a normal knight who only thought about swords.

“All right. I still have some work to do, but I’ll definitely go and see His Grace once it becomes possible.”

Armstrong eyed Joshua for a moment, then nodded. “You should.”

“Thank you for being open-minded.”

“If you don\'t mind, could you tell me what’s going on? I’ll brief His Grace about it.”

After a moment of thought, Joshua realized that everyone should have already known by now what happened inside the Imperial Palace. There was no doubt that he had already attracted heaps of attention.

“I’m going to the Magnificient Flower Palace.”

“The Magnificient Flower Palace?” Armstrong’s eyes darted around Joshua as he said, “Are you going to visit Princess Serciarin? Are you familiar with her, or—”

“His Majesty the Emperor’s proposal has nothing to do with it,” Joshua quickly interjected.

“Forgive me for the presumptuous remark. Anyway, I’ve heard that Her Highness isn’t in the palace right now.”

“...!” Joshua\'s eyes widened as his gaze bored into Armstrong. ‘No way…!’

Armstrong noticed Joshua’s gaze and said, “I’m not sure if you have any idea, but His Majesty just made an announcement. I’m sure everyone is already talking about it.”

Joshua felt a twinge of worry. “What announcement?”

“His Majesty is looking for Princess Serciarin’s groom. His Majesty even allowed the ordinary citizens to present themselves as candidates.”

“...!” Joshua’s head went blank. He turned to Cazes, but the knight’s hanging jaw showed that he was equally surprised. It always took a long time for the news to trickle from the upper battalions all the way down to the lower battalions.

However, if this was true…

Joshua\'s eyes quivered.

Princess Serciarin had already shown interest in him during the birthday feast of His First Highness. Everyone knew that Princess Serciarin was interested in him. Could it be that Emperor Marcus had no idea about that?

‘That’s impossible…’ Joshua revealed a despondent look.

Joshua looked sad.

Emperor Marcus truly was a scumbag. Of course, he had long become widely acclaimed as a madman, but what he had done went beyond the norms.

“The children of the Five Dukes and Twelve Families have already announced their candidacy. It seems that they really want to seize the opportunity to become a part of the Imperial Family.”

“How will the groom be decided?”

“Soon, through Berche’s Bloody Battle.”

“Berche’s Bloody Battle…!?”

“To be precise, a slightly modified version of Berche’s Bloody Battle. When His Majesty the Emperor became a Master, he placed strength above all else. The other thing is that you learn better by gradually figuring it out yourself. The subjects will be tested by the Imperial Knights. The test ends once no one wants to be tested.”

“So…” Joshua started.

Armstrong nodded and said, “The lucky victor would become Her Highness’ groom after being pummeled his way to the top. The others will definitely be beaten half to death and would have to go home crying.”

Lucky? How funny. Joshua already knew who suggested this mad idea to Emperor Marcus. The modus operandi reeked of that bastard’s sickening ideas.

“Is Her Highness currently at the Ivory Tower?” asked Joshua.

Armstrong froze. He stared at Joshua for a moment before shaking his head. “It seems that you already have an idea about Her Highness’ condition. Fortunately, Sir Evergrant has a solution to it, and it’s a great solution, apparently.”

“Unfortunately, Sir Evergrant has no idea when Her Highness would relapse because it was only a partial cure…” Armstrong trailed off upon noticing Joshua’s anger. “His Majesty said that a single healthy day would make her find it easier to embrace death…”

”His Majesty is hoping that a brief respite would allow everyone to show her how much they loved her. His Majesty is hoping that she wouldn’t die a horrible death, lest the worse comes to worst. His Majesty is hoping that she would rest in peace.”

He was definitely mad beyond belief. No father would treat their daughter like that.

“Where is Her Highness Serciarin?”

“She’s in Second Highness’ Palace. “Kaizen ben Britten has taken custody of Her Highness.”

Joshua exhaled. What a sad and miserable life Princess Serciarin had been living all this time. Her father had used her throughout her life, and now her brother was trying to use her in an effort to squeeze as much value as he could from her.

Was there anyone else with a worse life than her in the Imperial Palace?

Joshua’s eyes darkened at the thought.

“Pardon me. I’ll be going first,” said Joshua.

As Joshua walked out of the office, Armstrong stared at his back with strange eyes.

***

Evergrant paced down a pitch-black tunnel toward someone in a dark robe.

“Everything is a mess.”

- I know. I can feel it.

An otherworldly voice came from the individual clad in dark robes.

“What do you want to do next?”

- Are you worried? Nothing really changed.

“Yes?”

- Crevasse… who could have known that lazy bastard would be tamed by a mortal?

“Then…”

- Yes. He knew about the death knight and me. He found a way to lure us out.

Evergrant’s words changed upon hearing that. “Joshua… Sanders.”

- I don’t think it’s possible for him to be a Dragon Knight, but I’m sure they talked about something. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain everything that has happened so far.

“We have to occupy the Tower as soon as possible.”

- Are you ready?

“For decades now, yes…”

- I was talking about your mind.

Evergrant’s eyes darkened. “I am prepared to slay the being that endangers our world, the enemy of my master—that thing must die.”

- Stop. Forget about it.

“...” Evergrant went silent at the dark-robed individual’s words.

- Heimdall said something about Asiru ben Britten’s plans, right?”

“Yes. However, it seems that His Majesty still hasn’t heard of it. Perhaps Black Wind sabotaged it.”

- It does not matter. The point was for us to remain behind the scenes.

The figure clad in dark robes stopped talking. They started walking into a corner before continuing.

- Three years. A battle will set the stage. If all goes as planned, Marcus ben Britten will never appear in our play again. I wish he had something like a wish… Avalon’s Emperor as my Death Knight—sounds good, right?

- Anyway…

The individual in dark robes momentarily stopped talking.

- Do you really think that I wouldn’t know?

A black silhouette flashed amidst the dark like a bolt of dark lightning.

“Argh!” A man let out a gut-wrenching scream.

- You brought a rat with you.

“Black Wind?” Evergrant looked up and saw a man in a black suit.

“A lich? No… a human?”

- The fact that you were able to come all the way here is a testament to your skills, but you got too cocky.

“Argh!”

- The stealth techniques of Black Wind. It’s pretty difficult even for me to find someone using that stealth technique if I’m not paying attention. You must be a big fish even in Black Wind.

The figure reached up and slowly removed the hood of his robe. Jacken’s eyes became bloodshot upon realizing what he was looking at, but the strange energy the stranger’s hands were emitting froze him stiff. His vision was getting better for some reason, but he couldn’t move at all.

What was happening to him?

- Don’t be afraid; it will be over soon.

The white bony hand clamped around his neck slowly turned red.

“Silence!” Evergrant snapped out of his stupor and waved his hand, surrounding all three of them in a transparent membrane.

“Aaaarghhhh!”

A helpless scream reverberated throughout the pitch-black tunnel.

Persephone\'s Thoughts

Unedited