ICM Chapter 131

“Young blood is truly wonderful.”

It was the Emperor who spoke first.

“You’re going down to your territory soon to hold the wedding ceremony?”

“By Your Majesty’s grace, yes. That is so.”

Ashika replied calmly, lowering her gaze.

“One of only four ducal houses in the Empire. A secret marriage contract, no less. Duke Talion has quite the nerve.”

“My heart was urgent, so I forgot the proper order of things.”

At Drushia’s response, a chuckle escaped from the Emperor’s lips.

High nobles usually inform the Emperor before marriage and receive his blessing. This was a procedure meant to remind them that the Empire’s power originated from the Emperor and to ensure their continued loyalty thereafter.

Of course, this didn’t apply to nobles far from the central authority. In that regard, Igraine and Talion were in an ambiguous position in many ways.

“If I hadn’t summoned you, I might not have seen your face at all.”

“How could that be? I was planning to pay my respects before departing.”

Though he had not the slightest intention of doing so, Drushia replied with perfect composure.

He was a man who could lie without even wetting his lips. Ashika inwardly clicked her tongue and opened her mouth.

“Did Your Majesty summon us because of the wedding? If Her Majesty the Empress is busy, shall we arrange to visit her instead?”

Blessing a couple before their marriage was something both the Emperor and Empress did together. Since the Empress wasn’t present, it meant the Emperor had other intentions. Ashika was indirectly asking about this.

“A strong petition has come up in the Noble Council meeting. They’re asking to strip Talion of his authority over the Grand Duchy and replace the administrator.”

He almost laughed. It was Drushia who had said he would withdraw from the Grand Duchy. But the nobles had cleverly changed their words as if it were for accountability and submitted a petition to the Emperor.

“Do you know that I’ve never summoned Talion regarding that matter?”

“I was actually planning to set a date soon to report on it. However, I was postponing it day by day due to insufficient information about the situation at the time.”

At Drushia’s response, the Emperor let out another chuckle.

For generations, Talion had been known as a house of knights, reputed for their loyal and upright character. However, Drushia would skillfully change his attitude like a politically savvy politician keen on profit.

“Duke Talion is indeed a knight, isn’t he?”

“Yes. I received knighthood the moment I came of age at eighteen. Without receiving knighthood, one cannot inherit the Duke of Talion title, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor knew this too. However, no matter how he looked at Drushia, he simply couldn’t see him as a knight, which was why he asked.

“The Grand Duchy is a burden. Don’t you think so too?”

“I merely follow Your Majesty’s will; a subject does not question reasons.”

“Aren’t you calculating everything meticulously before deciding to withdraw?”

The Emperor also knew that Drushia had declared his intention to withdraw even before the nobles’ petition.

“The situation has changed. Your Majesty knows the reason as well.”

The Emperor’s grip tightened on his chair’s armrest.

“Do you dare mention my mother in front of me?”

“This is not about Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.”

Drushia explained the situation in an even tone.

“It’s quiet now, but it will eventually become a problem among the nobles. Talion’s duty is to guard the Empire’s borders. Talion getting involved in the nobles’ political disputes would endanger not only us but the Empire’s borders as well. I want to withdraw before that happens.”

“Wouldn’t that increase Igraine’s burden?”

“Nothing will change for us. Previously, the cooperative relationship between Talion and Igraine wasn’t particularly close, Your Majesty.”

Ashika deflected the Emperor’s criticism with a calm tone.

Their relationship had been so poor that they had maintained only minimal relations even regarding Grand Duchy matters. So Ashika’s words weren’t particularly wrong either.

Tap, tap. The Emperor’s finger drummed on the armrest.

The reason Drushia presented was persuasive but at the same time had a strangely sophistic feel to it. Like how a con artist’s explanation sounds plausible yet leaves you with an uneasy feeling.

In the past, the Emperor couldn’t understand why his father was obsessed with the Grand Duke’s Castle. Nor the claim that the curse placed on the royal family needed to be lifted. Since the disease supposedly afflicting only royalty had passed over both himself and the Crown Prince, he felt no sense of crisis.

The last will the previous Emperor left was only an entreaty to never open the Grand Duke’s Castle. It would become an uncontrollable disaster, he said.

Following the previous Emperor’s command, the Grand Duke’s Castle was completely sealed, and it had been safe for decades. So he paid it no mind. Since he had passed the enormous burden of the Grand Duchy to Igraine and Talion, there was no need to worry about it.

However, when he heard news that the disease that had driven his father to death was spreading centered around the Grand Duke’s Castle, he realized the seriousness of the problem for the first time. And the fact that the problem was the Grand Duke’s Castle, not the Grand Duchy itself.

“Yes, you’re right. Talion’s duty is indeed to guard the borders.”

Thud, the Emperor’s hand struck the armrest. Until then, Ashika and Drushia had been standing the entire time, not having received permission to sit.

“There’s a condition for Talion withdrawing from the Grand Duchy.”

“Please speak, Your Majesty.”

“Half of the forces stationed in the Grand Duchy will be transferred to the Imperial family.”

“Your Majesty!”

It was Ashika who involuntarily raised her voice.

To give up half their forces? For a house of knights, knights and soldiers were assets. Recruiting people, training them as soldiers, making them useful, and maintaining them required enormous costs.

Unlike the surprised Ashika, Drushia remained calm. For the first time, he raised his head to look directly at the Emperor’s face.

“Then will Your Majesty no longer question matters regarding the Grand Duchy?”

“Should I cover up all the problems that have occurred so far?”

“Wasn’t that Your Majesty’s intention?”

The Emperor’s gaze shifted to Ashika. He seemed to be calculating how he could use Igraine instead of Talion. Drushia quickly added:

“Of course, the same applies to Igraine.”

“You’re surely not saying that Igraine will also withdraw from the Grand Duchy in this situation?”

“We will maintain our current state, Your Majesty.”

Ashika glanced at Drushia’s face and immediately gave her answer.

In other words, there would be no additional support due to the change of administrator. Originally, Igraine had no intention of withdrawing from the Grand Duchy anyway.

“I will follow Your Majesty’s will. However.”

At Drushia’s response, Ashika drew a sharp breath. She thought he would take more time to answer. Or at least attempt to negotiate. She didn’t expect him to agree so easily.

“Please return our family’s sacred relic.”

Ashika raised her head and looked back at Drushia. The Emperor’s face showed momentary contemplation.

“A few months ago, Her Majesty the Empress Dowager promised to return our family’s sacred relic as a wedding gift. I believed this aligned with Your Majesty’s will as well. Isn’t that correct?”

The Emperor’s expression became subtly contorted. That had been a tool the Empress Dowager used to pressure Drushia into marriage. The Emperor had only reluctantly agreed.

“My mother said that?”

The Emperor’s gaze naturally moved to Ashika. It was a silent inquiry about whether the marriage partner hadn’t changed. Ashika stood motionless with her gaze lowered.

“She said it would be better to return it to its original owner rather than let it rot in storage where it served no purpose. I believe without doubt that Her Majesty the Empress Dowager’s words were sincere, Your Majesty.”

“My mother would have been sincere, of course.”

However, Drushia’s attitude in deliberately pointing this out was strangely irritating. The Emperor grudgingly agreed with a displeased expression.

“Yes, it was something that should have been returned long ago, so it’s only proper that it return to its original owner. I’ll have the relic handed over after receiving the soldiers.”

“Please return it now, Your Majesty. Then I will simultaneously send orders for half the Grand Duchy garrison to withdraw along with the troop transfer orders.”

“Right now?”

“The deeper winter gets, the harder movement becomes. It’s better to settle things while there’s no snow yet. Anyway, with half the forces remaining, there should be no problem with management if the Imperial family dispatches a temporary administrator.”

The Emperor felt oddly unsettled. He hadn’t expected Drushia to give up troops so readily. Even as Emperor, he couldn’t forcibly take soldiers from the house that possessed the most troops in the Empire. He had expected some attempt at negotiation.

So the current situation was indeed favorable to the Emperor. Talion’s worthless sacred relic was something he wouldn’t have minded discarding long ago.

Yet he felt strange. Though he was the one making demands, he had the odd feeling that it was he, not Drushia, who was being manipulated.

“Duke Talion surely wouldn’t make false promises.”

“Of course not. I’ll write and send the orders by the end of today.”

The Emperor shook his head as if tired. He instructed a waiting attendant to fetch the relic from storage and sank deep into his sofa.

Ashika and Drushia still stood waiting. Both maintained the same impeccable posture as when they first entered.

This was meant to firmly impress upon them their position as subjects, but the two responded like blocks of wood. Even this irritated the Emperor.

After a while, an attendant arrived carrying something wrapped in black velvet. It was about the size of two open palms.

“Your Majesty, here is the item you requested.”

The Emperor didn’t take the item the attendant offered.

“It’s not for me—it should go to its owner.”

With the Emperor’s light gesture, it was passed to Drushia’s hands. Despite its small size, it felt quite heavy. Even Drushia, who had remained composed throughout, showed clear signs of tension as he began to unwrap the velvet.

Forty years ago, the family heirloom that the previous Emperor had taken by semi-force. It was finally returning to its rightful place.

Large hands carefully removed the black velvet. It wasn’t the original wrapping—the velvet cloth was simply rolled up without any knots.

When Drushia finally revealed the contents, Ashika held her breath.

‘It’s that frame.’

The strange frame she had discovered while attending a palace banquet.

It wasn’t a dream. The frame truly existed, and the sacred stone that had led her into hallucinations was still embedded in the top of the frame.

‘The sacred stone is cracked. Just as I saw it then.’

Was the sacred stone cracked because of the hallucination she experienced? Or was there another reason?

The answer was unknowable, but one thing was certain. The sacred stone’s power had limits, and after expending its power, it would crack like this.

The Emperor narrowed his eyes and observed Drushia’s reaction. The tension was brief—Drushia simply looked down at the small frame in silence.

“The man in the portrait is Talion’s founding patriarch?”

“Yes. It was said to be the first portrait painted when the family’s foundation wasn’t yet established.”

Dust came off at Drushia’s fingertips. It was so neglected that pale dust filled every crevice of the ornate decorations. At the Emperor’s immediate command to bring it, they had hastily wrapped it in any cloth without even dusting it off.

“The sacred stone embedded here is…”

“It was already in that state when I first saw it.”

The Emperor cut off Drushia’s words and answered.

Talion’s sacred relic, which had been shoved into storage, was outside the Emperor’s interest. A few months ago, when the relic was found outside the storage for unknown reasons, there was a brief commotion in the palace. That was when the Emperor first saw Talion’s sacred relic.

Drushia’s expression was unreadable, while Ashika couldn’t hide her surprise. Ashika kept her eyes fixed on the frame as she spoke.

“Your Majesty, there’s something I’d like to ask.”

“Your question is permitted.”

“I’ve heard that the palace also has sacred relics passed down from the founding. Were those also cracked gemstones like this?”

At Ashika’s question, Drushia looked back at her. His eyes showed interest in what connection she might be seeking.

“Hmm.”

The Emperor stroked his chin and pondered briefly. He too had never seen the Imperial sacred relics directly.

“They’re not much different. They supposedly came from the same root, so that would be natural.”

Though he’d never seen them directly, he had occasionally glimpsed them in portraits of past emperors. Even those were now placed deep in storage where no one could see the form of the sacred relics.

Ashika carefully continued her questioning.

“Might we have an opportunity to see those relics?”

“They’re Imperial property. They’re in a place that non-royals cannot dare approach.”

The Emperor firmly expressed his refusal.

“I was presumptuous. Please forgive me with your sun-like grace.”

Ashika bowed deeply in apology. Whether they weren’t shown because they were precious or couldn’t be seen because they were lost—no one could know.

“I’ll send someone to the Grand Duchy tomorrow. Since you’re the one in a hurry, Duke, make sure there are no delays in the schedule.”

“How could there be any objection?”

Drushia carefully rewrapped the dusty frame in cloth and held it in his hands.

As if he no longer wished to speak, the Emperor waved his hand dismissively. It was a casual attitude as if addressing Imperial attendants, which could have been offensive, yet Drushia showed not the slightest disturbance as he bowed his head.

When the two offered their farewell, and when they left the salon, the Emperor didn’t look back. Then suddenly, a belated question arose in the Emperor’s mind.

Why did Talion want to withdraw the Grand Duchy forces? What was he planning to do with the withdrawn troops?

‘Useless thoughts.’

The Emperor soon dismissed the thought that had just occurred to him. With a few words, he had gained well-trained soldiers, so it was profitable for the Imperial family no matter what.

That’s how it seemed for now. He buried deep in memory the fact that due to the Grand Duchy garrison issue, Talion had come to possess even more troops than before.