Chapter 106: 059. Imperial Prince Saw Him -3 (Part Two)
**
The communiques had been sent out, and First Imperial Prince Luan in the imperial palace, First Imperial Princess Hilda in the northwestern territory, and feudal lord Jenald Ripang in the northern frontier all received the letters.
Without any hesitation whatsoever, the trio dispatched their troops after reading the Seventh Imperial Prince’s letter. Also, investigations were launched into the affairs of the certain duke and marquis households of the Theocratic Empire using this event as a basis.
And with the revealed corruption and abuse of power as pretext, their private forces had been appropriated and mobilised as well.
Two hundred Crimson Cross members, one hundred and fifty from the Verdant Cross, another one hundred from the dwarven legion, two thousand convict soldiers, and finally, five thousand private soldiers from the affected noble houses alongside the elite forces of the empire numbering three thousand; they all closed in on the border region to Aslan.
One thousand Paladins of the Heavenly Army and over fifteen thousand elite soldiers were already stationed by the southern border to Aslan. The combined army currently waiting by the border now boasted twenty six thousand four hundred and fifty combatants.
As for the one hundred and fifty members of the Paladin Corps led by Harman, they were spread throughout the streets of Humite. They took on the role of protecting the city itself.
On top of that, the Order of the Golden Cross also made their move.
One hundred Paladins kitted out in gleaming golden armour were dispatched to Ruppel’s private residence where the special envoy of Aslan, Haima, was currently staying. The pretext here was to provide ‘protection’, but the real story was quite different, of course.
This extravagant show of force was completed in only ten days.
When special envoy Haima received all the reports regarding these military movements, his complexion became deathly pale.
He began shouting at Ruppel. “Isn’t this different from what we discussed before?! Wasn’t your Theocratic Empire and my Aslan hoping to build a more amicable relationship? If not, could it be…?”
Haima scanned the surrounding Paladins. They were here to supposedly protect Ruppel.
The special envoy from Aslan whispered to the Third Imperial Prince while keeping his eyes on the Paladins. “Could it be that you truly wish to wage war? It’s not too late, your highness. For your own sake, you need to dismiss the gathered forces.”
“It’s impossible. With my authority, I can’t…”
Ruppel could only force out a pained groan as his reply while he began massaging his forehead.
The First Imperial Prince and Princess were now involved here. On top of that, Allen was currently enjoying the authority of the Heresy Inquisitor as well.
Ruppel alone didn’t have enough power to go over their heads.
…The architect of this entire event was none other than Allen Olfolse, the Seventh Imperial Prince. It went without saying that the actual right to command the gathered army now rested with him.
With just one word from him, the vast army numbering over twenty thousand would immediately make their next move.
Ruppel was desperately thinking to himself. ‘Just what on earth did he do that they…’
Why were both the First Imperial Prince and Princess, and also a feudal lord in the northern frontier, so willing to make their moves simply because Allen asked them to?
‘…No, maybe it’s not all that surprising.’
Feudal lord Jenald from the northern frontier in question managed to defeat a Vampire with Allen’s aid.
The First Imperial Prince was on his deathbed, only to be revived to full health.
As for the First Imperial Princess, Allen was instrumental in eliminating the troublesome lycanthropes and helping with the rescue operation of the captive dwarves.
There were exaggerated rumours of him being the slaughterer of Vampires and the butcher of lycans, but now that Ruppel thought about it, those stories began floating around only because Allen must’ve contributed greatly in those events.
He had been treating them all as just some random rubbish, but could there really be something to those rumours?
Ruppel sat while contemplating with his fingers interlocked, but his legs were trembling nonstop. Still feeling unsettled and not able to calm down at all, he decided to ask the envoy a question. “Should we… postpone the banquet?”
Haima flinched in surprise at the question before responding with a groan. “No, that… cannot happen. We already finished our preparations, you see. We can’t afford to postpone it any longer.”
Ruppel held his head.
Haima looked at the sitting Third Imperial Prince and opened his mouth again, “…However, I know of another way.”
“…?”
“Forget about the others for a moment, all you have to do is to ensure that the Order of the Golden Cross would be unable to make their moves.”
“Did you think of something?”
Haima nodded meaningfully, and then whispered some things into the Third Imperial Prince’s ear.
However, what Ruppel heard caused his expression to harden.
**
Currently, the city of Humite was a powder keg of anxiety.
The citizens were falling to the pits of fear from all the obvious signs of an impending war, and in the meantime, the kingdom of Aslan was seen making all sorts of ominous manoeuvrings lately.
Almost all of the main forces of the Imperial Family had left the imperial palace and were being stationed by the border to Aslan.
Even though the Imperial Princes were seemingly doing whatever the hell they wanted, Kelt Olfolse did not interfere.
The important matter for him right now wasn’t ‘Aslan’s ominous manoeuvring’ but the ‘manoeuvring within the imperial court’ itself.
The Holy Emperor, Kelt Olfolse, was currently in a dark, gloomy location. He sat on a simple wooden chair with his fingers interlocked, his overall demeanour filled with the dignified arrogance of a ruler.
And in front of him was a gruesome-looking corpse. No, it wasn’t an actual corpse, but a body that had been torn apart mercilessly to resemble one.
Red hair had been ripped off here and there; its eyes were gouged out and blood trickled out from the sockets.
Spears made out of silver were stabbed into various parts of its torso, and a fountain placed in front of it continuously sprayed holy water to burn the rest of what remained of its body.
It was none other than the Vampire, Fomor.
He looked to be suffering from great torment while barely managing to open his mouth. He mumbled out some words in an unknown language while his voice cracked apart.
The members of the Crimson Cross next to the Vampire listened, and then reported the contents directly to their Holy Emperor.
No matter how adept the Vampires were at concealing their presence, it was definitely not a simple feat to infiltrate the Theocratic Empire. What made matters worse was that it wasn’t any regular part of the empire, but the imperial palace itself.
However, they still managed to do so. Which meant that someone had ‘deliberately’ let them in.
Without a doubt, this certain someone possessed a considerable amount of political influence as well.
Kelt had suspected as much, but he had no physical evidence. To be certain of his suspicions, he had been biding his time for this moment.
To discover the culprit responsible for bringing these abominable Vampires to his imperial palace and murder the First Crown Princess Consort Yulisia, he ordered to have the captured Vampires tortured endlessly.
And finally, after a lengthy period of interrogation, the Vampire Fomor declared his surrender. In other words, he confessed.
He confessed to who helped him infiltrate the imperial palace and what other various crimes he committed at the individual’s request.
The identity of the criminal who used a Vampire to murder the Imperial Family’s Yulisia…
Her name was…
-Rose… Darina…
…The Second Crown Princess Consort, Rose Darina.
Kelt Olfolse quietly closed his eyes after he heard that name.
“…I see. So what you lot actually wanted was…”
Suddenly, veins bulged on his face and his complexion turned blood-red. His whole body began trembling from rage.
“…To die miserable deaths!”
Sparks arced and danced all around his surroundings.
A loud thunderclap resounded out, accompanied by a bright flash of light that illuminated the interior of the dimly-lit prison.
The other Vampires imprisoned beyond the thick steel bars were struck by the lightning bolt containing the emperor’s rage, and they were instantly incinerated, not even leaving behind a handful of ashes.
He was truly enraged.
But he needed to hold himself back.
Indeed, for the time being, he must do so.
Aslan had been making strange movements recently. The piffling little kingdom to the south wouldn’t normally dare to drool over the Theocratic Empire. Even then, they were still going ahead with their preparations, which could only mean that there was another factor at play here.
What if Rose and Ruppel were not only involved in this wretched affair with the Vampires, but with also some other unsavoury matters…?
“I shall annihilate you all!”
Whether it be the Vampires, Aslan, Ruppel, or Rose – none of them would be left unscathed!
Kelt Olfolse shot up from the chair.
He issued a new command to the Crimson Cross knights still remaining in the imperial palace.
“I shall leave the imperial palace to Luan’s care for the time being. Inform Oscal Baldur regarding the matters of Ruppel and Aslan’s envoy. Tell him that if either Rose or Ruppel makes any suspicious movements, have them apprehended even if he has to cut off their limbs. Because I…”
Kelt’s eyes seemed to get redder and redder from barely-checked rage.
“…shall personally judge them.”
< 059. Imperial Prince Saw Him -3 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
