2.6 There is No Regression for the Victor

The Duke sat in silence for a long while, staring blankly, before suddenly bringing up a story that made little sense. It was a tale about a certain useless hound. A hunter had lost his beloved pet dog and bought a new one from the market. The new dog was neither as affectionate nor as loyal as the previous one, but it followed the hunter’s orders without fail.

Unlike the puppy that would whine for food or dare to sleep in the same bed as its owner, this dog behaved strictly as livestock. Whenever the hunter was dissatisfied with the results of a hunt, he would frequently beat the dog or leave it to starve. Despite this, the dog continued to obey everything the hunter commanded.

Then one day, the pet dog, which the hunter had believed to be dead, returned alive. Since the hunter had no need for two dogs, he decided to slaughter the hunting dog, which had now become a burden. In response, the hunting dog turned into a fierce beast, tore the puppy to pieces, and fled after mauling its owner.

Mikhail could not fathom why Hyeon was telling him this story. Was he the puppy? Or was he…? While Mikhail was lost in confusion, the Duke asked in a voice laced with ridicule.

“I am curious about your thoughts on this story.”

Mikhail couldn’t immediately discern what kind of answer the fable was intended to elicit. From the hunter’s perspective, it might seem as though the hunting dog had attacked despite the grace of being fed and sheltered.

‘But eating a dog you raised just because it’s no longer needed isn’t a commendable act either…’

Mikhail hesitated for a moment before answering that it seemed like something that happened because the hunter behaved wrongly. Hyeon gave a bitter smile, turned his head, and rested his chin on his hand.

“I… think the hunting dog made a quite wise decision. Since it could never defeat a hunter armed with tools anyway, the best course of action would be to bite and kill the thing the hunter treasures most.”

Mikhail was bewildered by the cryptic story and the even more incomprehensible answer. However, the uneasy feeling he had before entering the room seemed to cast an increasingly deeper shadow, leaving him unable to respond as he simply gazed at Hyeon. Then, with a face brighter than ever before, Hyeon smiled and asked again.

“What do you think revenge is? Repaying a humiliation? Tearing limbs apart so they can never stand on two feet again?”

The Duke’s handsome face, which at a glance appeared utterly cold and vile, had never looked so delighted. When Mikhail failed to answer, Hyeon spoke [Read on Read BL Novels]first, as unauthorized copyif he hadn’t expected an answer in the first place.

“No, the most perfect revenge is to destroy the thing he loves most.”

Then, as if comforting a mourner who had lost their most beloved, he pulled Mikhail into a tight embrace and patted his back with a large hand.

“And before I met you, I had already finished the revenge I had to carry out. I stripped the assets from those blinded by treasure, gave eternal bondage to the one who could not give up his freedom, and forced the old man who cherished his bloodline so dearly to watch his own grandson walk into an endless mire of his own accord.”

“…….”

Hyeon knew how wealth beyond one’s capacity could ruin a person. It had been the case even during his student days abroad. Having grown up without want due to the lavish support poured in from home, there were more than a few who easily succumbed to temptations they should have avoided, becoming uncontrollably ruined by drugs and alcohol. The screams of the old man who saw his grandson become a complete wreck were still vivid in Hyeon’s mind.

To Mikhail, the Duke, who spoke in such incomprehensible terms, felt like a completely different person. Even though the man before his eyes was indeed the familiar person he loved so dearly.

“If I am the most precious thing to you, who desecrated my end, then isn’t it decided what I must do to grant you the ultimate revenge?”

The final sentence uttered by the Duke gouged into Mikhail’s ears like a sharp dagger. Mikhail could offer no excuse. He could do nothing but kneel at his feet, clinging to him in apology. Mikhail imagined holding his hand and fleeing from the Imperial Palace. But upon his shoulders rested the massive burden called the Empire. He knew he couldn’t. He could neither set him free as he pleased nor abandon the Empire to become a fugitive with him. Mikhail could not, in his right mind, ignore the chaos that would ensue if he abandoned the position of Crown Prince.

Because of me. Because of my reckless actions. When he thought of all the rabble of the Empire declaring territorial wars to seize the vacant successor’s seat and the countless civilians who would be swept up in the conflict, he knew he couldn’t. The world praised him as a hero who would take the entire Empire in his hands, but now, because of the position he had gained to protect him, Mikhail was in a state where he couldn’t even grasp the heart of the person he most desired and loved.

Unlike Mikhail, who suffered from the shackles he had created for himself, Hyeon looked strangely relieved. Like someone who had completed all the preparations for a long journey.

The following day, Isaac Tion Transis, the first prisoner to be pardoned from the assassin’s crown, took poison and ended his own life.

The Duke’s body was found in a pond on the outskirts of the Crown Prince’s Palace. A gardener Read on Read BL Novelsscreamed upon discovering the Duke lying in the pond, looking as if he were asleep amidst the chirping birds Read on Read BL Novelsand the brilliant bloom of various colorful flowers. [Read on Read BL Novels]Mikhail, who had been working, cast everything aside and dove into the pond to pull the Duke’s pale, blue-tinged skin onto the shore.

“Lord Isaac isn’t breathing… It’s possible for the pulse to stop for a moment, right? He… couldn’t have… gone…”

The Duke, his body covered in wet flower petals, looked like a corpse sleeping in a coffin filled with flowers. The Crown Prince cried out, holding the body that had lost all color and was as cold as ice.

“Call a physician quickly! Or a priest! There’s no time, hurry!”

However, all the servants and maids watching the scene knew. The Duke had long since drawn his last breath. A physician soon arrived and confirmed that his heart was no longer beating, but Mikhail denied it. He insisted it couldn’t be. That something must be wrong. He shook his head, asking if the Duke hadn’t simply fallen into a deep sleep.

“No, I was wrong… I did everything wrong… please…”

But the cause of death was clearly drowning. An autopsy would have revealed it in detail, but traces of a sleeping pill used by commoners were detected around the Duke’s mouth. To drown in a pond without a single whirlpool or rapid current, one had to completely break their own will to survive. He must have taken the sleeping pill before falling into the water and died without even struggling. When asked if the Duke’s body should be autopsied, the Crown Prince spoke nonsense, claiming that one cannot put a knife into a living person’s body without reason. Faced with the Crown Prince’s incomprehensible mutterings and vacant eyes, the physicians all refused to step forward and backed away.

Since the Duke had not yet escaped his status as a slave owned by the Crown Prince, no funeral was held. Only members of the Imperial Family or palace servants who had served with loyalty could have funerals within the Imperial Palace. There was nowhere to pray for the repose of a slave. He was only granted a modest cremation at the incinerator where the palace waste was burned.

However, the Crown Prince did not collect the Duke’s body to perform a farewell ritual for the deceased. Instead, using a magic tool kept in the archives, he created a room where nothing would ever decay and placed him there along with flowers plucked from the garden. Thanks to the mobilization of the Empire’s finest artisans, the Duke, enshrined in a transparent glass coffin, looked like a man who had just fallen asleep atop a bed of flowers. In that room, filled with a suffocating scent of flowers, the Crown Prince neither ate, drank, nor slept for over a week.

And on the exact tenth day since the Duke’s passing, he emerged from the room, looking haggard.

‘It’s finally over.’

While the people of the Imperial Palace worried that the Crown Prince might do something reckless in his grief over losing the Duke, they also breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that one headache had been removed. Perhaps, by some miracle, the Duke’s death had brought him back to his senses. A week later, the Crown Prince ended his seclusion and appeared in public again. He then behaved as a diligent successor, as if nothing had happened. He apologized to his father, saying he was sorry for showing disloyalty, and began attending to official duties as the successor who would soon inherit the Imperial throne.

As time passed—one month, two months… and after more than half a year, the Duke was no longer mentioned either inside or outside the Imperial Palace. It was vaguely concluded that His Highness the Crown Prince had been momentarily swayed by some temptation visit our siteand Read on Read BL Novelsalmost made unauthorized copya wrong judgment, but that peace had returned thanks to his immediate recovery of judgment.

“See, I told you he’d come back to his senses once that guy was gone.”

“He must have used some kind of magic tool. Otherwise, there’s no way he would have acted so strangely, as if he were possessed.”

After the Duke’s death, Osbrant entered an era of unprecedented peace. And about a year after the Duke passed away, the Emperor, whose body was so worn that it wouldn’t be strange if he died at any moment, decided to abdicate the Imperial throne to his loyal and reliable successor.

Long live the new Emperor! Long live Mikhail, the shining hero and great hero of Osbrant! May eternal glory be upon the young and beautiful Emperor! As ridiculous toasts and homage echoed through every street, and finally, under the blessing of the High Priest, the sovereign’s crown was placed upon Mikhail’s terrifyingly beautiful imperial countenance. Immediately after the coronation ceremony ended, the new Emperor brought a storm of blood to the Imperial Palace.

“What on earth is the meaning of this!”

The former Emperor, so frail that he seemed on the verge of death, shouted in a voice full of rage, but the young Emperor did not care in the slightest. He gave a light snort as if a fly were buzzing in his ear, and without even looking toward the former Emperor, he merely replied indifferently while looking at documents.

“I do not know what you are referring to. Am I not allowed to command the palace servants in my own residence as I wish? If there is something wrong, please tell me clearly.”

The former Emperor was appalled by the attitude of playing innocent despite clearly knowing what was being discussed.

“Are you defying me now? Simply because you gave a fitting treatment to that mere traitor?”

At that, Mikhail’s hand holding the documents trembled slightly. Just as the former Emperor, thinking he had gained the upper hand, looked at Mikhail’s expression to continue his scolding, Mikhail unexpectedly snapped back with a sneer.

“I have merely treated the criminals according to the laws of the Imperial Palace. I cannot allow untrustworthy individuals to continue working in the Imperial Palace, where security must be the strictest. Since I do not yet have a successor, I must prioritize my own safety above all else for the stability of the Empire.”

Mikhail continued signing the documents—scritch, scritch—and when [unauthorized copy]the pen nib hit stolen contenta bump on the paper and made an unpleasant screeching sound, splashing ink on the back of his hand, he frowned and added, [stolen content]as if this were a more important and unpleasant problem than the current conversation.

“Did I capture them and burn them alive like you did, Father? Did I torture them? Or did I confiscate their assets and hang them? Did I pull out their nails or cut out their tongues? Am I expected to personally beg each individual palace servant, who realized their sins and wished to go into seclusion, not to quit?”

As soon as he seized the Imperial throne, the young Emperor fired most of the palace servants who had worked in the Crown Prince’s Palace. Overnight, most of the servants were scattered. Some returned to their hometowns. Some moved to other jobs in the capital, and some were sent to the estates of nearby high nobles with letters of recommendation. Only a few moved from the Crown Prince’s Palace to the Emperor’s Palace to continue working. Those few who moved to the Emperor’s Palace mostly moved up a rank, which was practically a promotion.

‘Lunya isn’t even particularly good at her job. Why was I kicked out while she was taken to the Emperor’s Palace?’

‘Who knows… maybe the Crown Prince’s taste is just plain.’

For a while, frivolous jokes circulated that she had caught the Crown Prince’s eye, or that the Crown Prince, whose taste was not particularly refined, had taken a liking to her. However, as some of those fired from the Crown Prince’s Palace vanished and went missing, the criteria soon became secretly clear.

The first to disappear was the second daughter of Baron Temora. She had said she planned to return home to prepare for marriage, but she vanished after being last seen at a lake near the Imperial Castle. She was a daughter popular among the maids for her bright, cheerful personality and her nature as a gossip interested in everything around her. It was said that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all the secrets and rumors of the palace servants resided on her tongue.

The next to bring tragic news was the third son of Viscount Marcus. He had been scheduled to move into the Imperial bureaucracy after several years of training at the Crown Prince’s Palace, but he vanished after a final secret rendezvous in his hidden lover’s attic. He too had used the nature of his position, which allowed relatively free movement in and out, to frequently travel between the commoners’ quarters—especially the pleasure districts—and the Imperial Palace, and was well-known for leaking the secret rumors of the palace to the outside.

Beyond them, the characteristics of the people who completely lost contact after leaving the Crown Prince’s Palace narrowed down to a few: those who loved rumors, those who enjoyed speaking of others’ misfortunes and fatal secrets, and those who had been entrusted with the Emperor’s secret missions. Upon hearing the news, the former Emperor flew into a rage.

‘How on earth did you keep your mouths shut that the Emperor managed to find the trail!’

‘W-we really don’t know… Even the maids who barely cooperated have disappeared…’

‘It’s truly as if a ghost is at work…’

However, everyone desperately denied it, and the internal whistleblower was never revealed. Finally, after more than ten people went missing, the former Emperor [visit our site]could no longer endure it unauthorized copyand stormed into the young Emperor’s office. To the former Emperor’s roar, the Crown Prince—now Emperor—replied without batting an eye.

“I have merely shown those who recklessly sell the secrets of the Imperial Palace to the outside what the price of such a grave crime is. How could I stop them from distancing themselves from the Imperial Palace after repenting for their indelible sins?”

That was the part that made the former Emperor feel like he was going crazy. If a body had appeared or signs of homicide had been found, he would have understood that the Emperor had used his subordinates for an unofficial execution. But since there were no signs of kidnapping and no trail to follow, the former Emperor questioned him as if interrogating him, but the Emperor’s answer remained consistent.

“You taught me, Your Majesty. That the mouth and hand of the ruler must always be innocent. I merely sent them away so they could no longer work in the palace; I did not harm them.”

It was a tone that suggested he had no intention or reason to explain further. The former Emperor felt as if his hair were falling out from stress. Those who had moved from the Crown Prince’s Palace to the Emperor’s Palace were all palace servants who were tight-lipped and uninterested in gossip.

After the storm of blood swept through the palace servants, the next to be devastated were the aides and investigators who acted as the Emperor’s hands and feet. Marcel, who had risen from a mere investigator to a position commanding the investigators directly under the Emperor, was equally suffering as if his hair were falling out.

“You cannot dismiss so many people at once. It is not feasible, even for the security of the Imperial Family.”

Marcel offered a blunt piece of advice against the Emperor’s will to dismiss all aides and recruit new ones. However, the answer he received was quite something.

“Is that so? There must be so many scandals in the Imperial Family that must not leak out. Since the affairs of the Crown Prince’s Palace were spread among the commoners as if they were their own family matters, I thought there was no such thing as a secret in this palace.”

The Emperor added, smiling as brightly as he had rarely done recently.

“Then we have no choice but to execute them officially. Shall we come up with a charge? Yes, the crime of insulting the Imperial Family would be good. For publicly insulting the Imperial Family.”