Chapter 126

The changed Lyssel was recognized at once.

The others were stunned too.

Generation after generation, Lecashe had been black-haired and black-eyed.

Hadn't Lyssel been the same not long ago?

And yet suddenly — what magic was this?

The emperor glared at him with bloodshot eyes.

There was no one left at his side now.

A dry laugh broke from him and his body sagged.

He'd realized that against Lyssel — with the demonic energy gone and his original form restored — he was no longer a match.

What good would ordering Lyssel killed do at this point? Who would listen?

Even the god had cast him aside.

"Why does it have to be now, of all times…."

The emperor muttered it bitterly.

And then, with the sword in his hand, he drove it precisely into his own belly.

"What —!"

Everyone froze in horror, but the emperor coughed up blood with a serene expression.

"Cough. At this rate, even if I survive, I'll only have more to lose. Better to die than live like that…."

Even at the very end, he made a stubbornly selfish choice.

But the emperor's death wasn't the revenge Lyssel wanted.

"Wh-what do you mean to do…. Cough."

"You have to live. Not as an emperor — as some ordinary nobody, you have to go on living. That's the revenge I want. Death is too easy, isn't it?"

Lyssel wanted the man, with everything lost, to thrash for survival to the very end.

He vaulted lightly down from the wall and reached out a hand toward the emperor.

"What?"

Before the emperor could fully grasp the words, holy power flowed from Lyssel's outstretched hand.

Hk — real holy power?

Had the god really come back?

My god, this is…

By the time the murmuring had grown louder, the wound that had pierced the emperor's belly was gone.

But even in that brief moment he'd lost a great deal of blood, and he passed out where he was.

Soon after, the gates opened and the Lecashe knights poured out — and not a single man resisted.

---

Once Demedeto, who had descended into Iberin's body, withdrew, Iberin woke quickly, and Lecashe settled with surprising ease.

The emperor had marched on Lecashe to cut down the World Tree and ended up captured himself.

Even so, the nobles were as quiet as mice.

No one raised an objection; they waited for their judgments.

Then again — the moment they'd set foot inside the Lecashe gates, the otherworldly scene that opened in front of them made it perfectly clear that anyone who didn't make a good impression here was a dead man.

Truly, only the nobles, knights, and soldiers who had followed the emperor remained untreated.

The god had abandoned the Aleta imperial line.

The nobles who'd come with that emperor to cut down the World Tree couldn't help going subdued.

Whatever they did, Lyssel had no thoughts to spare for the other nobles.

Of course, he had no intention of letting greedy men go on living as nobles.

For now, Lyssel had the emperor and his nobles locked in the dungeons, and turned his mind to what came next.

"I'm thinking of becoming Yelberk's godfather."

"Godfather?"

"He's still young. Or you could be his godmother, Iberin — that might be better. I think you'd be better at it than me."

"So we wait until Yelberk is fully grown?"

"Yes. I have absolutely no desire to be emperor."

"That's not bad either. But if we go that route, doesn't it end up working out conveniently just for the emperor?"

"Of course, I plan to use the negotiation to throw the emperor out and have him live a life lower than any commoner's."

"Ah… that's your revenge, Lyssel?"

"I don't really know whether what I'm picturing is what people would call 'revenge,' but if the power the emperor was so hungry for is taken from him, won't he be miserable?"

"He certainly will."

"I want him to live the rest of his life in pain."

After all he'd been put through, Lyssel had asked for nothing more than to leave Lecashe and set down the Grand Duke title — for him to speak this way meant he really was past the limit with the emperor.

"I think your idea is a good one, Lyssel. Do as you wish."

"Thank you."

They looked at each other for a long moment, smiling.

It was just peaceful.

The conversation didn't go on, but there was — how to put it — a kind of relief that came from the thought now this is really over.

The demonic energy inside Iberin's body was completely gone, and Lecashe had found its original form.

From now on there would be no being used by the imperial family — they'd be happy always.

Demedeto had given them a gift of power that was, granted, a little excessive, but as long as it was put only to good use, it would be fine.

"Why are you looking at me like that."

"What about you, Iberin."

"Because I'm happy."

"Me too. Because I'm happy."

A small laugh escaped both their mouths at the same time.

---

The emperor had fallen and the nobles had been taken without resistance.

The knights and soldiers, too, had lost their will to fight, and the situation was over in an instant.

Now they only had to head to the capital and sort things out.

That was when word came from Duke Cherity.

"…Has he lost his mind."

Lyssel muttered it on the spot the moment he saw the letter, and crumpled the paper.

"What is it, what's wrong!"

Worried something might have happened in the capital, Iberin pressed him, and Lyssel answered with a stunned expression.

"…Crown Prince Yelberk laid out every one of the emperor's crimes, one by one."

"Wasn't he supposed to be missing?"

"He'd been locked up — Duke Cherity tracked him down, apparently."

"Ah, so that's why he didn't come down to Lecashe. If he was going to do that, he could have given us a heads-up at least."

"He said you'd say exactly that, Iberin — called it a surprise gift."

"…Oh my."

Iberin covered her mouth and let out a small sound of wonder.

A surprise gift — she'd never seen it coming.

"But then why did you crumple the letter like that?"

He'd told the people what the emperor had done all this time, so filling the vacancy left by the emperor would be a quick matter to handle.

It didn't look bad at all.

"The Crown Prince —"

"The Crown Prince?"

"…has announced that he won't take the throne either."

For a moment Iberin didn't fully take the words in, blinked once, and then let out a yelp.

"Then who's going to take Aleta?!"

Lyssel and Iberin had naturally assumed Yelberk would be the next to take the throne.

It wouldn't be possible right away, but time would handle the rest.

But the boy himself had refused.

Lyssel and Iberin's eyes met.

Could it really be…?

"…Let's head to the capital for now."

This wasn't something to sit and think about — they'd have to go, get a read on the situation, then unwind it step by step.

---

At the sudden upheaval, the people seemed to be in confusion.

How long had it been since the temple's corruption had come out, and now the Crown Prince was indicting the imperial line itself.

On top of that, they said the current emperor had been thoroughly defeated by Lecashe.

At the same time, rumor was running thick through the streets.

"They say the god descended in Lecashe."

"How does that even make sense? The god hasn't shown himself for thousands of years, and now he just descends out of nowhere?"

"Then what?"

"Bet it's Lecashe pulling something to grab the imperial throne."

"But isn't Lecashe protecting the Saintess too? Could it actually be real this time?"

"Until I see it with my own two eyes, I'm not buying it."

Some pinned their hopes on it; others refused even to listen, dismissing it as gossip.

In the middle of all that rumor and nothing else, Lecashe entered the capital.

The emperor, who had wielded absolute power, was a criminal now in the space of a moment.

The nobles who followed him in were the same.

Watching it, the nobles who had stood with Duke Cherity breathed easy and one after another praised the duke's foresight.

"Aaah…."

Whatever any of them was doing, Duke Cherity, the moment Iberin appeared wrapped in an even thicker presence of the god, was completely lost.

That radiant aura…

He felt like rushing over and kissing the tops of her feet.

On top of that, Lyssel — who had always been so dark, being a cursed existence — had transformed.

Those who had seen Lyssel before couldn't help being stunned.

Meanwhile, holding his post in the imperial palace, Yelberk heard the deafening cheers and knew Lecashe had arrived.

The empress, standing at his side, knew too.

When the empress had first learned that Yelberk had indicted the imperial line, she had been furious.

But once she'd heard why it had to be that way, she had resolved to accept it.

"Yel."

"Yes, Mother."

"Will you truly not regret today's choice? No matter what decision Lecashe hands down?"

"Of course."

Ordinarily, a change in the imperial line ended in death.

In her son's posture — accepting even that — the empress saw that nothing she said would reach him.

She had only thought of him as a child. When had he grown up so much?

The empress had often turned a blind eye to the emperor's behavior in order to protect Yelberk.

Of course she hadn't dreamed he'd been doing something this monstrous, but the emperor had never been a good head of family to begin with, so for her it had been the best she could do.

No — she had rationalized to herself that it was the best.

She had thought she'd need to keep protecting him for a long time yet, and she hadn't been right.

The empress smiled bitterly.

"It sounds like they're here."

Yelberk was holding himself together more steadily than ever.

As the empress finished speaking, the door burst open and Lyssel and Iberin appeared.

Behind them were Ether and Rozelia, and Kal too.

"Big bro!"

Ether came running over with a bright smile and threw himself at Yelberk.

"…O-oh,"

Caught off guard, Yelberk didn't know how to react and fumbled.

The empress was the same.

This little boy was a child she remembered meeting alongside Iberin.

And yet he was coming up like an old friend — she couldn't help being thrown.

She'd braced herself for death, and suddenly the mood had loosened completely.

"Welcome, Grand Duke."

In any case, the empress pulled herself together and greeted him, and Lyssel inclined his head.

"Yes."

That was it.

The conversation broke off there and silence circled the room.

"Hehe."

In the middle of all that, only Ether's laughter — happy to be seeing Yelberk again after so long — rang out.

"Ether…."

Yelberk called his name quietly.

"Hmm?"

"How about getting off a little, hm?"

Yelberk said it, finally pulling himself together.

"Why? You don't like Ether?"

"Huh? It's not that, but…."

Of course, Ether showed no sign of letting go.

"Hey."

Then Rozelia spoke up out of nowhere.

"Yes?"

"Let's go play."

"…Now? Here?"

"Let's go out and play hide-and-seek. We can leave the grown-ups to talk."

"……Out of nowhere?"

"It's not out of nowhere, you know? Lady Iberin told me to play with you when we got here."

"Her Highness the Grand Duchess?"

"Anyway, that boring, stiff attitude of yours hasn't changed. Kal, Ether — grab him."

When Rozelia gave the order, Kal was quick to grab Yelberk's left arm.

Yelberk tried to shake him off, but the grip was so strong his arm wouldn't budge.

It was the same with Ether, who was years younger than he was.

"What is — this."

While Yelberk floundered, Kal and Ether dragged him off and frog-marched him (?) out.

The empress watched the scene with a blank expression.

A moment later her eyes met Iberin's, and Iberin only smiled at her with a quietly pleased look.

Only then did the empress realize that her thoughts and theirs ran on different tracks.

"Please, sit over here."