Chapter 53

Viscount Terami would normally have no right to attend a nobles’ council meeting. But this time, the Emperor gave special permission. In a letter, the Emperor said the viscount should come to the palace and see his daughter, whom he hadn’t met even once since she entered the imperial palace.

Before the council began, the viscount went to see his daughter in her room. After receiving the Emperor’s “favor,” Hille had been given her own chamber inside the palace.

“Daughter.”

He burst into the room happily and called out, but the joy collapsed the moment he saw her. He had thought his adopted daughter was being cherished by the Emperor, but reality was different.

Hille’s condition was miserable. Her once soft, plump cheeks were swollen bright red, and dark bruises covered her body.

“What have they done to you, Hille?”

“F… Father. Sob, sob.”

The moment she saw him, the grief she had been holding back spilled out. She burst into tears.

Viscount Terami hugged Hille, patted her back, and bit his lower lip. She wasn’t his child by blood, but he had treasured and raised her with care. The thought that the Emperor had treated his precious daughter like a mere plaything filled him with rage.

“Hille, I will speak properly to His Majesty. Don’t worry too much. And no matter what happens, you must keep your heart strong and endure.”

“Yes… sob… Father.”

Wiping her tears, Hille nodded firmly.

Before the nobles’ council started, the viscount requested an audience, and Kyle readily allowed it.

“I greet the Sun of the Empire.”

“Come in, Viscount Terami.”

The viscount bowed politely, but his voice shook with anger he could barely contain. Raising his head, he looked up at the Emperor, who sat arrogantly on the throne.

“Did you meet your daughter?”

“Yes.”

“It must have been nice to see her after so long.”

The casual remark made the viscount’s temper spike, but he forced himself to hold it back and spoke.

“She is a daughter I raised with great care. Of course I am very happy. However, Your Majesty, I have something to say.”

“Speak.”

Kyle allowed him to talk, though reluctantly, as if he already disliked where this was going—and indeed, he immediately regretted it.

“Please treat my daughter kindly.”

“What? I already am. Or is there a complaint that I do not visit her enough?”

“No, that is not what I mean. Hille has many marks on her body, like she has been beaten…”

“Viscount. Are you complaining to me right now?”

The Emperor’s voice suddenly tore through the air—icy cold and full of killing intent.

“If she doesn’t do things properly, a scolding is only natural, is it not? If you had taught her well in the first place, she wouldn’t be getting hit.”

“Your Majesty… Wh-what did Hille do ‘improperly’?”

“She dared to refuse the Emperor’s touch. A mere commoner-born who doesn’t know her place!”

Bang, bang.

The Emperor slammed his fist on the throne and shouted. The viscount could only flinch and say nothing. The chief attendant and the other servants by the Emperor’s side kept expressionless faces, as if this were nothing unusual, which made it worse.

So this is the Emperor’s true face…

Some people said he was a virtuous ruler, unlike his father. Now the viscount saw with his own eyes that those rumors were lies. Remembering the terror of the previous reign, the viscount could only bow his head.

“If you are done, leave.”

At the order to depart, the viscount had no choice but to turn away.

Had his back ever felt so small and pathetic in his entire life? The weight of the word “father” pressed him down. His shoulders felt unbearably heavy.

Viscount Terami had thrown away his pride for the sake of his daughter, but the Emperor had no intention of letting this pass. Anyone bold enough to raise a complaint to him had to pay a price.

So during the nobles’ council, the Emperor deliberately called on the viscount.

“Viscount Terami, this is your first time attending the council, yes?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“From now on, the tribute from your territory will be doubled.”

“P-pardon…?”

Startled, the viscount looked up. His eyes met the Emperor’s, who stared down at him with contempt.

“Why…?”

“Your daughter has received my favor. It is only right that you repay it.”

Favor… favor, he says…

As a father, if Hille were truly being loved, he would have wanted to repay any kindness, even if it strained him. In fact, just this morning he had thought about sending expensive gifts.

But after seeing his daughter’s battered state, to then hear that tribute would be doubled—such shamelessness was beyond belief.

“This will take effect starting next month.”

“That is unreasonable, Your Majesty. Double the tribute? And so soon—it is too—”

“Viscount. Are you refusing my command?”

Kyle’s eyebrow arched, as if he had never heard such a thing in his life.

The hall fell silent, as if doused in water.

The Emperor suddenly rose from the throne and strode over to the viscount. Lifting his arm slowly, he slapped him across the face with all his strength—crack!—hard enough to make the seated man sway.

Hille… so this is the pain you’ve felt.

In that instant, the viscount felt exactly what his daughter had to endure. He, too, was suffering an unjust blow without the right to voice a proper protest.

Strangely, it wasn’t his cheek that hurt the most—it was his heart.

“Like father, like daughter—neither knows how to obey.”

Kyle muttered as he looked down at the viscount, one corner of his mouth tilted up, his eyes showing the arrogance of someone who feared nothing in the world.

As Kyle slid further into tyranny, another decisive incident occurred.

He had long coveted the Neverest Assassination Group, owned by King Shale. Their skill was said to be outstanding, and Kyle had openly expressed a desire to hire them.

Then one day, when Shale entered a period of peace, the king hinted he would like the Prares Empire to buy the group from him.

Delighted at the thought of adding such talents to his forces, Kyle was preparing to proceed—when sudden news arrived: the Neverest members had fled. The members had vanished without a trace; only their leader, On, and his family were said to know what had happened.

At least I must capture On!

He was the key to Neverest.

Veins bulging on his forehead, Emperor Kyle sent troops at once to provide “support.”

But no news of a successful mission came back. In fact, all reports stopped. Later, after sending people to investigate, they found only signs of a battle near the border. There were no survivors—not King Shale’s men, not Kyle’s men. No one.

The meaning was clear.

Some force had helped Neverest escape, and that force had wiped everyone out.

Emptiness swept over the Emperor, and he rampaged more violently than ever.

“This… this—damn it!!”

Upon hearing the briefing, Kyle smashed and hurled whatever he could grab in his office. He even yanked the hair of nearby maids. After destroying everything in reach and leaving nothing intact, he suddenly calmed.

Ironically, the torrent of emotion made his heart go stiff, and he began to “think rationally.”

Raymond is like a cockroach—hard to kill. But right now, I am the Emperor of the Prares Empire. If my position is unshakable, no one can challenge me.

Then I should marry and produce an heir. I’m getting tired of keeping a mistress anyway—good timing. To do that… hmm, I should act like a virtuous ruler, first, shouldn’t I?

Kyle abruptly changed his mind. All of these decisions happened in an instant.

He didn’t realize he was swinging back and forth with his emotions. His father had been the same way. When in a good mood, the former Emperor played the role of a good father for a moment; as soon as his mood soured, he screamed and hit. He was terrifying.

Kyle hated him for that—yet didn’t realize he had become the same.

All he did was draw up the next steps to carry out his goal.

The night of the palace party.

Wearing a thin nightgown, the Emperor sat up against the headboard. He smiled, thinking of Eilene’s face from the party earlier that day.

At the party he hosted for her, she had received countless brilliant gifts and had been moved to the point of tears. Everything had gone exactly as planned, and he felt very pleased.

Eilene Cowet—the one who would secure his throne.

Her family’s status and reputation were just right.

Her looks were not exactly his preferred type, but objectively, she was more than suitable to be an empress.

And she was not as stiff as before, which was good. No—she was even better now. The way her eyes rounded when she was surprised, her small, cute mannerisms—like a rabbit—were charming.

But the event he had prepared did not end with the party.

By tomorrow, the news will reach her. She’ll surely be shocked speechless.

After all, he had made her father the Speaker of the Senate.

Yes, the Speaker was chosen by a vote—but that was just for show. When the Emperor backed someone, what senator would dare choose another? The other candidates were no different.

We will be together in this bed soon enough.

Firmly believing everything would go according to plan, Kyle slowly caressed the empty space beside him. In the moonlight, his golden hair gleamed as he crossed his legs seductively, the nightgown slipping to reveal them.