Chapter 87……………………………..
The Crown Prince quickly knelt down to meet Riena at eye level and asked,
“Are you alright? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
“I’m fine, Mikhail……”
Riena, who had been speaking to her lover comfortably out of habit, came to her senses and corrected her tone.
“I am fine, Your Highness. More importantly, His Majesty the Emperor……”
The Emperor, who had been watching, spoke for the first time since his second son appeared.
“Mikhail, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Your Majesty, in this situation—”
“Did I not ask what you think you’re doing?!”
Thud! The Emperor threw something. It struck the Crown Prince on the forehead just as he was standing up and fell to the floor. It was the fan that had been giving Riena relief moments ago.
“Mikhail!”
Startled, Riena checked his condition.
“Oh my! What should we do? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. Are you alright?”
“You idiot! You’re the one who got hit—why are you worrying about me?”
With tears welling in her eyes, Riena stepped in front of the Emperor as if to shield Mikhail.
“Even if you are His Majesty the Emperor, this is domestic violence! Domestic violence is wrong!”
Even Terence was quite shocked by her actions. She might well be the only person in the Empire who could reprimand the Emperor so boldly.
‘Should I call it courage… or recklessness?’
Of course, given the Emperor’s temperament, he would never directly harm Cassius’s precious daughter. But Riena behaved as if she knew no fear.
“Ha……”
The Emperor’s sigh carried indescribable disbelief and exasperation.
“Riena Cassius, leave. No—this is your prison, so we should be the ones to leave.”
The Emperor strode out. Terence followed, and the guards, pale as ghosts, slipped out of the room while watching the situation.
“Riena, I’ll see you later.”
The Crown Prince remained the longest, comforting his tearful lover.
“Mikhail! I’m worried about you!”
“I told you, I’m fine. Nothing will happen.”
“I’m sorry. It’s all because of me……”
“Riena, I did all this of my own will. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Wait—don’t go!”
“You’ll be safe here.”
“Mikhail!”
Only after lingering for quite some time did the Crown Prince leave the room where Riena was confined and shut the door firmly. The Emperor let out a dry laugh.
“What a legendary romance.”
“Your Majesty, Riena is innocent.”
“Silence!”
The Emperor took a breath and pointed at the trembling warden of the imperial prison.
“Very well. Explain what I witnessed in this room today. According to that man, you were acting under his orders.”
Without changing his expression, Mikhail answered calmly.
“That is correct. The prison conditions were too poor for Riena, so I requested improvements.”
“Poor? In what way! It has everything necessary. It’s called a noble prison, but even royalty would use the same room if imprisoned!”
“For Riena, who has always lived surrounded by the finest things in the ducal estate, it is poor. Moreover, she has committed no crime.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“I have heard that all the crimes of the Iber Merchant Guild were committed by Elliot Rudd.”
“So?”
“Riena is rather a victim. She lost the guild she worked so hard to build because of Elliot. It is unthinkable to imprison such a person.”
“So you’re saying Riena Cassius was unjustly confined, and you simply took care of her?”
“I do not have the authority to release her. I judged that at the very least, I should provide her some comfort.”
“Fine. Let’s ask him.”
The Emperor pointed to the guard who had been fanning earlier, a timid-looking man.
“Since when have you been attending to the young lady?”
“F-from the moment she first arrived here… I, I have served her.”
He did not have the nerve to lie to the Emperor. The Emperor glared at his son.
“How is this possible? It was only yesterday that Elliot Rudd was revealed as the mastermind. Why have you been tending to Riena long before that?”
“Because I have known of Riena’s innocence from the start.”
“How?”
“I have been with Riena for a long time. I trust her. She would never commit wrongdoing.”
“What? You—you truly……”
Speechless with disbelief, the Emperor faltered. Terence found himself uncertain—did the Crown Prince truly not know Riena’s true nature, or was he shamelessly insisting despite knowing?
‘Both are possible… but it feels like the latter.’
Like attracts like. Just as Riena wore an innocent expression, Mikhail too seemed better suited to shamelessness.
The Emperor muttered emptily,
“Where did you go wrong? You were not like this before.”
“I was reborn after meeting Riena. She gave me a new life.”
“Riena, Riena… always Riena.”
“I never expected Your Majesty to understand my heart now. You were always strict with me—while being kind to the son you kept outside.”
“What are you talking about?”
“One day when you left the palace, I begged my grandfather and secretly followed. Each time you left, Mother would become terribly anxious.”
“Mikhail.”
“When I pressed Grandfather again and again, he finally told me the truth—that you were going to meet your illegitimate child.”
Mikhail’s eyes darkened.
“I saw it myself. You playing ball with that child. You gave me a real sword as a gift, telling me to train—but you gave that child a ball.”
“How can you compare yourself to Terence? You are my legitimate heir!”
Mikhail, destined to become Emperor, needed to know how to wield a sword. Terence, as an illegitimate son meant to live in the shadows, did not. Gaining strength would only invite suspicion of coveting the throne.
‘I never imagined he would envy that. I learned swordsmanship in secret.’
Terence grasped the hilt at his waist. When he had asked to learn the sword, the Emperor had given him a ball instead.
Later, he abandoned foolish hopes and pestered the knight assigned as his guard until he agreed to teach him in secret.
He no longer harbored resentment. Perhaps more accurately, it had faded over time once he stopped expecting anything.
‘Is it the same for him?’
Mikhail seemed to have overcome his resentment in his own way.
“As the Emperor’s legitimate son, you cannot imagine how harsh my childhood was. But I am fine. Riena healed all those wounds.”
“…So you have no intention of repenting your wrongdoing?”
“I apologize for violating the prison rules. However, I do not regret my actions. All rules require flexibility.”
Mikhail spoke with astonishing confidence. Coupled with his handsome, upright appearance, even absurd logic sounded convincing.
“Ridiculous.”
The Emperor muttered, unclear whether to his son or himself.
“You nitpicked your older brother over outdated etiquette and forms of address—yet when your lover is imprisoned, you speak of flexibility.”
“Father, that is—”
“I truly do not know what to do with you.”
At that moment, someone came running urgently.
“Your Majesty! What is going on?”
It was the Empress. She looked between husband and son, trying to grasp the situation.
“I heard that Your Majesty was enraged and seeking the Crown Prince. They say there was a small disagreement between father and son—what is the reason? Surely…”
Her gaze sharpened at Terence.
“Did that wretch drive a wedge between you?”
“Empress, ask anyone here. All of them conspired to deceive me.”
“Deceive you?”
Instead of answering, the Emperor addressed the Crown Prince.
“You may think you merely showed flexibility to save your woman, but this is a challenge to the authority of the Emperor.”
His voice was astonishingly calm, as if his earlier anger and disappointment had been false.
“By whose authority did you grant special treatment to a criminal suspect, assign a royal guard as her servant, and fill her cell with luxury goods?”
Terence understood what the Emperor left unsaid. He was furious beyond measure. This was unforgivable.
When the unprecedented crimes of the Iber Guild came to light, the Emperor had been displeased—but not this enraged.
‘Because it was a crime born of personal greed, not a denial of imperial authority?’
He could not be certain, but that seemed likely.
The Emperor was relatively lenient—so long as his authority was not challenged. In other words, his reverse scale was any affront to imperial power.
After surveying those present, the Emperor spoke solemnly.
“If the Crown Prince himself fails to uphold the Emperor’s authority, how can the House of Asteroth stand firm upon this land?”
All held their breath.
“Therefore, I, Dominic Vinarta Asteroth, hereby declare: Mikhail Fetus Asteroth is stripped of his position as Crown Prince.”
A bomb capable of reducing the political landscape of the Asteroth Empire to ashes exploded in the heart of the imperial prison.
