Chapter 248
A few days ago.
Rulhac suddenly visited Jovanes' bedroom without any notice.
"What brings you here?" Jovanes did not hide his discomfort and asked Rulhac.
Those glaring eyes were quite sharp, but Rulhac didn't care at all.
Having caught a whiff of the medications, he looked around at the foggy bedroom with frowning eyes before answering in a calm voice.
"I came to say my last greetings."
"Last greetings?"
"Tomorrow, I plan to hand over the House to my granddaughter. After that, I am not going to set a foot in this Imperial Palace other than Your Majesty's funeral. Today's my last greeting."
"Funeral?" Recognizing the implicit meaning of Rulhac's words, Jovanes quivered with anger.
"You don't mean I'm going to die, am I?"
"It looks like you haven't accepted it yet. That Your Majesty is dying—"
"LOMBARDY!" Jovanes roared as vigorously as he was filled with anger. But that was all he could do.
"Cough!.. Huuk! AHH!"
Jovanes' spasmodic cough and breathlessness began again.
Rulhac looked sympathetically at Jovanes, who was bending his whole body and tearing his chest apart, before handing him a handkerchief from a nearby table.
"Cough!.. Ack! Gah!"
Eventually, the imperial doctor, who had been away for a while, burst in from the door and quickly took action so that Jovanes could breathe again.
"Haa…ahh.."
Without knowing that saliva flows through his blueish lips, Jovanes lay exhausted and buried deep into the pillow.
"How..did you know?"
Jovanes' condition was getting worse day by day.
They brought famous doctors from the Empire to examine him, including from the Imperial court, but all of them shook their heads thinking that the poison used by the Empress was so toxic that it was a miracle just to be alive. They concluded that it was time to be 'prepared'.
However, Jovanes vented his anger by beating those doctors to the extent that they were nearly half dead before throwing them out of the Imperial Palace.
'Quacks! Who says I'm dying!?'
Jovanes denied it. However…
"Your Majesty and I are very different, but we have one thing in common." Rulhac said, approaching Jovanes' side before adding. "We've got a pretty good successor."
"Ha!" Jovanes snorted.
"A good successor, huh. Well, it's none of my business." He said, grabbing the bedsheets that were moistened with sweat.
"Even without me, the Empire will be running just fine. Those who swear allegiance to me did not even show their faces." Jovanes murmured as he continued his self-pitying speech.
He's the very Emperor of this Empire, but he was already isolated and forgotten.
"Anyway, I'm dying. What happens after that, it's none of my business."
"That's it." Rulhac said and added. "That's why it's important."
Jovanes looked up at Rulhac with cloudy eyes.
Seeing his current state, Rulhac clicked his tongue a few more times.
Jovanes' head, which was once surprisingly quick to judge gains and losses, has already become dull.
He killed his father with poison, so this bridle of someone poisoning him was rather just. Still, it was not good to see Jovanes gasping for survival like an animal hit by an arrow.
Rulhac felt sorry for Jovanes and opened his mouth.
"The dead Emperor has no power."
"Dead…"
Rulhac wonder if there is anything he has realized now, but Jovanes' stupid gaze shook.
"Now you must accept death and prepare for what will come afterwards."
"Afterwards?"
"That's right. If Your Majesty dies like this, what will remain of you? How will the rest of us evaluate Your Majesty? If you think about it, the answer will come out soon."
"I…I…"
Jovanes asked urgently. There was even an embarrassment in his eyes.
"I used to be a pretty good Emperor, didn't I?"
After entering the bedroom, Rulhac closed his mouth firmly for the first time instead of answering.
In the ensuing silence, Jovanes breathed several times and asked again.
"What…. should I do?"
* * *
"All that money really… Do you want me to hand it all out, Your Majesty?"
A high-ranking official at the Imperial finance department asked again to confirm. Because he couldn't believe his ears.
It was Jovanes who had never been generous to anyone and only think of himself throughout his reign.
But suddenly, he was summoned and assigned to distribute a large portion of the budget as rewards to the bureaucrats, including the officials and staff employed in the Imperial Palace, and even servants and maids who do simple chores.
"Yes, you've all been through a lot. It's a gift from me." Jovanes nodded, pretending to be nonchalant as if the money was not a waste.
"Everyone will rejoice in your grace."
Leaving Jovanes alone and smiling contentedly, the official slowly exited the Emperor's chambers.
He thought he'd see a doctor. It was to make sure that he was able to make a proper judgment.
"Oh, Your Highness the Second Prince."
Then he ran into Perez, who was walking towards the bedroom.
He bowed his head deeply with respect, completely different from what he did with Jovanes a while ago.
"Are you on your way back from seeing His Majesty?"
"Yes, that's right. But…"
The official explained to Perez what had happened in the Emperor's chambers. And he was asking him for permission at the end.
"Can I really do that?"
It was a question that anyone could find strange with a little thought.
He was asking the Second Prince, who was not appointed as the Crown Prince yet if he could carry out the order.
But the official was not aware of it.
Perez, whom he had watched for only a few weeks was much more trustworthy and easy to follow than Emperor Jovanes, whom he had been assisting for decades.
"Let's do that."
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
'It has been confirmed by His Highness!'
At the thought of receiving incentives, the official was elated and turned away.
* * *
"I'm here, Your Majesty."
Perez was on the way to make tea twice a day as promised.
"How come you're late?"
Despite arriving on time, Jovanes nitpicked for no reason.
"If you neglect me, it won't do you any good." Jovanes smiled, twisting his purple lips.
"I'm sorry, I'm taking care of Astana's affairs."
Perez handed over a report with an expressionless face.
"Astana's leg… got amputated?"
"Yes, he was attacked by a monster, but his leg was quickly severed at the scene and this saved his life."
"Stupid thing. He should rather have died." Jovanes said with a frown. Then he threw the report out of the bed as if throwing ugly garbage into a corner.
"So, you're only late because of Astana'?"
"I think Your Majesty will need Astana, so please take care of him as much as possible. I am on my way back after getting your reply."
"What do you mean?"
He can't believe he needs Astana.
Perez replied with a calm face. "I'm afraid I won't be able to be the Crown Prince."
"… What?"
Jovanes was stunned and couldn't stop his mouth from reacting.
"My lineage is a stumbling block to what I want to do most."
"Huh, you're crazy."
Jovanes was so surprised that he sneered.
"The Imperial Family, the royal bloodline, stands in your way?"
"That's right." Perez replied immediately without hesitation.
Jovanes, who was staring at Perez, asked. "What do you want?"
Because he's not crazy.
No one in this world would be reluctant to take the throne as the future Emperor.
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This was what everyone wants.
"When someone becomes the Empress, change the current law of losing your family's right to succession and title. Then I will think about it."
It was an odd condition. However, there was now an explanation.
"Lombardy. Is it because of that girl?" Jovanes asked, twitching his face.
Perez replied in silence instead.
"You're crazy. Just because of a girl, you're going to throw away the throne! Are you blind!?"
Jovanes began to take shallow breaths. He doesn't appreciate this kind of vulgarity!
'How dare you make a deal like this to me?!'
It was all because of that Lombardy's half-b*tch!
"Never mind! There will be no throne to be passed on to you!" Jovanes rejected hard.
If he goes this hard, Perez will reluctantly change his conditions. That's what Jovanes thought.
"Okay, then please write a letter to bring the First Prince back to the Imperial City. I'll send it on your behalf."
Perez casually prepared a paper and pen and then handed it out in front of Jovanes.
It was Jovanes who was embarrassed when the situation come to unfold like this. Even if he had to wrestle with Perez, the response was only cold and without any regret.
Jovanes realized with a shock.
"You're seriously thinking of throwing away the throne."
"That's right." Standing with his hands behind his back, Perez nodded.
"There would be no Empress unless it's the Head of Lombardy, and it would be better for someone other than me to become the Emperor in the future. I will live as an in-law of the Lombardy family."
"This crazy guy… you really are crazy."
Jovanes was now repeating his words.
"If you don't like Astana, would you like to send a letter to the Meyer family?"
Jovanes's shoulders flinched greatly at the words of the Meyer family.
The Head of the Meyer family was an illegitimate child from the branch family. If the sons of Jovanes could not succeed on the throne, they would be the suitable successor.
While giving Perez a death glare, Jovanes asked, "You want my Imperial edict, is that it?"
The opposition of the aristocrats would be problematic if that humble thing that became the Head of Lombardy was brought as the Empress.
The Imperial edict of the bedridden Emperor will be able to silence all the noise at once.
"I would recommend Astana over the Meyer family. Although he lacks one hand and one leg, and his head is dull, he is still Your Majesty's flesh and blood." Perez said to Jovanes.
"It would be better than passing the throne to the Head of Meyer."
"YOU BASTARD!" Jovanes milked out his meager strength and shouted. But nothing had changed.
Standing upright with his hands on his back, Perez looked down at Jovanes devoid of emotions.
The Knights who were guarding the door didn't jump in either.
Since he was lying on his bed, Jovanes has been having his fit of anger come and go more than twelve times a day.
They are now trying to do so. It was a clear demonstration of Jovanes' standing.
Shiikk!
Jovanes snatched the paper and pen from Perez's hand and said spitefully.
"Yes, I'm gonna have Astana…"
Jovanes was likely to write a letter to bring the First Prince back to the Imperial Palace.
"Astana…"
However, his hand holding the pen remained steady, contrary to his wheezing breath.
Why does he feel like he was standing on the edge of a cliff?
His heart beats as if he was looking at a dizzying cliff under his feet.
At that moment, Perez spoke behind him.
"Your Majesty, you can choose. Will you summon Astana here or will you write your Imperial edict?"
Only Jovanes' breathing sounded in the bedroom. Then a moment later, Jovanes began to move his hand holding the pen.
Perez looked down at the image of him writing in difficulty and quietly raised one corner of his mouth.
* * *
"Firentia Lombardy, the Head of Lombardy, will you marry me?"
Perez's question seemed to be distracting me.
Before I knew it, he had a ring in his hand. It was the red diamond ring I refused when I announced the dissolution of my engagement to unlock my grandfather's golden decree.
"I…"
Perez' red eyes trembled as I began to open my mouth.
He is genuinely anxious.
He's afraid I'll refuse.
It's as if what you put in front of me is not a red diamond ring, but your own heart.
Perez had a face as if he'd die if I shook my head right this moment.
Though, I really want to remember this face.
I looked at Perez for a moment and said.
"Yes, let's get married, Perez. Let's live together for a long, long time."
The next moment, Perez's hand trembled as he put a ring on my finger.
"Tia, I'm really….I'm…" Perez hugged me tightly and muttered a few nonsensical words.
Thump, thump.
I could feel Perez's heart beating hard as his face slowly approached.
When our lips got so close.
"Ump..?!"
Several of my fingers blocked Perez's lips before saying to him with his mouth shut.
"Before we announce our reengagement, there are a few things I must do."