Chapter 54 – We Just Have To Start Over Again

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At dawn, while everyone was asleep, Kaligo returned to his Grand Duke’s residence. As he entered his office, he asked Redin who was following after him, “Did you find it?”

“Yes, my lord. I’ve locked it in the basement.”

“Have they confessed everything?”

“Yes, I was planning on doing an investigation after I reported it to you after you arrived.”

“…Investigation?”

As Kaligo snorted, Redin raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t it better to say investigation rather than torture?”

“… Show me your skills. Your hands must have been itching.”

“I don’t know if it will work out since it has been a while, but I will do my best because you put your trust in me.”

He took off his coat and handed it to Redin, then walked towards the window with the curtains drawn. Dim lamps were illuminating the garden. Kaligo fixed his gaze somewhere in the garden and continued in a low voice, “If he doesn’t open his mouth until the end…”

“…”

His red eyes darkened. “Cut off his head and send it to the palace.”

“…Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Planting a spy and playing with my medicine—he won’t be able to publicly question me if I send him his neck.”

“Yes, I will.”

He told Ashia that he drank the medicine Ventus made, but the reality was a little different. The Imperial Family planted people inside the Grand Duke’s residence, and Kaligo planted people inside the Imperial Palace. This was the work of one of those spies. Those whose only job was to give information started to tamper with Kaligo’s medicine, as if they were determined this time.

“Because warnings didn’t work with them.”

Kaligo’s voice was tinged with laughter, but his face was calm and cold—just like when he was killing off people on the battlefield. His red eyes were as murky as a puddle of blood on the battlefield for the first time in a long time.

And a few days later, a box arrived at the Imperial Palace from an unknown sender. It was obvious that inside the box was a decapitated head without the need to open it. The arrival of the severed head in the Imperial Palace was clearly an act of treason, but Crown Prince Desian ordered for it to be quietly covered up.

“Why did you do that?” The Crown Prince Desian went to the emperor’s audience chamber, a desolate and cold place. “Didn’t I tell you that it wasn’t yet the time?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The emperor slowly brushed his beard down, remaining ignorant.

“Your Majesty, the present Kaligo is different from the Kaligo of the past.”

“Different?”

“It’s been seven years. I’ve been watching him so I know. It’s been seven years since their inexhaustible treasury pot was shut in the storage, and seven years since the Grand Duke, who was acting like a man with candy in his mouth, changed.”

The emperor’s face gradually distorted at Desian’s words.

“You might have intended to use the Perthenian Imperial Princess to put a leash on him again, but that was also wrong.”

The emperor spoke to him in a suppressed voice, “You’re being impolite.”

“I am only telling the truth, Your Majesty.”

“Need I remind you that this seat isn’t yours yet?”

“… I am not like that.”

“You’re a cheeky b*st*rd.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

There was a cold silence between the two of them. The emperor asked Desian a question after a while, “…So, how would you deal with him if it were you?”

“Treat him…”

“Wouldn’t it be better to kill him?”

Desian slowly closed his eyes and opened them. “…No. Your Majesty.”

“No?”

“What was your reason for giving the estate to the Grand Duke of Etous?”

The emperor brushed off his beard again.

It was not long after the Karhan Empire was established. Wary of the House of Etous’ power, the Imperial Family granted them the most dangerous and barren land. That was the present-day Etous Bohr’s estate—a territory that boasted the largest territory in the empire but had the constant presence of powerful evil spirits. There was also the hidden intention of isolating them so that they wouldn’t even think of raising a private army there.

“The first few decades seemed to be going our way. But what about now?”

“…”

“In the past seven years, Kaligo has further expanded the power of his house and raised the size of the Etous Knights to a level that cannot be ignored.”

The emperor pressed his temples with a frown.

“Wouldn’t such a person be prepared for anything?”

“…Do you have any idea?”

Desian faintly smiled at the Emperor’s question. “With all that comparison… we need to create a situation where everything would become useless.”

“…”

“Don’t tell me, you still keep your friendship with him? Was that why you stopped me from killing him?”

“…”

“You are stupid, my son. What use was your lingering attachment to someone who turned his back on you?”

Quietly listening to his words, Desian’s eyes glistened in the dark. His twisted smile deepened even more. “…You got it wrong, Your Majesty.”

“…”

“Friendship and lingering attachments? There was nothing like that… in the first place.”

One of the emperor’s eyebrows moved upward.

And immediately, Desian’s laughter-filled reply followed, “I never thought of Kaligo as a friend.” With a cold smile, he slightly bowed his head in farewell before walking out of the audience chamber.

(T/N: Why do I feel as if Desian is protecting Kaligo from the Emperor instead using his own way? I’d like to be positive [secretly trembling]

And also, this series has been adapted to manhwa~! You can read it at KakaoPage~! Kaligo and Ashia yay~!)