111 Emperor Waltz (2)
“You are a prince dressed as a servant.”
“·················ogue.”
“It sounds like a good deal.”
Emperor Frederick said cynically. I put the magic tool in my pocket and set an example.
“I see the sun who has descended upon the earth and His Majesty the Cardinal.”
Her hair was messy from taking off her eye patch, and a cold sweat was forming at the Sword Master’s pressure, but she was right.
What we were going to do here was not a normal conversation, but a ‘deal’.
It was difficult to break the attitude.
Besides, the way I look now was close to the real me.
‘Jesse Jeong’ is just an ordinary commoner by this standard.
“I knew.”
Suddenly, the emperor murmured with a dissatisfied expression on his face.
Immediately after, my body felt lighter with a feeling of being out of breath. I shook my head in surprise.
The air was surprisingly clear and refreshing.
Cardinal Bootier looked at me and smiled.
“Isn’t the board supposed to be fair to make a deal?”
I see She said that she should use the spirit shared with the emperor to take over the power.
I smiled a little and said thank you. The emperor pushed the empty chair with his boots.
“sit down.”
“thank you.”
If it was my first meeting with her, I would have been quite embarrassed by this attitude, but now I know that this is a huge favor.
As I sat down, Kristel and the prince’s eyes focused on me.
Looking at the two, the corners of their lips naturally rose.
The main characters were very helpful in being able to come this far during confinement.
A huge banquet hall, a dazzling chandelier with a high ceiling, a table large enough to seat 30 people, and four men and women in gorgeous clothes.
I was obviously the most humble here, but I wasn’t alone.
I took a couple of deep breaths and opened my mouth.
“First of all, I would like to thank His Majesty for coming all the way here. But I never thought that your Majesty would not know what I was doing.”
It was sincere.
I may have missed the small details, but I didn’t even expect the emperor to be dark in every situation.
She laughed at my words. It was meant to keep going.
“The Lister nobility is fearful of His Majesty, yet they are free-spirited. Your Majesty knows what they are doing, and you are confident that you can bind them at any time, so you set them free. So will I.”
“Looks like you’ve been studying for a while.”
She said, pouring the wine directly into her empty glass.
Recommending drinks to the cardinal sitting next to him seemed very relaxed. Of course, though.
“So what’s the point?”
“…I want the release of Sir Johann Haines and the exile of two rich men, including his son, in Lister.”
I said looking straight at her. Fortunately, his voice did not tremble.
“The latter is unexpected.”
For the first time, the emperor slightly wrinkled his expression. That alone was enough for me.
I slowly began to unpack what I had in my head.
“As you know, Sir Haines is not an archbishop, he is a cardinal-level paladin. He is weaker than His Majesty Aurelly, but I have seen him use the stigmata.”
The left’s face hardened for a moment. I slowly put on the tail.
“Your Majesty will hand over his recruits to the Vatican and apply political pressure. But if you make Lord Haines into Lister’s property, you’re sure to get some help. Maybe it will be of greater help.”
I was upset that I had to treat him like a tool in order to save him.
“for example?”
“The Vatican is currently minimizing personnel transfers.”
At Evelynn’s Summer Palace, Sir Haines had said something.
‘It’s a time when the Pope is vacant, so we need to gather. Perhaps no additional teachers will be dispatched.’
An explanation that no other paladin would come besides himself.
“But the Prince and Princess Sarnez will need a teacher for a while after they are ordained as paladins. Both of them are good at dealing with the aether, but they haven’t finished training their vessels and attitudes as paladins.”
The emperor looked at his companion as if it were true. The cardinal quietly affirmed.
I wet my neck with the glass of water that Kristel had pushed me and opened my mouth.
“The Vatican is not very favorable to Lister, so even if we were to send a paladin to replace Lord Haines, we would send the same Archbishop or Bishop level. Talking about the manpower issue.”
“I will.”
“If you leave Sir Haines as Lister’s, your Majesty will be able to make a cardinal paladin their teacher without saying a word to the Holy See.”
“You wouldn’t be unaware that the fact that he was targeting you was a crime of attempted murder of the imperial family.”
The emperor’s tone became a little sharper.
His eyes were asking if he was just trying to convince him with those words. Of course not.
It is absurd to wash away mortal sins just because there is a lack of teachers.
“It’s not just that. Swordmasters have been told that one can fight up to thousands of troops. The Archmage said the same thing. Cardinal-level paladins also have different levels depending on their divine power, but they are equal.”
“·················ogue.”
“Your Majesty is a wise monarch, and I believe that you will be deeply interested in increasing the offensive and defensive power of the Empire. It is certainly of great benefit to have the power of a cardinal like Sir Haynes, even if not in wartime.”
She stared intently at me, then raised one corner of her mouth and said:
“You speak as if you were a Listerite.”
This was also heard by the prince. I laughed bitterly.
“If it is the political power and the cardinal’s power over the papal court, it will certainly be fun to weigh. Because there has never been a single paladin in the Empire.”
“·················ogue.”
“But he is a mercenary. Do you know what that means?”
I didn’t answer right away. The emperor followed, waving his bloody goblet lightly.
“The only things Aurelie and I knew about Johann Haines were that he served as a mercenary before awakening as a paladin and that he had children. The emperors and cardinals of the Empire did not know their origins, nor their history after becoming a paladin. How do you think this was possible?”
For a moment, I was speechless. I had no idea she had so little information.
A mixture of anger, frustration and understanding subsided in the cherry-colored eyes.
It was a color very similar to the alcohol she was drinking.
“Those who called Haines as mercenaries protected him.”
“·················ogue.”
“Using a mercenary with that kind of ability means that you are planning something that you can’t just publicize outside. Those who know the secret soon become part of it. Do you know what I mean?”
The dry saliva passed.
In other words, it meant that those who had hired Lord Haines until now were actively hiding the identity of the paladin to protect their information.
They will be safe only if he is not exposed and no one finds out.
Indeed, among the servants of Lord Haines were the Penetian royalty.
Since those with enough power had gathered, it would not have been difficult to disrupt the information power of the emperor on the other side of the continent.
“You mean you can’t trust Sir Haines.”
“okay. He’s a high-class mercenary who’s attempted an assassination once and doesn’t know where he came from.”
She sighed as she answered and sipped the wine.
“I think we can use it in reverse.”
I calmly shook my head.
“Sir Haines knows so many secrets of the New Kingdom and of the higher ranks of the Holy See. Of course, there are many cases tied to the covenant, so there are few things that Your Majesty can dig out directly, but you can help in an indirect way.”
“Are you saying that it’s the equivalent of taking one three-piece?”
“That’s right.”
The answer came quickly. It would be neither porridge nor rice if he showed any hesitation in the argument.
“In exchange for escaping his punishment, command him to serve the empire with his life, and accept the covenant. That way, you can secure the least amount of trust. If you protect his son in exile here as well, I guarantee he will earn his heartfelt loyalty.”
“Yes, son.”
She wrinkled her forehead and tilted her neck.
“It’s been annoying since before. A ten-year-old nosebleed. Are you in the Papal Palace?”
From https://noblemtl.com
Only ten years old For a moment, it felt like my heart was constricted.
Kristel reached out over the prince’s leg and stroked the back of my hand.
It was then that I breathed out.
“Of the new kingdom . . . . I am in jail.”
“A prison?”
The cardinal, who had been quiet, asked with a puzzled face.
I tried not to put emotion into words.
“His Majesty Berner Guk threatened Sir Haines by taking the child hostage. The child is a patient who suffers from pain if he does not take medicine every day.
“······What?”
The emperor’s voice was noticeably lowered. At first glance, life flashed in the red eyes.
“Gookseo didn’t ask for money.”
The cardinal whispered. Despair and compassion flashed across her face.
“under. That was your reason.”
In the end, he completely threw off the cravat the emperor had unleashed.
She looked at me with a face that looked painful or even troubled.
“What the hell is wrong with Guk-seo?”
“·················ogue.”
That’s what I was wondering too. With her expressionless and perplexed expression on her face, she broke her luck again.
“When the prince first said that he would naturalize you, he had no idea. But now it’s getting to the point where my ears are persuaded. If you were my subject, you would have been able to declare the start of the war in a cool way.”
my eyes got bigger The middle-aged man continued speaking without hesitation.
“I felt last spring that Guk-seo was as cruel as a beast. Because there’s no way it’s normal for a thirteen-year-old child to be brainwashed and used as a killer. Later, a letter was sent expressing regret to King Christaner, but there was no reply. I don’t even know if the King personally checked the contents. According to Sejak, she suffers from madness these days.”
King Christaner’s madness. This was completely new information.
I forgot to blink and looked at the emperor.
“But if you intimidate someone who can move with money in that way, it’s not even a beast. He is no different from the devil that God brought down for testing.”
she declared I took a moment to breathe.
There was nothing good about being swept away by emotions here.
The Emperor seemed even more indignant as he recalled the childhood of his son, Prince Sedric, perhaps.
I didn’t know if I could use her hot-blooded tendencies to my advantage.
‘He was very young. about a year old? As soon as I was born, I was severely depleted of ether.’
A story told by the cardinal at the annual prayer meeting reverberated in my ears.
The prince said he had been very sick since he was a baby. I turned my head and looked at him.
The orange eyes met at once.
I know I have to calculate and speak calmly, but it was difficult to do that in front of the person involved.
Even now, selling the circumstances of people suffering from ether depletion seemed to bother me.
Then, he moved his lips slowly.
‘I do not care.’
“·················ogue.”
There was no tremor in his eyes. The force entered my chin on its own.
“your majesty. I want to help a child and his father.”
I looked away from him and spoke firmly.
The emperor’s gaze was immediately entangled with me.
“Please let me meet His Majesty, Crown Princess Elissa. I thought of a way to get a sick child out of prison. Only Ju-Jin knows whether it will be executed safely or not, but I ask for your concession so that I can make any suggestions.”
“·················ogue.”
“Your Majesty’s mission is to obtain a cardinal-level paladin as the imperial military force and tutor, while at the same time taking a high-class foreign mercenary as a third hand, saving a sick child from suffering for no apparent reason so that he can reunite with his father.”
Then the emperor said, “Twitch,” and clicked his tongue.
He let out a long sigh and shook his head.
I kept my mouth shut, not knowing what that meant.
A few minutes of silence passed like hours.
“good night.”
“Oh my gosh.”
The Emperor answered, and Kristel covered her mouth with both hands in admiration.
But Lister had to listen to the end to know.
“But there are conditions.”
“Yes.”
“You will never be alone with the Crown Princess and her party.”
It was what I was hoping for.
I nodded happily, as I wanted to avoid being alone with her as much as possible.
The emperor did not stop talking.
“And I must have insurance. If the Crown Princess doesn’t grant your request, or if you can’t get Haines’ son out, your plans will be in vain.”
“······you’re right. Please tell me.”
Then there was a gap of about one beat.
“I want you to be their priestly partner. Put aside the temporary, formally.”