MTDL 28

Chapter 28

“I really feel wronged, Father.”

“You foolish girl!”

Lariel complained to her father, Duke Machert, about how unfair everything was, but what she received in return was the harshest scolding she had ever heard from him.

Lariel stared at her father with a resentful look, her face turning pale at his unprecedentedly severe reprimand.

Duke Machert placed a hand against his throbbing forehead and lashed out at Lariel in fury.

“His Majesty could have stripped me of my title for failing to educate you properly, and I would have had no excuse. Do you have any idea how serious the crime of insulting the Imperial Family is?!”

At the mention that he could have lost his title, Lariel’s eyes widened.

Ever since she was born, her father had been one of the wealthiest and most prestigious dukes in the Empire.

The thought that his position had nearly been shaken was absurd.

“B-But…… I didn’t know he was His Majesty. I thought he was a servant……”

“When you first began entering the Imperial Palace, I warned you to be careful even around the mice and birds there.”

“……”

“And what came of ignoring my words? Do you have any idea how disgraceful it is for the daughter of a duke to be forbidden from entering the Imperial Palace!”

Lariel’s small fists trembled.

Her father had certainly taught her to be careful.

But Lariel had believed that she would eventually become the Crown Princess, so she had never bothered to be cautious around the servants and maids of the Imperial Palace.

After all, they would become her subordinates someday. Why should she have needed to watch herself?

She had even intended to teach that insolent servant a lesson, only for him to turn out to be the Emperor himself……

It felt as though she had been caught in a perfectly laid trap, and she couldn’t help but feel wronged.

“I…… I didn’t know this would happen.”

The Duchess could no longer bear to look at her daughter’s pale face. Feeling sorry for her, she raised her eyebrows and stepped in, pulling Lariel into her arms.

“Enough, dear. Why is this our Lariel’s fault? This is because of the daughter of that presumptuous Marquis Myla.”

At the mention of Marquis Myla, the tips of Duke Machert’s eyebrows twitched faintly.

The Duchess gritted her teeth as she held Lariel.

“What’s so special about that rustic girl anyway? Lady Allens takes a liking to her, and His Majesty even arranged an engagement for her…… They’re all crazy. Anyone can see that our Lariel has far more talent……”

“You!”

“Am I wrong? And even during the previous Emperor’s reign, the Machert family was the most prestigious of the four chancellor families. But His Majesty now treats Machert like the tail of a cow, as though we were insignificant…… This is all because of Myla!”

Duke Machert stared sternly at his wife.

“If only Arinel Myla hadn’t made that damned sherbet!”

But he could not refute her.

Because, in his heart, it all felt true.

More than a decade ago, the Great Spirit Mage Marquis Myla had been particularly close to Parmes Aslet, who was one of the Imperial Princes at the time.

“I merely follow the path led by the spirits. I will not participate in something that is wrong, Your Grace.”

He had been such an infuriatingly stubborn man that he had steadfastly followed his own path even when the Second Prince and Machert threatened him.

In any case, during the period when rumors spread that Parmes had withdrawn to the countryside to recuperate, news of Marquis Myla’s death became known to the world.

His funeral was held modestly by the spirit mages, but neither his wife nor anyone else who had been close to him attended.

Then rumors began to circulate that one of the three princes had something to do with Marquis Myla’s death.

It was said that the truth would be uncovered once the Fourth Prince, Parmes Aslet, finished his recuperation and returned, but Parmes remained silent for more than ten years.

Just when it seemed that Marquis Myla’s name would be forgotten forever, Parmes Aslet suddenly amassed tremendous power and ascended the throne after defeating the three princes.

Officials who had supported Parmes’s brothers were purged or fled to the countryside, while Machert managed to retain its ducal title by swearing loyalty to Parmes, thanks to its relatively strong foundations.

Even throughout the purge that lasted more than a year, Parmes’s blade had never once been turned toward Machert.

But today, Duke Machert had finally felt a genuine threat and been forced to bow before Parmes.

It felt almost as though he were submitting to the ghost of Marquis Myla, who had appeared alongside Arinel Myla.

‘The three other chancellors are no different from the Emperor. They’re all siding with Myla. He was a weak man who couldn’t even protect his own life, yet I cannot understand why he is still so respected.’

Duke Machert’s brows furrowed as he remembered the three other chancellors signing the documents with delighted expressions, recognizing Marquis Myla’s achievements and granting his surviving family member, Arinel, a first-class pension.

“Phew. How am I supposed to handle this situation?”

With complicated emotions and a grim expression, the Duke turned around and walked out.

At her father’s cold behavior—something she had never experienced from the man who had always granted her every wish—Lariel trembled as she clenched her small fists.

A crow sat on the small window of a semi-basement prison.

The sun was setting outside, and the prison was growing darker as the daylight faded.

“Gyaaaah!”

From the torture chamber deep underground came the pungent smell of burning flesh and the screams of men.

It was a scene so horrific that it was beyond miserable.

There was a large chair in front of the men being tortured.

It was originally supposed to be occupied by Duke Germant, the Chancellor of Military Affairs, but this time, someone else was sitting there.

The wind blowing through the open window gently stirred his silver hair.

The scene of the torture chamber was reflected in his calm, almost chillingly composed red eyes.

The man who had smiled brightly and winked at Arinel was gone.

In his place sat a tyrant staring at the prisoners with a mercilessly cruel gaze.

“Stop.”

When Parmes’s lips moved and a low voice escaped, the soldiers stopped torturing the prisoners.

The men had already been battered almost beyond recognition by Duke Germant’s iron flail.

“Cough, cough.”

One of the men spat out a bloody cough.

Then he glared at Parmes with blazing eyes.

He was a subordinate of the purged Second Prince who had infiltrated the masquerade ball intending to finish Parmes once and for all, only to be discovered.

“You filthy traitor……! Monster! You devil!”

But Parmes’s eyebrows did not move even slightly.

“I should have killed you on that road that day! If it weren’t for that damned Myla!”

The veins in the man’s neck bulged.

Even after his roar ended, silence did not descend.

The other remnants of the Second Prince were groaning here and there.

The sight of them trembling in fear from nothing more than torture was hardly satisfying to Parmes.

When he thought of the child they had nearly hurt, even killing them hundreds of times would not be enough to satisfy him.

“……”

Parmes rose from his seat and walked toward the prisoners.

Step.

Step.

He stopped before the man who had cursed and roared at him.

The man’s face was a complete mess. Despite his pain, he forced his brows together and widened his eyes in an attempt to curse Parmes, but he could not hide his trembling hands.

Even his toes could be seen shaking instinctively in fear as Parmes approached.

Parmes looked at him indifferently before stepping down hard on his toes with his shoe.

“Ghk!”

The man groaned in pain.

Parmes’s cold voice drifted into his ears.

“I thought your face looked familiar.”

Then he grabbed the man by the throat and forcibly lifted him toward himself.

With his feet still pinned beneath Parmes’s shoe and his throat held in Parmes’s grasp, the man began choking, but a cruel smile appeared at the corners of Parmes’s mouth.

“I remember seeing you there, at the place where I lost my friend.”

The overwhelming aura radiating from Parmes caused the crows perched by the window to flap their wings and fly away.

“Today’s interrogation might not be so boring after all.”

Even the soldiers watching Parmes trembled involuntarily under his overwhelming presence.

“Ghk, cough……”

The man, whose throat was trapped in Parmes’s outstretched hand, gasped desperately for air, but Parmes’s expression remained calm and relaxed.

As though he were merely holding the wing of a fly.

“You will, today……”

When Parmes released him, the man sucked in ragged breaths.

Even though his throat had been released, the man who met Parmes’s eyes felt as though he were suffocating all over again from fear.

“Beg for the gift of death.”

Among the four Aslet princes, he had been the most ominous.

And in the end, Parmes was the one who usurped the throne.

His burning eyes were filled with unmistakable madness and murderous intent.