The Seventh Prince Runs Away from Awkward Situations

Chapter 14 : A Bystander's Choice (2)

As everyone expected, the honor of winning the hunting competition went to the 1st Prince.

Now the rumors that he would not be able to inherit the throne would die down in an instant.

He walked imposingly before the Emperor and knelt on one knee.

Even after seeing the Giant Bear and Werewolf he had hunted, the Emperor said nothing in particular.

It was a scene not so different from last year.

The people, overwhelmed by the inhuman appearance of the Imperial Family.

As was tradition, the 1st Prince would state his wish before the Emperor, and the nobles would line up to offer the resources and military power needed to fulfill it.

What did the 4th Prince, who won the last competition, wish for?

Right, he had asked for the authority to annihilate the nomads in the border region who kept entering and leaving the Forest of the Sun.

This time, the Duke thought, he would probably ask for the development rights to the Jendal region, where a gold mine was said to have been discovered a few months ago.

Then the noble who discovered the gold mine in that region and the other nobles and merchants who invested in its development would go bankrupt or suffer a great loss, but there would be no one who resisted.

Everyone waited, tense, for the 1st Prince to open his mouth.

“Your Majesty, recently, thieves and vagrants have settled around the temple dedicated to the Great Emperor Sierra in the capital, lowering the dignity of the temple and becoming a threat to public order. I dare to request the authority to resolve this and to refurbish the temple's damaged aesthetic.”

A brief murmur rippled through the surroundings.

The nobles were puzzled, but soon seemed to acquiesce to some extent.

Because his wish, though sudden, was just.

Amidst the murmuring crowd, the Duke had to despair in silence.

He clenched his fists tightly.

There was no way he wouldn't know which temple in the capital the 1st Prince was talking about.

Because he had never once forgotten that massive building that had given him nightmares.

Duke Piteos knew who the vagrants and thieves the 1st Prince was referring to were.

He was saying that he wanted to wipe out the entire cluster of shacks where parentless orphans and the sick lived.

Perhaps he would even request support from the Duke's estate, which was not far from there.

Then the loyal Duke Piteos would have to generously give him resources and a number of soldiers to wipe them out.

And he would follow the same procedure for the business that would take place afterward.

The blood-soaked face of the small child, which he had believed had faded a little, surfaced clearly again.

In fact, there was one question that had not left the Duke's mind since the moment he discovered the child's corpse.

Was it really something that had to be done that way?

The Duke already knew the answer.

That the reason there were so many vagrants around the temple where he had found the child was due to the temple expansion project ordered by the Imperial Family.

They had torn down dozens of houses in the vicinity and erected a massive temple building.

The people who lost their homes and jobs were forced onto the streets and committed crimes.

Many children lost their parents that year.

As the temple collected more tributes, the number of vagrants increased even further.

Furthermore, the Duke knew that to the unfamiliar other races, the Empire's borders were nothing but an imposition.

It was the Empire that had suddenly attacked the lands of the other races, and it was also the Abalan Empire that had simply killed them on sight, without even a chance to be taken as slaves.

Unlike other wars, the Duke had carried out the Emperor's order, which he had lightly spoken, to wipe out the seed of the other races, without a second word.

He didn't think it was strange.

He had never once thought that it was too far removed from his own values.

He hadn't felt anything resembling anguish while carrying out the orders, not even once.

The Duke knew that the countless other orders he had thought he understood and carried out would be the same as this.

No matter what flowery words he attached, the things he had done were no different from what he himself had done to Tollin in the forest today.

Pretending that everything was just, even while knowing its injustice.

Turning a blind eye, pretending not to know, even after noticing it.

And thinking of that as an honor.

He knew that if he just stayed quiet again here, the same thing would be repeated.

The Duke squeezed his eyes shut.

This time, what flickered before his eyes was his young son.

And a sneer, heard through it.

-Befitting a subordinate to the Duke, who is loyal to the Imperial Family with all his soul.

He knew the voice ringing in his ears was an illusion, but nevertheless, the voice did not stop.

-I do hope you'll be proud then, too, Duke. Of your son, who will obey the Imperial Family's commands in any situation.

Can I endure that?

The Duke knew the answer to this as well.

***

The Emperor slowly raised his head and answered.

“If there is no objection, I shall gladly grant the winner his rightful right.”

“Thank you.”

The 1st Prince bowed his head once and waited for the sound of applause that would soon pour out.

But the sound he expected did not come, and only silence lingered.

What came into his eyes, as he turned around in puzzlement, was someone he knew well.

The commander of the 1st Knight Order, who was the best of the bunch, among the insects.

I know he's been retired for quite some time.

Such a man was slowly walking out, receiving the gazes of all.

“Do you know what you are daring to do right now, Duke?”

To the 1st Prince's question, asked as if in disbelief, Duke Piteos bowed his head politely and said.

“Your Majesty, the Emperor, and Your Highness the Prince, I, Agoni Piteos, Head of the Piteos Ducal Family, dare to request your permission to step down from the position of Head of Family in this place and appoint my aide, Tollin Crisa, as the Acting Head of Family.”

“What is this...….”

The 1st Prince tried to raise his voice as if angry.

“It shall be permitted as you ask.”

But he soon shut his mouth at the Emperor's indifferent permission.

Agoni paid his respects to the Emperor, then briefly turned and looked around.

Everyone was looking at him with anxious eyes.

He thought that he himself would be no different, and slowly opened his mouth toward the Emperor.

“I will pay with my life for the sin of disturbing the sacred ritual of the two, who are the sky and sun of the Empire.”

A gasp was heard from the crowd.

There was no one there who didn't know that this was, in effect, asking for a death sentence.

“Ha! There is no revoking a decision, Duke.”

Annoyance and a sneer appeared on the 1st Prince's face at the same time.

The Duke raised his head with the words that he knew full well.

The 1st Prince looked at the Emperor.

He was still looking down on this whole series of events without much change in expression.

Duke Piteos waited for his sentence, feeling trust, faith, and reverence for him welling up even at this moment.

The Emperor gave such a Duke one glance, then opened his mouth toward the executioner.

“I sentence him to summary execution.”

No one could make a sound.

The Duke quietly bowed his head once more, accepting this.

***

The sentence was carried out quickly.

As was tradition, the 1st Prince, who had been disturbed, instantly trapped Duke Piteos inside a massive pillar of water.

In front of the first summary execution at a hunting competition they had ever seen, people realized anew just how cruel this tradition was.

As per the condition that he must be kept alive because he had to be thrown off the cliff alive, the 1st Prince did not kill the Duke.

He just suffocated him to his heart's content, as if he had to vent his anger at having the ritual disturbed.

And he made a mockery of him by lifting him high so that everyone could see that sight.

At the suffocating sight, some couldn't bear to watch properly and bowed their heads.

In the situation of being trapped in a water pillar and unable to even breathe properly, Duke Piteos opened his eyes wide to remember the last moments of his life.

The first thing that came into his eyes was the 1st Prince, who was moving the water by raising his hand.

He was looking at him with eyes gleaming with excitement and anger at this situation of easily killing a legendary figure of the country in front of everyone.

With even a thin smile hanging on his lips, as if his current state of being unable to breathe was refreshing.

He would probably become the next Emperor.

At that time, he probably won't feel any emotion even when killing people, just like the Emperor sitting impassively over there.

Next, the Duke captured in his eyes his lord, whom he had followed for some 30 years.

He seemed to show no particular change in emotion, even while displaying the drowning of the vigorous old man who had devoted his entire life to the country.

He felt as if he himself had become an insect.

The Emperor was killing him as impassively as if he were squashing an ant.

Finding that a bit funny, a faint laugh escaped him, even as he felt the water filling his lungs.

Funnily enough, his heart, which had been pounding like crazy, was calm.

Only then did he feel as if his eyes were opening a little.

He had spoken so pretentiously about the weight of life and fate until now, but before them, he too was no different from an insect's life.

The noble sword of the Imperial Family and such had meant nothing.

The pain from the late realization was compressed with the water pressure and crushed the Duke from all sides.

His strength was gradually draining.

As his body went limp, the 1st Prince began to construct the pillar that enveloped him into a sphere.

The sphere that trapped him shrank to a diameter about his height and slowly moved.

It seemed he was trying to drop him from the cliff, as was tradition.

Yes, this is the end.

Perhaps his life up until now was all a meaningless time, but the Duke thought that at the very last moment, he had made a choice he was not ashamed of.

At the same time, his young son, who would be left behind, came to mind, and worry took precedence even as he was dying.

“Your Grace!!!”

At the familiar voice that was heard from behind at the same time, the Duke strenuously turned his head.

It was Tollin.

His reliable aide and young friend he had been with for a long time.

Surprised for a moment at the sudden appearance of him, who should have been resting in the barracks, the Duke looked at him, filled with the apology of leaving too many burdens behind at last.

Difficult days would be awaiting him for the next few years.

At least until the Little Duke inherited the family.

But Tollin would handle it well, as he always had.

His smart friend would take good care of his remaining son, and his bright son would show Tollin the utmost respect he could.

Something different from the future he had imagined until now would unfold, but the Duke thought that it would not be unhappiness.

Thinking that, his heart felt a little at ease.

Though it might just be that his mind was growing distant because oxygen wasn't getting to his brain.

“We will carry out the summary execution of the criminal, Agoni Piteos.”

Simultaneously with the shout of the Imperial Aide, the 1st Prince flicked his finger.

And the Duke fell at a high speed.

Only then did the pile of stones the 7th Prince had given him come to the Duke's mind.

It might not have been what he intended, but thanks to this bag, it seemed he would be able to go in one go without any unnecessary lingering.

Perhaps because it was the last moment of his life, there were things that caught his eye, as if time had slowed down, even though he was clearly falling at a speed that would never be repeated.

For example, a person with black hair and black eyes.

The Duke furrowed his brows slightly at the face he didn't particularly want to see.

It was the 7th Prince.

He, who had mocked him in the forest today, was watching him calmly from among the crowd.

If it hadn't been for today's incident, perhaps Duke Piteos might have made a different choice.

It might have been him who had pushed his back.

Yes, in many ways, is it thanks to the 7th Prince that I'm going comfortably at the end?

Thinking 'Let's not resent him,' the Duke looked at the 7th Prince for the last time.

He was staring at the Duke with a peculiar expression.

He opened his mouth and whispered toward him.

'Not yet...….'

The moment he focused for a bit to read his lips, his body went out of the people's sight and plummeted down.

He was completely out of his mind due to the resistance to the gravity created from falling at an incredibly fast speed.

Various thoughts surfaced and then died down all at once.

The thought about the 7th Prince, who had been watching him with no emotion, just like the Emperor, from among the people with mixed emotions, was one of them.

Did he know what would happen today?

Don't tell me, is that why he gave me this bag and told me to carry it all day, so I would fall quickly?

To make me go 'whoosh' quickly?

If so, that's really, tearfully, thankful.

What bothered him most was his last mumble.

Clearly.......

'Not yet...….'

Not yet.......

'You can't die.'

Didn't he seem to say, 'You can't die'?

A question mark rose at the 7th Prince's words, which were almost like a curse, but the consciousness maintained by the Duke's mental strength lasted only that long.

Because he fainted soon after.

At the same time, a faint blue light emanated from the bag he was wearing and enveloped him.