How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 54

How to live as a tyrant’s spoiled brat, episode 53

(53)

The long night is over and dawn has finally come.

Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of pairs of eyes peered out the windows, busily recounting the chaos of the previous night.

The royal family tried to escape, the Encroachers appeared, and the Archduke Valencian prompted the Encroachers to attack the church.

The street scenes also added flesh to the story.

A large number of people watched the performance as if it were a farce.

The Emperor’s knights are sending those who have lost their minds due to the psychic waves of Lancea to the church, comforting the trembling cart drivers, and dragging the laughing Archduke Valencian to the palace.

This was a time when public sentiment toward Valencianus was not good due to the riots that occurred at the Wyvernpit execution method and the Street of Learning.

This time, everyone had no doubt that the scoundrel would be hanged.

As the capital’s cafes, markets, and learning districts bustled with the cubic hustle and bustle of countless splendid houses, the Emperor was smiling contentedly in the audience room of the Soletaraon Palace.

All the magistrates, judges, and knights who had even a passing knowledge of what had happened the night before looked up at the young emperor who had been on the throne for a year.

“Sir Barbatos.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The first one to be called was the commander of the Black Iron Knights.

A large knight in black armor knelt on a floor paved with jewels.

“This ‘red light turn off’ operation is all your fault. You demolished the red light district exactly as I wanted.”

Barbatos, the Black Knights, and their police chiefs raided every casino and high-class bar in the red-light district last night, accusing them of all the crimes they had committed.

The managers, who were accused of tax evasion, illegal loan sharking, drug manufacturing and trafficking, brokering, and contract killings, were literally destroyed.

The plan was to impose huge fines on the spot that could never be paid, and to confiscate all money and buildings. The wealth thus obtained was to be used for military purposes, and the land and buildings were to be used to solve the problem of overcrowding.

The only one who was not caught was the Red Mask, who acted as an internal collaborator through Valencianus.

In the red-light district where 70% of the people were gone and only 30% remained, she would become the new queen of the night.

“I heard that the head of the ‘organization’ is quite powerful. How was it?”

At the Emperor’s question, Barbatos laughed heartily and stuck out his neck, which was contained in a wooden box.

He reigned as the king of the red-light district in a history that only Valencian remembers before the return, but fled to a foreign country when the purge came.

He was the one who caused internal strife among the nobles of the imperial court by releasing all the secrets he had collected over the years as ransom.

“One Black Iron Knight would have been enough, Your Majesty.”

It was a vain end, with none of those many secrets left to be told.

“Yes. As expected, it’s Kyung-ui Heukcheol.”

Barbatos smiled from ear to ear.

Jaylilith continued speaking in a bright voice, as if she found that smile pleasant to see.

“The red-light district will be chaotic for a while, and it will be difficult to develop it stably. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to leave it up to you to select the construction guild that will be in charge of the construction. What do you think?”

Wherever a monarch’s work was undertaken, bribery was common.

Leaving the negotiation to the knights meant that he was asking them to take bribes to grease the mouths of his subordinates.

Barbatos laughed heartily.

“Your Majesty, I am so grateful.”

After he stepped back, it was Sereraji who bowed his head before the emperor.

The genius wizard, wearing a robe that was blue on the outside and red on the inside, and a cone-shaped hat, flashed gold and blue and shimmered, and bowed his head politely, lifting up the hem of his robe.

“Sereraji. You have added much to my treasury. Thanks to you, I won’t have to raise taxes this year. I would like to reward you, but would you like to receive a new staff?”

“I am deeply attached to this gift from my master. Please extend the duration of the magic circle.”

“That’s so wizardly. Okay. I’ll give you an extra month.”

Sereraji breathed a sigh of relief.

The emperor smiled like a statue and said.

“I just got a report on how much your share is. The gold coins you won from a dozen casinos total 85,638… … .”

Everyone there held their breath.

It was an amount that would not even come close to the budget of a great lord.

“42,819 are yours. I said I haven’t collected them all yet, so go and get them one by one.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Thank you.”

The conversation just now made Sereraji one of the richest men on the continent.

It was the old palace minister who stepped back and bowed his head before the emperor.

Jaylilith called her attendant and brought her a chair and a staff, paying her respects to the old woman.

“Your Majesty, how many of my blood relatives are left? Please recite them in comparison to before my accession to the throne.”

The court lady, with deep wrinkles on her face, coughed and unfolded her scroll.

“Including His Majesty the Emperor, his empresses, his concubines, and all the children born to them, there were 672 people who legally belonged to the Imperial Family.”

The previous emperors had three-digit number of concubines and had children until their energy ran out.

“That’s right.”

“On the day Your Majesty ascended the throne, Your Majesty the former emperor passed away, and 122 members of the imperial family, including Himself, died. The next day, all the concubines, queens, and members of the imperial family who were not related by blood were sent back to their parents’ home, so according to the law, there were 426 imperial family members left.”

“There are a lot.”

After that, numerous assassination attempts, plots of rebellion, and the subsequent suppression of Jaylilith for a year came out of the mouth of the palace minister.

The judges gathered in the audience room let out a huff.

“… … six of the intruders were executed, thirteen committed suicide after poisoning His Majesty’s cup, and the Archduke Valencian put to death forty-seven of the sixty-seven ‘illegitimate children who, though not of the imperial lineage by law, were descendants of the imperial lineage.’ Since they were not of the imperial lineage, forty-seven remained in the palace.”

“It was long.”

Jaylilith muttered, sinking back into the back of the throne.

“And last night, Archduke Valencian and the knights of the Black Iron Knights beheaded 13 of the 45 people who had escaped en masse in an attempt to hand over imperial secrets to foreign countries, and brought 31 to the palace. One person is being searched for, but it seems likely that he will be caught soon.”

“It was long.”

Her yellow eyes sparkled softly, and a satisfied smile played on her lips.

“Excluding the eight who had exchanged secret letters with the palace in advance and responded, 23 committed suicide this morning.”

The palace minister gritted his teeth as he watched that smile.

“Now, legally, there are eleven people who belong to the imperial family: His Majesty, the Grand Duke of Valencian, the Grand Duke of Sereragie, and eight others. If we expand the scope by bloodline rather than succession, there is also Count Aquinas, who was adopted into the Marquisate of Planitiès.”

It was all her karma, the emperor’s karma, the imperial family’s karma, and the empire’s karma.

If the experiment was successful, the test subjects would become useless.

“Helena, Hadritan, and the Grand Duke of Denia have expressed their intention to serve in the Imperial Court, while the remaining five have expressed their wish to renounce their right to succession and return to their mother’s house.”

Jaylilith shook her head.

“I will not allow it. They must remain, even as hostages.”

“I will… … convey that information.”

The Emperor said, sweeping his platinum hair down his own head.

“You’ve shed a lot of blood over the past year. It’s just a shame that it was all necessary. I couldn’t sleep in the same palace as those who might turn into monsters that I can’t defeat at any time.”

All the officials felt a strange sense of oppression as they looked at that sight.

“It seems that enough blood has been shed among my relatives. But there are still relatives left.”

The palace minister swallowed his saliva.

“Summon the Archduke Valencian.”

* * *

The knight Angelos hated the emperor.

She killed the emperor, who had been on good terms with the church, and killed hundreds of her relatives under various pretexts over the course of a year.

Even up to this point, I felt instinctively repulsed, and on top of that, I haven’t even visited the church for over a year since taking the throne.

In his common sense, a secular monarch could not have ignored religion to this extent.

All the people go to church, so how can the ruler who rules them ignore the church?

Many great lords and kings of foreign countries were clamoring to excommunicate Jayrillis for his transgression against humanity and the natural order.

He could not even bow his head in gratitude to the church that had tolerated him, and he did not send even a single official envoy or personal letter.

No, if you want to call it an envoy, there was one person who came who could be called an envoy.

Since they sent the current emperor’s twin brother, you could say they were quite a formal envoy.

The problem is that the twin brother came with a mutated eroder behind him.

Where in the world would you find a crazy person wearing something like that and coming to a cathedral?

What if the saints or believers were injured?

For Angelos, it was a terrifying thing to even imagine.

If the saint had not stopped me, I would have really beheaded him.

The only consolation was that the Emperor would soon be beheading him, as his reputation was not very good and he had recently caused trouble with the Encroachers on the Street of Learning.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It is an honor to serve you.”

He was very proud to be included in this procession to the palace with Bishop Hong, Saint Matthew, and many priests and knights.

There was also the complaint that the Emperor did not come to apologize, but that was not something I could expect from the man who killed my father.

He believed that now was the time for the sect to excommunicate the emperor.

No matter how much the light spoke of mercy and forgiveness, it was impossible to tolerate the royal family committing such rudeness.

“What, what.”

So, when Angelos saw the one standing next to the Emperor in the audience room of the palace with a ceiling like the night sky, welcoming the saint, he rolled his eyes and almost ran away.

“I was rude back then.”

“No, Your Majesty. I, Mateos, cannot back down in the face of the Encroacher.”

The young Archduke, with his bright yellow eyes and his platinum hair slicked back, was wearing a white uniform with a red belt, and was arrogantly carrying a sword and wearing sandals as he greeted the saint.

Moreover, isn’t Bishop Hong, whom he respects so thoroughly, talking to the murderous emperor with a good-natured smile like a grandfather meeting his granddaughter?

“I am very happy as a servant of light to see Your Majesty the Emperor, the Sun of the world.”

“I should have gone to see you earlier. I am sorry. I could not have been rude enough to cross the threshold of the church with bloody hands. Please understand.”

“It is fortunate that Your Majesty has come to see us now.”

“As a token of my apology, I will donate ten thousand gold coins to the Church and recommend the five Grand Dukes and their clansmen to take monastic vows. The gold coins can be used by the Church to fight against the invaders and to help the poor, and sending the clansmen will be a sign of my faith. Will you accept my apology?”

“Your Majesty has no need to apologize to anyone. Only light and conscience can hold your Majesty accountable. If you are truly heavy-hearted, please come to the cathedral this weekend.”

Angelos thought about it for a moment before understanding what the Emperor had said.

“!”

If you become a monk, you cannot marry, and judging from the Great Purge, the Emperor wants to control the blood.

If the five grand dukes and all their blood relatives, who are probably illegitimate children, are all made monks, there will be no more need for the imperial blood to spread.

And for ten thousand gold coins… …it was enough to forgive many sins.

He sighed inwardly, as if the ground was collapsing.

I thought I would be seeing that bastard smiling brightly next to the saint a lot in the future.

* * *

A room at the southwest end of the palace with walls made entirely of glass, a room with clear air where plants from the fairy forest grow.

Jaylilith, wearing a black dress, sat me down on a long chair next to her and watched the setting sun.

“Archduke Valencian. Was it so shocking to lose Justinian?”

While I was luring Lancea to the cathedral, Justinian is said to have been hiding in the culvert and fled as soon as the gates were opened.

When I learned that fact, I just sat down on the street in the early morning and trembled.

It was because I had seen with my own eyes the butterfly effect that he would bring about about four months ago.

My legs were so weak that I had to be helped back to the Red Moon Palace by the knights.

“I am sorry, Your Majesty. I have committed a mortal sin, but please do not kill me.”

“I did as much as I could. I hate to admit it, but there are things that people cannot do anything about.”

She looked at me for a moment with eyes the same color as mine, then placed her knuckle-ringed hand on my shoulder and awkwardly tapped it twice.

Normally, I would have been moved to tears by the comfort I received for the first time since my return, but this time, I couldn’t just be happy.

“That bastard… … !”

“My own military power is not very good, and I don’t have a proper family. There are no rebels from the royal family rising up like wildfire from all directions, so you can rest assured. Besides, I’ve already released several knights.”

I wasn’t reassured, but I could understand.

At this time in her previous life, Jaylilith was already on the battlefield, and dozens of royal family members with great nobles on their maternal side escaped while surveillance was weak.

But today she was here, and the illegitimate children who would become the leaders of the future encroaching forces and the rebellious imperial family who would call themselves emperors with the support of their own noble families, were all reduced to ashes.

The last five grand dukes and the illegitimate children with limited abilities were dragged off to the monastery, and would never come out again.

There is no power without a center of gravity.

Jaylilith and I both knew that very well.

But I nodded for now, thinking of Justinian, with whom I was sure we would meet again someday.

“It turned out just as you said.”

“yes?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be preparing for the cathedral with me this Sunday?”

“ah.”

Jaylilith slowly turned her head and looked at me.

It was a face that had not changed in decades since reaching the realm of the arrogant eyes and a faint smile that matched her platinum hair.

“You are strange. You seem to act however you want, but don’t you end up creating a situation that is advantageous to me?”

“You’re flattering me… … .”

“It was the same when I met the Marquis, when I created the new punishment, when I was learning, and when I captured you and your blood relatives this time.”

“It’s all a coincidence.”

“Yes. There are miracles in this world. But miracles are called miracles because they don’t happen twice.”

The filicide tyrant looked at me with the expression of a girl his age.

“Considering what Jim has done and the poison he has consumed, it is a miracle that he is even alive.”

Speaking in a way that was completely unlike a girl her age.

“That’s right.”

“There is nothing you can’t say.”

“I have committed a sin that deserves death.”

She laughed brightly and muttered contentedly.

“The task is now over. But it is only just beginning.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. You must restrain the greedy lords and close the demon realm.”

“What do you want to do when you have restrained the greedy lords and closed the demon realm?”

Jaylilith’s eyes quirked playfully.

I answered like the most hopeless Valencian in the world.

“We’ll drink, gamble, and fight all over the place.”

“I don’t allow it. No, I’d like you to allow it.”

“yes?!”

“Everything you brought to me was brought to me like that.”

My eyes were shaking like crazy.

It’s not like she didn’t see it.

Jaylilith spoke with the city glowing red in the sunset as a backdrop outside the window.

“I want you to act even more like a dog, my only blood relative. If it brings about the results I want, I will turn a blind eye to any deviation.”

I closed my eyes tightly and answered.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Forever.”

Surely my name will go down in history.

A loyal servant of a tyrant, a great hope for the future.