﹡ ⊹ ⊰ Chapter 238 ⊱ ⊹ ﹡
Among the prisoners in the dark and damp dungeon, Empress Ravini was sitting in the innermost cell.
"You don"t look very comfortable." Perez said, casting a long dark shadow through a torchlight in the hall.
In the dark, the Empress was like a withered flower. Her glamorous appearance that once caught everyone"s attention has now lost its light.
She was still sitting upright, pretending to be n.o.ble and confident, but in the eyes of the person standing outside the iron bars, she was just a filthy sinner.
There was no place for beauty to settle on her face with her messy hair, dirty clothes, and eyes with dark circles from a lack of sleep.
The reason was easy to predict.
"Aren"t rats such nasty creatures?"
It was as it seemed like her secret was caught by Perez that the Empress"s body shivered greatly.
"Easy to squeeze into even the tiniest gaps and eats whatever it wants. All that sound of crawling around the bedside as if it was aiming for human flesh is likely to drive someone crazy."
Whether it was a dungeon or an abandoned palace, it was the perfect home for creatures living in hiding, away from human eyes.
"Unlock the cell." Perez ordered the guard behind him.
A couple of heavy clasps rang out in the dungeon and soon, Perez walked into the cell.
"Are you here to kill me?" Empress Ravini asked Perez with her eyes flaring.
"Not, yet. However, it seems there is no sign of remorse on the sinner."
"Ha!" Empress Ravini scoffed.
"I didn"t do anything wrong. Only you and I fought a war with our lives. Indeed, I lost but you"re tearing Angenas apart. It"s like I"ve paid for my sins unfairly." The Empress said, raising her chin with her shameless face.
"I paid an unlawful price."
Perez looked down at the Empress with cold eyes.
"The person who was punished has no intention of pleading for forgiveness, but that person paid an unlawful price? You have a strange way of summing things."
Every night, no matter how much he tried to cover his ears from hearing the voice of his mother, he still heard it very clearly.
"You have a long way from fulfilling the pain my mother had gone through, Empress."
Perez added briefly.
"Do you still want to beg me to kill you?"
He wanted to send the Empress to her death this instant but when he saw the blue eyes shaking with instinctive fear, he felt the anger that had been raging inside him calm down a little.
It"s not gonna be that easy.
Of course, he did not intend to leave the scales tilted towards the Empress for too long.
"Bring it in."
At Perez"s order, the guard guarding the door moved quickly. Shortly thereafter, the quiet dungeon became noisy after the door opened.
"Hey! Let go of me! Let go! Hiik! Don"t hit me! I was wrong!"
The voice was familiar to both Perez and Empress Ravini.
"...Astana?"
"Uh, Mother!"
Astana, who had been dragged by the guards, recognized Empress Ravini and cried like a child.
Although he was rigorously the First Prince of the Empire, Astana"s wretched appearance was more of a street beggar.
Even if you wash your eyes, you couldn"t find the Prince"s inborn royalty anywhere.
As Perez watched quietly, the guards released Astana"s bound hands.
"Mother!"
Astana ran to Empress Ravini and grabbed the hem of her dress. His appearance in his mid-teen was surprisingly immature.
If Astana had been the Emperor, everyone would know who would actually have the power of the Emperor.
They could tell without having to think too hard.
The guards who were watching beside Perez also had a hunch, and they quietly glanced among themselves and frowned.
"Oh, what"s wrong with your face....?" The Empress said, looking at Astana"s bruised face with trembling hands.
"They are..! Uh!" Astana said, pointing fingers at the guards who dragged him.
"He didn"t want to come...I couldn"t help it." The guard quickly made an excuse to Perez.
"If the sinner doesn"t listen to the orders, it"s inevitable."
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Ravini screamed at Perez.
"Astana is the First Prince of the Empire! No matter how powerful you are right now, you can"t treat His Majesty"s flesh and blood like this!" Empress Ravini hugged Astana with one arm as she screamed at him.
Perez replied coldly to their miserable appearance.
"I"ve been given a command to thoroughly interrogate the sinner, regardless of their status."
"...Jovanes!"
The Empress gritted her teeth, furious.
It was quite different from the one who said a little while ago, "We only fought a war."
Soon after, she shouted while staring daggers at Perez.
"You"re a devil!"
Astana, who was embraced by the Empress, burst into tears.
"Mother! They treated me poorly! How dare they treat me like an animal!"
"It"s okay, Prince. It"s okay."
The Empress acted like a poor mother protecting her son. And the image of them touched something inside Perez.
The color of his red eyes darken as he looked at the two hugging each other.
Did she say he was a devil?
If so, he will have to live up to that expectation.
"Astana."
Astana lifted his head at Perez"s call and sniffled.
"What! What!"
"His Majesty has entrusted me with the full investigations of this rebellion and the attempted murder."
Perez"s words reached Astana through the cold prison walls.
"That"s why you have been locked up in the dungeon rather than in your palace for days."
"As expected you...!"
"And yet the real culprit behind what happened in the Forest of the Pazzo has not been revealed."
Astana paused. His stupid head worked fiercely, trying to figure out the meaning of Perez"s words.
Perez meant that Astana"s fate will be laid at ease.
"I"ll make it easy for you. In short, either you or your mother will be the culprit."
"Uhh, then..."
"But, as the Empress said, you have inherited the precious blood of the Emperor, so I will give you a choice." Perez said with a grin with only one side of his mouth raised.
"Right here, right now, admit that your mother, Empress Ravini, gave you a dagger and she told you to harm the Emperor."
"What...what...?"
"Then I"ll take into account your cooperation with the investigation and get you out of jail right away."
Perez made one more suggestion.
Throughout the days in prison, Astana called the food his guards gave him "garbage", and he never touched anything.
"If you write down a detailed confession of the situation at the time in your handwriting, I"ll provide you with everything you want to eat."
The whole incident in the Forest of the Pazzo went as planned by Perez.
Astana had to get out of jail and fabricate things that didn"t even happen on the condition of food.
Perez waited for Astana"s reply in a relaxed manner.
"That"s ridiculous." Ravini made a mockery of Perez"s suggestion in her heart.
It was neither a proposal to guarantee survival nor a proposal to guarantee him minimum rights as a Crown Prince.
In this situation, where life may be lost due to immediate treason, Perez"s offer in return was too pointless.
"Who would accept it...."
The Empress"s ridicule stopped when Astana released his hands from holding her and moved away.
"...Prince?" Surprised, Ravini called Astana, but Astana avoided her gaze.
At the same time, a sneer appeared in Perez"s eyes.
The Empress was stunned and tried to stop Astana. She was trying to advise him that he shouldn"t fall for Perez"s words, which doesn"t even guarantee his life.
"Prince! If you went through such a suggestion...!"
"It wasn"t my fault from the beginning." Astana muttered, still unable to even look at Ravini.
"It"s all my mother"s fault, and it"s not fair for me to get involved."
Ravini gave up trying to help Astana. Instead, she trembled with his betrayal.
"Uh...How...How dare you do this—."
"Isn"t this all because my mother and Angenas were greedy beyond their means?" Astana shook away Ravini"s hand that was holding him.
"If a n.o.blewoman in the Western region had become an Empress, she should have been satisfied with it! How dare you include me in your plots!" Astana shouted as he shot up from the ground.
Astana has now condemned Ravini. And he said with a glaring smile at Perez.
"You and I are brothers. Brothers with the same father and share the same blood."
Not only that, he came up with persuasion.
"Whatever you say, I"ll do whatever you tell me to do. Whatever my mother and Angenas do, it has nothing to do with me, Brother."
With his hand reaching out, Perez slid away to avoid it. Instead, he gave an order to the guards.
"Let go of me! I"ll walk on my own feet!" Astana said, glaring at the guards, and rushing out of the prison.
"I want to eat freshly baked bread and meat! You better have it ready!"
Astana, who was getting farther away, looked back at Ravini once. But that was it.
Leaving his mother alone on the cold prison floor, Astana escaped from the dungeon, fleeing.
That moron.
Astana"s well-being was guaranteed only until he receives his confession. Though he doesn"t seem to know it yet.
Perez scoffed, looking at Astana"s back.
"Hahaha..."
The Empress sat down and laughed in frustration. Her eyes have no focus and looking blankly on the prison floor.
"How...How can..."
"I"m glad that he didn"t meet your expectations." Perez said in a voice with a hint of laughter.
Hearing him say that, Ravini cried out.
"You must be happy to have your revenge! But that"s only for a moment! Soon you will be consumed with vengeance!"
Then, looking as if she realized something, she grabbed her belly and laughed.
"Haha! Yes! It already worked! You succeed in taking the throne to get your revenge on me! It means you can"t live with that girl for the rest of your life!"
"Hahahahaha!"
The Empress" hysterical laughter rang loudly in the cell.
"That"s great! Indeed! Keep living miserably!"
However, tears were flowing from the Empress" eyes.
Thump! Thump!
Even at the moment when she laughed out of her mind, the Empress was beating her chest with her fist, grieving. The sound of laughter suddenly became a cry like that of an animal, and at one point she went into hysterics.
However, the Empress" laughter suddenly cut off and she snappily said.
"Kill me. As the Empress who dared to kill the Emperor, put me on the execution table. Shouldn"t you have to complete your revenge?"
It was a voice full of exhaustion as if breaking apart. But Perez shook his head.
"You underestimated me again. My revenge is not something you even dare to complete with your death."
With a distinctly different tone, Perez tossed a piece of paper at the feet of the Empress.
"The Empress will be held in seclusion. That means you"re no longer the Empress of the Lambrew Empire. It also means you can"t die on the execution table."
Ravini"s withering hands barely picked up the paper.
Perez once again confirmed to Ravini.
"You"re nothing anymore."
Ravini"s body began to tremble as if she was. .h.i.t by lightning.
"No, you can"t...I can"t, no..." Ravini shook her head in denial of her reality.
Perez approached Ravini, looming over her, and lowered his posture. Then he said decisively, looking straight at her bloodshot, tear-studded blue eyes.
"Let me be clear. You"re going to die here. It could be today, it could be tomorrow."
Ravini"s cracked lips trembled, listening to Perez.
"You"re going to die."
However, it did not evoke any emotions in Perez.
"Someone could come in and attack you or could cut your throat when you"re asleep. Or maybe a guard will serve you poison."
Ravini"s face was slowly tinged with fear.
"So live each day in h.e.l.l, feeling that today will be your last day. Forgotten and rot in this place where no one saves you, Ravini Angenas." Perez said before getting up and leaving the cell.
"Not like that! Ahhhhh! Rather you kill me! Kill me now! No!"
Ravini rushed to attack Perez in order for herself to be killed on the spot, but it was futile since she was quickly caught by the guards.
Perez finally ordered the guards in a cold tone.
"If the sinner wants to kill herself, gag her and tie her limbs."
Perez"s steps walking out of the dungeon were buried in Ravini"s scream. But that"s only for a while.
When the thick door shut behind Perez"s back, all he could hear was the sough of the wind. Everything about Ravini was now locked inside this dungeon.
Perez walked through the Imperial Palace without looking back.
***
"I haven"t seen Perez these past few days," I said to Clerivan as we left the Angenas mansion.
"I"m sure he"s busy. He"s in charge of all the work a.s.signed by the Emperor."
"Oh, that"s right."
The Emperor"s condition is still not getting better today and probably until tomorrow.
Someone will have to take care of the piled-up work.
"I need to get used to it."
Perez will get busier and busier. The same was true for me. So, in the future, I won"t be able to get back and forth as often as before.
Even though I knew it well, my heart still felt sore.
Ignoring the pain, I spoke to Clerivan.
"Let"s ride the carriage together. I will drop you off on the way."
"Thank you."
The inside of the carriage returning from the Imperial City to the Lombardy estate was quiet.
I think it"s about time.
"Well, Lady Firentia."
As expected, Clerivan carefully opened his mouth.
"What is it, Clerivan?"
It was Clerivan who said he wanted to say something to me last time.
Angenas Family was coming to an end.
I was right when I thought it was time for Clerivan to bring up what he wanted to say.
"Haa.." After a short sigh, Clerivan looked at me and pulled something out of his coat.
"What"s this?" I asked, opening the paper. And it felt like my heart was thumping and sinking as I read the contents.
"This..."
"This is the life contract that I wrote upon the creation of the Pellet Company."
Clerivan coughed loudly once again, and he said. "Please terminate this contract."
What?
"I would like you to accept my resignation from the Pellet Company, Lady Firentia."