A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius - A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius chapter 355

355 – Last Dance Towards the End (1)

Your imperial palace.

Although it was a word that couldn’t help but give me goosebumps as soon as I heard it, I took a step forward, putting my hand on the sword on my waist.

“It’s urgent. What’s so urgent?”

The emperor snaps his fingers.

“If I do this, will I have some free time?”

“…”

The fast-moving flying imperial palace stops.

The clouds are slowly moving towards the royal capital, but the Flying Imperial Palace is just floating in the air, as if resisting the wind.

“Anyway, if one of you and I wins, everything will end.”

“…”

“Please sit down. “I’ve brewed some warm tea in the garden.”

The emperor turns his back and walks sideways.

He walked leisurely, as if taking a stroll through a garden covered with white somnus flowers, and I let go of my sword and walked after him.

“I’m assessing it as I walk. Will I have a chance of winning if I cut it now? No. Let’s watch the situation. I’m still on guard. I think I’ll have a better chance of winning if I cut it while I’m fighting and aim for the moment when I’m weak.”

“…”

“Could it be that you are reading thoughts? Perhaps you have mastered the magic of reading thoughts, or have made the Golden Miracle yourself? Rest assured. This is one of the things you are best at.”

The Habsburg Emperor chuckles and pulls out a chair in the garden.

“What would I have done if I were in that position?”

“…”

“We really are a lot alike. We always think from the other person’s perspective, infer what the other person is thinking, and act based on that. Please sit down. The tea will get cold.”

I slowly sat down on the chair pulled by the emperor.

Luxury chocolate and teaware were placed on the white table, and the emperor began brewing tea leaves with elegant yet familiar hands.

“Among the magic tools of the Empire, there is something like this. It is an item that boils water and adjusts its temperature in real time. “Do you know the name?”

“Is there anything special? You can just call it a magic kettle.”

“I guess that’s what they call it in the future.”

I lightly shrugged my shoulders.

“Huh. You don’t deny it anymore?”

“What does it matter whether you are a regressor or not?”

“Yes. It doesn’t matter who you are. Especially if you are Gray Gibraltar and the one I have been observing and judging for the past 10 years.”

Steam was rising, but the emperor pouted his lips as if he was displeased with something.

“The fever doesn’t rise as much as I thought.”

“…It seems like the research is bad.”

“I see. I prepared the most precious tea, but the taste will be gone before I can even smell the tea.”

“What does it matter whether the tea leaves are cheap or the highest quality? The person you are talking about while drinking tea is important.”

“Yes. It’s practical. Still, if you want to win the other person’s favor, shouldn’t you show them that you treat them that way?”

“Are you trying to win my favor?”

“Yes, of course.”

The emperor himself brews the tea leaves and pours the tea into a teacup.

“I haven’t given up yet.”

“I have no intention of giving up either.”

“There will be at least one last chance, right? Seeing them sitting across from each other at the table like this.”

“You don’t want to end up with only suspicions about each other.”

“That’s right. There should be no delusion when swinging a sword.”

The unique scent of somnus flowers fills the entire body.

“Raise a glass. I really want to drink, but I don’t think I can.”

I quietly raised my glass and drank the tea.

“95 points.”

“Is it a perfect score of 100?”

“The temperature of the tea water is low.”

“It’s a shame. Maybe it’s about 5 degrees lower. Hmm.”

The emperor sipped tea and sat down in his seat

“You drink it without even checking for poison.”

“Because there was no way poison was put in it.”

“Are you sure of me?”

“If you want to beat me for sure, you know that it’s important to beat me in other ways, not by poisoning me.”

“Another way. Perhaps by force?”

The emperor laughs.

“Even though your father fell?”

“Nevertheless, you probably know why I’m standing in front of you like this.”

“People call it Manyong.”

“Wrong. This is not arrogance, but determination.”

“Seeing as I’m not confident, I’m not 100%. Is that okay?”

“If it’s not 0%, you should give it a try.”

From noble mtl dot nete

“It’s difficult.”

The emperor shakes his head.

“Let’s be clear and tell each other just three suspicions. If we talk like this, even after everything is over, we’ll die with doubts.”

“Good.”

“Would you like to start with you, or ask me first?”

“Is that also the first?”

“…Tsk.”

The emperor clicks his tongue and shakes his head.

“It is inappropriate to set and discuss specific rules for something like this. “This is a place higher than any other land.”

“…”

“For some reason, that expression. The expression that makes you think, ‘Isn’t there a higher place than here right now?’”

“Also, you’re probably thinking, ‘Then I can fly even higher than that.’”

“…Ha.”

The emperor sighs deeply.

“It’s a shame, it’s a shame. Someone who understands me so well is trying to point a sword at me.”

“Bottom line. Wouldn’t we want to share questions and answers with each other in order to understand it?”

“Are you going to answer honestly?”

“I was always sincere, Your Majesty.”

“You also want to kill me.”

Always.

“First. The person who killed you before your return was Habsburg von Tersian. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t lie.

The Habsburg emperor twitched his fingers, but I took another sip of tea and caught my breath.

“He drove them into the Gibraltar Gorge and bombarded them from the sky. Ah, it must have been a bombing. Instead of using cannons in an airship this time, he used ballistics to fire bombs from above the canyon.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Because I was dying.”

“…I see.”

I was murdered by the emperor.

It is an undeniable truth.

“Let me ask you, were you the one who killed your mother?”

“…”

The emperor is worried.

He seems to be hesitating on how to answer, furrowing his eyebrows and fluttering his eyes.

“It looks like something is going on.” Either he has no intention of telling me the truth, or he has no intention of helping me solve Gray Gibraltar’s delusion.”

“…”

“Or should I lie and provoke another question? Or should I mix truth and lies to confuse people. It doesn’t matter what.”

I took out the sword on my waist.

“Whether your mother is alive, a hostage, or dead, you will die by my hands.”

“…Charlotte Gibraltar. I heard she went missing in the fire.”

The emperor speaks lowly.

“If we haven’t found the body, he’s probably still alive somewhere.”

“Then, the second question. “Were you the one who sent the incompetent king to your mother?”

“…Not at all.”

The emperor’s eyebrows twisted.

“The incompetent king is dead.”

“I ran to where my mother was, and inside the sealed barrier, the melted gold came out and collapsed, like rotten fruit.”

“…”

“Did you send it? While the tombstone was being erected, did you secretly make a hole in it and take out the incompetent king’s soul?”

“No.”

The emperor declared.

“If nothing else, that person exploited and abused Nostrum’s miracle. Even if Naria Geo Nostrum uses another miracle of Nostrum, I can understand and deal with it. But I cannot forgive such a crazy person.”

“Is that so?”

I took a light breath.

“Then I will be able to swing the sword even more mercilessly and rationally.”

“What if I sent an incompetent king?”

“Without these questions and answers, without finding a clear answer, he must have swung his sword in anger. Without any consideration.”

“I see. …I thought about it, but it’s a good thing I didn’t do it.”

The emperor raised his glass as I put it down.

“Second question. It was Naria Geo Nostrum who returned you, right?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

The emperor breathed a sincere sigh of relief.

“Then no one can rewind time with the golden miracle anymore. Pick up your cup and follow me.”

The emperor stood up, holding his teacup like wine.

I stood up, holding the tea bowl with one hand and holding the tea cup, and walked after the emperor.

“Let’s put aside the questions and answers for a moment and talk about personal matters while we move. Do you know how much mana it takes to float this floating castle, ‘Greyberg’?”

“I’m not interested, but I’d like to ask you to change your name first.”

“For that to happen, you just have to inherit this castle. Until then, it’s Greyberg.”

“I have no intention of inheriting a castle filled with the scent of blood. And I have no interest in the total amount of mana.”

Squeak.

“Isn’t it ‘infinite’ anyway?”

“Correct answer.”

The emperor himself opens the tightly closed door.

“Ho.”

Beyond the doors that open to the left and right, something shining brilliantly in gold stands tall in the center of the imperial palace’s banquet hall.

“Did you move it by yourself?”

“I had a bit of trouble finding the location.”

At the end of the imperial palace banquet hall, there is a golden statue.

The statue was very familiar to me, and it was something I had already seen several times.

“Gold Dragon Chronostrum.”

A gold dragon wrapped around a golden pillar like an hourglass.

“I got it from a magically hidden dragon’s lair under the canyon. By using the blood of Gibraltar, I was able to enter and take it out.”

“The elves described it as ‘the end of time.’”

“The end of time. That’s the perfect expression. And at the end of time…”

The emperor knocked on the golden pillar with his empty hand, as if knocking with the back of his hand.

“I brought this ‘reversion device’ and installed it here.”

“Isn’t it really reading your inner thoughts?”

“No. I read your facial expressions. I can tell the subtle differences between when what I say is correct and when it is not. Like when the corners of your eyes lower slightly when I say it’s a rare down in the canyon.”

“…I don’t know what to say.”

It must be pervert after all.

Or maybe it’s because of that observation that I survived until now.

“Last question. What if. Really what if.”

The emperor’s expression hardens and he looks at me with a golden hourglass in one hand.

“If you accept me, I will give you this regression device. So, will you follow me?”

“…”

The miracle of return.

The Emperor is persuading me with the most valuable thing he can give.

“Ha. Don’t answer. I think you can tell just by looking at the expression.”

The emperor waved his hand and smiled lowly.

“Even if I know, it’s something I don’t want to hear. I’ll just pass it over so don’t say it. Yes, that’s right. Of course, if you’re trying to sway me, it’s okay to say it.”

“If you tell me, won’t you try to wield your weapon more mercilessly based on that?”

“It’s you, after all.”

“I refuse.”

“…It’s you, after all.”

As if he knew this would happen, the emperor sits on the gold dragon’s tail with a sad smile.

“I already said I would hand over half the continent, or rather the world itself, to you, so it would be meaningless. Wealth and gold? If you had wanted to, you would have destroyed the entire economy of the empire. Woman. This is the most meaningless question. Already. Because I gave it to you.”

“I am truly grateful for that.”

Sending away Astasia early.

“Because the Emperor sent Astasia to Gibraltar seven years ago, we can now communicate with words instead of swords.”

“I see. I should praise myself from 7 years ago. And…”

The emperor snaps his fingers.

At the same time, golden rain pours brilliantly from the ceiling.

“I want to ask the person who killed you before returning.”

Swords, spears, bows, axes, muskets, halberds, swords, gauntlets, maces, and dozens of other types of weapons that can be found in the Imperial Weapons Encyclopedia are laid out on the floor of the banquet hall.

“Why did you kill Gray Gibraltar?”

“…”

“Why on earth?”

“Last question.”

I picked up the weapon that was nearby.

“Oh, a rapier? Yes. It’s the weapon that killed my half-brother when I was the youngest. It’s also the weapon that killed Isabella’s child.”

“…I’m not interested in that.”

Aiming the golden-plated rapier forward, I raised my auror.

“For the last and first time, I ask Habsburg von Tersian, the first emperor of the unified Habsburg Empire.”

“Oh. As much as you want.”

“When the daughter was born to me and Astasia was so outstanding that I chose her as the third emperor of the unified Habsburg Empire.”

“…No way.”

The emperor’s expression hardens.

“If 20 years pass and no man with the same quality as Gray Gibraltar is found, what choice will the Emperor Tae Sang-hang make?”

“…By that time, I will already be old.”

The emperor quietly closes his eyes.

“You’ll still be flying around.”

“Answer me.”

“…Ah, that’s right. Habsburg. Have you passed the next turn on to me?”

“…”

Question. Didn’t the Habsburg emperor before the return know about the miracle of the return?

“Glorious, the me from the past, before I killed Gray. You achieved the feat of unifying the continent, but handed over all the glory to me to persuade Gray Gibraltar. Even if time goes back, I will fight Gray. “You put everything down because you believed you could persuade me.”

Not at all.

“I have to live up to those expectations. If I don’t follow my own wishes, how can I be called the emperor of a unified empire?”

The emperor stands up.

Pick up the nearest great sword with both hands and take a step forward.

“It may be in the future, but there is only one correct answer.”

“Because of that correct answer, you die to me.”

“The best male and the best female mate and produce offspring. That is my, Habsberg way.”

With aura, I take a light step forward.

“If it’s you and your daughter, a better emperor will be born than him.”

“I don’t like it.”

The emperor laughs.

“I don’t want to do that to my daughter, and I don’t want Asta Sia to do that to her son either.”

As if she had burned all the tangled threads and found the answer key inside her, she smiled brightly like a child and passed her great sword over her shoulder.

“Why? Because we are close relatives?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“I see.”

The emperor lowered his head for a moment.

“In that case, we have no choice but to force it.”

“As expected, you are a Habsburg, before and after returning to me.”

I stretched the glass I was holding to the side.

“Ah. Let me tell you one thing. Before returning, before I died, you killed Astasia.”

“…Unification Emperor, you passed on the most annoying anger.”

“Rest assured, I am not so obsessed with the past that I differentiate between the person you are now and the person you were before.”

“Then what?”

“The future.”

Clink.

“For my child.”

The moment the glass shattered, I thrust the Auror’s blade forward.

“The future.”

It pierced the Habsburg Emperor’s great sword, but the tip of the Auror’s blade stopped in front of the Habsburg Emperor’s heart.

“In that case.”

Crunchy.

Grabbing the Auror’s blade with his hand and crushing it, the Emperor smiled broadly.

“Take that future by killing me.” It is my ‘future’ that will inherit everything I have.”

The emperor’s eyes, looking at me from behind the great sword, were a blue color deeper than navy blue.