Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 397



Only Noblemtl

397. Pian (2)

As soon as he came out of the prayer room, Seonghwang quickly organized the piled up work.

This is the first time I have been absent for such a long time without notice since the pagan uprising two years ago.

The only silver lining was that the gears he had carefully tuned over a long period of time rolled along without any derailment.

And what kept that mechanism going was the presence of a virtuous and capable empress.

“Wow, you’re amazing. We weren’t able to properly hand over the throne because of the chaos, but you’ve managed the state affairs perfectly, almost without any room for improvement. Tatiana.”

Empress Tatiana unconsciously tried to lower the corners of her lips that were about to rise in pure admiration.

As always, she was the type of person who found vitality in focusing on her work combatively, and felt satisfaction through the achievements and recognition that came from it.

Of course, the two people who met in a friendly atmosphere had completely different thoughts in their heads.

‘For the sake of the future, I think it would be better to leave state affairs to the Empress a little more from now on.’

‘It was close. I thought I was reaching my limit, but what would have happened if Your Majesty had been one more day late!’

Even looking back, it was an amazing achievement for Tatiana herself.

She has taken the place of the Emperor many times before, but has she ever done it for so long and so successfully?

“Princess Amelia was a great help. She was always there to help me when I needed her. The more I look at her, the more I think she is truly an excellent administrative talent… … .”

Perhaps because her mood had eased, Tatiana, who had been absentmindedly blurting out words of praise, flinched and trailed off.

Wasn’t she the one who had been busy cleverly turning other children around in front of the king? Suddenly, she started praising them, which she had never done before. She felt embarrassed, as if her true feelings had been revealed.

“… … .”

Tatiana instinctively glanced at Seonghwang, but fortunately he simply listened to her without showing any particular emotion.

“It is also a virtue of the Empress to use people appropriately.”

“… … .”

Tatiana kept her mouth shut and looked up at the face of the saint. On the outside, he seemed to be extremely emotionless, but Tatiana, who had been looking at him for a long time, could tell that there was trust, understanding, affection, and a little sadness in his eyes.

Long ago, the future that Tatiana dreamed of for the young prince was very different from the present.

Likewise, Sunghwang must have looked at a future that was completely different from the present. Perhaps Tatiana’s appearance might not have existed beside him.

But they met again in such an unexpected way, and decided to embrace each other, however imperfectly.

What Tatiana had not expected at all was that she felt more peaceful and warm in her current state than she had thought.

“… Yes. What more can I say? It’s all Princess Amelia’s official document.”

Tatiana sighed softly and rested her head on the Emperor’s shoulder. Even if she were to gossip about the princess here, the Emperor’s gaze toward her probably wouldn’t change much.

The relationship they had built over a long period of time, although not perfect, was like a solid and beautiful castle that would not easily collapse.

Tatiana sometimes becomes so weak-hearted because she knows that Seonghwang will completely understand and embrace her no matter what happens.

“If it weren’t for the princess, I would never have been able to run the country as I have now.”

“That’s not true.”

“No. For a while, I even suspected that the princess was reading my mind. How can she see through people so well?”

“It must have been possible because it was your work, and not someone else’s.”

The emperor’s answer was sincere.

The current Amelia is the true and noblest rose of the Holy Empire.

But when she first entered the palace, she was just a shy and clumsy young girl.

At some point, the child began to straighten his back and smile with authority.

The Emperor, who tried to spend as much time as possible with the child, knew well that Amelia had been watching the every move of the empress and her consorts, especially the orphaned empress, and tried to imitate them.

-Oh my god, Tatiana.

The polite child’s only friendly address contained respect and affection that the empress did not realize.

“… … .”

“… … .”

And the two of them, lost in their own thoughts, leaned on each other’s shoulders for a while in silence.

“… big”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

The impatient cardinals coughed outside until finally Luis entered the office with an apologetic look on his face.

Seonghwang’s busy schedule continued after that.

He had to hear many reports through the thoughts transmitted from all over the continent, including Arenja.

Then, the five cardinals entered the Holy Emperor’s office with anxious hearts, and after a while, they staggered out with their faces turned white.

It was late in the evening, and the final moment had finally arrived.

The moment to face the troublemaker son who caused an unprecedented accident by showing off his magical aura in front of everyone in the Holy Assembly.

“father.”

The child, now fully recovered, pokes his head into the doorway of the office with a nervous expression. His expression seems to be preparing for something terrible, almost solemn.

Seonghwang thought.

‘Yes, how could I disappoint this child?’

At the same time as the decision, the thought arose, and as a result, my hands moved like lightning.

Ta-kong!

“Kkuek!”

* * *

‘In fact, isn’t the fact that the Takbam is nothing more than an excuse for this gentleman to pour out his divine power?’

In the midst of the bright waterfall of light, Seongjin rubbed his forehead and had such an absurd thought.

The Holy Spirit had been pouring out his divine power for a long time without any hesitation. Even though the pain from the sting had long since disappeared.

However, Seongjin couldn’t rashly tell Seonghwang to stop. His expression looked very heavy, as if he was deep in thought.

How much time has passed?

Finally, having exerted as much strength as he could muster, Seonghwang sat down and pointed to the sofa opposite him with his chin.

“Sit down.”

“yes.”

“explanation.”

“yes!”

There was no way he didn’t know what he was being asked to explain. So, Sungjin began to tell the story of the incident, one by one.

The cause is unknown – I’m guessing the Demon King did something, but I’ll just ignore that part – but his aura and the fire of Gehenna completely combined, making it impossible to hide his magic at all.

Using this as an excuse, the Holy Synod encouraged him to voluntarily resign from the Order under the pretext of testing him.

Now that I have finally obtained public power, I don’t want to have my hands and feet tied by their useless checks and balances.

“And I also thought about this. Since it has come to this, why not use this testing situation as another opportunity? Or rather, why not take it a step further and try to position ourselves as a new opponent that they find difficult to talk to?”

Of course, it wasn’t a very elegant or smooth way, so Seongjin was prepared to get hit one more time.

However, Seonghwang, who had been listening calmly until the end, unexpectedly threw a light compliment to Seongjin.

“Yes. Good job. It is in situations where you think you are cornered that you can catch your opponent off guard and seize the opportunity to strike.”

“then……!”

“But it’s true that as a father, I’m a little worried about the way you act.”

Seonghwang, who added his words, met Seongjin’s gaze with slightly sunken eyes.

“Remember this, Mores. Right now it may seem like you’ve won an easy victory over them. But things aren’t always that simple.”

Seonghwang continued his explanation slowly.

Because it is played within established rules, it can become a complete game.

But if things don’t go as planned and you just ignore the rules and turn the board upside down, there will be no way to use it when the time comes that you actually need that board.

“Think about it. If you keep turning the tables like this in unexpected ways, eventually no one will be willing to invite you to their negotiating table. Isn’t that the kind of ending you want?”

“… … .”

“Do you understand what I mean?”

“Yes, father.”

Sungjin was convinced by his advice. However, he had his own reasons. He didn’t do this just to win over the spirits of the Holy Assembly.

Sungjin had one more important goal left.

“Actually, I have something I would like to ask you separately regarding that matter.”

“ask.”

“Yes, father.”

Seongjin replied briefly and took out the amulet hanging around his neck from his shirt. It was an item from the realm of the spheres that contained the red soul stone of the Demon King.

“The fact that I showed them my magical aura was actually a stepping stone for this guy.”

Even though he himself was able to get away with it by borrowing the glory of his father, he just couldn’t come up with a way to convince the Holy Council about this guy.

But isn’t it too pitiful for the Demon King to be locked up in the soul stone for the rest of his life?

“I think this is the first time I’ve shown this to my father. Actually, I think he already knew about it… … .”

Seongjin, who had said that, pressed the option on the window that appeared faintly before his eyes.

?Summoner Red?

?*Summon* / Release?

Then-

Pointy!

With an incongruously cute sound, a small flame appears and brightens up the office.

[Lee Sung-ji, Lee Sung-ji!]

As always, he looked incredibly insignificant. As expected, the Demon King started whining at Seongjin as soon as he appeared.

[Hey, you, Inma! What if you just unsummoned me like that? And why didn’t you call me right away… Huh?]

Then, the Demon King, who noticed the strange atmosphere, slowly rolled his eyes and looked around. And then-

“… … .”

[… … ?!]

After confirming the appearance of the frozen Sunghwang, he became lost in thought and let out a deflated scream like a chicken with its neck broken.

[Eeeeek! Sir, Seonghwang?!]

ah.

In the rapidly freezing air, Seongjin felt the need for a quick intervention and hurriedly poured out his explanation.

“Yes, yes. This guy is a demon. But as you can see, he is just a small and helpless summon right now. I can promise you that he is absolutely harmless!”

“… … .”

While Seonghwang stared at the blazing fireball, speechless, Seongjin began to desperately squeeze out an excuse.

“Oh, of course this guy was once the Demon King, but now he’s my complete subordinate. Didn’t your father say that before? This kind of subordination is absolute, so he can’t betray or rebel recklessly! In other words, this guy will always be on my side! That’s for sure!”

“… … .”

“Besides, if you think about it, it’s no different from me making this guy like this. So this guy is my responsibility to take care of, and in a way, he’s my child… isn’t that the same thing?”

However, when there was no answer from the Seonghwang, Seongjin began to get anxious. In a state of urgency, he winked at the frozen ball of fire.

Come on! Demon King! Show some cute aegyo! Show your father how harmless and insignificant you are, just like my child!

[Ugh… …?!]

Did Sungjin’s inner encouragement work? The demon king shed tears from his eyes, unusual for a ball of fire, and finally opened his mouth with difficulty in a crawling voice.

[Oh, hello, how are you? Nice to meet you. Ha… … .]

under?

[…grandfather?]

“… … .”

“… … .”

Swaaaah-

It was a perfect autumn evening, with a cool breeze blowing from somewhere.