Chapter 10: 10

Episode 10: It’s Dangerous Outside the Blanket (5)

TL: thursdays 

PR: altacco

 

Huff, huff, huff.

The sounds of someone panting for breath filled the back garden.

“I, I think I’m, eugh, going to cough up blood.”

“How could someone cough up blood without any internal injuries?”

The emperor negated her words as if she was speaking nonsense and added objectively that the human body was not that weak.

Dayeon could not take it anymore, no matter what the emperor said. She laid down on her back on the ground.

Tsk, tsk. Though he clicked his tongue, the emperor was still inwardly concerned for Dayeon and crouched down next to her.

“Are you okay?” the emperor asked Dayeon, who was panting a lot.

What, do I look like I’m okay? Dayeon thought.

Dayeon couldn’t respond because she was out of breath, but she glared up at him, pouting with a face full of discontent.

The emperor strangely thought that she looked cute like that and smiled even as he clicked his tongue again.

 

“How is it that you can’t run ten laps around a garden as small as my palm? And you’ve survived up to now in this dangerous world with that sort of stamina. If fortune exists, it surely must be smiling down on you.”

It was weird.

Dayeon, who spent not a small amount of time with the emperor, was now getting used to his way of speaking.

At first, she had been hurt by his scolding way of speaking, but as they became more involved, she learned that he was just a natural-born nagger.

For example, instead of saying ‘Why do you sleep so long?’ he would say it like ‘Even a newborn puppy doesn’t just sleep like you do.’

Or, something like ‘You’re so lazy’ would become ‘In Hergonia, everybody must be useless.’

Sometimes, he would say very concisely, ‘Are you nuts?’ too.

Of course, the above cases were very cute and mild examples. To the servants’ eyes, the emperor was a harsh judge who knew how to thresh the human spirit most effectively. 

At first, Mikhail thought to start Dayeon off lightly by teaching her how to hold a wooden sword.

However, Dayeon’s physique being that of someone who had rarely ever exercised, even that much was not easy for her.

Her arms shook as holding the sword and balancing was beyond her capacity, so the emperor said to train her body first by sprinting around the back garden.

“Urgh, I think I’m going to throw up.”

Dayeon flipped over in agony.

Of course, she didn’t cough up blood like she had said.

As the emperor said, those things didn’t happen so easily.

 

Dayeon dry-heaved, and the emperor clicked his tongue while saying that she was lacking. He thumped her on the back.

Thud, thud.

“Ow, dammit! It hurts! It really hurts!”

“Excuse me, Dayeon-nim, please watch your words in front of His Majesty….”

The grand chamberlain jumped in at Dayeon’s scream of frustration (which suddenly popped out because of the fierce agony), sweating.

But the emperor smiled cheerfully like he did not mind.

Then, he said quietly, “You’ll gradually get better.”

Dayeon was appalled.

“Gradually? You aren’t thinking about doing this again, are you?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t?”

“…Won’t you please give up on me?”

Forgetting about her retching, Dayeon laid properly on the ground. She gathered her hands over her stomach and closed her eyes.

I’m sorry, but I think I’m dying. Please return me to the soil now.

The emperor laughed loudly at seeing Dayeon convey with her whole body that she could not continue.

Then, in a voice still filled with laughter, he said, “Did you think you could do it well from the get-go? How could you wish for this to be easy from the start? No such work exists in the world.”

“……”

The emperor probably did not intend it, but his words felt strangely warm.

Dayeon gently(quietly) opened her eyes.

It was because she felt that she heard somewhat unexpected words. To Dayeon, the emperor looked proud and dignified.

He looked like someone who could not understand the weakness that existed in a person’s heart.

So wouldn’t he have succeeded at everything on his first try? That was the vague impression she got.

Inside Dayeon’s mind, questions abruptly appeared that she wanted to ask.

Then did you have troubles, too?

Did you ever despair over the fact that you aren’t outstanding, that you aren’t special?

Have you suffered alone with an inferiority complex that you could not overcome?

However, she couldn’t bring herself to ask.

She felt that it was still embarrassing and shabby to show her twisted heart to another.

She didn’t want to be denied by the emperor, who seemed like he had never experienced such things, who probably didn’t know that sort of mindset, after revealing her honest feelings to him.

꘏꘏꘏

After excitedly pushing around Dayeon awhile, the somehow cheerful emperor returned to his office with a face that looked much fresher than it was in the morning.

The grand chamberlain put a suitably cooled tea on the office desk.

The grand chamberlain, who had been watching the emperor with a hesitant face, finally made up his mind.

He was the emperor’s close aide; if he could not ask him directly, then nobody could.

“Excuse me, but may I ask you something?”

“Speak.”

“…Why do you bully Dayeon-nim like so?”

The emperor looked at the grand chamberlain like he had said something absurd.

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“I do?”

“……”

His attitude was as if saying that wasn’t the case at all.

The grand chamberlain could not say anything else and closed his mouth.

The emperor shrugged and lifted the files laid in front of him.

“……”

But the person involved might think she’s being bullied.

That was what the grand chamberlain really wanted to say, but… he did not have enough courage to go that far.

First of all, it was too hard to say something so presumptuous to the emperor. Secondly, the commander of the imperial guard who had been working outside had returned to give a report.

“You’ve come. Did you do the investigation?”

The emperor was talking about none other than the apprentice priest. The one who would be teaching Dayeon her letters.

“Yes, Your Majesty. It isn’t everything, but the primary investigation is complete. However…”

“However?”

“There isn’t anything notable about him. Though that might actually be suspicious in itself.”

“Tell me everything.”

The emperor savored a mouthful of tea and put the cup down again.

“His name is Theo, and he is 27 years old. As he is of common origins, he does not have a last name.”

It was rare for a commoner to become a priest, but it wasn’t something that never happened.

Those with extraordinary holy power, regardless of their status, could become priests without difficulty.

However, for those who were so poor that their houses were about to be torn apart, the parents would sell their young children to the temple as errand boys.

Those children who were sold dirt-cheap would work as ostlers for the holy knights to look after their horses or be used as laborers to clean or do yard work.

And like that, most would grow up and join the ranks of the temple.

Occasionally, those who had skill in numbers would become officials, and those with even a bit of holy power that they could use would be given the position of an apprentice priest.

“Does he have an exceptional holy power?”

“He does not. He has a bit of power, but not enough to keep an eye on.”

Then, it was likely the second case.

“Any other points to note?”

“There are none. I asked around the temple, but there were no special accounts of him. More than anything else, there is nobody who is close to him. Perhaps he has a quiet personality, but there weren’t many who could recall him right away when I mentioned his name. And it seems true that he taught letters to the temple kids sometimes.”

“I see… For now, investigate in detail his life before he joined the temple.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Frowning, the emperor thought in silence. Then, he opened his mouth, smiling cynically.

His conclusive voice was filled with no small amount of displeasure.

“To think that he’d dare to think of frequenting none other than the imperial palace. I don’t know whether to be furious at his arrogance or praise his courage.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“No matter how low his position as a priest is, he is affiliated with the temple, and so we cannot see his actions as being separated from the temple’s intentions. Whatever personality he may have, whatever his rank is in the temple, in the end, he is approaching with the purpose and goals of the whole temple. Do not lower your guard.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“However, on the one hand, keep our options open.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Open the possibility of turning him to our side. Tying the hands and feet of an enemy’s spy is only a defensive measure. The wisest plan would be to turn the spy to my side and use him to strike the enemy. Of course, as the enemy in question is the temple, proceed carefully.”

The emperor glanced at the commander of the imperial guards with a somewhat curt expression.

Just what do you expect me to do? thought the commander.

When the commander of the guards looked at the emperor with a blank face, having lost his direction because of the many possible ways to proceed, the emperor only shrugged.

You know my style, right? Do a good job.

The commander’s face became pale.

Making a distressed groan, he reluctantly replied.

“…I shall try, Your Majesty.”

Unable to hold back his gloomy expression, the commander of the guards staggered out of the office.

The grand chamberlain’s eyes looked with pity at the commander of the imperial guards. It was scary enough to enter the palace because the emperor assigned tasks without rest, but now, the commander was being sent out again.

The grand chamberlain, who had briefly felt sympathetic, asked the emperor.

“Your Majesty, I have another question.”

“What is it?”

“…Is the oracle indeed real?”

It was an important question.

The question also touched upon Dayeon’s existence, too.

Who could she be?

Was she real, or was she a fake?

The emperor who had briefly fallen into thought, rubbing his chin, said:

“That’s the question, isn’t it?”

“I wonder if it is a kind of political scheme that the temple contrived as they were on the defensive.”

“…That could be the case. However, we have eyes and ears at the temple as well. The temple was too disorganized for the first revelation in 32 years. Thinking about their reactions now, their actions have been too unskilled, and there are parts of it that are difficult to say were part of a plot.”

The emperor had already thought about this question before. That was why he could come to this conclusion without difficulty.

“Also, Grand Chamberlain, suppose the following.”

“Excuse me?”

“If you were from the temple and were about to announce a fake oracle, what kind of person would you put on the stage? Don’t you think that you would set the game around someone who, even if they have no holy power, at least knows how to do something?”

The emperor was speaking sarcastically, as if it was slightly ridiculous.

The grand chamberlain, who had been watching over the emperor from his side, could feel a completely different mood from the emperor than he had before.

Not long ago, the emperor’s face had been cold when he talked about how Dayeon did not know how to do anything. But now, his mouth was quivering as he smiled.

The emperor seemed not conscious at all of this difference in reactions.

The grand chamberlain, grateful to see that fond expression, quickly lowered his head.

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