072
The banquet was coming to an end. The number of people had already been reduced by half.
Martina Diva was also nowhere to be seen in the banquet hall. I took a deep breath and looked around. No one was paying attention to me anymore.
‘It’s starting to feel like I can finally leave.’
I turned away from the wall and looked at one side of the banquet hall. That was where the loudest crowd was.
‘Jufe.’
Jupe and his followers gathered together. He hung out with various nobles to show off his power.
‘Ilay?’
Jupe and Ilay were talking. Ilay, who was very sociable, kept a gentle smile on her face even in front of Jupe.
My eyes met Elai’s.
‘Help me, Luca.’
Ilay spoke with only her lips moving quickly. Jupe seemed to be holding Ilay back.
From Jupe’s perspective, he would want to bring Ilay, a strong candidate to become the next head of Kartika, to his side.
‘What should I do with this?’
I really didn’t want to talk to Jupé at this banquet. But I also didn’t want to leave Ilay alone.
I approached Jupe and his group. Their eyes were fixed on me.
“Ilay, you’re here. Do you have a minute?”
When I called Ilay, Jupe frowned.
“Luka, can’t you see that I’m talking to you? That’s rude.”
“I know it’s rude, but it’s for guard duty. It’s urgent and important.”
“Work? During a banquet?”
Jupe glared at me as if to ask me what I meant.
“I can’t tell you the details to an outsider who isn’t part of the guard.”
I said calmly. That’s why I didn’t want to talk to Jupe. He was always trying to get in trouble. I barely resisted the urge to knock Jupe’s front teeth out.
“What kind of important mission is that for a cadet… … .”
Jupe realized that he had made a mistake and closed his mouth. It seemed that he had forgotten what this banquet was celebrating.
“There are many important missions. For example, chasing down top-ranking wanted criminals. Security and secrecy are the basics of the Royal Guard’s work, brother.”
“I, I know that too. Ellie, then next time… … .”
Juppe let go of Ilay and left.
I took a breather after Ileido Jupe disappeared.
“Thanks to you, I survived, Luca. Your brother was quite persistent.”
“It’s your fault too. You’re just being clingy because you’re smiling and talking to me.”
“Are you saying that something important is a lie?”
“Then is it true? Now you go too. The banquet is over.”
I said as I walked to the entrance of the banquet hall.
“Aren’t you curious about what I talked about with Jupe?”
“That must be a silly comment. I’m not interested.”
I’m serious. And I could guess what kind of conversation they had.
“I asked if you had any weaknesses. Be careful. It looks like they’re going to seriously try to keep you in check.”
Illei also didn’t speak with genuine concern. He must have figured out Jupe’s character after a few conversations. Jupe is a real gentleman, in a bad way.
I politely saw Ilay off and returned to the banquet hall. Before leaving, I must also report to Heilas.
“You did a great job today, son. Get some rest.”
Heilas gave a short compliment.
The high-ranking officials and generals next to Heilas were muttering. Their eyes were fixed on me for a moment.
Their eyes were dry, almost inorganic. They were all such great people that even the eyes of a watcher could not read their information.
They are the ones who run the empire. No, I should call them monsters.
* * *
After leaving the banquet hall, I was walking down the hallway.
Having quenched my thirst with alcohol throughout the banquet, I felt strangely out of sync.
‘It’s unpleasant.’
I never understood the people who enjoyed this. Why would they intentionally degrade their own body and brain functions?
I stared at the wall, grumbling.
The Imperial Banquet Hall, which the Custoria family rented, was one of the annex buildings of the palace. As a result, the hallways were lined with portraits of past emperors.
In particular, the painting of the first emperor, Dino Craccia, is elongated like a series.
‘Dino Kratzia.’
I stopped before a full-length portrait. I saw the first emperor, sword held high. A halo painted with luminous paint seemed to surround him.
Moving my gaze to the next picture, I saw the first emperor holding a flag and a group of his followers. It seemed to be a picture symbolizing the founding period of the empire.
Thud, thud.
I walked down the hallway and admired the paintings. They depicted evil alien races and the courageous Emperor fighting them.
… … How holy and sacred.
The achievements and records of other emperors were also depicted, but none were as majestic as the first emperor.
‘The current emperor Yuri Kratia.’
I stopped in front of the portrait of the last emperor. All the emperors of the past resembled the first emperor so much that it reminded me of him. Yuri Kratsya was no different.
Just the resemblance to Dino Kratzia gave him a sense of dignity. To that extent, the first emperor was revered as the father of the empire.
Again.
I heard footsteps tapping on the marble floor. I looked up and stared at the end of the hallway.
“Are you the star of this banquet, Lucius Custoria?”
It was a refreshing voice. It was a neutral, beautiful voice, so it was hard to tell if it was a man or a woman.
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It wasn’t just the voice. I saw a figure walking out of the darkness of the hallway. His purple hair was straight and grew to the nape of his neck. He looked handsome and had pretty features, so his gender was ambiguous.
But upon closer inspection, it was clear that he was a boy.
Creak.
My vision worked. I tried to look at the other person’s information. But I couldn’t see a single bit of information.
Judging from the boy’s appearance, he seemed to be around my age. I quickly concluded my deduction.
“… … I greet you, descendants of the founders of the nation.”
I said, getting down on one knee with my head bowed.
“Wow, your head is working well, isn’t it? You really are worthy of achieving great feats as a cadet.”
He walked towards me in admiration.
‘A minor who cannot access information even through the eyes of a watcher.’
This was also the imperial villa.
‘There’s a very high probability that the boy in front of me is a member of the royal family. He could even be one of the current emperor’s children.’
The imperial family was kept under wraps except for those who held public office.
Only the Emperor and his successor occasionally showed their faces and figures at official functions. Currently, only Emperor Yuri Kratia and Francis Kratia, known as the Scarlet Crown Prince, appear in public.
“You can wake up, Lucas.”
I stood up with my mouth shut. No matter how arrogant I was, I never asked the royal family a question.
You must not ask anything until the royal boy speaks first.
“Come with me. I’ll show you the garden.”
I don’t know what the whim was. Anyway, I followed him.
‘There’s no one around.’
It was clear that the banquet had not been over for long. But the hallway was strangely quiet. The only people I could hear were me and the boy.
‘They controlled the crowd in advance along the boy’s path.’
The crowd control was so covert that even I didn’t notice it.
‘Because the personal information of the royal family is one of the Empire’s top secrets.’
It is difficult to see the faces of the royal family ‘even by chance’ without prior permission.
‘For some reason, that boy came to see me.’
I tried to read the boy’s intentions, but gave up. Inference is an act that requires prior information. No matter how great a computer is, it cannot draw a conclusion without inputting information.
There is only one piece of information about the boy: he is a member of the royal family.
Dalgrak.
The boy opened the double-glazed doors. Beyond them was a garden.
There was a pond in the center of the garden, and the crescent moon seemed to be immersed in it. Around it, flowers and plants whose names I had never heard of were blooming luxuriantly, creating a balance of chaos and order.
“I wanted to talk to the person who told the story.”
The boy stood on the nail and stretched his hand out over the water.
with a splash!
The fish in the pond opened their mouths and followed the boy’s hand. The boy moved his fingers and pretended to sprinkle food.
Splash! Splash!
The fish rushed toward the boy’s hand with their beaks.
“These kids are idiots. They know that if you just extend your hand like this, you’ll get food, and they’ll rush at you in a panic. Even the kids who follow behind them gather without even knowing what’s going on. No one cares about facts or the truth. They just go with the flow and live their lives.”
I opened my lips as I listened to the boy’s words, then closed them. I shouldn’t talk yet.
“If you want to talk, you can talk.”
The boy’s permission was granted.
“… … But they gather like that because I actually fed them food. They learned from experience.”
“That’s right, Lucas. If you don’t really feed them, they won’t gather like this at some point. That’s why you give them real food every so often. Then, these kids will think that they’ve made a meaningful effort. They’ve been following my hand diligently, so they’ve run out of food.”
I didn’t show my expression. The metaphorical words didn’t make sense at first. But I was extremely offended.
“But even if it is just a reward based on the master’s whim, those who give up and do nothing will not even receive that reward.”
“Haha, it was good of me to talk to you. That’s right. Since you’re already in the garden, let’s take a look. This carp, of course, and the flowers and trees are all native species of Earth. They haven’t undergone even the slightest modification to adapt to the environment. This garden is like a small Earth.”
I didn’t feel any particular emotion. To my eyes, it looked no different from other plants and animals.
with a splash!
I approached the pond. A school of carp was coming towards me. They were fish with stupid faces and were sulking.
“how is it?”
The boy also looked down at the carp next to me and spoke.
“The more I look at it, the cuter it seems.”
“Really? This is an order, Lucius Custoria. Kill them all.”
The boy spoke as if making a simple request.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t panicking just now, but an order is an order.
Chul-chul.
I went into a pond that was deep enough to sink to my navel. The carp that had gathered scattered in all directions. But there was nowhere to escape in the small pond.
I carried out the order calmly.
The moonlit pond was stained with the blood of the carp. The blood flowed like a cloud over the reflected moon. The carp’s corpse with its head crushed floated in my hand.
“good job.”
The boy who praised me grabbed a dead carp.
Ugh, ugh.
The boy ate greedily, his mouth buried in the carp’s belly. The area around his mouth turned red. It was a barbaric behavior that did not match his aristocratic appearance.
“Do you want some too?”
The boy said, holding out a dead carp.
“If it is an order, I will eat it.”
I said it while immersing myself in the nail.
“Huh, it sounds like you don’t want to eat.”
The boy said, wiping his blood-soaked lips with the back of his hand. Blood ran down his cheek like misplaced lipstick.
I didn’t deny it. I couldn’t help it if it seemed presumptuous. I had no intention of flattering her without meaning to and going along with her eccentric eating habits.
“You can go. See you next time, Luca.”
After I got out of the way, I bowed my head and waist and greeted him politely.
Knock, knock.
A sharp drop of water fell at my feet.
Thud, thud.
I walk down the hallway. Suddenly, the silence ends and people start to appear in the hallway one by one. The crowd control is over.
There were also people who had attended the banquet in the hallway. I felt their gazes as I walked.
… … I’m tired. I feel like I’m possessed by a ghost.
