A Long Speech Doesn't Make It Right

Before dawn the following day.

Alicia Crocell’s bedroom.

I was sitting in the chair, reading.

I had finished.

I closed the book and drew a piece of paper from my breast pocket.

A bank draft bearing the Imperial Bank’s seal and Marquis Burzak’s signature.

The amount written on it was thirty million won.

Take this draft to any Imperial Bank branch and it would be exchanged for coin.

Thirty million won — roughly a first-year knight’s annual wages.

Not a small sum.

“The bank’s running smoothly, at least.”

Not just the bank — commerce, agriculture, public order.

A hundred years had passed since my death, and all of it still functioned without issue.

The world I had built, the Millennial Empire, was at peace.

“I thought everything was fine……”

Crocell’s conspiracy.

If it wasn’t just one man’s private ambition — if others were tangled up in it too —

Then the empire was rotting from the inside.

“No, if anything, it’s held together remarkably long.”

What empire survives a hundred years without an emperor?

My wives, the empresses, had each been governing in their own way, filling the gap — but still.

A hundred years was a long time.

Humans couldn’t hold on indefinitely.

“What a headache this is……”

“Mmmmh.”

A soft sound from the bed.

The golden-haired half-elf raised herself upright.

Alicia had dozed off and was only now waking.

“……”

She glanced at me and her eyes went wide.

I smiled.

“I didn’t do anything. You just fell asleep on your own.”

“Oh. Right.”

“I explained it from the start, didn’t I? If you and I were both in the same bedroom tonight, Crocell wouldn’t make his move on me first.”

He would need to deal with Marquis Burzak before he could stir up Burzak’s people against me.

Precaution, just in case.

Alicia rubbed the corner of her eye, and I let out a yawn.

“If you’re tired, sleep a little more. You can’t work on no rest.”

“Aren’t you frightened?”

The face of a beautiful woman in the soft, wavering light of a candle.

Eyes that mixed unease and fear about what was coming.

“Are you? You’re Crocell’s daughter at best, and if things go wrong tonight, you die.”

“……”

“Then why are you helping me? Out of devotion to the empire?”

If Marquis Crocell failed, Alicia wouldn’t escape judgment either.

If he succeeded, she was being used as bait by the man who was supposed to be her father.

Either way, there was no future waiting for her.

Alicia shook her head slowly.

“I’m not his daughter.”

The way she said it — there was a complicated story behind it.

I glanced briefly at her pointed ears.

A half-elf. The offspring of an elf and a human.

In this world of Karakas, in the Millennial Empire, there were humans and seven other races.

Half-elves were not counted among those seven.

They couldn’t have children.

To the elves they were unclean aberrations. The other races kept their distance too.

Beautiful, but unable to reproduce, they had no center of gravity — no community to belong to. They scattered and faded, one by one.

This striking marquis’s daughter would be no different.

“With that face and that figure, to think he passed you off as a daughter. What extraordinary things humans will do.”

“……”

Alicia stared at me, incredulous, but I cut it short.

“Look, I’m about to go take care of a marquis. Don’t clutter my head with unnecessary information right now. Does knowing your circumstances help me deal with Crocell?”

“N, no.”

“Then that’s enough. Focus on surviving. The odds of him trying to kill you are quite high.”

I added,

“If you really want to talk about it, do it after we’ve made it through. I’ll hear out your sad life story for a fee. Fifty thousand won.”

“……”

“Actually, you’ve been providing information and helping out in your own way. I’ll cut it in half. That’s practically giving it away for free.”

I said it with complete sincerity. Alicia’s expression went blank.

Then sudden laughter, bright and unguarded.

“……Ahaha, why do you only ever say the most absurd things?”

“Everyone around me just plays along and flatters me, so I turned out this way.”

As emperor, no matter what I said, people only watched my face and tried to please me.

That was part of it. And I had always been the type to speak plainly.

Knock. Knock.

A quiet rap at the door.

I rose from the chair.

“That’s the signal. I’m going.”

“Yes.”

Alicia stood, hesitated, then spoke.

“Please come back safely. ……You, um. Fiancé?”

“We’re breaking the engagement, aren’t we?”

“……Right. Yes, we are.”

Alicia looked at me with an odd expression, then glanced away.

I gave a small wave and stepped out.

Waiting outside the door were Garul and Heinkel.

Heinkel spoke quietly.

“Marquis Crocell has started moving.”

“You’ve set everything up the way I described?”

“Yes.”

At Heinkel’s confirmation, I turned to Garul.

“Guard Alicia. But if your life is in danger, you run.”

“What do you mean? I would absolutely lay down my life to protect Miss Alicia……”

“Stop it.”

A Roar.

Garul flinched sharply. I cut the Roar off and spoke plainly.

“Alicia isn’t my woman. And even if she were, don’t throw your life away for her. She’s a witness to what happened here and she says she has evidence to bring. Keep her alive if you can. The moment it gets dangerous, you run.”

“……”

“I don’t want the people around me dying. Are we clear? You die and I’ll be the one you answer to.”

“Y, yes.”

Garul nodded hard.

I relaxed my expression and tipped my chin at Heinkel.

Heinkel moved ahead.

The corridor was quiet in the dead of night. Not a soul in sight.

Heinkel said quietly,

“You said something unexpected back there.”

Then he pointed to his own ear.

Dark elves didn’t have hearing as sharp as full elves, but it was still far better than a human’s. He was confirming no one else was nearby.

“Is it strange to not want Garul to die? I’m the one who finds it strange that you’re cooperating so readily.”

“Haha. You already know, don’t you?”

“Right. You’re acting in the interest of the dark elves.”

I had been paid by Burzak. There was technically no longer any reason for Heinkel to protect me.

But Heinkel already understood how things were unfolding.

No — he had come to work under Marquis Burzak precisely to get to the bottom of this from the start.

Heinkel gave a small bow of his head.

“……Um, I apologize.”

“I understand how your people work. Say the wrong thing out loud and you’re dead.”

It wasn’t malice that had kept Heinkel from telling me. It was dark elf protocol.

As an operative in the field, he simply couldn’t hand me information freely.

“Even so……”

Knowing Crocell’s purpose brought old memories flooding back.

People sang of the dazzling progress after the empire was founded — but I clearly remembered what came before.

The brutal war against the Seven Sin God.

People praised Sirik Karakas as a great man, but I was no legendary commander.

I had suffered far more defeats than victories.

The concept of a unified human coalition had been entirely foreign, and the servants of the Seven Sin God were devastatingly powerful.

Sometimes because of a subordinate’s misjudgment. Sometimes because of supply failures. Sometimes because of my own mistakes.

My army and I had been beaten back and driven into retreat, again and again.

And yet — so many had given their lives calling me humanity’s only hope, insisting I had to survive.

Soldiers who died in front of me saying they had finally eaten enough since joining the imperial army, that they had never been so happy.

A knight who charged the enemy alone, calling it an honor to serve me.

A noble who disguised himself as me and became the bait himself, deep in enemy territory.

“……”

All those sacrifices, stacked one upon another, had barely been enough to build this empire.

And now someone wanted to tear it down.

Was the absence of an emperor truly so unbearable?

I shook my head — and at the corner of the corridor, Heinkel stopped.

A hand signal we had agreed on beforehand.

I stopped too and waited in silence.

A long moment passed.

Creeeak.

The sound of a door opening somewhere beyond the corner.

“……”

Heinkel gave a nod.

I nodded back. Heinkel broke into a run down the corridor.

Full speed.

I ran right behind him.

Fweeeet!

Running, Heinkel whistled sharply — then kicked the door straight off its frame and went in.

“Wh, what!”

The one who had entered the bedroom first spun around in alarm, staring at us both.

Two men inside.

Without a word, Heinkel drove a kick into the one nearest to him.

Crunch!

The man had reached for his weapon on instinct — and the blow sent him flying before he could use it.

One left.

This one stayed relatively composed, backing away.

“It’s over.”

I said it as I lit the magic lantern I had brought.

The room flooded with light.

“Well, it’s actually Crocell himself. I thought he’d send that knight of his, Philon.”

The one still standing wore a mask over his face.

But those broad shoulders, that frame — it was unmistakably Marquis Crocell.

“Ah, right. Short on manpower, so you have to get your hands dirty yourself. I can relate. I’m feeling the same shortage.”

This was Burzak’s estate. Crocell couldn’t have brought a large retinue. And even those he brought, the number he could trust with something this sensitive would be few.

So he had come in person.

Crocell’s eyes flicked toward the window. I spoke first.

“There are soldiers waiting on that side too. Jumping will only hurt.”

“……”

Crocell weighed it in silence.

Perhaps wondering whether he could seize me and Heinkel and fight his way out.

Or whether he should finish off the figure lying under the covers in the bed first——

“……Wh, what is the meaning of this?”

Just then came the sound of hurrying footsteps.

Marquis Burzak and his soldiers had heard Heinkel’s whistle and came rushing to the bedroom.

Crocell saw Marquis Burzak and his eyes went wide.

I gave a slow nod.

“That’s right. Marquis Burzak slept in a different room tonight.”

“Ri, Rigen Librata!”

Burzak saw me and lurched back in alarm.

His eyes swung to Heinkel.

A silent question — what in the world is happening?

Heinkel smiled and explained.

“My apologies, Marquis Burzak. I told a small lie in order to keep you alive.”

“Telling him Crocell was behind this to his face wouldn’t have worked. He’s not smart enough for that.”

“Wh, what do you——”

Burzak started to flare up, then faltered.

He could see the masked man standing in his bedroom with a blade in hand. That much was suspicious enough even for him.

And that I wasn’t the one who had come to kill him — that much was obvious too.

“So I had Heinkel pass along a message, that someone might be planning to make an attempt on Marquis Burzak’s life. That it would be wise to sleep in a different room tonight. And that it should be done quietly, because if word got around, it might stir up unnecessary talk.”

“……”

“Of course, Burzak was furious with Heinkel for standing aside while Dominic was beaten. But a dark elf’s warning isn’t something you simply dismiss. There’s always the one-in-ten-thousand chance. So in the end, he was persuaded.”

I looked at Burzak. He fumbled for a moment and looked away.

In the end, the man was just a small-minded noble with an excess of greed.

“But even a small man has his uses. Time to give up, Crocell.”

“……”

“Do you have an explanation for walking into a bedroom with a blade in the dead of night, wearing a mask? With that mask on, there’s nothing you could say that would hold up.”

Crocell looked at me steadily.

Then his mouth opened.

“Heh heh heh. Hahahahahaha!”

A ringing burst of laughter.

Crocell tore the mask from his face and threw it aside.

“Ma, Marquis Crocell. Why in the world would you……”

Burzak’s voice was shaking. Crocell smiled, all teeth.

“You want to know why I was going to kill you?”

“Y, yes! You told me, you were going to help House Burzak take a seat among the twelve……”

“It was a lie. Well, it didn’t much matter to me either way.”

Crocell said it without flinching, then turned his eyes to me.

“It looks like you already know everything. Did Alicia tell you all of it? Then again, even if Alicia had figured out the full picture…… how did you respond this quickly? You’re supposed to be a fool.”

“One question before we get into any of that.”

I let out a slow breath and asked.

“Why are you doing all this? You set Librata and Burzak against each other, you cause a massive upheaval, and then what?”

“……”

“Burzak I can at least follow. Librata is in the way, so push them out and take their seat among the twelve? I can’t accept it, but I can understand the motivation.”

That was simple social ambition.

“But Crocell, you’re already imperial nobility. A marquis, no less. You lack for nothing. So why go to these lengths to plunge the empire into chaos?”

“……”

“To build this empire, do you have any idea how much blood was spilled? You’re a noble, didn’t your father, your grandfather pass those stories down to you? Imperial nobles are supposed to……”

“Imperial nobles must stand at the vanguard to protect the empire.”

Crocell answered it himself. The look in his eyes when he said it was different — the gaze of a man speaking to an equal.

“That is exactly what I am doing.”

“Don’t feed me that. The empire hasn’t fought a single war since it was founded.”

Not during my lifetime. Not in the hundred years since my death either.

There had been local skirmishes and isolated clashes — but no full-scale war. Not once.

“That is the problem.”

“What?”

“The empire was forged through a brutal war against the Seven Sin God. Under the first emperor, Sirik Karakas, it flourished brilliantly for twenty-four years. But after that? After the first emperor died so suddenly, what changed?”

“……”

Anger bled into Crocell’s face.

“Nothing changed! It regressed! The empire has been effectively carved into pieces, and everyone just looks away and hides from it! The throne sits empty and the other races dictate policy as they please!”

“What?”

“The empire is already rotten. It needs to be swept away entirely and rebuilt from nothing!”

“That’s……”

“You think being one of the twelve houses makes you something special? That’s an illusion! In the end, you’re nothing but dogs the other races happen to prefer!”

Crocell’s voice rose with conviction.

“The twelve houses? The next emperor will come from among them? More than a hundred years, and nothing! When does the emperor arrive? Next year? In ten years? In five hundred?”

A hundred years is an eternity for a human.

Crocell shouted as if his throat might split.

“And even if they somehow chose an emperor, if the other races decided he wasn’t fit and refused him, it’d be over! Every final decision in this empire rests with the other races! That is the truth!”

“……”

“And those twelve houses spend their days fawning over the other races, trying to earn their favor, that is the reality! Sirik Karakas was a human. So why is it that the heirs to that glorious emperor must live under the rule of the other races?”

Crocell fixed his gaze on me.

“Rigen Librata, if you have any sense, if you call yourself a noble who cares about this empire’s future, you should understand me. No, you should join me! For the empire to truly change, we nobles must be the ones to rise first! We have to change this world from the root up!”

A declaration.

I clicked my tongue and gripped the sword hilt.

The sword my father, Count Librata, had buckled at my hip.

The sword carrying a father’s prayer — please, just come home safely.

I drew it and leveled it at the enemy.

“A long speech doesn’t make it right. Let me put this simply.”

His name was Sirik Karakas.

He had built this empire on the bones of countless dead, and you want to tell me it needs to be torn down and rebuilt.

You picked the wrong person to say that to.

“Listen here, you little rebel.”

Of all the things to ask of me — to join a revolution against myself.

You really chose the wrong man.