Black Badger

I did not move for a while.

Then, realizing there was no way to avoid it, I answered.

「I apologize for disappointing you.」

Only then did the Emperor loosen the strength in the hand that had been gripping my chin.

With a face like a mask, he looked down at me.

「At some point, you’ve come to have the same eyes as the Prince.」

That definitely didn’t sound like a compliment.

「Kyle must have those eyes as well.」

「I have no excuse.」

「It can’t be helped. There’s no mana left now, no Empire you once ruled, not even the ring that proved your legitimacy.」

The Emperor withdrew the hand that had been holding my chin.

The hand that had lifted my face disappeared, yet I still couldn’t bring myself to bow my head. I didn’t even dare to move.

The owner of that hand placed it atop his knee and continued.

「So much has changed. You were the sort who wouldn’t even allow a strand of hair—let alone a leaf vein—to fall into the enemy’s hands. Who could have imagined you kneeling before me with your leaf vein shattered.」

Shame churned through my body.

Reflexively, I lowered my head. I couldn’t bear to look the Emperor in the eyes after hearing that.

I fixed my gaze at his feet.

The man left me there, kneeling on one knee with my head bowed.

It was one of the methods he used from time to time.

Punishment through silence.

Fortunately, the silence didn’t stretch on long enough to become physically painful.

「You’re keeping me alive because you want something, aren’t you.」

I jerked my head up in shock.

「Your Majesty!」

「Even if you yourself don’t think so, the head who’s issuing you orders certainly does. To him, I’m a risk factor. It would be easier to take what he needs and then dispose of me.」

「I will make sure that never happens.」

The Emperor slowly stretched the corners of his mouth.

It was a smile whose meaning I couldn’t decipher.

The man—whose smile had often been described as ‘inhuman’—leaned his upper body back.

「How strange. I risked my life to keep you alive, and as a result, I lost everything and ended up placed beneath the eyes of someone whose voice I know, but whose face I do not.」

「Your Majesty. Please trust me.」

「Convenient loyalty shown only when necessary. That isn’t so bad either.」

The man slowly rose from the bed.

I didn’t move. I simply watched my former liege stand before me.

Yesterday, Yun said this to me. Even when there was a caste system, humans still rebelled. Absolute loyalty toward a single bloodline is a kind of madness. Don’t you realize that when you look at the Elders’ hounds?

The era of the Emperor’s dominion is over, and you’re living in the present now.

The balance of power always tilts.

The staircase to power is greased—when you fall, there’s nothing to catch you.

I understood what he was trying to say.

It was just that living that way was difficult for me.

I’d never wanted to climb that staircase in the first place.

As the Emperor said, there was a certain comfort in absolute loyalty.

「Hildebert.」

He called my name.

「We still need each other, so unless something happens, let’s maintain our former relationship.」

For some reason, those words hurt.

Was it because I hated myself for having betrayed my oath of loyalty? Because of guilt toward the Emperor? Or sorrow over the fact that too many things had changed?

What was certain was that the Emperor was someone who would uproot even the seeds of rebellion.

He was never a soft existence.

「Kiss my feet.」

This was the manner of submission required of someone unworthy of kissing a hand.

The etiquette demanded of a commoner before royalty. Or the way defeated soldiers were made to submit.

Over time, its use had expanded.

But within the imperial palace, it had always carried that meaning, so I understood his words.

Without hesitation, I placed both hands on the floor and bent at the waist.

I pressed my lips to his bare foot.

「Unlike Kyle, you were always obedient.」

The Emperor’s laughter fell onto the back of my head.

He knew, and I knew, that the kiss itself held no real meaning.

But he was telling me to do at least this much—if I wanted information after betraying my loyalty so shamelessly.

The Emperor accepted my false loyalty with elegance.

「Still, whenever your subordinates were involved, you always changed the atmosphere. So this is how it ends up. Betrayal for the sake of those beneath you.」

「Your Majesty.」

「Whenever I ordered you to punish one of your knights, you’d beat the culprit yourself and then claim punishment had been carried out. I knew that was a desperate attempt to avoid cutting off their head. I warned you that broken things are rarely fixed, yet you kept attempting such feeble disloyalty. Knights who stole, knights who raised their hands against villagers or their own families, knights who fell into gambling or addictive herbs....」

「I am honored.」

「I turned a blind eye, thinking it was the foolish impulsiveness of youth. The foolish belief that people can change.」

The Emperor bent at the waist.

When I cautiously lifted my upper body, he took hold of my chin again. Gripping it more gently than before, he studied my eyes closely.

A being who had been Emperor for as long as I could remember.

「You are not suited to be the head of your clan.」

He whispered.

「You have too much affection. Every time you cut away what ought to be cut away, you end up wounded yourself.」

Instead of answering, I lifted my clear sky-blue eyes to him.

Then I whispered.

「Where is the ring?」

The Emperor laughed long and low.

「It fell into the dimensional transfer array.」

He brushed my hair back behind my ear.

「But it’s useless in the present, isn’t it?」

That’s right.

Whether he was truly the Emperor or Jaeyeon, I could no longer offer him absolute loyalty.

When I expressed my agreement through silence, the Emperor wiped the expression from his face.

After withdrawing the hand that had lingered by my ear, he returned to his usual demeanor and asked me for warm tea.

That was how our conversation ended that day.

We slept in the same cabin.

***

[Flower.]

That was what Aide-de-Camp Ska Owen said when he called.

[He wants to review the materials related to it, but for security reasons, we can’t take them out of HQ. At some point, I’d like you to bring him to HQ. Once HQ is ready.]

I answered that I would as soon as I heard the expected request.

I added that I would appreciate a call a day in advance so I could prepare to go out. The Emperor was still staying only in the cabin.

This wasn’t Yehyeon’s decision or mine—it was the Emperor’s own will.

The day after I kissed the Emperor’s feet, I suggested going out, but he declined.

He said he was fatigued.

I couldn’t tell whether it was an excuse or the truth. His chronic condition amounted to nothing more than ‘his body feels too heavy to move,’ making it difficult to judge whether symptoms were manifesting.

I asked if he wanted to relocate, but that too was refused.

‘A confined space isn’t so bad either.’

It was a remark that made it impossible for him to hide the fact that he was royalty.

‘It’s cozy.’

In any case....

Ska readily agreed to my request. He said he’d been planning to do so anyway.

[And for the time being, report anything about him directly to me. The Supreme Commander will be focusing on wrapping up the rare-earth matter.]

“Understood.”

[So, after spending a bit over a week with him, what do you think? Any sense whether he’s real or not? Jaeyeon’s whereabouts are still unclear, and it doesn’t sit right with me.]

“I can’t say for certain yet. The Emperor is in a state where he can barely use magic due to his chronic illness, and it’s a confirmed fact that he scraped together everything he had left just to activate the dimensional transfer array. The fact that the current Emperor can’t use third-circle magic alone isn’t enough to conclude that he’s Jaeyeon.”

[Well, there’s no need to rush an answer.]

“Yes.”

[As for the Ice Dragon, Ami and a few carefully selected people are digging into it. So we can depart immediately once this matter is wrapped up, one way or another.]

“Thank you.”

[There’s still no solution for Shu and Jin’s bodies, right.]

“Yes.”

I had asked.

But the Emperor wasn’t proficient in healing magic. That was only natural. Even if he had been, it wouldn’t have helped. Petrification could only be cured at the level of an archmage, and the Emperor now struggled to use even second-circle magic, let alone seventh.

[How’s your body.]

“I’m fine.”

[I figured you’d say that.]

The reply came back, unsurprised.

As I smiled awkwardly, Ska added,

[If possible, I’d like you to come to HQ first, before bringing the Emperor in.]

“Me?”

[Yeah. I want you to check the flower first.]

That meant Kairos would effectively have to handle the formalities in the meantime.

I hadn’t even been able to ask in detail about Kairos’s father.

When I relayed Ska’s words to Kairos after ending the call, the contractor’s face brightened.

“That’s good. We were just talking about how you should get some rest.”

“I’m actually fine. He mostly sleeps.”

“You’d say that no matter what. You said you were fine even when he only accepted transfer from you.”

Hmm.

“Go and take your time. No—how about this. I’ll handle protocol for two full days. Spend one day at HQ, and take the other day completely off. You could come to my place, or book a hotel room.”

“One day is enough. I wouldn’t ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) be able to relax anyway.”

Kairos didn’t push.

He only told me to step away from the cabin for at least a day and come back slowly. His determination to separate me from the Emperor by any means was plain to see.

Maybe getting some air wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Breathing outside air might bring about some kind of turning point.

After thanking him, I set a date to go to HQ.

***

I arrived at HQ three hours early to see the lab people.

I should greet Martin and see the scientists’ faces too.

With that thought, I arrived at HQ—and ran into some seniors at Senabi.

They weren’t seniors I knew well.

“Off duty?”

One of them approached me and asked.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw five or six seniors slowly rising from their seats.

“I’m currently on medical leave, but I stopped by briefly because I have an appointment.”

“When’s the appointment?”

“In three hours.”

“Yeah? Then spare us a bit of time.”

He asked politely, making it difficult to refuse.

There was no real excuse to decline. I had a bad feeling, but when a senior calmly says, ‘Spare us a bit of time,’ I wasn’t socially inept enough to answer, ‘No, I don’t want to.’

When I nodded, the Badger who’d spoken to me stepped outside the café as if he’d been waiting for it.

I walked down the corridor wedged between him and the Badgers following behind.

A corridor busy with people during working hours.

Since there was nothing outwardly strange about the scene, few people paid us any attention.

I had no intention of making a fuss either.

I followed the silent senior without resistance.

Striding ahead, he stopped at a freight elevator.

As we piled into the elevator, I asked,

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere nice.”

He didn’t even look back at me.

“We haven’t even bought you a meal yet, have we?”

A meal, my ass.

They went into a container used by General Affairs to store supplies, tucked away in a corner of HQ grounds.

As I stepped into the empty, gray container, I let out a small sigh.

I’d expected something like this.

But I hadn’t thought they’d go this far.

Unsurprisingly, the last senior in closed the container door.

I was surrounded by six Badgers.

“You know what we’re about to say now, don’t you.”

The senior who’d asked for my time turned to face me.

In his eyes burned a rage he’d somehow managed to hide until now. It was an emotion I knew well. I’d seen it in the Empire, and on Earth.

Once, even in Ricardo’s and Jonathan’s eyes.

Rage toward the one who caused loss.

“You would’ve acted the same way if you were us.”

I understand.

But Sophia told me not to accept it.

So I had to avoid it.

As I took in the senior blocking my retreat from behind with his hands hooked beneath my arms, the seniors standing on either side, and the Badger in front raising his fist, I thought:

Even if I don’t attack, I won’t just let myself be beaten.

I made a promise....

Bang!

The instant I tracked the trajectory of the incoming punch, the container door flew open.

Focused on the fist, I didn’t see who rushed in.

Only after the intruder knocked aside the punch flying at me and then slammed their fist into the owner’s face did I grasp what was happening.

Crack!

A sharp impact echoed.

Everyone inside the container froze.

I too stood there, mouth agape, staring at the person who’d barged in.

Then I rolled my eyes to look at the faces of those standing outside the container door.

Men leaning lazily against the entrance.

“That’s ugly.”

“Get ready to write your statements~.”

Carl Dow, arms crossed, and Ricardo Sordi, one arm slanted against the doorframe, spoke.

Meanwhile, the one who’d punched someone twisted their head and looked back at me.

Black bobbed hair traced an arc through the air.

Cold eyes staring straight at me.

“I told you not to let yourself get hit.”

Sophia Kalak said.