Murderous Emperor’s Inconvenient Behavior

Since they have been rolling on the floor fighting up until now, their clothes were so dirty that one can’t even look at them.

Claire put out her arm and took a sniff. She smelled bad.

“This is how dirty the servants at the Duke’s house are.”

“I’ll clean myself and come back to care for the lady.”

“I’ll tell Hailey to give you some new clothes.”

“Thank you, Madame!”

Claire did a deep bow.

At the time, she didn’t know.

That working as Alicia’s maid would be the worst thing to do.

* * *

Jake, who was king of the Grizmen Kingdom, was in a tough spot.

His pain hadn’t gone away since he gave up to the Immortel Empire.

It was because of the thing that was added to the paper of submission.

<One member of the Royal Family will be sent as hostage>

Jake still hadn’t chosen which of his kids to send.

His oldest son was going to take over, so he wasn’t an option. When his second son found out about the inclusion, he quickly got sick and had to stay in bed. The age of his third son was only six.

During this time, Jake was thinking sadly.

“Your Majesty, Duke Richard Stanton wants to see you.” The servant told him.

“Oh, just let him in right away.”

Richard went in right away to pay his respects.

He was Jake’s half-brother’s son. A beautiful young man with bright blonde hair and green eyes like his mother. His mind was sharp, and he often had clear answers to hard problems.

“Richard, my dear nephew, why are you here?”

“Your Majesty, I’d like to talk to you about the hostage.”

Richard didn’t waste any time.

Jake sighed loudly and sank down onto the couch. He was about to get another headache.

“I think that it would be better to send the princess instead of the prince.”

“What do you mean the Princess and not the Prince?”

“If the princess goes to the emperor and gets his attention, it could be a big help in getting Grizmen’s freedom.”

“Grizmen’s freedom?”

Jake frowned when he heard the idea.

“Are you going to let the Empire keep Grizmen as a colony, or are you happy to be a king in name only?”

“You’re being rude.”

Jake gave him a glare.

Richard had been a good friend up until now.

But it was very painful to have his sore spot brought up right away.

“This is a chance. If the princess becomes the empress, the emperor won’t leave the empress’s country as a colony, and we can get back what the Empire took from us.”

Jake’s anger was slowly taken away by Richard’s sincere words.

When he heard it, it sounded like a plan that could work.

No, it was Grizmen’s best option at the time.

But,

“Shouldn’t we send the emperor a princess of the right age to win his favor?”

“Indeed.”

“You already know that I don’t have a suitable princess.”

Three of his five daughters were married, and the other two were still young.

Are they planning on sending a young girl and hope that she’ll become the Empress?

What if the Emperor is already married?

“It doesn’t even have to be a princess, does it?”

“Eh?”

“Can you remember what the clause says?”

“Of course, I remember. It was to send someone from the royal family to be a hostage.”

“That’s right. So, Your Majesty, all you have to do is send a royal family member.”

“Someone from the royal family?”

Jake forgot about how tired he was and became totally involved in the conversation.

“There is a suitable person. That person is…”

Jake couldn’t believe what he was hearing when he heard the next words.

* * *

In a forest on the edge of the Grizmen Kingdom.

There were a lot of thickets in the forest, which was known for monster sightings.

It was dark and cloudy because the sun couldn’t get through.

Then, it took place.

A horrible scream ripped through the air, as if making fun of the calm quiet.

“Kieeek!”

After that, the ground began to shake, and sounds of ancient trees breaking and falling could be heard from everywhere.

“IT’S A MONSTER!”

The guards who were with the emperor got off their horses and watched what was going on in front.

They gulped nervously and gripped their swords.

About six strange animals jumped out of the deep, dark bush all at once.

“Krraaraaah!”

When the thing roared, its many teeth were exposed.

It was very strange and odd, and it looked like a lizard or maybe a lizard and a person mixed together.

“It’s horrible in every way.”

“They’re not too big, so we can handle them.”

“Be careful. If you underestimate the monster, you’ll be the one who dies.”

The knights spread out in a way that made them ready to attack.

The monsters’ huge tails moved in a beat while their sharp claws dug into the ground. The next second, they came running at the knights with incredible speed.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

The monsters used their forepaws to hit the trees in their way and then jumped into the air.

“Kieeek!”

The knights were startled by how powerful they were and how loud they were screaming.

After that, “Everyone, please stand back.”

From behind, a cold voice came.

“Your Majesty.”

When they turned around, Eiden was there waiting for them.

“They may be small, but you’re not good enough to beat them.”

Shing. When Eiden pulled out his sword and raised it, the knights ran away.

The next second, Eiden kicked off the ground and jumped. He then slashed his sword down at the monster’s claws as they moved.

Splat.

The monster’s body broke in half, and green blood splashed everywhere. 

When Eiden fell on the ground, he ran as fast as lightning and killed any monsters that got in his way.

The legs and tails of the monsters hit the ground with a thud. Eiden stuck his sword into the body of a monster that was squirming on the ground, and then he used his hand to rip the monster’s mouth off.

Before, the monsters’ screams made the forest loud, but now it was full of the sounds of tearing and cutting flesh.

It was so creepy and scary that it made the Knight’s hair stand on end.

As they watched the killing, the knights couldn’t swallow.

Even when a monster’s blood splashed on Eiden’s face, he just wiped it off once and kept killing monsters.

“I’ve seen it a lot, but I still can’t get used to it.”

The knights muttered, and their faces showed both fear and awe.

Some knights rubbed their arms, which were getting cold.

“When he picks up a sword, he changes into a different person.”

“It’s good that he only shows that side to monsters and countries that don’t like him.”

“Do you remember when His Majesty ascended to the throne?”

“Remember or not, even though he was the Crown Prince and next in line, many people were against him. His Majesty made sure to punish them.”

As soon as Eiden became emperor, he did a lot of bad things to the nobles who were against him. The process was so harsh and scary that the people of the empire were afraid of his craziness.

“To be honest, I thought His Majesty would become a dictator back then,” he said.

“Me, too. I’ll never forget seeing him cut off the heads of the nobles and then turn around. It was so scary.”

When they looked at Eiden, the knights grimaced.

At that moment, Eiden was taking care of the last monster. As he swung his sword at the horribly deformed monster, the point of the sword went through the monster’s head.

Gurgle. The monster fell backwards and spit out foam.

There were already dead monsters all over the area, like puzzle parts. 

Some had their limbs cut off, their skin torn off, their guts spilling out, their mouths wide open as if they were yelling, their mouths torn long, etc.

“What are you muttering?”

Eliot walked up to the knights from behind them.

The Knights who were all watching the Emperor, all turned around in shock.

“Ah, no, Sir Eliot!”

“No, I heard everything from behind. You guys were talking about how strange His Majesty is.”

“Sir Eliot, don’t you know how His Majesty was when he took the throne?”

“I know. I thought he was going crazy, and my heart was in my throat.”

Eliot’s face became nostalgic as he thought about the past.

“Yes, that’s it!”

“But that was only back then.”

“Honestly, I thought there would be bloodshed every day and that he would rule cruelly. Who would have thought that he would turn out to be a good leader for the people, like he is now?”

“Well, that’s how it turned out.”

Eliot gave a shoulder shrug.

“But seeing him like that is scary.”

“Did you see him kill the monster? Even if it’s a monster, it’s still a life, and when His Majesty deals with monsters, he doesn’t seem human.”

When the knights looked at Eiden, they both admired and feared him.

Eliot looked at Eiden to see where they were looking.

Eiden stood still and looked at the dead monster on the ground.

Blood that had gotten on the monster’s mask hung from his chin. He just used the back of his hand to wipe it off.

“No matter what, you should know that the empire is lucky that His Majesty is here.”

“Of course. We are safe because of His Majesty.”

“If you know that, keep an eye on the area and get rid of those things.”

“Understood!”

The knights went their separate ways to do their jobs.

Eliot moved toward Eiden as he watched them.

As the knights cleaned up the monsters’ bodies, Eiden didn’t hesitate to turn away.

“Your Majesty.”

Eiden’s eyes quickly moved to look at Eliot.

The way his eyes moved was so strange that Eliot accidentally sucked in his breath.

“Could you maybe slow down a little?”

Eliot changed the way he talked. He thought that was the only way to keep his legs from trying to run away.

“They definitely need to be killed.”

“But there was no need to kill them, right?”

“…”

“Look at them. Those knights are scared.”

Eiden let out a light laugh. Eliot’s worry about Eiden melted away the strange strain that had been there.

Now that things were getting friendlier, Eliot let out a sigh of relief.

It was like he had a hard-to-handle animal right in front of him.

“Could I ask you a question?”

“What’s that?”

“Could it be that you… are sexually frustrated?”

“Me?”

He raised one of his eyebrows.

Even though the colleague said something rude, Eiden’s face didn’t change.

Eliot made it possible for that to happen.

Eliot had known Eiden since they were both kids. When Eiden became king, it was Eliot who stood by his side and fought for him.

He knew Eiden better than anyone else because of this.

He also knew what Eiden didn’t have.

“So much so that you might start to feel sorry for the monsters.”

“That is funny.”

“Why are you avoiding answering the question?”

“I have no reason to want things.”

“Of course not, especially since you’ve killed so many of these monsters.”

Eliot pointed to the violent scene and told him to take a look at it.

Eiden gave a shoulder shrug.

“Aren’t you tired? Or maybe you’re just getting bored.”

“I have to do it.”

“However, it doesn’t have to be that way.”

When Eliot said what he thought, he got a questioning look.

Eliot took a big breath and spat out the words that had been going around and around in his mouth for a long time.

“That child way back then.”

“…”

“Why did you abandon the kid?”

Eiden turned his head quickly.

It showed that he didn’t want to talk about it any more.

“If the kid had been here, you wouldn’t have had to do all this.”

“When have I ever said that I didn’t like hunting monsters?”

“…But that’s not the point.”

“Hunting monsters is a great way to relieve stress.”

“Relief from stress…”

Oh, what a pain!

Eliot scratched behind his neck.

Only the Emperor would use scary monsters to get rid of stress.

“Fine, fine. It doesn’t matter if it’s to relieve stress or sadness. That child is still important.”

“Important?”

“Something you just can’t live without…”

“Why bring someone who can’t do anything?”

“But even that is not enough to stop problems in the future.”

When Eliot spoke, Eiden laughed quietly.

When his stiff lips relaxed, a young, beautiful man showed through.

Even a mask couldn’t hide the emperor’s beauty. It briefly shone like a beam of sunlight before going away again.

Eliot was briefly stunned, but he quickly came back to himself.

“Right now, they can’t make a sound because you’re keeping all the monsters back, but as soon as you relax your guard, they’ll attack.”

“Who is going to attack me?”

“Who do you think it is?”

“I didn’t know that there was a monster in the palace. Should I have dealt with that first?”

“Are you kidding me right now?”

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

He was hit by a sharp look.

Eliot got a dry lump in his throat and swallowed it.

For a moment, Eiden’s arm muscles looked like they were getting bigger, and a blue energy seemed to be building up.

The person with monster-like strength, who could tear monsters apart with one hand, seemed to be able to do the same thing to his throat.

“That’s not something you need to worry about.”

“You mean someone ripping my throat?”

“…”

Eiden looked down his nose at Eliot.

“As long as no one else sees a saint, they’ll know I’m their only choice.”

“Your Majesty, no one can tell how things will turn out in this world. Isn’t it time you learned that?”

Eliot gave sincere advice.

Swoosh.

Eiden swung his sword, shaking off the blood from the monster, and then put it back in its sheath.

Eliot kept shaking his head when he saw Eiden, who didn’t even pay attention to what he said when they passed each other.

“Are you going to leave this place?”

“There will be even more monsters inside the forest.”

“It looks like it will be dark soon.”

Eiden looked up at the sky when Eliot said that.

The leaves were so close together that not a single ray of sunshine could get through.

Even though they couldn’t see it, the sun must have been very close to the horizon.

“Hoo.”

Eiden gave a deep sigh.

“You can go hunting tomorrow. The monsters aren’t going anywhere.”

Eliot said it in a lighthearted way after noticing the look on his face.

Caw.

A hawk’s cry came from far away.

As soon as it saw the two guys, it flapped its long wings and flew straight toward them.

The hawk landed softly as Eiden lifted his arm. Even as the curled claws dug into his arm, he kept a blank look on his face.

“Is it an urgent message?”

“Must be.”

Eiden took something out of the case on the hawk’s leg.

He took the paper out of its roll and quickly scanned it.

“What does it say?”

“Hmm.”

Eiden made a strange noise and lifted the corner of his mouth.

“Grizman shouldn’t cause any problems. Oh, have they picked a hostage yet?”

“Yes.”

Eiden wrote a message, put it in the case, and sent the hawk away.

Caw.

The hawk flew around them once and then flew away.

“Who is it? Is it the second prince, as I expected?”

“No.”

When Eiden was done talking, he let out a long whistle.

Soon after, a black horse with thundering hooves raced toward them.

Eiden took the reins and climbed on the horse gently.

“What are you doing? You’re not coming.”

Then he yelled at Eliot, who stood there with his mouth open.

“No, wait a minute! If it’s not the second prince, then who is it?”

“Who do you think it is?”

“You wouldn’t give the first prince. Could it be the third prince? That prince is too young…”

Eliot turned his head as he said the names of the people who were expected.

“The person the king of Grizman chose was a surprise.”

“Whose is that?”

“When you get to Grizman, you can check right away.”

“Why don’t you just tell me the truth?”

“I don’t want to take the fun away from you.”

Eliot grabbed the back of his neck again when he heard the joke.

“We’re going to Grizman now to see the show that’s been set up.”

Eiden laughed and kicked the side of the horse.

The eyes inside the monster’s blood-stained mask sparkled in a dangerous way.