ALL NOVEL C32
Chapter 32
Amon stood in the doorway, outside of the audience room, shuffling his feet.
‘How’s it going?’
The image of Anar’el that lingered in Amon’s mind told him that she would be sobbing her head off by now.
‘But she says she knew the Emperor for fifty years, so maybe he’ll be surprisingly easy to please?’
If he didn’t get involved with the Drake family, he would be known as the saint of saints!
So Amon decided to put some hope in the Emperor’s favor.
‘Yeah, as long as I don’t run into the Emperor, it should be easy.’
Just as he was thinking this, the door of the audience room opened and the Emperor appeared.
“Kahahaha, where did the ugly smell of drake seeds come from? It was you!”
“…….”
Just when I thought things would be fine if we didn’t run into each other, not even two seconds had passed!
The Emperor shouted with a devilish face.
“You must be the one responsible for this!”
“What do you mean?”
“You were the one who tricked Princess Anar’el into rescinding the recommendation to shut down the academy!”
The Emperor snapped!
‘But as a teacher at the academy, do you call my job as a mastermind, a deceiver, or an instigator?’
I wanted to question that fact, but judging by the speed at which the Emperor’s eyes were spinning, it seemed like he was no ordinary lunatic.
In this state, he’d accuse me of lying no matter what I do.
‘What did I do wrong to deserve this?’
How can he persecute me for the sins of my ancestors!
A rush of anger rose in my throat, but I suppressed it and opened my mouth.
“Your Majesty.”
“Who is your majesty!”
“Please distinguish between public and private life.”
“What?”
“The Drake family’s time-honored disrespect is one thing, but the withdrawal of the cease-and-desist recommendation is quite another, isn’t it?”
The Emperor narrowed his eyes.
He crossed his arms as if to say more, and Amon spoke.
“Our academy is more than capable of producing a student worthy of your majesty’s attention, as it did during the contest.”
“…….”
“However, the current state of affairs at the Amonis Academy is desperate. The Academy is financially bankrupt, and its students are starving!”
Not quite.
I’m in the capital today, and I’ve fed them a hearty bowl of meat soup.
“We can’t even afford the regular curriculum, let alone the textbooks necessary to teach it!”
The stamp on Sloth’s order for another wooden sword had barely dried.
Amon pounded his chest with the palm of his hand.
“I am a teacher at the Amonis Academy, an educator before I am a member of House Drake, and as such, I find it pathetic that the Academy’s meager finances are forcing students to go hungry and unable to receive a proper education!”
“…….”
“Your Majesty the Emperor!”
Amon exclaimed, bowing politely to the Emperor.
“I humbly request that you be so generous as to rescind your recommendation to shut down the Academy!”
At this point, Amon sensed victory.
‘Perfect.’
A cry of pride and conviction as an educator and compassion for his students!
This was an emperor who loved his students and valued education!
To such an emperor, a speech with three beats, education, students, and my beliefs as an educator, packed tightly together, would surely shake his heart.
As Amon glanced at the emperor, he realized.
“It didn’t work!
The Emperor cupped his ears in disbelief.
“The Drake clan has a long tongue, and that’s all you have to say?”
“…….”
“Hmph, what’s that look on your face, is it discontent?”
Dissatisfaction, that’s what Amon said, and he exploded.
“Look at you, finally showing your ugly colors!”
“Ugh! Really!”
“What, you’re going to punch me for this?”
The Emperor chuckled and puffed out his cheeks.
“Hahahaha! I was once a knight who traveled across the continent! Before the emperor, I was a proud man! Alright, I’ll take on as many tasks as you want!”
The Emperor hates the Drake clan.
That’s why he’s been bullshitting Amon, trying to get him to cry like a baby!
“Giggle, giggle, giggle, punch me!”
“Ew, ew!”
“Oh? Can’t hit me, can you? Hehehe, a man lacking resolve like that, huh?”
Amon rolled his eyes.
‘Just one punch with my eyes closed?’
Of course, the aftermath would be beyond repair.
Punching the Emperor in the face?
It wouldn’t be strange if Amon himself, as well as the three generations above and below, were destroyed!
That’s why Amon’s fists were trembling.
“Your Majesty.”
“So who’s your majesty…….?”
The Emperor, who had been lifting Amon up with his eyes rolling back in his head, snapped his mouth shut.
The voice he’d just heard hadn’t belonged to Amon.
A voice he couldn’t forget, the voice of his beloved other half.
The one person in the world he, the Emperor of the Amonis Empire, feared!
Empress Victoria, who had suddenly appeared, stared at the Emperor with narrowed eyes.
“Your Majesty.”
“Bu, ma’am……?”
“Haven’t I told you many times? As the Emperor of the Empire, you must maintain your dignity.”
Tsk, tsk, the Empress craned her neck and smirked.
“Who would have thought that when I came to see you, I would be met with such an ugly sight.”
“…….”
“What are you, some common street thug? Go ahead, take a swing. As the ruler of this empire, that’s an unbefitting statement. Absolutely, without a doubt.”
The Emperor took a deep breath at the frosty Empress’s words and said.
“Madam, I think there is a misunderstanding.”
“I see. What misunderstanding?”
“First of all, how much did you hear?”
The Empress smirked.
“From where the ugly odor of some drake seed stung my nose. From the beginning.”
From the beginning.
“I was quietly listening to what you were saying, but you kept getting more and more heated.”
“…….”
“Besides, didn’t I make it clear to you last time, he’s just a young man who has nothing to do with your grudge. So didn’t you vow to put an end to old grudges?”
“…….”
“Sandrio?”
“……I am listening.”
The Empress smiled and turned on her heel.
“Let’s go.”
“…….”
The Empress led the way to the audience room, and the Emperor followed with his head hanging low and his steps like he was being led to a slaughterhouse.
The next moment, Anar’el and her students were being shoved out of the realm, and the door to the audience room was slammed shut.
Puck! Kwajik, muddle-!
An eerie sound was heard from the audience room!
The sound made Anar’el shiver, her long ears flattening.
“It’s Victoria and Sandrio’s ‘Time of Reflection’ again…….”
It was a sound Anar’el had heard countless times before, before the Emperor was Emperor, before the Empress was Empress.
* * *
After what seemed like an eternity, the Empress stepped out of the audience room.
An eerie groan of “No, no, no, please, Madame, please stop…….” could be heard from within the room, but it was drowned out by the Empress closing the door.
She fiddled with her blood-soaked silk gloves and said.
“Surely, you said Amon?”
“Ah, yes…….”
“Well, now that things have come to this, I think he’s done for the day.”
I hadn’t even gotten a response to the cease-and-desist yet.
“But…….”
The Empress smirked.
“Go home.”
Amon nodded quickly, feeling a chilling sensation like ice running down his back.
“Yes, I will go at once!”
“Good, and Anar’el, I’m sorry you’ve come such a long way.”
Anar’el glanced at her blood-soaked gloves and smiled awkwardly.
“No, no, no. Some days are just like this.”
“Well, thanks for understanding, and I’ll see you next time.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“And next time you come…….”
The Empress whispered to Anar’el.
“Leave that young man behind. As you can see, His Majesty seems to go into a mania whenever he sees him.”
“Ah, I see.”
The Empress smiled and waved, and Amon and the others hurried out of the palace.
A moment later the Empress checked on the stunned Emperor and spoke up.
“Are you there, Kaiyas?”
“Yes, Mother.”
Kaiyas, Crown Prince of the Amonis Empire.
The young woman who had just emerged from the corner spoke wistfully.
“It’s a pity I never got to meet Princess Anar’el, whom I’ve only heard about from my father and mother.”
“There will be another chance. What do you think, anyway?”
“You mean rescinding the recommendation to shut down Amonis Academy?”
“Yes.”
Kaiyas was on his way to the audience room with the Empress.
This meant that he had heard the entire conversation between Amon and the Emperor.
After a moment of thought, the crown prince spoke.
“Perhaps it would be best to withdraw our recommendation and wait and see. If the young man from the Drake clan has a solid track record, as he says, and the students are in need, then a withdrawal would not be inappropriate.”
“I see, you think so too.”
Nodding, the crown prince said.
“But my father must have suffered a lot from the Drake clan. I never thought that my father, who was always so kind, could be so mad…….”
“Don’t even mention it. I only met Belial Drake a couple of times, and even that was enough to make me shudder.”
Belial Drake, Amon’s grandfather and the source of countless frictions when Sandrio was crown prince!
“How glad Sandrio was when that man died.”
“Mmm…….”
The crown prince smirked in amusement.
“From the sounds of it, that man from the Drake clan, he was quite the character.”
“Huh?”
The crown prince smirked.
“In that case, I’ll be sure to cut that bad blood from my line.”
“What?”
* * *
Amon returned to the academy and was lying sick in bed.
‘It’s all over,’ he thought.
The bloodied emperor!
The Empress who coldly demanded to return!
‘Withdrawing the shutdown recommendation under such circumstances, you’re kidding me.’
The only thing left to do now was to suck his fingers and wither away in the ruined academy.
“Where did my life go wrong?”
He sobbed into his comforter, sucking his fingers.
“Sir, are you there?”
“……!”
A student! Raymond’s voice!
Amon quickly kicked off the covers and straightened his clothes.
“Yes, come in.”
Raymond entered the room and said.
“Sir, was the reason for your visit to the Emperor today about the Academy’s finances?”
“Huh? Alas, yes.”
Now that he had heard, there was nothing to hide and no reason to hide.
Amon sighed heavily, but smiled as if it was okay in front of his student.
“But don’t worry. It’s a grown-up thing.”
“Hmm. Is that so, Teacher?”
“Huh?”
“I have a great idea!”
A great idea?
How is a kid, let alone Reinbelt grandson and a wild plant-eating kid, supposed to solve a funding problem!
So Amon smiled, not expecting much.
“Yeah, well, let’s hear it, shall we?”
As Amon smiled, Raymond pulled something out of a bag.
Amon’s smile faded as he looked at it.
It was a handmade doll modeled after Raymond himself.
Raymond held them up to Amon and said, with a look of remembrance on his face.
“I’m opening an exhibition!”
“…….”
“Don’t we have a lot of empty buildings at the Academy right now? We’re turning one of them into an exhibition hall!”
“…….”
“With my puppet, I’ll be able to attract tons of visitors!”
Amon, who had been watching Raymond in silence as he explained his grand plan, gazed up at the ceiling.
A single tear rolled down Amon’s cheek.
Raymond exclaimed.
“Sir, it’s too soon to be impressed! And if we sell dolls made in my likeness based on the exhibition, we’ll be able to……!”
Amon was convinced by Raymond’s grand plan.
‘This academy is really ruined.’