Chapter 108

Chapter 108: Chapter 108

“I don’t think he’s trying to shake up the succession plan.”

With his back to the antique wooden door, Ober crossed his arms while listening to Yurt.

He was leaning against the wall and looking inside the room like a slender black snake.

“The first prince Crown Prince Rashid is also Empress Alesa’s biological son, right? Based on Yurt’s explanation, Emperor Karim was also very fond of the crown prince until recently.”

“You bet. There’s no reason for Alesa to pit her two sons against each other for the succession. One of them would end up being killed anyway. If they are unlucky, both might be killed.”

“That’s why I’m more suspicious. I understand Duke Hubble is known to have been the closest to Alesa among the late emperor’s children. It’s unnatural from him to give a strange gift that would draw the attention of the second prince. It’s also very strange that he sent Empress Alesa a knife that she hated most…”

Ober frowned as if he couldn’t figure out the exact situation.

“Bale.”

Sitting in front of the dressing table, she made eye contact with her son in the mirror.

When his mother called his childhood pet name, Ober seemed very displeased.

“Was Duke Hubble responsible for the accident at Roshan?”

“It is an honour to me as you say so. I thought you would doubt me first.”

“If you were so dumb as to cause such an accident, I would have deserted you a long time ago.”

“If I had planned it, the emperor would not have come back alive like that. And you wouldn’t have had that scar on your neck.”

Ober pointed to her wounds with a look. She stroked the bandage around her neckline slowly. Her closed lips trembled faintly.

“As you said, Alesa is Duke Hubble’s favorite nephew. She resembles the duke’s sister, Empress Frida. After she was married to Emperor Faisal and left Aslan early, he took care of her by sending gifts in person every year. Accordingly, I don’t think he intended to harm her or destroy her harmonious family. He is not a fool who is stupid enough to annoy the emperor of an ally with unreasonable intervention in its internal affairs.”

Although Ober looked slightly dissatisfied, he nodded slightly as if he agreed.

“As for the gift, the fact that he sent a sword in particular….”

She seemed to have something more to say, but after hesitating briefly, she came to a new conclusion.

“Anyway, I think I know why Duke Hubble did it.”

“Tell me.”

“He wants to change the owner of the next throne.”

Ober frowned again as if he couldn’t understand the meaning of her remarks.

“But you just said he didn’t seem to intend to destroy the peace of the Partiya family with unreasonable tricks.”

“Bale, you still don’t know anything about Duke Hubble.”

Only then did Mrs. Chester look back from her seat. Under her shiny dark red hair, her contrasting pale eyes shone violently.

“Why do you think the owner of the next throne that he wants to change is only in Faisal?”

***

The next day, a guest entered the emperor’s main palace. He was Ober with neatly-combed red hair, dressed in a stylish dark blue suit.

He walked past a number of rooms guarded by attendants and walked the long hallway to the emperor’s study. He was there an hour later than his appointment time, which was noon, but he didn’t seem to be in a rush.

His slow and periodic footsteps continued for a long time and finally stopped before the door.

“Welcome, Sir Ober.”

The servant on security duty outside the door politely greeted him. Instead of replying, Ober raised the tip of his chin and looked at the door.

But the door did not open. Nobody announced his rank and title to the emperor inside the study.

‘Dang it. So annoying.’

Ober sighed and looked back at the servant. Although Ober didn’t change his look much, he was obviously annoyed.

Sensing his annoyance, the servant said quickly, “His Excellency left a little while ago. He told me he would come back soon, so he conveyed his message you should wait here.”

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know either.”

It was an ambiguous answer. He glanced back at the hallway that he had walked so far.

The long corridor that seemed endless filled his vision.

The emperor’s study was located on the innermost part of the main palace, close to his bedroom. There were few rooms around, but the rooms adjacent to the study were the emperor’s private spaces which outsiders couldn’t enter recklessly.

It would be too annoying for Ober to go back and come back again, and he would be blamed if he entered any other room. He also didn’t want to put off the appointment because he had lots of stuff to take care of, including one involving Duke Hubble. In the end, he sat on a simple chair next to the door without hiding his discomfort.

He continued to wait in awkward silence.

One minute became two, and soon it became five minutes, and then ten minutes quickly passed.

“Can I get you some tea?”

“No thanks.”

He rejected the servant’s favor and continued to wait another ten minutes. Suppressing the urge to kick the closed door right away, he waited another ten minutes.

Ober now became so impatient like a volcano about to explode. Waiting for the emperor for about 30 minutes was not a big problem for most officials, but Ober couldn’t stand it.

So far, he was the man who had kept the emperor waiting, not vice versa.

In formal meetings, such as cabinet meetings, or the official ceremony to welcome back the emperor, he could wait a long time as he was conscious of other officials. But he had never waited for the emperor this long in a private setting like today.

Besides, the emperor was famous for being punctual. The reason that Kling who returned to the capital waited for a few hours to meet the emperor became a topic was because of the emperor. “You said he would be back soon. How soon?”

“I do not know. As he said he would be back soon, I would guess he could come back within one hour…”

“One hour?”

Ober eventually couldn’t get the better of his anger and sprang to his feet.

“Of course, he can come back faster than that. I just wanted to tell you the approximate standard of ‘soon’ that you wondered about. Don’t be too angry.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you guys here regarded one hour as the messy standard of ‘soon.’ I wish you had informed me about it in advance.”

He ironically twisted his mouth.

Time proved one’s power. The reason Ober visited one hour later than the appointment time was also a kind of pressure because he wanted to confirm which side the weight of the scale was tilted further.

Therefore, it was a war of nerves between them, which Ober thought would not benefit him. He stared at the servant sharply.

“As I am busy handling state affairs, let me go back. Please convey my message to the emperor clearly. I waited as many as thirty minutes here and went back. Tell him that I’m going to assume I’ve already received the award he promised.”

“Oh, His Majesty clearly told me you should wait here…”

“That’s why I have waited up to now. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they don’t describe 30 minutes as ‘soon.’ And the emperor knows it very well, so keep your mouth shut and convey what I have just told you.”

While the servant was at a loss about how to reply, Ober turned back, clicking his tongue.

Right at the moment when he was leaving the study, there was heard a clicking sound.

With an incredibly upbeat sound, the door that had been tightly closed opened.

“Harriot, please let him in as His Majesty has returned.”

It was Deputy Chamberlain Kloud who stuck his face out through the door.

He looked outwards and greeted Ober, who only barely looked around, clenching his teeth.

“Your Majesty, Sir Ober wants to see you,” announced Harriot with a loud voice.

“Let him in.”

His approval came out fast and coldly as if he was waiting for Ober’s visit.

Ober burst into laughter at his announcement. With a displeased expression, he stared at Harriet and Kloud in turn.

Kloud opened the door a bit more and stepped aside.

His eyes were trembling with fury as if to tear apart everything within 1,000 years from his place. He forward a step, clasping his trembling hand tightly.

The study was very quiet. Tall bookshelves were densely lined up like old trees.

He walked after Kloud and vowed that if he later seized power, he would burn all of these useless large bookcases.

“… May the glory of our god Airius be bestowed upon you. I, the Foreign Minister and Marquis Chester, am honored to meet you.”

“Stand up.”

Eckart received his reluctant greetings and put down the quill in his left hand.

“Did you have anything unusual this morning?”

“… No.”

“I was worried that something bad happened at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because I waited for you for a long time.”

“… I’m sorry. “