CH 196

This was a newly conquered territory, brimming with tens of thousands of Ivant soldiers who had just arrived. The bloodless victory had resulted in a bustling camp where the emperor’s elite forces roamed with high energy, searching for tasks to fulfill.

Banmon silently thought to himself, “If someone were to try and take me from here, they wouldn’t get away easily.”

I had put in a lot of effort to achieve this reaction, even performing sacred healing services in the hope that soldiers, whether enemy or ally, would passionately desire his departure. This would make him a valuable asset in negotiations.

“But…”

At that moment, Cardinal Robanu, the youngest of the cardinals, spoke up. Until then, he had been sitting with a hunched posture, quietly observing the negotiation proceedings.

“Is it true, Your Holiness, that Lady Iona Lesprey is truly your majesty’s advisor?”

For a moment, Ridrian’s eyebrows twitched.

“…What does that mean?”

“It’s just that, she seems unfit to be Your Majesty’s advisor.”

I held my breath for a moment. As everyone turned pale and paid attention to his words, Cardinal Robanu, with his twisted and contorted lips, smiled confidently with a spirited look on his face.

“There’s no precedent for a female advisor, and I’ve heard that she lived in the palace even before becoming a saint. It’s a well-known story within Etherium that Viscount Lesprey was once a slave and was granted freedom under Your Majesty’s protection.”

As Cardinal Robanu’s words continued, I felt an eerie sensation creeping up on me. It was as if I was watching someone who was digging their own grave.

Ridrian, who had silently listened to this nonsense, spoke with a cold and frigid voice.

“What is it that you want to say, cardinal?”

However, not noticing that the emperor’s mood had changed, Cardinal Robanu confidently continued to speak, certain that he had some amazing move that would guarantee victory.

“I’m not sure,” he replied. At that moment, he looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze that made me shiver all over.

“You’re quite an unusual beauty, aren’t you? I suspect that you’re not just any ordinary court lady who would be content with just being an advisor… Ugh!”

But in the end, he was unable to tease me any further because before he could finish speaking, the emperor’s patience snapped, and he summoned Lotoburu at an incredible speed, which sliced Cardinal Robanu’s lips slightly.

It was a masterful move, just enough to keep the cardinal from speaking more. A lethal warning.

“Cardinal!”

“Your Majesty!”

The exhausted cardinal, whose face was covered in sweat, fell backwards in his chair with a blueish complexion.

Raven called out to Ridrian in astonishment from behind, and Dylan, who realized the emperor’s actions a beat too late, quickly drew his sword and stood in front of them. The two startled cardinals supported the fallen Cardinal Robanu but couldn’t bring themselves to defend him.

Now you’re spouting nonsense,” Ridrian’s voice was filled with a coldness that made the hairs on the back of their necks stand up.

But despite his warning, the cardinal, who had made a vulgar assumption, continued to spew venomous words while pressing his bloody mouth with his sleeve.

“If you’re a child, act like one! Even the granddaughter of the Heesnim goddess, Hannah Ingani, would know not let this happen!”

Ridrian’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped forward, his sword at the ready. “Should I cut your throat to make sure you never say such words again?”

Ridrian’s eyes were still golden, but that made it all the clearer that his anger was genuine. His hands were trembling so much, as if desperately trying to hold back the changing color of his eyes. If he were to reveal the red eyes, a trademark of demons, the emperor wouldn’t be able to tolerate it, and no one would be safe.

As the Lotuburu sword pointed towards the cardinal, Dylan stood with a tense face.

“Please calm down, Your Majesty. I apologize for the Cardinal Robanu’s words. He has only recently become a cardinal…”

“How dare he! What gives him the right to say such things! Ha! Would he dare say the same to the granddaughter of the Heesnim goddess? This devilish creature…!”

He continued to shout, even with his lips bleeding from the cut of the sword. Then the two cardinals who had lost all color in their faces used their full strength to shut his mouth.

“Please stop talking! Are you going to get us all killed?”

“This is not the will of our sect! Please, I beg your mercy, Your Majesty!” The other cardinals begged.

It felt strange when the two cardinals fell flat on their faces. Until a while ago, they were fighting leisurely to take me in a high-handed posture, but their lives were on alert because of an unqualified cardinal who could not distinguish what he could not say.

“What do you want me to do with them, Viscount Lesprey?” Ridrian looked at me.