Chapter 21

“There is more, Your Majesty. Bernd Klose, the second son of Baron Klose of the Humble Territory. He had long since left politics to the eldest son…”

“I said enough.”

As you know, our Emperor doesn’t have much patience.

Lucas was playing a dangerous game, and I anxiously paced back and forth between the two men.

They stared at each other as if in a silent standoff, but of course, the one who broke eye contact first was Lucas.

He forced another hollow smile.

“Yes, if you have no interest, then I will stop. However, there are only two executioners available tomorrow. If just two of them have to execute one hundred people, even they may collapse. Executioner fatigue is quite a serious social issue these days…”

“What are you trying to say.”

“And also, executing one hundred people at once would immediately create problems for the palace’s security. We could call back the scattered guards, but that would take several days, would it not.”

Lucas continued smoothly.

“So, instead, I propose we simply behead the captain of the guard and hang his head on the drawbridge. That should serve as a warning to the rest.”

Klaus glanced down at me.

He wasn’t actually asking a cat for an opinion, but I frantically nodded.

I felt sorry for the captain, but saving ninety nine lives seemed far more important right now.

Klaus answered reluctantly.

“…If you insist, then do as you wish.”

But Lucas asked again.

“Aren’t you going to ask who the captain is.”

Klaus looked increasingly annoyed.

“I already said I would not recognize the name anyway.”

“Ah, not necessarily, Your Majesty. Because I appointed the captain this morning.”

This morning?

The Emperor had been with me the entire time.

As if to confirm it, Klaus asked,

“Who.”

Lucas shamelessly held out a document.

“I did. I am the acting Emperor in practice, am I not. All the troublesome matters fall to me anyway.”

Only then did he look satisfied, as if he had finally reached his point.

Klaus took the document with a mocking smile.

“If someone overheard, they might think the Prime Minister has someone he personally wishes to kill.”

But the Emperor’s relaxed demeanor vanished the moment he read it.

“Lucas!”

He shot up from his seat, shouting the Prime Minister’s name, and threw the document to the floor.

Whose name could possibly be written there…?

This was completely different from his earlier quiet anger.

Lucas dropped to one knee as if he had been waiting, but that was all.

The Prime Minister looked up at his lord with a gaze just as sharp as the Emperor’s.

“It was also I who delivered the order to the guards the previous day. If young men who are loyal only to the Sun of Kella failed to carry out their duty, then the fault lies with the one who gave the command. Therefore, if you execute only me, everything will be resolved.”

Oh my god…

Only then did I realize whose name had been written there.

As if possessed, I went to Klaus and licked at his feet.

“Meooow…”

There was no reason for such cruel consequences to follow from a single day of a cat running away.

At this moment, I almost wished he would just kill me instead.

Klaus’s voice trembled with anger.

“If you say it like that, do you think I cannot do it.”

“…Of course not. Under the sky of the god Hame, there is nothing Your Majesty desires that you cannot accomplish.”

“Meooow…”

After several desperate jumps at his feet, I finally managed to climb onto Klaus’s shoulder.

I rubbed my face against him and cried the whole time.

“Me…”

Don’t do this, Klaus…

I was really wrong…

I really won’t do it again.

Lucas, still kneeling, looked up at me.

At the end of his sad smile, a heavy tear fell from his dark eyes.

“Just as this little cat Mari is yours, all of them are your children. Please, let me alone be enough.”

Klaus could not contain his anger. He paced back and forth, his cold eyes blazing.

Even as he moved, I kept rubbing against his neck and whining softly.

What if, even by the slightest chance, he punishes Lucas.

It was all my fault.

As I trembled in fear, Klaus pulled me off and set me on the desk.

“Meow.”

“You are distracting. Do you want me to cut off your beloved Prime Minister’s head and hang it on the drawbridge. I should have done it earlier. Then perhaps you would never have dared to run away.”

With that, he threw on his coat and left the room.

Several attendants and guards hurried after him.

Soon after, the sound of hooves echoed, and through the window I saw him leaving the palace.

In the now empty room, Lucas remained kneeling on the floor without moving.

I jumped down from the desk and tapped his knee, but the young Prime Minister only looked devastated.

It wasn’t that he hated me or feared for his life.

That made him all the more admirable.

Lucas didn’t even breathe properly, and Klaus did not return for a long time.

* * *

How much time had passed when the door burst open.

The Emperor’s pale face, once drained by anger, now held a bit of color again.

It looked like he had ridden hard somewhere.

Lucas was still kneeling, and Klaus looked down at his friend with irritation.

Even after the Emperor returned, the Prime Minister didn’t greet him.

In the end, Klaus moved first.

He removed his riding coat and handed it to a servant, then ordered,

“Stand. If you test my patience further, even you will not be forgiven.”

Still, Lucas did not move, his shoulders stiff.

His dry lips parted again.

“Please withdraw the execution order.”

My heart felt like it was shrinking.

The Emperor sighed as if exhausted and leaned back in his chair.

After a moment, his heavy voice spoke.

“…Very well.”

When Lucas finally stood, Klaus said with a deeply furrowed face,

“You risked your single life to save one hundred. You will repay it with one hundred times the work.”

Lucas smiled with damp eyes.

“I would have been more grateful if you had simply killed me.”

What kind of insane people are these.

Maybe I was the only one shocked to my core.

Sigh… that took ten years off my life.

Afraid the mad Emperor might do something else, I stuck close to him all morning.

In the afternoon, he personally began questioning the nobles and servants in the palace.

The Prime Minister, who was supposed to work a hundred times harder, was nowhere to be seen, and a temporary chamberlain assisted the Emperor.

Klaus asked,

“Was Emma Schmidt diligent in serving the sacred creature.”

A servant responsible for cleaning the Audience Chamber bowed hurriedly.

“I-I believe so, Your Majesty.”

This time he questioned a maid who had served Michaela.

“Did the caretaker use honorifics when speaking to the sacred creature.”

“Yes, she certainly did, Your Majesty.”

Emma’s maids were brought in as well.

“Did the cat eat properly as usual.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Truly!”

Ugh, from my perspective, this was painful to listen to.

Feeling uneasy, I left.

Of course, not before climbing onto the Emperor’s lap to say goodbye.

The servants were busy, so I decided to visit Lucas.

I expected him to be just as busy elsewhere, but surprisingly, he was alone.

“I was waiting, kitty.”

There was something pitiful about the way he said that.

I ran up and licked him repeatedly, and Lucas chuckled.

“It seems you had quite a hard time outside. You’ve become rather affectionate, haven’t you.”

As if I’d be bothered by that.

You went through a lot too, because of your own student.

As I kept rubbing and licking him, his large hand gently stroked my head.

The familiar touch was so comforting I almost fell asleep.

Then suddenly, Lucas stood up, went to his desk, and brought back a small box.

When he opened it, a familiar foul smell hit my nose.

It was that fruit.

Startled, I stepped back, but the Prime Minister spoke gently.

“I found out what this is, kitty. It was used to make poison. You knew, didn’t you.”

At this point, I couldn’t deny it, so I slowly nodded.

“Can you tell me whose it was.”

This time, I shook my head.

With the Chamberlain gone, there was no way to name anyone.

He asked again, more carefully.

“But you do know whose it is, don’t you.”

I nodded again, and the soft curve of his lips slowly stiffened.

In a low voice, he asked,

“Did that person intend to use this on His Majesty.”

I had no choice but to nod.

Lucas asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Kitty. This is very important. This is a lethal poison that can kill a person. Do you understand.”

I nodded again, and he continued,

“So someone in the palace intended to give this to the Emperor. Is that correct.”

I nodded once more, and Lucas’s pale face turned even whiter.

“Is that why you went outside.”

I slowly shook my head.

That wasn’t the reason.

I had gone out simply because I was angry.

I hated how Emma used me to gain special treatment.

I couldn’t even say I disliked her, yet she behaved so badly…

Still, she was only the Chamberlain’s niece. She had nothing to do with the fruit.

No matter how much I disliked her, I could tell that much.

Lucas stood up with a complicated expression and put the box away somewhere.

Then he began persuading me calmly.

“Our angel, our treasure blessed by Goddess Favia, little kitty. This is a very serious matter. It may even be more important than His Majesty executing the entire guard in anger.”

Is that so?

Even though I cared about Klaus, I felt a bit disappointed that Lucas compared his life to a hundred others.

Even if he’s the Emperor, is Klaus’s life really worth more than a hundred people?

As if he read my expression, Lucas burst into laughter.

“Kitty, he is the Sun. Do you know what that means.”