I Became the Father of a Degenerate Emperor

Episode 13. Right in front of you.

Episode 13. Right in front of you.

In the end, I decided to go out with the empress.

It was because I didn’t think I would be able to break her stubbornness, even risking her life.

She had endured five hellish years with the mad emperor, so there was no way she would be defeated by someone like me.

The battle was going to be fought by the knights and soldiers of the Duke of Bright, and I thought that it wouldn’t be too dangerous if I stayed in the rear with me.

As long as the contents of the novel are followed, nothing special will happen.

Of course, upon hearing that decision, Duke Bright sighed deeply for a long time with an expression of having lost everything in the world.

It was a natural reaction because he couldn’t even imagine what would happen in the future.

The face of the duke, who secretly glanced at the empress once, was spectacle.

He was screaming loudly with only his expression on his face, saying, ‘There is no point in raising my daughter.’

And finally, unable to utter those words, he left with a devastated step.

Following this, the empress rose from her seat exuding a cold aura.

“Let’s go now, Your Majesty.”

Looking at the smile on his face, I couldn’t bear to say anything else.

I, who was left alone where everyone had left, got up from my seat and reached the office with limping steps.

A pile of papers on the desk.

It had been piling up ever since right after the emperor gave up on state affairs.

It was clear that the development of the empire would have been stagnant because of that, even without checking.

The administrative system of the empire seems to be quite well equipped, considering that most of the problems are being handled well.

Nevertheless, the amount of paperwork I had to deal with was still a nuisance.

Actually, I couldn’t carry out my duties as an emperor either.

Strictly speaking, it was not because of indolence or laziness, but because of ignorance.

Not long ago, driven by curiosity, I took a look at some documents.

Tax policy, slavery, the abolition of feudalism, the issue of immigrants, the construction of a wall on the northern border, the employment of mercenaries, and other seemingly complicated issues were piled up.

And I thought that I shouldn’t make a decision on one of them.

Of course, I was able to roughly grasp the superficial content of a specific issue.

However, the side effects or unexpected aftermath that it would bring would not be known even after death.

So now I absolutely needed a helper.

In particular, there was a desperate need for a very genius person who could cover all aspects of state affairs.

And I knew one such person.

In an empire on the brink of collapse, ruled by the Immortal Emperor, a man who struggled to become prime minister and save the empire.

His name is Henri Carceau.

He was the half-brother of the Marquis of Carso.

While the Marquis has a biased head that specializes only in calculating money, his younger brother has a well-balanced brain developed in various fields.

So, on the way to this place, I ordered a servant in advance to call the Marquis of Carso.

After a while, Marquis Carso cautiously entered the office.

It seemed like he had just run over, sweating profusely.

“Did you find it, Your Majesty?”

Maybe she couldn’t sleep because of me, her eyes looked pale.

“What happened to the stolen tax?”

To the sudden fastball that came in, he replied with a face of death.

“Procedurally, it will take some time, but I will get it back as soon as possible.”

“By the way.”

“Speak, Your Majesty.”

“Don’t you think the punishment is too light for the amount stolen?”

Push-

The frightened Marquis of Carso knelt down on his knees.

“Sa, save me, Your Majesty!”

“Since you want to live, donate all of your property to the imperial family except for the mansion you are living in now. That much should be enough to pay for betraying the people of the empire.”

“That, that…… “

The Marquis Carso was so taken aback that he couldn’t even speak.

“Do you think it is excessive?”

“…… No, Your Majesty.”

“You’d better do it as soon as possible. And bring your brother to me by tomorrow.”

“…… Yes, Your Majesty.”

*

Noon is not too far away.

Eric, Huron, Edwin.

The three princes stood in the shadows behind the emperor’s residence.

Eric and Huron were watching the emperor with the ability of the red eye, and the youngest Edwin, who could not use his ability yet, was holding on to Huron’s pants and whining.

“Brother, what is your Majesty doing now?”

Huron didn’t even look at Edwin and replied as if he was annoyed.

“I’m just sitting still. Edwin, but you keep pulling your pants? Why don’t you take your hand off?

As Edwin let go of his hand with a sad expression, Huron said to Eric.

“Hyung, it’s lunchtime soon. Let’s go back.”

Then Huron, who looked at the emperor casually again, exclaimed in a surprised voice.

“Oh, wake up! Go to the office, go to the office!”

Similarly, Eric, who was looking at the emperor, murmured softly while biting his thumb nail.

“Maybe now is the chance.”

A fearsome bow held by the emperor.

Eric intended to steal it.

With that, it would be possible to prevent the emperor from killing someone else, and even killing the emperor wouldn’t be too difficult if you learned how to use it.

When I imagined that, my heart started racing.

It was the result of excitement and anxiety, mixed with the expectation that he might finally be able to get rid of that evil emperor, and the unconscious guilt of having to kill his father.

Actually, right before breakfast, the moment the emperor headed to the dungeon was the right time to steal the bow, but Eric couldn’t figure it out.

Anyway, in Eric’s opinion, there seemed to be no better opportunity than now.

The bow must have been in the bedroom of the emperor. When the Emperor fainted, he was there to see clearly.

He spoke to his younger siblings in a rather spleen tone.

“It’s dangerous, you guys go back.”

“No, I want to go too!”

“Yes hyung, it’s a bit disgraceful to leave out only us now.”

But Eric said firmly in a calm voice.

“If I had to take one in ten thousand, I might really die. It’s such a dangerous thing. Go back quietly.”

Thus, Eric ended up entering the emperor’s bedchamber alone.

However, an unexpected problem occurred.

‘I can’t use my abilities.’

In order to use the ability of the red eye, I had to constantly think of the target I wanted to kill in my head.

However, for Eric, who is not yet familiar with the enemy, it is very difficult to use his abilities while searching for a bow.

Moreover, since he was feeling extremely anxious, it was not easy for him to express his abilities because he could not concentrate well.

He was now in a situation where he had to do his best to find the bow first, whether it was porridge or rice.

‘I have no choice but to find and escape as quickly as possible!’

Eric inspected every corner of the emperor’s bedroom closely.

A bed, a table, various cabinets, and a fireplace. Besides that, I searched everywhere where I could hide my bow.

But even though he searched for quite some time, he couldn’t find the bow anywhere.

That said, I couldn’t go back empty-handed like this.

It was because the price of missing this opportunity was that someone might die from being hit by an arrow.

‘It’s been too long. The emperor might be coming soon. Where did you put it…….’

Beads of sweat were forming on Eric’s forehead before he knew it. It was irritating

The uneasy mind, not knowing when he would be found out, kept getting heavier and weighing down his chest.

I looked around the room once more and saw a strange tree growing from the floor to the ceiling.

‘Why did I only see this now?’

Five or six trees as thick as my wrist were rooted on the floor of the room, catching the sunlight pouring through the windows from the front.

It was true that it looked beautiful at first glance, but the golden and silver bands that wrapped around the middle of the tree looked quite odd.

When I looked closely, it was written with a lot of unknown characters.

‘If it’s this thick, it must be a young tree. How did it stand so high?’

The ceiling here was quite high.

Nevertheless, trees that looked like young saplings were growing high enough to reach it.

‘Rather than that, why are the roots stuck in the ground?’

Eric looked closely to see if there was a bow hidden among the trees, but he wasn’t there.

Jeobeok- Jeobeok-

Then the sound of footsteps suddenly came and my whole body froze.

“What are you doing here?”

It was followed by a voice so cold that you would get goosebumps just by hearing it.

‘The emperor is here…… !’

Eric slowly turned around.

If he knew it would be like this, he felt a belated regret that he should have brought a wooden sword.

After that, the memories of the moment of being abused by the emperor came back vividly.

The guilt of being caught doing bad things awakened the trauma that had been dormant.

With just that, my body suddenly trembled and cold sweat began to flow.

What’s more, the emperor’s stern gaze went all over his body, making it difficult even to stand with his legs relaxed.

What will happen to me now?

In Eric’s mind, the scene of the emperor punching him, stabbing him with a sword, and shooting an arrow passed quickly.

Whatever it was, it would be painful. Whatever it was, it would be harsh enough to make me want to run away right away.

I tried to slowly back away in fear, but there was a tree behind me.

Took.

Eventually, there was nowhere to retreat anymore, and Eric closed his eyes tightly.

Now I really thought I was dead.

In that short moment, not a few memories of my 11 years of life passed by like a kaleidoscope.

‘Still, I was fortunate enough to be born as my mother’s son.’

When I thought that, I felt a little more at ease.

But the next moment something strange happened.

I felt a rough hand on my head.

At first, I thought it was a blow to the head, so I crouched down a little, but his hand persistently followed and patted the top of his head.

Of course, it didn’t hurt at all.

Eric looked at the man in front of him with a surprised face.

‘What is it?’

Your expression is still scary, but what you’re doing is obviously stroking your own hair.

‘Why are you doing this?’

The Emperor asked Eric, who was confused.

“Do you like trees?”

It was such an expression and voice that you couldn’t see anything like benevolence or paternity even after washing your eyes.

But the moment he heard that, for some reason, tears flowed from Eric’s eyes.

Perhaps it was a sense of relief, fear, and surprise.

Eric nodded his head with a wet face.

“I didn’t know you would love it to the point of shedding tears. Would you like to have lunch together?”

Eric stared at the emperor’s face.

He was definitely someone he wanted to kill just a moment ago. He was the one who thought he was a monster, not a human.

But at this moment, why did he not want to refuse to eat with Iza?

The emperor said to Eric, who had been pondering for a long time, unable to answer that question.

“If you don’t want to eat, you don’t have to.”

Suddenly, the Emperor reached out and Eric crouched down once again.

However, the Emperor’s hand only touched the tree and did not touch his body.

Eric slowly stepped aside, observing the emperor’s actions.

Then he witnessed an unbelievable scene.

The trees suddenly became short and thin and began to tangle with each other.

They kept intertwining and twisting together until eventually they turned into a bow.

A mysterious bow that shoots invisible arrows without protest.

What Eric was looking for was right in front of him.

The emperor asked Eric, who looked at the bow with a surprised expression.

“Do you like bows by any chance?”