I Became the Master of the Empress

4 – Episode 4

A few hours after Valoran’s death…

I urgently summoned the spirits of our family to Valoran’s room.

And…

The generals who saw Valoran’s body were greatly shocked.

“Your… Your Highness!”

“W-What is this?!”

“Your Highness, what’s going on?!”

The generals, all with bewildered faces, demanded an explanation from me.

-Pshh.

With a voice filled with joy and triumph, I speak.

“I killed Balorang with my own hands.”

The generals looked at me with disbelief written on their faces.

“Commander!, What did you just say?”

Our army’s Grand Commander, Ellen, shouted with a face full of anger.

“Are you trying to kill all of us? Do you not know the current situation?”

I know very well.

I know so well that now is the perfect time to kill Balorang.

“The Imperial Faction will tear us apart! The morale of the soldiers will plummet! What are you thinking?”

I interrupted Ellen’s words and spoke.

“Enough. Balorang conspired with devil worshippers and shook the empire, executing the rightful Emperor at will.”

Ellen responded as if I was mistaken.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Is the former emperor important right now? We all look like we’re about to die?! What did we do wrong to ruin things like this?”

I could feel Ellen’s fear in his words.

It must be terrifying.

Without the Duke, or rather, the power of the Duchy of Francesco, the Anti-Imperial Faction cannot be sustained.

Even a three-year-old would understand that.

Throughout generations, our family has been the cornerstone of the Anti-Imperial Faction.

The death of the Duke, who has become the focal point of the noble Anti-Imperial Faction.

If you’re not afraid of the situation brought about by the successful rebellion and the Duke’s death, then that’s strange.

“Look!, Is there anyone outside?!”

The door opens abruptly at Ellen’s shout, and heavily armed soldiers enter.

“Yes, did you call for me, General?” The soldiers stand at attention.

Ellen orders the soldiers, “Quickly, crush that mad traitor!”

The soldiers react with confusion to his words.

“Yes…? A-are you serious?” They look bewildered.

Seeing their reaction, Ellen raises his voice. “Are you mocking my command? Aren’t you going to crush that mad traitor who killed the Great General?”

The soldiers glance at the lifeless body of the Great General and express astonishment.

Well… it’s understandable to be surprised, but hey, Ellen, I’m not a fool, and I have no intention of dying here.

I clear my throat and speak firmly, “Ellen! Are you trying to persecute me, the rightful heir of the Grand Duchy of Francisco?!”

Ellen scoffs and shouts back at me, “You ungrateful child! You dare to kill your own father and dare to give me orders?! Don’t you understand the concept of honor?!”

“General, revoke your command! I am Francesco, the legitimate successor of the Grand Duchy. From the moment Baloran died, I became the Grand Duke!”

Ellen chuckles at my words, seemingly dumbfounded. “hahahaha… Do you think you can inherit the Grand Duke’s legacy after killing him yourself?! The moment you killed the Grand Duke, you lost your right to succession. The rightful heir now is Lady Mary! Did you really think I would let you become the Grand Duke?”

Those words… I’ve been waiting for those words.

“Really? Well, that’s a relief.”

I retrieve a weapon from my sleeve to salvage the situation.

Taking out a sealed envelope with a red seal, I toss it to Ellen.

“Is that so? Well then, behold! See why I am the grand duke.”

The envelope falls in front of Ellen.

“What does that insignificant envelope even mean?! Are the soldiers just busy doing nothing, not suppressing the crazy gurus?!”

I sigh as I observe the soldiers hurriedly moving at Ellen’s command.

“Sigh… Everyone here will be executed for treason, and their families in the grand duchy will suffer.”

Upon hearing my words, the soldiers flinch.

And with a calm expression, I continue to soften my tone and speak.

“General Ellen, please read the sentence in that letter.”

Ellen raises an eyebrow at my words and briefly looks at the seal on the letter.

“This… this is Lady Mary’s seal?”

“Yes, it is the seal of my younger sister, Lady Mary. Aren’t you curious why I am showing you this letter?”

Slowly, Ellen takes the envelope and carefully tears open the seal.

He takes out the letter and begins to read.

-Swish.

Astonishment, confusion… and a expression of disbelief.

And fear.

“What… what should we do about Lady… Lady?!”

In response to the generals’ question, Ellen reads the letter and then addresses the soldiers.

“Soldiers… immediately go out and guard the perimeter…”

The bewildered soldiers receive contradictory orders from their commander, who then issues a stern command.

“What are you all waiting for?! Don’t just stand there, go out!”

In response to his words, the soldiers, tense and ready, move outside.

“Commander… what kind of letter is it?”

“Please, tell us.”

The commander succumbs to the pressure from the other generals.

-Silence…

“In this letter… Lady Mary…”

Unable to continue, I take over for Ellen, smiling.

“The letter contains Lady Mary’s absolute support for me.”

“What… what does this mean?!”

As if unable to believe my words, the generals roughly snatch the letter from the commander’s hand and read it.

Their faces are filled with immense confusion.

The anti-imperial faction that succeeded in assassinating the Emperor.

Lady Mary, their focal point, is dead, and now she declares her support for me as their new focal point.

If they ignore Mary’s support and kill me, they will… face the worst situation of having to fight against both Lady Mary and the imperial faction in the Duchy.

Without supplies from their homeland, trapped here in Roman, unable to do anything, their families burdened by the fear of brutal torture and disappearance in the mist of rebellion.

Somehow, luckily escaping from Roman. Even if I were to engage in a war with the Grand Kingdom, it would be difficult to guarantee victory against Mary, who possesses overwhelming power.

She is a monster just like Balora.

This is the plan that I have been preparing for a long time.

“Now, what will you do? Will you acknowledge me as the Grand Duke? Or will you all face certain death?”

Observing the bewildered generals, I sit on the sofa with a calm expression and continue speaking.

“If you stand by my side, I will bestow upon you great favor. General Allen.”

I call out to Allen. He looks at me with a helpless expression.

“I have heard rumors that your son is quite capable.”

Back when I was in the former Grand Kingdom, I heard that Allen’s son, Leon, was quite talented.

“So, I am considering appointing him as an official personally. What do you think?”

As I say this, I glance briefly at the generals.

Perhaps they understand what I want to say.

Stand by my side, support me, or kill me and face certain death. But if you support me, I will reward you greatly.

With that, the generals start to calculate in their minds, their brows furrowing.

I am satisfied as I gradually see the shadow of greed forming on their faces.

Yes, you are not fools. If you were fools, you wouldn’t have made it to this position.

As I look at them with a confident expression.

-Swish!

Allen suddenly draws his sword and speaks.

“Hush!, you bastard! I will kill you!”

And the general comes running towards me…

In that moment, I draw my sword…

-Swish!

I block the general’s sword.

“What… What do you think you’re doing, General Ellen?”

The other generals draw their swords.

“Let go!, Let go! Today, I will kill that traitor!”

“General, you shouldn’t act like this right now. We don’t know when the Emperor’s faction might gather here, and we’re fighting among ourselves?!”

But Ellen pays no attention to those words.

“Hush!, No matter how you put it, my loyalty lies with the Grand Emperor. To serve such a despicable bastard… Ugh!”

Before Ellen could finish speaking, the youngest among the generals stabs his sword into Ellen’s back and speaks.

With a brilliant expression and tone.

“Did… Did you see this crazy person? Wh… What kind of nonsense are you doing right now, offending the Grand Duke Devian?!”

The timing and acting are so perfect that I momentarily lose my composure, thinking how well I managed to involve him.

Upon witnessing the young man’s actions, the other generals start attacking Ellen one by one.

“E… Ellen! How dare you act like this! I will personally pass judgment on you for the Grand Duke.”

The action of the involved general feels like the starting signal of a race. The generals begin competing for loyalty towards me.

Well… Isn’t that right? You also don’t want to face a certain death, do you?

And in the midst of such a gruesome scene, a man stepped back slightly, giving me a faint smile and a thumbs-up that only I could see.

*Squelch.*

With this, Ellen, who opposed me, perished.

And now, the generals will pledge their loyalty to me.

Otherwise… they will all be pursued from both the Empire and the Grand Duchy.

“Splurt!”

Ellen’s right hand is slashed by a sword. Someone pushes him down and stabs him with a sword. Someone else… slits his throat.

Blood splatters on the ceiling and wallpaper of the blood fountain chamber.

When the hot blood fountain suddenly stops, the generals kneel before me.

I speak to them.

“Well… Are you all going to support me?”

“W… We will pledge our loyalty to the new Grand Duke Francesco Debián.”

Smiling at the kneeling generals in front of me, I say,

“hehehe… I’ll make sure none of you regret choosing me today.”

After taking a moment to catch my breath, I speak again.

First, I must gain the support of the imperial people and the remaining nobles.

That’s why…

“My first order is to command the execution of the late Emperor and the funerals of the male nobles who were brutally executed.”

***

Thus, I subdue the generals of the Grand Duchy and head to my quarters.

The dark night gradually gives way to the blue dawn.

Walking along the long corridor,

I hear the familiar voice of a man.

“Is everything resolved?”

“Well… It went as I expected, up to this point.”

A bright, blond man hands me a towel and speaks.

“Thank goodness.”

He says, wiping the blood off my face.

“How about your end?”

Then, he comes closer to my ear and whispers.

“As ordered… I caught Hwang Tae-nyeo, who was trying to escape.”

I nod at his words.

Thank goodness. It would have been a real mess if we had let her go.

“Phew… Yeah…”

I say, heading towards my room, then stopping.

“As soon as the sun rises… tell the members of the Imperial Faction to gather in my room.”

And he walks back to my room.