Nowhere else could he find a disease with similar symptoms.
It was questionable what illness the Emperor was suffering from, and whether it was even an illness.
That makes sense, a disease that makes you more and more drowsy as time goes by. A disease whose only symptom is drowsiness.
What on earth is the treatment for this disease?
Louis looked down at the sleeping Emperor with a bitter expression.
At first, he just nodded off when the meeting went on for too long, making the nobles feel awkward.
However, it got worse and worse, and soon he reached the point where he could not eat or drink anything and just sleep.
As he slept all day, the Emperor's body naturally withered away, and even when he was awake, he was not in his right mind. He could barely keep his eyes open, barely holding back the drowsiness.
The still-young Emperor of the Luan Empire, he suffered from this disease and his appearance gradually changed. Even though he was 40 years old, he already had the face of an old man. His blond hair, which was as dazzling as the warm sunlight, gradually lost its luster and turned white.
In this way, he was losing his life little by little.
Until this time, Louis and the Emperor's entourage thought that this was just a rare disease with an unknown cause.
The Marquis of Barrington, who was looking at his lord with a pitiful face, sighed deeply and spoke to Louis.
“Your Highness, we apologize for not being able to understand your sorrow, but it is time for you to move on. We will look after His Majesty.”
Louis stubbornly held the Emperor's hand.
“Will the country be turned upside down if we stay a little longer? His Majesty may not have much time left. Let’s stay together a little longer-”
“No. If His Majesty does not leave the room and carry out state affairs, the country will be turned upside down. Your Highness, please leave quickly.”
The Marquis of Barrington was resolute.
Louis and the Emperor's loyalists also knew that the current Emperor would not last long.
So they had to put their sorrow behind them and slowly prepare to crown a new Emperor.
For the empire, for the future.
Crown Prince Louis.
He must leave his sorrow behind and gradually prepare to inherit his father's position and the throne.
***
Then one day.
As usual, Loui arrived at the office to perform the Emperor's duties and was shocked to see the person before him.
"... Your Majesty?"
“The Crown Prince has arrived.”
The Emperor, who was always sleeping, was waking up and greeting Louis.
Louis stood there dumbfounded, then belatedly approached him and greeted him.
“Your Majesty, are you feeling well?”
“It’s okay. That’s why I’ve come out here and worked. You’ve worked hard. Your Highness, now go back to your seat and do your work as before.”
Louis looked around at the nobles around him, unable to come to his senses for a moment.
The nobles also had very confused expressions on their faces.
The Emperor's appearance that he had seen until last night was that of a gaunt, white-haired old man, beyond compare.
But the Emperor Louis see now is the one who was healthy before he got sick.
It was impossible to return to normal like this in one day.
Louis bowed his head before the newly born Emperor, checking the reactions of the nobles who were hesitating.
“Then excuse me.”
Then he left the office and hurried to the Emperor's bedroom.
This can't be. This can't be. This can't be.
How could the Emperor, who was in a sickbed, recover so well?
“Your Highness, I have a strange feeling and I came out. I will go with you.”
He was followed by the Marquis of Barrington, who had emerged from his office.
Normally, one could not enter the Emperor's bedroom without permission. However, since they had been stopping by every day to check on the Emperor's condition, the servants opened the bedroom door without much thought.
The bed was completely empty.
“...What on earth is going on?”
“His Majesty, did he really wake up all at once like this...”
Louis and the Marquis of Barrington simply could not understand the situation.
It is strange that the Emperor, who could not even eat on time, suddenly woke up one morning, and it is also strange that he looked so healthy.
The hair that had turned white returned to its original color in just one day and the body that had been emaciated gained weight and had moderate muscle tone in just one day.
There's no way this could be possible.
But somehow, Louis had no choice but to believe that the Emperor had recovered.
As you can see, the bedroom is empty and the Emperor is in the office.
“Let’s just watch for the time being.”
“I guess that can’t be helped. First, I’ll tell those who have already arrived at the office. For now, pretend not to know.”
***
Three months have passed since the Emperor returned to power.
Louis and the nobles who were loyal to the Emperor now know that the Emperor is not real.
That person, no, that thing wasn't real.
Something 'not human' that pretends to be an Emperor.
'Otherwise...'
The Marquis of Barrington recalled the conversation he had just had with the Emperor in his study.
“There is not enough land for farming in Rydel, so Viscount Yuri suggested cutting down the forest near the lake and creating public land in its place.”
“Do whatever you want.”
"...Yes?"
When Marquis Barrington stopped talking and looked at the Emperor, the Emperor was licking his lips with a serene expression.
“Do whatever you want.”
Marquis Barrington was taken aback for a moment but soon lowered his head.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Now, all the nobles are accustomed to his neglect of politics.
All of the agenda items raised today will be submitted to Crown Prince Louis for review after the meeting ends.
But there was something that made it impossible for him to adapt to the new Emperor.
“More than that, there was no meat for breakfast this morning.”
"...Yes?"
“Who was the chef today? Execute him. It was tasteless. The ingredients were a mess. Where did the beggars outside the castle pick up the garbage vegetables and use them? How can you call yourself the Emperor’s chef when you serve such a dish? Strip him of his title and execute him for daring to feed the Emperor such a tasteless dish.”
“What is that...”
The Marquis of Barrington was speechless with absurdity.
Executing the people or calling them beggars? These are things the original Emperor would never have done.
Yesterday he sentenced to death the secretary who had advised him, the day before yesterday the servant who had merely trembled in fear before him, and the day before that he had sentenced to death the birds in the garden for chirping.
The current Emperor, or rather the fake Emperor, executed people without reason as if he were a murderer who made up an excuse to kill.
That was definitely not something a proper Emperor would do.
That wasn't the only strange thing.
“I saw it yesterday too....”
“Ah, Leather Ball. So you finally saw it? This is...”
The nobles who worked in the palace until late at night would occasionally see the Emperor standing alone in the dark audience room.
As soon as they talk to him, wondering what he is doing there alone, the Emperor suddenly starts behaving strangely, such as jumping up and down in place, giggling, crawling on the floor, turning over and squirming, or standing on a railing and teetering.
There were more than a few people who witnessed this.
The nobles who had been hesitating for a long time were finally convinced.
That is definitely not a human. There must be something inhuman in the Emperor's body.
They need to get rid of that.
Of course, it was impossible to arbitrarily confine or overthrow the Emperor, who was undeniable to the outside world.
Because it could be considered an act of treason while he was reigning as Emperor.
All those who now know that this is not the real Emperor are the Emperor's closest associates.
In other words, they were key figures leading the empire.
No one should be suspected of rebellion and executed.
Louis and the nobles were in deep thought.
“What should I do about this?”
“Is there a way? But I have one question.”
“Question?”
At the words of one nobleman, the eyes of the nobles, including Louis, turned to him.
The nobleman spoke with a serious expression.
“At first, we thought His Majesty was the real Emperor because there was nothing in the bedroom where His Majesty was lying, which means there was only one His Majesty in this castle.”
“Isn’t that so?”
“Then where is His Majesty the Emperor?”
“...”
None of the nobles said anything.
Already the assassination was underway, leaving open the possibility that someone else with the same appearance was impersonating the Emperor, but the body was never found.
Besides, each of them thought in their heads that something was strange, but they couldn't bring it up for fear of being disrespectful to the Emperor.
But as the Emperor's actions continued to go beyond the line, the nobles gathered today to talk, and now they have finally confirmed that this is not a human being.
So what if the Emperor was not killed by humans and buried somewhere, but this was the work of ghosts?
Where is the missing Emperor now? Where did the real thing, whether physical or spiritual, disappear to?
Louis, who had been listening to the conversation that seemed to be going nowhere, spoke as if to sort out the situation.
“For now, I think it would be best to keep this matter a secret. Also, if that body is really His Majesty’s, we won’t be able to do anything about it.”
“Then what should we do...”
“...I’ll try to figure it out.”
Louis said. First, they had to figure out what the cause was, what it was, what the purpose was, and most importantly, where the Emperor had disappeared to, and how to turn everything back.
Even if he stays locked up in the castle, he will just be fidgeting and having pointless conversations with the nobles.
“I’ll take care of it, so for now, you guys just pretend not to know anything and keep watching like you did before.”
They must find a solution. For the sake of their family, for the sake of their empire.
They must bring back the Emperor, their father.
At Louis's words, the nobles each braced themselves with determination.
“I don’t know how you plan to solve it, Your Highness, but we will join you.”
“That’s right. This is a situation that we can no longer tolerate.”
From that day on, the Emperor's loyal subjects began to move.
While Louis took care of the things that the Emperor had left behind, he joined the Adventurer's Guild and began to gather information. Marquis Barrington also began to investigate various strange phenomena through Viscount Delang and his informants.
Other nobles also tried to bring back the Emperor in both material and spiritual ways.
Meanwhile, Louis met someone who might become his savior at the mansion he went to on a guild request.
The Necromancer. It was Simone.
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