Cesare understood.
He frowned, realizing that this wasn't the first time he'd felt dazed, like he'd been in a deep sleep.
'How much time has passed?'
He stumbled and landed on the floor as he tried to get up. His senses were jumbled.
'Shit.'
He opened and closed his hands to check the residual sensation left by the divine punishment.
His mind was constantly searching for the last memory.
‘Punishing Leniard’s rebellion...'
After the old man's face turned pale and a red light enveloped him...
'Another divine punishment has occurred.'
He could not tell when this evil power, called the divine punishment and the black magician's trick, would be activated.
Cesare scanned the room, his lips biting away the aftereffects of the divine punishment still lingering on his body.
There was something left next to where he had been lying.
One small emerald earring.
It was something he had once given to Medea.
'How overwhelmed she must have been while I was losing consciousness again.'
As it was right after the Emperor's death, the pressure from within and without would have been even more intense.
Cesare stood up, holding onto the bedpost.
The guilt of having once again left Medea to deal with this crisis alone choked him.
"Damn it.."
At the same time, she felt a strange sense of anxiety.
She couldn't figure out what this melancholy anxiety was.
It seemed like he would only go if he met Medea directly.
He strode out of the bedroom.
The reception room he entered was gloomy.
The sun, high in the sky, was trapped in the clouds, making the space even darker.
As if a storm had just passed.
"..."
He felt a presence, as if the divine punishment had not been able to kill the beastly spirit of the disciple.
Cesare walked towards him.
Instinct to unconsciously kill the sound of his footsteps and his presence was something he had learned from the fierce life he had lived.
Behind the blind spot door on the corridor side of the welding room, he sensed the movement of three or four people.
"So...! ...that's how it is, right?"
He heard muffled voices that he wouldn't have heard if he hadn't listened closely.
"...I didn't know that Her Highness would not take us with her and would tell us to stay by His Highness' side."
As the distance got closer, the voice became clearer and clearer.
"What, you thought I'd be here instead of the cathedral?"
Tap tap. The sound of impatiently tapping feet reached my ears. It was Gallo.
"What if he is deliberately trying to separate us? Marquis Leniard, that old man. He has been anxious ever since the time he was told to go and get Rachel!"
Medea, during today's coronation, had the Agemas accompany her instead of leaving Cesare's strongest mercenaries at the secondary palace.
For her, it was to protect Cesare from any enemies who might come after him, but for Gallo, it was more unsettling.
"Oh, why won't Brother Terence even give me a hint?! More than a few people are eyeing Her Highness right now!"
"Theo, are you referring to that knight? He told Her Highness that he would take responsibility for her and her child for the rest of her life, so let's leave Katzen. How dare you?"
Alpha was forced to do this.
"...That guy, his eyes have always been weird when he sees Her Highness. The knight's asshole, if the boss finds out, he'll be the first to see the god."
Gallo grabbed his head, his straw-colored hair a mess.
"Damn it, the Count of Kensington has even created an escape route. If the time comes, he will take Her Highness and escape."
Gallo felt a strong sense of betrayal after learning of Kensington's arrangements for Medea.
"But even though we are both Katzenians, how could the Count hit us in the back of the head like this!"
"Now that the Emperor of Valdina has come, what good will it do to block Lord Kensington's way out?"
Then a cold voice was heard. It was Zeta.
"Her Highness's older brother said he would take the baby and raise her as Valdina's grandson. He had already decided on Valdina as the new partner for Hwr Highness. Then, as if he had been waiting for it, Valdina's prime minister presented the divorce papers."
"That's ridiculous! Cesare is still alive and well, so how can he be Her Highness' next opponent!? And you just sat there and listened?"
"...There was a fuss going on here about bringing in a new woman while leaving Her Highness behind, so how could I dare say anything about it?"
Zeta seemed resigned and gave a long, nonsensical answer.
"Even if Her Highness were to eventually give up everything and leave, I wouldn't be able to blame her. We've all seen how Her Highness persevered."
There was a brief silence after those words.
Because everyone here knew how heavy the burden Medea was carrying right now was.
"Can't we just hold on until the boss wakes up? This is driving me crazy. I can't even afford an all-out war with Agemas."
"For now..."
Alpha shook his head at Gallo, pressing his throbbing forehead.
"...You must carry out the orders given by Her Highness. After the coronation, you will know Her Highness's true intentions."
"..."
"Let's talk about it when Cesare wakes up. Don't be too hasty~"
It was then.
"Tell me."
Everyone suddenly turned their heads toward the cold voice.
Cesare was standing.
"Bo, boss...!"
Their eyes widened for a moment, and goosebumps ran down their spines.
"Is there anything else I should know?"
Because the fire was burning brightly in the blazing gold.
***
Dagdak. Dagdak.
The untimely sound of horse hooves echoed through the city streets.
“Hey!”
"Be careful...!"
People fled, overwhelmed by the momentum.
"Who the hell is that crazy guy!"
A black horse moved away through the thick dust.
"Are you going to the cathedral?"
"The coronation must have already started, right? Seriously. Then you should've left earlier. Even if you rushed there, the gate would've been closed, and you wouldn't have been able to get in. Ugh."
Everyone clicked their tongues.
At that moment, a man on the street tilted his head.
"What's wrong with you? Did you bump into something?"
"Ah. No. But, wasn't the person riding the black horse that just passed by His Highness the First Prince?"
"Hey, there's no way, why would he do that now, what nonsense!"
“Be careful!”
Tap tap tap!
Not even a moment later, before they could even begin to notice the commotion, another group of horses shook the ground.
"...What on earth is going on!"
Dust once again blew over the faces of those who shook their heads.
"Boss, wait a minute, listen to me..."
Gallo hurriedly followed behind Cesare.
However, it was not enough to keep up with the speed at which the horse and its owner ran as one, like a whirlwind.
"Captain!"
Alpha grabbed Gallo's shoulder as he almost fell off his horse.
"Now that the lord has awakened, isn't that enough? The coronation is already underway. We can stop that fake oath!"
"You didn't see it!"
Gallo shouted.
No one can stop the state of Cesare, and no one can dare to predict what will happen.
He clearly remembered the time during the Continental War when Cesare's golden eyes, which rarely wavered, turned crimson with madness.
"Dea, is she at the coronation now?"
"I mean, his eyes were half-open like that time."
That nightmarish time when the sky above the front line was turned upside down.
***
Cesare's face was as fierce as the north wind all the time he held the reins.
Blood seemed to spurt from every vein in his body.
Is this because of divine punishment?
It wasn't clear whether it was anger at those who dared to look down on his wife while he was away for a moment.
"...These.”
The cool voice made him feel alive.
He didn't know. From the beginning, they were the ones he was wary of.
He had long since discerned what lay between the hatred and awe he harbored toward Medea, concealed beneath the guise of a paladin named Theo.
Jason, that damned bastard, and the illusions of the past that he can't let go of.
Sissair, even the emotions he had swallowed, never crossed the line between being a ruler and a subject.
Cesare was fully aware of it. He just didn't say it out loud.
'Who would like it?'
Because he didn't want to make Dea even aware of their existence.
But, while he was away for a while, someone quickly took his place.
Even Kensington.
He even tried to take away Medea and his child.
As soon as the spark of gentle anger was ignited, it spread into an uncontrollable fire.
All he could think about was them snatching his wife away from him. What if I had died like this?
In his heart, burning anger and anxiety were intertwined.
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