The Emperor Who Was Once a Tyrant Returns Chapter 138 : Chapter 138

Chapter : 138

-That duchess wanted to betroth her daughter to Desmond, but when he rejected her, she held a grudge. Start from there.

Jero helped diligently as well. He did not perceive my Magic of Instinct, but he felt an affinity toward mages, and among them, he clicked particularly well with Yolande.

To Vincent, who said he wanted to forget everything and live on after all the abuse he had suffered from Desmond, Yolande told him he was right to do so and that he should. And yet she herself did not forget. She was the one thodically taking revenge on behalf of her husband.

Desmond glared at Rolf and Michelon in turn. Rolf wore the dutiful expression he always did, and Michelon was openly grinning. At this point, Desmond seed to suspect that what had just happened was not rely one of Michelon’s whims, but sothing our faction had planned together.

Of course, it was a misunderstanding. My loyal subjects would never sche among themselves without my knowledge.

“Brother Leontes, this is all a misunderstanding!”

Desmond hurriedly spoke to like that. I stared at him blankly. For a mont, I even considered helping him.

But his abuse was not sothing only Vincent had endured—I had experienced it plenty myself. He had wielded imperial authority thanks to , and he had survived thanks to Alexander, yet he remained ungrateful both before my regression and now.

Those who were rotten at the core only demanded more, insisting that whatever help they received was the respect they were naturally owed. The sort who, if you helped them out of pity, tried to use you like a slave.

‘Villains you must never help until they reflect.’

Before that, helping them only made them more depraved. It created more victims and corrupted society itself.

“Why would I be misunderstanding you?”

When I asked back, Yolande’s choir sang from behind, amplified by Sound Amplification Magic.

“Daughter of Misunderstanding is a lie~ Son of Misunderstanding is a lie~ Nephew of Misunderstanding is a lie~ A trinity of lies!”

The noblewon of the forr Empress Faction wanted to make it unmistakably clear that they were no longer the Empress Faction. They did not even realize they were being guided in secret by Yolande and Jero.

“Ha-ha-ha!”

“Kuhahaha!”

“Ahahaha!”

My brother’s knights were one thing, but now Michelon, Rolf, and Giuliano’s laughter was no less than theirs. So many people burst into laughter that even Desmond’s knight snickered under his breath. Desmond’s cold treatnt of knights who were not of Lauderdale—ensuring that good knights like Rolf did not remain at his side—was one of his own blunders.

“It was your decision. Just as it was your decision to submit to once.”

I continued without pause.

“If you cannot even keep your own decision, how am I to trust you with orders? Do I look foolish enough to command soone who does not even have the ability to obey?”

As I spoke, I stared straight through him.

Here, he could have insisted that he had never ant it. Just as it had been his decision to demand my protection while also flattering my brother and walking a tightrope between us.

But Desmond’s face flushed red, then turned pale, and in the end he kept his mouth shut. He had chosen the tightrope over my protection. He would do this in front of everyone, and then later he would co crawling back to in private, asking for my protection again.

‘Because he thinks I am kinder than the other brothers.’

I thought so too. He simply did not know one thing—that I knew how vile he could be.

Whether they were my siblings or Roncer, I would not hesitate to stain my hands with blood to keep them from harming my country.

I did not want to be the only “good” person, forgiving villains without punishing them no matter how much the people suffered.

I wanted to build a country where goodness was rewarded and evil was punished—so that it would be the people, not I, who could keep kind hearts.

“Desmond is not answering. What are you going to do, Leontes?”

“What can I say? If he experiences the love you have poured only on until now, he will realize just how rciful I have been.”

I answered my brother with a smile.

“Ahahaha!”

When my brother laughed in delight, I turned to Desmond.

“Desmond, take this opportunity to learn obedience for yourself, since you like it so much. Until you prove you have the ability to do it on your own, I will not give you any orders.”

As the blood drained from Desmond’s face, my brother’s laughter grew even louder.

---

Alexander ca sooner than I expected.

That very night.

As dawn neared, I returned to my quarters and went to sleep.

-What, you are going to bed instead of partying? Why? You stay up all night when you are researching magic, but why will you not stay up when you are having fun? You are strange. You are a person—why are you not living like a person? People are finally calling you passionate, and now you are going to act like a baby?

Michelon did not understand. He even committed the outrageous sin of calling a baby, when I was the one who had raised him.

-If you want to sleep, go to my bedroom. No one can approach it without my permission. But who in the world is your partner? This ti it is a proper noblewoman, yes? If you are going to have a court romance, do it properly. You do not have to be quite as zealous as Granduncle, but still.

My brother understood even less.

But I had enjoyed the banquet more than usual—I had played enough. And after playing, I wanted to sleep. I had developed a touch of insomnia from my magical research, so when drowsiness ca, I needed to seize it and fall asleep quickly.

I pushed through everyone’s interference and returned. Even though I told the three banquet fanatics they did not need to co, they still escorted , saying they would go back to the banquet hall once I was in bed.

‘Vincent and Rolf are with , and above all, I am strong.’

Even if enemies invaded in large numbers, I could handle them alone. In truth, even if I wanted to handle them alone, Michelon—who supplied mana—would sense it at once, and Yolande would also sense the mont the barrier over my quarters was disturbed, so they would imdiately move. Through the Throne Magic Circle and Tess, I had developed an artifact that allowed them to move to my quarters from anywhere in the Imperial Palace without needing a Teleportation Magic Circle. Artifact-making was a very good hobby. It was more fun than a banquet—no, as fun as a banquet.

“KRAAK!”

So, when I had finally fallen into a deep sleep for the first ti in a while, I woke when sothing fluttered noisily at my pillow. I was irritated. Soundproofing Magic was always in place so the sounds of my room would not leak outside, but did I need to cast magic to keep the area quiet while I slept as well?

“…Harald, what is all this commo—”

A man in a fur coat stood before . Looking closer, it was not a coat at all, but his beard and hair. Beneath it, a man who looked half-naked flailed his arms.

“Kyaaak!”

“Harald, you are a person now.”

“KAAAHK!”

Harald, deeply offended by my words, swung his arms even wider. Then feathers began to cover his arms, and they slowly turned into wings.

“KAAAK! Intruder! Intruder!”

No sooner had he spoken a couple of human words than he turned back into a hawk. It still took ti for the final tail feathers to fully cover his rear, but—

Thanks to that, I woke completely, and I noticed the intrusion attempt touching my barrier.

‘He used an intrusion-detection nullification artifact.’

An artifact that prevented the barrier from informing its caster about an intrusion attempt. But my barrier allowed intrusions to a certain extent, luring the intruder into stepping inside. If they hesitated outside and fled the mont the nullification failed, I would not be able to catch them and teach them a lesson.

And most artifacts could not exert their full effect against my barrier, which was linked through the Throne Magic Circle and Tess. Even if they seed to work for a mont, that, too, was a trap to draw intruders in.

‘The detection signal only ca after Harald warned . Harald is faster.’

Thanks to Harald, I noticed early—and I even got to watch sothing entertaining.

This intruder, once my barrier bound him like a spiderweb and restrained him, was tearing it apart by force.

In the end, a barrier was a kind of designed Magical Field, woven precisely from strands of mana.

-It is like a basket woven from willow branches. If you weave it beautifully, it becos sturdy.

As my teacher had taught .

So, in theory, it was possible to cut it apart with a blade infused with mana.

In theory.

‘A Sword Master.’

Of course, even if he was a Sword Master, the barrier was mine. I could have stopped him if I wanted. And if I blad it on Vincent, there would be no risk of being discovered. But I wanted to see how far he would go, so I let him. And he truly did force his way in, smashing through the barrier by sheer power.

So that the damage to the barrier would not disturb Yolande and Michelon, who were surely still enjoying themselves, I interfered cautiously with magic that used the bare minimum of mana, blocking their perception while I watched.

My half-brother’s strength was truly astounding. I had weakened the barrier through interference, but still.

‘That was a fine spectacle. I can feel where, and how, I should begin to break through a Sword Master’s power.’

A half-brother appearing at night, as dawn approached, was more entertaining than the banquet. The three banquet fanatics, still partying, had missed a grand show.

Because I blocked detection, even Vincent and Rolf, who had returned with , slept without noticing. Harald must have noticed because animal instinct and a mana-user’s instinct overlapped. Faster than my detection magic—then I should adapt it and put it to use.

‘What on earth did he co here intending to do?’

I, too, was of Armatia’s imperial bloodline. I was not lacking in fighting spirit. If my half-brother had co to assassinate , I would kill him with my own hands. Still, I wanted to hear his last words, so I turned off the barrier’s attack function.

‘And then I will credit that rit to Rolf and Vincent, and grant rewards as assets to the House of Marquess Steiner.’

With that thought, I lay down and pretended to be asleep. The door opened—and in the next mont, the Sword Master appeared beside , as though he had deleted the very ti it took to open the door and walk in. He had even gagged Harald and hung him upside down on the perch on his way in.

His speed was enviable. Since drawing on Michelon’s mana, my casting speed had beco so fast that no other mage could hope to follow it, but close combat against a Sword Master was a different matter altogether. If I defeated a Sword Master, how much faster would my magic beco? I almost felt a sliver of rcy toward my half-brother, who had beco an interesting research subject.

When his eyes t mine, he flinched slightly.

“Did you kill my bird?”

Of course, I knew he had not. Harald was included in my barrier, so if his life were in danger, I would have known at once. But even a brother deserved punishnt if he laid hands on an animal that could not speak. Even when he had been human, Harald’s speech had been clumsy, and now that he was a bird he hated speaking even more. The only one allowed to tornt him when he could not speak was Jero. Ah. Was that why Harald hated becoming human and talking? Because—

“Your hawk is fine.”

Alexander shoved Harald toward my face. Harald’s red eyes rolled wildly. Since the hand holding him was not Jero’s, he was terrified.

I snatched Harald away, stroked him gently, and once he cald down, sent him back to the perch.

“Did you co to kill ?”

“…No. You do not truly think so either, do you? If I had, you would have shouted at once and woken your knights and mages.”

“As for , I only think that a man who suddenly flares up and snatches soone else’s wine and drinks it has a fickle temperant, so I cannot know when he might change his mind.”

“…To be honest, it is not as though I do not have even a little desire to kill you, so I would appreciate it if you stopped talking.”

“Then beg.”

“…I beg.”

When I continued to stare at him blankly, Alexander, leaning against the window fra beside my bed, looked down at and spoke.

“Good. Then be quiet and listen to . As you know, these days my self-restraint is difficult, and I do not particularly feel the need for it.”

I felt the sa. Blood was blood—brothers were brothers. Armatia’s imperial bloodline was too strong.