Emperor's Alternate - Chapter 9
“Do you know why I named you ‘Winter’?”
“Because I was born in winter, right?”
“No, it’s not that. I named you with the meaning of the boundary between life and death. Ancient philosophers used to call winter the season of hope. I named you with the hope that, no matter what disasters may come, you would miraculously survive.”
I remember my mother explaining the meaning of my name as she sat me on her lap. That memory is still vivid.
‘Words have power, don’t they?’
It has truly become that way.
Outside the window, the snow was falling heavily. I gazed absentmindedly at the snowflakes gently descending. A servant approached me.
“My lady, the Madame requests your presence.”
“At this hour? What could be the reason?”
“The Sixth Prince has arrived.”
“Sixth Prince, here at this time?”
My face hardened for a moment, but fortunately, the servant didn’t notice. The entrance exam for Persi Academy was tomorrow. I nodded and followed the servant as he led the way.
The consort’s residence was strictly off-limits to outsiders. It was a newly constructed building on the ruins of an old grand palace, a gift from the emperor to his mistress. Of course, I had secretly assisted in the process.
I wanted to reclaim the place where my brothers and parents were buried.
The Emperor built a taller, more ornate structure, as if to loom over the ground where so many who had been tangled with the House of Rotea had lost their lives. The most luxurious room in the castle was the one that belonged to his mistress. As I stepped inside the door, I was greeted by a beautiful woman who seemed ageless.
“Did you call for me, Your Majesty?”
“Greet the Prince first.”
“…Greetings to the Prince.”
The prince looked at me, moistening his lips with his tongue as if savoring a taste. This was why I wanted to avoid facing him.
‘The Prince is looking at me with desire.’
Disgust welled up inside me, but I lowered my gaze and reined in my emotions.
“Winter, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Please go ahead, Your Majesty.”
“Until now, there hasn’t been a moment where I didn’t follow your advice. I believed in your intelligence and loyalty. You’ve always advised the Sixth Prince to stay quiet and out of sight. However, I’ve heard that the magical answers you submitted have become the talk of the professors. Do you mind if I ask why you have taken things to this level, when a passing grade in Persi Academy would be enough to make you stand out?”
I hesitated for a moment. I had to speak carefully to make it easy to understand. I needed to pick the right words.
To avoid revealing my emotions, I cautiously replied, “As you know, the most powerful figure before Lecan was the Chancellor Alfred. He wielded nearly as much power as the Emperor himself while serving as the prime minister from the age of 25. During his tenure, the Emperor changed five times, and all of them were to his liking.”
I paused for a moment.
‘It seems that the primary reason for the downfall of the Rotea Ducal House was Chancellor Alfred’s influence on Emperor Teiles I in his decision to orchestrate their ruin.’
In a corrupt imperial court, the Rotea Ducal House’s uncompromising integrity would have made them a nuisance to the Chancellor. He was accused of trying to foment a rebellion, and his name was so dishonored that even now he was treated as if he were an unmentionable disease.
‘My family perished in the conflict.’
As far as I was concerned, he was one of my mortal enemies, but now was not the time for such sentiments.
“… Chancellor Alfred clearly marked the next successor, the legitimate heir, as the target of his plots. He orchestrated the marriage between his granddaughter and the Crown Prince. Until her her suicide note, the Crown Prince and his granddaughter seemed to have a close and committed relationship.”
The Emperor’s private life was far from virtuous, as evidenced by the fact that he turned a married viscountess into his consort. The Crown Prince seemed to have inherited his father’s proclivities, and the Crown Princess, who grew up as the granddaughter of a powerful man, was more self-conscious and jealous than anyone else.
As her husband fooled around with her handmaidens and everyone looked the other way, she grew increasingly insane. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore, and it was only three months ago that she committed suicide.
“A suicide note? I heard she only left a single sentence saying she was sorry.”
“That was a fabricated. The one I was able to get my hands on…was filled with resentment toward Chancellor Alfred and cursed the Crown Prince.”
Even though the Chancellor was a man who treated even his own family as mere pawns, I’m told his granddaughter’s death deeply affected him.
‘He was already in his seventies. Lecan came to the islands just as he was losing strength and his influence was waning. This incident, along with the loss of support from the noble factions represented by the Crown Prince, was weakening his position.’
The Sixth Prince’s low profile has allowed him to survive unchallenged. However, other noble families in line for the throne had been decimated by the Crown Prince’s faction.
Emperor Teiles I, known for being Chancellor Alfred’s staunchest allies, had been poisoned and is now bedridden.
The Chancellor, who controlled the Empire, was also ill and dying. Meanwhile, the Chancellor’s son had joined forces with Lecan, further escalating turmoil within his family. Amidst this chaos, the Crown Prince had fallen out of favor with his external supporters and found himself isolated. With the imperial court in such disarray, the empire’s best and brightest were flocking to Lecan.
But even though Lecan was now the most powerful man in the land, he was still not legitimate royalty.
“We’ve been waiting for an opportunity, and it’s finally here. We can now have both legitimacy and influence. Until now, keeping a low profile was an advantage for survival, but if you are to ascend to the throne, we need to establish your name more prominently.”
The idea of taking the entrance exam at the academy was born from this situation. If they were caught, they would be killed, but if the Sixth Prince did not ascend to the throne, her younger brother would eventually die as well.
This turbulent political climate where there was no alternative to Lecan was almost preferable. Unless the nobles were determined to overthrow the empire and change the imperial line, the Sixth Prince were to appear like a comet, a ray of guiding light in the chaos. The Sixth Prince’s ascension seemed almost certain.
