I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 220
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“What do you mean by that?!”
The King slammed his chair down with a loud bang. The impact made the vase standing next to it tremble precariously.
“The princess’s wedding is just around the corner! And yet, how could this happen?!”
“Please calm yourself, Your Majesty!”
The aides, sweating profusely, tried to soothe the King, but he remained too shaken to settle down.
“How did this come about?! How could Prince Erius lead a coup?!”
“……”
Crown Prince Viren, who had rushed over upon hearing the urgent news, kept his lips tightly shut.
A coup.
It was unbelievable, and yet he knew there was no falsehood in the King’s words.
Prince Erius of the Empire had indeed rebelled. He had sought to overthrow his sister, who had been named the next Emperor, and take the imperial throne for himself.
Yet he had failed.
Miserably.
‘If he was going to stage a coup, he should’ve at least done it properly…’
Viren clenched his teeth behind his closed lips.
The rebel forces led by Prince Erius were crushed without putting up much of a fight.
From what he’d heard, Erius had been supported mainly by the Empire’s commoners.
‘No matter how large their numbers, using an untrained militia of commoners to challenge the Crown Princess…’
The absurdity of it all left him too dumbfounded to even shed a tear.
In the end, the Crown Princess emerged unscathed. On the contrary, it was Prince Erius who suffered severe injuries.
The Crown Princess publicly executed all the rebel leaders and imprisoned every last one of their followers. Without hesitation, she ordered the immediate execution of her own brother, Prince Erius.
The only silver lining was that Prince Erius had managed to escape her grasp, sparing his fiancée from the disgrace of being engaged to a traitor executed for treason in his homeland.
Prince Erius’s whereabouts were now unknown, and the Imperial Crown Princess had dispatched her agents to hunt him down across the land.
‘Rufus was right.’
Viren regretted brushing off Rufus’s warnings as foolish nonsense. By the time he had finally sent people to monitor Prince Erius, it was already too late.
If only he had taken Rufus’s words seriously from the start and prevented Prince Erius from returning to the Empire, could this coup have been avoided?
“Send envoys to the Emperor and the Crown Princess of the Empire immediately. Make it clear that this coup has nothing to do with the Kingdom of Hevania.”
“But, Your Majesty… we’ve received word that the Crown Princess has already sealed off the border checkpoints.”
Sealing the checkpoints? That meant no one could travel between the two nations. How could this have happened…?
“It seems the Empire intends to sever its alliance with the Kingdom of Hevania.”
The aide, sweating bullets, delivered the grim news.
“Your Majesty… if this continues, all trade with the Empire may come to a halt.”
A chilling silence filled the royal office.
―All trade with the Empire may come to a halt.
The aide’s words were no exaggeration. If the Empire had indeed sealed off its border checkpoints, trade between the two nations would cease entirely.
‘If we truly lose all trade with the Empire…’
The thought was too grim to entertain.
The Empire was a powerful nation, twice the size of the Kingdom, with a freely moving population. Its technology was far superior, and as a result, the Kingdom heavily relied on importing everyday goods from the Empire. Losing access to those resources would create countless headaches.
“Your Majesty.”
A voice broke the cold, oppressive silence like a sharp blade.
It was Crown Prince Viren.
“You must immediately issue an order to capture Prince Erius.”
“Capture the Prince? What do you mean?”
“Do you not see? If things continue as they are, as the aide said, our relations with the Empire will be entirely severed. Before our nations’ ties deteriorate further, we must quickly capture Prince Erius and return him to the Empire to prove that our Kingdom had no part in this coup.”
In other words, by handing over the coup’s instigator, Prince Erius, they could regain the Empire’s favor.
The aides unanimously nodded in agreement. While not an ideal solution, it was the best course of action under the circumstances.
But the King seemed to think otherwise.
“What about Princess Sordid, then?”
“What do you mean, Your Majesty?”
“Let’s assume we send Prince Erius back to the Empire. What do you think will happen to him?”
It was obvious. He dared to rise against the future Emperor, so he must pay for his crime with death.
Hearing Viren’s response, the King furrowed his brows so deeply that his forehead creased.
“You understand that well. Yet you still suggest we capture Prince Erius and return him to the Empire?”
Was the King worried that Prince Erius might die as a result?
Of course, Viren understood too. Sending Prince Erius back alive would lead to nothing good for him. But now was hardly the time to differentiate between hot and cold water.
“Your Majesty, rather than worrying about Prince Erius’s safety, you should focus on the losses this kingdom will face if we sever ties with the Empire—”
“No. I care nothing for the Prince.”
Resting his chin on his hand, the King spoke in a hardened tone.
“But my daughter Sordid is another matter entirely. If we send Prince Erius to the Empire, it’s as good as admitting that I nearly allowed Princess Sordid to be betrothed to a traitor.”
Clicking his tongue, the King slowly turned his gaze toward everyone gathered in the office.
“Speak, if you have a tongue. What do you think will happen to the royal family’s authority if the Princess’s fiancé is branded a traitor to the Empire?”
“Does the royal family’s authority even matter right now?!”
Unable to hold back, Viren raised his voice without realizing it.
Authority, honor, dignity, reputation, prestige—what use were such things now?
The royal family’s authority had long since vanished. It had crumbled in an instant, like grains of sand swept away by a fierce wind, leaving behind only dry bones and shriveled remains.
There was nothing left to lose.
In other words, even the remnants could no longer be lost.
“Did you just say ‘authority doesn’t matter’?”
