The Emperor Has Returned - Chapter 181. House of Peers (2)

‘His Majesty knows of Molo?’

Rhymer was quite surprised by the sudden unexpected situation. Although Molo wasn’t the type to think before he acted, he did not try to meet the emperor in person. He even told Rhymer himself that he secretly asked a servant working at the Imperial Palace to deliver the message.

‘But why is His Majesty’s attitude almost as if he has already met Molo before?’

At that moment, Rhymer was startled to see Molo sweating like a wet sponge. Rhymer quickly scanned the emperor standing in front of them so as not to be rude. The emperor had a head of black hair and was wearing plain clothing. His attitude was rather loose and almost impervious.

If anyone who didn’t know that he was an emperor saw his appearance, they might just think of him as a stranger from beyond the boundary.

“Molo. Don’t tell me that the servant working at the Imperial Palace was…”

Juan walked past Molo and approached the podium. Upon seeing Molo tremble and slump to his seat, Rhymer thought he must firmly ask Molo what had happened after the meeting. The emperor didn’t seem to be in a bad mood, but he couldn’t be sure whether or not the emperor was truly offended by Molo.

“The Chairman.”

“Yes, yes, Your Majesty!”

For a moment, Rhymer, who was sitting in the seat of the House of Peer’s chairman located on the right side of the podium, trembled upon hearing the emperor’s call and ended up kicking the desk with his leg by mistake. Rhymer bit his lips as he did his best to not let out a painful groan.

“So this is our first meeting. I am more than happy to meet the hands and feet of the empire at such a difficult time like this.”

“W-we are also more than happy to see His Majesty again and are praising the return of His Majesty with all our hearts.”

“Is that so?”

Juan simply raised the corners of his mouth into a smile.

Seeing this, Rhymer felt cold sweat running down his spine; he couldn’t figure out what Juan’s smile meant.

Rhymer quickly turned his head to look at the surroundings and check the atmosphere of the House of Peers. The nobles certainly seemed to recognize and acknowledge Juan as the emperor, but they looked quite perplexed by his black hair and appearance which was very different from the portrait they had seen.

“I understand the confusion. I look very different from what you had all expected. Neither do I have a large beard or big muscles, nor am I as tall as shown in the portraits either. There is no brilliant crown on my head, no flaming Sutra, nor the flashing Telgramm. Above all, Barth Baltic who gave me half of my overpowering presence is no longer beside me.”

The nobles remained quiet, but soon laughed in a low voice; they thought that the emperor was making a joke.

On the other hand, Rhymer felt so frustrated upon seeing the reaction of the nobles that he felt like his insides were burning.

‘These idiots. It doesn’t matter whether that man is really the returned emperor or not. What’s important is that he is a man capable of destroying the Church, taking control of the Imperial Army, and moving three hundred Golems to surround Torra.’

That alone would be enough for anyone to acknowledge Juan as the emperor regardless of the truth.

Meanwhile, Juan looked around to check and see if he recognized any of the nobles who filled the seats inside the House of Peers. Just as he had expected, there was a rare face here and there that Juan could recognize as someone’s child, but no one whom he had met before in person.

Most of the nobles in the House of Peers were very young or hadn’t even been born when the emperor had been alive. Even Rhymer, the oldest out of all nobles in the House of Peers, was seeing the emperor’s face for the first time in this meeting because he had been living outside Torra.

Many of the nobles who had served the emperor closely by his side had all either been swept away or driven to the outskirts of the empire during the purge. Even a few who were able to save their own lives had long since retired due to aging.

Seeing this caused Juan to feel relieved; he thought that he might feel sorry if he knew anyone sitting in the House of Peers meeting.

“Then let’s start the meeting,” Juan said.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Actually, we were thinking about preparing a grand banquet rather than a meeting for…”

“I heard that you rejected Hela’s request. Why is that?”

Rhymer bit his tongue in frustration, but Juan waited patiently until Rhymer found his composure. Although Rhymer didn’t think the emperor would be a friendly man, he didn’t expect the emperor to get straight to the point in such a sudden manner.

Rhymer wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead and then opened his mouth.

“Your Majesty. We are your faithful servants. How could we dare to go against your will? We only tried to restrain Duke Henna’s dogmatic behavior because we were worried that Duke Henna might be taking advantage of the chaotic times behind Your Majesty’s back. Please forgive us if our ignorant actions have caused any trouble.”

“As long as Hela stays in Torra, her will is my will.”

Rhymer bit his lips once again. He knew that Hela held an important position, but he hadn’t expected that the emperor would think so highly of her, given that she lost the Eastern Army and had a relationship with Gerard Gain, the one who assassinated the emperor. Rhymer could easily imagine Hela laughing at him with her face which only had one eye.

“Also, I heard that you all took advantage of the chaos brought about by the war to stock up,” Juan said.

“S-stock up—no way, that’s all just a misunderstanding. That was all due to the overly fervent display of loyalty of a few subordinates of some of the nobles. I will make sure to scold them and punish them. We are always ready to bear and share the pain of the people of Torra…”

“Your Majesty.”

At that moment, a noble standing on one side of the meeting room stepped forward, bowed his head and opened his mouth.

“I am Asilpha of the Argyll family. I am willing to give up half of all my property and ready to sacrifice everything for Torra’s rapid recovery at any time.”

Rhymer was perplexed upon hearing Asilpha’s words. The Argyll family was one of the pillars of the religious faction and had enormous wealth gained from siding with the Church.

Asilpha continued to speak with his head lowered.

“My colleagues who share my will have also prepared the same things. Of course, we know that we cannot hide our faults with gold. But I do hope you will be generous enough to acknowledge our efforts and to allow us to reflect on our mistakes.”

As soon as Asilpha finished speaking, several nobles flocked out of their seats and bent down before Juan.

Seeing this, Rhymer scoffed; he immediately recognized Asilpha’s purpose.

‘I was wondering why she didn’t run away, and decided to remain in Torra when she’s from the religious faction. I guess she was preparing to switch sides, huh?’

No matter how much hidden property Asilpha had, giving up half of her property was a bold and painful loss. Yet Rhymer could only nod in silent approval; he thought that this was the only way for her to be acknowledged by the emperor.

It was common for those who were loyal to the previous regime to quickly switch sides when the regime changed. In fact, the emperor was smiling contentedly.

“Y-Your Majesty, we will also donate half of our property. We would like to help support Your Majesty’s will as much as we can,” Rhymer hurried forward.

Rhymer was a step later than Asilpha, but he didn’t think that the religious faction could gain power again by just changing its title. The least he could do was to try and dilute the religious faction’s presence.

Asilpha squinted her eyes and glared at Rhymer. The nobles looked around and hesitated for a while, but soon seemed to have judged that offering half of their property was a loss worth taking.

The return of the emperor was a significant matter. Unless a ridiculous accident happened, and the emperor died again, there was a high possibility that the empire would be heading for stable prosperity.

When Juan raised his hand to stop the rising commotion, the nobles quickly closed their mouths in unison.

“Your wills are noble.”

The nobles smiled in relief.

However, Juan continued with a smile.

“But it seems like you are all mistaken about something. I want all of your properties, not just half.”

The smile disappeared from the faces of the nobles.

***

Rhymer wondered if he had heard something wrong. However, the dead silence in the meeting room was telling him that all the nobles had heard the same thing. The silent whispers among the nobles soon turned into a large murmur.

“You mean all of our properties, Your Majesty?”

“You heard me right.”

“Um, I wonder if you’re talking about the goods that we have purchased a little too much for the war reserve,”

“You mean the stockpile? No. I’m talking about everything including that stockpile, the estates, the bonds, and the money,” Juan said firmly.

Rhymer’s jaw dropped open.

‘He is going to make all of us poor and kick us out?’

“T-there’s no way we can accept that, Your Majesty. Even if you’re His Majesty the emperor, you can’t take away our private properties for no reason.”

“Then I’ll set a new precedent.”

Rhymer wanted to scream upon hearing Juan’s calm words.

Even Asilpha, who was the first to offer half of her property, looked devastated; she too had not expected this situation. Cold sweat started forming on her back.

“Your Majesty,” Asilpha soon opened her mouth; it looked like she had made up her mind. “If you leave us with just enough for me to take care of the Argyll family’s house and brines, I’ll be more than happy to give up all my properties. Please forgive us in return.”

Rhymer wanted to grab her by the collar and ask her if she was out of her mind. However, he soon figured out that the religious faction must have an enormous amount of hidden assets, since they had long been prepared for a situation like this.

The nobles from the religious faction would still be able to live a decent life even after giving up all their properties. But this was not a loss that the other nobles could afford to take.

“Asilpha from the Argyll family. Your will is very noble, but it seems like you have not really understood my words,” Juan said.

“I’m sorry?”

“‘Everything’ includes your lives and your family’s lives. You are all conscripted into the Imperial Army for the time being. It would only be right for the religious faction to stand at the forefront of the war against the Pope. The only way all of you can be forgiven is by shedding some blood.”

Asilpha looked like she had been struck by lightning. On the other hand, Rhymer looked like he had suddenly gained hope. The emperor had just specified ‘the religious faction,’ which might mean he wouldn’t punish the other factions to the same extent.

Meanwhile, Asilpha looked like she had aged ten years in just an instant after hearing Juan’s short words. She already expected that the emperor would come out strong, but she didn’t think he would put this much pressure on the religious faction. She shivered and opened her mouth.

“Your Majesty, my old hand can’t even hold a sword, much less wield one in battle. You can’t take away all our property and kick us out! No sinners have ever received such a great punishment like this!”

“I can see that you have lived a comfortable life.”

Juan strode in front of Asilpha. The moment the nobles doubted what he would do next, Juan grabbed Asilpha’s face.

At the same time, Hela jumped up from her seat, while blood scattered everywhere.

Screaming and the sound of nobles slumping to their seats broke out here and there. Asilpha’s headless corpse collapsed to the floor as it was, while Juan looked around at his surroundings with Asilpha’s blood all over him.

Juan smelled Asilpha’s blood on his hand and frowned.

“This blood is old and dirty. A terrible smell of sin has now filled this room.”

The House of Peers froze with astonishment and fear. Even Hela who came in with the emperor looked surprised; she didn’t expect Juan to be this ruthless.

“I-I can’t believe that the House of Peers has been stained with blood. Su-such a thing wasn’t even done by Barth Baltic…”

Rhymer opened his mouth and stuttered, but Juan did not even spare him a single glance.

“It is very insulting to see all of you try to appease me with just a few coins…”

Juan wiped off Asilpha’s blood from his hand by rubbing it on the nearest noble’s hand as if it was disgusting. The noble was completely frozen by Juan’s approach, then fainted with his eyes rolled over as soon as Juan took his hands off.

Meanwhile, the nobles of the religious faction couldn’t budge an inch.

“All of you have sold my name to rob and insulted my name. And you dare act like you’re showing kindness by throwing away some of the wealth you gained by selling my name?”

“Your-Your Majesty. We just…”

“Argyll, Reila, Dommer, Kaltile, Nelben, Etil, Ilde…”

Juan began to recite the famous family names. Those names consisted of the nobles who were from the religious faction or kept a close relationship with the Church in order to maintain their power. Some of them attended the meeting, while some did not. The nobles whose family names had been called out all turned pale.

“The traitors will all be cleaned up. Those who want to say that I’m being unfair should try to reflect on the maxim that evil grows in silence. My decision will not change. If you have anything else to say, refer to the good precedent on the floor and say it out loud as much as you want.”

The nobles’ eyes turned toward Asilpha’s body which was rolling on the floor.

While everyone remained silent, Juan smiled at Rhymer and opened his mouth.

“And everyone, I would like to thank you all for your donations.”

Rhymer’s complexion paled, and Juan spoke to the rest of the nobles as well.

“Get on your knees and humbly serve the empire from a low position. If you can’t do that, then chop off your legs to do so.”

***

“You seem to have a lot to say, Hela.”

As soon as Juan came out of the House of Peers, Hela followed Juan with a scary look on her face.

“Let me correct myself. It looks to me like you want to give me a slap rather than say something.”

“Then why did Your Majesty, who knows my heart so well, do what you did back there? I can understand Your Majesty seizing the nobles’ properties. But you didn’t have to be so cruel, did you?”

“I thought you were the same as me, and would want to beat up the nobles from the Capital,” Juan shrugged.

“The ways to screw up the nobles can be piled up like a mountain, Your Majesty. They were at a disadvantage, and we have both the strength and the will. There are many ways we can take care of the situation in an easy manner without being blamed if we use reasonable methods. But what Your Majesty just did back there was definitely not one of them.”

“Are you trying to tell me that my way of dealing with the situation was bad?”

“It’s worse than just bad. Your Majesty has now set a precedent. I might have been able to say that what you did was rather delightful if Your Majesty had been a stranger from beyond the boundary. But right now, Your Majesty is the emperor of the empire.”

Juan did not answer Hela.

“What you did back there was not delightful at all, Your Majesty,” Hela’s face looked as if she was about to cry as she continued to talk. “If Your Majesty ends up being in trouble, someone will mention this incident for sure. I’m glad that I’m old enough to die before I will ever get to see that happen.”

Hela left her words and turned around. Juan silently looked at her back which was getting further away from him. Hela’s disappointed words and expressions made Juan feel somewhat uneasy. However, Juan neither stopped her nor regretted what he did.

He had to become a different emperor than he had been in the past. He knew that more and more people would be disappointed in him.

However, there was still a lot of terrible work left for him to do.