As morning came, the vampire duo vanished like the wind. It wasn’t because of the traditional reason that sunlight would melt them, but rather because one was a student and the other a professor. Attending school was a significant reason.
Ivan leaned against the terrace, watching the sunrise. Perhaps due to the cool breeze, sounds of stirring were audible from the bedroom.
“Did you cough?”
“Umm… water…”
Elizaveta struggled to speak with her heavily cracked voice. At the same moment she spoke, the door to the chamber swung wide open, and a maid approached with a water glass in hand, her footsteps clattering.
“…Hmm.”
That the attendants outside reacted even to such a small muttering meant…
Ivan decided not to continue his thoughts for the sake of Elizaveta’s honor.
“I think… I might live….”
Elizaveta nodded brightly with a look of someone who realized nothing. It seemed she then noticed Ivan and fell into a daze.
Elizaveta, wiggling her fingers atop the blanket, immediately flushed and pulled the blanket over her head. It was an act unbecoming of her stature.
“Your Majesty, the meal has been prepared.”
“I have no appetite right now…!”
Elizaveta mumbled as she fidgeted under the blanket. She peeked downward to glance at Ivan and then burrowed deeper into the bedding.
Once, she was a formidable monarch who encompassed the entire shadow of Krasilov, but now she had become the absolute sovereign that encompassed both the light and shadow of Krasilov. At her royal decree, the maids bowed their heads and retreated immediately.
“If you will, my lady….”
“What do you mean, ‘my lady’! No, no…. Ah! Call the physician! Right now!!”
Perhaps recalling something, Elizaveta shouted from under the blanket. As the maids withdrew, a pale hand peeked out from beneath the blanket.
“C-Come here, come here….”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Without saying much, Ivan stepped closer to her. He quietly knelt on one knee five steps away. He presented the perfect demeanor of a loyal subject.
Elizaveta, watching him through the gap in the blanket, suddenly shouted.
“Closer, closer!”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“More!! Ugh…. Banka. Are you mocking me right now…?”
“…?”
“Turn around and come closer!!”
As Ivan turned his back and sat down, an arm draped over his shoulder. After fumbling around for a while, the arm quickly wrapped tightly around his neck.
Instinctively, he prepared for an assassination, but the tension in Ivan’s neck muscles was not subjected to any significant force. Instead, a weight of about 40 kilograms settled onto his back.
“My legs are weak, and I’m having trouble moving. To be honest, I don’t know if it’s my legs or my back that has given way…”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I want to get some fresh air. You may stand up.”
Elizaveta’s voice was unusually whiny. It was hard to imagine that this tone belonged to the Iron-Blooded Riza, who had annihilated dozens of houses overnight.
Ivan silently endured her presence. As they approached the window, a cool morning breeze from Prichenkaya brushed through, ruffling his hair.
“Banka.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Speak as you did yesterday during times like this. Do I have to command you even for such trivial things?”
“…Elize.”
At his response, their conversation paused again. He felt her toes lightly tapping around his waist. After much grunting, Elizaveta regained her composure.
“Krasilov prohibits marriages across social classes.”
“Hmm.”
“There is no noble title in your legal position. The Yeremov family has an existing baron in the northern colonial territories, but you are recorded as the third son of Baron Yeremov.”
“…”
Ivan faced the wind without answering. Elizaveta’s voice continued to murmur in the meantime.
“When observing succession through marriages across social classes, there is no right to inheritance. In other words, it means that royal blood does not continue.”
“Hmm.”
“To that end, I distributed the authority of the royal family. Do you know? Last year, when the coup was successful for the first time… I announced a Kalion-style constitutional monarchy.”
The royal family of Krasilov can no longer reign above the law. The reason no royal family members resisted this is simply that all of them physically vanished afterward.
The nobles did not oppose Elizaveta’s command to distribute authority. They were not fools and understood that the actual power remained fundamentally similar to absolute monarchy.
Although the administrative, judicial, legislative, and military powers were all divided, Elizaveta still kept them all in her grasp. It was even more evident that the Counterintelligence Command was her direct agency, and she approved all operations of the Counterintelligence Command.
However, such authority could never be inherited. Explicitly or implicitly.
“As the divine right of blood has disappeared, my descendants can no longer inherit the same rights I hold. Once my reign concludes, it will inevitably transform into a true ‘constitutional monarchy.’”
As history accumulates among the nobility, such as the administrative aristocrats, the authority of the ruling royal family, which reigns without explicit power, will collapse like a sandcastle.
Elizaveta was fully aware of this yet proceeded. It was evident, from a macro perspective, that it was a plan aimed at severing the royal family’s limbs.
“You may call me a selfish monarch. I act solely for my own happiness.”
“Eliize.”
“No, it would be better not to call me that right now. It carries too much destructive power.”
Ivan does not question Elizaveta’s command. The reason the theory of divine right of kings prevailed is because it can be observed that gods and kings share similar MBTI traits. Both are capricious, and both can deliver divine punishment.
“Banka, my father was incompetent. He was feeble, a reed-like figure, yet despite that, he had overflowing ambitions for power and wanted to give everything to his son, even though he himself was wary.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“However, my grandfather… the late king did not behave this way. And to be honest, my older brother was also someone not easy to consider capable. What do you think I felt upon witnessing this?”
No matter how great one’s lineage, no matter how remarkable an individual may be, their descendants cannot also be great.
“If it were not for this situation, there would be no problem. If the nobles, the families, and the administrators are competent enough, isn’t that enough? If capable people are holding checks, a monarch’s incompetence cannot lead to national downfall.”
But the demon king has arrived, harvesting competent, great, and kind people first.
Thus, what remains are the maggots that burrow into the power vacuum left over the corpses after heroes have fallen.
“In the midst of all this, I succeeded in the succession of the throne. In the process, I buried everyone who followed my brother and was able to grasp that power in one hand. To be frank, at that moment, who could have opposed me even if I were to engage in the most debauched of acts?”
“…”
“However, I did not do so. I did this not for my own happiness but for Krasilov. A monolithic power structure that is incompetent will inevitably collapse… In such a malformed state, absolute monarchy is a poisoned chalice.”
If she can wield all rights and ascend to the throne at a point where royal authority surpasses legislative power.
However, if her descendants are incompetent…
If the local warlords and aristocrats are collapsing to the point where they cannot keep in check the incompetence of such descendants…
“The eradication of the noble families is my achievement, and thus I should bear the consequences of it, shouldn’t I?”
“…Your Majesty.”
“Doesn’t my statement remind you of something you’ve heard before?”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Indeed, I am that selfish.”
Ivan closed his eyes as he listened to Elizaveta’s words.
That statement—that an incompetent ruler should not determine the fate of the nation—was entirely aligned with Alexander’s argument.
Therefore, her ousting of her brother and taking his place was not because there was a better alternative or she had a superior ideological stance.
It was simply for survival. If the crown prince were alive, she would have had no choice but to die. She was confessing that this was the reason.
And to say this to the man who had marched towards certain death upon the crown prince’s orders, the one who had lost all his comrades and returned, and ultimately killed the prince himself, was akin to a grand confession. Essentially saying, “I am no different than my brother.”
“Vanka. Even so, can you pledge your loyalty to me?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Is that because you are the only blood relative of the late king?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
Ivan shook his head firmly.
“The blade does not distinguish the goodness or evil of the hand that holds it.”
“Should policies and ideologies be judged differently from the morality of the ruler?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Then how could I not cherish you?”
With that, Elizaveta chuckled softly. She gently brushed Ivan’s tousled hair and spoke.
“Since you’ve shaved your beard, why not tidy up your hair as well?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, then other troublesome matters will arise. Forget my suggestion.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Have you acknowledged that you are quite popular?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
“…I often find myself curious about the range of vocabulary you possess…”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“It’s maddening.”
Elizaveta laughed playfully and continued her conversation with Ivan. It was a morning sunlight gently warming the terrace.
*
“Let me out!!!”
Ecdysis shouted as he banged against the iron bars, just like any other day.
A soldier approached with heavy steps and silently unlocked her cell.
“…Huh? Out of nowhere?”
“Aren’t you asking to be let out?”
“Uh…?”
Amidst the confusion, Isabel, who had been meditating cross-legged, suddenly looked up.
“We’ve been had.”
“Huh? What? What do you mean by that?”
“You’ve just put a gloss on it… Hehe.”
After robbing the palace fifteen times in three weeks, they’re now being let out? The intention is too obvious to question.
It means they’ve already won. It signifies the composure of the victor.
“Gloss… over…? No way…!!”
“That’s right, Eshi. We’ve been pushed back.”
“—!!”
Eshidis began to silently scream. Nevertheless, Isabel rose with a cold expression and lifted the fallen Eshidis back up.
In the dark and gloomy prison, her figure turned away from the flickering torchlight was truly an inspiration for the hero.
“But Eshi, isn’t it our mission to seek out the morning star even in despair?”
“…Yeah…?”
“A hero’s true calling is to break through in defeat. As long as we can fulfill our objective, the ebb and flow of the situation doesn’t concern us!”
So don’t just lie down and take it!!
With Isabel’s piercing gaze, Eshidis nodded with a stern expression and grasped her hand tightly with trembling fingers.
“Anyway, I can’t stay stuck to the king of this nation forever! Have you forgotten? I’m also part of the hero party!”
“Th-thats right! There’s still a chance…!”
“Yes! As long as we don’t give up, the opportunity will definitely come back. Are you going to give up just because you fell a little behind? How can you call yourself part of the hero party like that!”
“That’s not wrong… is it?!”
In the grand atmosphere, where it felt like they would swear brotherhood if there were a peach tree around, Elpheira quietly shook her head.
“Seriously, you guys are fooling around.”
Hero party, release!
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