Chapter 35: The Game

He didn’t need to ask what was obvious; mean,... what else could possibly make this boy rummage through genealogy books looking for marriages between the Korvekar and the Nordkaiser, unless this fool had fallen in love? Was his son secretly a masochist?

So he asked directly, even though he already knew the answer, given the ages of the girls bearing the Nordkaiser name today – most of whom were indeed under fifteen, save for two: one was married and the other was... So he didn’t mind looking at his son with pity and disgust even before he spoke.

"Which one?"

"... . Y-Your Majesty..."

"It’s all right, I won’t get angry."

"... Lady... Roxana."

Yes, that little devil... In fact, she may seem innocent and sweet, like a responsible older sister, but she is the very definition of the word ’devil’... In fact, for some reason, all of Serafim’s legitimate children suffer from some serious mental issues, and it seems he has unwittingly discovered his son’s masochistic tendencies.

"Have you ever been in contact with her?... "

Berthold shook his head in denial, his face turning completely red. Whatever fantasy had sprung to life in his empty head caused his breathing to become so laboured that the Emperor grew concerned and ordered him, whilst splashing water on his face with a hint of anger,

"Breathe calmly."

In any case, it did not even occur to him that his masochistic son might have been in contact with that devil, because even if he had, that girl would not have responded to him—fortunately—so he believed his son.

At first he wanted to reprimand him, but then again... Given the relationship between Serafim and this fool’s mother, he’d been in closer contact with the Korvekar children than any other noble or prince in the Empire, and as a child he’d been a friend... umm, well, let’s be honest, he’d literally been that devil’s plaything, and she’d bullied him.

In fact, his son used to suffer numerous fractures whilst playing with her, but nobody said anything because the boy himself kept it a secret, to the extent that he now suffers from deformities as a result, having often delayed treatment until the situation became critical.

This was also at a time when he himself was still a prince, and this boy held no status whatsoever compared to Lord Korvekar’s daughter

The only thing that gave him some comfort was that, as she grew older, she became increasingly preoccupied with her work and had not left Korvekar for years. Nevertheless, he gave his son one final piece of advice before returning to the subject

"No good will come of you pursuing that girl, Berthold. And before you object and fill your head with fantasies, even if you search amongst the most distant relatives bearing the blood of Korvekar and Nordkaiser, you will never find a suitable marriage. and if you do, you’ll find that the bride and groom have died suddenly for no reason. They’re so obsessed with preventing their blood from mixing with ours that it borders on madness; so perhaps it really is like the plague. Be sensible and don’t act rashly."

"...Yes... Your Majesty."

"Anyway... hah... you’ve made me forget what I was even talking to you about."

"...The game that Dravarius and Korvekar are playing."

"Hmm, at least your mind hasn’t completely gone up in flames yet... there’s still hope of saving you..."

he said with a laugh, which only added to Berthold’s embarrassment, but he left it at that and continued his explanation

"It seems that, for some reason, Dravarius is afraid of a civil war, whilst Korvekar doesn’t seem to mind, even though by all accounts it should be the other way round. but the weaker and more exhausted Korvekar becomes, the more anxious and frantic Dravarius grows for some reason. Yet even in the midst of this anxiety, Dravarius doesn’t seem willing to abandon Nordkaiser for some reason; indeed, in the war that took place four decades ago, Achilleas lord of Dravarius was more tense than Grisha lord of Korvekar, who was actually fighting the war, to the extent that he volunteered to send a thousand of his soldiers and knights as reinforcements; he even provided financial support to Korvekar and pressured the father Emperor to do the same... He looked like a cockroach thrown into a hot frying pan, and the first thing he did was try to secure Nordkaiser’s allegiance, ’I remember ten years ago, when the Second War began in the North, his son Xenophon—who had just become Lord Dravarius—came to me and told me he would support me unconditionally to become the next Emperor, and even after I became Emperor. But he set a condition for me back then... that none of Serafim’s legitimate children should become Korvekar’s next Grand Duke.’

Berthold’s eyes widened in shock... What on earth does that even mean?