novel038. Imperial Prince is Heading Out to Enjoy A Festival -1 (Part One)
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The Third Imperial Prince Ruppel stood before a doorway.
He gritted his teeth, but even while doing that, he was also tearing his hair out as well.
After freeing the Seventh Imperial Prince, he hurriedly returned to his private residence located in the eastern section of the palace, out of fear of being reprimanded for his actions.
However, the news waiting for him as soon as he arrived at the residence was regarding the events that took place in the capital, Laurensis, as well as the corridors of the imperial palace itself.
He still didn't know anything in detail. But one thing was for certain – the imperial palace had turned into an ocean of blood.
'I... I merely sprung Allen out of the prison, that's all!'
Could it be... that bastard Allen started a revolt? But if this was true, then news of it should've gotten to Ruppel sooner.
No, there was a higher chance of a different event happening.
From what he heard, the rumours spoke of a 'Vampire hunting' instead. If so, it should be unrelated to what he had done.
He swallowed back the dry saliva in his mouth before cautiously opening the door before him. It led to a luxurious suite. There was a middle-aged woman lying on the sick bed located inside the room, her expression seemingly lost in a daze.
"Mother."
She was the second wife of the Holy Emperor's son, and her name was Rose. She turned her emaciated face to the side and stared at Ruppel."... Oh! My baby! Hurry and come to your mother!"
"I-I'm back, mother."
Ruppel walked over to her then pulled out a chair next to the bed, settling down on it.
"Welcome back, your highness."
He reflexively turned his head towards the direction of the voice. He saw a maidservant in her late twenties, a charming woman with black hair and black eyes, standing by the corner.
She was smiling at him, but the light in her eyes seemed to be a little peculiar.
Ruppel stared back at her as if he'd been entranced, but then someone began gently stroking his cheek to bring his attention back.
"My baby..."
Ruppel shifted his gaze back, only to be greeted by Rose's cold and dispassionate eyes glaring right back at him.
"I've heard about what happened in the capital, " Rose said.
"..."
"Is it true that you freed the Seventh Imperial Prince? And by extension, you're also responsible for the commotion inside the imperial palace, are you not?"
Wasn't his mother lying on this sick bed? How could she have known about these things better than him?
"B-but... Mother, that was..."
Rose abruptly reached out and grabbed a flower vase resting on top of a shelf, then she ruthlessly smashed it against Ruppel's head.
"And I've warned you to keep your head down! I've repeatedly warned you not to get on the wrong side of his majesty! You... ! You! You're ruining everything!"
Ruppel moaned in pain while holding his head. He then stared at his own mother.
Rose, his mother... she suddenly began tilting her head in confusion. Her distorted expression lasted only for a brief moment, as if what happened just now was all a lie. Her face reverted back to that of a caring mother as she looked back at Ruppel."Ah... Ahhh! My baby, I'm so sorry! Your mother deeply loves you. My dear son, Ruppel. My... my first child!"
Rose pushed herself off from the bed and embraced Ruppel.
Meanwhile, his lips clamped shut tightly from what she said just now.
Her mouth might have uttered out 'first child, Ruppel', yet he was the second child she gave birth to, not the first.
Rose always had her first child in mind. Ruppel, being her second child, was more like a 'nameless existence' to her.
"You must become the next Holy Emperor. That's your sole purpose of being born. You understand that, don't you my baby?" Rose smiled with her eyes. It was a truly gentle and warm smile."Only then will his highness, the Crown Imperial Prince, will favour me. Not that lowborn of a b*tch Yulisia, but me."
To her, her son taking the throne of the Holy Emperor was merely a pathway to 'success', a tool of sorts to ingratiate herself to the currently-missing Crown Imperial Prince.
Ruppel clenched his teeth.
Rage went on to distort his expression, but he did his best to stop it from being visible on his face.
He forced a smile on his lips and responded, "Of course, mother. I shall definitely become the next Holy Emperor."
**
After the Vampire hunt got underway, about half of the names on the list were captured or killed on the very same day.
"Now look! Look at these disgusting monsters!"
The Vampires were currently tied down on the capital's plaza.
"These are the heretics who sold their souls to the abominable Vampires in the vain hopes of maintaining their youths!"
These individuals that chose to become Vampires after being captivated by the physical strength and allure of eternal life, finally had their facade of humanity stripped away from them. With their human skins all ripped off, their ugly and contorted faces underneath were bared for all to see.
"The judgements of the gods shall descend upon them!"
Partitions were placed up.
An Inquisitor raised his sickle up high before chopping a Vampire's head off.
The silhouettes were cast on the partition as moving shadows, and this was how the citizens witnessed the beheading.
And then, the corpse began burning in blue flames. It soon turned into ashes, which in turn, also served as proof for all the citizens to see.
However, this show wasn't meant for their eyes. No, it was to make an example to explicitly warn the Vampires that were still hidden out there.
"We're the devout followers that possess the eyes of the gods! No Vampire shall infiltrate our Theocratic Empire anymore. Under the grace of our Goddess Gaia, we shall find all those living a false life and punish them accordingly, " the Heresy Inquisitor spread his arms wide open and loudly declared to the masses."There will be no more places for a Vampire to hide in our land!"
Perhaps to echo his cries, the surviving Vampires currently imprisoned somewhere below the imperial palace desperately screamed.
They were the ideal subjects for human experimentation.
The members of the Crimson Cross fed and injected all sorts of drugs into these captured vermin and studied the ensuing reactions.
One of the 'researchers' commented loudly."To think that we'd come across a chance to collect so many Vampires in one go like this. Thanks to this event, we should soon be able to advance our medical, magical, and alchemic knowledge by a great margin."
Indeed, to the researchers of the Order of the Crimson Cross, these Vampires were seen as valuable lab rats and 'material' for magic research. As these creatures were monsters who could indefinitely regenerate themselves, there wasn't a better test subject than them.
The events that took place in the Theocratic Empire's capital soon spread out to the rest of the continent.
~ul~
The Theocratic Empire has finally found a way to discern Vampires!
~/ul~
This news frightened some Vampires into vanishing without a trace, while there were others who chose to escape to the neighbouring kingdoms.
This Vampire hunting event became yet another opportunity that solidified the Theocratic Empire's position as the continent's only true nation filled with devout believers.
Everything seemed to be plain sailing as far as I could tell.
Almost all the incidents involving Vampires inside the Empire's borders saw a rapid decline in frequency.
I figured that this peace would continue on for a long while. I really did.
"And so, I declare the commencement of the inquisition of Allen Olfolse."
Except... There was this tiny little problem, where I had to go through a trial and defend myself.
**
We were currently inside what looked like a courtroom. And I was standing all alone at the spot where the accused should normally be stationed.
What a relief, though, that I wasn't shackled or anything like that.
In front of my eyes was Archbishop Raphael, acting as the judge of the proceedings, and other bishops that were sitting on either side of him.
On the left-hand side balcony of the first floor was the Holy Emperor himself, Kelt Olfolse, currently perched up on a throne. The right-hand side was occupied by my oldest sibling, the First Imperial Prince Luan – also sitting on his own throne.
"Now, we shall commence with Allen Olfolse's inquisition. His highness the Seventh Imperial Prince is accused of leading a group of soldiers to throw the imperial palace into disarray. This act directly violates the laws of the imperial court, and therefore..."
"How laughable."
Archbishop Raphael lowered the scroll he'd been reading from and shifted his gaze in another direction.
At the end of his gaze was the Holy Emperor sitting on the balcony, his fingers were interlocked and his eyes were glaring back.
"What did he violate exactly?"
The emperor's voice was hushed, yet it carried an undeniable weight.
The archbishop and other bishops visibly shrunk back.
"Your majesty, he mobilised armed forces without permission. As such, the accusation of revolt has been..."
"Those who are within the direct bloodlines of the Imperial Family are permitted to mobilise armed forces in emergency situations."
At the latest response, Raphael turned his head towards the right balcony this time.
The First Imperial Prince Luan sitting on the throne with his hand grasping the hilt of his sword, was glaring down at them. His criticising eyes, seemingly meant to belittle the ones below, were locked squarely on the archbishop and his fellow bishops.
Luan continued on."As such, there shouldn't be any problems, wouldn't you say? Besides, the people in question, his majesty the Holy Emperor and myself, Luan Olfolse, both said it's fine. What could possibly be the problem here?"
The bishops lowered their heads and began sweating profusely as if they were the criminals on trial when subjected under the intense glares of these two men.
"If you find something still problematic, I shall summon the Order of the Crimson Cross here. We can simply confirm this afterwards, can't we? Confirm whether my younger brother indeed started a revolt, or it was actually all of you harbouring baseless suspicions."
The complexions of the bishops grew even paler than before after he said these words. Only a month had passed by since the imperial palace was turned into an ocean of blood after all.
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