Chapter 409: Proclamation Ceremony (4) |
Serena Raxasia, who had fallen silent for a moment in the instantly chilled atmosphere, soon let out an awkward laugh.
“Ah....... well, what I meant was that if I think honestly about Marquis Palatio, at least I never thought he was so unpleasant he ruined my appetite.”
After finishing her sentence, she inwardly let out a sigh of relief at what she considered, even by her own standards, an impressively successful escape from danger.
However.
Unfortunately, the faces of Yutia and Rine, who were looking at her, were completely expressionless.
And so, Serena, who had been silent, spoke again.
“Honestly, I mean—My Lord, no, Marquis—he isn’t someone whose looks would ruin your appetite, right?”
“Yes, yes! Of course I think so too. If you look at him objectively, the Marquis is handsome.”
She nodded fervently as if agreeing with Yutia’s words.
But then.
“Godfather is............... handsome?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Didn’t you say just a moment ago that he was ugly?”
“Ah.”
As Rine reminded her of what she had just said, the atmosphere turned cold once more.
Looking at their faces as suspicion began to fill them again, the princess let out a quiet exclamation.
“No, I mean—if I organize what I’m saying, he is handsome, but he just doesn’t feel that attractive to me personally.”
“So you’re saying you admit that the Marquis is handsome, but you don’t find him attractive.”
What? Didn’t you say you liked handsome people?
You lied?
The two stared at Serena with those exact looks in their eyes.
Serena immediately tried to argue back, but—
“No, it’s not that. It’s just that, to me, he doesn’t really seem that handsome—”
“Ah, so Godfather is ugly and ruins your appetite.............?”
Seeing the expressions of the two, Serena’s vision went dark.
Because she realized it.
That she had stepped into a deadly binary choice with no escape.
“No, that’s not it. Objectively speaking, he is handsome, but it’s just not the kind of handsome that matches my taste.”
“So in the end, the Marquis is handsome, right?”
“Th, that’s right.”
“Didn’t you say that handsome people are your type??”
“No, I mean—handsome people are my type, but—Marquis Palatio’s personality isn’t that great, so—”
“Ah, Godfather’s personality isn’t good?”
“Ah..............?”
Desperately trying to survive, she frantically blurted out excuses, but in the end, the conversation only circled the same place over and over again, and that day—
“Now, listen carefully, Princess. My Lord’s title of ‘Kalannon’—”
Serena received a very thorough education from Yutia and Rine on exactly why Marquis Palatio was handsome, admirable, and a great man.
From late at night until the sun rose.
***
A little more time passed, until there was only one day left before the proclamation ceremony.
The Palatio Marquisate was filled with famous figures to an unprecedented degree.
There were two kings who formed the core of the Allied Kingdom Alliance, and beneath them, countless important figures from various duchies gathered to celebrate Alon’s ascension.
“Brother!”
“Nangwon, it’s been a while.”
“Yes, brother. Have you been well?”
“How has your sister been?”
“Yes. Given the circumstances, she couldn’t come with me, but she’s doing well.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Then, since you’re busy, I’ll take my leave here even though it’s a shame. It seems there are many people waiting to see you.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“I’ll visit you after the proclamation ceremony!”
Watching Nangwon leave the office with a bright smile, Alon let out a quiet sigh, and Evan, who was beside him, spoke up.
“There are really a lot of people gathered.”
“There are.”
“At this point, it’d be faster to count who didn’t come than who did, wouldn’t it?”
“That’s true.”
Alon nodded.
Evan was right. With only one day left before the proclamation ceremony, it really was faster to look for people who hadn’t come among those who had some connection with Alon.
‘The only ones who didn’t come are Seolrang and Karsem, I suppose..............?’
Of course, Alon didn’t feel any disappointment over their absence.
Given the current situation with divine-blood rampaging about, it was difficult enough just to come at all.
Moreover, Colony was still in recovery, and Seolrang might not yet have recovered from the injuries she sustained in the last battle with divine-blood.
“Evan.”
“Yes, Marquis.”
After thinking that far, Alon called Evan.
“Have there been any updates regarding Seolrang?”
“Seolrang? ….Ah, come to think of it, you did say to let you know immediately if there was any news about her, didn’t you?”
When Alon nodded, Evan seemed to rummage through his memory for a moment, then—
“Hmm— as far as I know, there hasn’t been any special news. In fact, I heard she’s doing pretty well.”
“......Is that so?”
“Ah, though maybe because of her injuries, I heard she doesn’t come out of her room very often.”
“I see.”
When Alon accepted that immediately, Evan tilted his head.
“But, Marquis, is something going on with Seolrang?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You seem to have been paying a lot of attention to her lately.”
At that, Alon hesitated briefly.
“It’s not that. There’s just something that’s been bothering me.”
“Something bothering you?”
“There is.”
With that brief exchange, the conversation ended, and Evan, who had been momentarily confused, soon went, “Ah!” as if realizing something, and asked—
“Marquis, now that I think about it, how was yesterday?”
“...Yesterday?”
“Yes. You had dinner with the Princess of Raksas, didn’t you?”
“Well, I did.”
“Did something happen?”
Evan asked with eyes full of expectation.
But at that look, Alon immediately shook his head.
“Nothing happened.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes. Rather—”
“Rather......?”
“It was a bit... strange.”
“......In what way?”
At Evan’s curious question, Alon paused for a moment, then began to speak.
“......It was like......”
“Like......?”
“Like she’d been brainwashed…”
“? Brainwashed?”
At Evan’s stunned question, Alon briefly recalled what had happened yesterday.
In truth, there wasn’t much to recall.
During the meal, they had only exchanged a handful of words at most.
But those few words had left a strong impression on Alon.
‘Does the food suit your taste?’
‘Yes, it’s really delicious. As expected of the Palatio Marquisate’s cuisine, it’s truly excellent.’
‘.....Thank you for the compliment.’
‘No, it’s not a compliment, I truly mean it. The Palatio Marquisate’s food is really delicious. For reference, I also like the scenery of the marquisate, and I really like your statue too. And I also believe that you are a god, Marquis.’
Recalling that conversation, Alon thought—
‘What on earth was that?’
At first, he wondered if she was mocking him.
But when he looked more closely—
Yesterday’s Serena was like a famous foreign superstar who had come to Korea to promote a movie, lifelessly reciting, “I like kimchi, I like BTS, Son X-min is the best,” without any emotion.
“Well, something like that.”
Alon brushed it off.
“I see.”
Evan shrugged, shaking off his remaining curiosity and changing the subject.
“But still, tomorrow is finally the proclamation ceremony.”
“That it is.”
“To be honest, it’s still hard to believe that you’re becoming a king, Marquis.”
Alon felt the same.
His dream had never been to become a noble or a king, but simply to save the Five Great Sins and then live comfortably and leisurely in Rodemil.
‘How did things end up like this..............’
Staring blankly at the darkened sky for a moment, Alon replied—
“Honestly, I feel the same.”
“Are you going to turn in early tonight?”
“Well, that would probably be for the best. The proclamation ceremony is............... from the morning, right?”
“Yes. I checked through Alexion and Sili, and it seems it’ll probably end sometime after noon.”
Alon nodded silently, then suddenly remembered something.
“Ah, come to think of it, are all the crowns finished?”
When Alon asked, recalling that Sili, Alexion, and Deus had been making the crowns, Evan let out an “Ah.”
“Ah, for now, they’re using a crown that was already made.”
“......Already made......? Then doesn’t that mean it is finished?”
“Well, yes, but they said they want to make a crown that suits you even better, Marquis.”
“A crown that suits me?”
“Yes. That’s why there’s been a bit of a delay.”
“Hmm......."
He didn’t know about Alexion, but with Sili’s name involved, Alon felt an inexplicable sense of unease and almost grabbed his head—
“Ah, but they said not to worry too much.”
“About what?”
“They said that even if the crown isn’t finished, all the preparations for a splendid proclamation ceremony are complete.”
“I see.”
“A splendid proclamation ceremony?”
“What did they prepare?”
“I’m not entirely sure myself, but I heard that everyone prepared something. Since it’s your proclamation ceremony, it seems everyone made some kind of preparation.”
At Evan’s continued words, Alon’s sense of unease only grew stronger for some reason.
“For now, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Since it wouldn’t make sense to stop people who had prepared things for him, he nodded slightly and ended the conversation.
And when Alon left the office to go to bed—
In one of the many villas of the marquisate.
“Brother.”
“Sili,”
Deus and Sili were talking.
“So, are all the checks finished?”
“They are.”
“And the issues?”
“There aren’t any. There probably won’t be any problems at all.”
At Deus’s firm nod, as if telling her to trust him, Sili smiled in relief.
Then—
“That’s a relief. There mustn’t be any problems during the proclamation ceremony.”
As she said that, she turned her gaze toward the statue.
A massive statue standing at the very center of the Palatio territory.
***
The morning of the proclamation ceremony.
“Hoo—”
Perhaps because he had gone to bed early the night before, Alon woke up earlier than usual.
He gently stroked Blackie, who was sleeping while purring near his face, then got up and pulled back the curtains as he always did.
“Hmm......."
The view of the marquisate, visible through the brightly shining sunlight, was no different from usual.
The territory beyond the outer walls was as noisy as ever, and the pouring sunlight seemed to breathe life into the entire land.
And the statue standing at the center of that territory was also the same as always—
“...?”
“Huh?”
While absentmindedly gazing at the scenery, Alon naturally looked at the statue he had always considered part of it.
His statue was still standing there.
However, even in his half-asleep state, he easily realized that the statue was different from yesterday.
No—he couldn’t not realize it.
Because the statue’s posture had changed.
From the stance of the North Korean lord, to a normal posture with its arms lowered.
At the subdued(?) change, Alon felt momentarily confused, but—
“......Huh?”
He saw it.
The statue’s hand was slowly rising.
And like a gigantic machine you’d only see at an amusement park, the statue’s raised hand lifted into a pose as if summoning the Dark Black Dragon—
Fwoooosh~!!
Blue light burst forth, blue lightning coalescing and surging upward.
Alon dropped the curtain he was holding.
Shrrrk—
As the curtains fell back into place.
[······Meow?]
[?]
At some point, Blackie had climbed onto Alon’s shoulder, its eyes wide in shock.
Seeing that, Alon naturally recalled what Evan had said.
‘Even if the crown isn’t finished, all the preparations for a splendid proclamation ceremony are complete.’
He silently dragged a hand down his face.
Despite having just woken up, a strange sense of unease once again wrapped around Alon.