Chapter 92: The Battle for the Throne (3)

"Speak! What does my mother have to do with any of this!?" yelled Alexandros, agitated. Of all the reasons and excuses he thought his uncle would come up with, this was the one truth he did not expect.

Valencia Allmore Centinni was the name of his mother.

"It was twenty-one years ago," began Rodriguez, his voice soft and gentle. "I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. It was on the Fourth Month of that year when my father, your grandfather, handed my brother and me a task; to quell the flickering embers of rebellion."

"We journeyed in haste to the northern city of Torcan, the place of origin of the anti-imperial propaganda. And it was there, that I met her for the first time. I fell for her at first sight."

"My mission, my duty, my responsibility… everything flew out of my head after seeing her. In my head, except her, there was nothing!"

"I fervently courted her… I was like a drowning man catching sight of a distant ship. Days passed into weeks and turned into months when I finally succeeded in winning her heart. I confessed that I wanted to marry her and she replied with her consent. At that moment, I was the happiest man in the world."

A dark haze overcame his eyes as his tone fell to become sombre and dark.

"Alas, my happiness wasn't to last. My behaviour over those few months had disappointed my father, and with my brother pouring oil into my father's ears, his disappointment only grew worse."

"When I informed my father of my proposal and asked for his blessings, he angrily cursed me. I received his curses with patience, however, when he started cursing her, I couldn't tolerate him any longer. I cursed him back."

Rodriguez inhaled deeply before exhaling sharply. His voice grew more detached as he continued. "For the crime of lèse-majesté [offending the monarch], I was stripped of my status and inheritance. The following day, my brother was announced 'emperor-in-waiting,' and I was banished to some corner of the empire."

"Yet, it did not matter to me. Kingship had never interested me in the first place and with my father's decision, I felt relieved of a great burden. I was finally free."

"Carrying great joy in my heart, I rushed back to the home where we had promised to meet. She wasn't there. I waited, thinking that perhaps she had been delayed by some affair. I waited and waited and waited. I waited for an entire week."

"The following week, I was informed of my brother's marriage. His bride: the woman that I so dearly loved."

"I was shocked, angered, and betrayed. I rushed back to the palace atop a horse and demanded from her the meaning of her actions. At first, she refused me; however, soon she confessed to me the truth."

"On the day that I went to speak with my father, my brother appeared before her and tried to force himself upon her. She desperately struggled but eventually failed. He claimed her that night and managed to impregnate her."

"Hearing the truth, immense hatred coursed through me. I wished to run up and slay that immoral bastard at that very moment. However, she stopped me. She told me that he was now the father of her children and that she did not wish for them to grow up fatherless."

"Her heart had changed and mine had shattered." Saying this, he paused. He stared at the floor, hiding his gaze from others.

"Even though my heart had shattered, my love for her had not waned. I yearned to hear her soft breaths. I craved to feel her inside my warm embrace. I wanted her to know of my unfaltering love and for her to love me back."

"I threw away my pride and went begging my brother. I pleaded with him again and again and again. He threatened to disown me and have me killed, yet I did not care for it. She was originally mine and I wanted her back."

"Months passed and she soon gave birth to her first child; a daughter. Seeing that child, I was shocked to find a splitting image of her mother. Once again, I pleaded with my brother, and yet, I was heartlessly denied once again. Alas, my patience had waned."

"I went to her that very night and asked her to leave with me. I told her that I had secured a place far away from this continent; a place where we can peacefully live out the rest of our lives."

"She listened patiently until I was finished talking. Then, she gently said, 'If you love me, please let go of me.'"

Rodriguez caught his breath. His face seemed to age by a dozen years as he recalled that distant, painful memory. The ministers and guards stood silent and dazed, shocked by the reveal of this unexpected history.

Alexandros, on the other hand, wore an expression of intense disbelief on his face.

A few minutes of silence later, the newly-crowned emperor continued his story. "I loved her and therefore, I respected her choice. I stayed away never to bother her ever again. Years later, you were born after a difficult labour. The difficult birthing had taken a toll on her body, and after eight years of sickness, she passed."

"After her passing, I was no longer bound by my promise to her. I let go of my grasp over the pitch-black festering hatred within my heart. There was now a bottomless hole inside my heart, and I would fill it with revenge."

"I schemed to divide the empire; I succeeded."

"I plotted to kill my brother, the emperor; I succeeded."

"I removed all disobedient vassals and replaced them with those with faith; I succeeded."

"And finally, I aimed to have you killed; curiously, I failed for the first time."

"It was from this first failure that my plot began unravelling. Your unexpected survival and subsequent return to the capital threw a wrench in my plans. Your successful campaign against the younger brother of the traitorous duke filled me with disbelief and the sudden siege of the capital by the traitorous duke almost saw me passing before I could accomplish my revenge."

"Here you are once again; leaping out of my calculations and surprising me. I never once thought that you would run to enlist the help of the savages in the north. Consider me, thoroughly astonished."

"You grew against my calculations and amassed a power that is much too great. I admit; I have lost and you have won."

"However, even though you've won and will soon assume the throne of the empire, know this," Rodriguez scoffed. "You are the heir of an immoral bastard; a bully and a scoundrel that took pleasure in bringing misery to others."

"With such a person as your father, how do you think you will fare in the eyes of others? How will you fare in the eyes of history?" After saying that, he returned to take his seat on the throne. He rested his head upon his right hand and levelled a judgmental gaze upon the young Alexandros.

Alexandros stood with his head lowered and fists clenched. He harshly bit his lips and used that pain to clear his head of the complicated thoughts. After what felt like forever, he hoarsely ordered. "Capture that man and imprison him in the palace dungeons. Place these ministers and guards under house arrest."

The Hielanders obeyed and Rodriguez was soon removed from the throne. The screaming, struggling ministers and guards were also cleared, leaving Alexandros all alone inside the royal hall.

He had won. The throne was now his. However…

"Why does victory feel so shallow?" His voice echoed answerless within the grand halls of the imperial palace.

---

After announcing his victory, Alexandros shut himself off inside his study. He refused to meet with anyone or give any orders and chose to isolate himself.

Unsure of how to proceed further, the Hielanders stuck to their previous orders and maintained marital law over the city. The celebratory mood of the city had thus turned deathly and hostile.

Unbeknownst to anyone, a grand army numbering one hundred and twenty-thousand in numbers (120,000) was marching toward Caroxtel City after circling around the territory of the Scarlet Demon Army from the north. They would arrive at the gates of the city in just three weeks.

This was the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction.

The armies of the South Aislan Empire lay fragmented and scattered in the south, their generals still unaware of the events that had occurred in Caroxtel City. These men still awaited the arrival of the true emperor, Alexandros Centinni, and were waiting to pledge their allegiance to him.

Wuzhi, who could be considered the strongest support and pillar of the boy emperor, was still heading towards the Port City of Éclair in a bid to secure the Hodgepodge faction's support for the empire. He was wholly unaware of what had occurred at the capital city and still retained the belief that the boy emperor would perform appropriately and consolidate the armies of the empire before the final battle.

But alas, of all the situations and unexpected events that he had considered, Wuzhi had never thought that his prized muse would unexpectedly fall into depression, losing his will to do anything.

It was in this moment, when dark clouds had gathered over the empire and its moment of defeat was nigh approaching, that an unlikely person stepped up to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Later in the future, when historians compiled the history of the empire and the war for unification, they would agree in unison that this was the defining moment that reversed the momentum of the South Aislan Empire.

And the unlikely hero, or rather heroine that spurred this change was… Little Maid Tia.