Valerian, The Legendary

172 Borrowed Knife (2).

The people were shocked, the soldier attacking the prince was not in the plan. Thales stood up in fright. He was greedy, but he was not a fool. He knew the implication of this. If the prince died in his royal palace, the Lumen Empire will charge at them and despite their benevolent nature, they will slay everything that lay in their path.

The soldier was carrying a spear, and when he reached the attack range. The soldier stabbed the weapon directly at the prince’s throat. General Un shouted, “Your Highness!”

Suddenly, the stab came to an end, and the soldier shrieked. The spear in his hand fell on the floor with a clang. General Un took hold of that soldier from the back of his neck. He was just about to snap the neck of the soldier, when a voice sounded, “General Un, wait a second.”

The general was surprised to hear that someone will recognize him and then he recalled prince Valerian. He was supposed to be here but not inside the palace. Valerian walked inside the court with the Empress and an old man beside her. The people were surprised, to see the empress walking over.

The Emperor saw the old man and then he exclaimed, “Your Grace,”

The people were surprised to see the old man being addressed like this, and then they looked carefully at the old man, their gaze fell on a token tied to the waist of the old man. The people were surprised, they all bowed to the old man in respect.

Gelacimus did not stop or acknowledge their bow, he stepped forward to stand in front of the emperor and said, “Where is your Imperial Seal?”

The emperor was flustered but then he took out a rectangular golden ingot from his storage bag. The old man snatched the golden ingot and said, “From now on you are not fit to wield the title of the emperor.”

The courtroom was stunned, the old man had come to drop a bomb and this bomb shook the foundation of their hearts altogether. They never expected the old man to say such a thing. Just when the people or the emperor were about to question his declaration.

.....

Gelacimus said, “Dagger Units, come forward.”

Dagger Units were the secret forces of the Sepiantia Empire, they were akin to shadows of the Lumen Empire. The only difference was that these units were simply dedicated to the Imperial Guardian. They will follow all the orders of the Emperor but if the Imperial Guardian tells them to kill the same emperor, they will do so.

Seven figures appeared in the royal court, all of them wearing black clothes with red streaks on their shoulders. Only their eyes were visible to the people in the courtroom. The aura was baleful to everyone. Everyone was surprised by their appearance, and Ignis cast a gaze at Valerian, as he asked with signs, ‘How?’

Valerian replied, ‘Stoke of luck. Watch the play now.’

The figure leading the seven guards asked, “We await your command, your grace.”

Gelacimus nodded and said, “Take everyone who favored the alliance with the Valkyrians, along with the former emperor, and gather them to the square in front of the palace.”

The people were shocked and some even started begging for mercy.

“Your Grace, it was because of the Emperor, it was because of his persuasion.”

“Your grace, have mercy, please.”

The maximum number of officials in the court were all commoners. The dagger units did not wait and the operation commenced. The imperial protector was here to clean the palace. Gelamicus turned to look at the military supreme, who took out his sword and placed it on his own neck as he said, “Your Grace, I failed to uphold the virtue and gave into the moment of Temptation, I wish to take my own life.”

Imperial Guardian said, “At least, someone showed some character. You do not have to kill yourself, I will suffice with either of your limbs.”

This was a statement of great amnesty, and the general bowed his head, and then he waved his sword to chop off his left hand. This guy was a warrior, he did not let out a single sound, and the cries died down. The general chopping off his arm was enough to shatter the hopes of amnesty.

The rule was simple, if you dared to own your sins the Imperial Guardian will give you a second chance, but if not, then you all should die. Thales did not even know how he was taken out of the courtroom. Gelacimus turned around to look at the remaining people and said, “If I found that something like this happened again, I won’t mind killing you all to clean the house.”

The people bowed, and Gelacimus said, “The next person in power will be your Empress...”

His proclamation was yet to come to an end when a voice interrupted him, “Your Grace, please wait.”

Ashlyn walked inside the courtroom, and behind her was her handmaiden and a burly man in soldier armor. The people were confused, but Stephanie, who knew the identity of this man was shocked, her body was trembling and her face was pale.

Gelacimus did not like to be interrupted and asked, “What is it?”

Ashlyn bowed and said, “Your grace, I have just discovered that the empress has committed the sin of adultery and carries the seed of her sin.”

BOOM

The statement shook the officials to the core. They did not expect something like this to come to their attendance. Let alone say anything, they did not even know how to react to this statement. Gelacimus opened his eyes wide and said, “How dare you!!!”

Ashlyn was mentally prepared but she was still shocked by the sudden outburst of the the old man. The strength of the magnus magister burst out and the court was shaken, some officials were so scared that they even fainted. Let alone the officials, even Valerian and Ignis were shocked.

The old man asked again after calming down, “Do you understand what you are saying?”

Ashlyn raised her head, and while looking in the eyes of the Imperial guardian, she said, “Your Grace, in the crime of murdering kin, not only Thales, but even his wife, Stephanie, is equally responsible. They murdered my parents, and took usurped the throne. Later when Thales’s ambition grew big, he allied with Valkyrians.

Those berserker people, who were kept at bay at the cost of thousands of brave souls of the nation. He hid the fact that my real parents were dead from my sister and me till a few day’s ago. It was only then, when I discovered the empress to have an illicit relation with the guard at her service.”

Then she turned around and gestured at Sylvia who said, “Go on, tell them what happened between you and the empress.”

Everyone trained their gaze at Stark. This man would decide if the Empress was going to live after the session or not. Stephanie was looking at the scene in a daze, she was aware, if she did anything out of order, it will be killing herself. She could only wait till the old man asked her.

Stark nodded and stepped forward, he said, “Your grace, my name is Stark Mund, I am a guard on the Empress’s security detail for the past seven years. One time the empress was out to tour the empire when we were attacked by the assassins. They used a certain type of poison that made her feral and to calm her down, intercourse was the only method.

I did what I had to, later we started to do it for pleasure as the Empress told me that the Emperor was injured by his elder brother during his final fight and he was unable to meet her needs. However, later I realized that she has fallen in love with me, just like I had. This child, she carries, is mine.”

The people were shocked and they could not help but cast a questioning gaze at the lady. Gelacimus did not turn to Stephanie, he did not ask her to clear things out and took out a small mirror from the magical storage bag tied to his waist.

He channeled his mana through the mirror and said, “This artifact is called kin mirror. It was passed down by the ancestors of the royal family to all the generations of the imperial guardians. To assure that the pedigree of the royal family is untainted by sins. It is fine for a human to love someone other than their wedded partner. However, once you have someone else in your heart, you must break all bonds and walk away.

The royal family will not tolerate any betrayal. Adultery is the biggest taboo, those who commit it do not have the right to be called humans.”

Then he sighed and said, “Cognuscus.”

The spell was activated and the mirror glowed. In the void above the mirror, faces appeared, and only three people appeared. Adele, Ashlyn, and Thales. Galecimus’s eyes turned cold and he said, “Lux Radium.”

A beam of light flashed and the next moment a whole appeared through the head of the empress. Gelacimus said, “Arrange for someone to send this wretched woman back to her family with this man, if they accept her then fine, if they do not then have this man dig a grave and put him to rest with her together. Let them reunite in the afterlife.”

Valerian and Ashlyn exchanged glances and they were shocked, to think the knife they borrowed was so sharp and cruel. They gulped, thankfully this knife was on their side.

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