Everyone present doubted their ears.
He was the oldest, yet the old chancellor had always maintained propriety. Stubborn and strict, perhaps, but never rude. He had lived his life by the principle of upholding the righteous path, surviving in key positions even at his advanced age.
But what about now?
"Stupid bitch. I told you over a hundred times to accumulate virtue. I said it until your ears were calloused. Did you think that was just nagging?"
He was spitting out curses as if today were his last. As if there was no tomorrow.
To no other than his lord.
"You said you wanted to overcome the limits of a marquisate? Did you not say you wanted to stand tall as an independent power, even if you couldn't stand on equal footing with the Empire? And yet, you're trying to blindly copy the Empire's tyranny?"
"Chancellor...?"
"Who uses a whip to tame a beast? Then they'll just run away or fight. Shouldn't you first tame them with food? The beastmen of Ende are wild. If you bestow virtue and grace upon them, they will naturally come and sit in our cage. Even if they don't, since they cannot survive on their own, they are bound to cooperate with us inevitably."
This is suicide. Not even political suicide, just outright suicidal behavior. Who rebukes a marquis right in front of them?
Just because a marquisate is under the Empire doesn't mean its weight is light. Compared to quasi-states like military nations, archon states, or duchies, it could be called a superpower. The young marquis is a fiery female marquis. To insult and denounce her...
She would be lucky to be executed on the spot. Even exterminating three generations and burning her clan wouldn't be enough.
"Chancellor. Have you lost your mind to senility?!"
The Deputy of Commands stood up abruptly and pointed at him. He seemed unable to decide whether to rejoice at his political rival's suicide or fear it. The chancellor looked down at him with disdain and spoke.
"The Black Tiger Brigade should not have been sent with the goal of conquering Ende. We should have driven out the Wolf King together and made them protect and rely on that land. If they had protected Ende with their own hands, we should have commended their efforts and bestowed gifts of grace. The ruling class of Ende is human anyway. If we had done that, without shedding a single drop of blood..."
"Make some sense. We did that for the past hundred years. But what was the result?"
"This incident has wiped out a hundred years of effort!"
The chancellor roared in fury.
"It takes a hundred years to build, but only a moment to destroy! Ende was already serving the marquisate as their sovereign and observing proper etiquette! They were on the verge of organizing themselves and entering the embrace of civilization! But now, they perceive the marquisate as an enemy and are rallying together. We have created our greatest enemy ourselves! It's all because of you! Short-sighted beasts who only know how to live for today. How are you any different from the beastmen?!"
"You old bastard!"
*Shnk.* The Deputy of Commands drew the ceremonial sword hanging next to him and slashed the chancellor's neck. A clean cut without spilling a single drop of blood. It was swordsmanship befitting the Deputy of Commands who oversaw the military.
"Even if you are the chancellor, such insolence is not allowed in front of Her Highness!"
Enveloped in a peculiar sensation, the Deputy of Commands sheathed his sword. Even as his head fell, the chancellor didn't seem to harbor a single ounce of regret.
What on earth drove the old chancellor to madness? Did he draw his sword too hastily? The Deputy of Commands was engulfed in complicated emotions. He came to his senses and bowed prostrate before the marquis.
"I apologize, Your Highness. Please forgive me for daring to draw my sword in front of you."
"No. It is fine. You did well. How dare he, in front of me..."
Would the young marquis understand? She knew the chancellor disapproved of her, yet he still served her. Because she knew that, the marquis had left him alone.
But. What was the meaning of the chancellor's attitude? If he was giving loyal advice even as he died, she could have accepted it. But to babble as if begging to be killed...
However, one thing was certain. The young marquis murmured.
"No one can be rude to the marquis."
Yes. That was the rule, the law, and the very reason it was permissible to kill a chancellor who had served the marquis for three generations. There was no need to consider the chancellor's circumstances. The only fact that existed was that he was rude.
He had to be killed. That was the truth. She wanted to ask why the chancellor did that. But there was no need to ask the thoughts of a traitor...
"Shall I give it back?"
Suddenly, a voice drifted in like a fragrance.
Hearing it alone made her heart pound. Even though it merely formed words, it was as if someone were playing an instrument. The young marquis flinched and raised her head.
Someone was standing in front of the old chancellor. A woman so beautiful it carved itself into her mind. The moment she took in that presence, the young marquis first felt inferiority, then defeat, and finally awe.
Her very existence was on a different level.
Her quietly settled eyes contained all creation. The wisdom sparkling within them was impossible to fathom. Contrasting with her lofty intellect, a free yet violent beauty filled her from head to toe.
Her slightly exposed bare skin was flawless and smooth, and her perfectly balanced figure had nothing to add and nothing to remove.
The young marquis was defeated as a woman, as a female, as a human, and as a beast. It wasn't even humiliating. It was a fight she couldn't win from the start.
That, is the King of Humanity.
She had never seen or recognized a King of Humanity in her entire life. But the young marquis realized that fact instinctively.
'King of Humanity? Didn't they say humans are the lords of all creation who have surpassed beasts, so they have no king? Why?'
While everyone was in confusion, the King of Humanity picked up the chancellor's head. She brought it to his collapsed body. Then, an amazing thing happened.
The severed head reattached itself. The flowing blood seeped back in. As if turning back time, life returned to the old chancellor's body.
"Resurrection?"
She didn't know how it was done, but she knew who did it. As everyone trembled at the miracle wrought by the King of Humanity,
The King of Humanity spoke softly to the chancellor.
"You still have words you haven't delivered, don't you? Speak."
The chancellor, having regained his life, looked down at his body in surprise, then knelt before the King of Humanity with eyes full of awe.
"Ah, My Liege. Why have you come so late? To this world filled with false kings, why have you come so late..."
"Do you want to live longer?"
"How could this old man desire more of life? It is just sorrowful that with no time left, I will not be able to see you more."
The King of Humanity tilted her head in question.
"You truly welcome me from the bottom of your heart. Even though you've never seen me before?"
"How could I not. When a true, rightful king has appeared in the world."
The old chancellor shed tears of joy and said.
"In this world, there is law, propriety, virtue, and justice. All people ought to simply uphold them. My serving the marquis was also to follow that. However, the marquis herself does not follow law and propriety, and tries to solve everything with power and authority. Thus, a dark cloud hangs over the world. While claiming to follow law and propriety, by serving the marquis, I was actually betraying them."
"You could have just done it yourself from the start."
"This humble servant lacks the justification. And not just me. In this world, those with the right to be king are predetermined."
"What is this right to be king?"
The marquis had it. But now it was gone. Because an undeniable King of Humanity had appeared. The old chancellor said, his face filled with immense joy.
"A being that the majority would acknowledge as king."
"Who?"
"The marquis. A marquis is a descendant of those who stood by the Victorious King and unified the continent in the clash between the Victorious King and the Hegemon King in the distant past. Those who inherit that blood rightfully earn the qualification to ascend to the seat above all others."
"Why?"
The King of Humanity asked an innocent question, like a child. The old chancellor agonized over how to explain.
A fish living in water wouldn't know the concept of swimming. Because it has lived in water since birth. Similarly, the King of Humanity wouldn't understand why the right to be king stems from bloodline.
"As the righteous King of Humanity, you surely cannot understand. That is the justification, the legitimacy, and the bloodline. It is the belief that glory continues through the continuation of past bloodlines."
"If you choose her as king, those who inherit that bloodline would at least have no aversion to it, so that's why?"
"That is correct."
"The reason you welcome me is because I don't need to prove that right."
"As expected, you are wise."
The King of Humanity quietly observed the chancellor. Eyes sparkling with hope and joy. Within them was a standard hardened over a time as long as his age. The King of Humanity gazed at that upright and solid core.
"I need a yardstick."
"A yardstick... you say?"
"Yeah. It seems humans created something incredibly important while I was away. But since I fell asleep a long time ago, I don't know what it is. My younger sibling would have known, but they refused to be my yardstick. So I don't have a yardstick."
It was unknown who the 'younger sibling' the King of Humanity spoke of was. But they must be the most foolish person. To refuse a request from such a beautiful and powerful King of Humanity? They should have served with their very life.
"Will you be my yardstick?"
To the old chancellor, this sounded like a confession. The King of Humanity needed him, so he had to serve that need even with his dead soul and all. Keeping his old body alive until now had meaning.
The old chancellor pulled up from the depths of his heart, even his soul, and answered.
"Your grace is boundless!"
"Then. I'll take care of you."
The King of Humanity held his head with both hands. And without applying much force, she plucked it off with a *tok*. Not a single drop of blood spilled. The old chancellor's head, maintaining its full function, hung at the King of Humanity's waist.
"Ah. The King's waist. How glorious a place this is...!"
However, even though only his head remained, the old chancellor was still alive.
As a joke, the old chancellor once said that his head alone would be enough. But it seemed the King of Humanity had only heard the rational side of that joke. A woman tying an old man's head to her waist—it was a cruel sight, but the fact that both were satisfied made it seem like a bizarre fairy tale.
The Deputy of Commands, who hadn't been able to keep up with the events unfolding before his eyes, belatedly came to his senses and shouted.
"Is no one there! Guards!"
"Yes..."
The captain of the guard, who had been waiting outside, appeared with a distressed face. The furious Deputy of Commands rebuked him harshly.
"An intruder has entered, what are you doing!"
"That, because it is the King of Humanity..."
"King? Your only king is the young marquis here! Calling anyone else king is treason! How dare you scheme for treason? Do you want your three clans exterminated?"
She is the King of Humanity. You know it when you see her. Even if you don't want to believe it, instinct tells you. The captain of the guard also wore a reluctant expression. But he was the captain of the guard of the Lilac Marquisate, and if he refused the order here, his entire clan could be put to death.
Still, since he couldn't harbor any hostility toward the King of Humanity, the captain of the guard handed his spear to a soldier beside him and approached with a restraining rope.
"Um, Your Highness... no, King of Humanity. This is a place where only those with the proper qualifications may enter. Please accept the binding quietly."
The King of Humanity asked the old chancellor's head tied at her waist.
"Should I be bound?"
"Never! No one under heaven can bind you!"
The severed head of the old chancellor glared and cried out. The King of Humanity also agreed.
"I think so too."
The King of Humanity waved her hand and rejected the captain of the guard's demand.
That was it. The captain of the guard's large body was slammed into the wall. Massive destruction occurred, and it was ongoing. Every time the King of Humanity took a step, the captain of the guard was driven further into the wall.
"What is making you bind me?"
"Keugh! Kugh..."
"It's not your heart. Then, the position of captain of the guard? The gold you receive every month? Your family?"
As the King's question ended, the Deputy of Commands knelt under the immense pressure bearing down from above his head. Although he had mastered Qigong to the extreme, the only thing he could do under the pressure of the ceiling collapsing and the floor being crushed was breathe in.
The Deputy of Commands was horrified, the whites of his eyes bloodshot.
'There was no incantation! A gravity-type Innate Demonic Art...?! Does the King of Humanity even use Innate Demonic Arts?!'
However, that guess was wrong. The Archmage's body trembled violently. As the only court mage of the marquisate, she trembled in fear after grasping the miracle-like phenomenon that had just occurred.
"It's not an Innate Demonic Art...! This is magic!"
"Dispel it!"
"Th-that's not as easy as it sounds."
"Hurry!"
"I understa... Keugh!"
Her body, which had tried to interfere with the magic power, bounced up and fell to the ground. Blood flowed from her eyes and nose. It was because the gravity magic had reversed and tore her body to shreds.
"Or, the words of the person called the Deputy of Commands?"
"...!"
Sound disappeared from the Deputy of Commands' mouth. The wind existed, but the vibration it would have caused completely stopped. While a silent scream flowed from his mouth, only the King of Humanity's voice could be heard clearly.
"If not that. Did the Lilac Marquisate order you?"
"That is correct!"
While the pressure of her existence was crushing the royal palace, the young marquis took out a relic.
The relic, the Palm-leaf Fan. A relic passed down through the generations of the marquisate, said to have blown away clouds and floods in the distant past. However, now the palm leaf stems were all torn, passed down to the marquis only for its symbolic meaning.
"King of Humanity...! Show some respect! Even if you are the King of Humanity, I am also the marquis of a nation!"
But she had to use it at such a dangerous moment. An uncontrollable wind wrapped around the King of Humanity. The King of Humanity fluttered her sleeves against the typhoon that had erupted indoors.
*Rustle.*
The torn leaf stems fell at the young marquis' feet. Belatedly, large claw marks of a giant beast appeared behind her. The wind, bursting like a depth charge, shook the royal palace, blowing away all people and objects.
Even the fierce wind created by the relic of a sorcerer with an Innate Demonic Art that controlled the wind in the distant past. It was torn apart, overwhelmed by the wind created by a flick of the King of Humanity's wrist.
The King of Humanity, who had summoned a storm with a single gesture, looked down at the young marquis without a single change in her expression and murmured.
"Or. Is the Lilac Marquisate moving you?"
"Ugh...! Of course...! Lilac was the last nation to surrender to the Empire...! Even if everyone dies, we will never kneel to foreign powers...!"
The Lilac Marquisate is the farthest from the Empire both geographically and emotionally. Even now, the private sector worships the Hegemon King as a military god and seeks any opportunity to shake off the Empire's influence. That passionate rebellious spirit is the hallmark of Lilac.
Even if she was the King of Humanity, she wouldn't be able to subjugate the Lilac Marquisate.
...Reading the young marquis's belief, the King of Humanity pondered deeply and said.
"Even if everyone dies, you say. Is that really true?"
At the question, which sounded like a monologue, the chancellor tied at her waist cried out.
"My Liege. Please stay your hand."
"Should I?"
"The dead speak no words, but the survivors spread them. It is better to leave them alive to convey your will. Show your mercy so that all others may follow. That is the proper way."
"I understand."
The King of Humanity granted the chancellor's request.
"Then. I will only erase the Lilac Marquisate."
And so, the Lilac Marquisate perished.
The royal palace that boasted a thousand years of history collapsed like a sandcastle, and its system evaporated entirely. The Deputy of Commands disappeared, the military lost its function, and the royal family scattered without a trace. The young marquis lost her mind and entered a convent, and the marquis' bloodline could no longer continue. The Lilac Marquisate, which had occupied a page in history, perished in an instant.
However. Even though one marquisate had perished.
The lives of the people living within it did not change at all.