We silently looked up at the sky in tension. Nothing was visible yet, but in the next five minutes, the projectiles would fall.
The presence of the emperor’s wizards was felt around the academy, but there was no sign of them in the hall. Perhaps they were prioritizing the protection of the emperor’s personal safety.
The emperor breathed in lightly and raised his hands lightly with both palms up. Drops of water sprang from the tips of his ten fingers, floating in the air. They split into two each time he flicked his finger, leaving an exponential number of droplets floating in the air around him.
Seeing him work always astonished me. The size of objects that can be handled and supported was important, but the number of objects that were held at once also had a big impact on the calculations. I didn’t think it was possible for someone to do so much so smoothly. I was not the only one who was surprised, the masked man lying on the floor, tied tightly and gagged, was staring, his eyes wide.
The tense silence didn’t last very long.
From the sky, something very small like rain began to appear. The closer I got, the more I recognized that each of them was a high-performance flame bomb.
Every now and then, the emperor would say that I wasn’t doing my best. I thought half of that might be true, but I also thought it was part of a joke. But now I believed that the words were sincere.
Innumerable spheres of water flew into the sky, corresponding to each of the fireballs. The mass of water wrapped itself in a magical bomb that exploded upon contact.
Boom, boom!
The sound of the bombs detonating filled the air. According to his will, the explosions were completely enclosed within the compressed spheres of water.
The emperor allowed not a single one to touch the roof of the academy.
Was it possible for a human brain to calculate all that in the first place?
The emperor’s focused eyes looked darker than normal. Perhaps his veins burst because they could not withstand the pressure of his power.
More spheres of water flew straight to the roof of the tower, where the bombs were launched.
Boom boom!
A cloud of dust wrapped around the top of the tower, making it hard to see what was happening.
The emperor turned to me as he rubbed his neck, waiting for the explosions to abate. Maybe it was the first time he’d ever used such a huge force at once. He stared straight at me.
“Are you done now?”
“I think so… That little boy doesn’t want to die, so he didn’t withhold anything.”
Khun seemed quite surprised by the emperor’s magic. There was a smirk on his face, which had been gloomy the whole time. “You seem to be a much greater man than I have heard, Emperor of Burg. Even if I ran away alone, no one would have resented me. To value people’s lives so much… To be honest, I’m surprised.”
“It doesn’t matter whose life it is. If a little girl from another country doesn’t know what she’s up to and gets stabbed in the back, I won’t be able to sleep.” The jesting emperor didn’t look very well. I approached him quickly.
It was not just a bruise, I could see that blood had formed on the back of his hand as if there was actually a wound on the outside.
Medicine. We needed him to get treated immediately.
“I don’t think I can do this many times,” he murmured smiling bitterly at the worry on my face.
I subconsciously held a hand out to him, which he used to pull me into an embrace. I couldn’t say a word. I stood still in his arms like a doll, feeling like I had been engulfed in one of those fireballs myself, what with how high his temperature ran.
He stood there for quite a long time, unmoving. I was keeping watch of Khun with my eyes as I was trapped in the emperor’s arms, for fear that he would run away.
“Now go back,” the emperor said when he released me. He looked somewhat unstable, turning his head away to hide his weakness from the prince of another nation.
I just walked by his side. Khun joined our group without saying anything, looking like he was quite impressed.
We moved back to the carriage as soon as we confirmed that the message would travel quickly. By the time the scattered group had joined the wagon, it had become quite a large following.
One of the knights reported that three of the men at the top of the tower had not been able to kill themselves and were able to be captured alive. The academy president rushed in and thanked the emperor belatedly.
“I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“You’ve never had business with the academy before, but we are ever thankful. We are in your debt.” The president bowed to him deeply.
When I opened the door, the emperor slipped into the carriage without saying a word. I followed him into the carriage and sat facing each other. With just the two of us, I could tell even more easily that the emperor’s condition was critical.
“Your Majesty, please turn your back this way.”
He pressed his eyes shut. “No, he can sense what’s going on at this close range. We can’t show them our weaknesses so openly.”
“Your Highness.”
“I told you I will not allow it.”
Khun, who was being transported by horseback to diplomatic captivity, had been a nuisance in many ways, but we couldn’t do anything to him.
The emperor was right, but his condition, which was much worse than usual, bothered me.
“Why don’t you get some rest?”
“Yeah, it’s been a long day.” The emperor accepted this time without hesitation. However, even lying on his seat in the large wagon, he seemed very uncomfortable.
I bent over to him to fix the pillow again, and my arm touched him.
Was that the trigger?
His lips chased mine and before I knew it I was on top of him, out of breath and held tightly in his arms. He felt hot everywhere. It felt like he was going to burn me everywhere he touched.
I knew exactly what was going on.
He instinctively found the fastest coolant. A small voice at the back of my mind nagged that this wasn’t a very efficient way of healing because there was no direct contact with the damaged area, but I ignored it. Even this much would be helpful in this situation.
I had been held like this before. I had mistaken it for love then.
But not at all this time. I no longer gave meaning to these meaningless actions.
Last time, he said clearly that he wouldn’t do anything under any circumstances if I said no. But I didn’t say anything, and I didn’t push him away.
Though I was embarrassed by how this kiss was much deeper than I expected.
He kissed me as if he wanted to take my breath away, but slowly opened his eyes and looked at me before he let me go slowly. He pressed his lips to my hands and arms.
He had an unexpected look in his eyes as he stared at me.
It was obvious to me what he wanted to say, but I didn’t want to hear him apologize. Anything else but that. I just wanted to be a secretary who did what I was supposed to do, and who didn’t give meaning to a kiss or two.
So I brought it up on purpose. “Your Majesty, would you mind if I go back to the palace and take care of your back?”
He blinked very slowly several times, then nodded.
“I’ll do that.”
The emperor used to have no expression on his face when it was time for the two of us to be alone, but it was different now. There seemed to be something he wanted to say to me.
But even though I knew it, I looked out the window, avoiding eye contact. No. Neither he nor I would bring it up again. Such discussions were useless, anyway.
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Rumors of an Academy terrorist attack swept the capital in an instant, leaving public opinion devastated. If this was what the empress dowager intended, she would have achieved half of her goal.
Who on earth committed it? The terrorist was from the subjugated country that was annexed by the Empire? What the hell?
The capital originally had many small countries around the Burg Empire or small tribes around it. Some countries were merged when the former emperor continued to expand the empire, but many more countries and tribes surrendered and chose to merge after the current emperor took office.
The Burg Empire had a very lenient immigration policy compared to the Teppoda Empire which was almost the same size. That was the main reason for the expansion of the border during the era of the current emperor. The empire allowed the people who surrendered and merged to live in their present territories without changing their lords. It distributed seeds of improved crops and spread advanced technology. It was inevitable that the market was formed with slaves sold without excessive taxation, but it did not enslave the citizens of the annexed countries.
Although the status of the nobles of the merged country was maintained, it was true that it was, in reality, a demotion. However, from the perspective of farmers and ordinary people who lived on the land, the treatment was better due to the change of king and the name of the country.
In the meantime, there had been little disturbance because the Burgish people, already composed of immigrants, had not been at odds with the newer immigrants.
However, the attack, which they were clearly blamed for, was not something that could be taken lightly. Citizens and aristocrats gathered in the square late at night, unable to sleep properly.
Perhaps the only person I could trust was the emperor who had investigated all of this in advance and infiltrated the academy to stop the attack.