EMPEROR

The next day Marcius woke up energetically. After what was said last night, she and her father and Richard, the Housekeeper, were going to orphanages and slave bazaar.

Although sword masters were fantastic elements in this world, such as wizards, there was a rather backward society structure. Society was divided into classes. The imperial family was at the top. The duke families were in second place.

The empire had so proved its power to the entire continent that the kings of other kingdoms had a status only below that of duke families. They were considered to be in an equal position with the Marquis. Knights were also considered to have a greater status than the counts, being located just below the marquis.

There were quite a lot of conditions for being a knight. It's not enough just to have power, both the approval of the emperor and the head of the 4 duke family was required. There were only 100 knights in the entire empire.

Doctors and priests were also very important in the same way. If you say whether a doctor or a priest is more important, the only answer for everyone would be a doctor, of course.

In this aspect, he was slightly departing from the structure of his former world. Because in the old world, the class structure of society, the aristocracy, was very strong in the Middle Ages, and priests were considered to be on the same level as kings.

But in this world, the empire did not adhere to a single religion, there was no problem for everyone to believe in the religion they wanted. For this reason, religion did not have such a high status in society.

The rest of the system continued as counts, viscounts, scientists, ordinary people, servants, fallen nobles, slaves, sex workers, and finally monster people who were not connected to the Dvine kingdom. In other words, as should be understood from this structure, slavery was quite widespread, its sale was not prohibited, human rights were not even in question.

His self, who is a policeman in a modern world, finds this incredible, even though he wants to destroy the slave traders immediately, he could not even imagine what kind of reaction someone who tries to ban slavery in this backward world would see.

He would probably be considered crazy. For a time he put the idea of abolishing slavery out of his head. He couldn't have accomplished such a thing with the power he has now.

Besides, he didn't think they'd be in such a bad way. After all, people weren't criminals, were they? He realized that these thoughts were a little too benevolent the moment he got out of his car on the street where the slave Sunday was. It wasn't that he hadn't seen the bad sides of people more than once, but he felt the same abomination every time he saw them.

Young men and women with wounds on their heads tied to poles with chains, stripped naked as if they wanted to show everything, whips landed on their backs as soon as they tried to use their hands to protect themselves, wounds that had not closed reopened.

children who were obviously younger than 10 were looking around for help with their full eyes, while old-headed men were walking around with their hands all over them, shaking their heads as if they liked it with their disgusting grins.

The slaves were divided into categories: agricultural workers, people who were obviously in their thirties, seemed to be in better shape than everyone else, they were wearing one-piece long white clothes.

The sex slaves seemed to be the ones in the worst condition with their ages ranging from 15 to 25 Dec. They were the ones who were bound by the chain. But it was the sale of children as slaves that made Marcius sick to his stomach .

He looked at his father in disbelief, the man was covering his nose as if disgusted, walking with straight steps without looking around. He felt that the image of the kind-hearted father in his head was disappearing.

How is it that his father allowed these children, who were the same age as his own son, to be sold as slaves? His eyes filled and he refused to move forward.

Even though there was a voice in his head that said that this was normal for this society not to overreact like this, in his eyes nothing could normalize such a situation.

He didn't care if those around him saw him as crazy. When Duke Benedict noticed that his son was not advancing, he turned around and encountered the boy's tearful face. He didn't understand what was happening, wasn't he fine just now?

He went to his son and knelt in front of him and tried to lift the boy's head.

He watched with amazement and sadness as his son ran away from his hands as if disgusted and tried to hug Richard's knees. He thought about whether you did something unknowingly, but he couldn't remember. He slowly approached his son, whom Richard took in his arms.

-Mars, what's going on, did your father do something without knowing? so he tried to stroke her hair, but the child refrained again and continued to cry.

Not knowing what to do, he looked at his housekeeper with inquiring eyes while he was freezing. He was also confused when he saw her gaze, which did not understand what was happening. At that moment he heard the boy's hoarse voice.

-I hate you, how can you let this happen, and the boy, the boy was looking at the place where the slaves were and he couldn't control the tears flowing from his eyes.

Am I not the same age as them?Is the only difference between them is that I am your son? When Duke Benedict realized what his son wanted to tell him, he felt his heart hurt. How could his son compare himself to those children? But he understood, even though it wasn't his own child who was there, they were still children. Feeling that his son's place in his heart was shaken, the man decided that he would not allow this to happen again, not to do anything that his children would not approve of.

-If you don't want this to happen, my son, I will prohibit the enslavement of children, and even prohibit slavery, at least in my territory. Nothing that upsets you has a place here, the man said in a determined voice and looked at the child as if he wanted to be approved. The boy raised his head slightly and asked:

-Really, he said curiously

. -Yes ,of course. Just don't worry, the man said, laughing as he held out his arms to the child.

-But then where will those children go, he said.

-I'll take care of it all, don't worry.

After 2 weeks

The entire empire woke up to the news that the duchy of Valentino had banned slavery in its territories.

The newspapers said that there would be no more slave trading in the Valentino area, and whoever did it would be jailed.

This situation made those who were slaves happy, while those who were slave traders frowned. The news reached the emperor, and the duke of Valentino was summoned to the palace.

3 days later

The imperial palace was quite lively today.The servants were running from place to place,trying to get everything ready for the banquet preparations.

The duke of Valentino was coming today. It was not an ordinary occasion for a duke to come to the palace. It would only occur at annual consultation meetings or when a very important event occurred.

Everyone knew the reason he came today, from his servant to his knight: the prohibition of slavery. This was such absurd and unbelievable news that even the slaves could not hide their surprise, they could not believe it.

When the door of the room where the emperor received the visitors opened and a young maid with black hair came out from inside, the guards stopped looking and turned in front of them.

The young man saluted them and walked forward with quick steps. He had to catch up with the kitchen for more banquet preparations.

This young man was a boy from Krason named Hector. Krosan was the central city of the duchy of Valentino. Since her family did not have money to take care of her, she was raised by taking advantage of the education of the dukedom and became a servant to the palace.

For an ordinary person like himself, this was a huge status jump. That's why since childhood, Valentino was grateful to his family and loved them.

That's why he made her happy at the last news. One of his sisters had been taken as a slave in exchange for her family's debts and taken to the Sunday market to be sold. Thankfully for Uhoma, this decision was made just before she was sold and her brother was able to return home. Now his only goal was to please the duke with his services and to be able to convey to him his sincere thanks.Hector had not yet completed his way when he saw the duke coming with his guards and a welcome team at the beginning of the corridor.

Although he didn't even have time to say hello in his excitement, the duke and his team walked calmly past him. Hector was able to content himself with looking behind them, both happily and sadly.

He was happy because he could see the duke, he was unhappy because he could not thank him. Sighing at the thought that he would have an opportunity in the future, Hector made his way to the kitchen in frustration.

****

1 day ago

Duke Valentino felt that his head was aching because of the decision he had made.

He didn't want his son to hate himself, but this situation had caused him so much trouble that he couldn't help wondering if I'd made the wrong decision.

His eyes fell on the brown embroidered letter that stood alone on the right side of the table.

The emperor loved Alexander.

He's been a close friend since childhood, they've never even had a proper fight.They had always had a respectful and loving friendship.

But as an emperor, he could not imagine how he would meet this decision.Alexander was a bit of an old-fashioned guy.

Slaves were like machines in his eyes.That's how he was raised.So was he himself.Although he did not intentionally harm them, he also did nothing to improve their situation. He felt that he was a hypocrite.

He always boasted that aristocracy did not corrupt power itself, but he could not think what a child thinks.

The more he thought about his son's face filled with tears, the more he was going crazy.He knew that his wife also did not like slavery,often opening restaurants to feed them.

But he didn't care.He thought his wife was trying to find activities to pass the time. He had never looked around and seen their situation, and even if he did, he didn't care, he turned his head in disgust.

He feels that his son's place in his heart has been shaken, but he couldn't do anything to change it, because it wasn't for no reason.

Feeling like he was going crazy the more he thought, Benedict looked towards the door when the door clicked and opened once and saw Richard, his right-hand man, his dear friend, enter with a tea tray in his hand.

Richard approached the table, put down the tea tray and served the tea.With a serious face he examined the duke's unkempt hair and his eyes, reddened by insomnia

. -You don't look well, sir,you'd better get some sleep, he said in a harsh voice.

-I can't sleep,every time I close my eyes, I see that moment when my son looks at me with disappointment. Richard heaved a deep sigh, and advanced to the duke's side.Standing behind him, he began to massage his shoulders .

-Sir, the young lord is just a child, it's very normal for him to behave like this in front of such images.As he grows up, he will understand why you are acting like this,he said calmly.

--I don't understand myself so that he can understand me, the duke said while comfortably tilting his head back. I've never cared about those people before, but I have no excuse for that.I knew how they all lived their lives, but I didn't care.I didn't think it was my business.It wasn't my fault that they were born like that and lived like that, in my opinion., he said, looking at Richard with his complex,meaning-seeking eyes.

-You are selfish like every human being, sir.There's no shame in that.Every human being is selfish.This is human nature .Everyone thinks about themselves first.The fact that you are regretting this right now is a sign that something has changed, he said, and he leaned in front of the duke's chair and aligned himself with him.

-I've known you since you were a child, sir,before you met Lady Lydia, you were a very cold person, you didn't even care about your knights, let alone slaves.Together with him, you have become a better person, and together with your children, you will also complete the missing aspects that you see in yourself.This is part of the process, sir, he said, looking into her eyes with understanding. Benedict laughed, bowing his head.

-Thanks, I feel even more like shit now, even though he hugged her with open arms.Standing up, he hugged even tighter.

-I am glad that you are with me,I don't know what I would do without you, he said lovingly.

-I'm sure you won't have to think about it, sir,now how about you don't tire your eyes out any more and go to sleep.You will have to get up early to go to the palace tomorrow,she said as she gently left his arms .

He quickened his steps to leave the room as Benedict looked at him with a playful smile,

-I'm going to the room, but I don't want to sleep,he said, and left behind a young man with reddened ears.

It wasn't a very quiet night that night.

now

Having reached the palace, the duke and his subjects followed the stewards who guided them, and made their way to the front of the reception hall.

Standing in front of the room, the duke signaled for everyone to wait outside except the chief knight.

After the butler announced his name, he entered with firm steps and encountered the Emperor sitting at the long table.

With his brown hair and brown eyes, he suppressed everyone with an intense aura, as if he knew that the most beautiful blood belonged to him, reducing the chances of opposition to zero.

Benedict bowed and greeted the emperor.

The housekeeper's announcement began at that time,

-15. Alexander KANE ,conqueror of conquerors,lord of 64 households,blessed of SEKAL-

-That's enough, everyone knows who is who, no need to exaggerate, you can leave, the emperor said, watched the housekeeper leave with disgusted looks and handed the crown and cloak to the butler behind her when the door closed.

Smiling, he got up and moved towards Benedict.

-My dear friend,I didn't want to greet you with this extravagant nonsense, but you know the traditions as well as I do,he said, and they patted each other on the back and gave a brotherly hug.

-Let's get to the table,they've prepared a ton of food again, I don't know what they think I am.Do I look like I'm eating a lot from there?he directed the question to one of the footmen standing next to him.He snapped his tongue at the boy, whose face turned white instantly, and turned his face away.

-The road must have tired you now,he said, and went to the head of the room and pointed to the left side for the duke to sit down.

Benedict approached the table with proportionate steps and sat down.

-I came by teleportation,it doesn't take 5 minutes from home to here, and you know, sir,Benedict said with a slight grin. The emperor laughed.

-I'm kidding,no one leaves my head so that I can eat properly, I'm just making an excuse for you, don't flirt, he said, pretending to whisper.

-My mouth is tight, sir,you know,he said. The emperor frowned.

-This sir thing is starting to bother me,he said, babbling something else in his mouth. after a silent meal of 10 minutes, the Emperor turned towards the Duke in his chair and asked earnestly.

-Let's stop joking or something, and now you tell me what's going on ?Where did the abolition of slavery come from?

Benedict laughed self-deprecatingly.Alexander, feeling that the incident was serious, frowned and signaled to all of his henchmen to leave the room.at the end of 2 minutes, there were only two of them left in the huge hall. Benedict did not speak for a moment, not knowing what to say.

-I've always wanted to raise my children as good adults.I wanted them to have a life where they didn't fall for each other like other families, they grew up trusting themselves.

-I don't understand where this is going,are you dying or what?

-I thought it was time for my son to choose a servant for himself, so I took him to the slave bazaar You know, I don't care.I grew up thinking that these, slavery, were always normal.But it wasn't like that for my son.Do you know what that boy said to me when he saw the slaves ,

Alexander asked, feeling bored by the monologue,

-What did he say?

-Did he say that the only difference between me and them is that I am your child,I saw in his gaze that he did not think about me the same as before. I've always been the best in his eyes, but that day I felt like I'd betrayed everything I'd done, all my years of effort,' she said, her voice trembling.

Alexander did not understand.

-Is that it?Uff, you've annoyed me .I thought something serious had happened. You've upset my mood, he said with a pout. Benedict stared.Then he began to laugh.

-It's a misdemeanor for someone who expects a different reaction from you, I've been back and forth for 2 days.

-After all, we haven't changed because we became emperors,but not everyone looks at it so warmly .They say it will trigger a riot .

-They're stupid .Oh, never mind, go hug your son and cry. Oh, by the way, Nigel misses, send yours to play Dec Dec. Benedict shook his head approvingly.Then he stood up with relief.

-I'm leaving then, your majesty ,I'll send Marcius in two days.

With Alexander's approval, he left, leaving the door.

Benedict, who left the palace with those behind him, laughed and made fun of himself.

-So, unlike me, some people manage to stay the same!