Exile

"Prince Theodore, all the evidence suggests that you were in that room alone. Do you still want to deny it?"

The Grand Vizier asked Theo who was shackled in chains in the middle of the huge hall. His nightwear and messy hair was indicating that he was arrested at night.

" B-but I didn't do it. I swear to God. B-brother , at least you should believe me!"

Theo said with a pleading voice while looking at the throne where his brother, the current emperor of Baviera, Leopold was sitting.

"Silence!!"

The emperor let down a roar while adding some mana to his voice. The whole hall shook up. The chandelier over the hall started vibrating for a moment.

" You were found unconscious on the bed chamber of princess Roselin. The princess said herself that you tried to molest her while you were drunk.

All the servants of the palace saw you lying on the floor, when they rushed to the bedroom after hearing the princess's scream".

A wave of murmuring rippled within the whole room.

The nobles of the empire gathered in a short notice by the emperor but weren't sure about what was the reason for the sudden meeting.

" I can't believe he tried to rape his brothers fiance". One noble woman whispered to someone near her.

"huh! what else do you expect from the child of a slave" a noble man replied with a disgusted face.

"The slanted eyes pale demon, bewitched our beloved emperor"

" Marrying the slave will always stay as a fault in Emperor Maximilian's character"

Theo was in his knees.His eyes were looking downward,from shame, guilt, and the insults.

Still he could feel the mocking glare that the crowd was giving him.

The insulting remarks, the mocking giggles, the racist lines, he was hearing it all.

These were not unusual. For the past 5 years he was getting the same treatment everywhere.

Theo was the first born child of the late Emperor Maximilian who fell in love with his slave mother.

Just because his mother was a slave, the nobles never truly accepted him as a royal blood.They couldn't say anything when the Emperor was alive.

But when 5 years ago, the Emperor had also died from the same mysterious disease that claimed his mother when he was a baby, the whole empire pointed fingers at him and his death mother.

As a result he was living like a prisoner, confined in the 2nd palace that the Late emperor gave to his mother.

The late Emperor always adored Theo. Theo was always by his side all the time. Which is why Theo was hated when the Emperor died that,even the servants would glare at him with disgust.

He stopped caring about the throne. He didn't want to sit in a throne where the whole empire hated him.

So after the emperors death, Theo personally wanted his younger step brother Leo to succeed the throne when he becomes mature enough, as he was favored by all.

Theo was fond of his younger brother who always treated him well. Even in the later days, when his step mother Katarina would forbid Leo to visit his brother, Leo would often sneak in to the 2nd palace to meet him.

The brothers would often spar with each other in the training ground with swords all day long. and the 20 year old Theo would push his 2 years younger brother to the limit to help his awakening.

Often regarded as a genius who had awakened at the age of 18, theo was the best teacher in terms of understanding mana at a young age, where most people don't awaken until they are 25.

So his guidance pushed Leo to awaken at 20 years old, which was also a great feat.

Queen Katarina held a huge ball celebrating Leo's awakening. Where he got engaged with his 2nd cousin Melina Roselin.

.

.

.

All these memories were coming to Theo's mind as he was absorbing all the insults with his heart.

He could not remember what happened last night. The last thing he remembered that he was with his brother, celebrating his engagement with the flower of Roselin, Princess Milena Roselin.

He didn't know what happened after that, and no matter how much he tried to remember, his memories of last night were absent.

" I am ashamed to call you my brother now. I want to kill you with my own hands but my dignity won't let me touch a filth like you."

the hall room was listening silently to these statements of the emperor. He continued,

"The Roselin kingdom wants me to hand you over to them, but you're still a royal blood so I can't insult the blood.

Therefore I, Leopold de Baviera with the authority of the Emperor, order your mana core to be destroyed, your title to be stripped and banish you from this empire as the punishment of the heinous crime you have done. Do you have anything else to say?"

"N-NO...!"

Theo tried to suppress his tear.

"Then, I order the mages to banish him far from this empire."

Soon the mages started drawing circles around Theo after hearing the Emperor.

"how benevolent!"

"Long live the Emperor"

"Long live the Emperor"

Theo could feel, all the nobles were happy seeing him gone from the empire.

He knew no one would stand for him as their pride never allowed them to sponsor him 4 years ago when he awakened at the age of 18. Instead, they were jealous.

.

.

When the mages almost finished drawing the circles, two figure stepped out from the crowd and stood beside Theo.

One of them,was an old man who was wearing a tuxedo that butlers usually wear, and the other person was a tough looking man in his 30s who was wearing light armor.

"Your grace, please allow me to go to Exile too with the prince. As the personal butler of Prince Theodore, I'm also responsible for his crime."

The old man spoke to the emperor while bowing in a elegant gesture.

"You're Majesty, allow me to share their burden too. As the bodyguard of prince Theodore, I'm also at fault".

The light armored man spoke as soon as the old man finished his sentence while kneeling on one knee Infront of the emperor.

"How arrogant!! Are you going to teach your majesty whom to punish now?"

The Grand Vizier shouted his heart out as the whole crowd started murmuring in disgust.

"Edmund, Victor! You guys.. You don't have to do this. This is my punishment. Don't waste your future for me."

Theo turned around to them with tearful eyes. he was happy seeing someone was there for him but at the same time didn't wanted to make anyone suffer because of him.

"Don't say something like that my lord. It's only right for us to follow where our lord goes."

The old butler replied to Theo with his usual elegant manner.

The Emperor now stood up from his throne and raised his hand, " Everyone! Whoever wants to follow prince Theodore come forward now. I will allow them to join him."

Everyone in the crowd started to look at each other with curiosity. "I see,there is no one. I knew none of my subject would be so foolish to follow that witches son !"

the emperor spoke while allowing a grin smile to appear in his face.

"Leoooo!" Theo shouted while emitting a murderous intent." Don't insult our mother Leo!"

The bodyguards of the Emperor rushed to cover the Emperor when he gestured them to stop.

"Our? I have never considered you as my real brother. Your mother was just a toy father collected from the sea.!"

Saying that he tore down a necklace from his neck and threw it infront of Theo.

Theo could see that it was the last memento of his mother, that he gave to Leo 6 months ago on his coronation ceremony.

Theo loved his brother so much that he gifted him the most precious thing in his life, the necklace of his mother, a crimson red gem that was tied with a single cheap leather.

"Take back your cheap gift. It's suitable for a begger like you hahaha."

The whole crowd started laughing with the emperor while Theo grabbed the necklace from the floor.

Theo was speechless from the sudden shift of behavior of Leo. His brother always respected he and his mother in the past.

Was all his loveliness, his kindness an act to keep him at bay?

Theo suddenly fell in deep thought. He clenched his fist tightly which was grabbing the necklace.

.

.

.

The magic circle started to glow .....

Theo could feel that his mana core was getting vanished slowly.He didn't want to fight this change, as all his beliefs inside his head were getting messed up with new realizations.

Within a minute the glow covered the whole hall room and the 3 men were vanishing Infront of everyone's eye.

Theo could see the mocking grin in Leo's face who was staring at him.

" Leo....! mark my words, whether in this life or another,I will have my revenge for insulting my mother.!"

"Really? So what about killing her?" Emperor whispered to Theo moments before they got teleported from the hall room...

***********