Chapter 3 The Funeral

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The atmosphere suddenly tensed up. Prime Minister and his retainers were confused, seeing the pale face. Curious, but appearing concerned, Prime Minister asked,

"What happened Your Majesty? Are you alright? "

Hearing that, Arthur snapped out of it, and quickly forcefully deactivated his mana vision.

"No-nothing! I am fine; I am just feeling a bit tired. "

Luckily, no one other than Arthur can use magic in the room, so they didn't suspect anything yet.

But the Prime Minister sensed something amiss. As an experienced schemer, he intuitively knew that there was more than meets the eye, but for now, he kept it aside. He could always come back to check on it.

The most important thing right now is to take this entitled brat to that place!

With swift thinking, he changed the subject,

"The weather is colder than usual, maybe affecting your health. "

Arthur nodded, finally calming himself down.

Then he asked,

"What brings you here Prime Minister Raul? "

Suddenly a small smile appeared on Raul's face, that sent chills down Arthur's spine. He quickly wiped it off, as if nothing happened and replied,

"I am here to inform you of the regrettable loss of former Crown Prince consort Marie Von Iganvir, your stepmother's death. "

"What?! " Arthur asked, bewildered, many emotions affecting his facial expressions.

Seeing this, inwardly Raul laughed, his greed dominating other emotions.

'This is what is reduced of the once Iganvir family. The power is within my grasp, just need to get rid of that old fart Louie, and later on.... '

He slowly glanced at Arthur, hiding his malice,

'I will kill him and his father's former followers.'

But then, reason took over his greed.

'No wait, I can't do that yet. Control yourself, Karl. Do not forget about the agreement. The Imperial Dynasty to the East is still formidable, and also that pesky Guardian is still around. Will have to wait for some time. '

'Every Dog has his day, and I am the noblest of all, so of course my day will come. '

'Besides now, that pesky Elmsworth brat isn't around to ruin my work, I will mould him into my puppet and pig for... Slaughter. ' Malice radiating from him.

Thinking that he quickly relayed his words, about attending the funeral as the only male member of the Iganvir family, and then abruptly left Arthur with his thoughts.

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A day later, the funeral procession was in place. Nobles from both factions gathered together at the procession, to pay respect, on the surface, but mostly to gauge the reaction of the single noble...

Marquis Edward Pierce.

Father of Marie Pierce.

~~

The procession began in the morning, with a modest atmosphere. The graveyard for dead Imperial family members has its special graves at the Grand Cathedral.

Currently, an entourage of people are paying their respects. Among them, a shiny blonde-haired child stood out.

~~~

(Arthur's Pov)

'So she's Marie. My stepmother. '

Looking around, all I could think about was the selfish nature of everyone.

Not a single person, is sad, even her former retainers. What a sad way to die.

But the most important question I have now is,

'What is a life? '

'Is it just waiting for death to arrive?'

'Or something else.'

Hmm*

Duke Raul arrived before me.

"Your Majesty. " Prime Minister bowed in front of me, before speaking.

"It's an unfortunate incident, Lady Marie cares a lot about you, because-" He stopped for a moment, before continuing,

"Lady Marie loved Crown Prince Johannes the most." He said with an emotion I never realized he could make.

Is that admiration? From this guy!

"She loved you because you were His Highness Johannes's only living child. " He said with a straight face.

But I can 'see' he's lying.

I just want to learn magic and go back to my days of slacking off!

But here I am. If it was a few months back, I would have believed him.

"Really? " I said sadly. Frankly, I do want to meet her. My father loved her, probably more than my mother... Yeah...

Even I don't like her. She's plain weird.

"Yes. "The Prime minister replied.

Then he went on to say a lot of things about my stepmom. She's the only daughter of a Marquis and my father married her out of pure love.

After he died in the war, Marie never recovered and had a mental breakdown. She suffered for 4 years without anyone to help her.

I feel bad for her.

Suddenly a strong malice spread from his body, with a smile he said,

"Did you know, Lady Marie was posioned by Her Majesty the Regent."

*snap

The snap was probably due to my mind going blank. My mother killed her. Before I could think more about it, that same malicious intent rose from that man.

I want to puke.

"She also killed Your Majesty's half-brother, who was born out of wet-lock. "

I couldn't control it.

~~~

Prime Minister probably had two aims, to take the risk and reveal this. First, was to drive a wedge between me and my mother and her family's faction, which he succeeded. I would never believe her. She is nothing but a failure.

Second is... I am unsure but..

It might be for me.

He's warning me to just be the puppet, or else I would follow my half-brother.

I was scared, I had to find Ginny. I need to get out of here.

Arthur (pov ends)

---

After the funeral, Arthur went back to the Palace. Since today no classes were conducted, Arthur had a relatively free time to think. But unfortunately, many nobles who previously accompanied the funeral procession to pay their 'respect' are now constantly meeting him.

Taking advantage of the fact that he is considered stupid, the clever lad quickly throws a large tantrum to leave him alone.

Expecting this to happen, the previously absent Regent, who is Arthur's mother intervened and 'drove' those nobles away.

Later on, in private, Alice asked what Duke Raul had told him, to which Arthur replied truthfully.

"Don't believe him, sweetheart. " She said to Arthur, but unfortunately he had again 'seen' right through her.

"But what about my bro-" Before the lad can continue,

"That's not your brother. Low-born filth like that belongs to the streets. Never trust those lower-class people. They are this way because they are born into it. Never associate yourself with them. Understood? " She said with disgust and malice.

Arthur was taken aback. She was never this strict. Before he could say anything,

"Understood? " She asked more sternly.

Arthur nodded.

"Good. Now be good kid and go back to sleep. " She said before running off to meet her lover.

---

3 days passed by in a blink of an eye.

Arthur's days were the same as before. Classes during the day, while the nights were filled with the attempts to construct the mana core.

Each attempt is closer to the goal.

But, the only thing missing was his nanny, Ginny. For the last 3 days and before, she had been missing.

Only after 3 days passed, that the young Emperor get a clue about what happened to her.

A rumor spread that, the Empire was now under an internal territorial struggle.

Internal territorial struggle occurs when two or more nobles fight a 'war' between themselves to prove their dominance over the other. Generally this 'war' is nothing but skirmishes and harassment that both sides initiates against the other, in a bid to further their standing in nobility circle. They would try to disrupt commerce of other, while attracting investors and merchants towards themselves.

Of course, if both nobles escalated this skirmish to all-out war, then the Imperial Court would intervene. This Imperial Court is composed of high nobles (above the Duke) and a full-blood member of the Imperial family. Currently Imperial Court is only filled with Archdukes and Dukes, without a member of the Imperial family. That's why the Court couldn't function, and the Internal struggle is slowly escalating to an all out war.

The rumor reached the Imperial Palace, through maids and butlers. Normally Arthur wouldn't have cared, even though he's the Emperor, but the noble house involved made his blood. It was the House of Elmsworth, located on the northern side of the Empire, was on the defensive, while a coalition of five noble houses on the frontier territories at the Northern border, had joined hands, calling themselves Nordheim Union.

The House of Elmsworth has a special connection to Arthur.

After all Ginny is from that family.

Previously Arthur had asked her, about her family, and Ginny had told him about them. As the part of northern-western territory, they have an abrasion coastline, that stretches to their south-western region. Only a few areas are useable for constructing port cities.

The Theanbe Union is a confederation of four major noble houses and a few minor vassals, who have a different language than the mainland.

But now the Theanbe confederation has started expanding its influence aggressively, especially after the three-house rebellion.

Arthur only managed to hear bits of the conflicts, but that greatly worried him, about Ginny's safety.

After thinking, Arthur decided to return to the Imperial Palace Garden, the spot where he trained with Ginny.

'Ginny said that she would leave behind that seal in case of emergency. '

~~~

Later at night, Arthur sneaked out of his chambers, through the balcony. He had previously observed that the spies who maintain surveillance over him, have a loophole during certain times when they are re-scheduling their shifts. Classic rookie mistakes.

Exploiting that, Arthur sneaked out and quickly sprinted towards his destination. The animals and birds he befriended before followed him, while a few remained behind, to survey, in hopes of helping Arthur however they can.

Teaching the spot, Arthur activated his mana vision to its full capacity and searched the area thoroughly.

Finding a spot where mana is concentrated, Arthur slowly gathered mana, coating his fingers in them. He gently touched the spot with high mana concentration, and then.

*zoom

A seal appeared!

After a few minutes, Arthur unlocked the seal, which revealed a special letter, that can only be visible through mana vision.

Taking the letter back to the Palace, Arthur carelessly left behind his trails.

*swoosh

"Oh my, Oh my, looks like little Ignivar has awakened his mana." A mature voice echoed through the forest, gazing at the spot where Arthur used to train with Ginny, and also where he found her letter.

"Let's see what you are hiding." The figure murmured,

*snap

With a snap of a finger, the entire area of the forest was covered in a dim barrier, with spectral blurs appearing and disappearing inside it.

"Hmm.. Looks like the little Emperor is already capable of guiding mana. Nice. Looks like he's on his way to construct his core. The Ellsworth brat did a damn good job. Wait. Is that-!?" The figure was shocked.

"Hahahaha!! To think Ignivar can still produce those special eyes. " The figure exclaimed.

"I am looking forward to our meeting. " The figure said, as he dismantled his barrier while hiding Arthur's trails.

"If he reaches 2nd stage in mana core. " The figure, now visible in the moonlight, revealed to be a magician.

"I'll teach him myself. "

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