Editor: bodyinthefreezer
“You're saying silly things again.”
“What do you mean? Father's face is a national treasure, so it had to be treated preciously. Don't you think so too, Eunhan?”
“Oh, of course! Your Majesty is the most handsome man in the country.”
“Hmm.”
When Eunhan joined me in complimenting him, Tenstheon coughed in embarrassment.
He was still not immune to praise even though he had heard it so many already.
This side of him was very similar to Blake.
“That's enough nonsense.”
“Yes. Father. I'll be leaving now.”
“Don’t come back too late.”
“Don’t worry.”
I grinned and looked at Eunhan.
“Let's go now.”
“Yes.”
After humbly answering with me, he stared at me for a while in hesitation. Then, he added, “…I'm afraid Your Highness will have to hold my hand to use the teleportation magic.”
The moment I heard him, I burst out laughing. Perhaps it was because he was from the conservative Chang country, but he was embarassed to hold hands with the opposite sex.
They were all characters from an R-19 romance novel, so why were they so pure?
“Okay, Eunhan, can you escort me to the Palace?”
“Yes, I will obey your orders.”
Eunhan approached me and reached out his hand carefully. I held his hand in return.
“Please close your eyes and relax your body.”
I closed my eyes as he instructed. Then a warm feeling wrapped around my whole body.
***
“Please open your eyes, Your Highness.”
I opened my eyes when he told me to. The warm feeling disappeared, and was replaced by a strong wind instead.
“…Is this the Tenlarn Palace?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
I toured the desolate Imperial Palace that was full of sand and dust. I couldn't see any of the splendor of Tenlarn Palace, which was once overflowing with luxury and enjoyment.
“…It’s so desolate.”
It was as if time had stopped here. More than a thousand years had passed since the Tenlarn Palace was set on fire, but the castle's ashes were still scattered all over the floor.
Some parts of the castle still remained intact. However, even though it had endured the huge fire, it would be hard to withstand the test of time after a thousand years.
“For some reason, I feel empty.”
Eunhan wordlessly handed me a handkerchief. I looked at him because I didn't know what to say.
“You looked like you were going to cry,…”
“I’m not going to cry. I just felt a little sad.”
The continent was the heart of the Zelcan Empire, but it was destroyed.
It was burned and eventually got buried in history.
Even though it was just some old ruins, I was overwhelmed by the traces of flames, and also engulfed in strange emotions.
“Why do I feel this way all of a sudden? I’m not so emotional usually…”
“The ground is polluted. The dark power of black magic may have penetrated your mind. Your Highness, do you want to go back?”
“No. We’re already here, so I want to take a look around the Palace.”
The Tenlarn Palace of the past that I saw was lavishly decorated with gold and jewels. No matter how extravagant the Zelcan Empire was, it would not be possible to decorate all the Palaces like that.
Maybe the room from my vision was reserved for special purposes.
As I walked ahead, I saw some Palaces that weren't completely destroyed by the fire.
Perhaps that room had also not been swept away by the fire.
I reached the entrance to Tenlarn Palace and stepped inside.
The deeper I went into the Inner Palace where the Emperor and the Empress lived, the more disastrous the scene in front of us became.
“Your Highness, watch your step.”
“Yes…”
I answered weakly.
The Roums attacked the Tenlarn Palace because of Emperor Phillip.
That room that was filled with gold must be somewhere in the Palace.
Still, I had hoped that I’d get to see some of the places I had seen in my vision, but my heart pounded when I saw the increasingly disastrous landscape of the Palace.
“…Your Highness, the further we go in, the stronger the dark powers get. We’d better get back.”
“Let me take a closer look.”
As Eunhan said so, I began to feel suffocated. Perhaps it was because of the growing effect of the dark powers. However, even if the room was burned down, the stone plate might still be there.
As I walked hopelessly, I came across a huge stone towering inside a Palace that was so broken down that its original form couldn’t be recognized anymore.
“Eunhan, look at that!”
“It's a stone plate.”
“Let’s go over there!”
“Your Highness, please wait for a moment!”
When I ran, Eunhan quickly followed after me. I ran straight to the stone plate.
The stone plate was much thinner than I had seen from afar. It was a huge stone over 2.5 meters tall and was covered with mud and sand as it stood in the middle of the Palace.
“There’s a difference in the size, but it's similar to the stone plate that was taken out of the lake. This one is also covered by strange engravings.”
As he said, it could be seen that the huge stone plate was clearly inscribed with numerous letters.
“Yes. It's an ancient language. It's the Roum’s language.”
“What does it say?”
I raised my head. I could barely see the inscriptions on the top of the tombstone. I read the letters from above.
“…Rakshul the Prince of Great Roum, announces.”
— Rakshul the Prince of Great Roum, announces
Heavens chose the great Roum, and Roum founded the Zelcan Empire according to the will of the Heavens.
Heavens granted the blood of Roum with splendid gold and fertile lands. The Heavens also let them speak the language of God and ordered them to take care of their people.
Roum grew Zelcan into a Great Empire in accordance with the will of Heaven and took care of the people.
But the foolish people did not know grace, and dared to covet the power of Roum.
Among them, Phillip had the power of the Goddess of Light. He destroyed the Zelcan Empire and founded a new one.
The Altar Palace was the heart of the Zelcan Empire, the possession of Great Roum.
Phillip dared to call himself the Emperor and change the name of the Altar Palace according to his will.
Thus, on September 1, 687, Rakshul led a coup to destroy Phillip and the people who dared to take over the Roums and destroyed the corrupt Altar Palace.
The dominion of this continent is only in the hands of great Roum, and all that gold, great earth, the language and knowledge of God, magic and power, all began with the greatness of Roum.
O foolish people, obey the Roums. If you disobey them, they will take away everything that they have given you. The land of Khan will darken and be consumed by pain forever.
Follow the Roums. This is the last chance we give you. Pledge your allegiance to Rakshul, the new Emperor of Zelcan. Don’t forget, you are a Zelcan person.
“…….”
As Ancia finished reading the inscriptions on the stone plate out loud, Eunhan admired, “You're also a polyglot.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“No. Your Highness is a special one. I've heard that language proficiency is very rare.”
“It’s not like that.”
He didn’t know that I just accidentally gained power because I came from another world, so such praise was somewhat embarrassing.
“That aside, what do you think of the content of these stone plates?”
“He is blaming the people until the end without reflecting on the fact that he destroyed the country with tyranny. It's pathetic and vicious.”
“You feel that way, don't you?”
“Didn’t Your Highness feel like that too?”
“Something's weird. Isn't it like this message is asking them to swear allegiance to Rakshul and Roum?”
Although it was written in a long and formal manner, to summarize it briefly, it said, ‘If they didn't obey Rakshul and Roum, he'd burn and destroy everything. But this was not his fault. It was all because of the stupid people who didn't follow him.'
“After all, they are the ones who have always reigned above, so they are united with arrogance.”
Of course it could be. However, it was strange to say that it was an expression of Roum’s arrogance.
“Not just that. At that time, the Roums were eager to rebuild the fallen Zelcan Empire. To assassinate Emperor Phillip, he attacked and set fire to the Palace. Their biggest enemy was Phillip, but there was nothing unusual about Phillip on this stone plate.”
“But Phillip had the power of the Goddess of Light earlier … Oh!”
Eunhan must have realized something strange, so he opened his eyes widely.
“Okay. There are no sentences on this slate that blame Emperor Phillip.”
There was nothing about Phillip on the stone plate.
Phillip had received the Goddess of Light’s blessing, and using it, he destroyed the Zelcan Empire and founded a new one.
Phillip dared to call himself Emperor and change the name of the Altar Palace according to his will, it is to be deplored.
There were only two sentences about him. But these sentences only indicated the facts and did not blame Phillip.
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