IWIAHC Chapter 37

Julius sat with his eyes cast downward at an angle, lost in thought.

Lily had no intention of giving him time to think. She needed to thoroughly muddle his mind. Make him believe she truly knew nothing.

"Your Majesty, did you perhaps embezzle money from His Grace the Duke?"

[I, what?]

"Because unless it's something of that magnitude, I can't think of any reason His Grace would be so hostile toward Your Majesty. Truly, the situation has become quite troublesome of late."

She unburdened herself, tactfully mixing in vocabulary that would sound provocative to the Emperor's ears.

"Watching His Grace refuse treatment, Aide Burnett scolds me daily—me, innocent as I am. He keeps asking why our Duke is like this when the Emperor improves day by day."

Julius listened to Lily's words in a daze.

"I genuinely wanted to know that answer myself. But now that Your Majesty has finally regained your reason and conversation is possible, I'll take the liberty of asking. How did your relationship deteriorate so badly? Weren't the two of you closer than blood brothers?"

Before she knew it, the dynamic had reversed, and Lily had assumed the role of interrogator.

At the same time, this would be an opportunity Julius couldn't afford to miss.

[Did you truly hear nothing from Aiden?]

"If I had, I wouldn't be asking Your Majesty—I'd have already formulated a treatment plan on my own."

She spoke gruffly, and he fell into thought once more. Lily remained quiet, giving him the opportunity to scheme.

At last, Julius opened his mouth.

[It's not a financial incident as you suggested, but there is one thing weighing on my mind. Aiden is probably suspicious of me.]

"Suspicious of Your Majesty?"

[He thinks his current soul-state is my doing.]

Lily furrowed her brow.

"But that's... that's impossible, isn't it?"

[Why do you think so?]

"Because Your Majesty is in the same soul-state. Victim and perpetrator at once? That doesn't add up."

She spoke quite definitively.

[You're rather sharp.]

Julius affirmed Lily's reaction with a faint smile—his first. It felt quite genuine. The fish was nibbling.

She continued her deduction like an investigator who seemed clever but was barking up the wrong tree.

"The real culprit is probably whoever's occupying Your Majesty's body. And according to my speculation, that person is likely the heretical cult leader, correct?"

[Indeed.]

Julius seized the moment to agree. So it was the cult leader inhabiting the Emperor's body after all!

Lily showed no sign that she'd uncovered something, responding with studied indifference.

"If even a mer— a single physician can deduce this, surely someone holding a ducal title would notice. Perhaps Your Majesty should consider other reasons."

She barely managed to fumble away from saying "mere maid" out of habit.

Julius paid no attention to such small verbal slips. Instead, he thrust forward a hidden story to persuade Lily.

[Anyone capable of objective thinking would naturally judge it so.]

With meaningful intonation, Julius dangled his bait, and Lily obediently showed him a bewildered expression.

[However, Aiden probably cannot think objectively where I am concerned. Because he hates me.]

"What?!"

Lily was genuinely shocked, so absurd was the notion.

"His Grace hates Your Majesty? Every citizen of the Empire knows your story. Why would he hate a close friend he could trust with his back?"

[Do you know about Aiden's childhood?]

"Yes... After all, I'm a resident of the Casimir duchy..."

[Then this will be easy to explain.]

Though Julius couldn't feel pain or physical discomfort, he cracked his neck left and right as if it were stiff.

[In our childhood, when we knew nothing, we certainly spent time like brothers. Back then we all still had innocent hearts. But gradually the relationship grew distant. It began when Aiden started to envy me—the late Emperor's true son.]

Lily's mouth fell half-open.

Julius examined that reaction closely as he continued his tale.

[He took the late Emperor's sympathetic praise as genuine, and being elevated as the future duke, he developed improper ambitions. How Aiden behaved toward me at that time... I won't bother mentioning it now.]

It was a story that ran along remarkably similar lines to Aiden's account, yet somehow utterly unconvincing.

[At the same time, he deceived himself. To justify his hatred of me, he came to hold the distorted belief that I hated him.]

Lily stammered out a question.

"Th-then what about those rumors? Weren't you two fr-friends?"

[Publicly, yes. We both agreed it would help maintain order if the Empire's two power holders cooperated. But I know the truth. He still harbors twisted feelings toward me. Such people tend to interpret things to suit themselves at the slightest distance.]

"That's..."

[Hard to believe, I know, but this is the true nature of the master you serve.]

Julius spoke so naturally that Lily almost thought he might genuinely believe it himself.

[Behind the Iron-Blooded Duke, the peerless hero, the deprivation of his youth still resides.]

As he said this, Julius's expression darkened as if genuinely saddened by his friend's deficiency.

Lily felt confused. Was the Emperor a delusional patient? Or was he performing flawless theater?

If this was all an act, he should have been an actor instead of Emperor. He could have easily secured the position of lead player in any theater company.

[The more I recover, the more it will stimulate Aiden's sense of lack. He'll trust you even less, and his soul will become further corrupted. He might even fabricate slander to tell you, to keep you from coming to me.]

In any case, it seemed the immediate objective of making Julius believe Aiden's false symptoms had been achieved.

The evidence lay in Julius's nonsense being built upon her lies.

And finally, Julius revealed the intent behind this lengthy character assassination.

[However, you must not abandon my treatment.]

Lily nearly threw both hands up in delight. Continuing to stay by Julius's side under the pretense of treatment was precisely what Lily desired.

But accepting the proposal too readily would seem too easy. She deliberately acted reluctant.

"Given that Your Majesty has so clearly proven my hypothesis that your presence negatively affects His Grace, well... As a vassal of the ducal castle, shouldn't I devote myself solely to His Grace?"

Julius nodded.

[I envy Aiden for having such a loyal subject. Yes. You have every right to say so. And if you do, certainly Aiden's soul will return to its original state, just as mine did. Something to celebrate.]

Then, with the same unchanged expression—that is, the face of an emperor attending to state affairs—he added:

[However, in that case, that's all you'll be capable of. Returning Aiden to a clean soul.]

"What do you mean?"

[Exactly what I said. You'll purify Aiden's soul, but you won't be able to reunite him with his body. Because you don't know how. If you did, Aiden would already be up from his sickbed.]

Lily's eyes, which had been slightly lowered before her superior to hide her true feelings and maintain propriety, suddenly pierced through to meet Julius's gaze.

[Let me revise my earlier statement about not abandoning my treatment. Do you truly wish to help your master? Then, Lily Dienta, you must join with me. Only by becoming my hands and feet and driving out the head of that wicked heretical cult can we set all of this right.]

Before this new information, Lily forgot to breathe.

'Drive out the cult leader to set things right? That's how to break the curse? Are you certain? You seem confident enough, judging by how boldly you're speaking. But how exactly do you plan to expel the cult leader?'

Moreover, Julius was demanding that Lily become his subordinate. Become his hands and feet and join him...

Julius spoke to the frozen Lily with considerable kindness.

[Was that too difficult an expression for you to understand? Then I'll explain it simply. Let Aiden recuperate here while you attend to me. We must go to the imperial capital. Once there, we'll eliminate the Solmonite cult leader—the source of all this chaos—and both I and Aiden will return to our original forms.]

Lily couldn't help but pour out questions.

"Does Your Majesty know the specific method? What is Your Majesty's plan? And Your Majesty definitely stopped me from seeking revenge on the Empire. Yet eliminating the cult leader is the same thing—why did you stop me?"

Lily's chest heaved with impatience.