Looking at that face, Wei Yan-ho let out a low sigh.
"As expected."
"I'll have to correct one of the evaluations about you. You're much sharper and cleverer than I thought. I need to find out who submitted that report and give them a good scolding."
"Well, I appreciate the compliment."
When Wei Yan-ho made a slightly troubled expression, the Emperor smiled subtly.
"Shall I guess what you're thinking right now?"
"…I don't think you need to?"
Though Wei Yan-ho indirectly declined, the Emperor seemed to pay no attention to his words.
"You're calculating what would happen if you killed me right here and now, aren't you? Whether there's any chance my elder brother would inherit the imperial throne if I died, or whether you'd have to kill the Crown Prince as well. Isn't that right?"
"You can read minds too? Indeed, they say the Emperor is heaven-sent…"
"It's all written on your face. So, do you have any thoughts of trying?"
"No."
Wei Yan-ho raised both hands.
"I might manage three somehow, but ten would be impossible. Even escaping would be difficult."
Wei Yan-ho glanced at the ceiling and floor. Though no one seemed to be there, at this very moment there were ten people pointing swords at Wei Yan-ho. And each one was a master that even Wei Yan-ho couldn't ignore.
He truly understood why the Imperial Palace was called the Dragon's Den and Tiger's Lair.
"You're not denying it."
"Even if I said I wasn't thinking that, you wouldn't believe me anyway."
"Of course not."
The Emperor smiled brightly. But Wei Yan-ho couldn't feel the Emperor's smile the same way as before.
Though it was clearly the exact same smile with nothing changed, it gave him an eerie feeling as if he were looking at a snake.
'Master was right.'
They said the Imperial Palace was crawling with black-hearted creatures, so how rotten must the heart of the Emperor at the palace's pinnacle be?
"When did you realize?"
"When we exchanged a word or two? Something like that."
"Hmm, I don't think I particularly showed my true nature, so what part made you notice the signs?"
Wei Yan-ho let out a deep sigh and picked up the wine cup placed before him, downing it in one gulp.
"Kah!"
Wei Yan-ho slightly frowned, set down the wine cup, and crossed his arms.
"Because you seemed too normal."
"Mm, what do you mean by that?"
Wei Yan-ho answered bluntly.
"With someone like Lee Wang-ya right beside you, when you said Nok-gi was being cheap and turning around, I thought you were either a bit stupid or had gone mad with power lust. But you seemed too normal. So distancing yourself from Lee Wang-ya was all calculated too."
"Do you know that just your current statement alone could cost three generations their heads?"
"Were you planning to spare me if I hadn't said anything?"
"Hehehe."
The Emperor brushed off Wei Yan-ho's response with laughter.
"So I thought, ah, this is just finding fault. You were just waiting for an opportunity to strike at Lee Wang-ya's neck."
Wei Yan-ho looked straight into the Emperor's eyes. Wei Yan-ho's gaze, unusually cold, was fierce enough to make even a tiger tremble, but the Emperor, being an emperor, showed no signs of being shaken even while receiving Wei Yan-ho's stare.
"As expected."
"What is?"
"You knew, didn't you?"
"What?"
When Wei Yan-ho feigned ignorance as if asking what he meant, the Emperor glared at Wei Yan-ho with a strange look.
"You knew he was the Crown Prince. You knew full well and still hit him. Right?"
"Before I answer, there's something I want to ask. If I admit to this… will my crimes increase?"
"Since you're already overflowing with capital offenses, it wouldn't matter much, would it?"
"Eh? Is that how it works?"
Wei Yan-ho scratched his head vigorously.
"Even knowing he was the Crown Prince, you still committed such an act. What was your reason?"
"I'd rather ask you that question."
"Mm?"
"If things were as I thought, there would be nothing strange about it, but to see it that way, Your Majesty is too normal a person. Yet knowing your own son was going astray, why did you leave him be?"
The Emperor looked at Wei Yan-ho quietly with strange eyes.
"If you had wanted to change him, you could have, and if you had wanted to fix him, you could have, right?"
"Because he cannot be changed, nor can he be fixed."
"Why is that?"
The Emperor looked at Wei Yan-ho silently without answering.
"Hmm…"
Wei Yan-ho spoke as if understanding.
"You weren't being manipulated by Nok-gi. Coexistence? No, exploitation."
"Clever fellow."
The Emperor looked at Wei Yan-ho as if he were proud.
"What do you think is the beginning of all problems?"
"Health."
"Exactly right."
Bitterness appeared on the Emperor's face. Though it was a face that didn't suit the title of Emperor at all, if you removed the title of Emperor, it was a face that suited the man before him very well.
"I was born with a weak body. Thanks to that, I was told I wasn't suitable to inherit the throne. And I didn't particularly desire the throne either. Because I had an elder brother above me. As you know, there's quite an age gap between my brother and me."
"That's true."
"The problem was that my brother had no interest in the throne. He had long ago left the Imperial Palace to choose the life of a hermit. Only after I inherited the throne did he quietly return to the palace and begin helping me. And that was the beginning of all problems."
"Can you call that a problem?"
"What would happen if I died right now?"
"Mm, the Crown Prince would become Emperor?"
"Yes, that's right. The immature and powerless Crown Prince would become Emperor. The moment that happens, countless people will swarm around my brother."
"To steal the throne?"
"It's a common occurrence."
Wei Yan-ho looked at the Emperor as if he couldn't understand at all. From his perspective, what the Emperor was saying made no sense.
"Didn't you say you respected him? I can tell that man isn't the type to do such things… why?"
"No, you don't understand."
The Emperor firmly cut off Wei Yan-ho's words.
"You, who know nothing about how far power can corrupt a person, will never understand—even if you lived a lifetime. It will just seem like the delusions of someone mad with power. But you don't know. Power seeps in without one realizing it and drives people mad. Even my brother cannot be an exception."
The Emperor's voice and expression were so serious that even Wei Yan-ho momentarily couldn't find words to refute.
"So you'll kill him?"
"After I die, could the Crown Prince stand against Wang-ya?"
"…That would be impossible."
"Exactly."
The Emperor slowly nodded. Looking at his bitter expression, a subtle feeling of pity began to arise.
'Pity can freeze to death.'
Wei Yan-ho cleanly erased the shallow emotion. This person wasn't pitiable. He was just a monster living in the Imperial Palace.
"So before I die, shouldn't I clean up everything that could threaten imperial power?"
Wei Yan-ho looked at the Emperor with dull eyes.
"From the perspective of strengthening imperial power, wouldn't it be better for Wang-ya to become Emperor rather than having an immature and ill-tempered Crown Prince inherit the throne?"
"Foolish fellow."
The Emperor clicked his tongue.
"Imperial dignity is not such a simple thing. What's important isn't what abilities that person possesses. It's whether that person 'inherited the legitimate line' and 'possesses legitimacy.' Of course, as you say, if my brother inherited the throne, he might be more capable than the young Crown Prince. But an emperor without legitimacy is bound to fail."
"Wait, hold on."
Wei Yan-ho waved his hand.
"Listening to your words, something seems strange?"
"What do you mean?"
"The moment Your Majesty passes away, wouldn't Nok-gi be the problem, not Lee Wang-ya? That fellow will surely try to make His Highness the Crown Prince into a puppet."
"That's likely."
"You'll just leave that be? Isn't that actually challenging imperial power?"
The Emperor chuckled.
"The power of eunuchs who cannot produce children has its limits. Nok-gi was able to rise that far because he's exceptionally capable, but others cannot do the same."
"Well, that may be true, but…"
"Also, eunuchs don't have the habit of sharing power with each other. An eunuch who reaches the pinnacle will naturally check other eunuchs. Eventually, Nok-gi will eliminate his own forces himself. Then he'll eventually work for the Crown Prince."
"Why is that?"
"Because raising the Emperor's authority benefits him. An eunuch's power comes from the Emperor's power. Ultimately, to strengthen his own power, he has no choice but to elevate the Emperor."
Wei Yan-ho let out a low sigh.
'It's not that he lacks thought.'
No, it could actually be considered meticulous. Regardless of whether his thinking was right or wrong, to think this far and employ Nok-gi was something he had to acknowledge as remarkable.
As Wei Yan-ho quietly looked at him, the Emperor asked.
"How is it? Do you think my thinking is wrong?"
"No. There doesn't seem to be anything particularly wrong with it. However…"
"However?"
Wei Yan-ho shrugged.
"If things in the world went exactly as planned, nothing would be difficult. I don't think things will go exactly as you've described?"
"That may be so."
But the Emperor's eyes showed no wavering.
"But at least I can raise the possibility. I will endure all infamy and criticism for the sake of this nation's ancestral shrines and altars. Even if it brings immediate humiliation, it will be recognized as the right choice in the future."
"Yes. Well, that might be possible."
Wei Yan-ho let out a deep sigh.
"Are you convinced?"
"Not convinced at all, but I think there are two types of people in the world. People you can reason with and people you can't reason with. From what I can see, Your Majesty seems like someone who doesn't listen to others."
The Emperor's eyes sharpened slightly.
"Are you trying to call me a tyrant?"
"No. Rather than a tyrant…"
Wei Yan-ho shrugged.
"You're a lonely person."
"…A lonely person?"
"Yes, a lonely person. Someone who can't trust anyone but himself. Not brothers, not subjects… not even his own child. So someone who has no choice but to endure everything alone. That's why you're lonely."
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
The Emperor threw back his head and laughed.
"You say I am lonely? That I, who possess everything under heaven, am lonely?"
"Yes."
"Foolish commoner, are you saying that you, who have never possessed such things, understand me? Me? Are you saying that you, a mere commoner, can understand me, who stands alone under heaven governing all things?"
"It's not that difficult."
"How so?"
Wei Yan-ho looked quietly at the Emperor before opening his mouth.
"Otherwise, there would have been no need to say all those things to me until now. Since they're words no one can understand and no one should hear, you wanted to pour them out even before someone who's going to die anyway, didn't you?"
"…"
The Emperor's face began to tremble.
"You bastaaaaard!"
The Emperor's fury crashed down upon Wei Yan-ho.