Ian the Illegitimate Son Was an Emperor

Chapter 3

The Vratz Manor

“I hope the meal was to your liking,” Derga said as he lay his cutlery to one side.

The luncheon of two or so hours was finally coming to an end. The noon sun was already dipping toward the mountains.

“It was excellent. Not even the palace could have served better fare.”

As he was carefully putting down his napkin, Ian had to pause for a second. Had Mollin just dared to make a comparison with the palace, the most powerful institution in the world? Such conduct would have been shocking in Ian’s time, but the Vratz family did not show much of a reaction.

Is this quite common?

If so, it meant that the authority of the palace was not very strong. After all, this was a century before Ian’s time. Even allowing for the emperors with shorter reigns, one would have to trace back seven generations.

“Would you care for some dessert?”

“Thank you, Margravine Vratz.”

The meal came to an end while Ian was lost in thought. Mary looked around at her two sons with a gentle smile.

“Chel, Ian. You may go to the next room and have some tea while we continue our conversation.”

It was clear that they were going to discuss Ian’s entry into the family without him present. In truth, his joining the family was all but decided, but the palace would nitpick everything it could to keep House Vratz in check, since this was the border region where it held no sway.

“Yes, Mother.”

At Ian’s clear answer, Mary’s lips trembled almost imperceptibly. It seemed too much of an ordeal for her to pat the shoulder of a lowborn child, so she compromised by tapping his cheek lightly as a show of affection. Still, the action made Chel narrow his eyes.

“Please come this way, Sir Mollin.”

“Oh, how lovely.”

They left the back garden and entered the main building. The spacious sitting room situated at the center of the manor was luxuriously decorated, perhaps too much so. Gilded surfaces reflected the sunlight in every corner of the room. The adults went into the inner sitting room, leaving Chel and Ian behind. They sat facing each other. To be more precise, Chel was glaring at Ian, while the latter was studying his opponent.

He is the spitting image of Derga Vratz. Anyone could see that they are father and son.

Chel’s curly red hair and freckled nose, not to mention his bulging belly despite his young age, showed him to be of the Vratz bloodline. On the other hand, the mirror showed Ian that he had blond hair and absinthe-green eyes, which perhaps came from his unknown mother. His beautiful face did not resemble Chel’s in any way.

“Lord Chel, Lord Ian. Allow me to serve the refreshments.”

A servant approached courteously and placed tea and cookies on the table. With narrowed eyes, Chel struck the servant’s head. The maid cried out as hot tea spilled on the back of her hand. Ian automatically searched himself for a handkerchief, but a lowborn bastard was not likely to own one.

“Say that again,” Chel demanded.

“Pardon?”

Flustered, the servant wiped her hand on her apron. Luckily, her hand was not severely burned, though there was some swelling.

“How dare you address me by my name?”

“I-I am so sorry, my lord.”

A formal address would have better suited Chel’s position as Margrave Vratz’s sole heir. Well-versed in decorum, Ian also understood the appropriateness of such an address, but he was still puzzled by Chel’s harsh reaction.

“You will take responsibility for the spilled tea.”

“I will bring it again.”

“Bring it again?” Don’t you know how expensive tea is? I will deduct it from your pay, so you might as well enjoy the spilled tea. You can lick it up, since you will otherwise never get a chance to taste it in your life.”

“Please, my lord. Forgive me for this blunder.”

“Stop being tiresome.”

Chel was being extraordinarily vicious. How could he be so cruel? It was clear that his parents had not raised him right.

“Forget the tea and go and cool your hand.”

Ian’s calm words brought a grimace to Chel’s face. Worried that she might get caught between the brothers, the maidservant quickly took hold of the tray and stepped away—she had made the right decision. Chel was so vexed that he seemed ready to grab Ian by his hair.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your elder brother was speaking. How dare you cut in and give her an order?”

With a tranquil expression, Ian answered as if he were stating the obvious, “If you continue to use the servants this way, pretty soon you might have to do all the work yourself. It would be more prudent to maintain your dignity and not make trouble.”

Ian’s calm, coherent answer made Chel’s eyes bulge in anger.

“You dare to speak of me maintaining my dignity, you lowborn bastard? You think you are something special, just because Sir Mollin praised you a bit? Do you really think you belong to the nobility?”

Even in his anger, he spoke in a soft and low tone, since only a door separated them from their guest.

I guess he is not completely clueless.

Ian smiled as he sipped his tea.

“And what if I did not belong to the nobility?”

“What?”

“Then you would be taken as hostage to the Chunryeo tribe.”

Even as he spoke, Ian could not help but laugh at his own words. Although it had been for only three years, he had been the emperor—the zenith—of Variel. Chel should have known what an honor this was. However, from the way his face was turning red, he thought that Ian was laughing at him.

“H-have you lost your mind?”

Chel lifted his hand to strike Ian’s face, but his hand was stopped midway, caught in Ian’s grasp.

“So your name is Chel.”

Ian was small and skinny for his age. If Chel got hold of him and held him down, he would certainly be overwhelmed. Chel could not do that, though, because the hair on the back of his neck was standing up at the way Ian had uttered his name.

“What would Sir Mollin think if I got so much as a bruise on my face? Hm? And what about the margrave and his wife? They are on the other side of that door, doing their best to send me off. As their son, should you not be helping them, instead of getting in their way?”

The emperor lightly tapped Chel’s cheek to indicate that he should be more self-aware.

“What would you do if I suddenly disappeared?”

At his words, Chel’s eyes, which only moments before were full of fright, grew shrewd.

“Ha, you would disappear?”

Chel’s shining eyes and smile were unlike that of a child, showing that he held something over Ian. His shrewdness made him look like a scoundrel from the backstreets. Ian could now understand why the nobility considered House Vratz to be uncouth.

“Why don’t you try it? Then your mother will be decapitated, and her head kicked around the marketplace,” the boy said and then threw back his head to laugh.

Ian sighed quietly to himself. Being an emperor, he had never heard such a vulgar and explicit threat. He was more used to being pricked by hidden thorns. Even so, Chel’s words had given him some new information.

So, his mother fetters him.

That was the reason Ian had no choice but to cross the border. It would be almost impossible for a child from the slums to escape from Derga’s clutches.

All right. There must be a reason why I came into the body of this boy out of all the other choices.

Seeing Ian in thought, Chel mistook it to mean that his attack had hit home.

“Throw yourself at my feet, and you will be allowed to preserve your and your mother’s miserable lives for one more day. Groveling before me should be easy for you, since you are filthy scum from the streets anyway.”

At that moment, Ian grabbed hold of Chel’s hair and looked him straight in the eye. His absinthe eyes changed to gold as mana surged through him. It was a natural reaction, just like blood surging when someone was enraged.

“You fool,” Ian said menacingly, feeling the mana coursing through his body.

The power he felt now was nothing compared to what he was used to as an emperor, but it was still more than Chel could endure. Moreover, Ian had been one of the greatest mages in history.

“The words of a child hold as much weight as those of an adult. Your three-inch tongue is still long enough to change your life. You should be careful how you use it, lest it be cut out.”

In today’s Variel Empire, a century before Ian’s time, mages were even rarer. Even in the capital, only a lucky few aristocrats had contact with them, and here in the border region, not even a trace of them could be found. That was why Chel did not understand the strange phenomenon happening to him. Stupefied, he all but passed out. He sat down heavily on the couch and wet himself. Ian stepped back, disgusted. Standing against the sunlight, he looked like the manifestation of an angel. Meanwhile, Chel continued to urinate in a stupor.

For the love of…

Just as he was about to call a servant, the door to the sitting room suddenly opened.

“My young lords, did you enjoy your tea…”

Mollin had entered the room with an indulgent smile but stopped short. He was standing face to face with Ian, who was bathed in sunlight. In a split second, the boy’s golden eyes returned to green.

What was that just now? Was it a trick of the light?

Something was not quite right. Lost in the moment, Mollin looked into Ian’s eyes until Mary’s loud voice broke through his thoughts.

“Chel! What in the world?”

She had found her son in a puddle of his urine with a vacant expression. Stuttering, the child looked at Ian, but the other boy’s face appeared serene, giving nothing away.

You better not say anything you will regret.

Although the warning was given in silence, Chel had no trouble interpreting it.

The child almost sobbed as he said, “I-I spilled the tea.”

“Oh! Oh, my! Oh my goodness!”

Finally seeing the state Chel was in, Mollin cleared his throat and turned around while Derga closed his eyes.

What a complete, total disgrace!

To think that his seventeen-year-old son, who was almost of age, had wet himself in the sitting room! If word got out, he would never be able to show his face again.

“Is anyone there? Anyone! Come, quick!”

“What do you need, my lady? Oh, gosh!”

“Bring some clothes, some towels, and something to wipe this up.”

While Mary was calling the servants and making a fuss, Mollin quietly informed Derga he would be leaving. Even though it was unlikely for an aide from the capital to have any pressing business at hand, he could not stand there any longer.

“Margrave Vratz, I have some urgent matter to attend to. I should…”

“Ah, of course. Thank you for gracing us with your presence today.”

“It was an honor. Would it be all right if I asked Lord Ian to see me off?”

Derga was so flabbergasted that he nodded without thinking about it, since Chel had started crying at that very moment.

“Thank you for your permission, Margrave Vratz. Lord Ian, will you help an old man navigate this vast manor?”

“Of course, Sir Mollin. It would be my pleasure.”

Ian didn’t know his way through the manor either, but it would be much better to leave with Mollin than to remain behind. He could ask a passing servant to bring the old man’s coat and thus get them to act as a guide.

“Please, come this way.”

Ian led him out with a bright smile. Coming face to face once again with the absinthe gaze, Mollin’s wise old eyes probed the child, trying to read him.