Succeeding the throne (11)
‘How dare you…!’
Sparks flew from Alpheus’ eyes.
Aristine smiled.
‘How is he so simple?’
After his attempts to kill Launelian and Aristine failed, Alpheus’s treatment took a turn for the worst.
When she heard he was so defeated that he remained curled up on the floor, she deliberately straightened his back.
She let him experience similar treatment to when emperor, just to evoke his nostalgia for the past.
And with just that, the foolish Alpheus started to think this was something he deserved.
‘Because that’s how it’s supposed to be.’
Aristine thought cynically and looked at her father, whom she had not seen in a long time.
Alpheus had aged drastically as if it had been years, not months that had passed.
“You look good.”
Unaware of how he really looked, Alpheus frowned, unable to understand the meaning of Aristine’s words.
‘She was just acting arrogant and now, she’s suddenly flattered me. What the hell is she thinking?’
However, he couldn’t grasp anything from Aristine’s smile.
“Are you going to keep standing? I took great care to prepare this place for father.”
A place for her father, prepared with great care.
Alpheus’ expression softened.
Now that he thought about it, he had probably overreacted to seeing her arrive in coronation robes.
Her asking him to sit down could have just been an invitation, not permission or a command.
‘It was insolent to sit down before me but right. What would a confined kid know about manners?’
Alpheus felt something was off, but he was too busy rationalizing it.
Because people tended to only see what they wanted to see.
And Aristine took advantage of that.
Once Alpheus sat down, she faced him with a bright smile and opened her mouth.
“I have something to celebrate. So, I wanted to have a celebratory toast with you.”
The cause for the celebration was obvious.
Alpheus’s eyes fell on Aristine’s coronation robes then he opened his mouth.
“You mean your crowning as emperor.”
It felt awkward to speak to someone after so long.
Although he thought it was awkward, a liveliness began to bubble at the bottom of his heart.
That liveliness made Alpheus’s thinking process infinitely more positive.
‘Right, children naturally want to be acknowledged by their father.’
Letanasia was the same.
She was always filled with admiration for him, and she was eager to be recognized.
Now that she would be emperor, Aristine must have felt the same.
It was natural to pardon criminals on happy occasions.
He was not a criminal but, in any case, politics was all about justification.
She was an arrogant wench who dared to oust him and become emperor, but if she showed proper remorse, he didn’t mind playing along.
It was a cowardly thought, since he knew he could not drive Aristine out in his own strength, but Alpheus was sincerely thinking that.
‘Yes, an uneducated wench can’t possibly rule well. She must need my help.’
However, Aristine went wide-eyed and replied.
“Oh no, my crowning as emperor is not a celebration event; it is only natural that it happens.”
Although her reaction got on his nerves, he figured he had to cooperate a little to make peace.
That was how Alpheus packaged the fact that he was afraid.
“Alright, then what are we celebrating?”
“Huu.”
Aristine delayed answering and made a gesture to the servant.
At that, the servant brought over a wine bottle in an ice bucket. After uncorking the bottle, the servant poured the wine into the chilled glass.
While watching the elegant decanting, Aristine suddenly opened her mouth.
“That reminds me, I have achieved Father’s long-cherished desire.”
Alpheus, who was watching blood-red wine swirl in the glass, turned his head to Aristine.
“My long-cherished desire?”
“About Irugo, I mean.”
Alpheus’ eyes trembled.
Aristine’s words could only mean one thing. His festering grudge and long-cherished desire.
To subjugate Irugo, which no other emperor could ever bring to its knees.
That alone would elevate him to the greatest emperor of all time.
Everything he did was to achieve that.
And yet, he failed.
As if losing the war was not enough, his schemes afterwards also came to nothing. No, not only did it fail, but he also ended up in this state.
‘Yet this mere failure…!’
The jealousy almost drove him insane.
“It has been Father’s lifelong dream to unite Irugo and Silvanus. Right?”
Aristine’s tone was strange.
It was as if she was saying that she inherited his wish because this was his lifelong dream.
Alpheus stared at his daughter.
Suddenly, Aristine gave a beautiful smile.
She had never smiled at him like this when he was imprisoned.
Her attitude had changed.
‘That’s right, she just wants me to acknowledge her.’
He thought she was a failure, but in reality, she wasn’t.
If that wench, Letanasia, hadn’t deceived him, he could have used Aristine, his success, to accomplish his dreams.
“I see, so you’ve subjugated Irugo. Sure enough, you are my daughter.”
Aristine’s smile deepened at Alpheus’ words.
She didn’t subjugate Irugo, nor did she achieve this because she was his daughter.
Aristine reached for the decanted wine.
“Will you join me in this celebratory toast?”
Alpheus grinned at his daughter’s question.
‘Look at that. Even now, she wants me to congratulate her and ran over like this.’
If she continued to be as obedient as today, he didn’t mind teaching her well as a father.
“of course, this father will congratulate you.”
Alpheus picked up his wine glass.
“Thank you.”
Aristine smiled sweetly and tilted the wine glass.
The crimson wine swirled around in the glass, releasing a rich aroma.
Aristine even poured him his share of wine.
The clinking of their glass echoed in the quiet garden.
They exchanged smiles, and Alpheus took a sip of his wine.
It was the finest wine he had ever tasted, from the aroma to the texture on his tongue.
And the moment his throat moved and he swallowed the wine into his stomach…
“Keok.”
His stomach churned, and something hot shot up from the inside.
Alpheus looked down at his hands.
They were bright red.
But it wasn’t wine.
“Ah.”
Aristine exclaimed, like she had just remembered something.
“Come to think of it, you asked me what I was celebrating.”
Alpheus looked at his blood-stained palms and slowly raised his head to Aristine.
“Well, today is the day I end the life of my old enemy.”
Aristine’s smile was more delectable than the wine.
More chapters on Patreon~
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Now that was a one heck of a last line to that fool.
What a great revenge!
The sweetest revenge to exist ✨️
Oh my god!
That was even better than I expected
But it’s Aristine we are talking about here
GO QUEEN!
That’s some imperial shit right there. You go, girl. 🍷💅🏻