Chapter 190 – 190. Nocturne of Madness Begins With Prince Canin’s Inspection Procession (2)
– One –
May 14th.
Canin reached the third day of the trip.
His journey was smooth today.
Climb up, run up, run up, run up.
Early in the morning, Canin was leisurely setting out on the road in a six-headed wagon.
Inside the wagon, two men sat across from the canin.
One was wearing the uniform of the imperial task force, and the other was wearing the uniform of the Imperial Central Intelligence Agency.
“Hee hee! It’s the first time I’ve been out of the city walls like this!”
“Isn’t it rare for you to step out of the womb in the first place, Your Highness?”
“That’s right! It’s the first time I’ve come out of the imperial castle, and it’s the first time I’ve come out of the capital! So, the name is…”
The Imperial Special Forces agent who spoke to Canin smiled.
“I will confess after completing my mission, Your Highness. For now, just call me Special Task No. 1.”
“You can call me Jungjeong No. 1 as your conviction.”
“Hmm… Do you really have to do that? I’ve learned that calling someone by name is the first step towards fully respecting the identity of others…”
The faces of the two men, Special Agent No. 1 and Jungjeong No. 1, have heartwarming smiles.
They seemed very proud of the dignity displayed by Canin, who was about the same age as her nephew.
“That’s why I’m giving you the word of dissuade all the more, Your Highness.”
“Why…?”
“We are the last shield that stays by your Highness for as long as we accompany you on your inspection tour. In other words, it is a tool that must be handled the most severely in times of danger, so just in case, we recommend that you do not give affection until the mission is over. I’ll give it to you.”
“Hmm… I understand what you mean.”
Canin’s face darkens.
Courtier No. 1 sneaks into the conversation.
“Your Highness, are you saddened by the words we spoke to you?”
“Huh? No…”
“But, why is your face so full of worry?”
“Just…”
Canin drops her head with a melancholy expression.
Woo woo woo.
With both of her hands, she grips both of her knees tightly.
“I thought that everyone was preparing for death because of me, so it was because my shoulders felt a bit heavy…”
“Ah…!”
“Is that so…”
“Yes. Since I was born as a prince, and because I am walking the path of a prince, I always thought it was natural for me to be protected. Because I have the highest chance of becoming the most important person in this empire. These days, I’m realizing that this isn’t the case. I’ve realized that the price I enjoy for granted is paid with the blood of countless subjects. So I’m always sorry, and again, thank you.”
A look of agitation flashes across the faces of the two men.
It was because the contemplation he was contemplating was too heavy for the two captains to regard Canin as a nephew.
“There is something expected of me, so everyone will do their best to protect me, even risking their lives? Is that why you are willing to die in my place?”
“Majesty…”
“How could that be…”
Swoop.
Canin stretches out her hand towards them both.
As if possessed by something, the two of them reached out both hands involuntarily and carefully wrapped their hands around him.
“As long as Ko is alive, I will do everything possible to live up to his expectations. In order to pay a price worthy of the cost paid by Yeo’s blood, sweat and tears, you and I will In order to protect the land where the descendants of the field will live, I swear to devote the rest of my life to it.”
“Majesty…”
“…”
At this moment, Canin has gained two ardent followers.
Their names are still unknown, so Canin never made a pact of warlord with them like Clarence.
However, if they complete their mission and return to the island, they will immediately beg Canin to sign a war god oath.
– 2 –
“…Your life, from the cradle to the grave, will be embraced by the empire that will be ruled by you!
“Waaaaa!”
As soon as Canin’s speech ends, cheers erupt.
Canin slowly looked around to catch everyone shouting at him.
From left to right, arms surging like waves, hats flying up, and petals fluttering.
Everything was full of cheers for him and blessings for him.
“His Highness the Crown Prince, Cheonsa~!”
“Thousands of years!”
“Thousands of years!”
“Thousands of years!”
In line with someone’s spear, the crowd prays for his long life.
Instead of hurray slogans containing eternity, which are only allowed for emperors, the crowd blesses him by chanting cheonsei slogans for longevity.
Canin turns his head and looks around the plaza where his podium is placed.
‘I haven’t come far outside Jedo, but the atmosphere here is completely different from Jedo…’
The scenery embroidered around is unfamiliar to Canin.
There are no tall buildings and no flashy signs.
There are no colorful roofs, and there are no streetlights adorning the streets at night.
‘The picture depicting the appearance of the system 300 years ago was not much different from now… Why is there such a big difference between this place and that of the system, even in this place where the rich are known to live?’
It was unfamiliar to Canin that a culture developed to the point of stark contrast with the outside world was so exclusively owned by the subjects living inside the system.
‘I understand that there are no special qualifications for living inside the system… Clarence said there are poor people in the Islands. He’s not the only privileged people living in the system. Why is Obama neglecting the outside of the system like this? Is it a question of efficiency? Or not…’
It was then.
“There!”
“If you come any further than this, I’ll cut you down!”
The members of the imperial task force and the agents of the Imperial Central Intelligence Agency, who were surrounding Canin, shouted nervously.
Because of that, Canin had no choice but to get away from contemplation.
“What’s going on?”
“Yes, Your Highness. They said they had something to tell Your Highness, and they came near the podium. Since it was not a pre-scheduled event, we ordered them to wait there.”
Canin turned her head toward it.
A scruffy girl of about six or seven years old, a boy younger than her, an old woman with a hunched back, and an old man in tattered clothes stood in front of the platform.
Behind them was also a chubby middle-aged woman with all ten fingers cut off, and a middle-aged man with her cane out of her blindness.
They seemed to be among the poorest of the city.
As Canin looks down on them in silence, she whispers as Task One approaches him.
“Your Highness. They don’t look very dangerous from the outside, but if you close this distance, it will be difficult to deal with an emergency situation. It would be good to have a conversation with them while maintaining this distance.”
Canin nodded her head.
Seeing their shabby appearances, Canin felt pity for herself, but she could only appease that sympathy, and she could not bear the burden of those who were risking their lives for her.
Also, they are experts in combat and escort.
It is clear that accepting their opinions would be a wiser choice for them as well as for Canin itself.
That’s why Canin carefully captures her surge of sympathy.
If they ask themselves what they need, it is right to offer practical alternatives based on refined reason, not boiling emotions.
It would be the right monarch’s attitude to satisfy their deficiency by doing so.
“Why did you guys go all the way here to find Go?”
“Sir! No, sir! This lowly woman has something to say to you, and despite the disapproval of the people around you, she has come forward like this!”
The old woman’s raspy voice beats roughly in the quiet plaza.
Imperial soldiers lined up around them frowned.
In contrast to her skinny frame, the sound of her voice reminded me of some kind of physical violence.
Some soldiers even mistakenly thought that a bomb had exploded.
Even Kanin was surprised inside, but she didn’t show anything and calmly nodded her head.
“Tell me.”
“This lowly thing, and the miscellaneous things that came along with it, were the merchants of the bourgeoisie who were leading a wealthy life in Bondi Islands! It was a clan!”
“Is it so? But why are you living here like that now?”
The old woman’s eyes burst with bitter anger.
As she pours her cold light into her eyes, she vomits out the sadness she has been suppressing and the resentment that has been building up in her stomach for a long time.
“Unjustly framed!”
Sleep.
She takes a step closer.
“Fake evidence adopted!”
That buck
Her five men, young and old, who came out after her, followed her.
“Take a sham trial!”
Srrrreung!
Clap!
Visor!
The soldiers who surround them point spears and swords at them.
“We’ve proven that the evidence is bullshit!”
That buck
But regardless, they take one more step in unison.
“The judge soaked in bribes!”
That buck
The armed soldiers seemed invisible to them.
They take another step
Chunk.
Soldiers raise their shields.
“I’m afraid that my torpedoes will be exposed!”
Gulp.
Soldiers are tense
Members of the imperial task force and agents of the Imperial Central Intelligence Agency examine their bodies with sharp eyes.
Those who were in close escort could not find any weapons on their bodies.
“Because you arbitrarily dismissed the appeal!”
Those around Canin and those surrounding the uninvited guests exchange glances with each other.
They were all ready to subdue or kill uninvited guests at any time.
Was it because the uninvited guests also noticed it?
Thud!
They don’t come any closer and stomp their feet in place.
“My handsome husband has become a penniless skinny man!”
Whii profit!
The old woman stirs her arm so much that Canin can hear it, and points her finger at the old old woman who has eaten.
“This old woman who listened to her wife has become a day laborer!”
Empty!
An old woman with a hunched back taps her chest.
Her insides burned and vomited out hollow echoes, as if completely empty.
“My younger son, who was helping my brother run the company, had his eyes plucked out in prison and became blind!”
Whii profit!
The old woman’s finger points to a middle-aged man who has gone blind.
Is it because she couldn’t overcome her anger and resentment?
Her fingertips tremble.
“The little daughter-in-law who ran around the mountains and fields in the middle of winter to save my husband who came out as a half-blind man has become a corporal god whose fingers and toes are all cut off because of her frostbite!”
The old woman’s pointing points at a middle-aged woman next to her middle-aged blind man.
Everyone who heard the old woman glanced at her feet.
Although she was ragged, her toes were hidden from view by the hem of her long skirt.
“My precious 10-year-old granddaughter says it’s time to receive her first customer at the brothel, and she’s already become a prostitute that pimps drool over!”
The old woman’s voice begins to sound like metal.
A girl who looks dwarfed for her age trembles as her tears drip.
Is it because she grew up eating poorly?
Her skinny girl seemed indistinguishable from a boy her age, as long as her hair was cut short.
“The eldest son, who is nine years old, and our youngest grandson, suffered from a high fever because there was no money for the medicine, and became half-brothers!”
The boy, the size of a small boy, was holding his sister’s hand tightly, gaping his mouth.
The child’s eyes were blank as if she didn’t even realize that saliva was trickling down her mouth.
“The young ones couldn’t eat and became small, and the older ones grew old and became old people in an instant!”
The old woman glances back at her.
All of her eyes are on her.
Her family who heard the old woman’s voice, and everyone around them, unanimously listened to the old woman’s words.
“Still, this old woman, my husband, and this little son’s family are still alive!”
Slap!
The old woman turns her head again and looks at her canine.
Canin said she had to do her best not to flinch.
“But my eldest son is completely devastated!”
Canin tried hard not to groan, but it seemed that he groaned involuntarily.
The escorts around Canin look at Canin with pitiful eyes.
Canin catches their gaze and shakes her head slightly.
Immediately, those in charge of the escort return to their original duties.
“My eldest daughter-in-law was taken to prison and was gang-raped by guards who were no better than animals, and her crotch was torn to death!”
Canin was stuffing her words into her heart.
That’s why she didn’t interrupt her, she didn’t question whether she was true or not.
This is because the emperor, who is the backbone of the system, has clearly learned to take responsibility for any wrongdoing committed by someone under the imperial system.
“Her first granddaughter went to rescue her mother, and on the way she ended up being gang-raped with her mother, and when her mother died, she hanged herself that night!”
That’s why I’m not quick to apologize.
That’s why I’m not quick to sympathize.
“My second granddaughter was gang-raped over the corpses of my mother and my sister, and her heart stopped and she died!”
Canin’s tender chest is bruised.
With each word she said, new scars were etched.
Even so, Canin neither expresses nor makes excuses.
She just bites her lip and feigns her composure.
“Her youngest granddaughter was taken away to obtain a false confession from her father, and the cruel jailers tortured the little one and then cut her belly to death!”
This is because they know very well that taking responsibility is something that cannot be accomplished by just handing over empty words.
She will just finish her schedule and return to the system with all these tragedies engraved in her heart.
And again, we will contemplate institutional devices to prevent such tragedies from occurring.
“My wife and three daughters all lost the eldest son!”
In addition, in order to relieve their injustice, we will order the truth about the past.
Those involved will be punished, and those who have misbehaved will be given orders to give them a harsher life than they did.
“I want to save my brother’s family and even my poor parents!”
It is an inspection to see and hear these tragedies and the reality of the subjects, and prepare the foundation for entering the government for the first time.
It is the ultimate purpose of the prince’s first inspection schedule to grasp these facts before embarking on government affairs as an apprenticeship.
“With a false confession!”
So, Canin met her directly in the eyes.
She was firmly insisting with clear eyes that she would solve them, that she would relieve them of their injustice.
“Only after accepting being exiled while giving up everything you’ve accomplished in the system!”
At the same time, Canin thought about the many tragedies that were happening in real time within this vast empire.
It is the tragedy of the subjects that he must bear, and the absurdity within the system that he must resolve.
“Three of my limbs have been cut off, leaving me with only one left arm!”
That’s why he faces it without evading it.
It was his father’s responsibility, and it will be his responsibility from now on.
“I managed to get out of prison barely breathing!”
The whole family’s tragedy vomited out of her mouth.
The plaza was surrounded by a terrible, and thick silence, to the point where you could hear even the sound of a single needle dropping.
“Huh. Where is my eldest son?”
The old woman’s eyes seemed to burn.
It had been a long time since she stopped being polite to the imperial family.
Her loyal soldiers surrounding her were venting her subtle anger against her insolence.
However, she and her family did not ignore the soldiers’ wrath.
No, they were acting like they couldn’t see the soldiers.
“My son!”
Raising her head, the old woman shouted into the air.
Her call infinitely resembled a cry.
Sigh, fluff.
Swoop, thump.
An asshole crawls with his head shaved.
Truly, an asshole with only one left arm left crawls with a mat wrapped around his body.
He looked more like an insect larva or chrysalis than a person.
“Uh, uh… Oh… You…”
Is it because of the aftereffects of torture?
The words he uttered were terribly incoherent.
Swoop, thump.
Sigh, fluff.
Chin.
“Haha…”
A man resembling a chrysalis approaches the old woman’s feet.
No, get down.
Take a rough breath
“Look! This is our family’s tragedy!”
“…”
“While the well-to-do masters enjoyed their goodwill and watched the troubles of their subordinates, we fell into ruin without committing any crimes!”
“…”
“The reason why I didn’t feel like I was being exploited even though I paid my taxes was because I had the trust that our lives and property would be protected in a fair and honest way so that no one would feel resentful! But, that trust has been shattered!”
“…”
“How will you take responsibility for our pain and our unhappiness?!”
Her voice echoes through the plaza.
Canin lifts her head and looks up at the sky.
Take a moment to organize your thoughts.
Refine your words.
Take a deep breath.
Inhale
Exhale.
“Are you the head of the family?”
“… It’s not so.”
“Is the headmaster your eldest son?”
“Exactly.”
“Then Go will ask the family head.”
Swoop.
A man resembling a chrysalis slowly raises his head.
“What do you wish for?”
“…”
“Do you want to find out the truth about the past and punish those involved?”
“…”
“If not, do you want immediate relief and compensation for mismanagement?”
“…”
“If not even that, do you want all of that to happen at the same time?”
The man slowly opens his mouth.
“…Hmm…”
His voice is so low I can’t hear him well.
Canin tilts his head.
“Again, speak a little louder.”
“You guys…”
Cringe
Clap.
The soldiers gritted their teeth and pushed their spears.
“Everyone’s…”
Kwagak!
The soldiers take one step at once.
“Death…”
“What?!”
Whoaaaaa!
Light leaks from every hole in the man’s body.
Woo woo woo woo woo!
Boo-wook, boo-woo-wook!
Everyone in his family swells up like a balloon.
Pip Pit, Ppi Yiig!
Blood bursts on their skin, bodily fluids boiling at the same time.
Boom, cuckoo!
Their eyeballs explode.
“Majesty!”
The escorts attack.
To Canin, to uninvited guests.
Aaaaa!
Canin’s vision is dark.
