Chapter 230 — Aftermath and Turmoil
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
"His Majesty can no longer be swayed by any word of dissuasion—neither yours nor mine," the Count of Winterhold said, shaking his head. "Now is absolutely no time to launch a full-scale war, my Duke. No one understands that eastern guardian house of Ansul better than you and I. They are tough bones to gnaw, to be sure; the Imperial army is strong, with wholly new tactics and finer equipment, while Ansul is stale and backward in such matters. But that does not mean we can do it without cost... At the very least, now is not the time."
"I am as you are—neither of us has ever doubted that the Empire's strength can overcome the enemy. The crux is the scale of the cost," Grand Duke Pei Yi said, brow furrowed. "Yet our Emperor seems to have lost his judgment in this regard. He is... too aggressive."
"Not merely aggressive, Duke—not merely aggressive," the Count of Winterhold said, his tone turning grave. "I suspect... that mad curse has already begun to affect His Majesty."
Grand Duke Pei Yi's eyebrows shot up at once. "What have you observed?"
He knew the Count of Winterhold was a powerful spellcaster and a learned master of the arcane. In martial prowess he himself might far surpass the other, but in the realms of magic and curses, few in the entire Empire could exceed the Count of Winterhold. He saw magical radiance spilling from his old friend's eyes, and the man's expression grew heavy and solemn: "I have observed nothing—but there are suspicions that need no magic to perceive. His Majesty is deliberately avoiding the gaze of my 'Mage's Eye.' When we met, four royal mages stood at his side; their powerful magical interference left me seeing nothing. And that is precisely what is most suspicious."
"His Majesty knows something is wrong with him..." Grand Duke Pei Yi's breathing quickened. "Yet he consciously prevents you from helping him?!"
"That is the most unsettling part—His Majesty consciously indulges his own madness. That is more terrible than madness pure and simple," the Count of Winterhold said, looking into Grand Duke Pei Yi's eyes. "I have lost His Majesty's trust. He has ordered me back to my domain, forbidden to set foot in the capital again unless by his grace. So now I can do nothing; only you can act. You must watch the palace closely, and prepare for the day His Majesty sinks wholly into madness. By my estimate, His Majesty still retains most of his lucidity—only his temperament has changed, so in governing the realm he can still be a competent sovereign. But such a state will not last many years..."
"I am loyal to His Majesty the Emperor," Grand Duke Pei Yi said suddenly. After those few words he fell silent for several seconds before continuing slowly, "But I am more loyal to this nation, founded by the martyrs of old."
"That is just what you would say," the Count of Winterhold said with the faintest smile—a smile that quickly turned strange. "Speaking of the founding martyrs... our decayed and declining neighbor has truly raised up a martyr of its own..."
Pei Yi Wendel's expression turned strange as well. "You mean... that Grand Duke Gao Yang Cecil, said in rumor to have risen from the dead? Do you believe it is true?"