The Emperor's face turned red as he glared at Wei Yan-ho and shouted.
"The more I look at you, the more arrogant and presumptuous you become without end. How many lives do you have that you dare spout such nonsense before me!"
"Everyone has one life. Are there people with two?"
"You, you bastard!"
By this point, the Emperor was more dumbfounded than angry.
'What does this bastard think I am?'
Who was he?
Was he not the Son of Heaven who ruled everything under heaven?
All things in the world submitted before him, and no one dared raise their head in his presence. Yet what was this bastard relying on to act so stiffly?
"Do you think your neck will remain attached after saying such things?"
"Weren't you planning to spare me anyway?"
"..."
"I'm going to die either way, so what's there to be afraid of? From the looks of things, it seems like no matter what I say, you have no intention of sparing me, so in that case, I'd rather just say what I want and die."
The Emperor looked at Wei Yan-ho with a stunned expression.
'It's not exactly wrong, but...'
He had heard that when the founding Emperor established the nation and purged his meritorious vassals, there were those who spoke their minds just like this and died with their necks held stiffly.
But since he had ascended to the throne, he had never once witnessed such a scene.
Finding himself unable to threaten with death, the Emperor felt his words running dry.
"Your family will not be safe either."
"Do as you please."
Wei Yan-ho answered nonchalantly and picked up his chopsticks to start eating the food on the refreshment table.
"...Does the food go down your throat?"
"They say ghosts who die with full bellies have better complexions, so when you're hungry, you should eat. It's not like you'll spare me if I don't eat this."
"..."
By this point, the Emperor was starting to feel a creeping regret.
'Should I not have said I'd kill him?'
Since he had already declared he would kill him, there was no way to restrain this bastard who was acting so boldly. And it would be too much of a loss of face to say now that he might spare him.
"Are you saying you're not even afraid of being torn apart by five horses?"
"Hey! I'm trying to eat here, seriously!"
"..."
The Emperor's mouth fell wide open.
Regardless, Wei Yan-ho crunched and swallowed the rice cake on the refreshment table and let out a "Burrrp~".
"Ah, now I feel like I can live a little."
The Emperor's eyebrows twitched.
What on earth should he do with this bastard?
Wei Yan-ho stared intently at the Emperor who didn't know what to do and opened his mouth.
"Excuse me."
'Excuse me?'
The Emperor began to seriously wonder if this bastard really wasn't an assassin. He was starting to think he might actually die from high blood pressure at this rate.
"Hahahaha."
The Emperor chose to laugh instead.
"Right, if you think you're going to die anyway, there's nothing to fear."
"That's right."
"Then you should be able to understand me, shouldn't you?"
"Huh?"
The Emperor pointed to himself.
"I am someone who wouldn't be strange to die tomorrow. The only reason I can speak and shout like this is because of the physician's desperate efforts and countless elixirs I've consumed without rest. But even that has reached its limit now."
Wei Yan-ho narrowed his eyes.
Since he couldn't examine him directly, he couldn't know the exact condition, but he could tell that what the Emperor was saying wasn't just empty words.
The Emperor's body was frail.
And congenitally so.
Wei Yan-ho wasn't a physician, so he couldn't know exactly what the illness was. Even if he brought Jin So-ah, it probably wouldn't change anything.
This was the Imperial Palace, and that person was the Emperor.
Probably every skilled physician under heaven had rushed to cure that person. If they still couldn't cure him, there was nothing Jin So-ah could do.
"So what would I have to fear? A body that will die and disappear, there's nothing to cling to. Therefore, I can dedicate everything solely for the peace of the Imperial Family."
Wei Yan-ho's eyes narrowed.
"Do you think that's right?"
"Of course."
"Then I was wrong."
"Are you admitting it?"
"Yes."
Wei Yan-ho nodded obediently.
"My thinking was wrong. I thought you were at least a normal person, but you weren't."
"...What did you say?"
Wei Yan-ho's eyes turned cold.
"Aren't you the Emperor?"
"That's right."
"What does an Emperor do?"
The Emperor laughed lightly.
"Are you asking because you don't know?"
"Of course I know. But Your Majesty seems not to know."
"Don't know? I?"
The Emperor looked at Wei Yan-ho with a dumbfounded expression.
"Are you saying I am now abandoning the Emperor's duties?"
"No. You're not abandoning your duties, you just don't seem to know what you should be doing."
"What do you mean by that?"
Wei Yan-ho didn't beat around the bush. Beating around the bush with someone like this was nothing but a waste of time.
"Does everything end if you protect the Imperial Family?"
"That's not it. Ultimately speaking, it would be important for the Emperor himself to stand properly. But the current situation doesn't allow for that, so looking ahead and temporarily..."
"What about the people?"
The Emperor quietly looked at Wei Yan-ho.
His expression was indescribably subtle. He seemed both caught off guard and bewildered. What was certain was that Wei Yan-ho's words were shaking something within the Emperor.
"No matter how uneducated and ignorant I am, I know that an Emperor is someone who looks after the people. But nowhere in what Your Majesty says are there any people."
The Emperor frowned.
"To the people, the Emperor is like a parent. A parent must be well to care for their children, mustn't they?"
"There's no parent who sells their children claiming they'll do well for themselves. You know full well how much suffering the people will endure if Nok-gi wields tyranny. Even now it's the same. You know perfectly well how many are suffering because of Nok-gi alone, yet you condone it while talking about the throne and such—just for that alone, Your Majesty will be remembered in history as a tyrant."
The Emperor's beard began to tremble.
"A tyrant? Did you call me a tyrant?"
"Yes."
Wei Yan-ho answered indifferently.
"You..."
"Why are you acting so surprised? You know it yourself."
"What did you say?"
"Doesn't the Emperor learn everything?"
"..."
"You'd know just from reading a single book. Even I, who knows nothing about history, know that emperors who torment their people are pointed at as tyrants, so there's no way you alone wouldn't know. You just don't want to acknowledge it and want to turn away from it."
"You, you bastard..."
"Ah, of course if Your Majesty wants to claim a moral victory, I'll acknowledge it. Life is hard enough already, so who would criticize someone for living while thinking that way to themselves? But I'd prefer if you didn't speak to others as if you have some grand plan and are enduring it. It's torture for the person who has to listen."
The Emperor looked at Wei Yan-ho as if astounded.
Until now, not a single person had ever held their head up so stiffly and said everything they wanted to say before him. Even Nok-gi, who was said to manipulate the world, was busy bowing his head in his presence.
Because that's what it meant to be Emperor.
He was the parent of all things in the world, and the one who governed them. Yet this little bastard was deceiving the Emperor.
He was angry, but the Emperor had to feel more wronged than furious.
"You bastard..."
The Emperor's voice came out trembling.
"What do you know!"
"Yes. I know nothing."
"I too wanted to be a wise ruler! I too wanted to become a dignified monarch. But with this body, I can do nothing. What am I supposed to do with a body that wouldn't be strange to stop breathing tomorrow! The palace is crawling with those who covet power like demons, and the Crown Prince is young and foolish. Surrounded on all sides by demons, do you know my heart as I must endure alone? Do you know my heart as I had to kill my only brother with my own hands because I couldn't trust him!"
"I wouldn't know."
Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.
"But you dare..."
"Excuse me, I think you're mistaken..."
"...What?"
Wei Yan-ho answered indifferently.
"Those who evaluate history won't consider such things either. They'll probably just evaluate it like this: A foolish monarch manipulated by the treacherous eunuch Nok-gi. The people's suffering was indescribable due to his misrule. Well, you'll probably remain as the textbook example of a monarch manipulated by treacherous subjects."
The Emperor's body trembled.
These were the words he least wanted to hear coming from that bastard's mouth.
"And no matter what someone has done, they have their own reasons and excuses. Even King Zhou of Yin would feel wronged, wouldn't he? Saying he wasn't a tyrant."
"..."
"Evaluation isn't something you give yourself, but something others give you. If you truly think you're sacrificing yourself for the Imperial Family and the throne, you should accept it even if history spits on your grave. Consoling yourself that there will be a reevaluation later is just running away, isn't it? It seems like you're just claiming moral victory because you don't have confidence to be evaluated right now."
"What a bold bastard you are."
The Emperor's face hardened like iron armor.
"If you couldn't distinguish between what you should and shouldn't say because you thought you were going to die anyway, then you'll have to pay the price."
"No. Well..."
Wei Yan-ho scratched his head.
"It's not that I spoke carelessly because I thought I was going to die anyway."
"You don't think you're going to die?"
"No."
"Hahahahaha."
The Emperor's face contorted.
"Do you think you can escape?"
"No. I have no intention of escaping either."
"What?"
"Actually, it's not that I haven't thought about it. I figured if I threw a punch and fled to a distant country, surely they wouldn't chase me that far. Or joining the Demonic Cult would be another option."
"...You're out of your mind."
"If I were out of my mind, I would have already done that. But I thought that would be wrong too."
The Emperor frowned.
What was this bastard talking about?
And why was he listening to this crazy talk?
The Emperor, having lost his mood, waved his hand dismissively.
"Enough. Whatever you say now has no meaning. Go back. Your brother will be executed as soon as day breaks."
"No, you need to listen."
"I said there's nothing to listen to. Guards!"
At that moment, Wei Yan-ho smiled wickedly and said.
"Let's make a deal."
"A deal?"
"Yes. A deal."
The Emperor looked at Wei Yan-ho as if dumbfounded.
To dare propose a deal to the Emperor. This was....
"My father and the others, especially Prince Lee, seem to think I could somehow persuade Your Majesty through conversation, but that's truly an insane thought. That's impossible."
"...Huh?"
Wei Yan-ho's expression began to turn sinister.
"Still, the conversation wasn't entirely fruitless. I figured out what Your Majesty's biggest problem is. If I can just solve that, all the current situations will be resolved at once. So I'll do that for you."
"What are you doing! Must I continue listening to this madman's words!"
As soon as the Emperor finished speaking, the door burst open and eunuchs rushed in to grab Wei Yan-ho's arms.
"Lock this bastard in the prison immediately. And execute him for treason tomorrow morning. Exterminate his three generations, and burn his family records! Also!"
At that moment, Wei Yan-ho muttered something.
"...Wait."
The Emperor's eyes trembled as he heard what Wei Yan-ho muttered.
"What, what did you say?"
A triumphant smile appeared at the corner of Wei Yan-ho's mouth. After keeping the Emperor on edge for a long while, Wei Yan-ho opened his mouth.
"Before that, I'm a bit hungry. Could I perhaps see that Manhan Imperial Feast that only the Emperor eats? I think my tongue will work better when I'm full."
It was the moment when the extinguished fires in the Imperial Palace kitchen were lit again.