How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 309

“Marquise, His Majesty the Emperor has come to see you.”

 

“Take him to my bedroom right now!”

 

Thanks to a few days of rest, Marquise Calvin had recovered enough to sit up in bed—but she still chose to remain lying down.

 

It was partly to gain sympathy, and partly because she didn’t feel the need to show courtesy to the emperor, who was obsessed with her.

 

“Marquise Calvin.”

 

“Your Majesty…! Are you okay?”

 

The Emperor was not alone. He was followed by several armed imperial knights.

 

Although there were days when the Emperor came alone, there were also many days when he came with many people, so the Marquise of Calvin did not pay any attention to them.

 

“The last image I remember of you is being captured by a monster… How did you survive?”

 

“I don’t know either. At some point, I lost consciousness, and when I opened my eyes, someone had already taken me home.…. Because of my condition, I couldn’t even think of visiting the palace. Now that I see Your Majesty safe, I feel relieved.”

 

The Emperor just looked at Marquise Calvin, who was muttering in a charming voice, with an expression of no emotion.

 

It seemed the charm spell she had cast on him had worn off.

 

The Marquise Calvin clicked her tongue inwardly, but didn’t feel particularly disappointed.

 

She could always charm him again.

 

The Marquise of Calvin looked straight into the Emperor’s eyes and said:

 

“Your Majesty, I have a favor to ask.”

 

“A favor? What favor?”

 

“I’m in so much pain. Please let me receive healing magic from the royal wizard.”

 

There was no need to wrap her words in flowery excuses. He would surely say yes

 

Or so Marquise Calvin thought.

 

“What if I refuse?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“What if I say no?”

 

But what came back from the emperor was a rejection.

 

The Marquise Calvin froze in shock at the unexpected turn of events.

 

Then, the sentence that had been floating in her mind finally came out of her mouth.

 

“This, this can’t be happening….”

 

“Why not? Because you’re a barbarian with the power of charm? Because the fool who was bewitched by you and drained for over twenty years couldn’t possibly resist your power now?”

 

“Your Majesty! That’s… that’s nonsense! Someone must be slandering me—”

 

“I don’t want to hear it! Guards! Arrest Marquise Calvin immediately and drag her to the underground prison!”

 

“Your Majesty!”

 

Regardless of her horrified cry, the knights followed the Emperor’s order and moved to restrain her.

 

“Don’t touch me!”

 

Marquise Calvin, who cried out in terror, tried to run away from the knights, but due to her poor health, she could not even get out of bed.

 

Finally, the moment the knight’s hand touched her body, she looked straight into his eyes and shouted.

 

“Stop! Protect me from the other knights who touch me!”

 

The knight’s body trembled as his eyes met with the Marquise of Calvin’s.

 

Marquise Calvin, convinced that the knight was under the power of a charm, then gave orders to the other knights.

 

“You restrain the Emperor! Injuries are fine, but make sure he lives—!”

 

“So your true nature finally reveals itself! I believed to the end that such a thing was impossible, but you really were a filthy barbarian!”

 

While the Emperor was turning red and ranting furiously, the imperial knights beside him stared at Marquise Calvin with eerily calm eyes

 

Marquise Calvin realized it too late.

 

They were all fully armed from helmet to armor as if ready for battle, but all of them were women.

 

The helmets and armor they wore were weapons to hide their gender.

 

‘Was it a trap…?’’

 

Marquise Calvin suddenly realized why the power of charm didn’t work on the emperor.

 

‘That’s the potion. The emperor got his hands on the potion that Karl made.…!’

 

“Drag Marquise Calvin to the underground prison! Blindfold her so she can’t meet anyone’s eyes, and see that all interrogations are conducted solely by female knights and guards!”

 

“Argh! Let go of me, damn it! Your Majesty! It’s me, Marquise Calvin! The one you claimed to cherish above all—!”

 

“Shut up! How dare you, a lowly barbarian, speak to me! I can’t bear the thought of living with such a woman! It’s so horrible!”

 

As the Emperor shuddered, saying he wished he could peel his own skin off, Marquis Calvin burst into laughter.

 

“When you hugged me and said it was good, now you’re saying I’m filthy? Fine, filthy indeed. You’ve been wallowing in filth, so aren’t you also filth?”

 

“How dare you—!”

 

“Your Majesty, the Emperor. May I tell you something? There was a man who resisted my power—even without any potion.”

 

Marquis Calvin chuckled as he watched the Emperor’s face distort.

 

“And yet, the Emperor is so helplessly swayed by the tricks of those lowly, filthy barbarians! How ridiculous the state of the sun of the empire! Ahaha!”

 

“You…! You—!”

 

Shaking with rage, the Emperor finally couldn’t withstand it any longer and fainted on the spot.

 

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”

 

“Bring His Majesty to the palace immediately!”

 

The emperor, who was carried away on the knight’s back once again, was unable to regain consciousness for two full days.

 

Moreover, after regaining consciousness, he became so emaciated that he could not even properly control his body without the support of the attendant.

 

The emperor, who had a lot of work to do but was too tired to even sit down and drink a glass of water, finally made a decision.

 

“Summon the Second Prince…”

 

That afternoon, the Emperor granted full authority to the Second Prince, Julius, instructing him to resolve the mountain of pending issues.

 

The first place the humbled prince went was the underground prison—

to personally interrogate not only Marquise Calvin but also the Onyx wizards captured and escorted to the capital by Duke Khalid’s knights.

 

* * *

 

On the day that hordes of monsters and chimeras attacked the capital, Khalid’s knights, under orders from the Duke, captured every single wizard fleeing through the dungeon entrance.

 

After that, the captain of the knights who arrived at the dungeon with the knights and wizards received a report that no more wizards were coming out, and after careful consideration, ordered the troops to advance into the dungeon.

 

But within less than ten minutes, he issued the retreat.

 

“C-Captain! The monsters are going berserk!”

 

Affected by the frenzy from the shattered bloodstones, even the monsters that had been lurking deep within the dungeon began rampaging.

 

Meanwhile, the Onyx wizards began to cast spells to catch monsters, and the inside of the dungeon was literally chaos itself.

 

“Retreat! Retreat! If we get caught up in that mess, we’ll only suffer unnecessary losses!”

 

The Knight captain took advantage of the situation, and it was a very wise decision.

 

The Knights of Khalid stationed themselves around the dungeon entrance, standing guard until the monsters’ rampage ended.

 

Meanwhile, several more wizards were captured as they fled outside.

 

However, even after a day and then another passed, the monsters did not calm down.

 

Even when Duke Khalid, who had taken care of urgent matters in the capital, came to the dungeon with Leonhard and Felix.

 

“The monsters are still running wild? Even now?”

 

“They were, as of two hours ago.”

 

Leonhardt, who was inspecting the dungeon entrance, asked the knight captain.

 

“How many monsters have been confirmed?”

 

“I can’t say for sure because I only observed them from a distance, but a few days ago there were over a dozen, but today I only saw about ten.”

 

“Have you checked the entire dungeon?”

 

“No. I didn’t go far from the entrance, for fear of attracting the monster’s attention.”

 

“I see.”

 

Leonhard thought for a moment and then said to Duke Khalid.

 

“Let’s go in and clean up.”

 

“Aren’t you enough on your own? Why bother dragging me along?”

 

Leonhard gave a short laugh at Duke Khalid’s words.

 

“Whose land is this?”

 

“Thanks for your help….”

 

It took Leonhard and Duke Khalid only two hours to completely subdue the rampaging monsters inside the dungeon.

 

“The boss monster has been taken care of. Be careful not to touch the core until the investigation is complete.”

 

“Yes, understood!”

 

The monsters inside the dungeon were either running wild because of the bloodstones or had become stronger after eating other monsters whole.

 

And yet, they cleared them all in just two hours.

 

As expected—Divine Authority truly was something else. The knights muttered in awe as they entered the dungeon.

 

“Divide into two units. Half will scour the mountains, the rest will search the tower. Gather anything that can serve as evidence of what happened here—even a scrap of paper. If you find any living wizard, capture them without fail. If that is impossible, kill them.”

 

“Yes, Your Highness!”

 

“If you find any corpses, confirm their identities through the captured wizards immediately. Whether alive or dead, we must secure the master of this tower and its officers.”

 

The knights who received the order split into groups and moved forward.

 

Leonhard, along with Duke Khalid and Felix, entered the tower.

 

“Are there any wizards still alive?”

 

“If there are hiding spots inside the tower, it’s possible. Felix, can you find them?”

 

“It’s not difficult.”

 

Leonhard nodded along with Felix, who nodded slightly.

 

Felix will find the hidden wizard. So, the only remaining question is:

 

“Let’s hope none managed to escape outside.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Duke Khalid clicked his tongue briefly in impatience.

 

Just as there was a magical tool that allowed teleportation from the outside to the inside of the tower, there was a teleportation magic circle installed inside the tower that connected to the outside of the dungeon.

 

The three people who had obtained the information through the wizards who had been caught while running away were now heading to the place where the magic circle was set up.

 

“It is said that all the wizards belonging to Onyx were gathered in the tower except for three, so if no one escaped, it would have been a complete defeat.…”

 

“Three?”

 

Duke Khalid answered Felix’s question by folding his fingers.

 

“Karl, Tommy, and Pan—the one who led the monsters.”

 

Tommy was killed by a chimera controlled by Pan, and Karl was killed by the power of the symbol going wild.

 

And Pan…..

 

* * *