Hero? Are You Worthy?
Chapter 427 - 279 The Will of the Lord of Pleasure (1)

Chapter 427: Chapter 279 The Will of the Lord of Pleasure (1)

For a moment, Qin Chu looked at Wozworth with a dash of pity in his gaze.

Was this Emperor, perhaps, too miserable?

Angela and Sharon, the two princesses, were high-ranking members of the Witch Association.

The list just now—Wozworth didn’t show it to him at all, simply memorized it and then destroyed it. Why? Other than the possibility of there being other princesses, or even his sisters or daughters on that list, what other reason could there be?

Now even his Empress turned out to be a member of the Blissful Witch Association, and moreover, she held a high position as the Vice President...

The hats on Wozworth’s head were already so plentiful he could be a hat wholesaler.

Speaking of which, wasn’t this Empress the mother of the Prince? And also the younger aunt of Antasia, the princess from Ice Duchy who had married into the Oville Empire last generation?

Qin Chu frowned and said to Angelica, "Angelica, are you certain? This is a grave matter; you can’t afford to get it wrong."

Although he appeared to be cautioning her, Qin Chu’s voice was incredibly soft, devoid of the slightest hint of blame.

Angelica’s brows furrowed slightly as she pondered carefully, "It’s correct, I overheard the two princesses’ plans and was about to leave quietly when this woman appeared behind me."

"It was she who attacked me; she is very powerful," Angelica concluded with a nod.

Was it that woman who attacked Angelica, making her have a brush with death? Is that why Angelica is now so weakened?

Although she was Antasia’s aunt, for Qin Chu, this was a taboo, and if it were other matters, he might turn a blind eye. But she should never have harmed Angelica.

Carol, who was supporting Angelica, didn’t know what to say for a moment and just looked worriedly at her father.

Wozworth’s face was somewhat pale, and his body shivered slightly; it was evident that this succession of events had dealt a severe blow to this mighty man.

Queen Mevis!

The princess from the Ice Country, Wozworth’s first princess whom he’d married, the one who had borne him his first son, the Empress who hadn’t been changed for so many years after he became Emperor...

Even after the birth of the Prince, Wozworth had started to deliberately alienate Mevis. Though Wozworth could allow Mevis to maintain her title of Empress forever, he would not let her wield too much influence in the Oville Empire, especially since her son was the Empire’s next heir.

Nevertheless, Mevis received all the treatment befitting an Empress; there would be no neglect in this regard.

Having such a revered status, such generous treatment, Wozworth couldn’t understand what this woman was unsatisfied with, to the point of descending into the ranks of the Blissful Witch Association and even becoming its Vice President.

Looking at Wozworth’s tightly clenched fists, Qin Chu sighed softly and patted his shoulder, "Brother, be strong."

"Then, perhaps you should handle Mevis’s matter yourself, brother. I’ll head back to the palace," Qin Chu suggested tactfully.

A wry smile tugged at the corner of Wozworth’s mouth as he glanced at Qin Chu; this brother was decent.

Understanding the special circumstances and to avoid embarrassing himself further, he even offered to recuse himself from the situation.

Wozworth closed his eyes, adjusting his frame of mind. In just a few seconds, he suddenly opened his eyes, and his weathered face had returned to normal.

As an Emperor, Wozworth absolutely would not allow such emotions to cloud his judgment.

Mevis had formidable strength even before marrying him, and though he had neglected her over the years, Wozworth never denied Mevis’s talent. Coupled with Angelica’s description, she might not be an easy opponent to deal with.

"No, Qin, you come with me," Wozworth said.

Qin Chu did not refuse; after all, he was also intrigued by the Vice President who had dared to harm Angelica.

Under Wozworth’s lead, the group headed straight towards the Empress’s bedchamber.

Upon reaching the courtyard, Qin Chu’s brow furrowed immediately; his gaze swept across the overgrown yard with weeds taller than a person, dense and desolate. A barely passable path cut through the tall grass, leading to a dilapidated house, half-collapsed from years of neglect.

He looked at Wozworth; was this really the place where the Empress lived? Are you sure we haven’t mistaken it for a storeroom of some sort?

Wozworth was equally astonished. Ever since the birth of the Prince, he had banished Mevis here, arranged for guards to watch over her, and maids to serve her, and he himself hadn’t visited this place in over twenty years. He had even strictly forbidden the Prince from coming near, but with a monthly living expense of two hundred thousand, he thought the Empress should have been living without any worries.

Who could have imagined that the Empress’s bedchamber would turn into such desolation and ruin?

Forget the Empress; even the maids in the Imperial Palace probably lived in better conditions than Mevis.

Where were the guards who watched over the Empress?

Where were the maids who served the Empress?

His fingers tightened into fists. Why had the reports he received weekly claimed that the Empress was well-behaved and everything was as usual here? Where had the two hundred thousand mana gone each month?

Wozworth’s expression grew grim; gritting his teeth tightly, he pushed through the overgrown grass nearly obscuring the path and strode toward the decrepit building.

There was no need to even open the door; one could directly enter from the collapsed section of the wall.

Inside, there was finally a faint trace of human presence...

The scent of the dead.

On the decaying beams, body after body hung suspended.

There were maids, bloated and fat, and guards clad in armor, all those tasked with the care and service of the Empress.

Silken ribbons coiled around their necks, hoisting their bodies midair, their heads drooping. A gust of wind from the tattered walls set dozens of corpses swaying, casting sinister shadows on the ground below.

Inside, there was only a bed, its legs broken from decay, pressing directly into the earth, its bedding torn and patched...

A few branches served as a makeshift wardrobe, with several whitened, ragged dresses hanging from them.

Angelica faintly realized that the woman she had seen before, shoeless, wasn’t out of habit, but possibly because she had no shoes to wear.

In the room, there was also a metallic object propped up by branches, seemingly a cooking pot, containing some cooked roots of unknown plants.

Was this the living environment of the Empress?

No matter how you looked at it, wasn’t it a bit too miserable?

Wozworth’s face darkened to the extreme as he gazed at the bodies hanging in the air...

With the Empress’s monthly expenditure of two hundred thousand mana, it seemed all of it must have been embezzled by these guards and maids.

Perhaps at first they only skulked around, hiding away a little, but seeing Mevis utterly oblivious and unconcerned, their greed grew.

Moreover, as Wozworth had never once paid Mevis a visit, the servants’ audacity and their appetites swelled. In the end, they didn’t even leave a single piece of mana for Mevis, let alone care for her.

And these guards and maids, with substantial mana coming in every month, to protect this source of wealth, often turned a deaf ear to some of Mevis’s weird behaviors and directly reported all was well.

Mevis, not wanting the people who surveilled her to be replaced, turned a blind eye to their actions even though she had the power to kill them, thus maintaining a delicate balance between them.

Until this moment, Mevis seemed to have realized her identity was about to be exposed and had killed all the guards and nuns who had humiliated her for over twenty years.

"Ah..."

Suddenly, Angelica let out a cry of surprise. Qin Chu and Wozworth hurriedly rushed over to her side.

Before Angelica, a wall loomed, upon which hung three magic images, akin to photographs.

The first was that of the Prince.

The second was Wozworth’s.

The third was Qin Chu’s.

The Prince’s magic image was normal, but Wozworth’s and Qin Chu’s were covered in a dense array of tiny holes, as if someone had repeatedly stabbed the magic images with a needle, or an ice cone, their hatred so deep they wished to flay and scatter the ashes of the two men on the images.

It seemed, following the Prince’s death, Queen Mevis had come to despise Qin Chu and Wozworth profoundly.

This was hardly surprising, considering Qin Chu had killed the Prince, and Wozworth had hardly helped from behind the scenes.

At the base of the magic images, set on the ground, was a wooden-carved statue of a deity.

The Divine Statue was weird.

Neither man nor woman.

If you considered the statue male, it possessed the regal masculinity of a lion.

If you considered it female, it bore the seductive charm of a witch.

It was an indescribable feeling, man and woman’s allure seemingly merged perfectly in this statue.

But, whether viewed as male or female, one could feel the temptation that could make a soul fall from grace.

This, then, was the Divine Statue of the Blissful Witch Association’s revered Evil God, the Lord of Pleasure?

How ludicrous, Mevis continued to worship the very culprit that had once enticed the Prince towards utter corruption and ruin.

The statue had obviously been there for more than a day or two, yet the greedy guards and maids, for the copious mana, turned a blind eye, allowing the Lord of Pleasure’s worship to spread within the Imperial Palace.

Creak...

Suddenly, Qin Chu felt as if he heard a faint sound in his ear.

Instinctively, his gaze darted toward the direction of the sound, and a weird scene made his scalp tingle.

What did he see... only that the wooden-carved Divine Statue on the ground had somehow twisted its face toward him.

Its rigid mouth corners slowly curved upwards, as if smiling at Qin Chu.

Hum...

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