No Entry Except for the Master - Chapter 57 - Is this the happy ending?

Since the party held in the Principality, Ludvio had been so anxious that he could barely get through each day. The nobleman he had sent to ruin the event had instead been caught red-handed by Teia, and just a few days later, that man’s severed arm and leg were delivered to Ludvio.

If only there had been some kind of warning letter included, it might have made Teia seem more human—but all Teia sent was a bouquet of flowers.

“That crazy bastard.”

They shared half their blood, yet Ludvio felt no affection for him whatsoever. Even before he was old enough to think clearly, Ludvio had always found Teia’s gaze horrifying.

Even at an age when one should be nothing but innocent, Teia used to watch him with a strange look in his eyes. Yes! It was that chilling gaze—as if he were evaluating a lab rat.

Maybe that’s why he had kept provoking him over and over again. Just to see a human reaction from him. So that he could finally laugh at Teia and say, “Ah, so you’re just like everyone else,” and wash his hands of him cleanly.

But Teia had never once reacted the way Ludvio wanted. And as time passed, Ludvio’s obsessive fixation with Teia became increasingly grotesque.

It was around then that a quiet rumor began to circulate within the Imperial Palace.

In truth, there was a blasphemous rumor going around that the Emperor’s true favored child was not the Imperial Crown Prince Ludvio, but Teia.

Some whispered that the Emperor’s act of banishing Teia from the Imperial Capital at a young age had only been a ruse to grant him a duchy where he could establish his base more quickly.

In fact, the land Teia ruled over was not only a place steeped in the Empire’s long-standing history, but also a rich, prime territory filled with resources like gemstone mines.

The rumor, which carried a certain weight of credibility, naturally made its way to Ludvio and his close aides.

Could it be that the Emperor truly wanted Teia to be Crown Prince?

Was he perhaps simply waiting for the right time to pass the position on to him?

The growing anxiety that he might be dethroned began to constrict Ludvio like a noose.

Some nobles who had originally sided with the Crown Prince began cautiously testing the waters after the party, and once the rumors grew rampant, they switched allegiances as if they had been waiting for an excuse.

In reality, Ludvio had nothing to show for himself apart from the title of Crown Prince that the Emperor had granted him.
He had no real accomplishments or power to rival Teia.

The one and only thing Ludvio had ever taken from Teia was his fiancée—and even that hadn’t dealt Teia any damage.

As the legitimacy—Ludvio’s strongest weapon—began to waver, cracks began to form in the authority he held.
If this collapses any further, there’s no going back. I have to do something before then.

Eventually, Ludvio decided to go through with the plan he had spent months hesitating over and thinking through.

***

Eris, who had ended up bearing the label of traitor alongside Ludvio, had lately begun to regret her choices little by little.

At one point, Eris had believed herself to be the sole victor who had successfully made Teia yield.

There had always been many noblewomen who pined for Teia, but Eris was the only one who had managed to seize the position of his fiancée.But her joy in that victory had been short-lived, for Eris soon realized that the title she held was merely for show.

Teia had not placed her at his side out of love that had moved him belatedly.Not even the slightest hint of emotion—not even a flicker of sentiment—was present in his actions.

She had been chosen purely through calculated gain.
In the end, it wasn’t Eris who had won—it was his surname, his family.