“I am? Do you jest? How can that be? I was stripped of my title, exiled from the country and ordered to live on this puny island for the rest of my life!! People will laugh as I rot here until I die!!”
“Oh dear...” The girl laughed as if uncomfortable at the sight of her furious master.
Since ancient times, throughout many dynasties, the final days of those stripped of their royal titles were miserable. Some were not even allowed poison to kill themselves, and one emperor had been strangled to death.
In comparison, it was a rare show of mercy to send the Lion Emperor home with the assurance of his life as long as he did nothing for the rest of his days.
“Every one of them is looking down on me! But I am the Lion Emperor!!” His reasoning made little sense.
People are emotional and do not always see from a rational perspective. As they climb higher and higher, they cling to the view from their elevated station. Those accustomed to drinking expensive wine—one bottle costing as much as feeding a commoner for a whole year—will turn up their noses at an offer of the cheap wine they used to love.
“Master, you impressively accomplished what was required. I am absolutely sure of that.” The girl maintained her gentle smile toward the Lion Emperor.
And that smile put out the flame of the Lion Emperor’s rage. It wasn’t that her smile calmed him. Rather, he wondered what she had meant.
“What are you talking about?”
“Because of you, the continent was almost unified. Each nation shared technology and knowledge, and new technologies were developed.” The girl continued smiling as she talked.
“Also, this colossal international coalition presents a threat to the surrounding nations, spurring military buildups and weapons development, resulting in further scientific progress. More progress has been made during the less than ten years of your rule than in the preceding one hundred years!” The girl’s cheeks were red with excitement, and she spoke with passionate admiration.
“What are you talking about?” The Lion Emperor still couldn’t understand.
When he was a young officer on an archaeological dig, this girl had appeared from the ruins. And as soon as she appeared, she picked him out among the stunned members of the excavation team, as if carelessly choosing one potato from a pile in a basket, and she had said...
“Do you want to be king?”
Why had he believed her? No, he hadn’t believed her. He had just been attracted by her mysterious beauty and nodded his head. Since then, he had lived according to her instructions.
He had fought the way she asked, and he had won just as she predicted. He had made friends with those she told him to befriend, and he had rejected those she told him to avoid. He shunned the friends she told him to abandon, sometimes even taking their lives. The next thing he knew, people were calling him a hero and penning songs in his praise. Then he became a king, just as she had said, and he took the throne as emperor.
However, at some point, things started to go awry. The fights she suggested he start ended in utter defeat. As a result, campaigns that began with one million soldiers ended with only five thousand. The Lion Emperor’s myth of invincibility crumbled, and now he found himself here.
“Are you saying you planned all this? My loss and downfall were just what you expected?!”
“I made you a king as promised, didn’t I? Even more, I made you emperor.” The girl replied boldly. She didn’t think her actions were the least bit wrong.
“The continent of Europea must not unify yet. The nations need to become more suspicious of each other, seek greater power, and achieve further progress. So... Master? You played your role. Good job!” After these words, the girl smiled appealingly.
But that smile felt exceedingly cruel to the Lion Emperor.
“What do you take humans for?! I’m no mere puppet!!”
“Excuse me, but I know that.”
At his words, the girl looked exasperated. She didn’t think humans were puppets. She just thought there was very little difference between puppets and humans.
“Well then, thank you for your hospitality. But now I must go.” Politely and respectfully, the girl bid him farewell.
“Go where?”
“Since you came here, a competition for leadership has been raging on the continent. I have to carefully stimulate it and usher in another war.” Her tone sounded as if she were talking about grocery shopping for tonight’s dinner.
“Master... Oh, whoops. You’re not the master anymore. Mr. Leon, please don’t get any ideas about escaping from the island. Just live the rest of your life in peace. Well, see ya!” The girl left the room.
When the girl was gone... the Lion Emperor, or rather, Leon... now a middle-aged man like any other, stood there stunned and speechless.
“Ha ha ha...” After a little while, Leon laughed dryly. “Give me a break!! Who does she think I am?! I won’t die in a dump like this!!!” He sprang to action.
Leon escaped the island and returned to the continent. Before too long, he reclaimed the title of emperor and seized power. The Lion Emperor fought for hegemony over the continent against allied national forces created specifically to defeat him. And he lost.
For a man considered to be a strategic genius, it was an extraordinarily swift defeat. His administrative power hadn’t lasted one hundred days. He was caught, but he wasn’t executed. If he was killed, his name would be deified and he would be remembered as a hero. So, once more, he was exiled to an island. This time, it was a tiny, faraway island in the middle of the ocean, where even the birds didn’t visit. There was no need for a jail. There was no hope of escaping the island. After a decade, the man who had called himself the Lion Emperor grew haggard, withered and finally died.