Chapter 390: The Price for Support

Julius let himself into Constance’s office, his eyes filled with a resolve he previously lacked. "Brother." Julius spoke softly, "I will do as you say, but first, there are two things that must be promised to me."

"Whatever you want, Juluis." Julius took a deep breath and forced a smile. It was the only way he could calm his nerves.

"First, don’t touch my eyes. I need them to prove who I am if we want this to work." Constance nodded as if it was stupid to even ask. Sighing in relief, Juluis clenched his fist. "Secondly, promise you will do everything to help me sit on the throne."

Constance stood up and walked before Juluis. Clasping his hands together, he lowered his head. "In the name of Sol, I promise I shall do everything in my power to help you sit on the throne of the Severian Empire." Lifting his head, Constance smiled, "Is that good enough?"

"Thank you." Constacne lightly chuckled and spun around. Grabbing the bell on his desk, he rang it, calling in the old Elder, who was always near him. "Forgive me, but will you tell Gabriel to prepare for Juluis to come within a half hour?"

The Elder nodded and left the room. Sitting down, Constance reached into the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a bottle filled with brown liquid. Pouring himself and Julius a glass, he sighed, "You’re going to need this for later."

Julius looked at the alcohol and downed his glass before picking up the bottle. Finishing half of it, he fought down the urge to throw up and sat motionless for a few minutes. The effects were quick, and closing his eyes, he felt like his mind was rolling. Repeatedly throwing his head to stop it, he didn’t notice Constance laughing at him.

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Julius stumbled into the dark room hidden beneath the Holy Seat. It was well lit with torches all around. Gabriel stood cleaning a blade as another man stood by the wall with numerous glass vials of liquid and paste.

"You’re here." Looking at Julius, he smiled, seeing he was already drunk, "It’s a good thing you drank. The Elder behind me is trained in medicine. He will look after your wounds after we begin."

The Elder walked over and handed Juluis a vial of red liquid, "This will numb the pain as much as it can, but with what you are about to endure, I can’t say it will be any help." His words alone were sobering for Julius, and snatching the vial of liquid, he downed it. It had a strong herbal taste. After a minute, the Elder pinched Julius’ arm without him noticing and nodded to Gabriel that he was ready.

Gabriel grabbed the Prince by the arm and pulled him over to a chair that had been prepared. Forcing him to sit, he tightened the straps around his arms and legs and grabbed a thick piece of leather. "Bite into this hard. I can’t risk you biting your tongue off by accident."

Julius did as told and bit on the leather. It tasted like dirt, and he wondered when the last time it was cleaned, but before he could complain, Gabriel grabbed a small knife and cut open his shirt. The cold steel on his chest sent goosebumps all over his body. His body tensed, but the medicine he took quickly relaxed it.

"I’m going to make a fake wound on your chest that will mimic a stab wound to the heart. It will be deep, but I will stop just before it kills you." Julius nodded and breathed deeply as the blade pierced through his skin. Gabriel stopped and stared at him." Control your breathing. It will make this harder for me."

Julius took a few more slow breaths to calm himself, and once happy, Gabriel started again. The knife pierced through his skin before digging and cutting into the muscle. On instinct, he tried to break free, and Gabriel stopped before he accidentally killed the man, pulling the knife out and taking a bottle of medicine from the Elder, he pulled the leather from Julius’ mouth and forced it down his throat. "Calm down." He spoke with a rare gentleness as he touched the wound over Julius’ chest.

Blood poured down, but he frowned, seeing that it didn’t look deep enough. "One more time. Endure it." Gabriel put the knife back into the wound he made and cut slightly deeper, hitting the hard layer of bone underneath. Julius tried to jump out of the chair as he bit down on the leather, tears falling from his eyes from the excruciating pain. He wanted to die. He had never felt anything like it before. He wished he had never agreed to this.

Garbiel pulled the knife out and nodded to the Elder, who came over with a few pastes and rubbed them over the wound. "This will slow any infection." Feeling the man’s bony finger run over his chest, he moaned in pain as every vein on his neck bulged out.

Only when he calmed down did Gabriel sigh, "That won’t be the worst of it." Walking over to a torch, he pulled it off the wall and held it near Julius. "This will hurt more than anything you have experienced in your life."

The heat was intense, and looking at the torch, Julius desperately tried to break free. Dropping the leather belt out of his mouth, he stared into Gabriel’s eyes. "Please... I don’t want this anymore."

"You have come too far. Endure it." Juluis scremae din panic and tried to break free, each attempt failing. Grabbing the belt off the floor, he handed it to the Elder. "Hold it in his mouth." The Elder nodded and walked behind Julius. Wrapping it around his head, Gabriel forced his mouth open and pushed it in. The Elder pulled Juluis’ neck back with how tightly he held.

Pushing the torch closer to Juluis’ face, he screeched like a banshee. The pain he felt from the knife was nothing compared to the fire. Feeling the left side of his face slowly melt and burn away, he tried to think of something happy, only for the pain to bring him back to reality.

The smell of burning flesh filled the room. His hair burned as his skin slowly lost its pristine look. Gabriel and the Elder showed disgusted faces at the smell, but didn’t stop as Julius’ tears quickly evaporated from the heat.

Pulling the touch away, half of his face was unrecognisable, his skin burned away and the ends of his hair on fire. Gabriel blew it out, and the Elder moved quickly, dropping the leather and finally releasing Juluis’ screams. They drowned any noise in the room, and Gabriel clenched his fists in discomfort, watching the young man experience agony no one should feel.

Coming back over, the Elder rubbed a white paste over his face. Even though he tried to apply it lightly, every touch made Juluis scream even louder. "I don’t think he can take any more. And even if he could, I would advise against it. This is already a gamble as to whether he will survive. The wounds are already deadly."

Looking at the torch in his hand, Gabriel nodded and put it back. "I understand." Although his order was to burn more of Julius’s body, Gabriel knew there was no point if Julius died. But more importantly, he didn’t want to do any more. He could tell Julius was already in agony, and doing more was cruel.

"Look after him until it has healed enough." The Elder nodded and applied more paste between Julius’ screams. Finally, he wrapped a clean bandage over his face.

"Tell His Holiness I give the Prince a 60% chance of surviving. If he doesn’t get an infection within the first week, it will be 90%. If he does, he’s dead." Gabriel nodded and walked out of the cold room. Standing in the corridor, he took a couple of deep breaths before shaking his head and clearing his mind. It took a couple of minutes, but rubbing his hands over his face, he returned to the usual emotionless look he had.

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"Cato. Surely you can’t be telling me to delay the funeral. The nobles are already on their way to the capital. This is a time when I can’t be indecisive." Cato gulped in front of Theodosisu’s angry look and lowered his head. His mind spun to try to find a way to get out of the delay. Bardas had already made his intentions clear, and he didn’t doubt that the man had the evidence to burn any support Theodosius had.

"It’s General Albus, Your Majesty." Theodosius raised an eyebrow. "He still hasn’t sent word to me yet. I fear he may be dead."

"What?" Theodosius stood up and walked before the eunuch. "What do you mean he is dead, Cato?" The rage coming off the Emperor’s body was suffocating, and Cato knew that even if he was a trusted and necessary advisor, it might not be enough to save him from Theodoius’ anger at the moment.

"He went to Magnus’s wedding. Cassius has already made his move to secure support from numerous commanders. I think Albus was his first target. I have already sent men to confirm."

Cato stood silently, his head shrinking his shoulders with each passing second. "Why must this delay the funeral, however?"

Cato stiffly smiled, "If Albus is dead, then the crown will appear too weak. He will have gotten away with murdering the Crown Prince and the General." Cato took a deep breath. "We must prepare a replacement quickly before Cassius gets too much support."

Theodosius looked down at Cato for a few minutes and sighed, retaking his seat. "Find out if Albus is dead. I will deal with the nobles." Cato nodded and quickly left the office. Walking down the corridor, he saw Bardas waiting in front of his office with a smug face.

"I’m not in the mood, dog." Cato tried slamming the door on Bardas, but the man caught it and let himself in. Looking around, he chuckled.

"You didn’t tell Father. Why?"

"I’m not a fool. And right now, if what I fear is true, we may need your stupid miracle. I bought you at most three weeks. If Julius isn’t here by then, the funeral will happen with or without him."

Bardas smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Cato." Bardas chuckled and left the room. Cato clicked his tongue in annoyance and quickly got to work.