Chapter 114 - If You Know Your Enemy and Yourself, You Can Win a Hundred Battles Without Peril (1)

The bond between the King and me was clearly an ill-fated one.

From our very first meeting, the King did not hide his contempt and hatred toward me, and he had consistently maintained that attitude ever since.

He was always anxious to tear me apart, and whenever we met, we were busy growling at each other.

The times we crossed paths without arguing could be counted on one hand, and there was never a time when exchanging words led to anything good.

Even taking that into account, the anger the King was showing right now was something I had never seen before.

"You are out of your mind. You couldn't possibly have such an idea unless you were crazy."

The King was completely treating me like a madman.

I could understand it.

"Unless you are crazy, there is no way the legitimate eldest son of the kingdom would think of visiting the Empire!"

Having just been recognized as the successor to the throne, my saying that I would visit the Empire must have sounded like the nonsense of a lunatic to the King.

The King continued to spew his anger for quite some time after that.

If it were in the past, I would have gotten angry at the King around this point and argued back.

But I couldn't do that.

It was because I knew the King's anger did not stem from hatred and contempt like before. The King's anger and shouting were rather closer to concern.

For some reason, my chest tickled. It was beyond awkward to the point of being uncomfortable.

If it were like the past, he would have gladly accepted, telling a useless Scoundrel Prince like me to go to the Empire and never return.

"I will pretend I heard nothing."

Perhaps lacking the energy to be angry anymore, the King ordered me to leave in a heavily cracked voice.

I did not back down and spoke again.

"We must know our enemy to prepare for the future."

"If what you want is to know the Empire, it is entirely possible to do so within the kingdom."

The King tried to persuade me, offering to let me peruse the information collected so far.

"I must see it with my own two eyes."

"If you insist on doing so, you must first lay down everything you have been given."

Looking at me, the King threw out a strong move. He was telling me to give up everything I had enjoyed as a prince.

As if that were difficult. To begin with, I could count on one hand the times I had been treated properly as a prince.

My knights were those who pledged their loyalty to me, not the royal family anyway, so there was nothing for the King to take back from me.

The King seemed to have realized that fact belatedly as well.

"I will also take back the Dragon Slayer."

The King played dirty and threatened me using my original body.

"It is an item I received in exchange for my contributions. There is no reason to hand it over now."

"Is that something just anyone can receive for making ordinary contributions?"

"You gave it, and I received it. It is already mine."

I stubbornly argued back, asking where in the world someone takes back something they had already given.

A childish argument continued for a while. The King's anger, which he had been barely suppressing, exploded again.

"What on earth is the reason you are going to such lengths to visit the Empire!"

"There are things one cannot know without seeing them with their own eyes."

Watching the King erupt in anger, I spoke with an unwavering attitude.

I had to face countless clashes and undergo trial and error for two years because I hadn't even properly known the kingdom I thought I knew everything about. Only after that could I barely grasp the reality of the kingdom and somehow bridge the 400-year gap.

In that process, I lost my uncle and countless others. I could not repeat that same process again.

To do that, I had to confirm the reality of the Empire with my own two eyes.

I had to see for myself how the Empire of 400 years ago differed from the current Empire, and how the Emperor and his knights had changed.

Because I did not want to lose someone around me again due to absurd ignorance and arrogance.

"It is a long road that takes a year just to travel back and forth. Everywhere you go, you will meet those who look down on the kingdom, and you will suffer countless humiliations because of them."

The King said to me.

His voice was slightly more subdued than before. He finally seemed to have acknowledged the fact that he could not break my stubbornness.

"Would it be any different?"

To such a King, I replied that I had lived that way in the kingdom as well, and that I had reached where I was today by enduring all sorts of humiliation.

"The nobles of the Empire will not hesitate to insult you to your face."

"I simply have to pay them back."

"There might even be those who try to harm you."

"Let them try if they can."

"I cannot understand. I simply cannot understand why you would go to such lengths to invite hardship and walk a thorny path."

"It is to avoid an even greater hardship."

The King stared intently at me. I did not avoid his gaze.

After looking into my eyes for a long time, the King let out a deep sigh.

"I will take back everything you have been given. You will head to the Empire not as the successor to the throne, but merely as a prince."

He was saying he would strip me of the succession rights that had been confirmed from recent events, and that I should visit the Empire solely as someone who inherited the royal blood.

A conclusion barely reached after a very long argument.

"I will do so."

I calmly accepted the outcome.

A look of displeasure surfaced around the King's eyes. He likely did not approve of me refusing to bend my stubbornness until the very end.

"Your eighteenth coming-of-age ceremony."

After a long time, the King spoke again.

"You will regain everything on that day."

I ended up laughing.

It was because the King's words sounded like he was telling me to return safely from the Empire before holding my coming-of-age ceremony.

All that threatening about stripping my succession rights and whatnot.

The corners of my mouth, which had slightly risen, suddenly stiffened.

The atmosphere was awkward.

Neither the King nor I was used to this kind of atmosphere.

At times like this, it was best to excuse oneself. But unfortunately, I still had business left.

As I forced myself to endure the awkward atmosphere and was about to speak again, a royal knight's voice was heard.

"Your Majesty! The imperial ambassador has arrived!"

The King's expression instantly froze like ice.

"Why is he here again..."

The King grabbed his head at the visit of the imperial ambassador while his mind was already in turmoil.

"You may leave."

At the King's order to leave, I shook my head.

"I was the one who called him."

"What?"

"Let him in!"

Ignoring the King, I told the royal knight to open the doors. The doors opened, and that bastard Marquis Montpellier appeared.

He must have received some treatment on his way, as the traces of getting beaten to a pulp during the night were no longer visible. He had also neatly changed into new clothes. "Your Majesty."

Glancing at Marquis Montpellier, who had bowed his waist, the King asked me for an explanation with a look.

Instead of answering, I gestured to the Marquis.

It was a half-hearted gesture, as if calling a pet dog.

FLINCH.

Montpellier glanced at the King and then studied my expression.

"I wonder what happened to the great thief."

At my words, which seemed like a soliloquy yet weren't, the Marquis squeezed his eyes shut and came to stand before me.

"Y-Your Highness. I have come at your summon."

At those extremely polite words spoken while bowing deeply, the King's eyes widened in surprise as he looked back and forth between me and Montpellier.

Whether he did or not, I commanded the Marquis.

"Confess all the schemes the Empire has carried out behind the kingdom's back."

The Marquis abruptly raised his head.

His face was pale, turning bluish with dread.

It was only natural.

The reason the Marquis had obediently cooperated until now was that I was nothing more than a prince who was on extremely bad terms with the King.

Even if his relationship with me became known to the Empire later on, he could easily make the excuse that it was a covert operation to install a puppet king.

But the King was different. Leaking the Empire's secrets in front of the King was an unjustifiable act of treason.

Even for the Marquis, whose weaknesses I held, it was not an easy thing to do.

Because one wrong move could cost him everything. No, in all likelihood, he would lose everything.

In other words, my order was telling the Marquis to gamble his life on a slim possibility that was no better than one in ten.

And under normal circumstances, the Marquis would never follow my words.

"You seem to be mistaken."

To the hesitating Marquis, I pulled out a piece of paper from my embrace and showed it to him.

It was a document densely filled with secrets accessible only to the high-ranking nobles of the Empire.

"This is not a request."

Seeing the clear signature and official seal stamped on one corner of it, the Marquis's face charred black with despair.

His inner thoughts were blatantly obvious.

He must be regretting it. Regretting visiting the North that day, yielding to me and leaking secrets, and not silencing me by destroying the evidence even if belatedly. He was probably regretting it to his very bones.

Perhaps he was thinking of reporting all the facts to the imperial mainland and preserving only his life the moment he left this place.

Because siding with a small country against a great power was less likely to keep him alive than the alternative.

But that was only possible if he made it out of the kingdom alive.

The Sword Maidens were watching the Marquis day and night, and they would sever his neck the moment my order fell. Last night, when kidnapping the Marquis before meeting the Palace Count, I had ostentatiously shown off that fact.

Unless he was a fool, the Marquis must have known.

That escaping The Capital alive was practically impossible.

And the Marquis I knew was not someone who would die for his country. He was someone who would fiercely enjoy his power while doing whatever it took to survive even one more day.

"Speak."

I commanded the Marquis once again.

The Marquis squeezed his eyes shut. And then, stuttering, he began to recount the Empire's covert schemes within the kingdom.

The story that started in the afternoon and continued until nightfall also included the fact that I was not the informant of the tragedy from four years ago.

"Ha-ha."

When the story ended, the King was letting out hollow laughs as if he had lost his mind.

That sight was exactly the same as me laughing like a madman last night.

I quietly gave the King time to collect his mind.

"How..."

After a long time, the King looked at me and asked.

"How must I repay my sins?"

The eldest son he had hated and persecuted, eventually chasing away to the North after being played by the Marquis's tricks.

"What must I do to rectify the wrongs of the past?"

In a suppressed voice, the King asked me for a way to apologize.

And I gave an answer to those words.

That it was just a misunderstanding. That he was sorry. One word would be enough.

"I am sorry. I am truly sorry. I really did something unforgivable to you."

The King apologized to me, and.

"I have already forgotten it."

I accepted it.

It was after quite some time had passed that the King regained control of his emotions.

"Since when have you known?"

"I only just learned of it yesterday as well."

"What do you plan to do about Gawain and the knights?"

"I plan to leave them as they are for the time being."

"It is resentment and hatred toward an innocent person. It is right to correct it."

"I will tell them the truth someday, but it is not now."

An indescribable emotion flickered in the King's eyes.

There was guilt, and there was also pride.

Looking at that profound gaze made me feel awkward again. So, I kicked the poor Marquis for no reason.

"You've sure committed a lot of atrocities all this time!"

"I-I have committed a crime worthy of death!"

Sprawled flat on his face after tumbling over, the Marquis repeatedly banged his head against the floor.

After kicking the Marquis a few more times and unnecessarily panting when I wasn't even out of breath, the King asked me.

"What do you plan to do moving forward?"

"I will observe the Empire's movements directly with my own two eyes and wait for the right time."

The King sent me a deep look.

Finding that look burdensome, I just kicked Montpellier again.

"Ugh!"

That bastard Montpellier shrieked like he was dying.

* * *

After concluding my private meeting with the King, I dragged Marquis Montpellier to the Prince's Palace.

"What is my reputation within the Empire?"

The Marquis mumbled and could not easily answer.

"Honestly."

"A-An incompetent legitimate eldest son, a greedy and selfish petty man."

At the Marquis's words, which he brought out after hesitating for a long time, I smiled with satisfaction.

Checking my expression, the Marquis continued his report.

An opportunist who stole the credit of his uncle who died in battle.

Or a puppet prince propped up by the lords of the North.

A troublemaker of the Leonberk Royal Family who has neither virtue nor ability, with nothing to show for himself other than his position as the legitimate eldest son.

A piece of trash to the extent that even the Empire talks of blocking his succession out of concern for the kingdom's future.

That was exactly the Empire's evaluation of me.

Everything was just as I had intended. I had told the Marquis numerous times not to report my achievements to the Empire to avoid drawing unnecessary caution, and the Marquis had executed my orders excellently.

But why was it? Why did I feel so unpleasant?

"An insufferable character, but if coaxed well, an idiot who would more than willingly hand over his entire countr... Aaagh!"

I kicked the Marquis bastard for pouring out harsh criticism without knowing his limits. The screaming Marquis rolled around on the floor before coming to a stop in front of me, speaking as if he were wronged.

"Your Highness told me to speak honestly..."

"You should have just summarized it reasonably, chattering away so excitedly."

The Marquis tried to protest but shut his mouth.

Glaring at such a Marquis, I asked.

"If I were to head to the imperial mainland, predict the reactions of the imperial nobles and the Emperor."

The Marquis pretended to ponder for a moment before speaking.

"Seventy percent of the nobles, including His Majesty the Emperor, will not pay much attention, but the remaining thirty percent will attempt to win Your Highness over."

I asked the Marquis who that thirty percent was.

"Among the nobles of the eastern Empire..."

"Just keep it to a simple summary. Only the few highest-ranking ones among them."

The Marquis, who had been blabbering on, shut his mouth again at my words. Then, after quite a while, he opened his mouth and told me the highest-ranking figures among those who would try to win me over.

"His Highness the Third Imperial Prince and His Highness the Fifth Imperial Prince will likely attempt to win Your Highness over."

I could instantly understand the Marquis's words.

The fact that there were those among the imperial princes trying to win me over meant that they were currently fighting over the right of succession to the imperial throne, and their forces were so disadvantageous that they even had to win over a small country on the periphery.

I asked the Marquis about the two imperial princes.

To my question, the Marquis gave a relatively detailed answer.

Both imperial princes were equally lacking in a strong maternal family and foundation to back them up. Among them, the Fifth Imperial Prince's side was said to be clever and virtuous, rapidly expanding its influence, while the Third Imperial Prince's side struggled to rally power due to his hot-tempered nature and rough speech.

"Hot-tempered and rough-spoken, causing people to avoid him, huh..."

It was something I had heard often, and an evaluation I was very familiar with.

"You mean he's a scoundrel."

The words of those chattering about me were exactly like that.

"I am drawn more to the Third Imperial Prince's side than the Fifth Imperial Prince's side."

The Marquis, who had been feigning ignorance because he couldn't bear to call the imperial prince of his own country a scoundrel, looked at me in shock.

"Because I feel like we would get along well for some reason."

Looking at such a Marquis, I flashed him a grin.