448 – The Reason I Want to Be King -7-

The sound of water never ceased in the sewage channel where filth gathered.

-Swishhh.

Chartia and I walked in silence alongside the overflowing sewer, which reeked of a foul stench.

-Thud.

The channel was full of corpses.

-Thud.

The bodies, clad in prisoner’s uniforms, floated atop the waste, as if they’d taken my place in doing what needed to be done.

-Thud.

Who could have committed such an act?

-Thud.

Probably no one here is oblivious to the truth. Not even I, who’d read the novel and transmigrated, or Chartia, who’d lived her entire life in the Imperial City. We simply kept walking in silence.

-Thud.

After walking silently for quite some time, Chartia sighed deeply and offered a quiet apology.

“I’m sorry…”

I gave her an awkward smile and shrugged, unsure what she was apologizing for. Was it for lying, or for acting irritable?

“What are you apologizing for?”

Personally, I hoped it was the former.

So it seemed there’d be no need for unkind words.

“Sorry to show you such an unsightly state.”

“…It’s alright.”

“No, I’m the one responsible. I shouldn’t have shown you such a….”

“Something must have happened. Surely, there are circumstances you can’t speak of to me, is it not so?”

“…”

“It’s alright. People are allowed to falter.”

“No, I must be different from others.”

“My…”

Walking down the path lined with corpses, I glanced at Sharutia, her fist clenched, and said brusquely,

“You live so strenuously.”

A stiff person like that must be having a hard time, I meant.

“What…?”

Sharutia, having heard the sarcasm, clenched her fist even tighter and glared at me. Her eyes held the question of why I needed to react that way after she’d gone to the trouble of apologizing.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“…”

“I’m not struggling at all.”

“…Is that not so?”

“No, not at all. Are you constantly telling me I’m struggling, struggling, because you think such words will be of strength to me?”

“…”

“I’m not struggling at all.”

At Sharutia’s words, I released a soft sigh and continued in a calm voice. Infusing my tone with the sentiment that anger was not beneficial to either of us.

“Princess.”

“…”

“If one is too confined to a single mold, it can be fatiguing.”

“…”

“Are there not too many capable individuals in this world? Just look at the Historia family, or the Desmond family, they are brimming with formidable figures.”

Sharutia, stung in her pride by the boasting of these exceptional talents, bit her lip.

“…Isn’t that why I’m trying to become like them?”

I shook my head in response to Sharutia’s words.

“No. Your Highness is exceptional.”

“…Just pick one. Compliment or insult.”

“It is a compliment. In my eyes, Your Highness is cleverer than anyone, unbiased, and speaks well. It is only that the circumstances have not allowed Your Highness to display her talents. Even now, you are doing plenty… No, you are doing extraordinarily well.”

Chartia’s heavy footsteps resumed, accompanied by silence.

“Then.”

“…”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

Your words held a question, asking if *I* knew the answer.

“You speak as if you know the answer, but do you?”

“…”

“I know it too. How foolish and shameless it is to summon you here only to vent my anger.”

“…”

“But what else can I do? There’s nothing else I *can* do.”

“…”

“I can’t just sit still, and if I stop moving, the two princes will not leave me be. What am I supposed to do?”

“…”

“I want to rest. I want to stop. But… But… If I want to survive, I have to do what needs to be done.”

Chartia’s eyes trembled with fear. Crushed by the approaching pressure, like a little mermaid who could not spread her wings fully, she spoke to me.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“…”

“What I feel.”

Of course.

It was natural that I wouldn’t understand Chartia’s feelings, and I did not particularly want to.

This…

“Isn’t that a falsehood?”

Because it was a lie.

“…What did you say?”

Having received an unexpected answer, Chartia’s pupils shook, and she bit her lip tightly. She was furious that her heartfelt words had been dismissed as a fabrication.

“Are you saying that I am lying?”

I could not claim to have lived a harder life than anyone else. There were countless people in the empire who had lived harder lives than the princess, and Ricardo, standing before me, might have even endured more hardship than herself.

Still.

-Tight grip-.

To dismiss my difficult past as a lie… that, I could not forgive.

“Just who do you think… who do *you*…!”

Before Shaltia could finish her sentence, I took a measured breath and whispered near her ear.

“That you… don’t want to be King.”

“…”

“A lie, isn’t it?”

“…”

“The collusion with the Chancellor.”

“…”

“That you don’t know the weakness of ‘Eric the Slaughterer’.”

“…You.”

“How much did you expect me to swallow?”

Shaltia’s pupils were trembling. Fear brimming, that I knew details of her life known only to so few.

“How could you…”

“How is not important. What *is* important is that Your Highness lied to me.”

“…”

“I possess more information than Your Highness imagines. Starting with the currents of the Empire’s political landscape, all the way to which ventures will flourish later, the nobles aligned with the Crown Prince’s faction…I may not know specifics, but I know as much as you do.”

“…”

“Thinking, how could a mere butler know such things?”

I offered her a villainous smile.

“Merely a butler, and yet, I do know.”

“…”

“This isn’t a threat. Nor is it an accusation for lying.”

“…”

“I merely wish for Your Highness to be frank with me, and so I speak.”

Shaltia sighed deeply, her face darkening as she spoke to me.

“Just how much do you know?”

How much did I know about her connection with the Chancellor, she meant.

“Hmm…”

I shrugged, and started spitting out the information I knew toward Shartia, carefully selecting only the parts that wouldn’t wound her.

“That the Chancellor and the Princess were close friends in childhood, and that the education the Chancellor imparted to the Princess was related to ‘politics’.”

“…”

“And that the Chancellor infused his own ‘ideologies’ into that ‘politics’.”

“Stop.”

“That the Chancellor orchestrated strange events to use the Princess as a ‘chess piece’, earning the moniker ‘Benevolent Slaughterer’.”

“Stop it.”

“Lastly, that the Princess reported the Chancellor’s attempt to kill the Princes, leading to his arrest… that’s what…”

“I said stop!!”

“That’s what I know.”

Shartia stared at me with trembling eyes, then asked,

“How long have you known?”

Her eyes were filled with fear and suspicion.

I thought I could trust you.

I thought I could trust this man, but seeing this cold, calculated side of me, so different from what she had observed in the reading room, Shartia’s eyes grew cold as she glared at me.

I answered Shartia’s question without hiding anything. I had blurted out harsh words to her in frustration, so I told her honestly, with a heart full of apology.

“From the beginning.”

“…”

“I knew even before I met you at the Academy.”

“…”

At Ricardo’s words, Shartia’s expression began to twist.

“You knew…?”

“Yes.”

“From the beginning…?”

“…”

“Knowing all along… you were still kind to me…?”

If you knew, you shouldn’t have been kind to me, especially not then.

She was someone with a past where she called a traitor ‘Grandfather’. Though she was acquitted after unintentionally exposing the Chancellor, anyone with even a passing understanding of politics knew she shouldn’t be reacting like this.

Especially knowing what she had learned.

In the halls of politics, he’d learned the doctrines that would dismantle the very foundations of the Imperial Family.

‘No other royal blood should be spared.’

‘A king must heed the counsel of his Prime Minister.’

‘An Emperor must wage war.’

Such were the words he’d heard.

“Knowing all that….”

“Yes.”

“You still chose to support my claim to the throne?”

Riccardo’s unwavering nod sent a tremor through Shartia’s eyes.

If that was so.

The Riccardo from within the correspondence.

-I am relieved to see you safe, your Highness.

Knowing everything.

-I am quite alright.

Even knowing he was being deceived.

-You will be a great ruler.

He had said those things to her, and like a fool, she’d staked her life on believing him.

A bleakness settled over Shartia’s face, and with it, a chilling wind began to stir.

“Your Highness.”

“…”

“The Prime Minister is not a good man.”

“…”

“Nor am I, of course. I am but a craven cur, eager to protect the entrenched polygamy that persists through your reign.”

“…”

“Still, I am…”

“…”

“A loyal vassal.”

“…”

“Whether you choose to believe that is, of course, your prerogative.”

Shartia, her face darkened as she watched the approaching wind, finally spoke to Riccardo.

“What do you think of me?”

“Are you… attempting to seduce me just now?”

“…No.”

“If you were thinking of seduction, I might be amenable, but my dream is a harem, so…”

“I said I’m not seducing you.”

“I see.”

A small smile touched my lips at Chartia’s earnest question, and I sighed softly.

“Me, you ask?”

“Mm.”

“I think that one day, Your Highness will become the Emperor.”

“Why… do you say that?”

“Because if another Prince takes the throne, I fear the Empire will be ravaged beyond recognition.”

“…Really. You can’t seem to grasp a serious moment, can you?”

“I’m quite serious.”

I chuckled softly and turned to face Chartia.

“If I were to see you person to person, I might offer a different assessment.”

“…What is it?”

“A beautiful person.”

“You… really.”

“A person beautiful in body, heart, and face.”

“Hah…”

I met Chartia’s sigh with a confident smile and continued.

“Your Highness, do you know why I serve you?”

“…Why?”

“Because you are beautiful.”

“…”

“I serve you because you are the most beautiful and adorable person in the world. Of course, thirteen years of camaraderie is a major factor as well.”

“…”

“What is Her Highness?”

“…”

“What drives you to want to be King?”

“…”

“Your diligence, your striving to be a wise and just ruler, it’s all admirable. Compared to the other royal siblings, you are the only one who truly works for it.”

“…”

“But.”

I gazed at Chartia, her eyes trembling slightly, and asked, “Isn’t it… dreary?”

“…”

“No one’s forcing you, yet you toil like you’re dying to live. If the reason is just to not perish, isn’t that… devoid of joy?”

“…”

“Let’s scheme to bring someone to their knees.”

“…”

“Or, perhaps, just lower those taxes a bit.”

The reason for seeking the throne is something anyone could understand. To protect her family, as Chartia desired, she needed to stand at the apex of power.

Born as a child of a different mother in this desolate palace, if she wanted to live like a person and protect her own, remaining still was not an option.

It was difficult to express, but simple.

“Princess.”

Embrace ambition.

“Let us live… honestly.”

It meant to live according to her own desires, not relying on the expectations of others.

Chartia’s eyes began to gleam with light.

“Honestly…”

As the fog that had trapped her lifted, she felt as if she were staring straight at something substantial, and something inside her cleared up as if the clouds parted.

“Yes.”

-Tap.

Chartia smiled brightly, beginning to harbor ambition.

“I, too, shall live as I damn well please.”

Truly, this man…

“I will have it too.”

It felt like he possessed something that could change a person.

Shartia’s eyes widened, fixed on the man approaching from the gloom.

“Your Highness.”

It was a name she hadn’t heard in ages.

“It has been a while, Grandfather.”

The one who had given her a reason to want to be Queen.