Chapter 352 –
Side Story: Memories of an Imperial Princess (68)
What on earth is this person talking about?
“He was strong. As expected, he was an opponent worthy of giving you trouble.”
Looking at my family member spouting nonsense with an expressionless face, I couldn’t help but tense up.Â
Is this person really my blood relative?
“No need for that expression. Though it was a defeat, it was within expected levels.”
A defeat to know the enemy.
My brother’s unit, who made me question if he was really my blood relative, didn’t suffer major casualties.
However, things are different when the opponent is Duke Raisha.
Accepting a planned defeat against Duke Raisha?
Perhaps he heard about the imperial family’s âProject Make Duke Raisha a Grand Generalâ?
If so, I could understand the defeat. Even though we had minimal casualties, we did lose several times.
“How was… Duke Raisha?”
I desperately hoped there wouldn’t be a positive evaluation.
If both the smartest younger sibling and the wisest eldest brother lost to Duke Raisha, I wouldn’t be able to trust the imperial bloodline anymore.
However,
“He was an extremely exceptional person. And brave too.”
Watching our household’s eldest son nodding with a serious expression, I nearly stumbled.
“Your Highness.”
“Ah, Ast…”
Oh no. Our family is doomed.
Looking at Ast who caught my stumbling shoulder, I expressed my feelings through my eyes.
‘It seems so, Your Highness.’
Ast also responded with his gaze while shaking his head.
“Are you unwell?”
“No.”
My voice naturally turned cold, making my brother furrow his brows.
“You seem different from usual… Could it be you’re also concerned about the imperial succession battle?”
But I’m not? I haven’t been paying any attention to that at all?
Seeing my even colder gaze, my brother who was digging an empty well let out a big sigh.
“Certainly, the emperor holds the highest power a human can possess. I too am aiming for it.”
I wanted to recommend giving up quickly.
To think that someone who lost to Duke Raisha could be the emperor of the Karan Empire.
If it were me, I’d be too embarrassed to live in the Karan Empire.
“But we are family. Even if we fight for the emperor’s position, we must maintain what needs to be maintained.”
He really was an upright person.
Despite his cold face, his serious manner of speaking about the importance of family was very admirable as the eldest son of the household.
But I couldn’t focus.
Thinking about how he lost to Duke Raisha with that serious face left me speechless.
“Do you understand? No matter who becomes emperor, I am your brother, and you are my sister.”
“I understand, brother.”
“Good.”
His gently smiling and nodding appearance.
Seeing this, the maids used to say he was cold on the outside but warm only to his family.
Yes, as family, my brother was certainly an admirable person.
An admirable person, but…
“Now, let’s discuss how to deal with Duke Raisha. I’ve fought many countries in the north, but there hasn’t been such a formidable opponent.”
Should I tell him the truth like I did with Raid?
While watching my brother still digging in empty space, as Ast would put it, I started contemplating what to do.
“Raid fought alone and lost, but if we maintain a united front, we can defeat Duke Raisha too. Even if the Kingdom of Merdea has excellent generals befitting their reputation as a military power, we have more soldiers and commanders. Using that…”
His serious tone made it even harder to speak up.
How could I say ‘Actually, Duke Raisha’s intelligence is similar to or below an orc’s…’ while watching him devise strategies while looking at the empire’s map hanging on the wall?
“Ast.”
Unable to say it myself, I called Ast, but when our eyes met, he just shook his head.
‘Give up, Your Highness.’
Yes, let’s give up.
For now, it would be better to go along with pretending Duke Raisha is truly strong.
If they learn the truth later… I can say the imperial family issued an order of silence.
“The enemy’s strategic strongpoint must be here. Therefore, we…”
“I see.”
As Ast said, giving up makes things easier.
As if proving that true, once I gave up, my mind became peaceful, and with peace of mind, the acting came naturally.
I naturally exchanged various ideas with my brother and prepared to take down Duke Raisha.
After staying up all night and establishing a united front with my brother,
“Ast.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I’m tired now… Let’s end this soon.”
“Understood, Your Highness.”
I decided to end Duke Raisha before there were more victims because of him.
“…”
“What’s wrong, Your Highness?”
“Just in case, I’m saying this…”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Really, really just in case…”
“What are you trying to say?”
“We won’t hear something like ‘Your Highness! Sir Ast has been defeated by Duke Raisha!’ again, right?”
Really… right?.
#87 – Their Circumstances: The Circumstances of a Villain
“Senior, are you ready?”
“Sigh…”
A handsome face pops out to inform me that the meeting will begin soon.
“What’s wrong?”
The handsome face tilts its head at my involuntary sigh.
“Senior?”
“Remove that unnecessarily handsome face.”
“Ah, understood.”
When I frown and glare, I see my junior shrinking into a corner while trembling.
“Maref Cesar.”
“Yes, yes!”
When I call his full name, my butler junior Maref Cesar looks at me with round eyes while standing at attention.
“What are we?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking what we are.”
“Well, of course, we’re the empire’s…”
Maref Cesar rolled his eyes anxiously while pondering what the correct answer might be, and responded with an uncertain voice.
“Would it be a senior officer level?”
“No!”
“Eek!”
Oh, was that wrong again!
Muttering that to himself, Maref shouted as if suggesting another possibility.
“It’s a general! An imperial general!”
“No, you fool!”
“Ack!”
As I watched Maref now muttering with tears welling up in his eyes ‘Grand General? Or even higher?’, I let out a deep sigh.
“Listen here.”
“Yes, senior.”
“We are butlers. Specifically, personal butlers serving the Imperial Princess.”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
What exactly is a butler?
A butler is an upgraded version of a servant, someone who assists their master by their side and takes responsibility for managing the household affairs.
Unlike butlers of noble houses, those belonging to the imperial household don’t need to manage a house, but it’s still a butler’s duty to act by their master’s side.
“So why do we have to command troops at the frontlines?”
“Ah, well that’s…”
When I glared at Maref with this question, he scratched his cheek while avoiding my gaze.
“Because Her Highness ordered it?”
“That’s right. Following the master’s orders is also part of a butler’s duty. But… A butler at the frontlines! As a vanguard commander!”
I couldn’t help but grind my teeth at the situation.
I mean, isn’t this one of only two empires on the continent? An empire said to be capable of taking on several kingdoms in military might!
Is there such a shortage of generals in this empire? What are all those numerous officers and commanders doing?
Is the empire suffering from such severe manpower shortage that they have to put butlers on the frontlines!
“How many people in our army are known as great commanders?”
“I believe there are more than ten.”
“That’s right. Also, how many commanders do we have who are battle-hardened?”
“There must be at least several dozens.”
“Right. And how many people in our army have high achievements?”
“Well, I’m not sure by what standard you mean… But except for those on their first deployment, most would have some achievements.”
“Exactly.”
I nodded.
The Imperial Princess’ forces were strong. So strong that it was incomprehensible why such powerful military authority was given to a princess who lived confined in the imperial palace.
But, but here’s the thing.
“Among all those capable people, why does it have to be me?”
Sure, if there was really a manpower shortage, I could understand.
But they were putting me on the frontlines despite having an abundance of capable personnel.
“You’re quite consistent.”
Although Maref looked at me as if suggesting it was time to give up,
“Yes, I am consistent. Consistently opposed to fighting! Making a pacifist like me lead the vanguard!”
“Pa-pacifist?”
Maref’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened.
His expression was like that of a priest witnessing the descent of an evil god.
Something that shouldn’t have happened had happened.
I glared at Maref who had expressed all that just through his expression.
“Got a problem with that?”
“No, not at all. Of course not. What other pa-pacifist could compare to you, senior?”
Although Maref quickly changed his expression to answer, his voice trembled on that one word.
“Sigh… This junior of mine.”
Was it because he was a noble? He seemed too carefree about participating in war.
“Damn it!”
“If you dislike it that much, why don’t you speak to Her Highness?”
“Given what kind of person our Princess is, do you think she’d listen?”
“That’s true.”
This time, Maref nodded genuinely.
“But it can’t be helped, can it?”
Though he added an unnecessary comment.
“What can’t?”
“The things you mentioned earlier, senior.”
“What about them?”
“They all apply to you too.”
Oh?
“W-well, that’s…”
“Senior, you are known as a great commander in our army, you’re battle-hardened, and you have achievements too. In fact… You’re among the top ten in the army.”
“…”
“While Her Highness might be str- I mean unique, everyone else is normal. If they were putting someone strange on the frontlines, everyone would object. Though Her Highness would ignore such objections.”
“So, you’re saying…”
“Yes. Everyone else also trusts you, Count Ast de Lilac.”
“Maybe they need to get burned by the axe they trust before they learn not to trust people…”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing.”
Should I cause a major incident?
Such a thought crossed my mind, but one wrong move and I could end up dead.
This is a battlefield where taking someone’s head is as easy as it is in the imperial palace.
Even ordinary people could be executed here under military law, wartime law, and various other laws once they’re dragged into this.
For example, disobeying orders.
While in the imperial palace this only applied to members of the imperial family, here once you reached a certain officer rank, you gained the right to summarily execute those below you.
Even if the Imperial Princess seemed unlikely to want me dead, there was no need to unnecessarily poke at dangerous stones.
“Life is something else.”
How did a spy from an evil organization end up leading the empire’s vanguard?
I let out the sigh that naturally came up and stood from my seat.
“Are you leaving?”
“I suppose I should.”
The meeting’s content was about attacking Duke Raisha.
As I would be the first to execute the strategy discussed in the meeting, I couldn’t afford to listen carelessly.
I attended the meeting, even bringing writing materials for the first time in a while.
I didn’t just listen to the tactics discussed in the meeting but took notes as well.
After returning to my quarters with the perfectly understood tactics.
“Let’s see.”
I began writing a letter to send to the organization.
“So, they plan to outflank and strike the enemy’s rear, so they should mainly prepare forces for the rear. And since supply line protection will be perfect, they shouldn’t attack the supply lines…”
While reciting the content to write in the letter, I looked at my carefully taken notes.
<Engage in frontal combat until no variables remain while targeting the enemy. Send a small force to the rear to continuously threaten supply lines.>
“All done!”
Having perfectly composed false information, I sent the letter to the organization with a very satisfied expression.
“Use everything that can be used!”
Putting into practice against the organization what I learned from the organization!
Showing what it truly means to be a villain, I began preparing for war.
