Nanomachine Emperor

Croft looked at Reinhardt, who leaned against the carriage and closed his eyes.

‘I don’t know what’s inside.’

Reinhardt was self-indulgent, arrogant, and looked down on people.

Knowing only himself, he left the palace and came to the north.

To save Edith’s granddaughter.

Even he couldn’t believe it, but he was the one who stopped the carriage to save the two children.

It was nominally that he was seeking guidance through Thebeus, but Croft recognized the intention behind it.

‘It has changed.’

In the end, even Croft had to admit it.

That the mad prince Reinhardt had changed.

He didn’t just get out of madness, he changed as a person.

To the point where I can’t even imagine that they’re the same person.

Moreover, his attitude towards Thebeus was…

‘I used Thebeus’ personality to derive all the answers.’

Making a plan in an unexpected situation and inducing the desired answer was not an easy task even for seasoned political aristocrats.

In the end, Reinhardt rescued the two children and subdued Thebeus.

Strategically peeking out his aura, using himself to increase his credibility.

If it had been a proper confrontation, it would have been the defeat of Baek Reinhardt.

‘······ Far from madness, those eyes and momentum were the aspect of a king.’

However, such momentum was something that the holy king, Deus, did not have.

Another emperor’s talent that other princes did not have.

Why didn’t I know until now?

Perhaps, this change in the prince might not have been sudden.

‘Because there was so little interest, no one was willing to look at the crown prince properly.’

so i just didn’t know

Croft clenched his fists and let out a deep sigh.

If so, it is not covered by madness.

Everyone covered Reinhardt with the prejudice of madness.

In the end, Reinhardt broke the thick barrier of prejudice alone and came out.

I was roaring out into the world alone without anyone’s help.

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Just a week ago, that roar, Croft thought it was too dangerous.

Reinhardt’s talents will lead the Empire into civil war.

Only because he was incompetent and insane could he become the crown prince.

If it was revealed that he was competent, there was no way he would remain silent in the Grand Duke’s family.

So, I broke the curtain and came out, but I kept hoping that I would stay inside the curtain.

However, after seeing Reinhardt’s attitude toward Thebeus, his thoughts changed.

‘I am making my own place.’

Reinhardt was talking to hundreds of knights and Tebeus, to Archduke Carlos, to nobles and members of the imperial family.

The crown prince’s position is now his own.

That I will not break through the curtain and rise higher and live as a puppet.

Its will can destroy everyone.

It might be better than staying still as it is now.

All the glory of the imperial family became that of the nobility.

The long peace rather weakened the power of the imperial family.

The aristocrats’ black ambitions were peeking out even the highest imperial authority.

“Sir Croft.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Do you think the North Expedition will succeed or fail?”

Reinhardt opened his eyes and asked.

It’s already been half a year since the northern conquest began.

I just knew that they were fighting a close battle without being able to recapture the Holy Land.

I heard that it was close, but it was strange.

“I do not know.”

“You will succeed.”

North earning succeeds. It was completely conclusive.

“Why do you think so?”

“Don’t you think the number of knights deployed in the rear is too many?”

The rear that was annihilated immediately.

Even with Thebeus’ escort, the number of knights was too many.

Enough three hundred. That’s only what you can see, and there will definitely be more.

After all, they were all talented.

Common sense did not understand that a hundred knights per day who would slaughter the enemy from the front were dealing with the remnants from the rear.

Archduke Carlos, who was extremely concerned with efficiency, couldn’t have made such a choice without going crazy.

“Are you saying you have an intention?”

“Archduke Carlos is a thoroughgoing man. Isn’t contact from the soldiers you planted decreasing?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“There is no need to hide it. I knew you were the one in charge of the shadows.”

shadow.

Fixers who scratch the itchy places of the imperial family.

Croft was the one in charge of the troubleshooters.

Croft lowered his presence and hid himself from the blades of the nobles.

Instead, he moved the shadows and observed their movements.

This was a fact that only a very few people, including the emperor, knew.

How could Reinhardt have known something that even the grand dukes did not dare to know?

“I know very well that they are using the Yellow Dragon Knights as shadows, pretending to transfer them here and there.”

On the surface, it was known that he was disappointed with the crown prince and left the Yellow Dragon Knights or moved to another area.

However, in reality, Croft was directly operating it as a shadow for the nobles to monitor.

‘How on earth?’

To know that means to know everything.

Croft nodded heavily.

It doesn’t matter how you know that fact.

More importantly, why did the prince bring up this story just now?

“······ you’re right. Most of the shadows sent to the north have lost contact.”

He mentioned Archduke Carlos and said Shadow.

It did not mean that he had died during the war, but that the Archduke was intentionally removing the shadows.

“Archduke Carlos is hiding his power. He is extremely reluctant to reveal all of his power to the imperial family.”

“So you mean you’re working behind the scenes?”

“yes. Even though he can conquer the Holy Land right now, he is secretly withdrawing troops to the rear. We’re also looking for spies in case the secret leaks out.”

“What the hell are you doing such a hassle for?”

are at war

No matter how much he had the upper hand, there was no reason to do such a troublesome thing.

tight control.

It is a situation where the entire northern region is completely locked up.

The Archduke wants a quiet victory.

And.

“It must mean that there is something important right in front of you that needs to be blocked from leaking all information.”

That’s right, he’s aiming for a dragon.

There was a dragon in the holy land that all the peoples of the north idolized.

Hiding the dragon and hiding his troops, Archduke Carlos puts pressure on the imperial family at once.

Everyone found out after he entered the palace.

that the imperial family had been defeated.

Croft’s eyes began to tremble.

“Perhaps you showed your face to Thebeus…”

Wasn’t it simply to save the children?

To closely check the knights deployed in the rear and instill suspicion.

In addition, Reinhardt got off the carriage to talk about the future situation.

If so, I couldn’t even guess how many moves ahead.

As if to answer that thought.

“You thought you blocked everything, but I showed up. Even Archduke Carlos can’t kill me, so I’ll be in trouble.”

The grand duke has been doing all sorts of things to install me as the crown prince.

The North Pole is one of them.

But suddenly I appeared in the north.

Even while subduing Thebeus.

Will the Grand Duke really think that my madness has healed?

‘People’s prejudices do not change easily.’

However, you will want to check.

I would go crazy wondering why I had come to the North with Croft.

Among the pieces on the chessboard that the Archduke was dealing with, there was nothing as important as me right now.

“We don’t have to get caught. Then the path will open naturally.”

No one knows the Archduke as well as I do.

Archduke Carlos was known for being corrupt, but no one was as prudent.

Catch me, I won’t be able to move easily until I confirm my true intentions.

catchers and fleeers.

After all, running away is more fun than catching.

“Gil, you mean?”

“Sir Croft. Don’t you want to know what Archduke Carlos wants to hide so badly?”

I would like to know.

I wanted to know like crazy.

But it was Reinhardt who drove him even more crazy.

‘Maybe it wasn’t just the talent of the sword.’

sword talent.

In terms of talent alone, he was a genius.

After only a week, he had a decent level of knight-level skills.

In particular, the ability to reproduce what he saw was overwhelming.

Even though only the basics were polished, it was already shining.

If properly taught, it might even surpass the first prince’s natural talent for the sword.

However, that alone was not enough.

That alone is not enough to deal with Archduke Carlos.

By the way.

‘Should I add more strength?’

Croft saw the potential.

Of course, the current change alone will not be enough.

What I could do on my own was limited.

However, Reinhardt had the ability to absorb everything.

It is a true king of talent.

Not even other princes, not even Emperor Deus.

A special talent that only Reinhardt possesses.

‘I must have been stupid.’

Croft blamed himself.

If it wasn’t lacking, it was just lack of interest…

The first person to notice that talent was himself, but he neglected it as it was.

Covering his ears and turning his head away, he was closing the possibility of being the prince.

No matter how lacking, there must have been something good.

There must have been something you wanted to do.

I realized that no one had ever asked the crown prince such a thing.

The madness inevitably intensifies as I press on and turn away.

The palace must have been like hell to Reinhardt.

‘But he broke the egg and came out alone.’

As soon as they left the palace, things that were hidden began to come out as if they were about to explode.

He had the mercy to stroke the head of a grieving child.

On the outside, he was self-indulgent and arrogant, but on the other side, there were other aspects.

So, if it breaks out of an egg, we should celebrate it, not hide it.

But… anywhere in the world, there was no one to congratulate the prince for coming out of the egg.

Because even he did it.

Because I was just hoping to stay in the egg.

He thought he had just given up, fed up with the prince’s incompetence.

no. It was just self-consolation and rationalization.

He’s an incompetent prince anyway, so it’s only right to give up. I’d rather stay incompetent.

I even thought I should kill him.

However, deep down in Croft’s heart, he may have been secretly expecting this day to come.

The joy when the crown prince was born, the joy that he had no doubt in believing that he would become the emperor’s first son and a strong pillar of the empire.

—Sir Croft. You protect Reinhardt. If it’s you, I can trust you.

-Please, Croft. my old friend The only person I can trust here is you.

The emotion of when the emperor and empress handed over their children, and when they held Reinhardt in their arms for the first time.

That little child who laughed at himself.

As if out of nowhere, it came to mind again.

“I just can’t understand.”

Reinhardt gave an expression that he really didn’t understand.

He shook his head and continued.

“Why are you laughing and crying?”

······ By the way, Your Highness.

Croft turned his head.

“There must have been dust in your eyes.”

“Even a sword master can shed tears if dust gets in his eyes.”

“Because I am a person.”

was a person

Both him and Reinhardt.

Croft thought.

Reinhardt might not be the only one who broke the egg.

Reinhardt had destroyed the thick wall that had imprisoned him.

＜ Cracking the Egg ＞ End