The Prince Wants to Retire

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The Crown Prince Wants to Retire

9. Secrets of the Imperial Palace (3)

As Kariel boarded the wagon to meet the Chancellor, Talion followed closely behind.

“Another mess is brewing.”

“Yeah, it’s driving me crazy.”

Kariel grimaced as he spoke.

“Even you, who knows the future, are in the dark?”

“In my previous life, all I did at this time was moan in pain.”

If only it had been a few years later, he might have been able to grasp some sense of the flow, but it just had to be now when he was clueless.

“This is a big problem.”

Surth grumbled about wasting time on unnecessary things instead of quickly finding the others or focusing on training.

Watching Surth, Kariel said, “Still, there are some points I find suspicious.”

Surth perked up, curious about what Kariel had to say.

With a small sigh, Kariel continued, “The rebellion incident within the Grand Duke Family in my previous life… I can’t help but think it might be related.”

As he said this, Kariel recalled the one who had saved his life multiple times in his past existence. That person was the main reason the shattered Empire could maintain any form at all, so this time around, he intended to lend some support. However, he had never anticipated getting entangled in this situation, leaving him quite flustered.

“Hmm, now that’s intriguing,” Surth said, spinning through the air with curiosity.

“When are you heading to the West?”

“I can’t go there right now.”

He had no idea what dangers awaited him in the West and thus couldn’t afford to go. Even venturing into the Central region could lead to ambushes, and going to the West would mean certain death.

“That’s a shame.”

Hearing Surth’s disappointment, Kariel remarked, “You don’t have to go to the West to see it.”

“Huh?”

“I can just call for you to the Central.”

Kariel closed his mouth after saying that, and Surth, wanting to hear more, gently poked him with his tiny hands but found Kariel’s lips sealed tightly—he was too busy organizing his thoughts in preparation for the upcoming confrontation with the Chancellor.

A little while later.

“Feeling sulky?”

Kariel turned to look at Surth, whose lips were pressed tightly together, his cheeks puffed up in a pout from deep concentration.

“I’ll tell you once the conversation with the Chancellor is over.”

At that, Surth nodded, aware of the seriousness of the situation.

*

“I am here to see Your Highness.”

“Lead me to where the Chancellor is.”

“Yes!”

The Palace Knight bowed his head at Kariel’s command.

Following the knight in golden armor, they entered the prison, passing through several reasonably decent rooms for a jail.

Upon reaching the innermost prison, they found the Chancellor sitting on the floor, reading a book.

“I am here to see Your Highness.”

Upon seeing Kariel, the Chancellor immediately rose and bowed deeply.

“Stand back.”

“It’s dangerous.”

Talion, wearing a worried expression, insisted on staying, but Kariel firmly declined.

As long as Surth was around, he could manage to escape once, and that was enough.

At the firm command of Kariel, everyone kept their distance.

“I apologize for being late; I had something to investigate.”

Seeing the Chancellor with an expression that seemed to indicate he knew Kariel would come, Kariel offered a smile. He tried to maintain a casual air, but the Chancellor met him with a stone-faced nod, showing no concern.

“Tsk! I came to ask you something.”

“If you’ve investigated me, you already know why I can’t speak.”

“Is it because you’re keeping quiet about matters related to His Majesty? Since when have you been so loyal?”

Kariel scoffed as he gripped the bars.

“Let me cut to the chase. Is this related to the West?”

At Kariel’s question, the Chancellor’s eyes flickered slightly.

Seeing this, Kariel clicked his tongue and said, “Tsk! It must be Belphus, or the Grand Duke Family. I suspect Belphus is behind this.”

Kariel muttered to himself, unraveling his thoughts he had formed up to this point in front of the Chancellor.

“Recently, there have been strange signs within the Grand Duke Family. Are they backed by Belphus?”

“…”

“Did Belphus team up with the Dark Mages?”

“…”

Finally bringing out what had been nagging at his mind, Kariel said, “The drugs coming into the Palace. They’re not your typical narcotics, are they?”

At Kariel’s words, the Chancellor briefly flinched.

Seizing that moment, Kariel pressed on.

“Upon investigation, I found that some of the drug addicts you encountered were related to Dark Mages. The other addicts must have been decoys… are those the real ones?”

This time, the Chancellor maintained a perfectly controlled expression, determined not to make a mistake.

Yet his eyes betrayed him, trembling slightly.

Seeing this, Kariel sighed.

“Drugs prepared by a Dark Mage… But it’s quite the coincidence that they hail from the border areas between the West and South, isn’t it?”

Kariel spoke in a chilling tone.

“Speak now, and I might spare your family.”

At Kariel’s words, the Chancellor shook his head slightly.

“If I don’t speak, your family will face annihilation. Do you think that can’t happen?”

Seeing the murderous tone in Kariel’s voice, the Chancellor calmly replied, “Do you really think you can save my family, Your Highness?”

“Do you doubt it?”

“You have yet to ascend the Throne.”

With the Chancellor’s statement, Kariel frowned.

It felt as if he were being told that even upon becoming Emperor, it would be impossible to save his family.

“It must be Belphus. Your uncle is involved, isn’t he?”

The one who married into the Belphus Family to continue that lineage—the princess of the Belphus Family. Upon recalling his uncle, the Chancellor resolutely shook his head.

“…No.”

At the Chancellor’s answer, Kariel narrowed his eyes.

“…No?”

“There’s someone above him.”

Pausing briefly at the Chancellor’s statement, Kariel’s eyes widened.

“Could it be… your grand-aunt is involved?”

The Chancellor fell silent at Kariel’s question.

But Kariel sensed a confirmation in his eyes, causing his expression to twist in disbelief.

“I thought she was just waiting for her death in quiet solitude?”

“You must realize she has taken control of half the West.”

“Half? That can’t be… Then she must know…”

Kariel, who had burst into laughter, soon understood that what the Chancellor meant by ‘half’ was not literal.

“A drug lord and a gathering of criminals. The owner there was your grand-aunt?”

Once a weak royal during childhood, she had married off to a count. Everyone believed she was merely waiting for her death in a melancholic existence, but that wasn’t the case.

“Nobody knows she is the one behind that.”

With that, the Chancellor’s expression hardened, as if to say his family’s annihilation was now assured, and to not press further.

As Kariel fell silent to organize his thoughts, he debated whether to disclose his information to the Chancellor in exchange for more details.

The risk was high—once he began sharing information, a nameless someone could appear and snatch it from the Chancellor.

Nevertheless, Kariel finally spoke.

“I’ll prevent your family’s annihilation.”

“That’s impossible.”

“I’ll summon the Grand Duke Family.”

The Chancellor chuckled lightly at Kariel’s words.

“That’s impossible.”

Once the family closest to the royals, they fell from grace while enduring the era of the hidden monarch.

The once-great Grand Duke Family was now in decline.

Close to a hundred years had passed since they produced a Master, reducing their worth to less than the Count of the Border.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

Kariel said, beckoning the Chancellor closer.

He hesitated for a moment before slowly leaning in to listen.

“If Belphus strikes the Grand Duke Family, they will face annihilation.”

“That’s impossible…”

“Did they just stand by for decades watching the Grand Duke Family decline?”

The Chancellor’s eyes widened at Kariel’s words.

He recalled the rebellion within the Grand Duke Family that he had only heard of in his previous life, one that led to the death of the head of the family and most of their kin.

Yet, despite the annihilation of the knight order supporting the Grand Duke Family, they somehow survived.

“A lone sword-wielding individual.”

The moniker of the former captain of the Palace Knights in his previous life.

“The Grand Duke Family will not fall. I will ensure that.”

He intended to grant that lone swordsman an even greater weapon.

Thus, the Grand Duke Family would not fall; rather, it would further fortify the Empire.

“…Is that true?”

“I swear it. There is absolutely no falsehood in what I just said.”

With trembling eyes, the Chancellor tried to meet Kariel’s gaze for a long time before finally bowing his head deeply.

The notion that his family, whom he had thought would perish with him, now had a chance to survive began to unsettle him.

“Speak.”

Looking at the Chancellor, who hesitated momentarily, Kariel urged him slowly to start.

The story began from when the Chancellor first stepped into the Central bureaucratic society.

He possessed unique talents, but the network-centric bureaucratic system filled him with despair.

At that moment, a certain faction approached him.

From then on, his world changed.

“Is that why you were so incorruptible?”

Since someone behind the scenes was funding him, he didn’t need to engage in corruption overtly.

With immense financial backing, he could concentrate on power struggles and swiftly embed the Emperor Faction into the two factions.

“Did you provide drugs to His Majesty as well?”

“No, not at the time I approached His Majesty…”

At the Chancellor’s words, Kariel’s expression hardened.

“So you had begun managing things before that? Why hasn’t anyone checked on the hidden factions then?”

“I’m the only bureaucrat connected to the hidden factions. It was the same before.”

Kariel’s expression twisted at the Chancellor’s words.

“Thorough.”

Only a singular connection to someone of equivalent status—a minister-like existence.

“I’ve only learned of that person’s existence not long ago. It was just once when you began to uproot the Emperor Faction that they came directly to the Palace.”

As Kariel indiscriminately rounded up the criminals, the criminal organizations in the capital collapsed in an instant, and the hidden merchants were left in disarray.

And as this turmoil rapidly spread beyond the Central region into the South, the Chancellor had approached him, fearing that the flames would also reach the West.

“If I hesitated for even a moment, I might have been devoured myself.”

At Kariel’s words, the Chancellor silently chuckled.

“But to come directly to the Palace…”

“That will now be impossible.”

Thanks to a series of cleanups, it became quite challenging for spies to enter the Palace.

For the foreseeable future, getting a rat into the Palace would be difficult.

Having caught a spy in Kariel’s palace and conducted a major cleanup after the Miriel incident, it was quite understandable.

“Ugh, this is a mess. How did it get this far?”

As Kariel muttered with an irritated expression, the Chancellor spoke with a wry smile, “Your Majesty, contrary to public opinion, you’re quite astute.”

“….”

Kariel remained silent at the Chancellor’s words, which seemed to praise the man who had done nothing until this point.

Noticing Kariel’s reaction, the Chancellor continued, “Your Majesty has faced many betrayals. After the past Emperor’s demise, you have come this far without any faction.”

Having ascended to the throne while facing numerous betrayals, Kariel now found himself so obsessed with maintaining balance that he could hardly trust anyone.

“There’s no one in the world without their own story. The conclusion is that you’re merely a man tormented by mistrust, fixated on balance.”

After coldly assessing the current Emperor, Kariel turned away, feeling he had heard what he needed.

Just as he was about to exit, the Chancellor called out, “I hope you keep your promise…”

Kariel, not turning around, nodded slightly and exited the prison.

As he left, the Chancellor quietly remarked, “Though you seem to wish to retire, I doubt it will be easy.”

The Chancellor’s words lingered as he looked down at his weathered hands.

His hands, now lined with wrinkles, were a reminder of time passing.

If only he had been a bit younger.

No, if he had entered the bureaucratic system just a little later…

If he’d known Kariel’s true worth sooner, perhaps the outcome would have been different, but it was too late now.

All that remained for him was the desire to prevent his family’s annihilation.