IWTGHFW CHAPTER 25

Episode 25

“So, to summarize what you’re saying, Count… you mean the crown prince hates Marquis Bareil but can’t do anything about him. But why can’t the crown prince, who holds the highest authority, touch Marquis Bareil? Did Bareil catch some weakness of his? Who could be stronger than the crown prince, except for the emperor…?”

Sure enough, when you take a step back and think things through, you figure everything out.

I stopped mid-sentence as the truth between them dawned on me, leaving my mouth hanging open. Ron still looked confused, glancing between me and Sean, asking for clarification.

Sean opened his mouth to explain to Ron, but then closed it again. Instead, he looked at me and said:

“It seems His Highness the Crown Prince isn’t merely after knowing who’s behind it.”

I spread a sheet of paper on the desk and began to sort things out one by one.

1. The crown prince and the second prince, Mishi, are actually very close brothers. To check the emperor’s power and unite the separated factions of the princes, the crown prince is pretending to thoroughly oppress the second prince.

2. Then why check the emperor? Since Mishi has no interest in the throne, if the crown prince wanted it, there’d be no need to go this far. Having been named crown prince, he’d naturally become emperor once the current one dies.

3. Hypothesis 1 — The emperor fears that the crown prince and second prince might join hands to overthrow him. So the crown prince is putting on a show to say, “We’re not on good terms, so we have no room to threaten the emperor!”

4. Hypothesis 2 — …No matter how I think about it, Hypothesis 1 is the only one that makes sense. My imagination must be pitifully lacking.

5. That means the emperor and princes aren’t on good terms—but why? Because the emperor’s a bad guy? Because the crown prince is a bad guy? (Given the crown prince’s closeness with Mishi, the latter seems unlikely.)

6. Marquis Bareil is probably the emperor’s source of funds. If, as in point 5, the emperor really is a bad guy with schemes in mind, he’d need money outside the official imperial treasury. He could be having Bareil collect it for him—while also acting as a spy on the crown prince.

7. Or maybe attaching someone like Marquis Bareil to the crown prince is a way to tarnish his image by association? Not impossible.

8. By the way, why did Mishi entrust me with this investigation?

Ron looked over my notes and let out a thoughtful “Hmm” with a deep sigh. Sean, sipping from a freshly poured steaming teacup, said:

“What we need to do now is find out the relationship between Marquis Bareil and His Majesty the Emperor. If it’s a situation like point 7, then His Highness the Crown Prince is currently in an absolutely disadvantageous position—because the emperor’s faction still has slightly more power among the nobles.”

“Sean, are you saying…?”

“Yes. The Metailer family may have to abandon political neutrality soon.”

Ron’s red eyes stared intently at Sean, who had a resolute expression.

If the crown prince and the second prince really were plotting against the emperor together, the Marquisate of Metailer couldn’t remain neutral forever. As a marquis family of the empire, the time would come when they’d have to choose the better side for the sake of the empire. Sean’s firmness carried exactly that meaning.

After staring at him for a while, Ron shook his head.

“No, that’s not what’s important right now.”

“Huh?”

“What’s important now is bringing Narraine back. We can deal with politics after my person’s safety is secured.”

Listening to their exchange, I glanced at Ron with a renewed perspective.

When a massive political tide starts flowing, individual safety is usually ignored. That’s how it was in Korean history, and I’d felt it firsthand in the workplace. In a society with a rigid class system like this one, it would be even more so.

And yet, he put his person first.

Cool.

The word popped into my head before I realized it. My cheeks grew warm as I looked at Ron for no reason.

Could it be that I’m included in “his person”? Judging by how he got angry when I got involved in something dangerous, I’d say I’d already stepped into that territory.

As I reached that thought, my flushed cheeks began to burn. I put both hands to my face and felt the heat.

While rubbing my cheeks, I happened to lock eyes with Sean. Seeing my expression, he gave a small smile through the lenses of his glasses.

“Best commander, right?”

He mouthed the words, and I gave a slight nod. He smiled wider, but with a furrowed brow, added:

“Only because he doesn’t know politics.”

Narraine’s rescue mission was planned quickly. The team would be small—Ron, Sean, Reinolf, Heffy, and me to keep watch from outside in case anything happened.

Ron didn’t like the idea of me being part of it, but since Narraine ended up there because I brought him, I insisted on seeing it through. Of course, I had no intention of being a burden, so I took the role of keeping watch.

Sean spread out an interior map of Kerry’s Bar, whose origin I couldn’t guess.

“This is Kerry’s Bar’s main entrance. And here is the ‘Jinkis,’ the slave market. Narine is most likely here, but he could be somewhere else.”

“Why?”

“Because top-grade slaves are kept separately. If Narine is classified as top-grade, he’ll be harder to find. We don’t know the exact location where top-grade slaves are kept, but judging by the structure, it’s likely one of these three places.”

“Then we send one person to Jinkis, and one to each of these three places.”

“Yes. The Jinkis slave market—”

“I’ll go.”

It was Reinolf who volunteered, his expression firm.

Come to think of it, he’s a regular at Kerry’s Bar, so he should be able to approach Jinkis easily.

“Then I’ll take this place, Sir Heffy takes this one, and the commander takes the last. Miss Ayle, please wait nearby and keep track of people coming and going.”

“Got it.”

“We’ll depart immediately.”

“Uh, I have a question.”

Everyone turned to look at Heffy, who was twirling his pink hair around a finger.

“Wouldn’t Narine be more than capable of escaping on his own? Do we really need to rescue him?”

Well. Not wrong.

He did choose to stay of his own accord, trusting his own skills.

I looked at Ron for the answer, since I was curious too. He frowned before replying.

“Narine’s skill level is—if we’re being exact—a notch above Reinolf’s. You know that.”

At Ron’s glance, Reinolf, who’d crossed swords with Narine during the entrance test, nodded.

“Skill-wise, there’s no need to rescue him. If he stayed to gather intel, he must be confident. But he lacks experience. An inexperienced genius is just a rookie. If even one variable pops up, he could be in danger. We want to pull him out before that happens.”

An inexperienced genius.

Heffy seemed to understand, and didn’t press further. Sean then asked if everyone was ready and handed out small sheets with the building’s layout.

Watching them leave ahead of me, I tilted my head.

Uh, but there’s no way Narine lacks experience?

After all, we brought him from the middle of a battlefield—right in the war zone against the barbarians. Ron must’ve momentarily forgotten that fact.

Cassian Empire’s crown prince, Rozen, was walking down a long palace corridor when he suddenly turned back. His aide, Yen, who had been following absentmindedly, lightly bumped into his shoulder.

“Yen, something wrong?”

“No, Your Highness. My apologies.”

The purple eyes that usually sparkled with wit were dull and staring into the air. Rozen quietly looked at his intelligent aide and reflected on his recent behavior.

Come to think of it, he’d been working him nonstop without any rest lately. Feeling a pang of guilt, Rozen patted Yen’s shoulder. The vacant purple gaze shifted to meet his superior’s eyes.

“Why did Your Highness choose me as your aide?”

Rozen, who’d been about to give him a few comforting words and move on, froze at the unexpected question.

Why did I choose you as my aide?

“I need to know what you mean first. Are you asking why I chose you, a rookie, instead of someone experienced? Or why I picked you out of all the rookies?”

“Both.”

“Alright, I’ll answer. First—most people who’ve been in the palace for a long time are rotten to the core. They’re just looking to latch onto the right line and skim some benefits. Despite the backlash from countless nobles, I chose a rookie because I wanted someone untainted by the palace’s filth.”

“I see.”

“You’d already guessed that much, hadn’t you?”

“…More or less.”

Yen frowned slightly at that. Rozen tilted his head and continued.

“The second reason’s even simpler—you got the highest score on the Imperial Palace exam among the rookies.”

“Who said I got the highest score?”

“Who else? I… uh, don’t know their name. I just asked some passing exam official.”

Rozen scratched his cheek as he said it. Now that he thought about it, maybe he’d been a little careless in picking him—but it had worked out well. Yen was an excellent aide.

But contrary to Rozen’s thoughts, Yen’s expression darkened further.

“So if someone else had gotten the highest score, that person would be your aide instead.”

“Well, yeah, I guess. But who cares? I like my aide now.”

Despite Rozen’s effort to cheer him up, Yen’s face didn’t brighten.