IWTGHFW CHAPTER 40

Chapter 40

【 Searching for the Missing Prince 】

The knights and Yen, who had been dispatched across the Empire to investigate, returned to the imperial palace one after another.
Their return came earlier than the initially planned one-week period.

Now, back in the palace, they were standing before the Crown Prince with grim expressions on their faces.

“…So Narreine has been imprisoned in the underground palace dungeon. Sir Ron is under the care of all the imperial physicians. Fortunately, it seems he avoided instant death.”

The assassination attempt on Ron the night before had spread like wildfire, with no time to suppress the news.
When it became known that the culprit was a newly recruited apprentice knight, it sent shockwaves through the aristocracy.

At an emergency meeting at dawn, some nobles—particularly those of the pro-Emperor faction—loudly criticized the negligence of the knight order and called for a major reorganization.

Rozen gazed at the knights standing before him with their heads bowed like criminals, then singled out Vice Commander Shen.
Shen lowered his head with an expression of shame.

“You know why a mere apprentice knight attacked the Commander, don’t you?”

Reinolf and Heppy looked up at Shen in confusion.
Sensing the mood, Rozen dismissed the two, leaving only Shen, Marquis Orion, and aide Yen in the room.

Once they were alone, Shen let out a sigh and confessed everything: how Ron had taken a liking to a child from the northern tribes, falsified his identity, and eventually accepted him into the knight order as an apprentice.

Yen turned pale and shouted:

“Do you even realize what you’re saying? This is a crime! A serious one—enough to be considered high treason against the state! How dare you bring a barbarian into the imperial household…!”

The Crown Prince stopped Yen from working himself up further, then turned to Marquis Orion, his gaze asking whether he had known.
The Marquis shook his head.
Yes, he was head of the Intelligence Bureau, but even he couldn’t uncover something deliberately hidden by a high-ranking noble like Ron.

“Because of this incident, the nobles are demanding a reorganization of the knight order. I have no grounds to refuse.”

“I am sorry, Your Highness.”

“You should be sorry. If the knight order falls into disarray, the pro-Emperor faction will only grow bolder.”

Everyone working in the palace knew the Emperor did not favor the Crown Prince.
Normally, it was natural for power to pass from Emperor to Crown Prince, but after the Continental War ten years ago, the Emperor had gone mad, clinging to his ambition for power and rejecting both the Crown Prince and the Second Prince.

As the years passed, a faction of nobles emerged who sought to deny the legitimacy of both princes.
Their aim was clear—if the princes with the right of succession were all pushed aside, the nobles could divide power among themselves and create a noble-centered state.

They called themselves the pro-Emperor faction, claiming to protect the empire during the postwar turmoil, insisting that only by concentrating all power in the Emperor could the imperial authority stabilize the realm.
But their true motives were obvious to all.

Nobles who opposed the pro-Emperor faction naturally rallied around the Crown Prince, forming the pro-Crown Prince faction.
They argued that power must pass from the physically and mentally unfit Emperor to the young, vigorous Crown Prince for the empire’s stability.

And then there were the neutral nobles, declaring political impartiality while watching from the sidelines.

These tensions had split the aristocracy into an unprecedented two-way division: pro-Emperor vs. pro-Crown Prince.

Even so, the pro-Emperor faction couldn’t act recklessly.
The Crown Prince already oversaw most state affairs, had completely isolated the Second Prince, and united the princes’ influence into a single bloc.
On top of that, Ron’s knight order, having declared neutrality, acted as a shield against attacks.

But if that knight order became unstable…

That would be the perfect opportunity for the pro-Emperor faction.

“They can’t strike directly yet, but it’s true our defenses now have a large hole. Ron’s neutrality alone has been a defensive wall against their attacks.”

Power is strength. And strength comes from military might.

Thus, the one who commands the Imperial Knights often becomes the one who commands the Empire itself.
The empire’s long history had always told the same story—no matter how strong your position, in the end you fall to the one who holds military power.

Shen, who understood the general situation, lowered his head even further, his expression grim.
He knew this was enough of an offense to warrant dismissal.
If the Crown Prince ordered him to give up his title and vice-commander position, he would have no choice but to comply.

But Rozen waved his hand.

“With Sir Ron in this state, I won’t strip you of your position. What I need most from you now is to lead the knights well in his absence.”

“Understood. I apologize, Your Highness.”

“Go, then. And keep all matters regarding Narreine strictly confidential.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As Shen left, Rozen also sent Yen away.
Before the door had even closed, the sound of the twins bickering could be heard outside.

Now alone with Marquis Orion, Rozen let out a long sigh.

“Any news about Prince Aint?”

“We need to investigate further. But one notable thing is that the time he went missing coincides with the postwar period, when war orphans were being sold as slaves. That’s also when the Carry’s Bar opened.”

“Meaning the prince might have been sold as a slave?”

“It’s only a theory, but yes. Especially if he had wavy-colored hair and blue eyes—that’s not a common combination in the Empire, so he’d have been valuable.”

“We’ll have to pull out the Carry’s Bar investigation records again.”

“Yes. I plan to search the Intelligence Bureau archives. Also, may I see the ledger we collected last time?”

Rozen took a thick ledger from his desk drawer and handed it to the Marquis.

It had been Narreine who brought it, and now he was in prison for attempting to assassinate the knight commander.
Suppressing a sigh, Rozen turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

From the very start, it had been her plan.
Putting the foolish yet pure-hearted Parcell at our side, letting royal secrets leak through him, and even my ending up here—everything.

The King of Aint stood like a painting.
She fixed her piercingly blue eyes on me.

Was she going to kill me? Probably.
After all, I was just a hostage who had tried to escape from the palace.
If she was going to kill me, I’d prefer it to be quick and painless.

As different methods of killing flickered through my mind, her voice broke through my thoughts.

“Were you bored in your room?”

“Huh? Oh. Yes. It was too dull.”

Since it had come to this, I decided to be honest.
If she killed me, so be it.

The reckless attitude I’d had when I first planned my escape began to resurface.
Maybe I even gained some courage.
Go on then—kill me. Maybe I’ll get to start over in another world. Hopefully as a noble or a millionaire next time.

The King of Aint chuckled softly at my reply, but her smile soon faded.

“I hear Sir Metaylor was attacked.”

…What?

“Fortunately, he seems to have survived, but his condition is critical.”

What was she talking about?
Ron—attacked? Ron—critically injured?

He was the commander of the Imperial Knights.
The strongest of the strong.
Who could possibly attack him?

The tension drained from my body all at once.
Just moments ago, I’d been ready to snap back at her no matter what she said, but the news about Ron washed away all my defiance like an ebbing tide.

Right now, even if she gave me the chance to run, I didn’t think my fingers or toes would have the strength to move.

Metaylor…

Were there other knights in the Metaylor family? No.
The only person called Sir Metaylor was Ron.

“The culprit was an imperial apprentice knight.”

“An imperial apprentice knight?”

Oh no… surely not.

A creeping dread spread through me.

“His name was Narreine, I believe.”

Thunk.

Whatever strength I had left to hold myself upright vanished, and I collapsed onto the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Could it be true?
That Narreine attacked Ron?
Or was this just another ploy by this woman to confuse me?

But why would she bother lying to manipulate someone like me, just a commoner?
What would she gain from it?

And apprentice knights were too minor for most people to know about unless they had a specific interest.
If she knew Narreine’s name and his connection to Ron…

Could she know he was from the northern tribes?
That Ron had killed his family?
Was that why she said this?

But even so…

Thoughts tangled endlessly, until eventually I arrived at a single conclusion—

The King of Aint would have no reason to lie.

Narreine really had attacked Ron.

Ron really was in critical condition.

Accepting it all actually brought some strength back into my body.
The fog in my head cleared.

I stood again, and her eyes glinted faintly.

“Why did you summon me here?”

“Did I summon you? You came of your own accord.”

“Putting Parcell with us was your move from the start. Please, drop the word games. Why did you call me here?”

The King of Aint twirled the end of her long hair around her finger—a habit, perhaps, when she was thinking.

“There are too many eyes in the royal court. If I just sent you back, rumors would spread that Aint and the Empire had struck some kind of deal. Not entirely untrue, of course.”