“What on earth are you planning to do to deserve this? You said you were going to persuade Agatha, but why are you suddenly touching an exiled criminal? I thought you were doing well, so I even made excuses, but if Roxbard finds out about this-”
The closed door to the inner room opened slowly.
“Well said, Second Prince.”
“...!”
The subdued Imperial Knights and servants of Mainukor are seen.
The faces of the Mainukor personnel who noticed the Crown Prince of the Roxbard Empire, Anthony Roxiba, and his entourage standing before them turned pale.
Ferdinand stuttered.
“Oh, how far have you heard?”
“Everything. The Prince and the grandson’s argument echoed through the hallway.”
Anthony has been spending time with Ferdinand these days.
As soon as Agatha was safely rescued and followed her husband south, the Emperor as if he had been waiting for it, handed Ferdinand over to him.
But since Agatha wasn't there, he thought no major accidents would happen, so they hung out together often.
Thanks to that, Anthony's eyes were shining coldly when he came to the villa today and learned of Adan's intervention.
“Second Prince. And the grandson.”
Ferdinand and Adan's bodies flinched and trembled as their names were called.
“You must properly explain to His Majesty the Emperor why you dared to do such a thing. Otherwise, your heads may be hung at the castle gate as a sacrifice in the opening of the war.”
“...!”
The Crown Prince left. Following this, the sound of the Roxbard Empire knights rushing in and thoroughly blockading the villa where Ferdinand was staying and the villa next door where the Mainukor Empire delegation was staying could be heard.
“Be on high alert! His Highness the Crown Prince has ordered that no one be allowed to leave or enter!”
The surprised representatives of the executive branch, including the Count of Montiol, were running towards Ferdinand's residence.
Seeing the Crown Prince come out like this, there must be more incidents that have not been revealed.
Ferdinand glared at Adan as if he was going to kill him. Adan was trembling in fear for the first time.
“Oh, Father. Is it really possible to die? I only delivered a letter-”
“Adan.”
Ferdinand gritted his teeth as he spat out the words as if he had chewed them.
The problem wasn't his son, who couldn't even properly grasp the situation.
“Tell me everything you’ve done, without leaving anything out.”
If you do something really wrong.
“If there is even one lie and things go wrong, I will truly abandon you here in Roxbard.”
Not only Adan, but I could die too.
Crown Prince Anthony Roxiba, who came out of the villa, immediately issued an order to blockade the villa by mobilizing the 2nd Imperial Knights with his official authority.
The events of the past were flashing through his mind.
'Adan Mainyu's grandson...?'
It was a name he remembered. It was during the first hunting festival in autumn.
Didn't he hear a report that Adan had been following Agatha around all along and finally got the chance to have an exclusive conversation with her?
'After that, the grandson ran out of the barracks with an angry face.'
Although he doesn't know exactly, something must have happened between Agatha and the grandson.
The place Anthony went straight to was the Emperor's office.
“Tell me.”
“Your Majesty. His Highness the Crown Prince has requested an audience.”
“Tell him to come in.”
After lunch, the Emperor was attending to his daytime duties.
“What’s going on?”
“Meet Your Majesty.”
Anthony, with a simple example and a straightforward reply, reported immediately.
“As of now, the two villas where the Mainukor delegation is staying have been sealed off. The charge is treason.”
“What?”
Anthony recounted what he had heard in the hallway of Ferdinand's quarters.
"You sent a knight all the way north of Roxbard without permission! And on top of that, you even made contact with an exiled criminal and helped him escape!"
From there, Anthony, who realized the seriousness of the situation, stopped in the hallway and listened intently to the quarrel between the second Prince and the grandson.
The royal knights and attendants of Mainukor who had been standing guard at the gate had long since been subdued by his gestures.
Thanks to this, Anthony was able to know all the details of the situation without any interference.
“It seems that the unidentified man who had contacted Baron Henry Insidio was the direct subordinate of the grandson. The second Prince noticed him and was hotly questioning the grandson.”
"What...?"
The Emperor's face, which had been frozen in shock at the unexpected sound, slowly turned red.
It's outrageous enough that they're stirring up the far north of the empire without permission.
Is the person behind the escape of the exiled criminal a grandson?
Blood vessels appeared in the corners of the Emperor's eyes.
“So, that grandson of the royal family dared to come in the name of an envoy and plot a civil war against my empire, is that what you’re saying?”
“Six years ago, I was somewhat aware of the inside story of Baron Insidio’s exile and incited it, so I think he must have been using the spy as well.”
“This is so annoying!”
Bang!
The Emperor slammed his desk hard in anger. His mind was filled with the efforts he had made during his social life this fall.
He always kept Prince Ferdinand by his side in case something happened.
Now he has been placed at the Crown Prince's side.
The entire delegation was treated with the utmost hospitality, with the intention of getting along well in the future.
But what? Not only did they kidnap the Emperor's goddaughter, but the Mainukor Empire was also behind the large-scale territorial war?
Emperor Womilai II burst into rage.
“This is a declaration of war against me! What power does an illegitimate child have to rule the land? How can you know so much about the affairs of the Roxbard Empire, a place you have never been to? This is the Emperor of Mainukor declaring war on me. He brought in spies, not ambassadors!”
“Just in case, please hold on tight, Father. We will have to wait and see whether it is the grandson’s own decision or the will of the delegation. Could it be that the grandson, who has a grudge against Agatha, used the information he knew in a fit of anger?”
“Do you know anything?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I heard that there was friction between Agatha and the Crown Prince during the first hunting festival in autumn.”
"What?"
The Emperor unconsciously touched his forehead. He had taken care of Prince Ferdinand to prevent such an incident from happening in the autumn social circle.
“Like father, like son. You disciplined the Prince, and now isn’t it like the grandson is causing trouble?”
“...”
Anthony said nothing.
They will gradually find out whether this is the will of the grandson or the entire Mainukor Empire.
The Emperor immediately ordered an investigation into the whereabouts of the entire Mainukor delegation. At the same time, he asked about Agatha's whereabouts.
“What happened to the territorial war between the five families, Nobilis and Aratus?”
The Emperor's chief chamberlain immediately gave the answer.
“All five families have expressed their intention to surrender. I understand that negotiations for surrender are currently underway.”
“Good. Stop the surrender negotiations and tell all five families, including Marquis Aratus and his wife, to come to the capital immediately. This is an urgent matter.”
Now the tables have turned.
Were the Crescente, Asselou, Moyes, Elibeth, and Jennings families aware of the Mainukor Empire's intervention?
Or maybe he believed in it and fought a war of attrition.
It was time to figure it out.
It may also have had something to do with the escape of an exiled criminal.
It was right to bring everyone together and reveal the truth at this time.
“I will send a messenger immediately, Your Majesty.”
While the chief chamberlain went to deliver the imperial edict.
The Emperor secretly gestured to the Crown Prince. Anthony, who was standing in front of his desk, bowed obediently.
“You already know what I am going to order, right?”
“Are you planning on quietly looking for a job?”
Rumors spread throughout the world that Baron Insidio had been falsely accused of lese majeste, but there was nothing to suggest otherwise.
Only someone of noble birth could possibly know the details of his exile.
This meant that there was a traitor in the capital who was selling information within the empire.
The Emperor's blue eyes flashed eerily.
“Track them. If you really want to start a war, you have to eliminate spy first.”
“I will obey your command, Father.”
Afterward, an emergency court meeting was called in the capital.
The agenda was treason, and the target was the delegation from the Mainukor Empire.
Not long after the meeting was over, nobles carrying messengers bearing the red imperial flag hurriedly gathered in the Hall of the Sun.
While the highest seat in the center and the seats of the royal family were empty, the three semicircular areas below were all filled without any gaps.
The only vacant seat was that of Marquis Enoch Aratus, who was currently engaged in a territorial war with Duke Theodore Neuta, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was effectively exiled from the capital.
“What is this? Sedition?”
“I heard upon entering the palace that the villa where the second Prince of Mainukor and the delegation are staying has been sealed off.”
“My goodness, if the crime of rebellion is true, isn’t this a matter that can’t just be overlooked?”
It was an unprecedented situation, and all kinds of voices were echoing up to the ceiling of the hall.
“His Majesty King Wamilai II, the sun of the Roxbard Empire, serves!”
The nobles who had just shut their mouths bowed to the Emperor.
The Emperor entered, wearing a golden crown on his head and a long purple cloak over his growth.
“Have a seat.”
“I greet you, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor, sitting on a lofty throne, raised his hand while all the nobles' eyes were focused on him.
“The emergency court meeting is now in session. Bring in Prince Ferdinand, the leader of the Mainukor delegation!”
The main door of the hall opened wide. Ferdinand, standing in front of it, swallowed dryly without letting on.
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