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Chapter 71




A shockwave ran through the harem, immediately after Cleo received a letter from Liam.
From a spy placed in Cleo’s quarters, the news reached Crown Prince Calvin, and a strategy meeting was promptly convened.
The gathered nobles who supported Calvin were in a state of confusion.
“Just because the declining Banfield family has seen a slight resurgence, they have the nerve to rise up.”
“A slight resurgence? You need to revise your perception. The Banfield family is more powerful now than at their peak. The current head is undoubtedly a remarkable individual.”
“However, to reject the invitation of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is an overestimation of their own power.”
The nobles had been quietly observing which side the Earl of Banfield would support—Calvin or Linus.
But now, the Earl had declared his support for Cleo.
The nobles were in a panic.
“I’m concerned about how the nobles close to the Banfield family will react.”
“Many of them usually keep their distance from the court. Some might seize this opportunity to lend a hand.”
“Is Cleo’s faction going to become a third force? This timing is bad.”
Calvin, who was listening to the meeting, was a well-built young man with a beard.
He listened to the nobles’ conversation with a smile.
“Hmm, I’ve been rejected. But what does it mean for the Banfield family to support Cleo? Was it Wallace? If his brother is around, he should have heard Cleo’s story.”
As Wallace’s name was mentioned in the meeting, Cedric’s name was also brought up.
“His Highness Wallace was close to His Highness Cedric of the Space Military.”
“Cedric was a major general, wasn’t he? I believe he received support from the Earl of Banfield.”
“So, are they part of the other faction? If there are other royal family members helping them, it will become complicated.”
The movement of the royal family to support Cleo was also troublesome for the nobles.
Calvin sighed.
“I don’t want to lose any of my siblings.”
The nobles criticized Calvin.
“Your Highness, showing mercy will come back to haunt you.”
“Showing unnecessary mercy could cost you your life, Your Highness.”
“We need to re-evaluate the situation around the royal family members.”
If anything went wrong, the nobles were prepared to remove anyone without hesitation.
They were desperate to make Calvin the emperor.
After all, if Calvin became emperor, important positions would be available for the nobles.
However, if Calvin fell from power, they didn’t know what the next emperor would do to them.
“His Highness Linus will also move at this timing. Your Highness, we must act quickly.”
Considering the internal and external situations, this was the best time to contest the succession.
Calvin nodded.
“If Linus could suppress his ambition a bit more, I wouldn’t need to act. Understood. I’ll leave it to you all.”
◇
In another part of the harem, the faction of the second prince had gathered.
Linus, the second prince, who had a more stern impression than Crown Prince Calvin, was the second in line for the throne.
He was also one of the more ambitious among the royal family.
“A report from the spy I placed in Cleo’s quarters. The Earl of Banfield will not ally with me.”
The nobles were alarmed upon hearing this.
“What!?”
“His Highness Linus was rejected?”
“Your Highness, what will you do?”
Linus, an ambitious man with a fox-like face, opened his eyes wide and thought about the Banfield family.
“Not my brother, not me, but Cleo. What does this mean? Are they saying that Cleo is better than us?”
The nobles fell silent.
Linus’s faction included many nobles who couldn’t join the Crown Prince’s faction.
Some joined Linus’s faction hoping for a sudden reversal of fortune.
There were also powerful nobles who wanted to profit from making Linus the emperor, but they were inferior in quality to Calvin’s faction.
That’s why they reached out to Liam, who had real power.
“Just a mere earl rejecting my invitation to support a third-rate prince. —Unforgivable, isn’t it?”
A noble who understood what Linus was getting at tried to dissuade him.
“Your Highness, we are currently in conflict with the Crown Prince’s faction. If we also fight the Banfield family, it will benefit the Crown Prince. Besides, the movements of the neighboring countries are concerning. It’s unwise to focus too much on this.”
“I don’t intend to take it that seriously. It’s an important time.”
“I beg you. This is a crucial time.”
Linus also knew he couldn’t afford to focus solely on the Banfield family.
The movements of the neighboring countries were suspicious, and there were opportunities to exploit.
He had many other things he wanted to do.
“I understand. But don’t you think some form of retribution is necessary? They rejected my invitation and acted rudely. I won’t let it go unpunished.”
The nobles exchanged glances.
They were trying to gauge what Linus was thinking—how far he would go with the punishment.
“Then, what kind of retribution?”
Linus smiled.
“Rare metals were his source of wealth, right? The empire has already secured the necessary amount. Stop buying from the Banfield family immediately. Issue strict orders to the merchants.”
“Wait! The Banfield family has Clave and Newlands as their official merchants. There are many channels for rare metals.”
Linus knew this as well.
That’s why he knew.
“Clave’s Elliot and Newlands’ Patrick are their official merchants. The merchant guilds themselves do not support the Banfield family. There are likely people within the guilds who want to remove them.”
In other words, he intended to remove the two to send a message to the Banfield family.
The nobles were satisfied with this approach.
If they fought too much, it would interfere with their conflict with Calvin’s faction.
“Resolve it appropriately. It’s best to bring them over to our side and use them in the conflict with the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince won’t extend a hand to the Banfield family after they rejected him once, but if they are pushed too far, they might join us out of hatred.”
Linus also agreed with this.
“I just want them to regret defying me. I want them to understand who they defied.”
◇
“Cheers!”
This was a popular izakaya (Japanese pub).
College students gathered here and made a lot of noise every night.
The izakaya benefited from the students, and there were many groups of students.
Several groups were having mixed-gender gatherings.
Yet—yet!
“Wallace, what’s going on!?”
I was sitting at the counter, drinking alone with Wallace, and couldn’t help but vent my frustration.
Wallace was drinking to drown his sorrows.
“What about the promise to bring cute girls?”
I grabbed his collar and shook him, and Wallace let out a strange laugh.
“It’s over. I’m over. Ah, my brothers’ names were mentioned. I’m going to be dragged into the dirty succession struggle.”
Wallace had broken down.
He had promised to bring girls, but now we were drinking alone in a noisy izakaya.
“What about the mixed-gender gathering?”
I squeezed Wallace, but he only laughed and didn’t give a proper answer.
When I let him go, he started drinking again.
“Liam is an idiot! My brothers’ names were mentioned. If this continues, I’ll be killed no matter who wins!”
The succession struggle was a matter of life and death.
If you sided with the wrong person, you could be killed if they lost.
Depending on the next emperor, the method of execution could vary.
A simple execution would be the best case.
Some might die in the struggle, but the worst would be torture.
Wallace had avoided the succession struggle out of fear.
I poured him a drink out of pity.
“Calm down. I’m not supporting the third prince without a plan.”
“What plan? Cleo is in the same boat, starting from a losing position!”
“—What do you mean?”
When I asked, Wallace answered while drinking.
“Cleo—was originally a girl.”
“What?”
“She was born a girl, but her biological mother insisted she was a boy!”
I was puzzled.
In this world, science and technology were advanced.
Magic was also quite powerful.
Could they not determine a child’s gender in such a world?
“Why not just have a boy from the start?”
“It’s my father’s hobby. Cleo’s mother’s family was originally part of a faction that opposed my father. That’s why, when my father ascended to the throne, Cleo’s mother was sent to him. My father allowed it, but she was made to suffer many times.”
Cleo’s mother’s family was large and powerful.
The emperor reluctantly made a truce but didn’t forget his grudge.
Then, a vindictive plan began.
“The child’s gender was made absolutely unchangeable. Doctors were involved, and the gender was kept secret until birth. Cleo’s mother had three children, all girls. The third was her last chance. If she missed it, she was finished.”
“Finished?”
“She would lose her position in the harem. There were other mothers who had sons. Cleo’s mother would be treated worse than them.”
This was not a trivial matter.
For the women in the harem, their position was crucial.
“So, Cleo’s gender was falsified?”
“No. Cleo was made a boy. When my father heard this, he laughed and said, ‘If that’s the case, I’ll give him the third position in the line of succession.’”
“If he’s a boy, there’s no problem.”
Gender transformation was possible in this world—amazing.
“It’s not good! If this is allowed, all my sisters will become brothers! That’s why my father made Cleo a laughingstock. A fool who became a prince by falsifying his gender.”
The third position in the line of succession was a mere formality, and Cleo’s position was worse than terrible.
When I heard this, I thought—
—This is an opportunity.
“Great!”
“What? Are you even listening? Cleo has no future!”
“Where? If he can work as a man, there’s no problem. In fact, I’ve been waiting for someone like him.”
A prince who might be hostile to the emperor, who might be an enemy.
Even if not hostile, their relationship was not good.
In other words, Cleo had almost no connection to my “true enemies.”
Moreover, he hated the emperor—shared a common enemy.
Well, if the emperor was my enemy.
I was lucky to have someone like Cleo.
“Wallace, let’s celebrate today. Drink as much as you want.”
I asked the owner to bring expensive drinks, and Wallace started drinking again.
“I’ll drink it all, even without you telling me! Damn it!!”
◇
In the capital, where Liam lived in a high-end hotel.
A knight was assigned to him.
His name was [Claus Sera Mont]—over 300 years old, and he looked like he was in his thirties.
He had a weathered face from a hard life, but he became a knight serving the Banfield family a few decades ago.
He wasn’t captured by pirates or petrified.
He wasn’t a knight who loved combat; he was a regular knight.
Before joining the Banfield family, he served another family.
But that family fell, and he ended up at the Banfield family while looking for a new position.
Therefore, he didn’t have excessive loyalty.
He intended to fulfill his duties as a knight, but that was all.
Yet, he was now in charge of Liam’s guard.
“Why did it come to this?”
His sighs had increased recently, and he was trying to control them but couldn’t.
The reason was simple.
He sought a stable life and had little interest in advancement.
The reason Claus was close to Liam was that Tia and Marie had been stripped of their chief and deputy positions.
They were now back in the territory, hunting pirates and earning merits to return to Liam’s side.
Claus was sent from the territory to replace them.
In Liam’s knight corps, he was generally low-key.
He supported others and gave up credit on the battlefield.
He liked low-key work, and doing so led to a normal career progression.
At first, he was happy to be recognized, but now he felt intimidated by the attention.
As Claus walked down the hotel corridor, his subordinates approached.
“Captain Claus! Are we going out yet?”
“Let’s hunt pirates near the capital!”
“Let’s start a fight somewhere!”
His bloodthirsty subordinates were drunk and ready to start a fight with anyone.
(Why do I have so many bloodthirsty subordinates?)
Those who were saved by Liam and had high loyalty.
Those who joined to fight as much as they wanted.
And others whose motives were unclear—such subordinates.
“Be prepared to respond to Liam’s call at any time.”
Claus replied calmly, and his subordinates saluted.
“Yes!”
As they left, Claus slumped his shoulders.
“I want to go