Chapter 1
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 1 - Becoming the Prince's Flatterer
I was transmigrated.
The work I transmigrated into was a novel called [I Became a Barbarian in a Romance Fantasy].
As you can tell from the title, it is a transmigration story where the protagonist, who transmigrated into the son of a barbarian chieftain in a romance fantasy, conquers the empire.
I was transmigrated into such a work.
No, it's not even a third-party fanfiction, what kind of situation is transmigrating into a transmigration work, damn it.
...Well, thinking about it, considering that for the past five years the only pure original works I consumed were Blade of Sorcery or Great Demon Extermination War, it seems to be my sin.
If I go back, I will consume a lot of original works.
So, is there any way I can go back?
...I prayed while looking at the sky, but only the wind blew quietly.
Haa...
First of all, the character I transmigrated into is Edric Noel, the aide to the First Prince Leopold Minerva, who is a main character in the work.
He is an 18-year-old character, one year older than the prince, with red hair and narrow slit eyes, who became the prince's aide and friend through the backing of his father, Count Palatine Albert Noel.
You can probably imagine it by this point, and you'd be right.
This character is a sycophant.
He is the quintessential narrow-eyed villain character found in any work, corrupting the prince by his side with a fox-like physiognomy.
To talk a little about the original story, it goes like this.
The prince was brilliant in his childhood but gradually went mad and became a scoundrel, eventually breaking off his engagement with Nataliya Lyudmila, the daughter of the Grand Duke of the North who tried to change him, and proposing to Saintess Azelia.
However, Saintess Azelia refused because she could not forgive the prince due to a certain incident.
And the more she did, the more the prince obsessed over the Saintess, even resorting to threats.
Eventually, driven by the prince's threats that even touched her family, Saintess Azelia committed suicide, and the Holy Emperor of the church criticized the prince, causing public opinion regarding the Imperial Family in the empire to hit rock bottom.
In the meantime, the protagonist, the prince of the barbarians, stopped the Great Disaster of the North and saved the life of the Grand Duchess Nataliya.
With love blooming from that connection, the two married, and the Grand Duke of the North joined hands with the barbarians, declaring independence from the empire, leading to the empire's division.
Going through crazy events like the Southern peasant rebellion, the Western elf civil war, and the Southern dwarf strike, the empire completely fell into ruin. One of the main culprits of that downfall, the prince's aide Edric Noel, was abandoned by the prince and beheaded by the rebel army.
"It's ridiculous even thinking about it, seriously."
My vision went dark at the thought that a future of getting my head chopped off would come if things went on like this.
I suffered like a dog in my past life and was happy to be transmigrated like this, but for the end to be a guillotine ending!
Fuck! I would be satisfied with just a comfortable daily life!!!
While having such thoughts and desperately looking for a way to live, I found it.
[Imperial Law]
Article 12 (Crime of Insulting the Imperial Family)
Anyone who makes remarks that damage the prestige of or insult the Emperor, Empress, and their direct ascendants and descendants (Princes, Princesses) in a public place shall be punished for the 'Crime of Insulting the Imperial Family'.
Paragraph 1: In the case of simple slander and gossip, the offender shall immediately be stripped of their official position and sentenced to imprisonment for at least 3 years.
Paragraph 2: Anyone who engages in direct verbal abuse or acts that cause shame to the Imperial Family to their face shall be sentenced to "Exile".
"...This is it!"
Exile, that was the hope I found.
Here in the Minerva Empire, there was a punishment of exile, just like in the Joseon Dynasty.
Even the details were similar.
You can't kill subjects who offer loyal advice, but you can't just leave subjects who say things you don't like as they are either, so let's send them to the provinces to suffer a bit.
What was better than the Joseon Dynasty was that the person receiving the exile punishment could choose their prospective place of exile.
It seemed to be a law created by approaching the concept of a kind of rest to come to one's senses while living in the provinces, rather than serving as a very heavy punishment.
The most important thing is that they say there are many subjects who stayed in the provinces, were forgotten, and died there.
Isn't it truly the best!
To be able to enjoy a happy life moderately as a noble in the provinces and spend my whole life without getting swept up in bothersome matters...
It was exactly the life I wanted.
From that day on, my grand plan to receive the punishment of exile began.
"My head hurts..."
I sat at the desk in my office and devised a strategy while analyzing the imperial code and precedents.
Me getting exiled is, in a word, a realm of art.
If I made too light an insult, it would be passed over with a "Haha, Edric must be going through puberty," and it would end with me getting beaten up by my father.
However, if I crossed the line too much, it would be "Haha, to the guillotine with you," and I would go from 'Edric Noel' to 'Ed/ric Noel'.
'I have to insult the Imperial Family and the Prince in a way that anyone can see... but it must feel like true loyalty welling up from the heart.'
I had to set the stage so that even though I insulted the Imperial Family, there would be no flaws in terms of justification. Because I spoke out of genuine loyalty, even if the prince tried to kill me, the Emperor would have to say, "Hmph, we cannot kill such a loyal subject, so send him to the provinces for a while to let him cool off."
I prepared thoroughly, feeling like I was walking a tightrope, and the opportunity came sooner than I thought.
First Prince Leopold Minerva.
He wasn't a scoundrel from the beginning.
In his childhood, he was brilliant and benevolent. Everyone loved him, and he loved everyone.
However, a tragedy occurred.
The 'Assassination Attempt on the Prince' had occurred.
When he was around 8 years old, he stopped by the Empress's Palace to meet his mother, the Empress.
Taking advantage of the moment when security around the prince was at its most lax, assassins attacked the Empress's Palace.
Fortunately, thanks to the power of the Empress, who was a former general, the prince was kept safe, but the Empress herself ultimately lost her life.
This was the incident constantly mentioned in the original work as the 'Tragedy of the Rose Palace', which became the starting point of the prince going astray and the empire's downfall.
I hadn't read the work to the end, so I didn't see who the mastermind behind that incident was, but because of that event, the prince slowly began to break down.
It made him obsess over strength, hate and detest everything around him, and conversely, begin to obsess over anyone who shared similarities with his mother.
One of those things was 'sparring' with these knights.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang, clang—!
"Haa... Haa..."
"I... I yield. Your Highness the Prince."
At the Imperial Palace training grounds, the sparring between the prince and the knights was continuing today as well.
If you only looked at it, it was a very beautiful sight.
A beautiful blond prince sweating and sparring with knights to train himself, it was like a scene out of a movie.
But looking on the inside, it was very bleak.
Thud—!
"Is this the skill of the Imperial Knight Order? Did you swear to protect me with only this level of swordsmanship? It would be better to have a passing dog hold a sword."
"I... I'm sorry."
Leopold sneered as he threw the wooden training sword in front of that knight.
Behind him, a dozen or so of the empire's prominent knights who had participated in today's training stood covered in dust, biting their lips tightly in humiliation.
The reason they ended up like this was absolutely not because they lacked skill.
Leopold was a true genius of swordsmanship.
As a result of such a genius obsessing over strength even more after his mother's death, at a mere 15 years old, there was not a single knight among the squires of a similar age who could defeat the prince.
Looking at the knights who had fallen to him, the prince said.
"Seeing your pathetic states, the future of the empire is truly bleak. Both your families, and you all. You lack skill but just sit around occupying positions."
Grip—!
The knight, who had fallen to the prince's insults, gripped his wooden sword so tightly it felt like it would break.
But he couldn't say or do anything.
Because if he misspoke here or lunged at the prince, his family would be destroyed on the spot.
Of course, these actions of the prince come back like a boomerang in the original work.
When the rebel army arrived right at their doorstep, the knights ended up surrendering or running away.
Eventually, the prince faced the rebel army alone and fell to the blade of the protagonist, the barbarian prince.
But he truly deserved it.
Even I, watching from the side, thought, 'Wow, he really talks in a way that makes you want to start a revolution.' The prince's words were laced with thorns.
Toss!
"Let's go back, Edric."
"... ..."
As usual, the prince threw his gloves at me and spoke.
The usual Edric would have immediately prepared the carriage, saying "Understood, Lord Leopold" in a high-pitched voice like a eunuch.
But I didn't do that.
The rampaging prince, the insulted knights, and me.
The stage was perfectly set.
I executed my plan.
Step-! Step-! Step-!
With a resolute expression, I walked out into the middle of the training grounds.
And I blocked the path of Prince Leopold.
I could visibly see that my actions had flustered everyone—the completely defeated knights, the servants behind them, and even the prince himself.
"...What are you doing? Edric."
The prince's eyebrows twitched.
I fell to my knees with a thud in front of the prince.
Thud-!
"Your Highness the Prince!"
"...What is it, Edric? Do you also want to be beaten like those pathetic fools?"
The prince glared at me so fiercely it felt like his gaze could kill.
Is this the glare of the Imperial Family's strongest sword? It's really fucking scary... But I couldn't stop here.
I continued my words.
"Your Highness the Prince! I, Edric Noel, shall speak even at the risk of my life! How... how can you so dreadfully insult the knights who are the shield of the empire!"
I began to speak the script I had prepared in advance.
I am a loyal subject... I am a loyal subject...
I am a loyal subject risking my life to give loyal advice...
Giving myself full-body self-hypnosis, I spoke while pouring out tears with the power of the eye drops I had put in earlier.
"Do you remember the Your Highness of the past? I am speaking of the time when you were benevolent and brilliant, serving as a role model for all the people!"
"Stop it..."
"The Your Highness of that time was the light of the empire. But look at you now. Now, only fear and humiliation linger by your side. Every time Your Highness despises the knights, the discipline of the empire crumbles, and my heart is torn to shreds!"
"I said stop!"
Seeing me shedding tears and offering loyal advice, the edges of the surrounding knights' eyes began to turn red.
The atmosphere of 'That aide is risking his life to speak frankly to the prince for our sake' dominated the training grounds.
"I would rather you kill me! If you do not return to that radiant Your Highness of the past, I do not have the confidence to live and watch your downfall! Hurry and punish me, and please... please come to your senses!"
It was perfect.
I had tackled the prince's pride head-on, and there were many witnesses.
Since my father is a Count Palatine, he wouldn't be able to kill me, and the proud Leopold would surely shout, "You dare try to teach me? Get him out of my sight this instant!" and issue an order of exile.
With my head bowed down, I cheered inwardly.
'Now, hurry! Hurry and punish me! Hurry!'
Thinking that, I waited for the prince's reaction.
"..............."
But... the silence was too long.
What is it? What happened?
When I felt something was off and raised my head very slightly, what caught my eye was not the angry face of the prince.
The prince... Leopold... was shedding tears.
And with faintly trembling hands, he approached me and carefully placed his hands on my shoulders.
"...I'm sorry. Edric, I was foolish and was causing pain to many people."
"Yes...?"
Wait, what is this all of a sudden?
You're supposed to curse at me! Punish me! You bastard!!
My brain stopped working at the prince's unscripted reaction.
Something... something different from the plan had begun to happen.