Peaceful Days Are Over
"Exactly two weeks."
Just before stepping out of the Grand Audience Hall, Victoria whirled around, her black cloak billowing dramatically.
"Exactly two weeks from now. The imperial army will arrive at your Northern Fortress—the one I just crushed—and take custody of the hostage."
Her purple eyes gleamed fiercely through her helmet, her savage gaze curving into something cruel.
"If there's no hostage ready to offer the Empire at that time and place... we'll consider it a declaration of war. The main imperial forces will cross the border and trample the Sterling Kingdom that very instant. Your kingdom will live on only in the history books."
With that chilling warning, the black reaper vanished completely.
The moment the sound of her boots stomping the marble floor faded beyond the doors, a torrent of suppressed noises erupted all at once.
"Aaaah...! S-sob, hngh...!"
The Queen, who had fainted, awoke and immediately burst into tears. The dazed ministers finally caught their breath and dove into a heated debate.
"Y-Your Majesty! We must decide on a hostage to send at once! The Empire isn't the type to joke around!"
"Who do you suggest we send? We can't send Crown Prince Joseph, the heir to the throne!"
"Then you're saying we throw the princess to the wolves? The imperial princess just warned us outright—if we send our daughter with any hint of deception, she'll make her suffer unimaginable agony!"
"But we can't sacrifice the kingdom's future heir to the enemy's den either!"
The Grand Audience Hall descended into chaos in an instant.
The King slumped on his throne, clutching his face, groaning wordlessly in agony.
Sending his son meant the kingdom's future ended. Sending his daughter meant watching her become playthings for beasts, torn apart in the most horrific ways—it was all too clear.
From a parent's view or a monarch's, it was hell's ultimate dilemma, impossible to voice lightly.
That's when it happened.
"Um, excuse me..."
An elderly minister, who had been hovering near the royal family and sneaking glances at me, cautiously spoke up.
"Why not... send young Lord Ian Harper over there?"
Silence fell.
I couldn't believe my ears. What the hell is this guy saying?
"A-are you insane?! You want to deceive the Empire?!"
"Do you think the Empire is staffed by idiots? The moment they realize he's not the King's blood, we'll be crushed just like the princess said!"
The other ministers paled and lashed out furiously, but the old man raised his voice, veins bulging.
"Then what do we do? We can't send the prince, and we can't send the princess to certain torment! Young Lord Ian has practically lived in the palace since childhood, growing up like a sibling to the prince and princess. Even the nobles treat him as good as royalty—do you think the Empire will see through it perfectly? The imperial princess herself just mistook him for one of the royals!"
It was, of course, utter nonsense.
But to people backed into a corner, that drivel started sounding like a sweet lifeline.
A few ministers' eyes shifted oddly, turning toward me.
"You mad bastards!!!"
At that moment, my mother, Baroness Michelle Harper, standing beside me, lost it completely and roared like a beast.
It was a feral bellow, her usual elegance cast aside.
"How dare you throw my son to the slaughter?! If your kids are precious, so is mine! Shut those rotten mouths right now!"
"Exactly! What kind of lunacy is this?!"
The Queen, her face ashen, embraced my mother and screamed at the ministers.
"Michelle is like a blood sister to me! Using her son as a royal shield? Over my dead body!"
Mother hid me behind her, trembling violently.
But the mood had already shifted irreversibly. Even the silent ministers began kneeling one by one.
"Your Majesty! We must take the gamble!"
"It's the only way to save the kingdom, Your Majesty!"
"...Everyone, quiet."
The King, who had been clutching his face for ages, muttered in a hoarse voice.
The hall fell deathly still.
The King rose unsteadily from the throne, stumbling down the steps toward me.
"Your Majesty...?"
Mother backed away in panic.
But in that instant, the monarch who had ruled this land for decades dropped to his knees on the marble floor with a thud.
"Y-Your Majesty!!"
"Ian..."
The King's trembling hands clutched my pant leg desperately.
His eyes held no royal dignity, no adult pride—only a father's pathetic, selfish despair to save his children.
"Please... please forgive this foolish king. Save our kingdom... save my children, just once. I beg you, Ian. Go to the Empire in my stead...!"
"Your Majesty! Have you lost your mind? How could you?!"
Mother wailed as if vomiting blood, but the King clung to my feet, tears splashing down like a man bereft of reason.
"...Your Majesty."
My mind cooled to ice.
Reason screamed to refuse outright. No matter how close we'd been, throwing away my life to save others made no sense.
But...
"..."
My gaze drifted past the King's shoulder.
There stood the princess, pale and shaking, and Prince Joseph, dazed and desperate to flee.
If I refused here? The King would eventually send the princess, tears in his eyes.
And she'd become the protagonist of the original story, I Became the Empire's Imperial Plaything—living a hellish reverse harem tragedy, broken beyond repair.
That sweet girl who had smiled up at me like a big brother since childhood.
...But I can't let them send Joseph either.
Before even considering the heir issue, Joseph was a flower raised in a greenhouse his whole life. The soft boy who teared up over a paper cut during sword practice wouldn't survive the Empire's den of beasts.
He'd end himself in terror within a month or get executed for a slip-up—it was obvious.
Honestly, I didn't want to go at all.
But... I couldn't shove those two into hell and stretch out comfortably back home alone. In my past life or this one, I'd always been cursed with a tiresome personality that couldn't stand watching others suffer right in front of me.
"Haa..."
A long, heavy sigh escaped my lips.
"Ian! No! Absolutely not!"
Mother, sensing my resolve, grabbed my pant leg and wailed, but I'd already made up my mind.
"...I'll go."
Silence blanketed the Grand Audience Hall at those words.
"Aa... Aaaah!"
Mother collapsed on the spot, sobbing uncontrollably. The Queen clamped her mouth and sank down too.
Joseph and Ellie bowed their heads, too shocked and guilty to meet my eyes.
"Thank you...! Truly, thank you, Ian! I'll never forget this grace my whole life! Even in death, I'll repay it...!"
The King banged his forehead against my feet, weeping.
A nation's ruler kowtowing to a mere baron's second son—what a sight.
I looked down at the prostrated King calmly but firmly.
"But we need to prepare thoroughly. If I go as just a baron's second son, they'll lop off my head for deceiving the Empire on the spot. You must make the preparations flawless—no room for them to grab even a hint of suspicion."
"Y-yes! Of course! If you want, I'll adopt you as my own blood right now! Whatever it takes, I'll forge the papers!"
"And."
I glanced at Mother, collapsed on the floor, lost in grief and tears.
My chest tightened.
"While I'm in the Empire... please take full responsibility for the Harper family and my mother. If you neglect us after I risk my life to leave, I'll do whatever it takes from the Empire to bring down the Sterling Kingdom first."
At my warning, the tear-streaked King nodded frantically.
"I swear it. On my crown, on my honor, I swear! The Harper family will have the royal protection forever!"
I nodded slightly.
"...I just wanted to live peacefully."
My murmur went unheard by all.