Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Tyrant of Aquitaine #2
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Tyrant, monster, butcher, massacre demon.
Each and every one of those extraordinary words pointed to just one thing.
Me.
And I had no intention of shaking off that image.
"Your Majesty, here is today's agenda. A message has arrived from the Beastkin Tribal Alliance in the Lucilla Plains..."
"They're just throwing a tantrum because they don't have enough food, demanding we hand some over. Ignore them."
"But the Beastkin Alliance wields considerable power..."
"Hmm."
"...Understood."
Building friendly relations with the Beastkin Alliance was certainly necessary, but not yet.
They weren't even short on food in the first place.
They were just poking at the Empire to redirect their internal conflicts outward.
Soon, they'd go through a major internal shake-up, and their leader would change.
That was the time to wait for.
Honestly, it was hard to explain the reasoning.
Help them, but not now—later? Why bother?
But as an arbitrary tyrant, it was convenient.
It was enough to just say I didn't feel like it.
"Your Majesty, the next item on the agenda. The lord of Hazel Barony reports that too many of his territory's people lost their food stores to a beast attack, and he's requesting aid from the capital. We've decided to provide the minimum amount of preserved, dried rations..."
"Hold on."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Hazel, you say. I like the sound of that name. Send them plenty of food."
"Yes...? Understood."
Good.
Hazel Barony was where the Resistance's future action leader came from.
There was a line about him falling into despair after watching his people starve to death due to the food shortage, so this should take care of that.
"Is that everything now? Everyone, dismissed. Dismissed. I want to be alone."
Listening to all these agenda items was giving me a headache.
I waved my hand, shooing away the bureaucrats.
"Hoo."
Playing the tyrant wasn't bad.
It felt like a habit ingrained in my body, or rather, doing what I ought to do felt this natural—almost suspiciously so.
Using the knowledge I remembered to sort out what needed doing and what didn't was nice too.
But the problem was, even doing that only maintained the status quo at best.
The Empire was crumbling in real time, and there were no talents to save it.
The parasites eating away at the country were one thing, but killing off three high-ranking officials had left a huge gap.
There were still so many left to deal with.
If I purged them all at once, the administrative vacuum would really bring the country down.
Wasn't there some usable talent falling from the sky or something?
Knock knock.
As I clutched my throbbing head, there was a knock at the audience chamber door.
"Come in."
Lily entered the audience chamber in her maid outfit.
She bowed her head deeply and spoke.
"Your Majesty. Prince Theodor has come to visit."
"Theo?"
I was surprised.
Theo hated me, so after enrolling in the Academy, he hardly ever returned to the palace.
Why was he here?
"I'll go to the reception room."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Heading to the reception room with Lily in tow, Theo was waiting there.
I hadn't noticed from the game illustrations alone, but up close, he was pretty small.
His slender, delicate features gave him the air of a beautiful youth.
"Theo."
"It's been a while, brother."
"Yeah. What brings you here? You never even visit properly."
We sat down.
Naturally, Lily stepped out, leaving just Theo and me in the reception room.
"...I heard some unbelievable news. That you'd purged the Prime Minister and a bunch of palace nobles."
"That's right."
"Why?"
So that's why he'd come rushing over.
He'd heard the news and bolted here in shock.
Theo stared at me intently.
In his gaze, I could sense suspicion and fear directed at me.
Not because those corrupt nobles were evil.
But simply because I'd wanted to kill them.
That kind of suspicion.
Hm.
It was a reasonable doubt.
In times like this...
"Why do you care? They annoyed me, so I killed them. They got too cocky."
"...I heard you say today that you won't kill just anyone anymore. Is that true?"
"Yeah. If I go around killing indiscriminately, there'll be no one left to work in my stead. Then I'd have to do it myself."
"...I see. I get it. That's a relief, at least."
Was that enough?
He was the little brother I'd hand the throne to soon, the one who'd have to bust his ass saving the Empire on the brink of ruin.
Having our relationship too bad wouldn't be good.
I bantered lightly.
"How's life at the Academy these days?"
"...Same as always."
"No girl you like? You should start thinking about marriage soon."
Theo's expression stiffened.
What?
Was 'how've you been' not a normal conversation starter?
Why was he so guarded?
Did I pick the wrong topic?
"I trust you to handle it yourself, so I won't interfere."
"...Thanks, brother. I'm doing well at the Academy. It's a place of equality, so everyone gets along."
As if.
They were just pretending in front of the imperial prince.
Tsk tsk.
Smart as he was, he was hopelessly naive about that stuff.
Seeing he was still green, the story probably hadn't progressed much.
Leave him be, and he'd meet the heroine Chloe and bloom on his own, so no need to meddle.
Creeak.
The sound of the door opening announced Lily's return.
"Your Majesty, I've prepared tea."
"Brother, now that you mention it, that girl..."
Theo looked puzzled.
Come to think of it, this was Theo's first time seeing Lily.
"Introduce yourself. This is Lily, my attendant. I hired her recently."
"I am honored to meet Prince Theodor."
"Nice to meet you. I'm a bit surprised. Brother doesn't usually keep people close."
"As one who has received Your Majesty's grace, it is my honor to devote my body to you."
"Devote your body...?"
Theo's gaze turned strange.
Come to think of it, Lily just looked like a frail, delicate girl on the surface.
Thanks to her mastery of concealing her presence, unless it was an exceptionally sensitive expert, no one could detect her strength.
.....
To Theo's eyes, did she just look like some girl I was fooling around with?
"Brother, it's fine to enjoy women, but shouldn't you think about an heir? It's about time you considered marriage."
I was at a loss for words.
Hard to say I was planning to pass the throne to you, and taking an empress now would just be a hassle.
Of course, I wasn't without plans entirely.
After retiring.
Dump all the annoying stuff on Theo, then live my own life.
Whether there'd be a woman who could truly love the tyrant Khalid von Aquitaine was another question.
But with a decent enough face, there'd be some.
"Well, I'll head out then. I've got the next class."
"Since you're here, why not skip it?"
"I can't do that. Gotta be diligent. I'll come by again."
Theo headed back to the Academy.
The fact that he'd made the trip despite having class next meant the purge news had really shocked him.
What to do about this.
There was still so much time left.
Before the full-scale purge, there was a reason I'd dealt with the Prime Minister and the other high officials first.
For one, even if I prepared the purges in secret, those guys would notice.
If they caught on and rebelled, it would be irreversible.
Sure, I could crush the rebellion easily, but...
The Empire was already at its limit.
One rebellion would spark a chain reaction of uprisings.
Even if I slaughtered every last rebel, the Empire would be beyond saving.
That's why I'd killed just those three high officials first and made the announcement.
'We killed these as representatives, so watch your step from now on.'
Basically.
In other words, I'd given the purge targets false reassurance.
Your crimes are included in what we cut off at the head, so we won't hold your past sins against you.
In fact, there hadn't been any suspicious movements since that day.
Even though three major nobles with massive influence inside the palace had vanished in an instant.
The Emperor was a tyrant who killed without mercy anyone he disliked.
But he wouldn't kill them too—that false sense of security.
Even the Emperor needed at least some bureaucrats to keep the Empire running.
So he'd spare them.
That's what they'd believe.
Of course.
"Gotta kill 'em all."
"Yes, Your Highness. Please leave it to me."
As I mumbled with my head pillowed on Lily's thigh, a firm reply came back.
Instead of her usual high ponytail, her loose silver hair tickled my face.
"That tickles."
"Ah, sorry."
"Mm. Not bad, so keep going."
"...Understood."
Chatting while receiving Lily's lap pillow might look like I was just playing around with women, as Theo had mistaken.
But this was at Lily's request.
'Your Majesty, about that reward you mentioned before...'
'Yeah. What do you want? Name it.'
'A lap pillow...'
'What?'
'I want to give Your Majesty a lap pillow...'
.....
Honestly, it was unexpected.
But since it was her wish, I happily obliged.
"Hee hee."
Lily looked satisfied too.
"Your Majesty."
"Hm?"
"You're hesitating on the purges because you're worried about the bureaucratic vacuum, right?"
"Mm, yeah."
"In that case, I have an idea. May I share it?"
"Go ahead."
Lily spoke cautiously.
"They say the cadets at the Academy where Prince Theodor is studying are exceptionally talented. Especially the standout ones..."
"Ah."
The Academy, huh.
Its cadets were indeed outstanding, especially the main characters from the original story.
I had no idea why the Northern Grand Duke and the Tower Lord kept popping up there, though.
Even aside from those two, the factions following the main characters were usable too.
But.
"Most of them have the right mindset, so no. If I launched mass purges, they'd either run or charge at me—they couldn't handle it."
"I see..."
Lily looked crestfallen.
"Well, if there's someone tough and capable enough to keep a straight face in this blood-scented palace, I'd love that... Hm?"
Come to think of it.
There was one.
"So, what is it exactly? You like her bad personality? Your Majesty, are you here to tease me?"
Black hair, purple eyes.
A mysterious, aloof-looking woman growled venomously at me.
Elisabeth von Valerian.
The villainess of the original story.