The Liar's Game
"Agh, ow ow ow—"
"Stretch it out, all the way!"
My back and shoulders burn.
To do the rehab exercises properly, I have to stretch until the skin feels ready to tear.
Already the heat is rising.
The bandages were just changed, and now they're soaked in blood again.
If I keep up the rehab until tomorrow, I can be discharged the day after.
Christina is the only one who bothers to visit.
Mother and Katrin are too busy to make time.
Better this than having to look at people who make me uncomfortable.
I clutch the letter envelope and glance back at Christina standing beyond the door.
The cold eyes are gone, replaced by an awkward "Father! Uh… delivery, sir."
The weight of the thick envelope matches the weight of the medical staff's discomfort.
I know Christina isn't supposed to act this way.
An archduke should have even the lowest maid order around lesser nobles.
A commoner whose origins are unknown speaking to an archduke like that is practically speaking in tongues.
"Did you hire her as a maid?"
"Something like that."
It's a lie.
Still, the doctor forces an awkward smile in reply.
Calling my own daughter a lackey is ugly, but if I want to protect her, there's no choice.
I tear open the envelope and pull out the bundle. The first letter.
When you're a thug who gathered commoners into a faction, the only mail you get is bills and newspaper editorials.
At least Moritz wrote this one himself.
The bastard opens with "How are you, twelfth cousin?"
What kind of scheme is he running that he has to emphasize blood ties right from the start?
I stop reading and wave Christina over to stay.
The medical staff's faces twist, but what are they going to do about it?
At my "Move," they all suppress their grumbling glares and clear out.
Shame there's no extra chair, but it can't be helped.
"While you're here, talk with your father a bit! What did Katrin say?"
"She… seemed angry."
Christina sits on my lap again, still slow to answer.
Because she doesn't understand? Or because she still hasn't adapted? Doesn't matter.
I click my tongue dramatically and flip Moritz's letter over.
"When has Katrin ever not been angry? Forget it. How about you?"
Better to use the back than waste the paper.
Every time I ask about a character, my daughter carefully writes it down.
Can't have the future archduchess not knowing letters even commoners can read.
Do not summon me so often. I am an expensive existence.
What the hell is expensive about you, you ghost in my head.
Then answer me, Gyeong Tae-chang. While I teach Christina letters, focus in her place.
Are you actually paying attention to your daughter? Leaving your thoughts to a ghost.
Just having me beside her is enough.
In this Ostheer, Christina is a foreign body.
A foreign body that will be eliminated someday if I don't step in myself.
You'd understand right away if you saw the doctors' awkward smiles, Gyeong Tae-chang.
Why would Moritz pick a fight with Christina?
A commoner or two being treated like toys by an archduke is nothing to complain about.
Since she's my property, I could even claim I'm protecting her.
Even in the letter he wrote after hearing I'd woken up, he didn't mention Christina at all.
What is the content of the letter itself?
Not good at all.
Moritz is fired up. He's trying to turn the terror attack into immediate political capital.
He wrote a very courteous letter saying he'd come visit me in the hospital.
Is that not a good situation? It is a gesture of goodwill from an archducal faction.
Are you even listening, Gyeong Tae-chang?
Twelfth cousin is practically a stranger even by noble standards. Not something worth writing in a letter.
It's just a preemptive jab before he has to ask for a favor.
The real question is what scheme he's plotting.
I can feel it. Something big enough to move the election scheduled for eight years from now up by two years.
And if he's reaching out to me, it means he's trying to build a faction.
That's not happening.
I didn't burn my back just to become Moritz's lackey.
You said it yourself, Gyeong Tae-chang. The next throne is mine.
That's my birthright. Moritz knows it too, which is why he's already talking like he needs something.
Are you not being overly confident? Game information is not everything.
Well… damn. There's no way to know the public sentiment two years from now right now. I admit it, Gyeong Tae-chang.
So I have to lure them in.
Even without my mother's vote, I still have four left.
I need two more. Moritz will definitely cast his for himself.
"Father? I finished writing—ow!"
Christina tried to speak solemnly and bit her tongue.
My headache is instantly dragged down to reality by the sound my daughter just made.
"Uh—your—tongue okay?" spills out before I can stop it.
And while saying it, I bite my own tongue too.
Both of us sitting there in pain for a few seconds after biting our tongues.
I force a deliberately exaggerated laugh in front of my daughter and say, "Your father did the same thing."
No need to look that flustered. It hurts her feelings.
The medical staff behind us with their eyes wide open even more so.
Look at the speed of that thought shift. Ridiculous.
Shut it, Gyeong Tae-chang. Even if you're a ghost—
But focus. A new event has appeared.
What did you just say?
The medical staff are now staring in another direction in surprise, and a new event window appears before my eyes.
"Hey, Gerhardt!" comes a voice from outside the room.
Is that disgusting bastard coming here targeting Christina?
No. He said he'd come, so he's just here to spin his political schemes.
The rat flings the door open and walks in with a grin.
What, Katrin came straight here too? I was in a coma, after all.
It's been several days, so she could have visited anytime. Still, this is tense.
"Why so serious, my twelfth cousin?" only makes my expression harder.
What are you planning to say, Moritz?
The medical staff couldn't control the crowding in the room.
How many commoners would stand their ground when an archduke flashes his house crest and tells them to move?
The doctors beyond look flustered.
You are also an archduke. You know this.
That's not the point right now, Gyeong Tae-chang.
Anyway, Moritz very naturally shoves Christina aside.
No, correction. This time he twists his waist and legs to the side, avoiding her as he walks in.
His jaw must still be sore.
Katrin follows behind. "Hah, big brother, it's been a while?"
"Auntie—mmph." The sound barely escapes Christina's mouth.
She says it herself then immediately covers her mouth? Because Moritz is here? Figures she'd feel bad.
Moritz doesn't care. "She's your aunt, isn't she? Katrin told me roughly."
Instead, Katrin says "Hey" and stops rolling her wheelchair.
"Why, twelfth cousin? It's true anyway."
Still disgusting. Don't scare Christina like that.
And the one who should stop him, Katrin, doesn't.
The status window in front of me keeps displaying the The Archduke's Game event text.
Moritz begins grandly, "So, our heroic archduke who performed so valiantly at the scene of the fire—"
Katrin immediately cuts in with "It's Moritz's offer of cooperation."
This time Moritz snaps, "Hey."
Moritz grumbles for quite a while.
Eventually he clasps his hands and puts on a solemn air.
He isn't grinning, but that rat's mustache creates a strange dissonance.
Still, that gaze that keeps glancing at Christina—
"His Majesty has collapsed."
—Wait, what?
Moritz's clasped hands have been clenched so tight they've turned red for a while now.
"He collapsed after hearing the news of the terror attack and woke up the next day. But the spies have already crossed the border."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you're both a direct party to the terror attack and one of the few strong nobles left in the empire."
At this point, the observation that he's using the terror as an excuse to act doesn't come up.
Christina's writing practice paper is flipped over again.
Moritz's finger races across the letters she wrote.
The complicated practical explanation is handled by Katrin instead. "The Briland bastards have started moving their funds."
"Just like the westerners did."
"Listen to the end, big brother. Even if Jethalungi owes the west nothing, the other electors do."
"So Briland is already reaching inside the empire?"
"For now they're just keeping the funds safe. But anyone can see this emperor has less than ten years left."
At "ten years," Moritz presses down on the napkin like he's trying to punch a hole through it.
"We need support to stop the Briland pigs from strutting around inside the empire."
I can see through the deliberately chosen words.
If he'd gone on about His Majesty or grandfather, it would have looked like a grandson's worry. But he deliberately used only ambiguous terms.
No solid proof, but I suspect the emperor's death will happen around two years from now.
Given Moritz's age and the emperor's remaining time, now is the optimal moment to start recruiting.
That's why he met the archdukes and archduchesses first… makes sense.
"It would have been faster to meet Elise."
At that obvious point, Moritz's expression turns completely sour.
"Prince Rusarius and the princess are just as important figures as the archduchess."
Katrin retorts, "More than a grandson whose father died and now lives with his grandfather?"
'Your bloodline is Rusarvian, so you're trying to grease that side.'
'Your grandfather killed your father, you son of a bitch.'
I translate noble language faster than Gyeong Tae-chang.
While Moritz hardens his expression faster than Gyeong Tae-chang, my mind comes up with an answer on the spot.
"Then… isn't everything already decided by you, Katrin?"
Every document in the bundle she sent has Katrin's seal, so she can't deny it.
Katrin can't deny that either and only says, "Yeah, so what?"
Elise's seal… isn't here. Good.
"I'll take it for now. Elise's seal isn't here, and it's an unstable scheme between archduke and archduchess."
'Skipping my mother is fine. But if I don't like it, I'll switch sides right away.'
It's a textbook, almost incompetent answer. Katrin immediately furrows her brow.
I know, Katrin. The bloodline jab and all.
But do you really think I'd team up with someone who mocked my bloodline?
Moritz only says outwardly, "A wise decision, Gerhardt," and stands up.
Whether he's sneering inside or not, my eyes have already finished reading The Archduke's Game.
Before Katrin can react, Moritz leaves the room… and Katrin immediately starts sulking.
"You think I don't know that rat is scratching at our bloodline?"
She's serious.
"Of course I know. If I weren't injured and didn't have an informant, I would've thrown a punch right away."
Both Christina and Katrin flinch at the word "punch."
"Punching my nephew just because I find that rat unpleasant is excessive. More importantly, an informant?"
She caught the word in that short moment. Truly worthy of top-tier stats.
"Not the kind you'd know about, but I have a suitable informant…"
The ghost Gyeong Tae-chang who's been throwing text up on the status window right now.
I should also tell her that Moritz will head to the Brotherhood of Companions headquarters in Alhunburg next.
But right now, something else is more important than that guess…
"Let's aim for Amur Hersun, the sixth prince of the Orc Khanate."
Katrin finally makes a face that says 'This slug actually has some rolling talent?'
It's all good, so just don't make that weird smile that scares Christina.