Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: I'll Teach You Some Manners
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"Ugh!"
The maids who had come in to wipe my body down dry-heaved the moment they opened the door.
They recoiled from the repulsive stench wafting out of the room.
But they quickly realized their mistake, hardening their expressions as they prostrated themselves on the floor.
"F-Forgive us, Your Highness!"
"Please spare us!"
They had realized that the source of that foul smell was me.
I was sitting on the edge of the bed with my upper body bare and my clothes discarded nearby.
Black sweat oozing from every inch of my skin had soaked through my garments.
It had happened exactly ten minutes after I authorized the nanomachine to treat my body.
"Ahh..."
No response came from me, and the two maids began trembling violently.
Begging for their lives over a mere gag reflex.
It was a clear sign of how terrifying I'must have been to them back then.
Well, yeah.
At that time, I was a walking bundle of irritation.
A subhuman wretch with not even a speck of patience to his name.
Endless headaches and countless drugs had left my mind and body in ruins.
The old me probably would have flown into a rage and shaved their heads bald.
Or killed them if I was in a foul mood.
Of course, I didn't know it back then.
I found out later. One of the drugs I was taking was making my mania worse.
There was a narcotic that intensified my delusions and hallucinations.
And the one who slipped it to me, disguised as a sedative, was none other than one of my brothers.
The 3rd Prince.
To be precise, it was the doing of his mother, Empress Josephine.
The eight-year-old 3rd Prince wasn't wicked enough yet.
Her intentions were obvious.
She was scheming to exacerbate my mania and dethrone me.
Betting everything on her family's prestige to reshape the crown prince lineup.
But Empress Josephine didn't know.
She had no idea what the amplified mania would lead to.
She clearly didn't grasp how terrifying an irrational mind could be.
If she had, she wouldn't have bothered with secret drugs—she'd have cut off my hands and feet first.
"Think nothing of it."
That's what I said.
Unlike back then, my mind was sharper than ever now.
Even normal air felt refreshing.
Had breathing ever felt this easy before?
Not in my memory.
Incredible.
The nanomachine's performance was undeniable.
In just ten minutes, it had purged a significant amount of poison from my body.
My body felt light. So light it seemed I'might float away.
Was this what they meant by the world looking beautiful?
A little gag reflex was nothing in comparison.
"P-Please, have mercy..."
"I said think nothing of it."
"Y-You truly forgive us?"
"Yes. Now get up. If washing takes too long and keeps the Versailles Countess's Daughter waiting, that'll be on you."
The two maids rose with wide, rabbit-like eyes full of fear.
Even if the notoriously fickle crown prince said he forgave them, it was hard to believe.
Soon, the maids hesitantly brought in a basin filled with water.
After scrubbing away the filth I'd sweated out and wiping me down thoroughly, they respectfully offered herbal remedies dried on leaves.
It contained all sorts of herbs.
Including the poison Empress Josephine had secretly mixed in.
Gulp!
I swallowed it without hesitation.
If I suddenly stopped, it'd raise suspicions.
Of course, I wasn't afraid of Empress Josephine. I'd known about her ambitions for a long time.
Compared to what was coming, she was nothing.
More importantly, the biggest problem staring me down was the noble factions backing me.
Not the current moderate, principled emperor—but real devils who wanted a new mad emperor to spark wars of conquest.
I have no intention of being their puppet again.
There were plenty of enemies.
Even nobles and Malfiel would be tough nuts to crack.
No need to alert the empress unnecessarily.
I chewed and swallowed, feeling the herbs slide down my throat.
And at the same moment.
[Dopamine inhibitors and harmful substances detected. Decomposing and expelling.]
[Nano Machine Zero] sprang into action.
In an instant, my chest grew damp. Waste was being purged.
As expected.
I'd figured that if it could remove long-accumulated waste, it could neutralize incoming toxins on the spot.
I was right.
There was no longer any doubt about the nanomachine's capabilities.
A healing power that surpassed countless master physicians, even saints and the Holy Emperor.
If I used this wisely, I'might even surpass my own limits.
"Oh no! Sweat again..."
The maids panicked as my clothes soaked through once more.
It was especially noticeable since the waste had emerged from my armpits and groin.
No time to prepare—it happened in a flash.
I couldn't help but pause for a moment myself.
Why those two spots out of everywhere?
[Expelling waste through areas with the most sweat glands is most efficient.]
Sweat glands were the body's pores for sweat.
In other words, my armpits and groin had the highest concentration.
"...Can you change the expulsion sites?"
[Change possible.]
This had to change.
"Pardon?"
"No. Looks like I need another wash."
I shook my head at the maid's question and sighed.
I'd be a bit late after all.
***
"His Highness the Crown Prince enters!"
I snapped to attention at the sound of trumpets.
Come to think of it, this had happened before.
Back then, I'd felt proud watching the soldiers' welcome.
I had no idea they were mocking me.
Far off, atop the Golden Lion Palace where the 3rd Prince lived.
A young 3rd Prince was grinning down at the garden.
And beside him stood Empress Josephine.
They were making a fuss, eager to watch me stumble.
A net they'd laid after gauging the Versailles Countess's Daughter's personality in advance.
Isabella despised flattery and arrogance.
"Since when did the Golden Knight Order become clowns?"
That's what I said.
They were dressed as regular soldiers, but these were knights.
The empire's third-ranked Golden Knight Order, no less.
"P-Pardon? We're..."
"Has peace dragged on too long? The empire's treasures reduced to jesters. Or are you playing dress-up?"
The knights' faces paled and stiffened.
It was a time of peace.
No major wars in thirty years.
Their swords had rusted, replaced by bloated senses of honor.
The so-called chivalry.
I'd insulted that chivalry, so of course their faces hardened.
They must have thought I wouldn't recognize them at all.
"...Your words go too far, Your Highness."
"Too far? Are you speaking to me like that, Captain Alberto?"
Alberto, the knight captain, flinched.
He hadn't expected me to know his name.
Of course, the me from back then didn't.
I learned it when I later took the heads of Empress Josephine and the 3rd Prince.
"We merely wished to celebrate Your Highness's first outing in half a year."
"In the garb of regular soldiers?"
"That's..."
No knight in the world swaps clothes with a common soldier.
And doing it for a celebration?
Dog barking nonsense.
"Captain Alberto. On the battlefield, a soldier who acts without orders gets his head chopped off. Do you know why?"
"...Why?"
"If soldiers start thinking for themselves, they realize the absurdity of war. Such soldiers disrupt the chain of command and lead to defeat."
Meaning they had no excuse even if beheaded for unsanctioned acts.
Especially if it was clowning that shamed their commander—dismemberment and feeding to dogs wouldn't be enough.
"This isn't wartime, Your Highness. And what would Your Highness know of war to say such things?"
Oh, I knew.
How could I forget that hell of blood and flesh?
I was the one who'd carved through it with a smile.
They were the ones who didn't know.
Over thirty years of peace. Most knights had never seen battle.
Just noble brats in the end.
Knights nowadays were no different from parasitic idlers.
It'showed how thoroughly the crown prince—how thoroughly I—was being dismissed.
In any other kingdom, a mere knight captain mouthing off before a formally invested crown prince would be unthinkable.
Even more so after I became emperor.
Shing!
"Gasp!"
I drew the sword from the belt of a knight standing beside Alberto.
Not even a particularly fast motion.
For a knight to lose his lifeblood sword to me like that—pathetic.
His clueless, dumbfounded expression was equally idiotic.
This is a knight?
I pointed the sword at Captain Alberto and said,
"Draw your sword, Captain Alberto. I'll teach you some manners."