The Ambitious Who Covets Heaven's Mandate
Boring. I had headed for the Empire precisely to escape this tedious daily life, yet the mere name of the New Year has power enough to drag even a prince who left for the Empire back home again.
Honestly, a mere third prince who isn't even the crown prince could be present or absent at the New Year's ceremony without much fuss — but what choice is there? In a royal family, a presence may go unnoticed, yet an absence is immediately conspicuous. Had I skipped this event, His Majesty would probably have written my academy withdrawal papers himself.
No excuse to stay away, after all.
Valuing the New Year is a trait common across the continent. If I had remained in the Empire even then, the Empire itself would have found it strange. Who do you think you are, lingering in someone else's country on New Year's Day?
Moreover, Enen's teaching that the start of the year should be spent with one's community makes the New Year the day when everyone — from small families to the nation's leadership — gathers in one place. For a monarch who must rein in the nobles whenever they forget their place, such a ceremony cannot be treated lightly.
On top of that, the founding day of the Armein Kingdom subtly overlaps with the New Year, making it all the more so. Even a member of the royal family would feel the pressure if they skipped it, let alone a noble.
If only I could head back once the New Year is over.
Of course, that is an absurd fantasy. Had I never returned at all it might be different, but once you have come home, leaving early for the Empire is difficult. His Majesty would not grant permission for departure in the first place.
"How am I supposed to hold out until March?"
I muttered alone in my frustration. The opening ceremony at the start of March. I would have to endure two more months in this tedious palace.
A sad state of affairs. What on earth was I supposed to do with myself for two months? If Later were here, I could have tested the newly developed Four Bishops play; if Erich were here, I could have attempted that phantom serve — but there was no one. Humans are animals meant to live together, so how dreadful was this isolation?
Maybe I should have formally invited them.
The thought even crossed my mind. If I had to return to my home country, what if I had formally invited the club members to the palace as well?
But I quickly erased it. The members should be going home for the New Year or spending time in their families' embrace. What was impossible for me would be the same for them. That was how powerful the meaning of the New Year was on this continent.
I let out a small sigh and leaned against the balcony railing. At least standing alone in the night breeze seemed to calm my cluttered thoughts a little. If other nobles had latched onto me in this situation, it would have been even more of a headache.
"It's reassuring to have Sir Villar at my side."
"You honor me, Your Highness."
I glanced at Sir Villar beside me and offered my thanks.
I was truly grateful he was here. Sir Villar ranked among the top five of the Royal Knight Order. With a man like him standing rigid-faced at the side of a prince who had left to study in the Empire, even approaching nobles turned right back around. They probably assumed the two of us were hidden out on the balcony because we had some important conversation.
It's convenient if they think that.
Of course there was no important conversation. Sir Villar's expression was stiff because that was simply how he was. Or perhaps because I had been clinging to him.
I think I can let him go now.
I turned my gaze from Sir Villar toward the banquet hall inside. After spending several hours on the balcony making it clear I wanted to be alone, no noble would bother approaching. Occasionally someone did approach despite such signals, but that only happened when they had a reason pressing enough to push through the hint.
No matter how I thought about it, there was no noble who desperately needed to approach me. The succession structure was solid around my elder brother the Crown Prince, so there was no need to get close to other candidates for the throne, nor any need to meet a prince who had gone off to a foreign educational institution the moment he came of age. On top of that, I was closer with knights than with political or administrative circles, which made it even less likely.
"Sir. Come to think of it, I heard Dame Perosa came as part of the security detail."
"Yes, Your Highness. I am grateful beyond measure for such excessive trust."
When I mentioned Dame Perosa, Sir Villar's expression warmed ever so slightly.
A gathering of the royal family and the kingdom's most prominent nobles. Being assigned security duty at such an event meant Dame Perosa's abilities had been recognized. How could a father not be pleased?
Which made it a perfect excuse to send Sir Villar, who had been suffering at my side, away.
"Excessive? Giving someone a role that matches their ability is only natural. But experience is something ability alone cannot resolve—"
As I trailed off, Sir Villar's eyes widened a little, as if he had caught on to what I was about to say.
"How about offering some advice as a senior to a junior?"
In other words: go talk to your daughter who is working hard on duty. Sir Villar seemed to hesitate briefly, then bowed his head.
"Yes, Your Highness. I shall do so."
A very short deliberation and a quick answer. Unexpected for the normally blunt and strict Sir Villar, but once you knew the reality, it was only natural. Sir Villar had returned to his home country for the first time in nearly a year. In March he would have to go back to the Empire, so of course he would want to spend even a little time with his family at home.
Of course Dame Perosa was also among those headed to the Empire, but spending time with family in your home country and spending it in a foreign land felt completely different.
Watching Sir Villar stride away quickly, I leaned against the railing again. Now I could just enjoy the breeze alone and head back when the time was right.
I had forgotten that Armein had people who were far from normal.
"Your Highness's chivalry is a model for the entire continent. No knight could ever surpass Your Highness."
"You flatter me."
"Haha, and modest as well."
The non-mainstream who cared nothing for social cues, the minority faction that tried to expand its influence by contacting anyone, the group that was a monster of politics in every sense of the word — the 5th Empire. I had briefly forgotten about them.
Count Gadero, who approached not long after Sir Villar disappeared. I distinctly remembered him as someone who acted like the action leader among the 5th Empire members. Even within the already noisy 5th Empire, his activity level had been unmatched.
Of all people for him to approach — today's luck was the worst.
"There is no knight in Kpelleofen who could surpass Your Highness either."
I nearly burst out laughing at that. These people who claimed Kpelleofen did not deserve to be called an empire, that Armein should become the true empire — and yet they put Kpelleofen at the top. They must have known Kpelleofen's true strength deep down.
If they knew, I wished they would just stay quiet. It was not as though the Kpelleofen Empire had lost the Mandate of Heaven like Apels of old. They had faced various crises and challenges, but they had overcome them all in the end. There was no justification or practical benefit in fighting such a nation over the Mandate of Heaven. Only those blinded by the name "empire" made such one-sided claims.
What a nuisance.
Anyway, giving halfhearted answers to someone who monologued one-sidedly was exhausting in itself. However much the 5th Empire was known in political circles as an out-of-touch non-mainstream faction, they were still nobles and members of the kingdom. Treating them carelessly just because they were annoying could cast doubt on the royal family's inclusiveness and magnanimity.
Of course other nobles knew perfectly well how annoying the 5th Empire was, but backbiting did not arise from such considerations. When they themselves rejected the 5th Empire, it was factional struggle — but when the royal family snubbed particular nobles, it became oppression. That subtle difference was important, was it not?
So I endured, thinking that causing an incident here might get my academy withdrawal papers written—
"A strong leader must lead for us to advance down the right path, don't you agree?"
The remarks began to cross the line.
I looked at the Count with a diplomatic smile, and he kept talking. All manner of flowery rhetoric and roundabout phrasing was plastered on, but the underlying intent was brazenly blatant.
That Armein must move before the Empire recovered the strength it had spent on the war with the nomads and the internal purges. And that I — not my moderate father the King or my elder brother — should stand at the vanguard of that effort.
Know your place.
It grated on me. The ignorance of failing to objectively assess another nation's strength, the arrogance of daring to use a member of the royal family like a chess piece of their own.
Outwardly they said that having me, well-versed in the Empire's affairs, take the lead would help persuade other nobles — but no matter how I looked at it, they wanted to use me as a shield while they shouted their claims. If things went well, they would push aside my moderate elder brother and put me forward as the heir.
Time to empty the bin, is it?
I quietly organized my thoughts. The reason nobles recognized the 5th Empire as a faction, the reason the royal family acknowledged the 5th Empire as nobles as well. It was not merely for the sake of appearances. We kept them because they were useful.
Politics had many tendencies, and among them was radicalism. The 5th Empire was, by anyone's measure, a pack of extreme mad dogs — but at the same time, they were also a kennel for mad dogs.
If the 5th Empire did not exist, those mad dogs would scatter everywhere and bark. But if there was a cozy-looking cradle where their fellows gathered? Then without anyone forcing them, they gathered on their own.
It would have been nice if they'd stayed locked away forever.
A kind of mad dog kennel, or a trash bin.
But when the mad dogs broke out of the kennel and tried to bite people, when the trash overflowed and stank — didn't you have to take measures? His Majesty had already told me to report immediately if the 5th Empire showed strange signs, so he would move willingly.
What charges would work best? They had dared try to push the homeland into an unreasonable war, and had shown intent to meddle in the royal succession structure...
"Misleading the public, insulting the royal family, denying the Mandate of Heaven... We hung every charge we could on them. Right when the nobles' attention was fixed on the New Year's banquet, the Third Prince swung his sword in a surprise strike."
"...I see."
Even one of those charges would mean kissing your own neck goodbye. If he went all-in with the full set, he really meant business with that sword dance.
Impressive. What on earth had happened...
He really is a royal, then.
And the fact that Ryutis had led that sudden purge was surprising.
In Armein, the Crown Prince's position was solid and family relations were good, so checks on the other princes were not particularly strong. Even so, I never expected the Third Prince would seize the authority to cut off nobles' heads.
Of course it would only be possible with the King's permission — but the very fact that permission was granted and the purge entrusted to him proved Ryutis's capability, did it not?
Capability?
Instinctively I recalled the Ryutis I had seen at the Academy. That catastrophic mouth, social awareness inversely proportional to his gift of gab...
What was this? Could the Ryutis at the Academy and the Ryutis in Armein be separate people? Did Ryutis actually have a twin brother?
...Whatever.
I brushed aside the meaningless thoughts I had been wrestling with alone and decided to think positively.
Right — whether Ryutis was a twin, had dual personalities, or was secretly hiding his true power — who cared? What mattered was that Ryutis had handled something I would have had to deal with in my place.
Thank you... They say even a broken clock is right twice a day. So even a troll is helpful once a year...