What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 892

#892 The Day, Faith, Balance?! (5)

‘Memory restoration’ was indeed something extraordinary.

The Emperor of the Empire realized, upon recalling her young Marquis, that the situation was turning out to be more troublesome than she had anticipated.

Perhaps even Arian the Great, the founding hero, had never experienced such a comedy.

“Was it called ‘courtly love’?”

“······.”

However, Frederica Liester was a monarch born with quick judgment and exceptional action.

Her reign was praised, partly due to the choleric nature unique to the Liester Imperial Family. The Emperor had to perfectly process any new information she received on the spot to be satisfied.

Whether she passed it on to her confidant, entrusted it to a noteworthy noble for testing, threw it to her young son as prey, or yielded a step to let her mischievous partner play with it······.

In any case, she was smoothly digesting all the reports and intelligence that came up this morning, like an after-dinner drink.

As she had done every day for decades. Just because this was the royal capital of the Divine Kingdom didn’t mean anything would change.

“I heard they are the most promising young journalist group in the Imperial Capital’s social circles recently.”

“Your Majesty, I am deeply honored.”

“I also heard that the flyer for [the recent social event] was your work. The people of the royal capital are still talking about that story.”

“I am overwhelmed with gratitude.”

The young people, summoned by the Emperor and secretly gathered, bowed their heads.

Frederica briefly turned her gaze to the Duchess standing in the center.

The second daughter of Duke Florian Mendy, niece of Chief Secretary Laura Mendy… and a friend of Princess Juliette. Berenice Mendy.

She had heard several times that this child attended the Passion Palace reading club.

The Chief Secretary wanted her young niece to succeed her, so she brought Berenice into the palace for some time to teach her various tasks.

But now that she saw it….

“Yeser, the Venetian Prince, and Yeser, the Serenite Marquis, are different people.”

“Gulp······.”

Wasn’t she a talent more suited to the streets of the Imperial Capital than the Imperial Palace?

The rumor that this child’s father, Duke Mendy, had recently jumped into the Claire & Adrien printing house acquisition battle was a story that no major noble didn’t know about.

Immediately after the war, Sarah Bellial was preparing to sell in secret, and considering that the national economy and social circles usually grow explosively after the war, her decision was very unexpected.

Of course, with the wealth of the Mendy family, who had made a fortune in the trust business, buying a magazine and a printing house wouldn’t be a big problem.

“You must prepare a perfect story so that the people can accept this fact.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Prepare at least three scenarios. I will soon summon the Marquis to the royal capital and have him choose the most appropriate content himself.”

“We will keep that in mind.”

The young people bowed their heads even deeper.

Berenice seemed very nervous, but her eyes looked firm.

That was enough. The Emperor nodded once.

After the war, more than half of the young nobles who flocked from the Imperial Capital of the Empire to the Royal Capital of the Divine Kingdom were ‘journalists’ and ‘aspiring journalists.’

Raised in affluent environments, but without talent for swordsmanship or magic, but with fairly bright minds.

They were caterpillars who had been reborn as completely different beings from the older generation of nobles, reading the writings of great journalists who sent blood-stained knights from the front lines.

Young people who went ten steps further into danger than their parents, and twenty steps closer to the lives of the people.

The death of countless bystanders thrown into peaceful lives was completely changing the young generation of Liester.

Originally, war is like molting. No one wanted such a painful process.

“The former is the son of the King, and the latter is the angel of the Lord, so it seems that creative freedom is quite guaranteed. The result will be no different from a fantasy novel.”

“Leave it to us.”

“Yes. I’ll trust you.”

The Emperor hummed lowly.

Members of the ‘courtly love’ group followed the knights’ guidance and stepped back.

Almost simultaneously, the Grand Chamberlain of the Imperial Guard entered the barracks and paid his respects.

“Your Majesty, this is about the trial of Duke Wilhelmina Schneider, which you inquired about.”

“How is it going?”

“The removal of black magic from the Duke’s subordinates is proceeding without any problems… As you guessed, most of those who were strategically important have severe aftereffects. According to the Magic Division’s report, seven out of ten have partial or total paralysis or have lost their memory, and some have severe distortions of their vessels, making their lives precarious. It seems difficult to put everyone on the witness stand.”

“······.”

“Of course, we have secured sufficient testimony and material evidence regarding the ‘Holy Knight Creation Project’ and ‘wartime treason.’ We have found considerable evidence by interrogating the ‘Twilight Saints’ in northern Shin-guk and several camps, including the Yeriho garrison. As you know, Imperial witnesses have also been prepared, and the Valentine Viscounts and Roseharder Counts are continuously providing items obtained through evidence collection.”

The Emperor tilted her head.

She had expected that Schneider, a traitor and war criminal, would not spare her subordinates.

But Frederica came from Liester, the country of numbers and magic.

Humans afflicted with black magic can be saved by any means necessary….

-Rustle

“Oh, Yeser sent a letter, Elizabeth. It arrived a little while ago.”

Around that time, Aurelie Boutier, dressed in neat outing clothes, appeared from across the curtain. The attendants behind her quietly bowed and stepped back. The Grand Chamberlain of the Imperial Guard blinked in surprise.

“Your Highness. Hasn’t the Prince already sent a message once? Are you saying that an additional letter has arrived?”

“Yes. It says that Schneider’s territory should be searched thoroughly. Not only his lord’s castle and villa, but also the wells used by the territory’s residents and the bottom of the flatboats on the river.”

“······It seems that the Princess knows something. I will deliver the order immediately.”

If there is no evidence, just search until it comes out.

Schneider’s tail-cutting, which seems endless, will become impossible once the tail itself rots.

As Elizabeth bowed politely, Aurelie lightly kissed her beloved child on both cheeks.

“I’m going to see Yeser now.”

“······.”

“The trial is not far off, so I must bring that child here to see Schneider’s end. Don’t you think so?”

Her beige eyes drew a calm curve like tea.

However, Elizabeth knew well how much terrible power the adult in front of her held.

“Since he appeared with the halo of God, we must now protect him firmly.”

So whispered the Cardinal, elegantly greeting her partner for the last time.

Frederica replaced many words by deeply kissing the back of her hand.

Thanks to the Liester Empire’s rapid transcontinental portal construction project, it now only takes a day to travel from the Royal Capital of the Divine Kingdom to the heart of the neutral zone.

Cardinal Aurelie Boutier set off again with numerous guards and attendants.

And so, we all cleaned the room, went back to our respective bathrooms to wash up, dried our hair well….

We all spread out blankets in one room, lay down, and dozed off for a few hours.

Herit was especially happy to see everyone when he woke up, which made us very happy too.

Of course, Jibril Diop grumbled the whole time, but he showed a professional side by not leaving his side as a guard for even a moment.

And what else did we do? Oh, right.

It wasn’t until the sun was high in the sky that we lazily got up and ate a late breakfast, rested a bit, and then ate a leisurely lunch again….

We were now taking a walk in the courtyard of the Gigolt Caravanserai with our friends.

It was too hard to wander outside the lodging because there were too many eyes watching.

-Thud, thud, thud······

“So, to summarize in one line, I’m… An idol of the canaries [wealthy patrons].”

“Hmm.”

…Wait a minute. There’s nothing wrong with that at all?

“Ahem, yes. You were originally the protagonist of a romance fantasy novel that ranked first on the platform, but now you appear regularly in the most talked-about fanfics… As a result, that’s what happened.”

Of course, there were countless fanfics of Duke [a respected scholar] even before, and there will be countless more in the future…

In any case, the novel that recorded our story was the only one in the world.

I walked a few steps away from the Holy Knights and carefully observed their expressions.

Fortunately, Gain and Cedric didn’t seem too surprised by the sudden writer debut episode of Sir Johan and me.

I was secretly worried that the two of them would be uncomfortable with having their lives used as material without permission.

…Actually, I’m still worried. It’s true that anyone could feel unpleasant about it.

“That’s good, right? This is totally good.”

“······Yes?”

Really?

“Yes! Princess Juliette means that they liked our story, so we met again. In other words, they like us, so they will want us to be happy in the future. Even if the novel ends? They will want our story to continue somewhere.”

“Ah······.”

Come to think of it, I hadn’t thought about the ending.

I had been so out of my mind that I couldn’t even imagine something like ‘the end’.

But I felt like I now perfectly understood what she meant.

I smiled faintly and nodded.

“······Yes. I think they really will.”

Their comments. I ‘read’ all the earnest hearts of the readers. Thankfully.

“If we were able to meet again thanks to that novel… I really can’t say anything but thank you. I was really going crazy because it was so hard and frustrating all this time.”

Gain muttered, wiping the cold sweat from her sleeve.

Cedric didn’t add anything, but he seemed to think similarly to her.

“What does privacy matter? Right now, there’s no moon on the continent, the natural environment has been turned upside down because of it, people are going missing, the whole neighborhood is in chaos, half of our memories are gone, the emptiness is no joke, I can only see the world in black and white, and Your Highness is yelling at people for more than twenty hours a day….”

“Rambouillet.”

“I’m not wrong, am I? Anyway.”

Gain waved her hand.

I knew roughly how much the two of them had suffered, so I just smiled bitterly.

A comfortable silence lingered between us for a while.

-Tap, tap, tap······

-Pat, pat, pat······

“······.”

Sir Johan was walking at the back of the group, holding Herit’s hand, and Prince Yeser was walking next to me, looking at the fountain with lotus flowers.

Prince Diop was standing just three or four steps ahead, and he had heard all of my ridiculous stories so far, but he remained silent without batting an eye.

He always did, but it was strangely amazing.

-Meow

“······.”

Lastly, Rophie, who had been sticking to Cedric all along, was walking with me for some reason today.

The moment I made eye contact with the divine beast with its tail held high, I felt magically happy.

Perhaps one of the reasons I came back here was this happiness. Thank you.

“So, Princess Juliette, are you going back and forth between your house and here now?”

“Ah, yes. I can’t quit my job, so I go to work on weekdays….”

“What?”

Then Cedric and Prince Diop glared at me at the same time.

I flinched reflexively, thinking I had made some terrible mistake.

Why are they suddenly like this when they’ve been so quiet no matter what I said?

It was at that moment.

“Brother! Brother, something terrible happened!”

“Amy?”

Cornelise, who had been playing with Lee Seol on one side of the courtyard, suddenly ran towards us, shouting loudly.

Lee Seol, who maintains a more rational attitude than adults in most matters, also had a pale face.

The surprised Prince quickly wrapped his arms around the two children and lowered his posture.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No, it’s not that, but GuGu is gone again! Again!”

“Huh?”

“GuGu is a precious lizard that Marquis Serenite gave to Princess Juliette, but both of them have disappeared. Now only Ross is left. The other children don’t come back no matter how much Your Highness calls and coaxes them.”

Lee Seol, holding the Princess’s hand tightly, explained calmly.

While we exchanged bewildered glances, Cornelise looked tearful.

“What should I do… What should I do? I promised to make them happy… I lost them irresponsibly….”

“No, Amy. GuGu is a smart child, so it’s okay.”

“Oh, Your Highness—it’s totally okay! GuGu is an amazing dragon who can shake the whole country, so there’s no problem at all. He probably just went out for a while on business. If you wait a little longer, he’ll be back healthy soon!”

“······Really? But what is ‘Paldo’ [all eight provinces of Korea]?”

Gain, the Princess’s idol, quickly stepped forward, and the child seemed to be momentarily mesmerized by her flamboyant rhetoric.

“······.”

But Sir Johan and I couldn’t rest easy.

What’s with this feeling…?

“······It was strange how they were here and there in a flash.”

Jung Hyun-seo said, looking down at the fire lizards brought to the living room table.

“You’ve become two overnight. What, are you forming a group and going on a national tour?”

-······.

The man’s eyes, with his arms crossed, were sharp.

Then the GuGus flicked their tongues at the same time, as if to say, ‘So what.’

“Haa······.”