I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 408

Should I call it a twist that there wasn’t as much of a twist as I thought?

Frankly, I had secretly predicted that Russia was the most likely mastermind behind this.

But predictions are just predictions.

Beyond my imagination, I thought there might be a mastermind in France or even the British Empire’s parliament, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

If there had been such a crazy person in parliament, I would have used this as an excuse to wield my sword properly, so I don’t know whether to call this fortunate or unfortunate.

Still, not everything went perfectly as expected.

“I don’t know what this guy is thinking.”

Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia, whom I initially intended to send to hell along with Russia.

No one else mattered, but this guy’s behavior was definitely beyond my expectations.

Logically, trying to bring me down while marrying Adelaide doesn’t make sense, does it?

So, at first, I even thought he might have genuinely misunderstood.

It was a very low probability, but maybe someone around Friedrich was overstepping and plotting things?

Or maybe Friedrich is putting on a highly sophisticated disguise to deceive those around him.

But after hearing James’s story, it turned out he hadn’t misunderstood.

This guy is definitely a formal member of the ‘Killian Backstabbing’ club.

He even said he would ruin my reputation with his own mouth, so there was no room for doubt.

Then Bismarck probably misheard. Could it be that the Iron Chancellor’s [Otto von Bismarck, the first Chancellor of Germany] hearing is failing as he gets older?

If Bismarck didn’t bring false information, then the statement about marrying Adelaide must be Friedrich’s disguise.

But according to James, who recently spoke with him, he’s still planning to proceed with the wedding as planned?

At the same time, he says he’s going to dig into the Russian Emperor’s weaknesses, which is quite impressive.

He wants to stab me in the back, marry the woman he likes, and seize the Russian Emperor’s weaknesses.

He’s truly a demon king of greed, trying to have everything in the world.

You could just dismiss him as a clueless fool, but Friedrich was by no means a stupid idiot.

Rather, judging by his abilities alone, he was quite outstanding, and I heard from various sources that he had the ambition to match.

I can’t completely trust my memory, but if that’s true, then the Prussian Crown Prince who played a major role in the Austro-Prussian War [a war fought in 1866 between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia] in the original history is likely this guy.

Should I assume that someone with that level of military ability has extraordinary ambitions?

Or should I just see him as indecisive, given that the investigation revealed he has a surprisingly affectionate and caring personality?

What’s certain is that if he tries to take everything with that strategy, it will be easier for me to proceed with my plans.

The clearer the desire, the easier it is to guide their actions as we want.

When this happened, I didn’t show it, but I was honestly taken aback, and my mind went blank for a moment.

I tried to act as calmly as possible, but I even had ridiculous nightmares, so I must have been accumulating stress without realizing it.

Considering my past life’s end, it’s not that strange.

But since it was something I had to deal with and overcome at least once in my life, I feel fortunate that it happened at this point.

Thanks to it, I’ve come a long way, but haven’t I been able to scale things up to the size I wanted?

“Do you understand, Adelaide? The information I gave James is roughly as written here.”

“You mean… James gave this to Crown Prince Friedrich?”

“Yes.”

“Creating a situation in advance to incite the Crimean War [a military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856 in which Russia lost to an alliance of France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia], inducing war… immediately instigating the American Civil War and then manipulating a communist revolution in the South, using this as an excuse to ascend to the throne of Canada? You gave him this?”

Adelaide’s eyes were filled with deep disbelief.

Was she surprised that I handed over this data, or was she horrified by the content of the data?

“Does the Crown Prince believe such ridiculous content? Who are you kidding? If you throw this at someone and tell them to believe it, what kind of idiot would believe it?”

It’s the latter.

Well, even Friedrich, who received this, couldn’t believe it, so he called James in for additional questioning, so Adelaide must be dumbfounded.

“Really? What do you think of this content?”

“No, even novels should be written with plausibility. If you structure a story like this these days, readers won’t even read it if you publish it as a novel. How can you design in advance that the United States will start a civil war even before going to war with Russia? It would be more convincing to say that you came from the future.”

“Hmm, I see. So, that’s what you think.”

“It’s not just me, everyone else will think so too? This is just… no, what’s the reason for telling this to the Crown Prince? It’ll just make James’s credibility drop. You’re not going to tell me that the Crown Prince believed this, are you?”

It’s natural that a normal person wouldn’t believe it.

In fact, after organizing and writing it down like this, I couldn’t help but laugh, thinking about how hard I’ve lived.

Not just Adelaide, anyone who saw it would have the same reaction. No, it would be a problem if they didn’t.

“Addy, can I tell you a secret?”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Actually, most of what’s written there is true. There are some manipulated parts in the middle, but that’s just a minor trap, and the rest is all true.”

“······.”

My daughter looked at me with a dumbfounded expression, then sighed and shook her head.

“Dad. I’ve felt this before, but you’re good at everything, but you don’t have a sense of humor.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. Not funny at all.”

See?

Even if I tell them it’s true like this, they can’t believe it.

Even my family, who think I’m amazing, say it’s a joke that’s not even funny.

If Adelaide is like this, what about other people?

“Then what do you think is the most absurd thing in here?”

“Everything. It doesn’t make sense to pick one because it says that all these events are connected? I can guarantee that there is no one in the world who can connect all of this. Even if you bring all the great people from the past.”

“Hmm, right. But surprisingly, Crown Prince Friedrich said he would believe it.”

“Who says that? James?”

Adelaide’s eyes were stained with disbelief, and then she sharpened her eyes and continued.

“Maybe James… has other intentions?”

“…What?”

“No, it can’t be James, of all people. Then, isn’t the Crown Prince pretending to believe it? Logically, he’s not stupid, so he wouldn’t believe such a ridiculous, third-rate, trashy novel.”

…Oops, sorry for the third-rate novel-like actions.

From the beginning, it would have been a problem if he believed it, and I was sure he wouldn’t believe it, but hearing such harsh words makes me feel strange.

-Hey, no way! No, it’s impossible to believe, but I think Dad might be able to do it. Is this all true? Really?

I thought there might be a 1% chance that this kind of reaction would come out, but even my children don’t overestimate me that much.

“That’s how great James’s eloquence is. Do you think it’s easy to become the world’s richest man? With his sophistry, he can make the Crown Prince believe it, no matter how much he doubts it.”

To the Crown Prince, I gave him evidence that was mostly correct in the big picture, even though it was manipulated in places.

It means that I force-fed him evidence until he had no choice but to believe it, until he couldn’t help but believe it.

‘It took almost a day to persuade him. It took almost 10 hours.’

‘Really? What was his reaction after you forced him to understand?’

‘He seemed a little uneasy. He received too much information in a short period of time, so it’s understandable.’

‘Then isn’t there a possibility that he might suddenly back out?’

‘I encouraged him as much as possible, so he’s still okay. Of course, it’s a precarious state.’

Listening to him, it seems like he’s half out of his mind, but it’s not a bad sign.

He has to be out of his mind so that we can control him as we please.

But of course, Adelaide, who thinks this is all nonsense, couldn’t believe this situation.

It’s not unreasonable for her to think that Friedrich is pretending to be fooled and plotting something else behind the scenes.

Rather, seeing her consider this, she is definitely my daughter.

If I were in her position, I would have suspected it first.

I’m glad that she won’t be fooled by some jerk even if she continues to grow her business in the future.

“James really made him believe that novel?”

“That’s right, I told you?”

“Wow… can James use hypnosis? Is that why he was able to become the world’s richest man…?”

“There’s no way. He persuaded him steadily based on plausible data.”

“Haa. As expected, people who become the world’s richest are different. How can he make him believe this?”

She stared intently at the paper in front of her and shook her head, muttering, ‘I’m not confident…’.

Unexpectedly, she seems to feel a wall in an unexpected area, but it seems better to pretend not to know because this child needs to be a little more humble.

“Well… yeah, that’s why he was able to become the world’s richest man, right? Don’t forget that there’s always someone above you and keep working hard.”

“Yes. It’s true that the ability to persuade others is important to grow the business further. I’ll try harder.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Still, I want to test the Crown Prince just in case, is that okay?”

“It’s a good habit to double-check, no matter how sure you are. Do as you please.”

Hmm… my conscience pricks me a little for not telling my beloved children the whole truth.

But there’s nothing I can do since they won’t believe me even if I tell them, right?

How can the children accept the fact that their angelic father, who has lived a life away from the evils of the world, is actually the mastermind behind it all?

And that goes for the British Empire and everyone else in the world.

What is the reason for deliberately scaling things up to this point, when I could have ended it in an instant if I wanted to?

Frankly speaking, whether it’s Bakunin or Friedrich, if I had just caught the evidence and launched a counter-attack, I could have sent them straight to hell.

But why didn’t I do that?

If someone suspects me, it means that this can happen again in the future.

If I kill Friedrich or Alexander II here, will it end there?

In 10 or 20 years, a similar guy might appear again.

Originally, conspiracy theories become more plausible over time.

Now that it’s come to this, it’s better to detonate everything at once this time and leave a clear precedent so that this kind of controversy doesn’t arise again.

Later, even if someone says, ‘Isn’t this strange?’, they will be criticized for ‘What a pathetic conspiracy theory from the past’ and be crushed.

That’s how vaccines work, right?

If you accept a weak virus and create antibodies, your body will automatically chase away the virus.

So that the rumors about Killian become a stale conspiracy theory.

Now is the time to give the world a stimulating vaccine shot.