I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 411

Became a Hidden Power in the British Empire – 411

Friedrich looked stunned at my words, his eyes darting around.

“So, you’re saying… you want me to target Russia?”

“Exactly. If I step in directly, it could get noisy, and internal exposure is always more effective, isn’t it? You have all the data, don’t you?”

“No…”

“Actually, I don’t know exactly how much information the Crown Prince has. That’s why I want to hear from you. Who else is involved in this?”

I already know the general details from James.

However, there might be additional information that Friedrich didn’t share with James, so it was necessary to dig that up.

There’s a chance he might not tell the truth, but since I can compare what he says now with what James told me, I can roughly tell if he’s lying.

If Friedrich knew that James was on my side, he might only tell the truth about what he already revealed, but he doesn’t know that.

So, if he lies, it will be obvious right away, and Friedrich, already half in a panic, wouldn’t have the composure for it anyway.

“The masterminds behind this are Alexander II of Russia, Mikhail Bakunin of the Southern Council… and me.”

“I know all those names. I was aware of those three, but are there any others?”

“There were people we tried to recruit. Some in France and the British Empire… but they were all so shocked by just a slight probe that we stopped. Ah! There’s one more. James, the chairman of the James Group, the wealthiest man in the British Empire. He cooperated with us because he didn’t like that His Majesty was advocating for antitrust laws…”

“Ah, I see. So, that means those four are all there are.”

“Of course, that means four heads, and we employed quite a few people while maintaining security, so the scale was not small at all. Of course, most of them didn’t even know exactly what they were doing.”

I wanted to cut off any hidden body or tail, but fortunately, it seems this is all there is.

If there were too many, the targets could be dispersed, so this is just right.

Narrowing the target to Russia is also the best way to gather international opinion.

With Alexander II’s moderate line, there was already a growing sentiment in Europe that Russia was changing, so how refreshing would it be to pour cold water on that?

“Now that I think about it, Crown Prince, didn’t you have an original plan? Let’s hear what that was first.”

“Ah… the original plan. That was… um. James and I originally intended to blame all of this on Russia and create conflict between the British and Russian imperial families.”

“I see. Good thing you were planning to put the Russian imperial family at the forefront from the start, so go ahead and detonate it as planned.”

“But, the work of erasing the evidence isn’t finished yet. Russia won’t just take it lying down, so they’ll definitely respond, and then I’ll be inextricably linked to this incident. Surely, you’re not saying that after telling you all this, I’ll have to pay the price along with the Russian imperial family…”

This guy is strangely petty bourgeois [a characteristic of the middle class, marked by a concern for material interests or conventional standards].

I thought he would have a strong character, trying to challenge me to strengthen the monarchy and then planning to make Russia and me fight.

Still, it’s more likable to honestly beg for mercy than to stiffen his neck and play defiant.

“Don’t worry. I’ll give you a very clear escape route. The Russian imperial family will naturally think that the Crown Prince is trying to put all the blame on them and will say that you were an accomplice, right?”

“Yes, yes. That’s what they’ll definitely do.”

“Then just admit it. And say that the Crown Prince originally maintained a cooperative relationship with the intention of blowing the whistle from the beginning. I’ll testify that I already coordinated with you. Then no one will say anything to the Crown Prince, right?”

“If you really do that…”

If the victim says that he was on my side from the beginning, then everyone else will believe it and move on.

“Of course, I’ll let Wilhelm and Prime Minister Bismarck know the truth. That way, they can understand how things are going.”

“…Yes? Then I…”

“Don’t worry. Those two wouldn’t replace the Crown Prince, the only prince of Prussia. You’ll just get called an idiot and that’s it.”

If I just bury the incident without anyone knowing, I can’t put a leash on him, can I?

Forgiving is forgiving, but if you owe a debt, you have to repay it.

If he tried to slip away as if nothing happened, that would be shameless.

“If it gets to the Prime Minister or His Majesty’s ears, my position…”

“It seems you still have the余裕 [Japanese word for ‘leeway’ or ‘room to spare’] to think about that. I must be talking too leniently.”

“I’m sorry! I understand. I’ll do everything you say! So… what about Bakunin or James, not to mention the Russian Emperor?”

“They all have to pay the price in their own way, right? In the case of the James Group, I should show them the taste of the antitrust laws they wanted to prevent so much. For him, having the company he cherished so much split up will be more painful than death. As for Bakunin, I have a plan to use him in my own way.”

I’ve already coordinated everything with James.

To acquire the James Group’s major companies into the Imperial Family without raising suspicion from others and to merge naturally, it is necessary to split up the company first.

Of course, if the fact that James tried to target the Imperial Family spreads, it will cause serious damage to his reputation, so we’ll have to manipulate that part to cover it up.

“Using this again to exploit as desired…”

“Crown Prince. Why do you have that look on your face?”

I looked at Friedrich, who could no longer hide his fear, and deliberately created an even colder and more terrifying atmosphere.

Scary, right? If I were in that situation, my legs would be shaking and my knees would be buckling.

Seeing that even this situation is being used for our long-term plan, wouldn’t you think, ‘What kind of person is this?’

“Now, Crown Prince. It’s time to open the curtain on this stage. How much time do you need?”

“Still, you have to give me fifteen days…”

“Ah, fifteen days?”

“Ah, no! A week! I’ll finish everything within a week.”

Oh, I was just checking, but why is he preemptively acting like that?

Anyone would think I was pressuring him to finish within a week no matter what.

Still, since he decided to crawl on the ground himself, I should give him a gift, right?

If you whip like a storm, you have to give a small amount of carrot so that they don’t harbor other thoughts and remain loyal.

“I’ll prepare the materials to spread, so you just have to hand them over to the newspaper. Easy, right?”

“Yes. I’ll do it as soon as I finish preparing.”

“Good. Then let’s start with a simultaneous explosion in Paris, London, and Berlin.”

If it explodes in several countries at once, it’s only a matter of time before it spreads all over the world.

Even if they don’t want to, everyone will have to know.

Now, it’s checkmate.

* * *

There was almost no one in the world who didn’t know the reputation of Killian, the royal consort of the British Empire and the King of Canada.

Anyone who had received at least a minimal education in Europe would naturally know his name, and even those who had not been educated knew that he was an incredibly great person.

However, there were not many people who knew in detail how he did it and what he did.

The citizens of the British Empire would know roughly, but it’s natural that people in France or Prussia wouldn’t know.

The only perception that was spreading was that the British Empire was doing so well because the Imperial Family was competent.

Still, everyone knows that the British Imperial Family is capable, and the center of that Imperial Family is Queen Victoria and Killian.

People in France, Prussia, and Spain hoped that their royal families would be just as capable.

Because they were people who had been ruled by kings for a long time, even if they talked about parliamentary systems and democracy, they wanted a king who was more powerful than anyone else to make their country strong.

In fact, even the United States of America, which advocated democracy from the beginning, was not completely free from this perception.

It was nothing more than a human instinct to want someone who was superior to anyone else, a perfect superman, to lead them.

For that reason, the British Imperial Family was an object of admiration in other countries as well.

Therefore, it was only natural that the articles that suddenly poured out in the capitals of each country attracted the attention of many people.

[Shocking News! The Imperial Family of the British Empire is actually a collection of dark powers that move the world from behind!]

[The Dark Lord Manipulates the World in His Hands!]

[How did the bloodless and tearless demon king ravage the world! Everyone in the world is his toy!]

At first, everyone thought it was nonsense.

No matter what, they had to say something that made sense. What are these people thinking, trying to denigrate the imperial family of another country?

But strangely, even though this article was spreading, the government’s reaction was lukewarm.

So, the excited newspapers spread and scattered articles titled ‘Killian, the Black Hand of the World’ every day, spouting unbelievable nonsense.

Even if it’s a newspaper, you can never be safe if you slander the imperial family of another country like that.

But why aren’t these articles dying down and continuing to spread?

Even the British Empire was no exception to this atmosphere.

No, the atmosphere in the British Empire was even worse.

“Who the hell is writing this damn article!”

“Do you want to disgrace the Imperial Family with this garbage!”

“Find the guys who wrote this article! Break their heads and throw them into the Thames!”

“Your Majesty! Please tell us that all of this is a lie!”

However, Buckingham remained silent for days.

Logically, it doesn’t make sense to handle something related to Killian’s reputation so slowly.

If this isn’t real… is there a reason why they’re stalling like this?

Given Queen Victoria’s personality, who loves her husband terribly, she would have ordered the person to be tracked down and punished to the ends of the earth if such rumors broke out.

“Your Majesty! Please tell us this is fake!”

“The British Imperial Family was behind all the wars so far! This is nonsense!”

“Your Majesty!”

The idol of idols that all the citizens of the British Empire believe in, follow, and love.

Was he a hypocrite with a different face and heart?

If this is true, it was more than just a shocking truth.

It was a Pandora’s box that could shake the pride and dignity of the British Empire to its roots and completely destroy the diplomatic relations that the British Empire had built up so far.

And when people’s distrust reached its peak.

The British Imperial Family, which had been silent until now, finally opened its mouth.

“These series of issues are of course all false, and the reason why we have not responded so far is to find out the mastermind behind spreading these malicious rumors all over the world simultaneously! As a result of the British Imperial Family’s precise investigation, the origin of these malicious false rumors has been identified as the Imperial Family of the Russian Empire, and we hereby officially request an explanation from the Russian Empire.”

A shocking response that the Russian Imperial Family systematically spread rumors to harm the British Imperial Family.

The attention of the world was focused on Russia due to the understandable rebuttal that they had not made a hasty response in order to confirm this fact.

A kind of cancellation match with the dignity of both imperial families at stake.

The loser remains in history to be ridiculed, and the winner takes everything.

The Russian Imperial Family, who was watching the situation while eating popcorn without knowing anything, was forcibly dragged into the ring.