I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 413

< Royal Family vs. Royal Family (3) >

His confident stride seemed to declare that he had come to end this war.

As someone who knew the anxiety and agony hidden within him, it was difficult for me to maintain a solemn expression, but Friedrich desperately played his part and sat next to me.

As he sat down, the reporters raised their hands and waved frantically, looking like puppies eager to please, as if begging to be allowed to ask questions.

“Many of you seem to have questions, so I will make it clear. His Royal Highness Crown Prince Friedrich is here to clarify that this whole affair was a Russian plot. Isn’t that right?”

“Of course. This kind of thing is a terrible slander that should never happen again. Even when engaging in political maneuvering, one should at least have a sense of honor. Russia has crossed that line.”

“Many of you will be curious, so let’s take some questions. The French reporter who asked a question earlier, please ask again.”

“Yes! Your Royal Highness Crown Prince Friedrich, you said that Russia orchestrated all of this, but do you have concrete evidence?”

“Of course.”

The Crown Prince nodded lightly and continued in a calm tone that did not waver in the slightest.

“Because I spearheaded this effort in collaboration with His Majesty Alexander II.”

“······Yes?”

“···What does that···?”

“No, what is this? Is he confessing?”

“Prussia colluded with Russia?”

“This is crazy… what’s going on right now!”

Despite being a royal press conference, the reporters, unable to contain their excitement, stirred and began to move their pens like mad.

As the venue became too noisy, the head of the guard stomped his boots on the floor and shouted.

“Silence! This is in front of His Majesty! Those who wish to speak should request the right to speak and ask questions!”

“······.”

“······.”

“Well, if I only say this, you will naturally be confused, so let’s first hear from His Royal Highness Crown Prince Friedrich. After he finishes his explanation, I will take the next question, so please organize your thoughts and speak at that time.”

The reporters, dazed by the unexpected flood of information, silently turned the pages of their notebooks and waited for Friedrich to speak.

“First of all, everyone will be wondering why someone who conspired with Russia is here telling the truth. The reason is that I had no intention of antagonizing the British Empire from the beginning. In fact, from the beginning, I was planning to reveal all the facts to His Majesty Killian here.”

“I am grateful for that, but what is the reason for having such a plan?”

“Because Prussia is an ally of the British Empire. Our Prussia never stabs its allies in the back.”

As the Crown Prince proudly straightened his back and spoke, the reporters from Prussia nodded proudly.

“So, Your Royal Highness, you are saying that you cooperated with Russia from the beginning to uncover this plot to slander me.”

“That’s right.”

“Well, everyone has heard that this is the whole story. And I was not able to respond immediately because I was reviewing the information provided by His Royal Highness and verifying its authenticity. I trust you understand why I didn’t issue a rebuttal statement as soon as the incident broke out.”

We preemptively addressed the major questions that were likely to arise.

Just by looking at the reporters’ expressions, I could tell whether this explanation was sufficient or not, so when I thought it was enough, I immediately moved on to the next topic.

“Next, there is this claim that it fits too well to be a lie. Here, I will say something first. Everyone, as a matter of common sense, does it make sense to say that the British Empire benefited from all of this and that I designed everything?”

“······.”

“Ah, of course, it will seem that way. So you’re right that we reaped the biggest benefit. Yes, that’s correct. As a result, that’s what happened, but this is the result of doing my best in each situation and preparing in advance for contingencies. And the British Empire is undeniably the strongest country in the world, so it inevitably claimed the spoils as the victor.”

I pointed to a reporter who was still wearing a questioning expression and asked.

“Objectively, let’s say I planned all of this, as this conspiracy theory suggests. Wow, isn’t it amazing? I was setting up all the situations for this even before the war with Russia broke out, and even planning the civil war on the American continent from this time. Everyone, do you know when the NBA, a black liberation human rights group mentioned here, was founded?”

It was created when Lincoln, the current president of the North, was working as a lawyer, before he was even a member of parliament. So, according to this conspiracy theory, I was already expecting the United States to be divided into North and South and wage war from that time, and I created this organization to fuel the conflict. Isn’t it really amazing? Did God give me the ability to foresee the future? Isn’t it?”

“When you put it that way, it’s certainly·····.”

“Then isn’t it strange here again? Why didn’t someone who sees such a distant future foresee that someone digging behind him would be exposed? Is it like prophecy sometimes activates and sometimes doesn’t?”

Surprisingly, it is all true that it was a huge scam planned 20 years ago.

But as Adelaide did, who in the world would believe such a thing?

When I asked the reporters if it made sense in terms of common sense, specifying even these detailed years, the reporters naturally nodded.

The NBA, which was created to promote black human rights, is an organization that was created more than 25 years before now.

It means that it was before the Crimean War broke out, and even before Edward or Adelaide was born.

If I had foreseen the civil war that would happen 20 years later from that time and put in work in advance to cause the conflict, it would have already exceeded the realm of human possibility.

“And here, it is said that I was also involved in the establishment of a communist country. If you look at this part, it says that I encouraged the NBA and sent Secretary-General Engels to the South. This part is also false. I have already requested the NBA to provide sponsorship details and accounting books, so please take a look. Where on earth is the money flowing from the imperial family?”

The money to run the NBA was arranged to go through companies separated from the James Group.

The reason why the South or Alexander II knows that is because they have been receiving fabricated evidence and accounting books from McPallen from the beginning.

“Are you planning to disclose all of those accounting books?”

“Of course. I already got permission from that side. They are also indignant at this absurd story that they were trying to create a communist country intentionally. This is a forced connection of events to create evidence that I and the imperial family are involved in the already released results. In a word, it’s fake news.”

“Oh my god······.”

“And the evidence that this is a lie doesn’t end here.”

I deliberately revealed all the evidence that had been slightly manipulated and corrected it, giving the reporters a scoop [exclusive news].

As the situation became increasingly strange, the Russian reporters became restless, and the gazes toward them became increasingly cold.

“The people from Russia over there seem to have something to say, so shall we hear from them? Do you have anything to say?”

“Yes, yes! Your Majesty! It seems clear that Your Majesty has been unfairly slandered just by looking at the evidence presented so far. However, there is still no evidence that the Russian imperial family is involved other than the testimony of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, is there?”

“That’s what he says, Your Highness Friedrich. Please say something.”

“It’s not difficult to prove this at all. His Majesty Alexander II deliberately started digging into His Majesty’s affairs through the South in order to put all the blame on the South if the plan went wrong. He deposited a large sum of money into McPallen Detective Agency, a famous detective agency in the North, and made them investigate His Majesty. And that huge amount of money came from the Russian imperial family’s pocket. The laundering was thorough, but if you focus on the Russian side and investigate, you will be able to easily obtain evidence.”

“Yes. After this incident broke out, we mobilized all the imperial family’s intelligence to find evidence. And we collected information that the money that went into McPallen Detective Agency flowed in through Russia. The Russian side will have to explain this fact.”

Who in the world would be the culprit if the person who gave the money to the person who was asked to investigate me wasn’t the culprit?

The Russian reporters couldn’t say anything in the face of such clear evidence, and the sound of reporters from various countries whispering could be heard all the way here.

“Look at those shameless bastards.”

“Russia, is it you again?”

“No, even if you have an inferiority complex towards our imperial family, isn’t this too much? As His Majesty said, there is a line that should not be crossed in the world, but how come these bastards don’t have a line?”

“Quiet! Quiet! If you have something to say, request the right to speak and speak!”

No matter how much the guards shouted for silence, the voices of the reporters, especially the British Empire reporters full of anger, did not subside.

All the evidence that they were trying to maliciously slander the object they worshiped so much had come out, so if they weren’t angry, they wouldn’t be human.

“Your Majesty! This is The Times! This is an unprecedented event in history. This can be seen as a direct attack on the imperial family, so how do you plan to respond?”

“As you said, this is nothing more than an attack on the British imperial family, not just me. We will communicate closely with the parliament and announce our official opinion later. Of course, before that, if the Russian imperial family wants to refute anything, we will be happy to provide a platform for them to do so. We welcome any excuses or arguments. I told them to explain properly before making absurd claims a while ago, and I’m waiting to see what they will say this time.”

Originally, most of the European royal families are related by blood if you trace their lineage, so they don’t fight like this openly.

However, it is almost the first time that another country’s royal family has been openly slandered and caught in reverse.

Since there was no newspaper that did not increase its sales with this incident, the reporters wrote with their pens even more excitedly and continued to ask questions.

“Your Majesty! This is the Morning Post! If Russia continues to deny it, are you willing to disclose additional evidence?”

“Of course. There is still a lot of evidence that has not been revealed. So I hope that they will not make the incident bigger and be more humiliated, but cleanly admit their fault and apologize.”

The press conference continued for nearly two hours after that, and I continued to fuel the reporters from various countries so that the fire could burn even more fiercely.

The public opinion, which had been fiercely clashing over whether the conspiracy theory was right or wrong, reached a grand compromise to condemn Russia, the worst villain who instigated all these incidents, as if they had never fought.

Well, what are you going to refute now?

* * *

“How on earth did this happen!”

“That, that is······.”

“Why on earth is that bastard Friedrich in that position! Was he a traitor? Did he work together from the beginning to betray us?”

On the day of the press conference, Alexander II received a lengthy report sent by urgent telegram and spat out the wine he was drinking.

“That shameless bastard! What do you mean he’s been on the side of the British Empire from the beginning! That guy who criticized Bismarck for sticking with the British Empire was on the side of the British Empire from the beginning?”

“Something is strange about this. There is no reason for Crown Prince Friedrich to betray us so suddenly···.”

“It’s obvious! He must have been persuaded by those guys!”

Or did he fall in love with Killian’s daughter at first sight and suddenly lose his mind and decide to join their side?

No, even if he sold his soul to a woman, that doesn’t make sense.

Then, in the end, he was promised a huge price and betrayed us, but I couldn’t understand what it was.

“Your Majesty, not only the reason, but we must first find out how Killian knew how Friedrich was related to this incident and was able to persuade him.”

“···Ah! That’s right. Yes. How on earth did Killian seduce Crown Prince Friedrich? Is that even possible?”

Logically speaking, it doesn’t make sense for Killian to contact Friedrich first in terms of order.

That means that Killian already knew all about this incident before Friedrich even said anything.

“Then, is it true that Friedrich was with us from the beginning with the intention of betraying us?”

“That··· wouldn’t be the case. As Your Majesty said, his animosity towards Bismarck was real.”

“Then what is it?”

What kind of situation is this right now?

Alexander II, who had fallen from heaven to hell overnight, stared blankly at the traces left by the wine he had spat out and muttered.

“What the hell is this?”

Unfortunately, no one answered his question.