I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 720

[Side Story] Lake Kingdom (2)

The day after the victory declaration ceremony.

Lake Kingdom Royal Palace. Audience Chamber.

“……”

The king, who had been filled with majesty and joy just yesterday, was now sitting on the throne with a dark expression.

Before the king, who was deeply troubled, stood a young-looking woman and a man.

The woman was Princess Ariel, and the man was….

“Christian.”

It was Prince Christian.

The prince, with beautiful silver hair and turquoise eyes like his younger sister, exuded a somewhat precarious aura.

The king rebuked the prince.

“Why did you not attend the victory declaration ceremony yesterday?”

“……”

Christian, standing silently, did not answer. The king’s fist slammed down on the armrest of the throne.

“You know how important yesterday’s event was! Envoys from all the major countries around the world came!”

“……”

“It was an opportunity for you, who will inherit the country in the future, to greet them and make your presence known! Why didn’t you even show your face! Do you truly wish to vex your father to the point of bursting?”

Christian remained silent. The king rubbed his forehead and shook his head.

“We almost disgraced the nation at an event meant to enhance its prestige….”

“……”

“In the end, Ariel had to do everything you were supposed to do. It’s fortunate that Ariel did it perfectly without any shortcomings!”

Christian, who had been listening silently, twitched his eyebrows, and a curt voice flowed from his tightly closed mouth.

“Then, you can just leave it to Ariel from now on.”

“……What?”

Christian sneered at the bewildered king.

“You can give the position of the next king to my talented younger sister, not to me, the incompetent one. Ariel would do it much better than me, this hopeless fool, perfectly without any shortcomings.”

“You…! How can you say such things…!”

Not only the king but also Ariel, who was standing next to him, looked at Christian with pale faces.

Just as the enraged king was about to shout something at his eldest son,

“Cough, cough!”

Instead of a roar, a weak cough escaped from the king’s mouth.

The king covered his mouth with his hand and coughed repeatedly. Blood flowed out from between his open fingers.

“Father?!”

Ariel, startled, rushed to the king, and Christian, flustered, could only watch his father spitting blood, unable to move.

“Haa, haa….”

The king barely stopped coughing up blood.

Ariel wiped her father’s mouth with a handkerchief, tears welling up in her eyes. Receiving his daughter’s care, the king quietly looked at his wayward son.

“I don’t have much time left to live, Christian.”

“……”

“Look. Even after defeating all the monsters in this world and becoming the king of the most powerful nation on the continent, life is so futile.”

The king shook his head.

“Don’t waste your life, Christian.”

“……”

“It’s not too late. If you start diligently taking succession lessons now, you can become the next king of this country….”

Whack!

But Christian turned around and stormed out without even hearing his father’s words.

“Christian! Christian…! Cough, cough!”

The king, calling out his son’s name, coughed violently a few more times. And with blood-stained lips, he murmured.

“That foolish boy… I don’t have much time left to cover up his stupid actions.”

“Father….”

“It can’t be helped, Ariel. Since your brother is like that… If he doesn’t change his mind soon, I will appoint you as the Crown Princess. You will become the next king….”

But Ariel shook her head vigorously.

“Father. Although my brother is wavering now, if good people support him, he will surely become a good king.”

“……”

“I will assist him well. So, please don’t worry about that and focus on recovering your health now.”

Staring blankly at his daughter’s smiling face, the king smiled bitterly and lowered his head.

“I’m counting on you, Ariel. Both your brother and this country….”

As a king and as a father, he couldn’t hide his complicated feelings.

***

From the time he became aware of things, Christian always felt out of place.

It was because he realized that his younger sister, Ariel, was better than him in every way.

And it was because he realized that he was inferior to his sister not only in the talents needed to be a king but also in his character.

“It would be better if I just disappeared.”

The Magic Tower District.

As befitting its reputation as a magical kingdom, the Lake Kingdom was filled with various magic towers and research institutes. Christian was inside the ‘Magic Research Institute,’ one of the largest facilities.

Christian grumbled, sprawled out on a large sofa in the director’s office.

“I feel like my existence is making my father hesitate and suffer, and Ariel is also living suppressed, unable to spread her wings.”

“Please don’t say that, Your Highness.”

Director Dirandahi smiled awkwardly, trying to appease Christian.

“You know how much His Majesty and Her Highness love and cherish you.”

“Damn it, yeah. I know. They love me, so they’re covering for me even though I live like this. But….”

Christian sighed deeply and got up.

“That makes it even more miserable….”

“Your Highness.”

“I want to be recognized fairly. But, the more I try, the more I realize that Ariel is more suited to be a king….”

Dirandahi cautiously suggested.

“Then… how about achieving some merit?”

Christian’s eyes widened.

“Merit? What kind of merit?”

“Any great achievement that would be enough to be recognized as a kingly figure.”

Dirandahi scratched his chin awkwardly.

“However, the Lake Kingdom has already defeated all the monsters and even seized world hegemony… There are hardly any enemies left to defeat or achievements to accomplish.”

“……”

“But, isn’t there one urgent matter?”

Dirandahi looked around and lowered his voice.

“His Majesty’s health, I mean.”

“……!”

The king’s health issues had been secretly rumored for several years.

They had been trying every possible way to cure the disease, but there was no improvement. The king was dying quickly despite his young age.

Dirandahi lowered his voice even further.

“This is a story I heard from a shaman clan from the Eastern Continent….”

Christian’s shoulders twitched at the following words.

“It is said that there was a magic of immortality in the far reaches of the Eastern Continent.”

“What? Immortality?”

“Yes. There are even rumors that the destruction of the Eastern Continent was due to that magic. So, our research institute has been continuously investigating… and it’s surprisingly credible. We’ve also narrowed down the expected discovery area.”

Dirandahi looked at Christian with a subtle gaze.

“If Your Highness could find this magic of immortality….”

“……!”

Christian was thrilled.

If he could really find the magic of immortality.

‘My father… will acknowledge me.’

The father who always looked at his younger sister with warm eyes, but only spoke to him with a cold and stern voice.

The father who always blamed and scolded him for his shortcomings.

He might acknowledge his merit and perhaps even praise him for the first time.

‘Moreover, if I can bring back the magic of immortality, I can not only restore my father’s health but also gain the recognition of all the magicians in this country.’

The only thing that the current magical superpower, the Lake Kingdom, had not overcome was one thing.

Time.

And the aging and death that came with it.

If he could really bring back the magic of immortality, all the magicians of the Lake Kingdom would praise his achievement and submit to Christian.

Christian, who had been lost in hopeful thoughts, eventually sighed with a darkened face.

“……But I can’t leave my position.”

He was a prince. He had a high chance of becoming the future king.

There was no way his father would allow him to leave for the desolate Eastern Continent.

But as if anticipating that Christian would say this, Dirandahi smiled slyly.

“In that regard, we have found an interesting test subject this time.”

“Huh? An interesting test subject?”

“Yes. Please come this way.”

Following Dirandahi’s guidance, they headed to the basement of the research institute.

There, a boy with a blank face was trapped inside a glass wall.

Dirandahi gestured towards the boy beyond the glass wall and said.

“He is a non-citizen who lived outside the outer walls. He was found in the sewer area while trying to obtain magical materials. I was so surprised when I saw him that I quickly ‘purchased’ him and brought him here.”

“What’s so interesting about this non-citizen?”

The people of the Lake Kingdom were divided into ‘citizens,’ who were the class that could use magic, and ‘non-citizens,’ who were the class that could not use magic and were treated like livestock.

‘Citizens’ were further divided into ordinary citizens, nobles, and royalty. As a member of the highest class, the royal Christian, this situation of observing a non-citizen boy was unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

But what followed was even more absurd.

“Don’t they look alike?”

“……What?”

“You, Your Highness. They look exactly alike.”

Dirandahi chuckled and touched a magic panel installed on the glass wall, and the hair and eye color of the boy trapped inside began to change.

The boy, who had dull grayish-black hair and grayish-black eyes, turned into silver hair and turquoise eyes in the next moment, and then….

“……Is this even possible?”

Christian muttered in surprise.

To his own surprise, this non-citizen boy looked just like Christian. Especially not only his appearance but also his unique aura was surprisingly identical.

“If we apply a slight recognition-impairment magic here, most people will think this friend is Your Highness himself.”

“……”

“Since Your Highness doesn’t engage in many public activities anyway, if we are a little more careful, we won’t get caught.”

Christian, who had been lost in thought, glanced at Dirandahi.

“The search for the Eastern Continent. What is the expected time frame?”

“We expect it to be about a month.”

Dirandahi nodded.

“In other words, this fake just needs to buy us a month.”

“……Okay.”

Christian, having made up his mind, nodded back.

“Let’s do it, Dirandahi.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I will prepare immediately.”

Christian shouted at Dirandahi, who was about to leave the basement room.

“Thank you, Dirandahi. I will definitely… repay you greatly later.”

“Hehe. Don’t mention it.”

Dirandahi smiled kindly.

“Your Highness’s joy is my joy.”

After Dirandahi left, Christian turned his head towards the boy inside the glass wall and slowly approached the glass wall.

Christian gestured to the boy, who was bewildered by his sudden change in appearance.

“Hey, you.”

“Y-yes?”

“What’s your name?”

The boy hesitated and answered in a barely audible voice.

“I… I don’t have one.”

“What?”

“Non-citizens usually don’t have names. I, I’m sorry….”

Christian, feeling dejected in front of the boy who was speaking in a small voice, raised his voice.

“From now on, your name is Christian.”

“Yes? B-but….”

“While I’m away, you will act as my shadow, as my substitute, as my fake… you will have to pretend to be me.”

Christian asked coldly.

“Can you do it?”

How could he say he couldn’t?

If a citizen ordered, they followed. That was the life of a non-citizen in the Lake Kingdom.

If they disobeyed or failed….

They had no choice but to die.

The boy, clenching his eyes shut, trembled and bowed.

“I will do as you command, Your Highness….”

***

A few days later.

Christian, in search of the magic of immortality, boarded the ship prepared by Dirandahi and set sail for the Eastern Continent.

And the nameless boy, who had received short-term intensive training as the prince’s substitute, was secretly deployed into the royal palace.

– Remember this. The moment you are discovered, you will die.

Dirandahi, the director of the Magic Research Institute, had warned him several times.

– Imitating the prince is easy. No matter what anyone asks, don’t answer, just pretend to be angry and scowl. The prince is a well-known troublemaker, so no one will easily talk to you. Just stay in your room like you’re dead. Understand?

Finally, Dirandahi grabbed the boy’s shoulder tightly.

– If you do this well, you will have no problem making a living in the future.

With a necklace that had recognition-impairment magic on it around his neck, the boy stood awkwardly in the middle of the prince’s room.

‘How did this happen….’

He still couldn’t tell if this was reality or a dream.

Just a few days ago, he was cleaning up rat corpses in the sewer, and now he was pretending to be the prince of this country….

‘But it’s not difficult. I just have to stay quiet for about a month.’

The boy, having made up his mind, nodded his head. That was when-

“Brother!”

The door burst open, and the princess—Ariel—ran into the room with a bright smile.

“Ice candy came from the north! Let’s eat together, I even got the ice strawberries that you like, brother!”

“……”

The boy, who had been startled and stiff, soon regained his senses.

It was the person the prince had warned him most about, his younger sister Ariel. She was said to be the only one who treated the prickly prince of the royal palace with affection.

‘O-okay. Just like we practiced. Let’s just do as we practiced.’

The boy, with the cold expression he had practiced to death for the past few days, narrowed his eyes and turned to look at Ariel.

But before he could even utter a word-

“……!”

Swish!

Ariel, with a serious face, drew her sword from her waist and pointed the blade at him.

‘Huh?’

With the sword pointed at the boy, who was stiff with panic, Ariel shouted in a determined voice.

“Who are you?”

“……?!”

“You’re not my brother! Who are you?”

Less than an hour after entering the royal palace and starting his substitute act.