Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 105

105

Following the Golden Dragon that landed, the Black Wyvern also began its descent.

「Knight Commander! What’s going on! Report immediately… Static… Commander! …Static…」

Meanwhile, the communication device, which had been enabling communication with Moria, seemed to have reached its limit. The voice gradually crackled before cutting out completely.

“Don’t draw your swords yet!”

“Stop the bleeding!”

“His body temperature is dropping!”

I jumped down from a manageable height and slowly approached the chaotic scene where healers and priests surrounded Lucas.

“Lucas! You idiot! Wake up! I said, wake up!”

Miloa, having rushed ahead of me, was a mess of tears and snot.

“Wake up, you bastard!”

“Countess Miloa! You can’t do this! Hey! Calm the Countess down!”

“Let go! Save him! Save him! If you can’t save him, I’ll kill you all!”

*She deserves an award for best actress.*

I briefly made eye contact with her.

– *Perfect.*

That’s what she seemed to be saying.

Carefully masking my thoughts, I approached Lucas, whose eyes had become glazed over.

“Brother, what is the meaning of this?”

“Cough, cough… Evan, Evan. I have… something… to tell you…”

“Tell me later. Let’s hurry back to the royal palace. The high-ranking priests there might have a way to help.”

“The kingdom… the Lionel Kingdom… I entrust it to you. The kingdom’s people… a future… where they can dream…”

Lucas is a 6-star knight who has reached the realm of transcendence [a level of power beyond normal comprehension].

His ability to control his own body is extraordinary. He can even slightly alter the position of his internal organs.

Minimizing the damage and making the sword that pierced his abdomen protrude from his back is a piece of cake for him.

Of course.

There’s no way there wouldn’t be pain.

*If I had just stabbed him, it would have hurt tremendously, right?*

That’s why I prepared the root of the Primordial Bloodwood that Alfonso had used before and had a little left over.

The Primordial Bloodwood contains a dangerous poison that can instantly kill an ordinary person upon contact with the tongue. If you look closely, the effects on the body vary slightly depending on the location of the leaf, branch, or root.

The root has a strong anesthetic component.

If you drink a decoction [a medicinal preparation made by boiling herbs] made by mixing the root of the Primordial Bloodwood with [Evening Primrose], which can neutralize various toxins, and other herbs in the right proportions, you won’t even feel any pain in the early stages when the medicinal properties take effect.

After that stage…

“Brother? Brother!”

“His, his heart has stopped!”

“Oh, no!”

“Your Highness! You can’t leave like this!”

“Lucas!!”

He ends up in a state no different from death, with his heart stopped like that. The duration varies from person to person, but usually, if he doesn’t take the antidote within a week, he will really die. As a 6-star knight, he might last more than 10 days if he’s lucky.

It’s perfect if we return to the royal palace, receive a death certificate, and swap the body before it’s buried in the tomb.

*No one will notice.*

The cursed recipe I found when I raided the secret unit of the islanders who were conducting human experiments on Lionel people using the Primordial Bloodwood in the ‘future.’

I never thought the day would come when I would use it like this.

“Lucas! Wake up! Wake up! What about the people left behind if you leave like this!”

“Immediately move the Prince to the Golden Dragon!”

Lucas, carried on a stretcher, was moved to the Golden Dragon.

“Lucas! You bad bastard! I’m going to kill you, so wake up right now!”

“Countess Miloa! Calm down! If we move quickly to the royal palace, there might be a way!”

“He’s not breathing!”

Lucas disappeared into the Golden Dragon, and Gallard, with a hardened expression, approached me.

“I leave the rest… to you.”

I nodded silently.

Sometimes silence is better than a thousand words.

With that, the Golden Dragon departed for the royal palace.

Now it was my turn to step up.

After briefly looking at the Runtia Knight Commander, who had a broken expression, I approached the Ronswell castle gate.

Stopping at a suitable location, I met the eyes of the rebel army lined up on the castle gate.

“This morning, my brother Lucas came to me. He insisted that I had to go to Ronswell with him. He said that my brother, the Prince of the kingdom, and I had to prevent the kingdom’s people from being massacred. But I never imagined that something like this would happen.”

I briefly looked at the spot where Lucas had bled.

“Just now, as you all saw, my brother gave his life to reduce meaningless sacrifices. And he left me with the words to entrust the kingdom to me, and then his heart stopped.”

After pausing for a moment, I slowly knelt down towards the rebel army.

“Your Highness!”

“Gasp!”

The shouts of the knights behind me.

The commotion of the rebel army lined up on the walls was also clearly visible.

I had thought a lot about it.

What should I say? What sweet words should I whisper to the rebel army to make them open the castle gate themselves?

“I! Evan Lionel! Will definitely create a kingdom where our children, and their children, can dream of the future. Please… please open the castle gate and disperse. Just once, please trust me just once.”

The conclusion I came to.

There is no need for a splendid speech full of brilliant rhetoric.

Sincerity.

That alone is enough.

That’s what I thought.

And how long has it been?

Creak, creak.

With the sound of the pulley turning, the castle gate began to open.

The rebel army recognized my sincerity.

***

The kingdom was in an uproar.

『[Breaking News] The 1st Prince Entrusts the Future of the Kingdom to the 5th Prince and Departs from the World』

『The 1st Prince’s Shocking Choice!』

『Duke Moria Runtia, Are the Kingdom’s People Vermin?』

The cause was, of course, the death of Lucas, who left me with the words to entrust the kingdom to me.

『The People of the South Open the Castle Gate in Response to the 5th Prince’s Appeal』

『The Rebel Army Disperses One by One』

『An Anonymous Southerner Reveals That They Have Decided to Trust the 5th Prince for Now』

The rebel army began to disperse one by one.

After disbanding the rebel army in Ronswell and sending the Runtia Knights back, I didn’t head to the royal palace. I immediately boarded the Black Wyvern and toured the areas where the rebellion had occurred, persuading them to stand down.

Nearly a week, to be exact, a 6-day tour of the south. Now I was finally finishing it and heading back to the royal palace.

Knock, knock.

“Your Highness, we will arrive soon.”

At Alfonso’s report, I put away the newspaper and went out on deck.

*I managed to come back, somehow.*

A body in abnormal condition.

A tour of the south, flying around from east to west at a time when I should be recuperating in a place with good mountains and water.

It was just as hard as being on the verge of death.

I was even worried that I might really die young, like in Cliang’s fantasies.

“I’m glad I could arrive before the funeral.”

Alfonso agreed with my murmur.

“That’s right. If we were late, there would definitely be talk. 『The cold-blooded 5th Prince, not even showing his face at the funeral of the 1st Prince, who supported him and took his own life』, something like that.”

“Well…”

Maybe such an article wouldn’t have come out?

If it were a news company with any sense.

Now it is clear who the next heir to the throne will be.

1st Prince, suicide.

2nd Prince, executed for treason.

3rd Prince, died of Red Star Fever.

4th Prince, died after being shot in the heart with an arrow.

All the princes except me are dead.

The princesses are all alive, but… I didn’t have the slightest thought that they would be a threat to my succession to the throne.

If, in this situation, due to God’s malicious prank, I were to possess one of the princesses and get a terminal illness if I couldn’t inherit the throne, I would calmly accept death.

It means it’s impossible.

It’s different from the past, where it was possible to survive by walking a tightrope between the 1st and 2nd Princes, who were in fierce opposition.

The only thing that bothers me is the 2nd Princess, born to the 1st Queen…

– *She’s a child who has no interest in anything other than magic. I’ve contacted her separately. I asked her not to get involved in royal palace politics. She probably won’t even show up at the funeral?*

Lucas had confidently assured me.

Even in the ‘future,’ she didn’t move a single step from the Ains Kingdom of the Brissen Alliance, where the headquarters of the Blue Tower was located, even when the kingdom was on the verge of collapse.

It was a problem to think about if she appeared at the funeral.

“Black Wyvern descending!”

“Descending!!”

With the shouts of the captain and crew, the Black Wyvern lowered its altitude. Soon, it landed at the royal palace’s airship docking station.

As I got off the ground, a familiar face was there to greet me.

“You’ve arrived just in time.”

It was Miloa.

Her hair was disheveled and her complexion was haggard. She seemed to have suffered a lot during the week I was away.

“Let’s go to the Emerald Palace.”

“Understood.”

She followed behind me with a heavy expression.

Now, neither the royal palace servants nor the mediocre officials could speak to me. When they saw me, they would stop walking for a moment and bow their heads.

“5th Prince?! You’ve returned!”

“You’ve really worked hard!”

“I heard that you persuaded the rebels who started the rebellion. You’re really amazing.”

The people who spoke to me were all royalty or high-ranking officials above the rank of Count.

I nodded, pretending to be appropriately busy. Everyone tactfully didn’t say anything more. It’s hard to survive long in the royal palace without this much tact.

We arrived at the reception room of the Emerald Palace.

I handed my coat to Alfonso and offered Miloa a sofa.

“Sit down.”

“Thank you.”

I also sat down on the sofa. The cozy cushioning made me want to take a nap and wake up.

After pressing around my eyes to relieve fatigue, I looked at Miloa.

I had been constantly checking the trends of the royal palace and the southern nobles through [Library] [likely a magical ability or information network], but I also needed the vivid news that she, who was in the capital, could deliver.

“Was my brother’s body properly recovered?”

“Yes. There was a bit of a commotion, but the encoffining [placing a body in a coffin] was completed safely.”

*That means the body swap was completed safely.*

Lucas is probably taking the antidote and recovering in a secret place right now. It will take at least fifteen days for him to return to his original state.

“What commotion was there?”

“The 1st Queen tried to run out of the royal palace, saying that she would kill the 5th Prince right away, that the 5th Prince’s scheme was obvious… something like that?”

*I could roughly guess.*

It was a foregone conclusion that I would run into the 1st Queen at the funeral tomorrow, and I already had a headache.

“What about the movements of the southern nobles?”

“They’re in a state of panic. I’m already busy to death, but there’s a line of people who want to meet me. Maybe after the 1st Prince’s funeral, there will be a line of people who want to see the 5th Prince?”

I glanced at Alfonso.

“Did you hear that? Take care of it.”

“Don’t worry! I, Alfonso Einberg, the Prince’s chief aide, will take care of it neatly.”

I chuckled and continued talking to Miloa.

“What about the Runtia Dukedom?”

“There haven’t been any particular movements yet. I’m aware that they’re in a state of panic, just like the other southern nobles.”

“Really? There’s a bit of a difference from the information I know.”

According to what I had gathered through [Library], those who could never side with me were secretly crossing the threshold of the Runtia Dukedom.

I told Miloa that fact.

She bit her lip.

“…Just recovering the 1st Prince’s body… No, it’s all my incompetence.”

“That’s a good attitude. You have to admit your shortcomings to improve.”

At my words with a smirk, she pouted her lips.

“If you double the budget for the Royal Knights, I think my development will be a little faster?”

“We’ll see.”

Miloa’s eyes sparkled.

“Are you serious?”

“Then would I be lying? When the southern situation calms down, I’m thinking of raising the support for the activities of the Royal Knights’ overseas agents, which was previously brought up as an agenda item at the State Council. According to personal informants, it seems that the world powers are frantically developing new weapons, as Countess Miloa mentioned before. The Royal Knights will be very busy soon.”

Her eyes, which had been sparkling at the words ‘very busy,’ became dull.

***

After sending Miloa away, I had about an hour of free time until the next schedule.

My eyes were dry, so I closed them for a moment to rest—

“… Highness, … Your Highness! Prince Evan!”

I opened my eyes with a start.

*When did I fall asleep?*

Alfonso was visible in my blurry vision.

“You’re awake. It’s about time to prepare to see His Majesty the King.”

*It was really a sweet nap.*

I wanted to indulge in sleep a little more, but I couldn’t break my promise with the King. Still, I felt a little better after sleeping a little.

After tidying up my appearance in the mirror, I moved to Leon Palace to meet the King.

The King’s attendant was waiting.

“Welcome, 5th Prince.”

“Is he in the bedroom again today?”

“No. He’s waiting in the reception room.”

I was guided by him into the reception room.

The King was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, smoking the ‘less’ harmful cigarette I had given him and reading the newspaper.

“The final victor has finally arrived.”

Mockery, admiration, awe, envy…

With eyes mixed with various emotions, he conveyed his congratulations to me.

I nodded slightly without answering.

“Sit down and let’s talk.”

“Thank you.”

I sat on the sofa opposite the King.

“So, what did you want to see me about?”

“After the funeral of my brother Lucas, please declare me as the Crown Prince. And I will preside over the New Year’s party, which has been delayed due to the rebellion.”

I didn’t say much and immediately got to the point.

At my demand to give up the empty power, the King took a deep breath of cigarette smoke. The King took a deep breath of cigarette smoke.