Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 110

110

“You were quite a boring person too.”

Derek released the pressure he had been exerting on Julian and spoke indifferently, but inwardly, he acknowledged Julian’s fortitude.

He must have felt like a little mouse about to be eaten by a hungry lion. Any ordinary person would have been terrified and lost their mind immediately.

“Anyway, my answer is no.”

Derek crossed his legs and laughed playfully.

Julian stared at him silently.

‘As expected… he was born with a rebellious spirit.’

Facing Derek, he finally understood the man completely.

If others insisted on going right at a crossroads, he would walk left alone. When everyone was working together, he would want to take a nap under a cool shade.

The same goes for now.

The fact that the nobles of the kingdom were competing to support Evan, and that he too should join the group, probably didn’t sit well with him.

‘But he’s not foolish enough to walk into the abyss of destruction.’

He clearly knew instinctively where the line he shouldn’t cross was.

Julian could easily picture Derek delaying his support for Evan with various excuses, and then joining him reluctantly when he reached his limit.

‘That’s why the Prince isn’t actively trying to persuade Derek.’

Evan must have known that Derek would eventually have no choice but to support him. So, he was leaving him alone, just keeping Reyna’s disciple, Royer, by his side.

Even without Derek, he was confident he could cleanly burn the Duke of Moria and the southern nobles, who were targets for incineration.

The source of that confidence is probably…

‘A hidden fang that wasn’t revealed to the public in the process of dealing with Amica Arya and the traitor Vice.’

He doesn’t know what it is yet.

Cliang seemed to know, but he didn’t tell him.

He had to persuade Duke Derek at all costs to find out.

Julian slowly opened his mouth.

“I understand. I will go back and tell him that Duke Derek has ‘no’ intention of supporting His Highness the Crown Prince.”

At his words, Derek’s eyes, which had been playfully laughing, twitched.

“Hey, you have to say it right. I said it’s just that my appearance isn’t good enough to support the Crown Prince ‘right now,’ right?”

“To my ears, what you’re saying now sounds like it’s only a matter of time before you support His Highness the Crown Prince. Duke, you’re making a big mistake right now.”

“Mistake?”

“The mistake that His Highness the Crown Prince wants you.”

“Is that what someone who came to persuade me to declare my support for our Crown Prince should say? Well, keep talking for now.”

“Let me tell you about Duke Derek’s value to His Highness the Crown Prince from an objective standpoint. It’s good to have, but not essential. That’s about it.”

Derek’s expression twisted at Julian’s words, which were digging into his pride.

“Ah! This is just my personal opinion. Please don’t misunderstand, as His Highness the Crown Prince didn’t mention it directly.”

“The owner of the Blant Duchy, a key area for defending the eastern sea, a 7-star knight [a very high-ranking knight], and the admiral of the Seokham Island navy, is only good to have? You’re making me want to contact that old man Moria right now and see his face.”

Julian smiled.

“I know you won’t. Don’t you know? The moment you join hands with Duke Moria, the Blant Duchy will be isolated in the east. And… there are countless people who will be drooling over such a Blant Duchy. In the past few years, the east seems to have united as one against the great enemy of the south, but even just 20 years ago, didn’t territorial wars break out all the time?”

“Who is targeting the Blant Duchy that I, a 7-star knight, am protecting?”

“You can’t block ten holes with one hand. And this is just a hypothetical, but if His Highness the Crown Prince declares that he will hand over everything of the Blant Duchy to Fran after he ascends the throne, can you stop it?”

“…….”

“Perhaps His Highness the Crown Prince will not send anyone to persuade Duke Derek after today. He will never come in person. Because you will eventually have no choice but to support His Highness the Crown Prince anyway.”

So today is the last chance.

Take my hand quietly when I reach out.

Julian looked at Derek with such eyes.

“I have to retract what I said earlier. You were quite an interesting human being? I wonder if our Crown Prince sent you to persuade me. Weren’t you supposed to gain trust by persuading me?”

“Persuading the Duke is just an intermediate step for me to gain the trust of His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Julian looked at the soup in front of him.

“If what His Highness the Crown Prince wanted from me was to make this soup… then persuading the Duke would be like preparing the main ingredient, crab meat. But, you don’t necessarily have to make soup with crab meat. If there is no crab meat, you can change the main ingredient to other meat or vegetables, right?”

There was no need to mention that the time to prepare other ingredients was very short.

“Ha, that’s absurd. Cliang, do you think the same as this human?”

Cliang, who had been quietly listening to their conversation and neatly eating the crab meat, opened his mouth after carefully wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“He is still a friend who is not used to speaking indirectly. Please understand.”

There was no word anywhere that he disagreed with what Julian said. Derek’s lips and eyes trembled.

“Julian, have you said everything you wanted to say to the Duke?”

“Yes, Count Cliang.”

“It’s a very precious food, but you haven’t eaten any of it.”

“It’s okay. Let’s move on to the next place right away.”

“I understand. For that reason, I’ll see you next time, Duke Derek. Royer, no, Captain Royer, it was nice to see you after a long time.”

Cliang and Julian got up from their seats without hesitation. Royer, who hurriedly got up from his seat, bowed his head.

The two opened the door and went out.

Royer had no idea why he was here at all.

Derek, who had him sit with him, as well as Cliang and Julian, who were openly talking about such great things in front of a mere naval captain.

But one thing was certain.

He had been assisting Derek for over half a year. He was experienced enough to interpret his eyes, which meant to go out right now and bring the two back.

“Duke Derek! I’ll be back in a moment, going to the bathroom!”

Royer hurriedly opened the door and chased after the two.

***

The State Council meeting was longer than expected.

It was because of the questions that burst out like a flood after my speech.

The Noble Honor Act, which I proposed today, would be finally announced after coordination with the Royal Committee and the Noble Council. The meeting, which started in the morning, ended long after lunchtime.

I left the kingdom with Miloa in a carriage. I had a dinner appointment at the Christie County.

Of course, that was the superficial reason, and the real reason was that Lucas woke up yesterday.

Clatter, clatter.

Miloa spoke first in the moving carriage.

“It was a time that reminded me of when I took ‘National Theory,’ a required liberal arts course at the Royal Military Academy.”

“Are you saying it was childish?”

“Of course not. The video I saw at the meeting is still vivid in my mind. It was definitely different from simply announcing the agenda in words.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

“Soon, the State Council members will be tearing their groins trying to follow the Prince every time they bring up an agenda.”

It was the sound of the end of the existing State Council, which used to bring a few pieces of paper and propose agendas.

I didn’t intend that far…

The lower officials who would be grilled by the ministers to prepare the presentation materials felt a little sorry for a moment.

‘Well, isn’t it a bad thing?’

If they make presentation materials that are worse than a school talent show and become a laughing stock, the quality of the State Council will skyrocket.

“Ah! I also thought it would be good to use audiovisual materials in the educational field. Of course, that would only be possible if magic stones were 10 times cheaper than they are now? About five mines with reserves equivalent to the magic stone mine owned by the Black Anvil tribe would have to be discovered in the kingdom… Prince? Why are you smiling like that?”

“No, I was just thinking that such a future might come someday.”

“A magic stone mine in the kingdom? I can say this for sure. The first thing I did when I became an administrative official was land surveying. There are no mines in the Lionel Kingdom where upper-level or higher magic stones can be mined. It’s really sad.”

I just smiled.

Fran’s prototype project ‘Stella’, which makes it possible to generate high output by using several low-output magic stones, is almost complete.

The moment Stella is introduced to the world, countries around the world will be more shocked than they were by the magic superconductivity.

“Do you perhaps… have a magic stone mine hidden away? Tell me only. I’ll keep it a secret.”

“No. Nothing like that.”

“Hmm… you’re definitely hiding something…”

I answered with silence.

Miloa glared at me as if I was mean, then looked out the window with a sulky expression.

Clatter, clatter. Throughout the move, she couldn’t keep her fingers still and licked her lips intermittently.

It’s withdrawal.

‘She looks like she’s going to die because she can’t smoke in front of me.’

Eventually, she turned her head back to me, thinking of enduring her smoking desire through conversation.

“Did the persuasion of Duke Derek Blant go well?”

“Well… I wonder?”

“You don’t seem to care how it turns out.”

“Well, good is good, and it would be beneficial for both of us if he supported me early on. But it doesn’t matter if he holds out until the situation in the south is over.”

“…Because the power of the nobles will decrease further?”

I smiled at Miloa’s correct answer.

The Lockeuk Duchy in the east, where Vice was the head, was ruined due to involvement in treason. In addition, the Runtia Duchy in the south will soon face the same fate.

The power of the noble faction has been cut to about half the level it was when I first became aware of my past life.

The Blant Duchy is one of the most powerful of the remaining noble families. The sooner he joins me, the more I have to take care of him in terms of morality.

If he doesn’t join until the southern garbage cleanup period, it seems like a lot of money will be needed to burn the southern garbage.

It was already proven when Vice was caught that powerful financial power has the power to turn even a 7-star knight into dust in the blink of an eye.

‘The cost used should be charged to the Blant Duchy.’

While I was thinking about that, the carriage stopped.

The Christie County’s servants were out to greet us.

“Welcome to the Christie County, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Welcome, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Miloa, who got out of the carriage, said to the butler.

“There’s still time until dinner, so I’ll be in the office.”

“Not the reception room, but the office?”

“There are materials related to the agenda that came up at today’s State Council in the office. I have a lot to discuss with the Prince.”

“I understand.”

So only I, she, and Reyna, who followed as my escort, were left in Miloa’s office.

“I’ll be back after a while.”

“Not going to smoke?”

“You shouldn’t ask that. Looking at it, the Prince pretends to have manners, but he really doesn’t.”

The smell of cigarettes was wafting from Miloa, who came back shortly after pretending to go to the bathroom. When I frowned slightly, she sniffed the smell of her clothes.

“I definitely sprayed perfume…”

“Originally, smokers don’t know their own smell.”

Miloa smiled awkwardly and approached the bookshelf.

“Please turn around for a moment.”

Reyna and I turned our backs as requested. The sound of her pulling out and inserting books on the bookshelf continued from behind.

And.

Goo- Goo-Goo.

An entrance large enough for one person to enter appeared next to the fireplace.

“Ha, this is really a secret passage that is only passed down to the head of the Christie County… Come quickly. Sir Reyna too.”

Miloa grumbled and guided Reyna and me.

After walking here and there on a dark road, it suddenly became bright, and a comfortable space that I couldn’t believe was underground came out.

“…967, 968, 969… Yo! Are you here?”

Lucas, who was doing push-ups with his upper body exposed, greeted us.

He was a little thin, but he looked healthy.

“I’m glad you woke up safely.”

My eyes went to his chest.

The scar from the stab wound was clear.

“If you have time, you should treat the scar too.”

“It’s okay.”

“I’m saying that in case it’s revealed that you’re alive because of the location of the wound.”

“You heartless bastard.”

Lucas grumbled and picked up his top.

“So, did you come to check if I was dead?”

“That’s also true, and I have something to give you.”

“To me?”

I took out a ghost mask from my arms and handed it to him.

“Neive, is the name you will often use in the future.”