Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 20

Surviving as the 5th Prince of a Doomed Nation – Episode 20

020

Royal Secret Intelligence Agency.

In front of the Chief Secretary’s office of the Intelligence Department.

A man in the Secret Intelligence Agency uniform cautiously knocked on the door.

Knock, knock.

“Count Milroa, urgent news.”

“Come in.”

The Royal Secret Intelligence Agency, the top intelligence organization of the Lionel Kingdom, performs a variety of important tasks.

From minor tasks such as assisting in royal trials to major tasks such as collecting information from enemy countries, counterintelligence, sensing and manipulating domestic and foreign public opinion, and inspections.

– He who controls the Royal Secret Intelligence Agency shall sit on the throne.

No one would disagree with that statement. Due to its significant political importance, the head of the Royal Secret Intelligence Agency is, in reality, a puppet controlled by the former royalist faction.

The recent appointment of Count Milroa, a close confidante of the First Prince, as the Chief Secretary of the Intelligence Department of the Royal Secret Intelligence Agency, signaled that the First Prince had gained a crucial advantage in seizing control of the agency.

With her deep blue bobbed hair and pale skin, exuding an intellectual aura, she spoke without looking up from the document she was reviewing.

“Report.”

“The Fourth Prince has been assassinated.”

“······.”

Upon receiving the report from her subordinate, Milroa paused, put down the document, and retrieved a cigarette case from her jacket pocket.

“When?”

“Immediately after leaving the royal capital.”

“The culprit?”

“······ We are pursuing them.”

They missed them.

“Cause of death?”

“He was shot in the heart with an arrow and died instantly. The arrowhead and fletching are said to be of a style mainly used in the northern region, now part of the Hamel Empire. Rumors are already spreading that it was the work of the Northern Liberation Army.”

Milroa scoffed at the mention of the Northern Liberation Army.

She could easily guess who the real culprit was. It was common knowledge that the Second Prince had abandoned the Fourth Prince as a result of the royal trial. She had been closely monitoring the Second Prince and his inner circle, noticing unusual activity.

Milroa stood up, opened the window, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, exhaled the smoke, and muttered quietly.

“Shit······.”

For the Second Prince to decide on assassination while the Second Queen, who cherished the Fourth Prince, was watching vigilantly…

Honestly, she hadn’t expected it.

Milroa roughly ruffled her deep blue bobbed hair with her left hand.

– It seems you are destined to be king. You have to keep your promise to make me a Grand Duchess when you become king.

– What’s with you all of a sudden? And be mindful of your words when we’re in the palace. No matter how close we’ve been since we were kids, please consider my position.

– What does it matter when it’s just us? That’s not the point. This older sister has stumbled upon a huge case. That bastard, he seems to be a cuckoo’s egg for sure. I can’t wait to see the Second Queen’s expression when this turns out to be true.

She felt a headache thinking about what to say to her friend, the First Prince.

‘I was too cautious.’

The collected evidence was enough to bring down the Second Queen.

All that was needed was to find the decisive evidence that the Fourth Prince was not of royal blood. She was going to tear at their throats all at once when the whole picture was complete!

‘I should have just used Barisada.’

[Barisada]: The anti-demon sword made by the founding king of Lionel, who subjugated the anti-demon race called ‘Barisada,’ using its corpse and his own blood as materials.

Only those with the blood of the royal family can draw the sword from its scabbard.

The problem is that the trial of Barisada is forcibly imposed.

Those who fail to pass have their mana in their entire body go berserk, becoming unable to wield magic ever again.

That’s why [Barisada] is called an anti-demon sword and is only used for ceremonial purposes.

‘That good-for-nothing bastard definitely wouldn’t have been able to draw the sword.’

Milroa was 99% sure that the Fourth Prince was a cuckoo’s egg [illegitimate child].

If, just if, the Fourth Prince became crippled because of Barisada, the political backlash against the First Prince’s camp would be enormous.

Because of that 1% slim possibility, she had pushed the plan using Barisada to the back burner.

She regretted it madly at this moment.

Now it was over.

Even if Barisada was placed in the hands of the Fourth Prince, who would return as a cold corpse, the First Prince’s camp would only look like a group of thugs.

‘Wouldn’t it be okay to reveal the letters between the Second Queen and her lover?’

No.

This was the Second Prince, who had already decided to assassinate the Fourth Prince. Even if he was only half-blooded, he had already severed the ties of kinship. Such a viper-like guy could even devour his own mother.

And he would declare:

“My mother proved her innocence by taking her own life in the face of the cruel slander of the First Prince’s group!”

“The Second Prince’s shadows are quite capable, more than I thought.”

They were the guys who had learned the secrets of the Arya Kingdom, right? The fact that they boldly assassinated the Fourth Prince meant that they had realized that she was digging up information to expose the Second Queen.

‘I was always just chasing after their tails, so I was careless and got hit hard.’

How did they notice?

She had definitely taken every precaution.

On top of that, they even used the ghost prince of Emerald Palace with such cuteness.

‘Fifth Prince, Evan Lionel······.’

Recently, various reports about him had been coming in.

She had been so focused on uncovering the secret of the Fourth Prince’s birth that she had neglected the finer details, which was a mistake.

The price was so painful.

‘The only thing I gained was a rift between the Second Prince and the Second Queen, I guess.’

Sss- Haa-

Milroa stubbed out the cigarette she had smoked to the filter in the ashtray and looked at the subordinate who had reported.

“Withdraw all the guys who are screwing around in the Arya Kingdom.”

“Understood.”

“Ah! And see if there’s anything to dig up on the Fifth Prince and his surroundings.”

***

My sister visited Emerald Palace.

I had a chat with her over the tasteless tea and sweet cookies that Alphonso brought out.

“I heard the Second Queen, who fainted, still hasn’t woken up.”

“Her youngest, whom she cherished so much, has passed away, so it’s understandable.”

The Fourth Prince, Arkad, who was being exiled to the pirates’ prison, Seokham Island in the east, returned to the royal palace as a cold corpse.

The funeral was held yesterday.

For some reason, I felt like I had to see his end, so I watched the funeral from afar, unnoticed by the Second Queen.

“I heard the Secret Intelligence Agency and the Second Knights are tracking down the culprit, so it will be noisy for a while.”

“I suppose so.”

I almost burst out laughing at the mention of the Second Knights.

Is it the culprit’s family tracking down the culprit?

No, it could be the culprit himself.

“There’s a rumor going around that the culprit is the ‘Northern Liberation Army,’ but you don’t seem very interested.”

My sister’s gaze towards me was strange. Soon, her gaze turned to the pendant hanging around my neck.

[Radiant Iana], my mother’s keepsake that protects the wearer from evil spirits and various curses.

I’m used to that kind of gaze now.

Thank you, Mother. If it weren’t for this, I would have already been caught by the priests and suffered terrible hardships.

I smiled bitterly and opened my mouth.

“That’s right. Evan Lionel.”

“······ I’m sorry. Suddenly, you’ve grown so much taller, and in many ways, you don’t seem like the Evan I knew, so it felt unfamiliar.”

“It’s because we haven’t seen each other often. Oh, Sister, you were also interested in tea ceremony, right?”

I changed the subject to break the awkward atmosphere.

We laughed and talked about how to get Alphonso to brew delicious tea, and time passed quickly.

“It’s already this late. I’ll come again next time.”

“Take care.”

After my sister left, Alphonso cleared the tea table and grumbled softly.

“Hey, what’s wrong with the tea I brewed? It tastes good.”

“You tasted it before bringing it out?”

“Of course!”

It wasn’t that he couldn’t brew tea. His sense of taste was unique. We hardly ever ate together, so I hadn’t noticed it until now.

“Oh, how’s the new kitchen assistant?”

As soon as I kicked out the maid who made [Poisoned Milk] from Emerald Palace, the royal trial case broke out.

The kitchen staff was so dissatisfied with the lack of manpower that some even had their relationships deteriorate.

Fortunately, a new maid was assigned the day after the trial ended.

“She’s adapting very well.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

My only attendant, Alphonso, wields great influence over the personnel matters of Emerald Palace.

Just look at how he immediately kicked out the kitchen assistant who was the culprit from Emerald Palace the day I found out the milk was poisoned.

He takes care of things on his own, so I don’t bother getting involved.

‘It’s been a year since he became my attendant.’

It’s unbelievable. 20 years is too fast.

As expected, you have to ride the right line [choose the winning side].

Well······ Alphonso knows, and I know, how flimsy the line of being the Fifth Prince’s only attendant is. However, to other people in the royal palace who don’t know that, it’s no different from him grabbing a golden rope [a great opportunity].

– The Second Prince has taken the Fifth Prince into his arms.

That’s the rumor circulating in the royal palace these days.

To those who don’t know the progress of the royal trial, it would naturally seem that way.

And.

‘He’s actually trying to do that.’

I took out the gift sent by the Second Prince from my pocket. A small object the size of my hand.

I tapped it with my ghost hand.

━━━━━━━━━━━━×

[Tellistone]

Grade: Rare

Can communicate with other Tellistones using magic codes.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

It’s like a walkie-talkie.

Even those who can’t handle magic can easily use it if they know how. The communication range varies greatly depending on the manufacturer, but I’ve heard that the one I received can cover the entire royal palace.

‘Is it a gift or a shackle [restraint]?’

I frowned and put the Tellistone back in my pocket.

Funnily enough, the incident where the Second Prince abandoned the good-for-nothing Fourth Prince and cleared my name played a role in raising his approval rating among the nobles.

Of course, there were also those who looked at the Second Prince with suspicion as Arkad, who was being exiled, returned as a cold corpse.

Suddenly, his appearance at the funeral came to mind.

His face seemed calm, but in the meantime, a single tear of a crocodile [insincere grief] flowed down. If he had been born on Earth, he would have made a name for himself as a great actor. Even I was briefly suspicious that he might be genuinely sad.

With that one tear, more than a hundred words, the rumor pointing to the Second Prince as the mastermind behind the Fourth Prince’s assassination disappeared.

At least on the surface.

I decided to stop worrying about the headache and opened the [List of People]. I looked at the green names arranged in ‘Relationship’ order with satisfaction.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━×

[Anette Lionel]

[Alphonso Einberg]

[Reina Jeanne]

.

.

.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It feels like looking at a stock chart with rising prices.

The color of Alphonso and Reina’s names is much darker compared to others with ‘Friendly’ relationships. Almost similar to my sister, who is in a ‘Trust’ relationship.

I don’t know why Reina, who almost got stuck with the blame thanks to Arkad’s scheme, is showing me favor.

Did she fall in love?

I know it’s a ridiculous thought. I’m only 13 years old, and my Adam’s apple is just getting thicker. I can’t understand it at all, so that’s all I can think of.

‘Alphonso overtook Reina.’

Another question is Alphonso.

His favorability rating started to increase rapidly during the royal trial. Before I knew it, he had taken second place.

‘Well, it wouldn’t be bad to have a good relationship.’

Thinking that, I got up from my chair and went to the window.

And.

‘Those guys.’

I couldn’t help but frown when I discovered the Secret Intelligence Agency members walking proudly along the garden path that Alphonso had worked so hard to sweep and wipe clean.

The symbol of the Royal Secret Intelligence Agency is a golden lion with three eyes roaring. The golden lions on their epaulettes all had their eyes closed.

Royal Secret Intelligence Agency Inspection Department.

Those who can stick their fangs into even the same royal palace members without hesitation.

‘Why suddenly the Inspection Department?’

Knock, knock.

“Your Highness, I’m back.”

It’s Alphonso!