Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 34

034

Barona Square in the Kingdom’s Capital.

Though deserted when the hearing began, the square was now packed with a bustling crowd, with barely any room to step. All eyes were glued to the hearing being projected by the magic projector.

“The Necronomicon [a fictional grimoire or textbook of magic], it was found in Count Beortio’s mansion, correct?”

“…That is correct.”

Evan looked around at the crowd after hearing the Inquisitor’s answer. He felt as if he made eye contact with everyone gathered in the square. They swallowed nervously, their throats parched with tension.

“Could there be any greater evidence than this?”

The square fell silent.

“No! That’s not true! It was you! You sent it to me!”

“So, this pig-like woman turned my hometown into such a state, and now she’s trying to ruin the entire kingdom? Is that what’s happening?”

A middle-aged woman with thick waist fat roared, her voice drowning out Beortio’s screams. Judging by her accent and what she was saying, she was definitely from the North [a region likely suffering due to Beortio’s actions].

“Hey, lady, be careful. She’s royalty, royalty. What if the Capital Defense Command arrests you?”

Her husband hurriedly tried to cover her mouth.

“Let go! Even if I get arrested, I have to say what needs to be said. People! This damned woman killed my parents, relatives, and siblings!”

“That bitch!”

“Execute her immediately!”

“Uwaaaaaaa!”

In an instant, the square turned into a chaotic mess. People were ready to storm the royal palace, demanding Beortio’s immediate execution.

“W-wait, everyone, calm down!”

“Stop them! Stop them! Calm the people down!”

“Kuaaak! Reinforcements! We need reinforcements!”

The Public Peace Forces never imagined such a large crowd would gather. The manpower they had deployed was woefully inadequate to control the enraged crowd.

On the roof of a three-story mansion overlooking the square,

Austin, wearing a fox mask, watched the excited crowd.

The middle-aged woman who had first shouted in the square and her husband were quietly slipping away through the crowd.

Austin watched them, recalling the conversation he had with the Fifth Prince.

– Do you really think people will believe that Beortio was trying to drag the kingdom into the abyss of hell to that extent?

– Austin, the public is not as wise as you think. Just mobilize a few shills [people paid to promote a particular idea or cause]. And watch. You’ll understand what I mean.

“Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!”

“Kuaaaak! Everyone, calm down!”

“Don’t push! Don’t push!”

It really turned out as the Fifth Prince had said.

– Later, the Theocracy [the ruling religious body] or the First Prince’s faction might reveal that many of the Fifth Prince’s claims were false. Especially the part about assassinating the Fourth Prince. No matter how I think about it, the evidence we fabricated is not enough.

– It’s fine. By then, most of the kingdom’s citizens won’t care who the real culprit behind the Fourth Prince’s assassination was. And even if problems arise, it won’t matter much.

– What do you mean?

– As always, people are more interested in current events than past ones.

– Are you saying… you’re going to cause another incident?

– I’d like to avoid such things if possible. I’m suffering significant losses in many ways.

– Losses?

– There are such things.

‘What could it be? What losses did the Fifth Prince suffer? And where does that information come from…’

Austin wondered.

Beortio’s schedule and the movements of her guards.

The secret warehouse that even the servants didn’t know about.

The fleeting moment when the mansion’s security was lax.

Most of all, the fact that Beortio wanted the Necronomicon.

He had suspected that the Fifth Prince had somehow entered her mind.

Thanks to the information Evan provided, the Northern Liberation Army was able to create evidence to drive Beortio away without any losses.

‘The Fifth Prince, he’s a truly terrifying person.’

– If you’re that anxious, there is a way. Now that I think about it, this would be cleaner than creating a new incident.

– What is it?

“Fifth Prince! You, you- Kuaaaa!”

Beortio screamed at the hearing. Black veins began to protrude grotesquely from her face and body.

“Kill her! Kill he…?”

“Calm down! Calm do…?”

The shouts echoing in the square stopped abruptly.

The excited Barona citizens and the Public Peace Forces trying to stop them all stared blankly at Beortio projected by the magic projector.

“Oh my, look! Her contract with the demons has fallen apart!”

The middle-aged woman who was leaving the square shouted loudly one last time and disappeared without a trace.

– The dead tell no tales.

Austin watched Beortio, who had transformed grotesquely and was gasping for air, deeply engraving in his mind that he should never cross the Fifth Prince.

***

Back in the orphanage in his previous life.

Even on hot summer nights when it was hard to breathe due to the tropical heat, he would turn off all the fans before going to sleep. This was because of news reports that you could die if you slept with a fan on.

Even after he grew older, he believed it was true for a while.

And when he told some of his acquaintances the truth about the fan myth, about half of them didn’t believe him. Each one of them was quite smart, but still.

– The public is foolish.

At that time, he realized that those words were true.

“Keuk! Keuk! Cough!”

“Save her! Save her no matter what!”

“I-it’s too late!”

The hearing hall had become a scene of chaos.

The Inquisitors were pouring divine power into Beortio, who was streaming black blood from every pore, in an attempt to save her.

It was a futile effort.

Healing with divine power is not omnipotent. Even if it 극단적으로 [extremely] boosts a person’s natural healing power, if the power trying to devour life is stronger, it only prolongs the time of suffering.

The spiritual capsule that Beortio had taken this morning contained a poison different from the original ingredients, a poison so potent that three or four high-ranking priests would have to be present to save her.

It was a poison passed down to a minority tribe’s shaman [a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits] in the Eastern Continent, which takes over a month to reach by ship beyond the Arya Kingdom.

He didn’t know if the true nature of the poison would be revealed later. For now, he would bet that it wouldn’t.

Considering the original melting speed of the capsule, the reaction should have come about an hour later, while the Inquisitors were escorting her. He was a little embarrassed that things had happened sooner than expected.

“N-not me…”

“Don’t close your eyes! Live!”

In the local area, the shaman uses it to make an unpopular political rival into a ‘human cursed by evil spirits.’

As such, Beortio’s appearance was miserable.

To what extent… well, it was similar to the end of a contractor who had received a gift from a demon but failed to fulfill the contract.

“Ugh, uweeueewgh.”

“Ugh! That human is so disgusting!”

Some of those gathered in the hearing hall with weak stomachs were nauseated by the disgust.

“N-not me- Keuk!”

“No!!”

Despite the Inquisitors’ desperate efforts, Beortio’s movements stopped.

“S-she’s dead.”

“L-Lord Lawrence.”

How desperate he was, the man leading the Inquisitors, named Lawrence, had his cowl [a hood or hooded cloak] of his cleric robes pulled off, and his blonde hair, which would have shaken the carelessness of many women, was soaked with sweat and disheveled.

With a look of exhaustion, he turned his head sharply and glared at Evan.

「Relationship with Lawrence Firenze has worsened dramatically.」

One of the countless notifications flashing in the corner of his vision was particularly noticeable.

‘So what.’

The Theocracy’s Inquisitors have the authority to search even the king without notice, but they do not have the authority to investigate the death of a royal family member due to a power struggle.

If they want to, they’ll have to link him to a demon…

‘Try it if you can.’

He stared at Lawrence with such eyes.

Soon, he bit his lip and turned his head towards what used to be Beortio’s corpse.

Evan also looked at what was Beortio. It was the first time he had actually seen someone die in connection with him. Moreover, she was the target he had directly manipulated.

He was more calm than he thought.

She was a person who deserved to die. While investigating using [Library], he had even felt murderous intent towards Beortio’s inhuman actions.

Her drawing blood to the limit resulted in the deaths of someone’s daughters, sisters, and younger siblings by the cartload. A special thing she ate several times a year…

Let’s stop, he felt nauseous.

“Chairman Bert. I will… take the body.”

“Do so.”

The Inquisitors took what was Beortio and left the hearing hall. Before leaving through the door, Lawrence looked at Evan one last time.

– I’ll see you again someday.

That’s what his eyes seemed to say.

Evan shook his head firmly. He was too busy surviving in the royal palace to get involved with religious orders. He felt a little sorry for using them, so he planned to repay them someday if he had the chance.

‘Although I don’t know if that opportunity will come.’

After the Inquisitors disappeared, the chaotic hearing hall calmed down to some extent.

He looked around at the 29 councilors looking at him, and the people sitting in the audience. Their eyes had changed.

– It’s you.

– You did it.

– You devoured Beortio, didn’t you?

Everyone was asking him that, even if they didn’t say it out loud.

Inside, he applauded wildly.

As expected, those sitting on the Royal Committee are different. Unlike the foolish public, they noticed what he had done. Did they enjoy his little show?

Of course, he didn’t give them any answers on the outside.

He glanced at the notification window in the corner of his vision, which was piling up like crazy.

「Relationship with Alberto Rion has worsened.」

「Relationship with Ricardo Rion has improved.」

「Relationship with Soleon Rion is…」

‘I can’t figure this out.’

There were some councilors from the First Prince’s faction whose relationship had improved, while there were some from the Second Prince and neutral factions whose relationship had worsened.

Even if they were laughing and joking as if they were on the same side, their inner thoughts seemed to be different. He realized once again what kind of place the royal palace was.

He only looked at the important people’s notifications.

First of all… judging from the fact that there was no notification about Count Clian, he didn’t seem to have any particular mental changes. Even if there were, it didn’t seem to be enough to change the relationship.

「Relationship with Miloa Cristi has worsened dramatically.」

He nodded at the notification about Count Miloa. It would have been more questionable if it had improved.

The most important person is…

「Relationship with Bert Rion has improved.」

‘Thank goodness.’

That thought flashed through his mind first. Honestly, he was a little worried that Beortio had died at the hearing rather than being dragged away to the Theocracy.

He was worried that he would be misunderstood as a snake-like person.

He looked at Councilor Bert.

He was stroking his chin and observing Evan. He couldn’t read at all what he was thinking. It was different from his son, the Third Knight Commander Gert.

Did Gert, who answered every word he threw with an expression, change like that when he stepped down as Knight Commander and entered central politics?

Imagining that made him a little funny and scary.

***

12 in favor, 15 against, 2 abstentions.

Miloa gnashed her teeth as she looked at the voting results on the invalidation of Evan’s immunity from arrest.

The Royal Committee members who supported the First Prince looked at her with expressions that said they had done their job and left the hearing hall.

Miloa growled softly at Count Clian, who was sitting next to her.

“Fifth Prince, can you handle it?”

“…It wasn’t a butterfly or a moth.”

A meaningless statement.

Miloa frowned. Clian ignored her and muttered softly.

“…It was a viper.”

Miloa couldn’t understand how this situation had happened. She was planning to conduct a thorough investigation as soon as she left the hearing hall.

One thing was certain.

She also agreed with the word ‘viper’ that Clian had just uttered.

‘You shouldn’t touch it carelessly.’

The Fifth Prince, the Northern Liberation Army, and the six neutral councilors.

When viewed separately, they were nothing special, but when put together, they formed the shape of a viper with sharp fangs.

The situation was completely different now than it was five years ago, when the aristocratic faction was tightly united, and now that the First and Second Princes were divided into factions.

Depending on how you tame that viper, you can inflict fatal wounds on the other party.

‘If we’re going to tame it, we have to do it.’

Or…

‘There’s also a way to agree with the Second Prince and get rid of the viper in advance.’

A sharp light flashed in Miloa’s eyes as she glared at Clian.

Meanwhile.

Evan stood alone in the hearing hall.

「Achievement, ‘I am a prince of this country!’ has been achieved.」

「[Support] has been opened.」

「[General Store] has been opened.」

.

.

.

He was too intrigued by the messages that popped up with a fanfare in front of his eyes to care about Miloa and Clian looking at him from the audience.