What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 779

If You Could Look Inside the Seed of Time (5)

Elise Phenetian stared at the lump of bread in Frederick Liester’s hand for a long time.

“Swallow it.”

“······.”

It had a simple shape that she had never seen in the Imperial Palace she had visited before.

A bread that smelled only of flour and yeast, as if two small, round doughs were attached to each other.

In the maze-like, deep, and confusing Memphis, the armies of the two countries had formed a de facto alliance.

Just like the shape of this bread. Now their enemy was the same.

At least for the few hours that the Sneider rebels stopped their stone bomb attacks and reorganized their ranks.

“Reserving physical strength and maintaining health is also the duty of a monarch.”

“······.”

The young man’s eyes, which had been darkly sunken like a deep-sea volcano, barely sparked a small flame at those words.

Leaning against a rock, Elise chewed the bread she received from the Emperor like tough rubber.

There wasn’t even a decent piece of cheese, let alone jam, but she wasn’t the type to care about such things.

Rather, it would be desirable to reduce unnecessary waste when she couldn’t taste anything.

Elise thought so, staring blankly into the air. The Emperor silently looked at her profile.

“Have some water too.”

“······I was born with fire attribute, so I don’t enjoy water.”

“Yes, just like my son.”

“······.”

The excuse didn’t work. This time, Frederick handed over a golden canteen.

Elise’s knights, hidden in the bushes across the street, were looking this way with anxious eyes.

The Crown Princess forced herself to chew the bread and drank the Emperor’s water.

“Cough, cough, cough! This is, this is alcohol······!”

“Tsk, so vulnerable to shock.”

Elise, surprised by the unexpected harsh taste, coughed loudly.

In an instant, all the colors of the world flashed on her retina, and her head, which had been dazed as if drugged, snapped awake.

At the same time, the heads of the knights popped up here and there from the dark bushes.

The Crown Princess quickly raised one hand to let them know she was safe.

The Imperial Guard was also watching this side with worried eyes.

Frederick chuckled and waited for Elise to calm down.

The young man was ashamed of himself for being surprised like a novice at just one sip of wine, and bit his lip.

Soon, a rough voice flowed from the middle-aged man’s lips.

“You must not be flustered by unexpected changes.”

“······.”

“Act as if you knew everything, and speak as if you had already seen through all the answers. A ruler should do so.”

“······How can I do that?”

Elise asked in a choked voice. The darkness of the forest remained cold throughout.

She was feeling a strange nostalgia at the point just before the capital of the Shin-guk.

Strangely, she kept thinking that she wanted to go back ‘home’.

Such a place might not have existed in the first place.

She was angry at herself for being caught up in weak thoughts at a time when she needed to become stronger than anyone else.

“It’s no different from handling a sword or spear. You have no choice but to train for a long time.”

“What if no one has trained me?”

“······.”

Blue eyes turned to the Emperor.

“My mother went crazy, and my father and aunt are murderers. They killed my brother and thousands of innocent people. The relative I trusted ran away first with death. Who should someone like me ask for guidance?”

“Judith Camingha was looking for a way to atone.”

The Emperor replied in a low voice.

“Of course, I admit that it seems like a cowardly method.”

“······.”

Before the Crown Princess could explode in anger, he did not forget to add a word appropriately.

Elise barely suppressed her breath again.

Frederick’s sunken voice continued to seep into the shadows.

“The Archduke borrowed tobacco from my vassal and said so. The Camingha family has long accumulated sins of prospering in indifference, pretending not to know the curse of the royal family······. This time, he said that he would acknowledge it even if he threw his body.”

“······.”

“It was not a joke. If the Archduke had not blocked Albina’s madness with his whole body, the damage would have been enormous.”

‘A temporary retreat might have been necessary.’ Frederick muttered.

“Why are there only adults who try to repay their sins with death?”

Then Elise’s voice faltered for a moment.

The Emperor listened quietly to the young man’s anger that poured out from then on.

“Why don’t you think about helping those who are alive with life? How are the remaining people supposed to find their way? I also want to be a good monarch. I also want to be a king who is not lacking and is righteous to the people! But no one tells me how, and they just die in front of my eyes!”

“······.”

“The Archduke once said to me. He said that I lived in a cage all my life, and I am a fool who doesn’t even know what that cage looks like. If you let me out of that prison······!”

His throat caught. Elise paused to catch her breath.

Her reddened eyes felt as hot as charcoal.

On the other hand, the Emperor’s eyes did not show any emotion.

“······I showed a lacking figure in front of a noble person. I’m sorry.”

“I admit that you were very unlucky.”

“······.”

“This body was lucky in many ways. I can’t deny that.”

A sigh was mixed at the end of the Emperor’s firm words.

Elise then realized that she was rolling a small stone in her hand.

The golden ether with a subtle beige color was quietly helping Frederick’s composure.

A fresh shock covered the Crown Princess.

The Phenetian Shin-guk did not have the concept of ‘Covenant’, but she could not imagine that two vessels that had become one would be so far apart.

“······.”

How much pain are you enduring while pretending to be okay and playing the role of a monarch?

She asked herself if she could do that too. A satisfactory answer did not come out.

“I sometimes think about the end of the Empire.”

“Yes?”

It was a topic that completely deviated from the conversation so far.

Elise still held Frederick’s canteen and looked at her.

“Someday, a future Liester may not need an Emperor.”

“Suddenly······. Why are you thinking about the destruction of the Empire?”

“I guarantee it won’t be destruction.”

The Emperor chuckled lowly. Elise did not understand her words at all.

“I am the one who stands in the middle of that process and leads my people to live as safely as possible.”

“······.”

“Like the water flowing through the Winite River. So that everything changes as gently as you can’t notice.”

“······The upper reaches of the Winite in the Shin-guk have capricious currents and many rapids.”

“That’s a shame.”

“So I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Excessive upheaval will destroy society.”

“······.”

Finally, cherry-colored eyes looked straight at her.

The Crown Princess engraved the Emperor’s words deeply in her heart like a burn.

“But not all destruction is unnecessary or useless. The ashes of Hwajeon (slash-and-burn farming) will be good fertilizer.”

“······.”

“If you don’t know what to do after leaving the cage, build a new nest.”

“What if I don’t know how to build a nest?”

“Follow scholarship and instinct. Even a small winged animal knows how to make a nest from birth, so there’s no way you, who have learned royal studies, wouldn’t know.”

“······.”

“You must be afraid of burning Phenetian. You know it’s the only way, but you’re terrified and suffering from nightmares.”

“······.”

Soon the Emperor rose from his seat.

The Crown Princess saw Durandal, which was hanging long on her waist. That must be the heaviest sword on the continent.

“If you fail, you will become a tyrant, but if you succeed, you will become a wise ruler.”

“······.”

“Don’t forget that history is watching you. Only that is the power to lift you up now.”

The Emperor had no reason to help the successor to the throne of an enemy country, and interfering in internal affairs was not Frederick’s taste.

In short, it was something close to advice, but it was not a word that encouraged people to the fullest.

But that was enough.

-Step

“This bread.”

“······.”

Suddenly, the Crown Princess called out to the Emperor. She did not look back.

“What’s the name?”

“······Régence.”

He simply answered that and continued to walk through the forest path to command the soldiers again.

Finally, knights in red cloaks appeared from the shadows and served their lord.

Elise stared at the remaining bread and ate it ravenously, like someone who had been starving for days.

Then she emptied the wine that the Emperor had given her in one gulp.

And when the next day dawned, the atmosphere of the royal capital was unusual.

It was a change that was hard for me to not know, as I was staying in the Pantheon and only hearing news from outside.

“All the vigilantes of the royal capital are gathering on Cain Street?”

“That’s right. I heard it’s the first time there’s been so few.”

Jibril Diop answered bluntly and threw a walnut into his mouth.

I quickly asked back.

“What is the scale?”

“At a glance, there are at least hundreds, but I heard that it’s not just those who follow the Valentine family who have gathered. A small number of nobles remaining in the royal capital are also participating. It’s becoming more and more popular.”

“Was there a Raggedy Girl in that group?”

“Yes. Tied with a rope on one side.”

“Ah! Okay, okay. It looks like they’re all going to storm the Sneider Duke’s residence!”

Ms. Gain, who was very excited, muttered, ‘Crazy, I want to see it live.’

I nodded and smiled faintly.

It was worth planting some seeds through Dorothea and the Yepp siblings, Raggedy Girl, and Sir John.

Then the Valentine family will somehow solve the problem of the Fallen Ones, and if they do well, they will be able to involve Werner Phenetian as well.

He will be caught by someone soon anyway. Because he can’t leave the royal capital because of his attachment to King Christana.

Then what’s left is······.

“Ms. Gain, from today, you must visually check the royal castle every three hours.”

“Yes, leave it to me. I’m really good at acting like I’m wandering around the neighborhood and snooping around without anything to do.”

She smiled and tapped under her eyes.

The time has come for our most reliable protagonist to finally use one of her great unique abilities.

At the same time, in the heart of the Phenetian Royal Castle.

“Your Majesty! Christana, Your Majesty, it’s a message from the commander of the Royal Guard!”

“Something really big has happened!”

Teenagers with royal blood ran in a hurry, wearing precious armor.

Christana looked back at the children with a slightly thinner face in the meantime.

The pale faces were too young to experience this yet.