The Prime Minister, woken in the middle of the night, sighed upon hearing about the assassination attempt on Cleo.
"His Highness Linus was too hasty, it seems."
To deal with a small fry like Cleo before fighting a formidable enemy like Calvin.
That must have been his intention.
But the result was a complete mess.
He attempted an assassination, failed, and was struck down in return.
Linus was competent and had managed his faction well.
He wasn't a fool, but this incident has all but sealed his future reputation.
There's no coming back from this, and his chances of becoming Crown Prince have vanished.
More importantly, there was something else on the Prime Minister's mind.
"—Just who was it that moved a Sword Saint?"
There are currently four Sword Saints recognized by the Empire.
Someone sent one of them to assassinate Cleo.
It wasn't the Prime Minister, of course.
It's conceivable that the Sword Saint cooperated with the assassination in pursuit of glory, but it's suspicious that a swordsman who seeks strength would desire power to that extent.
The report states the Sword Saint carried out the assassination on his own judgment, but it's highly likely someone ordered him to.
The Prime Minister's lips curled into a smile as he looked at the report.
"Still, I never imagined he would be this strong."
Liam had defeated one of the Empire's recognized Sword Saints.
He is Cleo's greatest supporter.
It's said that he drew his sword and fought to protect Cleo.
The Prime Minister began to change his clothes.
When he touched his wristwatch, his nightclothes instantly transformed into his work attire.
"Well now, things are about to get busy."
The palace must be in an uproar.
Not because of the Cleo assassination attempt.
But because of the downfall of the Second Prince—Linus.
◇
A night has passed since the incident—and even after noon, I was still stuck inside the palace.
I've been under interrogation since last night.
The location is something like a conference room, but since I'm the next Duke—currently a Count—they've prepared a lavish one for me.
It's an interrogation where I sit on a plush chair, sipping tea served by a handmaiden.
I'm surrounded not only by high-ranking officials but also by knights and soldiers who work in the palace.
I can't relax like this.
"—Hey, is lunch ready yet? I came all the way to the palace, so you should at least serve a full-course meal."
And besides, just one handmaiden? How thoughtless.
If you're going to have someone attend to me, bring more beautiful women. By the dozen.
You're dealing with a Count, you know!
A high-ranking official—a dignitary—was getting irritated with my attitude.
"Count Banfield, do you understand what happened last night?"
A member of the royal family was nearly assassinated in the palace—hearing that alone sounds like a major incident, but in this world, bloody conflicts are a daily occurrence within the palace.
Besides, we call it a palace, but it's an entire continent.
It's no wonder incidents happen every day.
"What's all the fuss about something like this? It's business as usual, isn't it?"
"Don't you realize what a major incident this is!?"
Facing the official who was telling me to show some understanding, I elegantly sipped my tea.
Anyway, these officials and soldiers gathered to question me—aren't their ranks a bit low? Bring someone more important.
I feel like I'm being slighted, which completely drains my motivation.
"Hah... More importantly, I have a lecture this afternoon. Hurry up and get this over with."
The official clutched his head at my attitude.
"The Second Prince's future is at stake. I must ask you to take this more seriously."
"That's terrible. I was just getting worried about that myself."
"—How can you say that with a straight face?"
"Because it's what I truly feel."
No, I really was worried about His Highness Linus.
As a pitiful man who misunderstood and picked a fight with the wrong person.
I'm glad he had such a short temper.
It would have been more troublesome if he'd come at me with a direct approach.
It would have taken time, and I was planning to drag out the succession dispute, but—thanks to Linus, one rival has been eliminated.
By Linus himself, no less.
It might be a huge deal for these guys, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a closed case.
The Second Prince, Linus—he's a finished man.
He was no match for me.
I never felt like I would lose in the first place.
It was like kicking an annoying pebble on the side of the road and sending it rolling.
Normally, I wouldn't have even bothered with an interrogation.
Well, no matter how this plays out, my victory is certain, so this is just a form of showboating.
I'm just humoring these palace folks.
"By the way."
"Yes?"
I asked the official a question.
"Who do I submit my application to become a Sword Saint?"
The title of Sword Saint is more important to me right now than the Linus affair.
"Count! Please stop joking!"
"Joking!? I'm serious. Listen, I have to spread the One-Flash Style to the world. Making it known as the strongest school is how I'll repay Master Yasushi! So, give me the title of Sword Saint."
"What in the world are you saying?"
I may be a villain, but I intend to repay the favors I've received.
My master took good care of me.
But the world insists on seeing the One-Flash Style as a minor school of swordsmanship.
In that case, I have no choice but to spread it myself.
I must make it known that the One-Flash Style is the strongest school.
"Alright. Then bring me the remaining three Sword Saints. If I defeat all three, the Empire will have to recognize me as a Sword Saint, right?"
The official clutched his head in front of me.
◇
Past noon.
Linus sat slumped over in a spacious room, the nobles having already left.
Until a moment ago, the nobles of his faction had gathered for a strategy meeting.
But Linus just laughed weakly.
"'Don't give up yet,' they say. What a joke. —It's over for me."
He was aware of the nobles' feigned concern, but he didn't even have the energy to be angry now.
Linus wasn't incompetent.
He never thought he could make a comeback from this.
"I misjudged Cleo. No, I underestimated that brat—Liam. My defeat is undoubtedly his fault."
I dismissed him as some kid acting tough in the frontier, and that was my mistake.
I should have either crushed him with all my might from the start or done whatever it took to bring him to my side.
If—if he had known this would be the outcome, Linus would have bowed his own head to recruit Liam into his faction.
Such hypotheticals were meaningless, but Linus couldn't help but wonder.
Where did I go wrong?
It was, without a doubt, the moment I approached Liam.
"—The Prime Minister's prediction was right. That man has been pulling the Empire's strings from the shadows for years, after all."
As he muttered this, a man slowly materialized from the floor.
He wasn't kneeling; instead, he held a bottle of liquor in his hand.
A masked man—a man he knew well.
Linus laughed.
"Are you the one who's come to kill me?"
He was a member of the organization Linus had allied with.
"Your Highness Linus, you are no longer of any use. Our new master is deeply pained by this incident. We have been instructed to—resolve it immediately."
Linus leaned back against the sofa.
He looked at the liquor the masked man was holding.
"That's my favorite liquor. How thoughtful of you."
The masked man seemed disappointed by Linus's unusually calm demeanor.
"You're not going to cry and scream?"
"I've already made a complete fool of myself. From now on, I'll be counted among the fools in the palace's history. So, I'd at least like to look dignified in my final moments. I'll get a glass, just wait a moment."
He touched the wall of the room, and a mechanism activated, causing a shelf to emerge from the wall.
It held not only tableware but also a selection of liquors.
There were even snacks.
"This goes well with this liquor."
As Linus calmly prepared to drink, the masked man opened the bottle.
Linus expressed his disappointment.
"So you're my drinking partner for my last drink. I considered this possibility a few times."
Linus had the man pour him a glass, downed it in one gulp, and then held out the glass to be refilled.
While eating a snack, he questioned the masked man.
"Tell me two things as a souvenir for the afterlife. From your perspective, who is the man worthy of being Emperor? My elder brother? Or Cleo?"
The masked man chuckled softly.
"As you are now, Your Highness, you might have been worthy of being His Majesty the Emperor."
Hearing this, Linus drank his liquor in good spirits.
"I'll take that compliment at face value. Now then—who was pulling the strings behind this incident?"
To his second question, the masked man replied.
"Not revealing the identity of our client is part of the job."
"Right—so it was."
A smile appeared on Linus's face as he closed his eyes and, as if falling asleep, drew his last breath.
The masked man said.
"Truly, if you had shown this side of yourself sooner, things might not have turned out this way."
The assassination attempt instigated by a foolish prince was officially closed—with the story that he had confessed to all his crimes and then taken his own life.
◇
A week had passed since the assassination attempt.
In the still-unsettled palace, I was meeting with His Highness Cleo.
"Your Highness, you seem to be in low spirits."
"Do I? Well, I suppose so."
He wasn't exactly sulking, but he seemed dejected.
Is he going to be okay like this?
Good people are so useless, getting depressed just because the person who tried to kill them is dead.
Apparently, they can't just think of it as 'the enemy is defeated, case closed'.
His Highness Cleo began to speak to me.
"I have few memories with my brother Linus. But—I heard from a servant who was sent by my brother as a spy."
"Did they say anything?"
"He looked down on me, but apparently, he also pitied me. I can't help but think that if I had done nothing, my brother would never have moved to assassinate me."
How kind of him.
But kindness is meaningless.
I also experienced a terrible betrayal in my past life, and at the time, I tried to convince myself that I was also at fault.
I endured the unreasonable treatment.
And in the end, the villains just turned me into a laughingstock.
"His Highness Linus was the one who tried to kill you first. There's no need to trouble yourself over it. Besides, if you lose, you're next. If you don't like it, you have no choice but to fight."
His Highness Cleo looked at me.
"You are strong, Count. So strong—that you probably can't understand the feelings of the weak."
What thorny words.
But let me say this.
I understand the feelings of the weak very well.
After all, I was one of the weak in my past life.
A weakling who was used and abused by villains.
The thought of that self makes me sick.
"I understand the feelings of the weak better than anyone. Even the weak will become takers if they get the chance. You seem to sanctify the weak, Your Highness. —Being weak is a sin in itself."
His Highness Cleo narrowed his eyes at me.
"I don't think someone born strong could possibly understand."
"I understand it better than you, at least."
Just as I called him 'you,' Tia arrived to serve us.
And she reported to me.
"Let's change the tea. Also, Lord Brian back in the territory said he wished to speak with you, Lord Liam."
She was probably telling me to take a break.
I stood up from my seat.
"Summoning me so casually. If it weren't Brian, it'd be an execution."
And with that, I left the room.
◇
His conversation interrupted, Cleo looked at Tia.
"I was rude to the Count. I should apologize later."
He thought Tia, who respected Liam, would surely be angry.
But Tia was just giggling to herself.
"Is something the matter?"
Tia looked at the door through which Liam had just left.
"Your Highness Cleo, how much do you know about the Banfield family?"
"I've heard that Lord Liam improved the territory's poor financial situation starting from when he was a child. Was it thanks to securing a resource satellite with a large deposit of rare metals?"
That was probably the public's assessment of Liam.
Everyone only evaluated Liam's current power and military strength.
They also said his domain's management recovered thanks to the rare metals.
"I saw it in the records myself, but Lord Liam inherited the title of Count when he was five years old."
"—I've heard there are nobles who push their domains onto their children. But to think it really happens."
The sheltered Cleo was surprised that the rumors were true.
After all, his interactions with the nobility had only just begun.
The main nobles who formed his faction were mostly stern-faced but were a serious type of lord.
The topic of forcing a domain onto a child never came up.
"The situation back then was apparently terrible. They squeezed taxes from the people, forced them into hard labor, and worked them to death. When that wasn't enough for their luxuries, they even went into debt. I was stunned when I saw the records. I thought, 'Can people really sink this low?'"
"That's a terrible story. But it's also a story one hears often here. I've only ever heard about it, but is it really true?"
"It is true. It's unthinkable in Lord Liam's domain now, but on many planets within the Empire, the people are suffering."
Tia's heart ached as she fantasized about how Liam must have felt seeing such a domain.
"What must the noble Lord Liam have thought upon seeing such a domain? Even if his own life was difficult, he lived frugally for decades. The young Lord Liam must have been a lovely, beautiful boy! Cuter, more admirable, and more precious than he is now—that Lord Liam endured a life of bitter poverty to develop his domain! He even trained himself to be strong, gaining the power to defeat a Sword Saint—Oh my, I can't stop drooling!"
Imagining the young Liam, she lamented, "If only I had been by his side at that time!"
Cleo averted his gaze from Tia.
He felt that not looking was an act of kindness.
(The Count's knights are a strange bunch.)
She was competent, but Tia was a disappointing knight.
Her fantasy apparently over, Tia apologized, saying, "My apologies," and Cleo looked back at her.
"Well, what I wanted to say is that Lord Liam was the 'weak' that you spoke of, Your Highness. No, his position was even weaker than you imagine."
Cleo looked down.
"—I see. I said something terrible to the Count."
(So he's lived a harsher life than I imagined. He must not have been able to forgive my careless words.)
Cleo reflected on this and apologized to Liam when he returned.
Brian (*´ω`) "Lord Liam was so cute when he was little."
Brian (;^ω^) "But I can't get the image of Lord Liam being held by Amagi and groping her chest out of my head."