Chapter 103

“They said that if it’s the Saintess’s companion, even a family that staged a rebellion would put their mind at ease.”

“A Duke! Hereis, congratulations!”

Fredrick thoughtlessly blurted out his congratulations, but he immediately shut his mouth upon seeing the protagonist’s darkened expression.

‘It’s only natural for him to be confused.’

Yet, it was a deadly catch-22 that he had no choice but to accept.

This was exactly the method I had devised to force the protagonist into accepting the title.

And that wasn’t all. Now that I had made the protagonist indebted to me, his kind-hearted nature would prevent him from acting rebelliously toward me any longer.

His affection status just so happened to be “Dependence,” it was only a single step away from clearing the quest, and I even possessed a persuasiveness trait on top of that.

Instead of putting on a pointless show trying to change his affection to “Love,” I judged it far better to reinforce his level of dependence.

‘If he can’t even sustain his own life or protect his family without my help, he won’t even dare dream of breaking away from me.’

Well, putting it into words like that made it sound harsh, but to the protagonist, wasn’t I the savior who had pulled him out from the depths of death?

A desire to marry me would surely well up within him. Besides, spouses are originally meant to spend their entire lives helping one another.

“…That’s a lie.”

……? What?

“That’s a lie, isn’t it? Uncle Jeffrey cherished Oscar so much, there is no way that’s true. To say something so absurd just to use me again… Just what kind of benefit do you gain from me becoming a Duke that drives you to do this, Your Holiness?”

-???

-What the?

“H-Hereis! Have you lost your mind?”

“Are you saying you cannot trust my words right now?”

“Please tell me the exact details of the evidence proving Uncle Jeffrey committed treason. Only then will I believe you.”

“……”

“You can’t, can you? Because you made the whole story up.”

‘Am I dreaming?’

Right. The fact that Commander Fredrick was clinging to a wall in the first place was strange.

Furthermore, for the protagonist to distrust me to this extent, it made no sense for his affection level to remain stable without dropping.

……Like hell it is. Maybe it’s because my heart is racing, but my thoughts are drifting way too far into extremes.

Let’s focus.

‘The persuasiveness trait isn’t even triggering at a time like this.’

Frustration welled up deep inside me.

“Sir Hereis! Even so, do you really think the Emperor would blindly believe Her Holiness’s words without a shred of evidence?”

“Ha. She could easily be feeding me a clever mixture of truth and lies. Though I don’t know exactly where the truth ends and the lies begin.”

-Why is the protagonist being so twisted?

-Looks like he finally snapped after holding it in for so long.

It was incredibly flustering to see the protagonist suddenly experience a massive surge in intelligence and stab straight at the core of the issue.

I soothed the protagonist using the gentlest tone I could muster.

“Sir Hereis. I understand your desire to deny reality, but if you reject the title, the ducal house faces complete annihilation.”

“I never realized it until now, but you are remarkably skilled at blackmail, Your Holiness. Especially after creating a situation where the other party has absolutely no choice but to accept.”

Since when did the protagonist know how to sarcasm someone like this?

I felt slighted, but it was also quite surprising.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

It truly seemed the protagonist had no intention of changing his mind.

I could practically hear the sound of our relationship shattering into pieces.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

Since things have already escalated to this point, it’s do or die.

‘I guess there’s no choice left but the absolute last resort.’

It felt like the only option left was to counter him even harder.

Taking a small breath, I opened my mouth.

“I did not realize you placed such absolute trust in Duke Jeffrey. Though you, of all people, shouldn’t be doing that.”

“……”

“Y-Your Holiness…”

Fredrick tried to interject to stop the conversation from spiraling into an emotional confrontation, but I ignored him and pressed on.

“What do you mean by that…?”

“The culprit who murdered your father is Jeffrey Rubel.”

The protagonist’s golden pupils flashed as he glared daggers at me.

It was quite chilling, but he looked more shocked by a topic he had evidently never even considered.

Scowling as if he were thoroughly exhausted by all of this, the protagonist shouted.

“Lies until the very end! Just why… why on earth are you going this far?!”

“He killed his own biological older brother, so why would a nephew pose any challenge? And the evidence is right here.”

I pulled out the ledger and thrust it directly in front of the protagonist.

If I had just done this from the very beginning, things would have been so much easier; I suppose I underestimated the protagonist a bit too much.

“Go ahead, read it carefully and think about it. Think about exactly what kind of choice you are going to make.”

The protagonist stared at me with an expression of utter resignation before he began to read through the ledger. Fredrick, driven by curiosity, stole a glance at it as well.

And then…

“He sent funds to the Knights of the Brishwin Kingdom?! To think he would betray the Empire… Jeffrey Rubel has completely lost his mind!”

“For your information, that ledger was recovered from the Garain County. I kept it in my personal possession until I could be absolutely certain, out of concern that the shock might be too great for you, Sir Hereis.”

“You discovered it in the County? In that case, it might also be connected to that Mother experiment, ah—!”

Fredrick completely threw his situational awareness out the window once again, excitedly hurling curses about someone else’s uncle right in front of their face.

“Of course, this isn’t direct proof that Jeffrey Rubel murdered Robert Rubel. However, do you remember Sera Clock? Sera Clock was the Countess’s minion. The Countess is still in the dungeon, so you are more than welcome to go and verify it yourself.”

“……”

“At any rate, when you piece everything together, it leads to one definitive conclusion.”

I kindly summarized the situation for him.

“Jeffrey Rubel needed the ducal house’s wealth in order to commit treason. If Robert Rubel were gone, the next in line for succession would be Jeffrey Rubel himself. That is why he utilized Sera Clock, his underling who had infiltrated the ducal household, to assassinate Robert Rubel.”

Well, a good portion of it was still purely conjectural, but it was a thoroughly plausible story.

I had to push him into a corner completely before the protagonist could actually set out to verify the facts himself.

I drove the final nail into the coffin.

“I will ask you one last time. Is your mind still unchanged?”

Ding!

“Ah~ What do you mean, ‘what do you do’? Obviously you gotta do it.”

-LMAO

-Doesn’t seem like a lie though?

-Go for it.

“I’m kind of curious to see what happens if we reject it. Will the family line really be wiped out?”

-It’s a high-risk choice for sure.

-Should we give it a shot?

“No, what do you mean give it a shot? Look at the Saintess’s eyes. They’ve flipped a full 180 degrees. If we don’t humor her, it really feels like we’re cruising straight into a Bad Ending.”

-The protagonist did push his luck way too much though LOL

-FR, if he doesn’t listen this time either, I feel like she’s gonna straight up bury him.

-It’s only natural for her to be pissed off.

-I was the one sweating bullets here.

“Yeah, plus the Saintess even showed us the evidence. The protagonist seems convinced too.”

-Honestly, don’t you just want to become a Duke yourself?

“Ah, did you catch me? Ahaha, well, having a high social status is nice, after all!”

-LMAO

-Talk about ambitious.

-Can’t pass up on becoming a Duke, honestly.

Mo Je-won was about to press the button when he continued speaking as if suddenly remembering something.

“But you know, I didn’t expect the culprit who killed the protagonist’s father to be revealed right here.”

-I thought so too, but now that someone with that nickname said it, it feels like it’s not the case.

-But for real, it was a bit predictable.

“It is a pretty classic cliché, after all. Family members fighting each other to take over the house.”

-FR, usually the person who stands to gain the most has the highest chance of being the culprit.

-But then why did he ambush the Saintess?

-I still don’t get the reason why he sent funds to the Brishwin Kingdom either.

“Well, there’s still way too many things that haven’t been revealed yet.”

Mo Je-won said while shrugging his shoulders.

-It’s obvious. Isn’t it just plain greed?

-Guess he was power-hungry.

“Once we catch the Duke and interrogate him, everything will come to light~ Anyway, let’s keep going~”

As time passed, completely contrasting a visibly excited Mo Je-won, the protagonist wore a thoroughly miserable expression.

“…I will do it.”

I had been incredibly tense up until the very moment before Mo Je-won pressed the button, but as soon as the protagonist’s confirmation dropped, I clenched my fists without realizing it.

‘We’ve crossed one major mountain.’

Now there really is only one single step left until the ending.

“Ahem! I shall take my leave now. I need to track down Jeffrey Rubel as quickly as possible, too! Oh boy, things just got busy.”

Fredrick, who was forcing the corners of his mouth up into a troubled expression, looked like he wanted nothing more than to flee this suffocating room immediately.

But wait, what did he mean by that?

“What do you mean you need to track down Jeffrey Rubel?”

“Ah, did I not mention it? It seems Duke Jeffrey somehow caught wind of the situation and vanished without a trace. So we have to search for him from now on. Well, it is bound to be a difficult journey. His Majesty always dumps the most massive headaches onto me.”

“……”

“Ah, would you mind tracking him down using that miraculous power of yours, Your Holiness?”

Since the Emperor hadn’t dropped any hints, I assumed they were tracking him down just fine, but I guess not.

Well, it wasn’t like I lacked shop points. Pointing out his coordinates wasn’t a difficult task.
I gave a light nod.

“I shall deliver it to you separately later.”

“Is that true? Thank you so much!”

With that, Fredrick bid us farewell and leaped straight out of the window.

I watched Fredrick’s retreating figure for a brief moment before shutting the window.

Reflected in the glass pane, the protagonist’s silhouette looked utterly despondent.

“Are you all right?”

Unsurprisingly, no response came back.

Keeping as much distance from the protagonist as possible, I headed toward the door and spoke.

“Sort out your thoughts well, and get some rest.”

The stream didn’t broadcast anything after my exit, so I couldn’t know what the protagonist thought afterward.

I could only deduce that he had reached some sort of meaningful conclusion in his own right.

In any case, now that I had achieved my objective, it was time to step back and observe the situation for the time being.

“Is there… something worrying you?”

“Ah.”

Snapped out of my thoughts by a drowsy-sounding voice, I quickly looked around.

The Emperor, the Crown Prince, and the Princess were all staring at me with troubled expressions.

Right. I was currently enjoying a banquet after receiving an invitation from the Emperor.

It wasn’t exactly a situation where I should be leisurely eating, but since I didn’t have anything particular to do, I had ended up being dragged out here.

Poking around at my roughly sliced steak with a fork, I replied.

“Ah, no. I was just thinking about something else for a moment.”

“Is that so? It is just that… you seem to be filled with deep worry.”

Yes, indeed. I was absolutely riddled with worry. Now that one massive issue had been dealt with, a wave of reality hit me hard after the fact.

‘Forget a lovey-dovey event, I ended up getting into a massive fight with the protagonist…’

My current relationship with the protagonist was on thin ice, to say the very least!

I could confidently bet that even Romeo and Juliet had more hope going for them than this…

‘Was I too impatient?’

But I had every reason to be impatient. If I foolishly chose to wait out of consideration for him, the next chapter might start out of nowhere, or the protagonist could suddenly have a change of heart toward me, causing his affection level to plummet straight to zero.

If that happened, I would be trapped in this game for a long time all over again.

Therefore, I believed that the strategy of using mild blackmail to keep his level of dependence from dropping was a completely justified choice in many ways.

‘But what good does that do now? How the hell am I supposed to propose to him like this?’

There was absolutely no way a marriage proposal would work in an atmosphere like this.
As expected, making up with him had to come first…

‘But how on earth do you make up with someone?’

Fuck, I don’t know. I was a thoroughly stable person to the point where I hadn’t gotten into a single fight with a friend ever since my school days, and whenever I fought with a girlfriend, we simply broke up.

That’s right, I am a complete idiot who doesn’t even know how to resolve a problem when a glitch occurs in interpersonal relationships!

“They say that a worry shared is a worry halved, do they not? Why don’t you try opening up to us, even if it is just a little bit?”

The Crown Prince spoke in his characteristically shameless, playful tone.

He was right. But how on earth was I supposed to explain this?

‘…Wait.’

Maybe I could actually get a pretty decent answer out of them.

After mulling it over for a short moment, I opened my mouth.