“Archduke Leonora, it’s been a while since you’ve shown your face here. Have I not called for you, other nobles will think that I confined you in your land.”
When Adam said that I’ll be meeting the king today, I didn’t expect it to be at breakfast. I can’t even bring myself to lift the utensils even though the food being served looks delicious. The reason? The king’s shitty grin. I can immediately tell he’s up to no good.
“Why are you not eating? Is the food not appetizing enough?” The queen asked. She really had to bring it up. Ah, whatever.
“No, no. It’s quite the opposite, Your Majesty. The food is mouthwatering that I am unable to decide which I should eat first. Please do not worry about me.”
The table roared with laughter. Oh, guess I am a clown now. That must be really funny. Heh~ The humor of these people is as narrow as my navel.
“She must be nervous, Mother. As Father said, we haven’t seen her for a while.” He is the first prince whose name is William. What a generic name.
“Ha-ha! It must be comfortable in your land! It was only last year when you could not stop visiting the palace to pursue my son! What a turn of events!” Say what now?!
“It must-”
“It was a fleeting moment, Father! I can guess that Leonora doesn’t want to talk about it now. People can move on. But in her case, I cannot say so for sure.” Oh wow. He doesn’t even let me finish. He also called me by my first name. Were they that close or he’s just trying to be funny?
I glanced at him and I almost let out a chuckle.
Trying to provoke me with that smug grin won’t work, boy.
Anyway, does everyone in this family only put on the same unpleasant expression? Even the queen is smirking.
“William is right, Your Highness. It was a fleeting moment.” Let’s see how they’d react.
He looked surprised when I called him by his name. I don’t know what his past relationship with Leonora but I can guarantee it wasn’t a pleasant one.
The king laughed so loud that the noise of my stomach grumbling wasn’t heard. Come on, it’s already 8 am and I haven’t drunk or eaten anything before coming down.
I stared at William who is pouting his lips and brows furrowed. The laughter died down, so I picked up my spoon and started eating. I don’t want anyone to hear the sound of my hunger.
“How’s the food, Archduke?” The other wife of the king, sitting beside me, asked. Oh, have I mentioned that the king’s whole family is at the table? The king’s 3 wives and their children. The Queen Mother is also at the table. He had 4 children with his first wife—which is the queen, 2 with his second wife, and 1 with his third wife. A total of seven children. He is very energetic in that particular activity.
“It’s delicious. As expected of the food in the palace.” She smiled and continued eating. If I remember correctly, her name is Charlotte, the second wife.
The food is a 10 overall but the atmosphere is a 2. They kept asking me random questions and none of them was related to my land.
“How was the breakfast, Madame?” I am back in the room assigned to me. Lyra is currently arranging the stuff we put on the cube while Adam is, as usual, fixing his monocle while asking me a question. He is definitely coded to do that every time we met.
“Nothing much happens aside from them laughing at the absurdist thing possible. Are all royals like that?”
He cleared his throat. “Do not say those words so easily, Madame. The walls have ears.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are the ears pointed?”
He sighed. “The king’s adviser told me that your presence is needed at the throne hall by 11. It is of his highness’ orders.”
My face crumpled. It’ll be in an hour. What is it again? Wait- is it finally happening? Am I to start a quest now?
I sat up and retrieved some books from the cube to read more information about the royalties in this countries. There’s nothing interesting enough so I closed the books and lounged around the balcony. What a really shitty design, haha!
“Madame, it’s almost time for you to meet the king.” Lyra announced, disturbing my mental repose.
“Yeah, yeah.” Going around the palace was pretty easy, making me arrive in the throne hall in barely 10 minutes.
“Announcing Archduke Leonora of the Stryker Family, requesting audience.” The herald called out after he knocked on the huge doors.
“Granted” The voice from behind the doors responded. I entered and saw the king sitting on his throne, looking down on me as if I were an insect on the ground.
Oh, wow. I’ve been all sorts of animals you can imagine. If that’s the best you can do to insult me, try again.
“It can’t be too difficult, not after how the Archduke drove them out with such ease.” The voice of a man rang in my ears. His vassals are also here. Are they talking about the situation in Leonora’s land? They are awfully late discussing that considering how the country they live in almost got involved in the war.
“Be seated, Leonora” Oh, that prick is also here. He seems to be comfortable calling Leonora’s name.
They continued their discussion and I am appalled by the details they exchanged. I chose not to say a word and continued to listen to them ramble.
“How were you able to do that, archduke? Have we not gone to this meeting, we wouldn’t have heard about the Earl of Gamaras visiting you.”
So it’s my turn to be grilled now?
“That was admirable. If they’d done such a thing to my land, the war would’ve started.”
“That’s right. Not only was she able to settle things quietly, she also overpowered the earl of a powerful country like Gamaras.”
“But is it true that Cerres and Gamaras are going to have a war on our borders?”
“If it is, should we send our soldiers to the borders? This could be our only chance to forge some connections to Cerres.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Yes! That’s also applicable! Your Majesty, what do you think of sending our soldiers?”
The king nodded. “A brilliant proposal! Archduke, though you bear the rank of Field Marshal, I expect you to remain focused on your duties in your land. In the meantime, I shall assume command of the army myself. Should the Emperor of Cerres attend, I will accompany our forces personally. See to it that all preparations are completed by next week.”
I am…speechless.
Is this a meeting of blockheads? I’m ashamed to be sitting right beside them. Didn’t they know that the King of Gamaras wasn’t informed of that situation? Can’t they distinguish the difference between a war and a skirmish? Their way of thinking is very similar to that flamboyant man. Did they use a similar code on these characters? They are this country’s officials for god’s sake. What do they mean by war? War against Gamaras? My need to smack their heads is raging on my nerves. I feel like this is the reason why Aswain did not make it into the book.
I stood up before I lose my cool.
“Please excuse me, Your Majesty. I feel the need to shit after hearing this silly conversation.”
The whole room buzzed when I walked out of my chair. Some of them were asking what shit means. It’s your opinions, you knuckleheads.
I am extremely annoyed by the fact that they are that stupid. If I were the game writer, I would create the most complex character to ever exist even though it’s just an NPC to keep the players on their toes. This may only be a game, however, this also happens a lot in real life. Hundreds of lives will be sacrificed because of how people in power think.
“You are back, Madame. How did the meeting go?” At least Lyra is coded just fine.
“It was horrific.”
“Oh my, should I get you tea? I bet you haven’t fully digested your breakfast.”
My mood lightened up when I heard that.
“Please brew it yourself, Lyra. I love your tea.”
She blushed and nodded.
“I’m glad. I will be back with your tea, Madame.”
When she opened the door to leave, Adam appeared out of nowhere.
“Let him in, Lyra.”
“Madame, I heard the details from the king’s aide. Will you be going back to your land immediately?”
“No. I don’t think so. Adam, what do you think of me gaining a new title?”
His confusion is shown all over his face.
“What do you mean, Madame?”
“What else? Dethrone the king.”
I don’t want to bother with this world’s problem at first but since I want to throw the developers into confusion, it’s as I said before, I’m going to flip this game upside down. There will be no peace in my hands. Sending a weak-ass code isn’t enough to kill me. Let’s try to aggravate them to see how far they can go.
Adam froze and then looked around as if someone was eavesdropping.
“There’s no one around, calm down.”
“M-Madame! You can’t just say something like that! That’s treason!”
“How does Leonora the Usurper sounds like?”
He froze once again and his forehead is now sweating. I laughed when I noticed he is also trembling a bit.
“Madame! It is not a good joke!”
I raised my eyebrows at him. Do I look like a clown to make lame jokes like that?
“Do I look like I’m joking? I am serious, Adam. Do not question my resolve like that again. Am I someone whom you shouldn’t take seriously?”
He dropped his knees and bowed to me. Again with the dramatic antics. Ugh. Aren’t elves supposedly prideful and bows to no one?
“I-I APOLOGIZE, MADAME!” He shouted.
“That’s enough. Take a seat, Adam.”
He did as I told him and sat on the empty chair in front of me. I was about to speak when Lyra came in with a trolley. She glanced at Adam who looked so stressed. She scratched her cheeks before talking.
“Did I come in the wrong time?”
“No, no. It’s perfect. I see that you also brought some cookies.”
“Hahaha, the head maid insisted even though you just had your breakfast. I cannot refuse.”
“I see. Did you brew it personally? The tea.”
“Of course, Madame. You can tell it once you take a sip from it.” She poured the tea into the teacup and placed it on the table. The aroma of the tea that lingers in the air was enough to tell me that she brewed it herself.
“Thank you, Lyra.” I looked at Adam. “Give Adam a cup of tea too.”
Adam shook his head at Lyra. “It’s all right.”
“So… you can start asking me now why I decided on something like that, Adam.”
He hesitated a bit before asking.
“I won’t be mad. Just ask questions one by one.”
He nodded. Looks like he is willing to have a conversation now. Just a minute ago, he was willing to risk it all just so he could get away from me.
“What made you come to that conclusion, Madame?”
If there is anyone who knows about this kingdom more than I do, it will be him. I’m sure he is coded to be one.
“How many years did the king rule this land?” I asked back.
“70 years, Madame.”
He is that old yet his appearance looked like someone in his 40s. His exact age wasn’t written in the book I found in the palace so I had to ask to make sure.
“Exactly. He’s lived that long but he’s still stupid. Why would he want to go to the border just to catch a glimpse of the Cerres’ Emperor?”
He was surprised by my choice of words but did not dare oppose what I said.
“He ordered me to return to my lands and live as quietly as a mouse- me, the Field Marshal. And if that weren’t enough, he plans to march to the border with his armies, just to see if the Emperor of Cerres is there. Tell me, how absurd is that?”
I took a sip of my tea. Lyra brewed it well as usual.
“It doesn’t really matter whether he wants me to live quietly or not.What I am concerned about is his incapability to understand the gravity of the situation. He is a king. He has the power to use anyone at his disposal. He could send me to the borders instead since I am in charge of the military.” But the bitch is unfathomably unintelligent and choose to display himself instead. If he’s that eager to die, then I’ll give that to him.
“I was also confused when I heard of the details from the King’s aide. Personally going to the border? Is he seeking death?”
Way to go, Adam! Good thing you were coded this way!
“Not only that. At the meeting, I noticed how dull-witted the officials are. All they talk about is how to fill their pockets with gold. Not a single time did they talk about how to improve the state of this country. The towns we passed by are in a shocking state compared to the palace walls that are covered with gold. Isn’t it about time to change that?” I continued.
Adam nods his head in agreement.
“I understand. I, too, have reflected on such matters many times, yet I never found the occasion to speak of them to His Majesty, as he rarely grants audience unless Madame is present. Had I known your thoughts mirrored mine, I might have shared my own more freely.”
He put his teacup down and looked at me. “You truly care about the subjects of this country. Isn’t that the reason why you decided to dethrone the king?”
“Huh? No. It’s not.” Care? To whom? These NPC's?
“I can’t understand, Madame. If that’s not the reason, then what?”
“It’s simple. Because he is stupid and stupid people hurt my brain so much. Is that enough?”
His forehead sweats again.
“You don’t need to worry about that though. Elves are naturally intelligent.”
“T-T-TH-THA—”
I turned my head to Lyra and saw how she was trembling in fear.
“What?” I asked.
“Y-You were going to d-d-d-dethrone… the… king…?” Her voice went smaller as her question went on.
I almost laughed when I saw her expression.
“Yes, Lyra. You heard what I and Adam discussed. I am going to dethrone the king. I was invited to the ball that’ll happen in three days and I am planning on doing that at that ball so I wish to wear the best dress that we brought here.”
Besides, if I kill the king, he’ll be spawned just like Trevor. Killing him once should be enough to make the developers take action.
