Chapter 21: Deceiving, Exploiting, Unstoppable

Translated by: chocolalaProofread by: Kitje

At the same time, in the royal palace. 

Carlos was panicking. A few moments ago, a report came out of the blue from his intelligence. The watchmen, who were the royal guards, were ordered by Leodore to expose the Duke of Minusle for plotting treason against the state. He hurriedly made his way to his study, which he had converted into his workroom, to check on the situation.   

There was no sign of the watchmen making a move. Although he had his intelligence’s eye on every suspicious movement in the palace, there was no indication of such a thing, and today things suddenly took place. But from the looks of it, it was certainly a plan that had been carefully prepared for some time. 

The watchmen had already surrounded the Minusle’s mansion, and it was reported that the duke had already been captured. There was no mention of Urschel and the duke’s adopted son, Theodore, but given the swiftness of the response, it was reasonable to assume that they also had already been captured by Leodore. 

And after the three were taken into custody… There was no doubt that the House of Minusle would be under investigation. Whether they were truly plotting treason or not, it wouldn’t matter when the watchmen were involved.

…The House of Minusle would be crushed.

Carlos gasped.

And now that the Minusles were under scrutiny, the attention would eventually fall on Carlos. When that happened, next would be… 

Him. 

…Brother intends to destroy me altogether.

“Hello, Carlos. How are you?”

It was then that Carlos heard the voice he least wanted to hear in this situation. Carlos’s face turned into a scowl.

Leodore was unusually unaccompanied by his bodyguard and was wearing his going-out attire as if he was going somewhere. He probably was on his way out when he happened to run into Carlos.

But the man who started it all, Leodore, was there with his usual friendly, smiling face.

“What’s the matter with you? Why are you in such a hurry?”

“…”

It’s his usual face. The face he always makes to his little brother.

Carlos was wary, and there, Leodore seemed to have understood his little brother’s situation.

“Ah, by any chance, you are bothered about the House of Minusle?”

“…!”

That was precisely the case. But Carlos felt uncomfortable. Leodore was talking as if it were someone else’s problem, even though he had caused it himself. 

Leodore approached Carlos one step at a time and spoke, “It was inevitable. If there were any signs of sedition, the royal family could not tolerate it. The House of Minusle has no choice but to crumble. That’s good for Carlos, isn’t it? Although it was only prospective, you might have a fiancé who is under suspicion of sedition. It’s good to know about this before your real engagement. With this, your reputation will stay undamaged and you don’t have to worry about being taken advantage of by the other party.”  

“Brother…What are you saying…!”

Carlos truly had no idea what was being said to him. He thought that surely Leodore would denounce him for his connection with the House of Minusle—albeit only by a prospective engagement—and make him lose his qualification to the throne. 

However, Leodore’s words and actions were as if… Leodore had no intention of denouncing him but was determined to keep Carlos alive, as he had always been.

Leodore cocked his head, “What’s the matter? Carlos. You look so confused. There is no harm in what has happened to the House of Minusle to you. People may say what they want, but I’m rather glad that my brother is spared from bad connections, you know?” 

Carlos gulped at these words. At the same time, he felt terribly humiliated.

…The House of Minusle aside, Leodore had no intention of destroying Carlos. In the first place, Leodore didn’t put him in his eyes.

After all, Leodore remained the same. Carlos clicked his tongue inwardly.

Nevertheless.

“…It was definitely the right decision to make Urschel your prospective fiancé, Carlos. There wasn’t a single mistake in your calculations or decisions.”

“…!”

“But you’ve got one thing wrong. I certainly wanted to have Urschel. I did everything I could to get rid of the people who wanted the position next to me. But… It’s often misunderstood, but I’m not interested in Urschel Minusle in the slightest. Rather, that House of Minusle is a hindrance to me… You know what that means, don’t you Carlos?”

Carlos felt a cold sweat break out on his face.  

He had been too naive. Leodore’s obsession with Urschel was way beyond his imagination. Simply making Urschel his prospective fiancé was too mild a countermeasure against Leodore. For Leodore, Urschel being Carlos’s prospective fiancé was no big deal. What Leodore wanted was… Urschel as a person, not Urschel from the House of Minusle.  

Leodore was already planning to destroy the House of Minusle by the time Carlos made Urschel his prospective fiancé.

“Carlos, if you hadn’t made Urschel your prospective fiancée, I wouldn’t have utilised the watchmen. As long as I could handle the duke in some way, Urschel would eventually be in my hand. But… Because you’ve designated him as your prospective fiancée, I couldn’t help but to use some ruthless means or else, I couldn’t obtain him. It would have been an incident that would have reverberated throughout the royal family’s history if the older brother were to take his own brother’s fiancée as his bride. Then, there would be no problem for the royal family if the House of Minusle were destroyed, right? I had no choice.”

In other words, the cause that led to the destruction of Urschel and the House of Minusle was…

As Carlos stood dumbfounded by the truth, Leodore returned to his usual brotherly face and smiled, “Carlos, you look terrible. Don’t worry too much about it. It’s just a common mistake, a miscalculation. That’s all.” 

“Brother…!”

Carlos almost shouted, You have no right to say that!

Then a man appeared.

“…Your Highness, Leodore. May I have a word?”

It was Benedict… Ben, who was alongside Urschel until just now. 

On seeing Ben, Leodore waved to Carlos, “Well, I’ll be off.”

“…Brother, please wai…!” Carlos tried to hold him back but stopped in his tracks as he remembered Leodore from earlier. 

Leodore turned his back on Carlos and walked towards Ben. Leodore and Ben both headed off into a deserted area, neither saying much. 

When he was sure that no one was around, it was Ben who opened his mouth, “Your Highness, regarding Urschel, this is different from what we’ve agreed…!”   

There was palpable concern on Ben’s face… And a tinge of guilt.

“I met with Urschel in order to bring him together with Your Highness. But I never thought… the watchmen would be involved and they would abduct Urschel and destroy the House of Minusle…”

Ben did indeed offer his help to His Highness Leodore on his own initiative… However, he had heard nothing about this whole matter.

What Ben was ordered to do was to find a way to get his Highness Leodore and Urschel together under the Duke of Minusle’s nose, and to secretly bring Urschel out of Abalana…or specifically after making Urschel lose consciousness. 

Ben did not know why he had to do such a thing. But he himself was a loyal aide to His Highness Leodore, and he had to do what he was told. Whatever it was, he knew he shouldn’t ask. No matter how painful it was. Ben was blindly sure of this until he met Urschel. 

But after talking to Urschel, he had come to a realisation: the one who had been mistaken was him all along. He was ashamed of himself for setting Urschel up, despite being under orders.

However, right when Ben was apologising to Urschel, the watchmen suddenly appeared behind Urschel by means of a teleportation spell. Urschel was then rendered unconscious in their hands. 

Nothing made sense to Ben. Just why did the watchmen attack Urschel? 

When Ben was full of question marks, the watchmen only told him, “Mr Benedict Grantier, Urschel will be in our custody.”  

“What…?!”

“We were to act if you hesitated. I apologise.”

“Wait, where are you taking Urschel?”

“…As our lord wills.”

And then, right before Ben’s eyes, Urschel was taken away by the watchmen’s teleportation magic. He wasn’t told anything about this. It was as though His Highness was merely using him. Ben could not stand still, so he came to Leodore for an explanation. 

He was then informed that the Duke of Minusle had been arrested by the watchmen. As soon as the watchmen set their eyes on the House of Minusle, it was the same as saying the house would meet its doom. And then, Urschel would be… 

“Your Highness, what do you intend to do with Urschel?”

That was all Ben could ask. It was true that there were plenty of other questions he wanted to know. But he was more interested in his little brother, Urschel, who was very important to him.

Urschel was simply implicated; he was completely innocent. Therefore, Ben was helplessly worried about Urschel.

To Ben’s question, Leodore smiled… He smiled, unexpectedly, the kind of smile that an exhausted, overworked person who was about to collapse could barely manage. Ben’s eyes widened in surprise. 

Leodore chuckled self-deprecatingly, “Ben, I… I cannot stop anymore. I’m having feelings for Urschel that I can’t even begin to describe, not even the word love suffices. I don’t think you, Urschel, or anyone else would understand. I don’t know why I feel that way about someone I’ve never even spoken to. But you know what? Even if I have to use everything at my disposal and trample everything in my way… Even if I end up changing Urschel’s whole life, I… I’m just desperate to get my hands on Urschel.”    

“Ben, I at least want to be selfish for this one thing… I want to love… and I want to be redeemed.”

chocolala: So Ben was not the bad guy, the Prince was, and his yandere mood activated!