Monarch of Death

The two were fighting fiercely over the succession to the throne. According to the principle of the eldest son, it was common knowledge that the first prince, Lloyd, had to succeed to the throne, but that was a bit troublesome.

Originally, King Wescott I’s wife was Queen Melea, a daughter of the Duke of Holler, a high-ranking aristocrat in the Kingdom of Yusteel, through an arranged marriage. She was a woman who became the queen of the sun.

The relationship between the king and queen was neither good nor bad. They were educated from a young age that they should marry a designated partner for their family. Neither of them had the personality to burn with passion, saying that they could throw everything away in front of love.

For about 10 years after their marriage, as members of an ordinary royal family, they continued their married life without difficulty. The problem was that the two had no children. Having no heir in the kingdom was a pretty serious matter. Of course, the royal family, as well as the nobles, recommended that Wescott I bring in a concubine to succeed the heir.

Among several candidates, Kalpia from Marquess Taline’s family, a family with a long history, was chosen. Queen Melea did not object too much. Her pride as a woman should have been hurt, but she had faults, so she thought it was inevitable because she couldn’t give birth to a prince.

Deep down, the concubine also expected that her faults would be covered if she did not have children. In this case, the one with the thickest blood in the royal family will succeed to the throne

But what was this? Kalpia, who became the concubine, unexpectedly had the king’s child. Even three months after entering the palace, she checked and found that she was in her third month of pregnancy. It was just that the child entered right on the first night.

Time passed just like that. Kalpia warmed up smoothly and gave birth to a healthy baby. It was the first prince, Lloyd. With great joy, King Wescott I proudly named Prince Lloyd in the name of Allium, the moon goddess who governed the law, and declared him his successor.

Up to this point, it must be just an ordinary secret of the royal family. The problem was the following. Relations between the king and queen did not deteriorate significantly because they welcomed a concubine.

No matter what was on the inside, Melea maintained a calm and elegant demeanor on the outside. She didn’t show any envy or jealousy. No matter how barren she was, the queen was the queen that was the wife, and it was indeed natural for a husband and wife to sleep together.

Since Kalpia was pregnant, King Wescott I naturally turned to Queen Melea. Now that the sense of duty to produce a successor had disappeared, they treated each other more comfortably than before.

Was that why? After 10 years of marriage, the 30-year-old Queen Melea belatedly had a child. It was the birth of the second prince, Alford. The royal family was stunned. It could only be called a trick of fate.

Under the principle of the eldest son, the first prince was created with a legitimate right of succession in the goddess’s name. The second prince was clearly born from the ship of the royal family and was far ahead in terms of blood. Even the two are only half a year apart in age.

Who was truly worthy of a king?

»»————-　★　————-««
“It’s mostly like this.”

Serati nodded at Karnak’s explanation.

“I’ve heard of it too. It’s a fairly common story among the people of the capital. About the feud between the two princes.”

Barros clicked his tongue as he rested his elbows on the luxurious table.

“It wasn’t like a feud, was it? They couldn’t kill each other, so it was really frustrating.”

Currently, they were staying at the ‘Echo of the Dragon’, an inn located on the outskirts of Drunta. He paid in advance for long-term accommodation at a luxury inn. Originally, he was thinking of getting a separate house in the capital city, but honestly, it was such a waste of money.

The King’s Order was often away from home due to the nature of its mission. In fact, it had already been 7 months since Karnak and his party became the King’s Order, but they stayed in the capital for less than 30 days. Didn’t he have to pay expensive money to buy an empty house that he didn’t use well?

No matter how rich the family became, it was Karnak’s line that he would rather use that money to buy more delicious food. It was a choice. Even at that moment, fresh fruits and sweet snacks were placed on the table and eaten.

“Anyway…….”

After biting into one of the cut apples, Karnak continued.

“It seems that the king’s irresponsibility is the biggest reason why the situation has come this far.”

The first prince was armed with the principle of the eldest son, and the second prince of the lineage of the royal family. Neither side had a significant advantage in terms of justification.

The power behind the second prince was much stronger than the first prince, who had the Wheeler family as his mother’s family, but the king had made the first prince the successor in the name of the goddess. From the king’s point of view, no matter which side he chose, the aftermath would inevitably be great.

So Wescott I’s decision was…….

“They just postponed the matter.”

This was not something to decide right away. Didn’t he know what would happen as the princes grew up? As in the case of the king himself, he might not be able to produce an heir. So, he would make a decision carefully after the princes get married! Serati and Barros, who were listening to the story, were dumbfounded.

“Is he really someone that indecisive?”

“It’s also a good thing to make a decision later on.”

He didn’t know if he said that he decided carefully after the king, but how would this sound from the listener’s point of view? Oh my goodness! Was he saying that if something happened to the king over there, the prince would become king? Karnak laughed heartily.

“Thanks to that, things turned out to be fun.”

It had been 20 years since the two princes were born. The Marquis of Taline, who served the first prince, and the Duke of Holler, who served the second prince, were often in conflict. It was not uncommon for them to strike with swords when they encountered them on the road, and there were often cases where they lost their lives. There were also many attempts to assassinate each other secretly. Barros laughed, intrigued.

Infamous Scans

Translator: Anom
Proofreader: Orange
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“It’s shit. Actually, most of the royal family’s affairs are shit.”

Only Serati’s reaction was absurd.

“What’s funny about that?”

The two men widened their eyes.

“Yeah, isn’t that our business?”

“Isn’t it human nature to take pleasure in ruining others?”

“It can’t be!”

Serati tilted her head for a moment without getting irritated.

‘Does it seem human nature to be happy while watching other people go bankrupt?’

However, if she admitted this, she thought she would become a human like ‘those guys’. She changed the subject.

“Which of the two princes is more worthy of a king?”

Karnak snorted.

“Isn’t it natural to first define what a king’s qualifications are?”

“Well, it’s the ability or the personality…….”

“They’re both barely 20 years old? How do you know if they’re talented or not?”

It was an age where it was still difficult to learn the world. They didn’t get a chance to show off their abilities. However, neither of them were great geniuses who stood out from a young age.

“Of course, based on his personality, the first prince is more suited to the throne.”

The first prince, Lloyd, had a calm and cautious personality. He was also sincere and humble in everything he did. On the other hand, the second prince, Alford, is quick-tempered, violent, and even arrogant.

To be honest, if he looked at the future of the kingdom, Prince Lloyd was much more suitable for the throne. Even so, the reason why Wescott I couldn’t raise Lloyd’s hand was because he was too weak. Ever since he was little, he had frequent fevers and collapses.

Even after getting older, his body didn’t get better, and even though he faithfully learned the best swordsmanship under the best teacher, he became a mediocre soldier. It was barely on the level of dealing with him.

Thanks to being a prince of a country, he received divine healing techniques from time to time, so it was a pity, and the opinion of the world was that if he had been a commoner, he would not have been more than 10 years old.

On the other hand, the second prince, Alford, was born with strong bones and even had an incompetent talent, and was already evaluated as a first-class knight at the age of 20. It was even said that if he had not neglected training due to his arrogant personality, he might have awakened his fighting spirit.

“Since the first prince is so weak that it wouldn’t be strange if he died anytime, the second prince might want to use his hand secretly.”

In fact, assassination and poisoning were the specialties of the necromancers.

“Okay…….”

Sarati, who nodded, suddenly asked.

“Then who became the king in your previous life?”

Karnak replied nonchalantly.

“The second prince. I know this because I’ve met Alford, who later became king.”

It was not that Prince Alford, from his previous life borrowed the power of necromancer. There was no one to borrow power from because the Church of the Black God didn’t exist as it did now.

“So I was waiting for something to happen to Prince Lloyd, but it seemed that this didn’t work out.”

It was said that the first prince succeeded to the throne without dying even though he was struggling all his life.

“A civil war broke out shortly thereafter.”

The second prince, who could not stand it, rebelled. After countless bloodshed, Alford eventually succeeded in usurping the throne, but the Yusteel Kingdom was already in ruins.

“In the end, he couldn’t even properly serve as a king and perished along with the kingdom.”

“The Yusteel Kingdom was destroyed?”

Surprised, Serati blinked.

She didn’t really have much patriotism, but she was still embarrassed to hear that her country had collapsed.

“Who destroyed it? Is it the emperor?”

If it was Yusteel Kingdom’s long-time enemy, it was also the Laceanian Empire, which faced part of the border. But it didn’t seem like that. Barros pointed out to Karnak first.

“That man.”

Karnak also raised his hand without hesitation, “Yes. Me.”

The emperor was an empire, but it was an undead empire, not Laceania.

“……Ugh.”

Serati sighed. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that surprising for her. How did you think it would be? Anyway, with this, she roughly understood the situation. Barros raised his body with his eyes shining.

“Now then, this mission is to investigate the second prince. Shall we summon the battalion members?

Karnak stopped him.

“Calm down, Barros. We haven’t taken on a mission yet.”

The King’s Order was not an adventurer’s guild, and they couldn’t pick and choose missions according to their taste. However, if the issue was this big, even the higher-ups couldn’t force it. If he forcefully passed it on and then failed, the problem got bigger.

“So I asked for some time to think.”

“Huh? Did you refuse? Why?”

Wasn’t this what Karnak always sang about, the ‘magnificent case involving the Titans’?

“Even if the other battalion tries to take over the mission, isn’t it the case that the young master has to take it by force?”

“That’s why I asked for more time.”

Did the 2nd prince really join hands with the Church of the Black God? There was nothing wrong with this. As usual, they could find traces of necromancy first and then fabricate an excuse by manipulating the report.

“Rather, it’s a headache if there’s nothing to do with it.”

They had to make up why the other person was innocent and why they made that judgment. Karnak didn’t even know how to do this.

“It is.”

Barros also agreed.

“I’ve often done things like frame innocent people, but I’ve never thought about proving innocence.”

So, for now, Karnak and the others alone should investigate first.

“I’ll have to confirm whether it is really related to the Dark Church before taking on the mission or not.”

[To be continued.]