Chapter~33
The Thirteenth, Achieving a Great Feat
[The Second Prince is not the Emperor’s son.]
A rumor had quietly spread behind the scenes.
The Second Prince carried himself confidently, as if there was no need to respond, and even seemed to want to punish those who spread it.
Who would doubt the bloodline of a prince whose appearance was a spitting image of the current emperor?
“Even when spreading slander, at least make it believable.”
“Wouldn’t that backfire?”
It was obvious who was behind the rumor.
The First Prince faction.
They accused the Second Prince of insulting the royal family and boldly attacked him.
“How can anyone speak such insulting words! All those who disgrace the royal family should be captured and executed!”
Everyone wondered why anyone would do such a foolish thing.
Then, the Mage Tower released certain materials.
[The recently declared missing mage was a dark mage conducting horrific research. The Mage Tower expelled him at midnight and handed over all relevant materials to the royal family for proper investigation.]
The announcement from the Mage Tower shocked the public.
“Creating artificial humans? That’s impossible!”
“Ridiculous. No successful case exists, right?”
“No, it hasn’t been mentioned publicly, but apparently there was an actual client!”
The artificial human project.
Called a homunculus, debates arose over whether it actually existed.
And then:
“The Second Prince is a homunculus!”
“No way! Looking at him, there’s no doubt he’s of the royal line!”
“No, listen! That homunculus could apparently manipulate appearances at will. And an infant modeled after a royal was supposedly born from his hands!”
Rumors began claiming the Second Prince himself was a homunculus.
Those who had previously doubted it were shocked when they saw the keywords in the homunculus project’s order list: blonde, red-eyed, royal.
Could someone among the royals actually not be of royal blood?
The grim thought grew.
“Apparently, the project’s success coincided with the Empress Dowager’s recovery. She was a major sponsor of the project!”
“Now that you mention it, there were rumors she couldn’t conceive. Unlike the Empress, she failed to bear children for years, and when she finally did, everyone celebrated…”
Targeted by these grim and sacrilegious speculations, the Second Prince claimed it was a slander, insisting that the First Prince faction colluded with the dark mage to undermine him.
Soon after, the First Prince faction captured the dark mage.
The dark mage, intending to confess his crimes, appeared in court.
“Do you know about the artificial human project and its result, the homunculus?”
“Yes, I know. It was the hope of many who couldn’t conceive. Noblewomen and commoners alike sought my help. Even those who are now royals assisted me!”
Investigations confirmed that many noblewomen supporting the Second Prince had been involved in the research.
Most of these women, previously deemed infertile, had children resembling their fathers with the dark mage’s help.
“Could it be true?”
“If it weren’t, why would the First Prince have acted that way? He must have seen the possibility.”
“Right, you saw the trial yourself! That sinister, gloomy aura… surely a dark mage working against nature!”
No one knew if the dark mage was truly evil, deceived, or coerced.
The important point: through all of this, suspicion about the Second Prince’s bloodline began to solidify.
“This is an absurd slander! How can anyone know if he really created a homunculus? And why didn’t the First Prince execute the dark mage immediately?!”
The Second Prince denied the claims, criticizing the First Prince for not killing the mage according to imperial law, but suspicion grew.
“Could there be a reason he denies it so strongly?”
“Nothing comes from nothing.”
Royal legitimacy—and the privileges it entailed—was vital.
The debate over the Second Prince’s legitimacy, once unthinkable, now started eroding his supporters’ confidence.
Some feared that being wrongly accused could lead to death as a traitor.
“This is the First Prince’s slander! Give me investigative authority!”
The Second Prince pleaded, but the Emperor refused, citing the possibility of his own involvement.
Even the Emperor had begun to doubt his bloodline.
From then on, the Second Prince faction began to decline rapidly.
“They say the Empress Dowager helped infertile women to recruit supporters?”
“Oh my… then everyone supporting the Second Prince….”
“It’s not impossible! Didn’t a few names appear on the order list?”
Both factual and baseless rumors intertwined, growing larger.
The fatal bloodline controversy overwhelmed the Second Prince faction.
Those suspected scrambled to prove they weren’t cuckoo offspring.
“We are innocent! Otherwise, wouldn’t the First Prince himself have rejected us?”
They chose to distance themselves from the Second Prince.
Claims like, “Had we been dishonest, we wouldn’t have abandoned the Second Prince. See? Even the First Prince is pleased we joined him” spread.
To prove their innocence, people began aligning with the First Prince faction.
“Do not worry, all. Would I capture the innocent?”
Approximately 20 years had passed.
The long time since the artificial human project’s success was enough to cast suspicion on all heirs born during that era.
The future of each family and their mothers could now be judged by the First Prince’s accusations.
The First Prince had immense power, able to topple birds from the sky.
“Denials. Even if claims are made, we, the Cartier Marquis family, are not involved. We did not support the dark mage; all of it was the Empress Dowager’s personal deviation.”
Even the Cartier Marquis family, who had married the Empress Dowager to the Emperor, scrambled to contain the situation.
They claimed no responsibility and ignorance.
“Nothing is certain yet. These are still claims. Manipulation or fabrication is possible.”
Although not everything was clear, the potential damage was immense.
Finally, the Emperor took action.
“Request a bloodline verification at the temple.”
“Wise! Using the sacred relic, everything will be revealed clearly!”
“How can anyone doubt the royal family? I oppose it!”
“You feel guilty, don’t you?”
“What, you punk?!”
The previously inactive temple could no longer ignore such a scandal, especially concerning royal bloodline disputes.
The First Prince openly declared, “I am confident; test my bloodline anytime”, which frustrated the Second Prince.
“Preparations are required for the relic’s use.”
Had the temple not said that, the investigation would have begun immediately.
The Second Prince faction breathed a sigh of relief, while the First Prince faction waited, disappointed, for their preparations to finish.
“The temple requested support to protect the relic.”
…And the initial spark of all these events—the research materials and the dark mage—were traced back to me.
“Support request?”
“Yes. They didn’t openly say it, but apparently they feared one of the princes might swap the relic or commit sabotage.”
…I hadn’t realized it would escalate this far.
The young duke spoke with a serious expression.
“The empire’s fate is at stake. They want to be cautious and share responsibility.”
“So they plan to use our hands as neutral parties.”
“Exactly. Temple forces alone aren’t sufficient. By using our power, responsibility for any mishaps can be distributed.”
The young duke smiled faintly.
“Well, we can also owe the temple a favor. Not a bad deal.”
Indeed.
The temple in this world could even perform miracles with divine power.
Owing them a favor would be extremely advantageous.
I assumed this was already decided and just being relayed to me.
“If we think about security… the person must have discretion and ability. Who do you plan to bring?”
“For now… you.”
“Me?”
“You.”
For a moment, my thoughts froze.
What exactly was going on?
