How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 533

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Noble Family (533)

“Why didn’t anyone know this disaster would happen?”

Unlike the past when he always laughed heartily and acted like a good person, the Emperor was uncontrollably enraged today. No one could stop him. It was true that any Prussian politician would feel similar sentiments. Also, truly no one knew that Bavaria was preparing a surprise attack on Pleroma. As if such a plan had just come into existence yesterday, no one at all. The Emperor shouted while his stomach rumbled.

“Why didn’t anyone know that Bavaria was planning this!”

He snorted alone and then gestured to the Oberhofmarschall.

“Oberhofmarschall. Please take all the guests out. Only the Crown Prince and Prince should remain, everyone else please leave for a moment.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will do so.”

The ministers stood up and left the room. When no one remained, the Prince swallowed and straightened his neck with his shoulders stiff as he did in the military academy. After everyone left, the Emperor put his hand on his waist and staggered around the empty space.

“Bavaria knew that Pleroma would make a surprise announcement and the French Imperial Family would stab us in the back. Since they knew, they showed no military movements until today when they urgently went to strike Pleroma. Centered around Nicolaus Ernst!”

Bang—!

He struck the desk with his fist and stared at the Crown Prince’s yellow eyes that looked at him with half-opened eyelids. The Emperor muttered while twitching the corners of his mouth.

“It’s Nicolaus Ernst again.”

The Prince’s face was deathly pale. He was looking down only at the papers on the table with lips that had turned pitifully blue. It was the Imperial newspaper. To him, who was overly tense, the letters forming French and German looked like squiggly foreign languages. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Emperor had no particular interest in that young student. The Emperor looked at his own child who was calm in the acrid cigarette smoke.

“Elias.”

“Find your reason before speaking.”

The Crown Prince began to open his mouth before the words were even finished and answered leisurely.

“I trusted you and gave you duties equivalent to my deputy until now.”

“…”

“But what is this? There’s been nothing helpful in either foreign or domestic affairs as a result. Bavaria has thrown stones at the Prussia-centered federation! Everything is on the verge of collapse!”

The Prince’s shoulders flinched. The statement that nothing had been helpful in either foreign or domestic affairs was both true and not true. His father was not naturally gifted with good political sense and was stubborn. No matter what advice anyone gave, he would pretend to listen obediently but eventually change things to his own way. Such changes sometimes produced excellent results, but regarding cults, the compatibility wasn’t good, and recently he hadn’t been able to exert his power.

And incomprehensibly, the Crown Prince also often didn’t act for Prussia’s benefit. He wasn’t particularly desperate. Even when he seemed thoughtful, he wouldn’t advise the Emperor, and even if he did give advice, if the Emperor tried to change that opinion, he wouldn’t stop him and would just watch passively. Even when his father made choices that seemed a bit dangerous to the Prince, the Crown Prince would just smile mysteriously.

The cousin the Prince respected didn’t react much even to the thunderous scolding. That cousin just smoked as usual and answered.

“Of course I understand, Father.”

“Can’t you say Your Majesty?”

“Haha…”

The Crown Prince pulled his body forward and laughed while exhaling cigarette smoke long. Even in the darkness, his lemon-colored eyes shone like lights. He twisted both corners of his mouth appropriately to create a gentle expression and said.

“How futile.”

The Emperor stared at his child with wide eyes. The child slightly tilted his head outward and whispered.

“If it were me, I would think about what to do going forward rather than blame the past.”

“…”

“Even if we prayed to God to turn back time, from last autumn Pleroma had no choice but to do this, and from the moment Nicolaus Ernst entered Bavaria, Bavaria had no choice but to threaten our Prussia today. If there was a mistake, it was that Father did nothing despite the situation getting worse and worse…”

The Crown Prince spoke while interlacing his fingers. A single stream of cigarette smoke rising from his cigar interfered with seeing his face. But even so, his eyes shone. Eyes that seemed to speak by themselves captured the Emperor’s gaze.

“Don’t wish for things humans cannot do, and decide Prussia’s position before 7 o’clock. I recommend listening when I personally advise you.”

“Then what should we do going forward?”

The Emperor was unconsciously drawn to his child’s leadership. Or perhaps the situation made him so. The Emperor wiped his cold sweat and asked.

“Should we bring back Adrian Ascanien? That might be the best option. Public opinion is saying so. To stop Nicolaus Ernst…”

“Hahaha…”

The Crown Prince suddenly burst into loud laughter and then called his younger brother with a smile.

“Adelbert.”

The Prince barely moved his ice-stiff neck to look at the Crown Prince and answered in a low voice.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The Crown Prince slowly lowered his head and brought his face close to his interlaced hands. Turning his head slightly toward his younger brother, he looked at the Emperor who was frowning and said.

“Watch carefully. What do you think?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked what you think of what your father is doing now.”

“I…”

Cold sweat formed under the Prince’s shirt. He was caught between the Emperor and Crown Prince, unable to side with either. He couldn’t understand why such a predicament had befallen him. The Crown Prince no longer looked at his younger brother and stared only at the Emperor as he answered.

“The model answer is this, Father. Is now the time to devise ways to stop Nicolaus Ernst?”

The Emperor’s face turned various shades of red and blue. The Crown Prince leaned back against his chair again and happily put the cigar in his mouth, inhaled long, and exhaled smoke. He raised his eyebrows and answered leisurely.

“If you tell me to leave, I’ll leave.”

“Bring the Foreign Minister.”

Before the Crown Prince’s words were finished, the Emperor rang the bell and shouted. The Oberhofmarschall who entered hastily went out again and brought the Foreign Minister into the conference room. Before the Emperor could speak, the Crown Prince spoke first with a polite attitude but impolitely.

“Explain the international situation.”

Despite the sudden request, the Foreign Minister tried not to show his tension and stood beside the Emperor to fulfill the request.

“I shall comply. As you know, the French Empire is in opposition with us. Our relationship with our allies, the Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary, was relatively better with Austria-Hungary until today, but with Russia it’s too loose to be effective against France. Thanks to the successful extension of the reinsurance treaty with Russia as advised by Your Highness several years ago, we expect no military tension with Russia. However, as Bulgaria has formed friendly relations with Austria-Hungary, Russia and Austria-Hungary are in fierce opposition in the Balkans, requiring careful mediation.

The British Empire is in opposition with us over Pacific colonial issues, but the bad feelings from colonial competition with the French Empire in Africa are much greater, leaving the possibility for us to recruit them as allies. However, the British Empire is only looking for opportunities to show influence over the Qing Empire in Asia and continues to clash with the Russian Empire. Although the Qing Empire seems too powerful to fall to these two countries, as the British Empire extends friendly hands to the Japanese Empire and Japan also doesn’t abandon its ambition to advance to the continent, the two countries may be preparing an alliance, as Your Highness said after the Eastern tour. If so, Russia won’t withdraw its blade from Britain, so the current situation is not good. The Kingdom of Italy and Papal States on the Italian peninsula have reasonably amicable relations with our Germany, but likewise, we don’t know how things will change after the Atropos incident was revealed. The Ottoman Empire and Switzerland have not yet expressed any position on this.”

At the rapid-fire speech, the Emperor was still glaring at the Crown Prince. The Prince was just racking his brain, unable to understand everything the Foreign Minister said. The Emperor was angry at the Crown Prince for ordering an explanation of the situation as if he wouldn’t know such circumstances, and the Prince was tense that the Crown Prince’s question might come to him. The Emperor gestured to the Foreign Minister with a cold smile and cast a sound-blocking spell. He could have punished the Crown Prince, but not in this situation. With Adrian Ascanien absent from the country, the Crown Prince was his only support. While he didn’t consciously think his abilities were lacking, instinctively he relied on his child.

The Crown Prince spoke leisurely for the Emperor.

“Well, to summarize: good with Russia but uncertain with Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary and Russia oppose each other in the Balkans, Britain and Russia oppose each other in Asia, the Italian peninsula is also uncertain, and in this situation France is trying to crush Germany by any means.”

Before bringing up what we should do now, the Crown Prince looked at the pen in the Emperor’s hand and picked a fight.

“Thinking in your head would be sufficient… Do you really need a pen?”

“Be moderately rude!”

“I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

The Crown Prince answered with a smile and raised eyebrows, like witnessing a beast that never knew how to talk back suddenly talking back to him. He began to show boredom on his face as if he had never shown enthusiasm, like someone trying to tease others in this explosive situation, and the Emperor glared at him, finding even that aspect irritating.

“So, what were you trying to say by having the Foreign Minister explain this situation?”

“Think about it.”

“Stop that nonsense and tell me the answer quickly!”

“Even someone who doesn’t know where the Balkans are would know what we should do after hearing what the Foreign Minister just said. Your Majesty surely knows too.”

The Crown Prince matched his speech pace to his breathing pace, as if he was just speaking while smoking. There was no one here who didn’t know where the Balkans were. The Emperor felt anger rising to the top of his head at the Crown Prince’s expression. The Emperor gave up relying on those slow answers and held his head. After about a minute, he spoke resolutely.

“Russia.”

He raised his head and shouted to the Oberhofmarschall who would be outside the door.

“Minister, bring a scribe! I must send a letter to the Tsar right now.”

When the Emperor made his decision, a glimmer of hope spread across the Prince’s face. The Crown Prince, who had been pretending not to know and widening his eyes like the Prince, gave up acting and burst into laughter. He shook his head and flicked his finger toward the Emperor before concentrating on smoking again. That didn’t look particularly enjoyable either, but it seemed like an attitude of thinking it would be more productive to do other things rather than focus on this conference room that was pathetic enough to bring tears.

The Emperor briefly wondered if he had made the wrong choice somewhere but gave up. Well, it was time to solidify relations with Russia. It would be better to discuss domestic rather than foreign affairs with the Crown Prince. Before the scribe arrived, he asked the Crown Prince.

“You must answer this properly. It’s about the problem of the 101st Unit of the Royal Mage Association that you were directly involved in creating. What do you plan to do about the Lucas Ascanien problem?”

“You’re getting too much worry from the ignorant masses.”

“Those masses who follow others blindly are the people we must rightfully and justly govern! The fact that his temperament is not the same as those corpses is something we and the Central Medical Institute of Bavaria have already confirmed. But after Pleroma directly appeared and proclaimed their messiah, public sentiment has been shaking uncontrollably. There have been no problems until now!”

The Emperor shouted this and grabbed his throbbing head.

“If we even harm his brother Lucas Ascanien, Adrian Ascanien may no longer want to stay in Prussia. If the Imperial Family treats members of other ruling families carelessly, it will undermine everyone’s trust.”

“Adrian Ascanien is an irreplaceable excellent politician before being an excellent family member. You’re mistaken about many things.”

The Emperor raised his eyebrows at the Crown Prince’s words.

Suddenly, the Emperor recalled a memory that flashed in his mind. It was unrelated to Adrian Ascanien but certainly an important memory. He squinted toward the thought that glowed faintly at the end of the tunnel and muttered.

“Do you remember the meeting with Pleroma leadership? The Bishop of Brandenburg said Lucas Ascanien was Pleroma.”

He looked into space and shook his head quickly.

“He said becoming Pleroma had nothing to do with Pleroma’s ideology. Also, ‘How could one so perfectly whole not be glorious?’…”

The Prince looked at the Emperor in confusion, not knowing what he had heard. Had they already called Lucas Ascanien Pleroma? Was it a story heard in advance, just not made public? The Crown Prince still had a bored expression. The Emperor gained enlightenment and stood still in his place, opening his mouth. He turned toward his children and shouted.

“If there’s no problem with ideology, there must be a problem with temperament. The Central Medical Institute of Bavaria deceived us!”

The Prince fell into even more confusion. He didn’t think Bavaria would try to deceive Prussia by staking their honor. While they could certainly do so, as long as Lucas Ascanien wasn’t Bavarian, they couldn’t do such a thing if they feared such backlash. He carefully opened his mouth.

“Your Majesty, that’s…”

“Even if not, if it’s certain they made a mistake, we can shift Lucas Ascanien’s responsibility to them. Our Prussia trusted Bavaria and employed Ascanien, not for any other purpose.”

The Emperor’s eyes gleamed. He became calm again, cleared his throat, and picked up the bell to call the Oberhofmarschall. At that moment, the Crown Prince’s slow voice blocked his action.

“Are you planning to sentence Lucas Rene Ascanien to death?”

The Emperor looked at the eyes shining in the darkness. The two looked at each other’s eyes and the candlelight reflected in them, reading each other’s intentions. No, perhaps only the Emperor was trying to read the inner meaning contained in the eyeballs instead of the instinctive uneasiness of raising his head. What the Crown Prince could read in the Emperor’s eyes was too clear, so he smiled benevolently and said.

“You’d like to, wouldn’t you? Let me give you one piece of advice. Delegate full authority to Lucas Rene Ascanien. And you must not announce that fact.”

* * *

Following the quickly processed arrest warrant review, I voluntarily went to Prussia and was arrested. Whether it was the 91st or 98th Unit, seniors from the Royal Mage Association could have come looking for me, but I didn’t want to meet anyone right now. After closing one floor of the Bavaria Royal Medical Institute inpatient ward where my hospital room was located and pitching to the government as Nicolaus Ernst, I moved to Prussia from the moment the Bavarian intelligence service caught news of the warrant issuance. His Majesty the King, Leonard, and I had requested the kingdom’s intelligence service to notify me the moment Lucas Ascanien’s warrant was issued.

Going into hiding wouldn’t be bad, but it’s short-sighted. When I drew a game tree according to my situation, I could see that even if I gained advantages up to at least the fourth layer of nodes, the moment I extended branches one more level down, that choice wouldn’t produce good results. Prussia cannot execute me immediately as the public wants. No matter how stupid they are, such a choice is impossible. Naturally, because they would lose even the opportunity to explain their innocence. Presenting proof that they’re doing their utmost to eliminate Pleroma is a secondary issue for Prussia.

Then what remains is ‘how will we make our case for innocence?’ My strategy begins from this question.

The strategy to devise splits into two branches. First, as Nicolaus Ernst, I had to establish Bavaria’s foreign policy. Second, as Lucas Ascanien, I had to figure out how to survive for now. After talking with Leo, I found peace and wasn’t bothered at all by what others said. However, regardless of my feelings, this incident did become a big topic, and all I encountered on the way were voices praising Nicolaus Ernst and cursing Lucas Ascanien, so that says it all. Even then, since I had been holed up in buildings the entire time after coming down from the church roof, I had less time to hear external reactions compared to others.

What building, you ask? It was sometimes the secret conference room of Munich Residenz, and sometimes Prussia’s…

It would also be a prison. Or an interrogation room, an investigation chamber. I am now in a special facility built to handle magical crimes. Probably so. The reason I can’t be certain is because I’m in a state where I cannot see ahead. I remember once visiting Ishmailov. Since the place where Ishmailov was detained was a location that couldn’t even be recorded on maps, we all entered the interrogation room with our eyes covered. It’s the same now. This time, the problem is that I’m sitting in Ishmailov’s position and couldn’t solve it, and on one hand, being watched by the government from the start was something that was already anticipated. I answered while moving my arms and hands that were bound to prevent magical accidents from occurring.

“I am uninvolved.”

[Tell us what you know.]

“I know nothing.”

My loyalty to the Imperial Court is everything. I finished speaking like that. The two-way voices that seemed to flow through speakers with glass windows between us were no longer heard. I asked, wondering if there were people around.

“I question whether I need to be interrogated like this, Your Majesty. I am not a criminal. I am not unable to control my magical power either.”

Click—

Only after hearing that sound did I sigh. Even if they weren’t here until now, they will be from now on. Someone entered the room. One person, two people. It’s two people. I took a deep breath and muttered curses inwardly.

“Is this human blood?”

Since I smelled blood in the air, I had no choice but to ask.

There’s no answer. I spoke while trying not to even let out a hollow laugh.

“To make a human drink human blood.”

It’s not like they can feed me pig’s blood though. Even as I question it, I know the answer. If they experimented with pig’s blood and then said our Prussia was innocent based on those results, but I showed a different reaction to human blood, who would take responsibility for that confusion and cleanup? So the Antagonists have no choice but to make me drink human blood. That won’t be all. The Antagonists are…

“Whose blood is this?”

[It’s blood that was in the Imperial Central Hospital Blood Storage.]

“Please apologize to the citizens who worked hard to donate blood.”

I answered as seriously as possible while trying not to laugh. Then I asked.

“If it was in Blood Storage, surely there would be no magical power. What about magical power? Whose magical power did you put in…”

[There is no obligation to disclose that.]

They cut off my words.

Honestly speaking, it’s burdensome. Excluding when I drank blood alone or in front of Friends, thinking of drinking others’ blood in static situations, there was only the time I drank blood from Abraham’s wrist. Even if you collected all that blood, would it be 50ml? Perhaps it was just a couple drops of blood that wouldn’t even amount to that much. On the day the Antagonist subtly got on my nerves while offering blood to figure out my temperament, I made bloody efforts to suppress my core to avoid being caught.

Then what about this side?

I asked while hearing the clanking sound of metal touching the glass bottle.

“Wouldn’t just one sip be sufficient?”

Naturally, there’s no answer. Someone grabbed my head with magic-wrapped hands, tilted it back, and opened my mouth. A flat metal rod began pressing down on my tongue.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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