I Seducing the Black-Hearted Duke Wasn't Me - Chapter 61

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 61
“That’s the problem. Count Alpine has grown considerably weak lately. Every chance he gets, he hints that he wants to step down. There’s little we can do about it.”
……
“He’s held the Prime Minister’s position since the previous reign. We don’t have anyone we can trust as much as him…….”
……
“Leon. Are you even listening to me?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
Leon answered his emperor without a trace of shame.
“To be frank, I haven’t heard a word since just now, Your Majesty.”
Well, what an impious brother this is.
Kaiel frowned, but that was all.
“You can’t even bear being apart for a few minutes? Has it driven you so mad?”
Kaiel asked with a smirk.
To that deliberately mocking question, Leon sent back a single annoyed glance before turning his gaze elsewhere once more.
His eyes had been fixed in one direction since before.
The corner of the Banquet Hall.
Between the curtains that hung down so long they’d be invisible unless one looked carefully, distinct threads of red hair were visible here and there.
“Stop it. You’ll end up crawling right into the ground.”
……
At those words, Leon instinctively began to lower his body before catching himself with a start.
He straightened his posture at once, his expression composed.
‘They say people in love become fools.’
He thought his clever younger brother was a prime example of exactly that.
But Kaiel harbored no displeasure. If anything, he found the present moment all the more amusing.
Kaiel hid the slight upturn of his lips with his hand.
The memory of what had happened moments earlier had surfaced.
In truth, he had already heard reports of the commotion unfolding in the Banquet Hall some time ago.
A friction had arisen between Duke Blanc and Marquis Zaherette, and when his Aide reported that things seemed to be escalating more than expected, he had hurried over.
“Apologize.”
By the time he and Leon arrived, the situation was already concluded.
What he witnessed was the Marquis pressing the Duke without the slightest hesitation even before the assembled crowd.
And when the Marquis stepped forward boldly, demanding an apology to his precious betrothed as well——
‘I’m fortunate Leon’s affections have fallen on Marquis Zaherette. Had it been the daughter of some power-hungry nobility, he might have simply been swept along.’
In that sense, Kaiel considered it truly fortunate.
“Leon. I’m serious right now, understand? Do you grasp the point? Should I explain again? What I’m saying is…….”
“Count Alpine has expressed his intention to retire. This means the Prime Minister’s position will become vacant. So the vacancy must be filled as quickly as possible.”
“Yes! So you’ve been listening all along while pretending not to. You’re truly my brother.”
“What concerns Your Majesty now is that Duke Blanc might be eyeing that position.”
“Exactly. That’s precisely it.”
At this penetrating answer, Kaiel exhaled and nodded.
Having someone nearby with whom one could share counsel was truly reassuring.
“Have you considered a successor?”
“Fortunately, the Count has already prepared his entire successor.”
“Then there’s no problem, is there?”
“That’s precisely the problem.”
Kaiel let out a heavy sigh. Deep worry settled once more across his features.
“The successor comes from a commoner background. With imperial authority, I could manage to confer at least the title of Baron as a pretext, but Duke Blanc will certainly seize upon this point as an issue.”
……
“There’s no law that says a nation’s Prime Minister must be nobility, but Orden has no precedent for such a thing. Naturally, the nobility will resist fiercely.”
Duke Blanc is also called the representative of the Senate of Nobles, the head of the nobility.
If he became the pivot point and incited the factions, if the nobility came out in opposition, matters would become complicated beyond question.
This was what Kaiel was truly concerned about.
“It’s a simple problem. Coerce Count Alpine.”
“What?”
This fellow……?
Kaiel’s brow furrowed as he wondered if Leon was truly offering that as a solution.
Yet Leon remained utterly composed.
“Tell him you won’t approve his retirement or anything else unless he takes that commoner as an adopted son.”
“……Ah?”
“If they become a member of the Alpine household, the nobility won’t be able to openly resist. After all, he’s someone your diligent Prime Minister taught directly and accepted as his own son.”
“Y-yes, that’s right?”
“The only concern is that bringing him in as an adopted son too abruptly might disrupt the succession structure of the household. I’d suggest passing the Count’s title to your biological son first, then adopting him afterward.”
“It’s the best approach for us, but… to suddenly advise Alpine to inherit the title immediately? What if the Count refuses? We can’t force him.”
“Then that would actually be ideal.”
Leon smiled wryly, as if stating the obvious.
“Your reason for stepping down wasn’t that your health had deteriorated too severely to perform your duties?”
“Ah…!”
Kaiel’s eyes widened in understanding.
Of course. He’d claimed he was too exhausted to continue as Prime Minister, yet he could manage household affairs? It was a contradiction.
This was indeed a logical inconsistency.
Kaiel was satisfied to have received from his younger brother a strategy worth pursuing.
“As always, you do think well on these matters. I chose my younger brother wisely.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but I suspect I’ll be busier than usual now. Would it be alright if I left? I’ve left my fiancée unattended far too long at her own engagement party.”
“Go, go. Run off to that fiancée of yours, tail wagging and all—”
“Forgive the interruption, Your Majesty.”
An Aide appeared abruptly in their midst, his expression urgent.
“What is it?”
“Someone has infiltrated the palace.”
“What?”
“Your Majesty!”
A Knight Commander rushed in frantically behind him.
The insignia on his uniform marked him as belonging to the First Imperial Knights.
“I strongly advise you to relocate immediately. An intruder has breached the Imperial Palace.”
“I’ve already heard. Can’t you simply apprehend them?”
Kaiel’s expression darkened slightly—as if questioning whether the Emperor should need to evacuate at all.
Leon surveyed the surroundings.
The Banquet Hall had already grown noticeably unsettled.
Armored knights were pouring in, examining guests one by one as they searched for someone.
“You still haven’t caught them?”
“Well, we’ve nearly subdued them several times, but each time the soldiers have managed to let them slip away…”
“You let the intruder escape?”
More than once, apparently.
The Knight Commander was at a loss for words under the Emperor’s reproach.
“According to reports, the intruder is using terrain and obstacles to evade and hide—they appear to know the palace layout intimately.”
“The intruder’s description?”
“A young woman; brown hair, thin and small in build. Wearing a grey skirt and a worn coat. However, since they know the interior of the palace well, there may be other distinguishing features we’re unaware of…”
Kaiel’s expression turned grave at once.
The Orden Imperial Palace was itself a small city.
Pavilions and auxiliary palaces, barracks and administrative buildings overlapped like walls, and with the passages connecting above and below ground, the scale defied imagination.
Beyond that, hundreds of buildings and countless rooms were intertwined like a spider’s web.
Even the knights guarding the palace could lose their way outside their own sectors.
And now an intruder appeared who knew the palace layout.
This was hardly a good sign.
“I apologize, but it would be prudent to retreat, just to be safe. Since we haven’t yet determined the intruder’s purpose for infiltration, the risk is significant.”
“…”
“Your Grace should also relocate to a secure location at once—”
Clang.
A chair clattered loudly to the floor.
Kaiel, startled, turned his head. Leon had already shot to his feet.
“Leon? What’s wro—”
“Erna is gone.”
“What?”
Kaiel’s eyes flew frantically across the room at those words.
The Marquis who had been visible just moments before, along with his fiancée, was nowhere to be seen.
“Tell me—where is Marquis Zaherette right now? I saw him in the lounge area a moment ago.”
“Ah, yes. The Marquis said he wished to get some fresh air and stepped away a short while ago.”
“Alone?”
“No. He was with Miss Marciel…”
“Huh? Is there something you need from me?”
Isabel appeared suddenly behind them, her face confused—no one had noticed her arrive.
Leon’s brow furrowed at the sight of her.
“Erna. The two of you didn’t leave together?”
“I remembered I’d left my gloves behind. Erna’s still outside, but is something wrong? It sounds like there’s commotion out there…… Wait, Leon?!”
Before she could finish speaking, Leon hurried from the Banquet Hall.
The entrance was already blocked by flustered nobles who’d sensed something was happening.
He shouldered through the gap and burst outside, running in alarm.

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