If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 149

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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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Chapter 149
“Here too!”
“Again? Good heavens, at this rate they’ll have to till the entire garden.”
The Prince’s Palace Garden was being excavated by the hands of frenzied searchers.
Prince stood at the gap between the thick blackout curtains he had drawn ever since returning to the palace, watching the scene unfold before him. He set down his wine glass with visible irritation.
A Guard Knight standing quietly in the corner of the room like a piece of furniture glanced briefly toward Prince before looking away.
How dare he cast such an insolent gaze.
Prince felt the anger he had barely suppressed beginning to bubble up again.
Currently, Prince was being subjected to something akin to confinement in his own chamber.
No external appointments or audiences were permitted, and as if the Emperor had issued a strict decree, the Guard Knights monitored Prince’s every movement.
Fortunately, he had managed to find an opportunity to send a note to Viscount Perington.
Thanks to that, the evidence that the dead men were spies—as he had claimed during the Hunting Competition—had been appropriately fabricated.
He was also orchestrating public opinion through his forces, suggesting that deposing the Crown Prince over such a matter was excessive.
For now, he had to lie low and wait for the storm to pass.
The hand holding the wine glass trembled finely with rage.
Prince stared at the rippling wine and clenched his teeth.
Certainly, merely enduring and waiting did not suit his temperament.
His bloodshot eyes, veins burst from suppressed fury, gleamed with barely contained madness.
After enduring several more days of agonizing silence, the investigation results were finally announced.
The conclusion acknowledged that spies had indeed infiltrated the Crown Prince’s Palace.
Thus, Prince was released from approximately two weeks of confinement.
And that very night, the Emperor summoned Prince.

* * *
“You summoned me, Your Majesty.”
Prince deliberately presented himself looking haggard and worn, answering the Emperor’s call.
The Emperor was an exceptionally gentle man with a profound attachment to blood relations.
It was because he had been forced to expel his own brother with his own hands.
If I kept touching that tender heart, reclaiming the Crown Prince’s position wouldn’t be difficult at all.
Prince’s intentions struck their mark perfectly.
The Emperor’s face bore an unfamiliar severity, yet his eyes betrayed a glimmer of pity.
At any other time, I would have cursed inwardly at how weak the Emperor was, how easily he succumbed to personal sentiment.
But this time, Prince chose to exploit the Emperor’s weakness willingly.
Feigning a submissive expression and melancholy demeanor, the Emperor hesitated briefly before finally speaking.
“…Sit down for now.”
As I took the seat across from the Emperor as offered, he personally brewed tea for me.
The two of us drank in silence for a long while.
Only when the teacup was nearly empty did the Emperor finally speak.
“…I’ve heard the results of the investigation.”
In truth, it was an incident that ended at this point because the Emperor had tacitly permitted it.
Had the investigation continued to its conclusion, they likely would have discovered that Prince had fabricated evidence.
The hasty handling of the matter had left the aftermath sloppily unfinished, unlike my usual work.
The Emperor, perhaps suspecting all of this and having intervened in the investigation, now behaved as though he had no hand in it whatsoever, as if it were someone else’s affair entirely.
‘Pretending to be so noble and aloof.’
Prince barely suppressed a bitter smirk, lowering his eyes respectfully as he replied.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor exhaled a heavy sigh before continuing.
“I’ve told you before, Prince. If the chaos of keeping you as Crown Prince is greater than the chaos of changing the Crown Prince, I will gladly reconsider.”
Hearing those unwelcome words again, Prince felt no pleasure.
Yet to confirm what the Emperor truly intended to say, Prince chose silence carefully.
The Emperor took a sip of tea and exhaled as though sighing.
“That scale is nearly balanced now.”
It was hardly welcome news to Prince.
It meant the Emperor would not easily return the Crown Prince’s position.
I forcibly smoothed my furrowing brow.
‘He’s coming at me harder than expected.’
As Prince was mentally revising his strategy, the Emperor added with a sigh.
“So you must prove it.”
“…What do you mean by that, Your Majesty?”
Prince, who had been listening silently, found himself questioning despite himself.
“Prove to yourself that you have the qualifications to become Emperor.”
The Emperor spoke with considerable firmness and rang a silver bell.
At that, the door opened as if on cue, and the Chamberlain entered with Leonhardt.
“It has been a long time, Your Majesty, Prince.”
Leonhardt, who had always called him “brother” with a mocking tone, now addressed him as “Prince” instead.
Prince trembled with humiliation, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.

* * *
Leonhardt let out a soft chuckle as he observed Prince struggling to compose himself at the sight of him.
Then he settled into his seat with a composed expression.
The Emperor alternated his gaze between his two sons before opening his mouth with a grave expression.
“I intend to pass the Empire to whichever of you is more suited for the throne.”
Prince’s face registered shock.
It seemed he had completely deluded himself into believing the Crown Prince’s position was already his.
“Father!”
At Prince’s outcry, the Emperor turned his gaze toward Leonhardt.
“I have already given the Second Prince advance notice.”
The Emperor had summoned Leonhardt a few days prior and asked if he was willing to become Emperor.
Leonhardt’s answer had naturally been affirmative.
It was not born from a desire for power.
A sense of crisis—that he could not protect those he loved and cherished if Prince became Emperor—had driven Leonhardt to this point.
When Leonhardt gave a light nod to confirm the Emperor’s words, the Emperor shifted his gaze between the two of them and fell silent.
The Emperor held only the bare minimum of familial responsibility and guilt toward Leonhardt, but harbored genuine affection for Prince.
Perhaps because of this, his heart seemed far from at ease.
Leonhardt, wary that the capricious Emperor might change his mind, asked with the intent to drive the point home.
“But how will this succession competition be conducted?”
The Emperor’s answer came relatively quickly, as if he had given this matter considerable thought.
“I will present you both with the same task. Whichever of you completes it first will receive the Crown Prince’s position.”
Leonhardt seized the opportunity and pressed further.
“Do you already have a task in mind, Your Majesty?”
The Emperor shook his head in denial.
“I have a few possibilities in consideration, but I will provide an answer after thinking it over for a few more days.”
A single competition would determine the successor.
He appeared to be struggling with the selection of an appropriate task.
Leonhardt made a proposal in an unusually subtle tone.
“In that case… is the Crown Princess of Tervan not arriving in the Empire soon?”
The Emperor turned his gaze back to Leonhardt, seemingly puzzled by his intent in raising this matter.
Prince, sensing something deeply troubling, was already glaring at Leonhardt.
Leonhardt met the eyes of both men with an unhurried expression before presenting his proposal.
“What if you were to assign the reinvestigation of the Grand Duke Orkian’s murder as the task?”
Since this concerned the selection of the next Emperor, a significant task was necessary to properly evaluate both men’s capabilities.
Yet it also needed to be a matter that could yield different results from each of them.
The Emperor fell into contemplation, apparently finding it a reasonable proposal.
“The death of Grand Duke Orkian forced the Empire and Tervan to wage war for two years. If you entrust this matter to us as a task for the succession competition, both my brother and I will spare no effort in pursuing the culprit. Would this not prove invaluable in bringing resolution?”
The Emperor, swayed by Leonhardt’s persuasion, nodded slowly.
“Very well, let us proceed thus.”
The fortunes of the two men crossed in perfect opposition.

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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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