That Piece Of Trash Was Me - Chapter 145

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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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Chapter 145

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Time flowed like clouds.

 

“Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

 

The supreme Crown Prince of the Briyang Empire, and the Emperor’s legitimate eldest son who had not returned to the Imperial Palace for over a year.

 

Ferdinand Cassel Evichkait.

 

This beautiful boy, who was more accustomed to being under battlefield tents than on the cozy sofas of the Imperial Palace, wore his usual expressionless face today as well.

 

However, hot steam was rising from the blood splattered on his face, making it easy to recognize that he had just come from a bloody battle.

 

“Please wipe off the blood. You’re completely covered in it.”

 

“What can I do when that bastard leader splattered blood on my face while blowing up my subordinates? If I don’t want to die, I have to swing my sword even while getting hit.”

 

“They’re quite vicious fellows.”

 

“They probably think the same of me. Does it matter?”

 

“I suppose not.”

 

Sir Otero, the Crown Prince’s faithful subordinate and advisor, as well as his first knight, respectfully offered a towel with both hands.

 

Ferdinand roughly wiped off the blood on his face with the towel soaked in warm water.

 

The clean towel was instantly soaked in blood, but his expression remained indifferent.

 

Only a languid air lingered in his red eyes.

 

“Oh, Your Highness. Interesting news has arrived from the Imperial Capital. News related to Empress Carmi.”

 

“What. Did Empress Carmi send another marriage proposal to the Grand Duke Frazier House?”

 

“That matter is famous indeed. No, to be precise, what became famous was the spectacle that Lady Tulia caused afterward.”

 

Sir Otero chuckled.

 

Empress Carmi.

 

The fact that she was a born schemer was an undeniable truth.

 

A woman who had been merely the former Empress’s court lady had ultimately betrayed her master and seized the new Empress position.

 

It was a few months ago that such an Empress Carmi had sent a marriage proposal to the Grand Duke Frazier House.

 

To the very family of Grand Duke Frazier who had taken the lead in criticizing her relationship with Emperor Alessandro as an ‘improper relationship’, or more bluntly, an ‘affair’!

 

 

 

“The Second Prince and Lady Tulia Frazier, what an elegant and beautiful combination they would make, like moonlight on water?”

 

 

 

At first, Sir Otero and the Crown Prince’s other followers were extremely angry upon hearing this story.

 

Crown Prince Ferdinand was engaged to Sophia Frazier, the daughter of a Frazier retainer.

 

Yet the Second Prince, who was naturally lower in rank than the Crown Prince, wanted to form an engagement with the direct granddaughter!

 

It wouldn’t have mattered if Empress Carmi had used her position to connect Second Prince Dave with some suitable duke’s daughter.

 

No, that would have been something the Crown Prince’s followers couldn’t help.

 

But a member of the same family as the Crown Prince’s fiancée.

 

Among them, trying to connect none other than the direct granddaughter with the Second Prince was itself a great insult to Ferdinand.

 

After wiping off all the blood, Ferdinand said.

 

“It came to nothing anyway.”

 

“That’s true, but. Aren’t you curious, Your Highness?”

 

Sir Otero said while washing the towel in a chipped basin.

 

“I’m most curious about that Lady Tulia Frazier whom I’ve never met.”

 

The Grand Duke Frazier House naturally rejected the marriage proposal.

 

Then what Empress Carmi chose was to hold Tulia Frazier’s birthday party ‘no less than’ at the Imperial Palace.

 

A noble lady’s birthday party hosted by the Empress, approved by the Emperor, and held in the Imperial Palace’s grandest hall.

 

No one could refuse this.

 

Rather, it was something to be grateful for as the family’s glory.

 

 

 

“Lady Tulia. Since the Lady has come of age but has no fiancé, everyone is curious. Do you have a young lord in mind?”

 

 

 

At Empress Carmi’s words in such a setting, all the noble ladies instantly covered their mouths with fans and waited for Tulia’s answer.

 

Whatever young lord she mentioned, there were two possible outcomes.

 

Either that family’s young lord would get a new fiancée, or she would strongly recommend Second Prince Dave, saying that imperial family would be better than nobles after all.

 

About half the noble ladies thought Tulia would avoid answering by making excuses about Grand Duke Frazier and the Marquis.

 

But wouldn’t Empress Carmi anticipate the answer they expected?

 

Empress Carmi would surely find some small fault in that answer and strongly recommend marriage with Second Prince Dave.

 

In other words, depending on Tulia Frazier’s single answer and Empress Carmi’s response, the power structure of the Briyang Empire would change drastically.

 

When everyone held their breath and perked up their ears.

 

 

 

“I certainly have marriage plans, Your Majesty the Empress.”

 

“Oh my, since Lady Tulia says she has a nobleman in mind, even as Empress I’m curious. Who is it?”

 

 

 

Tulia Frazier apparently answered after thoroughly chewing and swallowing the juicy roasted turkey.

 

 

 

“I’m going to marry my father. I’ve promised since I was little.”

 

 

 

No noble present could have anticipated such an innocently foolish answer.

 

 

 

“…That’s an amusing joke. Lady Tulia. Of course, Marquis Frazier has been famous as a great beauty since his youth.”

 

 

 

Though Empress Carmi tried several times with laughter to get her to give the desired answer, Tulia Frazier apparently just repeated the same words like a young lady raised foolishly under a doting father.

 

 

 

“Right? I really don’t think there’s any man as wonderful as my father. So I’ve promised since childhood to marry my father when I grow up, Your Majesty the Empress.”

 

 

 

“They said she answered like a parrot while giggling, and they really thought she had lost her mind.”

 

In the end, at Tulia’s birthday party that Empress Carmi had thrown with enormous personal funds, all she got was that brain-dead answer.

 

In short, a tremendous loss.

 

Rumor had it that Empress Carmi even developed an illness from anger and was bedridden for a week.

 

And Sir Otero…

 

Glanced at Ferdinand and was secretly satisfied.

 

‘As expected. His Highness is smiling again.’

 

While pretending to be a faithful subordinate reporting how Empress Carmi had been defeated, he was earnestly observing Crown Prince Ferdinand’s expression.

 

The Crown Prince who, due to the side effects of his innate divine power, remained in a boy’s appearance no matter how much he aged.

 

A boy who, to protect his own position and life, wielded his sword without rest on this harsh battlefield, unusually for a Crown Prince.

 

He never smiled. No, smiling itself was rare to begin with. At first, he thought he was just that kind of cold-blooded person.

 

But…

 

Sir Otero had seen Ferdinand faintly smile when the Frazier story came up once.

 

At first he thought it was because he had affection for his fiancée, at least on the surface, but that wasn’t it either.

 

‘Tulia Frazier. He only smiles a little bit when that Lady’s story comes up.’

 

But what connection could there have been between the two?

 

As far as he knew, the two had never met in official settings.

 

Sir Otero harbored his long-held question and brought up what he originally intended to say.

 

“The debutante ball will be held at the Imperial Palace soon, won’t it?”

 

“Has it already come to that?”

 

“Yes. But it’s been confirmed that Lady Tulia will take the first position at the debutante ball.”

 

Ferdinand’s brow furrowed slightly.

 

“Not Lady Francoise Alsron, but Lady Tulia Frazier?”

 

“Yes, Your Highness.”

 

That was truly unexpected.

 

As soon as Empress Carmi wore the crown of the step-empress, she immediately focused on expanding her influence.

 

Particularly to compensate for her humble origins, she deployed various schemes.

 

One of them was arranging a marriage between her younger sister and Duke Alsron’s heir.

 

Thus, a daughter was born between Duke and Duchess Alsron, and she was Francoise, Empress Carmi’s niece.

 

Lady Francoise Alsron was also of age to have her debutante ball this year, and the order of entrance for debutantes was a kind of indicator showing how outstanding that lady’s reputation was.

 

Naturally, he had expected Empress Carmi to push for Francoise to enter first.

 

“Grand Duke Frazier must have made his move in earnest.”

 

“That’s true, but… does that even make sense?”

 

“Why wouldn’t it make sense?”

 

“Well, I’ve seen His Grace the Grand Duke Frazier before, and that old man is… In my opinion, rather than a person, he’s more like, how should I put it, a giant bear…”

 

Sir Otero scratched his head.

 

“Of course, it’s become common knowledge that Lady Tulia monopolizes that Grand Ducal House’s favor, but I still sometimes find it hard to believe.”

 

Ferdinand walked toward the banner hanging on the left side of the barracks and spoke indifferently.

 

“You have no eye for such things.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

In the barracks where everything was worn, the only thing that was truly ‘befitting of imperial property’ was the beautiful banner.

 

Ferdinand examined the number of medals displayed on the banner.

 

Exactly 29.

 

Sir Otero asked.

 

“Will you return to the palace this year, Your Highness?”

 

“Once I reach 30, I must return. To the Imperial Capital.”

 

“You’re finally returning. Now, no one will dare to suppress Your Highness the Crown Prince anymore.”

 

Ferdinand gave no particular response.

 

What he had come to the battlefield to obtain were the 30 medals that the Founding Emperor had worn on his chest.

 

Unable to sleep even an hour a day, he had to endure surviving in the extreme battlefield. The legitimate medals he had earned this way numbered 29.

 

For each medal earned, he had nearly died ten times.

 

So he had nearly died over 300 times, and had stubbornly survived.

 

Empress Carmi and the countless nobles of the Imperial Capital probably knew nothing of this fact.

 

So they had completely forgotten his existence, perhaps occasionally being wary.

 

Sometimes mixing poison into the provisions they sent to keep him in check, slowly forgetting him.

 

Ferdinand wanted Empress Carmi to completely forget him in such a way. So no matter how great his achievements, he only reported to the military and the Emperor with diminished records.

 

As if barely surviving.

 

Perhaps with descriptions suggesting he had lost a limb or two.

 

Dying, useless, being forgotten.

 

To become such a Crown Prince.

 

However, Empress Carmi was literally venomous beyond measure, so she continued to poison him from time to time.

 

So some days, no, about half the year he had to swing his sword while coughing up blood from the aftereffects of poison.

 

But in the end, he survived.

 

Even building loyal hands, feet, subordinates, and a knight order that he could never have created in the Imperial Palace.

 

“Your Highness. When you return to the Imperial Capital.”

 

Sir Otero asked.

 

“Will you hold a wedding ceremony?”

 

Ferdinand’s fingertips paused for a moment.

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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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