Beside Anastasia, Wilhelm fell into a deep sleep this time without a single dream.
It was unusual. It was because after he had a nightmare, he was often unable to sleep even when he fell asleep again.
‘I’m lucky this morning.’
Wilhelm opened his eyes with a smile. It was a good rest.
‘Somehow, it seems that only good things will happen all day today…’
“Your Majesty, something has happened!”
As soon as he lifted himself up pleasantly, Colton scrambled into his bedroom.
Wilhelm stared at Colton, who was making a fuss, frowning as if to ask what was going on this early in the morning.
“I, throughout the island…!”
Wilhelm’s face hardened upon hearing the following report.
It seemed that his luck today was only the good night’s sleep last night.
~~~~
There are posters all over the island.
Countless imperialists who came out of their house to start the day found it and quickly flocked.
“What is this about?”
“I heard that the Emperor killed his half-brother, the previous Emperor and the Empress, and ascended the throne.”
“Oh, my God, didn’t that rumor spread at the beginning of his ascension?”
“Get out of the way!”
Then the soldiers came in and tore off all the posters. People watched the figures, talking among themselves with stunned expressions.
Eventually, before noon that day, all the posters attached throughout the island were collected.
However, the rumors of the Emperor’s ascension, which was explicitly claimed by the posters, was passed down to several people’s mouths on numerous eyes that saw the poster.
All this happened in just one day.
“What happened?”
“We’ve collected all the posters…”
Colton reported cautiously, looking at Wilhelm reading the wall in question.
“The contents of the wall are so provocative that I don’t think the repercussions will go away easily.”
“…”
“Well, sire, you have to go to a government meeting…”
– Crushing.
At that moment, Wilhelm’s poster was crumpled with strong force.
Colton, who saw it, closed his mouth unknowingly.
‘You don’t look so happy.’
It was obvious to everyone.
He looked at Wilhelm’s expression and asked after a long silence.
“Shall we cancel the government meeting?”
“No, I can’t.”
Wilhelm threw the bunch of crumpled paper at random and stood up.
Colton picked it up and quickly took it to the lamp. The burning paper flared up and quickly turned into a handful of ash.
Without giving any attention to the figure, Wilhelm went out of the office as it was.
And on the way to the conference hall, he naturally saw a lot of people.
“Look! His Majesty is passing by.”
“Oh, the one who came to the throne after killing his half-brother and sister-in-law?”
“A shameless murderer with no conscience or shame! Who knew he was hiding a knife behind his hand holding a brush?”
Wilhelm suffered from hallucinations as if they were all pointing fingers at him.
It was clear that he was mistaken.
Who would dare to say such a thing in front of him?
Yes, at least not in front of his ears.
But behind the scenes? Maybe everyone thought like that? Wouldn’t they be blaspheming him by saying that he had usurped the throne by killing his half-brother?
He was sweating coldly and his stomach twisted. His expression hardened naturally.
“… Your Majesty?”
Colton, noticing that Wilhelm’s condition was unfavorable, called him carefully, but Wilhelm did not answer.
Concerned about him, Colton asked.
“Are you okay?”
“… Okay.”
It was a lie.
“It’s okay.”
He wasn’t okay. He wasn’t okay at all.
The situation was so painful that he wanted to run away right then.
“I’m okay.”
But he couldn’t run away. Repeating his answer as if brainwashing himself, Wilhelm finally arrived at the conference venue.
“Rosenberg’s one and only sun, His Majesty the Emperor enters!”
It’s a word he had heard terribly for three years, but today, as if it had become a dagger, it stabbed Wilhelm’s chest with a forged blade.
The door opened and he saw everyone standing up and bowing to me.
Most of them were his supporters.
At the beginning of his accession, the cabinet, which consisted of loyalists of the former emperor, experienced a large-scale transfer of personnel as Louis went to the island of Schweig for recuperation and Duke Barantes became the emperor’s father-in-law, and it was naturally changed to its present form.
Most of them were nobles who were friendly to him.
However, as of today, even they criticized him from behind and seemed to shoot arrows of condemnation.
Wilhelm did not express his feelings and went to the throne. The weight of the seat was especially heavy today.
The crown seemed to press hard on his head.
“Let’s start the meeting.”
Casually, as if nothing had happened, he started the meeting.
The political affairs meeting was held in a different atmosphere than usual.
By immersing himself in that time, Wilhelm was able to forget for a moment the unsavory thing he had been hearing since dawn today.
“Then let’s handle this case like that, and then…”
“His Majesty the Emperor.”
Then Marquis Fontaine interrupted cautiously.
“I heard there was an unsavory incident today.”
That one sentence reminded him of the hellish reality that he had forgotten for a while.
Wilhelm paused for a moment, but soon responded with a nod of indifference.
“Right. We’re collecting all the posters and looking for the criminal. If I find the power behind it, I plan to punish them strictly.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think we can solve this problem simply by doing that.”
“What does that mean?”
“As long as there is a chronic problem left, it means that the same situation can recur at any time.”
“What is the chronic problem?”
“Your Majesty…”
Marquis Fontaine spoke cautiously.
“I’m very grateful, but many people think you’re behind the death of His Majesty.”
“Be careful what you say, Marquis!”
Then, someone yelled at Marquis Fontaine. It was Duke Barantes.
“Why are you talking nonsense like that?”
“You are mistaken, Your Majesty, Duke Barantes. It’s definitely not my opinion, it’s just the public eye.”
Marquis Fontaine replied, with a nonchalant response.
“As evidence of that, a lot of the people of the Empire have been talking about incidents that shouldn’t be happening. As you know, from the beginning of the enthronement…”
“…”
“It’s true that there was a rumor like that.”
“So what?”
Wilhelm, who had been listening in silence until then, asked quietly.
“What do you want to say?”
“As I said at the beginning, it’s about solving chronic problems.”
“A chronic problem, huh.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Stupid people are easily swayed by groundless nonsense. So we must make sure that you are innocent so that they will never doubt you again.”
“You seem to have a way of thinking.”
Wilhelm slightly raised the corner of his mouth.
“Tell me.”
“Your Majesty has no children yet.”
It was rather out of the blue, but Wilhelm seemed to understand why he was bringing this up. Wilhelm’s corners of his mouth went up a little more than before.
“It is true that there was once a rumor that the Empress is infertile.”
“Marquis Fontaine, how dare you…!”
“Of course, Her Majesty is still young, I think there is a sufficient possibility of conception.”
Interrupting the angry Duke Barantes, Marquis Fontaine continued speaking.
“So you take Prince Louis’ aunt, Olivia Fontaine, as your concubine, and adopt Prince Louis through her.”
…it’s him. The man who planned all this.
When Marquis Fontaine revealed his true feelings, Wilhelm, who grasped the truth, twisted his mouth and asked.
“Why did you come to that conclusion?”
“If you adopt Prince Louis as your adopted son, no one will dare speak of the rumors surrounding the Emperor. Who would ever think of adopting the son of the one he killed?”
“…”
“Also, seeing Prince Louis, they wouldn’t be able to talk nonsense like that. So for now, I think this is the best way.”
“It makes sense. Regardless of my innocence.”
Wilhelm nodded his head. In a way, it was the smartest solution.
In a situation where the rumors of the emperor did not disappear and wander around Rosenberg like a ghost, it will most certainly be able to silence the rumors.
However…
“But I don’t understand the argument that Fontaine should be the concubine.”
“As I said, she’s also Prince Louis’ aunt, and as his nanny she’s been caring for him for a long time from the island of Schweig.”
“Well, that’s too much to do with Fontaine alone.”
Wilhelm replied skeptically.
“Above all, wasn’t Fontaine already disqualified from babysitting for educating the prince close to abuse?”
“Your Majesty, that part is misleading…”
“Besides, now Prince Louis is being cared for by the Empress herself, and he is not looking for Lady Fontaine.”
“It’s not natural. How can Prince Louis say to the Empress that he wants to see my daughter in front of Her Majesty?”
“Are you saying that the Crown Prince is looking after the Empress?”
“No way. However, this is also a decision for Her Majesty. I think it’s a better choice than having Prince Louis join the throne of Her Majesty.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Of course. Do you think she can see him as a her child rather than a nephew?”
“…don’t you dare denigrate the Empress’ feeling for the Prince like that.”
Wilhelm said with a visibly displeased look.
“This is an insult to the Empress. Marquis Fontaine, are you doubting the Empress’ sincerity?”
“Your Majesty, I’m just…”
“Stop. I fully understand what the Marquis wants to say.”
Wilhelm concluded after cutting off Marquis Fontaine.
“I will decide after consulting with the Empress about today.”
“Your Majesty, you don’t have to…”
“That’s enough. The empress is also a servant of the kingdom. We can’t proceed without her consent.”
At Wilhelm’s words, Marquis Fontaine could no longer say anything, and Wilhelm rose from his seat staring at him.
“Let’s call it a day.”
He was going to go see her. Right now.
Thank you for the updates!
this is the author’s weakness. they really don’t do well with political intrigue. the debates between the nobles and the ml are often shallow and sometimes even nonsensical. maybe it’s bc i’ve grown up with a father who is in politics (rural town councilor) and have seen him plan out how and what he would say during meetings to convince higher ups of his plans for our town so seeing how this novel present meetings like this just feels lacking.