A conference room in the Imperial Palace.
A woman’s voice sharply pierced through the door.
“Donations… You’re saying the donations are lacking?”
At the unusually harsh tone, the official from the Treasury Department, who was about to open the door to make a report, flinched.
— Bang!
Once again, a loud noise echoed through the thick door.
Was it the sound of something slamming onto the desk?
He hoped it wasn’t someone’s head…
“Princess Aina wouldn’t do something like that.”
Swallowing nervously, the official opened the door.
The sight of the meeting room unfolded before him.
Thankfully, no one had their head slammed onto the table.
However, blood was dripping from the Second Princess, Aina’s, clenched fist.
“Y-Your Highness!”
“Call for the royal physician immediately!”
Before the senior officials could even finish their frantic orders, Princess Aina waved them off, and the bleeding from her fist stopped.
With her hand still in that state, Princess Aina’s eyes blazed with anger.
“This trivial matter is not what’s important. Speak clearly. Where exactly are the donations falling short? Which lunatics dared to withhold the donations they owe me?”
The Princess growled and ordered.
The shoulders of the official who had just reported the issue trembled in fear.
Dave, the man holding a report on the Seventh Death Squad’s annihilation incident in Easton, sighed quietly in relief, knowing it wasn’t his report being scrutinized.
After all, donations were a big deal.
‘Without them, the heirs can’t function properly.’
The Emperor’s heirs, the princes and princesses, were involved in the empire’s finances in various ways. While they were given a budget to manage their affairs, it was rarely enough.
To truly rise through the ranks, they had to excel, not just get by.
And to achieve more than expected, they needed ‘funding’, which primarily came from donations.
These funds were given by guilds, organizations, and nobles with no apparent expectation of repayment.
Of course, saying there’s no payback is a bit misleading.
All those donations were considered debts, which would be repaid with favors if the heir ascended to the throne.
In essence, donations were investments made for the future ruler.
But now, Princess Aina’s donations had hit a snag.
‘No wonder she’s furious.’
For an occasional problem, the situation was quite serious.
Ever since becoming a hero, Princess Aina’s donations had been growing explosively each month. The increase in donations meant more people believed she would become the next Emperor.
But someone had withdrawn their donation.
That meant they no longer believed Princess Aina had a chance to become Empress. And if the donations were that significant, it had to be a major supporter.
“Who exactly is it?”
“That… well.”
“Are you incapable of speaking? Can’t you handle this simple report?”
Princess Aina lashed out at the civil servant.
Dave, another civil servant, understood her frustration.
The drop in donations was symbolic.
It signified that the once unstoppable rise of Princess Aina had been interrupted. If this rumor spread, other guilds and nobles might reconsider their support for her.
But the words that came out of the official’s mouth were even more shocking.
“…It’s the Harold Trading Company.”
“Harold Trading Company? Claire’s Harold Trading Company?”
“…Yes.”
The room fell into a heavy silence.
Someone stumbled and fell.
It was the Princess’s advisor.
He clung to the table as he barely pulled himself up, muttering as if in a daze.
“C-Could it be a mistake? Lady Claire’s support is crucial for us. Not only is she a hero like Your Highness, but more importantly, the new guilds that have supported us have followed her lead… If we lose them…”
By that point, Dave, who had brought the next report, realized something had gone very wrong.
The report he carried on the political shift in Easton mentioned that Claire Harold had decided to support the Third Princess from now on.
“Damn it.”
He cursed under his breath.
Naturally, all eyes in the room turned toward him.
To make matters worse, he had cursed in front of the Princess.
Sweat poured down his face.
He had to say something.
“That… well.”
Under the scorching stares, especially from Princess Aina, who looked like she wanted to kill him on the spot, he spoke.
“Lady Claire has switched her support to the Third Princess.”
◆
In the shade of the trees in front of the Holy Palace in the Holy Kingdom of Constantine.
The Third Princess, her advisor, and the village chief sat huddled together.
Lloyd, the advisor, scribbled on the ground with a stick.
“In my opinion, this is how the current succession landscape looks.”
— First Prince: Holy Kingdom of Constantine + the Nobles’ Faction
— Second Princess: Blood Cult + Guild Faction + Princess Aina’s heroism + someone within the Holy See.
— Third Princess: Newly absorbed Claire.
“Considering that Claire used to be aligned with Princess Aina…”
“Wait a minute! What are you saying? The Blood Cult and someone from the Holy See are backing the Second Princess?”
“Oh, this is just speculation, of course.”
Yulia and the village chief stared at Lloyd, waiting for an explanation.
But Lloyd just looked back at them, as if wondering why they were staring.
“Explain! Why on earth would the Blood Cult and the Holy Palace side with that woman… no, with Princess Aina?”
Yulia shouted, barely able to contain her frustration.
“Ah.”
“Ah?”
“It’s simple, isn’t it?”
Why was he suddenly acting like this?
Yulia narrowed her eyes.
Finally, Lloyd, who had been idling, opened his mouth.
“Honestly, it’s more of a gut feeling, so I was hesitant to say it.”
“Then lead with that! Don’t talk like it’s a fact.”
“Well, it’s just a feeling. Are you not going to listen now?”
Lloyd pretended to zip his mouth shut.
It was too provocative a hypothesis to ignore at this point.
“…I’ll listen.”
“Remember One’s shoulder? It had the symbol of the Blood Cult on it, right?”
“Yes.”
“And the holy relic of the Saint was found in her drawer.”
“…That too.”
Scratch, Scratch.
Lloyd’s stick drew patterns in the dirt.
One — Claire — Second Princess
ㄴ Blood Cult — Holy See
The various factions intertwined.
“Anyway, we can’t rule out the possibility that these groups are rallying around the Second Princess. With Aina’s personality, she’d do anything to sit on the throne.”
“…This really is just speculation. Using the items found in One’s room as evidence is quite a leap.”
The village chief, rubbing his lips as if considering it seriously, but Yulia quickly shook her head.
“Think about One’s personality. She wouldn’t just leave things like that lying around. And she hid it, didn’t she? There must have been a reason. It’s a reasonable suspicion.”
“That does make sense…”
As both of them sank into thought, Lloyd redrew the succession chart on the ground.
“We’ve brought Claire to our side. It’s like we’ve absorbed the Harold Trading Company. What’s important is that not only Claire, but also the new guild coalition led by the Harold Trading Company, will likely follow us closely. This will weaken the Second Princess considerably.”
“That’s true. The new guild coalition was practically Aina’s funding source.”
“Now we’ll balance things out.”
Swish.
Lloyd rubbed out half of the Holy Kingdom of Constantine’s influence from the First Prince’s side.
“Some of the forces within the Holy Kingdom of Constantine, specifically those split between the Saintess’s faction and the Archbishop’s faction—we’ll bring one of those factions to our side. With that, Princess Yulia’s power will grow significantly. The succession battle can become a three-way competition.”
“…A three-way competition.”
“Yes. We’re really close now. Soon, Princess Yulia will be seated on the throne.”
Of course, that was only if everything went perfectly.
Lloyd knew the odds were less than 10%, but he didn’t feel the need to say that out loud. To Yulia, even those odds would seem significant.
“…We have to play this right.”
And she was smart—smarter than anyone Lloyd had met before. That sharp insight was something he liked about her.
“Exactly.”
“…So, what do we do?”
He also appreciated how she asked directly when she didn’t know something.
Most people, driven by pride, made even easy paths difficult.
“First, we need to get inside the Holy Palace and assess the situation. That’s why we’ve come all this way.”
“I understand that. But how do we get into the Holy Palace? I doubt flaunting my status as a princess will be enough.”
She was right.
Where they stood now was technically the front gate of the Holy Palace, though it was still a good kilometer away from the building.
This was as far as ordinary citizens were allowed, and the crowd around them showed their frustration.
Naturally, only those with official permission—priests or honored guests of the Holy Palace—were allowed through the gate. And that list was exceedingly short, given that setting foot inside the palace was every believer’s dream. Lloyd’s party fit neither category.
“Oh—that’s easy.”
Thump.
Dusting off his pants, Lloyd stood up and wobbled as he walked toward the guards.
“Sorry, but only those with clearance are allowed beyond this point.”
The guard priests who responded in a gentlemanly manner.
Lloyd grinned at them.
“I’m Lloyd from Easton. I believe there’s an order to receive me.”
“…An order?”
The priest looked at Lloyd in confusion.
Yulia and the village chief also stared at him, equally baffled.
Had Lloyd arranged for entry to the Holy Palace in advance?
They had known he was capable, but not to this extent…
That misconception was short-lived.
The priest’s face turned pale as he reached for a pair of handcuffs.
“There’s an order from the Archbishop to arrest him. Seize this man!”
As the cuffs clamped onto Lloyd’s wrists, he chuckled and pointed to Yulia and the village chief.
“They’re with me. Arrest them too.”
