The Strongest Dull Prince’s Secret Battle for the Throne

“Schwartz-san. I’ve finished handing the letter to the lord here.”

We were heading to Duke Lowenstein’s territory together with Char.

It would take too long to send the letter to each northern nobles after persuading Duke Lowenstein, so Char decided to hand the letter to each of them on our way to Duke Lowenstein’s territory.

For the lords whose territory is far away, we dispatch some of the Narbe Ritter to deliver the letter. They are entrusted with Marquis Zweig’s letter as well as Char’s personal letter.

The content of her letter is that she is on her way to persuade Duke Lowenstein. If Duke Lowenstein moved, she wanted them to agree to a meeting as per Marquis Zweig’s letter. Those lords will now pay close attention to the movement of Duke Lowenstein. They should leave their territory and approach Duke Lowenstein’s territory. With that being the case, it will not be difficult to convene the meeting of the northern nobles.

Well, that is fine and all but……

“Why are you using -san again? You don’t need to add honorifics while referring to me..”

“…….”

Only me and Char are inside the room.

I understand that she can’t call me Arnold but I couldn’t understand why she chose to add -san to my name again.

“Is that an order? Your Highness.”

“You really hate the Imperial Family huh. And yes, I don’t want you to add honorifics when calling me.”

“…..then I apologize for my rudeness. I decided to trust you and bent my knees but getting along with you is still an entirely different matter. I still hate the Imperial Family after all.”

“Didn’t you say that you won’t judge me based on my title?”

“The crisis we are facing does affect the entirety of the North so I will not judge you by your title but my personal feeling is still a different matter.”

With that said, Char had an indescribable expression on her face.

It looks like a mix of disgust and friendliness.

I can understand that her heart is still in conflict with that alone.

“I see. I still want to get along with you though?”

“Impossible. You would find it a pain to eat something you don’t like right?”

“It should be fun to overcome that though?”

“It is still troublesome to force someone to eat what they don’t like, right?”

“Certainly.”

Char already has her conclusion

Since she can’t erase her disgust toward the Imperial Family, she decided to stay a distance away from me

A person who knows that and tries to shorten that distance must be troublesome for her

Still, since we are going to persuade Duke Lowenstein together, it wouldn’t do if the relationship between us is weak

If I couldn’t get along with Char then it would be impossible to persuade Duke Lowenstein

“But not getting along with you would negatively impact our chance of persuading Duke Lowenstein right”

“I can put up an act”

“He will surely see through you. So, why don’t we put in some effort to get along with each other?”

“……what do you have in mind?”

Char sat down in the chair while squinting her eyes at me, her unpleasant mood exuded from her entire body.

It seems that at least she is willing to cooperate.

At least the first barrier is down huh.

“For the time being, let me confirm one thing. What do you hate about the Imperial Family?”

“Your blood. I can’t even stand someone who has the blood of the Imperial Family.”

“You get right down to business huh……”

As expected, there is nothing I can do about my bloodline.

She rejected my whole being from the start.

Still, I am not someone who would give up just because of that.

I took off the hood I was wearing and lightly brushed my hair up.

“There aren’t many black-haired emperors. The reason why I have black hair is that my mother is from the east.”

“So?”

“If we are talking about blood then I am a half commoner myself since my mother was one. I only have a few qualities of someone that belong to the Imperial Family. Since the characteristics of the blood you loath so much don’t appear on me, it is the same as I don’t possess that blood.” ɌâŊŎВЁṢ

“But you still belong to the Imperial Family right?”

“I am not proud about it and I’ve rarely been treated like a prince. Among my brothers and sisters, I am the only one who got thrown in jail as a child you know.”

“I don’t think that is something that you should brag about though……”

Char sighs astoundedly.

Of all the members of the Imperial Family, I am the farthest from being treated like one. Even if she says that she dislikes me because I belong to the Imperial Family, I have almost no such characteristics.

Even I can’t wrap my head around such an argument myself.

“How about it? Do you still think I am one of the Imperial Family?”

“I do.”

“…..why?”

“But you are one right. There are people who would treat you as one after all.”

“……I have childhood friends who tried to kill me several times with wooden swords you know. For argument’s sake, they are supposed to be my vassals too though……..”

“That’s surprising, so no one tried to stop them even though you were about to get killed……”

Char’s words made me smile.

The adults around me pretty much all have a non-interference policy.

They never get in the way of the children.

“I didn’t say anything after all. Besides if I exercised my privileges as a prince, I wouldn’t be able to establish an equal friendship too.”

“…….so you just silently accepted it? Was that how Ojii-sama helped you?”

“That’s right. I could have told my father that I was being bullied but at worst, the ones who have low standing might even receive a death sentence. It’s scary, right? Childish bullying between children can even result in the death penalty. That’s why I didn’t say anything. At that time, Marquis Zweig helped me. He said that he understood what I was doing and was touched by it. It made me really happy.”

“……so you’ve been so adult-like since you were a kid huh. If it was me I would already cry to my parents. I wouldn’t think about what could happen after that at all.”

“I have no shortage of role models after all. In that sense, I might have benefited from being a member of the Imperial Family.”

As a child.

I had my eldest brother and Lize-aneue around me.

They set the example of what being an Imperial Family member should be like.

So I was able to embody that in my own way. That was all there was to it.

“You…..really are not like someone who belongs to the Imperial Family. Even so…..you are still one of the people who abandoned Ojii-sama.”

“Right, I can not erase that fact. But that was exactly why I came to him. I thought that I finally got the chance to repay him after all.”

“Repay him?”

“That’s right. The Imperial Family has an inerasable debt toward Marquis Zweig. After the death of the Crown Prince, the Empire was shaken. We had so many things to do that we were short on hand. At that time, It was Marquis Zweig who appeared and solved the problem of the North for us. It was convenient. That’s why we didn’t do anything. I am not trying to justify it. After all, the Imperial Family had taken advantage of his feelings toward the North and used him.”

“That’s quite a way to say it……”

“It is the truth that will not change. My father made a cold decision and didn’t give the Marquis anything in return. I think that I should have done something earlier. Still, I kept putting it off. That will never change. However, I should be able to repay him with what I am about to do. A debt is something that is meant to be repaid after all.”

“…….the one who abandoned Ojii-sama was the Emperor, not you.”

“Just like you who want to succeed Marquis Zweig, I am the son of that Emperor. Moreover, I am also a part of the Imperial Family. That should be enough of a reason for me. As a member of the Imperial Family, I will repay the debt that my father built up. First, I will unite all of the Northern Nobles. After all, the ones who can save the north are only the clans of the North themselves.”

I and the Northern Nobles are similar.

I had put up with the bullying to protect the noble children.

The Northern Nobles endured the cold treatment to protect the northern region.

They could have protested as much as they wanted but they chose to only take their distance. They could have touched on the topic of the Crown Prince’s death as well.

Still, the topic of his death was too sensitive at the time. If they have done that, the situation now might even be worse than this.

That’s why they stayed silent and endured. To not turn the north into a battlefield.

It is because they are like that that we can rely on them in a situation like this.

“Don’t people often call you a weird person?”

“I am often told that.”

“Right. Whether you belong to a noble house or the Imperial Family, your way of thinking is still strange. Even though you said that people rarely treated you like a prince…….why are you still saying that you have to fulfill the obligations of the Imperial Family?”

“Even you have been removed from the position of Marquis Zweig’s successor right. Even so, you still choose to inherit his work. Why?”

“I just thought that I should do it.”

“My answer is the same. Positions and titles might help you make a decision but it doesn’t mean that they can determine everything. It is up to us to decide. I am here right now because I think that I must fulfill my obligations as a part of the Imperial Family. How people treated me in the past has nothing to do with that, no?”

Even if people continue to call me the Dull Prince, it is up to me to decide whether I want to fulfill my obligations or not.

I was raised that way.

Everything is my responsibility.

“……in the end, a title is only a title. Right now, I think can understand the true meaning of those words.”

Said Char as she stood up and tried to leave the room.

I stopped her.

“Char. My nickname is Al, will you call me that?”

“…..I will call you that when you manage to repay your debt. Until then, you are Schwartz.”

Char leaves the room after saying so.

It is still strange to call our relationship a friendly one but it is at least better than her using -san to call me.

Still.

“If Char is this tough then it seems that I will have a much harder time with Duke Lowenstein huh.”

I sighed and leaned back on my chair.

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