The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More - Chapter 15

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

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◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈

Chapter 15: The First Gift (1)

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I hadn't even hoped for incorruptibility.

Diligence and sincerity? Honestly, it was hard to expect even that.

The center was rotten to the core, so expecting the provinces to be fine was an absurdly high bar.

Still, I thought they'd at least know how to be corrupt in moderation while maintaining basic human decency.

But.

'The fact that not a single one of them did is really something.'

Had they all learned it together somewhere?

'No, they actually did learn it together. They called themselves the Eastern Alliance.'

Everything they did was the same.

They all believed the Empire would remain strong forever, so it was fine to line their pockets however they wanted.

They'd sold off everything except what was directly around them.

They turned it into money, lived in luxury, ate delicious food, and bought expensive liquor.

Whenever something became popular in the Macelin Kingdom, Kailen personally arranged group purchases for it.

'Group purchases... He even does group purchases. What a social media star.'

Mirne really wasn't ordinary.

Maybe it was because she was a modern person from the twenty-first century too, but she'd already spread the greatness of group purchases throughout a romance fantasy world.

Her marketing was ridiculously effective too. Every Eastern Alliance noble I met had accessories bought from Macelin in their hands.

Whiiiiiir.

The spinning-top-like object began turning the instant it was flicked with a finger.

"Oh, ohhh... Watching this jewel-studded disc spin so freely has emptied this lady's mind of all thought!"

Arveda's eyes widened in surprise, like a primitive human discovering fire.

I recognized it the moment I saw it.

"...A fidget spinner."

A fidget spinner. That thing that had briefly become a worldwide trend in the past.

It was working hard to capture the attention of a dragon of unknown identity from atop her palm.

"Is this called a fidget spinner?"

"That's right."

One of the reasons the imperial treasury was being drained in real time.

'One of them is a jewel-studded fidget spinner.'

What a ridiculous story.

'They're going to make a lot more things like this in the future.'

It was funny enough that the Macelin Kingdom, which was supposedly poor and weak, had suddenly started making and selling fidget spinners.

If this catches on, making and distributing it will cost money too.

'Where did all that money come from?'

The answer was already clear.

[ A considerable number of corrupt Eastern Alliance nobles have been removed. ]

[ The possibility of the Empire’s destruction decreases by 2.5%. ]

[ Current possibility of the Empire's destruction: 70% ]

[ Status Summary: There is a fairly high possibility that the Empire will be destroyed within five years. ]

Of course, the Empire had provided it.

They were pulling this fucking bullshit, making these things with imperial money and then selling them back to the Empire.

No, if they made it with our money, shouldn't they at least give it to us for free?

No one objected throughout this whole process.

Because Kailen, who stood at the very top and should have objected, never voiced a single complaint.

"Ha ha."

The feeling I had when I saw this entire process documented so thoroughly.

I could feel adrenaline surge through my head, then spread through my whole body.

Normally, information on something like this should have reached the imperial center as well.

Yet they had worked hard to cover each other's asses and keep it from getting out.

I had only been able to confirm these documents after reaching an estate near Marinapolis, the capital of the eastern region.

"They used the support to start businesses... Right, eventually they'll sell mala tang and tanghulu too."

Why did the Macelin Kingdom receive so much support from the male leads yet have no money?

I felt like I'd found part of the answer.

'They were preparing businesses.'

There was no need to invest separately in making their country prosperous.

Why?

The bridges in the Macelin Kingdom had been built by our Empire for free.

Like a grandmother seeing her grandson half-starved, people around them gave endlessly without hesitation.

They kept pouring money into someone else's kingdom without realizing their own country was falling apart.

'And thanks to that, I only have five years left to live.'

Thanks, Mirne.

Let's make sure we meet later.

With that vow in mind, I quietly entered Marinapolis in secret.

At least this place met the bare minimum standard.

The guards made a show of checking the identities of those entering Marinapolis.

Of course, even that only went as far as passing a carriage through without checking what was inside if you handed over one silver coin.

"...Should I consider even pretending to check people the bare minimum now? Just how low is the eastern region's average standard?"

As I lamented the eastern region's abysmal standards, Arveda spoke.

"Your Highness, are we really infiltrating this time?"

Arveda's words reminded me of my resolve to truly infiltrate this time.

"Yes, we are."

Whenever I dealt with Eastern Alliance nobles so far, I'd intended to infiltrate first, observe the situation around them, then act.

But my extraordinarily honed senses always spotted the noble's face through a window.

Every time, unbearable fury surged through me, and before I could observe anything, I wiped them all out.

So this time, I'd resolved to truly hold myself back and look around Marinapolis for a while.

I would listen to stories about how people lived and find out what rumors were circulating through the marketplace.

"I shall prepare an illusion spell."

"Please do."

Having slipped inside, we were just about to look around Marinapolis when, with a whoosh, my superhuman senses automatically caught sight of Kailen once again.

Despite the enormous distance, I could see Kailen smiling leisurely with the sea behind him.

There was no need to consider the possibility that it was someone else.

He looked as though he'd been drawn in an entirely different art style from the people around him.

He was obviously handsome, with blue hair and a refreshing impression.

Anyone could see that he was the East Grand Duke responsible for the sea.

"Ah."

The instant I saw him, unbearable fury surged through me.

Here I was, cleaning up from the center all the way to the eastern region.

And there he was, lazily waking up, laughing and chatting, then about to pick up an artifact and spin a fidget spinner.

Was this really right?

Did I really need to check the situation in Marinapolis after seeing something like that?

The moment that thought crossed my mind,

"Your Highness, are you going straight there?"

I was already leaping high into the air.

I didn't even think about the possibility of being discovered.

I knew Arveda would cover everything from beside me anyway.

Was it because a dragon called the pinnacle of magic was with me?

I headed toward the grand duke's castle without hesitation.

Honestly, I had a great many things I wanted to say, and the scene I had imagined for saying them had been very different from this.

I wanted to summon Kailen politely and question him about various things.

I wanted to find out how far the novel had progressed, then do some light dusting before starting the real cleanup.

But.

Smack!

Before I knew it, my knee had struck Kailen squarely in the jaw.

"Ghk!"

The expected sound of impact reached my ears.

"It brings me great joy to see you like this."

I looked calmly down at Kailen, blood dripping from his mouth, and continued.

"After personally cleaning up the eastern region and seeing it all for myself, I realized that you are the one rotting it from within."

Honestly, I wanted to say it bluntly without caring about dignity or appearances.

Your good days are over.

++++++

Perhaps because Kailen really was a male lead from I'm Full Because Everyone Keeps Giving Me Things, even a kick hard enough to shatter his jaw could not keep him from answering normally.

"You were supposed to send tribute to the imperial center, yet you didn't... Why did you send what should have been sent there to Macelin instead? According to the reports, didn't you write that it would make the eastern region more prosperous?"

"Th-That's..."

The problem was that having a healthy body and having a healthy mind were clearly separate matters.

"Your Highness, I can answer that. Please allow me to speak..."

The retainer at his side tried to answer for him.

"Arveda."

"How presumptuous, a wretch like you."

Boom!

I immediately stopped him.

How dare someone interrupt a conversation between the Crown Prince and a Grand Duke without receiving permission?

It showed just how thoroughly the eastern region's order had collapsed.

"Ghk, guheooough..."

Leaving the rude retainer slowly being crushed into the ground behind me, I fixed my gaze on Kailen again.

"Why can't you answer?"

"Th-That is..."

"Is Macelin the eastern region to you, Grand Duke?"

It was obvious he had sent it to Macelin, so why couldn't he give a proper answer?

Was he frightened? That couldn't be it.

He wasn't weak enough to be terrified after taking one blow to the jaw.

Yet he kept holding back his answer.

"Could it be that even now, you are delaying your answer because you fear the Macelin Kingdom might suffer harm? Without considering the harm you caused the Empire?"

That was proof he was thinking about something completely different.

"H-How could there be harm to the Empire? There may be short-term losses, of course, but in the long term..."

Kailen suddenly puffed up like a pufferfish, and I let out a hollow laugh.

"Ha! So even now, you're worried about another country?"

"How could I call it another country, another kingdom? If it forms a close relationship with the Empire, and we marry later..."

He could still talk about marrying Mirne in this situation.

"Why is it that both the Second Imperial Prince and the Grand Duke sell their countries to win love?"

If they wanted to do it, couldn't they just do it with their own power?

Why did they keep trying to sell out their country just to win someone's favor?

The most frightening part was that they felt no guilt over it.

Even if there were losses, it was imperial money, shared funds, so what did it matter?

They kept pouring money into Macelin with that mindset, then when asked how they would recover it, they said,

'We're going to marry that country anyway, so all of this will become our money too. Is that what they think?'

The sheer absurdity of that answer was laughable.

There was one fortunate thing about the current situation.

"There's no need to talk any further. I hereby strip Grand Duke Kailen of his title."

The imperial authority was so powerful that I could strip him of his grand ducal title on the spot without any complicated procedures.

Originally, I had planned to investigate every detail of his wrongdoing and use it as grounds to remove his title.

But the treasonous remarks he had just made were his greatest crime, so I saw no reason to look for anything else.

"Furthermore, I will cripple the cultivation of Kailen Marin, who is ruining the Empire."

Killing him here would be the worst way to satisfy my immediate anger.

If killing people had been the answer, I would have killed the Second Imperial Prince long ago.

'Kailen's parents need to rule the eastern region again.'

How many fathers would swear loyalty to an Empire that had killed their child?

I had heard that Javiren, the former East Grand Duke, cherished his son greatly.

Rather than killing him, it was right to reduce his power and status to that of an ordinary person.

"Kailen Marin, you will no longer be able to involve yourself in any matter concerning the Empire, and you will never again be able to accumulate martial strength."

I had to take away his title and damage his body so he could no longer use Mana.

Then, after restoring the eastern region as quickly as possible, I would finally...

'Exile this utterly useless bastard to the Macelin Kingdom.'

Would Mirne still love you the same way when you could no longer give her anything?

I was very curious about what things would look like once I learned the truth.

'But why isn't he saying anything?'

My gaze remained fixed on Kailen as that question lingered.

He had eagerly opened his mouth whenever Mirne came up.

Yet he had fallen silent about the punishment handed down to him, only staring at me.

If.

If he truly rebelled here.

'I'll kill him.'

I couldn't leave alive someone who bared his teeth at the Crown Prince.

Before any talk of restoration, it was a matter of order and discipline.

What answer would he give?

'I don't understand why he's dragging this out.'

It would be right to cripple his cultivation first.

Just as I was about to signal Arveda with my eyes,

"This is unfair! This is unjust! Your Highness, shouldn't you understand? The blazing heat of love! Can you not understand this heart, as refreshing as the sea? Please trust me! You must help me continue building a good relationship with the Macelin Kingdom! This is truly the path for the Empire's sake!"

Kailen pounded his chest, opened his eyes wide, and poured out those words.

"...."

The moment I heard that, I stared at Kailen with my eyes wide in shock.

What was he even talking about?

Was that something a person about to lose his grand ducal title and have his cultivation crippled should say?

'So the Crown Prince had been smiling and watching people like this run wild all this time?'

No wonder they called him a pushover.

And Kailen wasn't finished.

"But Crown Prince brother, you're joking, right? It doesn't make sense for you to suddenly come here and act like this. You were putting on a show, so I played along. The knee did hurt, but... Hehe, want a snack?"

It was one shocking sentence after another.

Even Arveda, who rarely used honorific speech, was so shocked that her mouth fell open.

The retainer, who had been about to scream through the pain of being crushed, could only stare blankly at Kailen as well.

Kailen spoke as if everything that had happened so far was part of the WWE.

He even shrugged at me with blue eyes that said the joke was over.

So that bastard thought this entire situation was an act, a prank.

Tap.

The instant Kailen finished speaking, I launched myself forward.

This wasn't something that could be solved by talking any further.

"Arveda."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The moment Arveda heard her name, she knew exactly what she had to do.

Vertical pupils appeared in her black eyes, which began to shine with colors like opals.

At the same time, Kailen's body was instantly bound by magic.

"W-What is this, C-Crown Prince brother?"

What was with him still calling me Crown Prince brother?

'You're really hopeless.'

Fwoooosh.

A golden flame gathered at the tip of my index finger.

Thud!

It pierced the mana core in Kailen's abdomen.

Crack!

"Craaaaaagh!!!"

How much had he treated the current situation like a joke, and how lightly had he regarded the Crown Prince, that he hadn't taken any defensive stance even after I said I would cripple his cultivation?

He had even been completely off guard.

Even as his mana core was being shattered, I couldn't sense his Mana moving at all.

"Guheooough!"

He must have felt as though the Mana in his body was draining away in an instant.

Pain worse than having his nerves burned was probably sweeping through his entire body.

'They say an incompetent ally is more dangerous than an enemy.'

That saying fit perfectly.

And in fact.

[ East Grand Duke Kailen Marin has been rendered unable to use Mana. ]

[ The possibility of the Empire’s destruction decreases by 10%. ]

[ Current possibility of the Empire's destruction: 60% ]

[ Status Summary: There is a fairly high possibility that the Empire will be destroyed within six years. ]