WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈
Chapter 7: Cleaning Time (5)
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The protagonist of a romance fantasy was always a woman.
The usual structure involved either devoted romance or a reverse harem centered around her.
Since it was a romance story, the protagonist was bound to become involved with the men around her.
It was practically a formula every romance fantasy had to follow.
And the women who appeared in romance fantasies were always either allies or villains.
Considering those rules...
'The novel I transmigrated into, <I'm Full Because Everyone Keeps Giving Me Things>, is a reverse harem story.'
<I'm Full Because Everyone Keeps Giving Me Things> would have countless suckers helping the protagonist.
'And the male leads all have different personalities and their own archetypes...'
A North Grand Duke, an obsessive male lead, a holy knight, a master of a magic tower. There were plenty of those, weren't there?
Among them, the Second Imperial Prince was probably the big-puppy type.
No matter what happened, he just liked the female protagonist unconditionally. He gave her everything and always wanted to stay by her side, finding some way to give her something.
'It might not be the case, but that's how it seemed from what I read up to chapter fifty.'
I'm Full Because Everyone Keeps Giving Me Things had been a novel told from the protagonist's perspective to begin with.
There had never been a detailed explanation of exactly how the Velos Empire helped the Macelin Kingdom.
Mirne would simply say, “Help me, Second Imperial Prince-emon!”
And the Second Imperial Prince would say, “Okay. I’ll protect you even if I have to sell off everything in our Empire, my lady.”
“So that was how you always kept giving them things. Every bastard selling out the country was gathered around you.”
The version of I'm Full Because Everyone Keeps Giving Me Things I had pieced together was a romance fantasy built around the Benz Girl trope.
A modern person transmigrated into a novel, gained various advantages, and built the weak Macelin Kingdom into a powerful nation.
And one of those advantages surely included something like the Second Imperial Prince's unconditional favor.
“Selling out the country...? That's unfair! Investments can't be judged with short-term thinking. They require long-term patience...! Brother agreed to it too!”
I didn't like that he was still using a private form of address in an official setting.
But if I started picking at every little thing, I'd be here all day, so I let it pass for now.
“Yes, I did agree.”
There was probably nothing I wouldn't have agreed to before transmigrating into this body.
The former owner of this body had been such a massive pushover that he might have agreed even if someone had suggested handing over the entire Empire.
“Then why are you suddenly...!”
“Because it's eating away at the Empire. Circumstances have changed.”
I wasn't speaking with the Second Imperial Prince now because I hoped to gain anything through conversation.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, I am ashamed to report that most of the Second Imperial Prince's aides who handled the Macelin Kingdom investments have been confirmed to be in the Macelin Kingdom. There may be few we can summon immediately.”
“Why should that be something for the Grand General to apologize for? Do not concern yourself. When will the few arrive?”
Until the leeches still breathing within the Empire came to the Round Table Conference Room, I just needed someone to talk to because I was bored.
“Immediately.”
Bang!
The doors to the Round Table Conference Room opened.
Eight nobles poured into the room like packages being unloaded at a warehouse.
Crash! Thud!
“Ugh.”
“How can Imperial Guard Knights treat nobles of the Empire this way?!”
“We are aides to His Highness the Second Imperial Prince! His Highness will not stand idly by if he learns we're being treated like this!”
“Do you have any idea how many Macelin Kingdom-related matters are currently underway? Do you know how important we are, to treat us like baggage...?!”
Even as they spilled onto the floor, the nobles refused to swallow their pride.
Well, even if the Imperial Guard Knights were Sword Masters who could wield Aura, they likely assumed their rank would keep them from being harmed so easily.
But their faces immediately went dead.
After tumbling in, they raised their heads and met the eyes of the silent Second Imperial Prince.
“P-Prince Bedin...?”
“....”
They called to him for help.
The Second Imperial Prince answered by looking away.
The moment the rope they had trusted in snapped.
The faces of the nobles, who had kept their mouths running right up until they entered the Round Table Conference Room, went completely dead.
Then they turned and saw...
“I am curious too. I want to know how Velos Empire nobles have been handling Macelin Kingdom-related affairs, and just how important you people really are.”
Me, of course.
'I knew a considerable amount of our Empire's resources had gone to the Macelin Kingdom.'
But I had never expected that attitude to be widespread enough for them to speak of it so openly.
I knew we could pressure the Macelin Kingdom through this as much as we wanted.
But...
'That isn't the priority right now.'
There was an order to these things.
Political pressure through free support could come later.
“Th-that was j-just something we said. In truth, it isn't really that i-important...”
“Grand General, sadly, it seems these nobles are not nobles of the Velos Empire either.”
“You have seen correctly, Your Highness the Crown Prince. They are not nobles of the Velos Empire. They appear to be beasts of a fallen nation, who will only give proper answers once severely punished.”
“What should we do with them?”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, I am your sword. Wield me as you wish.”
“I don't like the fact that they're standing there with those wronged expressions. I think they should be brought down.”
Slash.
“Guaaaargh!”
“H-how could you cut off our legs?! My leeeegs!”
“Do not scream so loudly before His Highness the Crown Prince. They'll be reattached anyway, so why are you so afraid?”
“T-torture...! Are you saying you will torture us by repeatedly cutting them off and reattaching them? Even though we are nobles of the Empire...?!”
“You are not nobles. You are beasts.”
For now, cleaning up the inside came first.
+++++
After the first cleanup operation in the Round Table Conference Room ended.
“Ha. Should I be glad that I stopped things from going from the worst of the worst to something even worse?”
When I returned to my room and sorted through the situation again, I finally understood what it meant to be completely dumbfounded.
'So this was how the investments in the Macelin Kingdom had been handled.'
There was only a contract that gave no indication of when we might receive any return on the investment.
Trusting that one document, the Empire had continued pouring money into the Macelin Kingdom like some neighborhood fool.
And corruption had continued throughout the process of funding them.
The only fortunate part was that the amount was so enormous that no one had been able to properly pocket it all.
'Should I be relieved that we can recover it at all?'
I had no sense of just how rotten the Empire was, so I decided to be satisfied with putting out the immediate fire.
In fact.
[ The Velos Empire is reclaiming its former self. ]
[ Fate changes. ]
[ The worldline changes. ]
[ The possibility of the Empire’s destruction decreases by 3%. ]
[ Current possibility of the Empire's destruction: 83% ]
[ Status Summary: There is a very high possibility that the Empire will be destroyed within five years. ]
The possibility of destruction had even dropped by 3%.
But the real achievement of this State Council Meeting was something else.
'The Second Imperial Prince can no longer privately discuss official matters with the Macelin Kingdom.'
The complete cutoff of official contact between the Second Imperial Prince and the protagonist of I'm Full Because Everyone Keeps Giving Me Things.
If the Second Imperial Prince wanted to involve himself with the Macelin Kingdom from now on, he had to go through me.
I wanted to cut off even their private contact entirely.
But I knew that was unrealistic.
As long as the Second Imperial Prince was a character in a romance fantasy novel, he was bound to remain connected to Mirne, the protagonist, somehow.
Rather than finding and destroying that method every time, it would be much easier to keep them within a range I could control and watch them.
'But won't this lower the possibility of destruction?'
Personally, I thought the Second Imperial Prince contacting the protagonist Mirne at all was a sign of impending ruin.
The moment I had that thought.
[ Personal official communication between the Second Imperial Prince of the Velos Empire and the Crown Princess of the Macelin Kingdom has been temporarily cut off. ]
[ Fate changes. ]
[ The worldline changes. ]
[ The possibility of the Empire’s destruction decreases by 10%. ]
[ Current possibility of the Empire's destruction: 73% ]
[ Status Summary: There is a very high possibility that the Empire will be destroyed within five years. ]
“Huh.”
A message immediately followed, saying the possibility of destruction had dropped by 10%.
No, I hadn't even blocked it at the source. I had only stopped it temporarily, and it dropped by 10%?
'And why is stopping them from having official contact only temporary? Does that mean they'll be connected again in the future?'
Then, bluntly put, the possibility of destruction could fall and rise again.
As I looked at the messages and grew more troubled by the possibilities that came to mind.
[ An incredible achievement! ]
[ You have lowered the possibility of destruction at an extremely rapid rate shortly after transmigrating! ]
[ As a reward, you are awarded the 'Villainess Ring.' ]
“It gives rewards too?”
A ring dropped from midair and landed in my palm.
[Villainess Ring]
└ Allows you to fatefully meet a villainess.
A simple description.
'But is meeting a villainess a good thing?'
It was a reward for an incredible achievement, so it had to be something beneficial to me.
Still, I couldn't understand what positive advantage meeting a villainess would bring.
'I should've read more romance fantasies.'
A villainess, or villainous young lady.
She was an essential character meant to torment the original protagonist.
Usually, she liked one of the men and was set up to harass the protagonist over him.
Like someone who had liked a man since before he entered a contract marriage.
Honestly, a villainess was the sort of character I could meet whenever I wanted to.
Why would it go so far as to give me a ring just to let me meet one?
And not just meet one, but meet one “fatefully.”
I had no idea what meeting someone fatefully even meant.
'I can't guess. I really can't guess.'
Still, good things were good things.
Muttering that to myself, I reviewed the coming cleanup process in my head.
'For now, I have stopped money from immediately flowing out.'
I had made it clear in the Round Table Conference Room that every matter connected to the Second Imperial Prince would be reexamined.
The Second Imperial Prince had agreed to that as well, so it was safe to say he would not be giving things away like a sucker for a while.
'Did around twelve noble positions suddenly become vacant?'
But none of them had been dukes or marquises. None ranked higher than count.
For an Empire of this size, that many vacant noble positions would not be a major issue.
Still.
'There will be nobles eyeing those empty positions.'
Even if there was no need to fill them just because they were empty, there would naturally be people coveting the openings.
'I need to cook something up with this too.'
Mirne, the First Princess and Crown Princess of the Macelin Kingdom, was also the protagonist.
According to her setting, she had been a modern person from the twenty-first century, so she would probably try many things.
She would likely try to make the Kingdom prosperous in various ways, such as lowering its illiteracy rate and recruiting talented commoners while maintaining the noble system.
'But I can do that too, can't I?'
If something was effective when a kingdom did it, what would happen if the Empire did it?
'I heard they were establishing an Academy in the Kingdom that does not discriminate based on nationality or birth.'
But our side had originally planned to invest money in it, and now we would not.
The construction period had probably grown much longer.
They would likely have withdrawn not only the money, but all the personnel as well.
It would likely take an enormous amount of time to fill that gap.
'There is no need to apply diplomatic pressure right away. The Empire becoming powerful again is an attack in itself.'
The more I avoided destruction, the more the Macelin Kingdom would lose strength.
Anyway, I needed to keep cleaning in order to complete this structure.
“I've tied down one problem child to some extent, so cleaning up will be easier for a while.”
Thinking that, after such an eventful day, I was about to lie down on my bed.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Brother! Brother! Open the door! Brother! It's me!”
“...Ha.”
I remembered another problem child I had forgotten about.
If there had only been one love-crazed lunatic, the Second Imperial Prince, maybe that pushover reputation would not have stuck.
But if there was more than one?
“Come in.”
At my words, the door flew open.
“Brother! Is it true? Bedin isn't going to keep giving things to the Macelin Kingdom anymore?”
A woman with dark pink hair swaying behind her and orange eyes approached me with a delighted smile.
If the Second Imperial Prince, Bedin Velos, was a leaking bucket outside the house.
“Yes, it's true.”
“Then, then... don't we have anything to worry about now? Can't we go on a trip?”
The First Imperial Princess, Erna Velos, was a leaking bucket inside the house.
She was a pure-minded airhead, an idiot, a complete fool.
Rather than a villainous young lady, she was just a stupid young lady.
'Come to think of it, I need to straighten her out too.'
Sigh.
As a sigh escaped me.
“Let's talk after I've slept. I'm tired.”
“Okay!”
I immediately sent the First Imperial Princess out of my room and flopped onto the bed.
The Second Imperial Prince was a love-crazed idiot.
The First Imperial Princess was simply an idiot.
And the First Imperial Prince had just been a pushover.
'Emperor, you crazy bastard... aren't your sperm completely pathetic?'
You blew your load three times. Shouldn't at least one of them have been a winner?
Why are you the one pulling the romance-fantasy heroine's fuck-and-run routine?
Still, fortunately, I had a rough idea of what to do with all of this.
I had a plan in mind for turning it to my advantage.
Footnotes:
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