Chapter 2
Hey, you fucking bastard.
A curse word escaped the Crown Prince’s lips, who was widely known for his gentle nature and extreme devotion to his younger brother.
As soon as it was heard, the atmosphere inside the Conference Room died a cold death.
As if it no longer mattered who had been talking or getting heated just moments ago.
Frozen by a single curse, the inside of the Conference Room instantly settled into an atmosphere where no one could easily speak up.
“Did I hear something wrong just now?”
The Grand Justice doubted his own ears.
“…His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is finally expressing his anger.”
The Grand General marveled.
“Was the Empire in this much danger to the point that the Crown Prince, who was called a sage ruler and a living God of Peace, would get this angry?”
It became an opportunity for the Minister of Finance to reconsider the future of the Empire.
That was how unexpected the Crown Prince’s remark was to everyone.
So much so that the Second Prince, completely forgetting his place, sat in his chair with his legs trembling and his eyes wide open.
“Since when did we care so much about the Maselin Kingdom? It’s not like we have major diplomatic ties with them, so since when did we start holding meetings like this over a single Kingdom just because it’s weak?”
At the Crown Prince’s subsequent words, the Vassals' eyes grew so large they looked ready to pop out.
In truth, it was what they had wanted to say every time the Second Prince’s stubbornness persisted.
However, the strengthened imperial authority had prevented them from making any hasty remarks.
All this time, the Empire had been sending unsparing support to the Maselin Kingdom because of its ridiculous whining.
And the Crown Prince had finally realized just how nonsensical that was.
“B-brother… why, why are you suddenly acting like this? Huh? You weren’t like this before, n-no, I mean… Maselin is in danger… so isn’t it right to save them…?”
The Second Prince, who had yet to fully grasp the situation, spoke up even in the frozen atmosphere.
He clumsily tried to appeal to the brother he had always known, but.
“General, did the Maselin side request our help first?”
The Crown Prince didn’t even look in the Second Prince’s direction, instead demanding an explanation of the situation from the surrounding Vassals.
“They have never done so.”
“Are you saying we were about to send unconditional support to a Kingdom that hasn’t even asked for help?”
“That is correct.”
“I don’t know why we should do that, and I don’t understand it… and with our Empire’s strongest sword, no less.”
With those words.
As if there was no need to speak any further, the Crown Prince said nothing.
“Let’s just pretend this meeting never happened. It’s not something worth reconsidering in the first place, is it?”
He rose from his seat.
A meeting that ended in an instant.
The Crown Prince’s demeanor seemed to tell the people around him to adapt or deal with it on their own.
“There will be many changes within the Empire from now on.”
With that final remark, he left the Conference Room.
+++++
The imperial authority of the Bellos Empire was concentrated to an absolute degree.
The First Emperor had founded the country with ridiculous martial prowess and was its focal point.
The subsequent emperors had never once lost their position as the Empire’s Foremost.
Under that immense martial might, no one could easily think of rebelling.
Of course, it wasn’t as if it had never happened.
There had been a few attempts, but they had long since been cleanly eradicated to the point that history erased them.
Based on this powerful imperial authority, anyway.
The Empire was turning into a giving tree that unsparingly gave everything away, all due to the Second Prince’s ridiculous whining and the First Prince’s love for his younger brother.
There were a great many nobles who felt dissatisfied with this.
“What? The Crown Prince said that?”
“I’m telling you, during the meeting just now, the Crown Prince cursed at the Second Prince and told him to stop spouting nonsense!”
“Was that all? He said there would be many changes within the Empire from now on. Isn’t the Empire finally regaining its former glory!”
The Bellos Empire didn’t originally have this pushover image, giving away resources to neighboring kingdoms.
Based on its powerful strength, it took various benefits from neighboring kingdoms and kept them from growing stronger.
It had the image of the absolute strongest, unreservedly revealing its martial might to always maintain the top position.
But it had already been three years, and the Second Prince, crazy in love, had been ruining all of that.
It only held out this long because it was the Empire; if it had been any other Kingdom, it would have perished long ago.
“You have no idea how relieved I am. We almost ended up dispatching the Executioners straight to the Maselin Kingdom.”
“Honestly, is that even a dispatch? It’s a joke… It just means we’re giving them away.”
“Right, it’s been over a year, and the Ironclad Knights we sent last time haven’t returned under the guise of a dispatch!”
“And our Empire is still providing Supplies for the Ironclad Knights. How nonsensical that decision was…”
The Vassals spat out their complaints, wondering if the Empire was finally normalizing, but then…
“But what if this is only temporary?”
“…”
“He only said no to the Executioners. If he asks for something else, then again…”
“No, more than that, what if the Second Prince just does that thing he always does outside of meetings?”
“…Are you talking about how he scurries over to the Crown Prince’s Private Quarters to beg and plead whenever the Vassals oppose an agenda?”
The topic of conversation shifted again due to worries about just how long this change would last.
Because the possibility that this moment wouldn’t last forever was, in fact, higher than the possibility of a sudden, permanent change.
“I don’t ask for much, just… I hope he stops giving away any more.”
“Tell me about it. I don’t even expect him to take back what’s already been given.”
Amidst such various worries.
The contents of today’s meeting quickly spread throughout the Imperial Palace.
At the same time.
The Crown Prince was the subject of these rumors.
“I need to carry out Imperial Normalization.”
He firmed his resolve while looking at the System Message floating before his eyes.
+++++
The very first thing I did upon leaving the Conference Room was to move to my Private Quarters.
“I need a space with no one around, so I can cool my head.”
I had snapped and sped things up because the Second Prince was trying to give away imperial resources like a pushover again. But,
What was more important than that was “how I ended up here”.
Of course, being alone didn’t mean I could figure that out.
But at the very least, I could organize my mind, which had grown dizzy from the sudden change in situation.
“…I really am the First Prince, Bellon.”
As soon as I looked in the mirror, an appearance that could only be described as handsome greeted me.
Golden Hair and Red Eyes.
With eyes reminiscent of the sun, it was an appearance that could only be seen unmistakably belonging to Crown Prince Bellon.
“What’s the reason I transmigrated? To carry out Imperial Normalization?”
So what on earth was the reason for this sudden Transmigration to another world?
Just as I was muttering to myself about a situation I couldn’t confess to anyone.
[ The dispatch of the Executioners to the Maselin Kingdom has been canceled. ]
[ Fate changes. ]
[ The worldline shifts. ]
[ The Empire’s Probability of Destruction decreases by 1%. ]
[ Current Empire’s Probability of Destruction: 91% ]
[ Status Summary: The Empire will inevitably be destroyed within 5 years. ]
[ If the Empire is destroyed, the Crown Prince will die. ]
“…”
A message that snapped me to my senses appeared before my eyes.
With a translucent screen, it had a modern design that made it glaringly obvious that only I could see it.
“Are you crazy?”
As soon as I saw it, nothing but curses came out.
A 91% probability of destruction? But the most surprising thing was that despite such a high probability, the grace period was 5 years.
To think it could continue to hold out for 5 years with a 9% chance!
It demonstrated just how great and mighty the Empire was, while simultaneously revealing just how much the Second Prince had given away.
It was an Empire that would last 5 years even with such a high probability of ruin.
Just how much had he given away to raise this Empire’s probability of ruin so high?
I truly couldn’t even imagine.
“No, I do know… Yeah, but honestly, with that much, it”s bound to be destroyed.'
Whenever the Maselin Kingdom said it was struggling, he gave them people and resources, and even handled tax-related matters for free.
It was truly a miracle that it had held out this long.
“First, I need to know how much was given away.”
I had to know what was given away to be able to take it back.
In addition to that, I also needed to know where the current point in the novel was.
I had read up to around chapter 50.
Up until then, there hadn’t been any events that would make the probability of destruction this high.
I had to find out exactly how much time had passed.
“At the very least, seeing as how the Executioners are being brought up… has the story passed chapter 100?”
The Empire’s highest martial group was the Executioners.
You could consider most problems solved the moment they stepped up.
They were beings that existed in the Empire like a Deus Ex Machina.
These were beings you’d expect to see in a child’s fanciful tale, where the mightiest heroes always appear to ensure victory.
Seeing as he was trying to hand even them over, didn’t that mean the story had progressed quite a bit?
After all, he wouldn’t try to give away the Empire’s highest martial group right from the start.
“At least the latter half…”
I decided to stop my solitary thoughts right there.
Next, I had to look through documents and such to grasp the objective timeline.
I immediately tried to move toward the library to do so.
Bang.
“Brother! Brother! Ah, earlier was a joke, right? It’s me, your little brother Bedin…!”
Without even knocking, the Second Prince threw the door open and fell forward, practically tumbling toward me.
“I know you’re my brother, Bedin. What is it?”
Why on earth did he come here?
Before I could even ponder that.
“The Vassals were opposing the sending of the Executioners so much earlier… so you just ended the meeting, right? You’re actually planning to send them, right? Secretly, just between us? Huh? Right?”
The Second Prince’s words continued.
And those words continued at the same time.
[ The Empire’s Probability of Destruction is about to shift. ]
A System Message indicating the severity of the situation flashed.
The moment I saw it, I intuited that this was no time to be figuring out the timeline.
The very first thing I had to do was this.
“I need to get rid of this guy from the Empire.”
It was to strip him of his qualifications as the Second Prince and send him far away somewhere.
This guy was the Great Evil with the highest probability of destroying the Empire and killing me.