Chapter 230
After traveling downward through a hidden passage, we continued farther and farther down through more hidden passages.
We eventually reached a point where passing through here would bring us to a room inside the inner palace.
"There are hidden passages that reach even the inner palace? This place really does allow anything..."
"I thought it was rather fun."
While Mia was put off by the sheer number of hidden passages, Fiene was enjoying our short journey with a bright smile.
"Still, Your Highness is rather careless, aren't you?"
"Careless? How?"
"You showed me your hidden passages without the slightest hesitation. I should point out that I'm a noble thief, you know?"
"What does that have to do with being careless?"
"I mean that I could infiltrate the palace if I wanted to."
"Ah, I see."
Mia sighed, seemingly exasperated.
That was definitely a little insulting.
Mia was, after all, a foreign national. More than that, technically speaking, she was a criminal.
In front of someone like that, I had used several hidden passages. What's more, I was planning to escape using a passage reserved for the Emperor.
They were all state secrets.
But still.
"Go ahead and try if you want. Though I don't recommend it."
"You think I can't do it!? I'm good at breaking into other people's mansions, you know!?"
"That's not something to brag about."
"I-I know that! Th-that's not what I meant!"
"Al-sama, I thought you meant that, given the circumstances, state secrets were beside the point. Am I wrong? I thought you might reason that if the information leaked, you could simply seal the passages."
"You're half right. If I wanted to be extra cautious, I wouldn't mind doing so. But the truth is, I don't think even that is necessary."
Fiene tilted her head at my words.
I pointed to a spot beside the straight passage.
"Don't you see a small hole?"
"There is one... What is this?"
"A trap. To kill anyone who enters this passage."
"A trap!? That's dangerous!"
Mia was startled by my words and pulled Fiene behind her.
That was a good reaction.
"Relax. It doesn't react when a member of the imperial family enters the passage."
"I see. So imperial family members are safe, but if anyone else uses it..."
"The trap activates. It's more or less the same for every hidden passage and room. That's why, whenever one is discovered by accident, a member of the imperial family is the first to inspect it. Most of them were built by past emperors for 'unsavory purposes,' after all. The traps are usually quite vicious."
Hidden passages and rooms whose existence was never passed on to later generations.
Why had such things been built?
The main reason was to let emperors conduct secret business behind the scenes.
In this passage's case, it was for visiting a concubine without the empress finding out.
You might think that was hardly reason enough, but the empress was usually the daughter of an influential Imperial noble. An emperor who didn't want to lose her family's support had to keep her in a good mood.
And emperors knew that being found out would bring more than the empress's fury. That's why they showed intruders no mercy.
Some had barriers to keep intruders out, while others triggered traps that killed them on the spot.
The imperial family alone was safe because these things had been made for the emperor and his family. It would be absurd for an heir to die over something so trivial.
There were even princes like us who explored the castle, after all.
"So if you're going to infiltrate the castle, it's best not to use the hidden passages. Even if you don't die, a trap might activate, and avoiding one will make a noise. The Imperial Guard stationed in the castle won't miss that sound. You wouldn't want to fight the Imperial Guard the moment you got out, would you?"
"This really is an empire... The scale of what you people do is on a whole different level from a vassal state..."
"Perhaps I should say the imperial family rather than the empire. I'm sorry to say this, but the imperial family does come up with some rather unusual ideas every time."
"You don't have to sugarcoat it. The Adler family is a gathering of oddballs. It can't be helped."
Trying to take the entire continent under their control was a bizarre idea from the start.
Even if unifying the continent put an end to warfare, it didn't mean there would be no problems. The resentment of the people across the continent whose countries had been taken from them would be directed at the imperial family. Our ancestor understood that, and yet decided to conquer them all to put an end to their sorrow. He must have mistaken himself for a god or something.
And his descendants have continued making the same mistake.
Whether that was right or wrong wasn't for me to decide. Historians in the future would make that judgment. But it was certainly not a sound way of thinking.
Those oddballs were the kind of people who came up with something as foolish as a succession struggle and continued it as a tradition to this day.
"So one can't fulfill the duties of an imperial family member by being normal."
Fiene smoothly came to my defense.
She wasn't wrong, either.
To stand at the head of a vast empire, one couldn't be normal.
If you were normal, no one would acknowledge you as their superior.
"You certainly are quite strange, Prince, that's for sure."
"I think I'm relatively normal. Don't you, Fiene?"
"Well, um... I'm not sure I would say that..."
Fiene gave an ambiguous smile.
Why wouldn't she back me up here...?
"There's nothing about me that's stranger than them. Not compared to Erich, Gordon, Zandra, or even my brother Trau."
"Maybe not... But the people you're comparing yourself to are all rather eccentric in their own ways."
"Then I'm better than Leo. How about that?"
"I'm not sure about that either... I think it's a close contest..."
"A close contest!? I've only heard good things about Prince Leonart!"
"What are you talking about? Anyone who aims to become Emperor has to be a weirdo."
In response to my words, Fiene continued to smile ambiguously without saying anything.
Strange. There shouldn't be anything weird about me.
Maybe being Leo's twin was the problem.
"What a troublesome younger brother."
"I can say this with certainty: I'm sure he thinks the same about you. That's what siblings are like."
"Oh? Then I'll ask him when he gets back."
He'd probably say I was relatively normal.
Even I wouldn't claim to be the most normal one.
There was still one imperial family member who was too normal.
A little while later, we could see the exit.
When I opened it, we found ourselves in a storage shed.
"Then I'll leave the rest to you."
"Leave the rest to us? Aren't you coming with us?"
"Sorry, but I have a more worrying group to deal with."
"Prince Rupert and the others, right? Please be careful."
"It's not as though I'm going to do anything. I'm just going to escort Grau to them. I'll stay hidden in the passages and move to help you while keeping an eye on the situation. But don't count on me. I can't help if there isn't a hidden passage nearby."
"I understand. We're allowed to cut loose from here, aren't we?"
"If Fiene gives you permission, yes. I'm counting on you."
"Yes. Leave it to me."
Saying that, Fiene gave a small bow.
Seeing that, I simply closed the exit.
Then I took on Grau's appearance with an illusion.
"Well, time to go save the ordinary imperial prince."
My youngest brother, Rupert, was probably giving Alois trouble with his personality.
He was too ordinary, for better or worse.
Thinking that, I teleported to the room next door to Alois's assigned room in the castle.
Rupert should be in there.
And then—
"Waaah! I don't want to leave the room! What if I die!?"
"Your Highness, please don't raise your voice so much..."
A loud wail came from inside the room.
Hearing it, I sighed.
Rupert had been raised under his mother's protection his entire life, making him a spoiled mama's boy who hadn't learned to stand on his own.
That was understandable for a ten-year-old child, but members of the imperial family couldn't keep clinging to their mothers forever.
"Though I'm in no position to say that when I'm still relying on my mother at my age..."
Muttering that, I left the room next door and quietly entered Alois's room.
Alois looked at me as if I were his savior.
"Grau...!"
"It looks like you're having trouble."
"Who are you!? I can't see your face! I'm scared!"
The speaker was a small boy clinging to the bed.
He had slightly unruly brown hair and blue eyes.
He wore a pathetic, tearful look on his face.
This boy was my youngest brother, Rupert.
An ordinary child, despite being a member of the imperial family.
If I was the Dull Prince, then he was the Crybaby Prince.
"Nice to meet you, Prince Rupert. I'm Grau, a wandering strategist."
With that, I gave the frightened Rupert an elegant bow.