The Strongest Dull Prince’s Secret Battle for the Throne

Chapter 22: The Emperor’s Feelings

Is this true!?

Emperor Johannes thrust the documents submitted by Earl Baelz before the Minister of Engineering.

A flame of anger swirling in his eyes.

The Minister whose affair got exposed immediately kneels down and begs for forgiveness.

Please forgive me, Your Majesty! I was misguided!

Its a crime to dabble with someone elses wife! As a minister, you know this, didnt you!? Moreover, she was your subordinates wife wasnt she!? What were you thinking!?

Tha, that is..Be, Bethina was the one who approached me herself! Please I beg for your forgiveness! I was seduced! This must be the work of someone who wants to undermine me!

Do you think its fine to have an affair with your subordinates wife if she seduced you!? Then if one of my concubines were to seduce you, you would have an affair with her!?

Th, that is..

Its the same thing! How dare you blame the woman for your unfaithfulness!?

Johanness anger is unstoppable.

He has been entrusting the Minister with his work for many years. He even introduced his friends daughter to be his wife, the fact that the Minister return his favor like this anger him to no end.

But thats not the only reason. The partner in his affair is the wife of  Earl Baelz, the man he has his eyes on. the man who was made to suffer by his wife.

He was the one who green-lighted the investigation on the Earls wife. He even told the reluctant Earl that if there are any problems he would be the one who passes the judgment himself. Thats how much he took a liking to the Earl.

The major premise of Zandras plan was relying on how much Johannes trust in the Earl. She used the fact that the Emperor believed in Earl Baelz that he would never do anything to undermine his superior and in fact, the Earl is such a person himself.

Thats why in the eyes of Johannes, this matter looks like the Minister had attempted to corner his excellent subordinate by using his subordinates wife to protect his own position.

In that regard, everything went according to Zandras plan. Normally, it could be seen that the Earl was using his wife to frame his boss but due to Johanness trust in the Earls personality it didnt turn out like that.

Additionally, Johannes who had already heard from the Earl of how he was suffering because of his wife was also sympathetic to Earl Baelz.

Thats why Johanness decision was swift.

Resign yourself from the position! Go back to your home and wait for the punishment!

Pl, please forgive me! Forgive me, Your Majesty!

Call Earl Baelz here!

Johannes declared with no sign of him letting go of his wrath.

Earl Baelz who seems to have shrunken a little, comes before Johannes.

and then, the Earl gives his apologies.

My deepest apologies! This was all due to my lack of supervision on my ex-wife!

Baelzwhat are you saying? You dont have to be responsible for that.

B, But

I trust you. You might have been too naive that you got tricked by some bad woman but I do like that part about you. I appreciate the seriousness and eagerness you shown on your job. I wanted someone like you for my minister. How about it, will you consider being my Minister of Engineering?

I, I cant accept such a position! It was my wife who committed a sin! Please hand down your punishment Your Majesty!

She is not your wife anymore. Moreover, the Minister also share the blame in this matter as well. He cant just be forgiven even if he was seduced. I have no intention to punish you for this case and I will punish anyone who slanders you as well.

Y, Your Majesty

Let me give my order again. I appoint Earl Baelz as the Minister of Engineering. You must work harder for the Empire than you ever before.

I will never forget Your Majestys kindness. In the name of the Baelz house allow me to accept this responsibility.

Thus the Earl accept the post of Minister of Engineering.

Johannes exchanged a few words with him and dismissed the Earl for the day.

Then he dropped his hips deep into the throne and let out a sigh.

Its finally getting more intense isnt it.

Franz huh

The man who appeared before him without permission was a man of the same age as Johannes.

The man has pale silver hair and dressed in white civil-official-like clothing. Theres only one position in this empire that was permitted to wear it.

The chief of all the civil servants, the Prime Minister.

The mans name is Franz Seebeck. As you can guess from the lack of von in his name, this man is not a noble. With his wisdom alone, he was the man who climbed from being a son of an inn owner into the position of the prime minister, the most important post in the empire.

Johannes starts speaking to Franz.

The struggle for a minister position is always connected to the succession war. All of the current ministers should know that well. Thats why they have to be cautious. Being seduced to have an affair with a subordinates wife is out of the question. He will eventually bring harm to the empire. If I dont replace him now, the damage might spread to me as well.

I have no complaint on how Your Majesty handles the matter. However, what were you thinking when you appointed Earl Baelz as a minister? This matter smells of a plot after all.

In Franzs eyes, who was Johanness staff officer since he was still a prince, the Earls surroundings seemed suspicious.

The reason that he didnt look deeply into it was because he was barred from interfering with the succession war. Otherwise, he would have already thoroughly conducted an investigation on the matter.

I dont mind even if its some kind of plot. Baelz himself has the ability for the job and he was not the person who came up with it himself. With that being the case, I dont mind leaving him with the position. Moreover, if they cant orchestrate at least this kind of plot they wouldnt be suitable to be an emperor anyway.

Your Majesty sure say some bizarre things? Was I not the one who came up with all the plots when Your Majesty was a prince?

Thats just how an emperor is. The power to see others talents and the ability to make use of them, both are needed in order to become an emperor. I was able to notice your talents quickly enough. Thats why I left all the plotting to you. Thanks to that, I am the one who is sitting on this right now.

Please dont make such a joke. Even if I wasnt there, Your Majesty would have taken the throne all the same. You were that ingenious, Your Majesty.

Saying so, Franz briefly thinks about the past. Johannes as well.

The children are trying to follow the path they once traveled. It was the path that was soaked with blood. He knew that but Johannes couldnt stop them.

It was because of such battle for the throne that theres the current Johannes. When he became the Emperor with that experience, he has enjoyed his life to his hearts content.

The Empire is certainly a strong country but that doesnt mean that it is unrivaled. There are rivals and you have to fight for it to exist. Thats why it needs a strong and excellent emperor. The succession war is a trial for that purpose, a practice run before they become an emperor.

If they cant overcome that then they have no right to be an emperor. It is something like a tradition that passed down from generation to generation.

Your Majesty has played a fool yourself. Despite being the eldest, you were once called the prodigal prince, No?

Being in the lead of a succession war is dangerous after all. Theres the danger of being assassinated too. My son was like that as well.

We were not able to find evidence that the Crown Prince was assassinated. Both I and Your Majesty had investigated everything regarding that. Even so, are you still suspect that he was assassinated?

Yeah, Im confident. The Crown Prince was assassinated. He was excellent but he was too kind for his own good. Someone must have made use of that. I wish there was at least someone who can compensate him on that part.

Such is fate. But speaking of that, dont you think that the fourth faction is interesting?

Johannes grins at Franzs words.

Thats because Johannes agreed with him.

You think so too? At first glance, it looks like it was due to Leonards charismatic power but theres definitely someone who is moving behind the scene for him. Otherwise, his faction wouldnt be able to expand so quickly.

Perhaps, are you thinking about Prince Arnold?

Yeah, he is certainly similar to me. I have a feeling that he was just acting like an incompetent for show.

I have the same opinion but unlike Your Majesty, I cant feel any ambition for the throne from him. Moreover, it seems like he has been working on stigmatizing himself. In fact, he never does anything in retaliation no matter what was done to him. Currently, he is being completely looked down upon by the nobles as well.

I dont know what hes thinking but last time during the incident, he was the first one who took action and sent Elna to me. Moreover, he broke his bracelet so that Elna and the knights wouldnt get the blame in case something happened as well. That is the evidence that he considered various outcomes that could happen at Kiel. at the very least, he is not as incompetent as the public says. Of course, that might just be an overestimation on my part.

Is that why you had him act as His Highness Leonards aide? That is no good, isnt it? There would be no one to command Prince Leonards faction once hes gone.

Well, I will admit that I was a little emotional at the time. I dont like the carefree look on Arnolds face you see. He was making a face like everything has gone according to his plan, I was kind of irritated..

Franz was about to say, Werent you just irritated because he was similar to you? But he swallows the words back down his throat.

He would deny it even if he says that anyway.

But, Franz knew.

Arnold is more similar to Johannes more than he thinks.

The difference is that Johannes had the will. The will to become the Emperor. However, he cant feel anything like that from Arnold.

Those who have no will nor a strong conviction will only send the battlefield into chaos. Even more so if they have power.

If Arnold possesses such a strong desire, he will overcome this crisis with every hand he got. Thats what Johannes wants to see.

Then, only when they survived everything, would Arnold and Leonard will be recognized by Johannes.

It seems we will have to wait and see what our Dark Twin Princes have got isnt it.

Dark Twin huhthats a nice name. Those two are one and the same. The righteous Leonard does give the feeling of a Crown Prince. If Arnold acts as his shadow and helps him from the dark, they might really take the throne huh.

I wonder. The other princes and princesses who walked on such a path are all excellent. In different times, it wouldnt be strange if any of them became an emperor.

Thats a good thing. When excellent people compete for the throne, a wise emperor will be born. The Empire will be safe with this huh.

To Johannes who always thought of the Empire, it was certainly good news.

But inside Johanness heart, he has another feeling.

He wishes that his children wouldnt have to shed so much blood.

Knowing that he cant voice such feelings as an emperor, Johannes departed to his next meeting.