Chapter 41
‘But the core there is so weak, it shouldn’t be able to cause any serious problems…’
Hyun pondered this, then abruptly turned to the caretaker couple and asked,
“Have there been any recent construction projects along the Quillan border? Like building a wall, or clearing out the forest…?”
At Hyun’s sudden question, the caretaker couple started and replied,
“Pardon? If you mean construction…”
“Oh, right, I think they recently finished a project to clearly mark the border there. All the way from Etlan to Carpen.”
“Really? When was that?”
“I told you, that’s why Vicenko was so busy for a while.”
As the caretaker couple went back and forth, Hyun realized that the worst possible situation he could imagine had come to pass.
In the original story, the protagonist Mikhail only completely defeated the Duke of Transis after he became crown prince. Until then, as a prince, Mikhail believed his only role was to support his elder brother, the current Crown Prince, and protect the people of the Empire.
The reason Mikhail finally decided to become Crown Prince was entirely for the sake of powerless people. Because his brother, the Crown Prince, was by no means anything short of a piece of trash.
Edwin Onegin Osbrandt. Born of the Empress, he was an arrogant man who had never, in his entire life, considered the possibility that the throne might not be his. He viewed everyone around him as disposable tools to be sacrificed for his benefit.
The difference from Hyun was that, for Hyun, managing people was a process of exchanging what each person wanted, while Edwin believed he had a natural-born right to control everyone. He kept numerous attendants and maids, whom he could beat at will if he was in a bad mood, and took pride in seeing how they feared him. This nasty hobby was just as evident in his political actions.
‘Since you yourself confessed to a capital crime, I’ll accept your life as payment for your sins.’
The torture methods he wrote up as a hobby would have seen him dragged straight to the guillotine by modern standards. By any description, he was a final boss villain. The only reason he left the stage at the level of an early antagonist was because he was eliminated sooner than his evil deeds merited.
‘Now that I think about it, the protagonist is probably starting to realize the Crown Prince’s villainy right about now.’
Maybe this incident would be the catalyst. Hyun let out a deep sigh. In the original story, the protagonist ultimately could not bear to witness the Crown Prince’s villainy and rebelled against his brother. After becoming Crown Prince, the protagonist’s fame spread throughout the nation, with the Duke of Transis constantly reaching out his evil claws as the story developed.
‘Given the current situation, since I’m quietly recuperating without resisting, maybe the Crown Prince Edwin has taken over the role of ‘hidden mastermind’ that originally belonged to the Duke of Transis.’
Either way, it seemed certain that the one who triggered this situation was the Crown Prince. Without support from the imperial family, it would have been impossible to launch a construction project to rebuild a border that long.
‘With the Duke of Transis, who should be Quillan’s center of gravity, lying low, they must have decided to trample Quillan and wipe it out altogether.’
Judging by the fact that even the communicator line had been cut, it looked like they either weren’t going to dispatch a subjugation force at all, or if they did, it would be for show, and only much later.
Hyun felt his heart throb with anxiety at the thought that the end had come much sooner than expected.
If he stayed put like this, it wouldn’t be long before monsters crossed the lake and found their way to this remote island. Or, before that, the dark-blue miasma might engulf the lake, turning it poisonous, melting the soil, and submerging the entire estate.
Either way, without someone’s help, it was obvious they would die.
The only hope, if there was one, was that the protagonist wouldn’t turn a blind eye to his brother’s villainy and would save Quillan from the monsters…
‘…Ha.’
Hyun barely stifled a bitter laugh.
No matter how much of a protagonist he was, maybe he would be able to save innocent villagers, but would he really go so far as to save even the villain who’d tried to kill him, all the way out here?
Abandoning that impossible hope, Hyun sat on the windowsill. Then, turning to the caretaker couple desperately clutching the communicator and crying, he spoke in a self-mocking voice.
“It’s no use. Judging by the fact they’ve even cut off communications, it seems the subjugation force will only arrive once there are no signs of life north of the border.”
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