The Strongest Dull Prince’s Secret Battle for the Throne

Chapter 146: Nobles of the Imperial Capital

Everyone, Im sorry for calling all of you here in such a busy time.

Inside a luxurious inn, Edmund said so and bowed to the ten nobles he invited today.

There are no young nobles here. These nobles are all in the same generation or have a similar age as the Emperor.

There are a lot of people like Edmund who relinquished their title to their children and retired. However, with this big incident, they are all gathered here.

The one who should be the busiest here is you, Elder Weitling.

Everything happened because my education was lacking. I should have taught my son more before handing him the title.

Edmund said with a dark expression.

At the time, his physical condition worsened so he gave his title to his teenage son. He thought that he had done enough. After all, in his eyes, his son was that excellent.

However, excellent ability alone is not enough to hold a noble title.

It is hard when you are shown how much of a fool your own son can be after all.

Seriously.

All the participants sigh to those words.

It can be said that the cause of the turmoil this time stemmed from the young nobles becoming arrogant.

The Dull Princeit was our failure to leave the problem alone for so long.

Yeah, thats right. I didnt say anything because the person himself and His Majesty never say anything but we have arrived at the worst situation possible exactly because we didnt say anything.

Despite being made light of and insulted, Al never did anything. He dismissed any insult thrown at him and endured all the bullying. When Elna was with him, she would glare at the bullies who are at the same age as them but since she had to be away from him because of her job as an imperial knight, no one was there to stop them.

And then it has become normal. He became an existence that anyone can ridicule. Although he is of the imperial family, he is at the lowest caste. Thus, the existence of the Dull Prince was formed.

However, that is also an illusion. No matter how much a fool he may be, a royalty is still a royalty.

We mistook how he overlooked their actions as forgiveness..it is not just the fault of our children. We should have taken the initiative. Regardless of how he is, the imperial family is the imperial family. We should have warned them of their disrespect.

Theres a difference when the citizens are disrespecting the imperial family and when us nobles do it. I thought that they would understand that someday but..it must have already been ingrained in the commonsense of the children in this generation to ridicule His Highness Arnold.

Theres no point in saying this now. There are those within this generation of nobles making light of His Highness Arnold. That is the current situation. Our children will not stop even if we tell them to. Honestly, His Highness Arnold is also at fault here. Even though he has enough ability to trap our children like this he was acting all lazy in the past. One could say that this trap might be what he has prepared for years.

Everyone nodded at his word.

Still, everyone here knew. That in the end, the fault is still lying with their children.

That is why they are here.

I think his Highness Arnold will not stop. He has shown that he is willing to take down the whole white seagull alliance. We must avoid that development. The survival of our houses should of course be taken as the first priority but think of how that development will damage the Empire. Even if we are in the middle of a succession war, there shouldnt be a conflict between the imperial family and nobles over a single girl.

Everyone makes a complicated expression after hearing Edmund.

The nobles who gathered here are all the people who have contributed to the Empire for many years. To them, sending the Empire into chaos is against the path they chose.

It wouldnt happen if that girl never chose to come to the capital

Stop that. Miss Finne bears no responsibility in this.

Even if you say that, Elder Weitling. That girl is a beauty everyone is yearning for. When she received that blue seagull ornament that day, all the youth of the capital were fascinated by her. Your son should be one of them, no?

Certainly, Laurenz was fascinated by Miss Finne. If this doesnt involve her, he would have used an appropriate attitude toward His Highness Arnold. However, how important can a relationship between subjects be? It should never be allowed to destroy the relationship between us and our lord. If Miss Finne is to be by His Highness Arnolds side then he should have given up. Even if His Highness Arnold were to marry Miss Finne.

That would be difficult. Especially for the young ones. What they desire is the most beautiful lady in the Empire. That beauty is a curse. They might be able to let it go if she ends up with someone with as good a reputation as His Highness Leonard but..their jealousy couldnt bear it if she is together with His Highness Arnold who they have been looking down on all this time.

Edmund shut his eyes at those words.

He couldnt bear how pathetic his son who he had brought up with great care has become.

If its Leo then anyone could give up and hand her over. He understands that much. However, if they could let Leo have her then they should be mature enough to endure this.

Everyone around Laurenz always praises him. That is how excellent he seems to everyone around him.

However, perhaps because he is an excellent young man with a great title, he never knew the suffering of the people. That was Edmunds mistake.

He never knows the suffering and his thinking is too naive, thats why he can not place himself in someone elses shoes.

And now, he has become a narrow-minded person.

.Was the Crown Prince simply too great?

Edmund whispers with a small voice.

The Emperors firstborn was the ideal successor. None of his siblings could compete with him. That was the consensus of all the nobles. Thus the Empire was peaceful. After all, as long as the Crown Prince is there, there would be no need for a succession war.

And exactly because of that peacefulness, the younger generation has fewer opportunities to gain experience.

He thought that it was all right. If the Crown Prince became the emperor, the Empire would have been safe. The moment he realized that he was too naive was when they lost their ideal successor.

Edmunds thoughts went to the past but it was immediately pulled back to the present by the guest who newly arrived.

Sorry for being late, everyone.

.glad you are here, Duke Horsvath.

Edmund bitterly welcomes the loathsome visitor, Rolf von Horsvath.

Edmunds attitude was not uncommon here. The reason was that no one here welcomes Rolfs presence.

Rolf is also aware of that.

It seems I am quite hated here.

You should be the one who best knows the reason for that though?

Yes. I admit that my son was indeed the one who incited Marquis Weitling and gave him the opportunity to create the white seagull alliance. However, my son was not included in that alliance. He was part of the Covenant of the seagull in the past but was it not your sons who chose to antagonize His Highness Arnold?

Saying such a thing without even a shred of guilty conscience, Rolf smiles as though he tries to fan the flame inside all the people gathered here.

But that is the truth.

Rolfs son, Reiner did not join the white seagull alliance. Why didnt he join it even though he was the one who gave it the opportunity to be formed?

The reason is that the Horsvath house can mediate the matter from a neutral position when a situation such as this arises.

I have no intention to hold a grudge against you. It was all my sons fault. I hope you can help us resolve this situation.

Saying so, Edmund quietly bowed to Rolf.

Seeing that, Rolf smiles and nods.

That is all right with me. Let us reconcile with His Highness Arnold using my contacts.

Will that really be possible? I heard that there is bad blood between your other son and His Highness Arnold though?

That is the truth. However, we will not apply for this reconciliation directly to His Highness Arnold. We would bring this up with his mother, Mitsuba-sama instead. I have someone that can act as an intermediary so please rest assured.

I see. That would be a relief.

Even though he wanted to ask if all of this has gone according to his plan, he couldnt say it.

All the nobles here are mildly irritated at this. After all, this is clearly a loan. They have no way to know what he will ask in return after this.

However, they have no choice but to ask for Rolfs help.

Thus, the story progresses in this direction.

During that time, Edmund was wondering whether to tell the meeting that there is a possibility that Al and Leo might have swapped places but he decided to keep his mouth shut.

After all, even if he tells them it would do nothing but fuels their anxiety.

There is no confirmation about it yet so if the reconciliation proceeds as it is, it would be better to keep this to himself.

The moment Edmund thought so, his attendant came into the room in a hurry.

What happened?

Yes! Duke Kleinert and Duke Reinfeld have arrived in the capital, sir! Duke Kleinert seems to be aware of the circumstances and he is currently in the talk with other nobles, Duke Reinfeld also giving him his cooperation as well, sir!

What!? Miss Finnes father came here!?

Edmund stands up from his chair, looking surprised.

He then immediately switched his eyes over to Rolf and says.

Duke Horsvath. That is how it is. Can we return this talk to a blank slate?

that cant be helped. They would certainly be more appropriate as an intermediary. Howeverdoesnt it feel artificial for those two to arrive in the capital at this time?

I do not mind if that is truly the case. There are only a few people who can move those people. If it is the work of that person then this is how we want to proceed.

Saying so, Edmund bows and leaves the room. Following him, the gathered nobles also began to stand up.

All that remained in the room was only Rolf who was clicking his tongue.