Do Your Own Revolution-Chapter 180

< Emperor-004 >

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Karl lifted the teacup placed before him and brought it to his lips without hesitation.

The act of drinking the beverage offered by an enemy without reservation.

It was as if his actions were proving that his words were no lie.

“These tea leaves were harvested from the Mondreil region. The steeping is excellent, and the aroma is superb.”

“You have a good eye.”

As he critiqued the tea with leisurely gestures.

Watching that refined demeanor from behind, Kalkas stuck out his tongue with a ‘blegh.’

“The aroma is one thing, but it’s surprising you can even identify where the tea leaves are from.”

“It’s thanks to Margaret’s tea parties.”

Before I knew it, I’d memorized it from attending almost every day.

Karl spoke as if complaining, then continued as he set down his teacup.

“Margaret is the Count Dvorak’s… No, she’s the woman born with the highest psychic abilities in the continent’s history.”

“I heard she underwent the imprint succession ceremony at age twelve and ascended to family head at fourteen.”

Karl nodded at Prince Friedrich’s words.

The head of a magic noble family is the most powerful mage in the family.

At the age of fourteen, Margaret had seized power over the entire count’s territory.

“A mage who inherited the imprint before coming of age, and reached the highest realm immediately after receiving it.”

“……”

“Some say she has the potential to reach… the realm of awakening, as written in the ancient magic texts.”

After speaking briefly about Margaret’s power.

“It’s utterly ridiculous nonsense.”

Karl, who spat these words in a cold voice, began to harshly criticize Margaret, his own lord.

“All she possesses is that excessive talent and magical power. She’s completely ignorant, without even a fragment of political aptitude.”

“……”

“Just a child intoxicated by the power she was born with, wanting to make everything she touches her own. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Bang-!

After speaking thus for a moment.

“The more I listen, the more absurd this is.”

It was Kalkas’s hand that struck the desk with a rough gesture after listening to Karl’s words.

“Karl Buckenheim. You said the plan to brainwash the Emperor came from your head, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“In other words, aren’t you the very person who handed the empire to that incompetent woman?”

“Indeed.”

At his clean admission, Kalkas grew even more furious.

“And now you come crawling in here, laughing and saying we should kill Margaret together? There’s a limit to how shameless one can be.”

“Even without my plan, Emperor Franz’s regime would have fallen.”

The Emperor was even more incompetent than the current Margaret.

After saying this, Karl slowly set down his teacup.

“Just look at the current situation. Not only did he lose public support through repeated misgovernance, but he also kicked away the nobles’ support by forcefully pushing through the railway project.”

“……”

“He tried convincing people it was necessary for reform, but to the imperial citizens and nobles, it was just an empty echo. The ambitiously started project fell into a quagmire, teetering on the edge of cancellation at any moment.”

Though the criticism of his father continued, Friedrich, who heard these words, kept his eyes closed without showing any particular reaction.

After all, what Karl was saying matched exactly with what he had experienced while proceeding with the railway project.

“If Your Highness hadn’t mediated, the railway construction project would have been at the planning stage……”

“For that reason.”

Friedrich, cutting off Karl’s words, asked with a cold gaze.

“Was that enough reason—incompetence alone—to reduce Father to such a state? To a puppet of Margaret’s who can’t even think for himself?”

“Yes.”

A voice filled with resentment.

However, Karl’s answering voice was resolute.

“A monarch is not an individual, but a tool for running the state. Therefore, a monarch’s incompetence is itself a sin.”

“……!”

“Margaret, obsessed with money and power, was far easier to handle than an Emperor running wild with reform and out of control.”

That’s why the magic nobles handed over the state’s full authority to Margaret.

They allowed Count Dvorak’s monopoly on power, believing they could control her by catering to her whims.

“That’s what we thought, but.”

Karl’s face hardened as he held the empty teacup.

The Emperor, who had been carefully observing this, spoke in a matter-of-fact voice.

“Such methods of controlling Margaret have reached their limit.”

“……”

A statement that hit the mark.

For the first time, cracks appeared in Karl’s face, which had maintained composure throughout.

“That’s why you’ve come to me with such a proposal.”

“……That’s right.”

No, it’s even more serious than that.

Buckenheim shook his head and continued.

“Margaret now intends to establish Count Dvorak as the new imperial family.”

“……!”

After eliminating all competing factions, she wants to become the absolute ruler dominating the empire.

“If she succeeds, Dvorak’s tyranny will become even worse than it is now.”

“If she fails, the Kalhyram Empire will be caught in endless civil war.”

If that happens, Westraine lurking in the west won’t remain idle either.

This was something neither Friedrich as a royal, nor Karl as a magic noble, could allow.

“The Imperial Intelligence Department is already tracking down the whereabouts of the royal family members. If you enter the palace as things stand, Your Highness would be practically walking into their hands.”

They’ve already seized that much control…?

Andrei was surprised, while Karl continued.

“Therefore, Your Highness should hide and gather forces. I will gather people within the imperial palace and join Your Highness’s uprising.”

In other words, he was offering to act as a double agent within the palace to assist Friedrich.

For Friedrich, who desperately needed internal information about the imperial palace, this was an unparalleled opportunity.

“What do you want in return?”

“If the uprising succeeds, grant the Buckenheim family a duke title.”

Duke title.

He was asking for the same status as Duke Nachtval, who protected the country during the Great War.

Hearing this, Friedrich immediately understood his intention.

“You……”

Receive a duke title and elevate Buckenheim to the same level as Nachtval.

With such an achievement, his position within the family would skyrocket.

In other words, Karl Buckenheim, that man……

“What you want is Buckenheim itself.”

“You’ve hit the mark exactly.”

The reason he played Margaret’s male courtesan while accumulating money and connections.

The reason he became her confidant, built up achievements, and now spoke of plans to ultimately betray her.

All of it was groundwork laid to take over Buckenheim.

“Your Highness shall ascend to the throne.”

“……”

“In exchange, I will make Buckenheim mine.”

The devil’s whisper.

Listening to Karl’s voice directed at him, Friedrich thought thus.

“There must have been many other candidates besides me.”

“I’m not foolish enough to bet my life on possibilities without prospects. Besides……”

Karl paused briefly, then continued with a slight curl of his lips.

“How could those worms with nothing but bloodlines touch even a hair of a monster like Margaret?”

An insolent attitude, calling the royal family worms.

It was an outrageous statement that would warrant execution if imperial knights heard it, but none present denied it.

“Hey. Don’t you think he’s worse than me? Aren’t you going to stop him?”

Only Kalkas, watching the scene, muttered quietly to Andrei with a sneer.

“It is contempt against the imperial family… but well, he’s not exactly insulting His Highness specifically.”

“Or is it just that you don’t think we can win?”

“Was I that obvious?”

“Good grief, this guy’s quite mad too.”

Just as Kalkas was laughing in exasperation.

“To break Father’s brainwashing by joining hands with the very person who brainwashed him… It’s a proposal no one in their right mind would accept.”

A dilemma of accepting the lesser evil to avoid the worst.

However, Karl, looking at Friedrich, spoke with a confident voice.

“But you will accept my proposal.”

“Why are you so certain?”

“Because you, like me, have a cause.”

Karl’s gaze deepened as he faced Friedrich.

“A deep-rooted resolve to change this empire, no matter what sacrifice it takes.”

“……”

For a moment, the Emperor recalled a scene he had witnessed long ago.

A future of destruction that would come someday.

A future where they would become slaves to the Republic, and eventually everything in the world would burn.

The reason he cried out so desperately for reform must have been his struggle to prevent that horrific future.

An anomaly that deviated from the predetermined future.

The two people sitting face to face had become the inflection point to change the future of destruction.

After some time had passed.

“Kalkas, Andrei.”

Friedrich, having finished his thoughts, asked the two standing behind him.

“Will you follow me?”

“Do whatever you want.”

Glancing at Andrei, who silently bowed his head, Kalkas said.

“Having heard this whole conversation, I can’t back out anyway. Since I’ll die either way if things go wrong, might as well see it through to the end.”

“I will serve you to the end, Your Highness.”

“……I see.”

Friedrich slowly rose from his seat.

“Karl Buckenheim.”

He extended his hand to Karl sitting across from him.

“I accept your proposal.”

A resolute statement.

Karl, who immediately grasped that hand, opened his mouth with a smiling face.

“You will regret this.”

“The same goes for you.”

A spark that would change history.

But at the same time, sparks of completely different colors.

Through their just-concluded exchange, the two men who joined hands while revealing their respective causes realized something.

Though they both desired the empire’s transformation, the empires they envisioned were distinctly different.

“Ah, that’s right.”

After discussing the detailed plans, just as they were about to adjourn.

Friedrich, who had stopped Karl as he was crossing the threshold, asked in a casual voice.

“What is your cause?”

The answer came immediately.

“An age of heroes, where those with power fulfill their responsibilities to protect the world, and order is maintained through their strength.”

“A cold cause.”

When Friedrich commented thus after hearing Karl’s words, Karl smiled slightly and asked Friedrich.

“What is your cause?”

Again, the answer came immediately.

“An age of flames, where all people protect their own world and freely express their will.”

“A dreamlike cause.”

A resolute statement denying his own cause.

As if that single statement was enough, Friedrich silently tilted his teacup.

“Sleeping with the enemy.”

Through their recent exchange, the two men could clearly understand.

Their current alliance was merely a momentary union to overthrow a common evil.

They were destined rivals who would one day have to fight over the empire’s fate.

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