Chapter 26

—————————————————————–Translated By Arcane Translations

Translator: FusionX

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Hooo- Hooo-

At a time too early for anyone to be awake, Yuria slowly opened her eyes to the sorrowful cry of an owl.

Her body was hungry from not eating for a day, but her mind, lost in thought, could not recall the hunger.

She had faced Robert, and a day had passed like that.

Shutting herself in her room was to have time alone.

Did she really make a mistake, Yuria stared blankly at the wall that reflected nothing.

To steady her shaking heart, to correct her own thoughts.

She reflected on the fact that her heart had wavered, if only for a moment.

For a very brief moment, she had shown an emotional side to Robert’s words.

There was no need to waver at all.

Hadn’t she always made the right judgment for the family?

If she questioned her conviction, the reason was.

Well.

Yuria pondered while staring at the wall.

Her long hair had become short at some point.

Short hair barely reaching her shoulders, Yuria shook her head once and let out a faint sigh.

“…I’ll admit it, I was wrong.”

She thought she knew why Robert said he disliked her.

It was because she had been too weak-hearted.

Because she had held the words of her late mother in a corner of her heart, what she had done under the pretext of caring for her younger brother was wrong.

What she had done, saying she would rehabilitate him into a suitable member of the family.

Who would have known it would break Robert to this extent?

She should have been harsher.

She should have treated him so that his eyes would hold only reverence and loyalty towards the family, not emotions like resentment.

Didn’t she blame her brother for being weak?

But in the end, it was she who had been weak-hearted.

Cutting her hair was to repent for this sin.

She thought he had changed because he hadn’t shown a pathetic sight recently, but he disliked her.

Just saying such a thing to the Young Lady was a sin in itself.

Should she punish him, Yuria pondered for a moment and shook her head.

There was no need to punish him right away.

Even if he had committed a sin, shouldn’t he be given time to atone?

“Because I am the Young Lady.”

A generous side towards a family member was also an aspect the Young Lady should possess.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then slowly opened them again.

The scene in the room illuminated by the faint moonlight was cleaner than before.

On the night when the full moon had disappeared, blue eyes glowed in the distorted moonlight….

That light was so pale, it was cold and chilly as if frozen.

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After the Full Moon Festival ended, various events were lined up.

There was the family head meeting where the heads of each family gathered, led by the Taylor ducal family, and there was the hunting festival where animals were caught and offered to the ladies.

I had no authority to not participate in those events.

In the first place, even if they told me not to, I had intended to participate, if I had to give a reason, it was because of the princess.

“The princess was closest to the Crown Prince.”

Our relationship was much better than mine and Yuria’s, but it was still awkward between us.

But to approach the Crown Prince, I needed her.

What I needed was preparation to become close to the Crown Prince, and with the Taylor family behind me, it wasn’t too difficult to approach him.

But my goal was to become the Crown Prince’s ‘loyal subject’.

That way, I could see his every move.

Watching him from the closest position, and when the time came, stabbing him in the back without hesitation would be the best.

It was a thought close to treason, but in fact, the empire held little meaning to me.

Rather, wouldn’t it be better if the empire disappeared?

But my individual power was not enough.

I needed forces that would fully align with my will, at least.

I did need those forces to assassinate the Crown Prince, so for now, starting with Arwen, I had to gather information first. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Nʘvᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“Then the last place I’ll head to…is here.”

On the map depicting the geography of the empire, my gaze turned to the imperial capital drawn in the center.

The imperial capital Eden, the human paradise created by the descent of the moon god in ancient times.

Since it had never been invaded by foreign enemies, the times the imperial palace had been stained with blood could be counted on one hand.

Perhaps it could be called the city symbolizing the empire’s prosperity.

I had a strange feeling.

If my wish was fulfilled, wouldn’t it mean the imperial palace itself would disappear from the empire?

The Crown Prince would die, and naturally, the imperial family that would become my enemy would not fare well either.

With the quill pen in my hand, I drew a line at the location of the imperial palace.

This map could be considered my own plan.

Since I had to gradually gather forces to deal with the Crown Prince, I had no intention whatsoever of marching straight to the imperial palace.

At best, I would be no more than a mere moth to a flame.

I had the experience of the previous runs.

The reason I wasn’t particularly nervous despite making the grandiose plan of overthrowing the imperial family was because of that.

Even if it was difficult to fully recover my realm, if it returned to a certain level, it would be quite helpful.

I had caught the assassins earlier because their level was low, but it was still too much for me to fight several knights at once.

How many imperial soldiers had set out to subjugate me before?

I remember it was easily 500.

I killed them all, and the princess appeared and died, but this time I had no intention of fighting alone, so it should be fine.

The only problem was who would align with this intention of treason.

I couldn’t do anything alone.

I realized this fact only after going through several runs.

But the more I thought hastily about such things, the bigger the problem tended to become.

Perhaps, it was fine to think slowly now.

Because a few names immediately came to mind.

And the person I considered most important among them was Adele Igrit.

My gaze, which had been on the map, turned to the handkerchief I hadn’t returned last time.

As I had promised to go to the north, I intended to visit before the end of this year.

If I didn’t go this time either, given her personality, there was a high probability she would get angry, so it was natural.

But what I was agonizing over was whether to warn her about what she would experience.

My intention to save her remained unchanged, but if I wasn’t careful, she might suspect me.

Compared to a few days ago, my thoughts and attitude had changed quite a bit.

It was because I had abandoned thoughts filled with indifference and neglect.

Even though I was living my 101st life, after letting go of my lingering attachments, didn’t I resolve to think of this life as my first life?

In the first place, so many things had changed that it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say there were no commonalities with my past lives.

Being bound by the past only made my thoughts complicated.

So I slightly modified the plan.

Rather than an assassination-like method, I decided to change everything by destroying it all instead.

Thus, I resolved to save Adele.

The false accusation of treason against her was a certain future, and whether she would follow my will in that situation was unknown.

It was better to think about this part when that situation arrived.

Then what should I start with first?

I had already sorted out my thoughts on this part to some extent.

“What I need to use are the princess and the Taylors.”

I had no ill fate with the princess, but it was true that I had some doubts about her recently.

Did the princess really know ‘nothing’ about the Crown Prince trying to kill me?

If she knew, she had hidden that fact from me, and if she didn’t know, that was strange in itself.

So I had no guilt.

Rather, if I approached her this way and found out her true colors, it would be a greater gain for me.

It was better to bite my tongue than to be used by someone.

It would be better for me to find out first and use her instead.

As for the Taylors…

I had agonized over this quite a bit.

Because I had never touched the Taylor family before.

I had tried erasing the name Taylor by killing everyone, but I had never personally ascended to the position of family head.

As if my place was determined to be only here, I never even thought of moving up.

But there was no need for that in this life too.

Yuria no longer held any meaning to me.

So there was no need to consider her, and my current position was a bit low to properly use the name Taylor.

Thanks to our Young Lady revoking my authority, my status within the ducal estate was also ambiguous.

Me becoming the family head.

Thinking about it suddenly, it was quite amusing.

I was thinking of bringing down the imperial family with my own hands, and the family head who should be most loyal to the imperial family was taking the lead.

Although it wasn’t a definite future yet, if I made up my mind to do it, there was nothing I couldn’t do.

I no longer had any hesitation, so if I wanted to do it, I would do it.

Yes, as Adele had said before.

“Because I decided so.”

Thud, covering the map engraved with various markings with a board again, I surveyed the surroundings.

It was a map that would be quite troublesome if someone saw it.

Drawing a line straight at the imperial family, wouldn’t anyone see it as planning treason?

A smile inadvertently appeared.

It was certain that my heartbeat, which I felt for the first time in quite a while, was beating faster than before.

After completely hiding the map and confirming there was no presence around, I plopped down on the chair.

I seemed to be getting tired from using my head in various ways.

Now that I had roughly made a plan, there would be no problem moving forward, but what awaited me was a future I had no knowledge of at all.

The variables that immediately came to mind were more than just one or two.

At least it would be clearly different from the future I originally knew.

The closest schedule was the family head meeting held in the imperial capital.

I don’t remember any particular incident happening there, but it was certain I could meet the princess.

Meet her, gain her friendship, and become close to the Crown Prince.

This could be considered my current goal.

I planned to meet the Crown Prince before the end of autumn.

‘That way, the plan will proceed to some extent.’

Of course, he might have bad feelings towards me at this point since he had falsely accused me of treason, but it would be difficult for him to easily dismiss me, who appeared to be just a loyal subject on the outside.

At least it was better to maintain my outward appearance as close to an incorruptible subject without a single flaw.

While I was lost in such thoughts, the wind suddenly blew through the open window.

Come to think of it, it was autumn now.

When the Full Moon Festival ended, the weather always changed quite abruptly, and the wind that seemed like it would always be hot quickly turned chilly.

I closed my eyes at the wind cooling the sweat on my forehead.

Leaning my head on the backrest, I enjoyed the momentary leisure that had come.

Only then did I recall a variable I had forgotten.

I had forgotten for a moment, but it was what Saint Adriana had told me last time.

Didn’t she say Miragen and Adriana were friends?

I knew that, but this time it might be quite effectively applied.

Didn’t she say last time we met that we would meet again someday?

If we were to meet again, wouldn’t this trip to the imperial capital be the time?

“…If we meet again, maybe it will be fate this time.”

Adriana was always someone I couldn’t meet, as if something was twisted and we couldn’t quite connect.

It felt like our meeting was not allowed in that turn.

Whenever I needed to find her, she was always absent.

But this time was different.

Even if I didn’t particularly try to meet her, even if I had no intention of meeting her.

As if it was meant to be this way, we naturally ran into each other.

Adele coming to the Full Moon Festival, and running into the saint on the street again.

I didn’t know what these events were trying to tell me, but if it was an opportunity, I had no intention of letting it slip.

If it was an opportunity.

If this was really… fate.

This time, for sure, I would see it through to the end.

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