How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 104

How to live as a tyrant's spoiled brat Episode 104

(104)

Helena stood in front of Valencian's villa, where spring flowers were beginning to bloom one by one.

The palace was filled with huge evergreen trees, making it green even in winter and early spring.

She thought as she struck the bronze doorknob against the bronze plate beneath it, signaling the door was open.

Less flashy than rumored.

Just as when I last saw him seven months ago, Valencian was a half-brother who was completely incomprehensible.

On that subject, he possessed outstanding swordsmanship and magic skills, and pushed things forward with bold determination, sometimes using his power and title to impose his authority, and sometimes taking a step back and manipulating people.

He was a guy who knew that he had various strengths and knew how to mix and match those strengths according to the situation.

'He's dangerous, he's the perfect guy to become a big shot.'

Such guys usually meet their death at the hands of similar guys who were born earlier.

Because lions don't breed challengers.

But despite the numerous incidents he had committed, or at least was believed to have committed, Jerilis never beheaded Valencianus.

Helena, who loved the military, immediately knew what that meant.

All his misdeeds were either tolerated by the Emperor or were said to be of some use to the Emperor.

This meant that he had driven thieves into the cathedral, assaulted the knights, exiled the Hong Bishop, beheaded people in the slums, taken bribes in the red-light district, beheaded the Marquis, and attempted to murder and exterminate thousands of people with the Ivory Tower, and eventually kidnapped a saint.

It's a long time since I've passed the point where I can turn a blind eye, so it makes sense to think that it was helpful.

However, it is difficult to see Valencianus as a thorough chess piece of Jerilis.

Helena was one of the few royals who witnessed and survived the bloody coronation of Jerilis.

The Jaylilith she had figured out was not someone who played chess with an opponent, but someone who would pick up a wooden chessboard and hit the opponent's head.

I couldn't imagine that she, who killed her mother and came into this world, killed her father and sat at the top of this world, would act like a duke.

So Helena internally concluded that the man was Valencianus.

He was the kind of person who 'would one day take the initiative and solve, with much less force and a little more trickery, what the emperor would have solved by force.'

From Emperor Jaylilith's perspective, there really isn't a subject who can scratch that itch so well.

This would be even more so if it were his own older brother who looked just like him.

The important thing is how long the emperor will trust Valencian.

'forever?'

If there is a threat to power, it is eliminated, and Jaylilith's power comes from force, but it was already proven two years ago that Jaylilith cannot be defeated by force.

There was even a rumor from the Marquisate of Freuheit that she had caught a dragon in the dragon vein.

There is no way Valencian didn't know that.

He is omnipotent, not supreme.

Crucially, he always solved problems in a way that went against public sentiment.

If the public sentiment toward Jerilis was 'Your Majesty the Scary Emperor', the public sentiment toward Valencianus was 'The Son of a Bitch in the World'.

No matter how capable a person may be, he or she cannot win the hearts of the people and poses no threat to power.

There's no way the twins wouldn't know that.

'We know each other. At least Valencian knows. He must not win the hearts of the people, even if it means causing a riot because of him.'

Then the door opened.

“Come in, Your Highness the Archduchess Helena.”

The caretaker of the villa was a kind-looking maid named Rudi with clear green eyes.

She had her wavy brown hair tied back neatly, wore thin-framed glasses, and wore a black dress over a white blouse-style one-piece dress, giving off a neat and prim air.

But Helena couldn't take her eyes off Rudy all the way to the large reception room that doubled as a small banquet hall.

The gait, which was perfected through training to draw a triangle on the soles of the feet and walk, was balanced enough not to be shaken even if a bull suddenly came and attacked, and at the same time, it was agile enough to jump up to the second floor in an instant.

Even though he was walking quite quickly, his arms didn't waver, which felt awkward. It was clear that this was the result of training to be able to pull out the dagger hidden in his thigh or chest at any moment.

The glasses he wore were 'four-point glasses' that cost tens of gold coins, and if he wore them, he could even shoot a flying fly with an arrow.

Above all, the gentle prayer felt from her slender shoulders was clearly that of a Mana user.

'An assassin. A mana user at that. The rumored maid. A cruel duelist raised by the Grand Duke of Valencian. Are you telling me not to have strange thoughts?'

“Please disarm from here on out.”

Helena was genuinely hesitant when Rudy said that.

However, if the short-haired red-haired knight who had been watching the guests including himself from the side street of the villa earlier was the same Tentia who had boasted of her prowess against the encroaching thugs in the slums, then rebellion was meaningless, whether she had a sword or not.

Fortunately, there was no scent of blood coming from inside the banquet hall.

“I hope you take good care of it.”

She obediently took off her ornate longsword and stepped into the banquet hall.

* * *

Hadritan and Denia waved to Helena, who was just entering.

“Are you here?”

“Sister. Are you here?”

“It’s been a while, guys.”

They survived seven months ago and were allowed to remain in the palace because their abilities were recognized.

Helena entered the 'Brass', Hadritan entered the Treasury under the Ministry of the Interior, and Denia entered the Imperial Magic Workshop.

They could meet each other when they wanted to, and sometimes they would run into each other by chance, but they never had a private meeting.

Even if they did have a private meeting, it wouldn't amount to anything more than socializing, but Jaylilith and Valencianus wouldn't think of it that way either.

'They say that three members of the royal family, all of whom are high-ranking nobles on their maternal side, are meeting.'

'One belongs to the Knights Templar, one belongs to the Treasury, and one belongs to the Magic Workshop.'

They would have decapitated Valencianus right away.

Even though it was the first time the three of them had met since Lanchea was burned to death by the saint, there was no awkwardness between them.

“Everyone just lived like plants, unable to do anything?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve only read novels for seven months.”

“Just like me. The only numbers I’ve seen in the Treasury so far are the costs of after-dinner coffee.”

This is because we were comrades who had been stuck in a small space for a year, had adventures together, and had succeeded together.

Five people who had been imprisoned in a monastery a few days outside the capital also joined in, and they devoted themselves to chatting for a while.

“I prayed all day for about four months, and then I was truly blessed. I thought I would live there forever.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s forbidden here and there. I was forced to fast and pray for three days while trying to read it. They didn’t beat me because I was a member of the royal family, but they starved me.”

“There… … What should I call these girls? You know, His Majesty the Emperor’s concubines. They’re the same age as our mothers, but they’re from the court nobles, much lower in the pecking order than us. They’re all in that convent. There are more of them alive than I thought.”

“They seemed to be enjoying themselves. They made things with their own hands, prayed, and spent several years struggling between the First Prince and the Crown Prince, so they all seemed to have lost all desire for power.”

While they were chatting away, the servants and maids came and set up the appetizer plates.

But despite the fragrant food, none of the eight people could focus on the food.

“His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Valencian has arrived.”

This was because the maid, who had clearly killed many people, had flashed green eyes and informed the master of the villa that she was coming.

“Hmm.”

Hardritan got up from his seat, cleared his throat, and straightened his appearance.

“Brother, what are you doing now… … and sister too?”

Denia was appalled by Hadritan's attitude toward his younger brother, who was much lower in the line of succession.

And I was even more astonished when I saw Helena following me, pulling in her chin and puffing out her chest.

“Hey, man!”

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

As the footsteps got closer, I eventually got up and followed them.

“Why are you all standing? Please eat. It is prepared with fresh ingredients.”

The royal family, known as the Eight Survivors or the Eight Traitors, all secretly shed a sigh of relief.

Even though he had felt intimidated the last time I saw him, seven months ago, the aura I felt from Valencianus now was far greater than that.

Although he was only a year older, he seemed like a seasoned royal who had been living in the two battlefields of the border and the parliament for decades.

The gold ornaments on his white uniform and the red belt indicated that he was a trusted general, and his bright yellow eyes gave off a dangerous and inhuman air.

The platinum hair that he cheerfully threw over reminded him of a fireball that could fly anywhere, and his pale cheeks gave off a sense of oppression hidden behind a frivolous smile.

The scale marks on his hands and the slightly slanted gait caused by the weight of the sword he always carried revealed that he was a skilled and powerful warrior.

Sitting down, pouring wine into his own glass and drinking it without hesitation was a signal of reconciliation and safety from a mature person in power.

'But I guess you don't plan on poisoning me openly.'

'If we continue to insist, our heads will fall off in an instant.'

'This is a life-changing opportunity. I will go out to the battlefield and make a mark.'

'Please let me get started.'

'Oh God of Light. Please let me get out of this damn monastery.'

'Yeah. Am I going to die? No. I might die.'

'I want to go to my parents' house. Please.'

The meal began with each person's thoughts.

The royal family tasted only the taste of paper in soups made with expensive spices, in beef and pork roasted in olive oil, in chicken coated in starch and fried, in smoked fish with only the flesh removed, and in fresh fruit that had been stored all winter without a clue as to where it had been stored.

'Is my liver weird? I'm delicious? Is it because I've only eaten roughly cooked lamb or beef jerky for a few days?'

This was quite embarrassing for Valencianus, who was enjoying a delicious meal.

“Brothers, sisters. Does the food not suit your taste?”

Helena, who had been eating a right-angled meal, shook her head firmly in a knightly manner.

“No! It’s very delicious.”

After that, Hadritan, who was trying to walk the path of administrative nobility, made a move.

“I wasn’t eating much because I wanted my other brothers and sisters to taste it too!”

Denia also left her pride outside the villa.

“I am eating a lot!”

And so the awkward meal ended.

* * *

Valencian roughly sensed the mood and brought up the subject.

That would have been a better way to put their minds at ease.

“First of all, Sister Helena, Brother Hadritan, and Sister Dania. Have you gotten used to the work so far?”

Hadritan wanted to scream that he had not even touched the papers, but he held back, remembering that Valencian was a fighter who had kidnapped a saint and returned alive.

All three had similar expressions.

“I will take your silence as an affirmation. And I feel a little sorry for the five people next to me. I had no intention of putting them in a closed monastery, but since it was His Majesty the Emperor’s order, I had no choice but to follow.”

One answered, gritting his teeth.

“No. Thanks to that, I was able to get away from the hustle and bustle and clear my head.”

“Then that’s good.”

Valencian continued with a faint smile.

“You all remember what I told you a few months ago. I told you to write a letter, remember?”

Three nodded first, then five nodded later.

“Pledge of Allegiance.”

“Convince your maternal family.”

Valencian continued, laughing like a well-fed beast.

“I am glad you remember. Any tone is fine. Pleading is fine, persuasion is fine, threats are fine, appeals are fine. It doesn’t matter how many letters you write, but the more the better. Whatever it is, I will come up to the capital to swear allegiance. I just need to get this reply.”

Valencian looked into the eyes of all eight of them, one by one.

“If you succeed… … I’ll give you what you want, as I promised. A chance at advancement, freedom. Of course, if you fail, you’ll go back to the boring routine and days of surveillance.”

“!”

“Of course, I’m not saying you should do everything on your own. The Imperial Family will send official documents and use various carrots and sticks. You are just one of those carrots and sticks, so don’t feel too burdened.”

It was a truly burden-free sound.