How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 227

(227)

We returned to the villa, and as soon as Rudy saw the state of the villa, he screamed and spurred the servants and maids.

“You can’t let Valen sleep in a place like this! Hurry up and shove away the flies so they slide off.”

“It will take at least two days… … ”.

“200% bonus this month.”

“I misspoke about 2 hours.”

In a flash, they dusted off everything, cleaned the floors and tables, cleaned the grooves and crevices, and threw away any spoiled food.

Thanks to this, I was able to enjoy a glass of wine just a few days after the capital was recaptured, and the luxury of asking Rudi, who had brought me groceries, about public opinion in the capital.

The answer she gave was like a bolt from the blue.

“… … So you’re saying that my support is spreading among intellectuals right now?”

“Yes! People are finally starting to recognize Valen’s sincerity.”

Rudy smiled brightly.

Her green eyes curved like crescent moons, and the corners of her mouth turned up in a pleasing manner.

“Those people told me that Valen should be given a position with more authority than torture.”

I felt like I wanted to just sit there and cry.

Actually, I kind of expected this to happen.

The capital has been destroyed, 600,000 people have been forced into tent cities, the emperor has disappeared, and there is no telling when another alien will emerge from the Demon Realm.

It was a situation where he was pushed to the limit to completely maintain his image as a loser.

Relief, conscription, rooting out invaders, whatever was needed had to be done.

Although I did my best to use the name Jay Release for relief and my name for conscription, it seemed that everyone who had learned enough knew about it.

That I'm doing what I need to do.

“… … .”

The support of intellectuals was truly dangerous.

In fact, legally speaking, the throne should have come to me.

Jaylilith obtained the throne by killing or forcing all the royal family members who were ahead of us in the line of succession to the throne to give up their inheritance.

The problem is that I'm the older twin.

Thankfully she didn't kill me.

So the mere fact that I am alive calls into question her legitimacy.

If I had run away before the oath of allegiance was made and gathered the nobles together to declare that I would reclaim my throne, I would have received an enormous response.

Of course, he would have been hit by the spear of wrath and would have perished.

“Rudy. Can you set up an audience date for me?”

Those in power have instincts.

Nothing that poses a threat is left alive.

The reason I was able to lead Marcus and the mechanical knights as my private soldiers was because I didn't have any support at the time.

Even though I am her twin and am in a friendly relationship with Jaylilith, I have to bow down completely when it comes to power and authority.

So I went to Jaylilith and said,

“Your Majesty, I wish to focus on matters within the capital for a while. I will relinquish my position as the Chief Knight. It was too heavy a position for me.”

Jaylilith pushed aside the mountain-like pile of documents and snickered as if she knew why I was acting like this.

“You are indeed quick-witted. That is why I am happy.”

“Thank you very much-”.

“But… … I feel a little sad.”

“?!”

It was breathtaking.

“Was Jim so narrow-minded as to turn a blind eye to such a tone? Was the trust he showed you so frivolous?”

She took out a fancy kettle and prepared some coffee.

The joint ring rattled for a moment and a coffee cup was held out.

Swish.

She looked at me like I was some kind of sly little devil, and I took the coffee cup as if I was drinking poison.

“… … These are words that are absolutely undeserved.”

… … The coffee personally given by the emperor of the most powerful country in the world was extremely bitter and sour.

She poured some coffee into her own cup and took a sip.

“… … Come here. It is an imperial edict.”

And then he snatched the coffee I was drinking and poured it into the trash can under the desk.

Jaylilith slammed the desk repeatedly and shouted.

“If it doesn’t taste good, say you have nothing to say! If you’re anxious, say you’re anxious! Who else would I hear such words from but you? Do you think I would doubt you to this extent?”

Beans! Beans!

It was a light hand movement, like a child throwing a tantrum, but as someone who knows that if I put just a little bit of force into that gesture, it will be more powerful than a battle hammer swung with all my might, I couldn't help but laugh.

She called her maid over and had her pour her a new cup of coffee, sighed deeply, and spoke in a clear voice.

“I heard you’ve been pulling an all-nighter like a sack of bread for the past few months. Yes. I thought you might need a vacation, too. I’ll step down as the Knight Commander. Focus on your work for a while. Do as you always have. Travel around the capital as you please.”

I stood up with my head bowed.

“I am so grateful to you.”

* * *

Valencian walked down the palace corridors.

The sunlight streaming in through the wide window cast deep shadows on the sharp-faced man's face and made the gold ornaments on his white uniform sparkle.

His red lips formed an evil curve as if he was plotting something, and just then another member of the royal family naturally came up next to him.

“Valencian. The count is complete.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Hardritan. It couldn’t have been easy.”

Hadritan trembled at the sight of Valencianus' face.

The aura I felt from him was inhuman, his yellow eyes, his white hair, his chiseled face were inhuman, and his white gloves that were transparent to the sunlight were also inhuman.

“No way. It’s something I’ve been doing for the past few months. It was easier to think of it as an extension of that.”

It was a lie.

However, Hadritan, unlike Valencian, was good at lying, and Valencian decided not to bother digging up the white lie today.

“Before the incident, the population of the capital was about 595,000. After the incident, it was about 450,000. Almost 150,000 people died.”

Even though we were talking about the population of a fairly large city, the scoundrel's expression didn't change one bit.

In his opinion, it was a blessing from God that such a powerful foreign object appeared and ended with this level of damage.

“The erosion spread like wildfire, executing hundreds of people every day… … .”

Hardritan trailed off.

The one who ordered the execution and operated the crematorium was Valencian before our eyes.

“Is the population growing again?”

“It’s an annual event. This is usually when the largest number of refugees arrive. It’s already chaotic, so it’s easy to get mixed up.”

“Good. Is this the information I wanted?”

Valencian waved a bundle of papers.

Hardritan looked around and nodded.

“These are the lands and buildings that the deceased owned. Normally, it would take more than 5 years to find an heir, but because it was an emergency, the period was shortened so that they would be returned to the imperial family immediately.”

“When Your Majesty restored the capital, you built taller buildings. Will that provide sufficient supplies?”

Golden eyes flashed, and Hadritan couldn't shake his head.

Valencian laughed as he waved the bundle of land documents, and went out with Hadritan onto the wide balcony to look out over the capital city.

Saaaaah-.

The winter wind was cold, but the sky was infinitely clear, and the eyes of the Grand Duke looking at the capital sparkled with a certain longing.

“Let’s share this.”

Valencian said with a smirk.

Hardritan asked with some bewilderment.

"……we?"

I couldn't tell if he was trying to make me his accomplice out of fear that this fact would be discovered, or if he was giving me the opportunity to accumulate wealth together.

Valencian smiled, his blue eyes sparkling.

“That way, redevelopment will be easier.”

"what?"

Hadritan could not follow Valencian's words.

“I learned a lot from this incident. The roads need to be widened, the streets need to be made as clean as the ribs of a fan, and the illegally constructed buildings need to be demolished. Too many people died and were injured because the evacuation was delayed.”

"ah."

“In order to proceed systematically, all of these lands and buildings must be owned by the royal family. If you come out and cry every time something is torn down, you can’t proceed. But you can’t just cut off the heads of the people who have experienced this.”

“I see.”

“The construction, civil engineering, and materials guilds are probably screaming right now. The stuff they’ve stockpiled isn’t selling, and the time to pay is getting closer. Let’s meet and get the construction going. We can also give jobs to people who don’t have jobs right now. Isn’t that the job of an administrative bureaucrat?”

Hardritan smiled brightly and picked up the bundle of copies.

It seems there was a deep misunderstanding.

“Valencian! I’m sorry.”

“You haven’t done anything to deserve an apology yet. You must be tired, so I’ll give you an elixir of ‘eternal life’ next time. Work hard.”

* * *

There was one thing I didn't tell Hardritan.

“At that time, I didn’t do anything that deserved an apology.”

I didn't receive the original land document to verify it.

After all this hard work over the past few months, what could I possibly do to help?

Belonging to the imperial family.

There is nothing more entertaining than this saying.

Apart from the pension and the title of Highness, the only royals who officially have the right of succession are me and Cereiraji.

In reality, I am the only one who is active as a member of the royal family.

Since Jaylilith is the pinnacle of the imperial family, land documents that belong to the imperial family are given priority over Jaylilith.

And she gave me 35%, just as she divided the instrumentum.

“I was wondering what you were doing so busy, and this is what you were planning? Didn’t you say you were going to rest?”

"haha."

“If you are my loyal subject, you can enjoy this much. … … Do as you wish, brother.”

“Your Majesty, what did you just say?”

“I must have misheard.”

All that was paid for by taxes was to further restore the site, demolish old buildings, consolidate lots, build new buildings, and pave roads.

okay.

It didn't go to my pension, it went to taxes.

Being treated as a member of the royal family means having a stake in the country.

So, in a feudal society, it was perfectly normal for the imperial family to restore a building with taxes and then swallow it up.

Of course, the words 'ah' and 'uh' were different.

Because the former emperor had so many concubines, the authority of the imperial family was still at rock bottom.

Since I was effectively a vassal of the Emperor, I felt like the vassal was using the Emperor's name, power, and money to increase the value of his personal property.

So paying taxes to the great Holy Emperor and having him distribute those taxes to his clan as pensions was a completely different thing from having the most famous scoundrel in the empire using those taxes to build his own buildings.

This actually angered the middle class and the bourgeoisie more than the poor and common people.

“You fill my stomach with our money!”

“You took my land and swallowed it up for yourself? You even used the capital restoration budget to build new buildings?”

“I will report you to the High Court immediately!”

Because they were people who paid a lot of taxes in business.

I chuckled and rode the carriage across the street.

Sitting next to me was the head of the Civil Engineering and Construction Guild, who had been formally awarded a contract by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for the construction of my land.

Of course, I may have had some influence in the bidding process, but I had no idea.

The guild leader was an orphan with short reddish-brown hair and one leg.

Cornell opened his mouth in an unusually worried voice.

“Your Majesty, Valen. Even so, isn’t it dangerous to be so hostile to the intellectuals and the bourgeoisie? Among the bourgeoisie, there are many members of parliament, and many who lead vigilante groups or gangsters. Of course, Your Majesty, I don’t think you will face any trouble… … .”

“That’s a long introduction, Cornell. What are you trying to say?”

“I didn’t know Your Majesty would be so openly hostile to them. Even those who supported Your Majesty. I thought You were very kind to those who were on Your Majesty’s side.”

I chuckled and leaned back in my chair.

okay.

They were the ones who recognized that the policies I had implemented were necessary.

But I don't think that's the end.

If I wasn't a loser, would people have supported me?

Absolutely not.

Everyone in the capital knows this.

If you support the Emperor's brother who is ahead in the line of succession than the current emperor, only that emperor's position will be in danger.

And yet, the fact that intellectuals and the bourgeoisie openly go around saying that they support me.

“Those guys were trying to screw me, Cornell.”

"ah!"

You mean you want to kill me?

Of course, I don't think that's just their opinion.

There must be someone behind the scenes taking advantage of the chaos to do something.

They're probably the Jahan Alliance guys.

fu*king merchant nobles.

They were vicious even before the regression.

I think we'll get involved somehow, so I have to be prepared.

First, let's build up our foundation and create a private army.

“Is the building going up well?”

“Yes. Judging from the frame, it seems to be a workshop complex, but I don’t think His Majesty will run it directly. Who will you give it to?”

“Marcus, the Iron Blood Lord, and Sereraji’s older sister.”