How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 87

How to live as a tyrant’s spoiled brat Episode 87

(87)

Hope Casino VIP Room looked as splendid as the palace.

After burning down the illegal magician, the heretic priest, two encroachers who were operating between the red-light district and the slums in the evening, and twelve mercenaries hired by the enemy store to disrupt the Red Mask’s business, the alcohol went down very well.

After all, working and drinking was the best.

As he sat on the golden chair and filled his silver goblet with ice, Sir Tentia continued speaking.

“Still, that doesn’t sound very good.”

“What do you mean?”

“The rumor about His Highness the Grand Duke spread like that. Why was it because I was on vacation at that time… ?”

“Don’t worry about it. No one died, and not a penny came out of my pocket, that’s enough for me.”

Tentia Kyung narrowed her clear, red eyes.

It was an expression of dissatisfaction.

“That’s unexpected.”

“What are you saying?”

“I knew deep down that you had a great romanticism about things like, ‘Even if no one recognizes it, I stick to my beliefs.’”

Sir Tentia laughed, ruffling her short red hair.

“Every knight wants to say something like, ‘Master, I’ll take care of this!’ or ‘Young Master, I’ll protect you. You must survive.’ It always makes my blood boil in my heart to fight for my master or my lady, risking false accusations and being pointed at by the whole world.”

But, she continued, her voice cracking.

“A knight can be pointed at by everyone, but not by anyone. If someone were to point a finger at a knight to his face, a proper knight would cut off that bastard’s finger or head to save his honor.”

“I see.”

“It doesn’t matter if bad rumors spread. If the rich talk about it, the ignorant will just ignore it. But if there is someone who spreads bad rumors, and it is clear who it is, the knight must go after them and make them worthy of mercy.”

“Can’t we just cut down the elders of the Black School?”

Sir Tentia laughed with an expression on her face that made it unclear whether she was joking or serious.

“I don’t think I can do it alone. I’ll gather my comrades from the Platinum Knights days.”

With someone as skilled as her, you can imagine how loyal the knights would be to each other.

Come to think of it, Lord Tentia also had a connection with the Black Iron Knights, who were said to be such archenemies.

These days, I ride a wyvern every day, and I seem to have become close to the Qing Knights, who have many wyvern riders.

… … Aren’t about 180 of the 200 knights of your order gathering together?

If that number of people are active, I think Jaylilith is going to bring down the ivory tower.

“Hahahaha.”

I laughed so as not to create a situation where a huge power vacuum would occur regardless of win or loss.

“That’s right, sir. You know? It’s not necessarily a bad thing for such rumors to spread. It could even arouse sympathy by saying that Your Majesty is suffering because of your wicked brother.”

“But we prevented the invasion of foreign substances without killing anyone, so it’s crossing the line to talk about it as if we were actually trying to kill thousands.”

“Thank you for being angry. But it really is. Do you know that I am not the kind of person who would kill thousands of people?”

Sir Tentia chuckled.

And then he looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Answer quickly! I’m not that kind of person.”

“Where is the royal family that says that with their own mouth?”

“No, that’s not true. Kyung doesn’t care about me. And there are bound to be people in the world who don’t care if you don’t know about me.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“Why did I stay here today instead of just accepting the bribe, no, the donation, and going back? There’s a lot of good liquor in the palace.”

Sir Tentia narrowed her eyes.

“Is there anyone you need to meet?”

“That is correct.”

At that moment, the door opened and people in black uniforms rushed in, following the red masks.

Sir Tentia asked with narrowed eyes.

“What kind of people do they do? Judging from their appearance, their facial features are strangely blurred and they don’t seem like they would do anything productive.”

I said, adjusting my red belt and fastening the two buttons on the front of my white uniform.

“member.”

* * *

Surprisingly, the imperial capital has a parliament.

Of course, all bills passed there must receive the Emperor’s approval, otherwise they end up in the crematorium, and the Emperor has the power to summon and dissolve the Parliament.

If you ask why the royal family, with such power, tolerates the parliament, the answer is a little different.

This is because the royal family was the one who created the parliament in the first place.

There were many laws and regulations needed to stabilize a huge territory, but even the most accomplished palace administrators could not handle them all.

So, we created a parliament where people could just say what they wanted, listen to what they wanted, and if it was okay, we would do it, and if it wasn’t okay, we wouldn’t do it.

If you are dissatisfied, don’t rebel and die for no reason; send people to the council.

There were five major factions in parliament.

Court nobles who chose to remain in the capital and receive a pension instead of being granted a fief and becoming a lord.

High-ranking clergy of Gwangmyeong Church.

Intellectuals such as academy professors.

Administrators sent from the Imperial Governor-General’s Office.

Other commoners in the capital city who burn with a lust for power and the ambition to change the world.

Here, the court aristocracy holds hereditary seats in the legislature, and the high clergy, intellectuals, and governors-general also have their places.

In reality, only commoners were elected as members of the National Assembly, and most of those who ran for office were wealthy merchants or high-ranking craftsmen from guilds.

And the ones who came to see me were, of course, members of the National Assembly from commoner backgrounds.

The spacious VIP room was bustling with nearly thirty people.

Sir Tentia narrowed her eyes as if she didn’t like it.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke of Valen. Why on earth are you meeting with the members of the House of Representatives? Are you planning to extend your influence to the House of Representatives now?”

Some of the lawmakers fidgeted at the cold, sharp sound of her voice.

I opened my mouth, remembering those faces well.

“I am glad to see you all like this. I, Valencian, am glad to see so many people willing to serve His Majesty the Emperor, the citizens of the capital, and the citizens of the exarchate.”

“majesty.”

“It seems that Lord Tentia is not pleased with your notoriety. Can someone explain to me why you wish to meet me here?”

As soon as I finished speaking, more than ten hands went up.

Sir Tentia looked surprised.

I pointed to a middle-aged woman in a gray suit, and she opened her mouth.

“My name is Giselle, and I am running for office on the Street of Learning. I have no previous experience. My main pledges are to stop the fights on the Street of Learning and restore the relationship between the students and the residents of the neighborhood. Second, to increase the amount of scholarships and the percentage of scholarships provided by the academies so that students do not fall into poverty. Third, to build dormitories for a certain percentage of students.”

Sir Tentia changed his gaze towards her.

Where before there had been a faint hostility, now a gentle smile appeared on her face.

“That’s right, next.”

I pointed to the middle-aged man next to him.

“I’m Hamun. I’m running for the 4th term and I’m running in the dock area. My main campaign promise is to install a noise barrier to block the noise from night work at the dock.”

Lord Tentia looked surprised again.

I pointed to a young man who looked about five or six years older than me.

“This is Alsen.”

He was planning to run for office in the Seongmun district, and he also presented his platform with his own logic.

* * *

After I had the candidates announce a series of pledges, I turned to Lord Tentia and said:

“That’s what I think.”

“They were better than I thought. I’m embarrassed that I had any preconceived notions.”

“I don’t think so. There are many members of the type you are thinking of. For example… … Hamun, I think you have a relative or friend who is a high-ranking official in the building guild, don’t you?”

Dozens of eyes were focused on the middle-aged man who had been pointed out.

After a moment, Lord Tentia seemed to realize what I meant and gritted his teeth.

“Was it like that?”

I shook my head.

“Since you have friends or relatives who are high-ranking members of the construction guild, you must know how to block out the noise. That’s why the idea of installing noise barriers instead of preventing night work came to be.”

Hamun breathed a sigh of relief.

“Of course, things like Kyung-i think can happen. Everything that everyone here has said is a double-edged sword. People like me can misinterpret or benevolent.”

“It’s difficult. I think I told you not to make me think. And besides… … Your Majesty has not yet told me why they came to see you.”

I looked at Giselle.

“Giselle. Will you explain to Sir Tentia why you came to see me? Even through the manager of the red-light district, whom you despise so much?”

Giselle gritted her teeth once and opened her mouth.

“Sir, do you know anything about the candidate deposit for the National Assembly?”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard that.”

“Well… … Think of it as offering a sword as a seed and receiving it back when you become a knight.”

Giselle heard the parable.

“A seed cannot offer up a sword. And giving a sword back to a knight means breaking your oath of loyalty.”

Sir Tentia, a natural knight, kicked away the metaphor.

Giselle was momentarily taken aback, then said the following parable:

“You will know that even if you graduate from the Academy’s swordsmanship department, you will be given the title of knight.”

“Yeah. They’re just trash with no skills but money.”

“They entrust them with a huge amount of money in advance when they enroll, telling them to develop their skills. And if they don’t pass the graduation exam, they don’t get it back.”

“That makes a little bit of sense.”

Giselle continued, relieved.

“We have a similar system. It’s called a deposit. If you get more than a certain number of votes, you get your money back.”

“Why does such a system exist?”

“Because we need to prevent candidates who lack even the minimum qualifications and popularity from running rampantly and making ridiculous pledges.”

Sir Tentia nodded.

“I see. You guys are collecting donations from your supporters, so even poor people can make donations as long as they have proper pledges.”

“Yes, that’s right. The amount is 150 gold coins.”

“!”

Sir Tentia opened her eyes wide.

“That’s a lot of money. Of course, there are some rich people among the members who would spend that much on drinks for a few days… … But that’s not why you came here, is it? Did His Majesty Balen lend you the money in exchange for asking you for a bill?”

Sir Tentia looked at me with blazing red eyes.

“Your Majesty, please stop that trick.”

“Sir. It’s a misunderstanding.”

“Your Majesty, there is a lion’s soul inside you… … Yes?”

Giselle continued, smiling bitterly.

“But there is also a way to avoid paying a deposit.”

“What is it?”

“I need to get the royal family to acknowledge my necessity and expertise, and sign that the interest is not a joke. Then, I will be exempt from the deposit and the screening for candidate registration.”

Lord Tentia let out a small sigh.

“I don’t know much about you, but I know that elections cost a lot of money. Considering that, I think we should save as much as possible on the deposit. That’s why you came to see His Majesty Valen… … .”

She said as she teased me with her sailing body.

“Your Majesty. So you have called them to sign?”

“I didn’t call you, the candidates for the National Assembly came to ask you to do it.”

“I know this isn’t the right question to ask in front of them, but since I’m not running for office, I’ll just ask. How many of you will sign?”

I smiled and answered.

“You just heard all the promises.”

“yes.”

“Then let’s look at something else now.”

“What if it’s something else?”

“If you can run for less than 150 won, that’s fine. And there are those who don’t want to go through the screening process for candidacy because money isn’t the issue.”

I crossed my legs, leaned back, and buried my upper body in the back of the sofa as I asked the candidates.

“How much have you all been thinking about?”

They looked embarrassed, as if they didn’t know that I would ask them so openly.

This time, Giselle, who was the first to step forward, let out a sigh.

“Recently, there have been many unfortunate incidents and accidents on the streets of learning, so both activities and fundraising have slowed down. I am ashamed to say this, but all I can give you is 30 gold coins.”

I said with a bitter laugh.

“Thirty out of 150. I feel ashamed of my hand receiving it. I can’t accept that amount of money.”

“ah…….”

She squeezed her eyes shut.

“Just get my signature and go. With that money, I can buy meat soup for my old disciples.”