Chapter 33
To my 'carrot' of reducing their sins if they confessed obediently, the officials, without exception, began to write down the nas of the thugs and wicked rchants they knew on paper. Not showing the slightest hesitation.
‘Seeing them write the list so diligently, it seems the officials really don't care about the lives of the thugs or wicked rchants.’
Well, if they want to live, they have no choice but to sell out the thugs and wicked rchants to , so it might be natural.
‘The officials will soon hand over the list of thugs and wicked rchants. Then, should I check the to see what happens after that?’
Thinking, I said to Elly, who was standing demurely behind .
“Miss Elly, I'll be back in my room, so when the officials are done with the list, please organize it and bring it to .”
“Ah, yes! Then I will escort you and co back—!”
“It's alright. You don't need to go back and forth and trouble yourself. Just stay here and bring it when it's all organized.”
I smiled lightly at Elly and said, then ca down from the podium and headed for the banquet hall door.
***
Click.
As soon as I returned to my room from the banquet hall, I checked the . It was the page with the future closest to the present.
As I had thought, new content was written in the .
…….
At my words that I would spare them if they cooperated obediently in the 'war on cri,' the officials, without exception, wrote their confessions and submitted them to .
It was as I had expected.
I handed the list I received from the officials to Jereuth, and Jereuth arrested and eliminated the thugs and wicked rchants on that list.
No matter how much the thugs and wicked rchants ruled the royal capital, they were ultimately just thugs and punks, so they were suppressed too easily by the knight order led by Jereuth. It was almost anticlimactic.
And so, the first policy I led as a person of power, the 'war on cri,' ended successfully.
……No, so I thought.
This was the newly written content so far.
It would have been nice if it had just succeeded, but there's another annoying phrase written.
“I thought the 'war on cri' was a success, but it wasn't…… Why?”
As I slightly frowned and repeated the last line of the diary, new content began to be written.
Scribble, scribble—
…….
I had misjudged the officials. I thought that since my power was imnse after the Purge, the officials would follow my instructions honestly and faithfully, but that was not the case.
The officials, to curry favor with and to boost their own performance, wrote down the nas of innocent commoners as well as thugs and wicked rchants.
That's right. The officials created a false list. They probably didn't care if a few commoners died as long as it was for their own rit.
I was foolish enough not to notice it. And I told Jereuth to arrest and punish everyone on the list written by the officials. In the end, over a hundred innocent citizens were arrested and executed.
I found that out belatedly. But it was literally 'belatedly'. The heads of the innocent people had already fallen.
The people of the royal capital harbored suspicion and fear that I had also killed innocent people and rchants. Because of that fear, the honest rchants who survived left the royal capital, saying they didn't know when they would die.
One of the goals of this 'war on cri' was to gain the trust of the kingdom's people by punishing the thugs and wicked rchants. However, I failed to achieve that goal.
No, I didn't just fail, I completely 'lost' the trust of the kingdom's people. The 'war on cri' was started to gain the trust of the kingdom's people, but the result was that the kingdom's people ca to call the 'blood-crazed Crown Prince'.
……Sothing about the atmosphere in the royal capital is getting strange. The movents of the kingdom's people are unusual. I have a bad feeling.
They say a bad feeling is never wrong, but I hope it is this ti.
This was the newly written content.
‘Hmm…… the officials wrote down the nas of innocent people as well. They're typical officials of a backward country.’
The act of framing and arresting innocent people to curry favor with those in power, or to et one's own quota.
That was a common occurrence even in the 80s and 90s in Korea, where I lived. It's also a common occurrence in developing countries even after the 2000s.
‘Even if hundreds of criminals are missed, not a single innocent person should be frad. More than that, the content at the end of the diary is also very concerning.’
At the end of the diary, my future self was worried that the atmosphere in the royal capital was becoming strange.
‘What does it an that the atmosphere is becoming strange—.’
As I was wondering to myself.
Fwip, fwip, fwip—!
“!”
The back pages of the began to flip open on their own.
It was the page with my ending.
Usually, when the suddenly shows my ending like this, it's not a good sign.
And as expected, it was the sa this ti.
…….
Fwoosh—!
Outside the royal palace, an angry mob held torches and clubs. They were poised to break down the palace gates and burn the palace down at any mont.
They were ard not with crude weapons, but with swords and spears.
“The Crown Prince, who has been seduced by the demon tribe and is trying to offer human blood, is hiding in the royal palace!!”
“Catch the blood-crazed Crown Prince!!”
“He's a devil who killed even my son with the lie that he would punish the thugs and wicked rchants!!”
“Soldiers who have been deceived by the demon tribe's lackey, the Crown Prince, and are still in the royal palace! Open the palace gates! You are not our enemy!!”
“We must also catch the Crown Prince's dog, Jereuth!!”
“I respected him for becoming a Head Knight as a commoner…… but he deceived us!! He is a demon and a devil!! You all saw him rcilessly kill innocent people!!”
The rough curses and shouts of the people could be heard from outside.
How did it co to this?
I just wanted to punish only the thugs and wicked rchants and gradually set this kingdom straight.
Although I had such thoughts, I did know the reason why I was in this situation.
‘……It's because I took the list given by the officials at face value and punished people.’
The trashy officials who frad innocent people as thugs and wicked rchants for their own rit.
And it beca like this because of my incompetence in not recognizing their lies.
To think it ca to this because I failed to recognize the false list written by just five officials to elevate their own achievents, the regret is imnse.
‘If only I had recognized the lies of those five people…….’
However, regret, as always, was too late no matter how early it was. The kingdom's people had already turned their backs on and were pointing their weapons at .
Click—.
Soone quietly opened my door and entered. It was Jereuth and the knights of the 3rd Knight Order who followed him. Their expressions were heavy and serious, but their spirits were alive.
Jereuth approached , lowered his head with a heavy voice, and said to .
"……Your Highness, it seems we cannot stop the rebel army. Most of the soldiers have also sided with them. They are all enraged that their families and friends were executed without guilt……."
“……”
“But we know that Your Highness ca to be in this situation by mistake while trying to lead the kingdom correctly. We know Your Highness's true intentions. That is why we have remained here. If you command, we will defend the royal palace to the very end.”
Jereuth spoke like a loyal subject. His voice was solemn and trustworthy.
But I could not feel the usual confidence from Jereuth. Perhaps it was because, as he said, it was a situation where 'the rebel army could not be stopped'.
Perhaps his heart was heavy because he had to cut down the people of the sa kingdom with his own hands.
"……Your Highness."
Behind the knights of the 3rd Knight Order, Elly was looking at with a pitiful expression.
Next to her was the forr Mage Tower Master, Seria. She said nothing, but she would probably fight off the rebel army with Jereuth.
What should I do?
The contemplation was deep, but the conclusion was made quickly.
‘There should be no more slaughter.’
"……It has co to this because of my inadequacy. So I hope you all will live."
"What do you an—."
"Take my head and go outside the royal palace. Then their anger may be quelled a little. Above all, I do not want to kill any more of the kingdom's people. I…… have already killed too many people."
At my words, Jereuth's lips tightened.
The other knights were the sa. The only things that could be heard were the shouts of the angry mob outside the royal palace and Elly's sobs.
Soon, Jereuth drew his sword and said to .
"Is that…… truly your decision?"
"Yes. But to be honest, dying is scary, so I hope you will end it as painlessly as possible."
"……Understood."
Jereuth replied heavily.
Chwaak—!
Before I could even realize he was swinging his sword at my neck, my head fell. There was no feeling of pain. As expected of Jereuth's skill. It was faster and more accurate than a hot knife cutting through butter.
Even though my head had fallen, it must have taken quite so ti for my brain to stop, as I could hear Jereuth's voice.
"……My last lingering attachnt in this world is Your Highness. So I will also send you off peacefully and follow you."
With those words, I saw Jereuth put his sword to his own neck.
I could not see what happened after that. Jereuth probably took his own life.
“Ha…….”
A sigh escapes.
My ending has changed. My original ending was to be captured by the rebel army and hanged on the gallows, but this ti, it changed to voluntarily being beheaded by Jereuth's sword before that.
Either way, the ending where I died miserably was the sa.
‘All of this is because I didn't recognize the officials' lies. Because of those lies, I ended up punishing innocent people in the 'war on cri,' and that led to this ending.’
It was as if a small mistake of mine had a huge impact, just like how the flap of a butterfly's wings can cause a typhoon far in the future.
The only fortunate thing was that I had found out about the problem through the before it occurred.
‘Right. If I find the five officials who wrote the false list to elevate their own rit, I can prevent this problem.’
However, that was fortunate and at the sa ti another problem. Because I didn't know 'which official' had written the false list. The only gave the hint that 'five officials wrote a false list,' but their nas were not ntioned.
‘The most certain thing would be to have Jereuth check and review the lists one by one. But that would take too long.’
If so—
‘I'll have to use psychological warfare. To make the five liars confess.’
As the saying goes, a thief gives himself away. I intend to use that psychological warfare myself.
“……”
My heart was very displeased and unpleasant because my ending was miserable because of the liars.
But perhaps because my anger reached the top of my head, I beca calr and my head beca cooler.
Tak—.
I put the back on the bookshelf. Then, with calm steps, I headed for the banquet hall.
To catch the liars.
To those five 'liar officials' who drove to my death, I will be rciless.
***
―His Highness Leonardo is entering!
The banquet hall door opened with the shout of the knight guarding it. Leonardo enters through the open door.
‘Why did he co back? He said he was resting in his room.’
When Leonardo entered, not only Elly but also the officials and knights had similar questions and glanced at Leonardo.
Thud—.
Leonardo walked up to the podium without a word and sat down on the chair. Elly tried to smile and greet Leonardo, but she couldn't bring herself to smile because of Leonardo's unusual expression.
‘His Highness's expression is not good…… did sothing happen in the anti?’
Elly was a little worried, but she didn't ask for now. Because the cold emotion flowing from his expression was unusual.
***
About an hour after Leonardo entered the banquet hall.
In front of Leonardo, who was sitting on the podium, were piles of docunts, the ‘thug/wicked rchant list’ written by the officials. They were all lists of thugs and wicked rchants confessed by the officials.
Leonardo checked the docunts written by the officials one by one. The officials watched the Crown Prince with nervous eyes. They looked like students getting their howork checked.
At that mont.
“Phew—.”
What was not to his liking? The Crown Prince, who had been quietly looking at the docunts, suddenly sighed.
The officials did not know why the Crown Prince sighed, but they knew that a sigh could not be a good thing.
The officials just desperately hoped that the docunt the Crown Prince had sighed at was not the one they had written.
Among those officials, there were five officials whose expressions were particularly stiff.
They were good at managing their expressions like forr nobles, so it wasn't very noticeable.
—Thud.
Leonardo roughly threw a bundle of docunts on the floor and said. The docunts scattered haphazardly on the podium.
"I am a picky person, so there are many things I dislike. Among them, what I dislike the most is 'lies'. In particular, I extrely, very, very loathe lies that fra others for cris they did not commit."
At the Crown Prince's words, the officials showed various reactions. Those who had written the list honestly had a relatively calm reaction, while the officials who had written the list falsely to enhance their own achievents had serious expressions.
The Crown Prince continues to speak. Coldly.
"I said that I would rember the official who confessed to the most thugs and wicked rchants in a 'good sense'. You all, who have committed various acts of corruption with the thugs and wicked rchants, were instead promised a reward. But…… there are a few who are trying to abuse my goodwill, who have written down the nas of innocent people as thugs and wicked rchants to falsely elevate their own achievents. Looking at these docunts."
—……!
"I have made it clear. This is a 'war' on cri. So, all those written on this list are my enemies. But to write down those innocent people as my enemies…… haha."
The Crown Prince let out a hollow laugh, then his expression hardened as he looked down at the officials.
"To fra innocent citizens for your own rit, are you kidding ?"
—…….
"Those who have written a false list, co crawling out on your own. Don't provoke my anger any further."
The Crown Prince's voice was so scary. It was questionable how such a voice could co from such a young boy.
As a short but seemingly longer than ever silence continued in the banquet hall.
—Tat!
One of the officials got up from his seat, hurriedly ca to the front of the podium, and bowed his head.
"Y-Your Highness! I am sorry! P-please spare ! I was wrong—!"
"You're asking to spare you?"
"……Yes, yes!"
"You wrote a list of lives to be taken with lies so casually, and now you're asking to spare you, isn't that too cowardly? If I hadn't known, all the people on this list would have been dead, right?"
"I-I'm sorry……!"
At the Crown Prince's words, the face of the official bowing in front of the podium turned from ashen to pale.
"Still, you were the first to admit your mistake, so I won't kill you. But I will give you a punishnt."
"Thank you for Your Highness's generosity—!"
"Shut your mouth. It's not over yet."
The Crown Prince spoke coldly, then looked at the officials and continued.
"Are there no more?"
—…….
"Are you sure there are no more? I'd like you to co out on your own before I have to drag you out."
At the Crown Prince's repeated pressure, three officials who had been sitting on either side of the banquet hall ran at full speed and bowed before Leonardo.
—Y-Your Highness! I'm sorry!
—Just spare ! Just spare !
—I-I was wrong!
The officials begging for their lives. A total of four officials who had written a false list had co out.
However, it seed that the Crown Prince's search for liars was not yet over.
"Are you really sure there are no more? There's still one left."
The Crown Prince made eye contact with each of the officials one by one. That gaze was like a pressure to 'co out on your own since I know everything'. The officials who made eye contact felt a fear as if the judge of hell was piercing through their souls.
But there was one official who was particularly stung by that gaze. It was Baron Heinshtangl.
He was one of the families that Jereuth had excluded first in the Purge, and among the nobles, he was very, very, very rarely well-regarded by the commoners. However, his skills were evaluated as not great, but decent.
‘Why is His Highness looking at like that? I have nothing to do with the thugs……. C-could it be that I made so kind of mistake? I'm sure I only wrote down the thugs and wicked rchants I knew, but could a wrong na have been included?!’
If he had made a mistake and written a na incorrectly, it would be a big problem. Because the tyrant-Crown Prince sitting on the podium now did not seem to be one to show rcy.
Being naturally timid, all sorts of worries arose for Heinshtangl.
‘Ah, I can't do this. I have to get up and say it properly. That I didn't write the list incorrectly to deceive His Highness the Crown Prince, but that it was a mistake! ……I don't know what mistake I made, but.’
Just as Heinshtangl was about to get up.
Thump!
The official sitting behind him kicked his chair and got up, 'crawling' to the front of the podium and bowing his forehead to the floor.
"Y-Your Highness! I was wrong! I was really wrong! Just once! Please show rcy just once!"
When the culprit appeared, Heinshtangl felt not a sense of relief, but a feeling of his heart sinking.
‘……Was His Highness not looking at , but at Viscount Rokun who was behind ?’
Leonardo stared blankly at the official who had co out confessing his sin at the end. Then he spoke to Jereuth firmly, without any emotion.
"Head Knight, please put all of them in the dungeon. I will execute them along with the thugs and wicked rchants arrested in the 'war on cri'."
"Yes, I understand!"
At Leonardo's command, Jereuth answered firmly and gestured to the knights. Then the knights imdiately ca out, roughly grabbed the officials, and dragged them out of the banquet hall.
The officials being dragged out shout desperately.
—Y-Your Highness! Please spare !
—Y-you said you would spare !
—rcy! rcy!!
—L-Long live His Highness Leonardo! Long live! Please!!
—No! Nooo!! Crown Prince Leonardo! You son of a b-!
Thud!
The sound of the officials' wailing spread through the banquet hall, but it was cut off as the banquet hall door closed.
The commotion was over. The banquet hall was frighteningly quiet.
The Crown Prince broke the silence as he got up from his chair.
"Everyone, keep this in mind. I am stingy in giving rewards, but I am rciless in giving punishnt. Of course, if you do what I say honestly and diligently, there will be no punishnt."
—…….
"Then, since the lists have all been confird, let's begin the 'war on cri' eting. If anyone has any good ideas on how to punish the thugs and wicked rchants with minimal damage to the innocent people, please raise your hand and speak."
As Leonardo spoke.
—Shwip! Shwip! Shwip! Shwip! Shwip! Shwip! Shwip! Shwip!
The officials raised their hands in a flash. It wasn't that they had any particular opinion. They just raised their hands because the tyrant told them to.
The young Crown Prince sitting on the podium was as fearso a man as his beauty. A tyrant. And a very competent tyrant at that.
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