I Didn't Want to Become the Emperor of This World

Chapter 93

Thump…!

Jereuth cut me off and left the room. Slamming the door quite hard at that.

Since Jereuth had always listened to my words until the end, and since he had always been polite to me, his current actions were honestly baffling.

‘Jereuth… looks like he’s about to fight the King.’

I understood why Jereuth was so angry. How furious must he be to hear from me that the King, who had ruined the kingdom due to being sick, old, and weak, was actually well.

I too had been angry upon seeing that the King was well. To the point where I questioned why he had let the kingdom fall into such a state when he had so much strength.

But my irritation and bewilderment were a drop in the ocean compared to Jereuth’s fury.

‘Jereuth won’t kill the King in a fit of rage, but… hmm.’

As I was thinking.

“Your Highness.”

Olivia called to me calmly. Her voice was the same as usual, as if she didn't care about the situation just moments ago.

“Since the Commander has left, I will also come back later. To be honest, I was also in a bit of a rush.”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

“Then I will excuse myself. Head Maid?”

Olivia politely bowed to me and turned around, calling for Elly.

“I have something to discuss with the Head Maid separately. Could you spare me a moment?”

***

The King’s bedroom.

BANG—!!

Someone roughly threw open the door to the King’s room without knocking. With enough force to break the door.

A situation where the door is suddenly thrown open violently.

In a situation where anyone would be flustered, King Philip was not flustered in the slightest.

It was because he already knew that Jereuth would enter in such a manner.

“I thought you’d be here soon.”

The King put down the diary he was reading and slowly turned his head to look at Jereuth by the door.

“……Is it true?”

The King didn’t need to ask what he meant by ‘it’.

It was because he knew exactly what Jereuth was going to talk about.

Still, for the flow of the conversation, the King began to speak ‘according to the script.’ To maintain the direction of the conversation that had already been foreseen.

“If you’re asking if it’s true that I’m well, then it’s half true and half not.”

“……Are you playing with words?”

“I’m not playing with words. Because I am truly dying from an illness. But ‘for now,’ I am well.”

“……”

“Of course, I’m not as I was when I adventured with you or when I went to the battlefield. But isn’t that natural, given my age?”

The King spoke in his characteristic humorous tone. It was the King’s way of speaking, which he had often shown when he adventured with Jereuth in his youth, easing the mood with a joke even in serious situations.

However, Jereuth was in no mood to listen to the King’s jokes right now.

Clank— clank— clank— clank—!

The heavy plate armor he was wearing made a heavy sound with Jereuth’s rough footsteps.

Those footsteps were heading towards the bed where the King was sitting.

Grip—!

Jereuth grabbed the King by the collar. The hand gripping the collar was trembling, unable to handle its owner’s fury.

“……Philip, cut the useless crap and just answer my questions. Don’t test my patience.”

“……”

“If you are well, why did you hole yourself up in your room doing nothing all this time? What’s with that haggard appearance? Did you deliberately starve yourself to pretend to be weak, to escape from all the responsibilities you had to protect? Even though you had numerous knights and soldiers loyal to you, why did you just watch the nobles’ villainy? Why did you let this kingdom become like this? When your two sons were fighting more bravely than anyone on the battlefield before being swept away by the demons, you were here…!”

Jereuth, trembling, finally asked what he truly wanted to ask.

“……When Victoria was dying all alone and lonely.”

“……”

“When I was on the battlefield and couldn’t do anything for her, what were you thinking, not even visiting Victoria and staying here? Why… why did you make no effort to save Victoria? Why did you let Victoria die all alone and lonely?!”

The King calmly looked at Jereuth, who was spewing out questions. Then he began to speak his lines—his ‘words.’

‘I must not make even the slightest mistake. I must make Jereuth believe me. Deep in his heart, I must regain the trust I lost.’

“I did it for this kingdom.”

“……What?’

“I said, I did it for the kingdom. Sending my two sons to that hellish battlefield, letting the nobles run rampant, letting go of all the responsibilities I had to protect, deliberately pretending to be weak, and not giving any help and letting my wife, whom I loved more than anything in the world, die as she sickened and passed away-.”

“……”

“All of it was done for the sake of the kingdom.”

Jereuth could not understand what kind of bullshit the King was spouting. How could he understand that ruining the kingdom and letting the queen die was done for the sake of the kingdom?

But Jereuth couldn’t argue about it.

Because.

‘This gaze…’

Only truth was contained in the eyes of the King, Philip.

However, no matter how truthful the King’s gaze was, Jereuth’s questions were not resolved.

It only made him hold back his anger of wanting to beat the King to death a little longer.

Jereuth gripped the King’s collar even tighter and asked again.

“……Explain. So that I can understand.” Follow current novᴇls on novel⚑fire.net

“You won’t understand even if I explain.”

“Cut the crap and explain!!!”

Jereuth, finally unable to contain his anger, clenched his fist so tightly it could have shattered and raised it high. However, he did not throw the punch. It was because he knew that if he genuinely hit the King, the King might die.

Even in such a volatile situation, the King did not bat an eye. He just calmly continued to speak.

“Alright, I’ll explain. It’s a difficult… a very difficult story, so listen well.”

“……”

“As you know, I had three sons. The twins ‘Hannibal’ and ‘Baria,’ and ‘Leonardo.’ Hannibal and Baria were very outstanding in all fields from a young age. They showed excellent growth in sword, bow, magic, and scholarship. They perfected all of those things, which are difficult to master even one of.”

“……Keep talking.”

“Hannibal and Baria. Not only were their abilities excellent, but their characters were also admirable. They had a good brotherly bond. But when it came time for me to appoint a crown prince, a problem arose. The nobles split into factions and decided to support different princes.”

“You’re talking about the time when the Panshin Ducal Faction and the Vaimal Ducal Faction were divided.”

“That’s right. The end of a divided kingdom is only ruin, so I wanted to prevent the nobles from splitting into two factions.”

Haaa—.

The King took a light breath and continued.

“I worried about how I could decide on an heir without the kingdom being divided. As I was worrying, the war with the demons broke out, just in time.”

“……‘Just in time’?”

The King’s tone was as if the outbreak of the war with the demons was a fortunate thing, as if it was lucky.

Jereuth was naturally bothered by the King’s tone.

“Yes, ‘just in time.’ I didn’t know when the war with the demons would break out either.”

This time too, the King’s tone was strange. It sounded as if he was saying, ‘I knew the war with the demons would break out, but I didn’t know when.’

Still, Jereuth decided to keep listening to the King for now. He could ask all his questions at once later.

“After much deliberation, I came to the conclusion that the only way for the kingdom not to be split into two factions was to send both Hannibal and Baria to the war and have them killed.”

“……You killed your two sons to prevent the kingdom from being divided into two factions?”

“That’s right.”

“You crazy bastard…! They’re your sons?!”

“Yes, they are my sons. But the tens, hundreds of thousands of people who died in that war were someone’s sons. What makes my sons any different?”

Jereuth fell silent at the King’s words, which he could not possibly refute.

Because there was nothing more hypocritical than saying that one should not send one’s own son to war.

But even so, the King’s purpose for sending his two sons to war was clearly unpleasant.

“I’ll continue what I was saying. As I thought, when Hannibal and Baria left for the battlefield, the nobles united again. The kingdom’s power was united as one. That much was the future I knew… but then another problem arose. When you left for the battlefield, I had no means to keep the nobles in check. As my power to check the nobles disappeared, the nobles began to mock the royal family from then on.”

“……”

“I had tried to manage the nobles through politics. But Victoria did not just stand by and watch the nobles run rampant. As you know, Victoria has quite a temper. She would call dozens of nobles to her room, shout at them, and even kick them in the shins. It was so scary that even I, listening from the next room, was frightened.”

The King, who had been speaking seriously, mixed in another joke.

Naturally, Jereuth did not find it even slightly funny this time either.

Looking at the expressionless Jereuth, the King sighed and continued.

“The nobles who were wasting the kingdom’s power. The queen trying to stop them. And so, the kingdom was divided into two factions again. I had to prevent the kingdom from splitting into two factions, so I killed my two sons, but this kingdom was divided into two again.”

“……So you killed Victoria too? Just as you tried to stop the kingdom’s division by killing Hannibal and Baria?”

“I did not kill Victoria. It’s just that, just in time, Victoria also fell ill. An elf who had given birth to a human’s child—”

“‘Just in time’?! Hey, you son of a bitch!! Is that what you have to say?! The bastard who killed two sons in a war and let his wife die of illness?!”

Jereuth, finally unable to contain his anger, tried to swing his fist.

But with a single word from the King, Jereuth was unable to swing his fist.

“……My friend Jereuth, do you think it was easy for me?”

The King looked at Jereuth silently for a moment. Jereuth also looked at the King.

In the King’s pupils reflected in Jereuth’s eyes, it seemed as if tears would fall at any moment. But it also felt as if he had already cried so many tears that there were none left to fall.

“I will ask you again, Jereuth. The choice to let my own flesh and blood die, to deliberately not provide any treatment while my beloved wife weakened from illness… do you think that choice was easy for me?”

“……”

“A king is also a person. A mere human who loves, resents, and feels pain, fear, and sorrow. It was not easy for me either. Never. Being a king is not something a human can do with a sane mind.”

The King continued.

“After Hannibal and Baria died in the war and Victoria died of illness, there were no more factional fights among the nobles. There was still a power struggle between Duke Vaimal and Duke Panshin, but that much was not a big problem. In other words, the kingdom became one without being divided, just as I had hoped.”

“……What’s the point of preventing the kingdom’s division! The nobles ruined the kingdom!”

“That’s right. When the royal family was virtually annihilated, the nobles’ luxury and waste began to skyrocket. Still, from the kingdom’s perspective, the nobles running rampant was much better than factional fighting. If I hadn’t prevented the kingdom’s division in this way, the Plank Kingdom would have really been split in two and they would have killed each other. What I mean is, a civil war would have broken out.”

“A civil war would have broken out… How do you know that?”

“I know. If I hadn’t prevented the kingdom’s division, a civil war would have definitely broken out. For sure.”

The King’s voice was full of conviction, that his prediction that a civil war would break out was certain.

That voice was the same as the voice from long ago when Jereuth pledged his loyalty to him, when the King was a ‘great king.’

“This was the best I could do to prevent the kingdom from being ruined. After that, it was Leonardo’s role. And that boy did really well. Truly. More so than any future I could have achieved.”

The King, who had been speaking for a while, looked up at the empty air.

Then he muttered endlessly, letting Jereuth hear.

“Originally, a future was foreseen for me where I would rule this kingdom smoothly without any trouble. From when I was the crown prince. So I lived according to that plan from a young age.”

“A future was foreseen?”

“Yes. The ‘King’s Future,’ so to speak. If I just followed that, I could have ruled this kingdom without any hardship.”

“……I don’t understand what you mean by you just had to follow the ‘King’s Future.’”

“You won’t be able to understand. It’s something that only the chosen ones among those who have inherited the royal blood can understand.”

The King’s gaze blurred, and he gave a bitter smile.

“But then, a variable called ‘love’ appeared to me.”

“Love?”

“Yes, ‘love.’ I knew I shouldn’t have fallen in love. Because it was a variable that was not in my future. When I tried to love, the future actually warned me that it didn’t know what would happen if I did.”

“……”

“Nevertheless, love is something harder to overcome than the devil’s temptation, so I could not push it away. It was the biggest mistake of my life. As a result, the entire future that was prepared for me changed. That’s why I had Hannibal and Baria… and brought upon myself the crisis of the kingdom’s division. In the end, I even had Leonardo.”

“What do you mean the future warned you? Is that also the ‘King’s Future’ you mentioned earlier?”

To Jereuth who spoke as if he couldn’t understand, the King lightly nodded.

“I said it’s something only the chosen ones among the Plank royalty can understand. It will be difficult for you to understand.”

“……”

“Anyway, from the time I made that mistake of ‘love’… no, that ‘gamble,’ I had to leave everything to fate. The smooth future that was foreseen for me became all jumbled up, and I couldn’t even know what would happen a day ahead.”

“……”

“Entrusting the future of this kingdom to Leonardo was also a gamble. I couldn’t know whether Leonardo would realize his crisis and decide to become king, or give up everything and just wait for the day he would die. Given the situation, if I were Leonardo, I would have given up everything.”

“A gamble, you say…. Then you didn’t think that His Highness Leonardo would purge the nobles and become such a great person?”

“That’s right. I never imagined that Leonardo would purge the nobles. I didn’t even know. I was only able to know after that boy had done everything.”

“……”

“Actually, I thought Leonardo would side with one of the two dukes to preserve his life. And then slowly build up his power to seize the throne in the distant future. Because that is the smooth and wise way.”

Jereuth, who had been listening silently to the King’s words, nodded.

‘Considering the situation at that time… it was actually impossible to purge the nobles. From His Highness Leonardo’s perspective, siding with one of the dukes to preserve his life would have been the best option, just as Philip said.’

But Leonardo purged the nobles even in such a situation. With terrifying cunning.

While Jereuth was thinking, the King continued to speak.

“So I had also subtly advised that boy to join hands with one of the two dukes.”

“But His Highness did not listen to your opinion.”

“Hmm. Leonardo was a stronger boy than I thought. And when Leonardo refused to join hands with the nobles, blood flowed in the royal palace. History repeated itself, just as my father had done.”

“……”

“When Leonardo seized power, my jumbled future also began to be sorted out again. Thanks to Leonardo, I was also able to know the future given to me. In other words, my gamble—”

The King glanced at the very thin diary and finished his words.

“The gamble of betting the future of this kingdom on Leonardo was not a mistake.”

The King, who had finished speaking, slowly got up from the bed.

Then he added one more word to Jereuth, who was silently looking at him, to his most trusted companion.

“Jereuth. It’s fine if you don’t understand what I’ve said so far. But I’ll ask for just one thing.”

“A favor?”

“That’s right. It’s fine even if you hate me. But please trust me. Just like that time long ago when we were able to enter the Minotaur’s dungeon. Because I intend to enter that dungeon again.”

“The dungeon… yes, come to think of it, His Highness also said something like that. That you would participate in conquering the Minotaur’s dungeon. What does that mean? ……Wait, Philip. Don’t tell me?”

Jereuth, while speaking, realized something himself and his eyes widened.

At the surprised reaction of his old friend who seemed to have grasped his intentions, the King smiled and nodded.

“I will become a living sacrifice to seal the Minotaur again. As a final gift to my son before I die. For my son, who should not have been born into this difficult world.”

The image of the King reflected in Jereuth’s eyes.

And the King’s voice.

It was the same as that of the man he had admired long ago.

The same as the man who had made him give up the woman he loved, the man he had no choice but to acknowledge as a man.

“If I can use this insignificant life as a sacrifice to seal the Minotaur, I will be overjoyed. Even more so for my son, who will become a great king… perhaps even an emperor who will unite the continent.”

The King muttered in a clearly joyous voice and finished his words.

“In any case, it’s a life with less than a year left.”