Chapter 24 : Chapter 24
Volume 1
Chapter 24 : Words Once Spoken Are Like Spilled Water
Everything in this world is relative.
Where there is prosperity and light, there will, by contrast, also be deep darkness breeding in secret.
For a vast metropolis like Belland, one of the greatest on the continent, the shadows festering beneath its surface had long since reached a terrifying scale.
The underground black market, where “anything could be bought,” was proof enough of that.
It had already become a grotesque kind of expansion.
Only, because of certain people’s indulgence—or perhaps tacit approval—those shadows had not only failed to recede in recent years, but had even begun to show signs of encroaching upon the world above.
But shadows were still shadows.
They could spread as they pleased in the dark, yet the moment they entered the sight of the holder of this nation’s supreme authority—that is, His Majesty the Emperor—they were bound to meet utter destruction.
“I remember something similar happening in the original novel.”
“It started when someone put a bounty on the life of His Majesty’s favorite consort on the black market. Someone actually took the job... and even succeeded in the assassination.”
“Enraged, His Majesty ordered the Royal Knights to thoroughly purge Belland’s underworld. That brutal manhunt lasted for three full months. So many people died that even the sewers beneath the royal capital ran red, which was why it came to be known as the Blood River Incident!”
“After that, the protagonist even joked that for a long time afterward, there was not even a single thief left in the royal capital!”
“But that was supposed to happen two years later!”
At that thought, Muen’s face turned a little pale.
“In other words, just because I gave the maids in this house two days off, a major event that was extremely important to the protagonist in the original story got moved forward by a full two years!”
“Damn, what kind of butterfly effect is this?!”
Muen could not help swearing aloud.
“Hm? What butterfly?”
Ann shot him a puzzled look from the side.
“N-Nothing. I was just saying the butterflies this year are especially beautiful. Yes, especially beautiful.”
“Hehe.”
After casually brushing Ann off, Muen fell back into deep thought.
“But if I think about it carefully, maybe it does not count as happening early. After all, this definitely cannot compare to the Blood River Incident in the original novel. The assassination did not actually succeed this time, so at most this is probably just meant to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys.”
“But even so, Belland’s underworld should stay quiet for a long time. At the very least, no one will be arrogant enough to try assassinating a member of the royal family again.”
“In that case, the assassination of the Imperial Consort that was supposed to happen two years from now might not happen at all.”
“If the Imperial Consort does not die, then the real Blood River Incident will never happen.”
“But in the original novel, the Blood River Incident was a hugely important event for the protagonist in the middle of the story!”
“The protagonist attended an auction at the underground black market and got dragged into the clash between the Royal Knights and the underworld. He fell into danger again and again, and in those life-and-death situations, his strength grew at an astonishing rate thanks to his protagonist halo!”
“You could say the Blood River Incident was the key arc that transitioned the protagonist from the Academy Arc into the later Savior Arc.”
“But now... it is gone. Gone. All because I, Muen Campbell, gave the maids in my house two days off!”
“Oh no... could this actually affect the protagonist’s later mission to save the world?”
The more Muen thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
If the protagonist could not defeat the final boss—that Demon God who would break free of his seal—then the whole world would be doomed!
And it would all be because he had given the maids in his house two days off.
The world would be destroyed because of two days off!
“No, no, no. That is not right. I am just obsessing over nothing. The world is not that fragile!”
“Even if the Blood River Incident really disappears, there will definitely be some other event for the protagonist to grow through!”
“And besides, the Blood River Incident might not disappear at all. This is all just my own speculation!”
“There is no need for me to worry so much. The protagonist is loaded with cheats anyway. He does not need me worrying about him!”
Muen kept comforting himself in his heart, and at last he managed to calm down a little.
In truth, it was because one tiny bit of the plot had failed to follow the original story, which had then led to Selicia’s assassination attempt, that Muen had been left with a psychological shadow.
He was terrified that one more flap of his tiny butterfly wings would trigger some earth-shattering event all over again.
“In any case, I should just trust the protagonist.”
Muen shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.
...
“Then, Young Master, please get some proper rest. I will take my leave first.”
Seeing that it was already getting late, Ann bowed and prepared to leave.
“All right.”
“Ah, right, Young Master. There is a letter for you.”
Ann suddenly handed Muen an envelope.
“A letter?”
Muen turned the envelope over and found that there was neither a postmark nor the sender’s name on it.
“Whose letter is it?”
“It is from Her Highness Selicia.”
Ann answered respectfully,
“She personally asked me to deliver it to you.”
“...From her.”
Muen was a little surprised, but he said nothing.
He merely told Ann to go and rest.
Meanwhile, he stared at the white envelope for a long while.
“Whatever it is, it is probably just a letter scolding me.”
Muen laughed at himself.
For a proud princess like Selicia, who valued her chastity more than her life, there was no way she would write him a special letter to thank him just because he had saved her, after he had done that sort of thing to her.
“I just hope she does not curse me out too badly.”
Muen opened the envelope.
Unexpectedly, it was not a letter of scolding at all.
Instead, written in neat and elegant handwriting, there was only one simple sentence—one that would leave anyone baffled at first glance:
[I’ll reluctantly count you as half a man, Muen Campbell.]
Half a man?
Since when could a man be divided in half?
Muen was utterly dumbfounded.
But very quickly, he realized why Selicia would say such a thing.
Because of something he had said before.
[Now... Do I look like a man, Your Highness?]
That was what he had said while taking the blade for Selicia—something he had blurted out just to look cool.
Only, if he had really died because of it, then that line would have become an absolute killer blow.
Selicia might never have forgotten it for the rest of her life.
But... he had not died!
And if he had not died, then that line was just unbearably cringeworthy!
It was like some overbearing CEO from a Mary Sue novel, hooking a finger under the heroine’s chin and giving her a wicked smile:
“Do you think I’m MAN enough, woman?”
Aaaaah!
Too embarrassing!
Can I reincarnate back to that moment and slap myself?!
If you were going to die, then die! Why were you trying to act cool before death?!
And why did you have to make it that awkward?!
Even Her Highness the Princess could not stand it—she actually wrote you a letter just to mock you!
“I can’t take this!”
Muen tore the letter to pieces, then wrapped himself in the blanket and writhed around like an earthworm.
...
“Half a man?”
Outside Muen’s room, Ann stared fixedly at the door and murmured to herself:
“So that means that, for Your Highness, Young Master Muen still has the possibility of becoming a real man?”
“And if he becomes a real man, what then? Will you fall in love with him?”
“Ah, no, that will not do, Young Master Muen. How could you accept the love of a second woman besides me?”
Ann’s gaze gradually turned cold.
“It seems some things will have to be moved along faster.”