Counterfeit Hero

"Spitting..." Stephen laughed heartily and said, "What a clown, indeed. So fat, drunk, a clear sign of lack of self-control. As a student of Russell and an Army Lieutenant, he has the audacity to spit on an Admiral. Such a person can only be described as foolish." He relaxed, finding the fact that he had gotten angry at such a person amusing now.

However, thinking about the rebuke he received from his father, James, this morning, wiped the smile off Stephen’s face again. Russell and the clown he controlled made a mockery of him in the lecture recording. They harped on the landing campaign, putting all the blame on him, while not mentioning a word about Liebgoet, who was truly responsible for the entire strategic deployment. It was as if the Gazalin military losing the Lucerne defense battle was entirely due to his own mistakes.

What made Stephen both angry and helpless was that the recording broadcast his failure to the whole world, portraying him as an overambitious clown with little ability. Meanwhile, Emperor James would only see Liebgoet as his teacher and the fact that he brought him back to take over the command. This burden was unbearably significant, and he couldn’t openly state that all the plans were formulated by his teacher, Liebgoet, nor could he make a powerful counter-argument against the strategic analyses in the recording in front of James.

In any case, the analyses in the recording were completely correct; only, the target of the blame should not have been him, but Liebgoet.

Ritter looked at Stephen’s gloomy face without a word. He understood Stephen’s feelings very well. In the struggle for the throne, even with the help of the Howard family, Stephen was at an absolute disadvantage. This war was Stephen’s best chance.

Gordon’s departure had already paved the way for Stephen to take charge of the Military Department, an opportunity given by James, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Now what was missing was victory, timely victories!

If a few timely victories could be secured, then the Military Department, which leaned towards the Prince, would overturn itself thoroughly amidst those victories, under the looming threat of the impending purge. If he remained idle before the purge, James would not hesitate to kick Stephen out and take direct control of the purged Military Department himself. At that point, Stephen would lose the qualifications to compete for the throne completely.

Ritter silently sighed. What Stephen, who had been at a disadvantage since birth, seemed to lack was a bit of luck. Looking at it now, it seemed like Prince George, who always stayed aside living a debauched life, was the smartest. Not fighting was sometimes more effective than actively fighting.