Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 158

During his reign as emperor, Philip always tried to be an impartial ruler. However, that did not mean that he forgot his position as the supreme ruler of the Empire.So he couldn’t help but be even more confused.

“It doesn’t add up?”

He never imagined that he would hear such a brazen complaint from a young knight who had only recently entered the palace, something he had never heard in all the years he had sat on the throne as the Emperor.

But Arendt remained confident.

“Of course, what Your Majesty wants from me is to give High Priest Theodore a blow. In return, Your Majesty prepares a platform for me to do so.”

“…Yes.”

“Of course it is necessary, and I never said anything that I couldn’t do it. But.”

“…”

The Emperor felt that there was something strange about the words pouring out like a torrential downpour, but he could not help but listen as if he was possessed by something.

“As you can see, I am an apprentice knight, and my opponent is the High Priest, whose influence has grown while Your Majesty has been away. Anyone can see that it is like throwing an egg at a rock…”

Arendt, whose voice trailed off, added subtly, slightly bending his upper body.

“His Majesty also said that he was partly responsible for the situation turning out this way.”

“…”

“I believe that the reason the High Priest has become so sensitive is partly because of the suggestion Your Majesty made several years ago. He must have felt that his power was threatened.”

Most of the puzzles were just solved through the conversation.

The attitude that seemed strangely wary of the royal family, Cantares’ constant awkwardness whenever the High Priest was mentioned, and even the reason he reacted more sensitively as the existence of the god Chernion was revealed.

“Additionally, although it may be a bit disloyal, I do not think that Your Majesty could have truly not anticipated this situation. Even if it had not been for the evil cult, there would certainly have been trouble at some point…”

“…”

“Didn’t you force the succession of power even though you thought that the Crown Prince alone would be unable to handle him? I think you did it because you wanted to raise your son to be strong.”

“…”

Every gesture, every word… The voice that arrogantly recited only the facts one by one was unusually pleasing to the ear.

“In this situation, the conditions Your Majesty has proposed are woefully inadequate for me. Preparing the board is not that difficult for Your Majesty.”

Maybe that’s why the guy he had just found so admirable now seemed so annoying that it made his teeth chatter.

“But I am given the task of overcoming a situation in which all sorts of causes are intertwined. Of course, this is not a suitable trade condition.”

It was shocking, but it wasn’t wrong.

The Emperor, who moved his mouth for a long time, asked.

“…What if I say I will protect you from the temple from now on?”

“It is not enough.”

“…”

He was once again speechless at the sharp reply.

And the Emperor sensed what this insolent and insolent apprentice knight wanted him to say.

But for some reason, he felt like he shouldn’t say it out loud, so he hesitated for a while without saying anything.

But since he had no choice… the Emperor opened his mouth hesitantly.

“Is there anything else you want?”

And finally, Arendt smiled broadly.

“What do you think it might be?”

“Well, I heard from Khan that you like money very much. Do you want any monetary compensation?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Why?”

“I like money, of course, but His Highness the Crown Prince has enough to exploit. And at least in this case, I don’t think money can buy the price.”

“…That’s true too.”

Even after hearing the shocking news that the Crown Prince was being extorted by a knight, the Emperor was unable to react significantly.

It was because he realized that the insolent apprentice knight was repeating the same rhetoric he had used earlier.

“Surely… do you want me to guess?”

“That might be fun, but I can’t be that disrespectful. I know that even if I look like this, that would be too much.”

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he saw the guy shrugging his shoulders.

Arendt smiled mischievously at the Emperor again.

What came out of his mouth next was something unexpected.

“I hope you can back me.”

“Back?”

“Yes. I hope that His Majesty the Emperor will be my strong supporter. I am telling you not to step down, but to raise the baton again.”

Knock, knock. Arendt tapped the table with his finger.

“I believe that there is definitely such a thing as timing. One of the greatest virtues a person can have is knowing when to step forward and when not to.”

“…And you think now is the time for me to step forward.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

As the Emperor’s face hardened slightly, Arendt began to explain in detail, counting on his fingers.

“As you said, His Highness the Crown Prince is still young. And so am I, and so are most of His Highness’s entourage.”

This problem arose because the Crown Prince had no means to check the powerful political forces of the previous generation.

“To put it in extreme terms, let’s assume that we succeed in completely overthrowing High Priest Theodore. If His Majesty continues to take the same position as he does now, the balance of power will surely be shaken.”

“Keep talking.”

“The opposition from the priests who follow the High Priest will also be severe, and unfortunately, His Highness the Crown Prince does not yet have the strength to fight against the temple.”

“But Priest Lumiel still remains in the main temple.”

“If we had more time, it might be different, but now that we don’t know when the enemies will rise up, it will be difficult for Priest Lumiel to quickly absorb their forces.”

“…Oh, right.”

The emperor, who had been listening quietly for a while, could no longer laugh.

Every single word was correct.

Of course he could refute it, but the problem was that he didn’t feel like doing so.

If a young man who was still only an apprentice knight had this kind of insight, what about the other nobles and knights…?

‘If you’re not careful, you could end up being a laughing stock.’

In fact, it was also because he felt like he could get caught up in that sly way of speaking if he said even a word.

Besides, Arendt was secretly criticizing him.

The Crown Prince was burdened with too much because he stepped down too early.

“How absurd. Treating me, the Emperor of the Empire, as a shield…”

It was so absurd that he didn’t even feel offended, so he ended up just laughing out loud again.

“You seem like a cheeky friend. I can’t even imagine how much you’ve teased the Crown Prince all this time.”

“If His Highness the Crown Prince were present, he would probably be surprised. Saying something like: .”

“Hahaha! That guy, he speaks like that in private, right? By the way, if this is considered polite behavior, what on earth do you do in normal times?”

“Rather than explaining it in detail like this, I prefer to be a bit more direct. If you don’t understand, threats and extortion will follow.”

“Huh… Heuheuheuh… Puhahahahaha!”

When the Emperor started to laugh out loud, holding onto the table, Arendt waited patiently until he could stop laughing.

After a long while, the Emperor barely managed to control his expression and raised his head with a smile still hanging on his face.

“Ha… Haha. Phew, it’s been a while since I’ve laughed like this. If the aide saw that, he’d have scolded me. He’d have said it was disrespectful.”

“But, Your Majesty.”

Arendt met his eyes and added plainly.

“In the eyes of this ugly knight, you seem to be quite happy.”

“Haha…”

That was also true.

It had been so long since he had laughed like this that he couldn’t even remember properly.

Arendt didn’t care about what others thought, he didn’t care about looking bad, and he didn’t hide his greed.

He was clearly different from those who nodded their heads and pretended not to know anything while trying to take care of their own interests.

“You seem confident, seeing as you’re acting so arrogantly. Do you have any good ideas?”

“What other means would there be? If we expose the current situation in front of people, it will be enough to create a topic for debate.”

When the Emperor asked playfully, still smiling, Arendt shrugged his shoulders as was his custom.

“There will naturally be pros and cons. We will follow that flow and get what we want.”

Once you’ve expanded the board, increase your side and win the argument.

That was the essence of debate and politics.

“If Your Majesty will accept this deal, I will show you something much more interesting than today.”

“Good. Then let’s make this deal. If you show me first, I’ll do as you suggest. But if I suddenly step forward, the Crown Prince might not like it a little.”

“Whether he likes it or not, what does it matter? After all, His Majesty is higher. Since this situation arose because of his incompetence from the beginning, he has no right to complain.”

“I think that 70% of the reason the Crown Prince is having a headache is because of you.”

“I won’t deny it.”

The Emperor burst into laughter again at that shameless answer.

It was a night when the Emperor’s garden, which was usually quiet, became noisy for the first time in a long while.

The very next day, the Emperor kept his promise.

And in a rather flashy way, too.

He sent a letter to the Imperial Knights and the Crown Prince, praising their achievements and ordering them to continue the investigation into the Chernion Cult.

To summarize, the content was like this:

The problem was that the same official document was also sent to the High Priest.

Of course, the High Priest, who was provoked, reacted within a few hours.

However, the response of the High Priest was somewhat passive compared to the Emperor’s actions. Instead of directly revealing his intentions, he sent a separate letter to the Crown Prince.

The letter, which contained polite greetings and metaphors and ended, as usual, with a prayer, could be summarized as follows:

And the Crown Prince, who had perfectly read the emperor’s intentions, joked in front of the people that it would be difficult to perfectly follow His Majesty’s will, citing the letter sent by the high Priest as evidence.

Not only was the secret power struggle between the Crown Prince and the high priest suddenly brought to the surface, but soon the palace and the High Priest began to burn as arguments for and against broke out among the nobles and priests.

It all happened in just two days.

At that time, Arendt went to the Crown Prince’s office upon hearing that Count Stadler’s report had arrived.

“Hey, you’re being unreasonable.”

“What?”

Arendt, standing awkwardly in front of the Crown Prince with his hands deep in his pockets, asked back.

Cantares forced a smile to cover up the seething anger inside him, but spoke through clenched teeth.

“What did you do?”

“Why are you asking this now? Your Highness seems quite excited.”

“That’s a different matter, you punk.”

He had heard news that some of his servants had been caught scheming near His Majesty the Emperor’s office and had been beaten up, but he had never expected things to turn out like this.

“What did you say to His Majesty the Emperor?”

“All we did was chat for a bit. I also cursed His Highness the Crown Prince a bit and chewed out the High Priest to my heart’s content.”

Cantares, who had been staring at the shrugging man with weary eyes, let out a deep sigh.

“Yes, it’s all my fault. I didn’t want to bother His Majesty.”

“If you know how, do it well.”

“Do you really want to die?”

The Crown Prince was fierce, but Arendt was not one to be swayed by such things.

“Your Highness, just do what you can. Don’t be a childish fool.”

“Who is a child, who is.”

“It’s true that you’ve been depressed for the past few days.”

When Jereon, who had been quiet, smiled bitterly and added a word, Cantares’ face suddenly crumpled.

“Yeah, I’m a brat. What can I do? But don’t worry, I won’t be negligent in my work. And, first of all, this.”

Cantares grumbled annoyedly and threw a bundle of papers at Arendt.

“Did the Count send it?”

“Yeah, check it out. I don’t know if you expected this to happen, but it turned out to be quite interesting.”

“What is it?”

Arendt’s eyes sparkled as he took the documents and glanced over them.

As if he knew it, Cantares clicked his tongue.

“Is it a big fish?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The corners of Arendt’s mouth curved in satisfaction as he answered frankly.

The Crown Prince, the Captains of the Knights, the High Priest, and the Emperor.

Although the actors were too flashy to be cast in a one-act play, a script that would satisfy them sufficiently was being smoothly completed.

Well, roughly one person’s face would be distorted.