Weeds Only Rot the Seedlings

At this point, suddenly?

Of course, it wouldn’t be strange for Ernst to know Lina, being the head of the Stresemann family, known to be closely connected to the imperial family, and Wolf’s father.

But sending a document with Lina as the subject was another matter.

I should take a look at it first.

Thud!

Just before going out into the hallway, I hurriedly turned back, hung my coat on the back of the chair, and sat down.

I took off the eagle-decorated cap and placed it aside, and put the paper filled with Bern language on my chest.

Then I began to read it carefully.

“Yena, it’s been a while. It’s Ernst. I’m sorry I couldn’t visit and had to send this letter…”

---

“…I ended up sending it. I apologize for not being able to contact you in advance. I’m so busy that one body isn’t enough, you see.”

Scribble, scribble!

“Still, I’m sure this content will pique your interest, so I’d be grateful if you could understand based on that…”

Ernst read the sentences he had written while busily moving his fountain pen.

Less than 30 minutes remained until the cabinet meeting attended by Paulo, Erdoff, and Goeting, following the luncheon with journalists. He had to finish quickly as he was writing in the brief time he had managed to spare.

‘Still, it’s not a matter to be overlooked.’

Ernst glanced at the report stamped with the Stresemann family crest, just to the left of his hand that was constantly moving back and forth across the white paper.

‘A fragile princess’s rebellion, huh.’

Lina Victoria Wilhelm Hohenzollern, the girl promised in a political marriage to his son, had officially expressed her refusal. This was an act of ignoring the family head’s orders, effectively notifying her intention to sever ties with the family.

It was a world-turning event for her, who had always obeyed and conformed to her father who was to become emperor, to send a letter containing rebellious aspects.

Naturally, such news reached my ears as the head of the Stresemann family.

I was in the process of writing this document to share this with Yena.

Since Lina and Yena were classmates, and recently they had been spending a lot of time together, maintaining a relationship almost like friends, there was sufficient reason to tell the girl about Lina’s situation.

As a man who has held key government positions and is required to be responsible, I can’t keep receiving help from a child who is easily 20 years younger than me.

I’ve come this far, surpassing even Paulo, who was called a propaganda master, by being taught advanced propaganda techniques using radio and theater, and by being instructed in new photography methods that I would never have known on my own.

‘I’ve never seen such an extraordinary girl in my life.’

I was so amazed that a vulgar word slipped out. Not only did she excel in military matters, but her insight into propaganda was also incomparable.

Every time, she said she became so knowledgeable thanks to her father’s education, making me waver between whether I should respect Erich Freud, who was Yena’s guardian, or if Yena was attributing her own achievements to her parents.

“Well, is it done?”

In the busy present, critiquing the past in light of a promising future was nothing but dull stubbornness. Whatever the circumstances, isn’t it satisfactory?

“…Thus, I am sending you this document, Yena. If you have any questions, send a telegram. I’ll send my person.

I regret that I can’t visit Astrakhan directly due to lack of time, but I will cooperate fully. If you need help later, feel free to contact me anytime.

Anyway, I wish you a promising school life.

Yena Freud.”

Click!

Ernst put down the fountain pen that had run out of ink just in time and stretched.

He had included detailed accounts of the imperial family’s reaction, the Stresemann family’s stance, and the letter Lina had sent herself, and in addition, he had voluntarily added the intertwined history of the imperial family and the Stresemann family to aid Yena’s understanding.

Including why they maintained their relationship even after the Great War, and the reasons for pursuing the political marriage between Wolf and Lina, without missing anything.

If this document is discovered by the imperial family later, I would lose their trust.

But there were no regrets.

If the pain of severing ties with them strengthened the relationship with Yena, it couldn’t be better.

‘They’re useless kin now.’

I had maintained a weak exchange in preparation for the situation where the pro-emperor faction might regain power.

However, with the political marriage effectively dissolved as my useless son entered the camp for violating military law, and with the Labor Party gaining power and my successful riding of that wave, the imperial family was nothing but rotten vines hindering the vigorous growth of sprouts.

Moreover, Prime Minister Erdoff is someone who hates Junkers and nobles more than anyone, so there’s no need to stubbornly cling to connections and invite rejection.

‘As long as Paulo and Goeting exist, the emperor is a chicken ribs.’

They are the kind who would easily sell thousands of lives if they could get Erdoff’s approval. Although the period of collaboration wasn’t very long, it was enough to grasp their ruthless humanity.

They are people who deserve to be caught even if I wiretap the phone calls coming to the office someday. They were such beings obsessed with power and social advancement.

“Well, I guess I’m the same.”

I watched without sympathy as the Communists were dragged to the camps in a miserable state. Considering that I didn’t sympathize even when my son was thrown into prison with all his joints twisted, I was a failure as a parent too.

“Haha, we’re all the same.”

I should at least treat Yena well.

Creak─

“Minister, it’s time for the cabinet meeting.”

“Alright, I’ll prepare.”

Anyway, the Wilhelm family no longer exists in my life. I will destroy all related materials and put them behind me among family members.

Thud!

Even this pile of papers.

《Delete》

Ernst pressed a rectangular stamp soaked in red ink onto the top page of the report and threw it into the official document disposal bin without hesitation.

---

“Anyway, I wish you a promising school life, Yena Freud… Hmm.”

As Ernst had intended, the story contained in the document was enough to catch my interest.

So that’s why Lina’s attitude has changed recently. According to this content, it wasn’t just my imagination that Lina, who had been isolating herself from the outside, seemed to be acting independently according to her own will, like a chick breaking out of its shell.

Severing ties with the imperial family.

Did Lina really rebel against the Wilhelm family that she fanatically revered? It felt like getting a desired item from an unexpected gift box.

Ernst was also praiseworthy.

Although it was after I had listened to Helena about the currents between the Stresemann family and the imperial family early in the evening, it was admirable that he openly disclosed parts that could be considered his own shortcomings.

It was even more touching considering he had the courage to do so when it’s well-known that Erdoff harbors hatred towards the imperial family, the losers of the Great War.

“To think that Wolf is the son of such a father.”

There was a tragicomedy nearby that combined humor and pity. If he had taken after even a bit of his parent’s character, he would be in school by now.

Whoosh!

I used magic to burn the document that wouldn’t be good if leaked, holding it entirely in my hand. I dusted off my blackened hands and silently stared at the desk where only traces remained.

Wilhelm, huh.

The last emperor of the empire and the king of Bern. Currently an old man spending a leisurely old age in exile in the Kingdom of Holland, as if chased away.

If my memory is correct, there would be no one more greedy for power than him.

He was a man who wouldn’t accept the reality of being in a state like a rope gnawed by mice, and even when his youngest daughter, the only one left in Bern, awakened her mana, he oppressed her when he should have let her live well.

With the Stresemann family, a noble house that didn’t exist in the original history, briefly on their side, they probably had more leeway than before. But now that both Lina and Wolf have escaped his control, his struggle for power was over.

Still, could it become a card worth playing once?

“Phew─.”

I narrowed my eyes while blowing away the scattered black particles with my breath.

I had already used it well enough in the past. Even here in Bern, there were quite a few people who possessed a mind stuck in the feudal era before the outbreak of the Great War, as noble as can be.

Depending on how you persuade them and what bait you use to tempt them, you could transform them from followers of an old man full of avarice into vanguards of revolution.

Whatever you imagine, beyond that imagination… that is.

Click!

But that’s a story for the distant future. For now, the priority was to focus on cadet life while cheering on her independent movements from afar.

Until that day that might come, I hope the emperor stays safely tucked away.

I readjusted the belt I had loosened due to discomfort, and put on the coat and cap I had taken off.

Erika would be waiting, so I moved quickly towards the square.