episode_0469

“Succession Dispute?”

“… Please keep talking.”

Agnes and Ethan are interested in hearing the story of Princess Raini’s succession dispute.

Since only two of them were nobles, they seemed to understand the succession dispute a little more clearly, while the rest of the group still couldn’t quite grasp the meaning of Lydia’s words and quietly waited for her next words.

“First of all, the mother of the princess, who is now the queen, was originally not a person who had the right to inherit the throne.”

“… What?”

“It seems like he’s been ruling for quite some time.”

“Yes. Queen Veronica actually ruled for about 15 years, so it was quite a long time.”

“… That’s pretty long. And I think I know how he’s still ruling even though he’s not the heir to the throne.”

Ethan seems to have a vague idea as to why Queen Veronica has been ruling the Kingdom of Dephrin until now.

Lydia also nodded to his answer and gave the expected explanation.

“Yes. The Queen is currently ruling on behalf of Princess Raini, the current heir apparent. This has been the case since the day Princess Raini’s grandfather, King Letion, passed away 15 years ago.”

Princess Raini, the first in line to the throne, and Queen Veronica, who rules by proxy without any right of succession.

Normally, it would have been impossible for her, who had no right of succession, to become queen, but considering Princess Raini’s circumstances, it was quite possible. After all, when King Lesion passed away 15 years ago, Princess Raini would have been only four or five years old at most.

“Although she was too young to inherit the throne, there was no other heir at the time. King Lesion had only one wife in his lifetime, and the princess’ father had no second wife or concubine other than the current Queen Veronica.”

“So naturally the succession went to Princess Raini. No matter what, I couldn’t give the succession to a daughter-in-law who wasn’t even related by blood.”

“… Yes. And Queen Veronica cleverly exploited the loophole to seize power, even though she knew she had no right to the succession. ”

“That’s not an unreasonable story. Since Princess Raini is his daughter, he would rule as her proxy until she becomes an adult so that she can develop clear judgment, or something like that.”

“As Agnes said.”

“… Hmm.”

Ethan let out a sigh as if he had a slight doubt after hearing Agnes and Lydia’s conversation, and asked again.

“As far as I know, the criteria for an ‘adult’ in the Kingdom of Dephrin are no different from those of the Argentia Empire. If Queen Veronica had seized power in that way, wouldn’t Princess Raini have already ascended to the throne last year?”

“… Originally, it should have been that way, but naturally, Queen Veronica created several means to avoid having to give up power. The most representative example would be a law that says, “When the heir to the throne cannot inherit the throne due to academic reasons, etc., a proxy ruler will take over the king’s authority for that period.” ”

“… I think I know why a princess from another country came all the way to the Argentia Empire’s academy to study.”

“… Yes. After sending the princess to the academy, she would have found another way to maintain her power for another four years. Until then, Queen Veronica did not know the true power of the princess’s unique magic. ”

“The real power of Princess Raini’s unique magic?”

“… What is that?”

I already knew what that real power was.

I couldn’t help but question Lydia’s words, since I only knew that she was just unlucky, except for the warriors.

“Princess Rainy’s unique magic, ‘Bring Bad Luck’, is not the ability to bring bad luck to others.”

“… What does that mean?”

“The person who brings misfortune to Princess Raini is not someone else, but her ‘future self’.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Everyone is left speechless and dumbfounded by Lydia’s shocking confession.

Everyone except me and Geumjeongjossegi, who had known about it from the beginning, looked surprised and looked at Lydia as if asking her to explain her unique magic.

“What exactly does it mean to bring bad luck to your future self?”

“This is literally true. The reason Princess Rainy suffers so much bad luck in her childhood is because she is experiencing all the bad luck she will experience in the future.”

“Bringing bad luck from your future self… Is that possible?”

“I’ve only heard this story through legend, but I’ve heard that the first king of the Dephrin Kingdom had a similar constitution with unique magic.”

“A unique magic like the first king… Apart from other things, it is a perfect excuse to claim the throne.”

“So what exactly does that unique magic mean? If it’s about bringing bad luck from your future self, then there has to be an end to it, right? There has to be a limit to how much bad luck a person can have in their lifetime.”

“Yes, of course, there will be a time when Princess Raini will end this tiresome misfortune. King Alonso, the first king of the Deprin Kingdom, said that his misfortune ended when he was twenty, so Princess Raini’s misfortune will probably end around her twentyth birthday.”

“Four days later… No, a day has passed, so it must be three days later.”

Lydia nodded silently at Ethan’s guess.

“I can understand why the Queen would want to kill the princess. After all, after turning twenty, it means that she won’t experience any misfortune in the future, so at least it means that they can’t kill her by sending an assassination squad like this, right?”

“Although it is said to be a legend, it seems important that it is a unique magic possessed by the first king. In any case, it means that if you use it well, it is a power that can establish a country.”

“… But why are you trying to kill me now? You changed the law just to hold on to power for a long time. Is it just the whims of a human living a short life? ”

“It wasn’t long before Queen Veronica learned of Princess Raini’s constitution. It was originally a legend only passed down to the royal family of the Kingdom of Dephrin. Queen Veronica was not born with royal blood, and since her husband and in-laws had all passed away, there was no one to hear the story until recently.”

“So, he thought it would continue like that, so he took it easy, but then he got anxious. After that, he called him back to his country in a hurry to kill him somehow.”

“Yes. In any case, if the princess dies in a foreign land other than the Dephrin Kingdom, many problems are bound to arise. If the Argentia Empire investigates the princess’s death and finds evidence that the Dephrin Kingdom royal family was involved in the case… it could become a pretext for a legal war.”

“Even if it was killing the princess of one’s own country, it was still sending soldiers into another country without permission.”

Even though they are friendly countries, the difference in national power between the Argentia Empire and the Dephrin Kingdom is clear.

If there was an excuse to break the friendship between the two countries, it would be obvious which country would win the war, so they probably couldn’t bring themselves to send an assassin to the empire.

“So that’s why they want to kill you as soon as you enter their sphere of influence. They even openly write articles like this.”

“If the assassination fails anyway, not only will he have to give up the throne, but he will also be questioned for the crimes he has committed so far. If it is for survival, he will have no choice but to resort to such methods.”

“What are we going to do? They attacked first, so now we go kill them?”

“No, not yet. As I said before, Princess Raini’s bad luck still has three days left.”

“… … .”

“I think if you’re going to get revenge, it’s better to do it three days later. If you act now, you’ll likely fail instead of succeed.”

“And there are still quite a few people within the palace who are suspicious of Queen Veronica’s rule or who hope for Princess Raini’s succession. There are also many who are neutral, not knights who are blindly loyal to the queen like this knight Bartolomeo.”

“If we rebel while the princess’s energy is full of misfortune like now, there is a high possibility that the neutral forces will side with Queen Veronica, and on the contrary, once Princess Raini’s misfortune ends, there is a high possibility that they will become our strength, right?”

“That’s right, my lord the champion.”

“Then there’s nothing we can do. We have no choice but to hold out for three more days. After all, if we hold out for three more days, it’s a fight we’ll definitely win, right?”

“… Haa. I have to do this for three more days?”

Agnes sighs involuntarily at the thought of having to live like this for three more days.

In fact, I too was sick of this camping life, being chased by bandits and monsters.

… The only good thing is that from today onwards I no longer need to sleep outside.

“The tents are all ruined, and the carriage is broken, so it looks like we won’t be able to camp anymore.”

“… Then what should I do? I heard that because of my princess constitution, I can’t even enter the village.”

“Is it really necessary to go into the village, Miss Agnes?”

“Huh?”

“There are so many great horses here, so I don’t think there’s any need to delay heading to the villa now.”

Thanks to the knights who came at an untimely hour of the morning, there were a lot of stray horses.

I’ve also obtained a magic lamp that can illuminate the way ahead, so if I keep running without stopping, I’ll probably be able to arrive at the villa by the end of today.