While Rodele nursed his ambition and loathing at the detached palace...
In the heart of the royal palace, a man sat holding his head, groaning.
"Honestly... why on earth..."
"did that brat..."
"...end up growing so utterly foolish?"
The room, which resembled a conference chamber, held a large round table, and three people were seated around it.
One was the master of the palace.
Davit Aiwood, King of the Kingdom of Aiwood.
He was Rodele's father—the man who should have been reigning at the pinnacle of the nation.
Ordinarily, he would stand before others chest out and radiating regal dignity, but today he sat deeply slumped in his chair, his back hunched over.
What tormented the king's heart was the misdeeds of his third son, Rodele.
"I can't believe he cast magic at a classmate right in the middle of the classroom... What on earth was that boy thinking?"
"He probably wasn't thinking at all, Father."
The one who answered was a young man likewise seated at the round table.
Richard Aiwood, the First Prince of the Kingdom of Aiwood.
Already well into his twenties, he had been formally installed as crown prince and was all but guaranteed to become the next king.
"Or perhaps his brain has simply degenerated to the point where thinking is no longer possible. I suspect his head is stuffed with nothing but chiffon cake."
"...Richard, don't joke about this."
"I'm not trying to be funny. I'm dead serious."
When the king glared at his son, Richard snorted.
"He is nothing more than a beast whose pride has ballooned beyond measure. Expecting him to possess any semblance of intelligence was a mistake on our part... We both knew he would cause problems sooner or later."
"......"
The king's silence served as confirmation of Richard's words.
This was exactly what he had expected... and Richard was right.
Rodelle was royalty, but he was a man utterly devoid of generosity or compassion.
He was the kind of person who thought of nothing but feeding his swollen pride and desires.
He was Richard's half-brother, but Richard had never once thought of him as such.
"Why not simply use this incident to have him formally punished? Surely we have sufficient justification?"
"Don't say things you already know are impossible. You know as well as I do."
The king had more than once or twice entertained the notion of punishing Rodelle.
But unfortunately, it could not be done.
Rodelle was being protected. By the late queen dowager and the concubine.
All the king could do was isolate Rodelle and the concubine together in a detached palace, ensuring that the staff at the royal palace would not be affected any further.
"I simply cannot fathom... why did Mother raise Rodelle in such a way..."
The king spoke with barely concealed bitterness.
Of the two shields protecting Rodelle, the one standing most prominently in the way was the late queen dowager.
They say a child's sins fall upon the parent who raised them, but the king had played no part in Rodelle's upbringing or education.
It was the queen dowager—the king's own mother—who had shielded and raised Rodelle.
The queen dowager... her name was Frederica Aiwood.
Her reputation was sterling. More than sterling, even.
The queen dowager, a master of political manipulation, had once rallied countless people to her cause and overthrown the tyrannical previous king.
She was the one who, at a time when the Kingdom of Aiwood operated under centralized rule, had dispersed power among the nobles and laid the groundwork for regional autonomy.
Because she could seize any man's heart after only the briefest of conversations, some people mockingly compared her to a harlot — but in truth, her accomplishments far outweighed such petty gossip.
That was precisely why the queen dowager's faction remained active and robust even after her death, serving as Rodelle's backing and shield.
"…The same grandmother, yet she never so much as glanced in my direction or my younger brother's. Honestly, I can't for the life of me figure what that woman was thinking."
Richard said this with his eyes slightly downcast.
Here, the "younger brother" he referred to was not Rodelle, but rather the Second Prince, Andrew Aiwood.
"I don't wish to speak ill of the dead, but… Grandmother seems to have deliberately sabotaged Rodelle's education. Otherwise, there's no way such a mindless, screw-loose fool of a prince could have been produced."
"…I doubt that's the case. The mother who once saved the nation from a tyrant probably just lost her ability to judge clearly in her later years, blinded by affection for her grandchild."
The king sighed.
Though the king had dismissed his son's words… in truth, even he — her own son — had no real understanding of what the queen dowager had been thinking.
The queen dowager had been a remarkable figure who deposed her tyrannical husband and saved the nation — but she had originally been a baron's young lady, singled out by the previous king and forcibly made his queen.
At that time, her family home had been destroyed. Her family, her relatives, and the man who had been her fiancé were all killed in the process.
Both sides had opposed her marriage into the royal family and earned the tyrant's wrath, leading to their elimination.
(They killed my family and my fiancé, forced me to become the king's wife… and then I removed my husband and seized power. Mother — what on earth were you thinking…?)
The king asked the question, but there was no longer anyone who could answer it.
The queen dowager had passed away without ever revealing her innermost thoughts, even to her own son.
Had she been unable to trust the son born of a man she had been forced to marry against her will?
Or was there some other reason entirely?
"……I think we've indulged in sentimentality long enough. Rather, shall we discuss what comes next?"
The figure who had been silent until now finally spoke up.
Listening to the king and Richard's conversation without interjecting, this person was the prime minister — Velios Crocus.
He was Celestine's biological father, and a powerbroker who held the second most influence after the king.
"Lord Rodele is a villain, but he's a small-time one. He's incapable of any great evil. What we need to do is dismantle the people standing behind him."
"……You're right."
The king nodded at the words of his chief advisor, Velios.
The faction of those who had worshipped the queen dowager.
They were a thorn in the king's side — political enemies who repeatedly stood in his way as a source of internal strife.
He couldn't afford to leave them be, not when they might at any moment rally behind Rodele as their banner and launch a rebellion. They had to be crushed for certain.
"We've confirmed that one of the faction's key figures — Marquis Eiger — has made contact with Lord Rodele while he's confined at the detached palace. It appears they're plotting something nefarious."
"……Keep your eyes on Eiger. If we can expose his crimes and have him arrested, it could serve as the catalyst for breaking apart the faction."
"……Understood."
Velios acknowledged the king's orders and set to work.
For Velios too, the problem surrounding Rodele was far from someone else's concern.
It was his own daughter, Celestine, who had been betrothed to Rodele because of the queen dowager's machinations.
In order to free her from that worthless man as soon as possible… he had to bring down the queen dowager's faction without delay.
Behind Rodele's shadowy machinations, those opposed to them had begun to move as well.
The struggle unfolding within the royal palace would be brought to resolution, set in motion by a single young boy — a fact that lay just barely in the future.