Nasda Rognak looked at the foreign prince sitting in front of him.

The man he had been calling in almost every day lately had fine, beautiful features and even a pleasant voice, but his personality was not as fair as his appearance.

In his over eighty years of life, seeing countless people, Nasda had rarely met anyone with such a stark contrast between their outer shell and inner nature as this man.

However, as it was proper to treat someone as a close friend once hands were joined, regardless of how black their heart might be, Nasda addressed the man sixty years his junior in a gentle tone.

“Since I’ve heard your opinion, I had a conversation with my second son yesterday. I thought I should pay a bit more attention to that boy from now on.”

Yesterday, the man had brewed him a tea with an intense floral fragrance and said:

“The second prince seems to think very deeply of his father. Of course, Your Majesty cares for both sons, but since he appears to have a somewhat gentler nature, how about treating him more intimately?”

In reality, Nasda was not very affectionate towards his second son, Masaran.

While his firstborn, Hator, could be somewhat violent at times, he was loyal and had a strong core. Masaran, on the other hand, was gentler in nature than Hator but too weak.

If there was a flaw, it was that he was not truly kind despite this weakness.

People often confuse weakness with kindness, but having lived long enough, Nasda could coldly evaluate his second son. His second son was definitely not a great vessel. He might live a decent life in peacetime, but in turbulent times like these, giving him power would only cause chaos.

That was why Nasda only trusted his first son, Hator. It was to create a clear gap so that Masaran would not dare to covet his elder brother’s share.

If a king couldn’t discern reason well, he could be taught to listen to loyal subjects’ words, but no one could correct a weak will.

Nevertheless, accepting the second prince’s opinion was a kind of warning. To this man, it meant not to interfere any further, and to Masaran, it meant to engrave the difference between him and his brother deep in his bones.

Yesterday, upon hearing that the army led by Hator had crossed the peak of Kirios, Masaran must have felt the gap between himself and his brother.

The difference between himself, who after marrying a woman from a humble family and being widowed, couldn’t even take a proper second wife and only looked after his nephew, and his brother who directly wielded military power and was seen by all as the future king.

Nasda intended to ensure that his second son could never overcome that gap. To prevent the younger brother from ever becoming an obstacle in the elder’s path. That was one of the two tasks he had to handle before dying for Brinwell.

And the other was to place his sister’s grandchild on the throne of the Sigrasal royal family.

The young sister he had married off to the King of Aglante was his half-blood relative, so it was more for Brinwell’s sake than out of affection.

Brinwell, which had enjoyed unprecedented prosperity under his rule through friendship with Aglante, was about to return to its previous state before his death. This was because the fourth prince of Aglante had staged a rebellion, causing the dynasty that had originally allied with Brinwell to fall.

The previous king should have crushed the wrong sprout early. With three sons already, what was there to spare by keeping him alive?

Unwilling to discard one’s own son, they brought an ember into the house, didn’t the entire family end up massacred?

Nasda could not understand those who spared illegitimate children. From his brother-in-law who died at his son’s hands, to the current Emperor of Egelbamot.

For a bastard is a wrong seed from the start, harmful no matter how it’s raised.

But because the tares sown in another’s field sometimes feel more filling than one’s own harvest, Nasda treated the harm that had already sprouted in Runtalis favorably.

The young man, sitting with a beautiful figure like a finely grown flower, replied.

“Thank you for lending an ear to my humble opinion. The second prince must have been pleased as well.”

“Originally, discrimination only causes conflict between siblings. Doesn’t the prince know this too?”

“I’m still too young to judge what I know or don’t know, but since Your Majesty is wise, those words must be right.”

It was a flexible response.

Nasda wondered if the young man before him was born with this quality or if someone had taught him. Since it was unlikely that a proper teacher would have been assigned to a bastard, the chances were high that it was innate.

And in an unfair situation, talent only served to fuel endless desire.

Because he would think he deserves better treatment.

So that must be why he said such things.

“I want only one thing.”

The man who had brought what must be his entire fortune to this distant foreign land was revealing his true intentions.

“The blood of Runtalis.”

That was a roundabout way of saying he desired the throne. For only the Emperor of Egelbamot had rightful ownership of Runtalis blood.

The second prince of Egelbamot had come to him to gain the throne.

He said he had already finished basic talks with the head of the Nebel family. He also said he knew why the head of Nebel disliked the King of Aglante, and why war was necessary between Brinwell and Aglante.

“But even if you win the war, it will be difficult to completely take Aglante. There’s the Empire, isn’t there?”

The second prince’s words were reasonable. Aglante was a prosperous land with fertile soil and many mines.

Even if current Egelbamot is sufficiently wealthy, human greed knows no bounds, does it not?

“Aglante was originally a principality rooted in Egelbamot. Though it’s close to an autonomous state now with only traces left in its name, it’s enough to claim guardianship over the collapsed Sigrasal royal family.”

Nasda agreed with those words but didn’t want to reveal that fact to the young man before him. It could be seen as the mischief of an old man, or curiosity about how composed the other party could remain in a situation where the imbalance of power was so clearly exposed.

So Nasda deliberately blocked the man’s argument.

“But Namie, the sole heir to the throne, is a child with Brinwell royal blood mixed in. Look at that child’s appearance.”

The Aglante royal descendant, his half-sister’s grandchild, symbolized the union of Rognak and Sigrasal from her very appearance. That child had inherited her grandmother’s green eyes and her father’s blonde hair.

“People tend to be weak to appearances.”

“That’s precisely why it’s more of a problem. If Your Majesty claims guardianship over the young king for such reasons, Egelbamot will counter with the same logic. They’ll ask if it’s right to establish someone with such clear Rognak blood as the new king of the Sigrasal royal family.”

The second prince of Egelbamot continued his counterargument as naturally as flowing water.

“In that case, the Emperor of Egelbamot might claim that one of his own children should be placed on the throne of Aglante. Since Aglante and Egelbamot originally share the same roots, it would be an argument with some logical basis.”

“Words tend to sound sweeter to those who are eager to hear them. Just because such words come from your home country doesn’t mean our claim becomes any less valid.”

Of course, if opinions clashed, Brinwell might be pushed back a little due to numerical inferiority, but Nasda pretended not to know this fact as he spoke.

“Moreover, I cannot trust you. Egelbamot is your motherland. No matter how much one might dislike people, one cannot erase the soil where they were born and raised. How will you prove that you haven’t actually come to cloud my eyes under orders from your father or the Sigrasal royal family?”

It was little more than a forced argument. Even if he was named the second prince, Netepel Runtalis was still a bastard. Bastards were not well-treated even in Brinwell.

The three apostolic countries, which valued the marriage vow as much as they followed bloodline succession, were unlikely to treat them with respect.

Furthermore, if he had already contacted Gilrod Nebel and heard all about the situation here, it meant he had already gone through some kind of verification. The head of the Nebel family was not a foolish person.

But how could someone who couldn’t refute even one forced argument carry out something as grand as a rebellion?

If the second prince couldn’t answer properly, Nasda intended to either dispose of him or hand him over to his home country, Egelbamot.

And Netepel Runtalis showed him an unexpected side.

“If I say I’m a cut branch, would that change your mind?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It means exactly what it sounds like. My biological father, the current Emperor of Egelbamot, has cut me off.”

The man, who anyone could see was of Runtalis blood, spoke of his own flaw without changing his expression even once.

“I’ve been exiled from my home country of Egelbamot by the Emperor’s order.”

“…Exiled, you say?”

“Yes. It was handled unofficially so it hasn’t been made public yet, but it’s news that will soon spread among those who need to know.”

“What was the reason?”

Even for a bastard, it wasn’t common for an offspring of a royal family to be driven out of their home country. It wasn’t something that happened easily unless there was a reason that even the person involved couldn’t comprehend.

“A wrongly planted seed is always a thorn in one’s side.”

Nasda didn’t press further on the man who gave an ambiguous answer with a fair face. The act of concealing the cause was an answer in itself.

Netepel Runtalis must have already committed an unforgivable crime in his home country.

Yet, the fact that he managed to keep most of his wealth showed that he was quite skillful.

Nasda stared at the man who had never once shown a crack in his composure despite meeting face to face with him almost daily since that first encounter.

“It’s been nearly a month since I first saw your face. I think we need to trust each other a bit more now. In that sense, let me ask you just one thing.”

“If that is Your Majesty’s wish. As a foreigner, I will listen attentively.”

Everything about the man answering was dazzlingly bright, but the more pleasing to the eye, the more harmful to the body.

Nasda spoke to the man who dared to try and hide what was inside him right in front of him.

“Tell me what you truly want.”