Chapter 199 Conference 2

“Everyone please calm down! Don’t make that kind of expression! Shouldn’t we be thinking of the people first?”

Yuri shouted.

Prince Edward seemed to recognize the resolve in her frantic attempts. The corners of his eyes started to droop.

Was he really making that face in this situation? There was really nothing more I could roll my eyes at. All I wanted to do was leave.

“Please discuss with the people in mind! I’m sure Prince Edward’s elder brother would understand and forgive us!”

What is he meant to understand? I tilted my head to the side as I considered the thought.

“But he’s not here. Prince Edward’s brother is quite the detail-oriented man. That’s why I think…”

“Yuri, you are so kind. Compared to you, all these…as Yuri has said, my brother left the frontlines a long time ago because he couldn’t deal with the responsibility of being the eldest prince. That’s why I have to replace him in shouldering the burden of leading hits country and protecting the people.”

“You can protect the people without becoming a king, Prince Edward. But you haven’t been doing anything. All you do is make request after request to Duke Armenia’s territory.”

My uncle greeted Prince Edward with an icy gaze.

“Also, ‘Baroness’ Yuri. This is not a place for your games, so please shut your mouth.”

He didn’t take Yuri seriously at all.

“H-how dare you!”

She started to tear up at this.

“Duke Anderson! How dare you say something so disrespectful to my queen…!”

“Quite outrageous,” I muttered.

Prince Edward shot me a glare of pure malice.

“Please excuse me. Aside from water, I didn’t have anything before I walked all the way here.”

They didn’t seem to understand what I was getting at when I said this, and snorted with laughter.

“Even if it’s only the children, please help. As long as we can guarantee the safety of the children, it doesn’t matter what happens to me.” (From the refugees in a previous chapter)

These are the words that I heard when I visited the checkpoint. Those voices that rang in my ears.

“This is what the people who came from other territories to mine said…You make high and mighty claims about helping the people. But when such pained voices spread throughout the land, what have you really done?!”

My own voice was tainted with rage.

“The same amount of resources that has been carried away from my territory, has been found in the palace…and in storage of all the nobles who were agreeing with Prince Edward earlier. We’ve investigated it all. You accused someone else of being outrageous…yet you yourselves acted cruelly and in your own interest, abandoning your people.”

“N-no idea what you’re talking about! I don’t know anything about that!”

“Prince Edward is right! It’s clear that someone is trying to frame us…!”

Hearing what Yuri had to say, Edward glared at me again.

“Y-yes, of course! There’s no actual proof that the duke’s daughter Iris actually delivered any resources! This must be a boldfaced lie designed to frame us!”

I sighed in response.

“…Iris, there’s no point.”

All my other standing comrades reacted similarly.

No matter what, the exchange of material resources all came with official documentation.

…In other words, there was absolute proof that they had levied resources from us.

“Please excuse us now.”

“Stop! I said so earlier, didn’t I? If you leave here now then your guilt will be confirmed, and I’ll send soldiers…”

“That’s quite a sticky situation. The royal family doesn’t have the kind of strength you think it does. Other than turning against the two families you don’t have the power to do much.”

The excitement surging through this room immediately fell to silence with the entrance of an intruder.

…That person spoke with the full intention to interrupt Prince Edward.

Everyone here was shocked. Not because he had interrupted Prince Edward, who was still a member of the royal family.

But because he had appeared at the front door, which was reserved for royal family members to make their entrance.

And I was shaken even more than anyone else present.

Compared to the shock of him appearing in the doorway…I was shocked because how little I understood of his motives.

…Why are you the one to show up there!

I shouted at him, my voice silenced but my question just as potent.