The people of Pervaz were the ones who suffered because of Pervaz's extraterritoriality, so he felt a little sorry for them although he was reaping the benefits himself.
'I guess I can make up for that sense of guilt by taking a good chunk of the imperial money.'
After all, that was why the emperor had called him today.
The emperor took a sip of tea, as if his mouth was dry, and then cleared his throat and said.
"Military power is one thing, but… the budget you requested this time…"
"Ah, are you talking about the 'dowry' and my relocation expenses?"
"Yes, that's it."
The emperor sighed again at the word 'dowry'.
Usually, the money sent by the woman's side when she gets married is called a dowry, but it is also sent when a man goes in as a son-in-law.
And the emperor felt suffocated every time he thought about how Carlyle, the first prince and crown prince of the Chad Empire, had shamefully gone to Pervaz as a son-in-law.
To make matters worse, the dowry Carlyle requested was 50 million Verona.
"Your relocation expenses are one thing, but there's no need for that much money to go to Pervaz, is there?"
Considering that it was already a considerable amount for a bride's dowry to be around 500,000 Veronas, the unit of money already surpassed the amount that could be called a 'dowry.'
It was naturally an excessive amount, but Carlyle replied as if he was even more suffocated.
"Father, too.... Don't you know that everyone is paying attention to this marriage right now?"
The emperor couldn't have known. He knew it well enough, so he couldn't say anything and was losing Carlyle to Pervaz.
Carlyle rubbed salt into the emperor's sore wound again.
"Among the nobles, there is a lot of talk about how you gave the 'right to choose a marriage partner' to the Count of Pervaz. They say you're trying to trick him out of the war reparations."
"W,what!"
"Of course, you just felt sorry for the Count of Pervaz. Isn't that right?"
"Ahem! Of, of course!"
The more he talked, the more he felt like he was sinking into a quagmire, but the emperor didn't have many choices.
Carlyle enjoyed watching his father dig his own grave and slowly scratched his insides.
"So, let's show your sincerity this way. Even to the blind, this is an amount that is equivalent to a generous war reparations. Now, no one will be able to say anything to you about tricks or anything."
As expected, the emperor couldn't say anything. He just sighed again, blaming himself.
Then Matthias interjected from the side.
"Even for a place like Pervaz, wouldn't they be grateful if we just threw them a million Verona? 50 million Verona is too much!"
Carlyle snorted at that.
"Mati. Don't go around talking like that so easily."
"Why?"
"Because you show too much sign of never having experienced war."
Carlyle curled one side of his lip sarcastically. While he himself wasn't interested in rebuilding Pervaz, the figure of 10 million Verona as "war reparations" rattled Matthias.
"Just rebuilding a war-torn region requires hundreds of millions of Verona. Not even to restore everything, just enough for people to live again, it takes hundreds of millions of Verona."
Countless battlefields flashed before Carlyle's eyes: fields trampled by hooves, burnt books, houses, limbs… It was a moment to destroy a lifetime's work, and rebuilding took decades.
That was war. Yet, Matthias, completely unaware of its horrors, spouted nonsense without shame.
"Pervaz took 28 years to win the war against the Lures tribe. How much land would be destroyed in that time, how much money and time would it take to rebuild… can't your small brain even calculate that?"
"Those who took 28 years to win are at fault…"
Carlyle scoffed incredulously.
"What do you know about the Pervaz War? When the Lures attacked Pervaz, their military strength was nearly twenty times that of Pervaz."
Of course, Matthias wouldn't know that. He had never even tried to study the Empire's war history.
Carlyle scolded him.
"They endured for 28 years in that senseless war, and they actually won! Imagine if the Lure tribe had come down to Elsir, if we had faced a powerful barbarian tribe on the border!"
His voice rose unconsciously, his excitement fueled not by Asha's ripped cloak he saw earlier, but by the feeling that Pervaz's situation resonated with his own.
"Don't you think that's worth 50 million Verona? If we had bordered the Lures, it would have cost over 10 million Verona a year just to defend against them… Matthias, you need to study a lot more."
Carlyle's words were directed at Matthias, but it was the Emperor who clenched his jaw and suppressed his anger. Naturally, Carlyle was criticizing even him now. However, the Emperor could say nothing again. If he said "50 million Verona is too much", he too would become like Matthias, someone who couldn't even calculate the cost of war reparations. Yet, his pride wouldn't let him agree with Carlyle.
Carlyle looked at the flustered Matthias with pity before flashing a grin at his father.
"Your Majesty, you must teach Matthias more about the world."
"…"
"The best way to learn is to throw him into the battlefield. Isn't that how I learned quickly? I almost died a few times, but haha!"
The resentment I felt towards my father for throwing me, a young child, onto the battlefield, a losing battlefield at that, will never be resolved even after a lifetime.
Of course, I have never received an apology, so how can I forgive him?
And Matthias, who had never seen a battlefield in his life and yet arrogantly pretended to be a know-it-all, thought that he should take this opportunity to actually go out and fight the demons himself.
However, Matthias's thoughts were different.
"This is ridiculous! How can you suddenly ask me to do what you have been doing all this time?"
"Are you resentful and bitter about that?"
He couldn't bring himself to answer "yes," but Matthias's expression alone revealed his feelings.
Carlyle pretended to be sorry and replied.
"I don't feel good about it either, but there are surprisingly many things in the world that change suddenly overnight. Who would have expected me to be stripped of my crown prince status overnight?"
At that, the emperor's gaze sharpened.
"Are you now protesting that you were unfairly stripped of your crown prince status? How dare you…!"
"Of course not! The appointment of the crown prince is naturally Your Majesty's exclusive right, so how dare I question it?"
Carlyle waved his hands as if he didn't mean it that way.
"But wouldn't Mati be less confused if you held a meeting of the nobles to discuss the abdication and slowly transferred your authority?"
He closed his mouth tightly in front of the emperor and looked at Matthias, teasing him, "Poor Mati."
"Anyway, I have to leave for Pervaz to protect the honor of my grandfather and father, and to serve the empire."
"That's…!"
"Of course, Your Majesty will teach me well, so don't worry too much. Take this as an opportunity to learn a lot and mature a lot, Mati."
Carlyle simply threw off the burden that had been placed on me.
And yet, he returned to my room with a serious and dignified expression, having displayed his excellent acting skills, and burst out laughing in front of Asha, who happened to be visiting, and Lionel, who was standing guard by her side.
"You should have seen those stupid expressions, Leo! I never thought they would really not think about military matters. Ahahaha!"
Lionel could only taste a bitter aftertaste, but Asha tilted her head as if she didn't understand something.
"Isn't military power… a tremendous authority?"
"Ah, my smart and curious wife! You're right, that's how it should be. That's how it should be."
Carlyle gritted his teeth.
"It's called 'military power,' but the real essence, like the authority to mobilize soldiers and declare war, belongs only to the emperor."
"Then what is the military power that Your Highness is talking about?"
"It is the military command authority that can be exercised after going to the battlefield on the Emperor's orders. In any case, I have to be in the middle of the battlefield."
It was only the authority of a leader who could give orders to other soldiers, but Carlyle had to participate in more battles than any other soldier or knight because he was blessed by the gods.
The blessing of the gods was closer to a disaster for him.
"Do you know what's even funnier? I was only participating in the war on the orders of the emperor, but I have to take responsibility for the defeat of the war because I have the military command authority."
It was a story that was so funny it made him angry.
To begin with, it was the emperor's right and responsibility, but he only gave me the "responsibility" part.
"It's a good thing I've never lost before, but if I had lost even once… Well, how would my father and mother have held me accountable?"
TL/N: mother here refers to the Empress.