"Keep avoiding official events, and only bad rumors about Your Highness will spread. Are you just going to give up everything like this?"
"...."
"Although His Majesty the Emperor acted impulsively, the only person recognized as Crown Prince is Your Highness, Carlyle. You have to show everyone your dignified figure!"
Lionel passionately appealed with a sincere heart, but only the sound of burning tobacco leaves could be heard from Carlyle.
With a hardened face, Carlyle just stared at the smoke he exhaled, lost in thought. Lionel, realizing he was the one who brought Max Erez into the room and ignited this chaos, reproached himself once more. Still, he never imagined it would reach the point of abdication.
In the silence, right when the lengthened ash was about to fall to the floor, Carlyle opened his mouth.
"How can I make them pay for this?"
"Pardon me…?"
"No matter how much I think about it, a brilliant method doesn't come to mind. I want to see them sprawled on the ground, flapping their arms and legs."
Lionel couldn't even close his wide mouth and just dazedly stared at Carlyle.
He wasn't surprised anymore that Carlyle referred to his opponents, including his father, as 'them'.
What was more absurd was that Carlyle was thinking about how to get revenge.
'I was worried he would be feeling wronged and frustrated because of the loss of his title as Crown Prince…
No, that's not who he is.'
Lionel shook his head and changed his mind.
Carlyle wasn't taking the loss of his title as Crown Prince seriously at all.
Why?
Because… no matter what, the throne of the emperor was his to begin with.
What angered him was that he was humiliated in front of people, that he had to feel the humiliating difference in power in front of his father, that he had to see Beatrice and Matthias' triumphant expressions, and that he had to go through the trouble of getting his title back.
"Your Highness. No matter what, shouldn't you go out and observe the situation before you can come up with a plan?"
"...Right. Tsk."
Carlyle clicked his tongue in annoyance and roughly crushed the expensive cigar he hadn't even smoked much of. He then stood up from his seat. It was an act that went against the etiquette of smoking cigars, but who would dare to reproach Carlyle Evaristo?
"Isn't there any way I can enjoy myself while watching those people?"
Carlyle's words were a sigh, and Lionel, being tactless, pondered and replied…
"Well, how about just thinking of them as severed heads floating around?"
"What? Hahaha!"
For the first time since losing his crown prince status, Carlyle laughed out loud at Lionel's suggestion.
"You're definitely not sane either, are you?"
"I… am?"
"Is insulting royalty in front of royalty the latest trendy suicide method?"
"Ah…!"
Lionel only then covered his mouth as if he realized what he had said. However, Carlyle spoke with an even more amused expression.
"That's why I liked you, bastard."
Carlyle recalled the young Lionel, the only one among the boys brought to the slaughterhouse who had the expression of a calf being led to slaughter, and laughed joyfully once again..
Thanks to Lionel's advice, it seemed that he would be able to keep a smiling face at the banquet today.
***
Carlyle, who had barely managed to get out of the room after being dragged out and coaxed by Lionel, soon realized that the humans he had to deal with today were not just the royal family.
"They're buzzing like a swarm of flies."
The palace was filled with nobles who were dressed up for the occasion, as it was the day of the banquet when many people could receive the emperor's seal of approval.
Carlyle missed his sword in the armory as he heard whispers following him wherever he went.
It would be more fun if I just cut off all their heads.
"Why call people here or there in broad daylight?"
Carlyle asked Lionel, knowing full well that many eyes were on him, but not lowering his voice.
"We are announcing a special amnesty to celebrate the victory and receiving greetings from the nobles who have come up from the provinces. It seems that there are also those who will petition His Majesty the Emperor."
"How boring."
"Well, it seems that the nobles of the capital are excited at the thought of making fun of the provincial nobles."
"Trash."
Carlyle already regretted coming out of the room.
"So, what do I have to do?"
"Just sit in your designated seat, put on a crown prince-like expression, and nod your head occasionally."
"Really. It's not boring, it's hell."
He meant it. He even missed the time when he was fighting monsters on the Pyrenean Peninsula and almost died several times.
When he arrived at the hall, there were seats prepared for the royal family on the dais. In the center were the emperor's and empress's chairs decorated with gold and rubies, next to the emperor were the chairs for the two princes, and next to the empress were the chairs for the two princesses.
"Damn it, you want me to sit next to Matthias?"
"Your Highness, there are people listening. Please be careful with your words and actions….
"Should I cut off their ears so I can keep your mouth shut?"
Carlyle, who had always sat one step above Matthias, realized once again that he had been robbed of his position as crown prince.
It was also much more disgusting than he had imagined.
"For now, you need to lower yourself and watch the situation, Your Highness."
"Do you think I'm doing this because I'm clueless as you are?"
"…I apologize."
"Tsk."
Carlyle barely suppressed his boiling anger at Lionel's face, which was once again filled with guilt.
Lionel was also a victim of what happened that day. But he didn't know how much he regretted letting Max Erez into the room. He even asked Carlyle for punishment.
But Carlyle thought that was what Beatrice intended.
[That vixen probably expected you to say you would leave my side because you were suffering from guilt. She must have thought of cutting off my arms and legs. So you have to stay by my side, unharmed.]
Carlyle had kept Lionel by his side, but Lionel was still unable to escape his guilt.
Anyway, in order to reassure Lionel, his closest aide, he had to act as relaxed as possible today.
Carlyle clicked his tongue once again and headed to his assigned seat.
A short time later, Matthias and his sisters entered the hall alone.
"Oh! I didn't know you would be here first, brother. I should have come a little earlier."
Matthias greeted Carlyle with a grin.
His seat was closer to the emperor than Carlyle's, and naturally, his face was full of the ease of a winner.
He had been hiding in his room all this time because he didn't want to see this, so it seemed that Matthias thought of Carlyle as a dog that had run away with its tail between its legs.
However, Carlyle was not a person who could be described as a 'dog'. Usually dogs were a symbol of loyalty, but the only person Carlyle was loyal to was himself.
"I just came out a little early, so don't worry, Marti. Sit down."
Carlyle still 'allowed' Matthias to sit down with the attitude of a crown prince. Matthias' expression hardened for a moment, but Carlyle didn't even look at him.
'I wish something interesting would happen. Otherwise, I might go crazy with boredom and punch Matthias' face.'
As Carlyle imagined the smug Matthias' face getting smashed by his fist, he endured the emperor and empress's position and the nobles' attitude with a mocking smile.
Of course, Lionel's advice, "Think of them as severed heads floating around," was also quite useful.
Once the presentation began, Carlyle understood what Lionel meant when he said that the capital nobles enjoyed making fun of the provincial nobles.
"May great glory be upon the imperial family. I am Mylan Ludes del Garona, Lord of Garona."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Baron Garona."
As the lord of the small borderland fiefdom of Garona finished his greeting with a trembling voice, the nobles standing around began to whisper. However, their whispers were loud enough for even Baron Garona to hear.
"Where is Garona?"
"Well, I can't memorize the names of all the fiefdoms, even those smaller than our vineyards."
"Oh, if it's smaller than your vineyards, is it even a fiefdom? It's a farm."
"Then Baron Garona is a farmer, right?"
"Hahahaha!"
Poor Baron Garona turned bright red and forgot everything he was going to say. He stammered and fumbled, unable to wipe the sweat from his brow in front of the emperor, and retreated in a sorry state.
The next victim was a twenty-two-year-old lady who came from a fiefdom called Lupero and made a belated debutante greeting.
"May great glory…be upon the imperial family. I am Fleur…Fleur Renis Va…Vanana del Lupero."
Wearing a white debutante dress and kneeling with a pale face, Beatrice gave her no response but sent her a small silver brooch through a maid to signify her welcome to the debut.
If it had ended there, it would have been better, but the nobles began to tear into the young lady with little social experience.
"How can she expect to get married if she stutters like that?"
"Oh, was she stuttering? I thought it was the Lupero dialect."
"There doesn't seem to be a place for that young lady to be a daughter-in-law among the nobles of Zyro, so why is she even bothering with a debut?"
"She seems to be more ambitious than she looks. Hahaha!"
In the end, the innocent country girl couldn't hold back her tears and ran away with her head down.
In this way, the humiliation of the provincial nobles continued. However, there was one person the nobles of Zyro were waiting for with bated breath.