Later, as promised, the time came for Lucretia to fill me in on precisely why she thought the Protagonist was such a threat to the empire.
Of course, that had already been prematurely revealed due to the earlier confrontation, but there was nothing to be lost by hearing it from her directly.
"―As you witnessed earlier, Christopher Fuleh de Drakon-Rasa, His Highness the Crown Prince and the Young Sun of the Empire, as well as my unfortunate fiancé-to-be... has become captivated by the commoner-born girl of the Tichá noble family."
That was the gist of it. Nodding my head at the succinct explanation, I added.
"One could even say he's been bewitched."
Lucretia echoed the term.
"Bewitched... Indeed. Though scandalous and quite unbecoming it may be to claim, His Highness' recent... 'improper behaviour', makes it seem not so unlikely. Although, I must admit, His Highness has always been rather regrettably adverse to fulfilling his royal duties... Repudiation is no stranger to him, you might say."
"Ah, that makes sense."
'I don't know what that means, but it's probably true.'
Technically, the attraction felt by the crown prince towards the Protagonist was truly unnatural, so it wouldn't be totally wrong to accuse her of something like bewitchment. An anomalous, perverse power like that of the Beloved could only be described as such.
The fact that he and Lucretia were not yet engaged was irrelevant.
Whether or not they truly loved each other was also irrelevant.
Either way, and regardless of if it was her intention or not, the Protagonist was, in fact, seducing the empire's crown prince. Once I realised that, I understood immediately why Lucretia thought the empire would fall.
To be more specific, the essential reason was that the empire needed at least one of the two―the emperor or the empress―to have somewhat of a clue as to how to run it. Frankly, the situation seemed to be that neither of those two had such a qualification, and that much, well, wasn't it evident?
If the crown prince shirked his duties evermore and continued his mindless pursuit of the Protagonist, who was just as clueless, the empire would swiftly fall into ruin.
It did not explain why the whole world would collapse, but it was a step in the right direction.
'Maybe it's just that, plus the factor of diminishing World Stability...'
"I cannot deny that the responsibility partially lies within my own fault as well; perhaps I was too adamant in taking an early role and, in demonstrating my willingness to take on all that was required of me as future empress, His Highness doubtless took it to mean that I would take care of absolutely everything on his behalf, thus resulting in him not taking his studies with sincerity, leading to the current state of incompetence in which he presently lies."
"―Perhaps, If I took a step back and allowed him to show where he could present his worth, this all could have been avoided."
Peering into Lucretia's eyes, which were cast to the floor in a downtrodden gaze, I felt frustrated. That little prince, he really was a bastard, wasn't he?
'It's like the pricks who don't do any work in a group project because they think the other members will take care of it even if they don't. Cretins.'
In my opinion, Lucretia was wrong.
"It's not your fault at all. Just because one party is too lazy, that doesn't automatically place blame on the one putting all the effort in. Regardless of how invested you are in the role, it's a responsibility he's had from the very beginning―avoiding it, even if you decide to pick up his dropped duties for him, is his own problem."
I mean, think about it. What would happen if the one person doing all the work in a group project suddenly decided they didn't want to do everyone else's piece anymore and started only doing their own share?
If the rest of the group didn't pick up their slack, they would fail. Obviously.
Even that failure wouldn't be the fault of the person who stopped doing everyone else's work. After all, they still did everything they were expected to without any issues. Hell, if whoever graded the work recognised that, that individual might even pass still.
Either way, it's the ones pushing all the burdens onto everyone else, increasing their pressure and expecting to be able to coast by without expending any effort.
Even if the capable individual said from the very beginning that he wouldn't take on the slackers' work, it wouldn't make them any more willing to do it.
Those kinds of selfish sons of bitches are always the one to blame for the group's failure if something goes wrong.
The only problem in this case is that 'failure' meant the collapse of the empire.
The prince was far worse than those guys.
"I... understand your perspective. Perhaps, indeed, you are correct. His Highness has always looked towards the future with great leisure, acting as if he never held but a care for any potential ramifications..."
"It's true that I knew he was lazy and, granted, I never particularly appreciated that characteristic of his, but I merely considered it my duty as the future empress to support him where he fell short."
"It just so happens that he falls short in every considerable metric, I suppose."
"Nevertheless, you have opened my eyes. You have my gratitude, Enki. Thank you."
Receiving that sort of overly-serious gratitude, I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck.
"If it helped, then that's good..."
'I mean, I don't think I really did anything. That guy's just a bastard.'
Sure, I was glad to help her realise that the prince's shit attitude wasn't her fault, but that still didn't solve the core issue. Simply put, for our current situation, the prince falling in love with the Protagonist was the issue.
Of course, she was going to die in the end, but it's everything that happens before and after that needs to be considered.
'...Well. Maybe I don't need to complicate it that much. I'm only here to do my job, so as long as the Protagonist dies, I don't need to worry about anything else. And the prince himself might not even be that big of a deal anyway, now that I think about it.'
Putting it like that made me feel like I was being irresponsible, but it's the same way I had done things until now... There were still a few things I didn't understand, though.
"Why not bring it up to the current emperor and empress?"
Even if the crown prince wanted to marry the Protagonist instead of Lucretia, then so long as the ruling emperor and empress understood that Lucretia needed to be the future empress for the empire to thrive, couldn't they just force him to marry her?
It might be immoral to make him marry someone he doesn't want to, but they already decided that before either of them were born, right? It wouldn't be any different from how things are right now.
Besides, Lucretia was clearly the better―or rather, the only pick out of her and the Protagonist.
And some might say it was even more immoral to let the Empire collapse just like that.
Assuming I never came to this world and the Protagonist wouldn't have a premature death, would they really just sit back and watch as the empire falls before their eyes? Something didn't sit right with me about that.
Or maybe the point was that all of this would occur only after the current rulers pass away.
Regardless of my concerns, the answer I received was not one to provide relief.
"Her Majesty the Empress passed away shortly after His Highness was born. As for His Majesty the Emperor... the fact of the matter is that he doesn't seem at all concerned about it."
This place was more screwed than I thought.