CHAPTER 174
There are many different types of people in the world.
Everything from their physique to their personality varies.
However, in my experience, people can surprisingly be divided into two categories.
One is those who give up because it's too hard to reach their goal.
The second is those who will do whatever it takes to achieve their goal.

And right now, she was standing before my eyes.
The 1st Princess, Perasis Gladion.
A woman who would even use a terrorist group for her own gain.

"Well then, I shall make a move to organize the formation."

Perasis turned her body to leave, as if the conversation was over.
It was a situation where neither the 1st Prince nor the 2nd Prince could stop her.
They needed time to gather proper intelligence.

"Your Highness, the 1st Princess."

So, I had no choice but to step forward.
Perasis looked back at me as if she had been waiting.

"Could we have a word?"
"Of course."

An unhesitating reply.
That only made me feel more anxious, but I quietly followed her.
Right in front of the 1st Prince and the 2nd Prince, I accompanied her.

At this point, Perasis wouldn't do anything rash to me, if only for the sake of her own political standing. No matter if she became the Emperor, it would be difficult to run the Empire without gaining the trust of her vassals.
However, whether she would let me go or not was another story.
That would depend on this conversation.

Amidst my tense steps.
Perasis guided me to a room where no one else could enter, leaving just the two of us.
A room exclusively for the Emperor.
A room no one but the Emperor could enter without permission.
But since Perasis had her name written in the Emperor's will, it was as if she had received direct permission from the Emperor to enter.

Perasis slowly looked around the Emperor's room.
It was less extravagant than one would typically imagine.
Naturally, the room was decorated with high-quality goods, but there was nothing that could be called a luxury item.

"This is the room where His Majesty handled his affairs for a long time. You are the first guest I've invited here, Saint. How is it?"
"Would it please you if I said I was honored?"

Unfortunately, our relationship was too complicated for me to offer empty flattery.
The moment Perasis joined hands with Black Dawn, she and I became enemies.
However, I knew she was merely trying to use Black Dawn, not form a full-fledged cooperative relationship.

"I want to ask about your employment of Black Dawn."

Perasis had ears everywhere.
In fact, I suspected the amount of information she gathered surpassed even that of the 1st and 2nd Princes.
Naturally, she must have known that I was the one who found out about this.
She likely expected me to suspect her from the start.

"Black Dawn, you say."

Perasis sat down on the sofa with a relaxed attitude.
Visually, she certainly had a small frame.
But sitting in the seat reserved only for the Emperor, her presence was vastly different from her physical size.
The emotions etched into her eyes were swirling with so many unquantifiable things that I dared not even try to guess them.

"Let me tell you in advance, I have never employed Black Dawn."

She was becoming the Emperor.
An Emperor who would grow the Empire by any means necessary.

"And I believe the Saint will make it so."

Perasis smiled brazenly.
She was telling me to wipe out Black Dawn with my own hands and erase any potential stain on the Empire.

To be honest, I didn't expect her to answer so directly.
I thought she would play dumb until the very end.
If it became known that she had employed Black Dawn, it would be a massive weakness for Perasis as well.
In fact, it was an issue that could turn the entire Empire upside down.
And yet, she had subtly revealed this fact to me.
Moreover, Perasis had a look on her face that showed she didn't think her actions were wrong in the slightest.

"...Hah."

A scoff escaped my lips.

"Hey."

And I decided that treating her with the respect due to a Princess ended here.

"Do you think I'm your servant?"

Even though my attitude changed, the corners of Perasis's mouth slowly curled up.

"I have never once thought of the Saint as a servant. Rather, I consider us to be in the same boat."
"Then you shouldn't have created this shitty situation in the first place."

There was a limit to how shameless a person could be.
Despite my irritated glare, Perasis just smiled as if she was enjoying herself.

"Tell me right now. What conditions did those Black Dawn bastards offer when you joined hands with them?"

If she had joined hands with Black Dawn, there must have been conditions they proposed. I had no intention of letting this slide until she told me what they were.

"Considering the incident that happened in the Imperial Palace, I don't think you're unaware of it either, Saint."

As soon as I heard that, something came to mind.

"...The incident where Sohan managed to grab his item and escape the Imperial Palace. Was that your doing?"

Perasis didn't answer.
She didn't seem to have any intention of giving me a definitive confirmation until the bitter end.
I ground my teeth.

"You crazy bitch. Do you think Black Dawn is a joke? Those bastards are carrying out an insane plan to create an Artificial Transcendent!"
"That's why I told you."

She reaffirmed what she had said earlier.

"That the Saint will handle it for me."

At the same time, she began unfolding her fingers one by one.

"Because of this incident, the Holy Church, the Regular Army."

The forces surrounding me.

"And now, the Imperial Family as well. They will all stand behind you, Saint, and support you with everything they have."

Three major powers.
It essentially meant that the three most powerful forces in Astrape would be backing me.

"Considering that, it shouldn't be a bad deal from your perspective either, right?"
"Your attitude is what's bad."
"My attitude has been consistent. And since there seems to be a misunderstanding, I'll say it again: I have never employed Black Dawn."

My eyebrows shot up.
I had just yelled at her to stop playing dumb, and here she was, playing dumb again.

"...What do you mean? Speak clearly."

It hadn't been long since I got to know Perasis, but I knew she wasn't the type of person to say something like this twice for no reason.
Thus, the look in my eyes slowly began to change.

"...Don't tell me, was it another royal family member who employed Black Dawn?"
"An amusing deduction."

Ah.
It was so absurd that a hollow laugh escaped me.
This crazy bitch.
So, in other words...
Perasis had taken advantage of another royal's stupid fuck-up.

In an instant, all the strength drained from my body.
Because my assumption that Perasis had employed Black Dawn had just crumbled.
What did this mean?
It meant Perasis and I weren't enemies.

"...You should have just spoken clearly from the beginning."

Naturally, my attitude shifted back.

"I have never told a lie, though?"

Yeah, sure you haven't.
Instead, you just phrased things so I could completely misunderstand.
All to test how I would react to Black Dawn.

"Who is it? Who's the idiot?"
"It hasn't been long since I found out myself. It was probably after you and I discussed His Majesty's passing."

Reviving the Emperor to erase the fact that he was brainwashed.
She meant she found out after she had proposed that condition.

"There was someone who had the same thought as me. Or rather, the exact opposite, I suppose."
"...You mean it was someone who wanted the fact of the Emperor's brainwashing to remain unresolved."

A person who needed to dismiss whatever the Emperor said by claiming it was all due to brainwashing.
Who would be in a position to do that?
The Emperor favored the 3rd Prince.
Because he felt it would be troublesome if the 1st or 2nd Prince became Emperor, he had designated the 1st Princess as his successor.
Naturally, the other Princes wouldn't be unaware of this fact.

Two Princes came to mind.
The 2nd Prince was ruled out in this situation.
For him to join hands with Black Dawn would be akin to cutting his own lifeline.
The 2nd Prince couldn't afford any blemishes. Since he was born later, his succession rank was lower than the others, meaning a single stain would be an irreversible fatal blow.

That left only one person naturally.

"If you think about who among us was originally the closest to the throne, the answer comes easily."

The one who had been closest to becoming Emperor, and therefore needed to deny all of the former Emperor's decrees.
The one who, even if a flaw in himself was exposed, could push it onto the Emperor's own flaws and seize the throne anyway.
And the one who would want the Emperor to remain dead more than anyone else.

"The 1st Prince, Pelion Gladion."

Perasis said nothing more, simply resting her chin on her hand.
It meant that was the correct answer.

Hearing that, I slowly swept my bangs up.

"So he ended up falling into his own trap."
"Because even he couldn't have predicted what his own mother would do."

That was exactly it.
The 1st Prince was originally someone who could have denied the will and positioned himself closest to the throne.
But when his mother, the Empress, assassinated the Emperor, his succession ranking instantly plummeted into the abyss.
Perasis had noticed this fact and swallowed it up like a sly fox.

Is this politics? Is this the Imperial Family?
It's a literal jungle of survival of the fittest.
Perasis grinned as she looked at me, completely drained and mentally dizzy.

"Isn't it actually a good thing from the Saint's perspective? You've essentially grasped a weakness of the Imperial Family."
"Weakness, my ass."

What good is holding the weakness of the next Emperor?
If anything, they'd just try to erase the person holding it from this world.
And the moment I heard this weakness, there was no turning back.

The 1st Prince had no way out now.
At this point, he would try to devour the throne by any means necessary.
And among those means would be Black Dawn, whom he had already joined hands with.
The 1st Prince, Pelion, was an enemy.
And an enemy who wouldn't hesitate to commit the worst atrocities at that.

"Who am I for you to tell me all this?"

A secret of the Imperial Family that must never be revealed to the outside.
I couldn't understand why she went out of her way to share this secret with me.
Of course, the achievements I've built up aren't something just anyone could do.
Since they're achievements I scraped together while hovering between life and death, I can hold my head high to some extent.
But it was questionable for Perasis to put her trust in me based on that alone.

"Saint, my brother Pelion and Dreivan... do you think those two look like they would willingly sacrifice themselves for the Empire?"

It was an out-of-the-blue question.
Pelion and Dreivan.
When I looked at those two, all I felt was a greedy lust for the throne.
They would never give up on becoming Emperor.
Just like her, they wouldn't shy away from any means or methods.
And that would even include splitting the Empire into three.

"Isn't that the same for you, Your Highness?"
"That's right, spot on. I'm a woman who would gladly do so as well. That's exactly why I'm saying this."

Perasis tapped the table as if placing down a chess piece in front of her.

"The person who is currently closest to the throne and holds the best conditions to quell the Empire's turmoil."

Her eyes shone resolutely.
It was the gaze of someone who completely trusted in herself.

What is an Emperor, really?
They are not beings who are swayed by the words of others.
The supreme leader who firmly pushes their own assertions and takes responsibility for the country.
That is what an Emperor is.