Chapter 260 – The Purpose of That

As I was pondering various countermeasures, a knock echoed through the room.

“Come in.”

When Princess Stephania invited the visitor in, an elderly man entered.

He was a well-built man whose appearance suggested high status.

“Ah, Your Highness Stephania, what a pleasure to see you. Welcome.”

“It’s been too long, Lord Stanley.”

Stanley greeted Princess Stephania with a friendly demeanor.

“I heard you’ve come to pay a visit.”

“Yes. How is His Majesty Eberhart’s condition?”

At Princess Stephania’s words, Stanley closed his eyes.

“His Majesty’s condition is… somewhat delicate. We cannot speak carelessly about such matters. However, I shall do my best to accommodate Your Highness’s wishes as much as possible.”

“I leave it in your hands.”

When Princess Stephania bowed slightly, Stanley’s expression softened momentarily. But he quickly returned to a serious demeanor.

“Regarding an audience, we must first confirm His Majesty’s wishes and consult with the court physician to select a suitable day. For that reason, I cannot make any definite promises at this moment…”

“You mentioned His Majesty’s wishes?”

“There is a possibility he may not wish to be seen in his weakened state. He hasn’t appeared in public for some time now.”

“…I see.”

That certainly… matches the explanation for why the messenger couldn’t meet him.

“However, it shouldn’t take much time to convey His Majesty’s wishes regarding this matter. I came ahead to explain the current situation, as I felt you needed to be informed.”

Right. Even if he refuses, it’s much more acceptable than being told you simply can’t meet him after being made to wait. However, if he does refuse, things might become somewhat troublesome. Because we can’t confirm whether it’s truly King Eberhart’s intention.

“My apologies for the trouble. Actually, when visiting Silvatoria, we brought along those skilled in healing techniques, wondering if we might be of some assistance.”

“Oh?”

Stanley’s eyes widened.

“Of course, I’m aware of the high level of magic in Silvatoria. But we thought that techniques outside the norm—not just healing magic, but also Cursed Melodies, the Moon Goddess’s Blessing, and so on—might perhaps provide some aid in his recovery.”

“Is that so? Well, of course! Termwills of Verdgar is renowned for its wealth of talent! I shall convey this immediately!”

Stanley instructed the escort soldier to relay Princess Stephania’s words. The soldier saluted and left the guest room.

It was true that we actually possessed various systems of healing techniques. From our perspective, there were no flaws in this approach, and it gave us a reason to meet King Eberhart together with Princess Stephania.

Conversely… if they refused this, it would significantly increase the likelihood that King Eberhart’s absence from public appearances was due to some other reason.

This move was partly about probing the other party’s intentions… well.

As Stanley had said, the response from King Eberhart didn’t take very long.

“His Majesty says he would very much like to meet with Your Highness Stephania.”

Stanley, having received the report from the returned soldier, relayed this with a smile.

…So that means the story about his sickbed is likely true.

“That’s wonderful. So he will grant us an audience?”

“He appears delighted by Your Highness Stephania’s visit. Of course, your attendants are welcome to accompany you as well.”

“Then for today, we shall return to town and await the meeting date with anticipation.”

Saying this, Stephania provided the location of their inn.

Stanley seemed in high spirits, but when the conversation turned to Marquis Zilbolt’s escort, his expression clouded for just a moment. This man also must have some thoughts regarding the Crown Prince.

Stanley concluded the discussion at the royal castle by saying he would send a messenger from the castle to the inn where Princess Stephania was staying. While they would proceed while monitoring the King’s condition, there was probably also the aspect of setting up a reception to entertain Princess Stephania.

Although, at the inn, it would be Ambrum, the shadow clone, who would actually be staying.

Elmer’s subordinates were handling the personal security for the shadow clone. They knew Ambrum, and their loyalty to Marquis Zilbolt was unquestionable, so disclosing information to them wasn’t particularly disadvantageous.

Returning to Marquis Zilbolt’s secondary residence, I immediately recounted the events at the royal castle to everyone who had been waiting.

“Well, I suppose it’s a smooth start, wouldn’t you say?”

Claudia looked at me as she spoke.

“Yeah. There’s still much we won’t know until we meet.”

First, we needed to ascertain King Eberhart’s thoughts and verify his illness. We wanted to identify and eliminate possibilities like him being controlled, or a magical creature or demon impersonating him, as soon as possible.

We could counter curse magic and magic potions with the Moon Goddess’s Blessing and the Amulet of Evil Repulsion. The possibility of control or a fake. That could also be discerned using circulating ki. Since I knew what a real Doppelganger was like, I could detect differences even after a transformation.

“It’s good that we have a prospect for a meeting. But for my part, I’m curious about why Zadias is moving about in all these various ways.”

Rosemary tilted her head.

“What do you mean?”

“If it’s about the Crown Prince’s position, normally he would just inherit the throne by waiting. Even if he had ambition, acting openly without hiding it would only disadvantage Zadias in the succession.”

Saying this, Rosemary glanced at Marlene. Marlene nodded with a solemn expression.

In Rosemary’s case, precisely because her claim was weak, she didn’t take the straightforward approach and didn’t hide her ambition. In contrast, Roy had aspects where he maneuvered to keep himself inconspicuous.

If staying silent meant stability, then even if he harbored ambition, it would be more rational to act after inheriting the throne. Well, that’s how it would go.

“His objective… must lie somewhere other than the succession itself from the beginning.”

“Yeah. I agree with Grace on that. If he isn’t afraid of being disinherited, he might be considering usurpation in case of an emergency.”

Zadias likely takes the succession itself for granted. That’s probably why he came up with the idea of managing the populace using Gems and is advancing preparations for that.

“It’s hard to imagine it’s for King Eberhart’s treatment… He wouldn’t need to use such methods; if he explained the situation, many people would cooperate.”

Ashley said this. Was this her thinking from her own perspective? That kind of thinking is important too.

If King Eberhart’s condition was top secret, they wouldn’t have revealed it to the messenger in the first place. So the line about not being able to explain the situation doesn’t hold.

“If we assume King Eberhart has had a chronic illness since long ago… that might be a plausible possibility, I suppose? For example, if it’s hereditary… he might become desperate for his own sake too.”

But that would require ignoring Zadias’s various methods.

In fact, Tephra looked somewhat skeptical.

“I understand why Tephra isn’t convinced. I’m just considering possibilities and ruling them out.”

“Hmm. I don’t really understand the thinking of human children. Well, I trust Theodore though.”

“Yeah. He helped me too.”

At Tephra’s words, Seraphina, perched on her shoulder, nodded. Hmm. Well, I do want to properly live up to that trust.

“What are your thoughts, you two?”

Prompted by Princess Stephania, Marquis Zilbolt answered.

“Regarding the details of His Majesty Eberhart’s condition, only a very limited few in the palace could know… However, the duty assigned to me was to grasp the weaknesses of the nobles. It didn’t seem very related to treatment.”

“…I remember now. About that, he said it was a pretext.”

Elliot, who had been thinking with his arms crossed, spoke up.

“A pretext?”

“He said that by claiming it was research for treatment, he could act with a certain degree of freedom. I heard him say that to his close Black Knights once.”

“I see…”

Regardless of the ultimate purpose, that explanation made some sense regarding his actions so far.

Using King Eberhart’s treatment as a pretext to justify his forceful methods. That might be part of the reason Zadias’s actions were tolerated. If he argued it was for treatment, it would be emotionally difficult to punish Zadias severely.

The same goes for his methods. Accusing the Sages’ Academy of withholding methods they had for treatment, and demanding information disclosure. He could probably argue that it was for the people’s benefit as well. Since it’s a royal family matter, such information wouldn’t be disclosed externally. Even so… Zadias’s bad reputation spread as a result.

The problem lies beyond that. Zadias’s actions far exceed what could be excused by that pretext. That’s probably why he used Marquis Zilbolt to carry out covert operations for things that couldn’t be covered by the treatment pretext.

If he had his Black Knights, who should normally be by his side, make conspicuous moves, there was a risk his schemes might be leaked to King Eberhart.

“In that case, it seems the secrets held by the Sages’ Academy, or the research Zadias is advancing, must be extremely valuable to him.”

“I think that explanation fits better too.”

I smiled wryly at Sheila’s words.

“What about cooperation between His Majesty Eberhart and Zadias?”

“Hmm. At this point, I think that possibility is also slim.”

This judgment was based on Zadias explicitly stating it was a pretext behind the scenes, and the fact that they readily accepted the visit.

However, the point Irmhild raised was, in a way, even more important than Zadias’s movements. We need to ascertain that part clearly.

That said, we can only judge further matters by observing the individuals involved. Not only the meeting with King Eberhart, but Zadias will likely make some moves before the messenger from the royal castle arrives as well.