Shadow King Chronicles: Building a Kingdom From Behind the Scenes
The Seedling That Grows Above the Ruins
The nobles of the Duke Conrad faction were gathering in one of the secret rooms located in the royal palace. Within the society were Duke Conrad himself, Marquis Schazar (minister of foreign affairs), Earl Barrow (minister of internal affairs), and other nobles.
There are many things they worry about. But beyond all that, what was most urgent to them was now the successor to the king's throne. They did everything they could to make Prince Lewis king. But the rise of the William faction really worried them.
"I would have never expected that the second prince would have dared to blatantly tell himself that he was the heir to the throne after king Leonidas died."
Just like the Conrad faction, the supporters of the second prince filled by the Knight family also tried to do anything to make Prince William the next king.
They had formed an army that claimed themselves as 'the king's supporters' and supported Prince William with financial help and a lot of advice. They also provided a place for Prince William to create their base of operations.
"Aren't you too worried, Daniel? Although they had indeed made a move, it was already too late for them. We've been doing it for a long time, even before the first prince turned the age of his gods.
"We have a lot of trump cards that can be used to turn things around. Even if they move quickly, we will not be overtaken at all. The power goes much deeper than anyone else in the kingdom."
The one who spoke like that was Marquis Schazar. He called Duke Conrad by the name of Daniel. That's his first name. They have been friends for a long time.
What Schazar said was true. They have prepared faster than anyone. They prepared a lot of funds, HR, and various underground forces to support the first prince.
They did not intend to make Prince Lewis the real king. Anyone knows he's stupid. But in order to control the kingdom, they needed a puppet that they could control at will.
Compared to the hot-blooded prince William or the Hermann prince who thought there were only women and wine, prince Lewis was clearly more suited to fill that position.
"You're right, Alexander. But my instinct says we shouldn't be careless. We know politics is not that easy. We are almost lost because suddenly Aurellia is interested in the throne and gets support.
"If the same thing happens a second time, we obviously can't get rid of those second princes like getting rid of that bastard boy. Damn, because he's a lot of plans I've made that failed!"
Duke Conrad kicked the table in frustration. It makes other nobles pias. Duke Conrad was a quiet man. Until he's frustrated like that, it means something he really doesn't count on is happening.
To Duke Conrad himself, whenever he remembered the name of that bastard boy, Issac, he would instantly be frustrated and furious. All the plans he made and put together were destroyed. His first failure was when he failed to humiliate Marquis Randall.
But his most stressful failure was when the boy managed to remove the cage he had placed around Aurellia's wing. Duke Conrad realized that with the talent and effort Aurellia put in, it would be a time bomb. That's why he tried to put a cage and a gold chain at the feet of Aurellia.
One day he will marry his son who will be the successor of the Conrad Family, Gustave Conrad, to Aurellia. It was his way of locking the king's movements while holding him hostage. But the boy instead did the unnecessary so that Aurellia could not be controlled.
She even destroyed the relationship between her son and his future concubine, Anna Sera, even making herself Anna's fiance and representing herself in managing the Starfall territory.
The ultimate plan is that as they go, Duke Conrad, Marquis Schazar, and Earl Barrow work together to exile Issac to the far reaches and empires. But who would have thought that the eastern region could become that fast because of his efforts.
Whatever it was, he had to take another action immediately. He would not let anyone get in the way of his plan. Even if it is a god or a hero.
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Issac got word that the king's pain was getting worse by the day. His body was getting thinner and his body was no longer able to move. Aurellia had always looked after her father who likely did not have much time left to live.
Aurellia is a devoted child. He tried hard to find a way for his father to recover. Issac could have healed him but he thought of doing so.
In fact, if the king lived a little longer, he would also still die. In fact, the death that will befall him may be more tragic than just dying of illness.
What the nobles do not know, in fact Issac continued to control and supervise their every move. In addition to having a large intelligence network, artifacts created by cooperation between VIESTA agents make information easier to arrive.
Let alone isolating Issac from royal information, he even continued to block Duke Conrad's entire plan. The third prince's faction had been destroyed. Now is the time to pit the factions of the first and second princes.
He sold some information to Prince William through his agents in the kingdom. That was why Duke Conrad felt that all of his actions in the kingdom felt constantly being hindered by someone.
Duke Conrad knew it. But even he can't do anything. He is in a difficult position now. If Issac's estimation is correct, the king will not choose an heir until his death.
War will surely break out and the first and second princes will fight each other. When the two of them were undermining the kingdom from within, it was not bad to bring out Aurellia as the hero who was settling the civil war.
She would be considered a savior and the people would wholeheartedly support princess Aurellia to become a queen. More or less that's the big picture of his plan.
The problem is the empire. The nobles have already started moving to carry out a coup. They seem to have run out of patience to wait. He did not care much about the fate of the empire.
In any case, just like humans, a civilization would inevitably collapse and die if the time came. And on top of those ruins, a new civilization will grow and continue to rise.
Who would have thought that such a large and vast Roman empire that controlled much of the territory would be destroyed by bar-bar attacks? Or who would have thought that the Persian Sasanid dynasty that was so strong and could stem the Roman empire would collapse because of the attacks of the tribes in the Arabian Peninsula that were once divided and fighting each other another?
The empire of Grand Aria, the kingdom of Heinz, the empire of Moskov, and others would also be the same. One day they will collapse and a new seedling will continue to grow. But apart from that, what she was worried about was the safety of her lovers. He'll find a way to save their lives.
Because the nobles are spending their income to build their army. He's got a pretty good idea. It just needs to weaken their military, right?
With his demonic grin, he began to devise some new plans.