To my surprise, Princess Bertha revealed every state secret she knew. This was also something I had only just learned—that a future civil war could be avoided in this way. Damn it, all of my soldiers had already departed together with General Vidin. I could not use my troops to intercept the weapon shipment.

  “Does General Vidin know about this as well?” I asked Princess Bertha.

  “General Vidin doesn’t know. Father only ordered him to guard me here and assist me…”

  I suppose I’ll have to arm the nationalist faction and persuade them to raid the weapon shipment meant for the hired mercenaries. My eyes glanced toward the wall clock. It was still seven in the evening.

  “Bertha, thank you for being honest. Because of this, I can love you as well, knowing that you are now on my side.”

  Princess Bertha blushed.

  Once again, Nate stepped on my foot.

  “Hey, this is necessary to keep her happy,” I whispered to Nate as she sipped her coffee.

  “For safety’s sake, you can stay here. There’s no need to return to your hotel—I’m sure you’d be scolded the moment you go back. Nate, please prepare the empty room next to the royal chamber for Princess Bertha. I’m going out for a bit.”

  I took the notebook Nate had used to record Princess Bertha’s confession. As I stepped out, I ran into Lord Verzhina, who was about to enter my office.

  I brought him into an empty room and handed him the notebook.

  Verzhina’s eyes widened as he read Princess Bertha’s confession.

  “This is a golden opportunity, Your Majesty. However, our troops have already departed… all that remains is the city garrison,” Verzhina replied.

  “What if I ask the nationalist faction to take up arms and raid the shipment? Do you think it’s dangerous to arm them?” I asked Verzhina. “The city garrison only has fifteen men, you know. They’re also busy acting as police across the capital districts.”

  “It should be acceptable, as long as we make sure they return the weapons afterward. I think we can distribute the old swords stored in the armory,” Lord Verzhina agreed.

  “Tell the police guarding the harbor district to be blind until six in the morning,” I ordered.

  “Understood. I will send your order to the chief of police,” Verzhina replied. “Are you heading to the nationalist faction’s headquarters? They usually gather at a pub near the park owned by one of the faction member’s fathers.”

  “Yes. If I tell them, they’ll definitely agree,” I replied.

  Verzhina nodded and excused himself to enter our office. Nate and Bertha were already heading toward the third floor. I went to my residence to retrieve my weapons.

  I took the pistol Bertha had given me, just in case this plan turned into a brawl at the harbor. This early version of the pistol could only be fired once before requiring a long reload, so after that I would switch to my sword instead.

  I also needed an open carriage to transport the crates of swords stored in the fortress. As I stepped outside my residence near the fortress, I spotted an idle merchant carriage parked by the roadside.

  “Sir merchant!” I called out to the man who was drinking coffee by the roadside with his wife.

  “Y–Your Majesty Ezia!” they exclaimed in shock.

  “Ah, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’d like to rent your carriage to help me transport weapon crates from the fortress,” I explained.

  “Twenty gold should be enough, right?” I asked, handing over a pouch of coins. “Keep the change.”

  “T–This is more than enough, Your Majesty,” the merchant replied, allowing his wife to count the coins.

  “Bring your carriage to the fortress gate and wait for me,” I instructed.

  He moved the carriage to the gate. I asked the guards there to help me carry the old weapons from the armory and load them onto the merchant’s carriage.

  “For what purpose, Your Majesty?” the armory guard asked.

  “To prevent our nation from falling into civil war,” I answered honestly. “Don’t worry. I’ll return them later.”

  “Understood, Your Majesty. I trust you,” the guard replied.

  A total of four crates filled with old swords were loaded onto the carriage. I climbed aboard and gave the address of the nationalist faction’s gathering place. Fortunately, the merchant knew the location, so all I had to do was wait until we arrived.

  The carriage finally stopped in front of a lively two-story pub.

  “Yosha!”

  After jumping down from the carriage, I asked the merchant to wait. I straightened my clothes before entering the pub. The moment I opened the door, all the patrons turned to look at me.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I spotted Belial and his comrades inside.

  “Good evening, honorable gentlemen. Is there anyone here who wishes to help me expose a plot of attempted rebellion?”

  “A rebellion?!”

  The entire pub erupted in shock.

  “Who is planning to rebel, Your Majesty?” Belial asked.

  “The Old Noble faction,” I replied.

  Apparently, because I had supported him during yesterday’s council, Belial’s affection toward me had increased.

  [Belial]

  Affection Lv: 15

  I handed Princess Bertha’s confession notes to them. Belial took the notebook and read it aloud, even climbing onto a table as he did so. The patrons reacted with fiery outrage.

  “Gentlemen, I now need volunteers to accompany me to the harbor to intercept the Alestrian ship carrying this cargo and seize the logistics manifest as evidence—so that I can accuse and prosecute the Old Noble faction.”

  I climbed onto the table as well and explained my plan.

  “We’ll go!”

  “Let’s crush Alestria!”

  “Let’s stop them!”

  I counted the volunteers. I had brought one hundred twenty swords. I selected those who had military or police experience and distributed the weapons.

  “Remember, please return them. These are state inventory. I’m only lending them to you for today to assist me. As you know, all of my troops are currently at Gratels Plain fighting the Rajian Empire.”

  “Don’t worry, Your Majesty! We’ll return them!” they replied.

  From the pub, we marched together toward the harbor. The police who saw us remained silent—likely because they had already received my orders through Verzhina.

  A total of one hundred twenty-one people headed to the capital harbor. I divided them into four groups as we descended into the docks and inspected the Alestrian ships. The port authorities submitted to my authority and assisted with the search.

  Eventually, we found a ship attempting to flee. We boarded it before it could escape, forcing them to surrender.

  There, we discovered the cargo—approximately one thousand hand cannons. We also found the evidence: the logistics manifest signed by Emperor Arius III and Lord Aldo.

  “Perfect,” I whispered to Belial.

  “Now take them to the police office.” I tore a page from the notebook and wrote instructions to imprison them until I arrived, adding my signature.

  “Please, Belial. After that, organize everyone to return the swords to the carriage. I’ll rent additional idle carriages to speed up the process.”

  I handed the note to Belial. Being an absolute monarchy had its advantages—I could mobilize every institution of the state as I wished. I knew it was technically wrong, but in this case, I was preventing a civil war.

  My plan was to bring all the seized weapons into the fortress and later distribute them after Alestria agreed to sell me the production methods and train my troops to use them.

  Hand cannons were essentially the predecessors of firearms. Eventually, battlefields would no longer be filled with swords, but with bayonets and rifles—and in the distant future, even cavalry would be replaced by tanks.

  I stayed awake until morning overseeing everything. To my surprise, every borrowed weapon was returned intact. The nationalist faction members were delighted to have helped me and strike against the Old Noble faction.

  “It’s all finished, Your Majesty,” Belial approached.

  “You look extremely pale, Your Majesty,” he said, leaning closer. “Are you exhausted?”

  “Seems like it. I still need to coordinate with Verzhina on how to confiscate all the Old Nobles’ power and assets,” I replied with a smile.

  “I’ll escort you home,” Belial said, accompanying me back to the White Palace—right up to the second floor.

  “Thank you, Belial,” I said as I parted from him.

  “You’re welcome, Your Majesty. I look forward to seeing how today’s council will proceed after what just happened,” he said before bowing and departing.

  After he left, I went to my office and found Verzhina still working.

  “Everything went according to plan. I leave today in your hands, Verzhina. Make sure we confiscate the Old Nobles’ assets and strip them of their noble status. Do whatever it takes to ensure they no longer hold power.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty,” Verzhina replied, approaching me with concern. “You should rest. Your face looks very pale.”

  “Yes,” I answered, leaving him in the office.

  When I entered the royal chamber, I saw Nate and Bertha inside.

  “The bath is ready. You can wash up,” Nate said sleepily as she approached and helped remove my clothes.

  Princess Bertha was fast asleep, her soft breathing audible.

  “What happened between you two?” I asked Nate. “Normally you’d be angry.”

  “Princess Bertha and I made a temporary truce because she taught me how to take care of myself,” Nate replied shyly. “It turns out cosmetics are important for a woman…”

  “They are—but even without cosmetics, I’ll still love you,” I said, kissing her forehead before heading to the bathroom.

  The exhaustion of the day vanished after bathing. If I remembered correctly, according to the game’s trivia, Princess Bertha was wealthy thanks to her cosmetics company. After washing, I put on my nightwear.

  Or perhaps I felt mischievous. I decided to wear nothing at all and slipped between them.

  “You’re naughty. Princess Bertha is here, you know,” Nate whispered, stroking my cheek. “This is your favorite spot.”

  She opened the top of her pajamas and pulled my head to her chest. “Good night…”

  The next morning, it was hard to wake up. Sandwiched between two women—this must be what many men dreamed of.

  “Good morning, Nate, Princess Bertha,” I greeted them.

  Having two women as emotional support didn’t seem so bad. My body still ached badly, and I clearly needed more rest. I had only slept for two hours at most.

  “Sleep a bit more, my love,” Nate murmured, opening one eye.

  Her hand stroked my cheek, urging me to lie back down.

  “I’ll come back after speaking briefly with Verzhina about how to keep Princess Bertha from losing her royal status,” I said, trying to get out of bed.

  But Nate’s leg locked around my waist.

  “No need. I have my own way,” Princess Bertha said as she woke up. “My love…”

  She opened her arms and hugged me.

  “Please don’t abandon me…” she whispered sweetly.

  “I won’t,” I replied firmly.

  “What’s your plan to survive?” I asked Princess Bertha. “Don’t hesitate to ask for my help. You entrusted me with your nation’s secrets—I’ll protect you too.”

  “Ow!”

  Nate pinched my waist again.

  “You said you’d made peace with Princess Bertha!” I protested, pinching Nate’s cheeks in return.

  “Ehehe, I forgot. I’ll go prepare the bath,” Nate said, getting out of bed.

  She headed toward the bathroom without fixing her messy clothes.

  “I’ll simply accuse the diplomat of leaking the information. But I need your support—and for us to continue pretending that we’re engaged,” Bertha said shyly.

  “That’s fine, as long as you’re okay with my relationship with Nate,” I replied, stroking her cheek.

  “I don’t mind…” Bertha answered quickly.

  “May I… ask you to kiss me?”

  Her face turned bright red. I nodded gently and leaned closer, holding her cheeks with both hands as I kissed her softly. I felt her arms wrap tightly around me.

  “Thank you,” Princess Bertha smiled sweetly.

  This was the first time I had ever seen her like this.

  “If you ever want to add another partner in the future, please consult Nate and me first,” Bertha said. “You may have more than one someday—I won’t stop you…”

  “Why did you suddenly make up with Nate?” I wondered aloud. “This rivalry wasn’t supposed to happen…”

  “Your Majesty?” Lord Verzhina’s voice echoed from outside. “It’s already seven in the morning. Please don’t be late for preparations before the second day of the council.”