The Strongest Dull Prince’s Secret Battle for the Throne

At the time Al is acting as Leo.

Leo was desperately trying to pass as Al.

“Prince Arnold. The captain is asking whether it is really okay for us not to search for Prince Leonard’s ship?”

“That again huh. It’s Leo so he will do something about it himself. Keep the course as is. And I’m feeling sick. Don’t bother me with the useless questions. It’s a pain.”

“Y, Yes Your Highness…..anything you say.”

Leo lets out a huge sigh as the knight walks away from his room.

Still, there is a person there who gives the impression of how bad his impersonation was.

“It’s fifty points. If it’s the real Al, he would just leave everything to the captain you know.”

“This is so difficult……”

Leo mutters and turns his eyes to Elna.

Unlike Al’s ship that was pulled in by the storm, their ship managed to escape before being dragged in.

Nevertheless, Elna was full-on panic because of all the shaking. Until the shaking calmed down, she didn’t even notice that Leo had switched places with Al.

However, after she noticed that, she has been acting as an advisor to Leo. the barrier Al erected is still in place so she wasn’t affected too much by the usual small shaking of the ship.

“For now, let’s get through this without being found out. If people know that you switched places it will be a big scandal after all.”

“Yeah….I have to keep my act together…..I wonder if Nii-san is alright?

“Al will be fine. Marc is with him and he is pretty reliable in a situation like this. The problem here is you.”

“That’s right…..I can’t imitate Nii-san at all……..”

“Fortunately, there are only a few people that know Al personally. it will be alright as long as you do something he would do”

“Something Nii-san would do, what’s that? And Elna, even if you wear spats, I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to do that in front of me you know.”

Leo warns Elna who is putting her leg on the bed.

From where Leo is sitting, the angle made him able to see inside Elna’s skirt. Of course, Elna didn’t care much about it since her underwear was hidden under her spats.

“That’s where you two are not alike. If it’s Al then he would never say something like that.”

“But you looked too vulnerable. It would be better if you don’t do that.”

“Yeah yeah, I will be careful. But really, Al would never say that alright. You will be found out immediately if you let your guard down just because you are talking with me you know?”

“Even if you say that……then if it’s Nii-san what would he say?”

“Right….Something like [you forgot to wear your spats] or [so it’s white today huh], I think. Anyway, he would say something to get a reaction from me then laugh at it, I guess.”

“Something like that, I can’t say it…….”

He’s probably imagining saying it himself, Leo blushed and turned his eyes away from her.

This is going to be a serious problem, Elna thought.

Al who is used to acting like Leo and Leo who is not. The big difference that he’s showing is his sense of distance and how he responds to women. Al can adjust himself to his conversation partner but Leo is always polite while keeping a certain distance.

It is a bottleneck for Leo when he has to act like Al.

“Even if it’s easy for Al to become Leo, it’s difficult for Leo to become Al huh…..You are both a prince but how did you grow up so differently……”

“Nii-san loves his freedom and basically plays around as much as he wants after all. He spent all day outside the castle but he always came back crying for some reason though.”

“Tha, that’s just me helping him out because he was always one-sidedly beat up alright!”

“I know. Elna has always taken care of Nii-san right.”

“….He thinks that it was a pain though.”

Haa~

Elna sighs.

Recently, she got the feeling that she can’t just stand around doing nothing.

After not meeting him for a long time, she wanted to do something to raise Al’s reputation, that’s why she joined the Knight Hunting festival. Still, he ended up disqualified. When Elna was having a hard time deciding her course of action, he inadvertently disqualified himself. Everything completely backfired on her.

And this time, she came along hoping that she could help just a little, but after all, she couldn’t do anything. She held herself up in her room when the emergency situation came along. Even if he told her that she is dragging his feet, she couldn’t deny it.

Elna thinks that it’s a good thing that Al is working hard to make Leo an emperor. However, Elna wanted Al himself to be evaluated the same as Leo.

Elna knew that it was different from what Al wanted and it caused his plan to slip up. Still, Elna doesn’t want Al to have such an unfair reputation.

However, recently she started to think that it was just her own selfishness.

Al doesn’t care about his reputation. Rather, he even goes out of his way to lower it himself while raising Leo’s up. To Al, Elna’s actions are nothing but a nuisance.

She said that because of such a reason, however, Leo laughed at her.

“Well, he probably thinks like that.”

“Uu….”

“But, I think that he doesn’t consider you to be a nuisance you know. Ever since Elna came Nii-san seems happy and I think that you gave room for him to breathe. Inside, I think that he has been relying on you, you know.”

“Really….?”

“I guarantee it.”

“But….”

“But?”

“….he still hired that adventurer even though I was there.”

Wanting to complain, Elna sourly muttered.

She was hesitating whether to say it or not but she decided to let it out since an opportunity presented itself.

Immediately understood that she is talking about Lynfia, Leo smiles.

“She is working with us to save her village. Nii-san didn’t hire her because he thought that you did a bad job or anything you know.”

“I know that much…..but, can’t he tell me anything as a follow-up? I thought that I would do my best for him there.”

As a person from the Brave house, Elna can’t directly involve herself in political strife.

She has been irritated by such limitations. To Elna, protecting Finne was a rare chance for her to help Al and Leo. If Finne is targeted, she can make an excuse that the Emperor would be upset if something were to happen to her and they can even use that excuse to land a blow on their opponent.

Despite that, the one who ended up being targeted was Al and he was saved by an adventurer. That adventurer is now acting as Finne’s protective detail which was supposed to be Elna’s job.

Honestly, Elna doesn’t find that funny at all. Even when she considered the possibility that she has to leave Finne’s side for her mission, she still can’t find that funny at all.

“Are you sulking?”

“I’M NOT SULKING! I’M ANGRY!”

“I see. But you know, wasn’t it because Nii-san wanted Elna to come along that he hired Lynfia? It would be dangerous to leave Finne alone right? We left Sebas with her just in case too.”

“Why can you be so positive, Leo…..I understand what Al is thinking. He thinks that rather than an escort that has a difficult position to move in like me, it would be better to hire a smart adventurer that can move freely as an escort you know. Yes, I praised her. She’s smart.”

Leo was about to say [You are smart yourself aren’t you Elna] but he swallowed it down.

Certainly, Elna was very good at learning things. He can say that she has been better than him ever since they were children. However, the word smart Elna said just now doesn’t have such meaning. What she meant was the ability to deceive someone or read people, the smartness necessary for a political struggle. Elna herself knows that she doesn’t have that. You could say that it isn’t in her nature so she doesn’t want to learn it in the first place.

If someone from the Brave house learned something like that, it would threaten the influential nobles and royalties. The Brave house should only be a sword. That’s the basic stance of the Brave house.

That’s why the Brave house doesn’t have the power to survive the secret feud ridden capital. Outside rather than inside, that’s the right way to use the power of the Brave house.

“Elna has Elna’s own good points. I think it’s fine if Elna helps Nii-san on the thing that only you can do right? Is that convincing enough?”

“I understand but I still can’t accept it…..protecting Finne was supposed to be my job……..”

“As always, You really hate losing aren’t you. But Lynfia probably doesn’t want to compete with Elna you know. Moreover, your role doesn’t overlap with her either. Our faction is inferior to others. Our allies are few in number. And there are a lot of people targeting us. I can defend myself but Finne and Nii-san couldn’t do that. They have to secure the people who are able to protect them as our allies. I think he made a decision based on that and if Elna’s hands are free then I think Nii-san will rely on you, you know.”

“Is that really the case? Al seems like he would continue to treat me as a nuisance though?”

“He won’t. You really are stubborn huh. Let’s take this as an example, right now the only person I can rely on is Elna right? Please don’t sulk anymore and give me some advice. What should I do when I meet the king of Rondine?”

“Seriously Leo, you are really……. Alright, since Al also knows the minimum courtesy, you can greet him normally. But don’t say anything unnecessary alright. No flattery, you really have to keep your greeting at the bare minimum okay?”

“Un, I understand.”

Thus, their ship is heading toward Rondine.

They don’t know that Al has got himself involved in a disaster while pretending to be Leo.