The Strongest Dull Prince’s Secret Battle for the Throne

There is a huge mansion located in the prime location of the imperial capital.

Inside a room of that mansion, Gied is currently in a very awkward situation.

“Gied……what did I tell you to do?”

“F, Father……Uh, Uhh……”

“Answer my question. What did I tell you to do?”

This mansion is owned by the second oldest Duke family of the Empire.

The person that is bearing down on Gied is Rolf von Horsvath, the current head of the Ducal house of Horsvath.

He is a tall man with long brown hair that gives off a mature and calm atmosphere.

However, the eyes he is staring at Gied with are terribly cold.

“T, To get into Leonard’s…….”

“His Highness.”

“T, To get into His Highness Leonard’s faction…..”

“That’s right. I asked you to join His Highness Leonard whose faction is currently rising in power for the sake of the Horsvath house. So that no matter the result, our Horsvath house can maintain our influence. And what did you do toward that?”

Rolf silently urges Gied to speak with his eyes.

Seeing that, Gied shakes his head with a frightened expression.

“B, but there was no way around it! Arnold suddenly snapped and didn’t listen to anything I said! It was all his fault!”

“Gied……don’t disappoint me any further than this. Just answer my question. What on earth did you do?”

He asked with a soft and gentle voice.

However, there was a tremendous pressure hidden inside it.

Gied cowers and answered him while averting his eyes.

“I, I made Arnold angry…….”

“It’s His Highness. Why can’t you learn to remember that?”

“He’s just the Dull Prince! He never got up to do anything and just idle around! He has been inferior to me ever since we were children! I couldn’t possibly attach such honorifics to a pathetic guy like him!”

“And? Just by being glared at by that lazy, pathetic guy…….you unsightly fell on your butt?”

“Th, that is…..I, I was just surprised because I never thought that he would get angry, that’s all!”

“To attack another person is something dangerous. You risked yourself being counterattacked in return. That’s why you have to assume that you would get counterattacked when you decided to attack someone. You not only chose to attack a prince whose standing was higher than you but you also never thought that he would do something to you in return? There’s no word to describe you but idiotic.”

“I, Idiotic!? Me!?”

Surprised, Gied’s expression turned sour as his pride was hurt and stared at Rolf with eyes that were severe than before but he immediately averted his eyes away as Rolf narrowed his eyes at him.

Turning his anger that has nowhere to go on the floor, he stomps it again and again and again.

“I knew you were bullying His Highness Arnold. I know that you hate him who has always been doing what he pleases. Maybe it was because you have undergone strict training from a young age that you hate him so much. Bullying is one way to let that emotion out, I understand that. But do you know why I never tried to stop you?”

“Th, That is……isn’t it because he is just an insignificant prince……?”

“You are getting more and more stupid. Listen. I wanted you to learn. I wanted you to have a good lesson from it. I wanted you to realize that when you recklessly attack others, you will be in a world of pain. But you never had a chance to learn that lesson. His Highness Arnold never fought you back after all. I was disappointed, you know. After that, you two grew up and you started gathering more and more entourages. I thought that you finally might have grown up in your own way. But you never grew at all. You were more childish and stupid than I could imagine.”

“I, I am already a proper adult!”

“If you are a proper adult then at least smooth things over with him on the surface. Your opponent is a son of His Majesty the Emperor. It should only be natural that you should speak with him politely as an adult, not a banter between children. You never did that. And now you got counterattacked by His Highness. You made him angry at this important and very crucial moment. It might be true when you said that everything was His Highness’s fault if you two are still children. If you had a tough lesson back then things wouldn’t turn out this way. His Highness Arnold was mature from a very young age so he has been putting up with you and now you just grew up to be arrogant and childish. This is terribly disappointing.”

Hearing his father said something as if he was praising Al, Gied bites down on his lips.

The reason is that inside Gied’s mind, he never imagined a situation where someone would speak highly of Al while he is the one being berated.

“That guy is mature!? Which part of him is!? He hasn’t done anything until now!”

“Yes. And you did each and everything.”

“That’s right! I made an effort while that guy never did!”

“And this is the result. With the fruit of your efforts, you failed the task I placed upon you and exposed your unsightly figure to other nobles while His Highness Arnold can create the result without putting in any effort. I myself think that a lazy wise man is much more preferable than a hard-working fool…..what about you?”

Unable to stand it anymore, Gied swung his hand around.

However, at that moment.

A sharp voice echoed.

“Stop moving.”

“ !! ???”

Hearing Rolf’s voice, Gied’s tantrum was suppressed.

Then, Rolf says this to Gied with a gentle but cruel voice.

“I left your education with my wife since she loves you very much. That’s why I never interfere unless it was necessary. However, it seems that it was a mistake. Get back to your room. You need to cool your head down a little.”

“F, Father! I !!”

“I dislike repeating myself, you know.”

Having no outlet for his anger, the silenced Gied violently storms our of the room.

After that, a noise like something breaking was heard from a distance.

Hearing that, Rolf let out a huge sigh.

“Excuse me. Father, may I enter?”

“Come in, Reiner.”

After he said that, a young man a little younger than Gied entered the room.

He is as tall as Gied but his body is fitter and his clothes don’t reek of terrible fashion sense. The soft smile on his face would make people convinced that he is indeed Rolf’s son.

The young man’s name is Reiner von Horsvath. He is the second son of Duke Horsvath who is turning 16 years old this year. He is the one who was expected to succeed his father as the family head and to be the next Duke of Horsvath.

Reiner doesn’t take after his mother as much as Gied so his mother didn’t show as much affection to him as she showed to Gied. that’s why his education was opened to Rolf.

As a result, they have totally different personalities to the extent that people started to suspect whether Gied and Reiner were actually brothers.

“Aniue seems to be in quite a bad mood just now though?”

“It’s the same as usual.”

“It was even worse than usual you know. He seems to be very upset when he was glared at by His Highness Arnold after all.”

“Just leave him alone. It was all due to his own actions. Still, it was my responsibility for asking him to do that and now we have to clean up after him.”

Leo’s faction has cut their way into the succession war.

Rolf tried to send Gied to Leo’s side so that he could sell his favor to Leo’s faction but Gied made them angry instead.

With a simple glance, anyone would realize that Leo places a considerable amount of trust in Al. Making Al angry means that you will be getting on Leo’s bad side.

“To be fully honest, I thought that as long as Aniue is with us, we would never be able to join hands with His Highness Leonard you know.”

“I agree. After observing him for such a long time, His Highness Arnold never looked like a type to hold a grudge but Gied said that His Highness got angry at him. The same His Highness who has been putting up with him for so long. It seems that we can’t expect any good relationship from them anymore.”

“I can’t reach out to them myself after all. So, what do we do now?”

“If push comes to shove then we have to get rid of them. If His Highness Leonard becomes the emperor then we can’t assert our influence like what we have been doing so far. Even if we are respected as a Ducal house with a long history, we will be kept away from the power struggle. The measure to avoid that scenario has already failed after all.”

“That’s true but I think it will be hard to put them down you know.”

Rolf nods to Reiner’s words.

The two were properly watching the moment when Al glared at Gied.

Many people think that Gied was surprised because Al suddenly got angry at him but they have a different opinion.

That was clearly the eyes of someone with power.

If their theory is correct then their opponents would be the Hero Prince who is currently riding a strong tide and the Wise Prince who has hidden his claws for so many years.

If possible, they don’t want to be hostile with them.

However, his stupid son has already taken a step toward that.

“I should have interfered with Gied’s education sooner…….”

“Even if you say something to him, he will only just give you some suitable reply on the spot you know. I was surprised too. Even though he was there to ask him a favor, he simply went in with that high handed attitude. I think that was already ingrained in his personality so I don’t think that there is any way to fix it anymore.”

“Do you think that we can win with Gied by our side?”

“We should use everything we can. If push comes to shove then we can abandon him later as well. If Mother objects and threatens you with a divorce then that’s alright too. Father can just find another lady to marry after all.”

“Well, that’s true. That’s a very rational choice. If we can take advantage of Gied’s troublemaking nature then we might be able to get something out of it. It wouldn’t hurt us to try that first after all.”

While thinking about such a thing, Rolf and Reiner smile.

Their sinister smiles show that both of them are equally cold-hearted.