Since I Don't Know Anything About It, Shall We Break Up, Your Majesty? - Chapter 48

Hans, who was a professional soldier guarding the border area of Levania, was dismissed for failing to protect his superior from guerrilla forces.

It was ridiculous.

To be dismissed for failing to protect his superior even after blocking a homemade bomb that exploded at close range with his own body.

Hans had nearly 60% of his body skin necrosed, 7 ribs broken, and 12 muscles connecting his back and thighs ruptured.

The superior he protected so desperately with his whole body only lost two fingers.

Because he failed to protect his superior, he was dishonorably discharged and kicked out.

Brook hugged his broken son’s body when he returned home, gritting his teeth until his jaw broke, and sobbed.

‘Son! I didn’t allow you to enlist to see you like this. I didn’t raise you as preciously as the tongue in my mouth to see you lying so miserably!’

But his son, who could hear his despair and sobs, was barely clinging to life at the brink of death.

‘Are you Sergeant Hans Bales’ father?’

Fuego appeared before Brook.

‘Do you know that your son was in the same unit as Captain Landers Tartien?’

‘……’

‘You probably don’t know why Sergeant Hans Bales was assigned to the most dangerous position.’

‘What do you….’

‘I was also curious until I saw it myself, but now I understand.’

‘What, what are you talking about? Are you saying my son was deliberately assigned to the most dangerous position by someone?’

‘Sometimes… it seems that just resembling someone can be a reason for harassment.’

‘What on earth are you talking about….’

‘They look similar. Your son and Prince Laedro.’

It was just for such a reason.

For just that reason, his son was bullied in the army, used like a disposable shield, and discarded miserably with his body in tatters.

Fuego reached out to the despairing Brook.

‘How about deceiving them for the opposite reason?’

Fuego requested Hans to become the king’s substitute.

‘Soon, His Highness will become king. We need someone to stand in for His Highness, and I think Sergeant Hans would be perfect.’

Fuego’s proposal was cruel.

But it was also equally attractive.

Fuego brought the wavering Brook before Karl.

And the moment he saw him, Brook could understand why he said Hans and His Highness resembled each other.

The grown-up Hans, the healthy and safe Hans, would have had such a back view.

His son, who could have returned to Brook’s side after completing his service without any problems and lived the rest of his life as an apothecary as promised.

‘If you allow it… Hans Bales will become the king of this country. He will lie in the king’s bed and receive the treatment the king would receive. Deceiving Landers Tartien, who despised and tore him apart, right under his nose.’

The leisurely voice was dangerous and sweet.

‘…Don’t you look forward to seeing his face distorted miserably when he learns all this truth?’

An angel with devil’s wings reached out his hand.

He swallowed his tears, gritted his teeth, and grasped his hand.

In fact, there was nothing else he could do.

* * *

‘Will it be okay…?’

Brook overcame his anger and worry by chewing the inside of his lips with his teeth.

Originally, he was a timid character.

He had many worries and anxieties, so when Hans said he was joining the army, he begged him not to for three days and nights without eating or drinking.

If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have insisted for a week or even a month more.

‘…No. There’s no use regretting the past now, nothing can be undone.’

He glared at Landers as if coming to his senses.

At that moment, Landers Tartien did something shocking.

Landers looked down at the face of the man that had become like a rag, dirty with blisters, and thought.

‘When did I start hating this man?’

In fact, it wasn’t from the beginning.

Laedro Stings Winger.

He heard there was a slightly longer name in his mother’s family, Berhe.

Was it Laedro Karlei Stings Winger de Swimpton?

In fact, it didn’t matter what he was called.

What mattered was that wherever he went, he was ‘royalty’.

Rank is bestowed by heaven.

Nobleness was a nobility passed down through bloodlines.

Landers had been taught that way, grown up that way, and thought that premise was very natural.

Just as it was determined from the beginning that he was a man and his sister was a woman.

The difference between nobility and commoners, between noble and not, is clear from birth.

Laedro was very fitting for Landers’ thoughts.

From a young age, he was intelligent and had dignity.

It was a dignity that even Landers, who was called an excellent nobleman, couldn’t match.

But his dignity disappeared when his father became a vulgar adulterer who betrayed the loyalty of his subjects.

Moreover, after surviving in such a squalid manner, he curled up like an insect.

In fact, Landers hated that even more.

‘…You should have died then. Then at least your name would have remained noble.’

There might be adjectives like pitiful or miserable, but it would have been much better than surviving so disgracefully.

‘That lingering attachment to life. It’s downright pathetic.

Landers looked at the sleeping king’s face with disgusted eyes and slowly raised his hand.

When his gloved hand grasped the neck of the king who was breathing faintly, Brook and Fuego, who were watching him from a distance, came running with a thunderous shout.

“What are you doing!”

Even at Fuego’s booming angry voice, Landers didn’t withdraw his hand.

He grasped the neck that was ‘still’ warm and said with a cold smile.

“Is this even living?”

“Marquis!”

Fuego, who had rushed over in one step, pulled his shoulder with a strong force.

“How severe must the shock have been, for him not to wake up even when his neck is being squeezed like this? What if an attack comes while he’s asleep?”

Landers muttered regretfully as if worried, and readily stepped back.

Then he took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped clean the hand that had been squeezing the king’s neck.

As if something dirty had touched it.

Fuego and Brook stood in his way, glaring at Landers with reddened faces.

Even for a Tartien who could supposedly bring down a flying bird, how dare he grab the king’s neck!

Even if the one lying on that bed isn’t the real king, he doesn’t know that.

So this was clearly an insult to the royal family.

But he was so arrogant that there wasn’t a trace of self-reproach or embarrassment on Landers’ face.

He tilted his head slightly, smiled, and instead asked Fuego and Brook:

“Why are you two on a sinking ship?”

“What nonsense are you talking about!”

“It’s a pity. Such capable resources… Why are you trying to make this collapsing place your grave? Because of the king? But with this body, he’s sure to die soon, isn’t he?”

“……”

“Or……”

Landers slowly turned his head to look at the pus-covered face of the king lying pale looking as though he knew knowing nothing.

“……do you have some other scheme?”

An eerie silence settled heavily in the king’s bedroom.

Thump, thump.

Brook clenched his fist in tension, feeling as if his heart would drop.

Trying not to swallow dry, he glanced at Fuego while pretending to lower his eyes, and was surprised.

‘He’s really amazing. He’s not even blinking an eye.’

If it were someone else, it might not be noticeable, but for Brook, who shared life and death with him, he could immediately notice if his expression changed even slightly.

But it wasn’t the case.

Fuego’s expression was still as calm as if it were natural, and even looked displeased, like he had heard something unpleasant.

No, in fact, if they had nothing to hide, that expression would be correct.

They had been treated rudely towards the king they serve, and were even being slandered with non-existent accusations.

‘I was too careless.’

Brook hurriedly composed his expression.

He glared at Landers with pale eyes, filled with all his hatred.

Even without trying to fake it, hatred naturally boiled up.

Landers stepped back, dropping the handkerchief he had used to wipe his hands on the floor.

He laughed as he looked at the two people glaring at him, having retreated from the king’s side without a trace of lingering attachment.

“Dogs with vain loyalty.”

“……Are you not afraid of heaven?”

“Heaven?”

Landers snorted and walked to the window.

He opened the tightly closed window wide and turned back to stare at Fuego.

“Now, say it again. Whose side do you think God is on right now?”

Behind the window where Landers was standing, the pointed spire of the temple could be seen.

The temple was corrupted, and the family that held them in their grasp was none other than Tartien.

Fuego glared at him, gritting his teeth.

“This room…… is full of the smell of the dead.”

Landers took a deep breath with his head out the window, disgusted.

“I hope my sister can turn this place into something somewhat livable.”