A Treacherous Courtier Manages the Empire Well

1 – I Admit my Sin

There is a notorious novel called “The Fall of the Ayldam Empire” known as the masterpiece of decadent novels. From the beginning to the middle and to the end, the author’s writing skills ran wild, making it an unforgettable novel once you start reading it.

And the brilliantly developed plot, which had high plausibility and immersement, was enough to plunge many readers into post-reading syndrome.

And this immersement led to a barrage of curses against one character.

“Landoor, you f*cking bastard.”

“If only Landoor didn’t exist.”

“It’s been a while since I felt such hatred towards a novel character. I really want to kill this f*cking guy, hahahaha.”

And the one who became the fundamental cause of the downfall of the Ayldam Empire was none other than a treacherous scumbag named Landoor.

With his well-groomed appearance that could become an ace immediately if he entered a host club due to his polished height, glasses-wearing character, and calculated eyes, I think it’s safe to say what kind of guy he is. Landoor is a character in the novel who grills a withered emperor into a boiling broth with his flattery and becomes the emperor’s closest confidant. And with that power, he swallows up every bit of the empire’s privileges.

But the aging and foolish emperor never realized that, and even entrusted his beloved young daughter to Landoor.

The invincible Karia.

The youngest Grand Master. The strongest sword in the empire. A monster among monsters that is considered difficult to find a match for throughout history.

However, strong in the flesh but weak in the mind.

The young princess, who lost her mother early and was almost assassinated several times due to political turmoil, had a mentally unstable side, and the emperor believed that if Landoor, whom he trusted, was by her side, she would find emotional stability.

But that was the worst judgment.

Landor did a great job raising young Karia.

As a great weapon he could use.

With the tongue of a snake, Landor brainwashed Karia to the point where, if it was his command, she could put a knife in her heart with a smiling face using strategic guile.

In the end, she becomes a central figure in the latter part of the novel. She becomes a killer, slaughtering numerous people, as the vanguard of the “Vicious War” incited by Landor. And she dies fighting for Landor in the final battle.

What about Landor? In the end, he is captured by the protagonist and just prince, Adran, and is publicly humiliated in the square, enduring more gruesome deaths than imaginable.

“Landor.”

And there I was, looking in the mirror, absentmindedly touching the face of a despicable villainous traitor who I had thought to kill multiple times.

“Why did I possess this bastard of all people?”

I muttered, gripping my head. There were sounds of sighs and lamentations behind me.

When I turned my head, there lay on the bed a beautiful woman with reddish hair spread on the white bedsheet.

And under the white bedsheet, near Karia’s legs, another vivid redness made its presence known.

That was it.

I had taken the virginity of the princess last night. Though it was practically a form of s*xual intercourse in which Karia forcefully devoured me, the fact that I took her virginity itself hadn’t changed.

And from here on, in the original novel, the true chaos begins.

The princess thinks her love was fulfilled through this act of intimacy. Thanks to the strategic guile, she places more trust in Landor than her own family. And she becomes someone who will do anything according to Landor’s words, considering him more precious than her own life.

The Imperial Blood Legion, the strongest combat unit led by her, also follows her and eventually leads to civil war. And in that civil war, Landor, who is defeated, endures public humiliation in the square as I mentioned before.

“aaah!! I hate it!!!!!!!!!”

The gruesome and dreadful end of Landor, as described in the novel, no longer felt satisfying to me.

f*ck!!

To think that I would be in that position! That horrific execution!!

Princess Karia, who was sleeping peacefully, was startled awake by my scream, but I didn’t pay attention to her.

I had no desire to be killed by such a sh*tty bad ending!

If I wanted to survive, I had to make it a happy ending.

“Landor. How is it? Is it delicious?”

Princess Karia asks, looking at me. When she smiles, everything around me brightens up. Can there be such a beautiful woman in this world? In normal circumstances, if such a beauty smiled at me, I would even think about what name to give our child, but I didn’t have the psychological luxury to have such happy delusions at the moment.

“Um… I just have something to think about.”

In response to my blunt words, Karia dismisses all the servants who were serving the meal in the vicinity and firmly holds my hand.

“Because I… I did it forcefully yesterday. Is it because of that that you started to dislike me?”

This young lady. She has completely misunderstood the situation.

Is there anyone who would dislike a pretty woman coming forward so actively among men? Although there were times when Karia forced it in the beginning, there were also parts where I enjoyed it in the later part.

Suddenly, Karia seemed to misunderstand when she saw me lost for words, thinking about the passionate moments from last night.

“I can do any play that Rendor likes. Whenever you want. You can treat me like a prostitute… I can’t live without you. I can’t live without anyone but Rendor. Rendor, I love you. Please… Please love me.”

I would kneel down even if I made a slight displeased expression.

This is a part where you can see how smooth Rendor’s damn tongue was.

Although she was mentally damaged due to shocking incidents during her childhood, she was brainwashed to the point of thinking she would die if she didn’t have him, manipulating the Empire’s princess.

With such remarkable talent, she should contribute to the Empire!

Instead, she causes a damn rebellion!

In fact, although Karia is the villainess in the novel, she is a truly pitiful character.

No one in her entire life sincerely loved her.

Her father, the emperor, was an addict who couldn’t be called a good father even with empty words, her mother died early, and those around her were envious of her exceptional talent but couldn’t kill her.

The person who reached out to Karia, whose mentality was completely shattered from a young age due to attempts on her life without knowing love, was Rendor of all people.

She’s just a princess who lives unhappily and dies.

I suddenly felt sorry for the trembling Karia in front of me.

“Is it okay for me too? I’m 10 years older than you.”

“It doesn’t matter!”

Let’s see. The incident of having the first night together… Karia was around 19 years old, right? I remember that the novel described her being frightened as a barely legal adult.

At most a late teenager.

I firmly held her hand.

“Please take care of me. Karia. I will never leave your side.”

And then, I hesitated for a moment whether to say the next words or not.

But of course.

As someone who was a fan of this novel, there was one thing I really wanted to say to Karia.

“I love you too, Karia.”

Rendor had never once said that he loved Karia in the original work. He only said things like “do this for me” or “do that for me” because he needed her.

I wanted to make this poor woman happy.

“Ugh!…”

Unable to resist my gentle voice any longer, Karia started shedding tears. I lifted my shoulders and gently pulled her sobbing body towards me, hugging her tightly like a young child.

She held onto me and cried for a long time.

It was a cry that healed the painful past and at the same time looked so incredibly happy.

However, I couldn’t put on a happy face as I hugged her like that.

If it were the original Lando, he would have had an evil laughter, but I couldn’t even put on such a laughter.

“What should I do now? This is f*cked up, seriously.”

With Lando forming a relationship with Caria as a turning point, this novel begins to delve into the depths of decadence.

In other words,

If I followed the original plot, Caria would not be able to be happy, and I would also be doomed to a tragic end.

I had to make a change right now.

It is said that the Emperor of the Aylem Empire married a dragon as his bride and gave birth to descendants.

Although there is no way to confirm whether this is true or not, it was clear that there was one thing.

Exceptional individuals, known as incarnates, who surpassed humans and were called incarnates, were born in the imperial bloodline from generation to generation.

In this generation, there are a total of three incarnates.

Prince Adran, born with wisdom and a sense of justice.

Princess Caria, born with power and leadership.

Princess Selene, born with beauty and observation.

Each of them had their own strong power, and the story of them fighting to ascend to the throne was the content of the latter part of the novel.

But besides them, there was another force, namely Duke Fellings.

Duke Fellings, based on his vast territory and army, planned to seize the capital and become the emperor if the three princesses and princes fought and annihilated each other.

He could be called a bastard who contributed to the destruction of the empire as much as Lando, revealing in the latter part that he was the one who attempted to assassinate Princess Caria countless times in a despicable war and greatly contributed to the destruction of the empire.

“I am sincerely sorry, Your Majesty! The evil deeds of the statesman Lando are spreading like a dark cloud!”

It goes without saying that Duke Fellings’ favorite scenario is for the three incarnates who are candidates for the emperor to fight and annihilate each other, rather than having one of them stand out.

The emperor ordered the 17-year-old Caria, the candidate for the emperor, to lead a northern expedition. It was an extremely difficult mission to subdue the monster horde that began to multiply on the Rimnakal Plain two years ago.

But Invincible Caria, as her nickname suggests, led an army of 200,000 soldiers and completely eliminated the monsters on the Rimnakal Plain within two years, making them completely disappear.

Naturally, this was an unprecedented achievement, and Duke Fellings was not pleased. If one of the incarnates who were candidates for the emperor received excessive attention, it would not be good for him from his perspective.

Duke Fellings began to openly attack me, who was Caria’s closest aide, in the Ancient Palace where all imperial affairs were carried out, with the intention of weakening Caria’s power and influence by hitting me, who was in charge of her finances and provision.

“Lando, the statesman, monopolizes most of the major merchant guilds in the capital! Moreover, his crimes are extremely wicked, as he takes excessive taxes from them and fills his own pockets! Your Majesty! I request that you punish the statesman Lando!!!”

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The emperor, whose eyes became sharp and judgment weakened, raised his voice as if he was angry at those words.

“Do you have any evidence?”

Lando, said to have spread honey and oil on his tongue at the same time. The exhausted and foolish emperor was currently in a state where he fully trusted me. He was a very skillful emperor in cooking a traitor like me like a roast.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

As if preparing for a long time, Duke Fellings ordered his subordinates to bring a series of accusations against me.

The emperor frowned as he looked at the falsified documents.

Although he wanted to cover it up, the evidence was so clear that he felt uncomfortable.

“Send Lord Randor forward as the Minister of State.”

The emperor called for me.

And he looked at me with an openly soft and gentle tone.

“What are your thoughts on this accusation?”

It wasn’t an interrogative tone.

Even though it was a staggering amount of money that exceeded imagination, his tone emitted a nuance of forgiveness.

In the original work, Randor, sacrificing himself as a scapegoat, skillfully overcame everything and deceived a merchant under him.

I didn’t know anything. If I could just put on a crying show, the emperor would easily be deceived and all charges would be erased.

But if I followed the original development like that, my future would only end with a tragic ending of being torn apart in the square.

Since yesterday, I had already planned how to change the story by racking my brain all night.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes. Was there a misunderstanding?”

“It’s all my fault.”

“???????”

A coughing sound was heard throughout the palace as if swallowing one’s breath. The emperor had a stunned expression, as did Caria. Even Prince Adran and Princess Selene had surprised faces.

But none of them could imitate the expression of Viscount Phellings.

I laughed, mocking his dumbfounded expression, then knelt in front of the emperor.

“I admit to all my sins! Please kill me!! Your Majesty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

It was the moment when I began my struggle to escape from the ending of being torn apart.