The Great Change

I woke up from a nap, and my younger brother had become the Emperor.

And I was a Grand Duke.

It was so absurd that I just stared blankly before asking.

“How long was I asleep?”

Count Isaac Ipsent, whose eyes were swollen and puffy, tried to speak but his voice cracked grandly. I pretended not to hear to save him the embarrassment. Lord Count Isaac Ipsent cleared his throat and spoke.

“You have opened your eyes after 174 days.”

“…Only that much?”

Fresh tears welled up in Count Isaac Ipsent’s goldfish-like eyes. No, hey, I’m really sorry. I made a slip of the tongue. I put down the spoon I was using for my soup and hurriedly reached out. I suppose 174 days was too short a time to forget a habit I had maintained for nearly ten years. Count Isaac Ipsent willingly lowered his head beneath my hand. I stroked the hair of Isaac—the rest omitted—which had grown long enough to become a bob.

“Don’t cry. You’ll collapse at this rate.”

“I will not collapse.”

“No. You were crying with such intensity it felt like you were squeezing every drop of moisture out of your body. I thought a lake was going to form in my room.”

“I did not.”

“Yes, you did.”

Isaac wiped his face roughly with his sleeve and looked up. I suppressed the urge to tell him he looked ugly. I wasn’t so ill-natured as to tease someone for crying out of joy because I woke up. Though I do think crying for a whole week is a bit much… 170-something, was it? Anyway, since he waited for me the whole time I was asleep, I intend to tolerate Isaac crying for about 170 days.

What if he cries after that? Well, then I’ll have to change his name to Count Isaac Telescope-Goldfish. If you don’t want your people to be known as hailing from the Telescope-Goldfish Fief, I suggest you exercise restraint. It’s a joke, but I’m serious.

Ah, come to think of it.

“Then I must have a fief too.”

A Grand Duke is granted a territory. A land where taxes are exempt and a certain number of private soldiers are permitted. Since self-governance is possible, it is closer to a country than a mere fief. In fact, a Grand Duke’s territory is called a Duchy, and its scale is considerable. About two or three times the size of a regular Duke’s fief?

“Yes.”

“Where is it?”

Since I have to live in the spire, it’s likely a land I’ll never be able to step on, but I thought I should at least know the place I’m responsible for. Isaac hesitated for a moment. What is it? Why? Did he give me a land where not a single person lives? That would actually be easier. I scooped some soup into my mouth.

“It is the Republic of Apellion.”

And I spat it right back out. Clang! The silver spoon fell into the soup plate. Isaac calmly wiped the drops of soup that had splattered onto my sleeve.

“What…”

Are you talking nonsense? Is this a joke? But unfortunately, while our Isaac was prone to tears, he was a sincere knight. It meant he wasn’t the type of personality to deflect his lord’s question with gibberish or jokes.

“His Majesty has proclaimed that Your Highness will be the new master of the Republic of Apellion.”

I felt like my heart was going to stop from the shock. I can’t d*e now after finally surviving. I pressed my hand against my chest and slowly rubbed it. Calm down. Stay calm, Kaian Capre Arneb-s.

After catching my breath and deciding I could think straight again, I asked Isaac.

“Did we… by any chance, go to war?”

“We are currently in the middle of it.”

“What?”

“The departure ceremony was ten days ago… Your Highness, Your Highness!”

Isaac’s calling voice grew distant. Sorry, Isaac. I need to sleep a bit more. I’m not dying, just sleeping, so stay there and don’t cry.

I let myself fall back and closed my eyes.

Ilios, the Imperial Physician, gave me the explanation of what had happened during my absence. I lay comfortably and listened to the story told in a calm voice, like a bedtime story for a child. I was surprised by the content, of course, but I didn’t faint in shock like I did with Isaac. It was thanks to having mentally prepared myself to some extent.

To summarize the long story Ilios told me:

First, the Emperor… the former Emperor is dead. On the very night I had last woken up and fallen back to sleep.

The Emperor was found in a “horrific state beyond words,” and the identity of the assassin who attacked him has still not been revealed. Someone who had visited me reeking of blood came to mind, but the following explanation cleared my suspicion. On that night, Kallios was also severely injured. So much so that he didn’t regain consciousness for a month.

So you came to see me while you were in a situation where you might d*e. I felt more angry than grateful. I should give him a flick on the forehead when he returns. The one I really want to scold is myself for not even knowing he was hurt, but I’m the sick one. He’s all healed.

Anyway, while the Emperor was dead and the Crown Prince was hovering between life and death, Sierra apparently suffered a lot. Ilios praised Sierra for handling the situation resolutely, saying she was “princess-like”… but it left a bitter taste in my mouth. A ten-year-old child handling things resolutely while in danger of losing her entire family is not something to be praised. It’s something to be grieved.

I rubbed my aching chest and closed my eyes.

And then, after that…

As soon as Kallios woke up, he ascended the throne and used the appointment of me as the Grand Duke of Apellion as a substitute for a declaration of war. I was annoyed at my younger brother for stubbornly using my name to wage war, but since he gave Isaac a title of Count without me even asking, I suppose I should forgive him. Anyway, after that, several envoys came and went, war preparations were made, and spring arrived.

Instead of going to the Imperial Academy, that fellow went to the battlefield.

174 days. Five months. So much changed while late autumn turned into spring.

I’m not sure if this is good or bad.

First of all, it’s a good thing that Kallios didn’t go to the Imperial Academy.

The original protagonist’s Academy life was eventful, but so was Kallios’s. It was because his enrollment coincided exactly with the time right after the death of Prince Kaian, who was “blessed by the Dragon God.”

It would have been better for everyone if people had channeled their sympathy for Kaian into praying for him to go to heaven. Instead, people treated Kallios like a plunderer.

Of course, since Kallios was the future Emperor, they didn’t bully him openly, but malice is always more annoying when it’s subtle. You can just catch a fly buzzing in front of your eyes.

But if something unknown just keeps making a scratching sound and refuses to show itself.

…I feel like I could almost understand Kallios’s “human harvest.”

No, I shouldn’t understand it. I don’t want this Empire to fall, nor do I want Kallios to become a villain and meet his downfall. I want my two siblings to at least not be unhappy, even if they aren’t perfectly happy. No human harvesting, Kallios. Let’s live like decent human beings.

Anyway. The subtly pressured Crown Prince and the protagonist, who was openly ignored due to his humble background, had a terribly bad relationship. You’d think they might become close since they were both surrounded by enemies, but why did it turn out like that? If there’s one thing I remember clearly, it’s exactly how their ill-fated relationship began. While reading, I thought, ‘What is wrong with this guy, I don’t know, he’s scary…’ It hasn’t happened, and it won’t happen, but back then, our Kallios acted a bit like a psycho.

During a class. Lamier Weaver was watching the two people sparring and turned his head out of boredom, and our Kallios happened to be right there. Like a typical fantasy novel protagonist, Lamier Weaver poured out information through a monologue about how handsome our Kallios was, what his personality was like, and what his reputation was, before defining Kallios in one sentence.

‘The pitiful Crown Prince.’

Then their eyes met. Kallios just tilted his head and stood up from his seat. Because it was his turn for the next spar. Lamier Weaver adjusted his posture and watched the match. The spar ended in a single second. Because Kallios had wrapped his wooden sword in a red aura and struck his opponent’s neck.

Amidst the screams and shock, Lamier Weaver and Kallios made eye contact. Lamier Weaver felt a sense of dissonance from that gaze. Those glass-like eyes didn’t seem alive…

Oh.

At a sudden thought, I looked up. I think I know. I think I know why Kallios did that. If I had the chance to talk to Lamier Weaver, I think I know what I would have said.

That fellow.

I think he wanted to ask, ‘Am I pitiful?’

After that, Kallios constantly cut down those “he felt it was okay to kill” and crushed the limbs of those “he felt it was okay to break.” Right in front of Lamier Weaver.

Lamier Weaver was revolted by Kallios’s cruelty, but he never wondered why the once-quiet Kallios had suddenly changed. He just described the corpses and injured people Kallios created in great detail and felt internal rage. Lamier’s passive attitude only changed after experiencing the death of a friend. A righteous knight who risked his life to stop Kallios while Lamier remained silent for the sake of his family’s restoration.

“The Dragon’s Empire” was a first-person novel from the protagonist’s point of view. It meant the reader was forced to follow the protagonist’s gaze and thoughts. That’s why I didn’t wonder either. Why Kallios treated human life so lightly, or why he became a villain who deserved to d*e.

After becoming his brother, I tried to understand him, looked for the cause, and made various efforts hoping he would change, but all of them were efforts based on the perspective of Lamier Weaver from “The Dragon’s Empire.”

A chill ran down my spine.

What if I’ve been making the wrong kind of effort?

To erase my anxiety, I pressed my hand against my chest and clasped my hands together. I felt the ring on my index finger. It was the ring he gave me at the first and (probably) last ball I attended. When I woke up, the Breath of Capre was gone, but this ring remained on my finger. My finger must have gotten thinner from not eating for so long, so it was mysterious that it was only slightly loose just like when I first wore it, but I soon figured out the reason. Someone had resized it to fit me at the time. It must have been Kallios.

Touching the lukewarm ring calmed my anxious heart.

Kallios, who should have gone to the Academy, went to the battlefield. The Emperor, who was scheduled to d*e in three years, died early. I, who should have died, am alive. Kallios, who sliced through people without a change in expression throughout the novel, hasn’t killed a single person yet. He might kill on the battlefield, but killing in war and killing without justification are different things.

Many things have changed. Not just the situation, but Kallios’s behavior as well.

The inhuman Kallios who existed merely as Lamier Weaver’s enemy in the novel was gone. I remember that fellow’s furrowed face. Our Kallios is a kid who knows how to show delicate consideration, like resizing a ring for his brother. Even if that consideration sometimes misses the mark and he thinks about killing his brother with his own hands to put him at peace… he is a separate existence from the villain who plucked people’s heads off as if it were nothing… presumably…

Excuse me, Author? Did you by any chance remake the novel? The story has changed too much. Not that I hate it. Just… since you’re changing things anyway, I was hoping you could change one more character. Change the main villain Kallios into the protagonist’s ally, and just set up a new guy as the villain.

…And that’s exactly what happened.

Kallios returned after subjugating the Republic of Apellion. By his side was a mage with the very familiar color combination of brown hair and green eyes.

Lamier Weaver.

Why… why are you coming out from there? Aren’t you supposed to be attending the Imperial Academy?

“I picked him up.”

Could you please not say it so casually, as if you picked up a piece of bread you found while taking a walk, Kallios? What you picked up isn’t a piece of bread that comes with a sticker, but the protagonist.

“I greet the Grand Duke!”

Lamier Weaver, who greeted me energetically, took a pouch out from his chest. Kallios took it and gave it to me. I didn’t even have the energy to open it, so I just placed it on my lap. Lamier Weaver seemed dying to tell me what was inside. After glancing back and forth between Kallios and me, Lamier Weaver shouted.

“It is the Great Seal of the Republic of Apellion, Your Highness!”

“I see.”

“It’s made from a carved Dragon Heart!”

“Must be precious.”

“If you consume it, your health will improve significantly!”

“What?”

“I will help you so that you can absorb it properly!”

What kind of crazy nonsense is this guy talking about…