Politics is like making a lotus bloom in a muddy pit.
That is what people who make their living off politics usually say.
Politics is a brawl between people whose eyes have gone bloodshot looking for an opening.
To be honest, I think that may be what politics truly looks like.
Though those who want to feed off politics for the rest of their lives would insist it absolutely is not.
“How has my little brother been of late? The same as yesterday, as ever?”
Even after becoming emperor, he continued to call me his little brother.
At first, it felt burdensome, so I asked him to stop.
But each time, the emperor only laughed as if amused.
And he never once stopped calling me little brother.
At this point, I was starting to wonder if I was the impudent one for asking him to stop.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Under Your Majesty’s grace, I enjoy the same peaceful daily life as yesterday.”
“And your work? Is it going well?”
Two years ago, I discovered a new saltpeter mine in the west and promptly offered it to the imperial family.
I would be lying if I said I did not regret the money I had invested, but that was why I had earned money in the first place.
People talk about materialism and the like, but in truth, there is nothing better than money for showing sincerity.
We gladly offer to the empire what we accomplished by spending this much!
We are always ready to offer our loyalty to the empire. To the imperial family. To His Majesty the Emperor!
If I could convey that message, I could do the same thing any number of times.
Now the emperor had entrusted administrative posts in the west to nobles, including me.
Some went directly west to work, while the rest remained in the imperial capital.
Fortunately, I had just married Polia at the time, so I was excluded.
Separating newlyweds who had only just married would be enough to deserve a knife in the gut.
When the emperor himself had even said as much, what could they do in the administrative appointments?
“I believe the western frontier should no longer be called a frontier. Nearly all the land has been developed, and the portion being used as farmland now exceeds forty percent of the whole.”
“That is good news. But there must still be much noise over the tax issue, no?”
Though it had happened only recently, he already knew it as clearly as if it lay in the palm of his hand.
This was not a constitutional monarchy where the monarch was merely decorative.
An emperor was not only an absolute ruler; he also had to shoulder a hellish workload.
Yet his tone, as if he knew every last detail, overflowed with confidence.
“As Your Majesty says, even though the promised period of tax reduction has ended, some of the existing settlers are asking for the deadline to be extended. Even when informed that no further extension is possible due to fairness, they continue to insist, citing the hardships they endured at the final stage of settlement.”
“It is likely not entirely unreasonable. If they were the ones who labored at the end of the settlement effort, then they must have spent more money and time than others. But a thorough investigation will be necessary to see whether they truly accomplished anything.”
“That is our plan. We have already coordinated with the National Tax Service and dispatched personnel to handle the investigation and review.”
If they truly had spent more money on settlement activities, that would be one thing.
But if they had done nothing and merely wanted the tax reduction benefit?
I could guarantee our friends at the National Tax Service would not just sit back and watch.
They already had a record of shaking down even an imperial prince with me several years ago.
The National Tax Service of today was one in which that principle had firmly taken root.
In particular, the enforcement division was always ready at the forefront to bite.
“You handle the tasks I entrust to you thoroughly, little brother. It leaves me with no burden.”
“I only strive to repay Your Majesty’s trust.”
“Yes. You always do, little brother. Not because you have some other reason. Simply because you are my subject. Because your elder brother is the emperor. You regard it as only natural to offer your loyalty and serve the empire.”
A sudden chill ran down my spine, and I felt something was coming.
I had sensed it from the moment the emperor started talking about work and family.
Why would a man at least a hundred times busier than me suddenly bring up such topics?
He was trying to loosen some of my tension before getting to the main point.
“How many years has it been since I sat upon this seat?”
“This is Your Majesty’s second year.”
“Indeed. Two years. One could call it long, if one wished. But objectively speaking, it is not very long at all. Rather, it is an exceedingly short time. Just enough to establish a national plan and only now take the first step.”
“That is because Your Majesty’s every step is of such importance.”
“Hahaha! Little brother, even your skill at flattery has improved. You have absorbed the waters of politics quite well.”
“You flatter me.”
Rather than absorbing those waters, it was simply one of the skills I had acquired in order to survive.
I had said this before. Even if you cannot make friends, do not make enemies.
Even if the relationship must remain ambiguous, at least do not become foes.
For that reason, raising the other person up as much as possible had become basic practice.
Making the other person feel good without going so far as to lower myself.
That alone was enough to keep them from recognizing me as an enemy.
“Yet there are some for whom those two years have been more than enough.”
“When Your Majesty says more than enough…”
“Those who were with me before I even sat in the position of imperial prince. From the days when I was still merely one of the many sons of the War Hero. Those who endured those long years of hardship and patience alongside me. Very loyal and remarkable people.”
At the time, their choice had been almost the same as Father going all-in on the Founding Emperor.
No, if anything, they had invested in a place with even less hope than Father had.
At least the Founding Emperor had distinguished himself as a warrior skilled in battle.
But the current emperor? Of course, his mind had been extraordinary, but he had not been able to show it off much.
He had rendered great merit in the founding of the empire, but in exchange, he lost his position as heir.
It would have been perfectly natural to judge him effectively finished and move elsewhere.
Yet they did not give up. They continued to support and back him.
They gathered in moments of crisis and acted fiercely in moments of opportunity.
Their contributions to the existence of the emperor today were undoubtedly great.
Even in my eyes, without them, the current state of affairs would have been impossible.
“There is only one kind of blind devotion without compensation. It is possible only for parents looking upon their children. In all other relationships, in the end, everything depends on what can be given and received. I do not deny that natural order, little brother.”
But even so, is it not a little much?
The emperor’s eyes turned wistful, as if he found it deeply regrettable.
Whether that wistfulness was real or an act, I did not know.
“When at last all hardship has ended and one has climbed to the place one had aimed for, sometimes one finds it brighter and better than expected. And so, instead of thinking to live there for a lifetime, one begins to want to climb higher, and higher still.”
Because they could not be satisfied. Because greater greed had arisen. Because they could no longer control themselves.
They crossed the line that could be overlooked and said and did things that raised wariness.
“Very occasionally, I even worry that my children may be swayed by their maternal relatives, just as my half-brother once was.”
And above all, if they were already provoking a kind of PTSD the emperor had experienced?
“Little brother.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“How does the political world seem to you these days? You, more than anyone, keep some distance and observe politics from afar, do you not? I would like to hear your thoughts.”
“Everyone is doing their utmost for His Majesty the Emperor and the empire.”
Only an idiot would speak honestly from the very beginning.
I know nothing. I am simply working diligently.
I have no intention of ousting anyone and taking their place.
I first bowed low enough to make that appeal to the emperor.
“Is that so?”
“…”
A brief silence. Then reading the room. Not forgetting where I was.
He treated me warmly as his little brother, but the one sitting there was the emperor of the empire.
A man who could destroy a house with one gesture, one word.
That absolute ruler was asking for my opinion again. My true thoughts.
“…It seems somewhat biased.”
“Biased, you say. Yes. In which direction is it tilted?”
“That is…”
I deliberately hesitated. As if it was far too difficult to bring myself to say.
In truth, the emperor would know as well. From here on, I could not say it.
No. Even if I could say it, it was not something that should come from my mouth.
The emperor already knew everything anyway. He was merely checking the atmosphere indirectly.
“It would be Our wife’s family.”
“…”
“The Mentus family. A great house that invested everything in the mere son of a martial man and, in the end, made him emperor. A family in which not only the empress, but every one of the emperor’s brothers-in-law are meritorious retainers. A family that will stand at the center of imperial politics from now on and, beyond that, wield influence second only to the imperial family.”
With each word that left the emperor’s mouth, my blood ran cold.
Even when I did not want to know about the movements of the Mentus family, I kept learning of them.
In particular, my godfather had even expressed concern over their overwhelming growth.
The emperor’s wife’s family. The maternal relatives of the imperial princes. The family that had rendered the greatest merit.
With that much, they could have stopped at a suitable point and enjoyed what they had gained.
But they did not stop there. Upward. Higher and higher, they kept trying to climb.
I knew what kind of political ideology the emperor sitting there held.
Not an empire like the Condor era, where each noble house possessed power beyond a certain level.
He dreamed of an empire where all could be grasped and moved by truly perfect imperial authority.
The nobility would still exist, but not as political partners.
They would exist only as subjects offering loyalty to the empire. To the emperor.
“I have seen that you have been making efforts not to become entangled with Our wife’s family.”
“I feared I might disturb Your Majesty’s mind…”
“Would you try persuading Our brothers-in-law, little brother?”
There was no way the emperor had not given them any warning.
He must already have subtly signaled, in one way or another, that they should act in moderation.
The Mentus family must have ignored that and continued to cross the line.
If he had endured and waited for two years?
Perhaps what the emperor wanted from me now was not restraint.
Bring me a reason to begin what I have been hesitating and agonizing over.
That was how the emperor’s final words sounded in my ears.