Academy's Second Seat [part 2 Complete]

Chapter 216: Astria (8)

"Are you saying you're giving up your claim to the throne?"

"I thought about it alone at the academy, and I just really don't want to do it~. So, I decided not to."

Yuni spoke with a lively tone, but to Ian, it sounded like a bolt from the blue.

Ian grasped his head and looked at Yuni.

"Did Rudy put you up to this?"

He knew that Yuni and Rudy had a good relationship at the academy.

Now that she had brought Rudy to the army, Ian couldn't help but suspect him.

Yuni opened her mouth with a puzzled look.

"Rudy has nothing to do with it."

Yuni's decision to give up the succession was because she thought Rie was more suited for the emperor's position.

As she pondered this, Yuni furrowed her brow.

"...Maybe not? It seems there might be a little connection."

Rudy's influence was not entirely absent in her decision.

She chose to give up after seeing many people superior to herself and understanding their efforts.

Seeing people put in tremendous effort every day, she decided to give up, with Rie and Rudy being examples.

In a way, Rudy was not entirely unrelated.

But Ian had no way of knowing this.

He only knew the result without understanding the process in the middle.

He saw it merely as an action by Rudy to keep him in check.

Ian clenched his teeth.

'Rudy Astria...'

His plan to make Yuni a puppet emperor and sit atop the empire himself was unraveling.

But the impact wasn't significant yet.

Rather, the greater impact was entering the competition for succession with Rudy.

Ian's worries deepened.

'At this rate...'

He didn't know what his father would do.

Ian had seen Perrian's plan.

Mana stones condensed with the mana of tens, hundreds of people.

Using these mana stones for magic, the capital of the empire could be blown away.

Ian just wanted to rise to the top of the empire through official means.

What meaning would there be in sitting atop a crumbling empire?

Essentially, that would not be gaining the empire but building a new nation on top of a fallen one.

That was not what Ian wanted.

So, he planned to take over the empire in his own way and show it to his father.

If he took over the empire, there would be no need to destroy it.

But his plans were increasingly going awry.

At this rate, he would lose the justification and means to stop his father.

Ian stared intently at Yuni.

"So, are you planning to announce your renunciation of the succession officially?"

"Officially?"

Yuni tilted her head.

She hadn't thought that far.