성황의 아이들 [3]

478

478. Loser of the North (7)

2nd Prince of Rohan, Leonard Donard Verdia.

Seongjin was currently treating him as a useless person, but at least his status in his country was a little different.

Leonard was known as a person born with particularly strong blood in the Verdian royal family, which had a long history of murdering relatives.

A neat appearance that perfectly resembles the previous kings, a strong body that contrasts with the first prince, and even a lethal charisma that literally captures the people around him.

Therefore, he had already been predicted as the next king among the rulers of Rohan for a long time.

However, contrary to this public perception, there were several difficulties in Leonard's installation as crown prince.

First of all, the biggest problem was that Lucas, the weak first prince, was monopolizing the current king's love.

Alessandra, King of Rohan, very much cared for her son, who had a soft temperament that was not like Verdia's. So, fearing that his younger brother might harm his older brother, he hid Lucas deep in the palace and surrounded him with knights to protect him.

It was also problematic that some high-ranking nobles were strongly supporting the first prince. Having lived through the Verdian royal family for so many years, causing bloodshed for generations, it might have occurred to me at this point that I would like to elect a gentle king rather than a powerful tyrant.

Lastly, it was also problematic that one of Leonard's secret safe houses was recently discovered by the public. The shabby safehouse where he committed a clumsy murder and buried the body secretly when he was still young.

Romain quickly took action to prevent the rumor from spreading widely, but rumors were already secretly circulating among a number of wealthy circles that the second prince might be a murderer thirsting for blood.

- Leave it alone. Killing someone without raising a word would be an ability that a royal should have.

Fortunately, the current king did not make much of an issue with the agenda, because she was also a typical 'Verdia' who murdered all of her brothers and sisters and ascended to the throne.

Of course, it goes without saying that because of that incident, the current king's overprotection of the first prince became even more extreme.

For these reasons, Leonard desperately needed a successful church. Just a few generations ago, there was a time when the life and death of all royal families on the continent was in the hands of the Emperor.

By the time the current emperor was in power, his mild foreign policy had made him fall into disrepute, but the power of the empire, which once controlled the internal affairs of all countries, was still intact.

'But, I didn't know that Seonghwang would hate me so much... ... .'

At first, while I was attending the birthday party, I planned to flatter him in front of me and get some church information. However, for some reason, he was repeatedly denied an audience, and even when he occasionally met Seonghwang in public, he only received cold stares.

Didn't we have no contact whatsoever before? Leonard could not understand at all where the strong hostility of Seonghwang came from.

'I won't keep getting hung up on something that doesn't work.'

So Leonard next turned his gaze towards Princess Amelia. Until last year, she was that innocent and beautiful girl who had been looking at herself with longing.