Chapter 3

The next day, a man who was said to be my exclusive doctor got called into my room, examined my wounds and asked me some questions. There were no such things as CT scans in this world, so he only confirmed that my consciousness was in a good state and that the trauma was minimal; we just had to see how it goes for the meantime, and that was it. …I didn’t think it would be even possible to deal with the condition of the personality from my previous life (?) being restored even with the latest medical technologies.

After seeing off the doctor who had just finished his work, I shut myself in my office since I didn’t have any particular plans and had time to spare. The guard, Craig, was standing by outside the door and the butler had only brought me tea once, but I was left alone with appropriate parchments spread out on my desk to look like I was working.

If you ask me why… it’s because I simply don’t know what to do!

Yes. Although I had decided on my end goal of ‘dying without fail’, I was at a loss now that I had no idea how to spend my time at the moment. No matter how much I remembered the contents of this world in the novel, I was a character on the villain’s side. A story naturally advances from the protagonist’s perspective, and ‘Sieg of the Rebellion’ was no exception. In other words, it didn’t portray every single behavioral pattern on Heinreid’s side.

…Well, it’s obvious that I wasn’t doing anything decent as far as the writing goes, so it’s hard to say that I’d be able to act according to the story.

That said, it was also troubling that there were no indicators at all. Looking back in Heinreid’s memory to see how he usually spent his time wasn’t helpful at all because he was either scheming or carrying them out.

Rather, wouldn’t it have been better if I died as soon as possible? I was a symbol of fear anyway, so I felt like they would only be happy if I disappeared. The story would advance quickly if it ended like that, and if there were no problems with that, I could do it right now. But… I made a lot of preparations when I planned my suicide before, so I wondered if I had to settle my affairs in some way as Heinreid. But how do you even settle the affairs of a noble?

‘Hmmm,’ I thought hard about it, but as someone who came from poverty, I didn’t have the slightest idea about the suicide conditions of nobles from another world. In that case, when I thought about Heinreid’s memories, he should’ve been aware that he was incurring people’s enmity; but he never seemed to have thought about his own death, so again, no luck. He was no use to me…

I started to feel that there was no point in thinking about it by myself, so I decided to ask for the opinion of others. I even got a suitable person right next to me.

Ringing the bell would cause the butler to come in, so I walked directly to the entrance and opened the door. Before the man who stood by the door could say anything, I immediately told him what to do.

“Craig, I want to discuss something. Come in.”

“Yes, my lord.”

He entered the room without argument when I prompted him, so I took my seat again. I wished I could’ve let Craig sit as well, but the chair I was currently seated on was the only chair in the office, so he was left standing. As a former commoner, I felt slightly uncomfortable with the composition, but… well, it made me nervous to talk to each other face-to-face in this room.

It was more natural and better this way, wasn’t it? I glanced at Craig to see his expression which had a subtle confidence and he seemed to be fidgeting for some reason.

…? Oh, is it because I suddenly invited Craig into the room instead of the butler? Don’t worry. It’s not like I’m going to blame you for what happened yesterday, but it will just be a chat that may lead to good news, depending on the circumstances.

As I recalled earlier, Craig was a character on the side of the protagonist. He first appeared as Heinreid’s subordinate, and there were even scenes where he crossed swords with Sieg. But his real identity was that he was the one responsible for freeing Sieg and prevented him from being killed at the royal palace. At one point, he was almost executed for his actions, but Heinreid, who had already attained absolute power at that time, saved his life by proposing something to the king.

He said, “There are harsher methods of torture than death for these kinds of people.”

…He was a complete lowlife. The memories from Heinreid’s perspective were abominable.

Well, for that reason, Craig was ‘set up’ as a villain.

He was a man who would be greatly affected by Heinreid’s death and would even live or die by it. If he wanted to talk to me, this was his chance.

Now, how should I begin? There was no way I could say something straightforward as, “I was thinking of dying, but what do you think?” If I said that when I was in the condition where I just hit my head, the doctor would likely be called again. On the other hand, I wasn’t sure if I could get to the main subject if I went too roundabout… Let’s see, here.

“Craig. For instance… if I were to die here right now, do you know what kind of inconveniences that would cause?”

I decided to ask the question in the form of a problem. No, I knew the answer to that question, alright? It’s just a question to make sure you understand as my subordinate! Or so, it was a method that the higher-ups sometimes used to save face. It had been done to me in the company too. And then, the subordinates would pretend not to notice such intentions and answer, “Let’s see… I think it’s going to be like this but is that correct?” as if to seek direction. The boss would then be pleased to remember the answer on top of being able to save face, and if he was in high spirits, his subordinates would be able to proceed with their work with peace of mind. It was certainly a win-win situation.

Or so I thought, but. Craig had a difficult look on his face and seemed stuck for an answer. …I guess the question was too unsettling after all? He might’ve been suspecting that there was a catch. He didn’t know what was going on and when I was about to prompt him again, reminding him that it was just a chat, he opened his mouth, making me swallow my words.

“…My lord is the one who was entrusted with this land by His Majesty the King. If something happens, the subjects who have lost their lord will be in disorder. Certainly, as I have expressed yesterday, I will protect my lord, so such kind of misfortune should not occur.”

“…”

He answered me flawlessly… This couldn’t be how he really felt. No, that wasn’t it, Craig, I didn’t want to hear answers that were easy on the ears, but an objective thought. But from Craig’s perspective, was this an exemplary answer? Well, I guess he couldn’t really say “That would certainly be an occasion for great joy! There won’t be any problems with that!” This wasn’t bluntness or euphemism, but flattery because of my position. To get the words I wanted out of him, I had to, uhh…

—Doing it without making a fuss was impossible.

“…!”

It wasn’t mine, but I felt someone’s voice echoing in my head. Immediately after, I heard several lines emerge in my brain. They were words that I would never have come up with.

“My Lord?”

Craig reacted to me as I held my head and tried to step towards me. I tried to say that I was fine—but as if to push it away, my head was occupied with ‘words to say’ and found myself blurting them out.

“…It’s nothing. I don’t remember giving you permission to come near me, you irreverent thing.”

Irreverent thing? I had never said anything like that in my life. I felt a chill by my unfamiliar commands, but I couldn’t take back the words I had let out. Even though I didn’t understand the situation, my body remembered what it had to do, for better or worse.

Damn it. I’ll just leave it at that…!

”

”

I slowly removed the hand holding my head. From that flow, I placed my elbows on the desk and my chin on top of my folded hands. When I stared straight ahead to glare at him from below, the sting of my gaze caused Craig to stop in his tracks and straightened his posture back to its original position.

“…Pardon my insolence.”

“Well, fine. More importantly, Craig, about the question I asked earlier, you haven’t understood my intentions at all, have you? Did you think I was looking for some obvious flattery? I don’t trust your flimsy loyalty to begin with.”

A cold voice reverberated in the vast room in an indifferent manner. The lack of intonation was because my emotions couldn’t keep up. I was just moving my tongue around as if reading a script. I was anxious that I might’ve been just talking randomly. I didn’t understand the meaning behind them until it was put into words and thought about how strange that feeling was.

“I’ll only ask you once more. If I die here right now… what would happen?”

There will be no second time. Give me the answers I want. It was a question where I dared to include such intentions in a straightforward manner.

“……If I may speak frankly,”

Craig seemed to give in as he read behind my words. With a bitter look, he gave a different answer from earlier.

“I don’t think this place would be much different than it is now. If anything were to happen to Lord Heinreid, then His Majesty the King will send a substitute lord to take over your duties at once. The tax has been raised to its maximum, so… this will not change, and even your engagement to Lady Angelica will perhaps be tied again to another lord.”

I was surprised by the information that came out one after the other without hesitation, and I promptly scribbled down notes on the parchment that was spread out. Unlike the dream I had yesterday, it didn’t seem like my personal freedom wasn’t that good…

Well, I’ll think about that later. Let’s see, what was that again? Taxes and… engagement… engagement?! Was that in the original story?! No, it’s not!

Ah, no, but it seemed that there were certainly some of those things around the corner of Heinreid’s memory, or was it… I felt like I was forgetting something. Uhh, was it just a backstory set up for the sake of formality?

Hmm. I had more work to do than I thought. I thought that dying would cause quite a positive impact, but I was told that it wouldn’t change much of anything.

Then would’ve it been better if I act poorly and not provoke the final boss? No matter what the circumstance may be, if the king’s favorite, Heinreid, were to die suddenly, then he would only grow more vigilant. If I screwed up the story that was supposed to go smoothly, then it would just reverse the logical order of things.

…I want to hear a little bit more.

“See, you could answer. That’s right. And while we’re at it, let me ask you, if that ‘what if’ happens… what would you personally think?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think, because if that happens, the incompetent guards who couldn’t protect their lord will be hanged together. The prisoners in the basement will also be disposed of, except for the ‘ones who should take over’. Therefore… even if I am not trusted, I will protect my lord.”

“…Hmm.”

Okay, I’m glad I asked. I shouldn’t kill myself in haste. Now, I get it… Currently in this country, the way to atone for a crime is basically with life, so why can’t they just start a rebellion right away? I may be open to attack at every point, but as long as the king is alive, judgment will come.

More or less, Craig and the so-called prisoners… who were just ordinary citizens, will eventually be freed if we proceed according to the story, but there was no guarantee that people whose names weren’t mentioned in the novel would last that long.

“Permission to speak, my lord.”

“Hm? Yes, go ahead.”

He suddenly asked me while I was pondering for a while, staring at the notes I had added. I returned a slightly dumb reply, partly due to the fact that the script full of oppressive dialogue had disappeared from my brain before I even knew it, but Craig continued on with his words.

“Is there any meaning to this… question that you knew the answer to?”

It’s preparation for my death.

…Of course, I couldn’t say that. Well, if I were to answer vaguely, so as not to create a major distortion…

“It’s… confirmation.”

“Confirmation, huh.”

I didn’t know what his response meant. But Craig repeated the words softly and fell silent, lowering his eyes as if he felt somehow regretful.