Sister I am the Queen in This Life [Novel] Chapter 160

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: Explosion
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“Yes, Father? To the Kingdom of Gallico?”

It was the first time his father had summoned him since Queen Marguerite’s passing. Alfonso had expected Leo III to say something along the lines of, ‘You must have been through a lot,’ or, ‘You’ve worked so hard overseeing your mother’s funeral.’

The prince was taken aback by a topic he had never even imagined. It wasn't just because Leo III was acting emotionally detached.

A royal with rights to the throne does not cross the border unless for a war of conquest. Grand Duchess Lariesa, a collateral member of the royal family, leaving the Kingdom of Gallico to visit the Kingdom of Etruscan had been unconventional enough. But the sole heir to the throne? Especially now, when the two kingdoms were in a hostile relationship?

“That’s right. I need you to go as the representative of the Kingdom of Etruscan and negotiate.”

Leo III waved his hand, dismissing the courtiers around them. From Marquis Valdesal, Count Marquez, and Count Contarini, who were key members of the *Lesser Curia Regis*, to the attendants, everyone watched the king's expression and filed out of the room like a receding tide.

In the king’s vast audience chamber, only Leo III, seated on the throne, and Prince Alfonso, standing respectfully before him, remained. Alfonso smoothed the frown threatening to form on his face and asked his father.

“A truce negotiation?”

“Well, something of the sort.”

Unable to bring himself to tell his son, ‘Go and finalize your own marriage alliance negotiations,’ Leo III trailed off.

“What are the terms of the truce? Since they marched their army into our territory without permission, I believe we must demand reparations.”

However, hearing his son’s hardline stance, it seemed the two were at cross-purposes. To prevent his son from going to Gallico and ruining everything, a bit more explanation was necessary.

“That’s not how politics works! You fool.”

Having seized the upper hand by berating his son, Leo III lowered his voice and spoke insinuatingly.

“If compromise and cooperation are possible, you must take that path. The Kingdom of Gallico has brought up the marriage alliance again. The terms are even better this time. If the marriage goes through, we’re guaranteed to receive the chemical formula.”

“Father!”

Alfonso couldn't help but raise his voice at Leo III's absurd words.

But Leo III, already displeased that his son was not being compliant, glared at Alfonso. Alfonso paid him no mind and looked straight back at Leo III. What was wrong was wrong, and what was unjust was unjust.

“Father. I thought this matter was settled. Grand Duchess Lariesa left Etruscan to take responsibility for her actions, and the marriage alliance was broken.”

“What responsibility?”

Leo III feigned ignorance. Prince Alfonso, whose direct communication with his father had been blocked by Queen Marguerite, was momentarily flustered. Could it be that his father didn't know what the Grand Duchess had done...?

*Such a young, naive boy.*

Leo III felt a secret satisfaction watching his flustered son. The boy was still young, still within his grasp.

It wasn't that Leo III knew nothing about Grand Duchess Lariesa.

While the late Queen Marguerite had never told him the precise truth—that ‘Grand Duchess Lariesa ordered the death of Lady de Mare, and Alfonso, in an attempt to protect her, killed Duke Mireille as he was carrying out that order’—he was still a veteran monarch who had held the throne for nearly thirty years.

When he heard the jester’s testimony that Alfonso had killed Duke Mireille, he had already sensed there was some hidden story he didn't know. And when the Grand Duchess secluded herself in her room before hastily returning to her home country on its command, he had realized she must be involved.

But Leo III intended to feign ignorance. It would conflict with his objective: sending his son to the Kingdom of Gallico to obtain the chemical formula.

Leo III began to speak in a deliberately benevolent tone.

“You’ve never met your maternal relatives, have you? With your mother’s passing, they must all be filled with sorrow. Imagine how comforted they would be if you, who so resemble her, went to console them!”

It was an absurd suggestion. When a queen dies, her relatives should come to pay their respects, not the other way around. To tell the chief mourner to go abroad and console his relatives was a notion so ridiculous a passing dog would snort at it. But Leo III was undeterred.

“Besides, Grand Duchess Lariesa may lack some social grace, but she doesn't seem like a bad girl. Go and try to get along with her this time.”

“Father.”

At last, a crease formed between Prince Alfonso’s neat brows. Leo III ignored his son's expression and continued.

“It must be because Grand Duchess Lariesa lacks beauty. You don’t choose a wife for her looks, you immature boy.”

Alfonso frowned and replied.

“Your Majesty, my reluctance to accept Grand Duchess Lariesa is not because of her appearance. Even her lack of virtue is not the primary reason.”

“There’s no shame in a man desiring a beautiful woman. It’s all right to admit it. Why be so shy in front of your own father?”

Still not grasping the situation, Leo III chuckled lightly and added another word.

“Your mother wasn't a beauty either, but see how well she raised you. A woman doesn’t need to be pretty. She should be gentle and modest. And it’s even better if she brings a large dowry. Like the Gaeta territory, or a chemical formula.”

“Father!”

At the mention of Queen Marguerite, who had not yet even been buried, Alfonso could no longer hold back and raised his voice.

“It has not yet been twenty-one days since Mother passed away! The burial is not even complete! How can you say such things, and how can you already be discussing marriage!”

Blood rushed to Leo III’s face at Alfonso's rebuking tone. To cover his shame, he raised his voice and roared back.

“You are still so shortsighted!”

A vein bulged on Leo III’s neck.

“Filial piety is the duty of all people, but how can you not know that the royal family must pursue something greater! Mourning your mother’s death comes after serving the national interest!”

“Father!”

Alfonso did not back down at all.

“Upholding justice is also for the good of the country!”

The prince had no intention of yielding a single word to his father, who seemed to be gravely mistaken about something.

“The Queen of the great Kingdom of Etruscan, my mother, has passed away. The fiend responsible has not yet been caught and is still at large!”

A vein bulged on Alfonso’s forehead as his voice rose. He was fiercely confronting his father. For Leo III, who had only ever seen the neat and composed Alfonso shaped by Queen Marguerite, this was a first.

“My mother’s killer is a foreigner, and no foreign country, including the Kingdom of Gallico, has been cleared of suspicion! Yet you want me, the heir to the throne, to go to a country that might harbor the killer—a country that, instead of offering condolences for the death of the princess they sent, dispatched an army to our border at such a sensitive time!”

“You… you insolent boy…”

“I understand very well that you find it difficult to back out of the marriage with Gallico because of the chemical formula.”

“And yet you still act this way!”

“Because your direction is wrong!”

Leo III’s face turned crimson. He seemed truly enraged.

Observing his father’s expression, Prince Alfonso, perhaps feeling he had gone too far, softened his voice and spoke gently.

“I am well aware that you are striving to strengthen the central army and make the nation prosperous.”

Leo III finally looked at Alfonso with an expression that said, *Perhaps this boy will listen to reason after all*.

“However, self-strengthening is achieved from within; it is not something that suddenly appears with a single strategic weapon brought in from the outside.”

Leo III’s face began to contort.

“We must start by increasing investment in the knightly orders and organizing a standing army. Simply acquiring Gallico’s gunpowder will not suddenly create a fully-formed artillery corps!”

*Crash!*

The sound of a glass shattering filled the empty hall as Leo III, his face as red as a tomato, finally lost his temper and threw the cup from the side table to the floor.

“You greenhorn…!”

Leo III’s roar followed.

“How dare a brat who knows nothing try to lecture his own father!”

The high marble ceiling reverberated with the shouts.

This was why the late Queen Marguerite had desperately tried to prevent her son from ever broaching this subject with her husband.

Leo III had a terrible, irrational hatred for anyone who challenged his policies. It was even worse when such words came from someone he felt inferior to.

A dozen high-ranking nobles had been pushed out of politics after falling afoul of Leo III's difficult nature. Even Queen Marguerite herself could not bring up certain topics with her husband for this reason.

Leo III had doted on the legitimate son he'd had late in life, but that was only because Queen Marguerite had carefully managed the boy, giving him no opportunity to meddle in political affairs.

The moment he realized that his grown son—a son highly respected by the people and nobility for his virtue, the ‘Golden Prince’—had emerged as his rival and potential replacement… Leo III’s attitude would change in an instant.

“Your role is to quietly learn and study so that you may become a great king later, not to step forward and act as if you are king already!”

he roared, a vein bulging in his neck.

“Out of pity for you after your mother’s death, I intended to entrust you with a great responsibility, but you are nothing but arrogant and insolent!”

If he had his way, he would lock the prince in his palace and forbid him from going out for six months. But the Kingdom of Gallico had specifically stipulated that ‘Prince Alfonso must visit the Palace of Montpellier.’ Alfonso had to cooperate.

Instead of coaxing or placating him, Leo III resorted to threats, as was his nature.

“Did you think I didn’t know you killed Duke Mireille?”

Prince Alfonso’s body flinched and stiffened. Leo III seized the opening and pressed his advantage.

“Do you know why I covered for you? Because I could not allow a stain on the future king. And do you know what a future king must have above all else? Responsibility!”

He deliberately lowered his voice to sound authoritative.

“By killing Duke Mireille, you threw away a possibility for this country! The gunpowder formula! The chance to become a great power! Don’t you feel sorry for your future subjects!”

“…”

It was a dilemma that had long tormented Prince Alfonso. The Kingdom of Etruscan currently had no proper central standing army. Building one from the ground up was the top priority. But obtaining the gunpowder formula would certainly not hinder the cultivation of a strong military.

There was the possibility of excessive interference from the Kingdom of Gallico and the burden of having a direct descendant of an enemy nation as queen, but these were problems that could be largely resolved if they obtained the chemical formula itself, rather than just a supply of gunpowder.

Leo III declared curtly.

“You will depart for the Kingdom of Gallico. I will assign Count Marquez to handle the practical matters. Your departure is scheduled for tomorrow morning.”