Abandoned Bastard of the Royal Family Volume 3 Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3 – Special Law in Effect

“Make the king step down?”

Right now, several key political figures were present in front of Schild and having a meeting to confirm their future course of actions.

The first princess, Cymbium, one who hosted the current meeting and also the one representing the Ryngberg House,

The former patriarch, Elovairo, representing the biggest of the three major noble families, the Oscars,

His granddaughter, the second princess Serenea, whom the Oscar family was planning to fete as their queen,

The female knight Carney, representing the Leschbeins, the last of the three major families,

And finally, Schild himself, who is now discovered as the kingdom’s hidden prince by the parties above.

“This is just what it means to invoke Article 64 of the Magna Carta.”

The former patriarch of the House Oscar, whose appearance was like that of a dead tree, initiated.

As for the person himself, he was in a similar state as Cymbium, not at peace knowing that all the efforts he had made to keep his house alive were being played upon by someone else.

“As said in the article, the succession to the throne can only trigger in two ways. Either the king himself announces his intention to abdicate, or he goes into hiding.”

“Or when the king himself dies.”

“You don’t have to be blunt with the specifics, young man.”

This would be the normal way of doing things, and the one normally known by many as it was the one always happening.

“As for the abdication of the king, it is decided and should come out of the mouth of the very king himself and in front of several important witnesses. No one else can speak this out on behalf of him, even if they were his direct vassals and people who usually speak out to represent the king’s body.”

“If you do that, you must be prepared for extreme punishment at least. However, there is only one procedure by which a vassal can declare the king’s resignation, and that is… The sixty-fourth article of the Magna Carta, also known as “The Great Charter.”

Roughly, it says.

On the initiative of a royal family member, excluding the king, the king is automatically removed from the throne if more than ninety percent of the total number of lords ruling the country sign a consent of his abdication. No consent or answer is required from the king himself.

A new king would then be elected immediately by a special emergency meeting of all the lords in the country.

“If we succeed in this, the rest will be easy. Then, all that remains is for the new king to dismiss Dernonos by a decree and release father.”

“This is the only way to bring him back to us – through a united front……or rather, this is the only way to do it without shedding any blood.”

However, to Schild,

“H-hold on a minute. I just want to meet the king. So how did it come to making him abdicate the throne altogether? And you’re all saying it like it was only a matter of fact! Also, Cymbium, you said you guys will plug up any holes that I would create from barging in, but won’t this make another hole for us to fall into?”

“Schild, once you barge in, there’s no turning back for you. So we might as well do our best to plan the worst-case scenario and confront him, and make him abdicate the throne if needed to.”

“But he’s still your father, you know?”

“And he will be, even if he ceases to be the king.”

Cymbium began to talk firmly.

“He is my beloved father, and nothing will change that. I just want him to come back to me. And I will do whatever it takes to do this. It is of no particular importance that father is still the king or not.”

“And also,” the retired patriarch also supplemented.

“It has been three, no, four years since he has been absent from all official duties due to illness. It is already a state emergency for the king to be absent from state affairs for that long. Normally, the king himself would announce his abdication after a year of such absence. We have already lost too much time.”

In the case of the current king, not only was there no declaration of abdication from him until now, but not even a word from the king himself could be heard.

“The reason for the existence of Article 64 of the Magna Carta is to have the king step down regardless of his will. Without it, the only other option we have is a revolution, which would no doubt put the whole country into bloody turmoil which all of us doesn’t want.”

Schild still wasn’t convinced of what the two people had pointed, but he couldn’t think of anything to say in response, so he just kept quiet.

“Such is Article 64 of the Magna Carta, but for it to be enacted, we must overcome a rather high hurdle.”

“You need the agreement of more than 90% of all the lords? That’s……almost impossible, isn’t it?”

“That is to ensure that the king has an absolute authority at all times. That only if almost all the people and subjects were united against him that he could only step down. It also means that there shouldn’t have conflicting interests between the subjects or else it wouldn’t be effective.”

If the king could be sacked so easily, his existence would be meaningless.

In addition, the fact that only a member of the royal family can propose the charter acts as a brake to prevent the vassals from abusing it.

“This time, the motion for Article 64 of the Magna Carta will be spearheaded jointly by myself and Serenea, the only “announced” members of the royalty. In addition, I will mobilize the power of the three major noble houses to obtain the agreement of each lord.”

The three major noble houses are considered the largest factions that control the country.

The Leschbein House.

The Ryngberg House,

And the Oscar House.

If these three families worked together, they would pretty much cover almost every land in the entire kingdom.

“So this is what you meant when you said you could only do it if you’ll be able to work together with the Oscars.”

“Correct. After all, of the more than three hundred lords in the country, forty percent belong to the Oscar faction. As for us, thirty percent belong to the Ryngbergs, my mother’s family.”

“As for the Leschbeins, about ten percent were loyal to them.”

It was then when the former patriarch and the first princess’s eyes turned sharp towards each other.

Or rather, toward another person, which was the female knight of the Leschbeins, who had attended the meeting but had not said a word until now.

“Carney, you are included in the meeting, you know? Since we have the former patriarch here, Serenea doesn’t need to talk, but, It would be very helpful if you could at least mention the situation of your house in between.”

“Those who still follow House Leschbein are loyal people who have not abandoned their master’s house despite its decline. They are the smallest in number among the three noble families, yes, but in terms of trust, they are far superior to those who follow us. Thus, please don’t devalue yourself and also state your opinion on this matter, Lady Carney.”

However, Carney still did not answer any of their calls.

“……uuu.”

Or rather, she didn’t know how or what to respond, only making a tearful face that already told Cymbium and Elovairo of everything.

“I’m sorry, Carney. I tasked you to do something impossible for you.”

“Princess Cymbium, I……”

“That’s okay. I’ll ask the head of the Leschbeins in person instead. But I’ll have to mention your name too if it’s alright with you.”

“Yes! With pleasure!”

The meeting was going on with beautiful results until Schild realized another problem.

“Wait a minute.”

He did the math again.

The percentage of lords that each of the three major noble houses can influence.

House Oscar, forty percent.

House Ryngberg, thirty percent.

House Leschbein, ten percent.

The total of the above is only eighty percent.

If this was a normal election, it would be an overwhelming victory.

“To invoke the Magna Carta, 90% of the lords have to agree, right? We still haven’t enough.”

“That’s right. For this reason, the only way to secure votes from here on out is to campaign steadily and in a straightforward manner.”

It was an outlook that lacked guarantee.

“I’d say it has a 50-50 chance of success,” the retired patriarch made a statement.

“It is a fact that many of the lords are worried about the king’s long illness. If we can appeal to their fears, we may be able to win over half of the remaining 20 percent.”

“However,” the patriarch continued.

“Despite the lack of presence of the king, we haven’t really encountered any major problems lately, well, if we put aside the recent monster swarm and the political unrest brought by our families chasing the succession rights. In short, Dernonos had done a wonderful job, too wonderful in fact, that we don’t know where to start picking him.”

“Because of this, we should expect, no, we must expect a certain number of people who would think that there’s no need to overturn the situation that may greatly disturb the current status quo. Those who would say that “if it isn’t broken, then don’t fix it” kind of people.”

This applies not only to the remaining twenty percent but also to the people that supported the Oscars and the Ryngbergs. As such, they must work hard to crush such doubts and consolidate the policies if they want to get solid support of their faction altogether.

“It will be difficult for us to reach out to the floating independent voters if we can’t even expect much from our own, but we still have to do it somehow,” Cymbium also started her speech with unusual determination.

“True, we are always told that no problems are occurring on the surface, but the fact that the country’s government is still running without a king is by itself abnormal. If we let this continue, the raison d’etre of the royal family may soon be called into question.”

“In addition, was there really not a single problem happening? This is only my speculation, but I think all the commotion we had made, like fighting the royal succession and the like, was only to cause a diversion and hide what they are planning to do. Whatever it is, I just hope we aren’t too late to find it out.”

“That prime minister too. The more we speak of him, the more I find his presence frighteningly eerie. We have no idea what his motives are for hiding the king to us, or if it is his own intentions or there is still someone else bigger behind this.”

“This is why we should take preemptive action before the situation reaches a critical point. That’s also the real purpose of the Magna Carta. Therefore, I suggest we take the gamble and see if we can get the remaining ten percent of the votes to reveal their plans once and for all.”

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