Abandoned Bastard of the Royal Family Volume 5 Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Chapter 24 – The Conference that Dances but Doesn’t Advance

Marquis Sambani was originally a man of some standing and ability in the Oscar Faction.

However, over the years, partly because of the incompetence of the current head, he is now daring to do this act of rashness akin to rebelling against his master, though his long discontent with his middle-class life and his growing self-confidence might have also had a part in it.

Anyway, the sudden appearance of Schild has given him an ambition.

He hoped that if he could get the good graces of Prince Schild, who was a strong candidate but had no one to back him up, he would be able to eliminate the three most powerful nobles and replace himself in their place.

He was not the only one who thought of this.

Naturally, many others had the same idea, and they pledged to cooperate and establish a federation for the same purpose.

They called themselves the Aristocratic Federation.

Day and night, they gathered to discuss, “How can we bring Schild to our fold?” arguing and debating how to win the prince over to their side.

…all while they enjoy gorgeous amounts of delicious meals and liquor in their mouths.

And such meetings are still taking place today.

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“it failed? Again?”

Marquis Sambani questioned bitterly after receiving a report from a lowly official.

They had plotted to investigate Schild’s background using a “New King Recordkeeper” as a cover. However, the recordkeeper they hired suddenly refused to hand over the investigation record for some reason.

It could only mean two things.

One is that she has found something that was gravely detrimental to Prince Schild but was compromised and was ordered to stay silent,

Or two, she discovered the ploy of the federation herself and had a change of heart mid-way and refused to do anything that would be detrimental to Prince Schild.

Yes. The scribe Shokki, now Secretary Shokki, was unaware of the nobles’ plot and was acting out of pure intentions toward Prince Schild all along.

“Prince Schild is the illegitimate son of the present King Preslate I and some village girl…”

Cymbium, the first princess, explained up to that point, but nothing more was said.

Even the village’s name where he was born was not revealed because of Schild’s request that “I don’t want to bother my mother”.

If this investigation had been successful, it would have revealed many things.

Like if they had found out about the mother of Prince Schild, they would have used his mother against him. After all, they believed that a man, no matter how strong they are, cannot resist his mother’s woes.

Having a mother taken hostage for the son to do their bidding.

Certainly, if they had succeeded in gathering more of his private information, the outcome would have come out differently.

However, the investigation mission failed. That was the harsh truth.

The aristocrats bit their fingernails at the difficulty that they did not expect. They’re already wondering if this gathering would even be able to succeed in bringing down the enemy flagship from behind.

“…Come to think of it, the scribe you deployed as the executor of our plans is a woman.”

“Yes.”

“And a good-looking one, too, of a certain age.”

“Yes.”

Shokki, the scribe, had a slightly premature personality considering her age, but her body was that of a reasonably mature adult woman in the prime of her sexual life.

“If so, why did you choose such a person in the first place! Prince Schild’s amorous nature! That alone is already well-known without any need for prior investigation!”

It was not difficult to imagine that the beautiful secretary Shokki was struck by Schild’s poisonous fangs and was transformed into his meat urinal, which could have become the reason she switched sides.

“The same could also be said to that stupid bachelorette Adel-something! Why the hell did you even go to the extent of giving a beautiful woman to a lecherous prince? You should have expected them to get ensnared by him! Who the hell recommended them?”

“About that, Marquis…”

One of the nobles raised his hand.

“It was Viscount Akhlaki who recommended Bachelorette Ardelheide, and it was Baron Lancage who recommended the scribe Shokki, but it seems that these two have other agendas in mind.”

“Other agendas?”

“It is a different agenda from us aiming for the heights of nobility. You see, Prince Schild is a well-known philanderer, right? Him violating the wife and the child of Prime Minister Dernonos, whom he had executed with his own hands, in public, pretty much proves this as a fact.”

This alone was enough to make Schild’s preferences known.

“You see, though as gruesome as it was, that scene also brought an idea for the nobles – and that is to offer their daughters and Sisters to Prince Schild to become his mistress. To flatter the new king.”

“No way…!”

“Bachelor Ardelheide is the daughter of Viscount Akhlaki’s sister. Scribe Shokki is not related to Baron Lancage, but as the daughter of a deceased friend, he has provided financial support to her more than once, making her almost like an adopted daughter to him. It’s a beautiful story, isn’t it?”

The explaining aristocrat exclaimed sarcastically.

Meanwhile, blue veins started to pop out of the forehead of Marquis Sambani, their ally – and de facto leader.

“You mean that these guys took advantage of our federation’s plans to bring their relatives closer to Prince Schild!?”

“Please wait, Marquis!”

“It’s just a coincidence! We have no plans to take advantage of you!”

Viscount Akhlaki and Baron Lancage, called by the Marquis, cringed and mumbled their excuses.

However, the anger of the Marquis was unrelenting.

“How dare you! Traitors to your own self-interest! You are hereby expelled from this federation! Leave this room at once!”

He shouts as he throws the cup of liquor at the “comrades” in question.

“Throw them away! Throw them away!”

“You selfish pricks who could only think about yourselves!”

“What’s the good of it if it is only you who benefits!?”

“Forgiving such cowards will only impair the unity of this federation! For it is detrimental for us to cooperate if we want to win against the three major noble houses!”

“We support the decision of the Marquis! Expel them, expel them! Them who are even willing to sell their own wives for their own safety!”

The other nobles joined in, throwing the leftover food and wine at the traitors.

The two men fled from the secret meeting place in a huff.

Only after seeing them leave the place completely did the Marquis speak again.

“We have failed because of the presence of such people. But from now on, we have to unite strongly! For if only our minds and hearts become as one will we have the chance to succeed!”

“…with all due respect, Marquis, sir,”

Another nobleman speaks up again, interrupting the Marquis’s speech.

“What if the methods done by Viscount Akhlaki and Baron Lancage were right, sir? Prince Schild’s fondness for women is well known. That much is certain.”

“So?”

“What I am implying is, sir, why don’t we also offer the prince beautiful women of the same age who are also related to us? I’m sure that the prince would be very happy to receive them.”

The troupe gasps at the nobleman’s idea.

“Ooh, good idea! Thankfully, our house still has a daughter around the same age as the Prince! She’s a good woman, and her hips are big! Unfortunately, she got engaged the other day, but I can arrange her divorce to present her to Prince Schild!”

“Wait a minute! We don’t have that kind of woman at our house! The closest is only my sister’s daughter, which is just ten years old! On the contrary, maybe he would be pleased if she is that young?”

Each of the nobles unhesitatingly threw remarks as if their daughters and sisters were nothing but dogs and livestock kept to be bred.

“No.”

However, Marquis Sambani, the de facto leader of this federation, held all these suggestions down.

“How can you still come up with such a plan? The three great nobles are already pushing ahead of us with that tactic and have succeeded in offering numerous beautiful and talented women to the king for generations! That’s hundreds of years of experience ahead of you! And yet, you still dare to say we compete with them in the same field they specialize in?”

“Ugh…”

The mood at the venue sank down at once.

“Plus, if we do that kind of thing, I’m sure that the three noble families would notice right away. Or rather, if it’s them, then they should already have noticed the hidden agendas of Akhlaki and Lancage way ahead of us!”

“And that is good, right? after all, they would be put in hot water for plotting to have their kin mingle with Prince Schild.”

“What a shallow-minded thinking.” The Marquis rebuked at the last one.

“It won’t happen. Or rather, it would be us who will be put in hot water as a whole because for them, it doesn’t matter what the process is. They would interpret it as the action the federation has taken against them. So even if we try to deny it, it will only be interpreted as us cutting off our tails to save ourselves.”

“Those cowards! Let’s bring them back and beat them to death now!”

Again, the nobles fumed their anger, but the Marquis stopped them by gesturing.

“Pay attention to those guys no more. It is now time we talk about our future.”

We must outwit the three major nobles and stand at the top.

This is our only chance.

Marquis Sambadi wouldn’t dare to lead nor even participate in such a conspiracy if the situation was the same as before.

But now, he was brave to do so because of the incompetence of the current leader of the Oscar faction where he belonged.

He even thinks that the incompetent head of the Oscar House is probably at peace at this very moment, unaware that his own allies are sharpening their claws to defeat him.

However, the Marquis also knew that they must make haste. If they took it too long, the apparition of the Oscars, the dreadful former patriarch whose sharpness has not waned even now, would sniff out their plans and take action on behalf of the current incompetent head instead.

If that were to happen, they would be as good as done.

(Anyway, we can’t waste any more time.)

Should they continue with the plan, or should they stop?

The conspirators also felt that choosing a decision was imminent.

“…we can no longer stop, or rather, it’s too late for it, isn’t it?!”

Even if they stop here, the fact that they colluded to bring down the top of the aristocratic society, the three great noble houses, would still remain.

This could be used against them at a later date.

“Once a Sambani has made up his mind, he will never give up on that until the end. I will definitely make Prince Schild a puppet and stand up at the top of the aristocrats!”

With a renewed yet irksome determination, he stood up.

“Listen up, all of you! Now that it has come to this point, we will need to take emergency measures!”

“Emergency measures?”

“What is that?”

The nobles around him asked, curious about the unusual mood of their leader.

“We had become too cautious in our moves. If you think about it, Prince Schild is a mere commoner until a few days ago.”

“And?”

“What I mean is that Prince Schild right now is just a Prince in name! His title of the prince is nothing but just that, a mere title! He has no political backing whatsoever, and he has no troops nor the resources to defend himself! He is alone!”

“Ooh, now that you think about it, it’s true!”

“He’s currently a toothless lion!”

“There’s not much time left for us. Sooner or later, they will find out about our plans. And when that happens, we cannot take a leisurely stance anymore! Therefore…”

“Therefore?”

“Therefore, we will “approach” Prince Schild and offer him our “protection”! And Prince Schild will agree with this, or rather, we will make him agree! I don’t care if we exert a little more pressure! With all the power and resources of our house and all the nobles we have here, having a mere commoner say yes to us will be nothing but a piece of cake!”

“Right! And once we have Pince Schild in our hands, we will use his power to bring down the three great noble houses for good!”

“Then we will confiscate all their territories and properties by putting a lot of crimes against them! Under our rightful ruler, that is King Schild!”

“For sure! They had been on the upper echelons for far too long, so they must have had a lot of old dirt that has not yet come to light! It will be the perfect time to reveal them all!”

“And when they’re gone, we will become the new rulers! Long live Prince Schild! Long live our puppet Prince!”

And, just like that, the frenzied passions of Marquis Sambani were transmitted to everyone in the secluded meeting room.

It was a meeting of madness.

And Marquis Sambani, who was leading them, was at its center.

“Now is not the time to dilly-dally! The shorter the time we have to execute this, the greater our chance of success! First, gather our forces! Presenting to them our big numbers alone is enough to inflict a big scare! Then, we will work together as one to board the royal castle and become the guardians of our Prince Schild!”

“Prince Schild will surely agree!”

“Justice is on us!”

“Everything is for the country! For the happiness and peace of the people!”

“Do not forgive the tyranny of the three great noble houses!”

Just like that, each member of the “Aristocratic Federation” dispersed to prepare for the “festival”.

Among them, there was only one nobleman who stayed behind.

He attended the meeting but had never spoken once from the beginning till the end.

He snapped his fingers, and a shadow appeared out of nowhere.

It stood behind the nobleman, and it leaned close to him like the shadow it was.

“Tell the apparition,” he began, “The insolent people have begun their outburst. And that he may need to take immediate action.”

“Is that all?”

“Of course, don’t forget to put the credits on my name. That “I took on the dishonorable role of an informant because of my concern for my country and my desire to repay the great debt I owe to my liege.” Please tell him that.”

“As you wish.”

After that, the shadow disappeared.

Elsewhere, aristocrats with the same views also sent urgent news to their respective lords.

Which were naturally the Leschbein House’s Ledotte and the First Princess Cymbium.

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