"Sir, we are selling at six silver for a gold coin already!"
Theo didn't even bat an eye, refusing to look away from how things were developing at the court below.
"Any of my assets left?"
"Only some minor elements. We are selling them off as we speak."
Clark, Theo's chief administrator, continued to whisper his report.
"And the guilds?"
"Still only halfway there. Big clans are smelling the blood in the water."
Theo nodded his head before taking a quick glance at space just above his secretary's head.
A habit he practiced with pretty much everyone, friend, foe, or stranger alike.
That's where their countdown appeared, after all.
Theo's one ability to help him navigate the treacherous waters of the life as the last remaining prince of the dynasty's old line. And rather than offering him some power-up or progression ladder…
It merely revealed the time of the person's untimely death.
That's how far Theo managed to get in the twenty years since he reincarnated into this world. And since then, he saw his father die, his uncle take over - both the throne and the queen - putting Theo in quite the precarious situation.
Still, Theo couldn't care less about all the political games or the inter-dynastic fights.
Because his unique - not to say useless - ability offered him one extremely unique perspective.
A realization that forced Theo upon a path he could no longer afford any hesitation for.
Because the timers of pretty much the great majority of all those that Theo met in his life were worryingly the same.
It was as if the entire continent was designed to die off in exactly seven more years.
A hard deadline for Theo to figure out how to stop this disaster from happening.
Thankfully, after fifteen years of careful preparations and slow accumulation, he was ready.
"Sir, we are trading five silvers on a gold coin!" Carl reported in a hushed voice after accepting a slip of paper from another servant.
"So we are already selling at half the price, huh?"
Theo smiled to his thoughts.
"Halt all the sales, move the remaining properties to the seeds, and set them up for the snitch." Theo ordered in a small, hushed voice, his eyes drawn to the scene at court.
A scene where Duke Carlston was here with his daughter, Emilia - Theo's fiancée.
All to demand explanation for one of the scandals Theo scheduled precisely for three weeks ago, to account for the time the news needed to reach the duke's ears and for him to organize a response.
"But sir, we can still…"
"It's not like we will have much use for that gold. Now, move. We are running out of time."
"Your majesty, this cannot stand!"
Below Theo's small, hidden balcony, the duke raised his complaints to the kingdom's highest powers.
"I've only ever turned a blind eye to the prince's antics, but this…!"
Theo watched with a deadpan expression as a man he once thought his uncle closed his fist and raised it… only to powerlessly relax his hand while letting it drop down.
"I'm afraid this is too much. I'm sorry, but I can't let that kind of man take my daughter's hand!"
Theo closed his eyes and sighed.
The moment was finally here.
Still hidden, he threw one last glance at Emily.
While merely perturbed and with her arms combatively crossed over her chest, her eyes still had a clear, focused look.
For a moment, the mask of perfect disregard cracked on Theo's face.
'It's what needs to be done.' Theo gritted his teeth. But this was no time to hesitate.
Not with the clock above Emily's head now reaching below sixty-four thousand hours left.
Just a bit over seven years.
That's how much Emily currently had left before some tragic incident would cut her life short… exactly as much time as everyone else in her closest vicinity.
"My king," Emily stepped out when it was finally her time to speak. "I bear no bad will towards the prince, but…" She bit down on her lower lip before instinctively resting her head down on the side of her belt, where usually her sword would hang. "But if the news we heard about hold true, I can no longer afford to overlook him."
Theo's mask cracked even further, revealing a pained twitch at the very corner of his mouth.
'That's right.' He thought, sinking even deeper into the shadows of his hidden balcony. 'And the next move goes to…'
"That cannot be," King Stephen, Theo's stepfather, boomed from his throne. "Artur, my friend," he called out with the usual, overconfident grin plastered on his face. "I understand the prince's downsides, but I won't stand it if we lose the marriage between our houses!"
This was a promise between the two clans.
A promise Arthur Carlston made with Theo's actual dad, and a promise King Stephen was fully intending to uphold.
But that meant, as much of an eyesore Theo's position in the court was to him, he could at least maintain the good relationship with the powerful duke.
All of which would go down the drain if the betrothal agreement were to be canceled!
Emily pressed her eyes shut and tightened her hands into fists.
Then, after taking a moment to brace herself, she looked up directly to the king.
"In which case, I'm willing to marry either of his stepbrothers."
A cold chill ran down Theo's spine.
For a moment, everything stopped. Theo's vision turned red while his lungs forgot how to draw breath.
'Is that so..?' he thought, pressing his fist against his chest.
Even if this was a politically logical conclusion to all of Theo's plans, a rational result of his own plans and actions…
It still stung to hear those words come from the mouth of the one diligent childhood friend, promised bride since the youngest years, who didn't give up on him all the way to the moment Theo's supposed actions reached an irredeemable level.
The young prince allowed his hand to drop from his chest as he slowly forced his body to relax and his mind to clear.
'If I don't do this, she will be dead in seven years anyway,' he thought, hoping to use reason to combat his own feelings. 'If it's the price of saving her and everyone else…'
For a moment, a single memory flashed in the prince's mind. A sweet memory of his childhood, from before his system awakened, robbing him of the innocent joy of reincarnating in a world of sword and magic. A moment that included him, Emily, the royal garden, a crown of flowers, and an innocent promise bestowed the moment he adorned Emily's head with the flower crown.
A memory that then proceeded to burn away, as if someone threw it into a furnace.
Theo took a deep breath and raised his chin. His expression has stabilized, clean of all emotions that were all replaced by a nonchalant mask of an arrogant prince. Then, upon reigning in his own grief, he started to descend down from his hidden balcony.
"That's certainly an interesting offer," the king readily picked up on the idea. If he could change Emily's partner from Theo to one of his own sons…
Even though Theo, as he moved to position, couldn't see the court, the prince could perfectly imagine his stepfather's face.
"Still, I believe there's one voice that we have yet to hear, in a matter that involves him more than any of us."
In the end, the king lacked the guts to openly disregard Theo's position.
The capital city in particular was the seat of power for those who openly supported the old blood. And Theo, being the last of the old line, was still firmly locked in the position of the kingdom's heir.
"Prince Theo, step out."
Theo followed the king's command, stepping from behind one of the banners hanging from the inner balconies of the first floor all the way down to the ground.
"You've called, my king?"
Theo pressed his right arm against his guts before bowing his upper body.
"Save us all the trouble of pretending that you don't know what's going on. Instead, tell us your views on the matter."
Theo's mouth twitched.
'You spineless piece of shit.'
With his modern knowledge of a reincarnator, Theo could've long since dismantled this entire dynasty and forced the whole area into a state of rapid development…
If not for that accursed timer.
For a second, Theo glanced above everyone's head, to where pretty much everyone in the court displayed the same number.
Save for the few who would either die of natural causes or meet with a premature end before the cut-off date, everyone here would die roughly seven years from now.
No.
Theo has long since reached the limits of how much he could figure out while acting as the kingdom's prince. And by all means, introducing change within an existing civic structure was infinitely harder than building something up to par from scratch.
Because within the few years Theo needed to push past several industrial checkpoints, he could transform even a tiny colony into a behemoth easily capable of swallowing an entire continent.
'If only there was more time…'
Theo raised his eyes to the king.
"I shall follow whatever the scripture commands."
"And so it shall be," the king smiled. "You are hereby stripped of all your possessions…"
Theo smirked.
Who knew that bastard could be so greedy!
"Not a chance," Theo raised his chin and locked his arms over his chest. "Unless you are willing to tell all the cheating nobles that they shall lose all their deeds."
Even now, while selling off everything that wasn't bolted to the ground at half its actual price, Theo kept a firm hold over the position of the richest person in the whole capital, king included.
And that meant more than just money.
That meant the power of having his interests strictly bound to all the other powerful figures of the capital. And those powerful people wouldn't stand it if the king dared to infringe upon their gold.
"Is that so?" Stephen smiled, raising his chin to look down on Theo along the bridge of his nose. "In that case…"
Theo's face grew still.
'Will it work?'
Even now, he couldn't help but have doubts. Even after literal years of conditioning the king for this one very specific moment.
"But you…"
Emily squinted her eyes.
"It was drugs…"
"Prince Theodore Quadragon, I hereby order you to settle Garda Fold!"
Despite his obvious limitations, Theo's stepfather remained a good politician.
He could sense that if any doubts escalated, the talk of changing Emily's marriage partner could fall through.
And this was too big of a chance for him to snatch Theo's close ally in the looming succession war for when Stephen's regency allowance would end.
In a sense, it was Stephen's last call, with only three months before he would be forced to step down and pass the crown down.
"You are to depart immediately, and settle that region while reflecting upon the sins of your past!"
Duke Carlston twitched. Emily's eyes jumped from the king to Theo.
'Oh right, that scandal was about drugs, not cheating,' Theo nearly smirked as he realized his mistake. 'Well, whatever,' he thought as he dropped down to one knee.
"I've received your command."
Then, he finally looked up and looked straight into the king's face.
"And I shall depart to fulfill it immediately."