Chapter 30: Concealing the Truth from the Emperor
After Yumesaki entered the imperial palace, the situation that unfolded could only be described in one sentence.
It was like entering an uninhabited place.
Along the way, not only did the palace guards not block Yumesaki, but many of them even bowed respectfully to him.
These people were actually operatives placed in the imperial palace by the Prime Minister to keep a close eye on the Little Emperor.
In other words, this group of people originally belonged to Prime Minister Honest.
It was just that now Yumesaki had taken over Prime Minister Honest's position, so this group of people naturally became his men.
Before long, Yumesaki met the Little Emperor.
In the original storyline, the Little Emperor trusted Prime Minister Honest completely, even considering the Prime Minister to be his most trustworthy official.
He even treated the Prime Minister like his own father.
Unfortunately, all of his trust was entirely misplaced.
In the Prime Minister's eyes, the Little Emperor was nothing more than a useful pawn.
He didn't have any genuine affection for the Little Emperor whatsoever. The only reason he had chosen to let the Little Emperor ascend the throne was because a child was much easier to control.
Prime Minister Honest didn't care about the Little Emperor's feelings or anything else at all.
"Who are you?"
When the morning court session began, the Little Emperor saw an unfamiliar man standing boldly in the Prime Minister's position, and his face instantly filled with confusion.
Conversely, the surrounding ministers who saw the Little Emperor's bewildered expression began to look at one another.
What was going on? Why didn't the Little Emperor even recognize the Prime Minister?
Had the Little Emperor lost his memory, or was there some sort of falling out between him and the Prime Minister?
In reality, this was purely because Yumesaki found it amusing, so he hadn't altered the Little Emperor's memories.
However, this action of his inadvertently allowed the small, conscientious faction within the court to see a glimmer of hope.
The members of the conscientious faction assumed the Little Emperor was sending a signal to confront Prime Minister Honest, causing them all to become incredibly excited.
Therefore, one by one, they stepped forward and began to lodge accusations against the Prime Minister right in front of the Little Emperor.
Prime Minister Honest had acted arbitrarily and tyrannically for so many years; the mistakes and evil deeds he had committed were countless. Picking out a few random cases from the past would already constitute a major crime resulting in the confiscation of property and the execution of an entire clan.
Thus, this group of people from the conscientious faction didn't need to dig hard for faults at all, as the Prime Minister's crimes could simply be listed off the top of their heads.
Unfortunately, the Little Emperor's focus was not on the Prime Minister's crimes at all.
Instead, it was entirely on the figure of the Prime Minister himself.
He didn't know Yumesaki, but looking at the attitude of everyone else, they clearly regarded this unfamiliar man as the Prime Minister.
This was incredibly bizarre.
"Just who exactly are you?"
The Little Emperor questioned Yumesaki once again, wanting to confirm who Yumesaki really was. Why was he standing in the Prime Minister's place? Where had his Prime Minister Honest gone?
Yumesaki replied with a smile, "Your Majesty, I am Prime Minister Honest. Is Your Majesty perhaps feeling confused? Do you not even recognize me?"
The Little Emperor shook his head and said, "I do not know you. You are not my Prime Minister Honest."
The people from the conscientious faction who witnessed this scene grew even more thrilled. In their view, it was impossible for the Little Emperor to truly not recognize Prime Minister Honest.
The reason the Little Emperor was speaking this way had to be because he wanted to sever ties with Prime Minister Honest through this method.
What did this mean? It showed that the Little Emperor could no longer tolerate being under Prime Minister Honest's thumb.
He wanted to reclaim his power and become a true emperor, not Prime Minister Honest's puppet.
Therefore, right now was the perfect opportunity to bring down Prime Minister Honest and cleanse the entire court.
With that, the members of the conscientious faction launched another wave of attacks against Yumesaki.
Of course, this attack didn't mean they rushed forward to grab Yumesaki, beat him up, and throw him into a dungeon.
Rather, they planned to topple this Prime Minister through a political struggle, strip him of all his official titles, and then throw him into prison.
As a result, their accusations became sharper and sharper, one could even say lethal.
If this happened to anyone else, having ten lives wouldn't be enough to survive it.
Regrettably, they vastly underestimated the position Prime Minister Honest held in the Little Emperor's heart, and even more so, they underestimated the Little Emperor's utter incompetence.
Faced with the accusations from this group, the Little Emperor didn't view them as important matters at all.
He completely ignored their demands.
Instead, he continuously questioned Yumesaki's identity, maintaining that he was not the real Prime Minister.
Yumesaki said casually, "It seems there is a bit of an issue with Your Majesty's head. Guards, take His Majesty back so he can rest."
Several guards immediately entered the imperial hall and forcibly escorted the Little Emperor away.
"What do you think you are doing, Honest?!"
"You dare to place His Majesty under house arrest? You truly deserve to die!"
"Release His Majesty the Emperor at once!"
The members of the conscientious faction all flew into a massive rage, believing that Yumesaki was actively concealing the truth and deceiving the emperor.
Yumesaki would readily admit that he was indeed concealing the truth and deceiving the emperor, but he simply didn't care.
Because within this court, two-thirds—no, it should be said three-quarters—of the officials were already followers of Prime Minister Honest.
Now that Yumesaki was playing the role of the Prime Minister, that group from the conscientious faction couldn't make any meaningful moves at all and was easily suppressed by him.
Seeing the unfavorable turn of events, the members of the conscientious faction quickly sought out and brought Great General Budo over.
In their opinion, although Great General Budo was a bit obstinate, his loyalty was beyond any doubt.
He was loyal to the emperor and loved his country; he would absolutely never allow the Prime Minister to carry out such an act of treason from below.
However, what they completely failed to expect was that after Great General Budo heard about the matter, he didn't fly into a rage or attack Yumesaki at all.
Instead, he spoke in a tone of agreement, "His Majesty does indeed have a slight issue right now. The Prime Minister's actions are also for His Majesty's own good."
Upon hearing this sentence, both the Prime Minister's followers and the members of the conscientious faction were utterly shocked.
They all stared at Great General Budo, dumbfounded.
It was unbelievable. Yumesaki had done it so openly, yet Great General Budo actually believed the other party was doing it for the emperor's own good.
What on earth was going on? Could it be that Great General Budo had grown old and senile?
That was impossible. Great General Budo was currently in his prime, at the peak of his strength, and was also the strongest general in the empire. He definitely couldn't be old and senile.
Since it wasn't because he was old and senile, there could only be one answer.
Great General Budo had also been bribed, becoming one of the Prime Minister's men, or rather, the Prime Minister's loyal hound.
Only this explanation could account for Great General Budo's actions today.
At this moment, Prime Minister Honest's subordinates were all overjoyed.
Even Great General Budo, who usually maintained a neutral stance, had become one of their own. What else in this empire could possibly stand in their way?
As for the people from the conscientious faction, once they processed this reality, they all showed expressions of absolute despair.
In their view, even the righteous and just Great General Budo had now taken Prime Minister Honest's side.
Was there any hope left to save this nation?
As for why Great General Budo had spoken that way, it was naturally because his memories had been altered once again by Yumesaki.
In his new memories, Yumesaki—who was the Prime Minister—was not a rebellious or traitorous minister at all.
Instead, he was a loyal minister who had been directly entrusted with his mandate by the late Emperor before him.
He was a figure who could be trusted completely.
He was even a patriotic minister who had faithfully supported the Little Emperor's ascension to the throne.
In his mind, there was even a memory of the late emperor on his deathbed, instructing him that he must listen to the Prime Minister's words.
That was precisely why he had uttered those words.
To put it bluntly, from this moment on, Yumesaki was the true ruler holding absolute power within this imperial palace.
Even the words of His Majesty the Emperor were not as effective as his voice.
With that, Yumesaki immediately issued his very first order: arrest the Captain of the Imperial Police, Ogre, and execute him using the brutal method of slow slicing.
This order caused everyone present to look at one another, completely unable to comprehend why Yumesaki was targeting a low-ranking captain of the capital's security forces.
Someone of that level didn't even have the right to stand and speak inside the palace.
For the grand Prime Minister to target a mere security captain was truly a massive waste of supreme authority over a trivial matter.
However, not a single person objected.
Because in their minds, the fact that the Prime Minister would state this so openly in public proved that this security captain named Ogre must have severely offended him.
If he hadn't, he wouldn't be targeted like this by the Prime Minister.
Thus, Ogre's fate was sealed just like that.
At the exact same time.
Inside the headquarters of the Imperial Police, Ogre was still diligently tending to the injuries of the real Prime Minister Honest.
He wanted to use this method to win the favor of Prime Minister Honest, hoping to change his own destiny.
He had absolutely no idea that his fate had just been decided by someone back at the palace.
As for Prime Minister Honest, after waking up from his faint, he saw Ogre constantly taking care of him, and an expression of utter disgust surfaced on his face.
Previously, the people serving at his side were either beautiful wives of other men or gorgeous young maidens.
Now, the person attending to him had changed into a gruff, heavily-built man with a menacing face. How could he possibly stomach it?
But considering his current situation as a fallen man who couldn't even return to his own home, he was forced to hide the disgust on his face and began giving Ogre empty promises.
He wanted to reclaim his position, and to do that, he had to amass significant power.
Right now, even Great General Budo was standing on the opposing side, or worse, perhaps the Little Emperor had also been brainwashed by that imposter and viewed him as his closest confidant.
Therefore, his desire to take back his position was definitely not going to be an easy task.
Having lost his identity as the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Honest's hope for a comeback would be incredibly difficult to realize.
Fortunately, that fake hadn't been able to alter everyone's memories.
Within the imperial capital, there were still people who remembered him.
Ogre was one of them.
As the Captain of the Imperial Police, he had quite a few subordinates, so he could be considered a decent amount of help.
However, in Prime Minister Honest's view, this was still far from enough.
Someone like Ogre in the imperial capital was completely unreliable for grand schemes, and he was absolutely no match for Great General Budo either.
He needed someone else to keep Great General Budo in check.
As for who this person was, Prime Minister Honest already had someone in mind.
In the Empire, Great General Budo was hailed as the strongest.
But as everyone knew, the title of the strongest general in the Empire belonged to two people in total, and Great General Budo was merely one of them.
The other person was General Esdeath, who was currently leading her army out on the battlefield.
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