The Tyrant Wants to Live Honestly
He sulked like a dog with drooping ears, bowing his head and pouting his lower lip.
"Looking closely, it seems like Dorothy hates me."
Did you just find that out now? You really have no sense.
Still, I'm trying hard not to show that I hate you, so please understand, Ray.
I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud, but I hoped that Rey would realize it on his own and not come looking for me anymore.
"Prince Ray, you must go in soon."
Just then, the official in charge of the coronation ceremony came to fetch Ray.
"……Dorothy, will you still come to my coronation?"
If I could avoid going, I would, but I can't.
As if resigned, he nodded, and he blushed.
"I think I can do well if Dorothy is watching."
"……."
If only Rey wasn't Reyman, I could have liked him.
I could have just thot of you as a kind fool and found you cute.
Ray's eyes sparkled as if expecting a word of praise, but I ultimately ignored him.
Please provide the text you would like to have translated.
Rey's coronation ceremony.
I considered it fortunate that my seat was ahead of Theon's.
If Theon had come into my view, I would have been so mesmerized by him that I would have seen Julia standing next to him and immediately felt depressed.
However, if there was one complaint, it was that Karnan was right in their line of sight.
Nominally, I was his daughter by blood, so I had to stand in the front row close to Karnan.
The ceremony to appoint the crown prince was a matter of great national importance, so Karnan was draped in a golden cloak that covered the floor and held a scepter symbolizing the Milaneer royal family.
At the end of the scepter that Karnan was holding, there was a figure of a spirit with arms outstretched as if embracing the void.
Originally, the spirit's embrace should hold the Light Spirit Stone, but it is empty because the stone was lost at sea by the previous generation.
You can replace it with another gem, but putting a different gem in the place of the Spirit Stone is considered an insult to the spirit, so it was left empty.
‘……Did you find the broken piece of that spirit stone?’
I think I heard that I found the spirit stone just before being executed, but at that time, I had given up on everything and was half out of my mind, so my memories are sporadic and hazy.
"The glorious light of the Milanese will shine upon the entire empire..."
Meanwhile, as the coronation ceremony was being held, I realized something new.
‘Karnan, you were a bit stingy.’
Looking back on it, the investiture ceremony was incredibly simple.
I didn't intentionally prepare it modestly.
Since it was an event to publicly announce the successor to the throne, the entire imperial palace had been bustling and noisy for several days, and it was a grand occasion that drew many nobles from afar, including Fried.
"When I was young, Ray's coronation ceremony seemed grand and magnificent."
There was a time when Karnan, sitting proudly on the imperial throne, felt both frightening and distant.
There were times when he felt like an unattainable, extraordinary being, and it seemed like the only way to be acknowledged as existing in the world was to receive his attention.
But right now, Karnan was nothing to me.
In my eyes, the accessories of the carnival looked tacky, and the chandelier hanging from the ceiling appeared small and shabby. The seats were too cramped and the flowers were too common.
It was because my eyes, having reached the pinnacle of luxury, had become too high.
When I held a feast, I would light an unquenchable fire that shone as if the sun had risen even at nite, bring the finest drinks and food, and revel and drink. Carving jewels and beautiful stones to create flowers and trees, and inviting dancers from distant lands to perform.
If I had held the coronation ceremony, it would have been much grander, more extravagant, and more ostentatious than this.
‘……like a tyrant.’
It was possible because he was a tyrant who sucked the marrow out of the people's bones.
So, I guess we should say that Carnan is doing well.
At that moment, Rey entered, walking along the red carpet laid out in the center, as people stood up.
The majestic pipe organ played, and countless candles emitted their light.
At Rey's appearance, everyone present bowed their heads in unison.
Around Ray, light spirits were buzzing like mosquitoes.
Evidence of the Crown Prince. The qualifications of a milanier. The conditions of an emperor.
'......You don't need that kind of strength.'
Even without it, I had already beaten Ray.
I pushed the past back with difficulty and watched as Rey walked in.
The face full of tension and the stiff shoulders were amusing.
With trembling hands, Rei brought the chalice, looking like he might trip over his long robe at any moment.
Ray, in the meantime, rolled his blue eyes without looking straight ahead and then met my gaze.
Soon after, he looked at me with a sly grin, and before I knew it, he was smiling broadly, showing his teeth!
What are you doing! You should walk with your eyes straight ahead!
To have such a foolish smile at a solemn coronation ceremony!
It would be fortunate if it stopped there, but with his laughter, the light spirits that had been orbiting around him began to sway wildly.
That idiot, can't even handle a spirit properly?
"Look ahead, look ahead!"
I mouthed to Ray, who wasn't looking ahead.
Ray vigorously nodded, as if he immediately recognized the shape of my lips.
At the nodding gesture, the chalice in hand swayed along, and the spirits also swayed as if dancing.
'No, why are you nodding during the ceremony!'
Silly Ray!
Fortunately, Ray followed my instructions and looked straight ahead, safely making it onto the platform without falling.
It was as if I had left a child by the water's edge, and I couldn't take my eyes off them, feeling anxious.
That fool is going to be the next emperor.
If it were me, I wouldn't make such a mistake... No, I don't have the right to think that, Dorothy. You don't have the right to think like that, Dorothy.
I shook my head and brushed off the thought.
However, I just wished that the person who would become emperor in my place would be a great sage king who would be remembered in history, but that was all I could hope for.
Please provide the text you would like to have translated.
There was another reason why the name "Milaneer" wasn't good.
The esteemed Hwang family had to maintain the appearance of a respectable family in public.
After the coronation ceremony, in the banquet hall, I had to stand next to Ray and Karnan just because I was a Milaneer.
"The princess has taken after the late empress so much."
"You look just like Her Majesty Empress Alice when she was young."
"You're talking nonsense."
Karnan cut off the words of those who showed interest in me and changed the subject.
Since then, the center of every story became Carnan and Rey, and I stood in the background like a candlestick on the wall.
The body of the tall adult, focused on the conversation, blocked me, and I was gradually pushed back as if I had been completely separated from the group talking.
‘This is why I hate it.’
Bringing someone along and treating them like a background.
And because you're a 'Milanese,' you can't leave.
If it were before the regression, I would have struggled to get attention among them and eventually squeezed into their midst.
I must have tried hard to prove how smart I am, how valuable I am. At the same time, they must have criticized and insulted Rey, who became the crown prince, by listing his shortcomings.
But for now, I kept my mouth shut and just waited for this time to end quickly.
"Dorothy." Come over here.
Ray, surrounded by adults, occasionally turned around and called out to me, who was retreating into the shadows, but the protagonist of the day was swept away by the crowd's attention and moved further away from me.
At that moment, someone stood next to me and handed me a juice.
"Not fun, right?"
It was Theon. He was holding pomegranate juice as red as wine. The clear and red pomegranate color, like his eyes, suited him well.
I stared at him like a fool.
Theon handed me juice and started talking to me...!
I couldn't help but be surprised.
Theon was polite but kept a certain distance from people.
It seemed like there was a fence around him, making it difficult for anyone to approach him easily. Except for Julia Delevain.
But he approached me first and started talking?
Could it be that he brought juice for me? Really?
Thinking of him preparing juice for me, my heart started racing again, oblivious to the situation.
"Please eat." You haven't eaten anything since earlier.
Since earlier? So, you mean you've been watching me since earlier?
If it's something related to Theon, I go back to being a child, getting excited and worried over trivial things.
I steadied my trembling hand and took the juice he offered.
However, I couldn't bring myself to drink the juice he handed me.
Since Theon was next to me, I didn't even think about putting anything in my mouth, and because it was the first time he had taken care of me like this, the pomegranate juice felt unnecessarily precious.
I can't drink this. Even if I take it to my room and display it, I feel like it would be a waste.
I wished that this red drink would never evaporate or spoil and would remain just as it is for a lifetime.
"Prince Raymond spoke highly of you, Your Highness." They said you're incredibly smart, a genius.
"Reiga?"
"Yes." I heard you've already memorized all of the "The Art of War."
I didn't know what to do with myself at Theon's praise.
Compared to Ray, it was true that I was smarter.
Not only after the regression, but even before it, I learned many things faster than Ray.
Despite the two-year age difference, he had surpassed Ray in various fields such as geometry, philosophy, and history.
Because I thot that I shouldn't be worse than Ray, who was burning with the desire to get attention and have everything.
I mistakenly thot that if I read the stars and calculated the time before Ray, someone would love me more.
I believed that if I answered any question before Ray, someone would acknowledge me.
But contrary to expectations, what returned was not recognition but shackles.
"We might meet at Episteme."
At Theon's words, I had to manage my expression once again.
Episteme was the empire's top academy, a school that nurtured outstanding talents and a venue for excellent nobles to stay together and form connections in advance.
Not only Ubelaman, but most of the renowned royalty and nobility from foreign lands graduated from Episteme, and the nobles who graduated from Episteme even formed factions among themselves.
However, unlike Rey, who was able to enter Episteme, the empire's top academy, I was not allowed to enter Episteme because I was not supposed to surpass the crown prince.
I was going to meet Raymond, but I was so frustrated that I couldn't go as a princess that I felt like going crazy.
In the end, unable to accept the truth, I rebelled fiercely.
I left the palace and threw a stone at Episteme. The stone I threw broke the window and hit the eldest son of the Bronte Duke family on the head.
Due to the incident where my head was severely injured, the Duke of Bronte's family protested vehemently, and Karnan imprisoned me in the palace again and deprived me of food, except for water, for a week.
The already strained relationship with Karnan became completely distant because of that incident.
So.
"......I'm not going to Episteme."
