Winning a person’s favor was easier than people thought and having an interpersonal relationship wasn’t as difficult as most people thought. It was essential for us to have a meal and go to a sauna together, but what was more crucial was how much I could adjust for others.

What the other party liked, what kind of story they loved, and what they wanted to hear—thinking about how to adjust for them while talking was important. In the beginning, there was no need to resist or assert your opinion. If the other person was conservative, then play along and listen to them as a conservative. If the other person was the type to make progress, then listen to them as the same type and play along. That was really all you had to do. If the other person supported the death penalty, then all you had to do was prepare the appropriate information and the things they wanted to hear. It would be even better if the information were specialized and detailed. You could raise your voice when talking about why the death penalty was necessary and in the middle of a heated debate, you should strongly agree with them.

‘Ah! We get along better than I thought! We think alike!’

That would be what the other person would think. Of course, I had my own beliefs, but those weren’t important. Even if I was against them, there wasn’t a need to tell them that and I was sure the majority of people will fail here. After all, they would either get angry or stop talking about it.

If I wanted to tell the other person about my opinion, then I just had to invest more time into them without getting angry right away. The moment they recognized you as a friend and comrade with the same opinion and someone they could get along with, then you could start expressing your true opinion a little bit—just a little bit.

Incompetent and indifferent people wouldn’t respond to important changes that were slowly happening around them. This was how you could get close to people, as well as control those in power.

‘Father Basel…’

I had to invest a lot in him by spending time with him, sympathizing with him, and nodding to his words to make him happy. I scratched his back and talked about many things. To have a conversation with him, I had to study beforehand. I had to be proficient in theology, heresy, and demonology, which caused me to study a lot longer so that I could catch up to his level of knowledge. It took me several months to build a bond that couldn’t be broken and naturally, I expected to take the same amount of time with the emperor as I started putting effort into him.

However, it was more effective than I imagined. Cases like this did appear sometimes. No matter how hard you tried to get the other person to like you, you still couldn’t get close to them. Even before you could think about your topics and each other’s nature, you could already feel as if both of you were out of sync as human beings. Obviously, the old emperor was the complete opposite of that. Basically, he and I were completely in sync. This emperor wanted the perfect brown-noser, and I met that requirement a hundred percent.

‘Nice…’

He was a soulmate different from Lee Ji-Hye.

It was to the extent that I started to feel uncomfortable because he kept on talking to me. When the Eight Seats of the Empire’s parade ended, and the party started, he still looked as if he wanted to keep talking to me. I was certain that if he didn’t have to worry about the other nobles, he would have stayed beside me. The old man had a lot of duties and things to do. He had to talk to the powerful nobles and also form a relationship with the members of the Vatican, so of course, he was busy.

Obviously, the eight seatholders were busy as well. We would always get a lot of attention during gatherings like this, but today was the first time we got this much attention. The Free Cities of Lindel, Celia, and Dawan were within the Holy Empire’s territories, but people were strongly aware that they were independent regions. The same could be said for the powerful people controlling those cities. Indirectly, they had a lot of influence on the empire, but engaging in direct activities with those people was impossible for the nobles back then. However, since the situation had completely changed, the influential nobles naturally started talking to us. Being a seatholder meant we had a bit of power over the Holy Empire’s politics. Half of the nobles in the emperor’s faction or those sensitive to changes had probably become even more sensitive thanks to today’s event.

“Hahaha. It feels as though the people are still cheering.”

“It’s understandable. Most adventurers in the Holy Empire wouldn’t suddenly become famous, after all..”

“Yes, you’re right.”

“I heard all the children these days have been reading the adventurers’ daily logs. I even find the stories in the adventure logs from Lindel especially fascinating. It’s as if I’m reading stories of heroes and warriors that appear in fairy tales.”

“Hahaha. They’re no different from heroes and warriors. The Eight Seats are already heroes of the empire.”

“You’re right!”

I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw nobles running up to us just to say things like that. The seatholders were surrounded by at least seven or eight nobles, and even though the party had just started, they already looked tired. Cha Hee-Ra was way over there talking to the nobles around her, and even though she was smiling, I knew better than anyone that she was on the brink of snapping. Park Yeon-Joo was skillfully leading the conversation, while Kasugano Yuno was calmly listening to their stories. It was the same for the lovely regressor.

‘Did he learn noble etiquette, too?’

His hand and body gestures definitely made it seem that way, and he was obviously putting in more effort than usual. I also learned many things while spending time with the noblewomen, but I couldn’t act as naturally as Kim Hyun-Sung.

‘He must have worked hard in his past life…’

When I had that thought and turned my head, a blond-haired noble continued the conversation.

“My daughter has been begging me to buy her your adventure log, Brother Lee Ki-Young. She’s usually a troublemaker, so it’s interesting seeing her become quiet as soon as she holds a book… Hahaha.”

‘He’s good at lying.’

But since he was trying to gain my favor through flattery, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to play along.

“I'm very honored, Baron Nabot. Haha. Would it be alright if I visited your estate when I have the time? I’m not sure when that will happen, though.”

I wasn’t planning on visiting him, but there was nothing wrong with doing a bit of lip service.

“Ahh! I’d be grateful if you visited! I’ll be sure to make preparations,” he said.

“If I remember correctly, the estate you’re governing is… Garcia in the east-west area…” I added.

“I’m honored that you know, Brother Lee Ki-Young. It’s honestly a small and insignificant land, but we have a beautiful lake called the Mirror Lake, and people enjoy riding their boats there during fall. I’m certain you’ll make nice memories if you come with your lover,” he explained.

“Ah, is that so?” I asked.

The baron said that because Jung Ha-Yan was next to me. Even though Jung Ha-Yan was displaying a business-like smile, her fists were clenched, and she looked like she was asking me to go with her.

“Ah… I have been there before. It was a beautiful lake, and it looked like a mirror reflecting the decorated sky… It was the place I visited every year when my husband was still healthy.”

“So you've been there, Lady Caitlyn.” I pointed out.

“Yes, Mr. Lee Ki-Young. I’m sure you won’t regret going there,” she said.

“Seeing that all of you are saying good things about it, I’ll probably rush over there next year. Hahaha,” I laughed.

Of course, I wasn’t thinking about actually going there. It would be different if a treasure were hidden in Mirror Lake. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to travel that far just to go sightseeing.

‘The mood is pretty nice.’

The discussion of war the Eight Seats had yesterday felt as if it never happened and seeing the nobles enjoying themselves made me feel as if the topic of war was another country’s problem. I couldn’t help but think that those with power were usually like this. In addition to raising their glasses to clink with the others, their laughter also filled the banquet hall, while the noblewomen flaunted their luxury goods. Some of them were discussing the future of the empire, but they had to have had a few drinks because their faces were red.

‘Armchair philosophy is probably better.’

Discussing the empire’s future while drunk was ironic and if some of the intellectuals of the empire saw them, they probably would have clicked their tongues and pointed their fingers at them. Of course, that was only if they could survive the consequences.

‘It doesn’t really have anything to do with me.’

There were a lot of things I had to take care of other than the future of the empire. At this point, the fact that Princess Charlotte was wary of me bothered me more than the empire’s future.

‘Did I act too much like a brown-noser?’

Fawning over the emperor just to win his favor was probably the reason why she was wary of me, and as I mentioned before, it was also the side effect of the emperor liking me too much.

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to get close to her…’

Before thinking, ‘we don’t think alike,’ it was more like we were out of sync. Apart from our nature, I was under the impression that she was the type of person I couldn’t get along with. As the successor to the throne, I would probably have to do my best to get close to her, but it meant I would have to invest a lot of time.

‘I can try again after some time passes…’

While I was thinking that, I heard a splash and a loud voice.

“I-I’m sorry. I-I’m sorry.”

‘What’s going on?’

There was an accident not too far from me. A maid kept bowing her head, and the woman in front of her kept huffing and puffing as if she was angry. I instantly knew what was going on.

‘The First Princess Charlia.’

The maid must have tripped because wine had spilled on the white dress she was wearing. The drunk first princess embodied the wicked villainess role as she slapped the maid’s cheek again and again. Even worse, she couldn’t even hold herself up properly.

‘Wow…’

“You bitch… How dare you!” the first princess shouted.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. P-Please kill me…” the maid stuttered.

“Bring me a sword. I don’t think this anger will go away unless I cut off this bitch’s head right now. Hurry! Did you not hear what I said?!” she yelled.

‘She’s a completely crazy bitch.’

Even if she was drunk and it wasn’t her fault, showing that side of herself would negatively affect her. I understood very well why the other nobles hadn't been gathering around her.

‘Does she have Intermittent Explosive Disorder or is she just an idiot?’

When I saw her nature and habit, I knew she was a lost cause, but seeing her attitude made me even more certain of that. A few knights and nobles tried to stop her, but the situation was already out of control. The wasted first princess was making a fool of herself and this surely happened often because the emperor shook his head while clicking his tongue, while the Second Princess Charlotte, was doing her best to fix the situation. And it was then that something interesting caught my attention.

“It’s a total mess. This…”

As soon as I used Mind’s Eye on the maid who kept on apologizing, my eyes widened at the information displayed before me. She wasn’t anything special, but there was definitely something strange. It was her stats—they were above 60 points.

‘A woman like her tripped?’

I could guarantee that something like that was impossible even if the sky collapsed. I couldn’t help but think that she intentionally spilled the wine as part of her goal. And the goal may be something like ruining Charlia’s image. It had to be the work of someone who wanted to make the crazy bitch look even crazier, and the culprit was obvious.

‘Charlotte.’

The reason was simple.

‘She’s greedier than I thought.’

A hidden fight for the throne had already begun a long time ago.