Former Crown Prince favors the Villainess

I’m known as G1.

I’m so used to this fake name, that I sometimes don’t respond to my real name. But that’s alright, I figured this was the best.

I’m not sure when it was, but I think around 8 years ago. That is 2 years prior to the death of the Empress, I was scouted to join the Cubicle.

An organization that is only known by its rumors. And I was over the moon when they reached out to me.

But the next day, came in an even more surprise. The 28-year-old me has only ever seen this face inside a screen.

Empress Helena Zemira.

She came in, sat in my house. My newlywed wife was so surprised that she was actually shaking.

Making sure that no one was in the vicinity, this was the first sentence she spoke.

“I’m going to die very soon.”, she said while smiling.

Pardon me, but what did you just say?!

That is what I wanted to say, but the sheer craziness in the sentence made me unable to speak.

“I’ve contracted Ethereal Measles. It’s a miracle that I’m able to stay alive for this long.”, she said while looking into her arms.

It is true, there was not a single person I knew that we’re able to escape the grasps of that deadly disease.

And then she looked straight into our eyes.

Oh.

Those crimson red eyes of her, they were...they are not as bright as I thought. She looked tired as if the disease has worn her out completely. She looks mentally worn out too…

“And Emperor Augustus is cheating behind my back…”

Pardon me again, but what did you just say?!

Once again, I couldn’t ask the question.

The Emperor is cheating behind the dying Empress’s back?!

What kind of bullshit is that?!

And despite being in the information department, why have I never heard about this?

“Does Prince Arthur know about this?”, my wife asked with a pitying look on her face.

The Empress on the other hand looked at my wife’s face and answered,

“No...if he did, at his age...I can assure you that the whole Empire will be engulfed in flames. I’m in a position where no one can know about this.”

“...Then, are there any potential successors to the throne?”, I asked.

When the Empress herself is being this direct about it, it is only respectful if I’m going to talk without cutting corners.

“There are two of them in fact. One, William...same age as Arthur. And the other is Diana, of age 3.”

“No way…”, my wife gasped with surprise.

“Is it alright if I could get some water?”, she asked while looking at my wife.

“Of course!”

As the Empress slowly drank the water. I thought to myself,

William and Arthur. Two young kids of similar age. 

It’s almost like a setting from a novel, but unfortunately, it is real.

“I’m trying my best to educate Arthur. It’s sad, but I’m sculpting him into the way I want him to be.”

I couldn’t follow what she was saying.

“Arthur...my lovely child, he is given power that far exists others. It’s almost ironic, how even with all his power, he wouldn’t be able to change the current situation. Despite his hard work, he won’t be able to stop my death. Nor will he be able to go against the Emperor or William. He has an advantage that seems like no advantage at all.”, he said with a sad expression plastered onto her face.

“...”, my wife was beginning to tear up with each word the Empress was speaking.

But I, on the other hand, was confused,

“Your majesty, forgive me for asking...but why did you say that he won’t be able to go against the Emperor? Doesn’t he have the support of the majority of the nobles?”

I understand that most of them would not directly support them.

But Polygamy and Cheating is considered to be the most shameful act in the world.

Many of the nobles would not choose to support Prince Arthur, but at the same time, they also won’t support William wither.

*CHUCKLE*

Hmm?

Did the Empress just laugh?!

“Support from the nobles? I guess you don’t know about it, but let me tell you...William’s masters comprise of the 4 Dukes of the Empire.”

Hmm…

Hmmmmm…

HMMMMM?!!

This has to be a joke.

“Your Majesty, you are joking right?”

Ah...my wife asked it.

“Do you think I have the time to visit a stranger’s house to narrate stories? Everything I said is true down to the very letter.”

“....”

We both couldn’t say anything anymore.

It’s just too absurd...who would have thought that this was the kind of conversation I have this early in the morning.

“Arthur will have no support in the Empire. And that is because of me. I chose to not let him be known publicly. The Empire would rather choose the new Prince rather than the old Prince whom they know so little about.”, she said while smiling.

“But why did you do it?”, my wife asked.

“Simple, I don’t want Arthur to be the Emperor. I don’t want him to rise to the position with all the blood in his hands. Because after obtaining the position, all he will face is endless loneliness. He will be drowned by guilt...he will constantly think he could have done this better. As his mother, it is not something I want my child to go through.”

“....”

“I have modeled him the way I want him to be. It sounds selfish, I know. But after my death, when the other three comes into the palace, I don’t want Arthur to lose his identity. I don’t want him to waste his time going through his exceptional memory, living the past.”

She has thought too much into the future.

I guess this is what it means to be a parent. 

A noble act where she puts the life of her son before her own death.

“What do you want me to do?”, I asked, looking straight into her eyes.

“Simple, don’t join the Cubicle. Join me and my son.”, she said while bowing.

My wife quickly shot up from her chair and went to support the Empress.

Never in my wildest dreams, did I think that the most powerful in the Empire would bow down to a nobody like me.

It didn’t feel great though...

“I want you and the 15 others I chose to guide Arthur to success. He is an exceptional child, but he needs a lot more experience if he decided to go against the Emperor and the other Nobles. And there is just not much time left. I don’t want him to be left behind in the race, I want him to succeed with flying colors.”, she said with droplets of tears going down her face.

“....”, my wife managed to make the Empress sit down. Consoling her all the while.

And I was left in dismay, I began thinking. I finally got the dream job. Something I worked my ass of for.

And now I’m requested to not join it. By the owner herself.

I can choose, an innocent boy or the Emperor who cheated his dying wife.

I’m still unsure...but we have a clear winner, don’t we?

But…

“What happens if we get found out by the Cubicle?”

As much as I want to help the Empress, I can’t put my wife in trouble.

“I have a few people in the Cubicle that are on my side. Your profile will be cleared from their database. No one will know about you or your family.”, she said.

“Will they support us to the end?”, I asked.

“No, this will be the last time they can help you. They too can’t be found out by the Emperor. But don’t worry, once you join under the wing of Arthur, he will protect you.”

“...”

“You’re still not sure? Don’t worry, the biggest advantage and biggest disadvantage of Arthur and Augustus respectively is their relation by blood. Augustus won’t be able to do anything against Arthur.”, she said while smiling.

But the problem is the other nobles.

Sighhh…so difficult...and here I thought my life would be a smooth sailing one from now on.

“Could you give me time?”, I asked.

“Of course!!”, the Empress exclaimed.

But just as she went out.

“Please don’t say anything about what we discussed to the outside world. It could cause trouble in both realms.”, she said.

Of course, I know. Some secrets are better when left as secrets.

“We discussed nothing now, did we?”, my wife said while smiling.

Will you look at that?

It’s funny how despite having one of the most dangerous jobs, I’m blessed with a wonderful wife.

I swear to god, I’ll never cheat on you!!

After the Empress and her guards disappeared into the road, my wife quickly went inside the house.

“What do you think I should do?”, I asked.

“Well, you already know what you have to do.”, she said immediately.

“Sighhh”

I know what I should do, but it’s more dangerous. I don’t want to put them in danger.

Realizing my worries, my wife slowly came next to me...she took my arms and put in on her shoulder. Hugging me tightly.

“You know, I think our child will be proud of her papa if papa works under Prince Arthur. The Emperor cheated on the Her Majesty Helena. We don’t want you to work under such a man.”, she said while rubbing her head in my chest.

Patting her head, I thought how my future would be if I went in this direction.

Taking what the Empress said into account, the biggest danger is not the Emperor...but rather the Dukes. 

Are they on drugs?

Absolute idiot...toppling the political balance of the Empire is not something one should do, even when drunk.

And if I did join the Empress’s side, I would be making the Cubicle an enemy too.

Or rather, aren’t they already an enemy.

AHHHH~~~!!!!

I have no choice now!! 

Even if I did join the Cubicle, they’ll know my encounter with the Empress…

Sighhh…

Why do I suddenly feel like the Empress didn’t give me a choice?

Was that also why she left without any problem when I asked for extra time?

“Fine…”

“Hmmm?”, lifting her head, she stared right into my eyes.

Kissing her forehead…

“Don’t complain if I come back home late, alright?”, I said cheekily.

“If it’s for work, I won’t complain!”, she said merrily.

The funny part is, 7 days passed without any contact from the Empress.

But on the 8th day, I received a call. From the Empress herself.

And it was not a normal call...but, a conference call.

“Hello, please don’t talk for a while. I’ll say what I have to say. If you have no problem joining me and Arthur, please do stay on the call. But if you’re still in doubt or if you have no intention to help us, you may leave the call. Neither the Cubicle nor the Emperor will know anything about this. You can continue your life without any problems.”

It was silent. 

No one spoke. And…

“No one left?! I’m really touched by all of your kindness!! All 15 of you are here!! This is wonderful!!!.”, the Empress said happily.

It’s great to hear...but something was missing.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but she said 15, right?

But I remember her saying there were 15 apart from me.

So...who is the other person?

“So, I will be sending a person to each of your houses, to hand you a device. This device will be the only way through which you can contact me.”

“....”

“Remember that the cubicle will not have any information about all of you. It will be reset, you will appear only as a normal working Zemiran in front of their eyes. Don’t do anything which can catch their attention. I can save you if you get caught, that’s not a problem at all. But when I do, Arthur will catch wind of you all.”

He will?

“We don’t want that to happen atleast for a year after my death. So, live happily as normal people, all the while collecting information. Until the day you join Arthur, you will not have any major work. But don’t worry, I will pay your salary without fail.”

That’s interesting...so I get paid for the next foreseeable future without any work?! That’s wonderful!!! 

“Oh and...all of you will only be known as G1 to G15. You can’t indulge in each other’s private life. And never tell Arthur about your private information. It’s always better to only have an employer-employee relationship with an Imperial member.”

How ironic is that it is said by an Imperial member herself.

“Alright, I have to go now. One of the masters of William, my best friend, Cosima Arden is here to meet me. Oh and...she is making a big mistake with her business, I’m not going to correct it though. Find out what it is, it will be your first assignment. It could help Arthur in the future. Bye Bye!! Stay safe!!”, she said while closing the call.

Cosima Arden...heh.

I already know what she is doing wrong though.

I even had the thought of selling her the information about what she is doing wrong, guess I have to stay quiet.

Life was quite peaceful...I was able to take care of my wife and my daughter without any problem. I was getting

And then the dreadful day came.

The Empress lost her life, the other Imperial family entered the palace, Prince Arthur was forced to give up his title and finally, William became the Crown Prince.

But two unexpected things happened.

One, we found several videos of the Empress explaining the current situation.

And two, Prince Arthur obtained a Duchy.

Both were equally surprising. All most all of the G team were in a scramble, figuring out what to do now.

In one of the videos the Empress made, 

“Fufu~ My son has done it, hasn’t he?”

Her face was completely drowned in pride.

“You all probably know about the Switon Duchy. And so did Arthur, from the start of his education, I pressured the importance of Switon to him. The genius caught on to my words and obtained them by himself. Without any external help. That should prove his greatness to you, don’t underestimate him.”

She said while smiling. 

It is true, at first I thought her love for her son was too great, blinding her from the truth. But in reality, it is we who were blind.

The young boy, got a Duchy...all the while going against the most influential heads of the Empire.

Quite scary.

Then the most of the video was regarding what we should do from now on. She also said, 

“I don’t want you to get caught, but if you do...show him one of the videos I have saved here.”

She said while pointing downwards.

I...no we all didn’t understand this part. 

We are one of the best in the game for obtaining information. Miles is better than any information broker around the continent.

What it means...we all excel in stealth skills. Only the most experienced knights can ever catch us.

And now she says that a mere 11-year-old boy could catch us?!

What a joke…

“I want to prove her wrong.”, a young boy from my team said.

“Me too...Prince Arthur can be strong, but I’m betting it’s impossible for him to find us.”, a girl said.

I too wanted to do the same.

What the Empress said, hurt all of our egos.

I mean, we are the best in what we do.

And that’s the biggest mistake we ever made.

Do you want to know why?

Well, let me explain.

It was one of the days when the Prince comes out to sightsee the capital, Plona.

He comes with very minimal security and a blue wig on top of his black hair.

He also puts on a black lens to cover his crimson red eyes.

These were the information we already had.

And we followed him.

You ask why?

Well, to prove that we were better than him.

We, the veterans vs a young 11-year-old child.

Quite a funny match.

His Highness Arthur starts the day by heading to one of the biggest malls in the Empire.

After watching a morning show movie, he heads to an ice cream shop.

And so did we.

We followed him while making sure we don’t get caught by any of the guards or by the person himself.

This strategy of ours has worked with most of the nobles (Excluding the big 10) in the Empire.

And it also worked here.

He then headed to have lunch, we have also realized that the boy really likes Naan and Paneer Butter Masala.

He has naan for lunch? Whatever...

And then he headed to shop few things. 

After buying some books, and a lot of pens...he headed to the basement of the mall, where the car park is situated.

After packing the car with his items, he then left the car alone and exited the whole mall.

He was walking along the road while listening to music.

And mid-way, during his walk... noticing a mother and a child, he headed straight to them.

“Ummm...I think it would be better to have the child on the other side, don’t you Mam?”

He said.

Ah, it was dangerous to have the child walk along the roadside of the pavement. The mother was also busy talking on the phone.

What a kind and normal boy.

That is what we all thought in unison.

Oh and, till now, none of the guards have managed to notice us.

We were all satisfied with how things were going.

After all, we were chosen to join the Cubicle. One of the best undercover groups in the world.

There is no way, normal knights could detect us.

Just as we decided to head back.

Prince Arthur sent the guards away. Who were very reluctant to leave, but due to their position, they had to obey His Highness’s orders.

Filled with curiosity, we once began our tailing.

By the way, what we are doing right now is not called stalking. We just wanted to prove our superiority.

His Highness then started walking for a long time.

He went from one of the most populated parts of the city to the most empty alley we have ever seen.

The place looked dreadful, with no sight of life around the area.

“For how long are you going to stalk me?”

?!?

He...He turned, with his back facing a dead end, he looked straight at us.

Straight at me!!!

We should not be visible to the naked eye!!!

“It’s annoying to have 15 pairs of eyes on me the whole day.”

He even knows the number!!

Was the number too big?! Nooo!! None of the others noticed, so why!!!

“It’s taking all of me to not kill you all...tell me, who sent you?”

He asked while looking straight into my eyes.

Immediately all 15 of us disappeared from our place and reappeared in front of the Prince while kneeling.

What the Empress said was all true!! We made a huge mistake!!

“Was it the Emperor? I’m warning the Cubicle, if you repeat this again, I’ll personally make sure that the renowned organization is wiped from the face of the continent.”

We couldn’t speak up...the amount of mana he was releasing was putting great pressure on us.

His eyes were glowing red. Crimson red.

But despite that...all of us never had any situation where we actually got caught by the person we were tailing.

It was a new and dreadful experience for all of us.

“Your Highness, please calm down. We were sent here by the Empress. Here-”

G2 said next to me.

But, I was able to see it.

I was able to see the Prince disappearing from his position and reappearing in front of us, with the same momentum...

*BOOOOM*

 he slammed G2’s face into the building next to him.

It was such a simple yet frightening slam. It was powerful enough to cause a next in the building.

G2 had blood trailing down his face.

But he himself was fine, he was trained to receive physical damage.

“And why is the new Empress sending assholes like you behind me? Does she think she can take note of my movements outside the palace?! I’ll fucking kill all of you here right now! Let’s see what she can do then!”

He said while rising one of his free hands into the air while simultaneously creating a sword made of mana.

He was ready to swing the sword down to G2’s neck.

Wai...Wait!! New Empress?! Is he thinking that we are working for Camilla?!

Nooooooo!!!

“You...Your Highness!! We are not working for the new Empress!!! We work for your mother!! We work for the late Helena Zemira!!!”, I screamed at the top of my voice.

Never in my 30 years of life, was I this desperate.

*STOP*

The sword which was heading to G2’s head stopped midway and soon disappeared into nothingness.

He left G2’s head.

And then slowly turned my way, 

His eyes were glowing, not with bloodlust...but with surprise.

Kneeling down to my position,

“Hey...you...you’re not joking, right?”, he said with tears filled in his eyes.

“I dare not to, Your Highness!! We are the G-Team, specially made with extreme care by the late Empress for your use!!”, I said while firmly looking into his eyes.

“Haha...haha...seriously?”, he asked again, as though he is not sure of himself.

“I can swear upon my life, we exist only for you, Your Highness!!”, I said loudly again.

Losing balance, the Prince fell to the floor. Sitting cross-legged, with his hands supporting his eyes, which were already letting uncontrollable amounts of tears, he spoke…

“Even after you leave...why...why...why do you still align my life so much, mother?”, he said while trying to wipe the tears off his face. Which just did not seem to stop.

One of the girls in the team, stood up to hand a hankie, which shook my head sideways too.

Give him some time.

G2 was also sitting down while receiving treatment from one of us.

“And why were you all gathered together? That stupid mother of mine must have given you a goal to follow, right?”, he asked. His voice was still shaky.

“Our only goal is to follow Your Highness. While following every order you give, down to the very letter.”, I answered.

“Hahaha...and who were you made to go against? The A-Division?”

“Cubicle. The Empress wanted to present you a Cubicle-like team who only follows your orders.”

“The Cubicle...that’s wonderful. That’s really wonderful!!! Can you hear me, mother?! I don’t know why you were repeatedly saying sorry, but I’m glad for the wonderful life you have given meeee!!!”, he screamed at the sky with hope for the words to reach the Empress.

I was also praying that his words were reaching the Empress.

For she was the one, who shaped all of our lives.