I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel

“It's already tough enough, and now even the Pope is trying to falsely accuse me.”

Of course, it probably wasn’t out of malice.
After all, I hadn’t even seen the Pope’s face or heard her voice before.
For her, Daisy was the savior who rescued the Holy Nation and the partner who would lead it forward.

She was probably just excited by the news of their romance and wanted to help.
Wasn’t the Pope said to be in her early teens?
By previous life standards, basically elementary school age.

So it wasn’t surprising that she might have illusions.
“So, you want me to let her know it’s a fake romance?”
“You can contact her.”

“Well, I can… but…”
That was why just revealing the romance was fake would solve everything.
I was ordered to do this by Boradori, who had a direct line to the Pope and was practically on the verge of becoming a cardinal in the Holy Nation.

“But that’s a bit difficult! Telling a ten-year-old it’s a fake romance? Wouldn’t that shatter her dreams and illusions?”
Boradori was refusing the order.
“What’s your true feeling?”

“I’m scared! If I contact her, I might actually have to get the cardinal’s seal! Please save me!”
Last time, Boradori was about to become a cardinal but apparently escaped without finishing that business.
That left Boradori exposed to the Holy Nation’s grasp at any moment.

Honestly, thinking about all the snowballs Violet has thrown, one might dismiss it as a joke.
But unlike Violet, Boradori was a valuable agent to be used for a long time.
“Can’t this be handled without direct contact?”
“I can do well!”

As a superior, it was better to generously step back here.
“Do it well.”
“Yes!”

Managing subordinates was also a superior’s duty.
—So, I heard you became the saint’s lover.
“There’s a reason.”

—Sacrificing yourself for the kingdom instead of the prince. You truly are the best educator.
“There’s a reason!”
This person, who couldn’t hide his mischievous smile and looked like he was having a blast, was famously a stern royal guard in the kingdom.
Is Leon doomed?

—Yeah. At the start of the semester, he was the one always shouting ‘Emergency!’ There must have been a reason why he didn’t contact me until I reached out first this time.
Watching the commander smile slyly, I sighed.
And then.

“There was an imperial conspiracy.”
—…Did dark mages invade already?
“No, not dark mages. It’s the revolutionaries and some revivalists who came early in the semester with Silence.”

—Seems like you know this time. Well, the empire isn’t stupid. If it was breached that badly before, it won’t happen again.
No, it’s going to happen again.
I couldn’t say that out loud, so I corrected the commander’s misunderstanding.

“And this is the empire being targeted by conspiracy, not the empire conspiring.”
—Suddenly, this is getting very interesting.
The commander, realizing the seriousness as I lightly dismissed the news of a terrorist group coming to the academy, stopped smiling and started listening seriously.

“The empire has begun spreading all sorts of rumors about the saint and me dating.”
—The empire? …Hmm. So they started to fear the saint and the prince getting together like we do? But why? The saint is an imperial noble. Why block it… Oh. If the saint and the prince get together and Prince Acid gets greedy, the bloody succession war that follows…
I was writing a bloody royal succession drama full of imperial schemes in my head.

“The Holy Nation requested it.”
Reality always exceeded imagination.
—The Holy Nation? The Holy Nation is spreading rumors about you and the saint in the empire? Why? Has the cardinal faction not been fully settled yet?

“No. It was the Pope’s request.”
—The Pope? That ten-year-old is already trying to completely control the Holy Nation, pushing out the saint!
Watching the commander gape in shock, I narrowed my eyes and asked.

“Commander, when the king ascended the throne, was there any bloody conflict?”
—No? As the eldest son with stats overwhelming other royals, everyone thought Daike would be king anyway and lived freely since childhood.
Well, Leon’s royal family receives swords and knight-level training from childhood.

But not every Leon king was a swordmaster.
In fact, swordmaster kings were rarer.
That made sense.

A king’s skill at governance mattered more than brute force.
It was fine if he was talented or had good advisors, but force was not part of it.
Many fantasy novels show kings leading troops from the front, but realistically, that’s insane.

Though the cavalry charge of King Oden in The Lord of the Rings was impressive, he still died.
This isn’t a war era, and even if it was, a country like Leon had no reason for their king to lead the front lines.
So kings who are swordmasters must truly be geniuses in every field.

“For a moment, I wondered if His Majesty seized the throne by force.”
That only meant he overthrew everything by power.
—…Isn’t that a bit much?

The commander gave a bewildered look.
If this wasn’t me and the commander, it would have been an outrageous statement.
“Looking at His Majesty’s actions so far…”

—Hmm…
But the commander fell silent after that.
Even he thought the current king was, to put it nicely, young, and badly, immature.

“And hearing you now, I can’t help but think similar things happened in our country.”
I said, and the commander answered with an unusually aggrieved expression.
—Honestly, think about it. Why would the Holy Nation’s Pope team up with the empire to slander you and the saint? Doesn’t my reasoning seem reasonable?

What a paranoid thought.
“Do you know how old the Pope is?”
—She’s an orphan, so no one knows exactly, but believed to be between ten and twelve. Officially set at eleven.

I didn’t need to know that much.
An eleven-year-old orphan Pope pressured and abused by cardinals.
No wonder Boradori was weak toward the Pope.

All the settings that would make a person vulnerable were stacked.
“To make such a child into someone plotting to oust the saint…”
I looked at the commander like Violet looked at me recently.

Like looking at trash that can’t even be sorted properly.
—Then what’s the reason!
The commander flailed, feeling stabbed by my gaze.

At least he still had some conscience.
“The Pope wants to officiate if the saint marries at the academy.”
—What?

“If the saint marries at the academy, she wants to officiate the wedding.”
After frowning and shaking his head, the commander groaned while staring at the ceiling, then sighed heavily and asked with a face of utter disbelief.
—Why?

“She’s an orphan who suffered abuse without warmth.”
—Right. Wouldn’t she normally become twisted?
Usually, yes.

But this world was a romance fantasy.
In Violet’s words, it was a delight to see a child who suffered misfortune in childhood bloom beautifully through salvation.
“Contrary to your thoughts, the world is a warmer place.”

Like the title of the romance fantasy, a child who suffered in a barren land still blossomed into a pure, beautiful flower.
“But the commander…”
To view such a pure child’s wish through politics and conspiracy…

As my gaze grew colder, the commander finally surrendered.
—I was wrong…
“Be more careful next time.”

This was for protecting the pure heart of the Pope.
Not because I disliked the commander’s smirking face at the start of the meeting.
…I’m serious.

Though Violet was trash the more he acted, Boradori, the codename, was truly a competent talent.
“This is working.”
Three days after Boradori took charge, the strange rumors at the academy gradually disappeared.

Talk about the empire’s founding ceremony began to fill the academy.
Of course, that was partly because the founding anniversary was approaching.
If the empire and Holy Nation had moved, rumors about me and Daisy related to the ceremony must have circulated at the academy.

Thanks to that, the hostile looks from the romance fantasy male leads disappeared… not completely, but about 20% less.
“What should I do?”
That’s how I got a rare chance to talk with Prince Ellen during mealtime.

“What do you mean, what to do?”
Looking serious as he sought advice on what he should do at the empire’s founding ceremony, I answered without hesitation.
“You shouldn’t do anything.”

“What?”
His expression said ‘Are you kidding me?’ and I felt the same.
This guy has ruined my entire home’s grindstone handle.

This crazy bastard — what could a foreign prince possibly do at the empire’s founding ceremony?
“Prince, did you observe the Leon Kingdom’s founding festival this year?”
“We were in the middle of the first semester… at the academy then.”

“Then, did you think about the kingdom on that founding day?”
“……”
Prince Ellen pouted and avoided eye contact.

Of course, he didn’t.
He was too busy worrying how to get closer to Daisy than about the kingdom’s festival.
Of course, I wasn’t any better.

I was busy thinking how to manage these damn romance fantasy golden boys and get the academy’s automatic defense system working.
“But Acid and Aslan seem to play major roles. Gerard and Hedrick are busy, too!”
Why was I the only one doing nothing?

Watching Prince Ellen silently yelling this, I narrowed my eyes and answered.
“Go play with magic users… no, Arwen.”
“What?!”

Hearing that, Ellen shouted in shock.
“Why?”
“You usually say not to befriend magic users. Even calling Arwen by name is shocking!”

Was that really so surprising?
…Considering my usual behavior, yeah, it was.
If I called a fire magic user by name, they’d probably freak out, too.

“People without much to do just hang out together. Is that so strange?”
Naturally, like in Leon, Dale wasn’t supposed to do anything at the empire’s founding ceremony.
So these two princes weren’t the main characters of the episode.

Surprisingly, the focus was on Hedrick, who barely got mentioned until now.
If this were a novel, readers would probably wonder who he even was.
When Prince Ellen joined the flower arranging club, Hedrick was already the owner of Ilias, one of the continent’s top three merchant guilds with massive influence.

So, he was busy despite being a student.
He didn’t have many connections with romance fantasy heroines.
But he was like a cheetah starting to run from this empire founding event.

“So just don’t do anything and just watch.”
“I know I can’t help it, but wait. Why does it sound like Adam is excluded? Don’t tell me {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} he’s dating Daisy!!!”
“I have a promise with Aerin ah… sen… um… friend.”

For a moment, I wondered whether to call him ‘uncle’ or ‘senior,’ but officially he was a first-year friend.
So that was my answer.
“Oh, that guy… friend?”

He was quite a famous face at the academy, so even Prince Ellen nodded in confused acceptance.
Thank you, Aerin uncle.
Season one’s number one help!

Well, actually, what I did with Aerin uncle was just struggling with the founding ceremony’s automatic door system.
Still, it was help, so let’s take it positively.
“Adam, you have to go on a date with me at the founding festival!”

Cancelled.
Damn, these empire guys never help my life no matter how I look at it.