"Anna. In your previous life, you've been dealing with them a lot. So, I want to know the impressions you have about the royal family, the Third Prince, and all the princes and princesses."
"Huh? What's wrong with you? Why do you suddenly ask this question?" Anna's expression was filled with worry.
"I'm not sure about this, but I feel like the reason why there was a rebellion back then was because of them." Noel hesitated for a moment before finally explaining about the meeting he had with the third princess.
Anna couldn't believe what she heard. She recalled all the information carefully before saying, "This is weird. The third princess is rather… How do I say this? Plain and lack of free will? The only thing I know about her is the fact that she is like the doll of the royal family, doing everything she can because the royal family wants her to do it."
"But the third princess is definitely different. You should know about my medal, right?"
"Do you mean the Affection Medal?"
"Yes. This is the only way for me to judge whether they're hostile or not. And from the way I see it, she is rather supportive and doesn't seem like a doll… more like she pretends to be one?"
"Does that mean she wants the throne for herself?"
"I don't know."
Anna thought for a moment. "If that's the case, I'll tell you about them from my memory. The king is a rather brutal person. To sit on that throne, he pushes everyone away. They only have two choices, either marry someone for the sake of the royal family's connection or die in his hands.
"However, the one that stands out the most as his opposition is the Third Prince. Even when he loses, the Third Prince's influence is not something that is easily dissolved. To pit me against you, they used my words to execute your parents.
"Even then, the Third Prince is still so strong and mysterious that not even the current king could defeat him thoroughly."
Noel raised a finger. "The nobles in the royal hall are not entirely loyal to the current king. There are still some nobles that side with the Third Prince, probably waiting for him to take over the kingdom."
"Yes. That's why if we talk about the rebellion, it will be the Third Prince, considering he is the only one powerful enough to take on the throne."
"But there is a chance that the princes and the princesses are hiding their preparation for the throne. Then again, it's only been six years since the king ascended to the throne. So, they still have some time before they begin fighting… unless the rebellion occurs."
"In that case…" Anna fell silent for a minute. "The first prince is currently the crown prince. While he doesn't seem to be that good at politics, he still has the highest popularity simply due to the other children.
"His strength is the fact that he has been learning about politics longer, but his weakness is his obsession. According to my memory from my previous life, the crown prince was never strong enough to handle the Third Prince.
"The second princess is quite talented, but that talent is not bright enough to outshine the gender difference. You can say the same to me. If I don't have this kind of talent, I will still be used as a political tool.
"I don't have many memories about her, considering we didn't meet so often… in the previous life or in this life.
"The third princess is, as I said before, like a doll. Everything about her feels like she is being controlled by the royal family. It's no wonder for them to marry her to the Ardagan family, since they can control her easily. You might not even be able to sway her.
"But because of what you said earlier, there is indeed something different. In my previous life, do you know who met me the most among the royal family?"
"The crown prince?" Noel answered nonchalantly.
"It was her." Anna shook her head helplessly. "She was more persistent than the crown prince, but I didn't really care much about her. Most of the time, it would be just me ignoring her.
"But when you told me about the different side of her, I couldn't help but think, 'What if she was there because of you?' or 'What if she monitored me under your instruction to see my changes?' If that's the case, everything changes."
Noel closed his eyes for a moment. "In exchange for my loyalty and you, I made an agreement with the third princess. That way, the rebellion started and she ended up sitting on the throne. Something like that?"
"That is possible." Anna nodded in agreement. "The fourth prince is still too young. With an age gap of ten years from the crown prince, he doesn't have a lot of supporters. The biggest supporter would come from his mother's side, which is a big merchant family.
"The fifth prince is the worst. I don't have much information about him. He is still being taken care of by his family, and doesn't seem to have entered politics yet.
"As for the Third Prince, I don't think I know him more than you do."
After listening to Anna, Noel couldn't help but say, "I see… If that's the situation, it seems that the king still maintains control over the kingdom. He might be planning to control it through the crown prince once he is too old.
"The problem will be the third princess… The fact that she is hiding her intention means that she might have contacted nobles out of the king's awareness. That alone is quite a big achievement.
"And there is a chance that she has contacted Duke Lorelei."
"!!!" Anna widened her eyes in shock. "Is it because the Duke has shown such a change and even remained here?"
"Yes. If she is planning to get close to me, there are only three ways: me, your father, or Duke Lorelei."
Anna realized that the situation in the Muivell Kingdom was more complicated than she originally thought. If the third princess was that good, it meant that there was a big chance for her to defeat the crown prince.
"Should we ask Duke Lorelei?" Anna asked. "I mean, we will know about it from his reaction alone."
"No. We won't mention anything about the third princess. We'll let the duke decide whether he wants to talk about it or not." Noel shook his head. "In the end, I'm not planning to have any connections to the royal family since my movement will be restricted."
"If that's the case, I'll respect your wish."
…
When she recalled that conversation, Anna couldn't help but ask, "What are you worrying about right now?"
"The situation might change so fast that it's going to be impossible to react to it. The Third Prince has been so passive since a year ago, so I'm afraid that he is planning to do something soon.
"And with the addition of the crown prince, there is a chance that we will be pincered from two sides. You also still remember that the tower association has spies from the organization, right?" Noel explained his worries.
Anna couldn't reply to it. She realized that she had underestimated the severity of the situation.
"In any case, our opponents will definitely change. Elite soldiers dress up as bandits, other merchant groups, or even nobles." Noel's expression turned serious. He was indirectly implying that the duke might also become their enemy at some point.
However, Noel still smiled to assure her. "But it's fine. I can't say I will deal with this perfectly because I'm not experienced enough. Still, I'll choose the best option and fight back. And the first thing we need to do is get stronger."
"Ah. We haven't absorbed the demon crystals we've gotten from the war not long ago. There are a lot of Superior Demon Crystals. So, we should be able to increase our spiritual energy reserves considerably."
"Indeed. But for today, we will have to finish all the tasks in this town first."
Anna smiled. While the problem hadn't been solved, Noel's expression mellowed a bit after talking about it, which made her feel relieved.
They continued to the north side of the city and began registering the people that would come to the main city with them.
Noel also created a rumor that if they behaved well or worked hard, there was a chance they would be chosen in the next batch, which spread like wildfire.
When the mayor informed them about the job offer, they would definitely take it.
Noel could see several spies with his Affection Medal. However, he didn't take any action against them. He simply found a hundred people, who were not affiliated with anyone and told them that they would be leaving soon.
After that, Noel strolled around the city, monitoring the progress or changes the city had made in the past month. Most of the time he was surrounded by a lot of people who wanted to see or thank him.
He also inspected the part of the city wall that would have to be torn down for the train station.
Finally, after two tiring days, all one hundred people had boarded the train. They had also loaded a lot of materials and supplies.
For this test, Noel changed the demon crystal from the low level demon crystal to the advanced level demon crystal. He wanted to check if this train would be able to withstand these many people and luggage at a much higher speed.
Noel, Anna, Layla, and Duke Lorelei were in the front car, observing the effectiveness of the train. With a smile on his face, he declared, "Let's go."
