The Martial Unity

Chapter 3770: Uttered Conviction

He turned towards Princess Ranea with an impressed expression. ”I see. Indeed, your vision has matured from the childish dreams you had twenty-five years ago. Your plans are compelling and offer a realistic path to Panama Continent dominating the world with just our stranglehold over economics alone. Indeed, you are a fine candidate for the throne.”

His evaluation of her was honest. In the past, he had found her unrealistic pipe dreams to be not very reassuring about whether she would be reliable, but this time, she had gotten rid of that flaw and was an ideal candidate in many ways.

”Perhaps the only issue I take is that you prioritize the sea over the universe itself,” Rui continued, offering critique. ”Before the Race to the Stars, it was one thing, but now that there is an entire universe of energy and resources available at our disposal, your policy of focusing everything on terrestrial matters is suboptimal for the long-term prosperity of our nation, is it not?”

She sharpened her eyes. ”The Race to the Stars is a race of placing all your eggs in one basket. People are far too hyped about a plan that may not be practical for all manner of reasons. It might be that even with the negatron matter we have, the outer limit to how far we can go will be extremely harsh, expanding our territory by very small amounts. There is no proof that this limited segment of outer space will become such an important and dominant sector of our civilization. In comparison, the sea is a domain that has proven to be highly important time and time again. And so...”

As she continued talking, Rui sensed a deep unwillingness within her to allow seafaring to diminish in importance. Even if she had matured and abandoned the more fantastical dreams she had harbored, she was still obsessed with maritime affairs to the point where she became the minister of the ministry that regulated it.

No matter how much she rationalized it with seemingly reasonable words, she was merely grabbing for any logic and argumentation at her disposal to make her biases seem rational.

If she were to become the Empress, the Kandrian Empire would likely lose the Race to the Stars even though it had the most negatron matter by far out of all the civilizations.

”Enough.” He raised a hand. ”You’re as bad with the ocean as Raijun is with Martial Art. I don’t care to debate this with you, but this...”

He glanced at the blueprints and charts in front of him. ”Can I have these?”

Princess Ranea frowned. She didn’t like that he cut her off and simply disregarded her opinion on the matter, but didn’t push it. ”You can have it if you want. It’s a copy, and I’ve shared it with all major stakeholders in the Kandrian Empire to draw capital and support. What do you intend to do with it?”

”I’m just going to commit it to my memory,” Rui remarked as he added the plans to his Mind Palace. ”So that...”

He turned towards her with a serious gaze. ”...I can implement it myself when I ascend the throne.”

Her eyes widened at those words as her expression grew slackened with shock. ”You... what?”

The air tingled with tension as even the Martial Sages behind struggled to keep their composure. Her secretary’s poker face had completely shattered as she gazed at Rui with an expression of shock.

”You are not fit to ascend the throne,” Rui told her straightforwardly. ”You will cripple the Kandrian Empire in the long run. You could even bring about the destruction of our civilization, because we are constantly under threat.”

His ethereal eyes sharpened.

”I will not allow you, or anyone else, to ascend the throne.”

His ethereal voice bore heavily on the atmosphere.

”I, myself, shall become Emperor.”

For once, he said it out loud.

He didn’t need to, of course. He could have just allowed people to harbor their delusions that he wasn’t going to. But he decided to speak it out, thus making it real.

It was a form of commitment.

A thought was further away from reality than speech. So long as his decision and his conviction to take greater responsibility were limited to thought, it would remain far from reality.

As if to prove to himself that he was serious about it, he said it out loud. Now, it would be much harder for him to have second thoughts and change his mind.

’There’s no turning back now, unless I’m willing to look like an indecisive imbecile.’

He wasn’t.

Prince Ranea just stared at him with unadulterated horror as the sheer impact of his words struck her like a hammer, before gritting her teeth.

”I’m not... fit to ascend the throne?” The politeness in her voice was gone.

All that was left was a chillingly intense hatred and rage.

Her eyes bore deep into his with an intense gaze.

”You, of all people, have no right to utter those words to me.”

Her hands balled into quivering fists as the despair of her defeat settled down on her, along with an explosion of frustration deep within, sweeping her entire body.

Her eyes grew guttural as she threw aside all courtesy.

”Of all people, I will not tolerate those words from you. Not you,” she snarled. ”An overgrown boy who’s smitten with Martial Art and refuses to grow up and live beyond himself. I’m not fit? That’s rich coming from a man who abandoned this nation when it needed him most in a war he started!”

His eyes burned with rage as she glared at him with an intense hatred.

”I’m not fit?!” Her voice was wretched with contempt. ”YOU ARE THE REASON OUR FATHER IS DEAD!”

Rui maintained his composure as he simply stared at her wordlessly.

”YOU DESTROYED EVERYTHING I BUILT!” She screeched at him. ”ALL THE PORTS, THE HARBORS, THE SHIPS, the SHIPYARDS. EVERYTHING I BUILT OVER A QUARTER OF A CENTURY WAS WIPED OUT TODAY!”

She gasped for air, not even caring to breathe properly in her rage and hatred against Rui.

”You are a curse.” She spewed with venomous hatred. ”A poisoned apple. You may come with your fair share of miracles, but you make us reliant and dependent on you, and then, when we need you the most, you abandon us. You disappear. Pursuing some stupid Martial Art project or the other. And because of that, we have lost the greatest leader of our civilization. We have lost hundreds of thousands of people, and we have lost entire cities. I have lost everything because of you.”

She gritted her teeth.

”I hope you drop dead before you can ascend the throne. Our Empire does not need a cursed treasure like you. Just go away forever this time!”