The Prince Wants to Retire

With that determination, Kariel organized his thoughts while ignoring Tarion’s worried nagging in one ear.

“Tarion.”

“Yes? Did you call for me?”

Tarion, who was speaking eagerly in a worried tone, came to his senses and looked at Kariel.

“I have a request.”

Kariel’s words made Tarion’s eyes widen.

He always looked unenthusiastic due to his poor health, so it was moving for him to ask something from Tarion.

“Your Highness, please tell me anything you need.
I will devote my faith and even risk my life…”

“No need to risk your life.
It’s something simple.
First, bring me the paper.”

“Yes!”

Kariel refused to let Tarion, who was eager to go to war, and wrote down what he needed on the paper he brought.

“What? Didn’t you say it was something simple?”

Tarion started to panic as the paper was quickly filled with dense writing.

The writing was more detailed than he expected.

Of course, most of them were meaningless words.

Some were written like whining and complaining, and some even said to go get some fruit.

Initially, Tarion was surprised, but soon his pupils widened.

“This, this is…”

“Shh!”

Kariel put his finger on his lips, and Tarion nodded his head quickly.

Even though the sentences were disorganized like a child’s diary, there were a few rules to follow.

And those rules were something that Tarion knew very well.

“Because Tarion told me in the previous life.”

He must have been told this at some point during this time too.

But at that time, he was too slow to learn as he was busy finding a way to recover his health.

“Excellent!”

Tarion raised his thumb and began to read the paper slowly.

There were many mixed and varied things, but he caught the important points right away.

The most important points were three big things.

A list of people in the Imperial Faction who play pranks using their own names.

Extract those involved with criminal organizations from the list. Finally, obtain a list of spies in one’s own palace.

After reading through everything, Tarion looked at Kariel with concern.

“This is…too dangerous.”

At Tarion’s worried expression, Kariel chuckled and said,

“I don’t have any immediate plans.
But we need to have some understanding of the situation, don’t you think?”

Tarion sighed and nodded slightly.
For a long time, the Empire had been divided into three factions.
The noble families had been willing to turn a blind eye to their own factions using their names to conduct business, even to the extent of using their names to cover up crimes.

Kariel, in his past life, had often allowed his name to be used to support the Imperial Faction and to keep it going.
But in this life, he thought differently.

Of course, at the moment, he couldn’t do anything.
His physical condition was terrible and he had no information or resources.
However, even at this time, Tarion had a small group of people he had personally cultivated.

“They’re a small group, but they’ve got some substance.
So we should be able to at least figure out what’s going on in the open.”

Thinking this, Kariel encouraged Tarion, who nodded hesitantly.

“It’s possible.
But…”

“I really have no intention of doing anything.
We just need to gather information.”

“…I understand.”

After reluctantly responding, Tarion opened his mouth as Kariel grinned.

“Bring me one of the servants.”

“Well, if you have orders…”

“Ah! I plan to send a task to the palace library to find something.”

“Please tell me!”

Looking at him pounding his chest as if to ask him to entrust it to him, Kariel shook his head.

“Tarion will find out about that.”

“If it’s not too much, I can certainly do it.”

“Is that so?”

After Tarion spoke proudly, Kariel grinned and asked him to bring a paper and began writing down roughly remembered books, from historical books about the mythological era to martial arts and encyclopedia on monsters.
Of course, he mixed in some miscellaneous items to confuse the spies.

“Uh…”

“Of course, this is just what to bring right away, and I’ll have you bring documents on herbalism and this disease as well, while also finding ways to recover my body.”

“Um…”

“Is it a lot?”

Tarion awkwardly smiled and nodded slightly at Kariel’s question.

“Call them in.”

“Yes!”

Tarion, who answered as if saluting like a soldier, gracefully bowed and left the room with a surprised expression.

After a while, when the steward came in instead of Tyrion, Kariel handed him a piece of paper with a list of books to be fetched from the library and fell into thought again.

The biggest reason he lost Tyrion was because of the betrayal of those he thought were on the same side.

Imperial Faction…

Thinking about the Imperial Faction, Kariel gritted his teeth.

Looking back now, they were useless people.

If it were a peaceful era, he might have thought about taking them along even though they were like garbage, but the future was hell.

Moreover, he had no intention of becoming an emperor, so there was no reason to take the Imperial Faction with him.

I’ll sacrifice the Imperial Faction for my YOLO Life.

Kariel grinned, having firmly made up his mind.

He had no intention of letting his guard down or stupidly letting himself be taken advantage of like in his previous life.

His belief, born of the hardships he endured as an emperor, was that “if you get screwed over twice, you’re f*cked..”

What could he do to avoid that in this life?

Get what I need and get out of the palace.