Perhaps I Can Be the King?

In other words, Freya and Kuro had been discovered because of this Law Pathway ring. Without it, Trig wouldn't have been able to pinpoint their location, meaning they could have theoretically hidden for much longer. But there was no point in dwelling on that now.

Freya had no idea who would win if Kuro and Trig kept fighting, but she did know one thing: she was about to die.

Trig had already raised his right hand toward her. His extraordinary ability was already in motion, and Freya suddenly felt “a little uncomfortable”—the kind of uncomfortable where every bone in her body creaked and groaned as if they were all about to snap.

At the same time, she could see Kuro rushing toward her, but it seemed to be a fraction of a second too late. Thus... Freya decisively exited the simulation.

The next moment, all the pain vanished. Freya snapped her eyes open. Time had returned to the moment before the aristocratic gathering began.

【Simulation complete. Duration: 21 days. Save this slot?】

Naturally, Freya chose no. After all, she had died a rather unpleasant death in this save slot; she would have to be out of her mind to save it.

Looking at the system prompt, eighteen days of city lockdown plus three days of fleeing made twenty-one days in total. This meant the Future Simulation would now enter a twenty-one-hour cooldown.

This was extremely problematic. Twenty-one hours meant it would be tomorrow by the time it was ready. By then, the city lockdown would have already begun, and Freya still had absolutely no idea how to break through this impasse. Who could have expected that after the first trial of Mind Reading and the second trial of divination—both of which were incredibly simple—the third trial would suddenly demand she defeat Trig?

Are you serious? Me, fight Trig?

Actually, there was a very simple solution right now. Since the aristocratic gathering hadn't started yet, the Rank Seven potion probably hadn't been discovered stolen. Freya could easily take this opportunity to slip away.

However, that was merely a way to escape—a temporary fix that didn't address the root cause. Based on the developments in the last simulation, even if Freya ran now, the King's contract would still find its way into her hands eighteen days later. When that happened, she would still have to face Trig's wanted posters and pursuit.

As for holding the contract and launching a grand campaign to reclaim the throne? Forget it. Honestly, that was far too difficult. After all, her opponent was Trig—the man known as the Regent and the Demigod of Law in the future ten years from now.

Rank Six was far from his limit; Trig could still grow much stronger.

And even setting Trig aside, if she wanted to reclaim the throne, Freya would also have to face the King's other illegitimate children. Anyone could figure out that even if she somehow succeeded in the end, the kingdom would probably be left in shambles. As the ruler of a crippled nation, she would then have to deal with the predatory glares of neighboring countries.

Wouldn't that just be looking for trouble?

If Freya were handed a prosperous, powerful nation where she could rule as king and do whatever she pleased, she might actually agree. But being handed a complete mess where she could be invaded by other countries at any moment and lose her life? No thanks. She would rather go back to school.

But as she pondered, a sudden realization struck her. If things progressed naturally like this, the Kingdom of Tarapaca would be lucky not to collapse within ten years. How could it possibly have become so powerful? It had even reverse-annexed the neighboring empire!

Furthermore, why was Trig called the Regent in the future ten years from now? He had clearly slaughtered every last member of the royal family. Why didn't he just take the throne himself?

The title of Regent implied that a member of the royal family had officially ascended the throne and taken over the country, only to delegate all administrative power to Trig.

It was known that the King currently had three children in the public eye, but the one who officially ascended the throne definitely wasn't one of them. Otherwise, Trig wouldn't have slaughtered them all in the present; he would have just propped one of them up as a puppet.

Therefore, in that future ten years from now, Trig must have propped up one of the King's illegitimate children. While those illegitimate children were scattered across various parts of the kingdom, only Freya happened to be in the capital during the exact window of Trig's coup.

“Wait... No way, right?”

At that moment, Freya suddenly realized something she had overlooked all this time: what had happened to her in that timeline ten years later?

Could it be... that the puppet monarch Trig propped up was actually her?

Once she worked this out, Freya's first reaction was: could she replicate this? Though being a puppet king sounded like a prison sentence, she could easily throw a clone over to do the hard time. Meanwhile, her original body could continue doing whatever she wanted. Having a puppet king clone, even as a figurehead, would surely provide her original body with plenty of resources, right?

But the problem was, how could she become this puppet?

She couldn't just walk up to Trig and say, “Hey, I'm the King's illegitimate child. Prop me up as a puppet, and I won't interfere with anything in the kingdom. I'll leave it all to you.”

Freya thought about it. Actually... there might be a decent chance of success?

But even if she wanted to try, Freya certainly wouldn't do it in reality first. She had to test it in a simulation, which meant she couldn't leave this city.

Once she left, no one would be able to get back in after the lockdown began. Even if she started a simulation outside the city, she wouldn't be able to do anything in it.

Or maybe she could leave a clone in the city and have her original body depart? But then she would only have one shot. If she failed, the outcome would be exactly the same.

After weighing her options, Freya decided to stay. Twenty-one days was enough time for her to run numerous simulations. She believed she could find a way out.

At worst, if she really failed, she could always just follow the catgirl, Kuro, and join the Society of Truth. As long as Kuro threw away that ring beforehand, they should be able to hide for a long time—surely long enough for the Society of Truth's people to arrive...?

Probably?

In any case, having made her decision, Freya summoned her Law Freya clone. She had previously had this clone drink the Rank One, Two, and Three potions of the Law Pathway, but none of the ones after that. She now decided to let this clone continue advancing.

Freya planned to try twice. First, she would have her ordinary self go negotiate a partnership with Trig. Naturally, an ordinary person would be very easy to control as a puppet king, right? This might increase the probability of Trig agreeing.

The second time, she would send Law Freya to find Trig. A princess with decent strength might make Trig wary. Once he realized she wouldn't be so easy to kill, it might actually increase the likelihood of him agreeing.

Since she could simulate, there was no harm in trying as many times as possible.

...