How the Sidekick Prince Lives Again Chapter 31

'Her Highness the deceased Imperial Consort and the 2nd Prince are my real family.'

What Renato said was true. Khalid understood why he was so devoted to the deceased Imperial Consort and the 2nd Prince. The Imperial Consort was the only adult to reach out to Renato first.

From her, Renato received the love that he didn't receive from his parents, and through the 2nd Prince, he came to know about the family love that he had never known in more than 10 years of life.

'They accepted me into their family. I was able to exist as Renato, not as a useless Beta Prince in front of them.'

Khaled recalled Renato's words and bit his lower lip. Even without directly seeing it, he could imagine how Renato would have lived.

The sadness and despair of being ignored by the parents who gave birth to him, and the hatred and disgust he received from people who had nothing to do with him were too much for a young child to bear alone.

For a child hungry for love, the Imperial Consort would have been both light and salvation. Just like how Maryam was to him.

Noonim.

The red eyes recalling Maryam became dark. When he lost Jamila and suddenly rose to the status of a royal prince, she was the one showing him a path ahead.

'Are you Khalid? Hoo, you really look like me. We have the same hair color and the same eye color too.'

In the past, the previous King, who was famous for his lust, had numerous illegitimate children, including Khalid. He hid his identity and seduced many people. And when that was not possible, he wielded his power as a King.

There were some who had a relationship with him while knowing he was the King, but most of them only found out the truth later. Khalid's mother, Jamila, was one of them.

Jamila, a promising shaman who took first place every year in the Faculty of Shamanism in the Royal Academy, went to the royal palace for practical training before graduation and was noticed by the previous King.

As a result, Jamila had to drop out of the academy and gave birth to Khalid. Having been kicked out of her family, she raised her child by running a small shaman's shop alone.

Both the cause and the fault belonged to the previous King, but people only criticized Jamila and Khalid. It was because no matter what happened, they could not openly speak ill of the King.

Thus, as a child, Khalid had to go through a lot of hardship just because he was an illegitimate child. His life could not be described as good even in empty words. People often pointed at, cursed, and tormented Jamila and Khalid.

Still, Khalid was more fortunate than the King's other illegitimate sons. Born with red eyes and the dominant Alpha trait characteristic of the royal family, he was adopted by the Queen Consort who didn't have a son after Jamila became ill and passed away.

From the King's illegitimate child, he became a recognized royal prince overnight. Since then, Khalid's life had changed 180 degrees.

'Take care of me in the future, Khalid. Feel free to call me noona.'

Unlike the cold Queen Consort, Maryam treated her half-brother Khalid with sincerity. She helped Khalid adapt to life in the royal palace both physically and mentally.

Maryam's kindness was the warmth of others that Khalid first tasted because he was not treated like a human by anyone except his mother.

'I heard it from Sir Abraham. It seems like you have a talent for the sword, right? He sincerely praised that you were born with the qualities to become the best knight in the kingdom. What do you plan to do?'

'I'm not sure. ……What do you think, noonim?'

'Me? Do my thoughts matter? Just do it if you want to, and don't do it if it's not what you want. Hmm, but I don't think it's bad to try for your future.'

'Then I'll try.'

'Eh? Can you make a decision so easily? Well, okay. If you are going to be a knight, make sure to be so strong that no one can look down on you. And I will help you as much as I can.'

With Maryam's full support, Khalid, who showed extraordinary talent in swordsmanship, was the youngest to be knighted in the kingdom at the age of 12. Not stopping there, he was also the youngest to join the Royal 1st Knights Order at the age of 15.

After that, Khalid participated in various expeditions as a member of the Royal 1st Knights Order, showing his presence with outstanding skills.

'I appoint Khalid Nur Hakan as the Vice Commander of the Royal 1st Knights Order.'

Having made the most achievements among the knights in three years, he became the Vice Commander at 18 years old, the same time as his coming-of-age ceremony. Not only that, two years later, he founded a new Knights Order.

Black Wolf Knights Order.

The Knights Order created by Khalid was officially recognized by the royal family with the support of Maryam. It was the birth of the royal family's Special Knights Order. As such, he rose to the position of the youngest Knight Commander in the history of the Khan Kingdom at the age of twenty.

'He's just an illegitimate child who became a royal prince, but now he even established a Knights Order recognized by the royal family. No matter how talented he is, this is still unacceptable.'

'Royal princess Maryam actively supported him…… I really don't understand what she is thinking.'

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Many people expressed concern about the shocking announcement, but their opposition faltered because Khalid's achievements were so impressive.

'An illegitimate son is still better than a daughter.'

When Khalid's fame rose, the previous King weighed him against Maryam. Even the former Queen Consort had the same idea in this regard. Because she adopted Khalid for that purpose in the first place.

As Khalid quickly emerged as a Crown Prince candidate, one by one, those who tried to use him to seize power appeared. At the same time, forces that opposed both Maryam who was a woman and Khalid who was an illegitimate child were born.

'Khalid, I want to be the monarch.'

'If that is your wish, I will make it happen, noonim.'

At the time when tension was rising over the crown prince position, Maryam visited Khalid and revealed her dream. Khalid willingly dedicated his sword to her.

Shortly thereafter, when the previous King suddenly died, a fight for the throne broke out between his younger brother, Duke Abadan, and the royal princess Maryam. A faction made up of the illegitimate sons of the previous King also revolted to demand recognition as royalty.

Thanks to Khalid, Maryam ascended to the throne by crushing all enemies that stood in her way. It was the birth of the third female monarch.

He thought that there would only be happiness waiting for them ahead, but the situation took a strange turn. Khalid did not receive any titles and territories, despite being the number one contributor who placed Maryam on the throne. It was because of the fierce opposition of the nobles.

'The atmosphere is not as good as I thought. Please wait just a bit.'

The blood-stained throne that didn't have the nobles' support was exposed to more risks than expected. Maryam, who failed to take the lead in the beginning, apologized to Khalid and asked for his understanding.

Khalid nodded without saying a word. He didn't want to burden her, who was frantically busy after just ascending the throne. However, as years passed by, his title appointment ceremony was never held.

Meanwhile, people began to call Khalid 'grand prince' rather than 'royal prince'. This was because the words 'royal prince' and 'royal princess' could only be used for the monarch's children. Thus, Khalid became the grand prince of the Khan Kingdom. (Eve's note: I already explained in chap 4, but as a reminder: Khalid's title 왕제 literally means 'the monarch's younger brother'. The usual prince title is 왕자, which means 'the monarch's son'. The current monarch is Maryam, his sister, so Khalid can't use the title meaning 'monarch's son' anymore.)

“Is there still something wrong?”

Nasir anxiously looked at Khalid's expression on the side and cautiously asked. It was a report that he had been working on for the past three days while staying up all night, so he wondered if there was still something wrong.

“No, I think you got it right this time.”

Khalid, who had stopped thinking about Maryam, bluntly replied.

“Then why your expression……?”

“It's just, I feel a little upset.”

Khalid tapped the reports on his thighs. Nasir briefly sighed, knowing why Khalid was saying that. Even in his eyes, Renato's life was miserable.

“Did he say that he would come this afternoon?”

“Yes. He said that he would come with a letter from the Emperor congratulating you on starting your official duties as a diplomatic ambassador.”

“Ah, this is driving me crazy.”

Khalid ruffled his hair and let out a deep sigh. He had yet to decide how he would respond to Renato's offer, so just the thought of meeting Renato made him feel awkward.

“If you feel uncomfortable, you can postpone it until later……”

“He is bringing the Emperor's personal letter, but you want me to postpone it? It's a funny thing to say.”

“My apologies. I made a mistake.”

Nasir closed his mouth, nervous because of the man's reaction. In times like these, it was best to keep quiet. Khalid, who was momentarily annoyed, also felt awkward, then looked at the reports and flipped them over.

This is not good.

Khalid realized that he had recently been in a very bad mood. It was exactly from the day Renato proposed to him for the second time. In the past few days, Khalid had been conscious of Renato.

There is a saying that 'people with the same disease pity each other', right?

He didn't go through the same situation, but the more he got to know Renato's story, the worse he felt. Khalid seemed to understand the frustration and loneliness that Renato had experienced in his life, and his desire to live for the Imperial Consort's son in return for the grace he had received from her.

So he was in trouble. He kept sympathizing with Renato's feelings and inadvertently identified himself with him. So despite thinking that he shouldn't get involved further with Renato, on the other hand, he still wanted to help.

Chapter end