How the Sidekick Prince Lives Again Chapter 5

Published at 13th of January 2023 06:02:24 AM

“Should I just kill them now?”

The blood-red eyes sank with a dim light. He was afraid of taking action too rashly and became an obstacle for Maryam, but Khalid was ready to get blood on his hands again at any time.

“Another terrifying thing to say again…… What are you going to do if someone hears you?”

“Who else is here beside us? And if they want to hear it, just let them hear.”

“Ehem, anyway, according to the news from the informants, the atmosphere in the capital is chaotic.”

Nasir coughed and turned the topic back to the Fleurette Empire. If it was Khalid, the man would really do something like that. Before that could happen, he had to draw his attention to another topic.

“When we go to the Empire, we'll have to be careful in many ways. Otherwise, we may become entangled in the battle for the throne.”

“Battle for the throne? Didn't you just say a little while ago that the 2nd Prince is the most likely to be the Crown Prince? Or is the Empress trying to put his child on the throne?”

“No. There is another candidate that the Empress and his family are pushing for.”

“What does that mean?”

Khalid frowned when hearing the new information. Nasir calmly said about the information he had gathered.

“The Empress is trying to adopt a collateral imperial family member, lord Maximo of Florence Duchy, as an adopted son. He is said to be an Alpha that has a tie to the Medus family.”

“It seems too complicated there.”

Khalid listened to Nasir's explanation and put his chin on his hand. He had no intention of rejecting the diplomatic ambassador position since it was a royal order, but the timing was probably not right.

“……It's hard to look good if we get caught up in the politics of another country, tsk. First, do some more research on Maximo Florence. And find out which one has the upper hand, him or the 2nd Prince.”

“Yes, your highness.”

Khalid pondered for a moment and ordered Nasir to conduct a detailed investigation. As the Fleurette Empire was an important source of money for their kingdom, it was necessary to keep an eye on the situation. Especially if it was a place he would be staying for the next few years.

“Time is running out, so I'll have to prepare right away from tomorrow. I also have to meet with Her Majesty……”

“Should I send someone to the main palace?”

“Yes. Tell Her Majesty that I will meet her. It's a little late today, so make it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Ah, call for a watchmaker too.”

“Watchmaker?”

Organizing the list of to-dos in his mind, Nasir blinked when he heard an unexpected command.

“Why are you suddenly looking for a watchmaker?”

“Why else? Because my watch is broken.”

“Pardon? Why did it break? There is a protective spell on it, right?”

“I don't know either. It suddenly broke at dawn.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Khalid took a silvery-white pocket watch from his pocket and opened the lid. Then, the broken glass inside was revealed.

“Last night, I had a rather unsettling dream, but…… I woke up feeling something strange in my sleep, and this is what happened.”

“Oh my God. This is…… a bit harsh.”

Nasir looked at the broken pocket watch with a surprised face. He knew how much Khalid cherished this watch.

Khalid never left his watch away from his chest pocket even as he went out to the battlefield, did government affairs, or rested at home. Because it was a special keepsake left by his mother, Jamila.

“Perhaps someone has put a curse on you, your highness? Otherwise, it would have been fine even in the war……”

Nasir's expression became serious. Jamila, a talented shaman, cast a very powerful protective spell on that watch. She then left a will to Khalid that he should carry it with him.

Perhaps it was because of the protective spell, Khalid's watch never got a scratch, let alone broken. The watch, which always seemed new, suddenly broke? It was definitely strange.

“There is also that possibility. If there is a curse, there would be a trace on the watch, so let's show this to Alia.”

“That is a good idea.”

Nasir agreed with Khalid. Alia was a shaman belonging to the Knights Order, and although she was young, she was a talented person.

“If there is indeed a curse, I can understand why you had a nightmare.”

“Nightmare……”

Khalid murmured those words, then fiddled with the watch. In his dream, he saw someone crying. That person was crying so sadly that it was hard for him to breathe because his chest ached just looking at that person.

But he couldn't remember who that was. When he woke up, all he remembered was that he had handed the person in his dream the watch that was the keepsake of his mother.

“It was a sad dream.”

“A sad dream?”

“Yes, it almost brought tears to my eyes.”

Recalling the feelings he had in the dream, Khalid involuntarily squinted one eye. In response to Khalid's answer, Nasir put on an expression saying he just heard something strange. He couldn't tell if that was a joke or a serious one.

“Please don't worry too much. It is just a dream.”

“Alright. Anyway, call Alia. We need to fix it before we leave, so let a watchmaker check it as soon as possible.”

“Understood.”

Nasir engraved Khalid's instructions in his head, then sighed and lamented.

“Haiz, I thought we would be able to rest for a while, but…… we have been kicked out of the country.”

“Think positively. Would the Fleurette Empire be a bad place? We will have a warm winter for the next five years.”

“Hmm, but for how long will we be in the capital? Surely they will ask for military cooperation from time to time?”

“Then even better. We can rip off something from them thanks to that.”

Khalid smiled like a mischievous child while putting his thumb and index finger in a circle. Nasir felt his heart ache when looking at the man's carefree appearance.

Her Majesty the Queen is really indifferent.

Nasir fixed his facial expression, swallowing the resentment that reached his throat. As Khalid's aide, he had a lot of things against Maryam whether the man knew it or not. Probably all members of the Black Wolf Knights felt the same way as him as well.

But Khalid, who was the most upset, didn't resent Maryam, so he couldn't say anything about it. So today again, Nasir swallowed down his discontent that had nowhere to vent.

* * *

“We will be arriving soon, Your Imperial Highness.”

Renato raised his heavy eyelids when hearing Louis' announcement that they would arrive at the Empress' Palace soon. His eyes felt stiff, perhaps because he didn't sleep well yesterday.

“Are you okay? You look very tired.”

“Hmm? Ah, I'm fine. It's just that I didn't get enough sleep.”

“……What were you doing in the library?”

After hesitating for a moment, Louis asked in a cautious tone. Yesterday, after attending Ludmilla's funeral, Renato sent Louis and Luna back as soon as he returned, and confined himself to the study alone. And he did not come out until daylight.

He would probably still be in his study if the Empress' Palace didn't send a person upon hearing that he had attended Ludmilla's funeral.

“I was just thinking about what to do next.”

“Pardon? What do you mean……”

“Uhm, I'll tell you everything when the time comes. I still haven't made up my mind yet.”

Renato gently curled up the corners of his eyes to ask Louis not to inquire further. It was true that he hadn't organized all of his thoughts.

All night long, he pondered how to keep Trudy away from the Empress and Marquis Medus. But he couldn't come up with a proper way.

He accepted that he had regressed to the past, but he was at a loss as to how he could change the future. After all, Renato, back in the past and even now, was always a powerless Prince.

An extra who couldn't even get a supporting role in a play or novel.

That was how people looked at Renato. And he knew his own situation better than anyone. He couldn't help but know. Because he lived and died with that kind of neglect in his previous life.

The reason Renato, the 1st Prince and the only child of the Empress, was ignored and rejected by people was because he was a Beta whose right to the throne was not recognized.

'We are the successors of the noble blood of the Fairy King.'

Shortly after the founding of the Fleurette Empire, the imperial family emphasized that they were special existences of the Fairy King's lineage to consolidate their imperial power.

In fact, the imperial family members of the Fleurette Empire were healthier and lived longer than normal people, perhaps because of their fairy blood. Their appearances were also as beautiful as flowers, regardless of age or gender, and they looked much younger than people of the same age no matter how old they were.

They were not much affected by poisons, and even if they were injured, their wounds would heal quickly. It was because the fairy blood flowing through the imperial family members was a better remedy and antidote than any other medicine in the world.

Fear of becoming old and sick was a feeling most people had. Therefore, in people's eyes, the imperial family of the Fleurette Empire certainly looked special. Thus, many people admired and envied the imperial family, and hoped to become a member of it.

However, even the imperial family could not avoid the differences based on their traits. Due to their innate nature, Alphas and Omegas were superior to Betas in both physical and talent aspects.

It was a very small difference, but people took it very seriously. Then, they came to think that the Beta imperial family members were inferior to the Alpha and Omega imperial family members.

Therefore, an atmosphere of rejecting Beta imperial family members was created to occupy the only throne within the Fleurette imperial family. It was to reduce a possible competitor.

Thus, about 300 years ago, the Beta imperial family members' right to succeed to the throne was officially deprived. From then on, the sufferings of the Beta imperial family members began.

The narrow-minded ideology that had continued for hundreds of years was solidified day by day and had become a means to justify discrimination.

Amid such an atmosphere, Renato, who was born a Beta that could not become the Emperor, had no choice but to be in a cramped position.

Chapter end