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About forty years ago, there was a woman in the Avalon Empire whose beauty was comparable to that of the three great beauties of the current time. It was said tales of her beauty were told in lands far away from the Empire.
Her name was Merian Peserose.
She was the second child of Baron Peserose, a noble hailing from the western part of the country. At the somewhat late age of seventeen, she made her social debut.
“Oh my…”
“Her beauty is otherworldly...”
Awed words spilled from the dumbfounded lips of the aristocratic children when they saw her for the first time.
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Her eyes were black—an eye color that was rare on the continent—and in contrast to her pale skin, her hair was dark as the night sky. It was as if her perfect features and proportions were created by God, no, it was as if she was the goddess of beauty herself.
The men fell hard for her like it was the first time they’d seen a beautiful woman.
It didn’t take long for the capital to hear of her beauty.
“Come and be mine. I will make your dreams come true.”
Those were the words Douglas ben Britten, the Crown Prince of Avalon and Emperor Marcus’s father, said when he saw Meri at his birthday banquet.
For the mere daughter of a rural baron, it seemed like a fantastic opportunity. But Meri was not only beautiful, she was also wise.
At the time, Prince Douglas already had three wives. Meri was afraid of the repercussions of rejecting the prince's request, but the hellish life that would follow if she accepted weighed even more heavily on her mind. All of the Prince’s wives were women from powerful families—what good would it do her if she tried to mingle with such proud people? The moment that the Prince’s affection cooled, she was as good as dead. With only the power of a baron’s daughter, there was nothing she could do to prevent it.
‘How should I approach this…?’
Meri wrung her hands together while everyone stared at her. Her eyes met those of one man who was staring at her in a daze.
“...!”
Her salvation came, miraculously, in the form of a man with deep, dark blue hair. The man stared into her eyes for a moment before taking a step forward.
“Crown Prince, I’m sorry to say that… she is already engaged to me.”
“...!”
The nobles’ eyes widened in amazement. It didn’t matter if what the man said was true or not. The Crown Prince, the future emperor of Avalon, had already laid claim to her.
Except… the man who challenged the Prince had the qualifications to speak up.
“Ah… Lord Toben of Agnus Duchy.”
“Oh? A standoff between the heir of the aristocratic faction and the Crown Prince?” [1]
Crown Prince Douglas frowned as the hall filled with whispers.
“Don’t you already have a wife, Lord Toben?”
Toben shook his head.
“As you know, Your Highness, I currently do not have one.”
“So you plan on getting a new wife? You?”
Toben slightly turned his head at Douglas’s question. His gaze met Meri’s, and she gave a small nod. He turned back to look at Douglas and answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”
“WAAAAH!”
The audience clapped at his succinct answer. Unlike the smile that stretched across Toben’s face, Prince Douglas’s expression twisted.
He felt a maelstrom of emotions, but there was one that was clear: jealousy.
***
The leaves fell from their branches; then the buds emerged, and another warm spring arrived.
Meri gave birth to a healthy baby—a boy. In a country like Avalon, where boys were valued more than girls, Meri was able to bear Toben a son.
“You’ve been through a lot,” Toben comforted her.
“Not at all.”
“The baby looks a lot like you. I think he’ll make women cry when he grows up.”
Meri gave a small smile at Toben’s words.
“Do you… have any names in mind?”
“I have a few, but…” Toben trailed off after he saw Meri’s expression. “Hmm? Do you have any names in mind?”
“I worry that it’s not good enough—”
“Don’t worry about it. Just tell me.”
There was silence for a moment before Meri’s beautiful voice was quietly heard in the room.
“I hope that this child will live according to his own will, free from the influence of those around him.”
“I’m sure he will.”
“After all, this is not a society that will allow him to live alone. It’s human nature to band together into like-minded groups. If he was a god, then perhaps…”
“Then?”
“Is it too much to wish for him to become more god than human?”
Toben smiled and shook his head.
“No.”
“But still, we can’t name him ‘God’…” Meri looked at Toben and smiled. “The ancient name for a god is ‘Aden.’ This child should be named Aden.”
***
Much time passed again.
In the meantime, the two young men who had argued over a woman became adults. One became the Emperor of a great Empire; the other one became the lord of a duchy.
But one of them would never forget that day—that fateful day.
The 67th Entrance Ceremony for the Academy of the Avalon Empire was held on a cold, gusty winter day.
Almost as if by a divine prank, the two men's sons were there as classmates. They were about ten years old at the time.
“I never thought I would be able to cross swords with you in a place like this, Aden.”
The blonde-haired boy looked at the other, similarly-aged boy across from him and smiled. The blonde boy didn’t like the other boy; they’d been compared for as long as he could remember.
Aden von Agnus.
The prince wanted to smash that arrogant, black-eyed boy today.
“...”
In contrast, Aden's eyes were infinitely calm and composed.
- Handle him with a delicate touch. Lose. Since your opponent is the Prince, the title you gain or lose means nothing.
Aden kept thinking about what his father had said the previous evening. Like his father, Aden did not value being number one very much. Even if he tried to climb the mountain that was the Prince, he would never be able to do it in that short amount of time. He planned on taking it easy and losing after a bit.
At least, that was the plan. If the Prince hadn’t used that word, Aden would have happily lost. But the Prince crossed a forbidden line.
“IIIk!”
The sound of wood striking wood echoed again and again as their practice swords collided in front of a crowd. Soon, the Prince's body was drenched in sweat.
“Shit!”
Unlike before, the Prince was annoyed. The situation was not going his way; he didn't even know that Aden was going easy on him.
“Huff, huff! Why do I have to be humiliated like this by the blood of some bitch—”
Aden’s sword froze mid-blow.
“What… did you just say?”
“...?”
The abrupt change caused the Prince to recoil for a brief second before he quickly realized what had happened.
“Oh? What’s this?” The Prince sneered. “You mean the part about ‘the blood of some bitch’?”
At the Prince’s provocation, Aden’s bones creaked as he clenched the wooden sword.
Perhaps he was imagining burying the Prince? But, Aden was still very young and did not have the patience to contain his growing age.
“Didn’t your mother whore herself out to the head of a great family for the sake of her family?”
“...”
“Dirty bitch. How dare she refuse His Majesty’s request. She ought to know her place—”
A sudden whistle split the air.
It happened so fast.
“...!”
Aden’s wooden sword violently deviated from its previous predictable trajectory. The Prince raised his sword with a bewildered expression, but it was already too late.
The Prince’s bones audibly crunched.
“UWAGHHH!”
“Your Highness Prince Marius!”
When the onlookers saw the Prince fall to the ground while dripping blood, they ran over with pale expressions. The wound on the top of his head was obviously fatal. Even if it was a wooden sword, if the head was hit…
Shing!
The Prince’s escorts had been watching the spar from a distance, but now, they all drew their swords. If this incident caused long-term problems for the Prince, it wasn’t only the escorts’ lives on the line. A dizzying thought—three generations of their family might also die with them.
“How dare—!”
When the knights quickly closed in on him, Aden silently stepped back. Even as he did so, he looked down at the fallen Prince coldly.
“Have you gone mad?” The senior knight shouted at him.
“The Prince insulted my mother first.”
“How dare you—”
“Ha… hahahahaha.”
When that laughter filled the room, the senior knight, and the activity of all the other knights nearby, stopped.
The senior knight’s shouting, and the activity of all the knights nearby, stopped when that laughter filled the room. Aden couldn’t control his expression either.
“Moron,” Prince Marius spat.
And then he succumbed to the pain and passed out.
“Keugh…” Aden was struck on the back of his neck and he collapsed, his eyes spinning.
Aden faintly heard the knight’s voice as his consciousness faded.
“We should throw him in prison right now, but we need to take care of the Prince first. A priest—no, the temple…”
The knight's voice faded little by little.
‘I have no… regrets.’
Aden had completely lost his consciousness.
1. Agnus family is always has been the leader of the Aristocratic faction ☜