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Episode 6
Amy looked stunned as she watched me butcher the boar. I threatened to kick her out if she kept trying to stop me, and so she cried herself tired. She would let out a scream every time the sword sliced the boar’s flesh. How could she possibly say that she wanted to protect me like that? Was she just too loyal or too cute? Both weren’t all that bad.
For nearly decades, I had learned how to survive by being pushed around by Hercules, the self-proclaimed survival king. The ability to catch such wild animals and butcher them was as easy as chewing a piece of gum. Of course, this kind of behavior would be very troublesome if it had been seen by the eyes of others.
Who would believe that the prince, who had just got out of bed and started to move, crawled into the hunting grounds and caught a boar? It wasn’t normal that the first prince would be playing a survival game inside the castle in the first place. Even if we couldn’t leave any risk factors behind, there was no other way to do so if I wanted to make ends meet.
Queen Liness had assigned a watchman…but it had been a long time since I bothered that watchman. How could I be sure? This was because I used command magic. Unlike other mana and sacred power, command mana showed remarkable growth, and the foundation of command mana was to confuse the opponent.
Your eyes and ears would become useless from the moment you failed to identify your opponent. Looking at Queen Liness’s castle from far away, I smiled, sliced the meat appropriately, and sprinkled herbs and salt that had promptly been prepared in advance.
“The smell will be gone by evening. Amy, please run some errands.”
“Pr…Prince…”
Now, she was crying and asking me to stop.
“Tell the chamberlain Vespers that I want to meet the King.”
“B…but…”
“Just tell him even if you know it won’t happen.”
“Okay.”
She bowed and walked away. Her footsteps seemed very heavy. There seemed to be a misunderstanding. Honestly, even if we shared the same blood, I had no intention of reuniting with my father. I didn’t know why he left me unattended and why he didn’t get to the bottom of this. And he did nothing when my mother died…
‘You’re just not family anymore.’
They said that when your head was hardened, your thoughts would be hardened too. Even if someone were to say that I was immature, this was my choice right now. So you were asking why couldn’t I go visit him at night? All I wanted was a proper face-to-face conversation. I didn’t want to sneak in like an assassin and grab him by the collar and yell, ‘Why did you do that?!’
He once said that he was a man who only loved my mother. In my mother’s diary, there was affection and love for him, and there was a belief that he would never forget it even if she died. However, he was different. His love for her was only this much. My father, who was the only trace linked to my mother, was this kind of human being.
That was why I was just watching him for my own judgment. In the past, I thought that my half-brothers would approach me sincerely one day. However, when I was 10 years old, I had been betrayed by them, and I fell into a coma. It was a miracle that I survived after being hit by a random arrow. No, I knew best that it wasn’t random at all.
When a hunting contest was held at the hunting ground inside the castle where I had caught the wild boar, the event was held to promote friendship between royalty and aristocrats. There, I was hit by an arrow shot by the second Prince, Carlos. It was none other than my half-brother, who was one year younger than me. I had told Queen Liness that I hadn’t seen the criminal, but I would never forget the sneer Carlos had after shooting me with an arrow.
Even if he was my half-brother, he tried to shoot me to death. Wasn’t that funny?
Nevertheless, there was no evidence, and Queen Liness’s power was extremely high. Because I didn’t wake up, Carlos didn’t receive any punishment. That was why Queen Liness, the second Prince Carlos, and the third Prince Benedict came as soon as I woke up, even though they were busy.
She pretended that she didn’t know because she wasn’t going to risk her life. The clever woman wouldn’t have simply believed in me anyway. That was probably why she was monitoring me. Perhaps she was the reason why I couldn’t meet the king. Perhaps she was so worried that I might tell him that I saw Carlos shoot the arrow.
“No…I’m 100 percent sure that’s the truth.”
The blood had been washed away with cleaning magic after heavily seasoning the meat. Then I burned all the rugged clothes I had been wearing.
Just a little bit. In others’ eyes, I needed to be seen as a weak, powerless, and lucky prince who lived a difficult life—a prince who would cook the meat that someone hunted every day.
* * *
“Prince Davey, I brought you a meal.”
Her face turned red when I smiled at her.
“Do you want to eat together?”
“I…I can’t!”
“Just eat.”
So that the rumors would spread faster. They would think that I was stupid and that I didn’t have any awareness of my position. The more the opponent looked down on me, the less they would check on me.
“But…”
“I think I told you not to make me say it twice.”
“Sorry…I’m sorry.”
“Come sit down.”
When I spoke calmly, she crouched down and sat on the opposite side of the table. Now she was the only ally in this castle. So she should be receiving this kind of treatment.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s okay. It’s not normal for you to manage this castle by yourself.”
“But it’s my job.”
“No one in this castle works as much as you do.”
“That’s not right! I’m just…doing what you ask me…”
“That’s a lot, too.”
It was hard for her to manage most of the things by herself. Because of that, I boldly gave up managing this castle. It would be better if there were more rumors. If there was a rumor that I was incompetent, I would be far safer.
It wasn’t like I could press charges against Queen Liness right now anyway. She would only be criticized. And she wasn’t weak enough to be scared by that.
“It’s delicious. You’re so meticulous. I’m sure you’ll be loved even when you get married.”
“Tha…thank you.”
“I’ll make sure to repay you later.”
A chambermaid didn’t usually do chores; it was the maid’s responsibility. Even if she was a declassed noble, it wasn’t her job. Nevertheless, she was in charge of the chores because of the bloody people that ran away.
I could see some of them trying to come back because they were afraid of future trouble, but I was confident that it would be their last time in this castle if they returned. I might be affectionate, but I was not stupid. Since they all had their own backs, they must be making excuses not to return.
“What’s the update for my requested to meet the king?”
“It’s…”
“I see. They refused again.”
“I’m sorry, Prince…”
She bowed her head carefully with a melancholic voice.
“That’s enough. What about the other thing?”
“Oh, I’ve already found out about that…but why would you…”
She bowed her head again when he sat there without saying a word.
“I’m sorry. How dare I ask…”
“No, let’s just leave it at that.”
I spoke calmly and chewed. As I continued to recover from the restored magic, my appetite was growing bigger. Of course.
‘Oh…my stomach…’
The problem was that my digestive system proved to be faster. Clearly, unless I found a way to turn bodily waste into nutrients, my digestive system would continue to cause a disturbance. I felt bitter when I thought of that.
* * *
“What the hell are you thinking?”
Queen Liness made a face while sitting at a table quietly drinking her black tea.
“Maybe there’s a possibility that he’s acting?”
“Even the priests examining Prince Davey said that his body still has limitations in moving. Considering the current rate of treatment, he needs to recuperate for at least a year.”
A woman in a chambermaid’s uniform answered quietly. She looked like an ordinary chambermaid, but she was a little different from a normal chambermaid. She was a level-A secret agent of the Black Moon guild of assassins from the capital of the Rown Kingdom.
The presence brought by the position of a level-A secret agent was truly amazing. Liness watched the woman in front of her, savoring the tea without saying a word. She looked cool and calm, the very image of a skilled chambermaid.
The arrogance and murder in the eyes of a woman with an icy face answered silently. Her ability to grapple with life that wasn’t directed at a particular object proved to be great. Still, she had been both very perceptive and ambitious since she was young. She was a recognized secret agent on the continent, and she was capable of assassinating high-ranking nobles in a single day.
Therefore, she commissioned the Black Moon Guild to keep her at their side for the long term. There might be better assassins on the continent than her, but it was clear that her skills top-notch within the kingdom at least. At least she had the power to protect herself. There was nothing to be greedy about because she could get rid of any annoying things that came her way.
In fact, if you put someone’s life in her hands, she had a record of taking that person down within a few days. This was a machine made for murder.
That was what Liness felt when she had seen her. If she was the person speaking, it was most likely to be true. And if the target were set, that person would be found dead the next day. However, why did she feel qualms?
“Maybe there’s information that the secret agent wasn’t able to catch?”
It was very surprising when the first prince, Davey Al Rown, had woken up after six years of lapsing into a coma. However, she calmly grasped the situation and soon recalled that there was nothing he could do. It didn’t matter if Davey knew that he was almost killed by an arrow shot by Carlos at the hunting competition.
The truth could be easily buried if they threatened him. The king wasn’t interested in his son anyway. As such, Davey’s leash was always in her own hands. She was just looking for a good reason to get rid of him.
When Liness asked her a question, the level-A Black Moon secret agent’s, Shary’s, eyes turned cold.