3
The child was holding a teacup as small as his own hand. Unlike the servants around him who were drinking tea, what was contained in the child’s cup was fragrant milk. The child who had drunk until the area around his red lips was stained white turned his head to look at me and the Duke.
That sight was truly cute yet looked foolish. Foolish. It was a word far too removed from the Persis Keinan I knew. He was grinning with milk still on his lips, and while it was quite a cute situation, it was something that could never happen to the Persis Keinan I knew.
This won’t do. You’re someone who should stand beside that person I treasure most. I didn’t expect even your childhood to be perfect, but this isn’t right. I held back the urge to shout that this was ridiculous right there.
Now that I think about it, I probably wanted Persis alone to be perfect without a speck of flaw. If I had seen the protagonist acting clumsy, I would have said I was so happy to see such an expression, but Persis was different.
No matter how much he was my second favorite character, the difference between first and second was enormous. I think that gap could never be narrowed.
As a result, I naturally fell into an obsession that I had to make this man as close to perfect as possible.
The Duke took me to Persis. My footsteps treading on the grass felt heavy. I hadn’t expected to encounter a character I had seen on a monitor like this. He blinked his golden eyes, making them sparkle. The sight of his long eyelashes moving looked quite surreal.
‘Who?’
‘I pay my respects to the descendant of the Empire. I am the 16th Duke Crusay, Zahar Crusay. This is my son, Andelion Crusay.’
‘I pay my respects. I am Andelion Crusay.’
I greeted him according to the imperial etiquette the Duke had taught me. Perhaps because of his position as Duke, the Duke did not kneel before Persis. Maybe it was because of his hidden heart that despised the royal family.
‘Anadelion?’
‘It’s Andelion.’
‘Anadel?’
‘It’s Andel.’
Even though I kept correcting him, Persis couldn’t pronounce my name properly. It wasn’t even that difficult a word. The exchange went back and forth several times, but my four-syllable name never came out of his mouth.
‘Please call him whatever is comfortable for you.’
I tried until the Duke stepped in to speak, but it all ended in vain.
‘Yeah! Ana!!’
That’s how I became his ‘Ana.’
Recalling that scene made me feel like the breakfast with the Duke from earlier was sitting heavy in my stomach. The moment I opened the door to the reception room with Kara in tow, I met eyes with Persis, whose eye area was stained as red as his hair.
“Ana!”
I embraced the small child who smiled brightly and threw himself into my arms. The warmth I felt from him made my chest heavy. I really wanted to ask him directly why he was acting like this toward me.
“Krgh. I pay my respects to the descendant of the Empire.”
Despite having a similar build, my legs wobbled from Persis’s weight. The fact that I had walked a lot since morning also played a part.
“Ana! Ana! I, I! Ana, wanted to see, so, so.”
He looked like he was about to cry again.
I held back the sigh that was about to escape and cast my gaze toward the palace servant standing beside Persis. Even if I asked Persis how he had come all the way here, I would undoubtedly only hear words that didn’t even form proper sentences. So I had to hear the full story from the palace servant who had brought Persis.
“His Highness had a nightmare last night. It was apparently a dream where Young Master Andelion was going somewhere. His Highness has been trembling in fear since late at night and couldn’t fall back asleep. He said he wanted to confirm Young Master’s well-being as soon as possible, so we came running as soon as dawn broke.”
In other words, he had been throwing a tantrum without sleeping since last night. What a troublesome prince, making so many people suffer.
My schedule today is very tight. After breakfast, I need to finish reading the book I’m currently reading and receive a short lesson. After lunch, I’m supposed to take a walk around the house under the guise of exploring the ducal residence, then do simple exercises with Kara.
After dinner is free time, so I can read books or rest. Most of the time, by then I would lie down on the bed and fall fast asleep.
Of course, I had to avoid Kara’s nap time in between. She insisted that at this age I absolutely must take afternoon naps and tried her best to make me lie down. However, I currently had no luxury of taking afternoon naps. I had to become a proper person as quickly as possible.
Only then would I be able to teach this unreasonable prince even a little.
What on earth are the teachers in the palace doing? They should be providing higher-level lessons than the teachers in the ducal residence, but no matter how much he’s seven years old, showing this kind of behavior still doesn’t make sense.
He is a prince who must take responsibility for this country. No matter how much he had nightmares, this was ridiculous.
I peeled off Persis who was clinging to me. Perhaps he didn’t expect me to push him away, as his large golden eyes opened wide and round. That sight looked quite pitiful, but I couldn’t back down here.
“Your Highness. Do you know why Your Highness is called ‘Your Highness’?”
Persis was flustered by my sudden question. This small child must have naturally thought I would definitely hug him tight. Everyone in the palace would have done so, so he must have believed I would do the same.
However, I had no intention of reaching out to him again until I heard proper words from him.
“Because, prince? Called prince.”
The pronunciation of the character ‘황’ (hwang) wasn’t quite right and seemed slightly drawn out, but I decided to ignore that much and let it pass.
“That’s not it.”
“Um, because Father’s son?”
“Yes. That’s correct. You are the son of His Majesty the Emperor, the light of this Empire.”
“Yeah! Right!”
Thinking he had given the correct answer, Persis felt good and shrugged his shoulders. I was thinking of making that face the complete opposite soon. I felt half expectant and half sorry.
“Then why is His Majesty the Emperor the light of the Empire?”
Another question fell upon him. The servants around us just quietly listened to our conversation. There was no one here of sufficient status to interrupt. A young master was in a position that even high-ranking palace servants couldn’t treat carelessly.
I decided to make full use of this status I possessed.
“That’s…”
“He is called the light because he is the only one who will shoulder this Empire. He is that great, and he sacrifices himself that much for the people. Your Highness is the son of such a person.”
As I spoke eloquently, I suddenly realized my age. It was a bit much for a seven-year-old to speak this way. I decided to change my word choices to easier ones even now. Or at least loosen my speech pattern.
If it had been just Kara, I wouldn’t have needed to worry, but there were also palace servants present. I couldn’t know where or what words they might spread.
“Your Highness is also like His Majesty. You will become great.”
I will make you so.
“So please do it for the people.”
“People?”
“Yes. I am Your Highness’s subject. The people here are Your Highness’s subjects.”
At my words, Persis looked around at the people nearby. He probably just thought of them as people who protected his side. Maybe he even considered them family. But that wasn’t the case. This world was divided by class, and there were roles assigned according to those positions.
Young Persis didn’t know this fact yet.
“You couldn’t sleep since last night because of nightmares.”
“Yeah! That’s right!”
Now thinking I would comfort him, Persis relaxed his sullen expression and prepared to tell me all about his nightmare in great detail. However, I had no intention of letting that happen.
“These people probably couldn’t sleep either. Because Your Highness was awake.”
“Young Master!!”
At my words, the palace servant urgently shouted to stop me. Kara glared at him with fierce eyes. I could see her holding back from saying something like ‘How dare you raise your voice at him.’
No matter how much it was for Persis’s sake, there was clearly a line that existed. It wouldn’t be strange if I got severely scolded later.
Since Kara was beside me, she would handle blocking the servant on her own. Trusting in her, I finished my remaining words.
“It’s hard when you can’t sleep, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It’s hard.”
“It’s the same for those people. Your Highness is a precious existence to all of us. So Your Highness, please treat us preciously.”
Please don’t come looking for me from morning like this. Perhaps not fully understanding my words, Persis tilted his head. Then he hugged me again.
“Yeah! I will!”
He nodded his head vigorously while smiling, but no matter how I looked at it, he had definitely misunderstood. If I tried to persuade him further here, it would only create friction between the palace servant and Kara. Moreover, I didn’t want to amplify the genius theory about the young master of the Crusay ducal family any further.
“Yes. If you understand, that’s fortunate.”
I held back the sigh that was about to burst out and hugged Persis back. His small body trembled slightly as he giggled in my arms, apparently delighted about something. How could I teach proper common sense to this prince? My head was starting to ache.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
