Kalroy is so fortunate. He has a servant who understands his heart and even a loyal knight… It would be nice if our William had many such people around him too.
I also played along with the servant’s awkward acting.
“Haha, as long as I can preserve my life, that’s enough. I don’t have big ambitions.”
When I came out of the Crown Prince’s room, the knight was waiting for me in front of the room. The knight’s expression looked like he wanted to devour me, so I bowed my head and tried to quickly escape from there. But I was soon caught by the back of my neck by the knight who had caught up to me.
“I-I’m leaving with permission.”
“I know! Who doesn’t know that?”
“Then why are you grabbing me…”
While I was struggling, the knight’s grip on me began getting stronger and stronger.
“I’ll take you back, so stay still.”
“What? Suddenly?”
“Yes!”
The knight’s expression and voice were scary, but less so than when he dragged me here. Rather, he seemed a little kinder? Anyway, I ended up asking the knight something I shouldn’t have asked due to his kindness.
“Excuse me, Sir Knight.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“Duke Kelton… ah, never mind.”
I must be crazy. No matter how swollen my liver was, to ask such a question. There’s no way he’d tell me. Still, it was fortunate that I didn’t finish speaking and stopped mid-sentence.
But the knight, who I thought would get furiously angry and hit me at least once, unexpectedly said something different.
“His Highness the Crown Prince also knows. The fact that Duke Kelton hasn’t shown himself since the last plan fell through.”
The “last plan” must refer to the poisoning attempt incident. With this, the suspicion that Duke Kelton was behind Kalroy was almost certain.
I needed to quickly inform William and Behern of this fact, but a ten-year-old boy’s steps were just slow. Frustrated, I put strength in my legs and ran. Having memorized the route when I came last time, I could shorten the time spent getting lost.
“You seem to be in a hurry. Why, is the Prince going to kill you?”
“Huff, gasp… Sir Knight, please watch your words. There are many ears listening. And Prince William is not someone who takes human life so lightly.”
Only after speaking did I realize I had made a mistake. Like a parent who might scold their own child but can’t stand hearing bad things about their child from others, I had flared up.
The knight looked at me for a long time with narrowed eyes, then asked:
“Whose side are you really on?”
The knight’s face asking the question looked like he wanted to kill me. Only then did I realize. No matter how much this wasn’t the world I used to live in, the only opponents I could be defiant against were limited to children.
But if I was intimidated here, it would only arouse more suspicion. The best thing to do in such situations was to use my outward appearance. My appearance that looked perfectly like a child to anyone. Using that appearance to pretend I didn’t know anything!
I thought of the world’s cutest cat in my head and opened my eyes wide. When I blinked like a cat while meeting the knight’s eyes, the knight furrowed his brow and frowned.
“Sir Knight, friends shouldn’t fight by taking sides. You wouldn’t do something that even children don’t do, would you, great knight of the Stamili Empire?”
The knight cleared his throat with a sheepish expression, going “Ahem.” He looked like he felt self-loathing for fighting with a child about taking sides. Yet his attempts to act nonchalant were amusing.
Soon, the Prince’s palace began to be visible in the distance. It seemed best to quickly escape before the knight came to his senses, so I used every ounce of strength I had and ran and ran.
“Huff, gasp…”
After running for a while, I looked back and saw the knight turning away in the distance. Relieved that I had survived for now, I sighed at my fate of not having a single day pass without threats to my life.
I squeezed out all my remaining strength and rushed into the Prince’s palace.
Contrary to my expectation that William would be shouting loudly looking for me, the Prince’s palace was quiet. While I was relieved that he wasn’t looking for me, the different atmosphere from before made me nervous and my mouth went dry.
Behern was at the Prince’s room door, pressing his ear close to it. He wouldn’t be able to hear the conversation inside just by doing that, would he? It’s not like the door is made of paper…
Lamenting Behern’s foolish behavior, I approached closer to take a look, and I could see the door was slightly open. I was relieved that Behern wasn’t a fool.
But what was going on? Quite some time had passed, but Aren still hadn’t left?
What on earth were they talking about?
“Excuse me, Behern.”
Behern went “Shh, be quiet” and put his second finger to his mouth. I swallowed and quietly perked up my ears beside him. I could hear Aren’s voice.
“I want to be of help to Your Highness.”
Help? Gasp, what is that scheming bastard babbling about?
No, William. Don’t be fooled. Pretend you don’t know anything like a child.
I began sending telepathy earnestly to William inside the room. William answered innocently as if he had definitely understood that telepathy.
“It would be wonderful if Lord Aren could be of help to me. Since I’m lonely, please come often to share tea and refreshments with me.”
Our William, well done. Yes. When things are difficult, pretending not to know anything is best. Indeed, when you teach one thing, he understands ten… my child…
As I watched contentedly, Behern stamped his feet and whispered:
“That won’t do… You should join hands with Lord Aren.”
I looked at Behern with wide eyes.
“Children don’t need to know.”
Did he hear something while I was gone? There’s no way Aren would make a proposal that would help William? But then again, faithful Behern couldn’t be a traitor either.
Could this part have changed from the original too? Many parts had changed from the original since I came to this world. Then Aren might have changed too.
Let’s not speculate carelessly. I could ask Behern after listening to their entire conversation. I shook my head to drive away the thoughts and listened carefully to the conversation coming from inside.
Aren said:
“I know that Your Highness is much wiser and more intelligent than what people in the world say.”
At his words, chills ran through my entire body. William must have felt the same, as no answering voice could be heard. After staying silent for a while, Aren opened his mouth again.
“So there’s no need to hide it in front of me.”
That fox-like bastard! Trying to seduce our good William… William, surely you’re not going to fall for such a petty trick?
I stamped my feet anxiously. However, as if mocking my worries, William’s solemn voice was heard.
“I’m well aware of what people in the world think of me. You’ve pointed it out well. As you said, I am still weak and young. The imperial palace is full of things too overwhelming for someone like me to handle.”
Aren answered as if he had been waiting:
“That’s exactly why I’m saying I want to be of help to you, Your Highness.”
“I appreciate your feelings, but I trust you’ll understand my situation of not being able to trust people easily.”
Hearing William’s words, I nearly collapsed on the spot as strength left my legs. William was much smarter than I had thought and had the ability to captivate other people’s hearts.
For me to tell such a person to use innocence as a weapon and act childlike was insufficient as a teacher. If I could, I would have loved to beat up yesterday’s me.
“Your Highness, I actually…”
Before Aren could finish speaking, William blocked his words and stepped forward.
“Aren, thank you for coming all the way here for me and asking about my well-being differently from other ministers. I need time to think, so how about we meet again tomorrow? I’ll set aside time after my ethics lesson.”
“Yes. Then I shall…”
Regret dripped from Aren’s voice as he bowed and withdrew. While words can be fabricated, the atmosphere and emotions felt in the words would be difficult to fake. There were definitely deep emotions like sorrow and lingering attachment in Aren’s voice calling William, which was confusing.
Why would the great Aren, who wasn’t from a knight background but brought victory to the Stamili Empire, harbor such emotions toward William, who had no backing, weak standing, and had even lost his mother?
As questions floated around in my head, Aren came out. Behern and I, who had been pressed close to the door, were startled and pulled back.
“Behern, I’ll come again tomorrow then.”
“Yes. I’ll prepare and wait.”
“Please take good care of His Highness the Prince.”
“Yes. Please take care of yourself too, Duke.”
Their conversation was ominous. It seemed like there was something I didn’t know about… But even more ominous than that was the fact that Aren’s eyes were moist as he conversed with Behern.
For the power player of the Stamili Empire, who had nothing in the world to fear or be sad about, to have tears in front of the Prince’s room… It was an unbelievable sight that left me breathless.
As I stared blankly at where Aren had disappeared, Behern poked my side and said:
“What are you looking at so intently?”
“Nothing. But Behern, you seem to know Duke Aren well. You looked friendly.”
Behern sighed with a hardened face.
“Rather than being friendly, I’m not sure if it’s my feeling or not, but strangely I felt someone I missed in Lord Aren’s voice.”
“Someone you missed?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
