Chapter 2: He Really Lived Like a Fool (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 2: He Really Lived Like a Fool (1)
The maids moved with practiced haste.
Thick curtains were drawn, and faint dawn light filtered into the bedroom. Soon, the prince’s personal attendant entered and stood beside the bed where a boy, his face still youthful, lay asleep.
Touching a member of the royal family to wake them was forbidden.
So was making a loud noise.
Therefore, the attendant spoke in a careful voice.
“Your Highness, it is time to wake.”
This was a boy who always jolted awake at the sound of a door opening. And yet, for some reason, he showed no sign of stirring today.
Was he that tired?
With this thought, the attendant took a small bell from a maid standing behind him. A gentle chime, announcing the early morning, soon echoed through the room.
Cling, cling.
Only then did the boy’s eyes flutter open.
The boy blinked for a moment, as if to clear his head, then shot upright. Startled by the sudden movement, the attendant gave a slight bow and greeted him.
“Did you sleep well, Your Highness? It is time to get up.”
He then offered the prepared morning tea to the boy. The boy’s routine was to awaken his senses with the tea’s strong aroma before washing his face.
Since when did I drink tea in the morning?
The boy—no, Bern—thought this, yet his hand unconsciously reached for the teacup. As he did, he noticed how utterly unfamiliar his hand looked.
It was a white hand with long, slender fingers, bearing no trace of the calluses and scars that had once covered it. The sense of dissonance was so jarring that Bern instinctively turned to look at his left arm.
Not a single scar marked the skinny forearm.
No, that wasn’t the issue. The problem was that he could see his left arm at all.
“My arm was severed…”
Muttering this, Bern quickly clamped his mouth shut. The voice that had escaped his lips was far too young to be his own.
“What a terrible thing to say. Did you have a nightmare, perhaps?”
A nightmare.
The fall of Secritia—could there be a nightmare worse than that?
He had no time to answer the attendant.
The question of how his severed arm was reattached could wait. The first thing he had to confirm was whether his brother and king, Chase, was alive.
“Where is my brother?”
Seeing Bern’s urgent expression, the attendant looked slightly puzzled as he answered.
“Both of them are still in their rooms.”
“…Both?”
This time, the same puzzled expression appeared on Bern’s face. He had only one brother: Chase.
“Prince Randel has likely already dressed, as has Prince Franz.”
Randel and Franz.
Names that were at once foreign and all too familiar.
One of them, in particular, belonged to a man he hated to the very marrow of his bones.
Kairis.
Franz, the King of Kairis.
Bern’s eyes narrowed. It was the name of a man he loathed so deeply that even killing him wouldn't bring satisfaction.
Watching Bern, the attendant spoke once more.
“Your Highness, you must hurry and prepare.”
Assuming the prince was still not fully awake, the attendant beckoned to a maid holding a basin of water. Watching this, Bern muttered as if to himself.
“…Yan.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
At the sound of his name, the attendant turned his head and answered.
A reattached arm and an attendant he’d never seen before.
And Kairis.
Bern said no more. He fell silent and began to think.
He had seen this attendant for the first time today.
He would swear on the name of the Chief God Serenti that he had never seen that face before. But he knew the name.
And that wasn’t all.
Bern knew the names of all the maids present as well.
Unaware of Bern’s confusion, the attendant set down the washbasin with a fluid motion.
This is a nightmare.
Recalling the words of the attendant called Yan, Bern reached for the basin. Ridiculously, the only explanation he could think of was that he was dreaming.
Bern brought his face toward the gleaming silver basin.
He couldn't believe he'd retreat into such a bizarre fantasy, no matter how terrible reality had become. It was unlike him.
But the reflection in the water made him freeze.
The red eyes staring back at him were not his.
Bern spoke in a low voice.
“A mirror.”
“A mirror, Your Highness?”
Bern did not answer.
Realizing he’d made the mistake of questioning the prince, whose behavior was already unusual this morning, Yan quickly apologized.
“My apologies. I will bring one at once.”
He then gestured to the maids behind him. One of them hurried out and returned with a mirror.
Yan took it and held it up to Bern’s face. Before he could even offer a word of thanks, Bern was staring at his reflection.
“…”
In the mirror was a young boy with black hair.
From between his long bangs, a pair of ruby-red eyes stared back at him.
Bern lifted his head.
The crest embroidered on the attendant’s clothes—it was unmistakably the crest of Kairis. Only then did he recall that the attendant had been calling him ‘Prince,’ not ‘Royal Brother.’
His lips felt dry.
“Prince Calian.”
Yan called out to Bern, who sat silently, staring into the mirror.
No. I am Bern, the Royal Brother.
Bern repeated his own name, a desperate mantra to keep from losing himself. But a memory surfaced in defiance, whispering in his mind.
No. My name is…
Then, a long name he had never memorized spilled from his lips.
“Calian Rain Kairis.”
Calian, the 3rd Prince of Kairis.
Not Bern. That is my name.
Bern furrowed his brow. His expression still grim, he asked Yan, “What did you say my name was?”
Perhaps thinking Bern was joking, Yan smiled slightly as he replied, “You are Prince Calian. And for your information, I am your attendant, Yan, and I must escort you to breakfast immediately.”
As if waiting for Yan’s answer, unfamiliar memories flooded his mind like a tide.
The Kairis Royal Palace, etiquette, the weather, his schedule, horse riding, the flower garden, magic, the Queen, the King. And two older brothers.
Yan was right. He couldn’t be late for breakfast.
His memories were screaming at him. Get up now. You can’t be later than the other two princes.
He, who had now become Calian, asked quietly, “What is today’s date?”
“It is April 28th. The weather is lovely, Your Highness.”
Hearing this, Calian glanced around. Nowhere did it look like a kingdom at war with Secritia. So he asked again.
“The year, as well.”
“It is the year 522.”
Calian’s eyes shook.
If it was year 522 of the Kairis calendar, that meant it was year 525 of the Secritian calendar. It was not the day he had closed his eyes for the last time.
It’s ten years ago.
Ten years ago. And he was the 3rd Prince of Kairis.
Memories of his two brothers kept surfacing, urging him to hurry.
As Calian remained motionless, lost in thought, Yan could wait no longer and reached out, intending to grab him by the sleeve.
Smack!
Calian’s hand reflexively slapped Yan’s arm away. The arm, struck by the slender palm, immediately turned red. Calian’s own arm, unaccustomed to the movement, throbbed with a dull ache.
Yan’s face was on the verge of tears.
“Your Highness, why would you do that?”
“Ah. My apologies. It was a reflex.”
Yan was so startled he didn’t even notice the drastic change in Calian’s speech. He quickly replied, “It is nothing, Your Highness. But you must get up now. If you don’t, I’ll be…!”
Without listening to the end of Yan’s sentence, Calian shook his head and shot to his feet.
The memories screaming in his head—insisting he couldn’t be later than those brothers of his—had convinced him to move for now. Besides, he needed to get away from this attendant and think.
Soon, Calian finished washing his face, practically dunking his head in the water. He even slapped his cheeks to wake himself up properly.
“I shall prepare,” Calian said.
That’s not how I talk. I didn’t speak like that.
As if in response, another memory washed over him. Calian paused, taking a breath to absorb it, and spoke again.
“No. I’ll get ready. Sorry.”
“You keep apologizing today, which you never do… In any case, I will have your clothes prepared.”
With that, Yan gestured to two other maids. They came forward, their hands full of clothes, and began to dress Calian. Afterward, another maid approached and began to comb his hair.
He saw his jet-black hair hanging down, covering his eyes.
He had always preferred to tie his long, silver-blue hair back in a single tail, so the black hair obscuring his vision felt stifling. As he frowned, the reason for the hairstyle surfaced from his memories.
Because Brother Franz dislikes it.
His two older brothers, the princes.
Of the two, Franz had a pathological hatred for these red eyes. That was why Calian let his hair down to cover them.
To cover his eyes because he was afraid of his brother.
Calian clicked his tongue.
I’d heard bits and pieces, but… he really lived like a fool.
Then, he let out an involuntary, bitter laugh as he thought of someone.
To think the likes of Franz hated these eyes.
The enemy of his enemies. The Mad King, Franz.
He was the King of Kairis. No, since this was ten years ago, he was still a prince.
He was the very person who had ordered the attack on Secritia.
Franz… The very fact that you still draw breath is horrifying.
He could not let those hate-filled words escape his lips.
This was the Royal Palace of Kairis.
He still felt as if he were wandering in a dream, but for now, he was Calian, the 3rd Prince of Kairis.
Therefore, Calian repeated the same words over and over in his mind.
Even if I see him, I must not kill him now. I have to endure.
If this wasn’t a dream.
If, however absurdly, he had truly returned to the past.
He couldn’t afford to make a rash move that would get this body’s head chopped off.
The maids, oblivious to Calian’s thoughts, were adjusting his attire and adding the final touches. Their meticulousness made him wonder if this was truly for a simple breakfast.
He could only imagine how much torment the boy must have endured over his appearance to warrant such thoroughness.
Soon, all preparations were complete.
Calian took a shallow breath, opened the door, and stepped out. He descended the strangely familiar central staircase and headed for the dining hall at the far right end of the palace.
Along the way, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t recall his own age. Had this boy lived without even keeping track of the years? In the end, Calian decided to ask Yan for help.
“Yan.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“How old am I?”
The question caught Yan off guard. The prince was asking some very peculiar questions this morning, but Yan answered nonetheless.
“You are fourteen, Your Highness. You still have four months until you come of age.”
“Right. I see.”
No wonder I felt so young.
With that thought, Calian nodded.
Yan spoke in a worried voice.
“Your Highness. Did you perhaps read a novel about knights last night?”
He asked because Calian’s way of speaking was so different from usual.
The original Calian was afraid of riding horses.
However, he had a horse-riding lesson tomorrow. Yan assumed that Calian, worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up, had read a novel about knights and was now imitating them.
Calian shook his head and replied, “No. I shall be careful… No, I mean, I’ll be careful.”
Having said this, Calian soon entered the dining hall.
Only attendants were inside; the princes had not yet arrived. Calian’s gaze briefly fell on Yan.
He made such a fuss, acting like they were about to leave any second.
Yan had likely lied to pressure him into not being late.
He saw a large, round table set by a massive window. At King Lemain’s suggestion, it was where the three princes had breakfast together every day. For the original Calian, it had also been the most dreadful place in the palace.
An attendant was pulling out a chair. Recognizing it as his spot, Calian sat down. He then gazed out the window at the unfamiliar scenery.
It’s as grand as I’d heard.
The Royal Palace of Kairis, a kingdom that boasted the largest territory on the Sistera Continent, was famous for its immense size. It was different from the Secritian Royal Palace, which consisted of one large building and two annexes.
Here, a staggering six buildings were designated as ‘palaces’ for the royal family to reside in. In addition, countless other buildings, numerous gardens, and artificial lakes were all contained within the palace grounds.
Chermil Palace, where Calian and the other princes resided, wasn't even considered one of the larger ones. Nevertheless, the artificial lake in front of it and the garden that stretched out behind it were considerably vast.
Sunlight reflecting off the water streamed through the window.
He waited for about ten minutes, lost in thought, before the 1st Prince, Randel, arrived. About thirty minutes after that, the 2nd Prince, Franz, arrived.
Calian’s eyes widened as he watched Franz stride over and plop down into his seat without a word.
What in the world is that…
What in the world was that pathetic sight?
Seeing the unimaginable spectacle, Calian’s brow furrowed deeply.