Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: 05. Not Everything Had Vanished (3)
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"Kuheuk... Ah, my teeth."
The man crawled across the floor. Blood poured from his mouth as he wailed like a child, endlessly complaining of the pain. The prince strode toward him.
"Argh!"
Kicked in the side, the man flipped over. The prince roughly grabbed a fistful of his hair.
"Y-Your Highness!"
The club members, who had been frozen in shock, cried out to the prince like it was a scream. But before they could even move, the prince's hand swung.
Crack.
A full liquor bottle smashed cleanly into the man's mouth.
"Argh!"
The scream came a beat late. A moment after that, shards of broken teeth and chunks of flesh spilled out.
Thud. Thud.
The prince rained punches down on the man's ruined face. The few remaining front teeth shattered in an instant, scattering everywhere.
The merciless beating continued.
"Guuuh..."
The man, heir to the Balson family, finally rolled his eyes back.
The prince released his grip on the hair. The limp head dropped with a thunk, hitting the floor mercilessly.
Eh? Uh-oh. If we leave him like that, he'll choke to death.
The moment that thought crossed everyone's minds, the prince kicked him again. The Balson heir, sprawled out flat, flew into the corner with a thud. Blood gushed from his mouth as his body twitched sporadically.
Whether intentional or not, it prevented him from choking. But without quick treatment, he'd die.
Everyone knew this, yet no one could move. Instinct told them: the prince decided whether the Balson heir lived or died.
And the verdict had been declared long ago.
[From now on, your younger brother is the family heir.]
The prince had never intended to let the Balson heir live from the start.
Why?
The question rose in everyone's mind.
Hadn't they just been chuckling together moments ago? What had provoked the prince's temper?
They had to figure it out fast. If they'd made the same mistake, they needed to find some way to backpedal. Eyes met eyes. Gazes darted back and forth.
No one had a clear answer. The exchanged looks held only bewilderment and confusion.
The prince flicked the blood from his knuckles. Then he scanned the room.
His eyes gleamed with a sharp blue light, and his lips parted.
"I can tolerate you thinking I'm a scoundrel, but I won't tolerate you treating me like one."
"..."
"...?"
Incomprehensible words. But the prince showed no intention of explaining them.
"Ilai."
"Y-Your Highness!"
Bernard Ilai jumped in surprise and bowed his head.
"Didn't I say today would be a lot of fun?"
A man lay dying at his side, and his own fists were still drenched in blood. Yet his voice bubbled with excitement, like he was at a festival.
"Go fetch the Royal Knights."
"As you command!"
Bernard Ilai bellowed and fled the room like he was escaping.
"Women, get out."
At the prince's words, the pale-faced women scrambled from their seats.
"I said women."
A few men trying to slip out froze in place.
"If you want to leave, go ahead. But you'll leave as a woman."
No one there failed to grasp his meaning. And no one was desperate enough to endure such horror just to escape.
Clank, clank.
The sound of clashing armor echoed, and then the Royal Knights burst in.
* *
"His Highness has summoned you."
The son of Count Ilai, who had shown up out of nowhere, was deathly pale for some reason.
"His Highness has?"
"There was a minor scuffle inside..."
Before he could finish, Kals Yulihi barked orders like a machine gun.
"You and you, seal off the mansion with the soldiers! The rest, follow me inside! Prioritize securing His Highness above all else!"
The Royal Knights charged into the mansion.
They saw women with smeared makeup sobbing hysterically. Seeing them scatter like startled animals in a wildfire made their hearts race. The knights sprinted down the corridors.
"His Highness is in there!"
The Ilai scion, lagging behind their blinding speed, pointed to the door at the end of the hall. Hands on their sword hilts, ready to draw at any moment, the knights burst into the room.
Kals Yulihi's gaze swept the area rapidly.
Through the hazy, fog-like air, he saw the room in total disarray.
Men pressed flat against the walls with disheveled clothes, one man lying bloodied on the floor, shattered glasses and bottles everywhere.
"Your Highness!"
The prince stood in the center.
"We have arrived!"
They drew their swords and surrounded the prince, eyes flashing as they glared around. Only then did Kals notice the expressions on the men's faces—those plastered against the walls.
Hm?
Kals narrowed his eyes.
The men, undoubtedly young nobles, were utterly terrified. They looked like sheep that had fled into a pen from a predator, only to hit a wall and panic.
His eyes darted around. The prince looked oddly nonchalant amid the chaos. And then he spotted the fist caked in blood and flesh.
"Your Highness? What in the world happened here?"
"They didn't kneel or show respect in my presence. And they coveted a royal sword. What crime does that warrant?"
Kals replied with a stern face.
"Failing to show proper respect to royalty is insulting royalty, so the charge is royalty insult. Coveting royal property is overstepping royal authority, tantamount to treason."
He scanned the room sharply as he spoke.
"Who should kneel?"
"All of them."
Kals, who had been awaiting the order, briefly looked puzzled.
"Y-Your Highness! How could I ever insult you? That was never my intent!"
"Your Highness! Please forgive us in your mercy!"
"Covet the sword? It was mere admiration for Your Highness's noble bearing—never any such intention!"
Some begged for mercy outright, others made excuses and pleas. But none claimed it never happened.
"How dare you!"
The enraged Royal Knights kicked the backs of the men's knees and struck them with scabbards. The men collapsed to the floor, begging for forgiveness.
"And that one..."
With all the men kneeling, Kals eyed the bloodied one sprawled out and asked his crime.
"He mocked me to my face and insulted my knight."
He treated Arwen Kirguyen like a whore. The prince's voice was colder than ever. Kals found himself glancing at him. Somehow, the prince seemed admirable.
Meanwhile, the nobles kept clamoring.
"Your Highness! For my father's sake, please forgive me!"
"Our family has served the royals loyally for generations! How could I—"
A defiant voice cut through the pleading.
"Your Highness! Even you can't treat the eldest son of Count Giern like this!"
A man with drunken, glazed eyes glared at the prince.
"We can still cover this up! If you do, our family will serve you with unwavering loyalty! But if you insist on this path, our family cannot stand idly by..."
"Try it."
The prince stepped forward before he could finish.
"Go on, try."
Flinch.
The eldest son of Count Giern trembled at the menace.
"But you know."
The prince sneered coldly.
"Before that, your father's head will be on the city walls. His son just committed treason."
The man's face drained of color. He realized his careless invocation of his background had gone too far. The drunken haze vanished from his eyes.
"Y-Your Highness! That wasn't what I meant! I just..."
"What are you waiting for? Do I have to keep listening to this?"
Just then, soldiers stormed into the mansion. Kals handed the noble youths over to them.
"What about the Ilai heir?"
"Leave him be."
He had knelt, even if performatively, and hadn't spoken recklessly. No reason to punish him. Besides, there was separate business with the Ilai son.
"Just relay a message. Tell him to come to the palace soon."
Too much had happened for a proper talk now. It would have to wait until tomorrow.
"Let's head back."
And with that, the prince's outing ended.
* *
That night, the kingdom was in an uproar.
Over a dozen noble heirs were imprisoned in the royal palace dungeons.
"What's the reason for this! At least tell me so I can report to my lord!"
The nobles' representatives staying in the capital protested fiercely. They hounded the palace guard captain for the charges. When they finally learned the details, none raised their voices again.
Royalty insult and treason—grave crimes, with witnesses secured. The representatives fled the palace.
The Balson baron's representative was no different.
Even as he watched his dying young master in the cold cell—front teeth gone, jaw shattered—he could do nothing. He begged for treatment, but it was denied.
The First Prince had issued a direct order.
* *
"The moment your confinement was lifted, you stirred up quite the spectacle."
The king's cold voice echoed through the throne room. But Idrian Leonberger, the First Prince and true culprit behind the chaos, was utterly nonchalant.
"They mocked and ridiculed me to my face. Should I have just taken it?"
"Unnecessarily bold."
"Because I did nothing wrong."
He should've never mingled with such trash to begin with, but the prince ignored the implied criticism.
"Do you even grasp what you've done?"
They'd blabbered about treason and royalty insults without thinking, complicating everything. If it were just one, he'd punish severely for the royal honor. But fourteen families were involved, including the heavyweight Count Giern's heir.
Strict legal proceedings would spark massive backlash. It could turn ugly. Yet letting it slide would tarnish royal prestige.
A headache. Of course, solutions existed. It might even turn into a blessing.
But separately, the prince would be punished for acting so recklessly. No more wild tantrums staining royal honor like before.
"You're not worried about the backlash, are you?"
As the king pondered the punishment, the prince spoke up.
"They're rejects even their own families disowned. Keeping them around only sullies their name."
The king narrowed his eyes at the prince.
The prince was a scoundrel, but never this brazen before him. He always showed fear, avoidance, silence toward his father.
"Hand them the families, and their futures are doomed irredeemables."
"Sounds just like you."
"Why not?"
He wasn't as insolent as now back then.
"Send letters."
"To whom?"
Why pretend you don't know? The prince's attitude was utterly irreverent and reckless.
After nearly dying, does he see nothing before him? Or had something changed?
But instead of scolding, the king waited for the answer. Depending on it, he might punish the insolence or choose otherwise.
"To their brothers and sisters."
The king stared silently. The prince met his gaze.
After a long pause, the king spoke.
"Dismissed."
No punishment came from the king's lips.
"Yes, Father."
The prince grinned and bowed.
* *
"I made the mess; I'll clean it up."
He'd even suggested how to resolve the nighttime commotion, so there was nothing left to fear. Back at the prince's palace, he summoned Adelia Bayern to his room at once.
She looked incredibly anxious, unsure what he'd say. Biting her lip, she seemed like a criminal fearing judgment. Had she slipped up somehow?
"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you."
He tried to speak as gently as possible, but it didn't work.
That bastard must've tormented her badly.
With a sigh, he seated her across the table and asked about her family.
"We're just a mediocre house that barely made the noble registry. Hardly worth Your Highness's interest."
The exact same answer as yesterday. She had no idea how great her lineage truly was.
It was lamentable.
The glorious history erased, the peerless arts severed. The mighty prestige and lofty pride, all vanished without a trace.
But amid it all, something remained.
I looked above her head. A status window floated in midair.
Adelia Bayern's inherited 「Legacy」 was right there.