Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: I Became a Wastrel Prince (2)
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Just as I was about to start working on forming the Mana Heart, an uninvited guest showed up.
"Your Highness! His Majesty the King has arrived! Please hurry and freshen your attire to greet him."
"No way. Why's that guy who didn't even peek in when I was on death's door suddenly showing up now?"
The handmaiden helping me dress shot me a horrified look.
"Y-Your Highness. The sharp-eared court knights are right nearby. Please mind your words..."
I belatedly remembered my current situation and clamped my mouth shut.
But unfortunately, her warning came a bit too late.
"They say you came back from the brink of death, but that temper of yours is still the same as ever."
One of those sharp-eared guys she'd mentioned had already overheard me. A white-haired old knight had slipped into the room without me noticing.
"You, leave us. His Majesty isn't expecting much from him anyway."
The old knight shooed the handmaiden away on his own and gave me a displeased glare.
"Even with our master-disciple bond, looks like he's not even going to pretend to know me now."
So this was the wastrel's teacher, all laid-back like that. But from my perspective, I couldn't even fathom what the old knight had taught the wastrel or what the wastrel had learned. There wasn't even a situation where I could play along.
So I just stood there blankly, and the old knight's expression changed.
"Your Highness?"
Like he'd sensed something off, his gaze sharpened like a blade. I met that probing stare head-on.
"My memories are a mess. You seem familiar... but then again, maybe not..."
I tossed out the amnesia bait I'd been mulling over since waking up.
"No way...?"
The old knight bit right away.
"His Majesty the King has arrived!"
But before he could chew on it properly, the King himself burst in.
Ho.
Even among the throng of attendants, one middle-aged man stood out radiantly. I couldn't help but admire the King.
I'd thought time had diluted the blood of lions into that of dogs, but seeing him, that clearly wasn't the case.
His dignified bearing and regal authority left him utterly fit to lead a nation.
"You look far more intact than the rumors suggested."
The King's first words to his son who'd barely survived death were surprisingly harsh.
"Not even greeting your father? Looks like surviving a brush with death doesn't change a man after all."
The King clicked his tongue. That's when the old knight chimed in.
"I just heard that Your Highness's memories are not fully intact."
At the old knight's words, the King glanced at me questioningly. I nodded.
"Good heavens! How could such a thing happen!"
"Why hasn't the royal physician reported this critical matter to His Majesty?!"
"Summon the royal physician at once to examine His Highness!"
Amid the attendants' clamor, the royal physician arrived. Already briefed on the way, he examined me immediately and reported to the King.
"I found no abnormalities in His Highness's body."
He added the excuse that it might be a temporary symptom from mental shock, covering his bases.
"Amnesia, huh..."
The King stared at me intently. His icy gaze didn't resemble a father's look at a son who'd lost his memories after cheating death.
Had he figured it out?
I tensed up involuntarily. I half-expected him to bellow, "Who are you? Where's my son?" any second.
"How convenient."
But the King wasn't suspicious of me.
"Claim you don't remember now, and all your past deeds just vanish, is that it?"
He was simply furious.
"One can make wrong choices sometimes. Actions that earn the scorn of all. But if you realize it later and never repeat such mistakes, that's part of learning and growing. Yet you've forgotten it all."
The chill in the King's voice had ignited into rage.
"It all vanishes, so you haven't taken a single step from your past errors. And you never will."
The depth of resentment in his words made each one sound more like a curse than a rebuke.
"Your Majesty, please calm yourself."
Only after the old knight stepped in did the King rein in his anger. But that cold gaze remained unchanged.
Damn. Stepped in it.
I hadn't expected proper prince treatment since I'd clocked the guy as a rare wastrel from the first meeting. But now it looked like I wouldn't even get basic human decency.
Seeing the uniform contempt in everyone's stares, I realized living in this prince's body wouldn't be as easy as I'd thought.
The King glared at me like I was trash before leaving. As a bonus, he slapped me with six months of confinement to quarters.
"Whew."
I sighed, then felt a stare boring into me from right beside. I turned to see the old knight watching.
His gaze pierced right through me, crystal clear.
Whoosh.
I figured he'd say something, but he just stared and vanished.
"What the hell did this guy get up to?"
I muttered to myself in frustration, but no answer was coming.
After the King left, the Queen arrived.
"I heard everything on the way here. Oh, how confusing it must be."
She hugged me tight the moment she appeared, wiping away tears. Her face showed her heartache plainly.
"Your memories will return soon. Or even if they don't, what's the big deal about forgetting the past?"
She comforted me warmly throughout, without a hint of disdain unlike the King. But her gentleness felt terribly awkward to me.
I was the murder weapon that killed her son and the thief who stole his body, after all.
Plus, what was I, some kid throwing a tantrum?
So I kept my mouth shut and just listened.
"I'll come see you again."
By the time the long audience with the Queen ended, the sun had already set.
Finally, I could start on the Mana Heart formation.
"What kind of body is this?!"
I hit a wall right away.
I had no choice but to expel my constitution to accept the first mana. But the wastrel's pathetic aptitude held me back.
Suck it in, it scatters. Suck it in, it scatters. No matter how hard I tried, the body wouldn't take in the mana.
This body was a true devotee of non-possession when it came to mana.
"If only I had my original form."
I suddenly missed my true body. With centuries of accumulated mana, I could've ignored this constitution and crammed it in at once. Sadly, the King had confiscated it and stashed it in his chambers.
Hearing that from the handmaiden had been such a regret.
No helping it. All I could do was keep trying until it worked. I wrestled with the elusive mana all day.
And still got nothing for it. Truly remarkable aptitude.
"Your Highness. Her Majesty the Queen sent this special tonic to restore your weakened vitality."
Then the "tonic" from the Queen was like rain in a drought.
A common-sounding supplement to boost and purify the body's energy—what's so special? But royals don't do ordinary.
Surprisingly, the tonic contained mana. Pure, refined mana without a speck of impurity.
"It may taste bitter, but it's immensely beneficial for the body. Please accept Her Majesty's sincere intentions..."
The handmaiden looked troubled as I stared at the tonic, worried I'd refuse it.
Of course, I had no such intention.
"Your Highness?"
I snatched the bowl from her hands and downed every last drop. Then I popped the candy she'd offered to cleanse my palate.
"Now go."
I shooed her out with a wave and plopped onto the bed. I could feel the mana. Without hesitation, I gathered it in one spot.
The right side of my chest, opposite the heart.
As expected, the mana resisted settling in my body. But forcing already-ingested mana to stay wasn't hard for me.
The mana took root in my body. The amount was meager, and it'd scatter in a day, but mana was mana.
I called the handmaiden back.
"Any more by chance?"
Her eyes went wide at my words.
**
I downed the Queen's tonics countless times. Thanks to that, I finally gathered enough mana to form a new heart.
"Don't let anyone in today until I call for them first. No one else either."
I repeatedly warned the handmaiden and immediately began forming the Mana Heart.
Something I'd done countless times. I could make a Mana Heart blindfolded. Or so I thought.
"Urk!"
Until sudden agony blurred my mind.
The mana settled near my chest went berserk. And with every rampage, excruciating pain hit.
I panicked. This had never happened before.
"Ah!"
The answer was right there.
[It hurts! It's like fire in my body!]
[My chest is gonna explode!]
The previous owners' screams echoed in my head like hallucinations. All people I'd forcibly given Mana Hearts to.
I realized. It was supposed to hurt.
I'd overlooked it back then because I was a heartless sword without blood, tears, or pain. Now I paid the price with my own body.
"Grr..."
I focused my mind. I couldn't lose it like they had. They had me to control the mana, but I was alone now.
Black out here, and the mana would backlash. Even this pittance could wreck a novice body like this without effort.
So I desperately clung to forming the Mana Heart. And finally, I pinned down the rampaging mana.
Success. I'd formed the Mana Heart.
"I... did it!"
Despite making countless ones before, I couldn't help cheering. Mine, not someone else's—that tiny difference gave me a whole new level of accomplishment.
Then a voice like a hallucination rang in my head.
That voice affirmed the value of this single step. My satisfaction doubled.
"Huh?"
But the satisfaction was fleeting. I was utterly dumbfounded.
Because,
"It's a status message."
It matched exactly the status messages I'd always sent my owners back when I was a sword.