Chapter 10
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Was the Standard Trope Really Necessary?
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While carrying Andrew like that and walking along, I locked eyes with a refined beauty who had light purple hair and blue eyes.
Her name was Violet Luminaria. She was the (former) princess from the royal family of the Belliel Kingdom, which bordered the western edge of the Luminaria Empire, who had married into the empire.
"Eh! Mom!"
"S-Second Prince! I told you to use honorifics outside!"
"Hmm? It's fine. It's just big brother here!"
"Ah... B-big brother... Oh my."
Her face turned pale in real time.
After giving Andrew one spin in midair and setting him down, her complexion looked like it might soon match her hair color.
"Greetings to the First Imperial Consort."
"Yes... Prince, I hope you've been well. It's truly heartwarming to see such deep brotherly affection between you two."
Hmm... Her lips were trembling, so I figured I needed to show some restraint in front of the First Consort.
"Hehe... Looking after my brothers is only natural."
"Of course... You two are brothers—brothers, after all."
"Andrew just follows my lead so well, that's all."
"Hoho... Hohohoho!"
"Hahaha!"
Hmm... This feels awkward.
Exchanging haha's and ho ho's like this—it was the kind of forced laughter you fall back on when there's nothing left to say.
Once the laughter died down, an awkward silence hung between us.
The moment I was about to head into the palace since there was nothing more to say...
"First Prince... I have something urgent to discuss with you. Do you perhaps have a moment?"
"Hmm? Uh... Sure, if it's just a bit. Andrew, hold off on eating for now—go wash up first."
"? Got it, big brother!"
"Then, First Prince, please follow me for a moment."
And with that, Andrew left, while I followed behind the First Consort to her chambers.
'What does she want to talk about... Does she need to ask me for something?'
It didn't seem likely she'd have a favor to ask of an eight-year-old like me.
As I stared at her vacantly, the Consort suddenly dropped to her knees before me.
'Huh?'
"Prince! Please! Show mercy and spare that poor child, at least!"
'...Huh?'
As I floundered in confusion, unable to speak, the Consort bowed her head even lower and poured out her words.
"You two are brothers! Brothers who share half your blood. If you just let him live, we'll stay quiet. I have no ambitions at all—please believe me!"
"What..."
"If you can't believe me, then my Second Prince and I will return to our homeland and never come back. Please, have mercy!"
My head was spinning. I racked my dizzy brain, piecing together how this misunderstanding had come about.
Foreign princess marries in—Emperor swiftly eliminates his older brothers—navigates life cautiously in unfamiliar surroundings—gives birth to a son—tries to live quietly, but her son at age five starts hanging around a bloodthirsty thug who butchered an assassin—oblivious to his mother's turmoil, floating in midair with a hehe laugh—visions of her son's future ending up "swiftly eliminated" like the others.
Yeah... It was probably something like that.
No, I'm not some blood-crazed maniac—why was she acting like this?
To clear up the misunderstanding, I spoke up.
"Oh dear, First Consort, please stand up first."
"Y-Yes... Yes!"
"What power do I even have to make this happen? I'm still just eight years old."
"Eek!"
"Killing one's own brother? That should never happen. Absolutely not!"
"Right! Exactly!"
"I promise you, nothing like that will ever occur."
"Yes... Yes! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
I helped the Consort to her feet and brushed off her skirt.
"No need to worry, hahaha!"
"...Hohoho... Hohohoho!"
Phew... Looks like my smile cleared up the misunderstanding again today. Lucky.
With that, the conversation wrapped up, and the three of us finished our meal.
The Consort's hands were trembling just a little... very slightly from the earlier shock, but we managed to eat without issue.
So, what was I doing right after the meal...?
"Lily! You really don't feel anything at all?"
"Yes, Prince. No sense of discomfort or anything."
A world without colors was far more inconvenient than I'd imagined.
It was like growing numb to everything bit by bit, with a touch of irritation creeping in.
If I couldn't even see the color of mana, I might've turned a bit hysterical...
That's why I'd come up with one magic idea.
Infusing color into mana and overlaying it on my surroundings.
Maybe that way I could see colors again—that was my current research project.
At first, I struggled just with coloring the mana, but Grandpa gave me a lot of help there.
Those who use mana develop their own unique mana color, which is usually the same as or similar to their eye color.
Luckily, this was a fantasy world! A place where you couldn't survive without vibrant hues.
To that end, Grandpa invited me to the Magic Tower, where I could study mages with all sorts of colors.
And since visibility depends on light, I diligently practiced light magic too.
The result was now: Lily seated before me as I experimented with my new spell.
"Lily, if anything feels off, hot, or cold, you have to tell me right away, okay?"
"P-Prince... I'm fine, right? I haven't even married yet, boo hoo..."
...Lily's got it rough.
'I'll make sure you marry into wealth and live happily with a decent guy...'
Anyway, I focused and spun my circle furiously.
'Start with just the face color...'
With that, the mana particles took on color and gathered around Lily's face...
'Got it!'
I looked at Lily's face.
The color was visible, at least.
But it looked kinda sloppy, like a cheap, blocky dot graphic...
First experiment: failure.
"Priiiince... Is it done?"
"Just a sec, Lily. Hold on."
Hmm... I need to break the mana down smaller first.
At this rate, my world would end up looking like a TZ game.
I pictured the notebook monitor from my past life.
'Mana particles are just pixels... Make them small... dense...'
Focusing like that, I spun the circle, and mana surged out.
But I didn't want to let go of this hard-won clue, so I sucked in ambient mana too, shattering the mana particles into finer bits.
Not quite dust-fine, but keep going.
As I concentrated even harder, my scalp started to tingle.
The influx of mana increased, and handling the magic felt lighter.
Before I knew it, another circle formed in my mind's eye, bringing a pleasant sense of release.
I cast the spell again just like before, and color bloomed across Lily's face.
The quality had shot up dramatically—I was so thrilled I jumped for joy.
"Wahaha! Lily! It's working! No more black-and-white portrait world!"
"Kyaa! Prince!"
Lifting Lily with telekinesis, I whooped loud enough to shake the room.
I went around excitedly checking my family's faces.
Mom beamed, wiping away tears of joy, while Dad smiled contentedly for the first time in ages.
Our Serena, seeing how excited I was, lit up with her own delight.
So cute—muah!
"Alright~ Serena, wanna go for a walk with big brother?"
"Walk? Yeah!"
With that, I scooped up the giggling Serena from my lap and headed out for a stroll.
Our destination was the imperial lake I loved so much.
There wasn't any special reason—just that the lavish spending made it so stunningly beautiful, it left my mouth agape.
"Whoa! Bwother! Lake! Lake!"
"Hmm... I said our little sister shouldn't be too healthy, but catching a cold would hurt big brother's heart."
"Play at the lake!"
As I pondered a good solution, an idea flashed through my mind.
"Hmm... How about big brother shows you an even cooler game?"
"Cooler?"
"You bet! Trust only in big brother."
I lifted Serena with telekinesis over the lake surface.
Her eyes went wide at the clear water below her feet, then she yelled "Big brother best!" and started running across the lake.
'That's my little sis... Wait, that's the deep part.'
Gently nudging her direction, I activated the magic I'd developed.
The fourth circle noticeably reduced the spell's burden.
'Ah...'
I still couldn't expand the range much.
The terrain details felt a bit lacking, somehow.
Even so, for the first time in ages, colors other than red dazzled my eyes.
This place was so beautiful right now.
I loved the world under my feet.
Even combining my past and present lives, I'd never felt such greed before.
The overwhelming emotion hardened my resolve even further.
'I'll never let anyone ruin this.'
Tears welled up from the sudden surge of feeling, and Serena came splashing toward me from the lake, hugging tight.
"Bwother! No cry! Stop!"
Serena laughed brightly in my arms, wiping my eyes.
That smile strengthened my vow even more.
"Shall we go get a snack, my little sis?"
"Yeah!"
'Our adorable sister—big brother will do anything for you!'
That was a few years ago...
"Onii-chaaan~ Onii-chaaan~ Ah, big brother, aaah!"
This little demon girl currently rodeo-riding on my sleeping body was Serena at the tender age of seven—her peak cuteness at two or three was long gone.
Even Lily was deep in sleep at this hour, yet energetic Serena woke me up.
"Serena... Your onii-chan is dead right now. Just a corpse."
"Ah, don't tease~ How could a corpse talk~?"
"It's the lingering vibration magic in the corpse. It'll activate automatically if someone finds it postmortem."
"But how do you reply then~?"
"..."
"Ah, big brother, aaah!"
She was... definitely... cute once... Some might call this a cute little sister's morning call, pure bliss, but humans are wired to hate alarm clocks on instinct.
"Onii-chaaan~ Pretty please, just one favor from cute Serena~?"
'Ahh... Where did that adorable Serena go? Now she's just a demanding brat.'
I gently set Serena down and got out of bed.
"The dew kissed by morning light shines so beautifully today, Second Princess. Why summon me at this hour when even the birds hold their silence?"
"Big brother! Listen~ My friends are coming over to play today, so come with us, okay? Pleeease? Pweeease?"
Brushing past the imperial literary flair, my sister cut straight to the point.
"...How many?"
"Three!"
"Ugh... What time?"
"Two o'clock! They'll leave before dinner!"
"..."
By now, Serena knew she'd won me over. She always did.
"Onii-chan can make connections~ Show off the imperial family's harmony~ Flaunt onii-chan's skills~ Doesn't that sound deeelicious?"
'Delicious... what?'
Where did she pick up talk like that? Was she mimicking my mutterings...?
Rather than figure out where it went wrong, I figured it was easier to just give in. With a heavy nod, I replied.
"Fine... Got it..."
"Kyaaa! Big brother is the best!"
*Smack!
A chuckle escaped at her affection, and once again, I waved the white flag.