A Fierce Initiation (1)
Anyone with eyes can tell that's Third Prince Edwin.
His attire practically screamed imperial bloodline. After all, the only lunatics on the continent who draped themselves in such ostentatious embroidery and jewels were the imperial family.
Still, why on earth are they treating a prince like that?
Just as I was wondering what prompted the boys' insolent jeering as they crowded around Edwin, a sharp shout cut through the air.
"Damn it, seriously!"
A boy with bright orange hair shoved the prince straight to the ground.
My eyes narrowed. While I didn't know much about handling children, I knew the typical disposition of noble brats that age all too well.
He'll probably burst into tears and scream for an attendant any second now.
I kept a watchful eye on the scene, waiting for the prince to start bawling so I could step in naturally.
Yet his reaction defied my expectations entirely.
"That's mine! Give it back, you filthy cheaters!"
Far from wilting, the little prince lunged right back at the boys, who were easily twice his size. Even though the ground was dirt, a hard fall like that had to sting, yet he didn't shed a single tear.
Well now, look at that grit.
The orange-haired boy, however, seemed just as stubborn. He dangled an object well out of reach above the prince's head, relishing every moment of taunting him.
"I told you, Your Highness, take it yourself if you want it!"
Only then did I realize that the trinket swinging in his grasp was a piece of jewelry.
A bracelet?
It was a woman's bracelet strung with pearls and rubies. The craftsmanship looked rather crude for imperial property, and perhaps that was why it felt oddly familiar.
"A promise is a promise, Your Highness. Especially for someone of imperial blood."
"I never made any promise to you bastards!"
The prince lashed out with a sharp, shrill shout, but the boy merely shrugged.
"We won this fair and square in a wager with Your Highness. And yet here you are, slinking around like a rat trying to steal it back."
At the word 'rat,' the prince's eyes flickered with shame and outrage.
"Th-That's because you cheated me...!"
"Cheated? My, what a terrible thing to say!" The orange-haired boy widened his eyes in mock horror. "How could worthless nobodies like us ever dare swindle an imperial prince? Isn't that right, Gale?"
At his cue, the boy who appeared to be their ringleader stepped forward from the center. Gale, as they called him, was noticeably stockier than the rest, with rough, brutish features.
"If you want it back so badly, why don't you make another bet?" Gale squatted before the fallen prince and clamped a heavy hand down on his shoulder. "What'll you wager this time? How about that hand of yours?"
A sinister, scheming grin spread across his face.
Honestly, watching these wet-behind-the-ears brats play street thugs was enough to make me laugh. I exhaled a quiet sigh and started forward. Since I had decided to stay here for the time being, I might as well play my assigned role properly.
"Your Highness, what are you doing here?"
The moment I spoke, every boy turned their eyes on me.
"...Rachel?"
The prince, Edwin, looked up at me in wide-eyed astonishment.
Gale's brow furrowed at the unexpected intruder. Rumor had it that the Third Prince was such a useless burden that even the maids wouldn't bother looking for him if he went missing, but clearly the gossip had been exaggerated. Mistaking Rachel, the prince's nanny, for a simple maidservant, he clicked his tongue.
"Tsk. A pest has arrived. Let's go."
Just as Gale turned to leave with his cronies, Edwin lunged forward and grabbed him by the sleeve.
"Give it back! Give me back my bracelet!"
Gale scowled and violently shook off the prince's grip. He despised Edwin. It sickened him to see a pathetic brat who wasn't better than him in any way living in luxury simply because he had been born imperial.
"Hold on a moment."
Rachel called him to a halt.
"It seems His Highness has something he needs returned."
"What did you say?" Gale's eyes widened in surprise that she dared stop him.
"Leave it behind. While I'm still asking nicely."
Rachel gave him the sweetest smile she could muster. While her face beamed with warmth, her words were nothing short of a veiled threat. Of course, given her gentle, harmless demeanor—the kind that made her look as though she would grant any request—it didn't register as threatening in the slightest.
Hearing her words, the other boys exchanged nervous glances.
"Hey, are we screwed? If anyone finds out we laid hands on a prince, we're dead meat."
"Don't wet yourself. They say the maids in the 3rd Prince's Palace are all from gutter-tier families. If push comes to shove, we can shut her up—"
Gale gritted his teeth at their cowardly whispering.
Fools. Getting spooked by a single maid's bark.
Putting on an air of complete nonchalance, he swaggered toward Rachel. Perhaps it was because Gale was particularly large for his age, or perhaps because Rachel was on the petite side, but he looked down at her with open condescension.
"Look here, Maid," Gale drawled, hands shoved into his pockets. "We won this item fair and square from His Highness in a wager. Yet His Highness barged into our quarters without permission and tried to steal it back. That's outright thievery, wouldn't you say?"
Rachel shifted her gaze toward the prince. Edwin stood there trembling, consumed by sheer mortification. Gale sneered at the sight.
Hmph, and they call that imperial blood?
The moment their eyes met, Edwin flinched and looked away—a pathetic display that almost made Gale laugh.
Just then, Rachel spoke in an exquisitely pleasant voice.
"Then make a bet with me as well."
"...What?"
"Wager that bracelet against me, I mean."
Caught entirely off guard by the suggestion, Gale blinked in bewilderment.
"Since you won it in a wager, you won't complain if you lose it in one, will you?" She flashed a bright, toothy smile.
Gale let out an incredulous bark of laughter.
Rumor had it that the maids in the 3rd Prince's Palace, even if technically nobles, came from insignificant, penniless families. Gale, however, was in a different league entirely. He was the youngest son of a count, a page in Second Prince Lloyd's entourage, and the senior apprentice to the Emperor's master carriage craftsman. While technically still an apprentice, his standing was miles above some lowly maid wiping the backside of a penniless prince.
After chuckling for a moment, Gale exchanged smirking glances with the boys beside him.
"Fine, if that's what the maid wants." His greasy gaze crawled over Rachel from head to toe. "And what does the maid intend to wager?"
"Well..." Rachel gave a casual shrug. "I'll wager my hand. Exactly as you suggested."
"You'll what?"
Wager her hand? Gale was taken aback by how utterly unbothered she looked.
Ha, so even a nobody maid wants to act high and mighty like a true aristocrat?
Rachel's brazen composure grated intensely on his nerves. He made up his mind right then and there: just like that wretched Third Prince, he would force this haughty woman down on her knees before him.
Gale and Rachel sat facing each other across an overturned wooden crate.
Gale slammed three cups down on the rough wood with a clatter.
"We'll play Monte. Oh, or does a noble lady not know common games?"
Rachel's eyes narrowed slightly.
Monte.
A rudimentary street gamble played with just three cups and a single ball. It was a common pastime popular not just in the empire, but across the entire continent.
"I know it."
Her unflinching calm made Gale's brow twitch.
Right then, Edwin tugged frantically at Rachel's sleeve from behind.
"What do you think you're doing? Get up right now!" the prince hissed under his breath.
Without turning away from Gale, Rachel answered coolly, "Do you not need that bracelet back, Your Highness?"
Her question caused the prince's voice to falter.
"N-No, it's not that, but..."
"Then stay quiet."
"They cheat! They use dirty tricks! I had my eyes wide open and they still robbed me blind!"
"It will be fine."
"What? How could it possibly be fine?!"
Edwin stared at her as if she had lost her mind. Across from her, Gale was equally baffled. What on earth was making this woman so utterly confident?
Meanwhile, the boys watching quickly regained their bluster and began heckling Rachel.
"You picked the wrong guy, Maid! Gale is a master at Monte!"
"Too bad for you! Don't go crying and begging for mercy later, because we won't give it to you!"
Rachel, however, merely murmured in the same serene tone as before.
"...What a shame."
As if she were genuinely sorry—for them.
Gale placed the small ball under the rightmost cup and overturned it.
"Three rounds. If you guess right twice out of three, you win, Maid."
"Very well."
The second the words left Rachel's mouth, Gale's hands blurred into motion.
The three cups whirled across the crate with dizzying speed, trailing afterimages as they swapped places again and again. Every pair of eyes was glued to the wood, tracking the furious dance of cups.
Thud.
Gale's hands abruptly froze.
A cocky grin spread across his face as he looked up at Rachel.
"Which one is it?"
"The right."
Silence descended at her immediate, unhesitating reply. Her face was completely expressionless, yet radiated total conviction.
Watching from the side, Edwin swallowed hard.
"Not bad, Maid."
Gale shrugged as though he had gone easy on her for the opening round, then lifted the cup. True to her word, the ball sat beneath the rightmost cup.
"One more correct guess, and the victory is mine."
Rachel's gaze remained cool and unyielding as she locked eyes with Gale.
Caught in that chilling stare, Gale felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine.