A Sovereign Remedy for Sore Muscles
Was I too hasty?
Above all else, I had to maintain the guise of an ordinary nanny. Realizing my slip, I hastily bowed my head.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty. I beg your pardon."
"Refrain from doing things you must apologize for—unless you hold your life in low regard."
The Emperor descended the stairs with measured, unhurried steps. Just as he brushed past me, his voice dropped to a low murmur meant for my ears alone.
"Be thankful We do not despise those who strive." A faint, dry chuckle slipped past his lips. "I shall turn a blind eye for now. Though how long the boy can endure remains to be seen."
With that parting mockery, the Emperor vanished into the corridor.
My eyes followed his retreating silhouette as I clenched my fists. Being looked down upon truly grates on my nerves.
Ever since stepping foot inside the Imperial Palace, it had been one aggravating indignity after another. Nothing about this place suited me. Yet for now, I had to endure. Patience serves both me and Edwin far better.
Even so, why was I so unwilling to back down? Smoothing down the hem of my dress, the naive, innocent face of Edwin floated into my mind.
A substitute, he said.
I started down the very steps the Emperor had just trodden—not to bow to the sovereign, nor to court favor with the Knight Commander, but to collect the prince I had chosen for myself.
Splash!
"Aaaargh!"
Splash!
"Eeek!"
Plop!
Edwin strained with every fiber of his being, letting out bizarre, strangled groans. Unfortunately, his body flatly refused to obey its master's will.
It hurts! It's too hard! It's killing me!
After enduring the grueling ordeal of running up and down the mountain summit ten full times, what awaited the young prince was a traverse across an overhead ladder. Drenched from head to toe like a drowned rat, Edwin tilted his head back and peered upward.
Suspended high above his head stretched an agonizingly long horizontal ladder. It was known as Crossing the Brook. Despite its dainty, innocent-sounding name, it was one of the Gloria Knights' signature torture drills—one that pushed grown men to the brink of passing out.
Dazed, Edwin watched the knights moving overhead. Clad in full armor, they hung by their hands, steadily traversing toward the far bank. Even among them, a few would lose their grip halfway through, brought down by the sheer weight of their gear to splash into the water trench below. Of course, none of them plummeted every single time like Edwin did.
"Your Highness! Lingering in the water will only sap your stamina faster!" called out a knight from the overhead rungs as he swung past.
Edwin gritted his teeth at the advice. Did my older brothers really go through this kind of training, too? How could anyone survive something so brutal?
The more he thought about it, the less likely it seemed that his brothers had ever been subjected to this madness. Not that realizing it gave him an excuse to pack up and run away.
Earlier my knees were squeaking, and now my arms feel like they're about to rip out of their sockets!
Dragging himself out of the chest-deep water trench, Edwin gripped the first rung once more. Clenching his jaw, he reached out arm after arm, but the outcome was inevitable.
"Whoa—aaah!"
With another deafening splash, Edwin crashed back into the trench. He had crossed barely nine rungs before the strength drained completely from his limbs. It was humiliating. He was furious at his own pathetic inadequacy.
"Ngggh...!"
Biting down until his molars ached, Edwin dragged himself out of the water once again. His soaked clothes clung to him like sodden cotton, heavy as lead, but he paid them no mind. In the young prince's mind, quitting was simply not an option. His only choice was to reach the goal set before him.
I will do it! I'll finish this, and then...!
Faces flashed across the young prince's mind—not just one, but several people he held dear.
"Aaaaargh!"
Edwin reached up toward the rungs yet again, shouting silently in his heart over and over: Just a little further! Just one more!
"Haaah... haaah..."
When he finally reached the opposite side, Edwin collapsed flat onto the dirt, completely spent. On the very first day the Third Prince joined the Gloria Knights' training regimen, after roughly two hundred grueling attempts, he had conquered the six-hundred-foot crossing.
"Uuugh..."
The moment Edwin regained consciousness, a pitiful groan escaped his throat.
"Are you awake, Your Highness?"
"Big brother, are you okay?"
Hearing my voice alongside Emilia's, the boy slowly turned his head.
"Emilia? Rachel...?"
"You passed out during training. You are in your bedchamber now."
"...My bedchamber?" Edwin blinked groggily, taking in the familiar surroundings before suddenly gasping. "Wait, I haven't finished my training yet—aaagh!"
Attempting to bolt upright in haste, he cried out in agony and collapsed right back onto the mattress.
"Aaaagh—! It hurts—!"
"You pushed muscles you have never used before; the soreness will be severe. Please lie still for now."
"B-but there are still other drills left to—!"
"Your Highness, it is already evening. Training has long concluded."
Just as the knights were wrapping up their final drills, Edwin had crossed the brook for the very first time—only to black out the moment his feet touched solid ground. As soon as he lost consciousness, I carried him back to the palace, washed the grime and sweat from him, and changed him into fresh clothes. That had been four hours ago.
"Ah..." Glimpsing the ink-dark sky through the window, Edwin let out a crestfallen sigh and leaned back against the headboard, his spirits utterly deflated. "I guess I really am hopeless after all."
"Whatever do you mean by that?"
"I couldn't even endure the training to the very end."
"You need not worry on that account. The training was called off almost the instant you fainted."
"What? Why?"
"A magic beast appeared near the North Gate. The entire knight order was immediately dispatched."
Of late, demonic creatures had been descending upon populated areas across the Empire with alarming frequency, and the Imperial Capital was no exception.
Still, it hasn't been long since the King of Adamant carried out that massive subjugation campaign.
Had they not claimed that the King of Adamant eradicated the beasts at their root? For monsters to emerge this frequently was exceedingly strange.
"I see..."
Edwin's expression remained shadowed with worry, as if something still weighed heavily on his mind. Normally, it was impossible to guess what went on inside that small head of his, but at this moment, it was written plainly across his face.
"You did well."
Carrots and sticks were necessary not only when taming beasts, but when guiding people as well. I patted Edwin lightly on the crown of his head.
"...Huh?" He blinked up at me in astonishment.
"I said you did very well. To be quite honest, I doubted you would even make it over the mountain."
Edwin's eyes went wide as saucers. "Really? Did I really do well?"
The fact that I had held zero expectations for him seemed completely trivial to him.
"Yes. You did exceptionally well."
At that single word of praise, color rushed back into his pale cheeks, and a bright smile bloomed across his face.
"Then... then does that mean I can become strong like Sir Jerome, too?"
Jerome again. That blasted man.
Edwin looked up at me with eyes sparkling like an innocent fawn's.
"...Did Your Highness not say that you wished to become strong like me?" A tart, disgruntled edge crept into my voice despite myself.
"Huh? Oh, I did! Because you're super strong too, Rachel!" Edwin answered with cheerful innocence. "But Sir Jerome is the strongest in the entire Empire. Master said you should always aim as high as possible!"
The boy beamed brightly before adding, "Master Sage told me that!"
Sage. That old coot suffered from an incurable habit of spouting unnecessary nonsense. His words were not technically wrong, but why did hearing them now leave such an unpleasant taste in my mouth?
"...Your Highness, take off your clothes."
"Huh? Why my clothes all of a sudden?"
"We must work out the knots in your muscles. You have to attend training again tomorrow, after all."
With an impassive expression, I picked up an earthenware jar resting on the side table. As soon as I pried off the lid, a sharp, pungent odor wafted into the air.
"Rayche, what's dat?"
Curiosity sparkling in her round eyes, Emilia toddled closer. But the moment the fumes reached her little nose, her entire face scrunched up into a comical knot.
"Achoo! Achoo! Aaaah-choo!"
"Come here, Princess Emilia."
Wiping the trickle from beneath Emilia's nose, I lifted her up and placed her piggyback on my back.
"W-what is that stuff?" Edwin stammered, shrinking away toward the far corner of the bed as if staring down an omen of doom.
"A massage oil diluted with pepper oil."
"Pepper? Isn't pepper something you use for cooking?"
"Things often have more than a single purpose."
"Uh..." Edwin stared in absolute horror at the oil pooling in my palm. "Wait, someone told me that stuff is insanely expensive. How did you get it?"
I could hardly confess that I had swiped it from the imperial apothecary when I went to fetch cold medicine for him the other day. A nanny could hardly go about teaching royal children how to steal, after all.
"...I acquired it by chance."
To tell the truth, my own nightly training left me plagued by ceaseless muscle soreness. The moment I spotted this particular remedy sitting in the apothecary, I simply couldn't resist pocketing it.
"Now, strip and lie on your stomach."
"All of it?"
"Yes. Everything except your undergarments."
"Do I really have to go that far?"
"Would you prefer I rub it over your clothes? It will be far less effective."
Edwin hesitated for a beat before meekly stripping off his tunic. Clad only in a pair of short breeches, he flopped face-down onto the mattress.
He's spotless.
When I first met him, his body had been mottled with dark bruises from head to toe. Seeing his skin now—flawless, without a single lingering scar—stirred a strange, deep sentiment within me.
"Aagh, that tickles!"
The second I carefully rested my hands on his shoulders, Edwin writhed in hysterics.
"Hey, it tickles! Stop!"
"Bear with it."
Edwin squirmed and giggled for a few seconds before his laughter abruptly curdled into a shriek.
"Ow! Ow, it hurts! It really hurts!"
"Did you expect it not to?"
I deliberately refrained from holding back my strength.
"Gently! Please be gentle! That spot hurts way too much!"
"I am being gentle."
"Gaaawk!"
This was divine retribution for daring to declare Jerome the strongest right in front of me. Spurred by pure petulance, I pressed down even harder into the knot, coaxing out a sound resembling a strangled bullfrog.
"Kweeegh... Ra-Rachel... spare me..."
"Rayche! Lia wants to blow on big brother's booboos too!"
Just when I thought Emilia was resting quietly on my back, she suddenly took a flying leap right onto Edwin's spine.
"Gaaauuugh!"
"Big brother, Lia will make you all better super fast!"
"Kaaargh... Lia, n-no..."
With his face half-buried in the pillow, Edwin twisted violently. No matter how one looked at it, her frantic little thumps did not look like an effort to heal him, but rather an attempt to send him to an early grave. Perhaps the princess possessed an innate talent for assassination.
"Eeeeeeek!"
Edwin screamed into the quilt before violently whipping his head around to glare up at me.
"Eek! H-Hey, Rachel! Admit it! You're mad at me about something, aren't you?!"