Chapter 110 - How Can Spring Come Without Passing Through Winter? (1)

『S-Save me.』

At first, the voice was so quiet that I couldn't tell whose it was.

Moreover, it was trembling so much that it took me quite a while to realize the voice belonged to the scoundrel.

『P-Please, get me out of here.』

His voice was strangely terrified. It even sounded urgent, as if he were being chased by someone.

I pretended not to notice and looked around.

A large number of knights and soldiers had gathered, but no one seemed to be paying attention to me as they were busy collecting the corpses scattered everywhere.

Only my knights were looking at me, waiting for my orders.

"Let's go back."

I led the knights and headed to the 1st Prince's Palace.

『You can hear me, right?』

『Get me out of here. Please.』

『If you can hear me, at least answer.』

The scoundrel kept blabbering the entire time we returned to my quarters. It was as if he couldn't stand it without having someone to talk to.

CLICK.

I locked the door to the room. And then I opened my mouth.

"Step by step. Explain it so I can understand."

『G-Get me out of here right now. I'm begging you.』

Despite my words, he just kept repeating his plea to get him out.

『I said get me out right now! Eeek!』

The extremely terrified scoundrel suddenly yelled, then startled himself and clamped his mouth shut.

I quietly waited for him to open his mouth again.

『Please...』

A voice so small came through that it wouldn't even be heard if one wasn't paying attention.

『I'm begging you...』

『Get me out of here...』

Listening to him crying like a terrified child, I became certain.

"Someone is in there."

There was someone else inside my original body other than the scoundrel.

An unidentified entity that had partially awakened the dormant original body, incited the young prince, and ultimately led him to die as a parricide.

"Tell me. There's someone else in there besides you, isn't there?"

The scoundrel did not answer. To me, it felt exactly as if he was afraid someone was eavesdropping on his words.

It felt as though he was walking on eggshells, worried that whatever it was might get angry at his tattling.

My conviction grew stronger.

The reason the scoundrel was this terrified was definitely because of whatever had taken over my original body and masqueraded as the Dragon Slayer.

"I need to know the situation to be able to help you."

I calmly coaxed the scoundrel.

For some reason, my original body was treating me like a stranger, and in this current situation, I couldn't inspect the state inside my original body without going through the scoundrel.

I had to somehow calm him down and grasp the full picture of what was going on.

After a long time of coaxing, the scoundrel finally opened his mouth.

『There's someone else in here besides me.』

"Who is it?"

『I-I don't know. I, I just hid. I suddenly got scared and hid. I felt like something terrible would happen if I got caught...』

Listening to his rambling words, I asked.

"Then where is that guy right now?"

『It disappeared after you showed up. But it's definitely in here. I can feel it.』

I asked him several times, but I couldn't get a clear answer.

The scoundrel merely conveyed a vague feeling that someone was in there with him, and that this unidentified something was a terribly horrifying existence.

My head started to ache.

Something was clearly happening, but since I couldn't figure out what it was, it was incredibly frustrating.

I quietly racked my brain.

But no matter how much I pondered, I couldn't find an answer.

I had never imagined that someone other than me would be inside my original body. Even the fact that the scoundrel's soul had taken residence in there was something I hadn't expected.

While I was continuously agonizing over this alone, the scoundrel whispered to me.

『It-It's not just one.』

"What?"

『The things in here. There's more than one!』

He, who had been whispering quietly, suddenly shouted as if having a seizure.

『This place is swarming with them!』

『There are a ton of unknown things inside here!』

My mind went blank, as if I had been struck in the back of the head.

『T-They didn't just suddenly come in... They were in here from the beginning. From the moment I came inside, no, they must have been here long before that! I'm sure of it!』

『You couldn't even imagine it...』

『P-Please, get me out of here... Please, please, please!』

『Let me escape this hellish place...』

Having opened the floodgates, the scoundrel poured his thoughts out to me.

What they contained was terror, anxiety, doubt, and confusion. It was nothing but all sorts of negative emotions, and just listening to them made me feel like I was losing my mind.

Then, at a certain point, his voice abruptly cut off.

A sudden silence fell.

"Are you there?"

I searched for the scoundrel.

"Answer me if you can hear me."

But his voice could no longer be heard.

I spoke to him all through the night, but I could not hear the scoundrel's voice again.

And like that, the day broke.

"Your Highness."

While I was sitting blankly on the sofa, staring at the light seeping through the gap in the curtains, Adelia came in.

Stepping through the door, she flinched and froze upon seeing me sitting all alone in the dark room.

"Were you really sitting like that all night?"

What did she mean by 'like that'?

Forcing my sluggish brain to work, I belatedly realized what state I was in.

Sitting alone in the dark room, wearing dust-covered clothes and combat gloves with only the wrists remaining, while hugging a sword.

It probably wasn't a very good look to others.

She threw the windows wide open and spoke to me.

"I will bring water for you to wash."

Before I could even answer, Adelia disappeared. And when she reappeared, she was holding hot water, clean clothes, and other items.

Adelia dampened a towel with water, carefully wiped my face, and stared at me.

She looked as if she had something to say.

"Your Highness."

She finally opened her mouth after a long time, parted her lips a few times, and then deeply bowed her head.

"It is not Your Highness's fault."

Her voice was so quiet it was barely audible. Only then did I realize that she was worrying about me because of what happened last night.

It was understandable.

To others, what I went through yesterday must have seemed quite heartbreaking. Even if they didn't have a good relationship, a brother cutting off his own younger sibling's hands must feel pretty terrible.

Honestly, I didn't feel great about it either. But it wasn't as agonizing as she feared.

I felt pity and sympathy, but my connection with the Third Prince—who wasn't even my actual blood relative—wasn't deep enough for me to grieve his death.

"Adelia has grown up a lot too."

I playfully grabbed a few strands of her hair, twirled them around my finger, and let go.

"Y-Your Highness!"

Flustered by my sudden action, she let out a sharp squeak. And then, startling herself, she covered her mouth.

"Adelia."

Staring at her, I asked.

"If you want, you can stay in The Capital."

She quickly raised her head and looked at me with a blank face.

"Your whole family is here, aren't they?"

Due to the harsh climate of the North, her family had remained in The Capital. I had brought her family to The Capital as a favor, only to drag her up to the North, so I felt a sudden pang of guilt.

"If you want, I'll make arrangements so you can stay here."

If it was a whim, then it was a whim.

It was also an action I wouldn't have taken if I hadn't seen the eyes of a father who lost his son the day before.

But for this moment at least, I was sincere.

I wanted to give Adelia time to spend with her family until I returned to The Capital again.

Adelia stared at me.

However, her expression didn't seem too thrilled about my offer.

"His Majesty is looking for Your Highness."

Her response also wasn't an answer to my question, and her voice was somewhat chilly.

"Let us get you ready."

Before I could say anything, she took off my clothes and dressed me in clean ones.

"Ouch."

Her hands tidying my hair were somehow rougher than usual.

"That hurts a bit."

"I apologize."

Her voice didn't sound sorry at all.

I was dumbfounded. At the same time, I was pleased.

It was fascinating that she, who used to tremble just looking at me and had only followed me reluctantly because of her family, was treating me this familiarly. I still had a mountain of karma to resolve, but I felt like I had untangled at least one knot.

I chuckled.

I actually felt a sense of liberation from those rough hands. It felt as if my heavy head was lightening a bit.

Before I knew it, her hands had finished tidying my hair and were massaging the muscles in my neck and shoulders. It was a careful and gentle touch, just like usual.

"Ah, that feels good."

As my stiff neck loosened up, my tension also faded away.

The worries that had been completely filling my head also faded.

* * *

With Adelia's help, I finished preparing to meet the King and immediately left the 1st Prince's Palace.

Perhaps because of the commotion that happened the night before, the atmosphere in the royal palace was still chaotic. The faces of the servants bustling about the palace were heavy, and the presence of the royal guards and Royal Knights, whose numbers had doubled compared to usual, was strictly vigilant.

It was only natural.

On a small scale, the previous night's uproar was merely an immoral act within a family, but on a large scale, it was no different from a rebellion.

A treason committed by none other than a prince of the nation. It would be stranger if the aftermath was minor just because it had been suppressed early.

Walking through such a chaotic royal palace, I soon arrived at the grand hall.

The Royal Knights guarding the front of the grand hall spotted me and paid their respects in unison.

The Royal Knights had never treated me with disrespect. But they hadn't treated me with any more courtesy than necessary, either.

They had simply shown the formal respect expected of Royal Knights toward a prince of the nation.

Now, however, the Royal Knights' attitudes were somehow incredibly reverent.

Whether it was because of the might of a Sword Master that I had displayed in front of everyone the day before, or because of something else, I couldn't tell.

Because, as always, they remained silent.

"His Highness the First Prince has arrived!"

"Let him enter."

A heavy voice rang out from inside the grand hall.

"Please enter."

The Royal Knights threw the doors to the grand hall wide open.

Inside the grand hall, there were guests who had arrived first. There were familiar faces, and there were unfamiliar ones.

BOW.

Marquis Bielefeld and the Palace Count gave me small bows.

"Brother."

Maximilian, heavily wrapped in bandages, looked at me and offered a greeting with his eyes.

"Hmm."

Boys and girls who clearly possessed noble bloodlines just by looking at them were staring blankly at me.

I could easily guess their identities.

I had never seen their faces before, but what was deeply evident in their features was undoubtedly the blood of the Royal House of Leonberk.

I stared back at the princes and princesses before heading to the front of the dais.

And I raised my head to look at the King. The King was also staring at me.

"It's been a while since I called for you, yet you are only arriving now."

The King's words, spoken after a long pause, were clearly filled with displeasure, just like usual.

"I hurried here as fast as I could."

To this, I also retorted just like usual.

* * *

It was quite a while after everything had ended that Marquis Bielefeld heard about the uproar from the previous night.

On a small scale, it was a parricide where a son tried to kill his brother and father; on a large scale, it was a treason where a prince of the nation attempted to assassinate the monarch.

It was a horrifying tragedy, a dismal and profane incident.

The Marquis couldn't help but feel deeply grieved. But even amidst that, there was one source of comfort.

It was the fact that the First Prince had drawn his sword in the dead of night and rushed to save his father, suppressing the treason.

The divine might the First Prince displayed in the process was enough to make even the Commander of the Royal Knights, who was usually stingy with praise, spout compliments enthusiastically, and the attitude the father and son showed after the situation was handled was said to be something subtle that had never been seen before.

The Marquis thought that pushing his old body to the limit the day before and blabbering to the First Prince about the time of endurance the King had spent hadn't been in vain.

So he hoped.

He hoped and prayed that the father and son would resolve their past discord and dramatically acknowledge each other.

Solely to see that sight, he had dragged his heavy, hungover body to the grand hall at the King's summons.

"His Highness the First Prince has arrived!"

And finally, the First Prince arrived.

The Marquis pressed down on his swelling heart and watched the father and son.

"It's been a while since I called for you, yet you are only arriving now."

"I hurried here as fast as I could."

But what was this? The conversation between the father and son was far too different from what he had expected.

"Isn't the 1st Prince's Palace the closest to this place?"

"I have never been to anyone else's quarters, so I wouldn't know."

"Hah. The messenger heading to the 1st Prince's Palace must have had a particularly slow pace."

"That could be."

Watching the King and the First Prince growling at each other without yielding an inch, Marquis Bielefeld squeezed his eyes shut.

The father and son hadn't changed at all.

They were still displeased with each other, and they were still itching to tear each other apart.

Then again, if all discord could be resolved with just a few words in this life, that would also be a joke.

He was just resentful of himself for letting his emotions get ahead of him at his old age. If he hadn't vainly gotten his hopes up, he wouldn't be this disappointed.

"A member of the royal family, and the eldest son who should be an example to others at that, does not even know shame in front of his younger siblings."

Marquis Bielefeld, who had been struggling to suppress his heavy heart, snapped his eyes open. And then he immediately looked at the King.

It was undoubtedly a face clearly filled with displeasure as usual.

The Marquis thought he had misheard because he hadn't fully sobered up.

Otherwise, there was no way the King would have personally referred to the First Prince as a 'member of the royal family' and 'eldest son' with his own mouth.

"If you show behavior unbecoming of a member of the royal family even one more time, I will punish you."

Marquis Bielefeld's eyes widened.

He hadn't misheard.

Surprisingly, the King had told the First Prince, whom he had treated like an enemy, to act like a member of the royal family multiple times.

Moreover, what about the hidden meaning?

The words that sounded like a reprimand at first glance held a clear meaning of forgiveness.

Saying he would punish him if he showed behavior unbecoming of a member of the royal family even one more time was no different from saying he would act as if all his past mistakes had never happened.

Marquis Bielefeld subconsciously looked at the First Prince.

Hoping that the First Prince would understand the meaning hidden in his father's words, he waited nervously for his mouth to open.

"A member of the royal family, huh..."

The First Prince smirked.

The moment he saw that laugh, the Marquis's heart sank.

Because to anyone, it looked exactly like the kind of expression one would make right before causing a massive disaster.

So that the immature eldest son wouldn't slap away the hand his father had so laboriously extended, Marquis Bielefeld hurriedly stepped forward.

"Y-Your Highness."

But before he could even take a step with his hangover-ridden body, the First Prince's mouth opened.