Chapter 32 - When My Thinking Changed, What I Saw Changed Too (2)

In truth, Count Vale Ballorhard declaring himself the First Prince's guardian was not especially unusual.

Privately, the Count was the prince's uncle, so it was only natural that he would become his nephew's guardian.

Even so, the repercussions of that natural act were not small.

In the past, the Count had harshly criticized his nephew's natural disposition and qualities as those of a 「tyrant」 and withdrawn all support.

Because of that, the prince had rapidly lost his base of support and, in the end, found himself isolated with no one to rely on.

Rumors had even openly spread that the King himself had cast aside his eldest son.

Even then, the Count had not stepped forward.

People praised his lofty Great Cause, a declaration of his will not to cling to blood ties for the peace of the kingdom and the royal family.

But that very Count had bent his Great Cause and reversed his decision.

And in a situation where the King had all but stripped the prince of his right of succession, no less.

Had he developed a lust for power in his later years?

Or had the affection of blood suddenly welled up in him after all this time?

The King had already cast aside his eldest son.

The First Prince's position was so poor that, far from worrying about succession rights, he had to worry about being confined.

For the nobles, it was impossible to understand why the Count had suddenly reversed his decision.

They merely calculated, and calculated again, what effect the Count's course of action would have on the kingdom.

Count Vale Ballorhard was, personally, a Quad Chain knight who had linked four rings, one of only five in the kingdom, and officially, a great lord who encompassed the kingdom's north, as well as a frontier Commander who constantly maintained two thousand elite soldiers to hold back the monsters crossing the mountains.

Considering that the number of troops most count families normally operated did not exceed five hundred, the military strength of the Ballorhard family was remarkable.

All the more so when those soldiers were veterans tempered by grappling with the monsters of the mountains.

On top of that, the Ballorhard family possessed an outstanding knight order called the Black Spear Cavalry.

Considering that fewer than ten families in the kingdom operated their own knight order, their prestige could be called even more remarkable.

With the prestige of such an extraordinary house backing him, it was only natural that the status of the prince, who had fallen into being an unwanted burden, would soar in an instant.

Of course, that did not mean the First Prince had instantly become the most likely successor to the throne.

Even while he had been wasting his years away, the other princes had steadily solidified their positions and gathered bases of support, and by now, they had formed forces that even the great House Ballorhard could not easily challenge.

For the First Prince to overcome that gap would be quite an arduous task.

The only thing he could put forward was his legitimacy, but even that had become virtually meaningless after he fell out of the King's favor.

All that remained was the infamy and scandals he had piled up to dizzying heights.

"Think of what insults the nobles who once stood beneath the First Prince's banner suffered."

Among the nobles, there was no one who would entrust the future of their house to the First Prince.

Since that was the situation, despite the weight of the rumors, the area around the First Prince remained quiet.

At least on the surface.

* * *

Busy.

So busy.

The newly assigned Royal Knights and soldiers making a racket outside,

the new manservants and servants sent by the Ministry of the Royal Household rushing all over the place,

and the new people assigned to my residence secretly watching me,

all of it was bothersome.

"Send them all back!"

When I finally lost patience and snapped, Karl spoke with a troubled look.

"They came by royal command."

"Even if you tell them to go back, they will not listen."

"Then at least move them somewhere I can't see them."

Only after hearing my words did Karl step in and drive the newly assigned guard detail toward the outer edges of the palace.

A senior maid stepped forward and moved the servants and manservants sent by the Ministry of the Royal Household somewhere out of sight.

Only then was I able to free myself from the stealthy gazes that had been following me.

"That's much better."

Just when I thought I could finally rest a little, that Third Prince bastard suddenly came to see me.

"What are you here for this time?"

When I asked irritably, looking at the bastard who had come without warning, the Third Prince narrowed his eyes and said,

"You have been quite sly."

What the hell was that supposed to mean now?

"To think you hid that you were learning the sword from Count Ballorhard."

"You had me completely fooled."

"Who learned what from whom?"

I asked, dumbfounded by the Third Prince bastard who had appeared out of nowhere and started spouting nonsense, but instead of answering, he only went on saying what he wanted to say.

"Did you mean to catch me off guard like that and surprise me?"

"Or did you think that would let you defeat me?"

From the sound of it, he seemed to think I had learned some secret move from my maternal uncle and had planned to beat him with it.

"Well, fine."

"Thanks to that, the picture has become even more plausible."

"That is something I welcome as well."

"Is that so?"

"Fine, I get it, so please just leave."

"But deceiving me when I approached in good faith was not a very good move."

"I truly meant to spare at least your dignity, Brother."

"Wow, I'm so grateful I could cry."

When I said that because the sight of him putting on airs over nothing was ridiculous, the Third Prince's expression hardened.

"Brother, you have truly made a grave mistake."

For a young brat, his insides were so black that the look in his eyes was truly venomous.

"I intend to make you pay dearly for deceiving me."

"When that time comes, you will not be able to preserve your dignity or anything else in the slightest."

Watching those eyes full of malice, I slowly leaned back in my chair.

"So?"

It seemed my relaxed attitude only provoked the Third Prince bastard's temper even more.

"It appears you do not understand the situation."

The bastard glared at me.

"I am saying I will create a nightmare that you will chew over for the rest of your life."

Perhaps he no longer wanted to treat me as his elder brother even as a pretense, because his words came without restraint now.

"You should have just kept living as you were."

"You should have gone on chasing women and drinking until you died."

"Why did you have to get greedy?"

"Is that all you have to say?"

It was not worth listening any further.

I stretched out my hand and pointed to the door.

"If you're done talking, go already."

"Stop bothering people."

"I was about to leave anyway."

In that brief moment, the bastard gathered his momentum and began putting on his act again.

"Please enjoy the coming banquet."

"After all, an unavoidable accident may mean you never get another chance," the Third Prince sneered.

After spouting a few more useless words, the bastard rose from his seat.

The bastard, who had been about to leave without even a farewell, flinched and froze.

Before I knew it, my maternal uncle was standing in front of the door, looking this way.

He gave a slight bow.

The Third Prince bastard lightly inclined his head and passed by my maternal uncle, leaving my room.

CLICK.

The door closed, and my maternal uncle strode over and asked,

"Why did you leave him be?"

His expression was asking, If it is you now, do you not have no reason to endure that?

"I'm not such an idiot that I'd get heated over an ignorant child."

I said it with a shrug.

"And would it not spoil the fun if his spirit were broken already?"

From what I had heard, the Third Prince was making quite a large affair of things.

I did not know for certain, but on the promised day, quite a lot of spectators would probably come.

It would not be too late to settle the price for daring to spout such pathetic threats in front of me on that day.

As I snickered to myself, my maternal uncle shook his head.

"What a nasty temperament you have."

"Look who's talking."

"Do you even know how much more troublesome things have become because of you, Uncle?"

The sudden increase in the number of people in the 1st Prince's Palace and the Third Prince's sudden visit had all happened after my maternal uncle's declaration.

It would have been stranger if polite words came out of my mouth.

"Tsk."

My maternal uncle clicked his tongue and spoke.

He said things like what the end of an eldest son who failed to inherit his position would be, that legitimacy would not disappear until death, and that there had been no choice anyway.

Every word was correct from beginning to end.

"Even so, you could at least have delayed the timing."

"Until when?"

"Until the other princes finished their preparations?"

My maternal uncle scolded me, asking what meaning that would have and telling me not to act like a spoiled child.

But I had a plan of my own.

After finally becoming human, I had no intention whatsoever of spending my whole life in this booger-sized(?) palace.

I intended to build up an appropriate amount of strength, pay an appropriate price for my freedom, and leave the royal palace.

Of course, realistically, there were more than one or two things to resolve.

But in the worst case, I had even thought of a way to fake my death and leave the palace.

Before that, though, I would have to find my true body that the King had hidden away.

"The situation will not change simply because you stay curled up in your residence."

Even while I was lost in thought, my maternal uncle went on saying this and that.

Not a single thing among them reached me.

Because the basic premise of everything my maternal uncle said was wrong.

"I have no interest in the throne."

My maternal uncle thought I had changed in order to reclaim the things I had lost.

But that was not it.

To begin with, I had never lost them.

They had never been mine in the first place.

How could I lose something that was not mine, and how could I reclaim it?

If there was anything I needed to reclaim, it was not some trifling right of succession, but the authority and power I had possessed when I had reached Transcendence.

"I will play along for a while, so withdraw at an appropriate point."

It was not as if one could freely put one's foot into and pull it out of a competition for the right of succession as though dipping it in a stream, but still, I had no choice but to say it that way.

"Why did you have to go and do this without even consulting me?"

It seemed I had developed at least a rat's tail worth of affection.

Judging by how my heart did not feel very good.

"Are you worrying about House Ballorhard?"

But contrary to my expectations that he would get angry or flustered, my maternal uncle merely smiled.

"As long as the royal family and the nobles do not forget the harshness of winter, they will not be able to do anything to House Ballorhard."

My maternal uncle said that no one could replace Ballorhard, the shield that protected the kingdom from the monsters of the northern mountains.

At that overflowing confidence, I ended up feeling a little impressed.

If not for the hollow eyes of a man who had yet to escape his Inner Demon, he might have looked fairly impressive.

"But remember this well."

"The legitimacy of the eldest son does not disappear unless he dies."

My maternal uncle rose from his seat as he said words that might have been a warning or a request.

"If you need time to accept the situation, I will give you as much as you need."

"Until you are ready, I will no longer force anything upon you."

After adding those words, my maternal uncle disappeared.

"No, I'm telling you it won't change no matter how much time you give me..."

No matter how much time passed, I would never change my mind the way my maternal uncle said.

I clearly thought so.

At least until just before the banquet began.

* * *

"Viscount Artuen Parinel of the southern Parinel estate and Baroness Parinel are entering!"

With the resounding introduction, the doors opened, and nobles entered the banquet hall one by one.

As if they had no interest in the delicacies of land and sea prepared with such care, they sought out people from families with whom they were usually acquainted.

In the spacious banquet hall, groups formed in an instant.

They exchanged trivial greetings, and unimportant conversations came and went.

It was the same scene as any other banquet.

Taylor Tailheim looked around with a very tense expression beside his father.

The nobles who had entered the banquet hall so far were nothing more than lower nobles such as barons and viscounts.

But even among them, there was a clear hierarchy, and insignificant nobles from the outskirts like House Tailheim were pushed into a corner before they even realized it.

"Baron Rockwell?"

"To think I would meet you here, Baron!"

"Baron Tailheim, what brings you here?"

"I had not seen you in some time."

If there was any consolation, it was that among the rural nobles who had likewise been pushed into the corner, there were quite a few people they were acquainted with.

"Ha ha."

"A banquet hosted by the royal family is different indeed, is it not?"

"It is somewhat embarrassing to say this, but I feel rather intimidated."

As Baron Tailheim said that, his gaze was fixed on the nobles of The Capital gathered in twos and threes in the distance.

"Well, what have we to feel inferior about?"

"There cannot be many who received an invitation directly from His Highness the Prince as we did."

"True enough."

"How could receiving an invitation bearing the royal family's seal be an easy thing?"

At those words, several nobles approached and acknowledged them.

They too had received invitations directly from the First Prince, they said, expressing their delight.

Baron Rockwell and Baron Tailheim examined their faces.

"Could it be?"

"That is right."

"My son had an audience with His Highness the First Prince not long ago."

"My second son as well..."

Every one of them had once had ill-fated ties with the First Prince, but had dramatically severed those ties not long ago.

They soon felt a sense of kinship and began chatting as though they were of one mind.

"So do you know what this boy of mine said then?"

"Well..."

Watching them chatter away, forgetting even their nervousness, several nobles frowned.

"To think such uncultured people are nobles."

"Tsk."

"The great lords will be entering soon, and yet they make such a racket."

The voices were far too loud to be called muttering to themselves, and Baron Tailheim and the other rural nobles flushed red.

"Ahem."

"It would be best to continue this conversation a little later."

"They say the great lords will enter soon."

"Let us do that."

After they waited a short while, the great lords, including the counts, appeared in the banquet hall one after another.

"Count Berock Graeum of the eastern Graeum estate and his second daughter, Lady Anne, are entering!"

"Count Folt Ronen of the western Ronen estate and..."

The lower nobles who had entered earlier each approached the great lords they followed and paid their respects.

But even while that went on, the rural nobles merely watched for cues from their corner.

They knew no great lords, and no great lords approached them first, so they merely watched the impressive prestige of those called great lords from a distance.

"Marquis Trindel Mendelheim of the southern Mendelheim estate and his eldest son, Lord Classman, are entering!"

Even the marquises and dukes, who could be called the pinnacle of the kingdom's nobles, entered the banquet hall.

And not long after, a manservant shouted in a resounding voice.

"His Highness First Prince Adrian Leonberk, the eldest son of the Royal House of Leonberk, the legitimate bloodline of His Majesty King Lionel Leonberk, the rightful ruler of the Leonberk Kingdom and nobler than any other, is entering!"

At that moment, as if they had made a promise, the nobles turned their heads toward the entrance of the banquet hall.

CREEEAK.

The door opened.

And beyond it, the rumored First Prince appeared.