Chapter 12- A Bystander's Anguish (2)

There were no words between the two people returning to the starting point, crossing the Small animal zone.

A cool breeze swept between the Duke and Tollin.

Tollin fidgeted as he stared at the back of the Duke's head, who had been walking silently with a hardened face for a while now.

It was Duke Piteos who first broke this heavy silence and opened his mouth.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, of course! I wasn't hit that hard. See.”

Tollin looked at his superior, who had asked awkwardly, and shook his head this way and that.

But then his head throbbed, and he had to grip his forehead again.

The eyes of the Duke, who was watching that sight, sank even deeper.

“It's true. I've heard that in a far eastern foreign country, stones suddenly fall from the sky, making big pits. The stone that hit me might be one of those. When you look at it that way, aren't I lucky? I was hit by a stone falling from the sky, but instead of getting a hole in my head, I ended up with just a wound.”

The Duke just nodded his head with an expressionless face as he watched his pitifully glib appearance.

Tollin felt uncomfortable seeing that and just rode the horse slowly.

He was also uncomfortable that he, not the Duke, was riding the one remaining horse.

Unable to let the 7th Prince just walk, the Duke had sent him off, even giving him his horse.

Two large adult men could not ride on one horse.

Thanks to that, he was now riding the horse, and the Duke was walking.

Tollin insisted he would walk, even if it meant getting hit in the head with a stone again, but the Duke had insisted that if Tollin didn't ride the horse, he would jump into the lake wearing this bag full of stones, so he had no choice but to mount the horse.

The two knew it was not appropriate to speak any more of what happened with the 7th Prince, so they chose their words.

“...…Anyway, what do we do? You didn't catch anything. It looks like you missed the golden fox, too.”

Tollin asked the Duke, trying to divert both of their attention from what had happened today.

“Well, I'll just hear that I'm an old man, past his prime, I suppose.”

The Duke replied with a short laugh.

“Oh dear, now others besides me will be calling you that, Your Grace.”

“So you were the source of the rumor after all. I knew it.”

“I just thought it by myself, so technically speaking, it's not the source yet.”

The two walked while exchanging light conversation.

As if nothing at all had happened today.

As if an unjust and painful thing had never once occurred.

Tollin was hit by a stone without even knowing the reason, but from the moment he knew the other party was the 7th Prince, he did not want any punishment, and he knew it was meaningless to protest any further against the Imperial Family, so he resolved to bury this incident.

And to empty his mind as lightly as the conversation they were having now.

He believed the Duke would do the same.

Because his superior, whom he had known for over 10 years, was a person who couldn't even imagine rebelling against an order from the Imperial Family, even more so than himself.

However, contrary to Tollin's thoughts, the Duke, far from emptying his mind, had his head completely filled with the 7th Prince's voice.

-He, too, will become a faithful sword of the Imperial Family. He'll walk the same path as you.

The 7th Prince's voice, mixed with a sneer, was still vivid in his ears.

That was clearly the future the Duke had once desired the most.

For the Little Duke, who would succeed him, to become the proud sword of the Imperial Family.

And for the Piteos Ducal Family to inherit that duty for generations to come.

-And the person watching that most closely will be you, the father, Duke.

The jeering voice rang in his ears once more.

Can I endure that?

The Duke could no longer dare to answer that question.

He just took one step at a time, forcing himself to repeat that his steps, heavy as if entangled in a swamp, were because of the bag on his shoulder.

***

As I almost reached the stone tower where the tents were gathered, the participants who had arrived first and the attendants who were waiting glanced at me.

I was used to the furtive glances, but something about the atmosphere was strange.

Everyone was busy avoiding my eyes when we made eye contact, so I couldn't find anything out.

Anyway, where did my horse go?

Did it really go back to the stable?

It was when I was thinking that if that was the case, I would punish its excessive cleverness by starving it of its dinner.

“Greetings to the 7th Prince.”

Two knights with gold decoration engraved on their armor approached me and bowed their heads.

The Imperial Knight Order.

“What is it?”

“Her Highness, the 1st Imperial Princess, is looking for you, 7th Prince.”

The 1st Imperial Princess.

She was the oldest sister who made the 8th Prince have a seizure at the last ritual.

Well, among the siblings, there was probably no one that fellow wasn't afraid of besides me.

In any case, she was an opponent who wouldn't do me any good, even if we talked face to face up close.

I gripped the horse's reins short and spoke.

“I sweated too much while hunting. I cannot see the Imperial Princess in this state. Tell her I will visit her later.”

The younger-looking one of the two gave a slight glance at my empty saddle, and the other one stopped him by hitting his side with his elbow.

“...…I apologize, Your Highness. Her Highness, the Imperial Princess, said that she is looking after the horse His Highness the Prince cherishes. If you do not come now, she said she would...… deal with it somehow.”

“Fine, lead the way.”

I cursed inwardly and dismounted from the horse.

When I stepped forward obediently, they guided me in the direction of a white, splendid tent with relieved expressions.

If word got out that I lost the horse the 4th Prince gifted me, there was no telling how the Prince, who didn't seem to have a very good personality, would react.

An opponent I could communicate with would be better.

And I had to get the horse back, anyway.

I had hoped to run into the 1st Imperial Princess as late as possible, or if possible, not until I left the Imperial Palace, but it couldn't be helped.

And that impudent horse, when I return, will be made to see a slaughterhouse built right next to the stable.

***

The Imperial Palace is, in fact, overflowing with humans one should never meet in one's entire life.

The Emperor goes without saying, and all the Imperial Family members, including my siblings, are all people one shouldn't even look at out of the corner of one's eye while passing by.

Among them, the 1st Imperial Princess occupies a pretty high rank.

“You're here.”

When the attendants opened the entrance to the tent, which was of a color that seemed difficult to find even if one were to look for white leather, the 1st Imperial Princess, sitting on the brown sofa placed in the center, greeted me.

The 1st Imperial Princess, Mentil Abalan, a beautiful face with long, white hair hanging down, smiled faintly and gestured for me to sit on the chair placed beside the sofa.

“Greetings to Her Highness, the 1st Imperial Princess.”

When I chose to bow my head and greet her first, before sitting, she made a 'hmm' sound and leaned back comfortably against the sofa.

“Put away the stiff greeting. Are we not siblings who share blood? We should be comfortable with each other.”

“I am most comfortable with stiff greetings and a moderate distance, Your Highness.”

“Hahaha, I didn't know my younger brother was such an inflexible person.”

She clapped her hands, giggling.

At that sight, I stood still and just looked at her.

“Well, since most of my other younger siblings have a fiery side, it's probably good to have one like you, who's a bit like a rock.”

“Thank you for seeing me that way.”

As I was still standing and answering her, she gestured toward the chair and said.

“I think it would be good for you to sit.”

“I'm fin...….”

“My arm hurts.”

She was still smiling as she spoke, but this time I knew it was an offer I couldn't just resist.

I had to sit on the plusher-than-it-looked chair and face her, who was following me persistently with her eyes.

After a brief confrontation, the Imperial Princess opened her mouth with her usual gentle smile.

“So,”

Mischief, vigilance, and cruelty flashed briefly in the Imperial Princess's eyes and passed.

A strand of the cool outside breeze entered the 1st Imperial Princess's warm tent and swept across the nape of my neck.

No, perhaps I just felt it that way.

Because it became indistinguishable from the goosebumps that rose on the nape of my neck due to the Imperial Princess's following words.

“What change of heart did my younger brother have, to become a completely different person?”

A sharp question pierced me.

This was why I didn't want to face the 1st Imperial Princess.

In the novel Dark Header, an extremely small number of people are born holding Manis.

All Manis manifest as an ability related to nature.

The Emperor uses the Manis of fire, the 1st Prince, water.

And the 1st Imperial Princess's ability can, in a way, be expressed as occupying the pinnacle of all nature.

“It's not just to the extent of saying your personality changed, is it? I don't know for sure, but I know you better than you do.”

The 1st Imperial Princess's ability is humans.

She controls people's minds.

And this is the reason Duke Piteos cannot break out of his egg on his own.

***

I had to be calm.

From the moment I was possessed by the novel, I had kept in mind that someone might not just overlook my incongruity.

And I had anticipated that the 1st Imperial Princess, given her ability, would be the very first to find me out.

Fortunately, I am an avid reader who has read the novel over 100 times, and I know more about the person named Mentil Abalan than others do.

Fortunately, I even know the conditions that prevent her ability from activating.

She said she knows me better than I do, but well, that's probably not true anymore.

Because inside Ran Abalan's body is a 28-year-old man, and she doesn't know that yet.

I let out a small sigh and met her eyes.

The 1st Imperial Princess was still looking at me with a gentle smile on her face.

“Answer carefully. Wouldn't it be hard to live if I turn all the people who serve you into simpletons?”

How bloodthirsty.

Still, thanks to that, the tension that remained a little was relieved.

I collected my breath for a moment and slowly opened my mouth.

“...…My mother passed away.”

Of course, I don't even know where the 7th Prince's mother is right now.

Confirming that the corners of her mouth were stiffening, I inwardly sent a heartfelt apology to Ran Abalan's mother, who might be alive and well somewhere.

***

If I think about it calmly, the very fact that Princess Mentil called me directly and asked a question shows that her ability doesn't work on me.

If it did, she could have just controlled me to get the answer.

She probably noticed something was strange about me because she realized her ability no longer worked on me.

The 7th Prince in the original work is swayed by Mentil's ability and sometimes moves as she wants.

If so, what kind of people can escape the 1st Imperial Princess's hellish ability?

In the novel, those on whom the 1st Imperial Princess's ability does not work satisfy the following two conditions.

First, they must be related to the 1st Imperial Princess by blood.

This is satisfying, since my body is Ran Abalan's.

And second, they must feel familial love, not sexual love, for Mentil Abalan.

The problem is this second condition.

I have no reason to feel sexual love for the 1st Imperial Princess, but I have even less reason to feel familial love.

There's no way I would feel something like familial love, which I've never even felt for my own biological parents, for her, whom I'm only meeting face to face for the second time.

The reason why the Imperial Princess still can't control my mind is still unknown.

I just think it's probably related to being a possessor of the novel.

There's one thing I have to do in this situation.

Make her misunderstand that I felt familial love for her, so that she is convinced.

I know that the words she repeats like a habit, that family should get along, are not just idle talk.

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