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As time passed, more and more people visited my palace.

Among them were lesser lords of the provinces and some of the few remaining greater lords of the kingdom. They had made my life very messy.

I felt like being a bad host and wanted to get rid of all the visitors, but I couldn’t.

Half of those who had visited me were fathers who had entrusted their children to me in the north; the other half were comrades who had risked their lives and faced death in the last war.

If the nobles had not guessed my temper to some extent, had not chosen to greet me simply, I would have run from my palace, no longer able to endure their visits.

“No, will I really sneak away?”

I started to think seriously and decided I had to run away. I could hide myself in the north for a while and say I’ll come back after completing my work. I thought it was a pretty good solution.

I decided to put my plan into action. Deep into the dark night, I quietly left my room. And just as I was about to cross the wall: “The Crown Prince is gone!”

One instant later, a familiar voice came from inside my palace. It was Carls.

“Send a signal!”

That moment, ‘Buwooo hoo’

I heard the sound of a horn that would only be heard on the battlefield.

‘Hwaak’

Fires were lit up everywhere.

“All knights! Head to your positions!”

“Inform the gatekeeper to close all gates!”

The sound of the palace knights and the royal palace guards shouting out orders broke into my ears.

“Find your charge!”

Among the voices came one filled entirely with dignity, the voice of the palace knight commander. The scene looked like a battlefield.

“I found our charge!”

While I was staring blankly at it all, the palace knights found me and started shouting. And so, my first breakout failed. I did not give up and tried again, and once again, I failed.

My second attempt was foiled by the utterly unexpected installation of a magical alarm device. The third attempt failed because the palace knight commander and other champions had blocked off my front. I couldn’t make a fourth attempt at all because the palace knights didn’t sleep while they constantly watched me.

A double, then triple siege of my palace was created by mobilizing all the kingdom’s champions. It was absurd. It was hard to tell whether I was in the royal palace or whether I was in the middle of the enemy camp.

But there was something really ridiculous.

“How can you do this to me?” I demanded, trembling with a sense of betrayal.

Arwen and Eli stood in front of me: The champions I had raised myself, the traitors who had foiled my second attempt.

“Sorry.”

“His Majesty himself gave the command. What strength do we have to disobey?”

Arwen was the one who had bowed her head and apologized, while Eli was the one who had spoken brazenly. I looked at them and sighed. No, nothing would change if I blamed them now.

According to their words, the king himself had stepped forward and ordered my confinement.

Besides, it was all my fault that my plans had failed once and for all.

My sin for putting too much trust in the knowledgeable Carls? First Failure.

The error of bringing the wizards of the White Night Tower into the palace? Second failure.

The crime of raising Arwen and Eli as Masters? Third failure.

“This is all my karma coming back to me.”

The phrase ‘biting the hand that feeds you’ was appropriate in this case. On that day, I promised in front of my knights that there would be no more attempts to escape.

Of course, if I really decided to leave the palace, there was nothing they could do. However, it would be impossible even for me to escape the siege and the champions without making a fuss.

At other times, I would not have been concerned about creating such a tumult, but now was a time when envoys from other countries were visiting the palace.

It would only reduce the status of Leonberg were I to so openly escape the palace by barging past the knights of my own country like a madman.

It was funny that I, who had already caused a lot of turmoil, now thought about the status of the kingdom. In any case, I gave up escaping, and the palace was able to regain a semblance of peace.

Time passed without much happening, and finally, the banquet was one day away.

“His Majesty is looking for your Highness.”

It was then that the king sought me out – the king who didn’t want to see me when I had asked to meet him. I went straight to his room.

“Did you eat? It’s still before dinner. Let’s dine together.”

The king brazenly pretended that nothing had happened.

I wanted to ask about it all right away, but I decided to sit down for now.

I was just hungry, and it would not be too late to protest his actions after that.

The king and I were quietly devoted to eating.

“Thank you, Ian.”

When the plates in front of us were almost empty, the king opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry for setting things in motion before asking you first.”

The king looked at me like never before, his eyes soft.

“But for me… I couldn’t bear the thought of an empty throne.”

The king added that, after passing so near the gates of death, he realized how important it was that the family live on in a new generation, and as both a father and a monarch, it was an unavoidable decision for him to take.

“So, this time, I just hope you will understand my heart in this matter.”

In the past, this great man would have cared nothing about my intentions, and he would have made a lot of noise about how it was my duty as Crown Prince. Now, he was talking to me in an earnest tone.

I was speechless, my emotions of revolt suppressed. The words of protest I had prepared in advance could not even be brought to the tip of my tongue.

The king continued to try and convince me for a long time after that. He didn’t want much; he just wanted me to find a partner. He only hoped that the future of the royal family would be solidified. All of those words were hard to accept for me at that moment.

“I know what you’re thinking. You think that if you get married, you will continue to fight on the battlefield. Then if something goes wrong, the marriage will be shaken because you are unable to take responsibility for those who will be left behind.”

Although the king’s reasoning was somewhat different, it ran along the lines of me not wanting the burden of a relationship and the responsibility it would entail.

“If you see it as a political burden, then also think of it as a political agreement.” Your partner will also think so.”

The king continued his attempt at persuasion for a while, changing his tone. When I still didn’t answer, the king offered me a compromise.

“Just sit down and watch.”

Knowing that the king had made the greatest possible concessions, I could not refuse the offer.

“I will just watch. If there is no woman who claims my heart-”

“Don’t force me either.”

After the conversation, I stood up right away. If I sat there any more, I might develop more annoying lumps. I escaped the king’s room as if running away and headed for my palace when I suddenly came to a halt and looked back.

“I feel like I was hit by something.”

For some reason, I felt like things had played out just as the king had intended.

“Ah, I don’t know,” I mumbled. I had told him I would just sit; so, I would go to the banquet and just sit. After thinking so, the unpleasantness in my mind grew a little less.

* * *

The Marquis of Bielefeld visited the king’s residence.

“Your Majesty, Marshal Bielefeld is here to visit.”

When the palace knight told him of the marquis’ visit, the king himself came out and opened the door.

“Sire,” the marquis bowed his head and greeted the king politely as if regretful to bother him, but he did not forget to study his monarch’s expression. The king looked delighted, and that was surely why the ruler of the country had come to open the door personally.

“The meeting seems to have ended well,” Bielefeld noted.

“Now that I’ve got him to attend the banquet, half the battle’s won.”

As Bielefeld had expected, it had gone well.

“As you have said, marquis, the child, despite his strong temperament, could not go against my will, even if the prospect seemed to sicken him.”

The king smiled as he looked at the chair upon which the prince had sat a while ago.

“His Highness acts inherently strong against the strong and is weak against the weak. Of course, I am not saying that your Majesty is weak.”

“I understand what you’re trying to say, marquis. I even felt it myself.”

The king smiled, adding, “I heard that the flowing wind cuts through the hard rocky mountain, and today was a perfect example of it.”

King Lionel seemed to feel quite good.

“My son is like a rocky mountain, but because he thought his father couldn’t figure out his nature, I just pressed him with kindness. How could he orchestrate a backlash against that, or feel resentment?”

The marquis nodded as if sympathizing with the king’s words.

“He’s such a compliant child.”

However, after hearing that statement, Bielefeld could not sympathize at all with the king’s words.

Complaint? Who the hell- Prince Adrian?

“Hmm.” The marquis chose to hide the dissent in his heart.

“Just because your Majesty has convinced the Crown Prince, who possesses not only the character of a rock-hard mountain but also the free-spiritedness of the wind, please do not relax until the end.” Bielefeld urged the king to be vigilant to the last, as he himself did not know in which direction the prince would bounce.

“I will keep that in kind,” said the king, readily accepting the marquis’ warning, as if he had understood the nature of his firstborn.

“The things you prepared should work.”

“I am afraid of disappointing your Majesty if everything doesn’t go as planned.”

“You did everything you could. How can one make a person’s heart move according to a plan?” the king mused with a stern face, adding, “If you can’t do it once, you can try two, three, ten times… There are so many other reasons for holding a banquet, anyway.”

“Since we have compensation from the Empire, there is no shortage of finances.”

The marquis looked full of satiety as he reminisced about the warehouse filled with imperial reparation funds. The king was also very pleased with this.

“I will take a drink,” King Lionel said as he filled two wine glasses and offered one to the marquis.

“Please, I hope we will not have a dry toast this time.”

Then the king raised his glass and said, “For Ian.”

“For His Highness the Crown Prince.”

The king and the marquis exchanged deep glances as they clinked their glasses.

It was that very moment that a conspiracy began in the heart of the kingdom, one which the Crown Prince remained unaware of.

And so, the night passed, and finally, the day of the banquet came.

* * *

“Wow.”

I frowned. Even after waking up, my head was not clear. Perhaps it was because of my fierce dreams. I was channeling my mana and brushing away my frown when someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened at my words. Through the wide portal, maids and attendants appeared in a neat row.

“Your Highness, we will help you prepare.”

There was still a long time left before the evening’s banquet. On previous occasions, I had been unaware of what these things entailed and had allowed the maids to go over me, and then waited a long time for the banquet to begin, unable to lie down properly. Not this time.

“Not now. Later.” 3333

Hearing my words, the maids replied straight away, showing no signs of embarrassment.

“Then we will come back around noon.”

I had the fierce suspicion that they had expected this to be my reaction.

I spent my entire morning roaming about. Even those who have constantly been in and out of my palace weren’t looking for me today. Everyone seemed busy because it was the day of the banquet.

That was fortunate for me. I was already disgusted that I was forced to attend a banquet that I was reluctant to have in the first place. I only wandered around until noon, however.

The maids appeared like drawn swords at the promised time.

“Oh, this is annoying,” I complained.

“If your Highness delays further now, you will not be on time.”

While I profusely acted in an uncooperative fashion, the maids looked at me with beseeching, almost pathetic eyes. Their glances were filled with many words. If there went anything wrong with preparing me for the matchmaking banquet, it was the maids who would be greatly inconvenienced.

Their faces looked despondent, as if something untoward had already happened. I couldn’t turn away from those desperate eyes of theirs, so I sat down, and they started leading me in proceedings.

“Then we’ll start. Don’t move for a moment.”

And the suffering began. The maids began rubbing, massaging my body at random – every nook and cranny.

“Ah, why are you doing it there again? I wear clothes anyway. No one can even see it because it is covered!”

“It’s just in case, your Highness, just in case.”

I couldn’t figure out what this ‘case’ was that they were talking about. I just felt that their faces looked weird and spiteful. After a while, I started to doubt whether I was the same person while the maids looked at me with almost pitying faces. Or not, no, the women were merely focused on their work.

In their own way, the royal family’s maids were thick-fingered; even if not as much as Adelia’s, their fingertips were rough.

I gave myself up to the hands of the maids for a long time.

“It’s all done.”

After I was released from their ministrations, they equipped me fully in tailored robes. But just because I was ready didn’t mean that my suffering was over.

Sometimes, when I turned my body because my posture was uncomfortable, the maids rush to me and started to straighten my clothes. Their attentions were more cumbersome than my discomfort, so I chose to remain still. I closed my eyes and went into meditation.

After done meditating, the time for the banquet was imminent.

“Your Highness, I will take you to the banqueting hall.”

Carls appeared in his armor, which was shining brighter than ever before, and he knelt before me.

I went straight out of my room. Outside the door, fully-armed palace knights with their visors down were waiting for me. Arwen was with them. Although she was helmed and visored, she couldn’t hide her peculiar shape, so it wasn’t difficult to recognize her.

Siorin must be disappointed. Arwen clearly didn’t care about her father’s wishes, and I chuckled as I saw the fully armored Knight of Steel. But I only chuckled for a while.

“Let’s go.”

I led them to the banqueting hall.

‘Chuck Chuck Chuck’

As I walked, listening to the exceptionally clear clanging of their armor, it felt like I was heading to the battlefield – although I did not wear iron armor, but rather a pure white gown.

After walking for a while, we arrived at the banqueting hall.

“Would your Highness like to enter right away?”

As I nodded, the attendant cleared his throat for a moment. At this, he cried out loudly as if the whole palace had to hear.

“The legitimate blood descendant of his Majesty King Lionel Leonberger, who is the modest ruler of the Leonberg kingdom and more precious than anyone else! Eldest son of the Leonberg royal family! Savior of the North! The Northern Lion! The kingdom’s strongest knight! His Highness Adrian Leonberger is entering!”

The door finally opened wide, and I stepped beyond it.