Chapter 31

It has been a tearful day recently.

Belle and May cried in front of me, even a big man cried in front of me at the end.

I wish it ended there.

The last one was me.

I said I’d visit Billy quickly, but my disappearance had already been known at home.

At this age, I fell on my mother’s lap and she hit my butt.

I was surprised and embarrassed because my mother had never done this before.

–Aesvin, why on earth do you keep disappearing by yourself? Are you going to make Mom worry? Huh? Are you going to disappear alone again?

–I’m sorry! I was wrong, Mother!

She is a lady who has never held anything heavier than a teacup in her life, so how could it hurt to be hit by her?

On the contrary, my mother’s hand that hit me became even hotter.

Tears flowed out of shame rather than pain.

I appealed to my father for help, but he turned a blind eye.

–Aesvin. Mom is really worried about you. What are you going to do if you keep disappearing by yourself and get in trouble? You even got hurt this time. Mom can’t live without you.

My mother hit me and made me more painful and distressed.

–I’m sorry. I’ll be cautious.

Seeing my mother crying sadly, I begged her and promised to make a mistake.

And I was grounded for a month as a punishment for being ruthless.

* * *

I had a hard time in confinement for a month.

It was just that I couldn’t go out of the house, but it was a great pain for me as I was active.

Luciano often came to play while I couldn’t go out to my heart’s content.

And finally!

My ban has been lifted today.

“Prince, I’m here!”

I didn’t make an appointment, but I came to Luciano proudly.

“You’re here?”

While reading a book, he was not surprised.

“Yes! I’m finally released!”

Ironically, Luciano supported my life in captivity.

At first, I thought he was taking my side.

However, Luciano found out that the reason why I was grounded was because I disappeared without permission, Luciano said my parents did a good job.

What was the feeling of betrayal at that time?

“Congratulations.”

I sat across from him, who greeted me with a heartless congratulation.

“Reading a book again?”

“It’s fun.”

‘Is this really the male lead’s dignity?’

Luciano loved reading books.

“I prefer to play.”

Luciano grinned and closed the book.

“Shall we play chess?”

“I don’t want to.”

I shook my head firmly.

Not long ago, I desperately realized that chess was a game I could never win.

I wanted to play a game that I could win.

“Then, bingo?”

This was still pretty much my win rate.

“Shall we?”

Luciano moved to search for paper and pens when I was delighted.

It was then.

Knock, knock.

There was a knock in the study room.

Both Luciano and I were frozen.

Because there was no reason for a guest to come.

In the meantime.

Knock, knock.

The second knock sounded like an urging.

“Come in.”

Luciano replied with a stern look on his face.

The door opened and a familiar face appeared.

The unwelcomed guest was Empress Isabelle Palace’s servant.

She came in and looked around, but didn’t show any courtesy to the prince.

“What’s going on?”

The servant spoke only after Luciano’s question.

“I’m here to deliver Empress Isabelle’s message.”

My heart sank because it would never be a good thing.

“What did it say?”

“It’s a message that you should come to the imperial palace now.”

Luciano’s expression stiffened at Empress Isabelle’s call.

“Now?”

“Yes, I was told that you should come as soon as you heard the message.”

Then the servant glanced at Luciano.

Come on, it was a sign to get up.

Luciano clenched his teeth in exasperation, then relaxed his face and got up in a minute.

“Guide me.”

“Me, I’m going too!”

The two sprang to their feet before they disappeared.

Luciano gestured for me not to do so, but I shook my head firmly.

“Aesvin, wait here. No, go back to your mansion.”

“No, I want to go with you.”

Luciano’s eyes turned fierce, but I also gave strength to my eyes.

Empress Isabelle would never have called Luciano with good intentions.

I didn’t know what kind of humiliation she would give.

Knowing that I couldn’t let Luciano go alone.

Luciano stared at me silently and I also held out without losing.

“You have to hurry.”

It was Empress Isabelle’s servant who broke off our war of nerves.

Her arrogant gaze warned him that something terrible would happen if he dragged more time.

She was so cocky that I hated looking at him.

There was nothing Luciano and I could do now.

The reason why that servant could be so arrogant was that Empress Isabelle favored her.

Even the servant knew that, so she acted arrogantly the whole time.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m coming with you.”

Before Luciano stepped up, I answered quickly.

“Then, let’s move.”

The servant gave an attitude that it didn’t matter if I went or not.

Luciano let out a small sigh, noticing that he couldn’t win over my stubbornness.

And he gave me a warning look to never come forward no matter what.

I pretended not to know.

When something happened, I didn’t know if I would be able to stand it or not.

That was how the three of us arrived at the Imperial Palace’s drill hall.

And I was surprised.

There were quite a few people in the drill hall.

There weren’t many knights using the gymnasium.

A simple table was spread out outside the field, and there were several nobles, including Empress Isabelle.

The servant led us there.

Empress Isabel greeted us with enthusiasm.

“Welcome, Prince Luciano. You’re busy, didn’t I force you to come?”

If I say I was busy, would you send us back?

“That’s all right.”

Luciano spat it out as if cutting my uncomfortable heart.

Empress Isabelle smiled brightly, and she looked back at me.

“Oh, there’s Aesvin, too.”

“I humbly see you. I was with the prince, so I came to say hello to the empress.”

“Welcome. I called Prince Luciano for a favor.”

Empress Isabelle spoke to Luciano in a relaxed tone.

Her friendly tone and eyes gave a shudder of abomination.

It would never be a good request.

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing. Our Prince Steven has been practicing swordsmanship for some time now.”

Empress Isabelle’s gaze turned to Steven, who was swinging a wooden sword on one side, and then returned.

‘Did you deliberately call to tease him?’

What’s upsetting was that Luciano was deprived of his swordsmanship training opportunity last year.

Whatever she did, none of the knights would be Luciano’s teacher, and no one had ever done anything about it.

So Luciano wasn’t learning proper swordsmanship.

Then, she gave Prince Steven the knights’ commander as his teacher.

She knew Luciano’s circumstances, but she was saying that now.

Unsurprisingly, Luciano’s expression also became stiff.

“I’ve heard. He has talent.”

At Luciano’s empty words, Empress Isabelle’s laughter deepened.

Did you just call just to brag about this?

It was time to grumble inside.

“How about Prince Luciano competing with Prince Steven?”

What came out of Empress Isabelle’s mouth was a proposal beyond my imagination.

I thought I knew enough of her childishness, but I guess that wasn’t the end.

Obviously, she knew Luciano wasn’t properly trained in swordsmanship.

She made him compete against his son who had formally learned swords from the knight commander.

In addition to that, if she gathers people under her control and does this, wouldn’t it mean that she would insult him outright?

“Do you mean sparring?”

Luciano, who had been stiff, managed to open his mouth.

Empress Isabelle smiled brightly.

“Yes, it’s not a difficult request, is it?”

What do you mean it’s not a difficult request?

That’s ridiculous in the first place!

Luciano’s palm gently touched my back as if he knew I’d lose my temper.

Luciano shook his head softly when I looked at him in surprise.

I clenched my teeth at the signal not to come forward.

In fact, it was Luciano who would be in trouble if I stepped forward.

Empress Isabelle constantly tormented Luciano.

–Prince Luciano, do you know how to ride a horse?

She didn’t even give him a chance to ride a horse and asked this.

–Prince Luciano and Aesvin are very close. Shouldn’t you still have friends of the same gender? You need a proper friend.

She laughed at him, asking if he had any other friends.

I was impatient to provoke her.

I pretended not to know as I did for the first time.

–Empress! Prince Luciano is really good at horseback riding. We rode horses together, and he id all the hurdles!

–What does gender have to do with friends? All friends are the same! We’re real friends, too!

I pretended to be tactless and smiled brightly while interfering with Empress Isabelle’s trick.

Naturally, Empress Isabelle was bewildered and looked at me with an annoyed expression on her face.

I was quite content, but it turned out that I was building up her anger and was giving Luciano a disadvantage.

For example, by omitting items that should be assigned to Luciano.

One day.

I happened to go to Luciano’s Imperial Palace on the day the goods came in.

–What? Are you saying this is all the goods assigned to the prince?

It wasn’t a normal assignment for me either.

Luciano wasn’t living a simple life but was forced to do so.

–This is too much. Let’s go argue.

–It’s okay.

Luciano looked calm.

–Look at this. Both quality and quantity are all too much.

–There’s no use talking about it.

No, it was resignation.

–You’ve been like this all this time?

–Not to this extent. It’ll be a little better next time.

–It’ll get better? Then why did it suddenly get so bad?

–….

–Prince.

–It’s because Empress Isabelle’s pride was hurt. I’m sure it’ll be all right next time.

–What’s there to hurt her pride….

If it was something that would hurt her self-esteem, it was just me talking back.

–No way, is it because of me?

– It’s not like that.

Luciano said calmly.

I became aware of the situation late, and I became more careful with my behaviors.

I couldn’t get emotional, thinking that my rash actions would return to Luciano.

After that, I thought once more before I stepped up.

Luciano lifted his hand from my back as my anger seemed to have subsided.

“If it’s sparring, wouldn’t it better to ask Steven’s master than me? The knight commander would be more willing to do it.”

Luciano stared at Count Victor, the Knight Commander.

He firmly ignored Luciano’s gaze.

“Prince Luciano, too. It’s a little different from the master’s guidance. Shouldn’t we compete with peers who have similar skills?”

Similar skills you said.

Who made him not learn properly?

My body trembled.

“I don’t know if I can be of any help. You know, I didn’t touch the sword anymore.”

“Is that so? I think you’re still practicing. Prince Steven started learning later, so it’s perfect, isn’t it?”

What a load of nonsense!

It’s great to say such a thing without shame.

“….”

“I want Prince Luciano to hang out with Steven.”

Empress Isabelle smiled mischievously.