Chapter 99

Lunch hour .

As usual, I was out and about in Humite’s marketplace .

Three weeks had already flown by ever since I started my academy life .

While Charlotte and Hais went to get our food, Harman walked up to the bench I was sitting on .

He spoke first . ”…Necromancers have gotten rather active lately, your highness . ”

He settled down on an open spot next to mine . It was unknown where he bought the fruit juice from, but since he gave it to me anyways, I said thanks and took it .

After taking a gulp of the juice, I replied . “Yeah, I hear you . They aren’t even cockroaches, yet after we deal with one, two more pop out of nowhere . ”

I’ve been spotting those bastards every single night lately . Especially more so around the outskirts of Humite – they were gathering in some numbers there .

I made sure to snatch the suckers up as soon as spotting one and interrogated them thoroughly, but the end results weren’t all that much to write home about .

“Seriously though, there shouldn’t be that many Necromancers in the world in the first place, so is it okay for them to send so many like this?” I asked Harman .

“I’m sure they see it as getting rid of those with little lifespan remaining, your highness . Even then, only those with below average skill sets . ”

Oh, so they were simply ridding themselves of the ones that were deemed not worth recycling, then?

All thanks to that, I was also going nowhere at the moment, you know?

A groan automatically left my lips . “If they’re this persistent, then that could only mean this ‘Chaos plan’ thing is still progressing forward… What about Aslan’s envoy?”

“He’s still on his way, your highness . ”

“And they’re still denying everything?”

“Yes . That’s probably the only method they have at their disposal right now, your highness . They dearly wish to avoid fighting a war within Aslan’s territory . However, that doesn’t mean they’re confident in breaking down the border wall and face off against the Heavenly Army either . ”

The Black Order still hadn’t given up on… ‘something’ yet .

And then, the envoy from Aslan hadn’t postponed the itinerary of visiting the empire .

Were they really planning to wage war?

But how were they planning to attack the border region guarded by a massive border wall, the Heavenly Army, and even the Order of the Golden Cross?

Or… maybe they were really unrelated to the Black Order after all?

While I was deeply contemplating the matters at hand…

“Oh! Aren’t you his highness the Seventh Imperial Prince?”

Harman’s head and mine snapped towards the voice at once . A quite beautiful noblewoman in her early to mid thirties was standing there .

Harman was so stunned that he nearly spewed out the fruit juice in his mouth . To meet the established decorum, he hurriedly got up on his feet, placed his hand on his chest, and bowed deeply at the woman . “T-this humble servant greets the Crown Princess Consort, Lady Rose . ”

Crown Princess Consort?

I was taken aback and quickly activated [Mind’s Eye] to properly take a look at the noblewoman .

[Name: Rose Darina .

Age: 45

Attributes: Frail constitution, weak mind, confused and chaotic, insanity-laced obsessiveness .

+ I shall definitely make my son the next Holy Emperor! Ah, ah, my beloved Crown Prince! I love you so much!]

After checking out her name through [Mind’s Eye], I was even more taken aback than before . According to the information Harman provided for me in the past, she was the missing Imperial Crown Prince’s second wife .

Rose Darina .

Oh, and she was also the mother of the Third Imperial Prince Ruppel .

I performed a simple little greeting .

She responded with smiling eyes and slowly approached us . “What brings you to this fair city, your highness?”

Although it was only for a brief moment, the way she looked at me wasn’t what you’d call nice . It seemed that she detested me as much as Ruppel .

I smiled back and replied airily . “I began attending the academy through brother Ruppel’s recommendation . ”

Since I couldn’t exactly come out and say, I came to torture Necromancers and steal their techniques, I decided to come up with another excuse .

Rose frowned slightly . “My Ruppel did?”

‘My Ruppel’, she said . It sounded like she really cared about her son .

“To think that the Second Imperial Prince, my son, wouldn’t mention that to his own mother . How sorrowful it is, I must say . ”

“…Second Imperial Prince?”

I tilted my head in slight confusion .

Who was she even talking about?

Now that I thought about it, out of all my Imperial Family siblings, Harman hadn’t really told me much about those related to Rose until now for some reason .

I whispered in Harman’s ear, “Hey, Harman . Who is this Second Imperial Prince?”

A bout of cold sweat suddenly broke out on his face . “T-that is…”

“Mother!”

It was then, a horse-drawn carriage came to a sudden halt on the street before us . The one who climbed out of the vehicle turned out to be none other than Ruppel Olfolse .

He looked clearly stunned to find Rose here, and quickly dashed straight towards our location . A bright smile bloomed on her face while she stared at her son, and once he got close enough, she heartily embraced him .

“Ah, ah, my beloved child Ruppel! Your mother has come to see you . How could you be this adorable, my son? If your father, the Crown Prince, sees how well you’ve grown up, he will be most pleased!”

1

“N-no, the thing is… mother…”

While stuttering away, Ruppel shifted his gaze around and his expression hardened instantly after spotting me .

Well, he must be feeling pretty embarrassed right now . He was a young man who’s already come of age but was currently being hugged and fawned over by his mother in public after all .

Was this why? You know, the reason why he was labelled as a mama’s boy back in the imperial palace?

“My son, have you enjoyed your meal yet?”

“M-mother, please think about the dignity of…”

“Your mother personally cooked your meal today . ”

What a wholesome sight between a mother and her son this was .

I mean, it’d be pretty hard to see any other mother/son combination that cared about each other to this degree within the Imperial Family, after all .

Just as I began clicking my tongue out of this bitter feeling…

“Ah, ah, my dear Ruppel, the Second Imperial Prince! You must handle the upcoming matter well, my child . Please speak well to Aslan’s envoy . You understand, don’t you? My dear Ruppel! My beloved first son!”

I froze up on the spot and alternated my gaze between Ruppel and Rose .

Yo, hold up . What was she even talking about? Not the Third, but the Second Imperial Prince?

1

“What does she mean?” I spat out a question at Harman almost reflexively . “Second Imperial Prince? Not the third?”

Ruppel gritted his teeth as he glared at Harman .

The latter hurriedly whispered in my ear, “I’ll explain later, your highness . ”

…Was there some other circumstance at play here?

“M-mother, please get on the carriage for the time being . It’ll trouble me greatly if you chose to take a stroll alone, you know . What if you get lost like the last time and…”

“I understand, my child . ”

Rose nodded, but before climbing aboard the carriage, she ever so briefly shot me a rather unpleasant glare first .

In the meantime, Ruppel took out an ‘item’ from inside the carriage . “It’s the thing you asked me for . ”

He then tossed the item in question – a book .

I caught it and took a look . It was wrapped tightly in a cloth . Steel chains must’ve tightly bound it because I could sense the distinctive hard texture under the fabric, too .

It seemed that what I was holding right now was the ‘thing’ we talked about the last time, the grimoire used by Necromancer King Amon .

However, I forgot to celebrate this acquisition and simply stared at Ruppel . “Brother, just what happened…”

“You don’t need to know . ”

That was Ruppel’s curt reply as he disappeared into the carriage . The vehicle set off and soon went beyond my field of view .

I could only frown a little while staring at the back of the carriage . “…Harman, what’s going on here?”

He let out an audible groan .

He might’ve been the vice captain of the Paladin Corps, but that didn’t mean he could freely discuss the matters of the Imperial Family .

“Are you still going to disobey even if I order you as a Heresy Inquisitor? How can the Third Imperial Prince become the Second?”

I glared straight at Harman’s face .

More cold sweat began flooding down his face . He eventually plopped down on the bench before opening his mouth .

“…This matter is something that even the nobles of the Imperial Court avoid discussing, your highness . ” Even though he massaged his temples while looking at me, he still carried on regardless . “If you command me to answer, then I’m compelled to do so, but still, I implore you not to tell this to anyone . Please . ”

“I don’t have anyone to prattle to, anyways . ”

Harman groaned again before starting his tale .

Rose Darina .

She was apparently deeply in love with the Imperial Crown Prince and gave birth to his child after becoming his second wife .

That child was the Second Imperial Prince . But even before the baby got to enjoy the outside light, the umbilical cord got entangled around his throat and he ended up dying in her womb .

“Wha?!”

“…It was a horrific tragedy, your highness . Despite the presence of various Priests by her side, they couldn’t bring the dead baby back to life . ”

Rose was shocked by what happened .

She had already selected potential names for her baby by then, too . If it was a boy, Ruppel, but if it was a girl, Lucy .

However, her child was stillborn . Rose ended up falling in the clutches of shock, and sorrowfully wailed out while clutching the baby .

The Imperial Crown Prince also found it heartbreaking and bestowed the peerage of ‘Second Imperial Prince’ on the baby before giving it a proper funeral .

But even then, Rose still couldn’t escape from her sorrow . She spent every waking day in tears . The Crown Prince apparently stayed by her side and tried to soothe her somehow, but she showed no signs of getting better .