"What?! None of this would've happened if you didn't go!"

Frank shouted shamelessly. The Duke of Cassil nodded and joined his son.

"Frank is right. Richard, I took you in as a child because I judged that you had the ability to assist Frank. Your poor performance has caused severe damage to our finances, and you're still blaming Frank?"

"I'm sorry. I made a slip of the tongue."

Richard bowed his head. Despite his apology, the Duke and Frank kept making even ruder comments.

Richard was back in hell.

After he met Ancia, he had caught a glimpse of the light for a moment and the darkness had disappeared.

"Sir Cassil, you're a talented person. If you use your abilities in the right place, you'll receive many glorious blessings."

She said so. But would a bright day come even if he lived a good life? His mother was really nice, but she still got trampled on. She was trampled and abandoned, mocked even after her death.

Richard was born with the blood of the Roums that were abandoned by the Goddess of Light. He was born in the darkness and had never seen the light.

If a person who had nothing tried to be nice, they would only be exploited.

If he didn't want to be used, he could only climb higher. He had to be in a position where he could trample on everyone. The position of the Emperor that the Duke and Frank wanted so much will be his.

Richard erased Ancia's words from his head. In the abyss of his heart, even the little light faded and turned into darkness, while his deep desire stirred up.

'The Emperor' and 'Ancia'.

He wanted Ancia. Richard had seen the light for the first time since his mother's death.

He wanted Ancia to stay next to him for a long time.

He wanted to have her like he'd want an expensive jewel, but Richard was also shaken by a feeling other than possessiveness today. Ancia was like a ray of light for him who was wandering in the darkness.

She wanted him to address her as the 'Crown Princess'? He'd call her that anytime. He could take control of the Palace and then take her as his companion. Ancia would be his Crown Princess and his Empress.

***

Tenstheon did everything he could for me.

He gave me whatever I wanted, and if I wanted to study, he'd invite the best teacher in that field for me.

I studied hard and taught Blake too.

We were studying history in my room today.

"Your Highness, a thousand years ago, in the Zelcan Empire, only the nobility was allowed to be literate. The language of Zelcans itself was complicated and difficult, and the books of that time were all very expensive because they used expensive parchment."

"They burned all those books, didn't they?"

"That's right! When the Zelcan Empire collapsed and the Asteric Empire was established, the Roums started a Zelcan revival movement. The revival movement, led by Zelcan's Fifth Prince Rakshul, became more and more violent, and they even set fire to *Tenlarn Palace of Emperor Phillip..."

*TL note: okay so it's name is really that...anyone who has better ideas (because it doesn't sound good) please comment or should I write Emperor Phillip's Palace everytime instead?

(Edited to: Tenlarn Palace)

I was explaining the history of the Empire to Blake, when suddenly, I went blank.

[Was it you? Did you set the fire?]

Suddenly, a woman's harsh voice and a blazing flame appeared before my eyes. The place that had gold and jewels decorating the lanterns was engulfed in flames.

'What's this?'

[How could you do this?!]

I heard someone ask in an exasperated tone. I could sense the woman's anger.

[Open it! Open it now!]

The woman howled. Everything around her was glittering with gold, but there was a rough stone plate on one side that did not match the splendor of the rest of the place.

'What's this?'

I was dizzy and confused, but I heard Blake's voice.

"Ancia! Ancia! What's wrong? Ancia?"

As soon as I heard his worried voice, my mind became clear.

"Ancia, are you sick?"

"No, I just got lost in my thoughts."

I shook my head reflexively. I didn't want to worry Blake over nothing.

"Really?"

"Yes. Now, let's go back to studying again."

Blake returned to his seat as he stared at me. I resumed the class with a big smile on purpose to reassure him.

"The fire burned down the Palace, but Emperor Phillip was safe and sound. Rakshul foretold that the revival movement would fail and got rid of books, stone tablets, and anything else that was written in the language of the Zelcan Empire. At that time, Rakshul said this to his followers."

I pointed my hand at a sentence in the book and Blake read it out loud.

"The history and knowledge of this land are from the Zelcan Empire. If the Zelcan Empire disappears, the knowledge of this world will disappear, and if the Zelcan Empire reigns in the world, knowledge will return."

"You read it well. Rakshul tried to continue the Zelcan revival movement using the knowledge of language of the Roums as a weapon. It wasn't enough to get rid of the books and stone tablets that the Roum had, so they attacked the church and the library too."

Blake concentrated on my explanation. Studying history was quite boring, but I was so proud and happy to see him nodding his head with his eyes shining brightly.

"Emperor Phillip created a new language, and spread the language to everyone through books. This enabled the new language to quickly become the norm, and the language of the Zelcan Empire, which had long dominated the land, disappeared and came to be called the Ancient Language."

People weren't always either good or evil. Phillip betrayed the Goddess and caused the curse to happen, but at the same time, he also made a language that was easy for commoners to learn and supplied cheap paper, greatly lowering the illiteracy rate of the Empire.

"If the Roums hadn't set fire to their books, would the Ancient language have been passed down to this day?"

"Perhaps. But it won't be called an Ancient language. It would be called the Imperial language instead."

Blake smiled throughout class as he listened attentively and even asked questions.

In the original story, Blake eventually lost to Richard. Then, Richard said with an arrogant expression that Blake lacked the effort to become an Emperor.

He laughed at Blake, saying, "Even if the curse was lifted, you didn't deserve to be the Crown Prince because I had devoted my life to become an Emperor, but you didn't do anything."

That was bullshit.

Although Blake was the Crown Prince, he had not received a proper education.

The nobles and priests were always watching carefully to see if the Emperor really abandoned the Heir to the Curse or if he had regrets.

If they saw that Tenstheon had any hint of affections for his son, they would insist that he immediately depose Blake from the Crown Prince position and confine him to the Southern Island.

Tenstheon knew that so he was careful and only let Blake read books by himself, but didn't give him any proper lessons.

Besides....

"Your Highness, are you alright?"

Blake's small hand suddenly trembled. The curse did not just stop at engraving black inscriptions on the body. It also came with a piercing pain.

Not to mention, the pain he felt on the left side of his body where the sentences of the curse were engraved wouldn't leave the right side completely unaffected either.

The sentences of the curse had not spread any further in the past three years, but the pain hadn't disappeared.

The pain made it much harder for the heirs to the curse to carry out normal activities compared to ordinary people, not to mention studying.

"Yes. It's okay."

Blake smiled brightly as he lowered his trembling right hand.

He always said it was okay and seldom showed any signs of hardship.

"You have to stop studying now."

"Alright."

I approached him and clasped his hand. His hands were cold.

"It would be better to stop your sword training for a while too."

"But I didn't go yesterday either."

Although he was the heir to the curse, the sentences of the curse had not spread in the last three years, and he hadn't been seriously ill. Of course, the pain from the curse didn't go away, but it wasn't always this severe.

These days, the symptoms seemed to be getting worse. It would be difficult for him to carry a sword in this state, but he still didn't want to rest.

"Don't worry. This doesn't matter."

"But Your Highness..."

"Ancia, I'm okay. I won't be able to do anything if you keep being like this."

"......"

Blake smiled again. He was smiling as brightly as he could in case I was worried.

"I had to take a break yesterday because it was raining, but the sky looks bright today. It's a perfect day for training."

But I couldn't leave Blake alone knowing that he was overdoing it. I clasped his hand.

"Can't you take one more day off? There's something I really want to do with you..."

"W-want to do with me? Wh-what is it?"

"Come here."

I climbed up to the bed, pulling his hand. Then, Blake suddenly stopped.

"Your Highness...?"

"Th-the bed is a little...."

Why was his face turning red?

"I'm tired because I used my head too much. I need to take a short nap."

"Then, in the meantime, I'll be training."

"But I can't sleep without you."

Blake's face grew redder and redder as I held his hands tightly and refused to let go.

"B-but this is Ancia's bed!"

"That doesn't matter."

"I do mind..."

Blake pouted his lips, but when I tugged his hand, he was left with no choice but to follow me.

I laid him on the bed and touched his forehead. Fortunately, he didn't have a fever. I pulled the blanket up to his neck.

"Wait a minute. I'll get the heating equipment."

When I was about to get off the bed, Blake took my hand.