I Became the First Prince

ed the conversation, celebrating and welcoming the prince’s survival.
How much time passed like that?

The Crown Prince had begun to doze off, simply answering other’s questions as he sat in his bed.
In the meantime, he seemed more and more exhausted.
Eventually, those that saw the prince’s head drooping, with him falling asleep, silently glanced at him and then withdrew.

Vincent, who remained until the end, watched Adelia Bavaria comfortably lay the Crown Prince against his cushions, then he too slipped away.

‘Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!’

Even taking great care, he could not prevent his armor from clanging.
And this was what woke the prince up.

“Vincent,” the prince called to him in a drowsy voice.
“Don’t die by getting your neck chopped off.”

“…”

“Don’t die with your head rolling over the ground…”

Vincent tried to answer such an ominous warning, but instead, he shut his mouth.
The prince ended up falling asleep again.

“Well… head… can’t be cut off.”

As the prince fell asleep, he muttered, and Vincent shook his head.
So, he’s saying it’s okay for anything but my head to be severed, Vincent mused?

When he went through the door, Adelia, who had arranged the prince’s bed, followed him.

Vincent had something to ask her, so he glanced through the door, then did so.

“When last did you that?”

Adelia’s face quickly darkened.

“That’s the first time since his Highness woke up.”

“He lies down all the time?”

“Yes.
He’s been like that all the time.
There weren’t many times he got out of bed, he spends most of the day lying down like that.”

Vincent frowned.

“And…”

Looking at him, Adelia hesitated several times before speaking.

“Since waking up, His Highness has not once asked for his sword.”

Vincent stiffened where he stood.
An ominous feeling passed through his imagination; he made a terrible assumption that he hoped would never prove true.

“His Highness is still awakening, so don’t be too concerned.”

He struggled to shake off the nasty premonition that floated within his mind.

“Look out for his Highness, don’t take your eyes off him for a moment.”

And he asked again and again: “Call me right away when something happens.”

**

Adelia took a light nap, keeping her ears perked.
She had to be attentive for if anything was to go wrong with the prince’s body so that she could act at any time.
However, in recent days her body had become more fatigued, a bundle of nerves, and contrary to her will, her mind sank into a deep sleep.

‘Drrooro!’

“Oh.”

She awoke, upset that she had been snoring, and looked over the bed reflexively.

“Uh?”

Adelia hardened, for the prince, who had been sleeping like the dead, had disappeared somewhere.
She stood up at once, immediately leaving the room.
She opened her mouth to announce the prince’s absence when-

‘Chin!’

Someone closed it.
Reflexively, she grabbed the hand over her mouth and twisted it, with her other hand drawing the dagger hidden within her clothes, pointing it at her opponent.
However, she did not stab out, for the person reflected in the moonlight was someone she knew well.
Gunn, the half-elf serving the prince, stood there.
Adelia hurriedly released her grasp on Gunn, seeing that her face was twisted by the pain from her wrenched arm.

The half-elf, once released, quietly touched her lips, then reached out her hand, pointing.
Adelia saw the garden and the shadows of people hiding among the bushes.
The palace knights, the prince’s knights, and even the only duke in the kingdom were hiding, looking in the same direction.
Adelia shifted her eyes and followed their gaze.

There stood the prince in one corner of the deeply shaded garden.
He blankly stared at the sky, constantly muttering to himself.
Instinctively marshaling her attention, Adelia came to hear his words.

The Crown Prince lamented that the full moon could not light the sky no matter its brightness, and groaned, bemoaning the fact that he could never again witness the white night.

Adelia couldn’t understand any of his words.
Nevertheless, she clearly felt the emotions contained within them.

Out of nowhere, her head started hurting, and her eyes filled with tears, guided by unknowable emotions.
With sullen eyes, she looked at the prince.
Without a word, he started moving, almost staggering, no longer looking at the sky.

‘Tuk tuk!’

As Adelia stared at him, the half-elf tapped her on the shoulder.

(Quickly.
To the room.)

Seeing her silent gesture, Adelia hurried to the room.
In the middle of her rush, she changed tack and entered the room through the window so that the Crown Prince would not notice that she had left.
She then put her head on a pillow and closed her eyes.

‘Dumf dumf!’

She heard footsteps.

‘Shup!’

The noise of the blanket being lifted came to her ears and, after a while, the sound of rhythmic breathing.
Adelia quietly opened her eyes, seeing that the prince had fallen asleep, clearly not knowing what had just happened.
Adelia looked at him with a gloomy face.
While she had desperately tried keeping the Crown Prince from noticing, she had hoped that her efforts would be in vain.
Were the Crown Prince in his usual condition, he would’ve noticed.
No matter how sneaky she was, she believed that she would be unable to fool the prince’s eyes and ears, even if she brazenly pretended to be asleep.
She had been certain of it, yet the Crown Prince didn’t notice anything.
Her movement, her shallow breaths, even the presence of those who had poorly hidden themselves in the shade of the garden—he had noticed nothing.

That was never a good sign.

**

The morning was still dark when the guests came with horrified faces; those who had hid in the garden the night before to watch the prince.
He smiled and welcomed them.
However, even with his show of hospitality, their faces remained consistently stiff.

“What? What is happening?” He asked, frowning, only then noticing their expressions.
Their stern faces had now become completely frozen.

“What the hell is it?” The prince repeatedly asked, but they merely looked at one another, and none of them stepped forward with an answer.

In such an uncomfortable silence, the prince reached out his hand and stabbed it into Bernardo Eli’s belly.

“Say it.”

Surprised, Eli shouted, “Ho! Maybe… you cannot use your sword!”

The entire room froze upon so an explicit and direct utterance.

“What else do you have to say? You all rushed here early in the morning, so I thought it was a big deal again,” the prince responded in a shy manner, and the knights all sighed in relief.

“But how did you know?”

So when the Crown Prince again spoke, no one immediately grasped the meaning of his query.

“What do you mean?” Bernardo Eli asked.

“What do you mean, what do I mean? I mean, I can’t use my sword,” the prince replied, as if it was no big deal, and yet he said this in a gloomy tone.