Chapter 9
Continental Calendar Year 761, January 16th (Saturday).
It was the day to visit Queen Elodia’s residence for a meal, as Princess Adeline had requested during the last party.
Solinor, after days of consideration, had finally found the perfect gifts.
He still regretted the poor gifts he had brought to Queen Elodia’s birthday party last time.
For Kasper, being a boy, he chose a knight doll, for Adeline a blonde princess doll, and for Queen Elodia, a brooch studded with jewels.
‘Hmm. Great sense. 100% satisfaction guaranteed!’
After much thought and finally deciding on the gifts, Solinor admired his own choices.
Though to Bianca, it seemed like unnecessary worrying.
Of course, none of these gifts were things Muriela already had, so she would have to ask Bianca to buy them.
They were cheap enough to be purchased within the small budget allocated to Princess Muriela.
In other words, they were cheap gifts.
Bianca, receiving the princess’s request, briefly left and soon returned with the three treasures.
Now armed with these three perfectly chosen gifts, Muriela was invincible!
Muriela, queen of the party!
But, today wasn’t actually a party.
Solinor had completely forgotten.
***
Queen Elodia’s dining hall was much larger than Princess Muriela’s.
It wasn’t overly luxurious, but still impressive.
Kasper, Adeline, and Elodia were all absolutely delighted with Muriela’s gifts.
Even Solinor, who had been confident in his choices, was slightly taken aback.
‘Were the gifts really that well-received? I guess I do have good taste.’
No, the gifts themselves were quite ordinary.
They were simply moved by the fact that Muriela had given them gifts at all.
After the meal, while Queen Elodia had stepped away, an interesting conversation began, triggered by a remark from Adeline.
“Oh, by the way, I saw Brother Alfred recently!”
Muriela sat there quietly, rolling her eyes.
Beep beep beep. Searching memory files.
Solinor recalled hearing the name “Alfred” just five days ago.
‘Alfred? Isn’t he the one Kaelen said had been appointed crown prince? So, he’s my eldest grandson?’
“What? You saw Brother Alfred?”
“Yeah. As usual, he was cold. He said, ‘Why are you wandering around here? Get lost right now!’”
Solinor was startled by the attitude Crown Prince Alfred, the heir to the throne, had shown toward Adeline.
‘Why was he so cold to his adorable younger sister? Did Adeline do something wrong? Or is he just born with a cold disposition? If that’s the case, I’m a little concerned. Especially since he’s the one to inherit the throne.’
While Solinor pondered the future of the kingdom, Kasper asked.
“Where did you see him?”
“Hehe, I saw him in the garden near the main palace.”
“Why did you go there? Mother said to be careful around that area since the first and second queens live there.”
Solinor felt he understood a bit more after hearing that.
‘Hmm, so Kaelen mentioned some conflicts between the queens. Could this be related? And there sure are a lot of queens. And children. Eldric, you sure are something.’
“But there are so many beautiful flowers there! Different kinds from the ones in our garden. So, I went in secret.”
“Really? I’ve never seen that garden. Next time, take me with you.”
“Sure! Muriela, do you want to come too?”
Adeline simply wanted to show Muriela the pretty flowers, but Solinor, lost in thought, was startled by the sudden question.
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
“Great! We’ll go tomorrow!”
“Hooray!”
And just like that, Solinor unwittingly found himself involved in a spontaneous plan for a royal garden adventure.
What about the exercise schedule?
Solinor, once again, faced the threat of losing his trainer license!
***
Continental Calendar Year 761, January 17th (Sunday).
Following Adeline’s instructions, Muriela told Bianca not to follow her and headed to the meeting spot.
This was their secret adventure, after all.
Kasper and Adeline had also dismissed their attendants and maids, waiting for her.
When Muriela arrived, the two raised their thumbs in welcome.
The three had even devised hand signals in advance.
They would minimize noise and sneak around quietly.
A thumbs-up meant “Great!”
Pointing with the index finger while making a circle with the thumb and index finger of the other hand meant “Awesome!”
…They were all childish gestures, of course.
There really wasn’t any reason for the princes and princesses to be sneaking around in the royal palace, after all.
Meanwhile, a group of people was quietly following the children from a distance.
It was Bianca and the other attendants the children thought they had shaken off.
Watching the adorable adventure of the three children was quite a delightful experience.
‘Getting paid to watch something like this? What a sweet job!’
Bianca had never been happier since she started serving Princess Muriela in recent weeks.
For a while, the little royal children’s exploration went smoothly.
Of course, it would have been strange if there were any real danger in the palace.
Sometimes they marveled at beautiful flowers or big trees.
Sneaking around to avoid the eyes of other queens’ attendants and maids was entertaining for Solinor too.
It reminded him of his early adventuring days, when he had to use his wits to survive, lacking the strength to overpower enemies directly.
‘Back then, I did a lot of sneaking too.’
Of course, the attendants and maids pretended not to see the princes and princesses, who frequently forgot their hand signals and made too much noise.
It’s often said one of the hardest things in the world is stifling a laugh.
At that moment, Kasper suddenly shouted, as if he had found something interesting.
“Wow! Look over there! What’s that?”
Adeline turned and scolded him.
“Kasper! Hand signals!”
“Oh! Right.”
Kasper belatedly tried to form the signal with his tiny hands.
It was wrong, but at least they were far enough away, and his voice had been soft, so they didn’t seem to draw much attention.
Adeline and Muriela focused on where Kasper was pointing.
‘It looks like a person?’
Slowly creeping forward, they pressed close to the bushes.
What they saw was the back of a man wearing an elaborate, gold-embroidered robe.
The problem was his right hand was caressing the thigh of a maid standing beside him.
While Kasper and Adeline didn’t yet understand what it meant, Solinor knew exactly what was happening.
‘Uh… we need to get out of here fast.’
As Solinor tried to think of a hand signal to discreetly escape, Adeline made a mistake this time.
“It’s Brother Alfred! What’s he doing?”
This time, it was Kasper who scolded her.
“Del! Hand signals!”
By the time Adeline finally formed the correct hand signal, Prince Alfred was already right in front of them.
***
A few months ago, Prince Alfred had turned 18 and was officially appointed crown prince.
As usual, he was in the garden, seducing a newly recruited maid.
Calling it “seduction” might be an exaggeration, though. When Alfred, the future king, suggested something, it happened.
There was no risk of failure, so “seduction” wasn’t quite the right word.
Prince Alfred had started seeking female company as a rebellion against his indifferent father.
His mother, the First Queen Francesca, acted like the entire kingdom was hers due to his position, and he despised it.
But what he hated even more was how his father, Eldric, treated him like a passing dog.
What was the point of being appointed crown prince? Eldric didn’t even care about running the kingdom.
‘He didn’t appoint me because he trusted me. He just threw it at me because I came of age. What value does it have?’
To make matters worse, in what kingdom does a crown prince’s appointment ceremony take place without inviting the royal family and high-ranking officials?
Only a few nobles who were politically aligned with Alfred attended.
The other queens and their children, who didn’t get along with Francesca, didn’t show up at all.
Even Eldric had maintained a bored expression, muttering a few half-hearted words during the poorly prepared ceremony.
‘If the king can neglect the kingdom and chase after women all the time, why can’t I?’
Weeks later, there wasn’t a single maid in Alfred’s circle who hadn’t experienced his touch.
Perhaps the maids were hoping for a rise in status through their relationship with the prince.
But Alfred had no intention of handing out queen titles like his father.
It was just a reckless attempt to fill the void in his heart.
But today, an unexpected obstacle appeared in his pursuit of women.
He regretted not having his knights stand guard.
They wouldn’t have cared what he was doing with the maid anyway.
Though he briefly regretted it, nothing was going to change.
He would just get rid of the nuisances and continue his fun.
As expected, the culprits were his annoying half-siblings.
Adeline had interrupted him once before, and now she had brought the younger ones along.
Adeline, Kasper, and… who was that other kid? Did it even matter?
“You little brats. What are you doing here? Get lost!”
***
Hearing Adeline’s remark, Solinor realized that this was his eldest grandson, Alfred.
Though he had to admit the boy was handsome, the first impression was far from good.
A newly appointed crown prince, already trying to engage in such acts in broad daylight with a maid!
Sure, they say even heroes have their flaws, but being so cold to his younger siblings? That was a serious problem.
Solinor had a strong belief that harmony within the family was key to a well-run kingdom.
Alfred’s behavior was not the ideal of someone who should lead the kingdom in the future.
‘I need to give this grandson of mine a stern lesson!’
“Brother Alfred! What kind of manners are those towards your younger siblings?!!”
Muriela’s shout startled everyone nearby.
—
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