Chapter : 03
“I cannot permit this! The sin of insulting the Royal Family and bringing shame to the face of Zenobia is enough to have you torn limb from limb, but I will never allow your deposition!”
“Just as you didn’t ask for my permission to sire me, I didn’t ask for yours to make this decision.”
“Do you think this position is something you can just swallow or spit out whenever you please? This is your duty as one born a Prince!”
“Why force someone who refuses to do it? If it were me, I wouldn’t make that choice. Anais is a bright girl. She will be a monarch a hundred times wiser than I. At the very least, she won’t pull stunts like this.”
“Have you gone mad? Truly lost your mind? No matter how wild a mad dog you may be, how could you…! A deposed prince?!”
“That’s been bothering me—let’s correct that. I wasn’t deposed; this is voluntary.”
The King screamed at the top of his lungs, ordering that the madman’s mouth be gagged and that he be locked in his room immediately. Axel watched the agitated King with a relaxed expression.
The throne could simply be inherited by Anais. Although there had never been a reigning Queen in their history, in a case where there was no legitimate eldest son or son of a concubine, the next in line was the Princess.
They had different mothers, but their relationship was decent enough. At least they didn’t envy or keep tabs on one another, which was excellent as far as royals went. Anais had graduated from the Royal Academy with top honors, possessed swordsmanship skills rivaling the Royal Knights, and was intelligent enough to have studied abroad.
It was for the better. She was someone who might become a far greater monarch than he ever would.
“If you truly intend to cast aside your status as a Prince, I cannot allow you the name ‘Oter.’ You must leave the palace immediately, and you shall not take a single penny of the royal fortune with you.”
“I’m aware. I will use a portion of the spoils I’ve personally won to settle the responsibility for the broken engagement with the House of Brahe. Do as you wish with the rest.”
“You… until the very end…! Ha, so do you even have a plan?”
The ‘Prince’s Rebellion’ concluded with him stepping down from his status, which automatically nullified his engagement to the daughter of Duke Brahe.
“I’m going to Winchester.”
“And did your maternal grandfather say he’d take you in? It’d be a miracle if that prickly old man didn’t kick you in the backside.”
“Fortunately, he didn’t kick me. Though he did set a condition.”
“A condition?”
The Grand Duchy of Winchester, Axel’s maternal family, were founding contributors to Zenobia and held the largest territory in the kingdom. Despite being powerful enough to seize control in the capital at any time, the Grand Duke showed no greed for central politics. Even though the family had produced a Queen, the Grand Duke never set foot in the capital.
There were many rumors among other nobles that he was hiding some massive fortune in the Winchester estate. Of course, the Grand Duke was not an easy man to deal with.
“The condition is to find a fine wife and form a family with a lovely child within one year.”
“To do that, even if you got married and had a child right this second, time would be tight. You have no chance.”
“Why? I can just marry a woman who already has a child and then divorce her a year later.”
“Insane. You’ve gone completely insane.”
If he could just pretend to have a happy family and hold out for a year, he could inherit the position of Grand Duke. Axel thought with alarming simplicity that he could just find a woman and a child somehow.
“I’m a lucky guy. We’ll see if I’m crazy or not.”
“Axel Winchester. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it? Personally, I like their fierce accent, too. I already feel like it’s my heart’s hometown.”
“With an accent that thick, I’d practically consider it a different country.”
“So you don’t like it? If you don’t like it, you can stay here. Who knows? Maybe Anais will take you in as a Prince Consort.”
“…You certainly have a lovely way with words, Your Highness.”
Khalid, Axel’s aide and the second son of Count Rethel, replied through gritted teeth. Despite his words, Khalid intended to accompany Axel to the Grand Duchy of Winchester.
‘The crazy Prince quit being a Prince.’
After that phrase—something no one would even utter as a joke—became reality, Khalid spent about a week thinking it was just a nightmare. It wasn’t until he saw the daughter of Duke Brahe, now suddenly jilted, storm in and deliver a sharp slap to the Prince’s cheek that he finally snapped back to reality.
“Please, ask His Majesty for forgiveness before we’re truly kicked out. At this rate, both you and I will end up on the streets.”
“I’m going to be a Grand Duke, so why bother?”
Is he truly insane, overly optimistic, or just brainless? Khalid guessed it was the latter.
“…There’s no way that’s going to happen.”
“You’re too weak. Look harder. A noblewoman who isn’t interested in the position of Grand Duchess, is unmarried but has a child, and will divorce me quietly after a year.”
“Why are you doing this to me? Just kill me instead!”
When Axel gripped his scabbard as if to grant that wish, Khalid shut his mouth tight.
‘Why on earth is he so calm?!’
Khalid felt deeply wronged. Ever since the Prince’s Rebellion, he had stayed up night after night trying to find a woman who fit those ridiculous requirements.
But to marry a Grand Duke’s heir, she had to be a noble. An unmarried noblewoman with a child—the condition itself was an oxymoron. Even if he found an unmarried woman with a child, they were all divorcees. In other words, there were no noblewomen with children who had never been married.
It was only natural. Even if such a case existed, they would have hidden the child’s existence so thoroughly that finding them would be impossible.
The bigger problem was that even if he found such a woman, there wasn’t a soul among them who wouldn’t drool over the title of Grand Duchess. Aside from the Queen, it was the highest position a noblewoman could reach in Zenobia. To expect someone to sit in that seat—the highest a woman could go—and then peacefully step down after a year? No woman would throw away wealth and power so submissively.
“By the way, what whim brought you out to the noble shopping district?”
“The Queen said it. She asked who would come to see someone who isn’t even a Prince anymore. She told me to go out and find one myself.”
“Does the Queen actually think this is possible?”
It was unbelievable. The Queen was Khalid’s last hope. He had believed she would somehow persuade and fix this broken Prince. But to tell him to go out and find one himself?
“No. But there’s no other way, right? I suppose she doesn’t want to see her son—even in this state—kicked out onto the streets.”
“…”
“Don’t worry. To ease your burden, Khalid, I asked the Queen to host a banquet and invite every noblewoman in Zenobia.”
Khalid smacked his forehead with his palm. Axel, looking as if everything in the world bored him, pulled back the carriage curtain and gazed out the window.
‘As if an unmarried noblewoman with a kid would be strolling through a shopping district like this with her child for all to see. Not unless she’s crazy.’
Axel gave a self-mocking laugh, as if he too found the situation absurd.
“May I ask one thing?”
Khalid looked at Axel with eyes that seemed to beg for a promise not to be hit. However, Axel didn’t even glance his way.
“Is it really because of the Queen?”
Three months ago, before the Prince’s Rebellion, something had already turned Zenobia upside down: the Queen’s affair scandal.
Historically, it wasn’t particularly rare for a Queen to have a ‘paramour.’ But that was only possible if the partner was someone the public could reasonably turn a blind eye to. The protagonist of this scandal was the King of Basa—a man one could not simply ignore.
It was the first time in Zenobia’s history that the Queen of one nation was involved in a scandal with the King of another. The Royal Court was in an uproar, and regardless of the truth, the Queen faced immense criticism and scorn. There were even rumors questioning if Prince Axel was truly the King of Zenobia’s biological son.
Since that happened only three months ago, rumors began to circulate that the Prince’s sudden resignation was to take responsibility for his mother’s actions.
“This is getting boring.”
Axel did not answer Khalid’s question. Just as he was about to look away from the window, something flashed before his eyes for a split second.
“Stop.”
“What is it, Your Highness?”
Khalid looked toward where the Prince’s gaze was fixed. No matter how much he looked around, there wasn’t a particularly interesting sight. It was the same old shopping street.
However, if there was one thing different—something that might catch the eye of this mad Prince, even if it wasn’t interesting to anyone else—
“…Have you truly lost it?”
In the middle of a murmuring crowd stood a man, a tall woman, and a small boy beside her.
“Go find out what’s happening.”
“Your Highness!”
“Get out, now.”
Khalid gritted his teeth and practically scrambled out of the carriage.
‘What is he up to now?’
The arrival of the royal carriage was already drawing people in groups, and of all times…
“Hmm.”
A small boy entered Axel’s bored vision.
End Of Chapter : 03
