Chapter 166
The atmosphere of the childhood friends’ gathering had changed.
The music group, which had always centered around Pession and the kids, was now split into two factions — Pession’s group and Cheyen’s group.
‘What in the world…’
The five ducal families were always a topic of attention, and how much attention they drew had already been proven by Harun and the twins.
The only reason people didn’t easily approach them was because Harun was too quiet and the twins were, frankly, too demonic.
But what if a young heir of one of the five ducal houses appeared — someone who could hold a normal conversation and even seemed kind?
This current situation looked exactly like that “what if” scenario playing out in real life.
“Cheyen~!”
“Welcome to the music club!”
Even though Pession was still surrounded by a crowd of children, Cheyen was receiving just as much attention.
‘This feels weird.’
The stalker who always smiled brightly but was never easy to deal with was now chatting comfortably with the kids — something about that felt like it shouldn’t be happening.
What exactly am I looking at?
A hallucination?
“……?”
As soon as our eyes met, he gave me that dazzling, crescent-moon smile, and I grimaced.
I think this every time — he’s ridiculously handsome, at least on the surface.
“?”
Suddenly, Pession looked my way, noticing that I was staring at Cheyen.
When I waved at him with a casual smile — as if to say it was nothing — his frown relaxed.
He looked like he wanted to come over, but since we’d just wrestled earlier, he didn’t seem ready to rush toward me again.
“Play with the others today.”
“Why?”
“Because new kids came.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It does, that’s why I’m saying it!”
“?”
“I don’t want your reputation ruined because of me.”
“…….”
“You’re the Crown Prince. You have to manage your public image.”
“…I don’t want to be Crown Prince anymore.”
It had been about thirty minutes since I shoved the childish Pession away.
Every time I showed up, Pession would stick to my side, so I could feel some of the kids’ resentment toward him easing a little now that I’d pushed him off.
‘Though that’s not the only reason I pushed him.’
I felt restless.
And all that restlessness started from there.
“Don’t you want to live long?”
A single, perfectly timed sentence that blew all the thoughts out of my head.
“You don’t have long left, do you? I can feel it. Even now, your little remaining life is flickering out.”
“How could I possibly leave you alone somewhere when that’s the case?”
His voice carried a faint, calm smile, yet it was so alluring I almost reached out for him without realizing it.
If I hadn’t immediately come to my senses and run away, I probably would have fallen for it.
‘What bothers me the most is how he just smiled knowingly, like he expected me to run away.’
That smug confidence — as if saying, You’ll come back to me eventually anyway.
‘God, he’s so annoying.’
Just as he’d once said to me, maybe I really was fated to be surrounded by these kinds of men whether I wanted it or not.
I could handle Dad, but now there’s another guy who wants to be my dad?
And now this stalker too?
‘So when he said he’d “show up next time so I wouldn’t be scared,” this is what he meant?!’
“Do I need an actual exorcism or something…”
If someone asked, Don’t you want to live long?, the only possible answer was yes.
But if he’d asked me that before I remembered my past life—or even in the early days after I remembered, before reconnecting with Pession—I might’ve answered differently.
‘Once upon a time, my wish was just to die without pain.’
Now, I didn’t want to die.
Somewhere deep inside, in a place I hadn’t even known existed, a part of me stirred.
I wanted to live.
With Mehen, with Dad, with Pession.
With Harun, the twins, and the parenting crew.
Is it really so hard to live a simple, peaceful life like this, without any grand ambitions?
“Life’s really hard.”
“Huh? Arel, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Why is life hard? Are you sick?”
The twins, who had apparently appeared out of nowhere, blinked at me in surprise when they heard my muttering.
I squished their soft cheeks with affection, and they looked at me in confusion.
“Oh no, Ciel, I think Arel’s actually sick.”
“Yeah. Is it because of His Highness?”
The twins glanced slyly at Pession, who was surrounded by children.
“Arel, don’t tell me you’re mad because you lost your chance to monopolize His Highness’s attention—”
“Are you jealous?!”
The twins babbled on, but I tuned them out.
Pession was currently with the heroine. And looking at them together… the sunlight-sunlight duo really did look perfect.
Yeah, that’s the heroine for you…
“Arel, don’t lose! We’re on your side!”
“Yeah, we like you more, Arel!”
“?”
I tilted my head at their sudden cheerleading, and the twins whispered, “Now’s our chance!” before launching into gossip about Pession.
“His Highness is too popular.”
“And he’s too good-looking.”
“So doesn’t that mean we should treat Arel better?”
“Yeah, because there’s two of us!”
Is that… supposed to be trash talk?
What kind of logic even is that?
I gave up trying to understand. They were twins — that explained everything.
“You two must have the purest brains in the world.”
The twins tilted their heads.
Ciel asked, “What does that mean?”
“It means you’re pure.”
There’s a saying: The mouth is the door that invites disaster, and the tongue is the knife that cuts the body.
“I’ll be Soon!”
“I’ll be Soo!”
And just like that, my one careless remark had unleashed utter chaos.
“Ciel, what’s that? Soon…?”
“From now on, I’m Soon. Call me that.”
“And I’m Soo!”
“……?”
Not only me, but all the other kids were left speechless by the twins’ bizarre behavior.
Somehow, they’d gotten shirts made with Soon and Soo written on them, and were now proudly wearing them around.
Even as countless “what on earth…” stares hit them, they walked with utter confidence.
“Let’s go, Soo!”
“Yeah, Soon!”
“Those idiots…”
Duke Sperom, what kind of life have you lived to raise kids like these?
The more I learned about the twins, the more pity I felt for the duke who had to raise them.
I had no idea what in my words had awakened the dragons of chaos inside their little heads.
Trying to understand was the mistake.
Better to just leave them alone.
Soon after I turned my attention away from the twins, the social time ended and a new “study time” began. Apparently, only volunteers were supposed to attend…
“Then why am I in all the classes?”
No one had even asked if I wanted to study. Since when was I enrolled in every subject?
“Because you’re Arel-Arel.”
“Yup-yup.”
The twins nodded like it was obvious, and Pession just smiled radiantly. The sunlight beaming off him today was practically solar-flare level — so he was clearly the culprit.
“What, do you not want to?”
“……”
Whoever said it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission was right.
I could feel the manipulation, but I couldn’t stay mad.
Ugh, if I keep letting him get away with this, he’ll get spoiled.
“But why are we all suddenly studying together like this?”
As far as I knew, the only one who shared the Crown Prince’s lessons was Harun.
Pession’s smile dimmed slightly.
“Sir Parcell said… my academic performance’s been declining lately.”
“……”
You poor thing.
I glanced through the list of subjects we’d be studying with Pession.
The history of the Albrecht Empire, world history covering nations tangled with it politically, theology (restricted to select students), heraldry — studying the crests of noble families — and political science.
Then there was math, basic magi-engineering, law (including regional customary laws), etiquette, monster ecology, and geography.
Suddenly, I didn’t want to know anymore.
And that’s not even mentioning the ancient divine language (this world’s version of Latin), the continental common language Albrean, the southern empire’s Delorean, and several demihuman tongues.
“Wouldn’t it be weird if your grades were improving?”
“Huh?”
“No, never mind.”
And on top of all that — swordsmanship training too?
‘He’s not even human.’
Pession tilted his head at my expression.
“Why that face? Don’t all heirs go through this kind of education?”
“?”
I blinked in confusion, and the self-proclaimed Soon/Soo duo jumped in, nodding eagerly.
“We do it too.”
“Harun does too, right?”
Harun nodded gloomily.
“……”
Save me…
