Chapter 49 – The Prince’s First Step
“Why…”
When Tian arrived at the Crown Prince’s palace, he muttered gloomily.
Beside him, his attendant looked at him curiously.
Tian sank into a large, soft sofa, staring blankly up at the shining golden ceiling.
“Why is it like this…”
“Your Highness, is something troubling you?”
Unable to watch him sigh anymore, the attendant finally asked.
Tian lowered his gaze and looked at him seriously.
“Your name’s Jeremy, right?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Jeremy was the new attendant assigned to the Crown Prince’s palace after Jacques was dismissed.
Since the Dowager Empress herself had appointed him, Jeremy was serving Tian with the utmost sincerity.
“I’ve been wondering about something.”
“Yes, please ask, Your Highness.”
The nearly nine-year-old Crown Prince wore a very serious expression.
“I couldn’t give her the gift again.”
“Ah, I see… pardon?”
Jeremy’s eyes widened in surprise, forgetting for a moment that he was standing before the Crown Prince.
Tian repeated in a dejected tone,
“I couldn’t give her the gift again.”
He reached over to the fancy side table and pulled out a small box—
the same box he’d been fiddling with for weeks.
Jeremy hesitated, unsure what to say, before cautiously asking,
“May I ask… why not, Your Highness?”
“I don’t know. The words just wouldn’t come out.”
Tian pressed a hand to his forehead, his face full of distress.
“Annelia always talks so fast. I ran straight to her room when I heard she was hurt, but then…”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“She started explaining how badly she was injured, then said she invented a medicine, and that she wanted me to write her a recommendation letter for the Pharmaceutical Institute.”
“I… I see.”
“Then she said it was late and that she had to go study.”
Jeremy stayed silent, unsure what expression to make.
Tian let out a heavy sigh.
“She said she was going to study. What could I say to that? I told her, ‘Alright, study hard,’ of course.”
“Ah… well, yes…”
“But she just turned five!”
Tian placed the small box on the table and poked it with his finger.
“She’s three years younger than me, but she studies so hard. I couldn’t exactly tell her to rest a little—it’d sound weird.”
“True. That wouldn’t look very good.”
“And when I was about to leave, she said, ‘You must be so busy, thank you so much for visiting. Please take care on your way back.’ And I just… couldn’t say anything.”
Jeremy nodded respectfully, a sympathetic look on his face.
Then, after a pause, he carefully said,
“Your Highness, perhaps the timing was just off this time. Since Lady Annelia just recovered from her injury, she might have been tired and sent you away to rest.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. The next time you visit, if you can find the right moment alone with her, you could try mentioning the gift again—”
“No. I don’t think I can.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened.
Tian hesitated, then confessed quietly,
“The truth is… when I talk to Annelia, I can’t speak properly.”
“Can’t… speak properly?”
“My tongue freezes up. My steps get weird. I just end up staring at her when she blinks or smiles.”
Jeremy froze, realizing what this sounded like.
The Crown Prince looked absolutely tormented, but Jeremy finally understood the situation.
“Hey, Jeremy… a smart girl like Annelia probably likes smart and confident people, right?”
“Well… everyone has different tastes, I suppose.”
“No. I must have looked like a total fool to her.”
Jeremy panicked at that.
“N-no, of course not, Your Highness! That’s impossible!”
“It’s true. From the very first time we met, I acted like such a little kid. Even though I’m older than her.”
He’d tried to look composed and mature the next time they met—
but that day too, it was Annelia who comforted him.
She’d praised him for standing up to the Empress and even told him the story about the baby elephant.
And somehow, that had made him so happy and proud that he’d wanted to thank her properly this time.
But on her birthday, all he managed to do was argue with that fox-like Arwyn Dennis.
‘All I did was follow Annelia around like a lost puppy… and I couldn’t even talk to her first.’
Tian’s face fell.
“What kind of Crown Prince am I… No wonder people call me the ‘useless prince.’”
“Your Highness…”
And today had been the same.
‘Father said he was already using his royal seal when he was my age.’
The current Emperor had been exceptionally gifted, learning state affairs directly from the previous Emperor at a very young age.
That was how it usually worked.
A Crown Prince, even as a child, was supposed to begin studying royal duties early on.
But Tian had always been the exception.
Ever since his mother, Empress Miraena, had passed away, everyone treated him as the “unwanted prince.”
And Empress Karin never stopped reminding him of that.
‘It’s fine, Your Highness! You’ve never used the seal before, so this time, you should use it proudly!’
But even someone as pathetic as him—Annelia had smiled so brightly at him.
She’d said his letter was important. That it had to be him.
Thinking of that, the gloom clouding his heart lifted just a little.
Tian nodded firmly.
“I want to write the recommendation letter for Lia really well.”
Jeremy blinked in surprise at his suddenly serious tone.
“Since it’s a medicine she made herself, there’s no way it doesn’t work, right?”
After thinking for a moment, Tian suddenly stood up.
He’d heard countless stories of how his father, grandfather, and ancestors had all done great things at his age.
He handed two small medicine bottles to Jeremy.
“Send these to Logrio in the Widonen region as soon as possible.”
“Sir Logrio, Your Highness?”
“I heard he was injured. Tell him to try the medicine and record every change in detail.”
Jeremy bowed deeply. “Yes, Your Highness.”
But Tian wasn’t done yet.
“And I also want to meet the nobles from the Nemphed region.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened again.
“The Nemphed region… the western lands, Your Highness?”
The western province of Nemphed—
it was the homeland of the late Empress Miraena.
Miraena had been born into the great Orgon family of Nemphed,
so naturally, she had many friends among the western nobles.
“When Mother was alive, I used to see them often. But it’s been far too long.”
A shiver ran down Jeremy’s arms.
“You mean… you plan to send official invitations to the western nobles? With your seal?”
If Tian truly used his royal seal, those invitations would become formal Imperial summonses.
Jeremy remembered the words of the Dowager Empress before he left her palace:
“If you notice any change in Tian’s heart, you must tell me at once.
Especially if he starts wanting to meet or reach out to someone.”
Jeremy straightened and replied quickly,
“Yes, Your Highness. I’ll take care of it right away.”
He carefully took the medicine bottles and left the palace.
As he walked down the long corridor, the Dowager Empress’s words echoed in his mind.
“Karin moved faster than I expected. While I was locked away, she cut off all of Tian’s arms and legs—figuratively speaking.”
Sir Logrio, one of Tian’s loyal knights, had been exiled to the border.
And the nobles who had once supported the late Empress were all isolated from Tian.
“If it were up to me, I’d act directly. But after all the assassination attempts, I had no choice but to retreat to the Dowager Palace.”
In truth, the Dowager Empress wasn’t living in seclusion by choice.
It was because the Empress Karin—suspected of sending assassins—had tried to kill her again and again.
There had already been dozens of attempts on her life.
“Still, I thought she wouldn’t dare harm Tian.
By Imperial law, if both the Empress and her heir die, the Emperor must immediately take a new wife.”
But bringing in a new Empress was the last thing Karin wanted.
So the Dowager Empress had assumed Tian would be safe.
“But to think she’d choose such a cruel method—destroying him from the inside out.
If not for that child, Annelia, he would’ve been completely ruined.”
‘That child’—the Dowager Empress had meant Annelia, the Abner family’s young ward.
“There was a reason I risked my life to visit House Abner.”
Jeremy’s pace quickened.
“Yes, she’s an adorable child—but more than that, she’s a symbol of hope.
If House Abner could become the light that protects our Tian…”
“…”
“Then, perhaps, we can begin rebuilding everything we lost.”
Jeremy couldn’t help but smile faintly to himself.
From what he could see, the future the Dowager Empress dreamed of might not be so far away.
He had no idea that the daring “child of Abner” was thinking the exact same thing—
just from the opposite side.
