I Became the First Prince

re uncomfortable or not,” I spoke, making sure to maintain a moderate tone.

“It’s common sense.
If the prince suddenly comes into the kitchen, or pops up into a room where the maids are working, and suddenly speaks to them in the middle of their labors, the servants will, of course, become uncomfortable.”

Vincent continued his carping, listing all my travels over the past few days.

“Everyone was friendly when they saw me.
When I talked to them, they seemed to like it, or did they lie?”

“They try to hide the fact that they don’t like it, they are afraid something would happen if they don’t pretend.”

I was starting to get annoyed by Vincent’s scolding when he asked me, “So why are you doing it?”

“It’s amazing,” came my profound response as I swallowed down the complaints that had reached the tip of my tongue.

“What?”

“Just… everything, everything!”

I wasn’t just saying it.
Now that my body has reached this state, the world looked different to me.
Obviously, neither my hearing nor vision was as it had been before, yet I was seeing the world clearer now.
The hazy layer of mist had risen from the snow; it felt as if a curtain had been lifted from my eyes.
I wandered all across the palace because I liked to take in the vividness of life.

“It’s because I died, yet live.
It’s all new and amazing.”

I could see that Vincent had decided to stop his nagging.

“Fwoo… Do whatever you want.
I don’t know anymore,” he said with a sigh after a while, and then stayed silent.
The sun was setting, and I got up.

“Let’s go.
It’s cold.”

I fastened my collar and returned to my palace.
When I entered my room, I immediately grabbed the carving knife.
As if Adelia had been waiting, she picked up a piece of wood and handed it over to me.
I had commemorated the past by carving elaborate statuettes over the past month, but it wasn’t just my old friends that I should remember and mourn for.
I began trimming the piece of wood, pursuing nostalgic memories in my mind.
I was intently busy with my carving when Vincent asked me a question.

“But weren’t you finished with sculpting? Is there any reason to make these weird statues again?”

I laid down my work for a moment, recalling all those old memories.
I remembered a shabby barracks, right after the battle was over, with a warrior sitting on the ground, engrossed in something without even having wiped the blood off her body.
I asked why she was wasting her time carving statues, for I couldn’t understand it; why did she do it when her body was wracked by fatigue after repeated battles, when there was scarcely enough time for sleep?

She smiled and answered my questions.

She had said, ‘Because the faces of the dead quickly fade.
But if you sculpt like this, you have to keep thinking of the face whether you like it or not, so it stays a little longer in your mind.
Then, when it fully fades from memory, you look at the sculpture again, and the face comes to your mind.’

I started carving again.

“If you forget a face, you’ll think of it again when you look at the statue,” I replied briefly, adding, “and nothing is weird about it.”

“Apart from their purpose, shouldn’t you be able to make them well in order to do that?”

I pretended not to hear him.
After I had been focused on my work for a long time, Vincent asked, “So who are you making this time?”

Still moving the carving knife, I responded profoundly.

“My uncle.”

Vincent remained silent.
However, it was only for a while, for he began speaking in a trembling voice.

“Is that my father?”

“Uh-huh… Doesn’t it look similar to him?”

“There is no similar feature, and there wouldn’t be even if I washed my eyes.”

“I know you’re like this, Vincent.
It’s not new anymore.”

“Have your Highness ever thought that the problem lies with you and not with me?”

“I don’t have any problem… My work isn’t a problem.”

“If that piece of wood doesn’t resemble him, why should I be forced to say it does?”

“Shall I call Arwen again and ask-”

Vincent batted the statue out of my hands before I was even done speaking, with it falling to the floor and snapping at the neck.

‘Degur!’

As I watched the head rolling over the floor, I instinctively shouted, “Uncle!”

“How is that my father?!”

**

As the sun rose, I wandered around the palace.
I explored places I had never been to before and captured sights in my mind that I’ve never seen.

“Isn’t it cold?” an old servant asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Well, your Highness, you may be all right, but I’m cold.”

I spoke idly to the man, then moved on.
I squatted as I watched the gardener trim flowers.

“It smells good.”

“Take a bite.
It’s just delicious.”

While watching the palace chef stir his pot, I ate.

It was pleasurable to me to follow the maids and watch what they did.
Although Vincent had nagged me about this many times, I chose to ignore him.
In recent years, his nagging has gotten worse.
In addition to the comfortable manner in which he now spoke to me, his chiding was incomparable to the past.
Still, it was good for me to back from death, and it was good that my dear ones took care of me with extreme sincerity.
It was also nice to see the world clearly with fresh senses.
But not everything was good.

After waking up from death, especially after I fainted and fell, it seemed to me that other people saw me as a child who no longer walked upon the shore of greatness.
I didn’t want to be treated like some kid with a nosebleed.
When I walked like this, I could hear the footsteps of four or five, sometimes dozens of people behind me.
They usually watched me quietly, but I knew if I were to do anything else, they would block me.
Thanks to that, I couldn’t do anything.
Really—nothing.
All I could do was stay in my room and carve sculptures or wander around the palace.
While exploring the palace like that, I chanced to overhear a conversation.
It seemed that something had happened in the kingdom.

“Nothing goes on.
The kingdom is quite calm.”

Whenever I asked about the situation outside, the answer was the same.
I suspected the king’s order to be behind this.

This wasn’t the first time, and it wasn’t something I couldn’t understand.
It was only recently that I had died and reawakened.
And when I had fainted, concerns about my health had only deepened.
Of course, just because I had expected such a decree didn’t mean I would follow it.
While wandering through the royal palace, I made my way toward the hall.
Perhaps because I had already wandered about everywhere, those who followed me continued to do so without doubting my intentions.

“Your Highness, we greet you.”

The palace knights guarding the door looked at me and hardened their expressions.

“Ah, I do not want to cause a lot of trouble.
I was just walking.”

Seeing them pretending to greet me in a normal manner while subtly blocking my entry, I greeted them in turn, emphasizing that I had come here by accident.

“But it looks like more guests have arrived?”

At this, alertness flashed over the palace knights’ faces.
They kept their mouths shut firmly, giving no answer.
It didn’t matter—I already knew.
I didn’t have to have received news to guess that important guests were visiting the kingdom.
Vincent, who had so brazenly been in and out of my palace, hadn’t shown up all day.
The Marquis of Bielefeld had left his office and the prime minister had also vacated the ministry and disappeared somewhere.

I had not seen the nose of one single important personage of Leonberg.
I bet that they were all inside the war room or the hall proper.

“Well, that’s not something I’ll know about.
I’ll go, so keep up the good work.”

I roughly waved at the knights and turned around.
To be precise, I pretended to do so, suddenly rushing back toward the door.
However, after all the damage done to it, my body was so sluggish that even before I got to the hall’s door the palace knights blocked me off.

“His Majesty has commanded that no one is to enter.
Please forgive me.”

As I listened to the palace knight talking without changing his expression, my face burned.
It was embarrassing.

But embarrassment wouldn’t stop my curiosity, so I rushed forward again and tried to dig past the knights.
But before I had even passed their first rank, they formed a new barrier in front of me.
I tried several times, but the result was the same.

“Just go back,” the palace knight said, clearly trying to remain patient.
Like when he had first blocked me, his face remained consistently determined.
My shoulders soon drooped.

“Even if I guessed it would be like this, it shouldn’t be.”

The knight’s face, having been as hard as a cliff, started to show cracks.

“Well, your Highness…”

Listening to the embarrassed knight, I regretted it all over again.

“Because I have no power now, even the lords ignore me completely.”

“Your Highness, they don’t have that kind of hearts!”

“If they didn’t, then I would at least have been able to enter the hall—a place to which I was free to come and go when I had the strong body of the Crown Prince.”

“I can’t handle it! Please temper your words, your Highness!”

The palace knights knelt in front of me, and I-

‘Chuck!’

I passed by them and reached the door.

“Yes, I guess I misunderstood you.”

“Us, your Highness?”

The knights looked blankly on as I passed by.

“Anyway, thanks for opening the way.”

Regardless of having fooled them, I focused on the task at hand.

“Your Highness!”

As I heard the knights scream behind me, I flung the door open as hard as I could.

‘Dwak!’