kscans

Chapter 100 - The King of Castrato and the Little One

"...?"

"Prince?"

"Where am I?"

Charles, who had been standing by the window, turned around with a vacant expression. As if waking from a dream, he shook his head from side to side several times and blinked his eyes.

"The princess... how many years has it been? How long?"

Staring at his trembling hands, he collapsed to his knees.

What is this?

His light, airy consciousness rapidly awakened, and a multitude of memories danced through Charles’s mind.

"I... to Father...!"

His twilight-colored eyes, which had been trembling in shock, were instantly colored with fury. Rising to his feet with an indescribable anger, Charles pushed aside the flustered attendants and burst out of his room. On his way, he visited the Crown Prince’s office, slammed both hands on the desk, and fixed his sharp gaze on his older brother.

The smoldering embers became a raging inferno, and the Crown Prince was stunned by his exceedingly sharp gaze.

"Brother... where is Father?"

Unlike the usual gentle Charles, his younger brother now exuded a formidable aura, as if possessed by hatred.

What happened?

Augfel, who was also present, was speechless, his eyes fixed on his transformed second brother.

At the same time, a commotion was erupting in the Frontier Royal Palace as well.

"Give me back my child! Cyril? Where is Cyril?!"

Consort Habilus ran through the rear palace. The attendants called out to her, but she didn’t seem to hear them, only screaming for Cyril.

"Where are my children?! Give them back!"

Hearing her painful cries, people gathered from all around. It would be a little while before Theodore and Fatima heard of the situation and rushed over. Until then, Consort Habilus continued her frantic search for Cyril and her children.

"Where is Father?"

The Crown Prince swallowed hard at Charles’s glaring gaze and opened his mouth.

"I’ve locked him in the tower... It would be bad if something happened to the princess of Frontier."

At that explanation, Charles’s eyes suddenly softened. They were his usual eyes. Eyes that held a dreamy, gentle light.

"Ah, you’re right. It would be terrible if something happened to my bride."

The Crown Prince, relieved that his brother’s mood had returned to normal, asked a question.

"What on earth happened?"

"What do you mean, what happened?! I remembered!"

Charles rolled only his eyeballs to look at his brother. The Crown Prince felt a shiver run down his spine again at his inhuman expression.

"Father... he intended to chain up the princess like a slave and imprison her."

At these unexpected words, the Crown Prince and Augfel exchanged a look. Glancing at them, Charles recounted the past.

"You must not do that, Father!"

"Silence! You will do as I say!"

Charles was led by his father to the top floor of the tower. It was a tower originally meant for imprisoning problematic royals.

Why am I in a place like this?

A suspicious Charles was led to a spacious, well-appointed room. It was, after all, a room for royalty. Naturally, it was prepared so that nothing was lacking. However, there was a long chain for a prisoner and a heavy shackle attached to the bed. The chain was long enough to allow for no inconvenience in using the toilet or bathing. But for a person of high birth to be chained and confined, even if only by one leg, would be an unbearable humiliation. As Charles stared sorrowfully at the chain, the King of Castrato uttered unbelievable words.

"This is the Frontier princess’s room. You need only visit her."

Charles couldn't believe the words that entered his ears.

My bride, here?

A freezing chill crept up his spine. He involuntarily shivered and looked up at his father. The King of Castrato surveyed the room with great satisfaction.

"You lie, don't you? My wife, here?"

"She is a consort in name only. In reality, she will not leave the tower."

Charles’s wide eyes wavered greatly.

"When the princess comes of age, you and your brothers can use her. Her being your wife is just a pretext. In reality, she is nothing but a slave. Anyone will do, as long as they can bear a child for the royal family. Even me."

At his father’s lewd grin, Charles felt a tremendous revulsion.

"You must not do that, Father!"

The King of Castrato brushed off his desperately clinging son with annoyance and struck him. With a loud thud, Charles fell onto the landing of the spiral staircase.

"Silence! You will do as I say!"

As he said this, the King of Castrato kicked the fallen Charles in the side repeatedly, and when his son still wouldn’t listen and begged him to stop, he drugged him.

With Cyril’s mind-control drug, to make him obedient.

The Crown Prince and the others were speechless upon hearing the story. It was a story from when he was just old enough to remember. At the time, Charles was only about six years old. The Crown Prince had not doubted his father’s explanation that his muddled brother had a cognitive disability.

"How could he...! And? Are you alright now?"

Embraced with concern, Charles gave a small nod.

"I don’t know why, but it seems the drug’s effects have worn off. My memories from before have come back clearly. Some are fragmented, but I think, all of them."

"Oh, thank goodness!"

Even in a dreamlike state, knowledge can be accumulated. It doesn’t just pass through. Just as Consort Habilus was able to remain a consort, Charles had also acquired the knowledge and etiquette of a prince.

That was precisely why he couldn't forgive him.

His father, who had stolen Charles’s future and made him waste his life.

He learned his father’s whereabouts from his brothers and headed straight for the tower. The Crown Prince, bewildered by the sudden turn of events, instructed his attendants to prepare Charles’s living arrangements. Even if his memories had returned, there would be many things he lacked. He had to arrange for tutors to help him catch up on what he had missed.

That good-for-nothing!

The Crown Prince, cursing his father in his heart, didn't notice. But Augfel did. And he remained silent.

The thick, swirling killing intent that dwelt in Charles’s eyes. Silently watching Charles turn on his heel with firm resolve, Augfel headed for the adventurer's guild in the royal capital.

I should at least help with the cleanup.

Unaware of his bloodthirsty younger brothers, the Crown Prince busied himself for Charles’s sake. By the time the very much first-born-like Crown Prince realized the situation, it was all over.

"Hmm? What? Consort Habilus?"

Despite having severed diplomatic ties, Castrato still had Frontier spies. The covert ops of Frontier, whose information transmission speed was instantaneous unlike other countries, immediately informed the Little One of the unusual events at the Frontier Royal Palace.

"She seems to have calmed down now. But for a time, she was in such a state of disarray that one would think she had gone mad."

The spy lurking in the shadow of the curtains reported matter-of-factly.

"Humph. Well, if nothing serious happened, that’s good."

"I wonder what happened."

Glancing at the perplexed Dorfen, the Little One muttered under her breath.

"Probably, the effects of Cyril’s mind-control drug wore off."

"""Eh?"""

The simultaneous question marks came from Dorfen, Hyrulia, and Adonis. Zakk seemed to have little interest.

"Cesare said he shifted the principles of the herb, remember? So maybe the drug’s effects on the people who were brainwashed were neutralized too."

The members of the Little One Squad looked at each other as if to say "ah." While the Little One Squad was nodding in understanding at the ducal mansion, their eyes wide with realization, someone else was staring with wide, stiffened eyes in a room in the Castrato Royal Palace.

"I...? What on earth?"

The King of Castrato, chained to his bed, opened his eyes to their limits, and goosebumps covered his entire body as countless memories flooded his mind. The foolish delusions he had been possessed by, the numerous blunders he had made.

"I...? Why...?!"

The King of Castrato trembled and collapsed.

Unbeknownst to the members of the Castrato Royal Palace, and of course to the Little One, something that was laughing at him deepened its shadowy smile.