6- I don't want to be an emperor (2)

Raihle started classes the next day. He ate his breakfast and headed to the study office where the tutor was supposed to come, but he was already there, alongside a mountain of hardcover books.

"Good morning." Raihle greeted him, eyeing the terrifying amount of information about to shove its way into his brain.

"Good morning, Prince Raihle. I'm Professor Joven, and since we are starting late, we will take a few more lessons for today."

Raihle sat down quietly and crossed his arms, It felt like high school all over again.

'Well, as long as I can read, I'm sure I can handle it.'

He wasn’t trying to be the first in his class, he just wanted to understand his surroundings like a normal person living in this world.

"Before we began, I prepared a test to evaluate your current level." He placed a paper in front of him.

Raihle nodded and picked up a pen, then started to frown.

'What is this supposed to mean?'

There were no words in the test, only weird symbols lined up together.

'Am I supposed to draw them or something?'

He raised his head innocently. "Should I draw them back?"

"What? No, just answer the questions."

"What questions?"

Raihle looked at the paper again, there were no words or questions to be answered.

Professor Joven stood next to him, looked at the paper, and then said, "Your Highness...you can't read?"

Raihle blinked a few times, pointed at the symbols, and asked, "Those are words?"

"Yes?"

No, how can this be?

He read the contract paper he saw on his first day and the other one Blue gave him, he surely did. He even read what Real Raihle wrote in the journal. 

How can someone lose their ability to read overnight?

"But I read something before..." Raihle said in a whispering voice.

Professor Joven heard him and said, "Did you read a contract paper, Your Highness?"

Raihle's eyes gleamed. "Yes, something similar."

Professor Joven held his temples while scowling, "Those are modified to be read by anyone, no matter what language they speak; even infants can read them."

Raihle's confidence dropped to the bottom, and his chest filled up with shame.

What kind of nineteen-year-old prince doesn't know how to read a single word?

Both he and the professor shared a huge disappointment.

"Well... I guess we can start from zero." He said it with a lack of enthusiasm.

Raihle rubbed his temples and nodded.

{My knowledge will not transfer to you. However, any skills my body possesses might be easy for you to learn.}

That was written in the journal when Raihle checked it later.

He felt like cursing and kicking the air.

"Wait…"

‘Is it the same for him?’

Supposing the same thing applies to Real Raihle, he wouldn't be able to read or write in Hyun Wa's language.

Raihle felt a little satisfied, but then his face instantly stiffened.

What would his students think when he suddenly forgot how to read or write?

"Damn it..."

*Knock*

The door was knocked on, and Raihle sneaked the journal under his pillow before getting up and opening the door.

The boy was about to knock again when Raihle suddenly opened the door in his face.

"Ah..Your Highness," a young man bowed, he wore differently than servants, so Raihle realized he must've been the secretary.

When he raised his head, his eyes were shiny with a dazzling gleam, and he made a bright smile.

"It's my pleasure to meet his highness, I am Loka Chiron, second son of the Marquis Chiron."

Raihle looked at him more closely, Loka seemed the same age as him, with short brown hair and eyes the color of maple leaves behind a pair of glasses. Raihle was good at reading people's eyes, he was used to doing it whenever he met someone for the first time.

The first impression Loka gave was that of a straight and serious man, a person who does not bend his mind easily, and prefers to keep a polite distance between him and others.

'He looks like a good kid, but...'

Why is he shivering?

Even though he was standing straight, his eyes started to tremble slightly, and his smile turned awkward.

Raihle's piercing gaze kept nagging him, he stood there, forgetting to speak.

Some servants passed by them and paused in their places, looking at Loka with pity, mistaking the situation and thinking he was being scolded on his first day.

Raihle's expressionless face made it difficult to read, looking at him raised an unsettling feeling and an uncomfortable position. Only Raihle wasn't aware of how uncomfortable he made others feel.

"Hm?" Hugo came to see them and stopped. "Didn't I tell you not to bully him?"

"I didn't." Raihle finally spoke after a long stare.

"Look at him, he looks about to cry."

Raihle eyed him directly and asked with a sharp tone.

"Did I bully you?"

Loka flinched, but quickly recovered.

"Not at all, Your Highness has done nothing."

Raihle glanced at Hugo, as if to say, 'See?'

Hugo sighed and shook his head.

"He will be your secretary. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Why would I have a problem?"

Loka blinked with wide eyes, then he slightly bowed, "I appreciate that." He sounded both suffocated and relieved.

Raihle was confused but didn't care much.

After the first week, Hugo called Professor Joven to his office.

The moment the tutor entered, Hugo stopped breathing.

The poor man looked as if he had aged ten years in one week, his face was white as paper, and he had lost weight considerably.

"Is...is he that bad?"

"He is.." Joven wondered how to say it nicely: "...trying."

Then he quickly started explaining himself. "I wasn't expecting him to not have the slightest knowledge about anything! It’s like he is from a different world than ours."

Hugo poured himself a drink and offered him some, but Joven refused, so he drank it all in one sip.

"So he is that stupid?"

Professor Joven paused in his place and frowned. "I didn't say he was stupid."

Hugo frowned back. "You just said he doesn't know anything."

"That's because he wasn't taught," Professor Joven was confused as he said and came to sit in front of Hugo, "Once I started him with the basics, he began to keep up, he is trying his best, even though he gets bored easily."

‘Why wouldn't he be taught?‘

Hugo remembered being taken away from the Imperial Palace when he was five, could it possibly be that he hasn't gotten any kind of education since then?

He is the only prince of the empire, and even though the emperor had sent him away, he was sure he would get all the care he needs.

It doesn't make any sense, but Hugo didn't want to overthink it, so he shook off his doubts.

"As long as you can make an emperor of him, I'm not worried."

"Learning how to read isn't the issue." Professor Joven pointed this out. "You need to start building him a reputation, perhaps engaging him in social events or solving a small community problem."

Hugo shrugged. "That's why I brought Loka Chiron; he will take care of that."

Professor Joven gazed at him with a judging look.

Why did it seem like Hugo was enjoying throwing Raihle’s responsibility to other people?

Raihle learned more new words today. 

He hadn't much time to feel ashamed of his poor skills. The professor's intense lessons made him memorize all letters and move into reading sentences in three days.

After his lessons, he usually heads to one of the libraries in his palace and grabs a children's book.

Not only because they were the only books he could read, but because they turned out to be helpful.

The Dragon with the Golden Eyes.

How to be friends with monsters.

The Emperor and his Dragon Wings.

They were ridiculous for two-year-old children, but it made him have a better understanding of this place.

He took a couple of books and went to the garden, where he laid down and read.

The story of the ancient dragon who helped build the empire is the most famous one. 

It talks about a savage, bloodthirsty creature who lived in the darkness of the Abyss, an immortal dragon who had been living for ten thousand years. Every 1000 years, the dragon dies and is reborn in an endless circle. The natural dominant of monsters, the ruler of the Abyss. The dragon's power and immortality gave him enormous arrogance, he spent his days hunting the greatest creatures on earth and challenging ancient monsters to show off his strength. He also looked down on humans as the weakest race and fed on them.

But the story changed a thousand years ago. A human accidentally fell into the Abyss, and after surviving hell among flesh eating monsters, he gained a power that made him stand equal with the monsters.

The legend in the story says that the human was able to change the ancient dragon's nature and befriend him. 

Then they built a land above the Abyss, where humans and monsters lived alongside each other in harmony. That place is now called Azaila, or the Dragon Empire.

"Huh!" Raihle scuffed at the drawings on the book.

The dragon and the man wore crowns on the last page, with a happy smile on both of them.

First of all, how can a mere human change a dragon's nature so easily?

Isn't the dragon the most powerful thing to walk on earth? And all his ferocity disappeared just like that?

It was indeed a childish story, but it tells the truth about this world, or at least what they think.

People believe that this land is protected by the dragon's power even after his disappearance, and the emperor, who also goes by the Golden Dragon-taking after the dragon's eyes- must carry the blood of the first emperor to benefit from the dragon's blessing.

Even though illegitimate children might share the imperial blood, they wouldn't be accepted by the law because the blessing might wear off.

It was hard to adapt to the truth of this reality, but Raihle realized that even if it sounded unbelievable to him, it was still the only reality people in this world knew. The same thing goes to Real Raihle, he is probably as completely confused with Hyun Wa's world as he is. In fact, he hoped it would be more baffling to him.

He closed The Dragon with the Golden Eyes and picked up another one.

This book was called "The Emperor and His Dragon Wings."

He remembered talking about this title with the emperor and Hugo, and it caught his eye when he searched for something to read.

In the book, they talk about how the little prince was sent to a place full of scary monsters, and he had to go through difficult kinds of obstacles in a long journey, but in the end he gained a unique power to help him protect his people.

'I need my friends' help to make sure everyone is happy!'

The little prince said that and chose his best friends to give them a part of his power.

Each of his friends was given a special power, just like the prince, and became his dragon wings.

The little prince eventually became an emperor, and his wings stayed forever by his side, protecting him and the empire.

Raihle's eyes stayed on the book for a while. 

The story felt kind of vague, which made him puzzled.

'What kind of power is it?'

What was the power the little prince got, and how can it even be shared?

After reading the first and second children's books, he noticed a connection.

The human who fell in the Abyss, also known as the first emperor, and the little prince in the second book.

'They both have this unique power.'

It seems to be a condition to become an emperor. A person must awaken or gain this power in order to be qualified and to make someone a wing.

"My head started to hurt."

It was too much to take in a whole new reality in a few minutes, he felt a headache creeping at the back of his head.

He put the books aside and closed his eyes.

The grass wasn't as soft as his new bed, but he still liked it more than staying inside.

Maybe because he hadn't felt the sun's light on his skin for a long time, or maybe because he never got the chance to just lie down doing nothing, either way, staying here like this made his stiff muscles loosen up and his busy mind sort things out calmly.

He never realized how resting felt like a struggle to him in the past.

Just as he was trying his best to push the headache away, he sensed footsteps approaching.

It was Loka Chiron.

The footsteps stopped, but he didn't say a word. Then he sensed him crouched by his side and picked up one of the books.

"They are the only ones I can read." Raihle said it without opening his eyes.

Loka flinched. "I thought you were asleep, Your Highness."

Raihle opened his eyes and saw him smiling with a bit of awkwardness.

"What do you want now that I'm not asleep?" His voice was cold and dry, making Loka feel that he was annoyed.

"I was wondering if you wanted to talk. There are things I have to arrange with you after getting Duke Miola's permission."

Raihle gazed at him silently, then closed his eyes.

Loka lowered his voice. "If you want, maybe we should go inside and_"

"No." Raihle strictly responded, "I like it here. Whatever you want to discuss, let's do it here."

"Mm..."

Loka quietly sat down on the grass.

Raihle waited for him to speak but figured he would still think he had accidentally fallen asleep, so he opened his eyes and raised his back.

"So?"

Loka gave him a pack of papers.

"I was thinking that we should start engaging you in social events; these are some of the best options."

Some?

There were nearly a hundred papers in his hands.

He looked at them as Loka pointed out, "These are the noble families, and with all the information about them, we should first categorize them and then choose what's best."

"Why?"

"Hm?"

Loka blinked as Raihle repeated with his eyes on him, "Why do I have to engage in this stuff?" 

There was too much information on those papers, Raihle couldn't read most of them, but he was sure they were unnecessary.

He put the papers down and eyed Loka for an answer.

Loka wondered if it was a test, or a mockery. There was no way to tell from Raihle's expressionless face, but his tone was plain and emotionless, so he answered clearly, "Your Highness, you're anonymous. No one remembers anything about you; they forgot you existed because they thought you would never be an emperor."

Raihle's face remained unchanged, he had already discovered that himself.

Loka continued calmly. "Now that his majesty has taken you in, people will make assumptions. We need to clear up those assumptions and state that you have come back to take the throne. The first step is to make people recognize you."

It's all true, Raihle understood that well, except for one thing.

"I'm not planning on taking the throne."

"What?"

'That's the bastard's duty, not mine, why should I take responsibility on his behalf?'

"I won't become the emperor." Raihle had no intention of being responsible for that position at all.

Loka doubted his ears for the second time, and he spoke with wide eyes, "Is that what the emperor said?" 

"No. This is what I'm saying."

He dusted his sleeves, repeating the same words: "I have no plans to be the emperor, so there is no need for people to recognize me."

He picked up his books, got up, and then went inside, leaving Loka stunned in his spot.