Chapter Nine: Tristan

“And so, based on the imperial law, in this case…” Leonhardt yawned and rolled his eyes while his teacher wrote on the blackboard.

He already knew everything he was learning right now. It was a given, as that was exactly what he learned here, decades ago, on this day.

Even though his body was that of a child’s, the inside was this empire’s emperor. If Leonhardt wanted, he could even give his teacher a question that would make him pass out.

Instead of playing a trick on his innocent teacher, Leonhardt chose to get absorbed in drawing something on the corner of his book while pretending he was listening to the class quietly.

“And regarding this issue… Your Highness… Your Highness…? Your Highness the Crown Prince, Leonhardt Tristan von Esphedor!”

“Huh? Yes, what’s wrong?”

“Were you listening to what I was saying? How do historians assess this issue?”

Leonhardt blinked as he crossed his doodle out. He then made a sheepish smile as he took a sip of the milk.

“…It can’t be helped. I’ll explain it again… so…”

As expected. Just like what he remembered, the old teacher in front of him was weak to his smile. Leonhardt continued to doodle, pretending to listen to the class while occasionally picking up what the teacher was teaching him.

At the end of every page, he would draw—what he claimed to be—Elizabeth’s face. The reason he chose not to reveal that he already had the knowledge of an adult was simple: he was not a genius.

If a ten-year-old child could suddenly recite something that even adults would find hard to recite, contemplate the complexities of monarchism, and display enough level-headedness needed to be involved in managing state affairs, it would certainly raise suspicions.

Even if he excluded his father, who would be immediately suspicious, or the magicians of the Clock Tower who would come like a swarm of bees to study him, or the priests who would come with some holy water because they would suspect him of being possessed by a demon—he had already decided on his method of education.

If anyone got to the bottom of everything, things would get complicated. He didn’t want that.

After finishing the rest of the milk, Leonhardt decided lightly that he should commit himself to reviewing everything he had learned. Rather than becoming an academic genius, Leonhardt would rather choose to train in martial arts.

He had once been on the verge of becoming a sword master, so he wanted to start again now that he had finally got a younger body. But also…

“Your Highness, why do you want to learn swordsmanship?”

“I want to protect.” When the commander of the Imperial Order of Knights asked at the training ground where the best knights of the empire gathered, Leonhardt answered with a puffed-out chest.

“Who or what do you want to protect?” The commander squinted and asked again.

The knights, who finished their training, gathered one by one after hearing that the Crown Prince was visiting.

“I want to protect the person who will be my future empress with my own hands!” Oh, how he always wanted to say that!

The previous night, Leonhardt kept thinking, over and over as he rolled over in his oversized bed. If he got a little stronger, if he could get to a point where he would be out of anyone’s league. He wouldn’t have to experience the threat of assassination using poison, and the empress wouldn’t die in such vain.

He wanted to protect Elizabeth. He wanted to see that small body grow up safely and be happy for a long time. To do that, he had to get a little stronger.

“The future… empress… you say?” The commander had an ambiguous expression on his face.

“…Is there a problem?”

“No, there isn’t. Then, why don’t we test how sincere Your Highness’ determination is?” the commander challenged. “Oh, this is what anyone who learns swordsmanship does from day one, so you don’t have to make that face.”

Gulp. Leonhardt swallowed as he strengthened his resolution. He came here out of his own volition despite knowing what that commander would make him do.

Moreover, he came here two years earlier than he was supposed to!

It wasn’t that he wasn’t worried at all about whether it would be possible for him to run around the wide training ground twenty times with this small body of his. But he had to do it. Because then, he could at least get permission from the commander to hold a wooden sword.

“Ha… Ha… Ha…”

The commander nodded, “I didn’t expect you to actually make it. Very commendable.”

“Don’t… make… me… talk… Ha… Ha.”

Leonhardt grabbed at his chest, feeling like his heart was about to burst. He coughed and slumped to the ground. His whole body was drenched with sweat, feeling sticky and gross.

The commander personally gave him a towel, but Leonhardt shook his head.

At this, the commander lifted his brows in surprise, but the one who was most surprised that he had managed to run twenty laps was none other than Leonhardt himself. He had heard that the stamina of a child at the prime age to run and play was terrifying, but he hadn’t expected it to be this terrifying… He regretted not having begun his training sooner.

“Your Highness can come here at seven in the morning starting from tomorrow. Hoho, goodness. His Majesty would be pleased to know about this.”

Leonhardt nodded his head with great difficulty. “Seven in the morning? Then I’ll come here at six and do some warm-up exercises.”

“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow whether this is a child’s immature bravado or the real thing.”

After the Crown Prince, drowned in sweat, returned home to change his clothes, the commander asked for the surrounding knights’ opinions. “From what you all saw, do you think His Highness has the talent?”

“Well… we can only be sure after we let him hold a sword once, but at least he’s filled to the brim with stamina and will.”

“Would it be too extreme for me to think that a sword master will finally be born in our empire after so long?” The commander muttered, erasing with his boot the purple aura that had been left behind on the ground by the Crown Prince.

***

“Oh my, how rare is it to see Your Highness going to bed this early.”

“Give one more glass of milk. And wake me up at half past five tomorrow morning.”

“Pardon? That early?” His nanny asked.

“I’m going to start sword training. I have to be able to protect Lizzie this time.”

“This time…?” she wondered.

“D-don’t mind it. A frog jumped out and surprised her on my last visit, so…”

“Hoho, so you want to protect the lady from the frog? That’s a wonderful idea. But rather than sword training, you should first have a good sleep and grow up well, don’t you think? Please lie down. I will bring you the milk soon.” His nanny gently guided him to sleep, smiling, before leaving his room.

Rumors were already spreading inside the imperial palace that His Highness the Crown Prince had fallen in love with his betrothed at first sight and turned into a different person. Of course, the rumor was probably exaggerated to some extent as it was passed by word of mouth of the maids…

But at least, his nanny believed that he was sincere when he said he wanted to protect his fiancée.

She obtained a glass of milk with honey and then thought that maybe she should bring him some snacks as a reward for knowing how to treat his fiancée right. But when she finally returned to his room, what she saw made her chuckle.

“Goodness, Your Highness. You should brush your teeth before going to sleep.”

“Mmm… No, I just got a little sleepy… Milk, give me milk first…” His nanny was wondering what she should do with Leonhardt, whose eyes were dripping with sleep, but she decided that he should get his teeth brushed after all.

Leonhardt fluttered his blanket open and bolted up, frowning. He said, “I want to grow up as fast as I can to be an adult.”

“Your Highness is just a little behind your peers. You’re going to grow up shortly enough. You’re starting sword training, aren’t you? As long as you eat food with plenty of nutrition, diligently exercise, and sleep well at night, you might even get taller than that tree in the garden.”

But I think that tree got cut down because of one reason or another before I came of age. Leonhardt frowned at the thought but nodded. The milk was warm, creamy, and sweet due to the honey his nanny had secretly mixed in.

***

“I didn’t expect that you would really come at this hour.”

“A real man would never lie.”

“A real man… That’s right. Your Highness is also a real man.”

“What does that mean?”

“No… Never mind. It’s nothing. Please come over here. Today, we’ll have a light lesson on how to hold a sword.” Albert, the commander of the Imperial Order of Knights, was so shocked to find Leonhardt in the middle of the other knights who were doing warm-ups that it felt like his eyes would pop out.

Why did that kid take off his clothes? It’s cold at dawn, what if he gets a cold? I’ve always seen these dirty knights. Do I really have to see such a scrawny kid’s bare skin as well?

Scrawny was putting it nicely. If his hair were a bit longer and he put on female clothing, ninety-nine out of a hundred people would never think that he was a real man, and the one person would be an elderly person with farsightedness.

Albert sighed at the thought that he had to be the Crown Prince’s swordsmanship teacher on top of all the busy tasks he had to do as the commander. He took out a wooden sword.

“How can Your Highness protect your fiancée if you’re struggling this much?” Albert said in a quite provoking tone.

Leonhardt only managed to hold a wooden sword after spending the entire morning running twenty laps around the training ground with the other knights. Correction. Even after the other knights finished their run and started sparring with each other, Leonhardt was still running around the training ground.

He gritted his teeth and forced his trembling knees to move.

Albert’s eyes were as sharp as a hawk. Whenever Leonhardt stumbled or slowed down even a little, he would provoke him by mentioning his fiancée. Only after a whole twenty laps did Albert finally give him the wooden sword.

Leonhardt accepted it with trembling hands. Damn… damn it… That Albert… just watch when I become emperor… Damn it, doesn’t he become the Military Minister of the empire and not just the commander of the Imperial Order of Knights? Leonhardt took a deep breath again as he made the stance according to his memory with his trembling hands.

“To think I have to learn how to hold a wooden sword again at this age…”

The faces of Albert and the surrounding knights looked contorted. Some of them were so confused that they were pouring water into their nostrils instead of their mouths.

Albert closely observed Leonhardt’s movement. The other knights were watching him like adults watching some kids fight at first, but now they were watching him seriously like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“…Your Highness.”

“What’s wrong, Sir Albert?”

“Do you know what a sword master is?”

“I’ve heard about them, but…”

“I, Albert, swear with my sword on the line that Your Highness is going to be a sword master before you come of age.”

“What?” Leonhardt snorted. Sword master. There was no way. He was definitely… definitely…?

Definitely. What was he going to say again? Leonhardt, suddenly dizzy, stumbled.

“Your Highness, Your Highness!” Albert’s voice sounded farther and farther.

The imperial doctor told Albert and the other knights that Leonhardt had pushed himself too far from the first day.

“No… he was running just fine yesterday, so I thought it would be fine…”

“He is still a child! You should’ve been more careful! Goodness, this is why you knights who don’t know how to take care of your bodies are so…!”

“Oho! There is no knight who can take care of their bodies as well as we do—”

“That’s not something to brag about, so shut your mouth. Anyway, so there is nothing wrong with His Highness, right?”

“For now, he’s fine since it seems like he’s just exhausted. But just in case, he must not do an excessive workout…”

“No, I… have to do it.”

“Your Highness!”

Leonhardt forced himself to sit up.

Just because he had swung a wooden sword a little, his arms were shaky, and it was hard for him to even do something simple like raise his body.

“Are you really okay? You don’t have to overdo it—”

“I told you I have to do it. Don’t make me say it twice.” Leonhardt gripped the sheet so hard it looked like he would tear it apart.

I’m still young, so I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.

Rather than that, there was something else on his mind. He was losing his memories of his past life. Like they were pieces of paper crumpled into a big lump and tossed out.

He couldn’t be sure what he was going to say about being the sword master. Did he become a sword master? Did he not? It was his first time feeling like he had no memories of something. He hated it.

“Still, let’s call it a day. I’m saying this as your sword teacher, following the doctor’s opinion.”

“…Tsk!” Leonhardt pushed his fist into the middle of his forehead and pouted.

When Leonhardt stepped on the ground saying he could go by himself, his thin body flapped like a paper doll. Albert took him to his bedroom.

“Let me down! I can walk all on my own!”

“It would definitely not take long if you’re thinking about walking on all fours instead of all on your own, but there will definitely be one or two people who wouldn’t spare any time to talk about the dignity of the imperial family. So please forgive me for my rudeness… Ack! Your Highness!”

Leonhardt wriggled wildly, being carried princess-style by Albert. He clawed Albert’s face with his nails. Although Albert was swearing all sorts of things in his mind, he still watched as Leonhardt walked on his own two feet to his bedroom.

Leonhardt, returning to his bedroom with a body weighed down by exhaustion, hurried to his desk instead of the bed. Opening the secret drawer known only to him, he sifted through the things boys of that age would collect like sparkling crystals and old coins, until he found the wilting flower ring.

Leonhardt smiled, feeling his cheeks warm. He agonized for quite a while, to the point where his legs started trembling, before deciding to write.

He wanted to see Elizabeth’s smiling face again. When he finished, he read the completed letter again to make sure that he did write the letter with enough spelling mistakes for a child.

Is there a sentence that sounds too mature? Is there a difficult word? It would be childlike to make a mistake on such a long spelling, right?

[ Dear Lady Elysium,

The early morning is still cold that the days are continuing to decieve the spring. It felt like it was only yesterday that we spent a wonderful time in the gurden but turns out it has been a week. I hope you’ve been fhysically and mantally healthy. I am sending my best regards with affaction and concern.

There is no other reason for me to hold my pen like this…

From your one and only supporter and love. With all my affaction. ]

Perfect! Leonhardt sealed the letter with delight. He downed the rest of the milk his nanny gave him. Only then did he calmly lie down in his bed. Following the doctor’s opinion, he thought he ought to skip the tedious history class and just get plenty of sleep.