As I entered the kitchen, I was greeted with a very wide space. However, there were only two chefs in this spacious kitchen, and even then, only the young chef was working while other middle-aged chef was on a seat, reading a newspaper and yawning.

The status of the kitchen exactly showed Prince Yuan’s position in the palace. The fact that there were only two chefs in the kitchen of palace where a prince of a nation resided just went to show how disregarded he was.

On the way, the attendant also said that the kitchen also prepared the meals for all workers in this palace. All the work was being done by the kid that seemed to be an apprentice, which just went to show how the prince’s palace was being managed.

“How tragic,” I muttered to myself.

The old attendant with the wolf’s head bowed in embarrassment. “Please forgive me.”

“No, this isn’t something you should apologize for.”

After saying that, I left both of them behind and approached the middle-aged chef who seemed to be the chef in charge.

“Ahem.”

Only when I coughed right in front of him did that chef notice that I had come and scan me in annoyance. Despite the presence of the prince, not only did he not immediately greet me in conformance to the etiquette, he just flipped a page on the newspaper and asked bluntly. “What do you want?”

I almost let my old temper break out when he didn’t even bother to look at me despite knowing who I was, but I barely managed to hold it in. Right now, I had to refrain from standing out as Prince Yuan.

I took a deep breath and after calming myself I put on a delicate smile unique to Prince Yuan. “I came to ask you for a favor.”

The chef replied to me rudely. “No can do, I’m busy.”

“…What?” I was astonished and alternated my gaze between the chef who was reading the newspaper and the apprentice that was working like crazy.

When I did, the chef replied in annoyance, again without looking at me. “Kitchen work is not easy.”

It certainly looked that way watching the apprentice chef. But this guy wasn’t doing anything.

“So don’t disturb me and go back to your room. You’ll have your meal served to you when you obediently stay in your room but you crawl all the way here…”

Ah, I can’t. People should live by their temper. At this rate, my frustration will kill me before any assassins do.

Before the chef could complete his words, I subconsciously grabbed the handle of the frying pan kept on the cupboard and smacked the chef on the head with it.

Bang! Crash…

“Ugh!”

Cooking utensils fell on the floor making a loud noise while the chef fell unconscious due to the sudden shock with blood dripping down his head.

I guess, even with a weak body, I can generate enough power to send someone to the grave as long as I can utilize gravity. Ah~! So refreshing. Who asked you to mess with the temper of someone who wants to be nice?

Precia and the old attendant seemed shocked at what I did, as indicated by their drooping jaws. The apprentice cook, who was busy with all the work was surprised by the sudden noise and looked at the chef.

I wet my fingers with saliva and rubbed it around my eyes before getting down and yelling. “Chef! Are you all right? Oh, my! You! You should have placed the bowls properly. Look what happened!”

Then I grabbed the chef by his shoulder and shook him violently. This was dangerous for someone with head injury but I couldn’t care less. Why would it matter to me if this bastard lives or dies?

“Ugh…Y-Your Highness?”

“Tsk.” I clicked my tongue seeing the chef regaining his consciousness but then started weeping.

“Have you woken up? The cooking utensils placed improperly suddenly fell off!”

“I-I see…” The chef simply accepted the explanation without suspecting after seeing the tears.

Sure, he might vent his frustration on the apprentice later, but he probably won’t be able to do anything. After all, he moment the apprentice quits his job, the chef will have to do everything on his own.

That aside, Prince Yuan’s usual behavior really came in useful at a time like this. Good to know.

I yelled at the old attendant. “Hurry up and call the palace physician! Do you not see that the chef is seriously injured!”

“…Yes, I understand.”

As an attendant who had been in the royal palace for a long time, he immediately grasped the situation and moved quickly.

I apologized to the chef in a tearful voice. “Forgive me. If I did not come to talk to you could have avoided it…”

The chef looked embarrassed when I intentionally sniffled and pretended to wipe my tears.

“Oh, no. I am all right.”

It seemed he felt a sense of guilt when I acted like this despite his clear disregard of me before. If he had ignored me until the end, then I could have given him a more thrilling experience… what a pity.

“I am glad you are okay. By the way, do you know where wine is stored?”

“Yes? Yes…wine is stored in the cellar over th…”

“I see. Then take good care of yourself. You are in charge of the kitchen, which is the backbone of all the people that reside here, are you not?. It is of the utmost importance that you stay healthy so that this palace could stay strong and by extent, the nation. Don’t you agree?” I cut off chef’s words and went in the cellar where liquor was stored.

The cellar only had liquor with less than 20% of alcohol content but I still brought few bottles with me.

* * *

After the old attendant brought the palace physician, I put the chef in the physician’s care and left the kitchen with Precia and the attendant.

After getting far enough from the kitchen, Precia carefully asked me, looking like she had a lot to say. “Your Highness, may I ask why you brought that wine with you?”

That’s the question she picked out of everything she could ask? At her question, I smiled and opened the cap with a corkscrew I brought along with me.

Pop! It made a clear and crisp sound, and the wine inside the bottle waved.

Aah~! Nice sound! I grabbed bottleneck and took a big sip of alcohol.

“This is great.”

As expected of wine belonging to the royal family, it tasted great. Well, cheap liquor would probably never make it inside the palace in the first place.

“Y-Your Highness?” Precia said, looking flustered.

I just smiled back at her. “I just wanted to try it.”

She fell into a daze when I said those words. Although I had decided to pretend to be Prince Yuan, my essence was still Ahn Yuan. Naturally, I would look for drinks before I start any kind of work. After all, my brain worked with some alcohol in me.

“I know what you are worried about. Don’t worry, I won’t leave a hint that I drank something.”

Precia was probably worried about the dinner with the king in the evening. That was a pointless concern though, as I hated losing reason and never drank more than what I could control.

But hmm… maybe it was because this was not my body, but I could already feel the alcohol acting up. Well, I guess that was a good thing, since it meant I could get into the mood with little?

The attendant comforted Precia when she looked worried. “A little should be fine. Maybe it is better to relax. As long as it is not too much…”

It looked like the old attendant thought that I was drinking because of my nervousness about the dinner with the king. I wanted to tell him what was there to be nervous meeting that politics freak, but I decided not to as it was better to drink rather than clear their misunderstanding.

At the attendant’s words Precia muttered, “Ah, that’s true,” and nodded.

I don’t know what made you convinced but never mind. You guys can think whatever you want. I’ll just keep doing whatever I want.

“Then are we going to the garden this time?”

I shook my head in response to Precia’s question. “No, it has been a while since I met my father would I not need some topic to talk about?”

I thought that was a plausible excuse.

“Then…”

“Let us go to the royal study. Books are the best source to look like an intellectual.”

Since I had gotten what I wanted the most, it was time to get something that would save me for real.

* * *

The royal study was not very far from the palace where Prince Yuan lived. Based on the scale alone, it was using an entire palace to itself, so it would be more correct to call it a library, but as only the lineage of the royals could enter it, calling it a ‘study’ sounded more plausible.

Though, then again, Jade, being the protagonist of <The Sage of the Winter Tree>, naturally ignored all rules and sneaked his way inside.

At this point in time, the royal study was practically semi-abandoned. It was only natural as members of royal family were rarely close to books. The princes were obligated to receive various types of education, but they did not bother to come visit this massive study for their books, and kept all the necessary stuff in their spacious rooms. A few generations of that later, it naturally became semi-abandoned.

The royal study was the property of royal family, so there was a librarian responsible for managing the study, at least in name. But because of the entrance qualifications, only the collateral members of the royal family that had not married into influential families took up that responsibility. Naturally, the librarian often just killed time while sitting in the lobby, or sometimes even not come to work at all. Even now, there was no one in the librarian’s seat.

“Both of you wait here. Or you can read some books in the lobby.” Both of them nodded and saw me off.

“Yes. Please take your time.”

“Have a great time.”

“Oh, ‘The Eldorado Adventure’ I think it was? That book is interesting.”

I recommended a name of the book in the lobby that Precia in the future would get interested in and went up to the study. As I climbed the stairs, I felt something like a thin layer of foam passing past my body.

So, this is the Founder’s magic that prevents outsiders from entering?

This magic was the reason why only one with the royal blood could enter the royal study. Though, it wasn’t probably anything amazing considering how Jade broke through it like it was nothing.

The interior of the study could not be called good by any stretch of the imagination. Although the bookshelves were full of books, they were all piled up messily on one side of the study maybe because of the lack of enough shelf space.

“As I thought, it is not managed properly.”

To be frank, it didn’t matter to me as all I had to do was take what I wanted and leave.

There were a total of six hidden secrets in the royal study. One was a book that only the Sage of the Winter Tree, which the protagonist inherits, could read, while two of them were used for the progression of the story. The remaining three were the ones I could use.

Out of those three secrets, the first thing I was aiming for was definitely the “Founder’s legacy.”

The Founder’s legacy was a book for body modification, and it was the reason why there was magic installed in the royal study to prevent anyone else other than royal family from entering.

Even a knight with ordinary talent would be able to become the strongest sword master if they received the Founder’s Legacy.

One downside of it were that modifying the body was all it did, and that effort was needed to actually become stronger, and the other was that the user would only be able to turn their whole body hard like armor for a brief moment when they willed it at the beginning.

“It is not all that useful, but it’s great that it’s perfect for my survival. Let’s see, according to the contents of the novel it should be somewhere around here.”

I went up to the top floor recalling the contents of the novel and pushed a bookcase at the end of the right wall. Then, I managed to activate a hidden mechanism that caught my hand.

Rattle!

“And done!”

Once the mechanism was activated several bookshelves moved away, revealing a small space. And in that space was a luxurious book, which was the Founder’s legacy.

My heart was pounding. I poked a pin into my finger and then put a drop of blood on the cover of the book. Then the book emanated soft light and rose in the air. It opened with a flickering sound.

“Oh! This is totally fantasy!”

Then the glowing magic letters came out of the book and surrounded me.