A loud growl rang out from my lean body. “Ah shit. I am starving. I will finish this quickly and eat.”

According to my original plan, I would have left this place before lunch and gone to obtain items hidden elsewhere. But because of interpreting the ancient language and the unexpected pain, it was long past lunchtime.

I was even more starving because of the pain I had to endure with my already insufficient stamina.

“Should I have gone for Videl’s armor instead? No, considering the situation this guy is in, it would be difficult to enter the central palace.”

The royal palace consisted various palaces, with the central palace—the king’s residence—at its center. Spreading outwards, the palaces within the castle walls were called the inner palaces, and the ones outside the castle walls were called outer palaces.

As a prince, I could freely enter the inner and outer palaces, but even my status as a prince didn’t permit me to freely enter the king’s residence. It was for this reason that Prince Yuan was so excited to see his father for his birthday, unaware of the fact that the cold-blooded king only thought of his child as a political tool.

That couldn’t be helped, as his mother died when he was young and his stepmother and stepsiblings only looked down on him. In that situation, the king was the only one whom he could call his family. Even then, he died on his birthday without getting to see his father’s face.

“Haa… I was quite unlucky, but this guy had a terribly miserable life.”

I went to the fifth floor as I expressed my condolences to Prince Yuan, who had led a pitiful life. On this floor was a secret left behind by Lizbeth, the legitimate wife of the Founder. To be exact, it was hidden under the tiles of this floor. I put my ear on the floor and tapped the tiles one by one. I couldn’t distinguish the sound by just tapping, so I took off my shoes smacked it against the ground with strength.

Jade, who found this in the novel, did so through noticing a minute difference in sound as he walked around the study, but I didn’t have such a freakish hearing ability.

The study was stupidly wide to just go around recklessly smacking the ground everywhere, so I reduced the area of interest based on the title of the books Jade looked through in the novel.

“Hm, is this the one?”

I stuck the corkscrew with a knife attachment that I had brought with me while I was getting wine from the kitchen. Then I pressed my body weight onto the corkscrew to the point that the knife started bending to lift the tile.

“Opeeeeen!”

I couldn’t help but sigh at this trashy body struggling to lift a single tile. Still, I could smile again when I saw the white ping-pong ball hidden underneath.

“Found it, the mascot.”

In my opinion, Lizbeth’s legacy was the least significant of the secrets hidden in the palace.

That was because…

—Meow.

What Lizbeth left behind in the white ball was a wind spirit.

I picked the white ball up when I heard the sound and the ball scattered like smoke. Not long later, a palm-sized white cat with black stripes appeared.

All this little cat did in the novel <The Sage of the Winter Tree> was to cheer up the characters when they were exhausted. Recalling those scenes, I couldn’t help but think that this wind spirit was the best mascot out there. Not only was it small and acted cute around its owner, as it was a spirit, there was no need to bathe it or manage its food or litter train.

It was only relatively useless in Jade’s party aside from being cute, since those people were all freakishly powerful. It should be able to easily take down weaklings like me.

—Meow.

Having been in slumber for a long time, the cat stretched itself on my palm. Then it sniffed a few times before rubbing its face against my hand. I was worried that it might not like me after all the unexpected things that happened earlier, but fortunately, it seemed to accept that I was its owner.

It was a relief that I managed to obtain this one properly at least. If even this didn’t work out, I would’ve really died. Scratch that, my life was still in a precarious position. It was just that now, I at least had something to defend myself in a situation where I could not escape death.

“Your name is… let’s just go with Nabi.”

Nabi is good enough for a cat.

At least I didn’t name it something like “Woofie.” Oh, the name that protagonist Jade gave it was “Asazahadmioli Mercuhi Zavia de Jade.” Supposedly, it meant “Jade’s Goddess of Wind with a beautiful cry.”

Who the hell names a cat like that?

Nabi flew onto my shoulder and rubbed its cheek which I couldn’t tell was because it liked me, or because it liked the name.

“Nabi. Invisible.”

—Meow.

At my command, Nabi turned itself invisible. Even though I couldn’t see it, I could sense where it was. It was a very new feeling.

Maybe this is how spirit contractors feel?

I did few things to check Nabi’s power and then went down after roughly organizing the study.

Herion greeted me when I returned. “You’re back, Your Highness. Your business has taken longer than we anticipated.”

I replied to the old wolf-headed attendant with a smile. “I lost the track of time while reading a book. Oh, is that my meal?”

I took a sandwich out of the lunch basket and took a bite when the old servant warned me.

“You must be hungry very hungry as you haven’t had food, but please, you must not eat your fill as it will hinder your impending dinner with His Majesty.”

“I know, but I will have to eat at least some in order to not growl at the banquet.”

In the first place, the dinner banquet would get canceled whether things went well or not, so it did not matter if I ate my fill.

However, as my exclusive attendant suggested, I only ate enough to stave off my hunger; making my body slow to react in a situation like this was akin to suicide.

At that moment, Precia got closer to me and sniffed me.

What the… Did she notice Nabi already?

When I panicked, Precia spoke seriously, “I smell blood…Your Highness! Did you get hurt? Why do I smell blood from your body!”

Hearing her shout, the attendant also looked at me, startled. “Did you get hurt?! Show me the wound immediately! No, I shall call the palace physician right away!”

What the… she managed to catch the smell of blood before a wolfkin. How good is her smell?

I caught the attendant from leaving. “Calm down. I just got a nosebleed because I got hit by a book that fell on me while I was pulling a book from the bookshelf.”

That excuse was just befitting of a guy who passed out after falling on the ground trying to save a cat. It seemed my excuse sounded persuasive as both of them soon accepted it even while being worried.

“After what happened in the morning, you went and… Do you even know how worried I was?” Precia said, sounding much more friendly as though she was trying to be my elder sister.

According to the plot of the novel, Precia was still 15 and Prince Yuan had just turned 17, so that felt a little weird coming from her.

“Okay, I will be careful. There is not much time left for the dinner so let us go back and prepare for it.”

When I walked up ahead, the two of them followed me. Prince Yuan’s remaining life wasn’t that long.

* * *

After returning to the detached palace, I moved according to the procedure and with the help of court ladies, changed into a fancy tailcoat from the dusty blood-stained ones. Everyone in the palace was busy in preparation for king’s arrival and prince’s exclusive attendant was busy managing them.

I wanted to put on the clothes by myself, but unlike casual clothes, these ridiculous-clown-like clothes were not the type that one person could put on alone. The court ladies were surprised when they saw the wounds on my chest while getting me changed but I spoke with a faint smile like a tragic prince.

“Do not tell this to anyone. I do not care but I am afraid you will get hurt.”

My words shook the eyes of the court ladies; it seemed that they had already created a drama sequence in their heads, most likely about an unfortunate prince being bullied by the queen.

These women usually ignored Prince Yuan, but they offered words of comfort today while getting me ready, as though some form of sympathy sprouted within them. It did not matter whether they leaked this matter elsewhere. Actually, I hoped they would, as that would make the situation much more interesting.

I held myself back from smiling and finished getting myself dressed.

“But do you really need a corset?”

This body was fairly skinny, so there was no need for a corset at all.

I smiled and answered the young court lady who asked that.

“It has been a while since I saw my father. I have to be respectful even in places he cannot see.”

Corsets were actually used to correct men’s figure, and was a part of the set for palace tailcoats, so what I said was correct. According to the fragments of memories of Prince Yuan, it was instead women’s formal social attire that did not include corsets, but women supposedly used them in secret lately.

This punk knew everything other than anything useful. Not a single thing he had was useful, whether it was his body or mindset.

“Oh, please forgive me.”

I replied to unknown court lady’s apology.

“No, there is nothing to be sorry about.”

Actually, I was not putting on the corset to be “respectful,” but as a substitute for armor. While it wouldn’t be as good as a full-on chainmail, it could give enough protection to my abdominal region.

“You all worked hard. Can you call Precia over?”

At my request, the court ladies went out to call Precia but they gave me the news that she could not come right away.

So then, this is how they take away might only escort, huh?

This was the queen’s work. And she had the audacity to demote her and exile her to Bastaille for “failing to protect the prince.” Ridiculous.

“Is that so, I understand. That aside, I am feeling fairly tired. I’m sure all of you must be busy so don’t be held up by me and attend to your business.” I told the court ladies I needed to rest and had them leave.

And so, I was left alone in the waiting room next to the banquet hall, where Prince Yuan had died in the novel, determined and prepared as I waited for the assassin to come.

When I first realized that I had become Prince Yuan, I thought about whether I should keep Precia by my side somehow. But there were two reasons I decided against involving Precia in this assassination attempt and resolve it by myself.

One was the possibility that the assassin would give up on killing me today if Precia was near me. If today passed by peacefully, then the assassin might aim for my life in a situation I could not prepare for. If the danger was inevitable, I had to resolve it when I had control over it.

Another reason was to use this assassination attempt to my advantage. No matter how ignored and neglected Prince Yuan was, he was the first prince. There was attempt of assassination on a prince? And that to right before his birthday dinner with the King? I could think of five or six ideas to use it to my advantage off the top of my head.

“Ufufu. I cannot lose this precious opportunity. Don’t you agree, Nabi?”

—Me-meow.

I felt like Nabi was trembling, but I could not see it, so it was probably just me.

“Yes, yes. I see you also agree with me. After today, let’s rip the palace, no, the entire capital every last penny it has.”

—Meow!

Nabi cried at the moment, which only I could hear announcing that it was time and the hand of the clock passed 6 o’clock. But the clock did not ring. The clock in the waiting room rang eight minutes late as described in the novel which meant there was about five minutes until the assassin’s arrival.

I calmed myself by rubbing the chin of Nabi that was still hidden, in invisible state. Too much tension would only stiffen the body.

Ding-!

Eventually, the clock rang and the door of the waiting room opened without my permission and a masked man entered the room.

And thus began the prologue—my prologue.