I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 721

There were two people Christian had warned the substitute boy to be careful of.

One was his younger sister, Ariel.

The other was the nanny who had cared for the prince and princess since they were babies.

“Nanny, Nanny!”

Ariel dragged the substitute boy to the nanny’s room without any explanation.

“Oh my, our prince and princess. Welcome.”

The nanny was a great witch known as ‘Coco the Severer.’

In addition to her duties as a nanny, she also had to protect the royal children. Therefore, the king had appointed her, the most powerful mage among his retainers, as the nanny and guardian of his two children.

Coco, who was also the magic teacher of the prince and princess, smiled kindly.

“I was sad that you haven’t visited often since you grew up, but I’m happy that you both came together today. Is there something you need from this old woman?”

“Nanny, look closely!”

Ariel grabbed the substitute boy by the collar and shook him violently.

“He’s not my brother, this person is a fake!”

“What?”

Coco frowned and examined the boy closely. The boy swallowed hard and avoided her gaze.

After a moment, Coco tilted her head and stepped back.

“…But isn’t he the prince?”

“No, he’s different! He’s completely different, I’m telling you! Look closely!”

Only then did Coco use magic to examine the substitute boy, and she let out a startled groan.

“Oh my, the princess is right. He’s under a very high-level perception-blocking magic… and a disguise magic was used as well. His voice is also altered.”

Now accepting that the prince before her was a fake, Coco raised both hands.

“He’s incredibly convincing. In fact, if the princess hadn’t pointed it out, I would have been fooled too.”

“Can you undo the magic on him?”

“I’ll try.”

Eventually, after a while, the substitute boy had the perception-blocking necklace taken from him, and the disguise on his hair and eye color was undone, returning them to their original dark gray.

‘I’m doomed…’

He had dared to impersonate the prince and infiltrate the palace, so he would be punished. Conversely, he would be scolded by the prince for failing his mission…

His mind went blank, and the boy sat there dazedly, while Ariel and Coco were just looking at him with admiration and astonishment.

“There’s no other magic? It’s really amazing. How can he look so much like my brother?”

“They say there are three people in the world who look alike. More importantly, Princess, it’s not about how similar they look right now…”

“Oh, right.”

Swish!

Ariel drew her sword again and rebuked the boy.

“Tell me the truth! Who are you? Where is my brother right now?”

“Ugh…”

The boy, with tears welling up in his eyes in front of the sword pointed at his neck, had no choice but to tell the truth.

The real Prince Christian had gone to the Eastern Continent in search of the magic of immortality. The head of the Magic Research Institute, Dirandahi, had also accompanied him, and under his instructions, he was to act as a substitute.

“It takes time to travel there because there are no teleportation points, but they can return immediately with magic… um, anyway, they expected it to take about a month. I was supposed to not get caught during that month… but…”

He was caught as soon as he started.

In front of the boy, who was muttering with a miserable expression, Ariel frowned, her beautiful brow furrowed in disbelief.

“The magic of immortality? There’s no way such a thing exists! What on earth is my brother doing…?”

Nanny Coco chimed in.

“That’s right. Even if such magic existed… it would be something akin to a curse, not magic.”

Coco then shook her head.

“And the fact that the prince had to search for something like that means he was driven to the edge.”

“My brother is such a… fool. What Father needs is not the magic of immortality.”

To stop wandering and stand by his father’s side with dignity.

That alone would make the king happy, but it seemed that the prince, consumed by inferiority, couldn’t see that at all.

“Haa…”

Ariel sighed deeply, placed her hands on her hips, and stood in front of the substitute boy.

“Okay. Now that things have come to this, for the month that my brother is gone! You’ll have to perfectly act as my brother.”

The fact that the prince had left for a month without informing the king, especially to the already destroyed Eastern Continent, was not something that would be received well. Especially for Christian, who was already causing trouble for his father.

In that regard, Ariel wasn’t sure whether to praise her brother’s preparedness in arranging a substitute before leaving.

Since things had turned out this way, she was determined to thoroughly supervise this fake to ensure that no harm came to the real Christian.

“I’ll be by your side at all times to make sure you don’t cause any trouble with my brother’s face.”

“Yes? You, Princess…?”

“Yes, me personally. So, if you were planning to do anything foolish while pretending to be the prince, you can forget about it.”

Although he felt wronged, the substitute boy quietly sniffled, given the situation.

Ariel gestured with her chin at the boy.

“So, you. What’s your name?”

“Yes?”

“I can’t call you my brother. What’s your real name?”

The boy hesitated before answering.

“Um, I don’t have one…”

“Huh? How can you not have a name?”

“I’m a non-citizen, and a low-ranking slave at that. Non-citizens usually don’t have names…”

Ariel, surprised and hesitant, asked again.

“But there must be a name that people call you.”

“Well, my masters usually called me… A Slave, or The Slave.”

“Wow, really? That’s too much…”

Ariel shook her head, unable to bring herself to call him that.

“Then let’s decide on a temporary name for us to use. Um, let’s see…”

Since it was a person’s name, she couldn’t just randomly pick one like naming a dog. Ariel hesitated, deep in thought.

As she pondered, the article that the boy’s former masters used before his title slipped from Ariel’s lips.

“Hmm. A, The…”

“…Yes?”

The boy mumbled, bewildered.

“Aether…?”

“What? No, no! I was just muttering to myself. What kind of name is made up of just articles?”

In front of Ariel, who was frantically waving her hands, the boy blankly repeated the strange name.

Why was it?

The moment that name slipped from Ariel’s lips, he felt a sense of destiny.

A gut feeling that it was his name.

“I’m just a substitute anyway. Temporary. A fake.”

The substitute boy lowered his head.

“That name is enough for me.”

“…”

“Please call me Aether from now on, Princess.”

The boy then smiled shyly.

“Thank you for giving me a name. I’ll cherish it.”

“…”

With the same face as her always grumpy brother, he was smiling so meekly. It was unfamiliar, and it somehow reminded Ariel of her childhood, so she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“It’s a relief that you don’t seem like a completely bad person.”

Ariel reached out her hand to the substitute boy—now named Aether—who was kneeling before her.

“Okay, let’s get along for the next month… Aether.”

Ariel smiled brightly.

“I’ll make sure to help you so that you won’t get caught as a fake brother!”

“…”

Aether couldn’t bring himself to take the princess’s pure white hand that was extended towards him, and just stared up at it.

If he hadn’t been caught as a substitute, he would have grabbed that hand without hesitation.

But now that his true identity—a lowly slave—had been revealed, it felt like something distant and untouchable.

So, instead of taking her hand… he bowed his head deeply.

***

Ironically, while Aether was acting as Christian’s substitute,

Christian’s reputation improved day by day.

He no longer threw tantrums for no reason, nor did he skip royal events without permission.

He was expressionless and had become less talkative, but.

He consistently showed his face here and there with Princess Ariel, and he toured the country with Ariel instead of the ailing king, and he carried out various tasks that required royal approval with Ariel.

Rumors spread everywhere that the prince had finally come to his senses.

“As expected, stories of a delinquent reforming are popular throughout history…”

Ariel sighed as she heard about Christian’s improving reputation.

“I wish my real brother would change his mind soon too. Sigh.”

Standing behind Ariel, who was troubled, Aether suddenly blinked.

Ariel’s hair, which had been busy assisting with various state affairs, was disheveled. The red ribbon she always wore was slowly coming undone.

Aether, hesitating, carefully asked.

“Um… Princess.”

“Hm?”

Ariel, who turned around at Aether’s call, mumbled awkwardly.

“Ah, it feels really strange when you call me ‘Princess, Princess’ with that face without using my name…”

“Haha…”

“So, what is it?”

“Well, if it’s not rude… may I fix your hair?”

Only then did Ariel realize that her hair was disheveled, and she gasped, touching the back of her head. Aether waved his hands in panic.

“I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything…”

“No, it’s okay. I was just surprised.”

Ariel chuckled and turned her back to him.

“When else would our brother ever fix my hair? Please do it.”

“Yes, then…”

Aether carefully untied the red cloth that bound Ariel’s hair.

Ariel’s dazzling silver hair cascaded down like a waterfall. Ariel lightly shook her shoulders and explained.

“My late mother used to tie my hair with a red cloth when I was little. She said that a red ribbon suited my silver hair, or something like that.”

“…”

“So, I’ve been sticking to this style my whole life. Even though I’m almost an adult, I’m a little self-conscious about still wearing a ribbon… haha. But it suits me, right?”

Indeed, it did.

Aether carefully combed and tied Ariel’s hair with the ribbon, agreeing.

He had never seen such soft and beautiful hair before. Each strand of Ariel’s shimmering hair was like a finely drawn silver thread.

And, the princess’s fair nape that was glimpsed between her long hair…

He had been dragged here as if caught in a whirlwind, without any will of his own, and was acting as the prince’s substitute.

But at this moment, Aether thought for the first time that he was glad he had come to the royal palace.

He was happy that he could fix and tie the princess’s hair.

Soon, Ariel’s hair was neatly arranged. Ariel glanced at the mirror and turned around with a bright smile.

“Wow, you’re good at tying hair? What kind of work did you do before?”

“Yes?”

“Before you came here as a substitute, I mean. Your touch is so delicate and gentle, it’s not like you’ve only done it once or twice.”

Aether, who had been blank for a moment, stammered.

“I did… everything. We slaves don’t get to choose our work…”

Ariel was ignorant of the lives of non-citizens. Especially the lives of slaves at the bottom.

So, she listened carefully to Aether’s rambling words.

“The slaves where I lived stayed in a dormitory together… Every morning, when there was a need for chores outside the outer walls, citizens would come and take the slaves to where they were needed.”

“Hmm.”

“All sorts of dirty and dangerous work was assigned every day, and this is a bit strange, but… the citizens didn’t like us being dirty. We had to dress neatly when we went to work.”

The citizens treated non-citizens as parasites living in the Lake Kingdom. They considered them to be fools who lived in a beautiful and perfect magic kingdom, unable to use magic.

If these parasites were dirty and messy, they were even more despised. So, to please the citizens, non-citizens had to maintain a clean appearance.

“So, we had to tidy up our appearance before going to work, and somehow I ended up being the one who fixed the hair of the people I lived with in the dormitory.”

In a slave dormitory where hundreds of people lived together.

Aether, who combed and braided everyone’s hair every morning, had become a master of hair styling.

“…Well, it’s a trivial story.”

After awkwardly finishing his story, Aether realized that Ariel was staring directly at him.

Ariel, who had been looking at Aether with clear turquoise eyes, called him in a clear voice.

“Aether.”

Aether, who had been momentarily lost in thought, snapped back to reality a beat late and answered hastily.

“Y-Yes?”

“Tell me about it often. Your life in this country as a slave.”

Ariel smiled brightly.

“I think it will help us make this country a better place in the future.”

“…”

Ariel, turning away from Aether, who had a blank expression, looked at the documents on her desk. They were documents outlining her upcoming schedule.

“Anyway, there’s a schedule that needs to be urgently dealt with next week… hmm.”

On the documents that Ariel had put down, the words ‘Royal Ball’ were faintly visible.

Aether’s face, who was unusually able to read as a slave, turned pale.

Ariel smiled wryly at Aether and asked.

“Aether. Do you happen to know how to dance?”