Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 3

003

“Your Highness? What are you staring at so intently with such a scowl?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Do you know how eerie you look when you do that sometimes? Like you’re seeing a ghost or something.”

“I have a headache. I’ll eat on my own, so you can leave.”

Alfonso’s already narrow eyes narrowed further.

“… Your Highness. You really are Prince Evan, right?”

The guy’s question was laced with doubt.

*I figured he might think that.*

In my previous life, I had a habit of mumbling in a small voice, slurring my words.

The prince with a timid manner and a faint presence. The derogatory nickname given to me was the Ghost Prince of the Emerald Palace.

“You really… seem like a different person.”

But now, my way of speaking had changed completely. Probably because I had become aware of my past life, where my personality had been fully formed before the turbulent period of adolescence had even begun in this life.

I couldn’t exactly tell Alfonso the truth. That guy is also someone who ‘distrusts’ me deep down. He might go and spread rumors that the Ghost Prince has finally gone mad.

Pondering what to say, I brought my hand to my chin, then paused. Stroking my stubbly beard when lost in thought was also a habit from my past life.

I had lived more than twice as long as Evan Lionel in this life… Wait, why can’t I remember my name from my past life?

Throbbing.

The more I tried to recall my name from my past life, the stronger the headache became.

– Mr./Ms. [Name Redacted], you seem like a really good person.

– [Name Redacted], that’s unfortunate.

– [Name Redacted]. Why couldn’t we….

Thwack!

“Kuh-ack!”

I let out a scream at the shock, as if a knife had been stabbed into my brain. An excruciating pain I had never felt before. Clutching my head, I curled up like a shrimp and rolled around on the bed.

“Kuh-uh-uh….”

A groan escaped even though I clenched my teeth.

“Your Highness! I’ll go get a healer right away! Please wait just a moment!”

Through my blurring vision, I faintly saw Alfonso rushing out. I took solace in the fact that I didn’t have to make excuses to him and let go of my consciousness.

***

Chirp, chirp, I opened my eyelids at the sound of insects chirping from somewhere. Alfonso’s status window, which I had been looking at before losing consciousness, came into view. Next to it, the Ghost Hand was waving happily, as if to say, ‘Are you awake now?’

Every time I see such a sight, I wonder if it has a ‘self’.

Using the Ghost Hand, I made the status window as small as possible and tucked it into the corner of my vision, then looked out the window.

Looking at the position of the moon in the sky, it was the dead of night. I blankly stared at the night sky, which looked like it would be filled with stars, and began to sort out the chaotic thoughts in my head, mixed with my past and present lives.

Fortunately, although there was a faint headache, the terrible pain I had felt before losing consciousness did not return.

After a while.

I realized that there were holes everywhere in my memories of my past life. The biggest of them was my name. I couldn’t remember my name from my past life at all.

*‘It’s okay. It’s already a life that has passed.’*

I didn’t have any relatives anyway.

I decided not to worry about the name of my past life, which I couldn’t remember. I took it as a sign to focus on my current life.

I made only one firm resolution.

*‘Let’s live a life without regrets.’*

After organizing my thoughts, I glanced at the table.

A blue flower resembling moonlight had replaced [Cozy Nightmare], which had been there. Third Princess Annette Lionel. It was a flower that my older half-sister, who was three years older than me, liked.

*‘When did she come?’*

I had barely seen her face lately, so I wondered how she knew I was hurt and came to visit.

Her schedule must be packed with lessons from carefully selected instructors. Unlike me, who was cooped up in the Emerald Palace, reading books alone.

The reason is nothing special.

The difference in strategic usefulness.

My sister possessed outstanding beauty to the point where she could catch the eye of foreign royalty or the empire’s high-ranking nobles, or even the imperial family if she was lucky.

The kingdom’s diplomats were probably having heated discussions at every meeting about which of my sister’s marriage prospects would be most beneficial to the national interest.

On the other hand, they would have long ago planned to send the fifth prince, who was nothing more than a burden, to a border region where he would be likely to die at the right time.

*‘Probably five years ago.’*

Around the time when my maternal family, the Beyren Marquisate [a noble territory], which was in charge of the kingdom’s northern border, fell.

I closed my eyes slightly.

The events that had taken place in just one month after the fall of my maternal family came to mind.

– Lady Olivia! Someone has poisoned the Third Princess’s food… Ah! Prince Evan! Why are you here….

First, a maid came with news that someone had tried to poison my sister.

– Olivia Einberg. I arrest you on suspicion of attempted regicide [killing a royal person].

Next, the Royal Secret Service suddenly stormed in.

They took away my nanny, as well as my escort knights and exclusive attendants. The image of my nanny looking at me with worried eyes is still vivid in my mind.

– Your Highness, live like a dead mouse. As if you don’t exist. Then you might be able to save your life. Maybe. Heh.

The words that the Secret Service officer, who resembled a rat, whispered in my ear as he smirked at me, alone, seemed to echo again.

*‘That bastard….’*

I bit my lip without realizing it.

A bitter taste was felt in the saliva passing down my throat. I wiped the blood flowing from the corner of my mouth with my thumb and looked in the mirror.

I saw the me of that time, with a terrified face.

Not just a metaphor, but people around me really had their heads cut off overnight. It was naturally too much for an eight-year-old child to handle. That’s how I became the Ghost Prince of the Emerald Palace.

“Live like a dead mouse and you’ll save your life? Did you believe those words, you idiot.”

The child in the mirror with a wounded expression at the words spat out like a dagger. Soon, he gave a bitter smile, saying that it couldn’t be helped.

Yes, I didn’t actually believe it.

I just wanted to believe it.

At the point when the succession structure becomes clear, or even if it doesn’t, immediately after the coming-of-age ceremony, there is a very high probability that I will be thrown out to a place where it is difficult to survive.

Still, thanks to living as the Ghost Prince, I am still breathing. If I had been a little more outgoing, it wouldn’t have ended with a prank of replacing 「Silent Night」 with 「Cozy Nightmare」.

*‘I would have died a sudden death long ago.’*

Throbbing.

The bearable headache returned. I frowned and massaged my temples with both hands. After doing that for a while, it gradually got better.

It felt like a sign to prepare for the future quickly. To respond to that, I pulled Alfonso’s status window, which I had tucked away in the corner of my vision, in front of me.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━×

Alfonso Einberg

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Race: Human

[Stats]

[Skills]

[Relationship: Distrust]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

*‘Einberg….’*

Five years ago, the worst epidemic broke out in the northern region of the Lionel Kingdom.

The worst infectious disease with a mortality rate of over 80%.

It was named ‘Dark Flower Fever’ because black spots bloomed like flowers all over the body and were accompanied by a high fever that melted the brain.

The Dark Flower Fever, which devastated the north, subsided only after three months, and it was a matter of course that the Beyren Marquisate, the center of the epidemic outbreak, was devastated.

At that time, the army of the Hamele Empire marched south. And soon after, news of the Beyren Marquis’s death came. My maternal grandfather, who was called the Sword of the North, passed away so futilely.

Einberg was a knight family that followed the Beyren Marquisate. I knew that there were no survivors among the men.

*‘There was an Einberg who survived.’*

I understood that he was hiding his origin.

Olivia Einberg was the one who was beheaded for the crime of poisoning the royal family. It was a big deal that was widely reported throughout the kingdom.

He would have hesitated before writing his ‘name’ even in the guestbook of the inn, which is written for formality. Then he would have ended up writing another name.

*‘Why did he come to the royal palace?’*

The moment it is revealed that Alfonso’s original surname is not Heimdel but Einberg, it will not be easy to save his life.

No, before that.

How did he become a servant of the royal family without being caught?

He is a case of being promoted from a servant to an attendant.

He would have gone through a total of two verifications, once when he was selected as a servant and again when he was promoted to an attendant. When he was selected as a servant, it was possible if he had a lot of money because there were so many corrupt guys….

*‘It would have been different when he was promoted to an attendant.’*

Did they perhaps investigate his background roughly because he was assigned to me?

*‘What is his relationship with the nanny?’*

I pondered the relationship between Alfonso and the nanny for a while.

He is not her son.

Not only do they not resemble each other, but I heard that the nanny lost her husband and child at the same time in an accident. She took time off once a year to commemorate her deceased family.

*‘I don’t know.’*

Since they are the same Einberg, they must be distant relatives at the very least.

If he shows me negative emotions beyond caution, such as hostility or murderous intent, I can just slip it to the Royal Secret Service.

I finished thinking about it roughly to that extent and opened Alfonso’s stat window.

━━━━━━━━━━×

Stamina: ?

Strength: D+

Endurance: ?

Cardiopulmonary Endurance: D-

Agility: ?

Flexibility: ?

.

.

.

Mana: ?

━━━━━━━━━━

There were more stats marked with question marks that could not be known than those that were visible. Show it if you want to show it, and don’t if you don’t want to….

No. It’s better to be able to check even some of it. I decided to think positively.

I pressed the stats that were question marks with the Ghost Hand’s index finger. There was no particular reaction. I thought a message like ‘Would you like to check by consuming ○○RP?’ would pop up.

Pass.

Since there is no way to check it now, I decided to focus on what I could see.

*‘Strength is D+? I thought it would be around E like me.’*

Alfonso was treated as a weakling among the attendants. Moreover, perhaps because he was promoted from a servant to an attendant, he was often caught up in fights.

He always grinned with narrow eyes and bowed down. I never knew that was all acting.

*‘Is the average person’s D not D but C?’*

A thought suddenly occurred to me, but I shook my head.

That can’t be.

The physical abilities of humans who cannot handle ‘mana’ are the same in both the past and present lives. My flexibility, which allows me to stretch like a gymnastics prodigy, is C-.

I remembered that Alfonso used to chatter next to me, saying that I was like a ‘contortionist’ when I stretched sometimes.

*‘A suspicious guy.’*

I erased Alfonso’s face, smiling with narrow eyes, from my head and closed his stat window.

*‘Let’s check the skill window too.’*

Breathing, walking, running, throwing….

The first screen, where even trivial things were registered as skills, was not much different from mine.

To check what great skills he has, I swiped the screen up with the Ghost Hand’s index finger.

[?]

[?]

[?]

.

.

.

[?]

My expression frowned involuntarily at the feast of [?].

I barely suppressed the urge to turn it off.

Still, I was able to find out something even in the midst of poor information. First of all, unlike my skill window, it only shows the skills I have.

And.

*‘A lot.’*

It seemed like twice the amount of skills I had. No matter how much even things like breathing take up a spot in the skill window, it clearly exceeded the general category.

*‘He’s definitely learning something special.’*

I stroked my chin and fell into thought.

Einberg, a knight family.

Did Alfonso also take knight lessons?

It seems a bit insufficient to say that, considering his confirmed strength. It seemed like a problem that could only be known accurately at the moment of confirming the [?] that filled the status window in front of me.

*‘How do I check that?’*

The situation around me is not very good as it is, and there is even a dark-hearted guy next to me.

The dawn when the moon is waning.

The time of 고민 [worry/trouble] deepened.