Chapter 6: To Taron’s Palace (2)

Jade, who looked more shocked than anyone else, froze stiff in front of the door.

Seeing that, Trine shook his head and continued his explanation.

“From now on, Jade will be in charge of training the Third Prince in swordsmanship.”

“The Third Prince… you mean Prince Raion, who collapsed from poor health some time ago and only recently regained consciousness?”

Raion’s incident was well-known within the royal palace.

Of course, Commander Arel had heard the rumors too. He didn’t know all the details, but he knew the gist.

“Anyway, that’s how it is. Sit down for now, Jade.”

With a dazed look, Jade finally did as Trine said and sat on the sofa. After a brief silence, he managed to regain his composure.

“Are you seriously saying I’m supposed to train His Highness the Prince in swordsmanship? That this is an order from His Majesty the King?”

“That’s right!”

“Do I really have to?”

He seemed to hesitate, as though weighing the King Laskan’s command.

At that response, Trine’s expression twisted in frustration.

“It’s an order from His Majesty the King. It’s not something you can refuse!”

“Why should I train some weak little—! Mmgh!”

Before Jade could finish, Arel jumped in and clamped a hand over his mouth.

“My apologies, Commander. This brat just has a foul mouth.”

“Good grief… What was His Highness Raion thinking, personally naming someone like that? More than that—when did you even get close enough to the Prince for him to know you?”

Chomp—!

Before the question was even finished, Jade bit down on Arel’s hand that had been covering his mouth.

“Argh—! You damn brat! You bit your own commander?!”

“Ptooey! Well, why’d you cover my mouth? And what do you mean, I got close to the Prince? I’ve never even seen his face before!”

Trine tilted his head further, puzzled.

“What? You’ve never met him? Then how does His Highness know your name?”

“How should I know that?! But are you saying he really picked me out himself?”

“Didn’t I just tell you? He even knew your name precisely. Now that I think about it, that’s strange… His Highness almost never leaves the palace…”

There were too many oddities, but it was too late to question them now.

Besides, since an official order had already been issued by King Laskan, all they could do was accept it.

“Anyway, I refuse.”

“If you don’t obey the order, you could be expelled from the Order—or even imprisoned for defying royal command!”

“So what? That wouldn’t be any different from being locked up here. Honestly, I’d prefer being expelled.”

“Ugh…”

Truthfully, Trine had been worried about this from the moment Raion chose Jade.

He had known Jade would absolutely refuse.

“My job is just to deliver the message. Whether you refuse or accept, you’ll have to tell the Prince yourself.”

“Me?”

“I’ll inform His Highness, of course. But since it’s an order from His Majesty, you’d better not take it lightly.”

With that, Trine finished speaking and left Arel’s office.

Arel, the owner of the office, had been listening the whole time and ended up sharing the headache between them.

Of course, from his perspective, it would be a relief to send off the troublemaker Jade somewhere else.

But he was also worried that the Wind Wolves might suffer the consequences.

Outside, Trine let out a long sigh.

Jade had been forcibly brought into the Order because of a personal connection with Trine.

The rumors were true—Jade was the son of his deceased friend.

However, it wasn’t mere sentimentality that led Trine to accept him.

“I just wanted him to start from the bottom and grow step by step.”

Trine had seen Jade’s swordsmanship—it was nothing short of genius.

Despite never having received proper instruction, he possessed an innate sense for the blade.

Of course, he still lacked much in character and experience.

He had a mountain of things to learn, but if he filled those gaps, the greatest knight of the Canel Kingdom might very well be born.

Trine had placed Jade in the Wind Wolves precisely with that hope in mind.

“Well, perhaps His Highness will change his mind once he meets him in person. I’ll just have to wait and see. Haaah~”

Letting out another sigh, Trine turned back toward his Order’s quarters.

—

Clatter, clatter.

The carriage that left the royal palace headed southeast toward the outer wall.

Inside it were Raion, Patrick, and Monica, who were relocating to Taron’s Palace.

Originally, the two attendants were supposed to travel on foot, but since their number was small, they shared the carriage.

Patrick glanced at Raion, whose gaze was fixed outside the window.

“Now that I think about it, this must be your first time outside, Your Highness.”

As he said, Raion had indeed never seen the world beyond the palace walls.

Of course, that was true only for the former Raion.

In the original timeline of the future, he wouldn’t have seen it until five years later.

‘Back then, I was practically thrown out of the palace.’

Outside the window, countless people bustled about, living their busy daily lives—merchants, commoners, mercenaries, and more.

It was a lively scene, yet for Raion, it carried a bitter aftertaste.

“Well… yes.”

“Have you heard the rumors spreading in the palace, Your Highness?”

An abrupt question—but Raion already knew what he meant.

“The rumor that I’m running away to Taron’s Palace?”

“So you’ve heard.”

“It’s hard not to when it’s being whispered everywhere. Well, they’re not entirely wrong.”

For Raion, it was essentially a tactical retreat.

With no real power at present, he couldn’t face any of his enemies head-on.

“You could say it has… several layers of meaning. And I hear you’ve requested a knight named Jade from the Wind Wolves to serve as your sword instructor?”

“That rumor’s already spread too?”

It had only been a minor event in the training hall. Hardly the kind of thing to make news, so Raion found it surprising.

“Sir Jade’s reputation… isn’t great, to be honest. And few knights assigned to the royal palace have ever even seen him.”

Patrick seemed unusually well-informed about the incident in the hall.

Raion looked at him curiously, intrigued.

“That’s a bit different from the version I heard. Though, I suppose some parts might be true.”

“I trust Your Highness’s judgment. Still, Sir Trine said that Jade would visit soon, yet he’s failed to appear.”

Patrick had mentioned several times that they should summon Jade immediately, but Raion had stopped him.

“He’ll come—whether to refuse or accept, he’ll have to. I already sent word for him to report to Taron’s Palace.”

“I can’t say I’m pleased about it.”

While the two spoke, the carriage rolled swiftly toward Taron’s Palace.

Meanwhile, Monica, who always got motion sickness in carriages, had promptly fallen asleep the moment they set off—despite the impropriety of doing so in the Prince’s presence.

Of course, Raion didn’t mind—after all, they were like family to him.

They departed in the morning and arrived at Taron’s Palace only after noon.

The workers brought their luggage inside first.

It wasn’t particularly dirty, since basic cleaning had already been done.

However, as the palace had once been a prison facility, both the grounds and the structure itself were enormous.

“Wow… So we’ll be using all of this just for ourselves?”

While tidying up, Monica looked around the grand lobby—several times larger than the royal residence—and clicked her tongue in amazement.

There was no one else besides Patrick and Monica who had accompanied Raion to this place.

“It’ll take quite some time to clean up the rest of it. Was it really necessary for only us to come?”

Patrick pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, shaking his head with concern.

Raion, who had just entered with them, replied,

“There’s no need to use the whole place. We’ll just take our rooms, the living area, and the kitchen.”

While he spoke, Monica stared at him with an unusually intent gaze.

“Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve wanted to ask for a while, but never got the chance… You seem so different from before you woke up.”

Raion had always been painfully timid.

Even when giving orders, he’d stutter and fidget, too indecisive to assert himself.

So for Monica—who had served beside him daily—it was strange not to notice how much he’d changed.

“Just think of it as… an act I had to put on, to prepare for the future.”

“……Pardon? You mean, you pretended to be like that all this time?”

The idea that someone’s personality could change so drastically was almost unthinkable.

So Raion gave an explanation that, while strange, sounded plausible enough.

“You know my position. You know how Queen Elina, who supports my brothers Ashuran and Valet, feels about me.”

Everyone in the royal palace knew that Queen Elina regarded Raion as a thorn in her side.

Of course, the nobles dared not speak of it openly, but the servants whispered about it as gossip fodder.

“Patrick, did you know about this too?”

At that, Patrick glanced briefly at Raion before replying,

“Yes~! I was aware, Your Highness.”

“Then… why are you showing it now?”

Raion had been acting for years—risking his life in deception, even at such a young age.

But the fact that he was now revealing his true self, at only twelve years old, was difficult to comprehend.

“Miss Monica,” Patrick explained gently, “His Highness has only shown this side to the two of us. No one else knows. That’s also one of the reasons he moved here to Taron’s Palace.”

Patrick and Monica were the only attendants who had followed Raion here.

With no others around, Raion no longer needed to hide his true self.

“I see. I’m honored, Your Highness!”

Monica looked genuinely delighted—simply being recognized as someone important to him was enough to make her proud.

Raion, on the other hand, felt embarrassed and merely scratched the back of his red hair awkwardly.

“Ah, I’ve also arranged the training room you mentioned before.”

Patrick spoke up at just the right moment.

“Where is it?”

“It’s by the training grounds behind Taron’s Palace. Allow me to show you. And I’ve also prepared the items you requested.”

While Monica continued cleaning, the two men went toward the rear of the palace.

Just as Patrick said, a separate annex building stood by the training grounds.

“This used to be the quarters for the knights stationed here. There was a meeting room inside, so we remodeled it.”

The inside of the building was spotless—royal laborers had already cleaned it thoroughly.

When they entered the workshop, various tools were neatly arranged across the room.

“The space is just right,” Raion remarked.

“These are the unused ores you asked for. They contain too many impurities to be used elsewhere.”

“This will do nicely. Where are the magic books?”

“The books are prepared in the next room. I gathered as many as I could from the royal capital—discreetly, of course.”

All of Raion’s activities had been under Queen Elina’s surveillance.

Naturally, any suspicious movement would be reported straight to her.

Patrick’s actions were no exception.

So Raion had ordered that all preparations be made through several intermediaries to conceal any trace.

“Thank you, Patrick.”

“Think nothing of it, Your Highness. I’m only fulfilling my duty as your butler.”

“I’ll be staying here for the time being. There’s a lot I need to work on. Bring my meals here too.”

“That won’t do, Your Highness.”

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