WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Oblivious

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◈ Prince of Rage ◈

Chapter 1

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Far away on the pitch-black horizon, dawn began to spread.

When the last star, breathing faintly into the cold air, went out, Valerie opened his eyes.

He had not woken suddenly from a nightmare, nor had he barely managed to open his eyes through lingering fatigue. He opened his starlit eyes naturally, as though he had just been born.

Yet despite the calm way he opened his eyes, his heart was pounding as if it would burst.

As the fierce heartbeat from the brink of death began to fade, Valerie's eyes slowly lost their light, like the last star disappearing at dawn.

Then came the uncomfortable sensation of rough bedding. That discomfort was familiar and unfamiliar at once. It was truly contradictory, yet that was how it felt.

It was familiar because he had felt it every day in the past, and unfamiliar because he thought it could not be real. He had clearly even felt the foreign sensation of a sharp blade piercing his throat.

Still, the sensations of his body were so vivid and powerful that they turned the past dozen or so years into something like a dream in an instant.

Feeling dazed, Valerie sat up. The icy dawn air outside the blanket slipped beneath his clothes and brushed against his body, and an unfamiliar sensation came from his left hand.

To be exact, it was not unfamiliar. It was a sensation he had forgotten for a long time.

When he raised his left hand and stared down at it, two fingers that should not have been there were attached as naturally as if they had always been. His little finger and ring finger.

He awkwardly moved them. Contrary to his feelings, they moved naturally. He repeatedly clenched and opened his fist, but there was none of the emptiness he had felt when those fingers were gone.

“...”

For a while, Valerie could not think of anything. Having lost all sense of time, he simply sat there blankly.

When he finally came to his senses and looked around the dim room, he found himself in the solitary room he had used in the Winslow count's household in the past. One hard bed, a small table and chair, an oil lantern, and neatly arranged documents.

One obvious fact crossed Valerie's mind, but even among all the magic he had heard of, there was nothing that could turn back time.

Even so, the sensation of being alive became clearer, and the fact that he had returned to the past gradually became undeniable.

Then one question came to him. What did any of this mean? Was he meant to die again?

Knock, knock.

Amid his confusion, he heard a knock. Then a boy's voice came from beyond the door.

“Wid, are you still asleep?”

Wid was the name Valerie had been called when he lived as an illegitimate child in the count's household.

Valerie recognized the voice, but wanting to confirm whether this was truly reality, he got up and opened the door.

A blond boy dressed to go out stood there despite the early hour. He was Valerie's age and smaller than him, but he was Harald, the only son and legitimate heir of Count of Winslow’s house.

The sight of him made Valerie's heart seem to stop. He had been the last person Valerie killed in front of Count Aethelred. And he had not merely killed him. He had cut off both ears, sliced away his nose, seared both eyes...

‘Was all that really necessary...?’

The dying Harald had spoken as if groaning. Valerie had expected him to beg for his life.

“Want to go hunting?”

Harald's voice in the present broke through Valerie's memories of the past. Or should it have been Harald from the past breaking through memories of the future?

He seemed to be watching Valerie's reaction, and Valerie flinched back to his senses. Harald seemed to think Valerie was still not fully awake.

“How old are we?”

Valerie asked after a moment of confusion.

“My birthday hasn't come yet, but today is yours. So I'm still thirteen, and you're fourteen now.”

“...”

His birthday... Valerie had always considered such things worthless, so he had never paid attention to them.

Still, what had that feeling of his heart stopping been? Guilt? From him? He did not know.

He vaguely remembered this day. He had probably refused the offer to go hunting and gone to work instead.

Valerie handled the accounts for the Winslow count’s house. Work that dealt directly with money could not be entrusted to just anyone, but it was also considered lowly work, which made it suitable for an illegitimate child.

An illegitimate child in a noble house was an awkward and uncomfortable existence. Neither a commoner nor a noble, but something in between. Especially from the countess's perspective, he was no better than a thorn in her eye.

Valerie had understood his place early on, so he had done almost nothing but work and tried to avoid becoming involved with others as much as possible.

In contrast, Harald had retained an innocent side even as he grew older, and Valerie had thought him terribly immature.

“Are you coming? Let's go.”

Harald urged him again.

In the still-dark dawn, Valerie quietly looked into his dark blue eyes before answering.

“I'll go.”

Valerie washed quickly, put on clothes for going out, and left his room. Though calling them clothes for going out was generous. He wore only a thin tunic, without even a coat.

There were separate clothes for work, but they were a one-piece robe that covered him from his face down to his legs, making him look almost like a clown.

It was early morning in early spring, and the lingering cold snap had not yet passed. It was very cold.

When Valerie left the castle and reached the gate, Harald was there with Gidwin, who was a little older. Gidwin was the son of a Winslow knight, the count's squire, and Harald's friend and guard.

“What a surprise. You really came.”

Gidwin spoke when he saw Valerie.

“Where's your coat?”

Harald asked.

“I don't have one.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“What do you mean, why? You really don't know anything about the world.”

Gidwin lightly scolded Harald for his ignorance.

Coats made of fine leather or fur were expensive. Count Aethelred took responsibility for basics such as food and shelter, but an illegitimate child received no comforts beyond that.

Gidwin took off his own coat and handed it to Valerie. At seventeen, he already had broad shoulders and a build better than most grown men.

Being big did not mean he could not feel cold, but looking at his size, it did seem like he might feel it less.

Valerie accepted the kindness somewhat awkwardly. The coat, trimmed with fur around the neck, was not much too large, only a little big. Valerie was not small either.

And whether it fit or not, the soft fox fur brushing his neck and the coat keeping out the cold and holding in warmth did not feel bad.

“Let's go.”

Harald spoke and started walking first. Gidwin naturally walked beside him, but Valerie followed some distance behind. Because he was an illegitimate child.

Wait. An illegitimate child? Me? No, I am not.

Valerie felt a slight sense of dissonance because of his ingrained behavior.

It was strange for it to be ingrained at all. He had endured more than a decade of political schemes, conspiracies, and war, yet this still remained?

But revealing that he was a prince would not let him do anything right away. For now, he decided to remain quiet and go along with events.

“What are you doing? Come over here.”

Gidwin, walking ahead, tilted his head and invited him to walk with them.

In the past, if he had been Valerie at this age, before returning to the past, he would have refused out of restraint. But not now.

Going with the flow, Valerie stepped forward and walked beside Gidwin.

“What brought this on? You actually came outside.”

Gidwin asked. He seemed mostly curious, but there was not entirely no feeling that he was watching Valerie. Unlike the purely innocent Harald, Gidwin was not completely unaware of adult concerns.

If he judged there to be anything unusual, he would tell Count Aethelred. Then the count would decide whether anything needed to be done.

“Nothing.”

“Really? So you're becoming an adult now? Starting to take an interest in women?”

Valerie had turned fourteen today, but as boys approached fifteen, the age of adulthood, their feelings changed and their interest in women often grew.

“No.”

“Such a waste of that face. Maidservants and village girls aren't really an option, so how about when we go to the city later?”

Even for a noble, getting involved with a maidservant was deeply dishonorable. And getting involved with women from the village near the castle could bring all kinds of gossip.

In a world where reputation showed one's worth, even nobles were better off behaving properly whenever possible.

Of course, all kinds of people existed in the world, and perhaps there were reckless fools somewhere who casually preyed on maidservants or village women. But at least, not here.

Besides, among the Norsemen there was a superstition that if a man knew women before becoming an adult at fifteen, his fighting strength would weaken.

Gidwin had known women before becoming an adult, yet he was still the best fighter among those his age.

“Don't tempt him with strange things. Wid isn't like that.”

Harald reproached Gidwin.

“How do you know what he's like? You talk as though you've been close.”

“You can tell from seeing him work every day, even if we aren't close.”

“You never know what people have inside. How do you know he hasn't been holding it in? Look, he even came out today.”

“So, are you going? To the city?”

Harald asked Valerie.

“No.”

“See?”

“What a shame. Then can't you just come along? If you're going to waste that face, let me make use of it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you're beside me, it'll be much easier to charm women.”

As if it was not worth answering, Valerie closed his mouth and merely shook his head. Gidwin smacked his lips in disappointment.

In truth, Valerie was unusually handsome. It was not the neat, proper sort of beauty. There was a decadent beauty to him, enough to feel somehow unsettling. Like a dark crimson rose.

If not for his somewhat strong facial lines and thick eyebrows, he might have been more beautiful than most beautiful women.

His sharp nose and sculpted jaw alone were enough to draw people's eyes, but above all, what made Valerie's appearance exceptional was his eyes.

Perhaps because of the mysterious divisions within his pale sky-blue irises, they called to mind lakes in the far north that remained frozen forever.

Even without making an effort to glare, there was something intense in his gaze that made it difficult to meet his eyes when he looked at someone directly.

That intense gaze either doubled Valerie's charm or repelled people from him. Like a double-edged sword, some were captivated by those eyes, while others were overwhelmed by them.

“Don't we need hunting tools or something?”

Valerie asked first for the first time. Gidwin shook his head in reply.

“At our level, do you think we'd be going on a proper drive hunt? We'll just roast a squirrel or rabbit caught in a trap.”

Meat was scarce, so commoners could not eat it often. Nobles and knights ate it almost every day, but the meat they ate daily was not in very good condition.

In other words, eating freshly caught meat was something very special. More than that, catching and eating an animal in the lord's hunting grounds was especially so.

Everything in the hunting grounds belonged to the lord, so taking anything without permission was a crime on the same level as stealing the lord's property.

Of course, it was different if one was the lord's only son. Harald was especially the legitimate heir, the future head of House Winslow and the future count who would rule Winslow lands.

“Do you often go to the hunting grounds?”

Valerie asked. Harald shook his head.

“No. I told you, today is your birthday. We're going because it's your birthday.”

Valerie found it difficult to understand right away because he saw no value in birthdays, so he briefly wondered whether there was some hidden meaning. Still, he could not figure it out.

Harald continued as if explaining further.

“On your birthday, you celebrate being born. You can give presents too.”

“I've never heard of that.”

“That's how nobles are.”

At Harald's utterly innocent words, Valerie gave a small, scornful laugh.

“So you're saying you'll treat me like a noble?”

“Hey.”

At Valerie's somewhat sharp response, Gidwin frowned as if warning him.

But Harald spoke without showing any sign of offense.

“I said that wrong. Whether you're a noble or not isn't important. What's important is that we're brothers.”

At the word brothers, Valerie's thoughts seemed to stop for a moment. He had killed every one of his brothers, even all the nephews bound to them by blood, and become king.

Naturally, Valerie and Harald did not share a drop of blood. Yet for now, they were half brothers. At least, Harald saw it that way, and he seemed to value it.

“Do you mean that?”

With Gidwin between them, Valerie turned to Harald and asked. Even faced with that emotionless gaze, Harald smiled brightly as he answered.

“Of course. I don't lie.”

“...”

Valerie thought quietly before replying.

“Don't speak your true feelings carelessly. They can become a weakness.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“...”

Valerie did not answer. He knew well what he meant by those words, but even he found it difficult to understand the intention beneath them.

Perhaps he had said it as a sign of gratitude for Harald's sincerity. But something about it was badly twisted. Not yet.

The sun was slowly rising in the east. Sunlight cut across the vivid blue morning and shone on the three walking the lone path toward the forest.

When that light touched Valerie's face, his platinum-blond hair glittered, as if a flower bud were slowly unfurling its petals and beginning to bloom.

Yet Valerie's indifferent gaze remained in the deep night that had passed.

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