WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

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◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈

Chapter 16: The First Gift (2)

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There was a sea within the Marin family's Mana.

It was only natural.

The hearts of those who lived their entire lives beside the sea held seas of their own.

One person, one sea.

"Gasp, gasp, gasp."

The stronger the person, the wider and more expansive that sea became.

A sea that could embrace everything, swallow and hold anything within it.

"Gasp, gasp, gasp!"

One such sea had vanished.

Not temporarily, but forever.

Sensing that strange occurrence, the former East Grand Duke, Javiren Marin, rushed straight ahead without regard for anything around him.

None of the servants noticed.

Neither did the knights.

Only Javiren, his father, sensed the anomaly that had befallen his son and ran toward him.

'Please, let nothing be wrong. Please, let nothing be wrong.'

He hadn't sensed anything at all.

Yet when he came to his senses, the sea his son possessed was gone.

How was that possible?

With that thought in mind, Javiren ran to where his son, Kailen, was.

"Ah, you've arrived."

There, he encountered someone he never expected to see.

"Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince?"

"I was just settling the matter of succession to the position of East Grand Duke. You came at the perfect time."

The matter of succession to the position of East Grand Duke? What did that mean?

Javiren's confused gaze darted around.

At the end of it, he finally saw his son.

Twitch. Twitch.

Kailen was convulsing intermittently.

Javiren could feel Mana slowly draining from his son's body.

This wasn't temporary depletion, but a permanent end.

Javiren had once been a warrior himself, so he realized what had happened to his son.

'His Mana Core was destroyed.'

By whom?

As soon as that thought occurred to him, his head naturally turned back.

Kailen, now no different from an ordinary person because he had no Mana Core and could no longer use Mana, was to continue as East Grand Duke?

That made no sense. This must have been the matter of succession the Crown Prince mentioned earlier.

But how had his son's Mana Core been destroyed?

In such a short time, without anyone noticing.

'No, no... But surely not?'

As a possibility he didn't want to imagine forced itself into his mind, Javiren's eyes met those of a young girl standing beside the Crown Prince.

Opal-colored eyes contrasting against dark skin, with vertical pupils.

She gave off no presence at all, which only made her seem even more unnatural.

'An Executioner, just as the rumors said...!'

The Crown Prince had entered the East Grand Duke's bedroom with an Executioner.

By the time Javiren arrived, his son's Mana Core had already been destroyed.

No one seemed concerned for his son.

Putting all that together...

"D-Did Your Highness do this?!"

Everything about the situation clearly pointed to the Crown Prince as the culprit.

"That's right."

"H-How... How could you do such a thing?! Why? Why?!"

Forgetting his dignity, Javiren shouted as he demanded an explanation.

"You know why."

"...!"

His eyes widened at the answer.

It was an unmistakable act of treason.

No one had said it aloud, but Javiren knew.

What his son had done was not something that could be overlooked lightly.

Even so, he had turned away because Kailen was his son.

Because he was his son, because Javiren had trusted him enough to pass on his position.

He had firmly believed Kailen would astonish everyone with an incredibly positive result none of them could have imagined.

'But this was the result...?'

Without even thinking to calm his trembling hands, Javiren lowered his gaze again.

His son was still writhing in pain, his body convulsing.

With his Mana Core completely shattered, it was impossible for him to live as he once had.

He would never be able to explore the Sea Ruins again, nor would he be able to expand his own sea any further.

"Ah... Aah..."

His crime was grave enough for the Crown Prince to punish him personally.

That was why the most rational choice in this situation was to admit and accept everything.

But could that truly be so easy?

The more time passed, the more fury boiled within him.

Even though he knew he should feel relieved that his son was still alive despite committing treason.

Even though he knew he should accept the position of East Grand Duke again and swear loyalty to the Crown Prince.

"How could you?! How could you?!"

The rage of having nearly lost his son overflowed through his body.

The man before him no longer looked like the Crown Prince.

He was an enemy who had harmed his child.

The evil that had destroyed his son's Mana Core.

"How dare you!"

The thread of reason he had been holding onto snapped.

He committed an act he should never have committed, confronting the Crown Prince.

Mana surged through his body like crashing waves and completely seized control of the area.

The sound of a raging storm filled the room as blue Mana swirled around Javiren.

Mana like a tidal wave.

Currents that seemed capable of crushing everything they touched formed naturally around him.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Arveda's eyes widened at the sight, and she moved to respond at once.

"No, Arveda."

The Crown Prince stopped her with an outstretched hand.

"Grand Duke Javiren, I will judge that you were unable to make a rational decision because your son was hurt... and I will not hold this offense against you."

The Crown Prince stepped forward leisurely and looked at Javiren with a faint smile.

"You'll only be able to look down on others for so long! I will never forgive you!"

Boom!

Without trying to restrain his anger, Javiren immediately hurled himself at the Crown Prince.

Like the unpredictable rise and fall of waves upon the sea.

Javiren's movements confused the eye before he struck at the Crown Prince's blind spot.

'He won't be able to react.'

Javiren had never once seen the Crown Prince fight.

He only ever smiled warmly and looked after everyone with kindness.

He had never used any martial power. Javiren had never even seen him train.

There was no presence to be felt from him at all.

'The Executioner must have dealt with Kailen as well.'

Yet even so, the Crown Prince had dismissed the Executioner and chosen to face him himself.

Even as anger consumed his reason, Javiren's mind continued assessing the situation.

'First, I'll break both his shoulders. Then I'll hold him accountable.'

He couldn't kill him, but he would make him repay the pain his son had suffered.

As Javiren's arms, wrapped in violent currents, swung toward the Crown Prince's shoulders...

"It is sad to see you have grown this decrepit."

The Crown Prince spoke calmly.

"Still, I commend you for not aiming for my head. You're still clever enough to sit in the position of Grand Duke again."

With those relaxed words...

Bang!

Javiren's body was slammed into the floor in an instant.

"Urk!"

Crunch!

The floor shattered completely from the force of the impact.

Yet Javiren didn't fall through because the Crown Prince was holding him by the hair.

'What was that?'

Javiren was stunned.

He hadn't even been able to react.

He had attacked first, from the Crown Prince's blind spot.

And yet, when he came to his senses, he was on the floor with his hair in the Crown Prince's grip?

What shocked him even more was that it truly hurt.

An ordinary physical blow shouldn't have hurt when his body was wrapped in Mana.

But in an instant, agony so intense he could barely breathe surged through him.

"Arghhh!"

Even so, Javiren tried not to stop.

He tried to rise again and punish the enemy before him.

But then...

"Grand Duke Javiren, think calmly. What do you believe will happen if you continue to rage here?"

The Crown Prince's next words brought Javiren's reason back.

"Must I tear off and reattach that traitor's limbs in real time, then make you watch your son be dismembered while he remains conscious before you calm down?"

"...."

It was one of the Velos Empire's infamous methods of torture.

They would pull off the victim's limbs, reattach them, then pull them off and reattach them again.

When it seemed they might die from shock, they would be allowed a brief rest.

Then the process of tearing off and reattaching their limbs would begin again.

A horrific punishment that did not even permit suicide.

That would be inflicted on his son?

'It's entirely possible... No, it wouldn't even be enough if it happened right now.'

Being a Grand Duke did not mean he could do anything he wanted.

Yet Kailen, as the East Grand Duke, had ignored every duty he should have fulfilled and played along with a neighboring nation.

Put bluntly, it would not have been strange if Kailen were killed immediately.

But his son had not died.

'Because I am useful.'

The eastern region he had ruled had not been like this.

He had constantly expanded its influence and secured the surrounding coasts.

For the sake of the Empire, he had not hesitated to do even dirty work.

The reason his son remained alive now was that his achievements had been acknowledged, and the Crown Prince expected him to continue producing such results.

If he continued to meet those expectations, his son could keep living.

The reason the Crown Prince had spared him despite the grave offense he had committed.

'Because I still have value.'

The moment he realized that, Javiren's body curled in on itself miserably.

"A-Aah... Your Highness the Crown Prince..."

With his body hunched over and his posture lowered as far as it could go, Javiren looked nothing like the Grand Duke who ruled the Empire's eastern region.

He pitifully licked the Crown Prince's shoes.

"I give thanks for Your Highness's grace, as vast as the sea."

Reason drove away his rage.

The Crown Prince smiled as though pleased by the sight.

"Haha, you've finally come to your senses."

Still gripping Javiren by the hair, the Crown Prince threw him beside Kailen as though tossing away an object.

"Your broken son will be sent to the Macelin Kingdom he loves so much."

"Th-Thank you... Thank you..."

Javiren thanked him again and again.

As long as his son lived, that was enough.

Javiren only had to keep managing the eastern region.

Then Kailen could live out his life in the Macelin Kingdom he had always wanted to visit.

He wouldn't be able to order people around as he once had.

Still, Javiren was simply grateful that his son was alive.

He considered this, too, the Crown Prince's mercy.

"I hope your next successor will be someone like you. The history of the Marin family shouldn't end with you, should it?"

"Yes! Yes!"

"It seems like the perfect time for Kailen to have a younger sibling."

"I-I will make preparations at once!"

Reason and blind loyalty filled the void left by Javiren's anger.

Javiren knew it.

Even if his son was in the Macelin Kingdom, he could not escape the Crown Prince's grasp.

If the Crown Prince wished it, his son could die at any time.

Kailen was now an ordinary person with a destroyed Mana Core.

It made no sense to think the Empire could not kill someone like that.

'If the Empire wishes it, it can kill my son no matter where he is.'

Protecting an ordinary person with a destroyed Mana Core for the rest of his life? That was impossible.

It was much safer for him to remain under the nation's secure watch.

Running away? That was impossible as well.

Who would dare flee from the Empire?

Tremble.

The fear of losing his son made Javiren's body shake.

His trembling hand reached out and touched his son.

A foolish son.

And he was a foolish father who had left that foolish son unchecked.

Stroke. Stroke.

As he stroked his son's hair, Javiren fixed his gaze on the floor.

'I can still make up for it from now on. His Highness the Crown Prince... has shown me mercy.'

He only had to do it again.

No, he had to do better than before.

He was fully confident he could.

"I can hear the sound of your mind working hard."

"I was thinking of things for the Empire and acted rudely. Please forgive me."

"Haha, I have never doubted that your wisdom serves the Empire."

"I am honored that Your Highness recognizes it."

Step. Step.

Knowing that the Crown Prince was walking closer to him, Javiren unconsciously pulled his hand away from his son.

"You catch on quickly."

Tap.

The Crown Prince placed his foot on Kailen's back.

Javiren looked away.

"When I return to the eastern region..."

Listening to the Crown Prince, Javiren thought to himself.

'This is enough.'

He was already more grateful than he could say that his son was alive.

What more could he do here?

Would he ignore the Marin family's history and struggle further just because his son had been hurt? That was nonsense.

Why else would the Crown Prince have come here himself?

'He is someone who could wipe out my entire family depending on my attitude...'

Javiren erased every thought he had previously held about the Crown Prince.

He had to forget the past and focus on the present.

Otherwise, both he and his son would die.

The way to live, though, was very simple.

"...I want to see the eastern region as strong as it was when I saw it before."

"More than that! I will make the eastern region stronger still, an eastern region that rules a broader sea! I swear it! I swear it will be so!"

The moment the Crown Prince finished speaking, Javiren sprang to his feet and bowed.

"Haha, it brings me great joy to hear the East Grand Duke say that."

With those words...

Arveda, who had been standing still, carefully took hold of the Crown Prince's fingertips.

Whoosh.

They vanished in an instant.

Teleportation.

Spatial movement that occurred in an instant without any preparatory motion.

An absurd feat that would make even an archmage concede defeat.

Javiren looked at the empty spaces left behind by the Crown Prince, the Executioner, and his son.

"Hoo..."

He let out a sigh.

'There is much to do.'

He had to take back the position of Grand Duke, correct the corruption in the eastern region, and make plans for another child.

"...But I protected the family."

Wiping away the tears of relief that finally spilled down his face, Javiren struggled to his feet.

Only then did he realize it.

"...Ah."

The air around him had changed the moment the Crown Prince vanished.

"Ha."

Why had the Crown Prince been able to react to his attack so quickly and devastatingly?

The question had been answered.

From the beginning, this entire space had already been within the Crown Prince's grasp.

'...This must be my last chance.'

The anger over nearly losing his son and all remaining reason disappeared.

What filled that space completely was...

'I must satisfy His Highness the Crown Prince, even at the cost of my life.'

Primitive fear.

+++++

"Treat him, and report to me immediately when his condition improves."

"Yes, sir."

The first thing I did after arriving at the Imperial Palace was have Kailen treated.

He had to recover enough to function as a person before I sent him to the Macelin Kingdom, after all.

The servants carried Kailen away quickly.

"Arveda, you worked hard as well."

"I would not call it hardship."

"Even if it was your duty, everything went smoothly thanks to you. Thank you."

"Not at all, Your Highness. Then I shall take my leave."

"All right."

"...."

Even after saying that, Arveda did not leave right away and instead fidgeted awkwardly.

Did she not want to leave? Then again, Executioners rarely had reason to step in.

She had probably been very bored until now.

'And I'm curious why a dragon became one of the Empire's Executioners, too.'

Maybe I should have read the novel more carefully.

Thinking that to myself, I answered casually.

"Feel free to visit whenever you like. And, um... you don't have to leave right away, either."

"Ah! Hehe, then I shall stay here a little longer."

Arveda was happier than I expected, which caught me off guard.

'She's a strange dragon.'

Anyway, that had been a pretty productive walk through the eastern region.

Just as I was about to wrap up the day in a good mood...

[ A Bold Choice! ]

[ Fate changes. ]

[ The worldline changes. ]

[ Kailen Marin's story has changed. ]

[ Would you like to check? Y/N ]

A system message appeared before my eyes.

There was no need to think about this.

'Obviously, yes.'

I accepted.

The moment I pressed accept...

Flash!

My vision changed.

And the first thing I saw in that changed view was...

"Sniff... Hic... Sniff..."

Kailen, crying like an idiot.

Footnotes:

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