LP 3.4 The Prince’s Rebellion

Kosha’s gray robe looked strikingly similar to Merda’s gray cloak at a glance. The differences in material and craftsmanship weren’t very apparent under the dim lights of the gloomy corridor.

And beneath that gray robe, bare ankles were revealed.

“What on earth are you wearing?”

Merda was as blunt as ever. Her hand reached out without hesitation, slipping beneath Kosha’s robe. The collar parted, revealing a single, paper-thin piece of a slip dress.

It was a sight that would leave him open to ridicule for the rest of his life, but… Kosha did not resist. He remained still, enduring her touch while gauging Merda’s mood.

“Crazy.”

“…….”

“This, this is….”

Her trembling hand touched the nape of Kosha’s neck, where the robe had fallen open. It was a spot marked with reddish-purple hickeys and bite marks.

Lucian often nipped at him during intimacy. It was usually just sucking or light biting, but marks formed easily on a Mage’s soft skin.

“You too… are you sleeping with the, the Prince…?”

Merda’s voice was so faint it seemed as if it might scatter in the wind.

“Uh, huh…?”

Kosha was flustered by the unexpected question. Setting aside the explicit nature of the content…

The fact was that Kosha was sleeping with the ‘Prince,’ and he hesitated, unable to find the right words. Interpreting that hesitation in her own way, Merda covered her mouth with a trembling hand.

“Ha, you crazy bastard…”

“…Merda.”

“Piece of shit, I’ll kill him… He said I was the only one he had now, he said it was true this time. Even a man…”

Her beautiful face distorted miserably. Looking as if she might collapse on the spot, Kosha hurriedly caught her.

With her voluptuous figure and always confident demeanor, she had never seemed so small, but standing close, she fit snugly within Kosha’s embrace. After a moment of hesitation, Kosha awkwardly spoke up.

“Merda, um… then you also… with the Prince…?”

He suspected they weren’t talking about the same ‘Prince,’ but…

Merda buried her face in Kosha’s shoulder. Then, she suddenly snapped her head up and whispered-shouted.

“I didn’t want to either…!”

“Calm down. What on earth happened? Was the man you said you were meeting back then the ‘Prince’? The man you said proposed to you when you took the elixir from me.”

Kosha asked, clumsily patting her shoulder. As the questions continued, a look of anxiety and wariness clouded Merda’s face.

…Ah, this is problematic.

Kosha raised his hand and gently lifted Merda’s chin. Kosha’s eyes, glowing a slightly more vivid green than usual, met Merda’s black pupils softly.

Against an ordinary human, a very slight suggestion was enough. Even more so for a human in an unstable state.

Merda’s long eyelashes fluttered, and soon her gaze softened. Her tight lips opened just as easily.

“How could that be? That man, Ermet, was just the Prince’s vassal. He wasn’t even married, he was really just…”

“Just?”

“Just, I don’t know. That guy is the same…”

And then, a torrent of curses poured out again. Piece of shit, pig, rat, every kind of bastard… Then, she snapped her eyes open.

“Don’t tell me you were tricked by Ermet and came here too?”

The question sounded desperate for some reason. Kosha instinctively shook his head.

“Ah, no. I just…”

I came to work as a servant… As Kosha made up an excuse on the fly, she bit her lip and lowered her head. Her elegant hands, with neatly pointed nails, covered her face in despair.

After a short silence, she breathed out.

“…I’m sorry.”

“To me?”

“I’m sorry for being so stubborn and insisting you make the Love Potion back then…”

Merda sobbed, her pronunciation blurring.

“I lied to you. I… I told Ermet that I thought there was an apothecary in the village hiding their identity. Then that bastard asked if an unknown apothecary could make something called a Love Potion.”

“…….”

“He said he could earn great merit with just that. He said then Ermet could get promoted and tell his parents so he could marry me…”

I’m really sorry. I didn’t even know what that medicine did back then. As she spoke, Merda was now sobbing openly.

Kosha’s lips parted. A Love Potion made by an apothecary, not a Mage; the claim of earning merit with it; and the one who drank it was Lucian…

His mind raced frantically.

“Then did you marry that man and come to the castle? I did make the potion for you.”

“I don’t know either…”

Merda shook her head.

“He said we should live together in hiding for a while and then tell his parents, but then he suddenly changed his tune. He said everything was ruined. He got angry, saying it was all my, my fault. Then he pushed me into the Prince’s bedroom. Introducing me as his wife…”

She gasped for air, unable to continue for a moment.

“He babbled that I wanted to enjoy luxury anyway, and that becoming the Prince’s mistress was basically the same thing… I’m an idiot for falling for it…”

Sniffling, she rubbed her eyes haphazardly to wipe away the tears. You’ll scratch yourself… Startled, Kosha used the soft fabric inside his sleeve to wipe her tears.

“But what could I have done there…? And the man called the Prince was younger and more handsome than I expected. Plus, he had great manners. So I was stupidly…”

“That’s true…”

Thinking of the other ‘Prince,’ Kosha sincerely empathized with her words. Yes, he really was handsome…

“At first, I didn’t even know what a ‘mistress’ was. I just thought that’s what they called lovers in the court. No, nobles sometimes use different expressions than we do. I really didn’t know it would end up like this.”

“…….”

“B-but, then what are you going to do now?”

Having rambled and cried, she looked up from Kosha’s embrace and asked. Kosha, who had been quietly soothing her, was taken aback.

“Uh… what?”

“They say the Prince is leaving for a war or something!”

“Why does that matter?”

What did the Prince going to war have to do with Merda? When royalty or nobility went to war, did the mistress have to do something? He tried to search his old memories, but it was useless. As far as he knew, no one around him had kept a mistress…

As Kosha hesitated, a suspicious glint returned to Merda’s now-clearer eyes. It seemed her mental strength was stronger than he thought.

Ah, no, no… Kosha carefully met her eyes again.

As the color of his irises deepened, Merda’s gaze grew hazy once more.

“…My goodness. You really don’t know anything. Have you not been here long?”

And she began to think in a direction favorable to the Mage. Kosha quickly nodded.

“Uh, yeah. I haven’t been here long.”

“Sigh…”

Merda pressed her hand to her forehead and shook her head.

“If you stay here, that woman Iri will definitely try to kill you too.”

“Iri?”

“The Princess!”

Surely you don’t not know there’s a Princess? she added. Of course, Kosha didn’t know, nor did he care.

“The Princess doesn’t leave people who sleep with her husband alone. She’s already famous for it. I almost died too. At first, when I was caught…”

“…….”

“It’s true! She told her father, and he even brought an army. It was truly terrifying. I thought I was going to die.”

An army…? No matter if it was the Princess’s family, could they really bring an army into the royal castle…?

In truth, it was too much for Kosha to piece together the causality of that night when he himself had suffered a mishap. Merda stomped her feet in frustration.

“This is a secret, but they say the Princess is pregnant. So her father listens to everything his daughter says right now. Once the Prince leaves the castle, she’ll catch and kill me first.”

“…But then the Prince would—”

“He doesn’t care! Would he care about someone like me? He’ll just find a new woman!”

…Or a man, she added softly, glancing at Kosha.

“So, I… I’m going to beg him a bit more to take me on the expedition. He’ll definitely need to do that even on the battlefield.”

“…….”

“You too… but I don’t think he’ll take me, let alone you…”

Merda murmured confusedly, glancing at Kosha. Kosha sighed. The sky outside was already dim, and he felt it was time to end this. Kosha turned Merda around and covered her eyes with his palm.

The moment Merda flinched, a soft voice penetrated her ear.

“You’ve worked hard. Now go back and sleep.”

“…Okay.”

She answered very slowly. Her sharp voice became dreamy in an instant.

“And I think it would be best to keep our meeting today a secret from others.”

“I think so too…”

Kosha removed the hand covering her eyes. Then, Merda began to walk away slowly. After a moment of hesitation, Kosha whispered.

“Thank you, Merda. Sweet dreams.”

A Mage must pay a price for what they receive.

The Mage’s words, containing a light Blessing for a single night, clung to the ends of Merda’s long hair.

After watching her back for a moment, Kosha also pulled up his hood and turned around. He hadn’t obtained the book he wanted, but he had gained something else instead, so it was time to return.

---

Kosha headed straight for Lucian.

Ostbrahe Castle, completed through repeated expansions and renovations, boasted a maze-like structure. With secret passageways and closed sectors intricately intertwined, it was not easy to map out even by spreading mana to detect it.

However, tracking Lucian was, in terms of difficulty, similar to finding geese. It meant he could find him with his eyes closed.

But for some reason, he seemed to be in an unexpected place. Specifically, um, the corridor in front of Kosha’s room.

Of course, Lucian and his vassals used that entire sector, but that area was merely a cluster of lodgings.

Following the guiding lizard into the familiar area, Kosha tilted his head. As the distance closed, his nose twitched slightly. At the familiar scent, the tension that had tightened his body since the East Wing loosened.

No matter what anyone said, home was the best.

“Your Highness…!”

Kosha shouted excitedly as he turned the corner.

His eyes met Lucian’s through the crowd of people.

Kosha’s footsteps, which had felt as if he were floating, came to a halt. Simultaneously, the vassals surrounding Lucian turned to look at Kosha.

Why… why is everyone gathered here? Kosha was bewildered. But more disconcerting than the pouring gazes was Lucian’s expression.

His face was terrifying. It was almost as if the side effects of the magic potion had flared up again.

The silence was brief. The vassals stepped back in a rush to clear a path, and at the same time, Lucian strode forward. Kosha instinctively shrank back, pulling his neck in.

“…Your Highness?”

“You—”

Reaching out to grab Kosha by the scruff of his neck, Lucian started to say something but stopped, scanning Kosha from head to toe. His terrifying expression froze instantly.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been walking around like this?”

“Uh…”

Kosha blinked blankly. Lucian didn’t even wait for an answer. Muttering a vulgar curse under his breath, he unwrapped the cloak from his own shoulders.

“Are you out of your mind?”

He threw the cloak over Kosha’s head and wrapped it around him tightly. The cloak was very long, cozy, and smelled wonderful. Peeking his face out from between the heavy fabric, Kosha cautiously gauged his mood.

Despite the harsh words, the touch was gentle… which gave Kosha the courage.

“Um, Your Highness. I have something to tell you.”

“Something to tell me, my foot. Didn’t I tell you to stay put in your room? Where on earth have you been wandering off to?”

The words poured out rapidly as a large hand suddenly squeezed Kosha’s cheek painfully.

His cheek and lips were squished like a goldfish, but Kosha still answered the question faithfully.

“I went to the East Wing.”

“…….”

The atmosphere suddenly turned strange. His vassals stirred, and Lucian’s expression hardened.

Why…? Intimidated, Kosha continued in an even smaller voice.

“Merda is currently in the castle, Your Highness.”

“…….”

“The person who commissioned the Love Potion from me. The, currently in the East Wing, the Prince’s—”

Suddenly, a large hand covered Kosha’s mouth.

Cutting him off, Lucian looked back at the vassals. Kosha also followed his gaze instinctively.

After scanning the vassals one by one, Lucian pulled Kosha into an embrace as if to subdue him. It felt like a move to block the gazes falling on the Mage.

“Clear the room,” Lucian commanded lowly.

In an instant, the crowd dispersed, leaving only completely familiar faces. Among them, Kosha spotted Mylotte for the first time in a while and gave a small bow, but Mylotte simply looked away, pretending not to see him.

Once he confirmed the surroundings were completely cleared, Lucian dragged Kosha along. His pace was so fast that Kosha was practically rolled along.

The destination was inside his office.

Lucian pushed Kosha into a chair, almost throwing him. However, when Kosha let out a strange ghrk sound and slumped down, the ruthless fingertips flinched.

But in the end, he didn’t catch Kosha. He clenched his fist and looked away.

Both his expression and the atmosphere were still like walking on thin ice.

“Um, Your Highness. Were you looking for me…?”

Hesitating, Kosha asked cautiously. The human norms he had learned throughout his life began to click back into place in the Mage’s head. Come to think of it, he recalled learning that leaving a partner without a word after sex was extremely rude.

B-but strictly speaking, Lucian was the one who left first. Does it apply in this case too? Then, since Lucian said something before leaving, is it okay?

It was while the Mage was having a non-Mage-like dilemma.

“…Looking for you?”

Lucian asked slowly. He looked appalled, angry, or perhaps completely exhausted. After staring at Kosha for a long time, Lucian rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes.

Soon, a flat voice dropped heavily.

“Bring that thing I mentioned earlier.”

“Yes.”

A servant bowed and left the room.

‘That thing’? He tried desperately to read the room, but he had no clue. Was he planning to wrap iron chains around his ankles?

…Even if he did, it wouldn’t be of much use.

Thinking that, Kosha decided to apologize first.

“Your Highness, it was rude of me to disappear without a word. I am truly sorry.”

“…….”

“But Your Highness, this is an important story, so I think you must hear it now. I originally went to the East Wing to find a book, and I happened to meet Merda…”

The story of the midnight adventure continued at length.

Lucian simply listened with his arms crossed, one hand covering his mouth.

He was too expressionless to read, but Kosha could feel the urgent exchange of glances among the vassals behind him, including Gosrick and Mylotte. It seemed the information he brought wasn’t entirely useless.

Maybe Lucian will praise me after I’m done. Or say thank you. Kosha tried to suppress the feeling of becoming unnecessarily excited and proud.

It was around the time he had laid out almost every conversation he’d had with Merda.

“Ah, right, and she says the Princess is currently pregnant, Your Highness. So the Princess’s father…”

“What? That woman is pregnant?”

And just as a sharp reaction burst out from somewhere among the subtly stirring vassals.

Lucian raised the hand that had been fiddling with his chin. The room fell silent instantly.

“…I see.”

I see. He murmured to himself.

Then, he suddenly leaned in, gripping the armrests of the chair Kosha was sitting in and meeting his eyes. He smiled softly. It was that very kind smile that Kosha loved.

“So you went to the East Wing and heard such stories.”

“Uh, yes! That is correct, Your Highness.”

“And you happened to meet that woman. Using magic gently to slightly manipulate her mind, right? Since security is important.”

“It was very weak magic, but yes. It, it’s nothing impressive.”

It was when Kosha acted humble, as if slightly embarrassed.

Lucian’s smile deepened along with Kosha’s. He then raised his voice.

“Bring it in.”

And the door opened. In that moment, Kosha’s body, wrapped in Lucian’s cloak, trembled involuntarily.