***

“Damn bastard, how dare you ignore me!”

“N, no, Prince. How dare I……!”

“How long do you think I’ll be here! I am the one who will become the Emperor of this Empire! To such an important person like me, you, you!”

“Aaargh!”

The castle of the lord of the Alton Estate, where the First Prince resided, was constantly ripped by shouts and screams. Today was no different, so the sound of servants being beaten because one of the servants of Lord Alton’s castle offended the First Prince was resounding.

“……Tsk, someone is dying again today.”

Philip Alton, the lord of Alton Estate, clicked his tongue while listening to the sound. Philip’s second son, Powell, who followed quietly, narrowed his forehead and said.

“Father. Will you really leave the First Prince alone?”

Philip stopped walking at the voice full of dissatisfaction and asked.

“Then what should we do?”

“How long do we have to accept the First Prince’s actions?”

“…….Still, isn’t he the First Prince of the Empire? It is natural to serve the master as a servant.”

“Don’t you know the situation of the First Prince? He’s done now. Those who will be our masters are over there in the capital!”

“Powell Alton, watch your language.”

“Father, don’t you know who will be out of sight while giving the First Prince this convenience?”

Philip, who knew better than anyone else that his son was worried about this family and the estate, sighed quietly.

“But now our master is His Majesty, and he is His Majesty’s dearest son.”

“……Is it the ugly son that His Majesty the Emperor loves the most? Or is it this Empire?”

“Powell!”

“Didn’t Father notice it as soon as he saw him? The First Prince can’t be the Emperor! His Majesty knows that, so he has not yet handed over the throne to his beloved son, and he was wandering around……!”

Slap, Powell’s body shook violently with the sound of his cheeks being slapped. Philip slapped Powell on the cheek. Powell grabbed his throbbing cheek and looked at his father with startled eyes.

“Disloyalty, Powell.”

“……”

Powell bit his lips as he saw his father’s back after his humble but stern words. There was a time when he once respected that straight loyalty to the Crombell Empire. But now, in his eyes, his father was only a weak man who was attached to the blood of that freaking Emperor rather than his family.

“We can’t let our family hold on to the wrong lines like this, Father.”

Powell turned around and walked the opposite way from his father. It was on the side where the room of the First Prince was located.

“Save me, please save me! Save me……!

Inside the room, the sound of the servant who disobeyed the First Prince being beaten was in full swing. Powell twisted his face and clenched his fists. Most of the attendants brought from the Imperial Palace by the First Prince had become half-dead and were suffering from anxiety. After the last servant of the First Prince who was now being beaten, the next person to serve would be the servants of the Alton family.

‘I can’t even sacrifice the people of the Alton family. It’s an unnecessary waste.’

Powell thought so and knocked on the first prince’s door.

“First Prince, It’s Powell Alton. Can I come in for a moment?”

“I have told you not to come in during the training session?!”

“I’m sorry. It’s urgent……”

“Come in!”

Hearing the First Prince’s reply, Powell tried to control his expression. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he opened the door with a smile on his face.

“First Prince.”

“……Haa, what could it be?”

The First Prince was sweating with a whip in one hand. Since he came to Alton Estate, he had been confined to his room and drank only without eating properly. Although the First Prince boasted of his splendid body size before that, as he repeated such a life, he lost a lot of weight and looked quite haggard.

“It’s because there’s a gift I’ve been looking for the First Prince from afar. I brought it specially.”

To Powell’s words, the First Prince answered with a crumpled face.

“Is it possible to bring in a present that suits my class from such a shabby place? You’ve done something useless.”

Still, seeing him behaving like a future emperor, a pathetic voice filled Powell’s throat. He didn’t seem to know what it meant to be deprived of the right to the throne.

‘He thinks he can go back at any time if the Emperor changes his mind.’

From now on, the First Prince would not be able to set foot on the land of the capital for good. Since he was deprived of his right to inherit the throne, he was not qualified to become the Emperor of Crombell even if he was the son of the Empress or married to a foreign royal family. Knowing that, but turning a blind eye to it, Powell judged that the First Prince was out of his mind.

“They said it was a hidden treasure from a fallen dynasty. It’s like an artifact to summon a being who grants wishes.”

“Artifact?”

“Yes.”

Powell nodded and placed an orb emitting a mysterious light from his bosom on the table. It was said that the items that did not look ordinary at first glance were circulated in Baker’s Inn in the estate. Baker’s Inn was the place where he planted eyes and ears to examine the lives of the people living in the territory. There, an unidentified merchant offered a deal, and it was reported to him immediately.

“As you know, artifacts are precious just by their existence. The only one who can own this in our land is the First Prince…….”

“Give it to me right now!”

The First Prince rushed to the table and grabbed the artifact Powell had put down. His eyes looked impatient as if Powell would take it away at any moment. He seemed impatient to know whether the item sold by a wandering merchant who came to this humble territory on the outskirts of the Empire would be a real artifact or not. Powell, who swallowed a small laugh at the sight, raised his hands and said.

“It’s said that it only responds to those who have a great desire. It’s an emotion that I don’t have when I’m satisfied with this small land.”

As Powell said so, he winked at the First Prince’s attendant, who was trembling in the corner. Realizing that he was trying to save his life, the servant quietly erased his presence and ran out of the room. The First Prince, who was drooling over the artifact, did not even notice that his servant was leaving.

“A being who grants wishes!”

“Artifacts have mysterious powers. May you have the power to get what you want……”

Powell also bowed his head, closed the door, and left.

“……Go and get treatment. If you were a servant of the Imperial family, your status would be different, but the First Prince is truly.”

“Thank, thank you! I will definitely repay this favor.”

“Take care of your body first.”

“Yes, yes……”

The First Prince’s attendant returned to the accommodation with a limp. Powell swallowed his bitter emotions as he looked at the servant’s retreating back. In the end, he could not entrust the care of the First Prince to the people of Alton Estate, so he could only save him. Powell quickly turned around as if he had nothing to do with the First Prince. The First Prince seemed to have turned his eyes to the artifact, so he would probably not look for a time to vent his anger. If they properly treated the First Prince’s servants who were in a bad shape in the meantime, they would be able to buy time again.

“I’ll have to persuade Father.”

Prior to that, Powell once again strengthened his determination to drive out the First Prince from this lord’s castle. So he did not see a mysterious light leaking out through the door of the First Prince’s room. Without even thinking about it, the thing he handed over just to buy time could be real.

***

“……!”

As soon as the First Prince got the orb in his hand, he stared blankly at the mysterious light that began to shine. The light slowly permeated the olive-like color, and then the complex formulas swirled around in a mess, creating the shape of a magic circle.

“Ha, haha……”

The First Prince smirked at the fact that the artifact Powell handed over was real. He said that it only responded to beings with a great desire, and that statement seemed to be true. At that time. The artifact radiated a brighter light, and a tremendous gust of wind began to blow from the little orb.

“Heok!”

The First Prince could not resist the strong wind and fell backwards. In the corner of the room that was being messed up around the orb, the First Prince saw the figure of a person slowly taking shape. He was a man clad in a robe embroidered with splendid patterns, and when he was fully formed, the wind from the orb stopped like a lie.

“I was going to present it to Master.……”

The man summoned from the marble exhaled loudly, and as soon as he found the First Prince, he approached with a gesture full of excitement. He was smiling as if his mouth was tearing apart under the robe covering half of his face.

“Found it.”

He said, poking his finger at the neck of the First Prince, who was staring blankly at him.

“You, you have been struck by that power. I can see the remnants left.”

“…….!”

He gently whispered the words he wanted so much into the ear of the First Prince, like a snake.

“Who’s the owner of that cursed power?”