By Zephyria 
I finally started learning how to ride a horse, after coaxing myself, who was screaming and kicking about how much I hated it, with carrots and grooming. It was a little difficult at first, but after a few tries, I slowly got used to it.
“Crown Prince, you seem to be good at everything that involves using your body. Is it a natural physical ability?”
Abyss stuck to my side and babbled like a sycophant.
“Why do you keep hanging around here?”
“Isn’t it my duty to always be by your side, protecting you, Crown Prince?”
What’s wrong with this guy?
After thinking about it for a while, I remembered that Garam had cut his salary for several months because of a few mistakes. I narrowed my eyes and asked, just in case.
“Do you need money?”
“Pardon? No, what are you talking about? It’s true that I’m a little short, but are you trying to denigrate my loyalty like this?”
“What loyalty do you have? You ran away and left me behind when we encountered a pack of desert wolves not too long ago.”
“T-That wasn’t running away, it was a tactical retreat! In the end, the wolves only followed me because of my wit!”
I clicked my tongue as I watched Abyss shout.
Just then, I saw Garam riding towards us from afar. He skillfully dismounted and approached me.
“It seems like it’s time to wrap things up and go back.”
“Really? Are we going home now? Finally?!”
Abyss looked up at the sky and started cheering loudly. But I wasn’t really looking forward to it. Crown Prince or Nadia might come looking for me again once I enter the city.
I should go on another campaign somewhere in a few days.
While I was looking at a map in the carriage on the way back, trying to find the most remote battle zone from the capital, Abyss asked.
“Crown Prince, is it true that you single-handedly took down a commander in Gaulaprum, as I heard from the soldiers the other day?”
I hate traveling in large groups, so Abyss, Garam, and I were traveling separately. Abyss and Garam took turns driving the carriage, and as soon as they switched, Abyss started bothering me with his chatter.
“Why do you keep blabbering like that? Just shut your mouth.”
“Aren’t you bored? We have to ride in this carriage for days.”
“If you’re so bored, get out and run. It’ll be good exercise.”
“Your performance in Gaulaprum was amazing, and the rumors are spreading like wildfire among the soldiers. I heard the rumors have spread to every corner of the frontier?”
I didn’t respond and just used Abyss’s voice as background noise while I looked at the map. Of course, it’s important to be far from the capital, but if I’m going anyway, a place with poor support wouldn’t be bad either.
Usually, the worse the environment due to the lack of imperial attention, the more serious the corruption and irregularities. I’ve roughly seen all the areas near the capital, so it’s time to go around the outskirts.
“…So I was wondering. Are you perhaps interested in the throne…?”
I was marking the map one by one with a pen when Abyss’s words pierced my eardrums. I raised my head with a puzzled expression.
“What?”
“No, I just heard it… I heard people around me saying that. You’ve achieved so many accomplishments in such a short period of time, and you frequent the barracks so often… Most of the villages near Gaulaprum have even erected statues of you.”
I closed my mouth at those words. Not because I agreed, but because I had actually heard those words a few times myself. The first time I heard it, I ignored it because I thought it was nonsense, but now I felt like I would be in trouble if I stayed still.
Nobles usually say nonsense, but it was problematic that even soldiers and commoners were saying such things.
“……”
Separately from that, I imagined myself becoming Emperor for the first time. I stared at Abyss for a long time while thinking, and he said.
“Whatever choice you make, I will always be your servant, Crown Prince.”
Abyss was so good at flattery that it wasn’t the first time I had heard such words. But something about what he was saying now felt different. I would have ignored it as always, but I felt like I should say something serious for once.
“I have no intention of becoming Emperor. So don’t speak so carelessly.”
“I’m sorry.”
Abyss answered sullenly, as if he realized what I was saying. I clicked my tongue as I looked at him.
What would happen if Abyss or Garam rebelled when I became Emperor?
“……”
They would be furious and rampage. And I would slap them a few times and banish them.
But what if someone else rebelled instead of them? Wouldn’t they be torn apart by the limbs according to the law and their three generations exterminated?
I’m a person who can’t distinguish between public and private matters and is swayed by emotions. What would happen to the country if such a person ascended to the throne? I didn’t even intend to become Emperor in the first place, but just imagining it made me shudder.
I sighed and put away the map.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
After realizing that there were forces that were always trying to sabotage me whenever I went to the battlefield, it became difficult to go outside of Talim.
I decided to put off physical training for a while and refine my mind and inner self. I was already on guard because I’ve been getting annoyed and angry at trivial things lately.
As I started taking classes that I hadn’t taken for a while, reading various books, and meditating, I naturally spent more time in Talim.
During that time, Nadia practically treated my palace like her own home. I’ve gotten so used to it now that I don’t even care where she is or what she’s doing.
“Mahir will have some time next month.”
“Next month? When?”
“Around the end… I don’t know the exact date.”
I made plans according to the Crown Prince’s busiest schedule and went on outings from time to time. Meanwhile, Abyss traveled around the country and abroad from time to time, looking for the criminal group that had escaped back then.
Garam’s mother’s health had deteriorated, so he went home early on many days. He was so rigid that he would never have left my side if I hadn’t been staying in Talim.
Anyway, it was fortunate that the timing worked out so well.
“Please try this.”
I even came to the Harem, which I hadn’t visited in a while, and there were more people than I thought. There were some unique people and a few children, probably because they were gathered from all over the country.
“It’s a medicinal herb that always grows near nettles. It’s so bitter and tough that people didn’t originally eat it, but someone peeled the skin and steamed it, and it was so delicious. So commoners use it for food rather than medicinal purposes.”
“It’s amazing that someone even thought of peeling the skin and steaming something so unappetizing.”
“What’s even funnier is that you have to pick it only when the sun is up. I don’t know what the principle is, but if you pick it in the evening, it’s poisonous and can even kill you.”
“If you know that, does that mean someone has already died?”
Whenever I visited the Harem, they would gather around me and chat among themselves. I’ve been learning things that I can’t learn from books, so I’ve been coming here often lately.
“Crown Prince, how do you read this?”
Just then, a child who was sitting quietly next to me and reading the book I had given him asked. I glanced at it and was about to tell him casually when someone slapped the child’s back.
“Why are you asking the Crown Prince such things! It’s late, so go to bed.”
“I’m not sleepy yet?”
“Your eyes are already glazed over. Someone, please take Zero in quickly!”
At those words, someone took the child away. Was his name Zero? I’m sure he was much smaller the last time I saw him, but kids really do grow up fast.
“Aren’t you going to sleep, Crown Prince?”
A man who had been putting food in my mouth from next to me asked. It wasn’t time to sleep yet, and I wasn’t really tired, so I nodded. Then another woman next to him asked.
“Are you going to sleep here tonight?”
I frowned without realizing it because the intention was so obvious. I had laid down once when they told me to sleep over, but they kept touching me so much that I couldn’t sleep at all.
“Are you going to touch me again?”
“Is that not allowed? If you allow me to help you, I will do my best. I’m really confident.”
A woman who had come down as if she was being chased knelt between my legs. Then, she carefully slid her fingers inside my thigh.
For a moment, I hesitated without realizing it. Just as the scale was about to tip to one side, a scene suddenly flashed through my mind.
The musty, damp smell of the basement, the stone floor with rotten blood pooling and hardening in every crack, the dirty sounds of panting like a beast, and the legs that were turning blue and shaking helplessly…
The cloudy eyes of the corpse, which couldn’t even close, were staring blankly at the air.
“……”
Had I been negligent without realizing it because I hadn’t thought about it recently? I suddenly felt nauseous and almost threw up all the fruit I had eaten.
Vomiting reflexes kept occurring, and my mouth was full of saliva. I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to hold it in somehow, but the woman between my legs asked with a puzzled expression.
“What’s wrong?”
I gritted my teeth and barely said.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I feel like I’m going to throw up…”
“……”
The woman, with her eyes wide open, stared at me for a moment and then made a crying face.
“You’re too much, really.”
I tilted my head as I looked at the tears welling up in her eyes, and the man who had been feeding me grapes asked.
“Then how about me?”
I glanced at him. Since the corpse back then was also a man, I felt even worse than before.
“Ugh…”
When I even made a sound, tears welled up in the man’s eyes as well.