novel034. Imperial Prince is Duelling -1 (Part One)
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Alice was with Gril and Count Jenald Ripang on the first floor of the banquet hall. The subject of their conversation were the recent events that took place in the Ronia fiefdom.
"That's absolutely it, miss! When the Seventh Imperial Prince-nim swung his shovel, a huuuge lake made out of holy water suddenly... !"
"What Gril said is the truth, Lady Alice. Huhuhuh, even I had no idea that the Imperial Family's youngest prince was capable of performing miracles of such an immense calibre. Just his highness alone was that amazing, so I can't help but be curious about the level of miracles that his majesty can perform!"
Gril sat by one of the tables and yapped on while spittle flew out of his mouth, all the while Count Jenald continuously agreed with his words rather enthusiastically from the side.
Alice smiled awkwardly while looking at these two. From her perspective, it was rather hard to believe the stories that Gril or Count Jenald Ripang have been telling her.
Despite being the Holy Emperor's grandson, the Seventh Imperial Prince was an infamous mangnani, so how could he create a lake made out of holy water?
Various Priests, Saints, or Saintesses that are found in history had never, ever managed to create such an event before. Besides, the idea of creating a lake on top of dry ground itself didn't make any sense whatsoever, either.
The tales recited by Gril and Count Jenald Ripang contained far too many parts that went against the laws of this world.
'Still, I can sort of picture him swinging around a shovel, somehow. '
It actually seemed like a perfect choice of weapon for a mangnani.
Alice sipped the wine in her hand and lightly shook her head. Her cheeks reddened slightly from the alcohol. She felt a little light-headed, but in spite of that, her overall mood was great.
Shatter-!
Suddenly, a sharp noise rang out.
Alice flinched and took a look at her own hand, wondering if she had dropped her wine glass. Thankfully, it seemed that she wasn't drunk enough yet to make such a mistake.
Did that mean a servant or a maid made an error and dropped something somewhere?
She shifted her gaze around. As she had been staying near the railing of the first floor, she could look down below at the banquet hall's ground floor. It was at that moment she spotted the Seventh Imperial Prince. Count Fomor was with him too.
She gasped out."Urgh..."
For some reason, she couldn't help but feel this weird queasiness when looking at those two. She ducked her head lower in fear of them inadvertently spotting her before silently observing what happened next.
Her curiosity only lasted for a short while, however.
The actions of the Seventh Imperial Prince were indeed extremely strange. He deliberately injured Count Fomor.
The boy prince formed an unreadable expression, then smiled brightly while keeping his eyes fixed on the red-haired count's back as the latter exited from the banquet hall.
Alice could only blink nonstop from that.
Her eyes spotted the wine dripping from the shattered glass, the one the Seventh Imperial Prince was drinking from earlier. That was where the highly-concentrated divinity could be sensed from.
'What's going on?'
"Tsk, tsk. It looks like his highness the Seventh Imperial Prince has lost his mind. Is he really thinking of turning Count Fomor against him? Someone who used to serve his mother, Lady Yulisia?"
"What a shame it is for Count Fomor. You won't find a vassal who worries about the First and the Seventh Imperial Prince as much as he does, after all."
"They seemed to be in good spirits while drinking wine together, and yet for some reason, things seemed to have deteriorated instantly."
"You can blame that on being drunk, I guess. Let us leave as well, I don't think any one of us can deal with an intoxicated imperial prince."
The aristocrats cautiously studied the overall atmosphere before leaving the banquet altogether.
However, Alice mulled over what she heard. 'They shared wine together?'
They drank wine containing divinity, and then the prince suddenly wounded the count on the back of the latter's hand?
Exactly why did the Seventh Imperial Prince treat Count Fomor in such a manner?
"Uh? Isn't that Charlotte? Charlotte~~, your dad is over here!"
"Gril, you're drunk. Your actions are putting us in a spot!"
Gril continued waving his hand, his face clearly flushed red. Meanwhile, feudal lord Count Jenald Ripang was trying to dissuade his drunken conversation partner.
The other aristocrats looked at the two men, and they were either scowling deeply or chuckling under their breath. In their eyes, a feudal lord from a rural backwater town and the representative of the citizens living there looked like a couple of court jesters.
Alice too couldn't help but smile wryly when looking at these two men. Although she did find them easier to be around with, they were also a bit burdensome as well.
By the time she shifted her gaze again, Sir Harman pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, before presenting them to the Imperial Prince. The latter received them and began wandering around the banquet hall, his eyes gleaming suspiciously as if he was looking for something.
"Just what is he doing?"
The very moment Alice asked herself that question, the next incident quickly occurred.
"Allen Olfolse!!"
The First Imperial Prince made his entrance.
She was startled awake by that. The First Imperial Prince Luan, still suffering from ill health, could be seen overexerting himself while trying to pounce on the Seventh Imperial Prince.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"
And then, the next to make his entrance was the Holy Emperor himself.
His powerful roar contained divinity. Even Alice ended up flinching greatly from it.
The three people of the Imperial Family were now staring at each other. She could also see her grandfather stuck in the middle while sweating profusely, clearly not knowing what to do in this situation.
Alice held her aching head.
The Imperial Family always had its fair share of hotheads over the years. Because of that, she couldn't help but gain a sort of renewed respect for her grandfather who stood by and served such a dysfunctional family for his entire life.
'W-wait, now isn't the time for this!'
While holding onto the hem of her dress, she urgently headed downstairs to the banquet hall's ground floor.
She didn't really care about anything else. The in-fighting of the Imperial Family members occurred pretty regularly after all. The one thing she found more important than that was the instability of the First Imperial Prince Luan's physical state.
She passed by the Seventh Imperial Prince's side and sneaked a glance at the latter.
It looked like he was taking a step back while pushing a piece of paper containing something to Sir Harman at the same time. The boy prince lowered his head and whispered to the Paladin.
~ul~
Harman, go and hunt down the vampires.
~/ul~
The whisper was soft, almost inaudible, only his lips bobbing up and down ever so slightly. If it weren't for Alice's comparatively short height, she wouldn't have seen his lips move at all.
'Vampires?'
Just as Alice began wondering what that was all about...
The First Imperial Prince grabbed his chest and let out a pained moan.
"Your highness!"
Alice turned her body towards Luan and hastily supported the prince. Archbishop Raphael nearby hurriedly came over and began injecting divinity into the cursed body of the First Imperial Prince.
**
(Tl: back to 1st person POV. )
"Harman, go and hunt down the vampires."
I passed the list containing the names of the vampires over to Harman. He nodded his head and received the piece of paper.
Meanwhile, my dear older brother Luan, who also happened to be the First Imperial Prince, was gritting his teeth.
He must've regained his wits, because he was taking a few steps back now. But then, he suddenly staggered unsteadily and clutched his chest before moaning in pain.
Even before I realised it, the lady-in-waiting, Alice, rushed over and supported Luan from keeling over. A healer that looked to be in a high position quickly approached them, and then began injecting divinity into the First Imperial Prince's body.
"You fools, are you really trying to sully the honour and prestige of the Imperial Family?!"
The Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse shouted out, the veins in his throat bulging ever so grandly.
As expected of the emperor who wielded the utmost absolute authority on this continent; his majestic aura was so splendid that any other emperor would have no choice but to tuck their tails firmly between their legs.
"You punks! Will you finally get a grip on yourselves if I bust your skulls with my own two fists?!"
The only problem I could see here would be the way he unhesitantly spat out some words that seemingly fed all semblance of class to a pack of stray mutts.
The old man who looked like the archbishop wanted to say something, but the atmosphere was too volatile and ugly that he just couldn't find the right timing.
The surroundings had fallen deathly silent.
Everyone around us was shivering in fear while looking at the First Imperial Prince, me, and the Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse.
What the hell? I feel like I've become the lead in a makjang K-drama or something. [1]
Why oh why did I have to go and possess the body of a kid from such a soya powder family? [2]
"Are you alright?"
Charlotte asked me.
I'm obviously alright. It's not like I was struck by something just now, anyway.
"What is your excuse, Allen Olfolse?"
I shifted my gaze over to the First Imperial Prince as the latter's eyes drilled into me.
"I heard that you dared insult Count Fomor. What is your reason for that?"
The mention of Count Fomor's name caused the Holy Emperor to divert his gaze in my direction. His eyes were narrowed down to slits."Is that true?"
I replied honestly, "Yes, it's true."
Well, it wasn't meant to be an insult but actually me trying to hunt the dude down, but too bad, I failed to kill him. Who would've thought that he'd emerge unscathed after I injected divinity in his hand then had him drink holy wine? For a moment there, I even suspected that [Mind's Eye] suddenly developed a system error or something.
"What was your reason for doing so?"
Okay, so. Should I openly say, "Because he was a vampire"?
I could only grin wryly.
Here I was, the prince who got banished and was sent to a backward town without any guards to protect me.
The Holy Emperor in front of me left his own seventh grandson to his devices, even when the boy almost got murdered after being hanged by a witch. I had a hunch that the old man wouldn't listen to me at this point in time.
Nope, he'd probably berate me instead.
Besides, if I openly say something about the vampires in the city now, then those damned undead would only crawl deeper into the shadows and hide away.
"I made a mistake. It seems that I was too drunk at the time."
"A mistake?"
Kelt Olfolse glared at me even harder than before.
I simply cocked my head wordlessly, and then shrugged my shoulders.
This sure was the perfect display of a mannerless mangnani, alright. Despite my actions, though, the Holy Emperor still persisted with his questioning.
"Was that really the only reason?"
Eh?
Now that was an unexpected response.
Kelt Olfolse was demanding another reason from me. However... wasn't I a grandson you already abandoned? Why are you looking at me with such a meaningful glare in your eyes?
I replied dismissively, "Why would there be another reason?"
The First Imperial Prince breathed raggedly while keeping his glare locked on me. He then picked up a wine glass from a nearby table and threw it on the ground I was standing on.
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