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Just because the speaker felt embarrassed didn’t mean that the listeners could remain calm.

“Well, how about poems?” Bernardo Eli asked, as if he was having a seizure.

“I can’t use them. My mana heart is completely broken.”

The prince was still calm. His attitude was so carefree that everyone even wondered if something had happened to his head, what with him saying that he had lost something so important. Thinking that the prince’s attitude was surreal, not fitting the situation, Eli could not accept his words.

“You’re kidding.”

Instead of answering, the prince looked at Eli with an honest gaze.

‘Cheolkup!’

Bernardo Eli suddenly drew his sword, then held it out before him.

“What are you doing?”

“I know you’re just kidding.”

“I’m not joking about this.”

“No, it should be a joke.”

At this, Eli raised his sword again.

“Show me your Aura Blade, or a sword aura,” he said, his face filled with desperation.

The prince sighed and grabbed the sword.

‘Tuk!’

However, the sword dropped to the bed, not staying in the prince’s hand.

“What are you doing?”

Eli picked up the sword again and forced it into the prince’s grasp.

‘Gank!’

The sword forged by meisters clattered to the floor. Bernardo Eli, drained by hearing the sound, squeezed his lips.

“Is it not the sword you normally use? If so, I will bring your Highness’s sword now and-”

“Bernardo,” the prince stopped him and shook his head quietly. “You already know.”

“What the hell…”

“I can’t wield my sword.”

He raised his hand and showed it to everyone—his torn, cracked, bloody palm.

“I can’t properly lift a sword with a hand like this.”

“No. No. Absolutely not. Look at my hands. My hands are as scarred as your Highness’s…”

“I can’t use mana, I don’t have power in my hands. It’s hard for me to walk right now.”

Hearing this confession, Bernardo Eli sat down on the floor while staring at the prince blankly.

“How… But how…” Eli gritted his teeth and forced his words out. “How are you so casual?”

The prince shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“Because this is not a punishment.”

He spoke with a gentle smile that made Eli want to scream.

“That’s because this is a gift she left me.”

His eyes looked at empty space as if he was chasing someone who was not there.

“It seems that I, who rushed on looking only forward, wanted to stop and rest like this. I guess I, who always knew of nothing but swords and war, wanted to forget about it all for a while and take a look around. So while reviving me, she didn’t fix my mana heart. Yes, she must have had that ability.”

Like when he had been in the garden the night before, talking to himself, the prince spoke slowly with a voice full of despair and longing.

“Maybe it’s what I wanted—to start anew. To not be tied up in the past anymore, to get a fresh chance. I noticed that Anne wanted me to do that too. At the end, Anne called me Ian, not-”

The prince suddenly looked at the knights.

“So I’m going to do that.”

And then, he laughed little.

“As they wanted me to.”

His was shameless laughter, that of the optimist who had lost everything yet saw more to live for still.

“I want to live like a person.”

He had a smile like that of an investigator who found the final answer after great suffering. At the same time, his expression was hopeful and anticipatory; it seemed to belong to a dreaming boy. His innocent face did not fit the situation, and the knights were lost for words. Their faces clearly showed that they did not understand what the hell the prince was talking about. That was, for one of them: Arwen Kirgayen.

“Good idea,” Arwen told the Crown Prince as she stepped forward while the other knights remained blank. Her eyes conveyed the truth of her words and her bold look was remarkable. There was even a subtle smile on her lips. As for the other knights, her expression was as incomprehensible to them as the prince’s attitude.

“I thought if it’s Arwen, she would have said that.”

The prince merely spoke in a daze, as if he had known from the beginning that Arwen would come out for him.

“I’ll be your Highness’s sword.”

approached the prince, looking tragic yet noble in the eyes of the others.

“Because I swore that from the beginning.”

The Crown Prince stretched his eyes wide, then let them curl as he laughed.

“It’s reassuring.”

That was the beginning of everything.

“What if there is no sword left? Thousands of swords and spears in the north await your Highness’s orders,” Vincent Balahard growled, saying that if anyone blocked the prince’s path, they would be buried away from his eyes right away.

“Before, on that day, your Highness told me to be a shield. I will be that shield,” Carls Ulrich said, expressing his determination to be faithful in his role as palace knight.

And Bernardo Eli- ‘Bwak’ -opened the door and ran out of the room.

“He’s…” Vincent tried to explain the immature act, “He’s the only one whose seen only your Highness’s back since winter. It’s probably hard for him to accept the current situation.”

Arwen Kirgayen stepped up to appease the others’ dissatisfaction, mentioning how, since Bernardo Eli was knighted, he had wanted to emulate the Crown Prince.

Vincent clucked his tongue and asked the Crown Prince a question as if suddenly remembering something.

“So what are you going to do from now on?”

“I don’t have any special plans yet,” the prince said with a bright laugh. “For once, I’m going to sit around and think about it.”

**

“Give me the knife.”

Vincent frowned.

“You said you’re thinking, relaxing.”

“Yeah, I’ve been idle,” the prince said proudly as if this was some great achievement.

“By the way, is this preparation for holding a sword?”

“Uh…”

“What do you want to use the knife for? You can’t even hold it properly.”

“I said it’s okay, so why don’t you just come out and say what you want to say?”

“So- Are you upset?”

“I’m not. I don’t change my attitude so quickly.”

“Yes, because you don’t have a spontaneous personality, right?”

“I don’t, really.”

For a few moments, the duke and prince aimlessly conversed.

“So why do you need a knife that you can’t even hold properly?” Vincent asked again, squinting his eyes.

“I can hold a small knife,” the prince growled.

“Are you trying to learn using daggers?”

“No.”

“Why then?”

“I want to make something.”

Vincent frowned at such an unexpected answer.

“What?”

“I don’t know so far. Please just give me the knife.”

“I want to know what purpose the knife will serve, understand?”

“I’m going to carve some wood.”

Yet another unexpected answer made Vincent narrow his eyes as he looked at the prince.

“So, will you help me, or not?” the Crown Prince roughly asked.

“You need some lumber?”

**

“What is this?” The prince laughed when he saw the timber piled up on one side of the dojo. “When I asked for some wood, I didn’t ask you to clear a whole forest.”

Rather than wood for carving, the enormous amount of lumber would be enough to build a house, and even then, logs would remain. Moreover, it wasn’t just wood that Vincent had sent.

“Why are you here again?”

The ranger standing in front of the timber pile laughed. “Your Highness wants to make something out of wood?”

“That’s right.”

“The most important thing in carving wood is dexterity! And when it comes to dexterity, it’s Jordan who’s the master! I am the best carpenter in Balahard!”

The prince laughed as he heard the lengthy answer.

“Balahard’s best drinker, Balahard’s best ranger, Balahard’s best curser. And this time, Balahard’s best carpenter?”

“Excluding the swearing, and adding the word handsome in its place: that’s me,” Jordan deftly replied, even in the face of the prince’s challenge. Then he started talking for some time about his versatility.

“Do you know how useful I am now?”

“I don’t know that. I know that you are skipping work, though.”

Jordan, who had constantly spoken, shut his mouth for the first time. However, being chatty by nature, he quickly opened his mouth again.

“So what are you trying to make? Jewelry? Statues? Furniture? A weapon?”

“What I want to make-”

“Name anything. The best carpenter in Balahard will make your Highness a great woodworker in no time through my experience and know-how.”

“So I-”

“If you have a woman in mind, why don’t you try making ornaments for her? When it comes to wooden jewelry, there are some people who think of cheap things that are usually sold at market stalls, and that’s the prejudice of those who know only of the lesser arts! How graceful wood can be- Once you see it done right, you’ll never think of the cheap stuff again!”

The Crown Prince opened and closed his mouth several times, then stumbled. The ranger’s intense chatter was making his head dizzy.

‘Shh!’

Adelia, who had silently stepped forward to support the prince’s body, frowned. Jordan, after yelling, bit his lip.

“So what are you going to make?” he asked carefully after a while, attentively looking at Adelia.

It was then, with a dazed face, that the Crown Prince answered the ranger.

“A statue.”

“There are many kinds of carvings. Wood varies widely depending on what size, what shape, and what grain is used-”

“Adelia.”

Just when Jordan was about to unleash his torrent of words again, the Crown Prince softly spoke up.

“Cut it apart.”

“How should I cut it?”

“From that size into eight pieces.”

The ranger’s expression paled to white, for it sounded as if the Crown Prince was thinking about cutting him into pieces.

“Well- Wait a minute-”

Before Jordan finished speaking, Adelia’s sword aura flashed.

“Ugh!” The ranger screamed, hastily groping his body.

‘Hwak!’

Then he looked right behind him. Of the wood that had been piled up, one log with an appropriately pleasing color was rolling over the floor, cut into eight sections.

‘Strit!’ Adelia Bavaria glanced at the ranger as she passed him by.

‘Chuck’

Then she picked up a log and gave it to the prince.

“It’s just right.”

A satisfied smile came to the prince’s face as he studied the wooden segment.

“Come with me. Give me that knife over there.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After this short exchange, the prince turned around and headed toward his palace.

“I feel relieved to see that my body is still intact, but not so much that his personality is still the same.”

The ranger, once he was alone, gave a sigh of relief as he stared in the direction they had left in. But his relief proved short-lived.

“Ah! My chance is ruined! Now I must either go on a long-distance patrol or run away!” the ranger screamed, becoming filled with angst as he considered he might be put back to work.

**

From that day on, the Crown Prince spent all day carving wood.

Even when his guests came, he did not take his carving knife from his hand. His entire time, except for when he slept, he devoted to carving. However, he realized that it wasn’t easy to sculpt with his broken hands, and the results of his labors were not yet significant.

“It seemed easy when Anne was doing it. It’s harder than I thought,” he grumbled as he looked down at the state of his carving.

at the Crown Prince.

“What?”

“Sometimes… I’m curious about who this Anne person is whom your Highness talks about.”

“There is such a person,” the prince replied as he grabbed the chunk of wood he had laid down for a while. He again began forcing his stunted hands to mold the wood.

“She’s rough of mouth and warm of heart. She isn’t large, but her swordplay is amazing.”

Adelia could not see the Crown Prince’s face, bowed over his work as he was.

“She told me to live instead of sacrificing my life for others. She told me to live as the human Adrian Leonberger, not as a knight.”

Yet, it wasn’t difficult for Adelia to guess what expression the prince held on his face.

“She told me to live more confidently than anyone else.”

Adelia didn’t know, but the prince was probably smiling.

“She is such a wonderful woman.”

His voice was also very warm.