I Became the First Prince: Legend of Sword's Song
chapter-16

Not all of them disappeared (3)

The man fell to the floor. He cried like a child, crying that ‘it hurts’ with his bloody mouth.

The prince approached him.

“Ouch!”

The prince kicked his side and turned him over, before grabbing his head by the hair and pulling it backward.

“Y-your Highness!”

The other club members screamed for the prince to stop. But before they could even act, the prince’s hand moved.

A bottle full of alcohol smashed against the man’s mouth.

“Aaaah!”

The screams came out a little late. Pieces of broken teeth and glass scattered on the floor.

Puck. Puck.

The prince shook his fist and drove it against the messy face.

The front teeth, which remained intact somehow, now broke off and bounced off the dirty, bloody floor.

Ruthless punches followed.

“En-enough, please, Your Highness.”

The man, who was the successor of the Balson family, crawled over, trying to get away.

The prince released his hair. The head fell to the ground and banged on the floor.

Then, the prince kicked him.

The eldest son of the Balson family was thrown off to the corner by the force of the kicked.

Blood poured out of his mouth as he lay still, intermittently writhing in pain.

A little more, and he would die.

The prince would decide whether he would live or die.

And the decision was imminent.

From now on, your brother is the successor of the family, they remember him saying.

The prince had no intention of keeping Balson’s son alive from the beginning.

Why?

What happened?

It was a common question on the people’s minds.

Weren’t they fussing around just earlier? Why did the prince lose his temper?

Everyone had to find out what made the prince lose his temper. They shouldn’t make the same mistake. The other members looked at each other, exchanging confused gazes.

No one had an answer. They only saw embarrassment and doubt at each other’s faces.

The prince looked around as he shook the blood from his fists.

“It is unbearable to think that you are this weak.”

“…”

“…”

“Eli.”

“Yes, Your Highness?” Bernard Eli approached with caution.

“Didn’t you say I was going to be very happy today?”

A person is dying right by him, and his fists were covered in blood. However, the prince’s voice was as excited as if he came to a festival.

“Go and call my court knights.”

“As you say, Your Highness!”

Bernard Eli immediately fled the room.

“Every woman, get out.”

The pale women hurried to the door.

“I said, ‘women’.”

Some of the members trying to escape with the women stopped.

“If you want to go out, go out. But when you go out, you will become a woman.”

No one knew what the prince meant. Still, no one was able to leave the room with such an incomprehensible yet terrifying warning.

The sounds of armor clanging went louder as the court knights arrived.

* * *

“His Highness called for you,” the son of Count Eli suddenly came, pale as snow.

“His Highness?”

“There’s been a trivial quarrel inside…”

Even before the son of the count was done, Carls Juli fired quick instructions to the knights.

“You, and you, stay here and block the way. The rest rushes in with me! Above all, let’s ensure that His Highness’ safety is our top priority!”

The knights ran into the mansion.

They met women who were crying, their makeup messy.

They were fleeing from the room as if there was a wild beast inside.

The court knights ran through the hall, almost flying.

“His Highness is in there!”

Count Eli’s son pointed at the door at the end of the hall, unable to run with the knights’ dazzling pace.

The court knights entered the room with their hands on the handles of their swords.

Carls Juli’s eyes searched around the smoky room quickly.

There were men standing at the wall with disheveled clothes; one man was lying on the floor covered in blood; there were broken and smashed glasses and bottles.

He found the prince in the middle of it all.

“Your Highness! We are here!”

The knights drew their swords and surrounded the prince. Carls alertly glanced in all directions for any threat, and only then did he notice the expressions of the men standing by the walls.

Carls Juli narrowed his eyes.

Well?

These men, who were noblemen’s sons, were terrified for some reason.

They were like a flock of sheep fleeing a predator, finding themselves cornered against the walls.

It wasn’t easy to judge the situation.

The prince looked peaceful and unharmed… then he saw that his hands were bloody.

“Your Highness! What happened here?”

“Not kneeling in front of the First Prince or showing any respect. Coveting the royal sword. What charges can be applied in this case?”

Carls responded with a stiff face.

“It is considered to be a rebellion if a member of a royal family is not provided proper respect, because it is an embarrassment to the whole royal family.”

Having said that, he looked around with sharp eyes.

“Who would you have us bring down?”

“Everyone.”

Carls, who intended to kill the guilty party, looked at the prince in surprise.

The noblemen’s sons began crying out in protest.

“Your Highness! I never meant any harm!”

“Your Highness! Please forgive me with your generous heart!”

“Covering the royal sword! I was just admiring His Highness’ dedication, and have no intention to take it!”

Some prayed for forgiveness, while others made excuses and pleadings.

However, the prince said, ‘everyone’. The knights moved.

Wrathful knights kicked the men behind their knees and brought them to the ground.

“This man, then…” Carls asked the prince as he looked down at the bloody man who collapsed on the ground.

“He laughed at me and insulted my knight. He treated Arwen Kirgayenne as a prostitute.”

Meanwhile, the aristocrats continued shouting.

“Your Highness! Please forgive me!”

“Our family has been loyal to the royal family for generations! I will never disrespect you!”

Suddenly, a voice with a different tone popped out between the voices.

“Your Highness! You can’t treat the eldest sons of noblemen this way!”

The man who said it had dull eyes, obviously drunk with alcohol.

“I can let it go now… my family will treat you with constant loyalty. But if you really want to do this, you can…”

“What?” Even before the man was done speaking, the prince stepped forward and approached him.

“Go on.” He dared the man.

The eldest son of a country countess calmed down in an instant, amazingly.

“Your Highness, I mean…”

The prince laughed coldly.

“Your father’s neck will be on the line. His son just made a grave mistake.”

The man turned deathly pale. He realized that he had said too much. The spirit of alcohol was driven away by fear.

“Your Highness! I didn’t mean that I was just…”

“What are you doing?” the prince snapped at the knights. “Should I keep listening to this?”

Immediately, the knights took the man away.

Carls asked the prince, “What about Eli’s son?”

“Leave him alone. Just tell him to come to the palace.”

* * *

That night, the kingdom was in trouble.

Dozens of noble family members were detained in prisons.

Noble families stayed on the royal road and protested vigorously.

They asked the chief of royal defense what their sons’ crimes were.

Then, when they finally knew the reason, no one raised their voice again.

There were even witnesses to the charges of insulting the royal family.

The noblemen began to scatter away from the palace as if they were running away.

It was the same with Balson’s son.

His son was dying in a cold jail with his teeth falling apart, and his jaw smashed, but his father could not do anything. He begged for the wounds to be treated, but even that was not accepted.

The prince issued a strict order for his son’s detainment.

* * *

“As soon as you went outside the palace, you made trouble.”

The cold voice of the King echoed in the palace.

However, Prince Adrian Leonberger, who was the main cause of all this fuss, remained calm and casual.

“I was ignored and mocked in the face. Should I have stayed still?”

From the start, the king wished that his son wouldn’t go with that indecent crowd, but he didn’t want to listen. But now…

“Do you know what you did now?” he asked the prince.

It was complicated. Insulting the royal family would surely be punished, but this time, there were fourteen noble families involved. In addition, one of the members, a Count’s son, was dying.

The backlash would be quite large. But according to the law, it must happen. Punishment, or the royal family’s honor, would fall to the ground.

The troubled situation, of course, was not without a solution.

Perhaps it was a wake-up call.

The king, however, thought the prince didn’t understand what he did or thought it through before doing it. He just wanted to cause trouble to the royal family, like before.

“You’re not worried about the backlash,” he reprimanded the prince.

“Your Majesty, these guys insulted our family’s name. I know they will carry their noble families’ names, too…”

The king narrowed his eyes as he watched the prince speak.

There was a wall between them. The prince has always treated his father with fear, avoidance, and silence.

“If they were kept carrying their families’ names, the future of the kingdom will be in jeopardy.”

“Sounds like a familiar story,” the king teased but kept his serious tone.

“End their succession.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know you can do it,” the prince remained stern and firm.

The king considered. After his son almost died, it seemed that something changed with him.

However, the king waited silently. Depending on what the prince would say next, he could punish the prince for his attitude, or follow his advice.

“They have younger brothers and sisters…”

The king stared at the prince. The prince did not veer away from his gaze.

After a long time, the king opened his mouth.

“Look at me.”

It was not a punishment that came out of the king’s mouth.

The prince laughed and bowed his head.

* * *

Upon arriving from the Royal Palace, Adelia Bavaria was brought to my room.

She was incredibly anxious, and I didn’t know what to say.

“Let’s relax. I’m not trying to hurt you.”

I tried to speak as gently as possible, but it didn’t work.

I sighed and asked her to sit. Then, I asked her about her family.

“We’re an unfamiliar family with a name barely on the noble list. It is not a family that Your Highness may be interested in.”

It was the same answer I heard the day before.

Only

She had no idea.

What a pity.

The history of glory has been erased. The great power and great pride were all gone.

However, something remained.

I looked over her head.

A status window appeared in the air.

There was a ‘heritage’ inherited by Adelia Bavaria.