The Tanaka Family Reincarnates
chapter-367

Awake [Part 1]

The effect of Violet’s thread also appeared in the Royal Castle.

“Your Majesty the Queen, this is terrible! His Highness… His Highness Maximilian fainted!”

First Prince Maximilian lost consciousness around the same time Joanna was captured. The spell on the first prince, which had separated his mind from his body and caused him to not be able to act on his will, had been broken.

“…ugh.”

Maximilian next awoke on the bed in his room.

“Max!”

He heard his Royal Mother’s worried voice.

“Your Highness!”

The Prime Minister’s voice too…

“Huh?”

Maximilian immediately noticed the changes in his body. The sounds around him that were usually muffled could now be heard clearly. When he opened his eyes, the thin, hazy veil blocking his vision was also gone.

“Wha…t…? Eh?”

The voice he uttered on his own reached his ears smoothly.

“Max, does it hurt anywhere? Does it feel tight in the chest?”

The Queen frowned worriedly beside her son’s bed.

“Huh? Mother… Your Majesty the Queen?”

Maximilian had never seen this expression on his mother, who had always been calm and collected.

“Your Highness suddenly fainted.”

The Prime Minister standing behind the Queen helped explain his situation.

“Fainted…? Gasp! I can move my body… freely?”

Maximilian lightly shook his absent-minded head, opened his eyes wide, and clenched and opened his hands several times. His body… could move as he wished.

“Your Highness, are you alright?”

Beside his Royal Mother was the King’s concubine, Rose Alicia Royal. It was rare for her to sit together with his Royal Mother. He guessed it might be the first time since his father forcibly took a concubine, contrary to all oppositions.

His father, at that time, acted very quickly. Saying it was love at first sight, he refused to bend no matter how the Prime Minister explained there were no precedents. He had wondered why his father was in such a hurry before… But Maximilian understood his father’s actions now that he had studied abroad in the Empire and was chanted with magic. He now knew what have the [Holy Maidens] gathered from all around the world gone through in the Empire.

The extraordinarily beautiful Lady Rose was no doubt a [Holy Maiden] candidate at that time. She could now smile beside his mother like this because his father took her under his protection.

“…?”

Suddenly, Maximilian felt a gaze on him. And that was an odd gaze.

Born as the first prince, he was used to people’s stares. But this was a different kind of gaze he had never received before.

“What… What is… it?”

Maximilian’s mother, the Prime Minister, and even the Knight Order Commander behind them, whom he hadn’t noticed until now, were staring intently at him. They didn’t even try being subtle but just gawked at him insolently. And his mother, who should’ve been strict on etiquette, was the one who took the lead to stare at him first instead.

“He… looked at them just now, didn’t he?”

Queen Victoria confirmed to Concubine Rose sitting silently beside her.

“…Y-Yes.”

Concubine Rose blushed slightly at the Queen’s question and gave a positive answer.

“No doubt… There’s no doubt he was looking at them!”

The Prime Minister agreed vigorously.

“Yes, there’s no mistaking it. I have ascertained it with my very eyes!”

The Knight Order Commander standing further behind leaned forward in excitement as he replied to the Queen’s question.

“Huh? What is it?”

Maximilian was in pure confusion.

His mother looked happy, for some reason, while the Prime Minister and the Knight Order Commander patted their chests in relief. Moreover, Concubine Rose turned somewhat bashful.

Then,

“Maximilian looked at Rose-san’s breasts!”

The Queen exclaimed in joy.

“HUHHH! Mothe… Your Majesty the Queen, what are you saying?! No, I never—”

Maximilian unconsciously raised his voice at his mother’s unexpected remark. ‘What is my mother saying all of a sudden?’

“No, Max. It’s no use lying! You did closely look at those voluptuous breasts of Rose-san just now! There’s no doubt about it.”

“Yes, I have also seen it. Unfortunately, you have been completely exposed, Your Highness.”

“Your Highness, it’s already impossible to hide it. We’ve also only come to know this recently… All of these sorts of subtle glances have long been found out.”

His mother, Prime Minister, and Knight Order Commander suddenly became excited.

“No, that’s not it. I’m… I never…”

“ “ “No, there’s no mistaking it!” ” ”

“Ugh!”

He blurted out an excuse without thinking, but the Queen, Prime Minister, and Knight Order Commander didn’t look like they would give him leeway. He had never seen such a solidarity between these three people.

But as a prince of this country, Maximilian could never do such a thing… Or, to be exact, even if he did, he would never admit it.

‘It was true that… I couldn’t say that I didn’t… look at them… But it was only for an instant.

For only an instant… my eyes were just drawn in on their own… It was more like by reflex, not intentionally… Hm? Wait a minute. What did Knight Commander say just now?’ Maximilian’s brain belatedly processed the Knight Order Commander’s warning.

‘All of these sorts of subtle glances have long been found out… he said…?

No way,’ Maximilian turned his gaze to Rose.

‘If that is possible… then all this time she has always…?’

As Maximilian’s eyes met with Rose’s, she put her hand on her flushed cheek and smiled awkwardly in embarrassment.

“Ughhh.”

‘Although she’s my stepmother… she is kind of cute… Has she always been someone who likes to smile softly like this?

No, wait. Huh? Which means everything until now…? Everything? She knew it all along…?’ Maximilian got dizzy from the realization.

“Aha! You looked at them again, didn’t you? Maximilian peeked at Rose-san’s breasts again!”

“M-Mother! Your voice is too loud!”