“Incompetent!” the prince of the Kingdom, Karstahl von Orellia, angrily chastised Cecilia. As usual, Cecilia kept her calm composure, silently sipping her tea while her younger brother continued his tantrums. “That man has no use for you. You should remove him. He already found himself nearly killed like a fool, now he has nothing. Not even his memories nor magic.”
The prince laughed at his older sister, his voice turning into a mocking one.
“Admit it. You are awful at choosing the people you rule with,” he crossed his arms. “You’ll see this Kingdom burn if you continue your incompetence.”
“Karstahl, I advise you to vacate this room now,” Cecilia replied, placing her teacup and saucer on her table. “I have work to do, and you’re disrupting my peace.”
“Work? Is it work about helping the peasantry again? Bah, such nonsense. The taxes you raised on our good nobles are going to bite you one day when you use it for useless things like that,” Karstahl laughed. “But sure, keep doing your work, Your Majesty.”
“If you believe that, then you are free to have those stances,” Cecilia smiled sweetly. “Get out.”
“This Kingdom is doomed,” Karstahl shot back, turning his back to his sister, and leaving the room. The guards immediately closed the door from the outside.
“You can come out now,” Cecilia said, and Fritz, who had been keeping his breathing in check, came out of one of the closets. “Again, apologies. If he saw you, that ape would just cause a scene. I appreciate your sacrifice.”
“It was fine,” Fritz replied, breathing deeply. It was quite a suffocating experience to watch from inside her closet. Not to mention, it was deeply humiliating but also enlightening.
Cecilia, and even him, have a lot of opponents. It was quite nice that he managed to see one of them speak freely.
“Thanks regardless,” Cecilia said.
“I propose we investigate and detain him,” Fritz suggested. “I am certain that man is a walking traitor. He’s better off being removed entirely, especially when he’s challenging your right to the throne. That’s a crime.”
“He’s a cruel fool, yes,” Cecilia said. “But he’s still my brother. I don’t like him, but I’d rather not harm my ill mother’s son unless he does something incredibly stupid.”
“I consider what he did incredibly stupid, and as Queen, you have more than enough right to go even as far as executing him for intimidating and attacking the legitimacy of the sovereign of the land, though I won’t recommend it just yet. Besides, you told me that he has a lot of nobles backing him. That’s more than enough of an excuse to start a cleaning operation.”
“Ambitious, but I’d rather not initiate a bloodbath in my Kingdom unless utterly necessary,” Cecilia shook her head. “Just calm yourself. The kind of useless drama you saw there is manageable for me. You should probably return to your refresher lessons instead.”
I guess even she doubts me too.
“I am working on it, and I’m making steady progress, Your Majesty—”
Fritz stopped, as Cecilia turned to him with a tiny pout.
“...Cecilia,” Fritz corrected, and she smiled. “I just…I’m not used to it yet, so I slip up.”
“I know,” she turned back to her table. “There’s nothing wrong with it. It just… disappoints me a bit. Still, congratulations on your progress. Can I hear anything about it?”
“I’ve raised my DEF and RES stats from F minus to F neutral,” Fritz proudly reported. “Mary pushed me hard last week, especially to raise my RES stats. She’s quite the sadist with the spells she used to test my body’s ability to resist magical damage though.”
“That’s just how she works, but trust me, she won’t kill you.”
“I know,” Fritz nodded. “I’ve also raised the levels of my two special skills to level two after the sparring matches I’ve had with her. I’m gaining better control over it. All in total, my levels have now increased by eight.”
“Impressive. You did that in a week?”
“I suppose?”
Cecilia gave him an approving smile.
“Keep it up then. I’m sure you’re going to prove the naysayers wrong soon.”
+++
Prove the naysayers wrong?
Fritz walked through the palace’s hallways, passing through the various people who worked under Cecilia’s household. Maids, soldiers, and guardsmen, all mingled and walked through the serene passageways.
Many seemed to give passing glances at Fritz. Most of them seemed neutral, except for the nobles and officials he passed by. They seemed to glance at Fritz with barely concealed conceit, which Fritz simply tried to ignore.
Even the occasional commoner staff seemed to look at him as if he didn’t belong in the palace, though it came more from what appeared to be pity.
It was the position he was in ever since the ‘news’ of the incident spread. Everyone thought he didn’t belong here, either by pity to a crippled young man, or by hate because…of whatever the old Fritz did under the Queen’s employ.
I should just get used to it. Fritz laughed inside. Someone as weak as me, who can’t even remember anything about himself, is trying to be the closest official to the Queen.
He kept his eyes straight, avoiding even looking at the people around him.
Of course, they won’t like me, I guess.
Regardless of the disapproving stares of the people around him, he kept his head high. He chose this path already—the path to using this Kingdom for his revenge plans.
This was of course a wall that he’d have to climb past through, but it was hardly the largest wall that he needed to scale.
Ultimately, to kill the Empress…I have to scale a lot of larger walls.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
He wouldn’t break the vow he made when he woke up in this new reality. That mission would be completed, come hell or high water.
+++
He exited the main palace building, going straight into the path at the entrance of the palace. His goal today was to return to Glandstadt, which was only a few miles north of the Burgundy Palace—the seat of the Orellian Crown.
He brought with him twenty marks, roughly the equivalent of two years of a laborer’s salary, and his goal was to find anything that would prove useful for his training using it.
Elixirs, potions, herbs, and medicine, whatever he could find, he wanted it. Anything to help his training, especially since he was truly struggling to beat Mary whenever they went into a heads-on sparring match.
It’s kinda dreary being down on the floor all the time.
Fritz continued walking, passing through the various parked carriages around them, many of them boasting elaborate designs, which meant they belonged to the nobility. He barely gave them a passing notice, until he saw the prince in front of him—chastising a random boy.
“You countryside mutt!” Karstahl shouted. “Hand it over. I left that bag in the stables, and you were working there earlier. You stole it!”
“Your Highness,” the teenage boy squeaked out, already nearly crying. “I swear, I would never do such a thing. I didn’t even know—”
A punch struck the boy’s eye. He immediately fell on the dirt, hissing in deep pain.
“Damned commoners,” the prince cursed. “I don’t even know why your kind is being hired around here.”
Hmm, now that I think about it, I believe I should preemptively deal with something. She won’t let me do it, but this is a neat excuse.
The prince was about to give the boy a good beating when Fritz decided to step in.
“Stop it,” Fritz coldly said behind Karstahl. The prince turned his back to meet Fritz’s eyes, only to flinch a bit from the cold stare that Fritz gave him. “Who told you that you can simply assault a worker employed by Her Majesty?”
“This kid? Worker?” Karstahl laughed. “I bet it’s just…another peasant that my sister grabbed from the streets. Maybe even an orphan. The palace isn’t a charity, these animals shouldn’t be handed things so generously.”
I kinda agree…
The boy was not in good health. He seemed…somewhat ill. Fritz understood well that this was probably another random poor kid that Cecilia took pity on, and thus she took him to a better place.
He had seen it a lot with her random ‘job programs’, as she called it. The poor, the orphans, the beggars—seemingly random dredges of society were being given menial jobs in her policy.
Fritz had doubts about that kind of idea, considering that Cecilia must be wasting money on unproductive hands, but…
My job is to enact whatever vision she has for this country even if I doubt it, as long as it’s positive. Besides, I’m not that different from this kid anyway. I’m also crippled, and technically under her employment because of her pity.
That, and if there was anything Fritz always found disgusting, it was strong people on top of society taking their frustrations on those below them.
They were the type of people that Fritz always wished to assassinate.
“You can disagree all you want, but that does not give you any right to assault him, Your Highness,” Fritz replied. He eyed the boy. “Stand up, and get out of here. I’ll take care of this.”
“T-thank you, good sir,” the teenage boy said, standing up. He tried to go in Fritz's direction, only for his shirt to be pulled by Karstahl.
“That bag contained valuable gems I took from powerful monsters!” Karstahl shouted. “You won’t go until you find it!”
“I said I don’t know where it is!” the boy screamed. “Please, I don’t understand why you’re blaming me, sir!”
“You misplacing your belongings isn’t his fault,” Fritz warned. “Unhand him now. He’s not your punching bag.”
Keep pushing it, Prince Karstahl. We’ll see where this goes.
People finally started to funnel in to see the commotion, watching as the prince angrily ranted in front of Fritz.
“You dare cross the words of a prince? Of royalty?!” Prince Karstahl angrily questioned.
He’s triggered. How amusing.
“Your Highness, just because you were born in the right family, does not mean you deserve an ounce of respect based on your behavior,” Fritz calmly replied. “No wonder the King chose to crown her instead of you in his dying days.”
A random maid who joined in the growing crowd gasped.
His words also finally sent the prince to the edge. A punch flew in Fritz’s direction, but with the swiftness of a practiced assassin, he dodged it gracefully, before sending an uppercut that struck the prince’s jaw.
Pushed away by the force, Prince Karstahl nursed his jaw, his face blood-red in fury.
“How dare you!”
“What is it, Your Highness?” Fritz asked, his voice low and his eyes staring bloodshot at Karstahl. “You were assaulting Her Majesty’s employee. I merely acted to protect a valuable asset of hers, and in response, you attempted to assault me too. Do you know what happens to fools who cross members of the Queen’s civil service?”
Karstahl gulped for a second, clearly intimidated by Fritz’s stare. Fritz knew that the Royal Messenger, a rare shadow mage, had quite the reputation before his downfall. Without it, he saw clearly how the beasts of the court became more comfortable at pushing back against him.
Thus, he somewhat thanked the prince for giving him the best opportunity to dispel that liability.
Appear strong when weak, and appear weak when strong. I have to rattle my saber for now to keep the wolves shifty.
Now, all he needed was to pull the fool into his trap. He’d make an example out of him.
“You hit a prince of the Kingdom,” Karstahl shot back. “What makes you think her words—”
“A decree of the Queen is the law of the land, Your Highness. Besides, you hit me first. The crowd saw it.”
The prince turned to look at the onlookers, all of them tensely watching the exchange. Fritz watched as the prince almost spoke, seemingly to prepare another set of lies, but nothing came out of it.
He was embarrassed.
Come on. You have to save face for your honor now.
Right then, he finally spoke.
“Then we shall settle it another way instead!”
Karstahl pointed his finger in Fritz's direction.
“You, Mr. Rolentz, I challenge you to a duel!”
As expected. Perfect.
“A duel?” Fritz replied, cool and steady. “Sure. Do I have the privilege to set the date and time for it?”
“I’ll give you that,” the prince said, his fear now being covered by made-up arrogance. He smugly looked away. “I can recognize that someone as weak as you will need time to prepare. But, I’ll make my point clear—I’ll kill you with my blade.”
Quite a quick turn-around for someone who had his lights punched out of him.
Playing with arrogant fools was a game that truly amused Fritz.
“Is that so?” he asked. “Can I ask why?”
“Is that even a proper question?! You attacked me, and you’re not deserving of your position. It’s only good, and I need to help my naive sister anyway. Removing you will relieve her of a liability.”
A liability? I see.
Fritz gave him a ‘humble smile’, which managed to once again cause a break in the prince’s confidence.
“Sure, Your Highness. Give this ‘weak man’ three days to prepare. Then we shall have a duel to the death, as you requested. Oh, and don’t touch that boy, or I’ll defer the decision instead to Her Majesty—”
“Don’t you even dare!”
“Then do we have a deal?”
“A deal it is,” the prince frowned deeply. “You smug bastard, I’ll piss on your corpse and enjoy it.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll try to be gentle with you, Your Highness.”