How the Prince Makes Friends - Chapter 272
Only Noblemtl
Episode 272
“Isn’t that right, Mother?”
“…….”
There was no answer. Only calm, sunken red eyes looked down at me.
Lawrence didn’t rush his mother. The more he talked, the worse it would be. At least when he was talking to his mother. She must have been waiting for him to reveal the information.
As people began to question and murmur in the long silence, red eyes that resembled mine gently curved.
“Louis, you are my son.”
“…….”
“I was worried that it might not be my son this time too.”
“…….”
What could that mean? Lawrence had to keep thinking about it as he listened to it so as not to get caught up in it.
Her speech continued.
“The prince is right. I knew that the body was not the prince.”
“…….”
“But how could I shout out that I wasn’t a prince when I didn’t even know the culprit’s intentions? Of course, I felt extremely empty after learning the full truth about the kidnapping… ”
“…The child is still foolish and has difficulty understanding his mother’s intentions.”
“Lewis, you were still at the Palace of Wernus?”
“…….”
Lawrence was secretly surprised by the sharp observation, but he didn’t show it on the outside.
‘Calm down. Your mother couldn’t have known. This is just a guess.’
Lawrence tilted his head slightly as if to ask what was going on, trying to calm his pounding heart. He didn’t make a sound. He was still holding the scales.
But his mother’s smile grew deeper, and Lawrence realized only then that her gaze was on Lianus and not him, and he smiled faintly. He wasn’t the one she was looking at in the first place.
I glanced back to check and saw that Lianus was causing an earthquake in his eyes. Anyone could tell that he had been caught.
“I guess you two have become very close in the meantime.”
“…….”
“Of course Your Majesty must have known, even if you didn’t know it at first. Isn’t that right, Your Majesty?”
“…….”
“Did you intend to use this opportunity to pressure the Duke?”
When the mother said that, she burst into laughter.
“Now, take note of this. I’m talking about the ugly and cruel greed of those in power who are trying to use everyone, even the little prince. In the end, this was all just a political fight to seize power.”
“…….”
“This trial is all just to use you. Oh, what a well-planned game this is.”
At those words, the murmur grew louder and a strange atmosphere began to flow through the courtroom.
Helia smiled with satisfaction at the atmosphere and looked up at the stage.
“Your Majesty, tell me that you knew nothing. How can you hide the fact that you hid the prince in the palace and pretended not to know anything while fooling everyone?”
“…What are you talking about? Are you saying that the prince was actually in the palace the whole time? His Majesty knew everything but pretended not to know and blamed the duke’s family?”
“Is this true, Your Majesty?”
“Please say something!”
“Was the Duke really that much of a thorn in your side? To the point of using you, Prince?”
“Could it be that you had prepared the child’s body in advance? What was your intention?”
“Answer me, Your Majesty!”
Helia smiled brightly. What a beautiful ugliness. The simplicity of forgetting one’s purpose in the betrayal of being deceived. Helia loved this stupidity of humans so much.
‘If used well, it could even be possible to overthrow the king.’
Helia looked at Lawrence with that thought in her mind. The prince’s expression was noticeably depressed, as if he had not expected the situation to develop this way.
‘No matter how experienced you are, a child is still a child.’
Even though it may be a little off, when there is nowhere to rely on, it will eventually return to its original state.
But human stupidity did not always go as planned.
“Your Majesty! Please make an excuse.”
“I’m going to completely overthrow the king.”
“……?”
At the soft but distinct voice, the nobles were momentarily speechless and stared blankly up at the stage.
Abel, surprised, quickly released the voice amplification magic he had been using and whispered to himself.
“Your Majesty, do you remember that the voice is being amplified?”
“Abel, try casting some sort of blocking spell on those. It’s so noisy that we can’t conduct the trial.”
“…….”
Alas, I was wrong. This kingdom will be destroyed by my good friend, His Majesty. But the shit cat frowned and argued with me.
“Abel, I have something to say. What if you break the spell on me?”
“…Be quiet, Sadie. I’ll relay the message for you, so just say it first.”
“I’ll be careful what I say, so cast the amplification spell again.”
“……after.”
Abel had no choice but to cast his spell again. At the same time, he cast a silence spell on the other nobles.
Sedes confirmed that I was under a spell and called my son, who was in a panic.
“Loss.”
“…! Yes, yes, Your Majesty.”
“Come up here with the scales.”
“……!”
Lawrence was startled by those words and ran towards him, holding the scales. Sedes sat Lawrence down on his lap and handed him the scales.
“You guys are being so informal, so I’ll do the same. You won’t complain, right?”
“Your Majesty, I beg you to please……”
“You protect yourself, that honor.”
“…….”
“The more you speak nicely, the more you tend to climb up.”
Sedes said that and stared at the scales before opening his mouth.
“Lawrence, I actually don’t think of you as my son.”
“……?!”
Lawrence looked at Sedes in surprise at those words.
Rattling, squeaking-
But just as he did so, the scales tilted to the left.
“The performance is okay.”
Should I ask for this? Lawrence looked at his father with disrespect, as if he was a child who was coveting someone else’s toy.
His Majesty saw him like that, smiled faintly, and asked quietly.
“Do you feel a little better now?”
“……!”
Lawrence’s eyes widened in surprise, but Sedes turned his gaze to Queen Bury and opened his mouth.
“The child’s body has nothing to do with me. The culprit has already been caught.”
Creak, clank. The scales tilted to the right with a loud noise, and those who saw it became cautious again.
“How can you reveal that now?”
“Well, Your Majesty, don’t you have a history of trying to destroy evidence?”
“…It’s as if you’re saying that the culprit is related to me.”
“There’s a high probability that it will.”
“You are trying to blame me now,”
“If you don’t want to talk about the scales, keep your mouth shut.”
“…….”
“It is my last consideration not to force you to hold the scales, Your Majesty.”
Sedes gave a soft warning and looked down at Lawrence. Lawrence noticed the gaze and quietly muttered.
“I’m fine, father.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Sedes lifted Lawrence up, sat him down, and stroked the boy’s back. After the trial, my son would be separated from his mother in some form. This was something he could no longer give up.
“As I said, we’ve already caught the culprit who killed the child.”
“Ha, then why didn’t you put him first from the beginning? Did he claim that he followed my orders?”
Helia could have been bluffing, knowing that the magical contract she had made with the culprit was still alive. But Sedes shrugged and answered confidently.
“No. We haven’t even properly interrogated him yet.”
“…….”
As if that were true, the scales remained motionless, tilted to the right.
“Bring him here.”
At the same time, a man was dragged out.
‘It must have been hiding after dealing with the kid, but you managed to find it.’
Helia narrowed her eyes as she confirmed the man’s face. She thought he had brought in a stranger, but it turned out that he was the one who had come to retrieve the child’s body under her orders.
“My Queen, I know you are a thorough person, but this is really too much.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But Helia was not shaken. After all, he was under a magical contract and could not say anything. His heart would stop the moment he tried to speak, and the same would happen if he tried to break the contract.
“I’m pretty sure this guy won’t be able to speak right now…….”
“……?”
Sedes stopped talking and turned his gaze towards the man.
There was a previous attempt to forcibly release the magic contract of the mercenaries who had imprisoned the Second Prince, but it failed. The contract was originally enchanted with a double contract magic that would cause their hearts to burst as soon as they tried to release it.
Abel miraculously saved one person’s life and broke the contract, but he eventually went mad and was unable to obtain a confession.
Because of that record, the man I caught this time didn’t force himself to terminate the contract. No, in fact, he didn’t even try.
Sedes called out again to the white-haired man who had been quietly watching.
“Space.”
“Something, Rex.”
As if he had been waiting, a soft answer came. The courtroom had been chaotic just a moment ago, but everything around him was calm, as if there had been no disturbance from the beginning.
“Can you possibly remove all the spells placed on the author without any side effects?”
“Of course it’s possible. Shall I do that?”
“Please.”
“I will do it, Tae-gong.”
Aspel stepped forward first and went down to the platform. The magical contracts made by humans were nothing special to the demons.
Aspel, who had dismantled the magic in an instant, personally removed the gag from the man’s mouth.
Ugh.
Immediately afterwards, the man’s jaw fell out with a bone-crunching sound. Aspel, who had noticed that the man was trying to cut out his own tongue, had grabbed his jaw tightly.
“Uh-huh, uh-huh?”
The man whose jaw suddenly fell off let out a stupid sound, but Aspel responded calmly.
“His Majesty does not like the smell of blood.”
Aspel, who had said so, said that he had no intention of removing the man’s jaw joint and placed the man’s jaw back in his own hands. He then stood next to him as if to keep watch.
The man tried to commit suicide several times, but after experiencing his jaw dislocated and reassembled several more times, he finally lost the will to fight back completely and began to confess the truth.
“…I killed him.”
“Why?”
“His Majesty the King asked me to bring you the corpse of a child who resembles the prince.”
“…! You’re lying! Why would I do such a terrible thing?!”
What good is it for me! The queen was furious. But it must have touched something in the man, because even he, who seemed helpless, suddenly started screaming.
“If you’ve been pushed this far, stop it now! How long do you plan on evading the situation?”
“……!”
“Your Majesty, execute that horrible woman immediately! Do you know how that dead child ended up in an orphanage?! The child’s parents were killed by Your Majesty’s orders! Your Majesty destroyed a good family in order to raise that child as she pleased!”
“……!”
The audience was in an uproar at the blatant accusation. But the queen did not back down and added her words.
“This is blasphemy! What do I gain from it! It’s true that I was sponsoring a child who resembled a prince. But it’s because I felt sorry for the tired face that resembled my child! How could you misinterpret my intentions like that…!”
“That’s because they mistook me for an illegitimate child.”
“…Louis?”
“Mother, I think you have forgotten my existence.”
Lawrence, who had been listening to the conversation, raised his head slightly.
His Majesty had been considerate of me and had deliberately not asked, but Lawrence knew that if I opened my mouth, it would all be over.
In fact, from the beginning, it may not have mattered whether I was an illegitimate child or not. What mattered was the perception of people who saw me.
A hypothesis that was considered ‘just in case’ will inevitably become ‘as expected’ when it intersects with something.
‘The idea that I might be an illegitimate child will now become my label.’
Lawrence felt a little sad and buried his face in Sedes’ arms again as he continued to speak.
“I am not an illegitimate child. The Archduke… told me so. However, my mother mistakenly thought I was an illegitimate child. That is why she made me wear a magical tool that changes hair color.”
“…Louis? My child, what on earth are you talking about?”
“The reason the mother killed her child was to kill the prince. She wanted to get rid of him before the word ‘illegitimate child’ came out. Later, when she discovered my traces, she ordered the knights to kill the prince, probably along the same lines.”
“Lewis, stop. Look at this mother.”
Although Helia tried to coax him, Lawrence couldn’t hear her properly and started spewing out words he had never been able to say before.
“After dealing with me, you would try to act like a poor mother who lost her child. Then, after several years, when the dead prince was forgotten, you would bring a child who looked exactly like the dead prince and reveal that the child was in fact the real prince.”
“…Loss.”
“Mother will be happy to see the prince come back alive. Of course, I am already dead……”
“Loss!”
“……!”
Lawrence looked up in surprise. Suddenly, His Majesty was looking down at me seriously.
“Don’t dwell on things that haven’t even happened yet.”
At those words, Lawrence took a slow, deep breath. He clearly thought he had let out what was inside him, but instead, his chest felt even more stuffy.
“Is it okay?”
“Oh, yes, Your Majesty. I am fine.”
Lawrence, who had come to his senses to some extent, tried to get down from His Majesty’s lap. He was not even a baby, but he was held like this. What would others think if they saw him…?
“Hold this and say it again.”
“……?”
As I instinctively grabbed what Lawrence was offering me, another question was immediately asked.
“Is this really okay?”
“Oh, of course. I’m fine……”
But before the words could even finish,
Rattling, squeaking-
The scales began to fall to the left with a loud noise.