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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: The Twin Prince
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[What about the things I asked for?]
“Here.”
When Kaizareu opened a subspace, all sorts of items came tumbling out.
I was surprised by how much there was. I could understand the things I'd asked him to buy, but what were all those luxurious boxes?
[Didn't you say you spent the whole gold coin on snacks? You bought all this with just four gold?]
As Ria rummaged through the items with a bewildered expression, Kaizareu scoffed and swept his long hair back.
“Praise me.”
A curse rose in my throat, but I managed to hold it back.
“From Lucian's clothes to his shoes, I bought them all with my own money.”
Ria's eyes widened at the unbelievable statement. At that, Kaizareu threw his head back and roared with laughter. “Hahaha!”
“Honestly, with the money you gave me, I could only buy rags. You can't put something like that on a face like his, can you?”
[...That's true, but I was planning on buying cheap things since he's still young and will grow out of them quickly.]
“Tsk, tsk. When they get too small, you just buy new ones.”
[Not everyone is as rich as you.]
Still... it wasn't bad. I didn't know how they felt, but the clothes were in good condition overall.
No, they weren't just good; they were beautiful.
“They said the shoes will take time to make, so we have to go pick them up later. Lucian has memorized the way, so he should be able to go by himself next time. Of course, if you're worried, I could always...”
[Thank you, Kaizareu.]
Kaizareu froze, looking down at Ria with his arms still crossed. Ria smiled faintly.
[Thanks to you, Lucian made it to the village safely, and now he gets to wear such nice clothes. Thank you so much.]
After a moment of silence, Kaizareu's face flushed crimson.
Poof-!
With the sound of something bursting, a thick cloud of smoke billowed out.
“Ria! Big brother! I put the candy and jellies in the glass jar! I did a good... Huh?”
Lucian, who had just run out from the kitchen, stopped short at the sight of a creature he had never seen before.
“...Big brother Kaizareu?”
Lucian and Ria's gazes were fixed on the spot where Kaizareu had been standing.
When the smoke cleared, a small dragon with crimson scales was revealed.
Kaizareu blinked his light green eyes and flapped his wings. His flapping grew more vigorous, and he began to circle the ceiling.
“Whoa! Whoa! Is that you, big brother? You're so cool!”
[You seem a little smaller than last time.]
“Sh-shut up! If I returned to my true form, the mansion would collapse!”
Having calmed down a bit, Kaizareu yelled. He huffed, turned his head away, and slowly descended. Lucian quickly ran to him.
“It's a real dragon!”
“Of course it's real. Did you think it was fake?”
“You're so cool! Cooler than the ones in the storybooks! Way! Ten million times cooler!”
“But of course! Where else would you see such a noble form? ...Go on, say more!”
Still weak to praise, Kaizareu willingly stepped into Lucian's prison of compliments.
Just a moment ago, I thought he'd matured, but it must have been my imagination.
“Ugh, this is still a bit stuffy. Though it's more comfortable than being polymorphed.”
His size was roughly the same as Lucian's.
According to what Kaizareu said before, this form was about the size of a newborn hatchling.
He'd said that an adult dragon was as large as a mansion, so he probably wasn't wrong. Most dragons don't walk around in their true forms; they either polymorph or, like Kaizareu now, simply shrink their size. Otherwise, they'd stand out too much.
[How big is your true form? The last time I saw it, I think it was a little smaller than this mansion.]
“I’m probably bigger than the mansion now. My mom says I grow faster than others. A magical genius, beautiful, smart, and even massive! Hehe, at this rate, the female dragons will be lining up for me.”
[...He can't keep his mouth shut for a single second.]
At least I wouldn't have to worry about females flocking to him. They might approach, but the moment he opened his mouth, the illusion would shatter, and they'd all run away.
“I want to see your real form, big brother. You're so cute right now.”
Lucian, who had somehow climbed onto Kaizareu's back for a piggyback ride, chirped that he was cute, making Kaizareu's eye twitch.
“Cute? Did you say cuuute?”
“Huh?”
Lucian's feet lifted off the ground. Kaizareu had taken flight with Lucian still on his back.
“How dare you utter such an insulting word as 'cute' to me! Once you see my noble form, you'll never say such a thing again!”
Furious for some reason, he huffed that he would show his true form and headed for the backyard with Lucian.
Stunned by the sudden turn of events, Ria stared blankly for a moment before hurrying after them.
[Hey! What if someone sees you...!]
The moment they were outside, Ria immediately cast a barrier around the entire mansion. Fortunately, Kaizareu only returned to his true form after she had deployed the magic.
The small dragon's form gradually grew larger.
His scales, teeth, claws, and wings. His claws alone were larger than a full-grown man.
“Krrrawww...! You won't be calling me cute now, will you?”
Kaizareu laughed heartily. It was surely his usual laugh, but because of his size, his voice boomed thunderously within the barrier Ria had created.
Meanwhile, Lucian, who had been clinging to Kaizareu's back, was still there as the dragon transformed.
Now, it looked less like he was clinging and more like he was stranded on a vast back.
Suddenly higher than the mansion's second floor, Lucian was dazed by the cold wind brushing against his cheeks.
In that moment, he met Kaizareu's eyes as the dragon turned to look back at him. A pair of light green eyes, larger than his entire body.
They were fascinating, snake-like eyes, but to Lucian, they were terrifying. And so.
“Uh, uhh... S-scaryyyy!”
He burst into tears.
The majestic red dragon panicked and tried to soothe Lucian on his back, but the boy just kept wailing about how scared he was.
At the truly ridiculous sight, Ria burst out laughing.
“Stop laughing and help me calm him down!”
Only the flustered Kaizareu looked like he was at death's door.
* * *
“...I'm never changing back to my true form again.”
After the commotion died down, Lucian cried for a long time before falling asleep in Ria's arms.
Kaizareu, back in his small dragon form, flopped down next to the sleeping Lucian, looking utterly ragged.
[Who told you to change back? He just said you were cute.]
“‘Cute’ is something you say to small and dainty things. It's a word that absolutely does not suit a massive, magnificent dragon! Remember this! To a dragon, being called cute is an insult!”
Seeing him fuming like that, it seemed he wasn't just saying it. I wondered if being called 'cute' was really something to get so worked up about, but then I imagined something.
'Pfft! How cute, being so small and dainty.'
Hmm, yeah, that would sound pretty bad.
The fuming Kaizareu eventually deflated with a hiss and flopped back onto the bed.
It was no wonder he was tired; the kid who always shrieked and only thought of himself had tried everything to soothe an eight-year-old child.
“Who is this kid anyway, to have become your groom?”
Ria, who had been quietly stroking Lucian's hair, paused.
Kaizareu was watching the softly breathing Lucian with an indifferent expression.
“The way he acts, he's like a newborn baby doing everything for the first time. His first time in a crowd, his first time in a village, his first time having snacks, his first time buying things. In all my life, I've never seen anyone like him.”
[...Lucian told you that?]
“Yeah. He was a lot like me when I first went to the human world.”
He remembered when he first succeeded at polymorphing. To celebrate, his mom and dad had taken him to a human village and bought him all sorts of things.
He was forty-two then, wasn't he? It was a few years before he found this mansion.
[Lucian is of the Imperial Family.]
Kaizareu's closed eyes snapped open. Now hovering above the bed, Kaizareu pointed at Lucian, his mouth agape.
“What? This brat—I mean, him?”
Kaizareu began to examine Lucian closely. Pure white hair, pale skin, and beauty that stood out even among his peers. He lifted the closed eyelids, revealing clear golden eyes.
“Nngh...!”
Lucian stirred. Ria quickly pushed him away.
[What are you doing to a sleeping child?]
“...Wow. They really are golden. How did I not see that before?”
To be honest, all humans looked more or less the same to Kaizareu. Lucian was just a bit more memorable because he stood out. There was no reason to remember anything more than that.
“Why in the world is a royal here!”
“Nnngh...”
Despite the child sleeping right next to him, Kaizareu couldn't seem to calm his excitement.
Just like the self-centered dragon he was.
Ria shot Kaizareu a glare and led him out of the room. She closed the door and sighed.
[I don't know the exact details either. About three months ago, someone from the Imperial Palace suddenly showed up and had me marry Lucian.]
“?? They can see you?”
[Of course not. Marrying me was just an excuse. Do you have any idea what my reputation is? I'm the terrifying maiden ghost of this haunted mansion! They spread strange rumors, saying that anyone who enters this mansion will have their life force drained or die screaming.]
“So what you're saying is, those damn humans forced Lucian to marry you, a ghost they don't even know exists?”
[Yes. A spirit wedding, they called it. They said marrying me would calm the mansion. Does that make any sense to you?]
“Wow... I'd only heard that humans were a bunch of crazy bastards, but this is beyond imagination. Even we dragons don't do things like that!”
[My point exactly. But that's not the real problem. Publicly, Lucian is known as an orphan who was dressed up like a royal and offered as a sacrifice to this place. In other words, no one knows he's a member of the Imperial Family.]
Struck speechless, Kaizareu froze with a bizarre expression on his face.
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
[Haa... Yeah, it is bullshit.]
Anyone who didn't know the circumstances would have reacted the same way as Kaizareu. Ria slowly explained the situation to him.
After hearing the full story, he crossed his arms with a serious expression and asked.
“Is he illegitimate, by any chance?”
[He's not illegitimate. He's the Empress's son.]
“Then why?”
[How should I know? But what's even funnier is that Lucian has an older brother. He's also the Empress's son, and everyone except Lucian is living in luxury.]
Kaizareu's eyelid twitched.
[He's only gained weight and grown taller because I've been taking care of him for three months. When he first came, he was so skinny it looked like a light touch would knock him over. From what I've heard, it seems he wasn't treated well in the palace either.]
“Hmm...”
Kaizareu kept his arms crossed, his brow furrowed. He kept fidgeting with his hair as if trying to remember something.
“You said Lucian is a prince, right?”
[Yes. Lucian told me himself.]
“That's strange. As far as I know, this empire has no princes.”
Hearing this for the first time, Ria's expression hardened. It was only natural, as Kaizareu was the only one who could bring her news from the outside world.
“I don't know the details either. There's a dragon I know who plays at being a noble, so I hear stories about the empire from time to time. But no matter how I think about it, I've never heard anything about a prince.”
[Then what about the older brother Lucian mentioned?]
“The Crown Prince, probably. There are no princes, but there is a Crown Prince.”
If what Kaizareu said was true, did that mean Lucian had been kept hidden from the outside world all this time?
[...Could that be why they're passing Lucian off as an orphan?]
Not only that, but thinking back on everything with Lucian, it seemed like they were keeping him alive only because they couldn't kill him.
The words that he should have died, the knowledge intentionally withheld from him, and being abandoned at this mansion under the pretext of a spirit wedding.
The gears were slowly clicking into place.
“Just before I came here, what did that asshole say...!”
Kaizareu groaned and clutched his head.
Right before he came to the mansion, he had been in the frigid northern region, a place covered in snow for over two hundred days a year.
An asshole who'd made his lair in that region and indulged in the peculiar hobby of playing noble.
As he was lazing about in the lair, the asshole had grumbled about something.
'Hah, they're holding that damn birthday banquet again? What a pain.'
'What is?'
'That bastard Emperor is ordering me around.'
The asshole had instantly frozen the letter stamped with the imperial seal, shattering it to pieces.
'Well, who told you to be a noble? Why live such a troublesome life?'
'Who do you think you have to thank for living so comfortably in this empire? Honestly, if it weren't for me, what other dragon would take care of parasites like you?'
The asshole often claimed that thanks to him, dragons could get away with causing trouble in the empire.
Kaizareu wanted to argue, but since it was partially true, he kept quiet.
'Yawn... Well, just go then. And catch some orcs on your way back.'
'Hey. You have exactly five years left. Once you become an adult dragon, don't you dare come near my lair again.'
'Yeees, yeees.'
The owner of the lair trembled at Kaizareu's unbearably smug attitude.
He took a deep breath, reminding himself to be patient.
'Why does that bastard Emperor throw such a lavish birthday party for his son every year? He's only turning eight.'
Back then, the asshole had said it clearly.
A birthday banquet, not the Emperor's but his son's, and eight years old.
The scattered puzzle pieces snapped together at once.
After hearing Kaizareu's recollection, Ria met his eyes. After a moment of silence, both Ria and Kaizareu's eyes widened in shock.
“Eight years oooold?!”
[The same age as Lucian? No, wait, wait a minute.]
What in the world does this mean? So, Lucian's brother, who has the same mother, isn't older but the same age? Which means...
[They're twins?]
“And since the Crown Prince is the older brother, Lucian must be the younger twin.”
Ria and Kaizareu scowled, their faces a mask of complete and utter confusion.
