The Seventh Prince Runs Away from Awkward Situations Chapter 62

Jing and Ratel walked out very slowly from the forest path they had rushed into frantically.

Jing organized his thoughts while feeling the child's hot body temperature on his back calming his stiff mind.

Agoni Piteos had never once doubted the world he lived in throughout his life.

Even when he wielded his sword in the Empire as Duke Piteos, and even now when he had gone against their will to step down from the position of Duke and become the wandering Jing, he had not an ounce of doubt that they were the descendants of god.

No, was there really not even a small doubt?

Or was there a brake that stopped him from even doubting?

“When I found this child floating on the water, I felt that I myself was a bit strange. That was something that overwhelmed simple bewilderment.”

When he first found the child's corpse in the capital, when he received the book from the Elder in the basement of Amica's temple, and when was it again?

Tracing his memories, Jing spoke slowly.

“Thinking about it now, this isn’t the first time.”

Ratel was quietly listening to Jing who continued speaking calmly with the child on his back.

“Do you remember when I was in the study with the Elder in Amica's space? Even when that guy…… no, when that person handed me the book, and even before that, I have had similar experiences. The Elder answered me that it was a part I shouldn't touch yet.”

Feeling as if fog had clouded his head, Jing shook his head once and continued.

“It seems you know the answer. Are my thoughts correct?”

Ratel did not lie.

He nodded slowly.

“That is correct.”

“Do you think I am not ready to hear the answer yet?”

Jing could not be confident if he was making the right choice himself.

Because his heart was still pounding and an uncomfortable sense of incongruity was clouding his mind.

His head was complicated with the strong premonition that he wouldn't be able to live as before if he heard Ratel's story like this.

Shing.

However, at this sound that sent chills down his spine, he had no choice but to snap to his senses.

“……What are you doing right now?”

Jing asked without taking his eyes off the sword held in Ratel's hand.

“I am preparing for a just-in-case situation.”

“No, what situation is there to prepare for by arming yourself in this relationship where I am listening to what you are teaching me?!”

“If you dislike it, I just have to keep my mouth shut. Since the person holding the sword is me.”

The one who wanted to hear was Jing, yet the one being threatened was also Jing.

Isn't it usually the opposite?

Thinking that although it was late, he wanted to point a sword at his neck even now and threaten him to tell everything he knew, Jing eventually raised one hand obediently to show he would follow Ratel's proposal.

Because he had to use the remaining hand to support the child carried on his back.

Ratel opened his mouth while confirming the location of Jing's hand.

“Have you never thought it was strange in your life?”

Because it was to the point where it was hard to find things that weren't strange in his life these days, Jing frowned.

“There are very many.”

“I mean Abalan.”

Abalan?

As Jing narrowed his brow further as if he didn't understand, Ratel continued speaking while scrutinizing Jing's face very slowly, as if confirming something.

“People are all loyal to the Imperial Family. If they tell them to die, there are not a few people who would take their own lives right away.”

“It would have been more surprising if you said there were three moons in the sky. Did you make this fuss to talk about that right now?”

Even at Jing's face which explicitly expressed boredom, Ratel's expression did not change.

“Isn't it strange? A country where not a single proper rebellion has occurred for 1000 years. I am asking if you have never thought something was strange.”

What is he talking about?

Thinking the content was too absurd compared to how tense he was, Jing burst into a hollow laugh.

Just the battles Jing commanded over the past 50 years were countless.

How many rebel elements…… many…….

Jing stopped breathing.

Was there really anything that could be called a rebellion?

Ratel stared silently at Jing who swallowed his breath and clutched his head.

Jing calmed his breathing to soothe his agitated heart, without even noticing that Ratel's sword had lowered at some point.

“That was a natural thing. Anyone who defies god is a rebel army. And the rebel army…… must all be executed…….”

Looking down at Jing who was mumbling his disorganized confusion, Ratel asked again.

“I am asking if there were really those who raised a sword against the Imperial Family, Jing.”

Sweating cold sweat, Jing raised his head.

And he brought out a difficult answer.

“No……, there weren't. Not even once.”

At the sight of Jing dropping his heavy head, Ratel's sword also went down together.

“This country is strange. Like a puzzle perfectly made by someone's taste.. And it removes people who try to ruin that even a little.”

Jing blankly let the words Ratel recited flow into his head.

The mind that wanted to make Ratel shut his mouth right now, and the mind that he had to continue thinking a little more were tied together and fighting.

Jing closed his two eyes, unable to withstand that fierce collision.

Beyond his blurring vision, the terrifying golden eyes looking down at him came into view.

***

What woke Jing's consciousness was the noise created as his body scraped against the hard ground and rough tree branches, and a slight pain.

As he realized he was being dragged on the ground rather than floating, thinking his body was floating, other senses of his body began to wake up gradually.

Jing turned his head and looked at the owner of the hand, roughly grabbing his nape.

Even the one child hanging like luggage on his shoulder.

“……Do you know that? If it were another old man, he would definitely have died.”

“If you have come to your senses, get up and walk on your two feet. Since you aren't light like other old men.”

As Ratel let go of his hand, Jing's body sprawled powerlessly on the ground.

It might have been because of Ratel that he sprawled, but it was because of his heavy heart that he couldn't get up.

“Get up. Since we delayed more than I thought, people will slowly think it is strange.”

“Wait for me. Isn't there an old man here who experienced his life being shaken to the core twice in just a few months.”

At Jing's muttering, Ratel furrowed his eyebrows.

“I am curious when the one time was.”

“There was someone who beat you to the punch.”

It was a person with black hair like you. Jing muttered and stood up from his spot.

“So what do Amica's priests want to do with this Abalan? Do they want to overturn the Empire?”

“They have never said exactly that. However, they taught me. That there was a prophecy Amica handed down a very long time ago. They said I was the owner of the prophecy.”

“I…… honestly speaking, I still can't believe it. In my eyes, they still look like gods, and refusing their command feels like a very big sin. And I think this is the same for all other people of Abalan too. Are you saying you will fight against the entire Empire alone right now?”

“…….”

Ratel had no answer.

Jing was anxious because he didn't know what he was thinking.

“And I am saying this now, but you shouldn't say such things carelessly in front of other people.”

Recalling him who taught everything fluently when asked to teach, Jing changed the subject.

“In Abalan, you must speak while being careful of words, careful of people, and careful of the situation.”

“That is what I did.”

Come to think of it, it did look like that.

Jing recalled his appearance of being thoroughly prepared, holding a sword in one hand before confessing the secret.

“You did not try to kill the child, Jing.”

Only after hearing Ratel's following words did he realize that what he was being careful of was neither words nor the situation.

And the reason he scrutinized his mood to a persistent degree.

“You…….”

“Mister?”

Jing's words could not continue to the end, buried by the whining sound of the awakened child.

Jing didn't know if that was fortunate or unfortunate.

***

“Jing!”

Young Jing, who welcomed Jing gladly, scrutinized Ratel and his mood and smiled broadly.

“It seems you have reconciled?”

Whether he had tact or not, at the appearance of the young man approaching him and whispering softly, Jing headed forward without a particular answer.

Because he had received too big of a shock, other things had already been pushed to the back burner.

“Reconciliation or whatever, I said we never fought.”

Jing, who answered roughly, tried to move his steps forward to return the child to the group.

If it weren't for Ratel grabbing his shoulder.

While he paused for a moment, Young Jing approached Jing's side.

Young Jing pointed at Ratel with his finger.

“By the way, why did you bring such trash back again?”

“What are you talking about right now?”

Jing urgently turned his gaze to Ratel.

It was a calm expression for someone who was suddenly called trash.

Since he acted so unconcerned like that, Jing was rather a bit angry.

Although he had never thought for a single moment that Ratel was a good person, still, isn't calling him trash too…… much?

He was a little confused, but Jing had very many reasons to take Ratel's side.

“Ratel isn't a good person, but he isn't to the extent of being called trash.”

“No one called me trash, Jing. It is only Jing who accepted it that way.”

At Ratel's answer, Jing opened his eyes wide.

Then does that mean there is another person here who did something to deserve hearing such things?

“Didn't you say it, Jing. That when telling a secret, one speaks while being careful of the person.”

Ratel pointed at the child on the back, who was terrified, with his chin.

“This guy failed to do that well.”

“What are you talking about, embarrassing the person speaking, both of you?”

Young Jing cut in between the two.

And he strode over and stood in front of Ratel.

Only then did Jing realize that what he pointed at was not Ratel but the child hanging on that shoulder.

“I am talking about this trash. The trash who dared to steal the power of God.”

“Mister Jing…….”

The flustered child was called Young Jing, but he didn't blink an eye.

“I clearly threw it in the river earlier, but it is still alive.”

Jing looked around with a stiffly hardened face.

Everyone's gaze focused on the child.

Not a single person looked elsewhere.

They stared at the child silently and coldly, surrounding Ratel and the child.

Killing intent full in their two eyes was directed at the child.

Jing realized that he was placed at a crossroads of choice once again.

***

“Today, effective immediately, the distribution center will suspend operations.”

At the manager's announcement, the people who were waiting only for free food buzzed.

Sighs and complaints burst out from here and there.

“What does that mean?! Are you saying you won't give food from now on?!”

“It is for internal repairs.”

When people agreed with someone's shout, the man who informed them of the closure of the distribution center frowned and answered.

In the end, it meant they would not provide free provisions like before.

People scattered slowly.

“Dammit. I couldn't even beg properly because I was standing here since dawn.”

“Is it just a day or two that nobles do as they please. Only we are dying off.”

For those who needed someone to blame, there was no target as perfect as the noble who had already been abandoned by the Imperial Family once.

“This is why they are abandoned by God.”

When someone muttered, everyone glanced around and scattered, but I could tell that most were thinking similar thoughts.

It was a laughable matter.

There is someone else who drove them out to the streets, yet they resent the one who doesn't give the provisions in front of their eyes.

It was illogical and blind trust toward the Imperial Family that was difficult to explain with ignorance and stupidity.

“Damn it. I shouldn't have expected anything from such a dirty family.”

A grumbling man passed by me.

It is regrettable, but that is normal.

Because this world was made entirely for the Imperial Family.

Absolute belief, unchanging faith, loyalty risking one's life.

These are things the people of the great Empire, Abalan, take as their roots from birth.

If this is shaken, they cannot endure.

Their parents' parents' parents have all lived like that.

1000 years have passed without even knowing the fact that they were robbed of the way to resist.

And the only person who can save this is the protagonist of this novel, Ratel.