CH 5.1

The third Prince palace was inhabited by Cassion and was the most unlit and remote palace located in the northern part of the vast royal palace.

The third prince’s palace, where the servants’ dormitories were, was poorly landscaped. The branches, which had grown messily due to the poor management and were scattered on the path, prevented carriages from passing through.

I could tell just by looking at how Cassion was treated in the royal palace.

“People might think it was an unused palace,” said Janice.

Unfortunately, however, the once the object of envy of the kingdom’s people now lived in such a place and became the enemy of the King and queen.

“But it must be well-maintained because it’s where the Prince lives, right? I am looking forward to it!”

Unlike me and my father, who came to the palace sometimes, Janice, who had never been to the court before, was excited.

I ignored her expectations and fantasies about the palace.

I didn’t think I would be able to meet her expectations.

As we approached the palace, the sound of Janice’s expectations collapsing became louder. Even for mere pleasantries, it was hard to say that the court was managed.

‘But the path is maintained well.’

The grass in the garden in front of the palace was so thick that it would not be strange if snakes popped out any moment soon.

I was afraid to step on both sides of the grass that had grown to the height of my knee.

‘Abandoned, for sure.’

Both the palace and the Prince.

‘The King isn’t interested in Cassion, Dyson is busy picking on him, and his stepmother, Julia, doesn’t even take care of him.’

I was a 21-years-old adult in spirit, and the pathetic behavior of those adults angered me.

‘I didn’t expect it to be this bad. I knew Dyson was harassing him, but it’s too much!’

It wasn’t just the King and the Queen who ignored Cassion.

When Cassion passed by in the past, I remembered how the servants eyed Cassion.

A shallow look of contempt.

It was perhaps not anyone’s command that the palace was poorly managed, but the servant’s choice.

The less powerful they were, the more sensitive they were to the power that others had.

The servants knew Cassion was abandoned and found no reason to care about him.

It wasn’t pleasant to know that Cassion had been rejected by the King, the royal family, and even the servants.

I felt like a heavy stone was placed on my chest.

“Young Lady, this way, please.”

Janice pulled me and led me to a path on the side. Someone’s footprints barely carved the narrow path.

‘It wasn’t some kind of event, but the more I find it, the more it feels new to me.’

My disappointment grew as I got closer to the Third Prince’s palace. There wasn’t even a single knight guarding the palace.

It was a good thing that Dyson or Julia didn’t send assassins, but Cassion could have died soon.

‘I have to give him protection too.’

The name of a skilled knight came to my mind.

That person caught my interest, and if I didn’t know the future, he would be hard to recruit.

I wondered where he was now.

“This place looks like a ghost will pop out soon! Wow, there are a lot of rats.”

I woke up from my thoughts to Janice’s fuss and took a good look at the third Prince’s palace.

The vast palace with no human touch was distressing.

Even if there’s a ghost that appeared in this broad daylight, I would feel its energy.

‘By the way, how did she know that there are a lot of mice even though there aren’t any that could be seen?’

“Young Lady, there aren’t any people around,” Janice said as if she had known about it from someone.

She could have said that there was no one else but us. I didn’t care, but it’s a way of talking that others might point out because it sounded unusual.

“Wait a minute, Young Lady.”

Janice hopped toward an old dead tree. She then held on to the dead tree and muttered after a while.

I wanted to ask what she was doing, but I could see the sight of Janice in front of me, and Janice, who risked her life to protect me at the execution ground, overlapped.

‘It’s cute to be a little quirky anyway.’

Suddenly when I see other people, no matter how scary they are, I would find them cute.

I wanted to say how cute she was, but I put my thoughts aside and approached the door.

Janice rushed  to open the door without hesitation and said,

“Young Lady, there’s no one guarding this palace.”

“Does it make sense that there’s no one guarding the Prince’s palace?”

I said as I pushed Janice aside. Janice replied that she was serious, but I didn’t want to believe it even if it was true.

If that was true, Cassion was living alone in this desolate, dreary palace.

Unfortunately, however, what Janice said was true.

I opened the rusty door and went inside, but it was hard to find any traces of people.

Alone in this vast palace?

‘Even if he’s dead, no one would even notice.’

I even asked Janice if she could see anyone who could catch us, but she didn’t answer.

Somehow I didn’t have a good feeling about this.