CH 67

Ferio’s mother had already died before he could remember her.

His mother was known as a woman who was supposed to be the queen’s maid yet fooled around with the king and gave birth to the first prince. Ferio was the boy born to such a woman. Ferio felt the malice that filled the royal palace from an early age.

Even so, the reason Ferio was still raised as the first prince was because the queen acknowledged his existence.

The queen was originally a daughter of a duke family who was reputed to be a beautiful person.

Neither a smile nor a frown appeared in her expression, but those who looked at her could not help but be fascinated.

To be honest, Ferio couldn’t understand why the king impregnated the concubine before the beautiful queen. It wasn’t like the king was a foolish king either. If only the king, his father, properly impregnated people in order, things wouldn’t have developed that badly. His young mind always questioned that.

Whenever he saw the queen and his half-brother together, he always felt a pain in his chest. He was both jealous and envious of his half-brother who had a mother.

However, his half-brother, whose succession right was taken away from him by Ferio, didn’t hate him for that, but instead stayed on Ferio’s side and respected him.

Facing his half-brother, who was a year younger than him, the fact that Ferio found him cute yet still couldn’t love him with all his heart made Ferio disgusted with himself.

When Ferio was five years old, he was jealous of the things that his half-brother had, and he once asked for the same thing. However, whenever he did that, the queen rebuked him.

“Ferio, be aware of your status.”

That beautiful face said those words coldly without changing her expression. Ferio felt a chill in his heart just by listening to it.

Even though Ferio was recognized as the son of the king, he was sure that the queen would prefer to have her own son succeed the king.

Ferio would be more relaxed if that was really the case.

Half of the blood that flowed in his veins belonged to the maid who stole the king.

Ferio thought that the person who ought to claim the throne should be his half-brother, who inherited the blood of the proud queen in front of him. That was his initial thought.

Ferio realized that his thoughts was mistaken the moment he heard that his engagement with the daughter of the duke family, Christina Wellin, had been decided.

His engagement with the Wellin family, one of the most famous aristocrats in the kingdom, became the stepping stone that ensured his succession over the throne.

Ferio asked the queen, instead of his father the king, why such a stepping stone was given to him instead of his half-brother.

“Why is the partner me? Didn’t stepmother always tell me to be aware of my status?!”

“That’s right. You are the first prince, the person who will succeed this nation. There’s no way that your status is the same as the second prince who can’t succeed the throne.”

“—!”

Ferio never noticed until that moment. The things given to his half-brother were actually always inferior to what was given to him. He didn’t know why the queen always rebuked him when he requested the same thing as his half-brother before.

The queen had intended to make him king from the beginning.

Despite the fact that he was the child of the woman who betrayed her.

Ferio had always thought the legitimate successor to the throne was his half-brother whom the queen gave birth to. Yet, the successor to the throne was always him from the beginning. Ferio couldn’t understand.

Even though I was merely born a year earlier? I have to succeed the nation just because of that? Me, not my half-brother?

Ferio felt his vision turn black.

The reality he never thought about weighed heavily on him.

His education as the next king increased day by day, and those things eroded his mind and body.

Due to heavy responsibilities and obligations, Ferio often got sick. He often came down with a high fever, and sometimes he had to sleep in bed for the whole day.

At that time, a new escort was assigned to him.

That man was a person who laughed and talked a lot.

The man look so young that it made it seem that he wasn’t fit for the escort profession, but Ferio soon realized it was just the man’s attitude pretending to be incompetent.

The escort often talked about his cute little brothers.

Beside Ferio, whose fever just dropped and still felt a bit hazy, the escort spoke while cutting the fruit into an unpleasantly realistic rabbit.

When Ferio heard the escort talking, he felt envious of the escort’s younger brothers, who lived in different environments than him and were protected and loved unlike himself.

On the plate was fruit that was cut normally and the one that was carved in the shape of a realistic rabbit, and Ferio chose to eat the realistic rabbit first.

The fruit had a strong sweetness and a lot of juice, which was so tasty for him who still felt a bit sick. After chewing it several times, the escort smiled and said,

“Ferio-sama, you shouldn’t easily eat things that haven’t been poison tested yet.”

Ferio felt annoyed by the escort, who said such a thing despite presenting the fruit he prepared himself.

“You have to always consider the possibility of poison, regardless of who prepared it, even if that person is the future queen.”

“—Are you telling me I have to doubt even the woman who will become my wife?!”

“Yes, I am.”

“Gh!”

The escort’s smooth response made Ferio feel his fever rise once again.

It was a correct opinion and a logical one.

However, such words were poisonous for the current Ferio.

He had to doubt even his own wife.

In that case, was there anyone he could believe then?

There was nobody he could trust, and nobody would truly protect him.

Ferio didn’t know how to live on in such a world.

His fever went up again that night, so much so that he felt that he might die just like that. However, he didn’t die, but his fever didn’t go down either. As that situation continued for several days, the king suddenly visited his bedroom.

Although both the king and queen worked to fulfill their duties, neither of them were affectionate people.

Just as Ferio wondered why the king suddenly visited, he ordered Ferio to go to Talis’ health resort with an emotionless voice. When Ferio asked why the king gave him such a command, the king said it was because the queen recommended Talis because the air and water were clean there, which would be better for Ferio’s condition. They even prepared a group of excellent doctors to be on standby in the Talis mansion.

Perhaps the king did feel guilty for making the concubine bear a prince earlier than the queen, so the king seemed to try to fulfill whatever request the queen had. If only the queen requested for her own son to be the next king, Ferio would have had an easier time.

In his exhausted state. Ferio even assumed that the treatment he received right now was out of resentment against the concubine who stole the throne, and she tried to vent it out on her child instead. If only they did this to push him away, he would really be grateful for that, and Ferio replied with consent.

Then once Ferio’s fever completely subsided, he headed for the health resort.

Talis’ health resort indeed had clean air and water.

The sky was blue and the clouds were white. Although it was an obvious sight that was always there, Ferio never got the time to notice that when he was in the royal palace.

The medical team dispatched by the queen was an excellent group of people, and his body gradually improved. However, Ferio didn’t want to return to the royal palace, which made his heart turn dark, contrary to his body that gradually turned for the better.

The escort who laughed a lot also accompanied Ferio to the health resort. This escort was noisy, always reminding Ferio with every little thing he did.

Ferio felt annoyed and wrote a letter to the king, requesting to replace the escort, but he was refused.

Moreover, the fact he did that was found out by said escort, and he began to pretend to cry while calling Ferio an outrageous person.

By that point, Ferio no longer felt reserved against this escort. He would directly tell the escort if he felt he was noisy, and he would immediately point out to the escort that he was a weird escort and order him to improve his attitude.

Even with his status as the first prince, it was his first time strongly commanding others like that. However, regardless of how much Ferio ordered the escort to improve his attitude, said escort still laughed as usual and completely ignored Ferio’s opinion.

It was around that time that Ferio met a certain girl—