Chapter 5

Chapter 2. I didn’t grow that much (2) I

spent a hectic week waking up to the scent of tea, getting perfectly prepared, having breakfast, and going to various classes.

In the meantime, I met Plantz three more times.

After mentioning Freya again during swordsmanship class and almost killing her by pretending it was a mistake, it became somewhat quiet.

What was truly surprising was Planz’s sword skills.

Of course, Kalian’s strength was poor, but Plantz also blocked the attack quite well.

‘I guess the name ‘Knight’s Family’ wasn’t for nothing.’

In any case, after that, Planz still had a mocking look in his eyes whenever he saw Calian, but the number of times he opened his mouth significantly decreased. With that alone, Calian was satisfied.

As I was sitting in front of the mirror to go to breakfast and blankly watching the maids comb my hair, Jan came up to me and told me about the day’s plans.

“... Lastly, we will have dinner with the Queen and Viscount Briesen.”

“ah.”

Viscount Lennon Brissen.

He was the older brother of Queen Silike and the second son of the Marquis of Briesen. Although he was born into a long-established knightly family, he had no aptitude for it, so he gave up sword fighting early on and went on to lead the Briesen Guild, the largest clan in Kairis.

‘He said he wasn’t qualified to run the business, so he left full authority to the manager he hired for a large sum of money. Well... having the money to do that is also an ability.’

“Is only Viscount Briesen attending without any other nobles?”

“Yes. We were supposed to prepare a celebratory performance for the last day of the festival to commemorate His Royal Highness’s birthday, but circumstances arose and we had to hold it somewhere else instead. I went to the palace to apologize to Your Majesty for that matter, and I think I’m planning to go see the princes.”

“If that were the case, I could just go to Plants.”

Jan’s face stiffened slightly at the direct mention of Plantz’s name. It was clear that it would be difficult for Jan to find the words to reply, so Calian quickly spoke again.

“Anyway, okay.”

Then Jan opened his mouth again.

It seemed like there were other things left to talk about today besides the schedule.

“And I have something to tell you.”

As Calian nodded slightly, Yan seemed to hesitate for a moment and spoke.

“Prince, I need to open the safe for a moment. Should I do it again?”

‘safe? ‘Have I had something like that?’

I thought he was a prince with nothing, but it seems he had money.

Calian quickly searched through his memories. And then I found out that the silver, fancy, unknown piece of furniture in the corner of the bedroom was a safe.

“Why the safe?”

“That’s...”

For some reason, Jan hesitated.

In that case, there is only one reason. It’s something to do with Freya. Jan cautiously opened his mouth.

“The manager of Whitlin Manor sent the proceeds up.”

‘My mother’s name was Freya Whitlin. Then I guess it’s Freya’s territory.’

It seems that Lemaine, who made Freya his concubine, gave her territory. It seemed that it was inherited as Calian’s property instead of being passed on to another noble after her death. Kalyan said after seeing the unexpected income.

“See you later. I wonder how much we’ve saved.”

“Yes, I understand. And”

Calian, who had finished getting ready to go to breakfast, nodded again with the nuance that he had something else to say.

“You know, when the prince turns 15, won’t he be able to have two more servants?”

“Exercise, Prince. Do you need to continue the physical training you started a week ago?”

“It’s hard to call it training. It’s just about running three or four laps around the artificial lake in front of the palace.”

“Aren’t you overwhelmed with just that right now? I’m telling you this because you look like you’re having a hard time.”

Perhaps because he hadn’t exercised too much in the meantime, he felt more tired than before he started exercising and lost even more weight, which made Jan very worried.

“I’m going to keep going. If I keep doing it, it’ll be okay.”

Yan let out a low sigh, as if he expected such an answer.

“I talked to the chef and told him to pay special attention to his diet. Even if you can’t help but eat breakfast, you must eat all of your lunch and dinner without leaving anything behind.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Yan, who was now somewhat accustomed to Calian’s words of gratitude, smiled slightly. Then he held out one hand and politely pointed to the door leading outside. It was a gesture asking us to go to breakfast.

Ugh. I don’t want to go.

* * *

After finishing his meal in silence, which he was still not used to, Kalian was surprised by the huge amount of profits from the estate that he had accumulated without spending a single penny for 14 years, and came out wearing a little light clothes.

I was planning on exercising before class started in the morning.

I have been exercising like this for the past week. Of course, I wasn’t alone and Jan was usually with me.

However, sometimes, when Jan was away to attend a meeting between servants, a maid named Merlin followed Kalian on Jan’s behalf. It was the same maid who brought Kalian’s mirror and called the hairdresser. Surprisingly, Merlin ran three or four laps around the lake without taking a single breath.

Even now, Merlin was following Calian.

Calian, who remembered that it was Merlin who had ordered ‘a lot of frills’, quickly got into position and started running.

No matter how much I ran forward, when I looked back, there was Merlin running at me, keeping the same distance away. Calian was in tears.

‘scary!’

I didn’t find out it was true until later, but Merlin was the second daughter of the leader of the capital knights guarding the outer castle of Kairisis. Even though he never learned how to use a sword, he ran around Mount Tarun on the outskirts of Kairisis with his leader every day since he was young. So that’s about it.

In the end, after three and a half laps, Kalyan was completely exhausted and sat down. Sweat poured down my face and my lips became chapped. Merlin’s eyebrows furrowed slightly when he saw that. Of course it wasn’t because I didn’t want to see him sweating.

When Kalian first started exercising, he ran four and a half laps, and on the third day he ran four laps. And now three and a half laps. There seemed to be a problem.

“Prince.”

“huh?”

Ordinary servants and maids could not speak directly to the prince, but had to go through higher-ranking servants or higher-ranking maids. Therefore, if Merlin had anything to say to Calian, he had to convey it through Jan. However, Calian’s maids would occasionally talk to Calian after talking to him once in the process of fitting the attire. Kalian, of course, didn’t feel bad about it or find it a problem, but rather liked it because he had more people to talk to.

“How about calling a healer?”

“Be a healer.”

A priest from Tensil who Jan tried to call when Calian injured his hand. Of course, Calian knew why such a healer was called. This may be due to the problem of gradually decreasing physical strength.

But there was a reason I couldn’t find a healer.

‘The circle will be discovered right away.’

Of all the frustrating and stupid things the old Calian had done, there was one thing he felt was the only good thing. The point is that he hid his status as a wizard. It was a secret that even Jan didn’t know.

I think it would have been good to have told Jan, but I understood because he was in a situation where he didn’t even have the luxury of trusting anyone.

If it had been known that Calian could use magic, Bern would have already died before entering Calian’s body. I would have tried to get rid of it before it grew to the point where I couldn’t handle it carelessly.

For the same reason, the current Calian also had to hide the circle for now. I had to do that even more since I couldn’t use mana.

Calian, who had gathered his thoughts, gave a slightly delayed answer.

“no, that’s fine.”

Merlin looked disapproving, but didn’t say anything else.

Calian stood up.

Then, after running one more lap, I went back to my room.