The young prince was listening to that empty babbling without even scoffing. Weisert, with his characteristically empty eyes tinged with an ominous color, spoke more zealously.

“In the end, their problem was in their minds, Your Highness. They had been suffering for so long from an ailment that could be cured by soothing the mind. An unhappy mind invites wicked thoughts, and such thoughts cause nightmares every night, so who could endure without going mad? Your Highness also…”

“So, if I don’t receive treatment from you, I too will eventually go mad, is that what you’re saying?”

A look of bewilderment crossed Weisert’s face. Ord glared at her with eyes that were uncharacteristically scathing for a boy.

At that moment, the Queen intervened.

“Prince, Weisert didn’t mean it that way. She’s just worried because you had a nightmare.”

“Mother, it’s all nonsense. Do you not know how difficult it is for a human to soothe another human’s heart and heal their wounds? Even renowned physicians haven’t been able to determine the cause of madness, yet this woman claims to have succeeded in curing madness by ‘soothing the mind’?”

As Ord sneered, Weisert shed her pretense of gentleness and adopted a stone-like expression.

Filthy ones. Ord thought. As long as these suspicious individuals lingered in the palace, hovering around his mother and father, he could never feel at ease. He could never let his guard down.

The Queen spoke. Ord disliked the smile that appeared on her face. He hated how she smiled as if looking down on a three-year-old who had made a mistake, with a pitying and sympathetic expression.

“Prince, you’re still young, so you don’t understand. Not just Weisert, but all of these people have achieved great things in their respective fields. That’s why His Majesty specially employs them, keeping them close and seeking their advice.”

“Mother.”

“Prince.”

The Queen’s voice lowered. Ord knew this was a signal not to argue further on this matter. And no matter how clever he was, no matter how intelligent, he was only fifteen years old.

It was an age where he feared incurring his mother’s anger. The mere thought of being hated by his mother was unbearable.

Ord glared sharply at those surrounding the Queen like a wall, then let out a trembling sigh.

“I understand what you’re saying, Mother. But I’m fine, so please don’t worry too much.”

“Our prince is so clever.”

Ord, who had been looking down, forced a smile.

“Mother, why don’t we go for a walk together after so long? No, it would be nice to go horseback riding with Father, the three of us. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten some fresh air.”

“I’m sorry, but I have important matters to attend to today.”

In that moment, Ord felt his heart sink for no particular reason.

Mother was still wearing a gentle smile, but it looked like she was wearing a mask. It was chilling, like a long smiling mouth drawn on a stark white mask, or the corners of a plaster statue’s mouth stretched out.

“By important matters, you mean…”

“We’ll be having guests.”

“What kind of guests, Mother?”

The Queen’s lips quivered slightly. Ord suspected she might be holding something in her mouth, but… He soon shook his head. That couldn’t be. Hadn’t she been speaking normally all this time?

Unless she had just vomited something up from her stomach.

‘No, no… That’s too extreme a thought.’

Ord barely managed to suppress the nausea rising in him and took another deep breath. All the while, the Queen continued to move her lips. She was… chewing something.

But no one around pointed it out. Even Lady Luca, the Duchess who was the Queen’s closest lady-in-waiting, acted as if she couldn’t see the Queen moving her mouth. Ord barely managed to collect himself from the feeling that his head was going strange, but he couldn’t stop his lower jaw from trembling.

“Will Father… be meeting the guests together?”

“Yes. Very important guests are coming.”

The Queen’s lips began to spin round and round. Her cheeks also twitched rapidly. Feeling the urge to flee, Ord took a step back. At that moment, the Queen’s lips, which had been moving incessantly as if chewing something loudly, suddenly stopped.

She smiled at Ord.

“You should go now, Prince.”

“…Mother.”

At that moment, Lady Luca, the Duchess, spoke.

“Your Majesty, everything is prepared.”

“I see.”

Ord asked.

“Preparations? What preparations are you talking about, Mother?”

“I’m going to take a medicinal bath. As you know, Prince, my body has been greatly weakened since giving birth to Eustar. But when I take a medicinal bath, my body feels very light and refreshed. So, you should go now, Prince.”

After saying this, the Queen turned away as if she had no further business with her son. The ominous figures surrounding her followed in a line.

Ord stood blankly in the empty bedroom before reluctantly going outside. Something, something unbearable was pounding at him loudly. He couldn’t tell if it was anxiety or fear.

“Eustar, look. What’s this? Hm? What is your elder brother holding?”

As Ord shook a round apple-shaped toy, Eustar babbled incomprehensibly and grinned. A bright smile appeared on Ord’s face as he held and soothed his restless little brother.

“Solena, Eustar seems to really like this toy.”

At this, Solena, the nurse who was sitting on one side of the sofa sewing Eustar’s clothes, smiled kindly.

“Babies usually have toys they particularly like, Your Highness.”

“Really? Even though they’re babies?”

“Of course. Even babies have clear likes and dislikes. His Royal Highness is only one year old, but he’s very sensitive. He absolutely won’t play with toys that look similar to this one.”

“Is that so?”

Ord smiled brightly as he held baby Eustar in his arms and soothed him.

“Eustar, you don’t like it if it’s not something you like?”

“Aw?”

As the baby babbled, Ord laughed out loud.

“You don’t like it? Yes, you don’t like it. Right? I’ll have to find many interesting toys for you. I hope you’ll find one you like among them.”

“Aww.”

Eustar waved his tiny hands and rolled his bottom excitedly.

Solena said,

“Your Highness, do you find the young prince so adorable?”

“Of course, he’s adorable. He’s my only little brother… Eustar is fourteen years younger than me. Even when I’m twenty, Eustar will only be six. So I have to take care of him and protect him.”

“Having such a caring elder brother, the young prince will surely be happy.”

Ord’s cheeks flushed with joy.

“I hope so.”

At that moment, Eustar, who had been playing well, suddenly frowned and burst into tears. As Ord was startled, Solena hurriedly put down her sewing and took the baby in her arms.

“Why suddenly?”

“Don’t worry, Your Highness. Babies often cry like this.”

“I know that, but…”

Solena felt the baby’s bottom and forehead, but there was nothing unusual. He shouldn’t be hungry either, but no matter how much she tried to soothe him, Eustar cried more and more severely.

Ord said,

“Should we call the court physician?”

“He cried like this last night too. We called the court physicians, but they found nothing wrong. Even now… He doesn’t have a fever, and there’s nothing wrong… Young Prince, shall I give you a toy? Or are you sleepy? Oh, oh. Yes. Why are you crying so much?”

“Let me hold him.”

It was then, just as Ord reached out his arms towards Solena. The doorway of the nursery became noisy, and the Queen entered with Lady Luca and other followers.

“Mother.”

“We greet Your Majesty the Queen.”

Solena quickly bowed her head. However, Ord’s heart was pounding so much that he even forgot he should greet the Queen.

“Why is the baby crying?”

The Queen said. Unlike when addressing Ord, her voice was cold and rough when questioning Solena.

“I apologize, Your Majesty. The young prince seems to be uncomfortable with something.”

“Give him to me.”

The Queen took Eustar from Solena’s arms as if snatching him away. At this, Eustar began to cry even more fiercely, struggling and screaming.

“Lady Duchess, hold the baby.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Eustar was carelessly passed from one hand to another like an object. Seeing Lady Luca holding the struggling Eustar as if restraining him, Ord shouted.

“Lady Duchess! You’ll hurt the baby if you hold him like that!”

Ord hurriedly blocked the Queen’s path as she was about to turn away. That mask-like smile had once again appeared on her face.

“Prince, what are you doing now?”

“Mother, where are you taking Eustar?”

“What a strange question. To my chambers, of course.”

“Isn’t this the nursery?”

At this, the Queen pretended to look around and wrinkled her nose.

“Prince, you might not notice, but there’s a sour smell here. Mother doesn’t like this smell very much. So I’m taking Eustar to my chambers. Why are you acting like this when Mother is taking the baby?”

For a moment, Ord was at a loss for words and hesitated. All the while, Eustar continued to cry without stopping.

Even though he was almost out of breath, Lady Luca held Eustar carelessly like a box of luggage, with an expressionless face.

Solena said,

“Your Majesty, I will accompany you. The young prince is crying so severely…”

“No, you don’t need to follow. My ladies-in-waiting will take care of the prince.”

At the Queen’s cold tone cutting off her words, Solena was too intimidated to continue speaking. Ord, his face red, stamped his foot in frustration as he watched the wailing Eustar.

“Mother, Eustar is crying too severely. We should at least call the court physicians…”

“Prince.”

The Queen smiled brightly and bent her knees to meet Ord’s eyes.

The moment she touched his shoulder, Ord almost instinctively shook off her hand and ran away. For some reason, his mother’s hand felt damp and cold. Like the hand of a corpse left in the rain.

“Eustar is fine, so the Prince should go back and study now. How can you spend every day just looking at the baby? You know how much expectations your Father and I have for our Prince, don’t you?”

“I know, but…”

The Queen smiled broadly and shook her head.

“If you know, then say no more and go back. Don’t disappoint Mother. That’s what you need to do to become an excellent ‘Prince’. Of course.”