Franz was poorly dressed. Calian could spy his brother's bare skin beneath his untied top. Whether from here or from Secretia, a royal family member should never be seen like that.
Despite Calian's surprise at Franz's rude behavior, he did not make the mistake of putting a knife on his brother's neck.
He sighed briefly, taking care for it not to show.
Randall frowned at Franz's appearance but turned his head away as if he had seen nothing. However, Calian had not missed the scene.
The first prince cannot lay a hand on the second prince.'
It was understandable why.
All three princes were half brothers, and Queen Silica was the mother of the second prince, Franz. No matter if Randall was the heir to the throne, he could not boss around Franz.
'The power of the Queen's family is great.'
With that fact, the people in the room could only shut their mouths and keep their thoughts to themselves. Soon a well-made food dishes began to be placed before them one by one.
There was baked bread with a savory and fragrant soup, along with scrambled eggs and sliced ham. There were salads full of fresh vegetables and a variety of fruits. For Calian, who had suffered from war, it was a mouth-watering sight. If he was alone, he would have eaten everything.
But his hands didn't reach out to grab any of the food.
The first reason was because he worried about Chase, and the second was because his lifelong enemy, Franz, was in front of him. The chilling atmosphere within the dining hall also played a part.
'The situation here is like treading through thin ice.'
The three princes of the Kailis were brothers, but there was no conversation among them. Though they were half brothers, that alone could not be the reason for this silence.
He knew because Chase and Bern were half brothers, too.
While the chef reheated the food, the two siblings would laugh and converse with each other. Chase had always taken care of him, and his voice seemed to echo in Bern's mind.
– I can't believe you're gonna be a knight. People will depend on you.
– Bern, my brother. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about anything.
He remembered Chase, the king of Secretia, his brother, the one who wasn't afraid of sacrificing his own life. However, he could not ask for news of him in this place, and he was gripped by more worry and longing. He had the impulse to run and meet with him.
At those thoughts, his anger against Franz flared up again, so he picked up a glass of water and drained it all at once. There was a voice full of laughter.
"Fool."
It was Franz's voice.
No matter what clothes he wore, his countenance was always the same. Franz curled his lip and spoke mockingly.
"You resemble your mother, lacking in dignity."
It was a sneering jab about Calian's mother, a commoner. Feeling as if his real mother had been insulted, Calian's eyes turned sharp.
Franz saw his red eyes burning with hatred through his fringe. Franz glared in return.
Randall was concentrating on the meal without giving them a glance, the perfect bystander.
Calian turned to Randall with the same look in his eyes.
Then, Franz spoke with a threatening voice.
"You dare–"
Calian's gaze shifted to Franz again. Their eyes locked and neither dared turn away. Only then did Randall open his mouth to speak quietly.
"Stop it."
Franz kept his gaze fixed on Calian as he spoke.
"I've lost my appetite because of those cursed bloody eyes. I'll be leaving first."
Franz didn't bother to ask for Randall's permission to leave, and he stood up and went outside.
That was rather fortunate. Calian didn't have the patience to look at his face for a long time.
"You best care of your body. The king's birthday celebration is just around the corner."
But with this, Calian lost even more patience when hearing this voice.
Randal had spoken with a dull expression, without even sparing a glance at Calian.
'It's me who's the problem? What about that bastard who just walked out?'
The words full of blame left Calian stunned.
If it had not been for the absurdity of waking up in another body the day he died, he certainly would not have tolerated this.
Randall was completely oblivious of his brother's murderous intent, and he stood up from his seat and left without paying attention to Calian's reaction.
"It hasn't even been a full day yet…"
He could hear Yan talking to himself from behind.
Calian leaned his back on the chair and exhaled to calm his anger. This was a sigh that sounded like the mournful breath of the youngest who received plenty of abuse. Yan stared at the prince with regret in his face.
After a while, Calian rose quietly from his seat. Yan came up to him to pull out his chair and straighten out his disheveled clothes, working meticulously with the details. Calian saw that the other two princes' attendants were not as attentive to this degree.
There were deep fingernail marks imprinted on Yan's palm. On the contrary, Yan's eyes seemed even fiercer than Calians. At the sight, Calian's boiling anger slowly subsided. He spoke in a low voice.
"Thank you."
Yan's eyes widened and he turned to look at Calian. The prince was neither weeping nor making a grim face. Not only that. He even had a small smile. Before Yan could find the words to express his gratitude for the very first time, the prince continued.
"What's next on the schedule?"
***
"In an hour, you have a lesson on the war between the gods."
"Then I want to be alone until then."
Upon hearing these words, Yan looked back at the prince with worry.
However, the memories of Calian kept him obedient to his duties, and so the present Calian was allowed to leave the building alone and make his way towards the artificial lake.
There was no one else, except Yan following his steps at a far distance.
"Ha."
Calian stopped by the lake and breathed heavily from his efforts. He saw there was a small statue in the middle of the lake.
It was a black dragon spreading its wings toward the sky, its eyes studded with red jewels.
'Isn't that Sispanian?'
The statue was of the dragon Sispanian, who was also the first queen of Kailis.
He remembered a story that said she had black hair like a still night and red eyes that burned with a sacred fire.
Black hair and red eyes. Just like Calian.
'Cursed bloody eyes.'
Flanz's voice reemerged in his mind again.
'Has my mentality become more fragile because my body is younger?' Calian laughed at himself after having these thoughts.
Bern was a knight and prince who fought and died alone at the gates of his kingdom. Just yesterday his arm was severed, and countless arrows pierced his body as he wielded his sword.
There was no reason for him to lose his head here.
The priority at the moment wasn't to kill the hateful Prince Franz. First, he had to figure out how he got into this situation.
Calian opened his eyes for a moment and ordered the thoughts in his head, attempting to get a firm grip on the events that happened.
'…The Axis.'
The Axis of Time.
It had suddenly appeared at the Palace of Secretia one day, shaped like a large hourglass, and it had the power to turn back the clock only once.
That very Axis of Time must have been the cause of this. However, it was also the very cause of the war between Secretia and Kailis.
Before the war began, the Kingdom of Kailis demanded The Axis of Time. Secretia rejected their demands. It was clear to King Chase that it was a dangerous object, and so he stood up staunchly against them. And how did the Mad King Franz respond?
When King Chase expressed his refusal, a large army had fallen upon the city
Franz even skipped the declaration of war, let alone negotiations. He thought himself too great for the concept.
From that war, the kingdom of Secretia was eventually defeated, the consequence was its utter downfall.
'My brother must have witnessed my death.'
Chase must have seen Bern, the last knight alive, finally die, and so he must have turned back the clock. He didn't know that this would be the result, but Chase tried to save Bern.
Calian lamented to himself.
"If the Axis of Time is the cause of this…that means there's no way back."
It could only be used once, and if time had already been twisted, there was no way to return to the old days.
What do I do? Calian murmured to himself for a moment.
He should certainly make use of his second life. He couldn't afford to waste the opportunity that Chase had given him. And so, Calian decided not to go back, but to live. He'll live first and find another way.
Calian fell back into his thoughts.
* * *
Calian, age fourteen, was to die soon.
He was accused of attempting to poison Queen Silica but failed, and hung himself in fear of punishment.
Of course, no one believed that story.
When news of his "suicide" was revealed, all surrounding gossip around his "assassination" had to be heavily censored. It was rumored that whoever killed Calian would of course be a certain powerful figure.
And that person also had a certain connection to Calian's biological mother, Freya.
The concubine Freya was famous for her beautiful appearance, but her heritage was that of a commoner. She had won the affection of the king and had given birth to Calian, but soon died from the aftereffects of childbirth.
The aftereffects of childbirth plus vomiting black blood after drinking the tea sent by the queen.
And so, Calian lost his mother.
It was unimaginable that Calian had some help. It made no sense that the weak prince obtained some rare poisonous herb, and tried to kill the Queen who held even greater power than the King.
Moreover, Calian has been despised by the Queen and Franz since he was born. Under these circumstances, the original Calian would have felt suffocated.
No matter how large a beast is, it will grow weak if it was only fed milk and was trained to lick its master's feet from birth. And that was why Calian grew up so pathetic, to the point where he couldn't imagine ever killing someone.
Calian laughed bitterly.
"I'll just clean up after him since I can't stand seeing this mess."
He had heard that his appearance was just like Freya's, except for the color of his hair.
The Queen hated Calian's face, as it was a reminder of his mother's. So she had Calian killed and made up a story, and the King ignored it.
The Queen held all three of the royal guards, except for one knight under the King's command.
Calian died two or three months before he turned fifteen, and Yan had said that his fifteenth birthday was four months from now.
"I may be killed anytime soon."
The remaining time for Calian's supposed suicide by hanging was about one or two months.
His red eyes reflected in the water keenly.
He didn't have the slightest intention of dying at their hands.