Surviving As the 5th Prince of the Ruined Kingdom

004

Chirp chirp, chirp chirp.

I snapped out of my reverie at the sound of birds singing in the morning. Looking out the window, the sun was peeking its head out.

‘It’s already that time.’

I brushed aside the stats and skill windows filling my view to the corner of my vision and got up from the bed.

I went to the window, opened it, and took a deep breath. The refreshing scent of dew. My body, weary from fatigue, felt recharged.

The emperor training simulation 《Lost Saga》.

At first, I suspected that reality was the world inside the game.

‘The probability is high that it’s not.’

For one, those vast skills in the skill window. Moreover, when I searched for things like Taekwondo and Chunma Shinggong, it said ‘Access denied’?

There’s no way a game like that exists.

– Accessing Arcana System.

Especially that message that flashed by when I pressed [Login].

– Your Highness, today I will tell you about the goddess of knowledge Arcana. It is said that in her library, not only is the knowledge of all worlds recorded, but also the past, present, and even the future.

I recalled the memory of my childhood nanny telling me that at bedtime.

In this world, gods truly exist.

Is it just a coincidence that the name of the system is the same as the goddess of knowledge?

‘Accessing Arcana System’ – even if I replace ‘system’ with ‘library’ in that sentence, it doesn’t seem like my current abilities would change much.

Could it be that the child I saved in a previous life was Arcana playing around?

Anyway.

After staying up all night, the conclusion I reached was simple.

What does it matter?

The fact that I have to live in this world does not change. What’s important is how I will live from now on, utilizing this ability.

Even though the surrounding circumstances are like dirt, I have no thoughts of attempting to reset my life since I’ve experienced reincarnation.

There’s no guarantee that there will be another chance, and I’ve already resolved to live a life without regrets. Above all, I utterly detest the act of taking one’s own life.

‘If I get the chance, I should visit the temple of the Arcana Order once.’

As I was organizing my thoughts while breathing in the dawn air, I saw Alfonso shuffling along, holding a broom.

Yawning, he was cleaning the garden path.

After watching him for a moment, I looked at the status windows I had tucked away in the corner. I pulled Alfonso’s in front of me.

My gaze focused on one spot.

[Relationship: Stranger]

It seemed I should improve that first.

RP, the resource needed to learn skills. The R is probably an abbreviation for Relation.

…Wait, do I really need to improve my relationship with that unkempt guy? Wouldn’t it be better to find a more transparent person?

***

The next day.

While I was barely moving from my bedroom, using my head injury as an excuse, I had a visitor.

The 3rd Princess, Anette Lionel.

Her wavy, jet-black hair reaching her waist and emerald-green eyes captured one’s gaze. My fellow sister, once called the Flower of the North. She was the spitting image of our mother in the portrait pendant.

If not for her jet-black hair, the symbol of the Lionel royal family, there might have been a rumor that our mother’s ghost was wandering the palace.

“Evan, are you really all right?”

“Yes. Thanks to your concern, I didn’t even need to see the bishop of the Rundine Order.”

Under normal circumstances, it would have ended with just the assistant healer. I was really surprised when the bishop of the water goddess Rundine visited yesterday.

After taking a sip of the tea Alfonso had hurriedly prepared, my sister slightly frowned. His tea really does taste awful.

“But your way of speaking and everything seems to have changed a lot since I last saw you. This sister is happy to finally look you in the eye and talk.”

Your sister’s gaze fixed on my eyes felt a bit burdensome.

“I’ve simply realized that I need to hatch from the egg.”

I decided to be brazenly upfront.

Since I didn’t exactly steal someone else’s body, there was no need for me to struggle to make up excuses.

It wasn’t exactly a wrong statement. After becoming aware of my past life, my narrow perspective suddenly opened wide. It was obvious that if I continued living as I was, I would be sent to a perfect place to die at the appropriate time.

A change was needed.

Even if nothing happened when I entered the ID and password and clicked [Login], I would have definitely changed.

“Oh, is that so? You’ve suddenly become an adult.”

I gave a faint smile toward my sister, who had a gloomy expression on her face.

While bringing my hand to the teacup, I glanced at the guard knight standing behind my sister without anyone noticing. At the same time, I touched his forehead with a ghostly hand.

I quickly checked my relationship with him.

[Relationship: Distrust]

A slightly redder word than caution.

‘That human is also distrustful.’

After deciding to try raising my relationships with others to gain RP, I opened the status window for every person I could see.

As a result.

I could grasp that the relationship with the other person had a significant connection to the content that could be confirmed in the status window. If it was distrust, everything except for [breathing], [walking], and the like was [?].

Additionally, I learned one uncomfortable truth.

Alfonso, who pretended to be close in front of me but was actually ‘cautious’ of me. Turns out, excluding my sister, he was the closest person to me.

For some reason, everyone around me was nothing but people who ‘distrusted’ me.

Well, I understand.

Just by being near me, the necks of the servants around me had been cut off. As a prince like that, I wouldn’t want to get close either.

Like a bean in a pod, I was able to verify that the average person’s stats were around D based on one or two stats of theirs that I could check.

I took a sip of the bitter and astringent tea, and glanced at my sister’s status window that I had secretly opened earlier.

—

Anette Lionel

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Race: Human

[Stats]

[Skills]

[Relationship – Trust]

—

The green word ‘Trust’ soothed my eyes and warmed my heart.

‘If it’s a relationship of trust, there would hardly be any question marks, right?’

Since we were in the middle of a conversation, I couldn’t open the stat or skill window. As if reading my mind, the ghostly hand twitched its index finger slightly.

‘No, not during a conversation.’

Since I would have to leave soon anyway, I could check it then. Even now, my sister’s maid kept opening and closing her pocketwatch, giving me pointed looks.

I put down my teacup on the table and spoke up.

“I know you’re very busy. I’m really fine, so you can get up now.”

At my words, the maid brightened. She leaned over and whispered something into my sister’s ear.

“I’m sorry. I’d like to stay a bit longer, but I can’t keep the tutors waiting.”

“It’s alright.”

“Mother’s memorial day is coming up soon, so let’s go together this year for sure.”

“I understand.”

Unable to hide her apologetic expression, my sister hurried away. Watching her leave, I turned my gaze to Alphonso, who had been standing guard beside me.

“Alphonso, could you please clean up?”

“Yes!”

With practiced ease, he began clearing the teacups from the table. Although not typically a servant’s task, the Emerald Palace was sadly understaffed, with only the bare minimum personnel assigned for basic maintenance.

“Take your time. If you have any errands, feel free to take care of them too.”

“hahahaha, I’ll be back in a flash.”

I spoke sincerely to Alphonso as he gathered the cups onto the tray, but he didn’t seem to hear me at all.

After he left and closed the door behind him, I found myself alone. I glanced around to confirm no one else was present.

‘Shall I take a look, then?’

I immediately dismissed the knight’s status window and closely examined my sister’s instead.

First, the stats.

As expected, there were no question marks obscuring anything. Her slightly low health was a minor concern, but I couldn’t find any other notable issues.

Closing the stat window, I moved on to the skills.

━━━━━━━━×

[Breathing]

[Walking]

…

…

[Riding]

[Flower Arrangement]

[Court Etiquette]

.

.

.

[Beauty]

[?]

━━━━━━━━

Excluding the one thing I couldn’t confirm, they were all things a princess of the royal family would possess.

The interesting thing was that my sister’s [Beauty] was one rank higher than my [Handsomeness].

I wondered if [Beauty] was generally rated higher than [Handsomeness], or if skills with the same name could have different ranks.

Well, as more samples appeared, I would naturally find out.

If there was something bothering me, it was that [?].

If it wasn’t revealed even in a ‘trust’ relationship, then what kind of relationship do you need to form to see it…?

‘Could it be a lord-subject relationship?’

The thought flashed through my mind for a moment.

Considering that the genre of Lost Saga, or Losa, is an emperor-raising simulation, it seemed quite plausible.

‘An emperor…’

I imagined myself sitting on the throne, looking down at the civil and military officials. I chuckled and got up from my seat, heading to the desk.

Sitting on the chair, I opened the drawer, took out a small notebook, and flipped it open.

Reincarnation, Lost Saga, emperor-raising simulation… Pages filled with words that would make others wonder what they meant.

I had randomly jotted down various things following the stream of consciousness. Since it was written in Korean, I had no security concerns.

I picked up a pen and wrote ‘Alfonso’ in large letters on the notebook. Drawing circles around his name, I pondered over and over how I could improve our ‘relationship’.

Knock, knock.

“Your Highness. I’m back.”

“Come in.”

Servants are like shadows to royalty. They stand by the one they serve 365 days a year, even when they are sleeping or using the restroom.

It’s impossible to do alone. Normally, a chief servant leads a team of around five people who divide the roles.

However, the only servant assigned to me was Alfonso. Thanks to that, or maybe I should say because of it, I had a lot of time to enjoy my freedom alone.

“Yet the fellow who usually missed his duties for one reason or another had been following me like a shadow since yesterday, except for unavoidable cases.

The reason was obvious.

Since I had changed so suddenly as if I had become a different person, he must have been suspecting that the Demon Tribe or a black magic user had played a trick on me.

I glanced sideways at him standing beside my desk.

‘His eyes are open, aren’t they?’

His eyes were so small that I couldn’t tell where he was looking. After doodling meaningless scribbles on my notebook for a while, I put down my pen and turned my body towards Alfonso.

“Alfonso.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Why did you come to the royal palace?”

“hahahaha, you know well there’s not much a third son of a rural marquis can do.”

I roughly knew that.

For those with almost no prospect of inheriting a title, becoming a servant of the royal family was like… in terms of a previous life, if not passing the administrative examination, at least passing the grade 7 public official exam?

‘No, could it be worse than that?’

I recalled the ruby earrings worn by the maid I had encountered in the hallway that morning. The gossip coming from here and there also seemed quite salty.

‘They looked expensive.’

Come to think of it, it was really a mess.

How could a maid brazenly wear jewelry and walk around? In any other palace, it would be unthinkable. At the very least, she would have to be a dedicated maid, and even then, it would only be possible with the permission of the one she served.

If such behavior occurred in the palace of the ill-tempered Fourth Prince or his sister, the Fourth Princess, their backs would be torn open by severe whipping.

“As for my Haimdel family…”

I snapped to attention at Alfonso’s continuing words. I had momentarily drifted off in the middle of an important conversation.

It seemed he was about to repeat the story he had rambled on about when he became my dedicated attendant.

I had no desire to hear that boring, likely fictional novel again.

I swiftly cut him off.

“The person I asked about is you, Alfonso Einberg, not the third son of the Marquis of Haimdel.”

“Huh?”

Why was he asking again when he had heard me?

I couldn’t find a way to improve my relationship with him. So the method I chose was:

A frontal assault.

Perhaps by having a sincere conversation, some clue would emerge?

“Alfonso ‘Einberg’, why did you come to the royal palace?”

Emphasizing Alfonso’s original surname strongly, he asked again.

“……”

The mask of the guy who was always smiling started to break. An expressionless face where no emotion could be read. The blue pupils of his eyes visible beyond the slits were extremely cold.

Brrr.

My spine chilled as if I had a chill. Is this what it means to be deathly? I had been curious what it would feel like to experience it directly.

‘Is it because he died once before?’

It was nothing special compared to what I had imagined.