How to Live as the Enemy Prince

Bern furrowed his brow and turned that frown to Yan, 

“What did you say my name was?” 

Yan, as if thinking Bern must have been joking with him, answered with a slight smile, 

“You are Prince Calian, and I am the servant who must bring you to the dining room to serve you breakfast, your attendant Yan,”

And as though Yan’s answer had been an invitation, unfamiliar memories came flowing into his head. 

The Kyris royal court, the etiquettes, weather, schedule, magic, the queen, this palace and even two elder brothers. 

Yan was right, he could not be late for breakfast. That was what these memories were telling him – that he must get up immediately, that he must not be later than the other princes. 

And now, the one for whom Calian had become his name, asked quietly, 

“What’s today's date?”

“Its is the 28th day of the 4th month, the weather is very nice today, your highness,” Yan answered, 

Hearing those words, and looking around at the relaxed atmosphere, this did not feel like the palace of a prince who was currently at war with Secretia, and so Calian asked, 

“And the year?” 

“The year 522, your highness,”

Calian’s gaze shook heavily, Kyris’ calendar at the year 522 was the year 525 by Secretia’s calendar. It was not the year in which he had died but rather – 

’10 years’ 

He was 10 years into the past… and the three princes of Kyris… 

As if urging him to hurry, the memories of the two princes kept pouring into his brain. When Calian, lost in his thoughts, remained standing still, Yan could no longer wait and reached for the Prince’s sleeve. He had intended to help the Prince up –

Slap!

Calian smacked his hand away instinctively, his own palm began to redden – since it was not used to such harsh actions, the Prince’s palm stung painfully. 

“Why did you do this, your highness?” Yan asked, he looked a second away from tears. 

“Ah, sorry, I did it without thinking,”

Yan was so surprised by the slap that he had not even picked up on the change in the Prince’s speech and instead answered quickly, 

“More importantly, your highness, you must get ready quickly – shall I help-?”

Calian did not let him finish his sentence, instead swiftly standing with a shake of his bed. The persistent urging of his memories that implored he must not be later than those horrible ‘brothers’ of his was enough to make Calian get going. It seems he would also need to find a way to send that attendant, Yan away for a while so he could get his thoughts straight. 

Calian immersed his entire head in the basin of water, before rising up and his cheeks gently. 

“I’ll be ready,” 

‘The manner of speech is strange; I did not speak like this -‘

As though to tell him this, the memories came pushing into his brain. After a moment, Calian spoke again. 

“No, my apologies, I will get ready now,” 

“Not at all, your highness, today you seem to have apologised more than usual – allow me to attend to your clothes,” 

The maids moved in with a subtle gesture from Yan, holding a full set of clothing and dressed the prince, while another approached to fix his hair. Hs black hair was carefully arranged to cover up his eyes. 

Bern normally tied his long silver hair back so his current fringe that came down his forehead was uncomfortable – but he knew from the memories that seemed to continuously trickle into his brain, that the reason he kept his frustrating hair long was because of Franz. 

Since his two elder brothers, Prince Franz hated his red eyes, Calian kept his hair like this – to be so afraid of his brother’s hatred that he would hide his own gaze… Without even realising it, Calian clicked his tongue. 

‘Even though I already got the gist, he truly lived like a fool,’ 

And then, unknowingly, he laughed as he thought of that man,

‘Franz hates these eyes.’

The enemy he hated the most – the mad king Franz.

He was the king of Kyris – no since this was 10 years in the past, he was a mere Prince now. And he was the mastermind behind the attack on Secretia. 

‘Franz…. the fact that you are breathing right now makes my skin crawl,’

Calian could not bear to utter that hateful name from his lips.

This place was the royal palace of Kyris. Even though it still felt like he was wandering around a dream, he was currently the third prince of Kyris. Because of this, Calian repeated the same words in his head multiple times, 

‘Even if I see him, I can’t kill him right now. I have to endure it.’

It would be truly ridiculous if this was not a dream – but if it indeed was reality – and Calian’s head went rolling because of his impatient actions, it would truly be a shame. 

The maids who had no way of knowing the types of thoughts that were swimming in Calian’s head, completed the final touches on his clothes, even trimming and hemming his clothes to make sure they fit him perfectly. The preparation was so through that it made him wonder if this was truly just getting ready to go and eat breakfast.

How much must they all have suffered simply because of his clothing that they were preparing his clothes with such painful precision? 

Eventually, all the preparations were complete and Calian took a deep breath before stepping outside of his door. He followed the hall, down to the grand central staircase and headed into the dining hall to the far right. 

No matter how much he tried to recall, the strangely flowing memories never revealed to him his age. He wondered if Calian had lived his life so far without even counting his own age. Eventually, he decided to just ask Yan, 

“Yan,” 

“Yes, your highness?” 

“How old am I?” 

It was an abrupt question to Yan, who thought the prince had been asking him unusual questions since this morning.

“You’re 14 years old – there are 4 months left before you become an adult,” 

“Hm, I see,” Calian nodded his head in thought, no wonder he looked so young. To the Prince, who was lost in his own thoughts, Yan asked, 

“Your highness, did you perhaps read the novel about the knight last night?” with a troubled tone – he had asked this because the Prince’s manner of speech had changed. 

The original Calian had been afraid of horses and since there was a riding lesson tomorrow, the prince may have been anxious about his performance in class and read the novel of the Knight to quell his anxiety. 

Calian shook his head, “No, I don’t care for such a story,” 

With that reply, Calian entered the dining hall. There were servants already lining the walls of the room, but there was no sign of any other Prince. Calian’s gaze found Yan, 

‘Why did they make such a fuss about leaving early,’ Calian wondered if it were simply to make him hurry with his preparations so that he would not be late. 

By the large window, there was a wide, round dining table at which the princes would eat breakfast every morning under the orders of King Rumein. And for the previous Calian, it was also the most horrible place. 

A servant from the dining hall pulled a chair out and when Calian realised that was his seat, he went and sat down then turned his gaze to the unfamiliar landscape outside the window. 

‘As I had heard, the land here is considerable,” 

Of the four kingdoms on the Shisterra Continent, the Kingdom of Kyris was the largest and even within the lands of Kyris, the Royal Grounds themselves were truly vast. It differed largely from Secretia, whose royal grounds consisted of some large buildings and two annexes. 

The royal family lived in six buildings, each a palace in its own right. There were also other buildings with their various purposes, along with gardens and even man-made lakes, all within the Royal Grounds.

The Chermil Palace, where Prince Calian resided was considered to be on the smaller side even among the Kyris palaces, nevertheless, there was a garden and an artificial lake within Calian’s palace grounds that were still quite large. 

The sunshine reflected on the water flooded through the window. 

Just like that, staring blankly out of the window, 10 minutes passed and finally the First Prince, Randell arrived and then after another 30 minutes, the Second Prince Franz arrived. 

Calian watched the Second Prince, who walked over to them and sat down without a word, with wide eyes. 

‘What on earth…’

What the hell kind of nonsense was this?

Upon seeing Franz’s ridiculous appearance, Calian frowned.