How to Live as the Enemy Prince

In the large gardens of the Heisia Palace, there was a greenhouse nearly twice the size of Calian’s room. It’s tall walls and high ceilings were all made entirely of glass and the greenhouse was filled with Ranieri leaves. 

Unlike the strong perfume Silica adorned, this greenhouse had a much more fragrant, almost non-existent smell; after all, the mystical white Ranieri flowers only bloomed once throughout the year.

Within this greenhouse, there was a single table, with a white chair- and there sat Silica, beautiful as a painting. 

However Lennon looked upon her and flinched, when her fierce eyes met his.

‘She’s in a bad mood again – though it's understandable why,’

On the first day of the festival, the second prince, Franz had arrived at the festivities drunk and even though that had been enough to frustrate Silica to death, what angered her more was that despite two days having passed, no one even criticised Franz. Because of Calian, no one had even glanced at Franz – and that enraged Silica even more.

As a result, Lennon’s heart also sank. As soon as he had arrived, he had been planning to tell Silica about Alan Manasil’s arrival in Kyris, but he concluded that it would be better for him not to bring that up while the Queen was in a bad mood. 

She would receive the news sooner or later, Lennon didn’t have to be the one to deliver the news and bear the reaction. 

‘I’ll just give her the shoes and take my leave.’ Lennon signalled to the butler who was standing behind Silica with his eyes and the butler handed the gift box to the head maid. 

The head maid opened the lid and lifted the box up for the Queen to see.

“What might this be?” Silica asked, gazing into the box even though she already knew the answer.

Inside the box were pale yellow heels that resembled the colour of Silica’s eyes. A large diamond was attached to the centre of the gold plate that adorned the shoes. Silica raised her brows ever so slightly upon inspecting the shoes. It meant that she was pleased.

“This is the diamond from Tensil that I mentioned to you previously, they found a diamond mine while constructing a canal, and this is one of the few products that has been made using the very first diamonds that have been mined. Is it to your liking?”

A moment later, Silica withdrew her gaze from the shoes and took a sip of her coffee, 

“It is not bad at all,” 

“I am very glad to hear that. Speaking of which, about the plan—”

“-Anyway,”

Lennon closed his mouth in embarrassment. Having cut off Lennon’s sentence, Silica turned to look at the head maid. It was a sign that she was finished looking at the shoes.

Lennon’s expression faltered slightly when he was interrupted by the Queen without having been offered even a word of thanks.

‘Does she even know how expensive they were?’

The head maid, however, was oblivious to Lennon’s thoughts. She showed her respect with a stoic face and retreated from the greenhouse with Lennon’s butler..

“It has already been two whole months. Why is there no change yet?” She spoke through gritted teeth and her fist, which had rested atop the table, closed into a fist. 

Lennon was not surprised by Silica’s sudden change of attitude. He knew better than anyone that the Queen had always been this way. Lennon pulled out a smile and soothed Silica.

“That, I believe, is because of Sispanian’s Blessing.”

“You told me that you had taken the strength of the blessing into account. I hear about the Third Prince here and there. It’s quite unpleasant to say the least,”

Lennon swallowed hard. 

Silica silently fluttered her fan for a few seconds, deep in thought, before opening her mouth once again. 

“On your way back, send me more of the item, I will increase the amount,” 

“Wouldn’t that be too dangerous? Using a different method would be -”

Silica did not listen to him. 

She turned her head and beckoned towards the door as if she were swatting away a fly. Lennon quitely gritted his teeth, but was forced outside without even being able to bring up the main reason for his visit.

—

Rumein’s eyes were distant, as he fell deep into his thoughts. 

An estate in Kyris?

Of course, this was a completely welcome request. In fact, he had called Alan to his study so that he could convince Alan to stay in Kyris. In order to suppress Silica’s influence, he needed someone as powerful as Alan.

But just what is his intention? He couldn’t help but to doubt Alan’s intentions as he had brought the subject up himself.

“I came across a red-eyed kitten in the plaza, and I’ve taken a liking to it. I am thinking about teaching it a few things and raising it for a while… but I don’t have a place to stay,” 

Rumein remained silent for a moment, before asking, 

“What do you intend to teach Calian?”

“Does it not sound fun, your majesty?” answered Alan with another question. 

He picked up a cookie from the table, cracked it in half and slowly chewed before swallowing. It was an incredibly impolite response to a King’s question, but Rumein waited silently. After drinking a sip of his tea, Alan continued with excitement in his eyes. 

“Black hair, red eyes… and magic.”

“In order words… you wish to stay in Kyris to teach Prince Calian magic.”

“Not only that, but I plan to create an environment that the kitten would like. In order to do that, I believe I must assist the home’s master with a little cleaning up.” 

Looking after his student was just an excuse. Rumein understood from his hinted words that his true intention was to suppress Silica’s influence and support Calian as the next Crown Prince.

Of course, this would not be anything that would hurt Rumein. He picked up his teacup and took a sip.

“Do you believe you will be able to handle it? You would probably know, but my house is quite chaotic right now.”

“It is also my first time looking after something, I wonder if I will be able to handle it?” 

Rumein smiled faintly,

“Anyway, the justification is good enough; a teacher and his student,” 

A student-teacher relationship with a Prince. It was the best way to justify Alan’s stay in Kyris. Silica and Marquis Brissen’s family were bound to be against the prince learning magic, but they were up against the famous Alan Manasil.