The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

A rumbling growl resounded from my scrawny body.

   “Oh, crap. I’m starving. Let’s just get this over with and eat.”

   The original plan had been to get out before lunch and hopefully get a few more secrets from elsewhere.

   But the combination of deciphering the language and the unexpected pain left me exhausted, and it was well past lunchtime.

   I was hungry, even more so now that I was struggling with my already low stamina.

“Maybe I should have gotten Videl’s armor,” I thought to myself, “but given the state of my body, I’ll have a hard time getting into the Inner Palace.”

The royal palace consisted of several palaces, including the Inner Palace, where the king lived. The palace inside the inner wall was called the Inner Palace, and the palace outside was called the Outer Palace.

   Since I was a prince, I had free access to the inner and outer palaces, but even princes were not allowed to enter the king’s residence.

   That’s why Prince Yuan was so excited to see his father on his birthday.

   He didn’t realize that his own Father was also a cold-hearted man who saw only political factors.

   It was inevitable. His mother died when he was a child, his stepmother and half-siblings looked down on him, and the king was the only person he could call family.

   Even worse, he died without seeing his father’s face on his birthday.

   “Haha~ Me too, but this body has had a damn hard life.”

   I took a moment to pay my respects to Prince Yuan, who had lived an unlucky life and went up to the fifth floor.

   Here, a secret remains, left behind by the eldest of the royal wives, Empress Lizbet. To be precise, it’s hidden under the floor tiles on the fifth floor.

   So I put my ear to the floor and tapped each tile.

   I couldn’t distinguish the difference, so I took off my shoes and slammed them down as hard as I could.

   Jade, the main protagonist, found it by just walking around the study and picking up the slightly different sounds of their footsteps, but I don’t have that kind of freak hearing.

   This study is too damn big to just hit the floor, so I narrowed my search based on the titles of the books Jade flipped through in the novel.

   “Um, this is it.”

   I jabbed the tile with the knife and corkscrew I’d packed with the booze from the kitchen earlier.

   Then I put my weight on it so that the knife bent and lifted the tile.

   “Boom!”

I groaned at the sight of my weak body that ached with the effort of lifting just one tile.

   Still, I grinned at the white ball the size of a ping-pong ball hidden beneath the tile.

   “Found it, the mascot.”

   As far as I was concerned, Lizbet’s legacy was honestly the least of the secrets to be gleaned from the palace.

  Because…

   -Meow.

   What Lizbet had left inside the white ball was a small wind spirit.

Upon hearing the sound, I lifted the white ball and it dispersed like smoke from my hand, revealing a white cat with black stripes the size of my palm.

   This little cat has only one job in the novel The Sage of the Winter Tree: to revitalize the physically and mentally exhausted protagonists.

   When you think about it, this wind spirit is the ultimate mascot.

   It’s small, cute, and affectionate to its owner, and because it’s a spirit, it doesn’t need to be bathed, fed, or taken care of.

However, since the main character, Jade, is a monster, it’s relatively useless except for its cuteness, so a weakling like me could easily defeat it.

-Meow.

   The cat stretched out on my palm after a long sleep, sniffing my scent and rubbing its face against my hand.

I was worried that this one wouldn’t like me because I hadn’t gotten what I expected from the rest, but fortunately, it seemed to recognize me as its owner.

   I’m glad I got this one right.

   Otherwise, I would have died.

   No, actually, my life was still in danger.

   It’s just that I now have a means of defense to save myself in a situation where I would otherwise be killed.

   “Your name shall be… Navi.” (Navi means butterfly)

   Navi is a good enough name for a cat.

Why didn’t I call it a cat? For reference, the name given to by protagonist, Jade, is Asajahad Mioli Merkekuhi Xaviar de Jade*.

   It translates to ‘the goddess of the winds with the noble and beautiful cry of Jade’.

   Who names a spirit like that?

Navi seemed to like the name, or maybe it just liked me. As it hovered in midair and floated over to land on my shoulder and nuzzle my cheek.

   “Navi. Invisibility.”

   -Nyaa.

   At my command, Navi turned invisible.

   I could feel where it was, even though I couldn’t see it.

   It was a very new sensation, but was this what an elemental contractor felt?

   I briefly experimented with Navi’s power, then tidied up the study and headed downstairs.

“You’ve returned. You took longer than I thought.”

   I smiled at the wolf-haired old servant’s comment and replied.

   “I didn’t realize I’d spent so much time reading. Oh, is that my lunch?”

   I took a sandwich from the basket and took a bite, and the old servant gave me a gentle nudge.

“I know you’re hungry since it’s after mealtime, but you shouldn’t fill up on this, as you’ll be dining with the king soon.”

   “I know, but I need to eat enough to keep my stomach from growling at the dinner table.”

   I didn’t care if I ate too much since the dinner would be canceled, whether things went well or not.

   But I decided to take my servant’s advice and eat just enough to satisfy my hunger.

It was self-destructive to make my body dull now.

   That’s when Precia leaned her face close to mine and started sniffing.

What is it? Did Navi get caught?

   As I panicked, Precia said with a serious face.

   “The smell of blood… Your Highness, are you injured?! Why do I smell blood on your body!”

Her cries startled the servant, and he looked at me in surprise.

   “Are you injured?! Show me your wound, no, I’ll send for the court physician right away!”

   No, how good of a sense of smell does this girl have to recognize the smell of blood before the wolfman servant?

   I caught the servant as he was about to run out the door.

“Calm down, I just got hit by the book that fell out of the bookcase and got a little nosebleed.”

   It was a good excuse for a body that had fallen to the ground and passed out while trying to save a cat.

It was so convincing that the two were quickly convinced, although they were still worried.

“Do you know how worried I was, even this morning?”

   Precia said in her usual big sisterly way.

   In the story, Precia is still fifteen, and Prince Yuan turns seventeen today.

   “Okay, I’ll be careful. Let’s get back, it’s almost time to get ready for the banquet.”

   I lead the way, and they nod their understanding.

   Prince Yuan’s days are numbered.

   * * *

Back at the palace, I went through the motions with the help of the maids, changing from my dusty, blood-stained clothes to a fancy tailcoat.

Everyone in the palace was bustling about because the king was coming, and Prince Yuan’s personal chamberlain was busy organizing them.

As much as I would have liked to be left alone to get dressed, this ridiculous clown-like outfit was not the kind of thing that could be worn alone.

   The maids were surprised to see the scar on my chest that was revealed while I was changing, but I smiled faintly like the hero of a tragedy and said.

   “Do not speak of this wound elsewhere. It is of no concern to me, but I fear you may be injured.”

At my words, the maid’s eyes widened.

   Judging from their rapidly darting pupils, a drama had already been completed in their minds.

In that drama, I was the unfortunate prince being bullied by the Queen.

   They usually ignored Prince Yuan, but they felt sympathy for him and said that he would be okay while they busily prepared his clothes.

   It didn’t matter if the story got out or not.

   No, it would be better if it did. It would be funny.

   I choked back a laugh and finished dressing.

“But you don’t need a corset, do you?”

   Certainly, this body was quite thin and didn’t need a corset at all.

   I smiled brightly at the question from the much younger-looking court lady.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my Royal Father, so I’ll be sure to show him some respect.”

The corset was originally a body-sculpting device for men and was part of the formal court attire, so I was right.

Rather, according to Prince Yuan’s fragmented memories, formal women’s social attire did not include corsets, though they had been secretly used by women of society in recent years.

   This guy should have studied something useful instead of cramming useless information into his head.

   He’s too weak in body, mind, and spirit to do anything useful.

“Oh, I apologize.”

   The nameless court lady apologized, and I waved it off.

   “No, there’s nothing to apologize for.”

   In truth, the corset wasn’t worn out of etiquette but as a substitute for armor.

   An iron corset might not be as good as chainmail, but it would protect my abdomen.

“Thank you all for your hard work. Will you call for Precia?”

   At my request, the maids went out to see if they could find her, only to return with the news that she had been assigned to the palace guard and would not be able to come immediately.

Is this how you take away my only personal escort?

This is the work of the queen.

   And then she would demote her to the Bastille Mountains for failing to protect me.

   It’s outrageous.

   “I see, I see. I’m tired, by the way, and I’m sure you’re all busy, so go about your business without me.”

   I said I would rest for a while and sent the maids away.

   I was left alone in the anteroom next to the banquet hall where Prince Yuan died, and I waited for the assassin to come here with determination and preparation.

In fact, when I first realized that I had become Prince Yuan, I even considered using my authority to take Precia with me.

   However, I decided not to involve Precia in this assassination attempt and to handle it myself for two reasons.

One was the risk that the assassin would give up on killing me today if Precia was with or near me.

If this day passed peacefully, I didn’t know when, where, or if they would try to assassinate me in a situation I couldn’t prepare for.

If it’s an unavoidable risk, you have to deal with it under circumstances you can control.

   The other reason is to take advantage of this assassination attempt.

   No matter how much Prince Yuan is ignored and looked down upon, he is still a prince, the First Prince.

   An assassination attempt on such a prince right before his birthday dinner with the king?

I can think of a dozen ideas I could use right now.

   “Ughhhhh. I can’t blow this opportunity. Right, Navi?”

   -Nya, Nyaon.

For some reason, I feel like Navi is fluttering, but I can’t see it, so it must be my mood.

   “Yes, yes. You think the same way I do. When this day is over, we’ll have fun stripping this palace and the kingdom itself to the bone.”

   -Meow!

At that moment, Navi announced the time in a voice only I could hear, and the hands of the anteroom’s grandfather clock ticked past six o’clock. But the clock did not strike.

   The clock in the anteroom chimed eight minutes late, just as described, so the assassin would be here in about five minutes.

   I stroked Navi’s chin as he remained invisible and relaxed.

   Too much tension would only stiffen my body.

   Ding-!

   The clock began to chime, and without my permission, the door to the waiting room opened, and a masked man entered.

   So begins the prologue.

(TN*: We’re freestyling the full name until further clarification becuase it’s confusing. We’re calling them Jade for now.”