Chapter 2.2: This Life Is Truly a Joke

Episode 1: This Life Is Truly a Joke - Chapter 2.2

When the thought-ridden Calian remained still without moving a muscle, attendant Yan could wait no longer and reached for the prince's arms. He intended to pull the prince's sleeves and help him up.

Tak!

Calian's hand reflexively struck Yan's arm, causing his own thin palm to turn red. The sickly prince's hand was in pain, since it wasn't used to such actions.

Tears formed on Yan's eyes.

"Why did you do that?"

"Sorry, I'm sorry. I made a mistake without realizing it."

The surprised Yan replied quickly without realizing that Calian tone of voice had changed.

"No, Prince. You must get up earlier than him. If you don't-!"

Without waiting for Yan to finish his sentence, Calian swiftly got up and shook his head.

Due to the persistent memory that cried in his mind, urging that he should arrive no later than those horrible 'brothers' of his, Calian decided to get going. It seemed that he needed to think of some sort of job to distract this attendant named Yan.

Calian soon finished washing his face after immersing almost his entire head into the basin of water. He patted both cheeks before saying,

"I'll be ready."

'That voice sounded strange. I didn't say that.'

As he thought of this, memories flooded into his mind again. After a while, Calian spoke once again,

"No, I'll be ready. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry once again Your Highness for not following your orders well today...first of all, I will get your clothes ready."

After Yan spoke, he moved his hands and signaled to the other two maids. Soon, they brought a full set of clothing and dressed the prince. Afterwards, another maid approached and combed his hair.

The prince could see that his black hair covered up his eyes.

Calian normally liked to to tie his long silver hair together, so his current fringe covering his eyes was a bit uncomfortable. He recalled the reason why he didn't like his hair.

Since brother Franz hates it.

Among his two elder brothers, Prince Franz disliked his red eyes, so Calian used his hair to hide them.

The boy was afraid of his brothers, so he covered up his eyes.

Calian clicked his tongue unconsciously.

'I've heard of enough it, but he really lived like a fool.'

Then unknowingly, he laughed as he thought of that man.

'Franz hates these eyes.'

The enemy of his enemy. Mad King Franz.

He was the king of Kailis, no- that would be ten years in the future. Right now he was just a prince.

He was the mastermind behind the attack on Secretia.

'Franz...I hate that fact that you're alive.'

Calian couldn't bear to mention that hateful man's name out of his own mouth.

This place was the royal palace of Kailis. Although it felt as if he was still wandering in his dreams, in reality, he was now the third prince of Kailis-Calian.

Because of this, Calian repeated the same words to himself over and over again:

'Even if I see him, I can't kill him now. I must endure.'

It would truly be ridiculous if all of this wasn't a dream. But if this was reality, it would be a shame if this Calian's head rolls off when he's preparing in such a hurry.

The maidservants, who had no clue what Calian was thinking, added the final touches to his clothes and gave the final arrangements. The task was done thoroughly to ensure that the prince's preparation for breakfast had no flaws.

Calian wondered how much more he had to endure because of his clothes.

Soon, everything was ready.

Calian took a short deep breath at the door and stepped outside. He then went down a strange, central staircase and headed to a dining hall on the far right.

No matter how hard he tried to recall, his memory never revealed how old he was. He wondered if Calian lived until today without even counting his own age. Eventually, he decided to ask Yan about it.

"Yan."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"How old am I?"

It was an abrupt question for Yan. The attendant though that the Prince had been asking him very unusual questions since this morning.

"You're fourteen years old, still have four months until become an adult."

"Yes, that's right."

Somehow, he seems to be quite young.

Calian nodded his head at this thought.

Yan spoke to the young prince with a troubled voice,

"Dear Prince, did you happen to read a novel about the Knight last night?"

It was because the way he spoke was different from usual.

The original Kalian was afraid of riding horses.

Since there is a horse riding lesson tomorrow, the prince may have been anxious about not doing well in class, so was possible that he read a novel about the Knight to quell his anxiety.

Calian answered with a shake of his head.

"No. I don't care about that story. Not at all."

After replying, Calian soon entered the dining hall.

The servants were in the room, but there were wasn't any sign of the other princes. Calian's eyes bore into Yan for a moment.

'He kept fussing about leaving quickly.'

He probably lied to him so that he would rush and not be late for breakfast.

There was a massive round table by a large window. The third prince ate here daily at the invitation of King Rumein. It was also the worst place to dine for the previous Calian.

One of the servants in the dining hall pulled out a chair. When Calian realized it was his place, he went and sat down. Then he looked out the window and stared at the unfamiliar landscape.

'The lands are as vast as the rumors have said.'

The largest of the four continents was Kailis, and its royal palace was also famous for its expansive grounds. It differed from the palace of Secretia, which consisted of some large buildings and two annexes.

The royal family lived in six buildings that were each called 'Palace.' There were also other buildings with their own purposes, numerous gardens, as well as man-made lakes within the royal palace.

The Kalian Palace, where prince Calian resided, belonged to a smaller section of the royal palace. Nevertheless, the lake and the garden behind it were still quite large.

The sunshine reflected by the water came shining through the window.

Calian stared at the scene while deep in thought. After waiting for ten minutes, Prince Randal entered the dining hall and about another half hour later, Prince Franz came in as well.

Calian looked at Prince Franz, who sat by the table eyeing him.

'What on earth-'

What the hell is that?

Calian knitted his brows upon seeing that unimaginable figure.