Bab 18: The Neglected Prince Whose Name Was a Curse I
A wild mess of black hair that reflects dark blue highlights once streaked by light, a pair of irises that has the palest shade of blue, and a small, fragile figure –
Despite his dirty appearance and the scatter of bruises on his face, the little boy has quite the striking profile. His well-proportioned frame looks as if it's been chiseled to perfection. He is too fine-looking for his age that even a ragged look can't ever veil his charms.
"Those eyes…" Clement blurted out in deep thought, squinting his eyes at him.
"Is he blind?"
"Yes, he is. Seems like not even the son of one of the Emperor's concubines is exempted from that kind of condition," Clifford said with a nonchalant tone, catching the two other children off guard.
"The… concubine's…son?" Seraphine muttered underneath her breath in utter shock and disbelief.
Once more, she finds herself rummaging through the memories of her past. For some reason, she is thrown into a different kind of panic this time. It's as if she is getting herself into something consequential to the whole of humanity in this empire.
'A son of the Emperor who has been held captive in the underground around this period. Who could this be…?' Seraphine pondered as she examined the little boy from head to toe.
'No, wait... To begin with, I never saw this person during my second life. When I became the Grand Duchess, I was able to meet all of the members of the imperial family at different occasions. Yet not once did I see him.'
"Oh, hadn't I told you, Clement? I was out for a long time because of this particular mission," Clifford continued as he turned to face his brother.
"No, you didn't tell me anything at all. Just how… How were you able to kidnap a prince?" Clement asked, feeling a little indignant that he was spared from such an essential detail.
"I pretended to work with a much larger organization. Of course, I couldn't do this on my own. As soon as I had the chance, I slipped from the group and betrayed them. I stole His Highness away from his original kidnappers."
"Why do you make it sound like it's just that easy?"
"It was indeed a bit easier than I expected. To begin with, the security around this prince was much lighter than the other members of the imperial family. An easier prey than most nobles, I say. Quite a pity too. It's as if the palace or even His Majesty himself did not really care about him."
"I see… And here I thought I was wise enough to be called the next Master Thief. I really am still no match for you, huh?"
"You still did well. Not anyone could just steal a noble's daughter away."
While they carried on with such a malicious exchange as if this was already their definition of casual and normal, Seraphine never tore her gaze off of the little boy.
---
In the end, Seraphine failed to remember anything about this particular royalty.
It's as if his existence was removed from history. She couldn't recall a kidnapping incident that involved a member of the imperial family. It could just be that Clifford mistook him as one of the Emperor's sons. However, judging by how his features closely resemble that of the empire's ruler, that presumption has a low possibility.
Nevertheless, royalty or not, Seraphine can't help but pity the little boy.
"So, this filthy little thing is a prince, huh?"
"Oh, how low you fell, Your Highness~!"
"Where's daddy now? Still in his throne room with all his concubines?"
"Too bad for you~ The castle is far from the underground."
"A prince who turned into a damsel in distress. How pitiful~"
For a while now, the people who're on watch in the meantime have been mocking him.
Clifford and Clement went to meet the host of the auction, leaving their goods behind at the backstage. By goods, those are them. It seems like the other captive is also going to be auctioned.
With that, they've been left under the surveillance of this group of uncouth brutes who kept pouring scorn on him just because he was of the imperial family.
'I wonder how he's faring. He's not reacting at all,' Seraphine thought as she glanced at her fellow captive from a distance.
The boy was lying on the ground – saved for his occasional hisses and yelps of pain, he was unresponsive through it all. Much to her relief, those fiend, sadistic adults eventually got tired of shooting their mouths off. As they went to take a rest at the corner, she took this chance to approach him stealthily.
Seraphine couldn't just continue sitting at the side and letting him shiver on the cold, hard floor where he had been knocked over by one of those men.
Hadiah
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