Chapter 5 :

Chapter 5 — Signs of Premature Arrival

 

Celos Abiran.

 

He was two years younger than me, and though we had different mothers, he was still my brother.

 

Though it seemed he did not think of me as his older brother.

 

He appeared in a few of the same scenes as me in the original work too.

 

Because that guy was also an extra villain.

 

As could be seen from the fact that he was seated close to me, who sat at the very end because I had no Manis, he belonged to the side with little Manis.

 

“Did a lowly thing never learn anything, and now you can’t even understand words?”

 

Since I did not answer because I was thinking, perhaps he felt ignored, because his tone became rougher.

 

“Ah, sorry.”

 

Remembering that Ran was usually intimidated whenever he was with that guy, I first gave a simple apology.

 

How long had it been since I apologized without having done anything wrong?

 

But perhaps my apology did not satisfy him, because one of his eyebrows rose.

 

“Are you insane?”

 

Perhaps because the Eighth Imperial Prince was still two years younger than he was in the original work, he was a little more hot-tempered than the description in the novel.

 

Still, how fortunate was that?

 

It meant he did get better.

 

Thinking that made my heart become a little more generous.

 

In any case, inside me sat a twenty-eight-year-old man.

 

Seventeen meant he was a first-year high school student. I was willing to match a high schooler’s rhythm to some extent.

 

“Since you were abandoned even by your vermin of a mother, I guess you never learned how to apologize properly? If you’re a bug’s spawn, then act like a bug’s spawn and bow your head low while begging.”

 

....I had always wondered what it would feel like to have a younger brother. So this was how it felt.

 

It was damn awful.

 

“Damn awful.”

 

The Eighth Imperial Prince’s eyes widened, and his face turned as red as his hair.

 

Judging from that face, it seemed unlikely that my mutter had been too quiet for him to hear.

 

My newly acquired half-brother seemed to have good ears.

 

I needed to smooth this over. Smooth it over.

 

Words to soothe my kind younger brother, who worried about my home education as soon as we met.......

 

“....I’m relieved to know that at least your ears are intact, little brother.”

 

To confess, both in the modern world and now, I had a bit of talent for saying things that got under people’s skin.

 

* * *

 

Perhaps flustered after being insulted by a half-brother who usually could not even open his mouth in front of him, the Eighth Imperial Prince froze on the spot.

 

Considering he had started with a personal attack about my parentage, it was quite a shy reaction. When I silently stared at him, he soon seemed to come to his senses, put on a fierce expression, slammed the table, and stood up.

 

“You bastard.....!”

 

I was aware that I had gotten a little worked up after hearing someone bring up my upbringing for the first time in ten years.

 

But I did not want a bigger commotion here.

 

Up until now, it could look like the Eighth Imperial Prince was scolding the Seventh Imperial Prince as usual.

 

I sighed and tried to calm him down.

 

Fortunately, that guy in the novel died later than me, so I knew a lot about the Eighth Imperial Prince.

 

“Brothers should get along.”

 

But before I could open my mouth, a soft voice cut between me and the Eighth Imperial Prince.

 

My gaze and his turned toward where the voice had come from.

 

It was a beautiful woman accompanied by two maids.

 

With abundant golden hair, she showed off features so gorgeous that they stood out even among the beautiful imperial family members.

 

She met my eyes once, cast her gaze toward the Eighth Imperial Prince once, then passed by our seats.

 

“You mustn’t show such a noisy sight before His Majesty the Emperor, now can you?”

 

Her gentle voice brushed past between me, who was seated, and the Eighth Imperial Prince, who was standing awkwardly.

 

She had long blonde hair with a slight yellow tint, and though her way of speaking was as soft as her voice, it seemed the Eighth Imperial Prince did not hear it that way.

 

“I-I apologize. Your Highness.”

 

His face quickly turned pale, and he lowered his head before swiftly sitting back down.

 

I looked for a moment at the Eighth Imperial Prince, who had become quiet, perhaps frightened, then swept my gaze over the blue stone table that was now almost entirely filled.

 

It was not as difficult as I had expected, because most of them treated me as if I simply did not exist.

 

With nearly twenty blonde people sitting there, the already splendid interior looked even more luxurious.

 

The most eye-catching spot was, of course, the upper seat at the opposite end of the table.

 

In the second seat to the left of the head seat, which seemed to be the Emperor’s seat, sat the woman who had unintentionally frightened the Eighth Imperial Prince a moment ago.

 

As expected, she was the First Imperial Princess.

 

Then the man seated in the first seat on the left must be the First Imperial Prince, and the one seated across from that man must be the Third Imperial Prince.

 

And the good-natured-looking man seated across from the First Imperial Princess was the Second Imperial Prince.

 

As could be seen from that seating arrangement, me seated at the very end, and the Eighth Imperial Prince, they were not seated simply in order of age.

 

The closer the seat was to the Emperor, the closer their hair was to white platinum blonde.

 

It was not like they were dogs sorted by fur color, so I wondered what kind of nonsense this was, but it all had meaning.

 

Because in this world, the stronger someone’s Manis was, the closer their golden hair was to platinum blonde.

 

Having that bright blonde hair was determined as something belonging to the imperial family.

 

In other words, ordinary people could never possess powerful abilities, even if they died and came back to life.

 

Except for our black-haired protagonist, that was.

 

The Seventh Imperial Prince in the original work was not the protagonist, and because he was black-haired rather than blonde, he was the only one among his brothers and sisters who did not possess Manis. All this poor treatment stemmed from that.

 

Though for me, who had spent twenty-eight years living a life far removed from such fantasy elements, it was incomprehensible.

 

After all, as long as a person had a body with all four limbs intact, they somehow managed to live life.

 

“His Majesty the Emperor enters.”

 

At the solemn voice of the attendant, the disorderly hall became so quiet that not even a breath could be heard.

 

The Emperor entered the room with slow steps.

 

Dressed in a dark red formal uniform that at a glance looked like a military uniform, he had a sturdy physique and youthful face that made it hard to believe he was over sixty.

 

However, his gaze, as if he had already lived through the whole world, and his movements full of annoyance proved that he was by no means as young as his face.

 

“All of you, sit.”

 

He waved one hand dismissively at us, who were standing with frozen expressions, then sat down.

 

In front of him was a stone slab shaped like a triangle with rounded corners.

 

That thing, placed so that each corner pointed toward the Emperor and the two people on either side of him, was the core of this ceremony.

 

This blue plate, about the height of an adult man’s palm, carried a strange glow different from the smoothness of the blue marble table.

 

“Let us begin immediately.”

 

Fortunately, perhaps the Emperor liked swift handling of affairs, because he slightly raised his right hand to announce the start of the ceremony.

 

“In one hand, glory; in one hand, conviction; at the end of two clasped hands, no return.”

 

The Emperor’s low voice rang through the hall.

 

It was not some magical incantation.

 

It was merely a tradition passed down through the imperial family, words left behind by the first Emperor before his death.

 

It did not have much meaning in the work either, so I had just thought the author added it because it sounded cool.

 

Seeing it before my eyes like this felt different.

 

With eyes as dry as mine, the Emperor slowly placed his hand on a corner of the stone slab.

 

It looked as though he was injecting something into it, and at a glance, it also looked like he was simply pressing down on it.

 

Wooooong.

 

The stone slab vibrated greatly and began to emit blue light.

 

Soon, bundles of shimmering light poured out from the very center of the stone slab.

 

A mass of light as thick as a beautiful tree stretched out like vines and covered the table, continuing until it reached a distance where it seemed about to touch the space in front of me at the very end.

 

When the light no longer stretched out, the Emperor removed his hand.

 

The bundles of light disappeared like mist.

 

Everyone present, entranced by the beautiful sight, looked at him with faces of awe.

 

That extraordinary-looking stone slab the Emperor had just placed his hand on was the ancient relic Prasa.

 

It was one of the few relics left behind by the first Emperor.

 

When Manis was injected into it, it measured the amount of Manis the caster possessed.

 

And the reason the members of the imperial family held this ceremony at least once a month was for this measurement.

 

To be more precise, it was to make the hierarchy of power clear.

 

The amount of Manis represented the magnitude of one’s power. The person with the greatest Manis became the next Emperor.

 

Anyone seated here could place their hand on Prasa and display their Manis in front of everyone.

 

Once the two people seated on either side of the Emperor placed their hands on it and finished the measurement, anyone could step forward.

 

But most of the time, there was no one who challenged them, so the ceremony ended like that.

 

Because all members of the imperial family measured the Manis sleeping within them once when they turned twelve.

 

The ranking decided at that time rarely changed even after they became adults.

 

Well, if one searched through records somewhere, there might be exceptions.

 

But if so, they were extremely exceptional cases, to the point that one could hardly even find them.

 

Simply put, this ceremony was a fine-looking tradition in name only.

 

They said anyone had the opportunity to try, but in reality, it was a declaration in front of everyone.

 

A declaration of who possessed the strongest power.

 

For the one who would become the Crown Prince, it was a place to solidify their position, and for the Emperor, it was an opportunity to show that he was still alive and well.

 

“Oh, today was especially magnificent, Your Majesty.”

 

Once the lingering shock from that immense power faded, someone far away, perhaps the fourth or fifth, barely offered words of admiration in a trembling voice.

 

Though the Emperor lightly ignored him.

 

It certainly seemed to have been a more impressive sight than what had been described in the novel.

 

Had the light reached the end of the table back then too?

 

While I was wondering about that, the turn soon passed to the First Imperial Prince, who was seated to the Emperor’s right.

 

He was currently the strongest candidate for Emperor, and he used powerful water Manis.

 

With a confident expression, he placed his hand on another corner.

 

Wooooong—

 

The blue table shone brightly, just as it had with the Emperor.

 

I was starting to get bored, so I crossed my arms and watched.

 

If it was the current First Imperial Prince, he would not yet be able to produce power as great as the Emperor’s.

 

It would probably be enough to pass halfway across the table......

 

“Guh!”

 

“Brother!”

 

The beautiful spectacle everyone had expected was not created.

 

Only the bright red blood that flowed from his nose spread thickly down his chin, dirtying the blue tabletop.

 

The red blood did not stop and continued to flow down.

 

The Second Imperial Prince, who had been seated right beside the First Imperial Prince, did not know what to do and shouted toward the outside.

 

“Hey! Is anyone there!”

 

At that urgent voice, the attendants who had been waiting hurriedly entered.

 

In an instant, the inside became chaos. The solemn atmosphere disappeared, and the room was filled with the murmuring of the imperial family and attendants alike.

 

“Damn it….cough! I’m fine, so send them all away!”

 

“Brother, still, a doctor......”

 

At the First Imperial Prince’s irritated hand gesture, the attendants had no choice but to stand awkwardly at a distance.

 

People exchanged bewildered looks or covered their mouths with their hands as they watched.

 

But I was certain that among all these people, there was no one more shocked than I was.

 

At the moment when everyone was confused, only I understood exactly what had just happened.

 

The First Imperial Prince would soon die.

 

While spurting blood from his entire body.

 

The beginning of the original work had been moved up by six months.

 

* * *

 

The night ceremony ended vaguely like that.

 

After the First Imperial Prince was hurriedly sent to the First Imperial Prince’s palace, there was no situation in which the ceremony or anything else could continue.

 

The Emperor, who had watched the situation with an expressionless face the whole time, merely left behind the words that today would end here and departed.

 

I also headed quickly toward the old bedroom.

 

It was strange.

 

This should not be happening.

 

The current Ran was still in the body of a nineteen-year-old before his coming-of-age ceremony.

 

The beginning of the original work should have been one year later.

 

Originally, six months from now, the First Imperial Prince should have had a nosebleed in the middle of the ceremony like today.

 

After that, the situation would turn increasingly bad.

 

Until then, since the First Imperial Prince’s Manis had been higher than the rest of his siblings, the next Emperor had practically already been decided. But that incident would become the trigger for a bloody storm to blow through the imperial palace.

 

It was the opening of the imperial power struggle that had not yet risen to the surface, and the first page of the original work.

 

That had been moved up by six whole months.

 

Was only this event moved up?

 

Or had the entire timeline itself been moved up?

 

Six months was enough time for a human to change and grow.

 

But what if only the First Imperial Prince’s death had been moved up, and the rest remained the same?

 

What if the protagonist was not yet prepared enough to stand against the imperial family?

 

....What if the protagonist lost the fight against the imperial family because of this?

 

No, that too, but what if the timing of all the other events had been moved up......

 

Goosebumps rose along my back.

 

That could not happen. That, at least, absolutely could not happen.

 

If he lost......

 

Filled with anxiety, I roughly entered the room.

 

Not long after, two servants knocked on the door to help me change.

 

Without waiting for them to come in, I immediately opened the door.

 

“Everyone leave. I’ll be resting from now on, so don’t let anyone into the castle until tomorrow morning. Anyone who comes in, and anyone who lets them in, I’ll make them beg that they’d rather die.”

 

The two turned deathly pale, stammered that they understood, and fled as if running away.

 

“Phew.....”

 

I had to calm down.

 

Things that had already happened could not be reversed.

 

That was the same even if this was the world inside a novel.

 

I slowly turned off the lights in the room one by one.

 

Fortunately, I was an avid reader who had read the novel from beginning to end more than a hundred times.

 

Perhaps I might be the person in the world who had read ‘Dark Header’ the most.

 

There would be many things I could do.

 

I looked around the quiet room once, then slowly headed toward the window.

 

Besides, did I not have one more ability beyond the setting value?

 

Though it was not cool at all, it was a useful ability for me right now.

 

Outside the window, I could see the deserted old laundry area and the dense trees growing in the imperial hunting ground far away.

 

The old room given to the Seventh Imperial Prince had landscaping that was this much of a mess, but thanks to that, there was no one who paid attention to this side.

 

I closed my eyes and wished, just like that day.

 

That I wanted to fly through the sky.

 

Soon, the now somewhat familiar warm energy wrapped around my entire body.

 

I spread my pitch-black wings and stepped out the window.

 

With the premonition that my relaxed imperial palace life had now completely gone down the drain.