1 Prologue

Under a bone-chilling cold and stormy night, there was a slight commotion.

A group of ten soldiers was moving busily. Though they looked like soldiers responsible for enforcing the law upon the citizens, but a modest peculiarity they boasted were easily discernable without much effort.

Marching with a demeanor and gait rivaling typical law enforcers, could influence any on-looker to stare at them in pure respect and admiration.

That was not all.

Donning the plate armors over their well-built figures shone in silver with faint traces of crimson patterns and being forged with rare and precious materials added to its brilliance.

A broad sword was hung at their waists. Although it looked unassuming to many but under the effects of the inscriptions and the wearer, it was lethal enough for a large group of ordinary soldiers.

Even being one of the lesser Order of Knights, they were the knights who were rigorously trained under extensive training and resources, having certain authorities among the capital citizens.

On regular days, the citizens would not even bother to notice them and just do a quick glance, witnessing a common occurrence.

Today, however, they did not do so.

A young man was being escorted under the supervision of the lesser knights.

The young man looked as though he went through a harsh beating as his exposed body parts were swollen. He had difficulty standing up and was staggering while walking, but the knights did not give him the luxury to take a breather.

Moreover, he looked nearly in the early 20s, having a weak physique wearing ragged clothes. His original onyx black hair was now grey due to the dirt that was smeared all over them. Glacial blue eyes were hollow, devoid of any stimulus, despite all this, his face did not lack any sign of despair and hopelessness.

Although he was handsome enough to rival a country-toppling beauty. But now, even the hideous beggar looked finer than him after a rough beating.

Walking… or rather being tugged among the crowd in his physical condition, he could not even look up with his seemingly inanimate eyes to survey the surroundings, but he, at the very least, could hear the scoffing and sneering of the citizens.

Being surrounded by the trained soldiers and his ragged body, not a single thought of escape crossed his mind.

He could at least try to resist this unfair treatment, but there was no one… Literally, there was not a single person here that could have taken his side, and of course, another bout of thwacking would follow.

So, surrender was the most practical option within his reach right now, which he had already adopted.

********

"Who is qualified enough among the slaves to get an escort from the prestigious knights?"

The one who inquired jokingly was a middle-aged man.

It could have no different from what he had uttered without much thought. But…

Suddenly, a light silence pervaded among the people who were standing in is surrounding. They turned to look at the man with stupefied gazes.

The middle-aged man was thoroughly shocked by their surprised reactions. Under everyone's scrutinizing stares, he somehow appeared embarrassed.

*cough*

He did a double-take and pursed his lips to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

"You must be kidding, right?"

Then a man who was the middle-aged man's acquaintance threw a snide comment.

"Then, is it a common occurrence in the capital?"

Craning his neck, the middle-aged man asked in a low tone to avoid unwanted attention again.

"Of course, it is not a custom here…"

The acquaintance responded with a slight twist in his expression.

"Ah!… Now that I remember, you arrived today in the capital, then you must not know about it. So, I will do a quick explanation…"

Having remembered that the middle-aged man has just arrived at the capital, he quickly changed his expressions to a lighter one.

Some said that ignorance was bliss, but such innocence was no different from taboo in his vocabulary. Looking at the middle-aged man's dopiness, even in the most basic facts, was merely unbearable.

Intending to contribute for a cause to teach the fundamental knowledge, he patted the shoulders of the middle-aged man while sighing and beckoned him to come to a more secluded corner and then continued under the curious gaze of the middle-aged man with a wry smile.

"I think you should at least know the Empire is under the rule of the Royal Family."

The acquaintance paused briefly to observe the middle-aged man's reaction, which was upbeat as he had expected, and with a hint of approval, he carried on.

"There is a total of 10 royal descendants from the current Emperor. If further classified, then among them, there are five Royal Princes and five Royal Princesses. They all possess high positions in the Empire and have groundbreaking talent in the cultivation. All work ceaselessly for the development of the Empire and are the perfect role models for us. Their disciplined and elegant strength can put even the most trained, notorious generals and commanders, in shame. But…"

He paused, indicating as if the following words held some gravity and then proceeded in a whisper.

"There is an exception."

"Exception…?"

*Nodded*

The acquaintance straightened out his index finger towards the dark sky while clenching the rest.

"The Fifth Prince, that is... He does not possess a talent in cultivation at all. Not even that, he is not even blessed by the Deities. It might come as a heresy, but it is the first time in the history that Deities did not consecrate a Royal member."

It was not wrong to call the Prince trash or shame of the Royal Family as he was not even approved by even one of the Deities. But the main reason that his status as a Royal Prince was in jeopardy was due to what happened at the ceremony.

To be more specific, it was the ceremony of coming of age of the Royal Family's members. During the ceremony, the Deities blessed their chosen ones with boons. There was no limit to the blessings. Multiple Deities could simultaneously bless the royal member. But there was a catch.

The person in question only influenced the number of blessings. Of course, Deity must also approve of him. But even more so, the tenacity and perseverance to withstand the mighty boons were of utmost importance to be a successful Royal Prince or Princess.

It was not inaccurate to concur that a man or woman without any prior knowledge and training had an absolute zero prospect to be chosen by the Mighty Beings.

This was the whole reason why the training was harsh for the ones who possessed the Royal Family mark. The Royal Family descendants trained strenuously to get as many blessings as possible. The more gifts one had, the mightier one could become.

Obviously, having blessed with more of the mighty boons of Supreme Beings, the multitude of options would be available to the person in question, but the adversity will accordingly rise.

In all this, only one Prince was an exception. He was not trained at an early age. The reason for it was apparent.

Having the mana channels mangled up with such obscurity left even the most qualified geeks and meisters in this particular field, baffled. Expectedly, cultivation was evidently not what he could practice whatsoever.

The Royal family tried their best to find the means of dealing with this unexpected situation. But it all ended in vain. But to preserve their dignity, they could not throw him merely due to this illness. But it still left a deep and profound scar on the heart of the Royal Family.

The treatment of the Prince got harsher as a result. His status as a prince did not bring him a speck of respect from the servants, not even mentioning his own family.

Likewise, his ceremony was expected to fail brilliantly, which it did, until… multiple natural disasters suddenly broke their slumber simultaneously throughout the Empire. Although not caused by the Prince, but to the Royal Family and its citizens, it indicated the rage of Divinities.

They knew that it was somehow related to the Prince's coming age of ceremony. To the Royal Family, it was frustrating enough to have a useless prince. But now he even brought the rage of Deities upon the whole Empire.

The citizens were anxious by the sudden change in development.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the situation got under control by the local lords and nobles' strenuous efforts after a few months. But many of the lives were lost as a result. Later the social disaster occurred, indicating to the aftereffects.

The farmers' fields and the commoners' working environments all sustained a significant amount of impairment.

The Royal Family was furious and helpless as the aftereffects of the disasters took away a significant amount of their hard-collected wealth to control the local outbreak.

Simultaneously, the rumors of a 'Cursed Prince' spread at an alarming rate and caused much more disturbance among the people. The higher echelon of the Empire tried to control the rumors to maintain the Empire's rulers' grandeur and decorum and managed to suppress them in one way or the other. Due to which the rumors did not reach the whole Empire, or it would have been another cataclysm.

This was the reason why the middle-aged man was ignorant of the current affairs of the capital and the Royal Family.

Having no choice in the situation, the Prince started to get involved in the official affairs of the Empire, to take part to resolve the matters related to the catastrophe. But where the motto 'Might is Right' stood, he was doomed to fail miserably.

He was cursed all day long by the nobles harshly. Not even his blood-related siblings took pity on him. To them, he was a walking time-bomb who could summon the rage of Deities at a moment's notice. But they could not do anything to him openly to preserve their honor.

Indirectly, despotic cruelty had involved itself in his fate.

Unbeknown to him, he got used to this treatment. But still, he did his best to survive the harsh conditions while working for the development of the commoners. Although he was well versed in the ways of business, his efforts did not buy the anticipating results.

To repay the damages that may have been caused by him indirectly, he continued while his health deteriorated.

Before, he was unusually handsome to the point that even the high-ranking noblewomen were jealous of him. But due to getting weedy, his charm was all but gone.

Right… How could the normal physique without any powers endure the repercussions of such despotic and inhumane treatment? It was a miracle that he even survived through all that.

"Now, it explains the disasters that occurred on the border town and its surroundings a few years ago. I thought that we were only ones that summoned the vilest and terrible luck, but it seems to me that the Prince is really cursed by the Deities?"

The middle-aged man was stunned by the sudden comprehension and backtracked for a moment, as he unconsciously swallowed his saliva nervously.

How could he not? This catastrophe like disaster was deeply rooted in the middle-aged man's consciousness because of the horrifying destruction it caused and more so, being the one who personally witnessed it.

Recovering considerably from his edgy appearance, he sighed lightly but being smarter than the ordinary people, it was difficult to understand that all destruction was caused solely because of the Fifth Prince.

"Seems quite rough for the prince."

"Eh!? He is known to be a shame to the Royal Family. So why do we have to respect that cursed one? Don't ever converse openly about the sorrow of the Cursed Prince if you value your freedom. Consider it a bit of free advice."

The acquaintance criticized the Prince in a hostile, cold tone.

Taking pity on the Fifth Prince's condition, he could be one of the few in the whole Empire. But what could it change except the citizens' behavior towards him?

Despite all his ephemeral concerns about Prince's situation, the middle-aged man finally shrugged as if it had nothing to do with him.

After a while, the middle-aged man's expressions turned weird again, as he was still curious about a matter.

Aware of his suspicions, the acquaintance elucidated in a clear voice.

"You must now be wondering… Even though the Prince was just trash, untalented, how did it turn out to be like this? Let me tell you… Not everyone is well-informed of the latest incident that happened at the palace. But I have a few friends as servants, so I know a little bit inside story."

The acquaintance spoke as he proudly stroked his chest in front of the middle-aged man. He was well-known around this area as the famous pub's master. Not everyone knew of his real identity as an information broker who worked for a particular organization that was secretly affiliated to the Royal Family.

"It so happened…"