Chapter 9

"Is that the young man?

"Is it someone else?

It was so different from the past that they thought so.

The ugly, bastardized prince they knew had always been a shrinking violet.

But no matter how they looked at it, it was the bastard they knew.

His devotion was so different from before that they couldn't believe their eyes.

Raymond, on the other hand, received the same stares,

"Wow. The effect of Heart of Steel is really good, I'll definitely have to raise my skill to Class A later.

Raymond couldn't believe his current appearance.

So many people were looking at him.

If he had been a timid person, he would have been intimidated by the stares, but he didn't feel that way at all.

He thought, "I didn't do anything wrong, so why should I be embarrassed?" and his confidence flowed naturally.

Raymond was always a good-looking guy, so the combination of his good looks and his confidence made him look very convincing.

Now, Raymond was a handsome, dedicated man.

"I don't know about anything else, but I'm handsome.

It was while Raymond was thinking this that he was caught up in his own thoughts.

His eyes met with an unexpected figure.

"Sophia?

The doll-like beauty, who looked to be in her late teens, squinted at him.

"A bug?

The look in her eyes said it all.

"Sophia.

Raymond's heart sank, nice and low.

Sophia.

A princess born to the now-deceased First Queen.

She'd been one of the nastier military figures in Raymond's time at the castle.

'At least Princess Sophia was less of a bully. compared to the other princes.

Princess Sofia was in her early teens when Raymond left the castle.

So she didn't bully him as viciously as the other princes.

She was more like a pouty, childish bully.

Honestly, it was kind of cute.

"You don't seem to be in very good health.

Was it the influence of her mother, the First Queen?

Princess Sophia was not in the best of health either. She was always sick, and even now she had a pale complexion.

But then!

Suddenly, an unpleasant voice pierced his ears.

"What the hell, who is this, aren't we rotten lemons?"

"...!"

It was a familiar voice, one he would never forget.

Turning his head, he saw a young man with a sour expression on his face.

Seitil, the Fourth Prince.

Raymond's half-brother, a year younger than him, and the one who had tormented him the most.

"Long time no see, Lemon."

Raymond's body stiffened.

The nightmares of his past came flooding back.

"A lowlife like you doesn't deserve to live.

"You're not dying, so let's see how long you last, cough, cough.

Seitil abused Raymond with physical brutality.

He repeated the brutal beatings over and over again, as if he didn't care if he died, or if he would rather die.

His bones were often broken, and he was often left with life-threatening wounds.

Even now, when she took off her clothes, she could see the horrible scars that Seitil had left behind.

"...."

Like a mouse facing a snake, Raymond could do nothing. His fingertips twitched faintly.

"Why don't you answer me? Are you disrespecting me, a member of royalty, for a piece of filth?"

I swallowed hard, fear etched like a brand.

[Skill: 'Heart of Steel' manifests!]

[Overcomes unjustified fear!]

[Gain a heart of steel!]

His chest calmed down. Raymond was able to look at Seitil with calm eyes, free from the trauma of the past.

It wasn't just that.

[You have confirmed that your opponent is the 'real deal'!]

[WARNING: Your opponent's Truthfulness has been determined to be 'Very High'!]

[Skill: 'Truthfulness' will be activated!]

That was the next message that popped up.

Raymond naturally opened his mouth.

"Your Highness, the great Fourth Prince of the Houston Kingdom."

"You...."

Seitil frowned, about to protest.

"I wonder if something is bothering you?"

"...what?"

"This is the area where the healers stay. Are you here because you're not feeling well?"

Raymond asked casually, and for a moment, Seitil was speechless.

"No. ...I'm not particularly ill."

At that, Raymond bowed politely.

"That's very good to hear, and if there's nothing that bothers you, the main hall is that way, so I think you can enjoy the banquet."

It was a soft, polite congratulation.

Seitil's face flushed red.

"How dare...!"

Compared to the other princes, Seitil was simple and unable to control his emotions.

Just as he was about to lash out, Raymond hit him.

He stumbled back to the elderly nobleman, who was resting in the corner, dizzy.

"My goodness, are you all right, Count?"

"Eh, eh?"

"You're feeling very dizzy, you should try to stabilize yourself here as much as possible, it would be dangerous to go to the banquet hall right now."

Seitil, who had just been caught in the middle of a ruckus in a place where sleepy patients were staying, clenched his jaw.

"This guy...!

Raymond asked, looking at Seitel with an innocent expression on his face.

"Ah. So you're still here, is there something bothering you, Your Highness?"

Seitil gritted his teeth.

At this point, he couldn't argue. Something was drying up.

"That lowly bastard.

I hadn't seen him in a long time, and he'd come to greet me, but how dare he do it like this.

There was no way he was going to back down.

Seitil thought of a way to embarrass Raymond.

"I'm not feeling well either."

Raymond made a dumbfounded face.

With his face flushed bright red, Seitil looked incredibly healthy.

"How are you unwell?"

"I've been feeling strangely tired lately. I have no energy."

"Do you have any other symptoms?"

"No."

Seitil inwardly smiled a smile of conversion.

"Such vague symptoms are the most difficult for healers.

Seitil was a knight who trained swords.

As such, he had been exposed to healers from a young age, and he knew what they struggled with.

When he mentioned these vague symptoms, they would get stumped and not know what to do.

"If you can't explain it properly, I'll use that as an excuse to beat you up.

But against Seitel's expectations, Raymond had a straightforward answer.

"It's a bottle."

"...what?"

"I understand you don't go a day without drinking, is that correct?"

Seitil was dumb with honey.

His excessive drinking was a well-known story even outside the kingdom.

He remembered how his healers had always nagged him to cut back.

"Excessive drinking disrupts the body's functions. I think you've been feeling tired, so you should cut back."

Alcoholic hepatitis, to be exact.

"You want me to cut down on ... alcohol?"

"Yes, that's the prescription. Please take care of your noble jade body."

Seitil bit his lip.

Being told to take a jade body was, well, embarrassing.

"You!

Seitil couldn't protest, for it was true enough.

"Is there anything else that's bothering you?"

"... Nothing."

"Then have a pleasant banquet. Oh, and please refrain from drinking."

Seitil gritted his teeth.

But there was no way he could stay.

So Seitil turned his back, unable to find the main battlefield.

[Defeated!]

[Gain 5 bonus skill points!]

[In the future, I advise you to focus on your patient care and not on the truth!]

Raymond thought as he listened to the message.

'I can't believe I did this to that asshole.'

It was unthinkable, given his past.

Suddenly, he felt an unbearable overwhelming feeling.

What might seem like a small, insignificant thing to others was a huge event to Raymond.

It was the first time he had ever confronted a soul-crushing trauma.

"Don't you ever come near me again, you unworthy son of a bitch! If you do, I'll kick your ass!

Raymond cursed and swore under his breath.

The more he cursed, the more he felt his heart pounding in his chest.

"Seitil, whose brain looks like a pasta sari, ugly as an anemone!

I was cursing with excitement.

I heard a sharp high-pitched voice.

"What are you doing?"

"...!"

A pale, doll-like beauty.

It was Princess Sofia!

Raymond bowed his head in surprise.

"Her Royal Highness."

"Why is she here?

Raymond's heart sank.

She was better than Seitil, but Princess Sophia wasn't exactly a pleasant surprise.

"...."

But Princess Sophia's reaction was strange.

She didn't say a word, but instead studied Raymond's face.

"You've changed a lot."

"...!"

"You used to be such an ugly little rat."

Raymond wasn't sure what to say in response.

It sounded like a swear word, but on second thought, maybe it wasn't a swear word because it meant you weren't now.

For one thing, he didn't see much animosity in Princess Sophia's eyes.

They were sharp, irritated, but not with the same malice as Seitel's earlier.

'Well, that was once upon a time.

I said.

It didn't feel like I was harassing him because I disliked him, it felt like I was just taking out my anger on him because I couldn't get rid of my bad temper.

'I don't know if I'd call it better, but you're just as bad as ever.

"What are you looking at so far off?"

Princess Sophia blurted out, and Raymond spat out his thoughts.

"I thought Her Royal Highness was the same as before."

"...what?"

Oops. What a huge mistake.

Raymond hastily backtracked.

"I'm saying she's still as beautiful as ever. Looking at you, Your Royal Highness, your beauty seems to glow, ha. Ha."

Princess Sophia glared at him, and Raymond broke out in a cold sweat.

"You've really changed, after all."

"...."

"Anyway, never mind. I'm not feeling well, so I came to rest for a while."

"How are you unwell?"

Raymond asked, returning to his healer's pose.

But Sophia only replied with a pout.

"Forget it, you're not even a proper healer yet, you're a bad apprentice, you don't know what you're talking about, I'm just going to rest, mind your own business."

Sophia shook her head and sighed as she sat down on the resting couch in the corner.

She really wasn't feeling well, and her complexion was grim.