Herscherik (Reincarnated Prince Series)

Across the iron lattice, Hershelik hurriedly pressed his mouth in an attempt to raise his voice of joy to the reply he had heard from the innkeeper. If you want to raise your voice here and be noticed by the soldiers around you, Hershelik's struggle so far is a blister.

Hershelik bends forward and proceeds cautiously, peeking closer into the latticed window. Then there was the Earl of Luceria, who took off his jacket. Count Luceria, who was trying to look up out the window, intersects the gaze of Hershelik, who peered in.

Because an unexpected figure appeared to the Count, he stood with his eyes open. With the barbed Earl of Luceria on his ass, Hershelik observed how he was, his clothes seemed to be visibly stained everywhere.

Hershelik caught the earl's forehead the most. There was an injury on his forehead that he would have been able to do when he was caught, and I don't suppose he was given any healing treatment. The blood stain remained intact.

"Is the forehead injury okay?

The thing that bothered me the most came out of Hershelik's mouth.

It was only a matter of time before I reconsidered and regretted that there was no way I would be okay. He who holds the title of Count is treated like this in an abusive manner.

To the Count, who had not yet returned from surprise, Hershelik reached out of the lattice the pocket watch he was holding. Because the original purpose was to give this to him.

"I'm here to give you this. It's important, isn't it?

"…… Yes, it's very important.

"I'm glad it was delivered.

Hershelik receives the pocket watch offered, the Earl of Luceria narrows his eyes and strokes the pocket watch in a nostalgic manner, and when he grips it, he closes his eyes and gives a painful expression like he bit a bitter bug.

The moment Hershelik, who questioned that expression, tried to ask, the Count returned his gaze to the Prince. Because he was looked straight ahead, Hershelik could not speak up to the question that came out to his throat.

To such a prince the Count bows his head on one knee on the spot. It was only later that Hershelik learned that he was a courtesy of his subordinates.

"My Lord Hershelik, I apologize for ruining your feast last night.

Hershelik shakes his head beside the words of Count Luzeria.

"That's fine. Tell me more about you, Count.

"……… Mine?

In the Prince's words the Count raised his face from his benefactor's thanksgiving and recited it to the throw. There was a whispering noise.

"I tried to fall Minister Barbasse, a traitor caught the other way around. It would be more proof and fact than anything else that you are here.

The words mixed with the mockery of Count Luzeria are never directed at Hershelik. It was directed at me. Feeling the emotions contained in that voice, Hershelik opens his mouth that it should not remain this way.

"Count Luzeria, I want to know the truth about you, not the well-known facts.

Staring straight at him, Hershelik overlapped the words without distracting himself.

"I have come this far not from the words of others, but from the Count himself, wanting to hear them in the words of the Count. Whatever others say, I want to talk to you.

There is only one fact. Because that's the reality that happened.

When one fact occurs, a person accepts and feels the fact in their own thoughts and positions. But the truth exists only in the number of people. I didn't want Hershelik to be the kind of person who would honestly decide that it was true because someone said so.

Hershelik overlaps words without going out of sight...... The Count breathes in the grown-up tone and cloudless eyes of a child celebrating his third birthday the other day.

(Would anyone have said these words to me in the last few years......)

The answer is no. He has never been uttered like a prince by anyone in the last few years. Even if it was called, it didn't solve the problem by judging it to be extra noise. But the word of this prince soaked his heart like water soaked in dry soil.

So as Hershelik urges, Count Luzeria spins his words.

"… I was trapped.

Set aside for a few minutes, heavily he began to speak.

It began three years ago when he realized the injustice of a certain aristocrat. Knowing that its nobleman, the Viscount, is wrongfully involved, he reports it to the Legal Department. Originally, it was not strange to be stripped of his title, but strict caution was all he needed.

The Earl, who questioned it, independently looked into the matter of injustice out of a sense of justice, and eventually found that a party of Barbasse ministers were pushing back that injustice and fattening their private bellies.

"As it is, the country will decline and perish... that's what I thought.

Taxes can be raised for the nobles to fatten their private bellies. Citizens in difficulty with clothing and housing who cannot pay taxes get lost on the streets. Those whose lives have become painful dye their hands in crime and their security worsens. To control it, taxes can be raised.

This negative circle was evident in decreasing the country.

"I was an arrowhead who sought to recruit comrades and return to normal politics. My wife died in an accident...... my son had just turned three the same age as His Highness.

I think it was an accident, and I'm saddened by it. A secret book sent to me. There was a threat written there not to pry any further.

"There is no evidence. But they made it look like an accident and took his wife's life. To show off to me and my comrades. Then one comrade after another, bad luck struck, and we couldn't bond.

Still, the Count of Luzeria could not give up. Because the hatred of being deprived of my beloved family dominated me. Instead, the Count wonders if he could not have lived before without that emotion, and the power comes into the hand where the pocket watch is held.

"So I decided to fight alone. It was during the last three years that we gathered as much evidence as possible and played it to Your Majesty. But the result came as it was yesterday.

A secret book I don't remember, it must have been forged by both the seal and the throat. If you look for documents, you can easily imitate your handwriting and other secrets that have been forged. If that's all, the evidence he was holding would have been bait for him to attract him.

After leaving himself to anger, he fell into a trap.

"This country has been a major and powerful country for many years. vast earth and military power. And the connection between the royal family and other countries was creating permanent peace.

Preserving this kingdom of Gracis now is the history of the kingdom, which lasted five hundred years, and vast lands, royal connections, and military power. They manage to protect the kingdom of Gracis from foreign countries.

But it was only about the surface. The long-lasting peace was slowly beginning to rot from within.

Moreover, in recent years, a number of countries have emerged that have begun to gain strength. If the interior of the Kingdom of Gracis, which makes its name known to the great powers and the continent, leaks to other countries, it will also be a gap.

"Before His Royal Highness was born, it was the time when the rivalry between the royal family and the nobles was most intense from His Majesty's birth to his throne.

It is a fact that the Count of Luceria was still young at the time and found out by gathering information and connecting it like a puzzle.

For Hershelik, he was his grandfather. At that time, the king was the bearer of wisdom, and he was blindfolded by the injustice of the nobles. But the nobles also hid evidence of wrongdoing, so the king could not strip or change the title.

"It's such an arrowhead. There has been misfortune in the country. The royal family fell ill one after the other.

Thinking about it now, was it really a disease?

The wise king walked away sick, and the first and second princes of that time continued to die, leaving only a third prince without a powerful back shield. Since he was only ten years old, Barbasse was given the position of guardian and regent.

By the time the young king had grown up and Barbasse had returned his position as regent and become minister, the opposition factions of the minister and the leading nobles of the royal faction had almost been wiped out. Even when they were gone, their forces became unusually defensible, and when they realized it, the ministerial faction took control of politics.

"I am still young and not interested in the country's politics, and I was late to realize that I was also the son of a local lord...... I apologize, Your Highness.

Tie your mouth and drool your head, Count of Luceria. That was defeated by helplessness and was going to disappear even now. He seemed very small to Hershelik even though he was an adult.

Now that everything was taken away and what was hopeful was actually fake, there is nothing left for the Count of Luceria.

"I'm sorry."

The word that came out of Hershelik was an apology. When Count Luceria slowly gave his gaze to the unexpected words, there he was Hershelik, who had patiently saved tears in his eyes for crying.

"I didn't know anything, and I'm sorry. You worked so hard for me, I didn't realize anything. Sorry........."

Hershelik's words were interrupted in tears.

(Even if he was taken away, he was fighting... by himself.

He was deprived of his family, he lost his people, and even when he was alone, the Count fought.

Ryoko also lost her family. It always makes me want to cry when I remember my family from a previous life in a mundane moment. What do you think of my father, mother and sisters in Japan? Count Luceria's emotions overlap with those he had and tears overflow.

I miss Japan. I want to go home.

The emotions Hershelik was pushing into the depths of his mind to protect himself and sealing overflow.

(I've been deluding myself all along.

Be unconscious, because it hurt less the only way you could protect yourself. But Count Luzeria is different. He accepted everything and stood up to it.

Hershelik was convinced that this was his truth.

"... do you believe me? I could be cheating on you by blowing in something convenient, right?

"People who try to fool people never say that from themselves.

Hershelik stood up to the Count.

"I will tell my father and ask him to release me immediately. If the Count has any other evidence, he will soon be able to stop the minister's evil. Please wait!

Saying so, Hershelik ran away without waiting for a reply.

(You can't put this guy to death...... you can't lose him!

Hershelik returns to the path that no one has come to find him. It will be time for the people working in the castle to wake up. Hershelik, who managed to reach the rear palace after a few blurry occasions, headed to his father's private room.

My father only told me where it was, but it was the first time I had visited it. I thought I might be in someone's room, but the light was leaking out of the gap, even though it was early in the morning from the king's private room.

Hershelik didn't even knock and opened the door without hesitation.

"Father!"

"……… Hershey?

My father sat alone on the couch in front of the fireplace. The fireplace flames were already burning out, but the lighting nearby emitted warm light.

"What's wrong early this morning? Hershey wouldn't be good in the morning, would she? Besides, it's perfect..."

Hershelik confirmed himself, his coat, trousers and shoes were dirty with dirt, and his coat and some other leaves were left on. It is an outfit that you can see at a glance that you were going somewhere.

But Hershelik pulls his father's clothes with his dirty little hands when he stuffs them to his father without even paying attention to such a thing.

"Father, listen to me!

Hershelik's sword screen does not belong to a three-year-old. Usually he pretended to be like a three-year-old, but he couldn't shake anymore.

Because one's life is at stake.

No, maybe more lives are at stake.

I didn't care if I thought so or if I was a three-year-old, or if I was in Jianmae or Hershelik.

"Count Luzeria is not a traitor! Sorry, it's not, I was deceived………………………………………………………………."

At the end of the day, Hershelik himself didn't know what he was saying with a whimper. I look up at my father so hard, but it's so hard to see him with tears all over him and his beautiful father's blurry face.

I regret, miss, sad...... all sorts of emotions were swirling in me.

Many waves of emotion, which seem to be the first of their kind to be reincarnated, push over like a tsunami, tears and whimpers and pop outside.

"Death penalty, no…………………."

If you don't follow the order more and say it theoretically, you won't understand. I knew it with my head, but all I could get out of his mouth was a simple word.

Because I grabbed my father's clothes, I never cried, but the vision I should have looked up to shows the carpet at some point.

"…… Hershelik.

Such a son. My father lifts his head gently. I always held him up but I felt heavy today. The king thinks that it has gained more presence than weight.

And at some point I spoke to the butler who was waiting.

"I'm coming out. I'll be back by breakfast.

"As you wish."

To the short answer the king nodded and turned to Hershelik. The last prince put his emotions on the table like never before, and his eyes as well as his white cheeks were bright red swollen.

"Hey, shall we go for a walk with my father?