Chapter 118: Back in the Room

Dragging my mentally exhausted self back to my room after the Queen’s words had worn me down even further, a maid was waiting with a sealed letter.

The sender was the 3rd Prince, Maxim. I had no recollection of him, nor could I remember his face. I’m sure the old Robby before waking up had met him, and I probably saw him at the Crown Prince’s funeral, but there were too many people there. My lifelong inability to remember faces was showing itself again.

When I opened the letter, it simply and clearly said: "Please come to my room after breakfast tomorrow." This was obviously an invitation to join his faction.

Will this play out the same way as with Prince Alan? Will he ask me to take him to some shop I know, or offer to take me to his favorite place? I’m pretty sure the 3rd Prince isn’t the Queen’s son. Of course he’s not my mother’s child either. Even an idiot like me should know his own brothers... though there’s always a chance I don’t. In any case, I understand that my position is quite delicate.

The maid was looking at me with a face that said, "What should I reply?" Since refusing wouldn’t lead to anything good, I wrote "Understood" and handed it to her. Tomorrow, huh... They say good things should be done quickly, but putting off unpleasant things doesn’t help either, so I accepted to get it over with.

I thought about asking Cass about Prince Maxim, but he was nowhere to be seen. It felt wrong to bother him when he was already busy, so I decided I’d just have to wing it. Even if I got information beforehand, there wasn’t much I could do with it anyway. Since there was nothing to discuss at the accounting bureau either, I ended up not talking to anyone about it. The night passed, and the time came to visit Prince Maxim.

After finishing breakfast in my room, a maid informed me that Prince Maxim’s messenger had arrived. I was led to the rear palace entrance where a middle-aged man was waiting. He gave me a beautiful, refined bow. He gave off the impression of a highly capable butler. If someone like this serves you, the master must be quite accomplished.

I was led by the man to Prince Maxim’s room.

"Prince Robin has arrived."

As soon as my arrival was announced, a young man sitting deep in the room stood up straight and walked toward me with a smile.

"Robin, sorry for making you come all this way. I wanted to visit your room myself, but since it’s in the rear palace, I couldn’t go. So I had no choice but to ask you to come. Thank you."

This was Prince Maxim. What a refreshingly low-profile and clear way of speaking. My favorability toward him shot up. What a huge difference from a certain someone. His aides were also smiling pleasantly. Prince Maxim’s mother didn’t seem to be in the room.

"Thank you for inviting someone like me so politely."

People really are mirrors of themselves.

"The reason I asked you to come is because I’ve been hearing a lot of good rumors about you lately. We’ve barely interacted before, but after hearing those rumors, I really wanted to meet and talk with you."

Hmm, just as I expected. The reputation of the idiot youngest prince has suddenly flipped, and since the Queen’s faction and the 5th Prince’s faction are approaching me, he wants to get close too? Or am I overthinking it?

"Thank you. I don’t know what kind of rumors you’ve heard, but the ones that reach my ears are mostly ’he’s an idiot, he’s an idiot,’ so I’m relieved that those kinds of rumors haven’t reached you, Prince Maxim."

I tried to give an innocent 10-year-old’s smile. I wonder if it came across.

"Oh? Is that so? What I’ve heard is that you’re on good terms with Prime Minister Richelieu and he’s taken quite a liking to you. That you’re working hard at the accounting bureau and the chief even recognizes your efforts. And recently that you’ve been getting along well with the Queen and going out to the commoner district."

Everything Prince Maxim said was technically true, but the last part about getting along with the Queen felt like it had a slight thorn in it.

"It’s not that impressive. Lord Richelieu spoke to me during the Crown Prince’s funeral and seemed interested in me after that, so we talked a few times."

"Hoh, what did you talk about? You don’t have to tell me anything you shouldn’t."

"No, it’s fine. He asked me about my dreams for the future, so I told him I wanted to live peacefully in a rural office, supporting my wife and children."

"Ha! Really?"

He looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Yes, it’s true."

When I affirmed it, Prince Maxim put his hand on his chin.

"I can’t believe it. You’re a prince. You have the right to the throne. You could participate in national politics if you wanted, right?"

Here we go again. While feeling fed up inside, I replied,

"No, I don’t have that kind of ability. If I took a position beyond my capabilities, I would only cause trouble for those around me. So I want to work quietly in a place that matches my abilities."

Prince Maxim and all his aides were bitterly smiling. Their eyes had clearly changed to ones that looked down on me.

"When you told Lord Richelieu that, what did he say?"

"He smiled bitterly. By the way, when I told the Queen the same thing, she was stunned."

"I bet. Even I think so."

Prince Maxim turned to his aides and said, "Right?" They smiled bitterly and replied, "How unambitious." Everyone in the palace reacts the same way.

"Some people say my wish is just a front and that I actually have great ambitions, but that’s really upsetting to me. I don’t want to bear such heavy responsibility."

I tried to make a slightly airheaded face while speaking. I wonder if they believed me?

"I understand. Let’s drop that topic."

I’m not sure he actually understood, but at least that conversation was over.

"I’ve heard you’ve become close with the Queen lately. Could you tell me why you suddenly grew close to her?"

I had hoped we could at least keep things light and chat casually on the surface, but the conversation kept turning political. Am I the only one who feels that way? Isn’t this situation basically Prince Maxim and his aides surrounding and interrogating me?

Prince Maxim himself didn’t seem to think so, but I definitely felt the pressure. Does he do this to every prince one by one? Some of them must crumble under this kind of peer pressure.

After that, Prince Maxim’s speech continued endlessly. His aides looked enchanted by his words, but no matter how much he talked about his dreams, I just felt... nothing. If he had at least said something like building schools for nobles to recruit talent, I might have had some expectations. But there was none of that. It was just repeated talk about how, once he becomes Crown Prince, he would promote all his aides to important positions and make the country powerful.

By the time he finished, I had turned into a stone statue.