Watching Forti act shy like a pubescent teenager made guilt bloom in my heart. Even if Forti was twenty years old by Korean age, his appearance and atmosphere didn’t match that.
What am I thinking in front of a kid right now…
I erased the contents of the confinement novel from my mind and placed my hand on Forti’s shoulder. Forti flinched. Why is he acting like that? Is my expression that lecherous?
For now, I smiled brightly and pulled his arm.
“Let’s go down now.”
“Ung!”
Just like when we came up, Forti held me and flew up. It felt as stable as if he had wings.
“Forti, can you show Raki around too?”
I only remembered Raki after landing on the ground. I’d forgotten my priorities because I was shaken by people’s gossip and embarrassing errands.
Only imperial family members can enter the clock tower. If not today, I won’t be able to show it to Raki. I should have waited for him to buy the items first and then gone up together.
As I was having belated regrets, Forti shook his head and whispered quietly.
“Only Rosenthal knows about today. It’s a secret that I can use magic.”
“Huh? Okay.”
I thought it was unusual that a beastman could use not only swordsmanship but also magic, and it seems there are indeed some circumstances. Then it can’t be helped. When Raki comes, I’ll have to ask if he wants to climb the stairs.
I put Forti’s robe hood back on, which had come off while descending. When I gently pressed his ears under the hood, Forti flinched and squeezed his eyes shut. How can everything he does be so cute?
“Forti.”
“Yeah.”
“Once we leave the imperial palace, I want to draw only you all day long.”
“Really?”
Forti folded his large eyes into half-moon shapes. Raki now runs away in disgust at just the mention of the letter ‘M’ for model, but Forti still seems to like it.
“Yeah.”
After rubbing Forti’s cheeks vigorously, I reluctantly let go and went outside. The gatekeeper bowed to me at a 90-degree angle. I scratched my cheek, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
In the imperial palace, I’m in a position where I receive subtle disrespect because of all sorts of rumors including past history, but to that person, I must seem quite impressive.
Suddenly, I remembered when I was Lee Minchan. Although I was in a position where I could be fired at any time in the industry, there was one high school student downstairs who was an aspiring webtoon artist who followed me around calling me “teacher.”
Come to think of it, it would be about that kid. The person who would grieve my death in our villa. He really envied my art supplies and tablet. If I’d known I was going to leave like this, I should have given them to that kid.
Haa, my tablet. I bought it in a lump sum because I hated having monthly installments charged, and I tightened my belt. I saved a lot too because I never knew when work would stop coming…
Come to think of it, I only studied all my life before falling into drawing, and ended up dying while only drawing. Because of that damned romance that was my first happiness in life.
“Thank you.”
“Oh, not at all.”
To think he’d be so grateful for just a word of thanks from someone like me. It reminds me of my father. I shook my head. Get it together, Rosenthal Chendewden.
At this rate, I felt like I’d be going through my past life memories starting from kindergarten, so I quickly moved my steps when Raki came running while waving his hand. The jet-black bags full in both his hands must definitely be those things.
Before Raki arrived, I quickly asked Forti.
“Forti, I think I’m thirsty. Can you buy three glasses of juice?”
“Okay. Got it.”
Forti ran quickly toward the stand I pointed at, and I ran toward Raki with even more intense speed than that.
“Young master, I bought them!”
“Why are there so many?!”
“Since it’s been a while, I bought new novels and masterpieces to show you, young master. Oh, and that’s here.”
Raki discreetly gestured with his right hand. It looks heavy even though it’s not a book?
“A model that perfectly recreates the actual texture, with small, medium, and large, as well as extra-large sizes. And this is a style where you pump up and down. If you insert artificial semen in advance…”
“Stop!”
I shouted while hastily closing the open paper bag. That guy Raki has no shame. I’m glad I sent Forti away just in case.
“G-go and explain it to me.”
I hate that I can’t say I don’t need this kind of thing. Sob…
Hereis, I inadvertently awakened you, but I’m making such desperate efforts like this. Sob sob sob. If you knew about my efforts… it would be troublesome, but anyway, that’s how it is.
As I firmly folded the paper bag opening and controlled it so Forti couldn’t see, my eyes met with an unfamiliar young boy. His deep blue eyes looked at me sharply.
Dangerous. He knows me. An instinctive warning alarm rang in my head, but before I could even prepare, the boy came running toward me with a pitter-patter.
“Rosenthal!”
Forti threw down the juice and ran to protect me, when the boy flopped down on his knees.
“Crown Princess! This is unjust! Please resolve this humble one’s grievance!”
What?
***
<Three Crowns> is a BL. A very, very tragic and explicit 19+ novel at that. What does this sudden statement mean? It means it’s a novel where men love and love again and have sex. Not only Rosenthal, but even Seha and Eldon only do lovey-dovey things; there’s no episode like this petition drum situation.
The boy who suddenly knelt down asked me to listen to his story, and I became newly aware of my status as Crown Princess and first sent Raki, who was carrying not very noble items, back to the imperial palace. Before leaving, I asked if he wanted to go up the clock tower, but he refused, saying he hated stairs.
After sending Raki away, I took the young boy to a nearby cafe with a private room.
“What’s the matter?”
Even as I said that, I was 90% certain there would be no way I could help.
If the boy was a poor commoner or slave, and if there was a story like his family being unjustly sold off, I might be able to help with the ducal family’s power or financial resources.
But that boy was a noble no matter how you looked at him—front, back, or even while riding the KTX. Although he bent his pride and knelt down to plead, the aura of nobility burst out from every aspect—his speech, intonation, posture, gait, and so on.
Looking at the beautiful jeweled decorations embedded in his clothes and shoes, it wasn’t a financial problem. Then it meant he came to me for family infighting or political problems, and I couldn’t exert any power in that direction.
“I am Patrick Bellos, eldest son of Viscount Bellos.”
Bellos? If it’s Bellos, that was the vassal family that took the blame instead of Grand Duke Curtis. Why would his young son come looking for me?
“I see. You must be deeply worried about your father’s situation.”
“My father is innocent! My father is not guilty! He took the blame for Grand Duke Curtis’s crimes!”
Viscount Bellos is a person deeply loyal to the Third Prince. He is disappointed in Grand Duke Curtis who committed illegal acts, but takes on the guilt himself to help the Third Prince. However, because he doesn’t trust Grand Duke Curtis, he secretly steals his secret ledger and hides it in his territory. It was a precaution so Grand Duke Curtis couldn’t harm his family. But Eldon finds the ledger with Seha’s help. And Viscount Bellos is exiled for the crime of giving false confession about Grand Duke Curtis’s crimes.
Even though it was an action born from loyalty, from the perspective of a young son about ten years old, it would truly be like a bolt from the blue.
“I understand that Viscount Bellos personally admitted to the crime.”
“Father was threatened.”
Threatened? Not loyalty? I was momentarily puzzled but shook my head. I shouldn’t be swayed after even reading the original work. A young child must be lying out of love for his father.
Then the boy muttered something and took off a beautiful ring. Then ears popped up above his deep blue hair. Ears just like Forti’s.
“…Is that humanization magic?”
I brought out one piece of common knowledge from the Empire that I’d learned.
‘Humanization magic’ was magic that transformed humans to look like the Wolf Tribe.
Originally developed for combat purposes to gain a strong body like a werewolf, these days it was mainly used for brothels or as play magic for nobles with peculiar hobbies. In other words, it’s for cosplay, making only ears and tails.
Patrick firmly shook his head at my question.
“It’s the opposite. I’m a beastman. My mother was from the Wolf Tribe. Father loved me and Mother, and raised me by disguising me as human.”
In the Keltan Empire, noble titles can only be received by pure humans. It’s impossible for beastmen, who are no different from livestock, to receive them. Even mixed-blood is impossible.
“Rather than humanization, he always had me wear a ring containing humanization magic on my body.”
The viscount raised his son as human and tried to pass on his title to him. If discovered, not only would the title be confiscated, but it was a capital crime that would result in the extermination of three generations.
“The viscount must have truly loved his heir.”
A faint smile appeared on Patrick’s face. I thought he was a very mature child for his age, but suddenly a face matching his age appeared.
“I knew it was right to come find Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
“Pardon?”
“If I’d told anyone else, they would have shouted that it was a capital crime of deceiving the Empire and immediately thrown me in prison.”
“What were you going to do if I reported you for doing such a reckless thing?”
I have no intention of revealing anyone’s identity, whether beastman or demon. But I’m probably the unusual one. For a noble to reveal their shame is dangerous. But Patrick laughed carelessly.
“Actually, I saw Your Highness the Crown Princess getting out of the carriage. And putting a robe on the beastman next to you. So I trusted you. And if you report me, I have a way too.”
“A way?”
“Since Your Highness the Crown Princess also brought in a beastman lover, we’re both holding each other’s secrets, aren’t we?”
The lips of a boy who was at most ten years old rose leisurely. Kids are really fast, whether in this world or that world. That cheeky little brat.
I was so dumbfounded I was at a loss for words when Patrick started pouring out words again with a serious face.
“Grand Duke Curtis threatened me with myself. He said he would reveal that I’m a beastman. Father took the blame to save me. I don’t care if I die, so please save my father!”
