Fish Don't Know About Water - Chapter 7

The Crown Prince of Westenia. Minute¹pronounced Min-yut Hartmann fell in love at first sight.

“My goodness…”

He clutched his dizzy head and stared blankly in the direction the woman had run. In that brief moment their eyes met, a familiar yet thrilling pain pierced his heart.

The moment he saw her clear green eyes, he thought his heart would stop. Her messy, tangled golden hair was charming, and even the pencil stuck in her hair was endearing.

The woman was wearing an assistant nurse’s uniform. A woman so busy working and dedicating herself to the country that she couldn’t even groom herself. She was beautiful.

Minute clenched his fist as he watched the direction she ran, her teal skirt fluttering. He would find her, even if he had to search all of Costonia.

Thus began Minute the Crown Prince’s forty-first love. And that number excluded his numerous childhood crushes.

He hummed a tune as he walked towards the hospital room. He wanted to chase after her immediately, but it was still daylight. There were many eyes watching. It was a time to maintain his dignity as the Crown Prince.

And wasn’t his lovely, foolish brother inside that hospital room? Teasing and doting on him would relieve all the stress he had accumulated during the deployment.

“Vivi, your brother is here!”

Minute opened the hospital room door with a bright smile. Viett, who was sitting on the bed unwrapping a gift box, spoke without even turning his head.

“G-get out.”

“How’s your injury? I heard your arm cast hasn’t been removed yet, and it seems to be true.”

“I said get out.”

His brother was struggling to unwrap the gift with one hand. This brat. He only speaks well at times like this. Minute chuckled and sat next to his brother.

“You’re still so cold. Your one and only brother came all the way to distant Costonia, and you don’t even look at me.”

“You… you must have sneaked out of the operations headquarters because you felt g-guilty for just consuming r-rations.”

Viett retorted sharply as he opened the box lid. At that moment, both brothers simultaneously gasped in surprise.

My goodness. Inside the long box was a doll. A wax doll that looked eerily identical to Viett Hartmann.

Minute alternated his gaze between his brother and the doll in the box. The expressionless face, which showed no emotion, and the stiff posture were identical.

The dark gray officer’s uniform the doll was wearing was so realistic that it was hard to believe it was made of wax.

Even the thin, spider-web-like black hair was the same. If you blew on it, the hair seemed like it would sway.

Is it possible to create such detailed work with wax? Minute shuddered involuntarily, feeling a chill.

“Isn’t it a bit creepy…? Why is this thing in a gift box? Did you really receive this as a gift?”

“Hm.”

“What kind of lunatic gives such a creepy thing as a gift…?”

“Th-they said to use it as an ornament, a… and when I get tired of it, u-use it as a candle.”

“What? My wife would love this.”

Minute picked up the doll by its military cap with his fingertips. The cap was firmly attached to the head and wouldn’t come off. On closer inspection, there was a hardened wick folded over the cap.

“That woman. She loves collecting antique dolls that look just like this.”

“G-give it back.”

Viett snatched the doll from his hand. He irritably shoved the doll back into the gift box and threw the box under the bed.

“Good job. If you kept that around, an evil spirit might come out in your dreams and curse you.”

His brother looked at him with disdain as he pretended to be a ghost with his hands hanging limply. But Minute continued to joke undeterred.

“No, wait. At night, the wax doll might crawl out from under the bed and curse you…”

“Shut up. Do I.. I still look like a c-child to you?”

“Where did my adorable crybaby Vivi go, and why is this creepy, tough guy glaring at me?”

Minute sighed as he looked at his brother’s stern face.

Where did it all go wrong? His brother had been fragile, timid, and unusually tearful during his childhood.

But after entering the boy’s military school, buried in the mountains, his brother changed beyond recognition. His personality became combative and rough, and his tearful eyes filled with distrust and coldness towards others.

He had been suspended many times for fistfights among classmates.

Every time a violent incident occurred, Viett made headlines as the ‘problem child of the royal family.’

For Minute, it wasn’t all bad.

Hiding behind his brother, who took all the hits, Minute could meet women, attend various parties, and enjoy his youth. Thanks to everyone’s attention focused on his brother’s misconduct, he could indulge in a carefree, hedonistic lifestyle.

The more trouble Viett caused, the angrier their father became. Eventually, Viett stopped returning to the palace, even during holidays. He only showed up briefly for important royal events or Christmas before quickly returning to the dormitory.

As the father-son relationship deteriorated, Viett grew from a boy into a young man. His physique grew larger each year, likely from the harsh training and gang fights at the military school. He was a rare giant among the Hartmann men, who generally had slender builds.

“You’ve grown well.”

Minute patted his brother’s sturdy shoulder with a satisfied smile.

“E-Earlier, you… you said it was creepy.”

Viett looked bewildered. This expression brought back a glimpse of his foolish childhood face. Minute chuckled and patted the iron-hard shoulder firmly.

“Do you have any girlfriends?”

“A… are you kidding? How long has it been since I broke off the e-engagement?”

“How long ago was that? It’s been almost a month since you broke off with Lady Rosti. Don’t tell me you haven’t found a new lover yet?”

Viett brushed off Minute’s hand with a look of disdain.

“This brother of yours…”

Minute recalled the woman he had bumped into in the hallway and wore a dreamy expression.

“I just met an angel in the hallway.”

“An angel? It seems you.. your d-death day is near.”

“That’s not it! I met a woman as beautiful as an angel! Yes. I… have finally fallen in love…”

He murmured, pressing his hand to his rapidly beating heart. Viett looked at his brother with eyes full of contempt.

“Finally? What… what about A-Amelia?”

“Why are you bringing up your sister-in-law’s name here?”

“You and Amelia are m-married.”

“Oh, my dear brother. Despite your looks, you’re terribly naive. Who loves their spouse?”

Minute roughly tousled his brother’s hair.

“Love is for lovers, you fool.”

“L-lovers?”

Viett growled, baring his teeth.

“Not lovers, but m-mistresses, right? Why don’t you sort out the m-married women you’re seeing first?”

“Oh, unfortunately, those lovely ladies won’t let me go.”

Minute replied in a sorrowful voice, staring blankly out the window. At that moment, assistant nurses were walking in pairs towards the distant mess hall.

Minute paid close attention to the assistant nurses’ teal skirts. And he made a vow. Before leaving Costonia, he would lift up the full skirt of that woman.

* * *

Finally, the day came when Viett could remove the cast from his right arm. Feeling relieved, he cleaned himself thoroughly and wore his uniform for the first time in a while.

Sitting on the bed, he calmly gazed at the training ground scenery outside the window. He bit a cigarette, recalling the tasks he needed to tackle one by one. Lighting it himself with his now free hands, he felt a sense of relief.

First, he needed to deal with the officer who had filled his position during his hospitalization. That idiot, who had been promoted due to his family’s backing, was tactically incompetent.

He couldn’t even read simple military codes, overworking his subordinates. He even tripled the recruits’ running time under the pretext of building stamina.

Several recruits who vomited during the harsh training had come to Viett’s hospital room to complain.

Resolving to transfer that guy as soon as he returned to headquarters, Viett stubbed out his cigarette just as the hospital room door suddenly burst open. Viscount Esca entered, shaking a small paper box with a grin.

“Feeling better?”

He asked in a cheeky tone. Viett reluctantly replied, pressing his military cap down firmly.

“M-more or less.”

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  pronounced Min-yut