Chapter 21 – About The Prince

『The Prince Returns, Dieldo Edem Kate Otranie! Where has the infamous libertine gone?』

Rumors began to spread that the Prince had changed.

It was understandable. The man who was always in the gossip columns had returned, only to seclude himself in the palace for a month!

Public opinion split into several camps. The majority believed the rumors were fabricated to cover up the disappearance. Unless he’d died and come back to life, human nature didn’t change.

In other words, ‘there’s no way the infamous libertine would stay locked up, so he must not have returned yet.’

Others believed everything except the Prince’s return was a lie. They claimed the Prince would sneak out to bars or social clubs in disguise. Unless he’d died and come back to life, human nature didn’t change.

In other words, ‘there’s no way the infamous libertine would stay locked up, so he must have snuck out somehow.’

Of course, no one saw the Prince. Occasionally, there were sightings, but they usually ended as misunderstandings over someone’s blond hair, blue eyes, or handsome face.

Even those entering and leaving the palace rarely saw him. Someone even joked that he must be a legendary creature.

Just as the tide was turning toward ‘the Prince is still missing,’ exactly one month later, the Prince appeared. That day, the tabloids exploded from midday.

『Dieldo Edem Kate Otranie! First outing after seclusion vs. True return “Truth Battle”』

The Prince didn’t take sides. Instead, he started visiting places that seemed unrelated.

『Dieldo Edem Kate Otranie is said to have gone out after a long seclusion. On this day, he visited a village at the western edge of the Kingdom…』

『After his disappearance, Dieldo Edem Kate Otranie’s first stop: “Napolia”—Where is that?』

The first place the Prince visited, Napolia, was a small coastal town. Thanks to this unexpected move, people learned about Napolia, a place they hadn’t even known was in the Kingdom, and the small village welcomed royal knights and the Prince for the first time.

Gavin, a young man, was so shocked he collapsed on the floor and trembled—a story only the villagers knew.

Next was a house in the capital, then the academy, where the Prince revealed his whereabouts.

Especially when visiting the house in the capital, many wondered ‘why?’ The Prince seemed to be searching for something or someone, then left.

That evening, another article appeared.

『Royal Knight Reynold Belit, dismissed by Prince’s order… Former royal knight Reynold protests his innocence to the weekly, and today we’ll cover his story…』

『Dieldo Edem Kate Otranie! Has he gone mad after seclusion? Many express concern.』

To outsiders, these actions seemed incomprehensible, with no apparent connection.

As these behaviors repeated, the media’s tone shifted.

In the past, the Prince had no political standing but was always the center of gossip. That meant he faded from attention unless he led such a lifestyle. Even the weeklies that initially called his moves shocking soon lost interest. Unless it was a secret rendezvous with a noble lady or a passionate affair with a widow, it wasn’t newsworthy.

Then, after a long time, an article about the Prince appeared again—this time about his most shocking move yet.

『Breaking: Prince Dieldo Edem Kate Otranie departs for the Empire. Will the royal marriage with the Empire happen?』

『Believe it or not. Mad Prince Dieldo Edem Kate Otranie, now the Imperial Princess’s man!』

『Prince Dieldo Edem Kate Otranie: We must investigate his life. A noble marriage for the alliance…』

This shocking move pushed the day’s ‘special report’ out of the headlines. Thus, the ‘special report’ became something only students or professors majoring in herbal studies at the academy talked about.

『Special Report! Hesington Research Institute, international academic paper published』

* * *

…If the daily papers made any mistake, it was missing that valuable special report.

It could be called a failure of journalistic instinct. With their eyes fixed on the Prince’s departure, they never considered that the report they dismissed might be connected to the Prince’s actions.

It’s questionable whether any of those writers are truly competent…

Once, he was George, but now the man called Dieldo disparaged the weekly magazines in that way. He thought this was a kind of environmental destruction, that he ought to feel sorry for the trees, wasting paper so carelessly.

If it were up to him, he would have crumpled them up and tossed them away a hundred times. But…

“Shall I throw it away for you?”

Petricks asked from the side.

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Of course, he refused. As he crossed his legs, Dieldo’s face was the very image of a nobleman. Once, twice… three times. Except for his busy hands folding the weekly into a palm-sized square, he looked the part.

Just as he finished folding the article, a ship’s horn sounded loudly.

“…Ahem. We’re finally departing.”

“…”

“Honestly, I didn’t expect you to be the one to bring up going to the Empire first, Your Highness. I mean, well, isn’t that right…?”

Petricks muttered, gazing at the wharf.

“…”

Dieldo said nothing, just stared at the ‘special report’ in the tiny square. More precisely, it was the ‘special report’ about the Hesington Research Institute’s international academic paper.

Who could have predicted? That it was this article that led him here.

Even someone right next to him hadn’t expected it. Petricks looked bewildered, unable to understand why the Prince, who’d refused a royal marriage, suddenly chose to go to the Empire.

Dieldo gave a short laugh. He only laughed. Even under Petricks’ disloyal gaze—‘Has the Prince finally lost it?’—he just traced the letters on the special report.

The discovery came about a month after regaining his memory. In front of this, it was only natural to feel foolish.

So, the story returns to a month ago.

* * *

He became the complete ‘Dieldo’—in other words, Dieldo regained most of his memory on the third day after returning to the palace.

Three days. For someone who’d planned to leave from the start, it was an absurdly long stay. Not that he accepted reality without resistance; he’d tried to escape several times, always blocked.

‘…Is s*x really the only thing I’m good at?’

He wished he could at least handle a sword, but all his body remembered was strong liquor and drugs.

‘How did I even live?’

He was dumbfounded. His brother was particularly strict…

“I heard you tried to leave the palace again. If you keep this up… I’ll have no choice but to meet your landlord myself.”

After repeated escape attempts, somehow, his brother brought up ‘Amber.’ It was a kind of threat: ‘if you leave here and go to her, I won’t leave her alone’. That’s when he realized he was a powerless being, with nothing but his body.

It was pathetic. He felt wretched.

“Your job is to wait in your place, Dieldo. We’re searching everywhere for that crazy woman for you.”

Watching the Crown Prince try to return his unwanted memories was infuriating. Whether he truly didn’t understand or pretended not to, the Crown Prince insisted, “You’ll understand me once you regain your memory.”

Of course, Dieldo couldn’t agree. Even after regaining his memory, he felt the same. The pathetic fool he’d seen in his dreams was himself. What good would those memories do? Was he supposed to suffer as punishment…?

Well, even that pathetic fool from the past had given him one thing to be grateful for: he could endure this hellish situation sober. At least, thanks to those memories, he hadn’t touched drugs. The downside was that time dragged on unbearably.

Anyway, that day he was spending time as usual, lying on his bed, wondering when he could leave.

“Prince.”

The woman with hair as dark as the night sky came to see him then. He instinctively knew she was the ‘crazy woman’ the Crown Prince was looking for. More precisely, she was a witch.

It was a kind of premonition. So he said,

“…The Crown Prince is looking for you. To think you’d come here on your own.”

“I didn’t crawl in. I walked in, as you can see. You’re just the same as ever.”

The witch spoke as if she’d known him before he lost his memory. She entered the room with her beautiful figure, but Dieldo felt nothing. With no memory, it didn’t matter whether they were strangers or acquaintances.

He closed his eyes. Ah, boring.

“Hm. Since you’re not on drugs, I can’t say you’re exactly the same.”

“…”

“Come to think of it, there’s no alcohol either. You’ve simply become someone else.”

“…”

“Prince. I’ve come to collect the price for our deal.”

“Deal?”

He opened his eyes at her wordplay, but didn’t bother turning his head—just stared at the ceiling. It was a feeble effort, but the witch nodded.

“We made a deal. But you seem to have forgotten even that, thanks to what we traded.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“All right. Then take your payment and get lost.”

“Hm.”

But the witch didn’t leave. Instead, she sighed and stood by the bed, looking down at him.

“Aren’t you curious? What deal we made.”

“Did I ask to be turned into a d*ldo? Suits me, so I figured I’d live that way.”

Even his sarcastic self-mockery didn’t make the witch laugh. She spoke with the emotionless tone of an inorganic being.

“You said your life had no meaning.”

“Still does.”

“You said you felt like a tool.”

It was the first time since she’d entered the room that Dieldo looked at her. Ah. He ran a hand over his face. A hollow laugh escaped.