The Unemployed Prince Covets My Nephew

* * *

“I cannot permit it. The crime of disgracing the royal family and bringing shame to the face of Zenovia is not enough even if I tear you to pieces, but I can never allow abdication.”

“Just as you did not seek my permission to give birth to me, I do not seek your permission for this decision.”

“Do you think this is a position you can take if you want and leave if you don’t? This is your duty as a prince.”

“Why force someone who refuses? I wouldn’t make such a choice. Anais is a smart child. She will be a hundred times wiser ruler than I. At least she won’t do something like this.”

“Are you mad? Have you truly gone insane? Even a rabid dog doesn’t behave this way! An abdicated prince!”

“That’s been bothering me; let’s correct that. I wasn’t deposed; it was voluntary.”

The king screamed to shut the madman’s mouth and confine him to his room immediately.

Axel looked at the agitated king with a leisurely face.

Anais could succeed the throne. Although there had never been a reigning queen in history, if there were no legitimate heirs or sons of concubines, the next in line was the princess.

Though they had different mothers, their relationship was not bad. At least they didn’t envy or check each other, which was good enough.

Anais had graduated from the Royal Academy with outstanding grades, was skilled enough in swordsmanship to compete with royal knights, and was smart enough to study abroad.

It was rather a good thing. She might become a better ruler than him.

“If you truly renounce your status as a prince, you cannot keep the Otte name. You must leave the palace immediately and you cannot take a single penny of royal property.”

“I understand. I will take responsibility for the broken engagement with the Brahe family with some of the spoils I brought back. Do as you please with the rest.”

“You insolent…! Do you have any plans?”

The prince’s rebellion concluded with the annulment of his engagement to Lady Brahe as soon as he renounced his status.

“I will go to Winchester.”

“Did your grandfather agree to take you in? That strict old man would be more likely to kick you out.”

“Fortunately, he didn’t kick me out. Though he did set conditions.”

“Conditions?”

The Winchester Grand Duchy, Axel’s maternal grandfather’s house, was Zenovia’s founding contributor and held the largest territory in the kingdom.

Despite having the power to seize control of the capital at any time, he had no interest in central politics.

Though the grand duchy had produced a queen, the Grand Duke never set foot in the capital.

Other nobles speculated that there must be some great treasure hidden in the Winchester territory.

Of course, the Grand Duke was not an easy man.

“The condition is to marry a suitable wife and start a family with a lovely child within a year.”

“Even if you marry and conceive a child now, it would be tight. It’s hopeless.”

“Why? I can marry a woman with a child and divorce her after a year.”

“You’re insane. Completely insane.”

Axel thought astonishingly simply, believing he could inherit the Grand Duke’s position by pretending to have a happy family for just a year.

He thought he could find a woman and child somehow.

“I am a lucky man. We’ll see if I’m crazy.”

* * *

“Axel Winchester. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it? Personally, I even like their strong accent. It already feels like my spiritual home.”

“With an accent like that, it might as well be another country.”

“So, you don’t like it? If you don’t, you can stay here. Who knows? Anais might take you in as a state guest.”

“…Your Highness, you have a way with words.”

Axel’s aide, Khalid, the second son of the Count of Retel, ground his teeth as he responded.

Despite his words, Khalid was set to accompany Axel to the Winchester Grand Duchy.

‘A mad prince has abdicated his status.’

After witnessing what seemed like an impossible reality, Khalid spent about a week thinking it was just a nightmare.

But it wasn’t until Lady Brahe, who had suddenly become a jilted fiancée, came and slapped the prince across the face that he snapped back to reality.

“Please, before you are truly exiled, beg His Majesty for forgiveness. At this rate, both you and I will end up on the streets.”

“Why bother when I’m going to be a Grand Duke?”

Was he truly mad, excessively optimistic, or just thoughtless?

Khalid assumed it was the latter.

“…That’s impossible.”

“You’re too weak. Keep looking. A noblewoman who has no interest in the position of Grand Duchess, has a child but is unmarried, and will agree to a clean divorce after a year.”

“Why are you doing this to me? Just kill me instead!”

When Axel reached for his sword hilt, offering to grant his wish, Khalid quickly shut his mouth.

‘Why is he so calm about all this!’

Khalid was frustrated. Since the prince’s rebellion, he had spent sleepless nights trying to find a woman who fit those ridiculous conditions.

But to marry a Grand Duke, one had to be a noble. A noblewoman who was unmarried but had a child? The conditions were absurd.

Occasionally, he found unmarried women with children, but they were all women who had been married and divorced.

In other words, there were no noblewomen who had never been married but had children.

Naturally, even if such a woman existed, she would have hidden the child’s existence thoroughly, making it impossible to find her easily.

The bigger problem was that even if they found such a woman, none of them would willingly step down from the position of Grand Duchess after a year.

The position of Grand Duchess was the highest a noblewoman could attain in Zenovia, second only to the queen.

Who would give up wealth and power and agree to a divorce after just a year?

“By the way, what possessed you to go out to the noble shopping district?”

“The queen said no one would come to see me now that I’m no longer a prince. She told me to go out and find someone myself.”

“Does the queen think this is possible?”

It was unbelievable. The queen had been Khalid’s last hope. He believed that she would somehow persuade the mad prince to settle down. But she told him to go find someone himself.

“No. But there’s no other way, right? Even in this state, she doesn’t want to see her son thrown out onto the streets.”

“……”

“Don’t worry. To ease your burden, I asked the queen to host a banquet and invite all the noblewomen of Zenovia.”

Khalid slapped his forehead with his hand.

Axel, looking bored with everything in the world, drew back the curtain of the carriage and looked outside.

‘No unmarried noblewoman with a child would be walking around a noble shopping district with her child in plain sight. Unless she’s crazy.’

Even Axel seemed to think the situation was absurd, as he scoffed at himself.

“Can I ask you something?”

Khalid looked at Axel with eyes that pleaded for a promise not to be hit. But Axel didn’t even glance at him.

“Is it really because of the queen?”

Three months ago, before the prince’s rebellion, there was another scandal that shook Zenovia to its core. It was the queen’s affair.

Historically, it wasn’t uncommon for queens to have ‘favorites.’

But it had to be someone discreet enough to turn a blind eye to. This time, the scandal involved the king of Vasa, an opponent impossible to overlook.

For a queen to have a scandal with a foreign king was unprecedented in Zenovia’s history.

The royal family was in an uproar, and regardless of the truth, the queen faced severe criticism and ridicule.

There were even rumors questioning whether Prince Axel was truly the son of the Zenovian king.

Since this had happened just three months ago, rumors began to spread that the prince’s sudden abdication was to take responsibility for his mother’s actions.

“How boring.”

Axel didn’t answer Khalid’s question.

Just as he was withdrawing his gaze from the window, something caught Axel’s eye for a brief moment.

“Stop.”

“What is it, Your Highness?”

Khalid looked where the prince’s gaze was fixed. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting. It was just the same shopping district street.

But if there was something that could catch the eye of this mad prince, even if it wasn’t interesting to everyone else.

“…Are you really insane?”

There was only a man, a tall woman, and a small boy in the center of the murmuring crowd.

“Go find out what’s going on.”

“Your Highness!”

“Get down immediately.”