Chapter 2. Seating Arrangement

Translator: AdCaelum

Editor: Evelet

QC: Adel

Asher didn’t know for long he had been asleep, but when he woke up again, the elderly woman he had seen when he first woke up had called a doctor to check his head injury. The doctor neatly redid the bandages around Asher’s head, stated that there were no abnormalities with the prince, and bowed his head deeply.

“Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to see me,” Asher said and also lowered his head, but this caused the doctor to be taken aback, the hair of his beard around his mouth shaking from his gasp. The elderly lady—Ellie the maid—was also taken aback as she looked at Asher, but Asher was confused by this. “Is something the matter?”

“…Ah, no, it’s nothing. It’s an honor to be thanked by Your Highness… Then I shall take my leave,” the doctor replied.

Asher thought that thanking the doctor for taking a look at him was obvious, so why would the doctor say that it was an honor? That was when he realized something—since Prince Asher looked angelic, everyone around him must love him and feel blessed whenever he did anything!

“O-of course I appreciate your work! I hope to see you again if anything else happens.”

To think that appearance and position could so greatly change how others interacted with him. People might actually accept him in this world.

The doctor lowered his head deeply again and left the room. After that, Ellie immediately began preparing for something so Asher asked, “Is there something else after this?”

“Prince Asher, please speak to me as you always do. You need not be so formal with me,” Ellie first advised Asher. Then she explained, “You will be attending dinner with the rest of the royal family, so I must prepare you.”

“Dinner with the royal family…”

He recalled what Asher’s mother… his mother had said about greeting His Majesty…

His head suddenly ached. Asher’s memories rushed back, playing the image of a man with silver hair and a majestic beard glaring at him with sharp, golden eyes. He was His Majesty King Augustine Dias… and Asher’s father. The man’s eyes looking at him were terribly cold. A feeling of sadness overtook Asher.

“Here, Prince Asher. Please change into these clothes.” Ellie’s voice brought him back to reality.

The headache disappeared and the sadness faded. He answered her, “Th-thank you very much, Ellie.” Although still confused, Asher slowly got up and reached for the clothes, but Ellie refused to hand them to him. “Um…”

“M-my apologies… I am merely doing my job, so please do not thank me for every little thing, Prince Asher. Besides, I am already content that I am able to assist you.”

“I-I understand.”

“…” Ellie furrowed her brow a little, but she quickly returned to normal, making Asher second-guess what he had seen.

After that, Ellie helped him change into an outfit that resembled a blue military uniform before he finally left the room. He was nervous about leaving his room for the first time. He thought nothing else in this place could shock him given how large and extravagant his room was, but outside of the room was also extraordinarily gorgeous and dazzling.

Unlike inside his room, he passed by various people out here. As soon as they noticed him, everyone promptly stopped moving and bowed deeply. He had returned their bows in the beginning, but Ellie took note and advised him worriedly, “You mustn’t do that,” so Asher obediently abided. He quietly followed behind Ellie, but Ellie seemed scared of something as she kept checking on him as they made their way ahead.

Was his way of walking… also weird?

But Asher’s movements didn’t seem noticeably different from his previous life based on how naturally his body moved and how “Asher” appeared in his memories. But his instinct to bow from his previous life was strong. He kept feeling that he had to bow back. The continual blending of this world’s Asher’s memories and his previous life’s consciousness felt strange. Since he had only recently awakened as Asher, he still lacked much of his memories as “Asher”.

…But if this was like all the reincarnated stories from those light novels, then it wasn’t that “Asher” had died and his soul entered this body but rather the impact from falling off the horse had instantly reawakened his past life’s memories…

“His Royal Highness Prince Asher has arrived,” someone announced.

While lost in his thoughts, it seemed that he had arrived at his destination. Ellie greeted the two guards standing before the door, and they opened it, revealing a large space with an extravagant table in the middle surrounded by dazzling chairs. Standing near the table were two young men dressed similarly to Asher and one boy slightly smaller than him.

“What? You’re finally awake?”

One of the young men, who had short, red hair and golden eyes, looked disgusted by Asher and snorted. The small boy with fluffy red hair and golden eyes had his arms wrapped around this young man’s waist. The moment Asher saw the faces of these two redheads, their names popped up in his head: Second Prince Hugo Dias and Fourth Prince Noah Dias… They were Asher’s brothers. There was also…

“You woke up today?”

The other young man was a spitting image of his father. With cold, golden eyes and beautiful silver hair tied behind his head, he was First Prince Samuel Dias. That was correct. Asher had brothers, although they were from different mothers.

“Um… yes. I apologize for causing concern. I am better now.”

“Pfft!” Hugo suddenly burst out loud, causing Asher to look back at him. “Who the hell is worried about you?! Stop with the sick jokes! Right, Sam?”

Seeing Hugo laugh at him gave Asher a sense of déjà-vu.

“Hugo, stop trying to pick a fight with Asher. I’m scared of what he’ll do,” Noah muttered.

The small boy hid behind Hugo and looked over at Asher in terror. Elsewhere, Samuel noticed something and turned around to the door opposite the one Asher was standing in front of.

“His Royal Consort Lord Jeffrey has arrived,” the guards announced.

Asher was confused, not knowing who just showed up, but his memories came back and he slowly calmed down. The man before them had his beautiful, long, red hair cascading down his white military uniform. Jeffrey was both his father’s concubine and Hugo’s and Noah’s mother.

“Mother!!!” Noah let go of Hugo’s waist, ran over to Jeffrey, and hugged him.

“You shouldn’t run like that, Noah.”

“I’m sorry, Mother.”

If it weren’t for his memories of this world, Asher would have questioned why a man was being addressed as “Mother,” but since he had recalled, he wasn’t in shock. The men of this world could naturally give birth to children. It was a given that it was riskier for them than normal women, and not all men were capable of conceiving. But there were far fewer women than men in this world, so same-sex marriage had been acknowledged to compensate.

“Hello, Asher. How are you feeling?” Jeffrey gently greeted him.

“…Huh…?” Asher flinched in surprise at the sudden mention of his name. He accidentally left an awkward gap of silence, so just when he was about to finally speak, he noticed that Jeffrey was frowning, looking troubled.

“What, Asher? You’re too good for us that you have to ignore Mother when he’s speaking to you?!” Hugo shouted and glared fiercely at Asher. Noah wasn’t glaring but he was scowling at Asher.

Asher tried to explain that this wasn’t his intention, but from the same door Asher entered through, the guards announced, “Her Royal Majesty Queen Angela has arrived.”

“Asher! How are you feeling?” Angela appeared in a bright red dress with her chest greatly exposed.

“M-mother… I’m fine.” Asher was relieved to see her here.

The mood in the room before was extremely uncomfortable. He knew it all too well. The déjà-vu he felt when Hugo said those stuff to him… was because he had heard those stinging words often in the past.

“Come now, Asher. Don’t just stand there. His Majesty will be arriving soon. Let’s wait in front of our seats.”

Led by the hand by Angela, Asher was taken to the seat two over from the most majestic one around the table. That majestic seat probably belonged to his father. Next to him would be Angela, and next to her would be Asher. But the other four royals scowled when they saw him stand before that seat.

“Please excuse me for asking, but does that seat not belong to Crown Prince Samuel?” Jeffrey calmly asked as he stood before the seat opposite Angela’s.

“Asher is recuperating, so should he not be allowed to sit next to his mother? What about you? You allow your little one to sit on your lap when he is unwell.”

“Your Majesty, Noah is only seven. Excuse my frankness, but is Asher not already fifteen?”

“So you’re saying that it’s fine if they’re your prince, but my Asher isn’t allowed?”

The air tensed. Angela and Jeffrey were both calm, but they were clearly glaring at each other.

“Lord Jeffrey, it’s fine. Let Asher sit there.”

It was Samuel who stopped their standoff as he stood next to Jeffrey. Seeing this, Hugo followed Samuel’s suit and stood at the seat next to Asher. Noah stood next to Samuel. Then Asher’s memories about the royal family’s seating arrangement resurfaced in his mind. The closer one sat to the king, the higher their position was. Then it zigzagged from the left of the king to the right and then downward. This meant that the queen sat to the left of the king and Jeffrey sat directly across from her. Thus, the next in line, the one to sit next to Angela would be the one holding the title of crown prince… First Prince Samuel. Asher felt himself grow pale. Angela was ignoring Samuel and making Asher sit in the crown prince’s seat!

“Mother?! I’m fine. I will sit in my own seat! …Samuel, please sit here.”

Because of his panic, Asher unintentionally raised his voice. This surprised everyone and they looked at him. Asher was embarrassed but pretended to not care. Asher was the third prince so his seat was next to his current one: the one Hugo was standing in front of. Asher was going to switch seats when Angela called out to him, “Asher, where are you going? Sit here.”

“I cannot. This is Samuel’s seat. I will sit in my own seat… U-um, Hugo, if you’d please sit—”

“Hah? What did you say?”

“Well… I am the third prince, so Hugo, your seat is…”

Asher’s body broke out into goosebumps. He knew this feeling, the mood of the room. He constantly felt this in his previous life. And he felt it surging out from Hugo.

—Disdain. Disgust.

“Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”

Asher was scared. He thought he would be punched when he felt someone grab his shoulders from behind.

“Calm down, Hugo. Asher, hurry up and sit next to Lord Jeffrey.”

Forcefully pushed, Asher staggered over as instructed by Samuel. He was confused as to why he was to sit in the seat next to Jeffrey, but that didn’t matter. His desire to get away from Hugo as soon as possible took precedence. It appeared that Angela was yelling at Samuel and Hugo, but Asher couldn’t concentrate on anything given how loudly his heart was beating. The moment Asher stood before his seat next to Jeffrey, the voice of the guards outside echoed, “His Royal Majesty King Augustine Dias has arrived.”

Author’s Note: I made up the seating arrangement and table manners. Please don’t think too deeply as this is just a fantasy world.

Translator’s Corner: I apologize for the delay. I wanted to make sure I got all the foreshadowing and details down. Yup, there’s already foreshadowing here, so grab your pens and paper, sleuths, and start taking notes!

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