Chapter 5. Conduct

Thank you Yuki-Snack again for the ko-fi! It really is hard in the beginning to see what Asher has to go through. But as a treat, I’ll let you know that the story has a happy ending, so rest assured!

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For two days, after he woke up in this body, Asher never left his room. Needless to say, he had not attended the royal dinner since that first time, and he tried to keep all interactions with others to the bare minimum. He didn’t know what else he could do.

During those two days, the ones who visited him in his room were his mother Angela and his teacher, who watched over him since he was a child, Marquess Clarke. The two took turns visiting Asher as they were concerned about him.

The past “Asher” liked Marquess Clarke, and this man genuinely seemed worried about Asher. He told Asher, “If there’s anything I can do to be of assistance to you, please don’t hesitate to ask.” With chestnut-colored hair and a refreshing air around him, he looked younger than his actual age. Whenever Asher didn’t know what to do, his teacher would come to console and encourage him.

On the third day after he woke up in this body, Asher was once again visited by Marquess Clarke despite his busy schedule, and this made Asher a little happy. “Lord Clarke, thank you very much for coming here again despite your busy schedule.”

“It’s my pleasure. I’m simply glad that you’re feeling much better. To tell you the truth, I have nothing else to do since I’m not spending my time teaching you. But if I make you sit down for a lesson so soon after you’ve recovered, that terrifying queen will kill me, ka ka ka.” Marquess Clarke had a distinctive way of laughing. Asher wryly laughed in response and took a sip of his tea. Marquess Clarke also took a sip of his tea and continued, “But this is surprising. If I were to make this joke in the past, it would immediately put you in a terrible mood. Are you still not feeling well…? Not hearing your usual catchphrase makes me feel a bit lonely.”

“Usual catchphrase…?”

After another sip of tea, Marquess Clarke slowly placed his cup on the table and grinned at Asher. “‘How dare you insult Mother, you fraud!’ Remember, Prince Asher? Ka ka ka.” Marquess Clarke mimicked an angry Asher and Asher faked laughter at this joke. But Marquess Clarke’s hearty laugh flipped into a gentle smile. He asked, “Jokes aside, I heard that you have already fully recovered, but for what reason have you decided to coop yourself in here?”

Asher’s hand froze halfway bringing his cup to his lips.

“My previous offer still stands. I wish to be of assistance to you, Prince Asher.”

Marquess Clarke had been teaching Asher everything the prince knew since Asher was young, so his kind words brought tears to Asher’s eyes. But Asher bit his lip to hold back from crying.

“Lord Clarke… I…”

Asher began to say but he soon couldn’t speak anymore. What should he say? Who would believe the unbelievable situation he was in? No matter how much Marques Clarke educated and doted on him since he was young, he doubted his teacher would ever believe such a ridiculous story. But he wanted to cling onto someone. Thinking things over by himself for these past two days had been fruitless.

Asher tried again, “Lord Clarke, if you did something wrong and your actions led to someone being treated unfairly… what would you do?”

Even after Asher asked the question, Marquess Clarke maintained his smile.“And you deeply regret your actions… Is that what you’re asking about? In that case, ” he rubbed his chin and said, “I believe I would sincerely apologize,” easily answering Asher’s question.

“But it’s not that simple…”

“Oh, but if you think apologizing is so simple, why haven’t you done it yet?” Marquess Clarke’s smile deepened and Asher was too embarrassed to continue. Marquess Clarke nodded in satisfaction and continued to speak, “This is the first time I have ever heard you say that you regret something, Prince Asher. I’ve advised you many times before, but you never heeded… It seems that you’ve matured a little. But given your position as prince, you must not bow your head to others so easily… It is quite difficult to admit one’s own wrongdoings.”

That was right. The past “Asher” would absolutely never apologize to those beneath him because the boy truly thought that was unnecessary. He never doubted the legitimacy of his actions. Such prideful behavior hurt and cornered many people, leaving no one willing to stay with Asher. With the exception of only the man in front of him. Asher recalled how this man was concerned about Asher’s daily misdeeds and offered his honest advice each time. He would always be there to listen to Asher. But “Asher” would merely scoff at those words and paid no attention to them.

On the other side, the man Asher was in his past life would unconditionally apologize. Even when he did nothing wrong, even when he didn’t need to apologize, he would always say he was sorry. Thus, apologizing became second nature to him and he no longer questioned why. If lowering his head and saying those words could allow him to avoid all this trouble, he wanted to minimize the pain as soon as possible.

“…Oh, it’s already this late… Prince Asher, I apologize but I must take my leave soon.” Marquess Clarke softly called out to him after Asher had fallen silent, lost in his thoughts.

Asher quickly raised his head and answered, “Thank you for visiting me when you’re so busy!”

“Of course. I’m sorry for not being of greater help to resolve your issue… but, Prince Asher—” Marquess Clarke stood up from his seat, faced Asher, and softly whispered, “Think carefully about what is the right thing to do and act upon it.” Then he left the room.

Now left alone, Asher thought about what he should do moving forward. While wracking his brain, Asher recalled the words Marquess Clarke told him: “Oh, but if you think apologizing is so simple, why haven’t you done it yet?”

Because it wasn’t simple. It wasn’t an issue that apologizing could resolve. He had done the unforgivable.

But that didn’t mean he shouldn’t do anything.

“…Since nothing will change,” Asher muttered to himself.

That was when the same issue he worried about in his previous life came to mind. Things could be settled quickly if he just apologized. He lived his life to only avoid any trouble, but when mistakes were forced onto him, he stayed silent and accepted them. Because he knew that if he fought back, things would only get more troublesome.

Troublesome. Exactly. Because it was troublesome, he stayed away from others.

Then Asher loudly slapped both sides of his face. “It’s no wonder why… I was hated in my past life. I-I didn’t do anything.”

And in this life too, he made up some reason to not do anything. Despite wishing for someone to love him in his previous life, he hadn’t done anything to deserve it. Why would anyone love him? He couldn’t turn back time to redo what had already been done. But if he was going to change the future, he needed to start with himself first. With this resolve, Asher jumped straight up.

＊＊＊

Everyone in the castle was nervous to see Asher up and about after spending three days holed up in his room. His golden hair stood out against his deep blue military uniform as he cheerfully walked through the hallways. Everyone’s heart was caught at the first sight of this angel, but then they immediately recalled how he really was a devil.

“Why is he walking around without any escorts?”

“All the big names got their own hallways, so what’s he doing here?”

“Everything’s been so peaceful recently. I’ll go crazy if he starts something up again.”

These muttered comments didn’t reach the ear of their malice’s target, but they definitely traveled through the air and it didn’t take long for them to reach Black Knight Theodore.

A soldier reported, “The soldiers are terrified and the beastfolk soldiers cannot go outside now.”

“…I got it. I’ll go.” Theodore finished organizing the documents in his hands and put on his black mantle. The lack of small issues these past few days was due to the inactivity from that problematic prince. But everything would be ruined once that one starts problems again. His face remained expressionless, but Theodore was annoyed.

“What business do you have here, Your Highness?” Theodore said after spotting Asher.

On the other side, Asher found the one he was looking for and called out to Theodore. “Theodore! Thank goodness I found you.”

The corner of Theodore’s eyebrows lowered, but as Asher ran up to him, Theodore looked shocked for a moment. With the bandages on his head removed, Asher’s shining golden hair looked even more beautiful as it fluttered.

“Um… I don’t know the location… so I was hoping you could help me… Can you take me there?” Asher asked.

“As you wish. Where would you like to go?”

“…I want you to take me to where the tortured soldiers are.”

Theodore didn’t respond to Asher’s query for several seconds. His black eyes merely stared at Asher. Then he finally said, “And what business do you have with them? The soldiers have been punished enough.”

“Of course I’m not going to punish them anymore!” Asher didn’t realize he shouted in such a loud voice. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand before saying timidly, “I just…want to go visit them.”

Theodore’s expression remained unchanged in spite of Asher’s reaction. Only his eyebrows faintly moved. “Visit… you say?

“They got gravely injured because of me, so for me to not do anything… is just wrong. That’s why I—”

“Excuse me for being presumptuous, but for Your Highness to meet with the soldiers is—”

“I know I’ll be a bother if I suddenly visit them… but I have to go see them no matter what… Please.”

Asher stared straight at Theodore with his almost transparent, beautiful blue eyes. Theodore couldn’t figure out what the prince was thinking from his eyes. In the past, Theodore could spot a malicious light glittering inside, but there wasn’t any now.

“The soldiers have been weakened as is. I cannot allow you to stress them any further.”

“B-but…”

“Come on now. Don’t be like that, Lewis.”

Asher turned around to face this new voice. There, he saw a brown-haired knight wearing the same black military uniform as Theodore. The man knelt before Asher and took the prince’s hand.

“It is wonderful to see that you’ve recovered, Prince Asher. You are as beautiful as a gift sent from the heavens today as well…” Without waiting for any consent, he kissed Asher’s hand and wouldn’t let go. The smacking sounds from the man’s lips as he continued to kiss echoed. “…Hm? Huh? You are not slapping me today? If you do not stop me, I shall kiss the entirety of your hand.”

“W-whoaaa!!!!”

Asher was frozen in disbelief, but his body soon broke entirely into goosebumps and he desperately shook off the man’s hand.

“Your voice is as beautiful as a songbird. Oh, how blessed I would be to wake up hearing that voice whispering to me by my pillow… Instead of asking that antisocial man, why don’t I, Ward Braun, lead the way, Prince Asher?”

Ward Braun—a man who held the title of Black Knight like Theodore. There were endless rumors among the ladies and gentlemen in high society about this handsome and flirtatious knight. The past “Asher” disliked this man though as he felt that his body would be in danger around this man in all meanings of the word, and it was still the same now.

“Braun, stop with your antics,” Theodore said.

“We knights must fulfill the wishes of Prince Asher. Besides…” Ward said before drawing close to Theodore whispering into his ear so Asher couldn’t hear, “It’s fine if it’s us. It’ll be worse if we leave this matter to rankless soldiers and he gets angry at them.”

Theodore glared at Ward, but it had no effect on Ward as he raised an eyebrow and winked.

“This way, Prince Asher.”

Asher was a bit flustered by the graceful way Ward guided him, but he followed. Theodore followed the two a few steps behind.

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