Chapter 20. The Queen’s Consideration

Translator: AdCaelum

Editor: meli

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When Asher returned to his room, a frowning Angela greeted him by yelling, “Asher! How could you sneak out by yourself without telling the soldiers?! The outside is dangerous, but that doesn’t mean inside the castle is safe either!”

“M-mother!” Asher stuttered.

“What would those abominable individuals who side with the crown prince do if they were to find you alone? It’s obvious that they colluded with the beastfolk bandits.”

“Y-you’re reading too deeply into it, Mother. Prince Samuel wouldn’t do anything like that to me.”

“What ridiculousness are you even saying, Asher? What is the matter with you? You’ve been acting weird ever since you recovered from your injury…” Angela cupped Asher’s face and worriedly looked at him. “You two,” she ordered Marquess Clarke and Ward, who were silently watching, “leave us. I want to be alone with Asher.”

“As you wish.” The two bowed and departed, leaving Asher alone in the room with Angela. Asher instantly became despondent.

Angela tightly hugged him and pleaded, “Oh, my adorable Asher, please stop making me worry…”

“Mother… I just…”

Angela was already extremely overprotective of Asher, but the beastfolk bandit attack only increased her vigilance, troubling Asher. She said, “Duchess Bell heard a rumor that you’ve been initiating conversation with the soldiers.”

“I was just greeting them…”

“I only allowed you out of your room because I trusted you… but you must stop behaving in a manner unbefitting royalty, especially a prince who has a right to the throne! What were you thinking? I heard that some fools hoping to quickly rise in the ranks have been acting casual with you. What if one of them is part of the crown prince’s faction and k-kills you—?!”

“Mother, please calm down!” Asher grabbed both of Angela’s hands and pleaded with his eyes, preventing his mother from continuing. “Ward also warned me… I didn’t think thoroughly… I’m sorry. But I didn’t mean to worry you and I will never do it again.”

“You’re all I have, Asher…”

“I won’t do anything alone anymore, Mother. I promise you.”

Asher’s reassuring tone put Angela slightly at ease. She slowly exhaled, gently stroked Asher’s cheek, and said, “Marquess Clarke has also returned. Why don’t I have some tea prepared while we have a little chat?”

“Yes, Mother.”

Asher had Angela sit in the chair at the center of the room before he invited Marquess Clarke back inside. While he stuck his head out to call in Marquess Clarke, he happened to meet Ward’s gaze, but he quickly turned away and asked a nearby maid to prepare some tea.

“I’m sorry for the trouble even though you’ve just returned, Marquess Clarke,” Angela said.

“It was my pleasure, Queen Angela.”

“Have you resolved the issue on your land?”

“Yes, it was a trivial problem. Nothing you need to be concerned about,” Marquess Clarke answered with a smile and brought the cup to his lips. “Oh, right, I brought Prince Asher’s favorite tea from my land, so let’s drink that during our next lesson.”

“Yes, thank you very much,” Asher said.

“But what really happened to you, Prince Asher? You’ve been somewhat strange since you woke up from your fall,” Marquess Clarke said.

“You think so too, Marquess Clarke?” Angela added.

The two adults looked inquisitively at Asher. Asher was unable to endure their gazes, but as he couldn’t exactly run away, he took a deep breath and said, “It’s not something that the two of you need to be worried about. I just… had a change of heart.”

“Change of heart? What kind of change, Asher?” Angela asked.

Theodore had asked Asher the same question before, but gave no response to his answer. And Asher himself had been baffled by the sudden question and just barely managed to scrambled together a confusing answer. 

Asher considered explaining that he had suddenly awoken with no memories, and although he was slowly recalling his past, the memories didn’t feel like his. But, that was hardly an answer. He couldn’t understand it himself, so putting it in words was impossible.

But that was why he told himself that the next time someone asked him, he would tell them what kind of person he was now.

“After I fell off the horse, I… continued to sleep. And during that time, I bore witness to someone else’s pain… and their sadness.” Asher put down his cup with a small clink and stared at his reflection in his tea. As he stared, his reflection on the liquid’s surface rippled, and for a moment, it looked like someone else. It was the face of a tired, depressed man—his past self. Asher continued, “I learned how agonizingly painful someone’s life can become when they’re forced to listen to heartless words and have unreasonable violence thrown at them.”

Asher closed his eyes. All his classmates had looked at him with cold eyes and denied everything about him, from his looks to his academics. His presence soured moods, so there were times when he would be suddenly punched out of nowhere when attending class. He went to bed, shivering and in tears, scared of what tortures would await him the next day. Every morning, scared eyes looked back at him from inside the mirror.

But in this world, it wasn’t a mirror that reflected scared eyes back at him. It was reflected in the eyes of the people around Asher. Whether human or beastfolk, they were all afraid of him.

Asher explained, “I think my past self didn’t consider…what it feels like to be oppressed.” In truth, Asher didn’t see this in a dream. He had experienced the oppression firsthand, the hateful words spat at him, the pain from unreasonable violence. “It doesn’t matter if they’re beastfolk or not. I don’t want to abuse or repress others anymore. I want to be nice to everyone.” Back then, his only wish was that someone—he didn’t care who—would treat him kindly.

The sound of clapping brought Asher out of his thoughts. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Angela doing it. She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“How wonderful. You are kind-hearted, indeed. But, I wish you would use the correct wording,” she said.

“Correct wording?” Asher asked.

“Yes, since you made it sound like, up until now, you’ve been oppressing people.”

“But it’s true. I had innocent people severely punished. Moreover, I discriminated against the beastfolk soldiers—”

“What are you saying? They were dealt the appropriate punishment for what they’ve done. Why would you call that discrimination? Besides, there’s no need for you to concern yourself with those savage beastfolk—”

It was then when Marquess Clarke loudly cackled, interrupting her. He said, “Please calm down, Queen Angela. Prince Asher is simply tired. He just finished personally treating the wounds of some beastfolk soldiers.”

“Asher did that?!” Angela shouted.

“Mother, I—” Asher was about to explain when Marquess Clarke gestured to get his attention. Asher noticed this, stopped what he was going to say, and shut his mouth, puzzled by Marquess Clarke’s behavior.

“Queen Angela, I think what he’s doing is commendable. Other soldiers have even begun to idolize him for his kindness…” Marquess Clarke said.

“But…” Angela tried to argue.

“Please take into account all factors. Besides, this turned out for the better when you consider how people previously viewed the prince…”

Angela weighed Marquess Clarke’s words, lowered her gaze for the moment, and went quiet. Then, she slowly looked back at Asher and told him, “There’s one thing I would like you to keep in mind, Asher. I still believe what you said before was wonderful. However, I cannot understand what possible merit you could gain from being kind to worthless commoners.”

“Merit…?” Asher asked.

“Being nice to others is pointless and foolish,” Angela said and stood up, so Marquess Clarke and Asher followed suit. Angela picked up the hem of her dress and quickly walked to the door. She stopped one step in front of the door, turned around, and said, “However, no matter what you think, Asher, a mother has things a mother must consider.” And just like that, Angela left the room, slamming the door closed behind her.

“…” Asher was speechless.

“Prince Asher, it is fine. Queen Angela is merely puzzled by your sudden change. Naturally, so am I,” Marquess Clarke said and sat back down. “Everyone seems to be busy preparing for the upcoming celebration of your 16th birthday.”

“My birthday…” Asher quietly muttered, sat down as well, and looked at Marquess Clarke.

“Queen Angela is worried since you haven’t appeared happy since you recovered from your fall. I have not heard the details while I was away, but you do seem to have changed… Well, I guess you have just explained the reason behind it.”

“Lord Clarke… do you also think I’m wrong? But when I moping by myself, you…”

“I sensed that you were regretting something. So, when you asked for advice, I gave you my advice to honestly apologize.” Asher slowly nodded and stared at Marquess Clarke. Marquess Clarke gave his usual loud and hearty laugh. “But I truly didn’t think you really would go this far! I never imagined that you would apologize to those detestable beastfolk. I applaud your maturity.”

Marquess Clarke was smiling, but Asher felt a coldness behind those eyes. However, it was only a momentary flash, leaving Asher wondering if he’d imagined it. Asher smiled back and slowly finished his remaining tea.

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TL: Can we get a big group hug for Asher? And a rolled-up newspaper to shoo everyone else (though I see a lot of y’all calling Ward creepy xD )?

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