NOVEL WEB “Are you really going to do this, Sister?”
“Yes, I really will.”
The Third Prince Edric felt frustrated. He wasn’t making an unreasonable request; he was just asking for some illustrations.
He had no idea his sister would refuse so flatly.
“I’m not asking for the whole book; I just want some of the included illustrations, right?”
“You really don’t get it, do you? If I wanted to share illustrations, I would have bought the hardcover edition. Who buys a limited edition just to share?”
Edric was left speechless by the sharp remark from the Princess. He couldn’t argue back as he realized how ignorant he had been.
“What? The limited edition comes with illustrations personally drawn by the author!”
Upon hearing the news about the limited edition of ‘Kingdom of Ice’, Edric thought he absolutely had to get his hands on it.
The special illustrations drawn exclusively for the limited edition certainly wouldn’t miss featuring Elza, and they would be done by the author’s skilled hand.
“Elza, just wait a bit; I’ll get to see you soon.”
Since seeing the comic, Edric couldn’t get the thoughts of Elza out of his mind, and this was an opportunity he couldn’t afford to miss.
But he mistakenly thought, “Fifty copies should be more than enough, right?”
He sent an attendant early on the day of the limited edition sales to buy the book, only to be shocked to hear that the waiting number had already surpassed 200.
He couldn’t believe it; he had sent his attendant at dawn thinking they’d have time, but apparently, they were far too late.
But there was still hope.
His sister Ioleen had come to him, saying she successfully bought the limited edition.
But she looked like she had no intention of sharing any illustrations.
Usually, she had little desire for material things and willingly shared her possessions with her younger brother, so he had thought this time would be no different.
That was a colossal misunderstanding.
“I sent my personal attendant two days ago to get a limited edition with a single-digit number.”
Looking at Ioleen, who smugly showcased her limited edition as if to tease him, he felt anger bubbling inside.
The limited edition book was stamped with the number No. 7.
For a custom version, he could have just instructed them to make one for the royal family, but this limited edition was numbered up to 50 and sold on-site.
Being a royal meant he had no other choice but to buy it himself.
“Damn it, why did the author choose to limit it to just 50 copies? They should have sold a few hundred instead!”
Upon hearing Edric’s furious outburst, Princess Ioleen Bell thought to herself,
‘If they had, you wouldn’t be yearning for it so desperately right now.’
Ioleen knew exactly how competitive it was to get these fairy tale books since she had been buying them for a while. Especially when she heard they were switching to a first-come, first-served basis for fairness, she had prepared thoroughly and managed to buy the limited edition.
Without even glancing back at her sulking brother, Ioleen resumed savoring the limited edition of ‘Kingdom of Ice’.
While fairy tale books were nice, this comic was much more to her taste.
The visuals made everything instantly engaging, and it was refreshing to see.
‘What will they create next?’
As her anticipation for the next work grew, she immediately wanted to call Rupert to discuss this comic and its sequel.
However,
‘No! No more! Princess, please!!!’
Calling a young nobleman who wasn’t even married would only spread dreadful rumors, so the head attendant Aiden staunchly opposed her plans.
So, Ioleen reluctantly set aside her disappointment and returned to her book when her departing brother suddenly turned around to talk.
“Oh, by the way, I heard our eldest brother went to the Imperial Palace this morning. Do you know why?”
Her brother? Ioleen thought back to see if anything had been happening lately, but couldn’t recall any significant events related to the Crown Prince.
However,
“Since he went to the palace, he might be upset for a while. Be careful for now.”
At Ioleen’s words, Edric silently nodded and exited the room.
*
“Don’t you feel any shame? Your sister Ioleen has achieved great success in her project to eradicate illiteracy among the Empire’s citizens.”
Isn’t this the sort of thing you, as Crown Prince, should be doing?
Feeling the emperor’s pitiful gaze and frustrated tone, Crown Prince Alex could only lower his head and remain silent.
At first, anger bubbled up inside him.
“If Ioleen isn’t even going to inherit the throne, then she should just stay out of things! Why does she keep creating problems that make me look like an idiot?”
Their father, the Emperor, knew well that he was not fit for the throne, so why put him in the position of Crown Prince and keep saying he could do well?
Who really wanted to be born as a Crown Prince? He felt like going insane, wishing he could escape this position dozens of times a day.
Today, he believed that his sister’s project was specifically targeting him, so he tried to complain to their father about the illiteracy eradication initiative but ended up getting scolded instead.
Now, resignation was all that remained.
Even the feeling of anger only wells up when there’s something to burn.
Crown Prince Alex now found himself feeling nothing when being reprimanded.
He could only lower his head and repeat in a parrot-like manner, “I’m sorry.”
“Ha… It seems the burden is too heavy for you. Why don’t you take some time to cool your head and go inspect the damage recovery efforts in the regions?”
“…Understood. I shall take my leave.”
With a respectful bow before his father, who was pressing his temples as if suffering from a headache, Alex stepped out.
He thought he had no anger left to burn, but facing his father’s pitying gaze again left him feeling weighed down.
It was obvious to him that his sister had created this project to make him look bad.
Why was it that everyone around him—even their father—failed to see how significant this initiative was?
A name floated through the Crown Prince’s mind.
The person who had responded to his letter, which he had sent out with a warning to save face.
“Rupert Somerset.”
He had replied in a formal manner, but the content was rude, suggesting that if he had complaints, he should take them up with the Princess.
Alex had found his target for frustration.
“Oh, I’ll definitely find out how great that comic book really is by meeting the person who created it,” he thought.
That poor fellow was certainly unlucky to be stuck with someone like him, but it was of his own making, so blaming anyone would be pointless.
“Hey, I have a place to visit soon.”
“Your command, Crown Prince.”
“Under the Emperor’s orders, I’ll be touring the provinces. I’ll start with the southern region.”
“Your wishes shall be prepared accordingly.”
As the Crown Prince imagined the arrogant creator’s face twisting in confusion, he felt a little better.
*
“Damn it, what bad luck to run into a burrowing snake!”
Dwarf Kroon was indignant.
How unfortunate to come across a burrowing snake, as rare as a dragon, while mining in the western mountainous region!
His fellow dwarf miners had already fled in every direction from the mine.
Kroon, too, found himself dashing out of the mine to escape the burrowing snake, continuing to run wildly to evade its vibrations.
“Where on earth am I?”
A dwarf can easily find their way underground, but it was uniquely difficult to maintain a sense of direction above ground.
The west was completely mountainous, and he didn’t even know which mountain housed the mine they were working in, so he wandered aimlessly until he was completely exhausted.
“My legs hurt, and I’m thirsty; I could really go for a pint of black ale right about now.”
It was also an issue that the burrowing snake had grazed his thigh with its attack. Even if he sat still, blood was flowing from the wound, and running around crazily had opened it up further, causing a good amount of blood loss.
The combination of the thigh injury, thirst, and hunger made it hard for even a strong dwarf to maintain their composure.
“Oh…no, I can’t collapse here.”
The underground was the domain of dwarves, but the surface was the territory of other races.
If he ran into a monster, he would become a meal, and if he tripped up and encountered a goblin, they’d check to see if he was dead and if not, finish him off themselves.
“Humans? They’re the most dangerous of all.”
Among surface races, humans boasted the largest population.
They were the very ones who had once kidnapped dwarves to use as slaves.
Dying would be better than being dragged off as a slave to make weapons; that was a nightmarish thought.
Fortunately, since the species war, laws prohibiting the enslavement of other races have been established, so these days, things haven’t been too chaotic. However, the distrust and grudge against humans still ran deep.
“Damn, is this it for me?”
His vision began to spin. Weakness progressively drained away his strength, making it hard to even stand.
“Oh! It’s the Seven Dwarfs!!!”
The last voice he heard before losing consciousness.
It sounded like a child’s voice, and when he turned to look, he saw a human girl beaming at him.
“No… no, humans…”
But that was all Kroon’s consciousness could grasp.
*
Amelia recently developed a new hobby of sitting on the terrace, reading whenever she found some spare time.
Of course, all the books she read were works of a single author.
“The Kingdom of Ice.”
This was the latest book she was reading. This fascinating book, called a comic book, was filled with illustrations by the Rupert she adored.
Yet, every time Amelia read this book, her head became muddled.
‘Why do all the stories seem to point to me?’
She felt as though she could sense Rupert’s feelings through this story.
The protagonist sister, Elza, who relinquished the throne of the kingdom to her younger sibling and stepped down.
It eerily resembled Amelia and her younger sister, Evelyn, of the Bluewell family.
It felt as if Elza was saying to throw off the heavy shackles of the Duke’s house and join her, though that thought made her realize it was just wishful thinking.
Amelia envied Elza, who seemed to soar freely through the pages of the comic.
She felt she couldn’t do as Elza did.
Her sister, Evelyn, was only five years old now, and she couldn’t burden such a young girl with the heavy weight of the Duke’s house.
Suddenly, she remembered their encounter at the last banquet.
Rupert, greeting her with a bright smile.
The cold facade she had known seemed surprisingly warm with that smile, leaving her to wonder: Was that smile just for her?
“Ah, the Academy… If only it could solely be there.”
She knew she was entangled in endless emotions, but still, her time at the Academy was her final taste of freedom.
Could she share her feelings with him, even if only then?
She recalled that Rupert would also enter the Academy, and her heart fluttered again.
It was winter.
*
“Achoo!”
It was winter, freezing cold, and he had been holed up in his workshop without venturing outside—had she caught a cold?
A sudden sneeze escaped him.
“Ah, even I can see I really drew well.”
Any worries about his cold vanished momentarily. Satisfaction washed over him as he gazed at the completed patterns.
While pondering how to improve the unimpressive alchemical sigil, he found the perfect runes in the basic magic book that Aida had brought.
Mixing some runes into the dull sigil transformed it into a pattern that anyone would find appealing.
Of course, as an absolute novice who didn’t know a thing, his rough attempt at making it look cool wouldn’t yield any practical effect, but what mattered was its appearance.
Furthermore, with both the alchemical sigil and runes combined suitably, even an expert should find it fairly convincing at first glance.
“Now, if I just draw a few characters and set up the background, I could start working right away!”
Excitement bubbled up at the thought of creating a new project based on alchemy, but an undercurrent of fear also lingered.
If he just replicated the comic that inspired him, it would be one thing.
But would his reimagined version based on his pitiful memory even become popular in this world?
Moreover, while his previous works had all been completed in one volume, this project wouldn’t wrap up in just one.
It would be the first series work.
He could do nothing but push down his worries and anxieties while he continued his work.