SLDS 79

“The two of us cannot be absent at the same time.”

Alexis flatly rejected Cecil’s request, telling him to fulfill his duty as a royal. Instead, he lightly patted the back of Cecil’s hand.

“I know what you are worried about, but there will be no problem.”

“Please be careful. As I told you, the Princess is…”

“Surely you don’t think I would mess things up?”

Alexis asked back, his lips drawing into a long smile. His condescending eyes and charming smile combined to reveal the Crown Prince’s unique superiority. He would show an unwavering front no matter what problem he faced. That was also one of the reasons Cecil had fallen for Alexis.

“Wait here quietly.”

Alexis pressed Cecil’s shoulder gently and then abruptly left. Left behind, Cecil corrected his crooked posture and tried to once again fulfill his royal duties.

“……”

But worries like that do not disappear so easily. Cecil leaned loosely against the chair, his mind racing. He had long given up on eating, and whenever someone approached to speak with him, he would mostly let their words go in one ear and out the other.

The way he was chewing his lip made it obvious to anyone that his mind was elsewhere. Feeling anxious, Cecil eventually decided to ignore Alexis’s request and make a move. He was just pulling his chair back and about to stand up.

“Cecil!”

Only after hearing Alexis’s call did he turn his head.

Before he could even acknowledge him, he was pulled to his feet and staggered for a moment. Alexis held Cecil tightly and examined him from head to toe.

His sweat-soaked hair was a disheveled mess, and his shirt was utterly untidy. A few buttons were missing, offering a glimpse into how fierce the struggle had been.

Cecil took a few deep breaths and slowly lifted his head. He noticed that Alexis’s gaze was on his lips. He hurriedly covered his mouth with the back of his hand. The corner of his mouth, which had been hit during the fight, stung as if it had been slightly torn.

“…Your Highness.”

Cecil called out to Alexis cautiously. To anyone looking, Alexis’s face was on the verge of exploding with anger. The grip on his shoulder was so strong it ached, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it hurt.

“Ugh, damn it! Call a doctor right now.”

Killian lay sprawled on the floor, shouting at the top of his lungs. He was making a fuss as if he were about to die, when only one of his shoulders was dislocated.

Alexis’s blue eyes stared at Killian’s disgraceful display. He slowly turned and approached the spot where the Prince of Khazarjan was lying.

“Do you need help?”

“Can’t you tell by looking? It hurts like hell!”

“Let me take a quick look.”

Alexis stepped on Killian’s chest with his shoe. It was a disrespectful act, but it was also a preparatory step to pop the dislocated shoulder joint back into place. He then gently shook Killian’s arm and came to an absurd conclusion.

“It seems your arm is broken.”

“What are you doing…!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Alexis twisted Killian’s arm.

Stepping on his chest, he applied a burst of force, and with a sickening crack, the shoulder joint was completely wrenched. A terrible scream erupted at the same time.

Seeing this, a horrified Cecil shouted.

“Your Highness!”

But Alexis looked as composed as if he had just finished his task. He merely looked down impassively at Killian, who was groaning in pain. Not a hint of guilt was present in his cold eyes.

“You should see a royal physician quickly.”

“Aargh!! You crazy bastard!!”

“You would be wise to watch your mouth.”

“Do you even know who I am?! How dare you do this to me!”

“Shut your mouth and stay down. You should be grateful I ended it at this.”

Alexis threw out a curt warning and turned away. While the attendants were busy cleaning up the sudden mess, he tended to Cecil first.

In that short time, the color had completely drained from Cecil’s face, leaving him pale. He seemed to be very shocked by the punishment Alexis had just meted out before his eyes.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I… am fine.”

“As if you’re fine.”

Alexis clicked his tongue and gently stroked the corner of Cecil’s mouth with his thumb. Of all places, his face had been injured.

“You fought quite fiercely. You put your self-defense skills to good use.”

“That is… my body just moved on its own.”

“You did well.”

Alexis pulled Cecil into an embrace, holding him captive. The thumping of his heart was transmitted through their touching chests. Though he wasn’t showing it, Cecil was still so shaken that his body was trembling.

Feeling a pang of pity, he hugged Cecil even tighter.

“You don’t need to worry. I am more at fault than you are. I will be the one to receive the reprimand.”

“Did you break his arm on purpose? Why, after you made a promise with me…”

“Well, I suppose it was fated to happen this way. Even if problems arise, we just have to deal with them.”

“……”

Despite the affectionate voice, Cecil could not erase his worries. He only felt bitter that fate had ultimately unfolded as it was meant to.

The siblings from Khazarjan left the Empire that very night. A short time later, an official letter bearing the seal of the Khazarjan royal family arrived.

As expected, the letter mentioned Crown Prince Alexis’s rude and violent behavior, and it stated that they would sever all exchange with the Empire until he came to Khazarjan and sincerely apologized.

The Emperor was greatly angered by Alexis’s actions and went so far as to shift all responsibility onto him.

Of course, Alexis had no intention of acting as Khazarjan wished. He would rather their exchange be cut off; bowing his head before Killian was an impossibility.

Thanks to this, he was spending his days busy trying to manage the currently unstable political situation. His daily routine primarily consisted of being cooped up in his office, holding one strategy meeting after another.

“Salt is the biggest problem. In just three more months, the supply circulating within the Empire will hit bottom.”

Alexis put down the document he was reading and let out a long sigh. The amount of salt they had been importing from Khazarjan far exceeded his expectations.

The finance minister, who was also at the conference table, offered his opinion.

“Even if we secure the maximum volume from other countries, there will be a gap of several months.”

“How much is stockpiled in the royal warehouses?”

To check the records, the finance minister diligently searched through a book. Before long, a sound of puzzlement, “Huh?,” escaped his lips.

“What is it?”

“The salt… there is plenty. At this rate, we can last for half a year without any problem.”

Alexis stood up and checked the records himself. He, too, was quite surprised to see the written numbers. The amount of salt was not just plentiful; it was overflowing.

“How could it increase like this so suddenly? Does anyone know anything? I believe an explanation is needed.”

At that, the chief aide, Tristan, cautiously relayed what he knew.

“I am aware that Mr. Cecil greatly increased the amount of salt and spices imported from Khazarjan.”

“…Cecil did? Since when?”

“As far as I know, it must have been about a year ago. The majority of opinions were against it, but he stubbornly pushed his will through. Since salt is something that does not spoil even when stored, he ultimately got his way, but at the time, there was much criticism, calling it wasteful and so on.”

Alexis rubbed his chin and thought silently. A year ago was when Cecil had just been appointed as the strategist.

For the first thing he did upon gaining the authority to intervene in domestic affairs to be stockpiling salt… it was an action that an ordinary person would not understand.

But what if Cecil knew that there would be a salt shortage in the future? The pieces fit together.

Alexis grew more and more certain. His heart was pounding so hard that even his palms tingled. He opened and clenched his fists several times before finally shooting up from his seat.

“Continue the meeting. I will be out for a moment.”

He immediately headed for the Peridot Palace. Everyone knew that Cecil had been cooped up solely in the Peridot Palace recently. Sure enough, he was holed up in the study right now as well.

“We need to talk for a moment.”

When Alexis burst through the door, Cecil hastily messed up the papers on his desk. His startled eyes glared at the attendants. It was a look of rebuke, asking why they hadn’t stopped him.

“What’s going to change by glaring at them?”

“What is this all of a sudden?”

Cecil’s reply was blunt. If Alexis had been too busy to catch his breath lately, Cecil’s nerves had been constantly on edge.

Knowing what was going to happen in the future created a greater mental burden than he had expected. All the more so if that future was heading in a bad direction.

Alexis walked to the front of the desk and swept aside the scattered papers with his hand.

Underneath everything was a book written in a language of unknown meaning, and the papers next to it were also filled with scribbles. The ink was not even dry, proving that he had been scribbling just moments before.

Alexis carefully examined the characters written on the paper. The jumbled letters were of a language he could not identify.

“What is this?”

“It’s nothing meaningful. I was just scribbling out of boredom.”

Cecil hastily closed the book and crumpled up the open paper, throwing it under the desk. He could not let Alexis take any more interest in his code.

He deliberately walked out from behind the desk. He had to divert his gaze, even if it meant using his own body as a shield.

“What is it you wanted to talk about?”

“……”

Alexis looked down silently at Cecil, who was reacting as if he were covered in thorns. He meticulously observed even the smallest change in his expression, as if trying to uncover Cecil’s lie.

“I’ll ask you straight. Did you know that Khazarjan would cut off its exchange with us?”

“I predicted it.”

“You started stockpiling salt a year ago. You were predicting it since then?”

“I am naturally a worrier. There’s no harm in being prepared, is there?”

Cecil answered as smoothly as flowing water. He had anticipated that Alexis would question him. He had already prepared an answer for it.

At that, Alexis narrowed his eyes. He, too, knew that Cecil would not admit it so readily.

“Fine, then let’s change the question. Telling Johannes the date of his death in advance.”

“……”

“Was that also your prediction?”