"oh ? Exchanging secrets, are we ? Fine! I will play along with you" she said.
"Good" I nodded
"But...You still haven't truly answered the core of my question." She hovered closer, her glowing eyes fixing on mine.
"What question ?" I asked, pretending to be clueless.
"You told me how you want to live, but not why you're doing all this. Why do you wish for power so desperately ?"
I paused, the bucket of water at my feet reflecting the dying moonlight. I thought about how should i phrase it—how to translate the exhaustion of a corporate slave who was tired of being of working into the language of a Prince of a fantasy world.
"...It's nothing grand," I said, my voice steady. "I just want to see what it looks like at the top."
"The top?" Aqua tilted her head, her expression unreadable
"Yes, you see..." I started telling her about my goal and the motivation behind it.
Of course, I didn't tell her anything about Nick or earth. I told her everything from a prince's point of view.
"I see, You don't want to be a hero, and neither do you want to be a tyrant. You just want to be a Rogue King.."
I frowned. "Rogue King? I'm not interested in being a thug, you know. I have a reputation to maintain too, you know."
"Who said anything about being a thug?" She giggled, flying around my head.
"Doesn't 'Rogue' mean thug ?"
"Do they not teach language to Princes in this human palace? A 'Rogue' is a being who exists outside the concept of restriction. Someone who does exactly what he wants, when he wants, and treats the 'rules' as mere suggestions for the weak. Is that not exactly what you just described?"
I let the words sink in. Rogue King huh... Not gonna lie, It kind of sounded cool.
"...I see," I whispered, a slow, smirk spreading across my face. "Then yes. That's exactly what I want to be."
It wasn't about being a criminal, it was about being an exception. It was about having the power to say 'No' to an entire world and having the strength to back it up.
Rogue King... Huh. The more i think about it the more i see a cool ring to it.
After a little more bickering and mana training, i finally entered the mana exhaustion state due to my constant training.
And I went to sleep.
"Good night," I murmured, the words heavy with sleep.
"Good night to you too, Rogue King," Aqua replied, her voice a soft ripple in the air before she dematerialized and returned to her world, her kingdom.
Tomorrow is a special day. A day that comes only once in a decade.
The next day,
The sun rose over the capital, painting the spires of the Regulus Empire Royal Castle in shades of pale gold and white. The sweet scent of Flowers could be smelled and Chirping of bird couple could also be heard.
By the time the bells tolled, Mother and I were standing at the gates of the Arbutus Palace. We were a picture-perfect example of royal perfection—Mother in her white flowing silk and me in the high-collared, white silver-threaded robes of the Third Prince.
We were waiting for Mike to bring the carriage. Our destination? The Rite of the Royal Vow.
The day of Grand new year celebration is fully packed for a royal. Both the day and the night.
While the night is reserved for the glamour of the Grand Ball, the day is dedicated to the Vow—a grueling ceremony where the King reaffirms his pact with his land and the goddess.
Even though this is a ceremony where the King is the Ultimate center of attention and not the Royal Family itself, some ancestor of mine just decided on their own, that all of the Royal Family has to be present in this.
Why did you decide that, gramps ? could you not be considerate of your introvert descendant ? Just a tiny bit ?
While i was busy cursing my ancestors, After a bit of time, the carriage finally arrived for us.
And we left for the central palace without much waiting. After a few minutes we reached the central palace.
There were only two royal members present. And a lot of knight soldiers were present there as well, standing at a distance with several Luxurious Royal carriages. Each and every one of those carriage were crafted with the finest material by the finest artisans of Regulus Empire.
And no need to mention, But Each one of them were top notch in terms of both security and looks.
Yes, Magic Runes for security were engraved on each of these carriages by some really skilled Angel Runers, commissioned by the royal family.
The two Royal members who were present were none other than the first queen and her Son, The first prince.
As I would expect, They didn't greet us or show any reaction to our presence.
We didn't greet them either. We didn't bow. We didn't wave. We just stayed standing on the opposite side of them, waiting for the others to arrive.
A few minutes Later, another carriage arrived at the site.
It was none other than the second queen and her two children.
And as usual They didn't greet us either.
It was normal for the first queen to not greet us. She was like that from as far as I can remember.
She was not a woman of much talking. In fact, I can count on my one hand, how many time I have heard her voice in the past eight years.
But, the second queen used to be different. Yes, 'used to be' but not anymore.
Whether it was for asserting her dominance as a higher rank queen or to just keep a superficial close relation or do some 'check-in' on us, she would at least talk to us sometimes.
But ever since that fateful dinner night she has stopped talking to us completely.
Maybe it's because of that.... Yeah, even an idiot could tell. Good job! Me.
Yes, she obviously knew that I asked for something to the king.
But the real question is, does she know what it was ?
Does she know what I even got from the king ?
Did my request even got accepted to begin with ?
Does she know about my training and royal lessons ?
If she does, did she take any counter measures ? If yes, then what are those ?
Complain to her family ? Start her children's royal lessons as well ?
I doubt that. I doubt she has done any of that.