RGS Volume 2 Part 5

Melmond’s wife is currently pregnant with their second child. According to Wiedel’s dreams, the point at which the whole country would go up in flames would be a few months after his wife gave birth. Since Abel’s dream was getting better and better, perhaps he had returned to make things just like in his dream. He stopped his deep thoughts and looked up, and he saw Abel working hard. In no time, he was holding Melmond’s shovel and filling the hole with the dirt he had piled up.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh? Oh, uh… I’m digging.”

“Who wouldn’t know that? If you move, someone will be terrified…”

“Oh no! Young master! Please stop right away!”

To no one’s surprise, the butler was astonished. However, Abel chuckled despite panting.

“It’s okay. Haah, haah, I’m originally good at shoveling.”

“That’s not it, but our young master is weak.”

The butler trembled and tried to stop him, but Abel shook his head and said, “What’s the big deal with this?”

“Hehe, no matter how weak my body is, I just huff, huff… it’s just a few diggings.”

Then, he collapsed just after a few diggings.

The butler ran over screaming and shouted at Melmond, who was just standing there dumbfounded.

“Why did you give a shovel to the young master?!”

“…I didn’t give it.”

Melmond appealed to injustice, but the butler only focused on Abel, who had fallen while shoveling. He familiarly took out a bottle of a different color from before and put it in Abel’s mouth. And then, he choked up again.

“Young master, a person with bad lungs shouldn’t be shoveling!”!”

Melmond couldn’t help but ask the screaming butler.

“You said his lungs are not good?”

“Yes. Of course, his heart is not good either. He also has weak bronchial tubes, so if he breathes a little cold wind, he gets a cold. Is that all? His stomach and intestines are also not good, so if he eats something wrong, he has to lie down for a few days. And his bones are weak too, so even a slight fall can cause a fracture. Moreover, his head is so bad that even if I tell him ten times, he barely understands…”

Melmond stopped him, touching his painful head with his hand.

“Wait, does that mean there is no healthy part in his body?”

Isn’t this a disappointing body just like Abel said?

When Melmond frowned, the butler stood up and pointed to the fallen fairy with his hand.

“He’s beautiful like this!”

There was no strange argument to refute.

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

A gloomy dawn arrived. Abel, looking up at the sky, still couldn’t feel the reality. He felt like he was moving in someone else’s body. Moreover, it was hard to believe that twelve years had passed. Even if he felt the cold breeze now and saw the slowly changing sky, it didn’t mean it was real. It was only yesterday that he hugged the prince and ran like crazy into the Spring of Prayer, but he has now become king.

“Can’t you sleep either?”

Abel got up from the floor at the sound coming from behind him. He looked around with his eyes to see if the butler had also come, knowing that if the butler found out, he would foam at the mouth and say something again. Fortunately, only Melmond was there to speak.

“What do you plan to do from now on?”

When he asked, Abel answered without hesitation.

“I have to meet the prince.”

Melmond looked at Abel with an expression that said, “As expected,” and pointed behind the house with his hand.

“Come here for a moment.”

The place Melmond took him to was a small forest where the body of Wiedel was buried. Melmond passed by Wiedel’s grave and entered the forest. Whether he had been here often or not, he quickly cut through the forest in the dim light of dawn and arrived at his destination. It was a small cabin. Next to the cabin was a small field made by removing trees.

Melmond took out a bunch of keys from his pocket and unlocked several locks hanging on the door. After hearing the clinking sound multiple times revealing the possibility of important items inside, the door finally opened. Melmond entered first, lit a fire inside, and gestured for Abel to come in. Abel glanced at the field next to the cabin before entering inside.

The first thing that greeted him was the strong smell of medicinal herbs. The interior was not very large, but it was filled with all sorts of things. Papers stuck to the walls, books piled on tables and the floor, bowls, and precious glassware, a large medicine cabinet standing against the wall, and dried herbs scattered on the floor.

“It’s quite messy, isn’t it?”

Although Melmond asked bluntly, he seemed embarrassed as he turned his head. Nevertheless, he began to explain.

“I had a hard time when I first started because I didn’t know much about herbs. It was difficult to find them, and even when I tried to grow them myself, they kept dying. Thanks to that, I can now grow them even if I plant rocks in the ground. Ahem, anyways…”

Realizing that he was rambling, Melmond cleared his throat in embarrassment. Then he rummaged through the drawers of the desk and took out a box he had placed from the very back. As Abel approached, he opened the box and handed him several sheets of paper. Gesturing for him to read, Abel accepted the papers with a puzzled look. However, as soon as he saw the first page, he recognized it. It was something he had seen before—the hidden records from the library.

“This is…”

When Abel raised his eyes in surprise, Melmond pointed to the back page with his hand.

“The previous librarian was trying to make an antidote for the black potion. But it seems he couldn’t complete it. However, there were still records left. It detailed the herbs used and their proportions very precisely. Although that person had difficulty since he didn’t obtain the black potion, but I was able to…”

“Obtain it? How?”

“The potion that should have been put in the prince’s food.”

Seeing Abel’s eyes widen in surprise, Melman continued his explanation.

“The prince spent six years in a place where no one was present, with the help of His Majesty. It was under the pretext of exile, but it was a deal made by the king to deliberately separate him from the King’s Heart. During those six years in seclusion, the person who served the prince assisted me. That person risked their life to give me the black potion that was supposed to be put in the prince’s food.”

“Such a remarkable person.”

“You know them too.”

Melmond couldn’t help but smile and find Abel’s growing green eyes and surprised face adorable.

“Serene.”

“……”

“A few days after you died, she came to me, crying, saying that she was the one who killed you.”

Abel quickly shook his head in confusion.

“Ah, no. She just put it in without knowing it was poison, following the orders of the record keeper.”

“Yeah, I know. Anyway, it’s fortunate. She went to be the prince’s only maid, and Ashler was also with the prince.”

“And Melmond made the antidote, right?”

As Abel quietly asked, Melmond frowned.

“I haven’t finished it yet.”

Abel realized the meaning behind Melmond’s self-blaming remarks from the previous night. He remembered Melmond saying that taking the antidote would alleviate the symptoms of poisoning and severe hallucinations, but some dullness would still remain. However, Abel still appreciated how remarkable this achievement was.

No, that’s not all. The efforts and hardships of Ashler, who had been by the prince’s side for the past 12 years, and Serene, who risked her life to obtain the black potion, are beyond imagination. Abel felt frustrated and embarrassed by his previous confusion and bewilderment about the passing time.

They had struggled hard to come this far over the years, and he felt heavy-hearted at the thought of easily joining them in the efforts they had made. He regretted whining like a child about wanting to see the prince, who must have been the one to endure the most hardship. Nevertheless, Melmond unexpectedly welcomed him with open arms.

Abel clenched his fist. If he had come back to life in someone else’s body after 12 years, there must be a reason. He must work harder and repay them more than the efforts they made in the past 12 years. As he made up his mind, Melmond’s voice murmured unexpectedly.

“But I still don’t know the ingredients.”

He lifted the papers piled up on the table.

“I’ve tried experimenting with every poison I could find in the past 12 years, but I still haven’t found out what the ingredients of that medicine are. I need to find it quickly, it would be helpful when the prince returns to the palace and confronts them.”

“Is the prince not in the palace?”

“Yeah,” Melmond replied briefly as if thinking for a moment before opening his mouth. It was the best answer he could give without causing Abel further shock.

“After ascending to the throne six years ago, he found a way to leave the King’s Heart and left the palace.”

“What way?”

“War. He has been on the battlefield for six years now. Are you okay?”

Melmond looked at Abel with concern as he turned pale. He looked like he could faint at any moment, but he managed to endure it by pressing his hand against his chest.

“To think such a kind person is on the battlefield.”

Melmond’s expression hardened at the faint murmuring that came out.

That kind person destroyed all the neighboring countries and unified the continent to become the current emperor.

He was contemplating whether he should be cruel, but Abel suddenly grabbed his arm.

“I-is he not injured? Is he healthy?”

Rather than being healthy, he is harming others’ health.

He couldn’t even say these words. Abel, unable to overcome the shock, was sitting on the floor.

“Fighting with others. Surely the prince must be in pain. Haah, haah, he is a person who even asks for permission to kill a single bug in the forest….”

Who are you talking about?

Melmond was on the verge of a heart attack. However, Abel beat him to it, letting out a small scream.

“Ugh!”

“Are you okay? This won’t do, lean on me. Let’s hurry home and take some medicine.”

“N-No…”

Abel raised his head with a grimace, his face contorted. Then, barely breathing, he grabbed Melmond with his trembling hand.

“Please take me. Haah, I will go to the prince.”

“It’s the battlefield. How can you go there when your body is like this?”

With such a weak heart like that, he might collapse as soon as he sees the prince’s change. He can’t make him die as soon as he’s reincarnated. However, Abel made a not-so-subtle threat, saying he would go alone if Melmond didn’t take him. Melmond nodded, thinking that he had to save this person first.

“Alright. I’ll take you, so calm down.”

Thud.

As soon as Abel heard the answer, he collapsed.

Melmond wasn’t surprised since he had seen him collapse several times, but his expression was gloomy. Abel believed he was a kind prince, but in reality, he had become an expressionless murderer who was now called the King of Slaughter, terrifying the entire continent. The uneasiness that the entire continent would soon be engulfed in flames, as the same in dreams of Wiedel, was precisely because of this.

The butler, who considered it the biggest mountain to overcome, agreed faster than expected. It was only after the fifth persuasion that he agreed. Abel, who had anticipated he’d need to persuade fifty more times, was taken aback and asked.

“ Are you really okay with it? The place I’m going to is a battlefield. Of course, I will make sure to keep myself safe.”

He had decided to go to the battlefield to see the prince, but for some reason, he felt like he had to get permission from the butler. So, he was prepared to ask fifty or even five hundred times,

“Yes, if that’s what you wish, I won’t stop you.”

“Wow! Thank you. I will really come back safely without any injuries.”

“However, there is a condition.”

The butler firmly cut off Abel’s grateful words, which were still unfamiliar to him. His eyes shook with shock, but soon he regained his composure and spoke in a firm voice.

“First of all, while you are alive, please never, ever reveal to anyone that you’re someone else, especially to our master and mistress. Also, please live as their son as much as possible…”

The butler turned his gaze elsewhere, as if his throat was dry, and finally managed to speak.

“Please live as our Young master.”

It wasn’t a difficult answer, but Abel nodded slowly with a serious look in his eyes.

“Yes. I will definitely do that.”