I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel
Chapter 2

Purging the Weeds I

“Over here. Check this magic lamp for me.”

“Only the core seems damaged. How’d they manage that? What in the world happened last night?”

“Don’t you know? People are keeping quiet, but I heard...”

The palace was buzzing with activity as the signs of the previous night’s attack were being erased.

“......”

Unlike the attendants, who were bustling about, Fredo the old knight stood silently, gazing at the door.

His liege, Prince Sion, was beyond that door.

After the mysterious attack, the prince had gone into his chambers and hadn’t shown himself since. It was now almost evening of the next day.

“Your Highness...” Fredo muttered.

The events of the previous night came back to him: the sword that had stopped in midair and the assassins whose heads had detonated like bombs.

Then there had been Prince Sion, who’d looked on with peaceful eyes.

Fredo had served the prince ever since his birth, but the sight of him had been so strange. It had given even the old knight the shivers.

The prince had seemed like a completely different man.

What is going on here?

Had the Celestial Blood that runs through the veins of the Agnes imperial family belatedly awakened inside him?

But if it isn’t that...

The old knight’s eyes were worried as he gazed at the door.

* * *

He was now a character in a novel.

It was hard to believe, but he’d reached that conclusion after carefully considering all the information he’d collected since the night before.

Though I don’t know who’s responsible, or what the reason is...

As he pondered this, the emperor gazed into the mirror. The person reflected back wasn’t him, but another man—a man with dark gray hair and skin so fair it almost seemed transparent.

He knew who this was.

Sion.

Sion Agnes.

He’d appeared in a couple of lines at the beginning of the Chronicles of Plocimaar the’s Warrior, the book the emperor had been reading. He was one of the princes of the Agnes Empire.

Yet this prince was so weak-kneed that he couldn’t even kill an ant. And his body was so unfit that walking made him breathless.

Because he had no supporters at all, he’d been precluded from the battle for succession from the outset, and he was now being kept in pseudo-confinement at a secondary palace on the outskirts of the imperial castle.

The reason that Sion Agnes was featured in only a few lines in the entire book was simple—he died as soon as he was mentioned.

In fact, it was embarrassing to say he’d been in the novel at all.

I was supposed to be killed in yesterday’s attack, thought the emperor—now in Sion’s body—as he pondered the previous day.

The emperor had read the final page of the book, and then he’d closed his eyes for a moment. When he’d opened them again, an assassin whose body was entirely covered in black had been bearing down on him with a sword.

If his power—the Dark Celestial Essence—wasn’t more dependent on his soul rather than his body, he would have died on the spot, just as the novel described.

I’ll still have to train, though. This body is too flimsy.

Sion looked down at the body in question. A slight breeze would probably be enough to knock down the new him. He tapped the table lightly with his fingers.

If I am indeed inside the Chronicles of Plocimaar the’s Warrior, then this world will end three years from now.

The novel detailed the three years stretching from moments before the warrior’s appearance until the end of the world—as destroyed by the Demonic Lands. Sion Agnes died at the start of the novel, which meant this world had about that length of time remaining.

I need to change that.

Sion’s gut told him that it might take quite a while before he could figure out who had put him in this body or how he could return to his own world.

He couldn’t have the world ending before then.

And in order to do that...

The biggest reason for the world’s ruination was the division of Agnes. That was the foremost issue to be resolved.

It’ll be two years from now before an outright war starts between humanity and the Demonic Lands.

Impossible.

It wasn’t feasible to unify Agnes—which ruled the entire world except the Demonic Lands—before that time.

This was all the more true since Sion was just a side character, not a main protagonist—and one with all of three lines in the novel that nobody would even remember.

And yet, there was intrigue in Sion’s eyes instead of anxiety. His own world had been boring since there had been nothing more for him to achieve—no progress to be made.

For this reason, “Sion” liked this fictional world.

The situation was a despairing one, requiring him to do the impossible, and still, he was entertained beyond all comparison.

The harder and higher the wall in front of him was, the faster his heart seemed to beat.

He didn’t doubt his own capabilities. Sion had become the emperor of the world—a transcendental accomplishment that no other human had likely ever achieved. If he wanted something, he would simply acquire it.

I’ll have to sort out my surroundings first.

Sion finished his reverie, staring at a list of names on the table. He then stood up and left the bedroom. The sun seemed to have set already, and the dark interior of the palace was lit by the magic lamps that had been repaired earlier.

“Your Highness!”

Had the man been waiting at the door all this time?

Fredo brightened and welcomed Sion as soon as he appeared. The old knight looked over his liege carefully, even though he’d already done so last night. There was intense worry in Fredo’s eyes.

“Are you feeling all right?”

Sion gave him a nod and began slowly walking down the corridor.

“Your Highness, where are you headed?” Fredo asked, falling in behind him.

“Has this happened before?” Sion demanded, not responding to the knight’s question.

“I beg your pardon?”

“The attack.”

An odd look appeared on Fredo’s face. Had the prince lost his memories because of the shock of the attack?

Pushing the thought aside, Fredo replied, “This...is the first time assassins have invaded the palace outright.”

That had to mean that similar attempts had been made before, even if they’d been more subtle. They’re bolder than I expected, Sion thought with a smirk.

The novel hadn’t described who had been behind yesterday’s attack, but it wasn’t hard to guess.

The Sunken Star Palace, where Sion was staying now, was so far from the imperial castle that it was a stretch to say it was on the outskirts. But technically, it was still a palace and thus part of the imperial castle.

Few people in the empire could send assassins to such a palace and handle the repercussions.

“I’ll report to the imperial castle and have security tightened around this place—”

Sion interrupted the old knight.

“No.”

“I’m sorry?”

“There is no need.”

Nothing would change if the fundamental problem remained unresolved. Yesterday’s situation would only be repeated, regardless of whether there were a hundred knights or a thousand guarding the palace.

As such, Sion planned to take the first steps toward handling this very problem—starting right now.

First, I must blind their eyes.

Sion stared at the gate of the palace, visible at the end of the corridor. It was grand and imposing, like that of any other palace, but there was a slight difference.

In most palaces, knights were stationed outside the gate to protect the palace from enemies.

Oddly enough, there were knights on the inside of the gate at Sunken Star Palace—almost as if

trying to keep someone in.

“......”

The knights saw Sion approaching but failed to salute or even acknowledge his presence with a nod. They simply stared at him quietly. It was hard to believe the attitude they were displaying toward their liege, but they seemed completely nonchalant, as if they were used to it.

Sion walked past them without so much as raising an eyebrow and tried to open the gate.

“Where are you going, Your Highness?”

One of the knights at the gate stopped him by extending an arm.

“I need some air,” Sion said calmly, staring at the arm that was in his way.

“The sun has already set. I would advise you to stay indoors since it’s dangerous outside.”

“Why do I get the feeling that it’s more dangerous inside than out?” Sion countered, taking another step forward. The knight’s arm didn’t budge.

“We were commanded to not let you out of the palace. You can’t leave.”

“Who commanded you?” Sion smiled faintly. “You serve me, I’d like you to recall. And the thing is, I don’t remember commanding any such thing.”

“You cannot leave,” the knight repeated. He stepped in Sion’s way and walked closer, as if trying to intimidate him.

This palace was a prison without bars, and Prince Sion was its inmate. His only sin was being born a prince without any talent or power, and it was a heavy one.

I thought he knew his place well. Maybe I was mistaken?

The knight’s eyes began to fill with irritation, annoyance, and disdain.

Sion gazed at the knight for a moment, then spoke quietly.

“Fredo.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“As far as I’m aware, the punishment for treason is decapitation. Am I right?”

“Yes...?” Fredo agreed from behind him, sounding puzzled.

“What about the punishment for neglecting one’s duty to guard a member of the imperial family?”

“Decapitation.”

“How about looking on as assassins attempt to kill such a person?”

“Decapitation.”

The look in the eyes of the knight who stood in Sion’s way began to change.

“Conspiracy to murder a prince?”

“Also...decapitation.”

Sion’s eyes glinted.

The knight moved urgently. “What do you think you’re—?!”

But Sion’s hand sliced the air.

Soon, the knight’s head—

—was rolling on the ground.

It had happened in the blink of an eye, and all those watching were rendered silent with astonishment. They couldn’t understand what they’d just seen.

Prince Sion had never learned to use a sword, much less defend himself in any way. How had this man beheaded a knight with his bare hands, and so easily? They’d seen it happen, but that didn’t make it any easier to process.

Sion shook the blood off his hand casually in the silence and opened the gate, heading out of the palace.

He felt the refreshing night air as soon as he was outside.

“I knew it,” he muttered, breathing deep and gazing up at the sky. “This place is...”

The moon glowed a bright red. His own world had a blue moon. This told him for certain he was in a different world.

“Your Highness! What have you done?”

Confused voices could soon be heard as the knights ran toward him from inside.

A grin slowly formed on Sion’s lips.

“If you’ll come to me of your own accord, it just makes my job easier.”

The attack in the night should never have happened—not unless there had been help from inside. Sion had wondered who could have aided and abetted the attack on the Sunken Star Palace, and there was only one possible conclusion.

Everyone in the palace, except for Fredo and those who died yesterday.

The knights, in particular, would have no way to excuse themselves.

That was why it had been so silent in the palace, even though a prince had been attacked. Yesterday’s attempt was likely the result of multiple factions coming together, not just one.

Sion recalled the list of names he’d acquired—the names of the knights who’d stood guard last night.

The knight he’d just killed had been on that list.

I’ll bet he also acted as an informant, leaking intelligence from inside.

This was an opportunity to remove every eye and ear that outside forces had placed in the palace. Sion had more than enough justification—and even if he didn’t, he wouldn’t miss the chance.

This will also let me check the state of this body.

As Sion watched the approaching knights, darkness began to ripple around him.