Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 46

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 46. Your Name (1)
Life as the Fifth Prince of the Astiagas Empire was remarkably dull and peaceful. Though I was born of the Empress, my legitimate mother, I stood far from the line of succession with two older brothers and two older sisters ahead of me.
While the First Prince and Third Prince, the First Princess and Second Princess tore into each other with bloodshot eyes, each trying to undermine and destroy the others, I merely had to flatter whichever of my older siblings seemed strongest at any given moment.
That said, being the youngest didn’t mean I received special affection from Father and Mother—far from it. The youngest daughter, born to a concubine, monopolized all the cuteness in the palace. Among the illegitimate children, there was one named Hisperon whose abilities were so exceptional that he outshone all my older siblings, which meant I barely registered in anyone’s eyes.
So when the task of escorting the Princess of Kisomalos fell to me, I found it rather unexpected.
“Fifth Prince, hear my command. Your name is….”
“Yes, Your Majesty. My name is.”
“Never mind that. It’s not important. Since the Little One is coming instead of that usurper, keep watch and make sure she doesn’t get hurt on the return journey.”
“Yes. I shall obey your orders.”
His Majesty showed no particular pleasure at Kisomalos’s return. That was understandable—the previous Emperor, a man named Helbatro, had been such a blockhead that we’d thought diplomacy would be easy, and then a coup happened.
Father said Chiron couldn’t be underestimated. First, the enormous wealth accumulated by the Chiron Duke’s House was troublesome, and though quiet now, in his younger days Chiron had been quite famous on both the battlefield and in diplomatic circles.
As the loyal servant of the previous Emperor of Kisomalos, he never suffered a loss in negotiations with foreign powers. Even when defeated in war, he always returned with profit, and he was a genius at crafting diplomatic documents that led to humiliating treaties.
“That damnable bastard who won’t die alone!”
Father evaluated the usurper in such terms, and he made no effort to hide his anger at the fact that Chiron hadn’t come in person this time, sending the Princess instead.
“Is that usurper trying to end Kisomalos’s line by throwing the Little One into danger?”
Speaking thus, he burned with a sense of mission to return the Princess safely no matter what.
It wasn’t that he particularly pitied the Little One; rather, he preferred dealing with Kisomalos over dealing with Chiron—but in any case, since it was a fairly important matter, I was surprised the task fell to me.
Later I learned that my older siblings had quarreled over who would do it, and Father, infuriated, had brought up me, the Fifth Prince.
In any case, setting that aside, I was able to take a leading role in an official diplomatic event for the first time in my ten years of life. Since the other party was neither ally nor enemy, the protocol could be appropriately relaxed. However, to emphasize our desire for a good future relationship with Kisomalos, I personally went to the Grand Airfield to greet them.
At the Grand Airfield in the Capital, when the Kisomalos Royal House’s exclusive airship arrived, a tiny blonde Little One came bounding out.
The child had no composure whatsoever—why did she run so recklessly? If a princess of the Astiagas Empire’s Imperial Family behaved that way, she’d be confined to her quarters immediately. I complained inwardly, but outwardly I greeted the Princess with proper courtesy.
“Welcome, Princess of Kisomalos. I am the Fifth Prince of Astiagas.”
“Uurgh.”
“…?”
“Uweeeeck.”
“…?!”
This Little One just vomited on my clothes!
“Good heavens, you brat!”
“Your Highness, sorry!”
And those incredibly rude people made rude noises and rushed past!
Those who departed in the official motorcade never came back to apologize and simply swept the incident under the rug. It was humiliating. I was used to being treated as invisible within the Imperial Family, but being disrespected by a foreign princess left a bitter taste.
Did she know my position within the Imperial Family and act that way deliberately? Or was she simply naturally so arrogant? Did she think herself above everyone because her small nation, clustered among the barbaric tribes of the Central Continent, happened to be the largest? I was deeply displeased, but days later, when I heard reports of the accident caused by the Princess of Kisomalos, my anger subsided.
“Ah….”
This Little One took after her father—she was a blockhead too. Now that I thought about it, she’d seemed rather dim from first impression.
Vishnabel Lorowi Kisomalos, the sole Princess of Kisomalos, had gotten lost in the palm-sized Banquet Hall and was discovered in the Underground Storage of the adjacent palace. At first I wondered if it was some scheme to extract secrets, but when I heard that the Little One had been crying in the dark underground searching for the Prisoner, I could be certain of her stupidity.
This Little One was not only a blockhead but also directionally challenged. How on earth had she managed to wander all the way to the adjacent palace?
As a result, security was further strengthened and my workload increased. Additional personnel deployment, expanded security systems—everything. The banquet opening on the fifth day would be open to common nobility as well as the Imperial Family, so extra caution was necessary.
If the Little Princess met with any misfortune here, it would be embarrassing, but more importantly, Chiron, who never died alone, might seize the opportunity to impose some cowardly treaty.
By the way, that Brown-haired Guard keeps watching wherever I am. Yesterday, he was surveilling me with a telescope from a Tower a hundred meters away, and we made eye contact—I nearly jumped out of my skin. He seems like no ordinary fellow; I could sense a powerful divine power from him.
For the usurper to assign such a skilled warrior as the Little Princess’s mere escort, does he actually care for her quite a bit? Hmm… should I report this to His Majesty, or should I keep this information to myself?
Meow!
This Little One was just having a fan meeting with that illegitimate child, and now where is she going? I dashed swiftly across the Maze Garden. Beyond this point lay a security zone that utilized gravitational force. The Banquet Hall we currently used was a building that could be opened to the nobility, so it was positioned in the outer regions of the Imperial Palace—which meant the security measures were rather extreme.
If that Little One, who wasn’t even the size of a fist, entered that zone, she’d be completely flattened! She wouldn’t even have time to scream before being crushed flat.
“Hey! That’s a gravitational security barrier!”
I shouted the warning to both the Little One and her guard, who was still watching from a distance. The guard seemed to assume she could rush in whenever the Princess was in danger, so I hurried forward first to block the Princess. But then—
“Uh.”
The Little One must have heard my warning, because she stopped dead in her tracks. Unable to overcome my momentum, I crashed into the security barrier, and immediately a cold sensation engulfed my entire body.
“Ugh! Blub-blub!”
I couldn’t breathe. I lost consciousness.

✦ ✦ ✦
My memories flickered in and out. After I coughed up water, the Princess Little One gave me a solid smack, and once I was in the carriage, I received an explanation that came out like machine-gun fire.
I never would have guessed that the Princess of Kisomalos possessed the intelligence to speak at such length. Moreover, she had persuaded me in a way that made sense, and she was responding with remarkably logical reasoning.
If gravity-induced instantaneous movement was involved, it could only be a wormhole. It seemed we had accidentally passed through an opened wormhole and ended up at the eastern edge of the Zagro Mountain Range.
Though she insulted me, calling me a rice bucket and other things, I understood the situation well enough. We had been captured by Bandits. If we revealed our identities carelessly, they would kill the Princess and the Emperor’s Son and then destroy the evidence. And deliberately giving them jewels and accessories to sell in the market—that was a clever way to alert the Imperial Family to our location.
This girl is smarter than I thought. Has she been deliberately playing dumb all this time? Some kind of diplomatic strategy?
“A count’s bloodline recently established a new branch after taking in an intermediate-tier spirit, but even after seeing the child, they didn’t declare her as the legitimate heir, so everyone found it strange. If we say she’s from a cadet branch, it would make sense.”
“Very well. Then I shall be an opportunistic noblewoman marrying into another house to expand my family’s influence.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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