I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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'N-no, that's not it.'

The Crown Prince, who had been staring blankly at the man wreathed in darkness before them, shook their head.

Different.

The color of his hair and eyes.

And even his appearance.

Thinking about it logically, a being who had died hundreds of years ago couldn't possibly be here.

Especially not right in front of them.

Yet there was reason the Crown Prince had mistaken him for the Eternal Emperor.

That atmosphere.

That gait.

And that darkness was so similar to what they had read about the Eternal Emperor in records.

"Who are you?"

Zion simply stared silently at the Crown Prince without answering.

A faint strange light flickered in his eyes.

'This is unexpected. Another twist, perhaps?'

Just as Zion thought this after discovering something about the Crown Prince that wasn't in the chronicle-

"Lady Yeonhui!"

"Who are you!!!"

The Beast King's martial artists, who had been stunned by their fox beast-kin leader's sudden death, began charging at Zion.

Perhaps sensing his extraordinary skill from the earlier scene, they rushed forward while abandoning even Hwagangjin whom they had been fighting.

"D-dangerous!"

As Hwagangjin reacted a beat late and shouted urgently toward Zion-

SCREECH!

With a sound like something catching, the charging martial artists' movements began slowing.

As if moving through deep water.

The closer they got to Zion.

The closer they moved toward the darkness covering the entire chamber.

Their movements continued slowing.

It looked as if time itself was endlessly stretching around them.

"This is..."

The Crown Prince's pupils shook at this incomprehensible phenomenon before their eyes.

The moment the martial artists' movements completely froze- SPLAT!

All their heads vanished simultaneously.

Corpses collapsed as blood sprayed in all directions.

"Ah..."

Blank voices escaped the lips of all survivors, including the Crown Prince, as they watched this scene.

These martial artists had been skilled enough to give trouble to Hwagangjin, a Fire Bear tribe member counted among the rebels' top five warriors.

Yet they had lost their lives in an instant without even being able to resist - it was completely beyond common sense.

A suffocating silence followed.

After that silence stretched for some time.

It wasn't broken by those in the chamber.

"Zion, why'd you rush ahead like..."

Jang Maldong and Celphia, who had belatedly reached the chamber through the path Zion had cleared, stopped speaking upon seeing the scene inside.

The headless corpses lying collapsed and Zion standing among them.

The moment they saw this, they knew Zion had created this scene.

"My, just what happened here...!"

As Jang Maldong scanned the chamber with amazed eyes, he stopped speaking again upon seeing the Crown Prince.

Then-

"I bow before the will of Myowol!"

He immediately prostrated himself toward the Crown Prince.

That black rabbit mask.

Only direct bloodline members of the Myowol clan could wear it, so Jang Maldong instantly recognized the masked beast-kin's identity.

"...Rise. Such respect is too much for my current state."

The Crown Prince smiled bitterly beneath their mask at Jang Maldong's reaction, then looked back at Zion.

"First, I should thank you."

They slightly bowed their head.

Though their hands still trembled from the overwhelming yet chilling scene that man had just created, he had still saved them.

So expressing gratitude was proper.

"If not for you, I would be dead now. I will certainly repay this debt. But before that..."

Question filled the Crown Prince's eyes.

"I'd like to know your identity that I couldn't hear earlier."

To this question-

"Let's talk about that after we get out of here."

Zion spoke while turning his gaze toward the tomb's exterior.

His eyes caught sight of Beast King faction martial artists rapidly approaching.

In the captain's cabin of the Half Moon Pirates' ship.

People including Zion sat around a round table inside.

And among them-

"I'm ashamed."

The Crown Prince's group was also present.

"To think I'd even need to borrow your ship."

When they had emerged from Moon King's Tomb, the Beast King's martial artists had seized their ship, forcing them to travel on Zion's ship instead.

At the Crown Prince's words, Pyo Doyul, this ship's original owner crouched in the corner, quietly muttered 'This is actually my ship...', but no one paid attention.

"I'll repay this debt later too. Now, about our earlier conversation..."

"About my identity?"

"Yes."

Hwagangjin flinched at Zion's informal speech, but the Crown Prince stopped him with a small hand gesture.

They were certain of his extraordinary status after witnessing his power earlier.

Simultaneously, everyone's gazes except Celphia's focused on Zion's lips.

"It's simple. The empire already knows. That the current Beast King has allied with demons."

"...!"

At these words from Zion, not just Jang Maldong and Pyo Doyul, but even the Crown Prince and Hwagangjin's eyes shook.

They hadn't expected this fact to be known.

Ignoring their reactions, Zion continued:

"From the empire's perspective, the Beast Sea falling to demons isn't good. So they secretly sent someone to help your rebel faction."

"Then that person is..."

The Crown Prince stopped speaking.

Nothing more needed to be said.

Even a baby could tell that the man before them was that helper.

"Now I somewhat understand what's happening. Did you come here alone?"

"Strictly speaking, I'm not alone..."

Though Zion said this while thinking of the hero's party-

'He's probably the only one who can actually help.'

The Crown Prince thought this while looking at Celphia sitting in the corner.

"I understand. From the empire's perspective, they can only help this way to avoid revealing their involvement."

Yet deep in the Crown Prince's eyes as they spoke these words lay faint regret.

Though they knew how strong the empire's helper before them was from the earlier situation, one person alone couldn't reverse this war.

But they quickly hid that regret and spoke again.

It would be improper to show such emotions to one who came to help.

"I thank the empire once again."

"Rather than thanks, I'd like to know your current situation first."

Zion asked this while glancing at the green liquid in the teacup before him.

Not coffee, but what was called green tea.

"Very well. But first..."

The Crown Prince nodded heavily at this and removed their rabbit mask.

"It would be discourteous not to show my face to one who will work with us."

A face gradually revealed itself.

"My..."

The watching people's eyes simultaneously began filling with surprise again.

Ruby-red eyes, a high nose bridge, and below that full lips and long hair flowing past the shoulders.

The appearance was closer to a woman's than a man's.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Noting people's surprise, the Crown Prince nodded once and spoke:

"Yes, as you can see, I am a woman. As you know, tradition in the Beast Sea still holds that only men can sit on the throne. So my father raised me as a man from childhood. I was his only heir. My uncle rebelled because he was dissatisfied with this."

Having known this fact since first seeing them earlier, Zion showed no particular reaction and waited for the Crown Prince's next words.

After briefly watching Zion with strange eyes, the Crown Prince continued:

"That's enough about me... To speak frankly about the current situation, we are at a severe disadvantage. No, 'desperate' might be more fitting."

A perfect disadvantage with no possibility of reversal.

Though some unknown group had been helping them recently, it wasn't nearly enough.

"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say defeat is already decided. So we were searching for a special variable that could overturn this entire war."

"And that special variable was Moon King's Tomb."

"Correct. More precisely, we planned to obtain the first Beast King's techniques from the tomb and use them to attempt Moon King's Battle."

Moon King's Battle.

Simply put, it was a tradition created by the first Beast King to reduce casualties from succession battles - a duel between Myowol clan members with succession rights wagering the throne.

Moon King's Battle could be either direct combat or by proxy, and the Crown Prince had aimed for direct combat.

"Though the chances of my uncle accepting Moon King's Battle are slim given his assured victory now, it seemed better than doing nothing. Of course, that plan has also fallen apart..."

The Crown Prince's face darkened with these words.

Remembering the subordinates sacrificed because of them at Moon King's Tomb.

Then-

"Moon King's Battle... Not a bad idea."

Zion quietly spoke after taking a sip of green tea.

"Though it seems unnecessary to aim for direct combat."

"...If you mean combat by proxy, our chances are even worse. Their side has far superior powerful figures. And as I just said, given the difference in forces, the possibility of Moon King's Battle itself..."

Before the Crown Prince could finish, Zion continued:

"Then let's start by reducing those forces first."

"...What? What do you mean?"

Question filled the Crown Prince and others' eyes at Zion's casual mention of something nearly impossible.

Zion grinned at the Crown Prince and asked:

"Who else in the rebel faction knows you came to Moon King's Tomb?"

Inside a massive palace hall that seemed to pierce the sky.

A man wearing a black rabbit mask like the Crown Prince's sat on an enormous throne decorated with overwhelmingly ornate decorations symbolizing authority.

"I apologize, Your Majesty."

A tiger beast-kin knelt on one knee before this man and spoke with deeply bowed head.

"We failed to kill the Crown Prince."

"...How unfortunate."

Though the voice held no emotion, the tiger beast-kin's body shrank further at hearing it.

They knew their king used such a voice when in a bad mood.

"I heard our losses were heavy."

"Yes, when we reached the tomb's center, Lady Yeonhui and everyone else there were already dead. Moreover, judging by the wounds on the corpses, it seemed one person did it all."

"Did they have such a powerful figure on their side?"

"From what we know, they didn't until now... but they may have gained a new ally."

Tap, tap.

The man silently tapped the throne's armrest with his finger.

Along with rising pressure that made cold sweat run down the tiger beast-kin's nape.

Perhaps trying to shake off this pressure-

The tiger beast-kin's mouth quickly opened again.

"Also, one thing. We received new information from our spies planted in the rebel faction."

"What is it?"

"The rebel faction is urgently searching for a skilled doctor."

"That means..."

"Yes. It seems the Crown Prince's side didn't escape Moon King's Tomb unscathed either."

"Good. Keep an eye on the doctor they try to bring in. Or better yet, we could insert our own person as the doctor."

If they needed to recruit an outside doctor, it meant the condition was serious, and the patient was very likely the Crown Prince.

So if they tracked the doctor's movements, they could find the Crown Prince's location too.

"But Your Majesty... It could be a trap. Like the one we set this time."

At these words, the masked man smiled slightly and looked down at the tiger beast-kin.

"Do you know why they haven't set traps for us until now?"

"...No."

"They instinctively know it wouldn't work."

Like prey instinctively fearing a predator.

"No matter what they try, what schemes they plot, we have enough power to crush it all and overturn the board."

Such an overwhelming difference existed between them.

"That's why until now they've just hidden like rats."

As Wolbyeokcheon spoke these words, his red eyes behind the mask began emitting a turbid light.

"So it will be the same this time. And even if... it is a trap, it doesn't matter."

Setting a trap inherently required the setter to take some risk too.

So he could simply crush the trap with overwhelming force and use that risk to strike back.

There would be no exceptions to this.

"Let's finally end this tedious war, dear niece."

But Wolbyeokcheon didn't know.

A variable he had never considered.

Dark and unfathomably deep, was moving beneath the surface.