Forced to become a delicate companion of a paranoid lord

December 972, 6 in the Imperial calendar.

Eight-year-old Prince Egbert Fitchold excitedly told all his playmates that he would be going on a long journey with his father in three days.

As the only son of His Highness Ilias, the eldest son of the Emperor, Prince Egbert perfectly inherited all the advantages of his parents, so even if his tone and expression carried a hint of boasting, no one would dislike him.

The children surrounding Prince Egbert all looked on with extreme envy.

"Wow!"

"so envious!"

"I want to go too!"

"Your Highness, may I come along?"

"What's the point of bringing you along? What help can you possibly be to His Highness? If anyone should be brought along, it should be me! I'm His Highness's future sworn knight!"

"That's hilarious! Your swordsmanship is so bad, how can you protect His Highness? You're the kind of person who needs His Highness to instruct you in swordsmanship every day, and you still want to become His Highness's sworn knight!"

"Shut up, you defeated opponent. My swordsmanship is only worse than His Highness's; compared to you, I'm far superior!"

"I wasn't in good form last time, you're capable..."

“Egbert won’t take you with him, you’re too noisy.”

The noisy children fell silent upon hearing this, and some craned their necks to look at the boy who had spoken.

The boy sitting alone in the corner of the classroom had royal platinum-blonde hair, and his green eyes, inherited from his mother, always gave off a somewhat sinister feeling. As a result, almost no one wanted to play with him except for his cousin Egbert.

Egbert once tried to get his quiet cousin to play with others, but his cousin didn't like it and preferred to be alone. So Egbert stopped forcing him and let him sit quietly in the corner.

A curly-haired little head peeked out from the group of children. Egbert, who usually liked to imitate his mother's stern and aloof demeanor, was waving with a bright smile.

"Finn, do you want to go out with me? Okay, okay, I got it, you do."

In just a second, Prince Egbert made a decision for his cousin. With his curly hair, which had been messed up by his friends and looked like a bird's nest, he skillfully retreated back into the circle of friends. Then, amidst the increasingly resentful gazes of his friends, he said, "I just told you all to be quiet, but no one listened to me except Finn. Hmph, so I've decided to take him out to play with me."

"Ugh!"

"How could this happen, Your Highness!"

"Could you say that again, Your Highness? This time, I promise I'll be the first to shut up!"

"Prince Finn is truly cunning!"

"Are you crazy? How can you say that members of the royal family are cunning?"

Amidst the commotion, Egbert quietly slipped out of his friends' circle and then beckoned to Finn with his finger.

Upon seeing his actions, the boy sitting in the corner quickly and quietly followed him out of the classroom.

Egbert's workload was much heavier than that of his peers. In addition to the regular courses at the Imperial Royal Academy, he also had some separate courses taught by specialized bachelors.

Pulling Finn into his private classroom, Egbert glanced at the clock on the wall, then pulled out a toy chess set from the cabinet and said to his cousin, who was following him like a little tail, "The Bachelor doesn't come to class until an hour later. I'll play with you for a while first."

Finn glanced at the colorful toy chess set. He wanted to say that he didn't like playing chess, but he couldn't bring himself to refuse his cousin, who was only two months older than him. So he could only obediently nod and say, "Okay."

Egbert always felt that his uncle Edgar's third son, Finn, was too introverted. It's worth mentioning that introversion was actually a euphemism used by Prince Egbert to describe his cousin; in most people's opinion, Finn was a somewhat gloomy boy.

The two children sat on the carpet in the classroom and played toy chess for forty minutes. Afterward, they got up and put away their pieces. Finn opened the door to leave the classroom, and Egbert escorted him all the way to the hallway.

After Finn left the classroom, he turned to look at the boy standing at the classroom door and asked awkwardly, "Egbert... will you really take me out to play?"

"Of course, if you'd like, I'll go home tonight and talk to my father and ask him to bring you along. Dad rarely refuses my requests."

"dad?"

"Um, that's a colloquial term. Don't you think calling me 'Dad' would be more affectionate?"

Finn looked at his cousin, who was as dazzling as the sun, and shook his head: "If I used that word to refer to Father, he might whip me."

Egbert's handsome face turned serious after hearing his cousin's words. He frowned and asked, "Will Uncle Edgar still beat you often?"

My uncle has six children. Apart from his youngest cousin who was just born and hasn't even been named yet, and his cousin who is only two years old this year, all the other cousins ​​have been whipped by my uncle in the name of education. Finn was the one who was beaten the most times among his siblings.

"I'm going back." Without answering Egbert's question, Finn turned and ran away.

Prince Egbert, standing alone and watching his cousin's retreating figure, sighed heavily.

My uncle is always kind and gentle to others, especially to him. Why is he so strict with his own child?

It's really hard to understand...

……

December 972, 6 in the Imperial calendar.

Just as Egbert had said, his father Elias rarely refused his requests. After only a moment's thought, he agreed to take Finn on the journey. He even sent someone to inquire with Finn's parents and, after receiving their consent for Finn to accompany him, he had Finn brought to his palace.

Finn had never been to any place beyond the hunting grounds on the outskirts of the city in his entire life. When his siblings heard that he could travel far away with his uncle, they were all extremely envious. His eldest brother even made a sarcastic remark, saying that he was Egbert's little tagalong. But Finn himself was very calm and did not seem very happy or excited.

However, Egbert, who was taken by his parents to travel around various regions of the continent of Laer after his birth, was so excited that he couldn't sleep in the middle of the night and got up to water the flowers in the flower bed.

The night before they set off, Finn, a light sleeper, slept in the same bedroom as Egbert. Egbert couldn't sleep, so he got up and went downstairs. A couple of minutes later, Finn followed him downstairs to the yard.

Once in the courtyard, Finn looked around and found his cousin squatting by the flower bed, holding a watering can and gazing happily at the Cecilia roses.

He went over to look at the flower bed and found that the roses in this flower bed seemed to be more beautiful than the roses in other places, so he followed his cousin's example and sat down by the flower bed.

"Egbert, why is this rose more beautiful than the others?"

"Maybe it's because my parents planted this rose together. Everyone who has seen it says it's very beautiful, more beautiful than the ordinary Cecilia rose."

"Oh."

"Finn, haven't you chosen a name for your little brother yet? I've never even met him. Is he handsome? I really want a younger brother or sister, but Dad says it's no use if I want one."

"Your thoughts are indeed useless. Only adults can have children whenever they want. But I don't understand why some adults don't like children yet still want them."

In Finn's memory, his mother was always trying all sorts of potions and folk remedies in order to give birth to a gifted child. She rarely paid attention to him or his older siblings.

However, after hearing that his uncle would be taking him on a long trip, his father and mother paid more attention to him.

Finn reached out and touched the storage ring on his hand. He remembered what his father and mother had told him: he could only wear the pendant in the storage ring after leaving the capital. He felt something was strange, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

He wanted to tell Egbert, but his father said they couldn't tell anyone what they had said.

Once the pendant is worn, it cannot be taken off.