Master of Minds, Master of Me

‘’Your Highness! You can’t leave, not now! You have duties to perform.’’

Whoa. I didn’t realize I would get busted even before I left my office. Ted really has some sixth sense for catching me when I try to sneak out.

‘’Relax, Ted. I will just go there quickly. You won’t even notice I’m gone.’’

‘’Your Highness. With all respect, my name is Tedracil, not Ted.’’

Why is everyone so sour and strict nowadays? They really should ease their screws a little. And what kind of name even is Tedracil? Sounds like the fancy kind of cereal only served in mage cafeterias or something.

‘’Anyway, Ted. I’m off. I’ll see you in an hour.’’

I wave at him joyfully and hop out of the window. I hear him yelling something about my duties as a Crown Prince, but I ignore him. I thought things would loosen a bit since father ordered an assistant to help with the workload, but somehow it feels like I just got a babysitter.

I need to free my mind for a while. Sometimes they clearly forget that I’m human too. I too need breaks from time to time. I walk through the Palace garden and sneak out. The protective barrier around the Palace is surely handy. My assassination attempts have lessened drastically after that. But it still lets me go through with ease. I slip the hood on, covering my face.

Hmm… What should I do… The pub? The plaza? Little gambling? Or something more useful, like training perhaps?

I feel a sudden bump on my leg. I gaze down and see a small child with bread in his hand, followed by a guard.

‘’Don’t let the brat go! He stole the bread!’’

I look back at the small child as he trembles with fear and tries to run away. I grab him by his jacket, preventing the escape attempt. The guard comes closer, clearly pleased with my cooperation.

‘’Thank you. These little fuckers surely are hard to catch. I can take it from here.’’

I offer a coin to the guard, and he looks confused.

‘’For the bread. I’ll pay for it.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’I said that I’ll pay for the bread, here.’’

He just stares at the coin, still in shock. Is this dumb gorilla really working for me? What is so hard to understand about me offering the coin?

‘’The brat still needs to be punished.’’ He argues.

I lift my head a bit so I can peer into his eyes better.

‘’Take the coin and leave the kid to me.’’

He stares at me, still confused, but finally obeys, takes the coin, and leaves. I should order Ted to make some intelligence tests for our guards. I crouch down while still holding the child’s jacket.

‘’You okay?’’

He stares at me with fear in his eyes, no answer.

‘’Are you an orphan?’’ I ask.

He nods slightly. So my hunch was right.

‘’Do you live in an orphanage?’’

Another nod.

‘’Don’t they have enough food?’’

He shakes his head lightly.

That’s odd. The Royal Palace supports every orphanage here. They should have enough money to feed the children.

‘’Can you show me where you live?’’

No answer.

‘’What if I go buy more food? Can we deliver it there? I bet the other kids are hungry too, don’t you think?’’

A moment of silence, and then the slight nods come. Kids are so adorable, they are so easy to buy sometimes. I let go of his jacket.

‘’Follow me first so I can buy the food. After that, you can be the leader. Sounds good?’’

Another nod.

We walk to the market area where I buy more food, and after that, he starts to lead me to his orphanage. It’s a pretty remote location, but when we finally arrive, I see the whole yard empty. The day is pretty sunny. I would thought the kids would be playing outside. We go inside the house, and the building is in pretty bad shape. I see no adults anywhere. We walk for a while down the hall. When we go inside a room full of mattresses on the floor, I finally see all the kids in there. Some are just lying there, clearly in bad health. I furrow my brows.

How is this possible? Where the hell are the adults? They all startle at my presence, clearly fearing me a little bit. Which pretty much tells me that they don't have very good experiences from conversing with adults in general. I crouch down to their level.

‘’Hey everyone. I happened to bump into your friend here. He told me that you guys were pretty hungry, so I brought you guys food.’’

I put the bags on the floor, showing them the food. Their eyes widen when they see it. A couple of them strive toward the bags, but one kid stops them.

‘’No! Don’t touch the food!’’

They turn to look at him and stop moving.

‘’They are free to eat it.’’ I say.

‘’What’s the catch?’’ The same boy continues.

‘’No catch, just food.’’

He narrows his eyes at me. ‘’There is always a catch.’’

I chuckle a little. Maybe giving this food to them is going to be easier if there is a catch. And I don’t mind having a little trade with them.

‘’Okay, you win. How about this? You answer my questions, and I give the food.’’

He eyes me with suspicion. ‘’What kind of questions?’’

‘’Where are the adults?’’

‘’I don’t know. Probably at the pub.’’

‘’The pub?’’ Why the hell would they be there?

‘’They got their pay like a week ago. When they get that, they usually leave and are gone about a week, sometimes two.’’

I feel the mana within me already swirling with anger. I take a deep inhale, trying to calm myself down. I glance at the clock. Okay, maybe I was being a little too optimistic when I told Ted I would be back in an hour.

‘’Do you happen to know which pubs they usually go to?’’

They shake their heads. Right. It would have been too easy if they had known. Well, firstly, I need to find new workers here and send someone to repair the house. I can deal with the dickheads later.

‘’Thanks. That’s all I need. Enjoy the food. I promise you will get regular food from now on.’’

I get up and open the door in the hallway, when suddenly I hear some drunken chatter in the yard.

Well, well, well. Guess I’m lucky today. I turn to look at the children.

‘’Okay. I’m going to close the door behind me, and whatever you do, don’t open it. No matter what you hear, keep the door closed. Understood?’’

Some of them just nod.

I close the door behind me, and I feel the electricity tingling in my fingers already. I open the front door and just stay there, lazily leaning against the door frame.

Two drunken middle-aged men come toward me, and soon they spot me.

‘’Hey! You! What the hell are you doing in our house? Fuck off!’’

I tilt my head and smile at them. ‘’Your house?’’

‘’Yeah! Do you have a problem with your hearing?’’

‘’I’m pretty sure all the buildings that provide care for the orphans belong to the Royal Family.’’

‘’It’s not your business who this house belongs to! Fuck off or I will fucking show you what happens to people that cross me.’’

Whoa, I’m so scared right now. I wonder what he is going to do? The basic punch in the face?

‘’Do show me. And please, don’t disappoint me.’’

He charges with full force, lifts his right hand, and clearly tries to hit my face. I only move my head a couple of inches, and his fist plummets into thin air, and he stumbles and falls inside the house from the open door, crashing against the floor.

Okay, I guess I could say he didn’t disappoint me, since that was even more trash than I was expecting. Soon the other ugly gorilla comes forward with his fist raised high. It's so obvious what they are trying to hit, it’s just pathetic. I take a step to the right, and his fist hits the wall of the house. He grunts in pain, and I notice the other one behind me getting up from his pathetic fall.

I thought I could maybe have a little fun with them. But they are too hammered. So I guess I could finish this fast and get back to the Palace so I can tell Ted to find new staff here.

I let my magic flow, and the water pours and surrounds them both. They start to thrash and panic as the water prevents them from breathing. I drag the other one out of the house while he is inside the water, not wanting to wet the floors there. I watch as the panic in their eyes gets even worse when their oxygen starts to deplete from the lungs. Their panicked screams are clearly audible through the water.

I promise, I’m not normally a ruthless guy. I would say I’m pretty kind and forgiving actually. But I do have my limits too. If someone embezzles the money meant to feed children and clearly just ignores even taking care of them, and judging by the looks of those children, they clearly abuse them too. There I draw the line.

I walk slowly toward them, watching them struggle. The electricity flickers in my fingers again.

‘’Last advice for you two. If you get reborn, stay out of my country.’’

I lower my hands on the water surrounding them and let my electricity flow in the water, making their faces twist in pain. It doesn’t take long for them to quiet down and pass on.

Okay, that was pretty fast. I move their corpses with me to the nearby river and lower them in.

The royal family is known for their powerful water magic. And many people think that water magic isn’t anything to be afraid of since it’s ‘’just’’ water. But the scary thing about water is the fact that if the pressure is hard enough, like it would be in the pit of the ocean, a human body would just crush into nothing.

I sink them inside the river and focus on the water surrounding them. Soon, the river slowly turns red. I also purify it after, something you can also do with water magic. Not probably the most humane way to dispose of a body, but a goddamn effective one.

I let out a heavy sigh. I guess no fun in the city for me today. Wherever I go, the duty follows. I glance at the clock. The Queen candidates have probably already arrived at the Palace. So I guess I should head back and prepare myself to see them.

I start walking toward the city again with a heavy mind.

I’m not sure what to think about this whole Queen Selection thing. I mean, I have always known that my marriage would be out of convenience. I need a Queen that benefits the country. I know that I can’t marry out of love. That is the luxury of other people. But I do believe that whoever my Queen will be, I will learn to love her. Not maybe the way some couples do, but it will be some kind of love nevertheless.

But getting engaged probably means I need to stop mingling with other girls. But I do love girls. They are so soft to touch, so pretty and sweet. But I will, of course, be loyal. And there are still two months left. There is still plenty of time to have a little fun. And I’m not saying I’m some hopeless playboy warming the bed of every beautiful woman. My country is more important to me than any woman. So I have refrained from having actual sex with anyone. But I do pretty much everything else though. Everything that doesn’t risk making anyone pregnant.

Would I have wanted to sink my dick inside the women I have fooled around with?

Absolutely.

But would I do that?

Never. And resisting that urge hasn’t been even that hard, actually. Maybe it’s because I have never experienced it, so it’s hard to grave something you don’t even know what it feels like.

I have watched too many family dramas when children are born out of wedlock. So I would never risk it. I won’t do anything to harm the Royal family’s reputation. I know how important my bloodline is, so I need to act like it too.

I just wish my father would get better, and I really wouldn't need to ascend the throne yet. But I know he won't, so I just need to accept my fate. Let's just hope that I get along with whoever gets chosen as Queen.

And I just wish that Callums won't cause too much trouble. I’m lucky that Theodore agreed to help watch Florentia. That surely wasn't easy. I’m glad he is weak when it comes to his research. And he is one greedy man too. So getting his help cost us quite a lot, but if that means getting the evidence against the Callums, I don't care. It makes me feel a little more at ease. I really don't understand how we couldn't prevent her from participating. It’s ridiculous that my enemy’s daughter is just allowed to walk in here like nothing. But this might be an opportunity to gather some concrete evidence against them. Lucky for me she will only arrive tomorrow, so I can still relax today.

I haven't walked in the Palace yard for long when I spot Ted in the distance.

“Your Highness! Where have you been? You are going to be late!”

“Ted, relax. I have a job for you.”

“For me?”

I gave him the paper where I wrote the address of the orphanage.

“I found out that the caretakers there have been embezzling money and neglecting the children. I already gave them some food. Send someone to look after them until we find new staff. And I want a checkup conducted in every orphanage in the country.”

“Every orphanage? Are you sure? That would take a lot of resources.”

“Yes. If you don't make it happen, I will visit them myself.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I will take care of it.”

“So, have the candidates arrived?”

“Yes. They are already heading to the first meeting. You need to be quick.”

“Yes, yes, you really should stop being so uptight, Ted.”

“It’s Tedracil, Your Highness.”

“I will start calling you that if you start calling me Felix.” I smile brightly at him.

“You know I can't do that, Your Highness.”

Of course I know, since you are as dull as dishwater sometimes. Or actually, most of the time. And I just enjoy teasing you.