Chapter 8

It seems more like a side story.

It's about 7,000 words, I'm sorry.

A hand is placed on his shoulder. Ah, again.

"Are you a homeless person this time? Quite elaborate, isn't it?"

Turning at the voice, he saw the face of the detestable man. Behind him stood an adorable woman.

"Haaa... Even with the wig, fake eyebrows, and a mustache to hide my mouth, how do you know? Can't you just report the meeting place? I'll avoid it."

Dominic sighs, and the man—Miles—makes an unpleasant face.

"Why must I report my personal whereabouts to the workplace when I'm not on a long trip... I refuse.

Please don't say such things, both of you."

"Both of us?" Dominic tilts his head, and it seems he was also asked to inform the guards. It was to reallocate personnel to other places, but he has long given up on always having his and Miles' days off coincide.

"Let's go back," Miles firmly presses his shoulder, and Dominic reluctantly heads back to the castle.

"No matter how many people you assign, if they can't even spot me, it's meaningless..."

"No one is as meaningless as a prince who escapes during break time. Please consider my position, always having to interrupt these meetings."

Miles retorts in a whisper to Dominic's muttered words. I wish he could pretend not to hear.

"You could just pretend not to see me... I don't want to work on my days off either. Besides, I can use a sword a little, and I've never been attacked by a thug..."

Miles glares at him.

"At least wait until you can take down three guards and avoid Harriet before you say that."

Even if he could take down three guards, it wouldn't be enough. Even with the same skills, the survival rate is different when the target fights and runs versus when the guards fight and the target runs. Moreover, since Harriet always finds him, Dominic's disguises are only good enough to avoid being found by someone with malicious intent.

"Alright, I'm sorry. ...I won't run away anymore."

It was a valuable time to relax, but he had caused trouble for many people. At first, he wanted someone to find him, but he never imagined it would end like this.

***

Dominic is the fifth prince and the youngest of the kingdom. His parents, the king and queen, are very close, so much so that they have five sons and three daughters. The order is three boys, three girls, and two boys.

Even if a large family is desirable for the royal family, there are limits to the budget and personnel. Naturally, the eldest son, who will become the crown prince, is the most well-equipped, followed by the princesses who have clothing expenses, and the youngest, Dominic, is the most neglected. Despite having the least budget and responsibilities, he thought it was a good thing to be light on his feet, and he had no complaints as he was well-raised by his nanny. However, as he grew older, he felt the already scarce attention from his surroundings decreasing even more.

Everyone treated him as a prince, never making eye contact. He realized that as long as he was the fifth prince, that was enough.

Do his busy parents know about this situation and ignore it, or do they not know about the youngest's situation? Either way, Dominic wanted to make his older brother and parents, who had created this situation, feel embarrassed.

At the same time, he wanted someone, anyone, to see him as Dominic, not just as a prince.

So, Dominic planned to run away to give his family a shock.

He asked a timid new maid to help him and tried to sneak out for a bathroom break. Surprisingly, he managed to escape and return without anyone noticing. He wondered what he had been doing all this time if he couldn't act alone.

Gradually increasing the time he spent outside, he sold some jewelry to buy wigs and costumes for his disguises. By the time he could hide in the secret passage known only to the royal family, he no longer needed the maid's help. He gave her a little extra money as a thank you and to keep her quiet.

For a day, he needed a stand-in. On holidays, he would disguise himself as a servant using the secret passage, change into a servant's uniform, and return through the servant's entrance with an orphanage child dressed as a servant. He would change back into his prince's clothes in the bathroom and return to his room. He told the child that he could read as much as he wanted or play in the garden as a prince. Usually, the child would read books he couldn't read normally.

Dominic would change into the orphanage child's clothes and spend the day playing, returning in time for dinner. He would send the child back in the reverse order and return to his life as a prince. He understood that he had obligations for his luxurious life, so he only escaped during breaks or holidays. Even so, he started bathing alone and shaved his head, wearing a wig all the time. It made him feel like being a prince was just one of his roles. Despite all this, he felt a great deal of emptiness while mocking his surroundings.

Moreover, his tutor was someone who had been passed down from his older siblings. Even though Dominic had long understood the content, the tutor never taught him anything more advanced.

At first, he thought the tutor was being considerate not to outshine his older siblings. However, he overheard the tutor's aide saying that his older brother didn't want to lose to him and was working hard, so he asked Dominic to wait a little longer. "A little longer" meant that Dominic had known the content for half a year.

Hearing that the children at the orphanage always wanted to learn more, Dominic used his saved budget to buy a ruined merchant's house and create a small school for commoners. He assigned the tutor, who didn't want to fail, and the students were motivated, making the learning level appropriate. The tutor continued to work, advertising that "royal-level education" was available, and accepted children from slightly wealthier families. Later, Dominic introduced other tutors who could handle pressure and studied with them.

***

When the family dinner was set to praise him for creating the school, Dominic's seat was still at the end as usual.

However, the dinner started without him, and the king noticed a piece of paper under his plate.

"I am here, so please continue as you are. ——Dominic"

The king angrily searched the room. However, the only place to hide was under the table. He suddenly turned to the servants.

The queen and his siblings also realized the same thing but looked uncomfortable. No one remembered the youngest's face well enough to point him out confidently.

"I'm sorry, Dominic. Can you come out?"

As a father, he sincerely apologized, and Dominic, in his servant's disguise, stepped forward.

"It's been a while, Father. Since the New Year, right?"

"Has it been that long... I knew you were always late for the weekly family dinners..."

Dominic's face twisted involuntarily at how neglected he had been, but he covered it with a self-deprecating smile.

"I wasn't even told about the weekly dinners. Who was sitting in my seat?"

Edward, the fourth prince, turned pale.

"Could it be... the person next to me on the left..."

The king glared at Edward.

"Who was sitting there? Answer, Edward."

"My aide... He's been sitting next to me since the first meeting, helping with etiquette, so I didn't think it was strange..."

"First, I announced that you could only attend after learning etiquette, and it's impossible for an aide to sit at a family gathering."

The king summoned Edward's chief aide.

"I thought you were Dominic's aide, but... were you the one hindering everything?"

The king ordered the aide's dismissal and interrogation, and he was led away. It turned out that the chief aide, fearing that Edward would no longer be the youngest and would receive less attention, had pretended to be Dominic's aide, trained new aides to keep a distance, and caused all this.

"Edward wouldn't have noticed due to years of conditioning. Rather, it's my responsibility for appointing him. I'm sorry to both Dominic and Edward.

This was supposed to be a celebration for Dominic. Move Dominic's seat here. Sit down, Dominic."

—Do you think a single apology can end all my past suffering?

Dominic laughed and sat next to his father. He couldn't accept it and couldn't enjoy the food.

"Listening to the people and providing help within your means is a wonderful thing. Dominic has grown into a kind person."

At the queen's words, Dominic smiled mockingly.

"Thank you. I've only had a few meals with my family, so it must be thanks to the nannies who worked until last year."

The queen's smile faded. While birthdays and New Year's were celebrated together, the number of events had decreased as the number of children increased. They had tried to make up for it by having dinner together, but they had failed to notice the lack of children.

"I'm sorry too, Dominic. You must have felt lonely. ...Is there anything you want or any problems?"

Dominic's eyes lit up.

"Mother, please return some of the aides I gave to my nephew! I'm very, very lonely after they were all replaced."

"Abraham! Explain yourself!"

The crown prince, yelled at by the king, turned pale and defended himself.

"But surely not all of them? At most a fifth..."

"There's no way you and your other siblings are the same! Did you even ask Dominic for permission before the transfer!?"

"...I borrowed them for a while..."

"Aides don't have the authority to transfer other aides! In six months, you could have trained them, so bring them all back!"

The crown prince's wife also bowed to Dominic.

"I'm sorry too. They were only focused on training the next generation and didn't have much to do with my son, so there's no problem. Can we replace the people at your place with the ones here? Of course, you can keep anyone you want."

"But if we do that, the burden of training servants will fall on you...!"

The crown prince's wife glared at him coldly.

"If you had properly asked Dominic for permission and decided the duration and number, this wouldn't have happened. Don't you have something to say to Dominic too?"

Realizing this, the crown prince hurriedly apologized to Dominic.

"I'm sorry, Dominic... I thought it was annoying to have nannies around during adolescence, so I thought a little... I didn't realize you were going through this..."

"Brother Abraham, can you contribute to the school's operating costs? My budget is really tight."

"Alright, if that's what it takes, I'll do it."

"Also, if my nephew seems lonely, you can lend him some nannies. But I want Father and Brother to understand how it feels to have no close aides."

The pale father and brother agreed to rotate the aides within a range that wouldn't affect their work.

After being pampered by his guilt-ridden parents, Dominic was petted by the returned nannies, and his wig and shaved head were discovered. He was scolded for escaping and promised not to cut his hair without permission. Later, when called, his father lectured him seriously about the importance of hair, and when he quietly suggested a wig shop in the lower town with good ventilation, he received a very nice gift from his father and the prime minister. The shop opened three branches in half a year.

The seating order at the family dinners, which he could now attend, changed every time, and he became very close to his older brother Edward. He was sometimes invited to his sisters' tea parties and asked about beauty in the lower town. His other adult or nearly adult brothers occasionally helped him study and invited him to family gatherings, significantly improving family relations.

***

Even though his past grievances were resolved, his habit of running away never changed. He even took unnecessary qualifications for disguises and increased his assets to cover the search costs. One reason was the liberation he felt when treated as someone other than a prince, someone different from himself.

Another reason was that he secretly hoped that the person who could find him from the moment he escaped until he returned was someone who saw him as special. Such a person might become special to him too.

He harbored these adolescent-like feelings and couldn't stop running away, enjoying the comfort of the lower town. Before he knew it, nine years had passed.

One day, while incognito, he met a woman's eyes, and she seemed slightly surprised. Later, he was found at the place he had been.

It must be that woman, who is she? I want to find her too.

But when he thought that, she was already found by another man. He, like Dominic, was someone who had been found by her.

Dominic thought he could be found by someone else, but he was always caught by Harriet and taken by Miles.

He once wondered if he would have had a chance if he had been faster than Miles, but he had never known Harriet. It was only because Miles recognized Harriet's abilities that Dominic met her.

He had no intention of tearing apart the two who loved each other, and his first love ended without being found, and his long rebellion also ended.

Being a serious prince made him feel suffocated. In the past, he would drink at a bar with acquaintances in the lower town, feel healed by the open atmosphere, and get motivated by seeing his actions benefit people's lives. However, he was no longer a child, and the same monotonous days came and went.

He gradually lost his ability to laugh, and he knew his family and aides were worried, but he couldn't help it. Once, his aides planned an incognito trip, but it was less free than before, and he couldn't relax. Forcing a smile only made them more worried.

Just as he was getting used to the suffocating days, a marriage proposal came. It was from a princess of a neighboring country. He thought he would feel even more constrained in front of her, but an interesting story came from his sister who had married into a duke's family in the neighboring country. However, the more he investigated, the more he learned about her misfortune.

Normally, he would refuse with safe reasons, but he learned that a girl had endured what he felt suffocated by, multiplied by tens, for a long time. If there was someone he could save, he should save them, but no one had done so. It was strange that anyone could endure such a situation. What were the people of the neighboring country doing, allowing such a situation to continue?

He wasn't a hero, but he thought he could probably help if he tried a little. He might even gain a future wife. Yes, he couldn't tell if she was a suitable match until he met her, and if he met her, he could help her escape her situation.

Making many excuses in his mind, he decided to use any power he could, even if it was a bit underhanded, and went to his brother to make an unreasonable request.