Chapter 1

This time, it's a story about how the former second prince, now Duke Alexander, confides a secret to his eldest son, Harold, in private.

In the second chapter, another family lives a life that is far from elegant.

"Father, I have a secret."

Harold, with a serious face, whispered to me, his voice hushed.

"Oh my. Are you going to tell me your secret, Harold?"

"I'll only tell you, Father, in secret. Not even Grandfather, Grandmother, or Uncle know about it."

"Even the king doesn't know? That must be a serious secret, Harold."

Harold's voice became even quieter as he leaned in close to my ear. His small face pressed against mine, tickling but making me feel happy.

"Yes, it's a very serious secret. Actually, I found a secret passage in the palace today."

"Really!"

"Shh! Father, you're too loud!"

"Wait a moment, Harold. Where is it? Is it really a secret passage? If you found it, it can't be that secret, can it?"

I couldn't help but speak my true thoughts, which were rather childish. Harold looked at me for a long time with a hurt expression before continuing.

"It's a real secret passage. The passage leads to the kitchen, you see. Mother doesn't know about it. I'm sure she would be the first to try to enter it. I promised to let Nicholas go through the passage after me."

Harold's study room, where he is learning to become king, is in the central part of the third floor, the private area of the royal family. The kitchen is at the eastern end of the first floor.

"That... sounds like a real secret passage. Harold, can you tell me more about it?"

I felt like I had heard something that couldn't be ignored, but I decided to put it aside for now.

Most importantly, I lived there until I was twenty-one, and I never knew about such a passage.

Harold apparently heard this story from his three-year-old brother, Nicholas.

"When sunlight shines into the room, if you place flour in a high spot and fan it, the usually invisible air currents become visible."

Harold always thought his younger brother Nicholas was a genius who came up with interesting ideas, so he decided to try it out during his waiting time at the palace.

The palace lessons are taught by different teachers for different subjects, and sometimes the transitions go smoothly, while other times they don't, leading to long waits.

Previously, he would move around the room, read books, or secretly peek into the cabinets during the waiting time, but he couldn't forget what his brother had said. He asked the cook to put a handful of flour in a paper bag and brought it to the palace.

(I wish our cook had asked why Harold wanted the flour. The palace cleaning maid cried when she had to remove the flour.)

The usually boring waiting time was filled with excitement that day. Before the history teacher, who was always late, arrived, Harold made a small pile of flour on the desk and fanned it with a hard piece of paper from the bookshelf.

The low-angled morning light shone through the window, and the flour danced in the air, but it didn't fall as expected.

The flour that flew towards the bookshelf on the opposite wall was slightly pushed back.

There, Harold carefully observed the spot where the flour was slightly pushed back and noticed a slight airflow coming from behind the bookshelf.

"So, I pushed and pulled the bookshelf, but it didn't move at all."

"Of course not. Books are heavy."

"When I told Nicholas about it, he said, 'Brother, it's not something that moves by force; there must be a mechanism.'"

"Nicholas, huh. I see."

That boy has a mind like Marianne's.

"Every day, I pressed and tapped different spots."

I couldn't help but look at my son's face.

Harold is a straightforward and just boy, but he also has this patient side.

After persistently pressing and tapping various spots every day, he found a place at the bottom of the wall behind the bookshelf that moved inward when pressed.

When he pressed it hard, it made a clicking sound, and the bookshelf moved sideways with a light push, revealing a hole large enough for a person to enter.

"What kind of hole was it?"

"It was like a chimney, a straight hole going down. There were iron rings embedded in the wall, and I could climb down!"

Hold on.

Did you climb down a straight hole from the third floor to the first floor? You could have died!

"So, what did you do?"

"I climbed down."

You climbed down. I see. You're alive, so you didn't fall.

"The hole turned sideways halfway down, and after moving a bit, it went straight down again, then turned sideways again."

I see. The passage was shaped like a hook.

"Since no light came from above, it was pitch black. I'm glad I brought the smallest lantern, as Nicholas suggested."

Nicholas...

"So, at the end, there was a wooden door. When I opened it, I found a small room with many bottles and barrels. I opened a door with a crack of light and heard voices, and it was the kitchen! Everyone was surprised!"

I see. They were surprised, of course. When the next king emerges from the kitchen storage room.

In the evening, an urgent messenger came from the palace, apologizing for the lack of security for Lord Harold. This must have been the reason.

At the time, we were busy with guests, and I heard that Harold wasn't injured, so I thought he had wandered off inside the palace.

The messenger didn't know the details, after all, it was a secret passage.

This must be what my brother wanted to discuss the next day.

The next day, I repeatedly apologized to my brother, the king, and the secret passage, which no one had known about for a long time, became a secret between our family and the royal family. Harold's study room was moved to another room.

Still, Nicholas...

King Greed is Duke Alexander's brother. Since the king has no children, his nephew Harold is the designated next king.

Currently, Harold is attending the palace to receive education as the next king.