My weary eyes opened, and darkness welcomed me. I wiped sleep from my eyelashes, laying on a bed too soft to be mine. I became used to the dark and I found myself lying on an ostentatious bed, covered to my waist in an expensive green duvet. Curtain hung from a frame above with gold tassels. I sniffed. It didn't smell like a hospital. Even the queen never had this treatment in her Vip suite.
I sat up. The cover was heavy like a sheet of metal. I felt…weak. A weird experience. In the darkness, my arms and hands looked so frail and skinny they could break from a small gust.
"What the hell…"
I shuffled off the very, annoyingly large bed to its edge. Finding such a simple task draining, made me dread standing up. But it had to be done. Like firecrackers, my joints popped one by one. Creaking like an old ship.
"Dreadful…I am Eighty?"
I saw a cane leaning on the bedside dresser and sighed.
"I might be."
Slowly I make my way around the bed, the wooden floor freezing my damn toes off. I search around, no light switch. However giant chandelier hung from the massive room, large enough to be a London apartment. There were holes for candles but melted till almost no wax was left.
A knock on the door jerked me. A few moments passed and another knock came.
"C-come in?" My voice was a bit deeper than I was used to. Sultry, powerful, yet soft and reassuring. I could make bank of this as a Voice actor.
Coming through the creaking door, was a woman, middle-aged, grey hair intermixed with her blond. Shadows under her brown eyes gave her a tired, apathetic look. Not the nurse type, I guess. She didn't dress like a nurse. More like a medieval maid.
On a shiny silver tray, she brought inside a steaming cup of tea with a bright candle, the room came to life. Painting of all sizes lined the walls. Some showed landscapes, bright and mute. Some showed people. A family. A family I recognised?
I grabbed the edge of the bed with a head-splitting head, turning my world inside out. Then it was gone like it never happened.
"Lands Above…" I smiled at Sandra my maid of many years. "Tarion… my name is Tarion."
"Yes…Your grace. Are you…alright?" She placed the tray down on a small table.
Is that…
"Right as rain, Darling. This room is a bit chilly mind you get some wood and flint for the fireplace."
"I'll go get it, Your Grace."
"Good good. Now off you go." I straightened up. "And leave the candle please."
"O…kay." She bowed leaving as fast as she came. Left alone in the massive cold, something glinted off the candle. I turned to the fireplace, walking as fast as my weak legs could travel. I stopped just in front of the large fireplace where a large paint of my Father mother and me hung. My father; broad and strong, wearing his cloak proudly with eyes red and shining. My mother smiling on his left. Calm as she was beautiful. He brown-haired braid like a princess down her shoulder. And she held me; a young boy, not even Two years old yet. My eyes were a deep crimson like my father's. I was told our eyes were always passed down in our family but their origins have been lost to time.
I looked down. Perched on top of the fireplace that hadn't been used for a while, a sword shone. Just like these peculiar eyes that I saw in its mirror finish, this sword was passed for generations. Its metal, tinted like the night sky called to me. Its simple beauty enraptured me as I went to grab its worn leather handle.
Plonk
A blue box floated in front of me.
Welcome to "The Annoying Prince Loves Me"
Fuck off…
The name… I remembered it from i manhwa I read some time ago… Romance wasn't my favourite but I remember it was a nice read. I poked the screen, my finger phased through. I moved back, nervously and the box followed me. Another notification popped in.
You have been chosen to steer the world in the right direction.
Think [STATUS]
Previous player? Haru?
Status!
PLONK
TARION GREYSTONE
MANA CIRCLE: BROKEN
VITALITY: 0.1
SENSES: 0.1
STRENGTH: 0.1
AGILITY: 0.1
INTELLIGENCE: 0.1
MANA CAPACITY: 0.1
SKILL(S):
MEDITATION: (LV.7
MANA COLLECTION: (LV.6)
SWORD ARTS (LV.5)
GREYSTONE GREATSWORD ARTS (LV.7)
MANA BLADE: (LV.7)
MANA CRESCENT: (LV.7)
MANA SHIELD: (LV.7)
MANA ARMOUR: (LV.7)
SCHOLAR: (LV.20)
UMBRA STEPS: (LV.2)
"AHAHA, fuck off!!"
Another box popped open.
Don't drink the tea.
I found the tea, still steaming. Picking it up, I chucked the cup contaminants into the dead fireplace.
"Ain't dying today."
I feel my back stinging and careful make my way back to the bed, my status distracting me with his glow. A mirror scared me, And the figure it should made me ashamed. I don't think Tarion took the 'medicine" that long. He had long neglected his training and himself. Went closer. I pull my dressing gown aside to show a bird's chest only an anorexic would aspire to. Pale as fuck too. But this face…Even with this unkept beard, its angles were striking but soft. Voice of gold and a face like a model. Tarion would've had the K-pop industry on its knees.
Hand on my sculptured chin and waving my long luscious raven hair, "Who would kill such a handsome fellow?"
Gwen Greystone would, of course. An obstacle in her son's way, I would obviously be targeted. In "The Annoying Prince Loves Me." my passing allowed Joshua Greystone my half-brother to take over as Duke of Osberg, who will soon marry Vanessa, our main character. Him being the stereotypical dick that would cheat on her, hurl curses and abandon her to party with his friends, Vanessa suffered in this City finding no friend in the Manor nor the Noble as Daughters of Merchants were deemed one of them.
Protect her it said. From their machinations? With me being alive and well, a transfer of assets would not occur. And in this old age, the wife is still considered the husband's property. A podcast listener's wet dream.
I fall on the soft bed. Although luxuries were all around me, the dust settled. Cobwebs sprawled across the furniture in the corner of the room.
Vanessa succeeded. The fissures were closed and the cursed were kept at bay. She even got the happy ending with the prince.
Why am I here?
Plonk.
Another box popped in my face.
The greatsword captured my gaze again.
Soon.
16th of December, two days after
Long black hair waved in the cold Air as I rested on the castle walls. To the south, great trees grew tall and to the north mountains struck awe with their size. I looked down at the snow-covered homes below, their chimneys billowing black smoke into the sky. Carriages drawn by horses trotting go down icy cobbled roads. Cold, depressing. Like never left England. But there's a beauty here, different from the steel towers by the river themes other than the crunch of thousands of vehicles on the tarmac, I could only hear the wind whistle by.
It took days but the shock of it all had died down but the reality of it settled in my heart. I remember it all. Tarion and my life twisted in my mind like soup. I was either and both at the same time. This was Osberg, my city. My Duchy. I remembered. Although it was a short speech bubble, I remembered. A soldier interrupted a 'meeting' between Kyros and Vanessa with dire news. Osberg destruction. It was never shown. The characters barely talked about it after the poisoning arc. But my duchy… I looked upon the city below with sadness wrenching my tired, weak heart. Maybe that's why I am here. To give Osberg a chance.
I really died. Haha… Melancholy washed over me. Is this my life now?
I breathed in air so fresh, I felt rejuvenated with each exhale and opened the task box with my mind.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
TASK(S).
Protect Vanessa Hodge
Arrival: 61 days
Another mission…
"Your Grace. The Doctor is here." My tall tawny-haired rosey cheek friend looked over me as always. Only a stable boy that my father took in. We have been fast friends for more than a decade. The only that had my back. What happened to him in the manhwa? Did he fair well?
"Fine…" With my cane, I embarrassingly climbed onto a chair fastened to Charles's back. Lifting me easily, the forest dweller carried me inside the greystone manor. As my large stable boy Climbed the stairs I looked down at a bag he held.
"Were you successful?" I asked.
"Did you know I got chased out of a lot of shops, luckily got a great deal in Liutown. Much cheaper than those on the Main Street."
"Sure…" I saw his coat full of rips, burnt marks and a slight limp in his walk. "I keep telling you not to wear that smelly ass coat then maybe you wouldn't be kicked-" Charles entered my room. "Sorry to keep you waiting, let's get cooking."
Placing down by the cauldron, Charles a bag on a table nearby other ingredients. Giant grassland snake venom in a small jar, Purified water, the heart of a fire salamander and razor flower from the east. All the ingredients required to heal me from this poison
"Got it. Can we start?"
"So impatient." In her thick Eastern accent, an elder lady scoffed, crossing her feet by the cauldron heated by the fireplace.
A day before
I spent hours skimming from books and my memory, trying to find any clue as to how I could heal myself. On my instructions, Charles sent word around the city for a doctor to examine me. None answered my call. Can you fucking believe a damn Duke has to flipping beg for a simple examination? The old duchess has everyone under her long nails. Fortunately, a brave one did return a letter and help came in the form of this Liuen doctor. Zhi, a woman in her fifties with her grey hair tied in a bun. Or so it seemed from her face as her body was spryer than any thirty-year-old. She wore her Liuen clothes with confidence even if she would be discriminated against. Poor bedside manner she had. She manhandled me like a Jijustsu trainer.
Surprisingly, I had two poisons that were wrestling my body. One was a simple poison anyone could get from the street. I wondered the streets she'd been wandering in. The other was a rare type of poison, she surmised from the symptoms. One that made her strict face look perturbed. It was an eastern poison that wrecked the meridians and Mana heart in the body, staying in the vessels like tar to stop any healing. Scribbling on parchment with impressive Freidman cursive, she gave me the list.
"Get these and you're healed."
I looked at the simple list. "That's all?"
"Nope. But it's what I need."
Back to the 16th
Zhi offered a steaming cup of coffee.
"Drink it all and lie down."
"Sure." I drank the disgusting liquid and lay down on the floor as she requested. Charles walked to a corner. His eyes were glued to the potion in her cauldron.
"Don't move."
"Cool- Woah!" With a finger, the doctor ripped my doublet and inner shirt cleanly to my navel.
"I told you." From her wrinkled hands strange white energy illuminated from her hands. From a bag she took needles, placing numerous of them on different parts of my body.
"Acupuncture?"
"Mm? You know of this?" A needle hit a nerve hard. "Don't move or talk." their hands pressed down on my sternum, and white energy emitted from her entire body to concentrate on her palms. She looked me in the eye.
"Remember your part of the deal."
"No worries."
"Or will hunt you down and return your body's health to what it was."
"O-okay…" I said quietly.
"Now shh, I start."
In an instant, pain like never before was stung every part of my body. Pain like a thousand tattoos etched inside and out, made agony all the felt.
"Relax and endure… we have a few hours of this left."
Hours past.
"My job is done." I heard tiredness in her grouchy voice. She carried her materials in her bag, ready to leave.
"Charles, help her leave. And…" Stinking of a yucky black goo, I could feel it again. This feeling that had eluded Tarion for so long. "Thank you."
"The deal." And left, Charles ran after with curiosity in his blue eyes and I was once again left in my room alone.
"Alright. Like old times, Huh?" I crossed my legs on the floor, smiling joyfully as I closed my eyes. In my mind's eye, I saw it. My mana heart bumped harder and stronger. Bright and Vibrant as it hummed with my mana. I breathed in and mana flowed in while tears flowed down my cheeks.
"Thank you, Thank you…"
I breathed in mana once more. From my lungs, mana flowed to my heart. With the cloud of mana essence, I collect and compound. My will pound the mana into shape. Sweat drenched my already dirty brow as I forged and forged. I didn't know how much time had passed but I was not giving up. Although I was trying to make years of training happen in an afternoon, I could not waste any more time. I forged and forged. I heard Charles change the firepit and I forged. Finally, I could see a ring bright around my heart. So close.
Come on!
Mana essence burst from me like old dust from a carpet.
Mana Circle Forged.
I slumped with my hands on my knees and exhaled a deep sigh. I opened my eyes, to a dear friend holding a towel.
I jumped up from the floor with new energy fueling me like nitrous. "I did it, Charles! I did it!" The stable boy used his long arm to put space between us.
"Congratulations, Your Grace." He threw the towel at my face. "Please bath. Please."
29th December. 44 days left to arrival.
"Your Grace…"
"I Know. Foolish. But I gotta. My cloak." Charles handed over my father's cloak with a frown that disappeared as he saw me stand proud with my family's heirloom on my shoulders. The fur still smelled like father, bringing nostalgic memories I had hidden away in the corners of my mind.
"Get the carriage ready for me. I need a minute." The door closed. With a pep in my step, walked to the fireplace. I grab the sword grip. Goosebumps rose on my skin. Its weight distribution was perfect. I touched the edge, and a drop of blood trickled from the edge. My smile on the sword's reflection like too wicked.
"Perfect."
Out in the cold miles from Osberg city
I found one. A Kobold ravaged a deer, cutting it into pieces to fill its belly. I flicked the side of my blade my it sang. The reptile's ears flinched, spinning around to the sound's source. I walked forward, snow crunched under my black boots.
"Come on, fella." I teased the monster with two fingers on my gloved left and pointed to my chest. "Fresh meat."
The green beast launched itself like a bullet with his dog-like mouth salivating and claw coming for my throat.
Vapour blew from my mouth. The wind whistled, blowing my cloak and hair. I was calm.
My greatsword cut up and the green beast's right arm flipped in the air. I brought my blade down and in two moves the goblin bled on the snow. A scaley head rolled down to its friend's feet.
My feet find its position and my greatsword pointed back in a tail stance. Mana flared, and azure light hugged my Greatsword.
Status.
TARION GREYSTONE
MANA CIRCLE: 2nd Circle
VITALITY: 10
SENSES:10
STRENGTH: 10
AGILITY: 10
INTELLIGENCE: 10
MANA CAPACITY: 10
SKILL(S):
MEDITATION: (LV.10)
MANA COLLECTION: (LV.9)
SWORD ARTS (LV.8)
GREYSTONE GREATSWORD ARTS (LV.9)
MANA BLADE: (LV.9)
MANA CRESCENT: (LV.8)
MANA SHIELD: (LV.7)
MANA ARMOUR: (LV.8)
SCHOLAR: (LV.22)
UMBRA STEPS: (LV.2)
RUNE (LV.3)
Twenty or possibly more kobolds creep out of the shadow.
I was calm. My mana hummed softly on my blade.
"Time to try this out."
Plonk.
