WHO MADE ME A PRINCE
chapter five - assassin.

Arius's Point of View

THE NEXT DAY. I met Athy once again.

We both talked a lot with each other, well it was mostly Athy asking me questions to figure out my identity and role in the novel. But she looked so cute that I couldn't help but answer all her queries.

The confusion about her age was also sorted out. Athy turned five a month ago and i was gonna turn six soon as well.

So it turns out that I'm ten months older than Athy instead of one year. Thus our ages are currently the same, But I'm still older!!

Athy and I began meeting a lot of times from then onward. Even though we didn't have the same mothers , we both still got along really well , and Athy slowly became more comfortable around me.

We were like real siblings, even though we only met a few weeks ago. I was glad to have gotten close to her.

The day she met Claude was about to come , so I decided to decrease our secret meetings. Honestly, I couldn't care less about the flow of the story. Now that I'm here , the story is bound to change. But even so , the main things should not be missed.

ONE EVENING. JADE PLACE BY NOW SEEMED abandoned. Only Olivia and 10 other maids were staying at the Palace. I heard shouts coming from within the Palace. It seems like someone's arguing. When I went to the source I saw Olivia arguing with some maids who seemed as if they were also leaving.

"I know you stole some things from the Palace. Either hand them over and we end it peacefully or I will tell the authorities and have you imprisoned." Olivia said.

"Tch, Always being such a goody goody huh? How do we know you're not just taking these for yourselves ?"

"Don't stoop me down to your level . Now hand them over."

Ugh. It looks like some maids got caught stealing and now they're leaving with it. Via really doesn't get paid enough for dealing with this. Oh well I might as well step in before it gets worse.

"What's all the fuss about?" I asked with a sharp and cold tone of voice.

"Your Highness.. Forgive me if we were being too loud" Olivia said politely as she bowed to greet him. She always showed him the respect of a prince even though he was forgotten. The other maids didn't bother bowing to him

"Your Highness , a maid had stolen some-"

"Fine. I have stolen some jewels from the Palace. What about it?" The maid says while looking at me.

"It's not like anyone even cares about this Palace anymore, there's practically free jewels in here. The salary for this Palace is awful , these jewels will suffice as payment." She says while pulling a pouch of jewels from her luggage.

Welp this is getting troublesome. She's practically looking down on me now. Even honestly saying she stole and there's nothing wrong with it. I don't have any authority as prince other than my jewelled eyes. In their eyes I'm just a powerless kid, which is almost true.. almost..

"Iris." Arius glared with Cold eyes. Almost the same look as Claude.

The maid flinched, she only started this job a month ago. And she hardly ran into the prince at all. She wasn't expecting him to know her name.

"Leave My Palace. Hand over the Pouch of Jewels to Olivia. Olivia checks her luggage and brings everything she has stolen from the Palace to my room." I say in a commanding tone as he turns around and heads back to his room.

This time it was an order .

Iris was too shocked and scared by a Prince to disobey. I know that I am only five and yet my eyes don't look like those of a child...They are of the eyes of the Royalty.

20 Minutes Later

Via investigated the luggage of all the maids that were leaving and many stolen items were found. She brought them to my room as I had ordered. Now all maids had left and only Olivia and I were left in the Jade Palace.

Olivia seemed worried about how we would manage, but kept smiling for my sake. I ordered her to place all the stolen items back in their original positions , welp we're the only ones left anyways. No more theft now.

Hmm. Now what. We still have food items and Olivia knows how to cook. But that's not enough. Olivia already sent out many Job flyers but nobody wants to work here. Should I just move into Ruby Palace where Athy is?

Claude ordered for me to stay in Jade Palace but given the circumstances that's impossible. Or should I request staff personally from Claude? I'll be reaching out to him first, who knows maybe he doesn't even remember me.

Third Person's Point of View

Crash!

"AAAH!!!!" Olivia yelled

Arius ran out of his room to see what had happened. Two men in black robes stood at the end of the hallway, with the shards of glass scattered on the floor. Olivia, who was standing in the middle of the hallway, rushed towards Arius. The two men in black followed her but in a slow pace as if confident in their skills.

Olivia hurriedly took Arius in the room , locked the door and began to panic.

"Y-Your High-hness, those men-"

"Calm down Via. They are Assassins right? and their target.. I assume it is me." Arius said calm and composed.

'So this is how Arius died.... But not this time. I won't die this time.'

"Your Highness, there is no time. You must escape. I will try to lead them the other way, meanwhile please escape." Olivia hugged him tightly as some tears rolled on her cheeks.

"Via. Don't Worry , it'll be okay. I'm not leaving you, nor am I escaping. This is my Palace. It is them who will leave." Olivia stood there confused. She opened her mouth to say something but-

Bang!

The door to Arius's room fell over. The assassin came inside Olivia pulled Arius close to her chest and by the looks of her expression was probably thinking of a way to protect him from them.

"Via, Don't worry. I'll be fine." Arius whispered into her ear as he got out of her arms and towards the assassin. Olivia grabbed Arius arm and tried pulling him back. He smiled at her and broke out of her grip.

"What do you want?" He asked the Assassin while gathering mana around him.

The assassin didn't bother conversing and threw daggers around Arius to stop his movement. He ran close to him and tried to slit his throat.

But little did he know that Arius had been practicing mana control as of late and thus, Arius , a mere five year old , is also capable of combat. The poor guy got zapped with his mana, and passed out. He let his guard down cause Arius was a child. Arius chuckled to himself. While Olivia watched in horror, trying to process what happened.

"Y-Y-YOUR HIGHNESS! M-Magic?!?!"

Olivia sounded so confused. Arius couldn't help but chuckle slightly over her reaction.

The second Assassin suddenly entered the room and unlike the first one, he was a bit cautious with his movements and didn't underestimate Arius even though he was a child.

But even so , against a mana user. Normal attacks, using knives and daggers won't work. The second assassin was also knocked out by a mana zap.

Arius stood beside their bodies , proudly putting one leg over them. Olivia suddenly jumped to hug him.

"Oh Your Highness! Are you hurt anywhere!? Any injuries!? and was that magic just there!?"

"Ahahah.. Via ,I'm fine, I'll explain later. First let's go somewhere more safe."

"Ah! Yes of course... but where?"

"The Ruby Palace."

Olivia looked at him a bit confused and shocked.

At the Ruby Palace

Via and Arius come to the Ruby Palace. As we got to the entrance of the Palace, we heard several gasps and stares towards them. But who cares.

A maid hurriedly came out to the entrance and bowed.

"Glory and Blessings upon the f-first star of the Obelian Empire!" the maid stuttered

Ah. She stuttered. well still not bad considering she's a commoner and his existence hasn't been publicly announced. Arius' eyes gave it away.

"Would you kindly prepare a room for His Highness to stay in for the time being? We would like to meet with the head maid as well." Olivia told the maid.

"A-Ah..Y-Yes of course. Please follow me."

Arius's Point of View

THE MAID TOOK US TO THE room where Athy was playing. Athy's jaw dropped when she saw me. I'm sure she's confused, after all I wasn't hoping to reveal myself this soon. The maid left me with Athy while I told Olivia to discuss matters over with the head maid of Ruby Palace.

During the time the maids prepared a room for me, I spent time with Athy.

"B-Brother?" Athy looked at me confused.

"Sorry for popping out of nowhere, something happened and I didn't know what to do so I came here. Do you want me to leave?" I teased her.

"N-no that's not it! I'm glad to be able to meet you without having to go through the trouble of hiding it from Lily. Anyways...what happened?"

If Athy was an ordinary child, I would've told her a lie like I missed her so I came here. But she is mentally mature , even more so than me with my previous life's age combined. And so there's no need to hide it. I might even tell her I'm reincarnated as well... But not right now.

I sat on the couch , closed my eyes and began explaining in a quick and simple way, "Jade Palace got attacked by some assassins. They were targeting me. But don't worry, I've dealt with them. I'll be staying at Ruby Palace for a while, since all the servants working at Jade Palace left. I know that by me being here , chances of you getting in danger are pretty high as well but- "

Athanasia cut him off.

"BROTHER!" she shouted with tears running down her cheeks. she came up to him and smacked him in the head.

"Huh?! What's wrong, why are you crying?! uh should I just leave?"

"NO! You idiot!" she shouted as she smacked him once again.

Lily entered the room worried because she heard Athy shouting. Via followed behind her.

"I'm worried about you! You got attacked by assassins , and yet you're talking as if it's normal for that to happen! SECONDLY I couldn't care less about my life being in danger so STAY at Ruby Palace for as long as you want! AND are you hurt anywhere- Ah Lily, Please see if brother is hurt anywhere!" She lectured me.

Oh. She was worried about me. Strange. The Athanasia in WMMAP would have cared about her life more, and yet she's allowing me to stay here even though my presence might bring her harm.

Ha...strange... Tears trickled down my cheeks. Ha.. they won't stop...

"B-Brother?! Does it hurt somewhere?! Lily!" Lily and Olivia rushed to us.

"I'm fine Athy."

"Thank you.. for worrying about me, little sis.."

I cried for a while during our hug but I quickly wiped my tears after that we parted from the hug.

"Princess, have you met His Highness before?" asked Lily.

We flinched.

"...Yep , we met once in the forest when Broth-" I cut Athy off.

"When Athy got lost."

'HUH.'  Athanasia looks at her brother.

Arius averts his gaze.

"I was taking a stroll when I saw her lost in the forest, of course being the older sibling, I led her out of the forest and back to Ruby Palace. But since Via was waiting for me at Jade Palace, I rushed back. Afterwards , Athy and I met in the forest from time to time. "

I can't let them find out I was the one who got lost. I'm the older one. How is it that Athy goes around exploring the whole place but returns back to the Palace without getting lost? I internally cried. Athy was glaring at me for ruining her reputation. 

Oh well.

My room was right opposite to Athy. Olivia had let the royal guards know about the assassins who attacked me. They were imprisoned, thankfully they were still unconscious by the time the guards came to take them. 

The day ended peacefully.

Claude will probably hear about the assassination attempt... He might come to the Jade Palace soon. The story is gonna change from now on. The assassins failed their mission and now are imprisoned and will most definitely be interrogated after they wake up. 

I wonder who sent them. I might be the first in the line to the throne and a prince at that.

But as of right now I'm just a forgotten prince. I sighed .Being royalty is hard... But better than my previous life. I'm glad I have magic to defend me In these situations. But I'm kinda surprised. Athy has a magic spell protecting her, that was put by Claude himself. But how come I don't have one.

Claude also abandoned Athy and yet gave her protection but not...me.. Is it because she's the protagonist?

Ah! Let's just sleep for now!