“Your Highness,” one of the valets approached me one day, “The [Imperial Physician] is here to examine you.”
I was expecting the main Palace and its bureaucracy would do something, I just didn’t expect it to be so fast. It was a month after our tenth birthday, and I was supposed to already have entered puberty by now. The nobles were hungry for fresh meat on the market, a new Prince they could send their daughters to court, a new beacon of influence they could usurp and use as their own. Or a threat to their power they had to take down. Take your pick.
This pressure probably turned into an obscene pile of gold coins and the cogs of bureaucracy knew no better lubricant. Therefore, a haughty physician came to check on me. What he wanted to see, what he expected to see and what I couldn't let him see were all game pieces on the board. A game where the losers (and sometimes the winners) bet in blood.
The only reason I hadn’t been caught yet was my complete immunity to any Status-divining effects. They couldn’t {Appraise} me and just assumed I wasn’t activated. Now, things were different. I needed to fool this envoy. Or get rid of him. Maybe if I knew this doctor was coming beforehand, I could ambush him and cause some damage, but now if a visitor got hurt or killed in our Palace, it would cast suspicion on our security scheme.
Unless they died in open sight of everyone.
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“I need you to undress, Your Highness. I must examine your body,” the doctor said. “Or do you want the knights to do it for you? I’m sorry we can’t call in your squires,” he sarcastically remarked.
I was reluctant to remove my clothes, but the doctor had backing from the [First Imperial Knigths], the Emperor’s own knight order. What I didn’t know at the time was that some nobles spread rumors I was a hidden [Princess]. I mean, I was, but I knew our secrecy was watertight. That didn’t stop them from spouting nonsense and raise what they believed were false accusations. Politicians lying, who would’ve imagined?
When the doctor said he needed to examine my genitals, I locked down. When he showed the medieval version of a gynecologic examination chair, I started to fight back.
“I am not sitting on this chair. What torture device is this? I’m an [Imperial Prince] and unless you bring father here, I’m having nothing to do with something designed for a cheap slum whore.”
The doctor raised his voice, “I am here under direct orders from the [Emperor]!”
I just stared at him, “So you claim. Is the fawn borrowing the lion’s roar?”
“I’ll have the knights pin you down, I’m warning you.”
I shifted my gaze at the knights and {Appraised} them. It would be a tough fight but I could win. Especially if I didn’t leave survivors to tell the tale of how I defeated them.
“The Emperor’s finest, bullying a child. How are we going to do this, gentlemen? All at once, or one at a time? Prove yourselves or leave in shame. I’m here, ready to fight. I threw the gauntlet. Who is going to pick it up?”
There was no honor in fighting a child. The knights knew that. Worse, they would probably be censured for using violence against a child. Whoever felt raising such allegations would further their agenda would do that. Whenever people are allowed to lie but cannot be called liars to their faces, that’s what happens. Everyone is on their toes, trying to keep appearances.
It should be a clear-cut job. Go in, check the [Prince]’s wee-wee, get out and sell the information to the highest bidder, under the wraps. But now, they would become the ones who bullied a Royal.
“You,” I pointed at a knight at random. Level forty-nine. That’s… ninety-eight in old values. Second rank and the lowest level in the bunch. “I challenge you to a duel.” I held back on using any Perks. Then I looked around, at nobody in particular, “Someone gives me a sword.”
“Your Highness, this place is not suited for a duel,” the knight replied.
“We go to the arena. I’m sure the good doctor spared the day just for me. Someone go ask Sir Godfrey to officiate the duel.”
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Quite the crowd gathered on the training grounds. Everyone who could stop their work to watch came. Including Marion and her daughters. I brought the humiliating chair with me, despite the doctor’s attempts at taking it from me. [Emperor]’s fake orders or not, he couldn’t be rude to me and we both knew that.
The veteran knight wore his ceremonial armor as he entered the training grounds. He was pissed at the events and cast a long glare at the [Knight-Captain]. “[Prince] Percival, what is your grievance?” Godfrey asked me, starting the duel rites.
“These knights and that man, allegedly an [Imperial Physician], they want me to expose my crotch on this humiliating chair,” I tossed the chair down, conjuring some invisible Force tongs to bend it as it touched the dirt. The chair crumpled like it was made of paper and rolled into a ball of twisted metal. I knew nobody present could see what I did although they were left wondering how did a metal chair bend like that crashing on dirt.
Godfrey glared at the knights. They knew each other as the weapons instructor was a veteran member of their order. Teaching a [Prince] was an extremely prestigious assignment, one that allowed aging knights to retain some glory and push back retirement a while longer. While their bodies didn’t decay like the elderly on Earth, they still got mentally and spiritually worn from all the struggles Imperial society could impose on a person of interest.
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“I’ve heard the grievance. Now, what are the terms of the challenge?”
“I win the duel, they leave in shame.”
“Hold!” The [Kinight-Captain] among them objected. “We cannot be bound to a personal challenge’s results.”
“Fine!” I said, pretending to be annoyed and brattish. “I win, this guy leaves in shame carrying that chair on foot back to the Imperial Palace. But he has to circle the main square seven times shouting, ‘I lost a duel to Prince Percival’ every five steps.”
“That’s preposterous!” The young knight protested.
“So is that chair! Now pick up the gauntlet or run in shame.”
“His Highness is not a [Knight]! There’s no honor to be had in this duel!” One of the guy’s peers dissented.
“Coward,” I spat. “Sir Godfrey, I crave a fight. I’ve been vilified, humiliated. Before my mother, my honor and valor have been questioned. They wished to make me bare my legs like a cheap whore of the red-light district. I’ll see someone bleed today for that insult. The [Emperor]’s finest, His valiant knights, reduced to tormentors of children. How the mighty have fallen, all because someone bribed the doctor to do so.”
That would make them question the validity of the doctor’s claim. It also gave the knight order an outlet to dump the blame on them. Whatever the outcome of this altercation, the doctor probably saw his last day at the Imperial capital.
The veteran knight crossed his arms, casting a stern and silent judgment on his juniors. His fierce scowl made the proud bullies flinch. Sir Godfrey released his scabbard from his waist and threw the sword down. “Perhaps a training accident happened today. The young Percival found a sword lying on the ground and decided to spar with a knight with live weapons.”
I kicked the hilt and made the sword fly up, catching the scabbard and drawing the blade. It was Sir Godfrey’s enchanted blade, [Severance]. Gifted to him by the [Emperor] himself. I could see the enchantments on the blade and it was a fine weapon.
I turned my head to meet the young knight’s eyes. “You should’ve agreed to the duel. At least then you’d have set terms to end this. Now, have at you!”
I kicked the ground and a split second later remembered I couldn’t use my full speed. With [Severance] held in a back right guard, I shielded the blade from my adversary’s view with my body. The young knight couldn’t believe what was happened as his legs locked.
“DRAW YOUR BLADE!” I shouted as I entered attack range. I had a choice. I could either mentally suppress my Perks and lower my combat ability to make it seem like a fair fight, or I could go all-out and set it aside as a stroke of luck. What made the choice for me was the proverb, “Dead men read no combat logs.”
Severance drew an arc from the young knight’s blindside, flashing in a blur of silver about neck height. They were using armor but it was not the same armor they wore for battle. It was meant to be worn all day and had no pauldrons or neckguard. They weren’t even wearing maille coifs. I pulled no punches, held back not an inch of my combat ability.
Part of me felt sorry this guy had to die, but such was life in the Empire. A [Prince]’s honor had been tarnished. As the blade went through the [Knight]’s neck with little resistance from the spine, I knew this was but the first of many vile deeds Percival would commit in my struggle to turn this Empire on its head.
> You slashed Junior Knight for 26 million HP of damage (Base 214 [15d10 + 122] x8,26 Attributes x 9.7 Skill x3 Charge x2 Favored Enemy x4.29 critical x2.2 Melee Specialist x2 Blood Sacrifice x1.5 Enchantment x3 Mana Strike x3 Arcane Smite)
>
> For killing level 49 Imperial Knight, you gained 4.6 Billion Exp (Base 769,737 x1000 Fast Learner x3,05 Favored Enemy x2 Rank)
>
> You reached [Imperial Lancer (1st rank)] level 19.
He had to die. His innocence was voided the time he marched past my palace gates. His unwittingly participation on this drama would see him as but the first victim of clash between me and Imperial politics. But I would give him a second chance at life. Before me, death was but a revolving door.
I suppressed the auto-collect feature of the item box. It would be hard to explain a vanishing body. I withdrew before blood could splatter on me, quickly moving back to my starting point.
Silence reigned in the training grounds. The head hit the ground and the body followed. Blood spurted from the open neck as the heart hadn’t yet noticed the person had died. I kept the young knight’s soul close to me.
> > The Cosmos Within
My gaze fell on the [Imperial Physician] as I forced him to meet its dreadful implications. The robed doctor fell on his knees. I pointed [Severance] at him. I didn’t smile or scowl. A neutral, unreadable face was way scarier.
“You honorless curr!” The leader of the knight detachment drew his blade. “For your machinations, the Empire lost a fine knight!”
Completely taken by hubris and righteous fury, the [Knight-Captain] skewered the doctor’s heart. He lifted the twitching body on the hilt of his blade and then split the body in half with a war cry.
Sir Godfrey watched the events unfold impassibly. I cleaned [Severance] and sheathed the blade. Holding the pommel toward him, I had him take his weapon back.
Still, under the effects of [The Cosmos Within], the doctor’s last act was to raise his head to meet my eyes. He couldn’t resist or avoid the inexorable compulsion. Then he expired.
“{Kneel}!” I commanded the knights. The captain held his blade, offering it to me. “What about the scheduled examination?”
The commander ground his teeth. I looked around. Violence and death were no strangers to citizens of the Empire. Everyone knew what it meant to be entangled in this Byzantine web of treachery and appearances. My gaze went past the horrified faces of my sisters, up to a balcony where I met the steeled and still melancholic eyes of my mother. I blinked for a long while then looked at her. “A man among men,” I mouthed to her. Though she was disgusted by the murders, Rhiannon nodded slightly.
“I vow on this day, I vow on this blade,” the [Knight-Captain] solemnly declared. “That should anyone ever raise doubt upon the manhood of His Highness Percival, that I will claim their lives on the spot. We have witnessed an [Imperial Prince] righteous wrath and are humbled by it. We have tasted his fine swordsmanship, his lack of hesitation in the face of danger. Fire and Steel, that’s what runs in His Highness Veins.”
“Stand!” I said and the knights complied. “Go and tell my father that if he wanted a full view of my manhood once again, he should come in person to check. Anyone else will suffer the same fate as these fools. Commend the [Knight] for his posthumous bravery. When faced with the wrath of an [Imperial Prince], he stood his ground. A lesser man would’ve run away.”
It was the only way I could make amends without exposing myself. I mean, I could bring these two back to life easily.
“So said [Prince] Percival, and the Empire heard his words,” the [Knight-Captain] replied. “Sir Martin will be buried with honors. And I swear to you, Your Highness. The ones responsible for this will be punished.”
I already knew who bribed the doctor to come here. His ghost told me. “Look no further than House Eddington,” I replied.
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As fast as night turns into day, all misdeeds of House Eddington were exposed, bared for all the Empire to see. The [First Imperial Knights] descended like locusts upon the house members and business, and the nobility shuddered at the Emperor’s righteous fury. News of this incident climbed up and down the grapevine. The [Imperial Medical Corps] suffered a lot of backlashes and had to accept heavy cuts on their secondary "sources of funding". They were placed under scrutiny for corrupt practices and fake diagnoses.
[Prince] Percival was painted as a cold-blooded killer, a ruthless scion like many others. That pulled the brakes on the pressure from noble houses to make me meet their daughters and bought me some time at a grievously high price.