Without even trying to hide his cold expression, the priest asked while holding Davey’s wrist, “Hm… How are you feeling?”

“Not bad. How much longer until I reach full recovery?”

“Your Highness. Because you were asleep for a long time, you have become quite weak. It would actually be dangerous to thoughtlessly use holy magic in your circumstance.”

“Really?” Davey laughed because it was so ridiculous. The priests didn’t even treat him properly with recovery magic, and they only used it after running out of excuses. As the priest was on Queen Lynesse’s side, he was probably ordered to delay Davey’s recovery as much as possible. Despite knowing that, Davey found it quite sickening to see the priest in charge of his recovery acting in such a way.

‘To be a doctor, the very basic realization is of how precious life is.’ That was Hypocria’s first piece of advice to Davey when she first started teaching him the art of medicine. As she was a true doctor, she didn’t care if they were an ally or the enemy.

But Davey was different. The heroes heard about Davey’s life, so they knew the difficult road ahead of him, and that was why they understood him. There was no way that Davey, who still made a somewhat conscientious decision, would look favorably upon these medical practitioners’ behavior.

The priests could help Davey recover, but they were clearly choosing not to do so. Thankfully, Davey was steadily recovering on his own.

“From what I hear, holy magic is quite great.”

“Oh… Yes.”

“I thought that such an injury would be easily cured with the blessed power from Freyja, the King of the Gods.”

“Your Highness, you are saying that because you know nothing about it.” The priest blatantly looked down on Davey and mocked him.

Davey thought that the priest may have forgotten that this 16 year old boy in front of him was the prince. He raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying that I don’t know what I’m talking about?”

“Yes, knowledge about holy power is the priests’ inherent right.”

“Hm.”

As Davey stared at him with interest, the priest mumbled to himself while sneaking a nasty smile. He said, “Of course, I am aware that you are different from the intelligent His Highness, Prince Carlus.”

The problem was that this ignorant guy didn’t have the brains to watch what he was saying.

“Priest Borte! You are in the presence of His Highness Prince Davey! Mind your words!”

Slap! 

“How dare a mere lady-in-waiting rebuke me?”

Davey sighed at the sight of the priest scolding Amy, who now had the priest’s full attention. The priest seemed like he had no intention of stopping there; even though Davey was right in front of him, he walked up to Amy and slapped her across the face. His actions were very rough for a priest, who was supposed to act with love. However, this scene was unsurprising. It was obvious what kind of thoughts a pawn of Queen Lynesse, blinded by worldly desires, had.

‘That’s why you can never climb up the ranks.’

Even low-ranking priests gained some power if they had support from Queen Lynesse. That was probably why the priest was able to stay and fulfill his worldly desires. Davey felt, once again, that the priest was so out of his mind that he didn’t know how to watch his mouth anymore.

“What are you doing?” Davey asked calmly.

The priest cleared his throat, then slowly came toward Davey to hold his hand again. “If you do nothing to a lady-in-waiting, who dared to speak without watching her mouth, you will be put in a difficult position.”

Davey could see a teary-eyed Amy biting her lips in the corner after getting slapped. She seemed aggrieved, but knowing her, she was probably more upset by the fact that Davey was belittled. She was, after all, one of the few people on Davey’s side.

“Your treatment is over. I will see you again in half a month.”

“Okay.”

As Davey nodded indifferently, the priest arrogantly rose from his seat. Then, as he was about to leave after passing Amy, he stopped and commented, “...That bitch, what a pretty face she’s got.”

Davey frowned at the priest’s creepy smile. “Amy.” Pretending that he saw nothing, Davey then stood up with his cane. “They are esteemed priests. Show him out of the palace.”

“Yes…” With a small voice, Amy followed the priest out with her head low. She was probably furious, but she wasn’t the only one.

While staring at the priest leaving the palace, Davey slowly and quietly pulled out the old sword by his pillow. If Davey just let him leave after causing this much of a scene, he would have been patient for nothing. Then, with an emotionless face, Davey slowly made his way.

* * *

Strangely, Davey felt his emotions get cold. He was angry and very indignant. Saintess Daphne once said, ‘You are nothing but a pig if you cannot control your own anger,’ but Davey thought a little differently. He thought that an adequate amount of anger was the source of life and also was a milestone to a goal; if laziness was the key to development, anger was the driving force.

The palace became silent, as if the sounds of footsteps simply disappeared. Davey slowly walked down the palace’s hallway. He could see Priest Borte backing Amy into a corner and saying something. Davey could see the movement of Priest Borte’s mouth, but he was too far away to hear what he was saying.

“You… Your High…”

“Shut it.”

Thud! Someone seemed to be on the lookout. An apprentice priest, who was standing at a distance, saw Davey with wide eyes and tried to shout. However, Davey was quicker. As soon as the apprentice priest fell to the ground after being hit with the sheath, Davey moved along with the cold expression still etched on his face.

Even though Davey wasn’t familiar with using the ability of ‘Lunar Walking’, a stealth technique, in this body, it wasn’t a basic skill that some low-level priest could notice.

Borte was smiling wickedly at Amy, not suspecting that Davey would be there. He said, “Bear in mind, you must come to my room alone. Remember, Prince Davey’s life is in my hands.”

“That is…!”

“A crime of murdering the royal family? He’s just a halfwit prince. It’s not that I cannot rescue that halfwit’s life, I am choosing not to. If you don’t listen to me, I can kill him in an instant. Her Majesty the Queen would probably reward me for it. There is no one on Davey’s side in this palace.”

“....”

“Even if it was a crime, how could they punish me, the underling of Her Majesty the Queen, and the lamb of the divine shepherd, Freyja! No, would they punish me? Hahaha!”

Everyone knew how powerful Queen Lynesse was in this palace. Davey smirked, and at the same time, he spoke to reveal himself. “Well, good. I needed a reasonable excuse anyway. Amy.”

“Hup?! Your Highness?”

“What is the punishment for contempt of the royal family?

Unaware of Davey’s presence, Priest Borte’s eyes flew wide open at his sudden appearance. Flash! At the same time, Davey took his sword out from his sheath, almost as if he was throwing it. His credo had always been ‘act quickly.’

6. Fight Fire With Fire 

Priest Borte was seemingly coming on to Amy, as he took a liking to her beauty, and Davey was quick to catch on to something that was as plain as day. Davey also needed a reasonable excuse to get rid of Priest Borte, and what better excuse than this?

“Gasp?!” A metallic sound instantly rang out and hot blood splattered everywhere. Amy trembled with her eyes wide open, as if she was panicking from the situation in front of her.

Squeal! 

“H…How…” Priest Borte looked up at Davey with a shocked expression. As far as he knew, Davey didn’t have the physical capacity to sneak up without a sound; even if Davey was able to move, he was still weak and needed assistance. Yet, that same Davey just soundlessly approached him and swung his sword. Not anyone else, but him, one of the underlings of Queen Lynesse in this palace.

At the priest’s bewildered face, Davey spoke with no emotion, “Don’t make me say things twice.”

“The… the punishment is immediate execution.” Amy gave a clear answer despite trembling.

Davey slowly shook off his sword and smiled coldly. The law existed but it was never properly implemented, so he was slightly confused by it. Still, he never showed that. “Did you hear that?”

“Groan… He… Her Majesty the Queen will not just sit back. An…And neither will the holy empire…”

“Yeah, thanks for the advice. I assure you that no one will be on your side.” Davey swiftly pierced his sword into the priest’s heart, which burst with blood, and pulled it out. Priest Borte flinched before going limp; he had died.

Amy was in shock. She saw Davey brushing off the blood from his sword and placing it back in the sheath after killing Priest Borte easily. “You.. Your Highness… Why…”

“What do you mean, ‘Why’? You just said that the punishment for contempt of the royal family and attempted murder was immediate execution.”

Amy burst into tears after holding it in for so long. As Davey silently patted her on the back, she cried for a while to vent her sorrow. No matter how innocent she was, she was probably familiar with seeing people die, since the royal palace had many people die in the dark. Davey’s past self was too immature to even know that.

“Are you done?” Davey spoke in a teasing manner while comforting Amy.

Amy, who was crying, realized her mistake and bowed. “For… Forgive me, Your Highness.”

“Good job. Call the guards to clean up this guy’s body, since there aren’t any knights here.”

With a trembling face, Amy glanced at Priest Borte, who was lying limp on the floor. “But, Your Highness…” She was clever. She had already figured out what would happen because of Davey’s actions.

Priest Borte, who was already dead, was from the holy empire, and he was one of Queen Lynesse’s underlings. It meant that he was one of the people she had sent out to spy on Davey and hinder his recovery. Queen Lynesse seemed to be a benevolent queen, who sent a priest to look out for her step-son. But in truth, she was a spiteful woman who was full of dirty tricks.

Whatever it was, Davey killing Priest Borte wasn’t a minor incident. Even if it was contempt of the royal family, it was a big problem to kill him without any proper proceedings. A rumor that the First Prince, Davey O'Rowane, was crazy, would most likely spread in the palace. This would only worsen Davey’s already weak position in the palace. Worst case scenario, they would say that Davey had gone mad and that he should be locked up in a tower outside the palace.

And if the holy empire protested as well, Davey might be taken to the holy empire as a hostage. Whatever it was, it would be something to celebrate for Queen Lynesse, who thought of Davey as a thorn in her eye.

But of course, Davey wasn’t one to act without a plan.