I, reincarnate as the leader of the villainous knight order

Chapter 23: Crown Prince Ernest

After leaving the audience chamber, Orel and I headed to the salon within the royal palace. There are several salons in the palace, but the one we’re heading to serves as a lounge for the nobles working in the palace.

Being invited to dinner means they intend to discuss the reward there. Since it’s dining with the royal family, Orel, who was already clutching his stomach tighter than in the audience chamber, tapped him on the back.

“What’s the use of getting nervous now? It’s probably your first time dining with royalty, so your stomach might ache. You might not even appreciate the taste… Oh, but in this case, it might be better. It’ll probably be better than the food at the barracks, but now that you’ve experienced better, who knows.”

With a smirk, I comforted him, and though it was a wry smile, Orel finally smiled back.

“Indeed, the meal they’ll have tonight will probably be delicious. I’m already captivated by dishes seasoned with herbs. But still, I never knew, besides your knowledge, that you could cook, Captain. Your efficiency during camping, it’s almost as good as a chef’s. When did you practice?”

“I didn’t practice; I just did it when needed.”

It was actually my first time cooking in this life. While making it, I realized that I quite enjoy cooking. In my past life, I might have done it reluctantly, but seeing everyone enjoy the food makes me happy.

As we walked and talked, we arrived at the salon. There are several table seats in the salon, and the dedicated maid serves tea and snacks to the visitors.

Perhaps because the audience chamber hadn’t dispersed yet, there was no one using it. We sat in the warm sunlight by the window and ordered tea. The maid’s hand was trembling as she brought tea, with the notorious top two of the Third Knight Order present.

Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter.

The tea was even shaking so much that it made one nervous just watching it.

“Oh!”

Then, with a small scream from the maid, as if it were a given, the cup separated from the saucer in slow motion.

“Oops.”

By the way, it’s all thanks to my physical abilities and dynamic vision that I quickly caught the cup and put it on the table. The cup was hot, but thanks to the formal gloves, it wasn’t unbearable. The maid, with a pale face, was still trembling with the saucer in hand.

“Are you alright? Did you burn yourself with the tea?”

“Ah, I-I’m terribly sorry…!”

It seems she didn’t hear my words due to fear. If it were me from before, I would’ve probably said something like, “As an apology, you’ll accompany me tonight,” or something. Upon closer inspection, a little tea had spilled on the saucer, and the maid’s thumb was red. It seems she was surprised by the heat of the spilled tea and made a mistake.

“You’re burned, aren’t you, ‘Water Ball.’ Come, lend me your hand.”

Standing up, I took the saucer and dipped her thumb into a palm-sized water ball I conjured with magic. Even if it seems fine now, burns can get worse later if not cooled immediately.

“Ah… Th-Thank you…”

“Despite having such beautiful hands, it’d be troublesome if you got blisters, right? Can you use healing magic?”

Most people working in the palace, aside from manual labor, are basically nobles, so there’s a high probability they can use some form of magic.

“N-No… I’m not good at magic…”

She either fears me or feels ashamed of not being able to use magic, as she hung her head.

If it’s only this extent, my healing magic might be able to fix it. Let’s use it as an apology.

“I’m not sure if it’ll completely heal, but ‘Healing Heal.’ If it still hurts, make sure to go to the infirmary.”

“Y-Yes, thank you very much!”

“What are you doing?!”

Just as the maid finished thanking me, a person burst into the quiet salon. Whether he had just finished the meeting in the audience chamber or slipped out, it was Crown Prince Ernest glaring at me.

Approaching us boldly, he then forcefully separated the maid’s hand from mine that I was holding. Ah, I see, he might have thought I was trying to flirt with the maid.

“Uhm, Your Highness…”

“Don’t worry, everything is fine now that I’m here.”

Interrupting the maid’s attempt to explain, Ernest turned his face away dramatically, as if he were a staunch defender of justice. It was so transparently comical that I had to suppress a laugh.

“What’s so funny?!”

Oops, seems like I couldn’t hold it in.

“Well, I just thought that politicians who don’t listen to others won’t have a future… You see, those who jump to conclusions, act self-righteously, and refuse to listen to inconvenient truths are called dictators, right? It’s important to confirm before making judgments; acting based on assumptions can lead to irreversible consequences, you know?”

“What did you say?!”

Come to think of it, I didn’t really like the protagonist of the novel too much. The novel itself was interesting, but the protagonist’s overconfidence sometimes rubbed me the wrong way, so I ended up saying something a bit mean. Maybe it’s because of my past dislike for Ernest that this happened.

“What was I doing?”

“You were about to assault this person!”

“…Isn’t that what the Crown Prince was doing?”

The hand he was clearly gripping tightly looked painful. Indeed, the maid’s eyes were teary.

“Ah… I-I’m sorry, I held on too tightly. But, this man was trying to harass you, wasn’t he?”

“By asking like that, it’s practically an order to say yes, isn’t it? That’s practically forcing your opinion on others. How many people have you been doing this to?”

“I haven’t done anything like that!”

I don’t know why, but even though I understand why I used to dislike Ernest, the snide remarks just don’t stop. Orel, too, seems to be secretly laughing at Ernest and my exchange.

“If you want to judge the situation correctly, isn’t it appropriate to ask what happened first? Wouldn’t you agree?”

I felt like the day when I could outwit Ernest with logic would come, and for some reason, I felt like the previous me, Justin, was laughing hysterically.