This Bastard is Too Competent

“Have you seen enough? What are you doing not coming in?” 

Seeing Ian’s smile, the nobles exchanged glances.  

They had no choice but to do so. 

‘Somehow, this feels like I’m walking into a devil’s den.’ 

‘I know, right? I didn’t know it would be this different. Did the prince install something weird inside?’ 

But there was no reason not to follow.

They had to go inside to fail the Seventh Prince’s test. 

But the more they walked inside, the more questions there were. 

‘Oh my.’

‘Don’t tell me that’s…’ 

There were expensive items dotted every corner of the palace. They could even spot famous paintings that money could not buy.

Some of the nobles running merchant groups were surprised and rushed to Ian. 

“Your Highness, if my eyes are not wrong, isn’t this beautiful color the pottery of the Arn province? It’s hard to find. How did you get all of these?”

“What a strange thing to say. Of course, I bought it.” 

“W, what?! All of these works? It doesn’t cost just a penny or two!” 

“I made money by selling good stuff.”

As Ian turned around with a smile, the nobles became more confused. 

‘What the hell can you sell to get all of that?’

‘These are not one or two things that other royals can covet…!’

Kaistein was a country that used to be a huge empire for a long time. In the past, they owned many precious things, but now they did not exist.

There were even items that could be difficult to obtain even if they sold their nobility status.

In the end, Ian was satisfied with their dazed expressions. 

‘Well, I did sell something precious.’ 

The information about her brother whom she thought was dead.  

In fact, Countess Aria had said it not long ago.

“There are artworks that our family keeps.” 

In the past, Duke Adria of Intellect loved art.

The Aria family had many works and ornaments of famous artists they supported.

“If you hang that on the wall, it will be quite a sight to see.” 

“But if it is Adria’s, other nobles might recognize it.” 

“It has nothing to do with Adria, so don’t worry about that.” 

She had not been secretly surviving for decades for nothing.

In fact, Garcia, who had a better eye for things than anyone else, seemed to have no idea. These were things they could get but could not be bought easily with money. 

Garcia’s eyes turned sharp, and some nobles with large merchant groups showed great interest in Ian. 

That was not all.  

“Come to think of it, Your Highness, aren’t you wearing Madame Arize’s clothes? How about the servants outside…”

“I asked to meet her in person to make me some clothes.”

“Pardon? Isn’t she the busiest woman in the royal road right now, who is known to be harder to meet than the royal family?”

Of course, Karan brought other prominent candidates, but Ian scratched them all and ordered Madame Arize.

It was indeed hard to see her, but Ian was living his second life. 

‘What the famous designer was looking for will be five years later. All the people of Kaistein will know then.’

But the nobles were just dumbfounded. 

“But Your Highness clearly has not stepped out of the royal castle…” 

“How do you know that? Did you plant a spy on me?” 

“Urk! N, no way.” 

But that wasn’t his concern now. 

“Oh, it has turned into a wonderful place.” 

“!” 

At the familiar voice, the nobles hurriedly bowed their heads. The king and queen, as well as all the royals, arrived. 

They were admiring the reformed appearance of Crystal Palace. 

The Crystal Palace was a place of deep tradition and significance but alienated at the same time because of all successors’ wishes. 

Since the owner was not decided early on, no servant was willing to apply there. 

In particular, the king, who had memories here, seemed to grow a new feeling. 

“The expectations for the prince are growing.”

The nobles gnashed their teeth secretly, but the king, seated on his seat, raised his hand. 

On the signal to start the test soon, Ian sat in a chair in the middle of the hall. The nobles, who were seated to watch him, looked at each other. 

“Is the test all good?” 

“I think it will be impossible. Marquis Adelas has bid his time to strike. Can’t you tell from seeing that Young Master Orlando?” 

“Studying, hunting, preparing for the banquet. Do you think he can do all of this at once?” 

Of course, they also had ears to hear. 

That Ian was pretty smart.  

But that didn’t mean he could pass it. 

“I heard it was difficult enough for other royals to pass.” 

“But will His Majesty approve it?” 

“It was done with the approval of His Majesty. If he doesn’t pass that level, he won’t be able to become the owner of the Crystal Palace.”

“Indeed. His Majesty is strict even with his children.”

It was when they were talking in hushed voices. 

Orlando Adelas stood before Ian. 

“We will commence the test. There are a total of 10 subjects, including philosophy, art, kingship studies, as well as accounting, swordsmanship, speech, observation, and so on. In the first test, we will check the accounting skills of the Seventh Prince.”

Orlando smiled. 

It went without saying that, especially for this occasion, he borrowed the knowledge of the scholars of Gratunias. 

The test would never be easy. 

“The time limit is one hour. You can solve these problems within that time.”

The problems were difficult at just a glance. 

[There is a tax of 100 gold every year in A territory. Assuming that the ratio of land tax, toll charge, commercial tax, and childbirth tax is 1:2:1:0.5, how much is the total cost of dignity maintenance that the lord can take, and how much of this should the lord dedicate to His Majesty?] 

Not only the general lords, the royals would have a headache solving this. Most problems needed to be solved by hiring people. 

But Ian solved the problems as if he was familiar with it. 

‘It’s only this much.’

During the war, he organized documents because he had nothing to do in the rear. Among all, he was familiar with tax calculations the most. 

And.  

Tak! 

“Finished.” 

The nobles fell into a commotion. It had been less than 15 minutes since the test began. 

“He didn’t choose randomly, did he? Like, he happened to check the correct answers?”

“Look, this test is subjective…”

“Ugh.”

“Then he must have written a letter to His Majesty.” 

But Orlando’s face hardened as he graded the test paper.

‘All of them… are correct.’ 

He wanted to pick holes in Ian’s answers somehow. 

Ssk. 

The grand scholar, who was Orland’s teacher, was staring intently. If he told a lie, the grand scholar would personally intervene. 

He couldn’t help but frown.

“You passed the first test.”

“What? Really? Just how did you make the problems!?” 

“Did you make it easier because it’s the first test?” 

Orlando narrowed his brows at the glare of the nobles of his faction. 

“Then we will take a break until the next test. Today’s final test will resume in an hour.” 

The tests were usually held over several days. Since Ian finished the test early, Orlando had to guarantee his break time. No matter how lowly his blood was, Ian was a royal.

But at that moment. 

“It doesn’t matter, just give me all at once. It’s a waste of time, so let’s finish it all today.” 

“…Excuse me?” 

“I’m asking you to give me all the remaining nine subjects.” 

“Excuse me??” 

This time, the royal family sneered at Ian’s ambitious words.  

But Orlando’s eyes lit up.

‘Your pride must have gotten a bit to your head. Then you make a mistake.’

“As you wish, Your Highness.” 

Orlando did not hesitate and took out the next problems immediately.  

This time, it was about philosophy. 

The problem was to distinguish how these philosophies came to the current era after classifying the ideas of each philosopher from ancient times to the present and dividing them into groups. 

‘It will be impossible to memorize all the philosophy books no matter how smart you are. If there is even the slightest mistake, I will find fault with him.’

But Ian moved his hand without hesitation. 

These theories, learned in his previous life, had been drilled into his brain almost to the level of abuse by Garcia’s scholars. Thanks to this, he memorized the books to the point he loathed it.

As a result. 

“It… It’s a perfect score.” 

The second test was also easily passed. No, it wasn’t just the second time. 

“It’s a perfect score.” 

“Again… It’s perfect.” 

Ian passed the eight tests in a flash.

The test that was supposed to span three days was shortened to mere two hours. The nobles who were previously thinking of leaving after watching for a while could not even take their butt off. 

“What the…” 

No wonder Orlando was surprised. 

‘The swordsmanship test was to guess swordsmanship style by looking at the movements of the knights. How can a child who was not a skilled knight and even lived as a serf know?’ 

Much less old swordsmanship from a less-known region? 

Besides, even though it was a test, Ian didn’t seem to be having a hard time at all. 

Orland glanced at the royal family’s seat.

Every time Ian passed the test, the queen’s face turned colder and the king’s mouth rose by 1 mm, and the expressions of the princes and princesses became serious.

‘If this one fails, I’d rather die.’

There was only one test left.  

If Ian passed this, the owner of Crystal Palace would be Ian rightfully. 

But Orlando was not worried. 

‘Let alone the Seventh Prince, even if the prince’s grandparents were to come, they would never be able to solve it.’

Brimming with confidence, he rolled up the cloth next to him.

The last test was observation.

“As a matter of fact, the owner of the Crystal Palace must deal with envoys from various countries. Among them, you must be able to personally check and identify the gifts they have presented to you.”

Rustle. 

When the cloth was lifted, a painting appeared. 

“!” 

Orlando introduced the painting with confidence. 

“Gardio von Laverbaum, recently regarded as the greatest artist of all time, was known for his masterpiece, Lady of the Black Pearl. Please identify whether this is a forgery or not.” 

The painting depicted a gorgeous and elegant noblewoman with black pearls. It was one of the masterpieces hanging in the palace.  

And Ian never expected this work to come out. 

Ian, who didn’t seem to anticipate it and examined the work with a little difficulty, replied. 

“It’s genuine.” 

At that moment, Orlando’s lips curled up gloatingly. 

‘Gotcha.’

“Wrong. This is a forgery. Unfortunately, the Seventh Prince didn’t pass the test.” 

“What?” 

There was a commotion around. 

Gardio von Laverbaum was a historical artist. It was the first time anyone had copied his work to a near-perfect degree.

It was so perfect that even the nobles thought it was real. 

Of course, even Orlando wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t seen it up close for the test. This was because most of the royal artworks were put behind a line so nobody could get close to them. 

At that moment, King Eloin’s face hardened. 

“It’s a fake…” 

The youngest’s last choice was disappointing. Still, it was unpleasant that there was a forgery in his castle. Even if Orlando had obviously briefed him in advance, he couldn’t help feeling terrible all over again. 

Of course, if it was a forgery of such a level, he would have failed, too. One of the virtues of a king was luck, with the probability of failure falling at 50-50 odds. 

An unlucky man should never be a king. 

Thus, King Eloin rose from his seat and began his declaration. 

“I, Eloin Kaistain, will hereby announce that the seventh prince, Ian Kaistein, is deprived of his ownership of the Crystal Palace…” 

It was then. 

“Please wait a minute!” 

Ian, with a firm expression, interrupted the king and shouted. 

*** 

“I passed the test.” 

The banquet hall was stirred by Ian’s words. 

Ian dared to interrupt the king’s words was one thing, but to disregard the test results…

Orlando was astounded, but he didn’t immediately reveal his inner thoughts.

“Your Highness the Seventh Prince, even if you cannot accept the outcome, this work is a forgery. Take a look here.”

What he was pointing to was one side of the painting that seemed to have nothing. It was obviously the wrinkled part of the lady’s dress.

However, upon closer inspection, it looked like some kind of pattern.

“It is a method that Florence, who is a famous forger, likes to use. That is, hiding his signature in the painting.” 

It was as he said. 

Nobody noticed it, but there was something drawn very discreetly. At first glance, it only looked like the texture of the clothes. 

“This is a forgery. It was supposed to be displayed at the royal palace. This is the item that I discovered quickly and left out. I also checked with Florence myself.” 

Orlando was even saying that Florence, the forger, could be called here. 

The king tilted his head. 

“Seventh Prince. Do you still not understand your failure?”

On the contrary, there was a look of reproach. 

Ian couldn’t stand failure, so he didn’t admit it. 

The nobles sighed seeing his underqualified capacity.

‘Did you think everything would be solved just because you wanted to?’  

‘A prince full of surprises, yet still thinks like a brat.’

Right then, Ian skeptically strode toward the painting.  

Orlando called him in panic. 

“Your Highness?” 

All present wondered what Ian was going to do. 

At that very moment. 

Crackle. 

Ian lit the painting with a candle next to him. 

Everyone screamed in surprise. 

“What are you doing!”

“Water… bring water! Put it out now!” 

Although it was a forgery, Florence the forger was famous throughout the continent. It might not be as good as the original, but since he was a well-known painter, it was a valuable item!

‘The prince has gone insane!’

‘I don’t think he would come out like that just because he lost Crystal Palace…’

Everyone could only look at King Eloin without knowing what to do. 

But Ian’s attitude was adamant. 

“I passed the test.” 

What? 

Everybody was speechless. 

But Ian continued. 

“There is no forgery in Kaistein’s royal castle. There are only genuine ones.”

At that moment, all the nobles gasped for breath.

They understood what Ian meant. 

Now it was clear that Ian had burned the royal family’s dishonor.  

It implied that there was no forgery in the royal family in the first place, although it had not yet been officially displayed. 

Everyone was dumbfounded. 

At that moment, however, the Third Prince burst into laughter as if he had never expected it.

“You are cool, the youngest. I will at least acknowledge that spirit.”

Of course, some frowned. 

No matter how important royal honor was, it was too extreme. 

How dare he set fire to an invaluable work right before His Majesty’s presence. 

And yet. 

“Pu ha ha ha!”

King Eloin also burst into laughter. He looked like he didn’t expect Ian to come out like this. 

“Very well, I’ll reward you with something else for amusing me. However, the Seventh Prince must keep his promise to relinquish his right as the owner of the Crystal Palace as originally promised…”

It was then. 

Crackle. 

As the fire that was burning the painting slowly went out. 

“What?” 

Not only King Eloin, who was in the middle of speaking, everyone’s expressions began to change.

It was inevitable.

“I will say it again. I passed the test. This is the genuine work of Gardio von Laverbaum.” 

It was because another painting appeared behind the painting.