Chapter 14

Upon returning to the castle and heading toward the library, I bumped straight into my older brother.

It was my second older brother, Aroga, a talented and exceptional warrior who made a flashy show of his arrogance.

“I thought something smelled foul, and lo and behold, it’s the disgrace of the imperial family and a stray dog. You’re going to ruin my noble nose.”

He pinched his nose with an exaggerated gesture.

Despite wearing his hair cropped short in a soldierly fashion, he was a handsome man blessed with golden locks that gave off a luxurious impression and blue eyes that failed to mask his fierce confidence and conceit.

He was a character who received rave reviews from female fans of the original game—for reasons completely beyond me—who loved the gap between his disdainful attitude and his pathetic demeanor when things went south.

“It has been a while, Brother.”

I offered a polite greeting just to be safe.

No matter how much you’re looked down upon, if you fail to respond, it only makes your standing worse; being the youngest prince without any backing is truly a troublesome lot.

“Hmph, it has been. After all, you never get summoned by Father, do you?”

What I got back in return was a cold sneer and mockery.

In the empire, members of the imperial bloodline gathering together for meals wasn’t an everyday occurrence.

Only those invited by the Emperor were allowed to attend the weekly dinner parties held once a week.

Since I lacked talent and had no backers, I hadn’t been called in a very long time.

This was precisely why the servants only maintained the bare minimum of courtesy, leaving Gina to handle all of my daily care.

If I were invited to dinner even once, I might get assigned a proper attendant or two, but right now, there was no benefit in hoping for that.

At the present stage, the empire was a major superpower holding the upper hand against the neighboring kingdom, grand duchy, and allied states.

However, as the original story progressed, the empire would eventually suffer defeat and ruin.

No matter which route you followed, the empire was doomed to collapse.

I figured a smart rat would start hurrying to prepare an escape route starting right now.

“My apologies.”

When I tried to brush him off with an apology, Aroga gave me a strange look.

“Did you eat something weird? You’re acting uncharacteristically humble.”

If it had been Rasta before he recovered his memories, he probably wouldn’t have said a word and would have just stood there glaring in silence.

He wasn’t stupid enough to fail to realize he couldn’t talk back, but people clearly thought he was foolish enough that he couldn’t conceal even a shred of his emotions.

That evaluation was spot-on, which made trying to turn things around a massive pain.

“Well, whatever. I have no time to waste on the likes of you.”

Waving his hand dismissively, Aroga turned on his heel and walked off, flanked by three male attendants.

If you feel that way, don’t bother starting a conversation in the first place, I thought to myself, though staying silent was just the reality of Rasta’s current position.

Once he was gone, I turned to speak to Gina.

“Sorry I couldn’t stand up for you back there.”

In my current state, there was nothing I could do to stop them from treating her like a stray dog.

“Not at all. My lord’s safety is my utmost priority.”

Gina replied with an untarnished, unwavering loyalty.