Rumble*
Interrupting his thoughts the sound of Leon's stomach calling for food, filled the emptiness. Waking from his daze, Leon spoke "It seems I'm hungry, shall we leave now Ren?"
"That would be wise, young master. As for food, I will have the kitchen prepare it immediately."
Leon didn't seem lost as he quietly walked back towards the palace. He had walked this route for many years in his past life. However, unlike his past life where he would be reluctant to leave, now he was finding it hard to contain his happiness right now.
"Ren, how is my sister doing these days? When can I next meet her?" Speaking his mind, Leon didn't bother hiding anything from Ren, he knew he could be 100% trusted.
"The young miss is under strict surveillance from the Empress as always. Apart from attending the academy, she is mostly locked in the eternal harmony palace." Ren spoke with a hidden tint of sorrow in his voice. Although he tried to mask it from Leon, for someone like Leon and his extreme awareness. Of course, he noticed this.
[So you were hurting this entire time as well...] Leon didn't bother stopping his movements as he carried on towards his room.
Leon was the youngest prince of the Maxwell dynasty and although this was a prestigious position that any young male would dream for. In actual fact, he was quite pitiful.
His palace was a cheaply renivated cold palace used by the previous king to seclude anyone from royalty that displeased him. Its name was changed, of course, now branded as the Winter Palace.
And with the current Empress, the mother of the crown prince, Elizabeth Maxwell handling his accommodation. Leon was forced to accept this insult gracefully. The Empress had used the excuse of being a concerned stepmother to place him here when in actual fact the meaning was all too obvious.
Leon was royalty that shouldn't think to involve himself with the throne. Otherwise, he wouldn't just be isolated, he would receive much harsher circumstances.
Entering the Winter Palace, Leon made his way through the many long halls that were decorated beautifully with clean, fancy and expensive carpets. Although the palace couldn't be called grand like the other palaces, it was still a Royalties palace. Paintings from famous painters were hung on the walls and even the lighting was to perfection as the chandeliers fell from the roof.
[Returning to this place with some understanding, I really do have to give the Empress a pinch of respect for her level of cunningness.] Scoffing lightly, Leon entered his room.
[She wouldn't dream of being caught, neglecting the prince as that could cause her to lose favour with the king. Instead, she acts subtly with insults and hidden attacks.]
Finding it just like he remembered in his memories, he couldn't help but smile. It was just a plain king-sized bed and a table close to the window that was half open, welcoming the spring breeze. Other than that there were two couches off to the side that had a table centre in the middle of them meant for meetings and discussion.
"Plain but beautiful." He muttered to himself.
Leon approached the bed before giving Ren some orders, "Ren, I'm going to rest until my food arrives. Don't bother me please."
"As you wish, young master!" Ren spoke before bowing slightly and leaving the room, shutting the down behind him.
******
"Haaaaaah!" Leon exhaled as he slumped back on the bed, staring toward the ceiling.
He had many things on his mind currently as he wasn't able to simply adapt to the situation immediately. Who could?
He had just died and now he was lying in his bed in the Winter Palace as his 13-year-old self.
"What the hell is happening right now?" He spoke to himself in safety.
"I've somehow come back in time or have I reincarnated into my younger self?"
"Well not that this matters too much I suppose, If I carry on questioning how this happened then nothing will change around here. Maybe one day the answer will present itself to me, until then I will just live my second life to the fullest..." At this point, Leon stopped and began to think deeply about his plans moving forward.
"Right now, I have zero support in the capital. My first brother, the crown prince, Alexander Maxwell is winning in the race to sit on the throne succeeding my father. He has the support of the Empress so it's nothing surprising."
"As for my second brother Alfonso Maxwell. Well, his situation isn't much better than mine. Born from a concubine, he was forced to stay quiet and hide deeply but he is a tyrant by nature and remembers his debt and makes sure to collect them later down the line."
"In my previous life, Alfonso, managed to take the throne from my first brother when he turned 17. If we use the timing of the current banquet then that leaves me with just more than a year before that happens..."
Once more Leon sighed at his current circumstances. "I the 'Bloody Demon' really do lack everything right now."
Knock* Knock*
Two gentle knocks snapped Leon out of his train of thought, "Young master, food is ready!"
[Already? That was relatively quick?]
"Ok, you may enter!" Leon promptly replied, allowing Ren and the maid to come in and organise the food on the table near the window.
As soon as the scent of a warm cooked meal invaded Leon's nose, he was unable to stop his stomach from making any more noises.
[Hahaha, I really am hungry eh?]
Leon sat and prepared himself quickly just before giving thanks to the maid and dismissing her. Leaving only Ren and himself in the room.
"Young master I made sure to check like always, this time they didn't tamper with the food too much, that is it isn't poisoned this time. Only changing the steak piece to a smaller and worse kind of cut. As for the rest well it isn't anything fancy."
Leon looked at his plate and smiled lightly. The food before him was a piece of steak, dressed in a wine sauce accompanied by many green vegetables.
A standard noble's meal. Leon should be happy, right?
However, if one looked deeper on the plate every vegetable was past its expiry date and was handpicked to cause discomfort to the youngest prince. As for the steak piece itself, well it was mostly fat and had little substance.
"I was hungry as well... A shame if I'm being honest." Showing a half-smile, that was a smile but wasn't as well.
Accompanying the meal was a desert. Peaches to be exact, which when Leon saw this he showed a vicious smile and cold glint flashed in his eyes.
[That Empress really is a cunning old hag. To think she'd openly send me the one fruit I'm allergic to as a desert.]
A moment passed before Leon did anything. Looking up from the plate he picked a slice of peach from the bowl. "Ren..."
"Young Master, your orders!" Ren was alert and willing to complete anything the youngest prince assigned to him. He too wasn't in a good mood since he was forced to bury the insult of having someone serve this quality of food to his master.
"I'm going to eat this peach!" Leon confidently announced.
"PARDON?" Ren couldn't help but ask the young master to repeat himself. Did he just say he was going to eat something he's allergic to?
"I'm going to eat this peach!" Leon calmly spoke once more while maintaining eye contact with Ren.
"But... Young master this will make you sick, you do understand that, correct?" Ren asked in concern.
"Of course Ren, I'm not stupid to that degree."
"Listen to my next orders and make sure you do exactly as I say..." A scheming look found its way on Leon's face as he threw a slice of peach up into the air and caught it on the end of his tongue. Swallowing it in one go, not even bothering to chew it.
[If you want to scheme, then let's scheme, you old witch!]