It was a game of Catan played by only two people.
Of course, it couldn’t be played properly.
Even if the dice rolls were fine, trading resources between them wouldn’t work as it should. The Third Prince had realized this after playing Catan several times. It wasn’t for nothing that Kyle Byron had said the minimum number of players was three.
But in the quiet stillness, with everyone asleep,
The two of them were playing Catan.
Chwak!
“The number is 9. I’ll take one wood.”
“I’ll take one wheat.”
“Would you trade that wheat for some wood?”
“Sure.”
Was it because neither of them refused each other’s trades?
Was it because they had started with a special rule, placing three villages each since it was just the two of them?
No, it wasn’t that at all.
It was because one of them wasn’t focusing on the game at all.
And it was obvious who that was.
“…Kyle Byron.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Stop with the… pointless consolation.”
“……”
Thud.
After the game had progressed for a while,
The Third Prince, who hadn’t even built a single road from his initial three villages, placed all his resource cards down and spoke.
At first, he had been unsure. He couldn’t tell what Kyle Byron’s intentions were in calling him here.
Even though Kyle was an honored guest, it was unthinkable to summon a prince of the empire in the middle of the night. It was only possible because the Third Prince had built up trust in Kyle, the board game creator.
Still, just in case, the head maid who was an aura user was waiting outside the door and she was prepared for any potential threat or assassination attempt.
She was the only person the Third Prince had left, the only one he could rely on.
After glancing toward the door, the Third Prince continued.
“You’ve done a lot for me these past ten days. Thanks to you creating Catan on the very first day, I was able to escape my brothers’ suspicions. Every day, I looked forward to the time I could spend playing Catan with you and the others. Honestly, I enjoyed it.”
“……”
“I’m truly grateful for that. You’ve also created other board games, and I’m sure you’ll soon make one that can help me get closer to my brothers. I’m sure of it.”
But.
This was…
“You’re crossing the line, Kyle Byron.”
“…Crossing the line, you say?”
“I’ve given up on competing for the throne, and even though I’m always watching my step, I’m still the Third Prince of the empire. Even my brothers or the dukes wouldn’t dare summon me so casually like this.”
He had received an invitation from the Second Prince, but that was a formal meeting, not a private one. It was a public invitation, made in front of their respective followers, so it was understandable.
But other than that, even the Second Prince couldn’t just summon the Third Prince in the middle of the night. The First Prince could use it as an excuse to cause trouble.
To put it bluntly, the Second Prince could secretly assassinate the Third Prince and frame the First Prince for it.
That’s how serious it was, and even though Kyle Byron was an honored guest invited by the Third Prince himself, this kind of meeting wasn’t acceptable.
In the end, it was only possible because the Third Prince had agreed to it.
“I understand your intentions. You wanted to… console me, didn’t you? You must have noticed something while playing Catan and other board games with me.”
It was probably the inferiority complex he had suppressed for over ten years.
He had felt a sense of vicarious satisfaction through Catan and had gradually released some of those pent-up emotions. But in doing so, he had also revealed his true feelings.
He had tried his best to hide them, but it seemed Kyle Byron had seen through him.
So, he understood why Kyle wanted to console him. The Third Prince wasn’t the type to feel offended by receiving sympathy from commoners or nobles.
However.
“But how much do you think I’ve been consoled like this before?”
“……”
“A Third Prince who has given up on competing for the throne, whose only concern is protecting his own life. There are quite a few people in the world who feel sympathy for such a prince. The fact that I can still wield some influence is ultimately based on that sympathy.”
Of course, not everyone felt sympathy for the Third Prince. In fact, many felt a sense of superiority over him.
But even among those who supported the First or Second Prince, there were still quite a few who pitied the Third Prince.
When he was younger, he had been grateful for that sympathy and consolation.
But now, it was different.
“I appreciate your… attempt to console me. I’m grateful for your kindness. But I’d prefer it if we didn’t meet like this again.”
“……”
Especially from someone like you, Kyle Byron, someone who shines so brightly.
Instead of consoling me, it only deepens my inferiority complex.
Please.
“Don’t think I’m disappointed in you or anything. I’ve received too much sympathy to be disappointed by something like this, and you’re still my honored guest. It’s just… a bit strange, that’s all.”
“…Strange, you say?”
“Even consolation… through a board game.”
When he thought about it, it was almost laughable. Using a board game to console someone drowning in an inferiority complex?
It was so different from the usual methods…offering financial support, comforting words, counseling, or even a hug. It was so different that it was almost ridiculous.
Did he really think this was a way to console someone?
Had he been so immersed in board games that he thought this was the way?
Beyond sarcasm, the Third Prince was genuinely curious.
In response, Kyle Byron fell silent for a moment, then said,
“Why can’t it be a board game?”
“…Huh?”
“Why do you think a board game can’t work?”
“Well…”
The Third Prince couldn’t bring himself to say, “Because a board game is just a pastime.”
Because Kyle Byron’s expression was utterly serious.
“Your Highness, may I tell you a story from the past?”
“A story… from the past?”
“It’s about Sally.”
“That maid?”
The timid, reserved maid who faithfully followed Kyle Byron.
The maid who gave suspicious glances to the water spirit and the Tower Master’s disciple but never showed it in front of Kyle.
Why bring up her past now?
“Do you see this scar here?”
“…I couldn’t see it before because it was covered by the clothes.”
Kyle slightly pulled the collar of the clothes he was wearing and revealed a hidden scar.
It was a scar so gruesome that even the Third Prince couldn’t help but grimace at the sight of it.
It seemed to be a wound caused by something deeply cutting and stabbing, but a single cut wouldn’t leave such a messy scar.
It was the kind of scar that could only form after being stabbed and cut repeatedly in the same spot. It was a deep scar that even healing magic couldn’t fully mend.
Why did the third son of a viscount have such a scar?
Kyle Byron smiled and answered.
“It’s a wound from Sally.”
“……What?”
“When I first met Sally… she was quite rough, to put it mildly. Having lived in the back alleys of the slums, she had no qualms about stabbing others.”
“………….”
“How do you think I became close to someone like her?”
Well, he didn’t know.
The Third Prince didn’t know about Kyle and Sally’s past, and he couldn’t understand why Kyle would even think of getting close to a child from the slums who had inflicted such a wound on him.
But hadn’t he already been given a hint?
The Third Prince who had been skeptical until the end finally said,
“A board game…… you say?”
“It was a very crude one back then.”
“Truly, a board game?”
“Do you think I’m making this up?”
“………….”
The Third Prince, who had honed his survival skills and insight, could tell.
That Kyle Byron wasn’t lying. If he couldn’t discern even this much, he would have been killed by the other princes long ago.
But that was precisely why it was even harder to believe.
That the person who had inflicted such a brutal scar was the maid who now blindly followed Kyle Byron.
“It wasn’t easy. It took a very long time, and there was a lot of hardship, but in the end, I was able to get close to Sally.”
“Why……? Why did you go to such lengths for a child from the slums?”
“……If I told you it was because of the person I was in the past, you’d find it hard to believe, wouldn’t you?”
Kyle Byron and the maid were around the same age. If the maid was young at the time, Kyle must have been young too, so why did he refer to his past self that way?
But Kyle waved his hand as if it were nothing.
“Anyway, I was able to become close to Sally through a board game.”
“……I see. So, because of that precedent, you thought you could console me with a board game? That’s—”
Too one-sided and nothing more than a coincidence.
The Third Prince swallowed the rough retort that had momentarily come to mind.
Again…….
Inferiority. This damned feeling kept resurfacing no matter how much he tried to suppress it.
And it was fueled by all sorts of negative emotions. Irritation at Kyle Byron, who had so rudely summoned a prince in the middle of the night. Inferiority at the pity from someone so brilliant. Anger at being judged by someone else’s standards.
But the Third Prince had experienced so much inferiority that he could stop himself before speaking out. Just as he had done earlier in front of the Second Prince.
However, Kyle’s words didn’t end there.
“There’s also the Water Tiger.”
“The water spirit……?”
“The Water Tiger was a spirit that once followed the orders of a certain spirit master and was hostile toward me. I became close to it through a board game, talked with it, and eventually was able to go to the spirit master, who didn’t trust people, and have a conversation.”
“………….”
“I think I became somewhat close to that spirit master as well. I should stop by on my way back. And then there’s Adela.”
“The Tower Master’s disciple.”
“At first, Adela was so hostile toward me that she even threatened me with magic…… but we played Abracadabra together, which Your Highness also played, and she gradually opened up to me.”
“……………….”
“Your Highness, do you understand the point of what I’ve been telling you?”
“……You’re saying that you’ve become close to all sorts of people through board games. That’s how you’ve lived…… and that’s why you tried to get closer to me through a board game too.”
That’s how you tried to console me, right? Now he finally understood Kyle Byron’s thinking.
Having lived the life of a genius board game creator, it made sense that he would have solved many problems through board games.
Suddenly feeling hollow, the Third Prince also realized the gap between them.
Those who shine, and those who don’t…….
He had always wanted to be someone who shone. But the Third Prince had never emitted any light.
Because Kyle Byron was someone who shone, someone radiant, the Third Prince felt even smaller in his presence.
Like a shadow shrinking under a bright light. Yet, just as shadows grow darker, the Third Prince felt his own inferiority deepening.
“You’re wrong, Your Highness.”
“Wh……at?”
.
“It’s not entirely wrong, but that’s not what I was trying to say.”
Something else? Something different?
What else could he possibly mean, considering his example of growing closer to others through board games?
The Third Prince and Kyle faced each other.
“I mean… I don’t know anything besides board games.”
“……Huh?”
“When I first became friends with Sally… Thinking back on it now, even I find it ridiculous. Approaching a kid from the slums who was holding a knife and suggesting we play a board game? There were probably far more efficient, far better ways to handle it. Don’t you think?”
“……That’s…”
“But I didn’t know any other way to connect with people. Because I’ve lived a life where board games were everything to me.”
The Water Spirit, the Tower Master’s disciple…
“In the end, I did manage to grow closer to them. But was that really the best way? If it hadn’t been through board games… if I had used a different approach, could I have formed an even better relationship with them?”
“……”
“Your Highness calls me a genius board game creator. But if you take board games away from me… what’s left?”
Kyle Byron was making a confession.
Something no one wants to think about or face. It was his own limitations.
I am not special.
I am nothing without board games, because creating board games is all I have.
The Third Prince who was momentarily dazed as he processed this realization finally spoke.
“…But isn’t it the same for me?”
“……”
“The title of ‘prince’ is the only thing that defines me… Beyond that, there’s nothing. If anything, isn’t there a huge difference between me, who was simply born into this title, and you, who worked to achieve something of your own?”
If anything, it only deepened his despair.
With his head hung low, the prince sat in silence. Kyle then spoke again.
“But… how do I look to you now?”
“Kyle.”
“Do I look like someone His Highness would feel inferior to?”
“………Ah.”
Only then, at long last, did the Third Prince realize.
That every conversation they had shared up until now….had, in itself, been a form of comfort for him.
Kyle Byron had never intended to console the prince through a board game.
The board game had merely been an excuse, a means to an end.
Through the conversation that began with that game, he had spoken of the maid, his past, and even confessed his own doubts about himself.
That had been Kyle Byron’s way of offering comfort.
..…I…
Kyle’s words had certainly stirred something in the Third Prince’s heart, but that alone was not enough to dissolve the resentment and burdens he had carried for so long.
And yet.
As the prince had said, Kyle’s sincerity and comfort were not something to scoff at.
Even if only a little.
…Enough that he could let himself breathe, if only for a moment.
“I apologize. And… thank you, truly, for your kindness.”
“It was nothing. Then shall we start again?”
“…Hlmm?”
“Catan. Shouldn’t we continue? Or, if you’d prefer, we can start over from the beginning—”
“…………”
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