Not Understanding Others“ Hearts“karwenz, you’re cutting class again? you’re dead for sure this time. kelly is really angry.”the past was always rather nostalgic for me.

even now, i still remembered how karwenz had never been a good student.

the mist kingdom wasn’t very wealthy back then. however, the royals’ homework was even more intense because of it. civilization, politics, economics, diplomacy, and endless homework on such topics. i always felt such a headache about the workload. to make things worse, karwenz only cared about playing around.

karwenz had thick skin and wasn’t afraid of getting a beating. besides, the royal tutors wouldn’t dare to hit him too hard since he was a prince. it was quite normal that he often cut class. i was the one who had to bring him back every time.

no matter if he was on the roof of the royal palace, or in a corner of the barracks, or even in the garden of some noble’s daughter, i would always be able to find him really quickly, as if i knew where he was… by the way, wasn’t it quite early for him to already be a womanizer at that age?

“ha, only her words are harsh. i can easily get through everything by acting slightly pitiful and pretending to be cute.”

i felt rather helpless. perhaps this was why karwenz was always so well liked despite being so naughty.

whenever noble daughters passed by, they would always squeeze karwenz’s face and joke around with him while even letting him touch their bodies. but if the same noble daughters saw me, they would always respectfully curtsy to me and then run away quite swiftly.

“even though we have the same face, why is there such a difference in treatment? i also want to act cute so that i can touch their bodies… ahem, i mean get along well with my citizens.”

however, reality was quite cruel. karwenz became a famous playboy, and got to enjoy life while causing trouble all the time. meanwhile, i only had boring knights and even more boring politicians around me.magic

even though i clearly worked far harder and was so much more serious in my studies, and my grades were good, maybe it was due to my adult mind and not wanting to pretend to act cute that i wasn’t as good at making connections with others.

even now, i still recalled how when i told karwenz this, that he looked at me sympathetically for quite a while, and then said…

“no, it’s just that our future king roland doesn’t understand others’ hearts at all.”

at that time, i intended on using a “fist of brotherly love” to properly teach him what understanding others’ hearts was all about. i then discovered that i wasn’t actually able to beat him in a fight, so i then used the tactic of telling kelly, “karwenz says that he won’t be punished as long as he acts pitiful, and is even laughing about how easy you are to fool.” that was my way of teaching karwenz how sly adults could be.

and so, karwenz really did become pitiful, as he was forced to make up double the number of classes that he missed. kelly and i both watched to make sure that he didn’t cut class. karwenz didn’t get a single chance to cut class that entire month.

however, even now i still recalled what karwenz told me afterwards. this was something that he had only said once.

“roland, your way of thinking resembles exquisite gears, filled with wondrous calculations and set mechanisms, treating each person’s limits and efforts as a definite on paper. although it’s all quite logical, it really makes me feel uncomfortable. as a ruler, calculating so much doesn’t actually have that much meaning. the entire country will be yours in the future. all you need to do is satisfy others at certain times. you’ll have the best food and clothing, and you can order others to do what you want because of their beliefs.”

this was his advice to me as my younger brother. although i listened to his advice and tried to change myself, an adult’s personality really wasn’t that easy to change.“what a major investment. having so many demons invade the fire elemental plane was for the sole purpose of luring me into this trap?”

“we both agreed that this would be worth it if it can avoid the worst possible outcome.”

elisa continued to fill my wineglass as she unhesitatingly spoke more words of betrayal. perhaps she had long since expected that this day would arrive.

i felt even more of a headache now. i was no idiot. since they wanted to restrain me right now, that could only mean one thing – we had all misjudged karwenz’s progress. right now had to be the critical moment for karwenz opening the door to the dimensional barrier!

it wasn’t like what we surmised at all, that karwenz still needed to gather more chaos girls to create a cynthia to give him the power to open the door.

karwenz attacked amelia solely to give me the mistaken impression that his preparations were still incomplete. just by looking at elisa’s current expression, i knew that he had long since completed his preparations.

this scamming tactic of combining truth with lies wasn’t karwenz’s typical style. in fact, this looked far more like a typical tactic that i would use.

i now knew who was the one constantly scheming against me behind the scenes. elisa hadn’t appeared in front of me for so long, which meant that i would keep worrying about her rather than being on guard against her. should i be exclaiming how elisa had already surpassed me in scheming?

the wineglasses were now empty. elisa casually waved her hand and filled her glass again.

she wanted to pour more wine, but i took back my empty wineglass.

“there isn’t much time.”

i sighed as i got up and unsheathed my sword.

that’s right, there wasn’t much time left. their actions was a message that every minute here would increase the probability of opening the door to the dimensional barrier. even if i had to fight someone so dear to me, i wouldn’t be able to stay here.

“roland, i’m only doing this for your own good.”

“i know. i’m really grateful to you.”

i silently brought out my dawn holy light sword. this was my choice.

the sword hummed slightly, exposing the confusion in my heart. perhaps i had never expected that one day, i would have to draw my sword on the one i always viewed as a daughter that i wanted to protect so much.

“roland, you don’t understand others’ hearts.”

elisa’s words were calm. her tears were also calm. however, this time, i was unable to wipe away her tears for her.

“yes, i truly apologize. perhaps i’ll never be able to understand others’ hearts in my lifetime.”