Her Majesty fell ill after giving birth to Big Brother, and the castle doctor advised her not to have any more children after that. She’d managed to give the kingdom a prince, but it wasn’t ideal to have only one heir in the line of succession to the throne. In order to have more children, Father married a princess from Sanctoria, a country with close ties to Elzeria, and made her the second queen.
The first queen was too sick to bear more children, while the healthy second queen was fully capable of it. Father decided to give Her Majesty’s son that historically significant name to make sure she didn’t lose her political power to Mother.
Everyone understood Father’s intentions. They supported his decision and revered Her Majesty as she deserved. Father and his queen ruled the country of Elzeria together with great dignity.
Mother was the only one who just didn’t get it. She didn’t want to get it.
Everyone said she grew up as a spoiled princess in Sanctoria and was always causing one problem after another. Mother had an intense personality, so I believed the rumors. She was the second queen, but she wanted to be number one in every aspect of life. Mother had always been desperate for her son to be the next king so that she could claim power—more power than what Her Majesty held.
“Big Brother is a wonderful person, and Elzeria will be safe under his rule. He’ll be a much better king than me.”
I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. She wasn’t acting like someone who wanted to beg Big Brother for forgiveness. My words…hadn’t reached her at all.
“Mother… Big Brother…is going to go back to normal, right?”
Mother finally stopped in front of a different room. When she turned to look at me, her red lips had curled into a childlike smile. “The firstborn prince will become a full-fledged beast.”
Every trace of a thought evaporated out of my mind. I broke into tremors, and I squeezed my bear plushie as if it would help somehow.
“What…are you talking about…? You said the curse would break…once I burned the book…”
“I lied. The curse is completed when the book burns up. You said he had golden cat ears and a tail, didn’t you? Perhaps that means he’ll transform into a yellow cat. Heheh! Oh, what fun it would be to make him my pet.”
She was lying…? But why…? I’m her son, not her enemy. Am I not the closest family she has? Why would she lie to me?
“Are you…incapable of love…?” The words fell from my lips.
“Love…?” she scoffed. “You’ve always been so naive, haven’t you? I’ve told you a million times that love is for the weak. You’re no different than the men who try to flatter me just so I’ll look their way. I didn’t think you were strong enough to go for the throne, but I suppose that’s of no concern now. With the firstborn prince out of the way, there will be no one left to be king but my son.”
Her icy fingers trailed along my jaw.
“Don’t touch me!” I slapped her hand away in disgust, but the bear plushie slipped from my grasp and hit the floor.
“What’s that thing?”
“…!”
She scowled at me when I scrambled to pick it up.
“You still need stuffed animals at your age? Ugh, you’d be worthless if it wasn’t for your place in the line of succession.”
Mother made no attempts to hide her contempt. She broke eye contact with me like I was too repulsive to look at, then opened the door to reveal a crowd of people waiting inside.
I recognized them all. They either served as my guards or were part of my political faction. But all of them worshipped the Sanctorian god.
“Listen up, everyone! My son here exposed the firstborn prince’s ties to a wicked demon! At this moment, Adelberd Alan Elzeria should have exposed his true, beastly nature for all the world to see!”
What was Mother planning…? Big Brother had ties to a demon? She was the one who cursed him, but she wanted to use that to punish Big Brother?
“N-No, you’re wrong! My brother isn’t like that!”
“My son is confused. He witnessed his brother take the form of a beast with his own two eyes, after all. But he should get over it soon, so let’s all take good care of him.”
She was acting like a caring mother, concerned for her son’s well-being. The others in the room exchanged grave looks.
“Has the time finally come?”
“Only a believer in God deserves to rule Elzeria.”
“The firstborn prince shares ties with a demon?”
“Well, he doesn’t believe in God, after all. I’ve always had my doubts about that boy.”
No, Mother’s lying about everything! How did these people fall for it so easily? It was like my brother had to be evil in their minds. The religious people of Sanctoria believed that countries should be governed by those who shared their faith. Many believed Big Brother wasn’t suited to reign because he wasn’t religious.
Mother cleverly manipulated these types, winning them over to my political faction. I was only powerful enough to rival Big Brother for the throne because I was backed by so many religious Sanctorians.
I’d never said a single word that could make them think I shared their faith, but just being the son of a Sanctorian princess was enough to assume I was on their side.
“I’m sure it’s hard to believe for some of you, but His Royal Highness has genuinely transformed into a lowly beast. He’s taken the form of some sort of yellow cat at this very moment. He’s lying low in the Rhuddlan territory, but we can drag him out of his hiding spot for all the world to see. We’re in need of volunteers! We must capture that false prince and the demon who controls him!”
“Stop it, Mother! You’re going to cause a civil war!” I cried.