Trash of the Count's Family (401-600)

Chapter 437 - How Touching (2)

– Human... Why is the crown prince acting like this? He's being weird.

'Right? Raon, you think he's being weird too, right?'

Cale agreed with Raon's statement and started to sigh internally.

He had to play along with this exaggerated act the crown prince was putting on.

Cale turned away from Alberu who was looking at him with a touched expression but a mischievous gaze and looked around.

Some nobles were as shocked as Cale. They were not the only ones who were shocked. The musicians had stopped playing their instruments and were looking at Cale and Alberu while the knights standing guard, as well as the servants moving about the hall, were looking at them with shocked expressions as well.

Of course, Marquis Taylor Stan and Duke Gyerre, the respective heads of their households, were looking on with big smiles on their faces. Marquis Ailan and Duke Orsena, on the other hand, looked grim.

'...This is not good.'

Cale's face filled with awkwardness after looking around the hall and stopping somewhere.

Ooooooong-

It was the video communication device that was vibrating and sparkling.

Everything that was going on here was currently being broadcasted live in the Roan Kingdom's capital's plaza. The foreigners who were mixed in with the citizens and watching would have seen this as well.
The news about what just happened would soon spread through the entire Western continent.

'Damn it.'

Cale put on an awkward smile as he responded to Alberu. Of course, he tried to pull away from the hand that Alberu was grabbing.

"Your highness, it looks like everybody is shocked."
"Ah."

Alberu, who put on a shocked expression as if he just realized it, looked around before starting to speak.

"A few days ago, Cale Henituse and I decided to become sworn brothers. I may be part of the royal family and Cale Henituse is part of a Count's household, so we are not brothers by blood, however, I was touched by Cale caring only about the kingdom and peace that I asked him to be my sworn brother."

These words flew out of Alberu's mouth without any hesitation. It was fitting for his glib tongue. The nobles watching could not hide their chaotic thoughts.

'Who would believe that?!'

Nobody believed Alberu's statement about how he asked Cale to be his sworn sibling because he was touched.

'Ha! As if the crown prince is that kind of person!'

Alberu Crossman might be laughing right now, but he was the most thorough person they knew. Such a person feeling touched? Peace? Those words were not funny nor were they fitting for him.
The nobles' minds started to get complicated.

'...Cale Henituse is the future king's sworn younger brother!'
'We were too hasty to be happy that we got Choi Han out of the way! The crown prince doesn't have any maternal relatives. But if the quickly rising Henituse household and the northeast region's nobles became the crown prince's backing?!'

Crown prince Alberu already had power and troops that even the king could not easily desire, so the nobles were all crouching in fear. This was especially the case for the nobles from the central and southeast factions who were not on good terms with the crown prince.
However, there was something they were relying on.

A king could not survive on his own.

Alberu who would become king in the future had no blood relatives, hometown ties, nor school ties. That was why the nobles were bowing down now while expecting that their own powers would eventually grow in the future.