The Crown Prince Who Raises a Side Character
Chapter 88: Librarian Ernеst (9). The Difference in What’s Been Built

A gentle breeze blew. Flowers and grasses swayed in the wind.

The sun was partly hidden behind clouds, making the sky a bit hazy—but not gloomy.

It was perfect weather, with beautiful scenery—ideal for a walk. But Eris couldn’t enjoy any of it.

Her mind was in turmoil.

Why is Ernеst here?

Is he really just out for a walk? Or is that a lie?

Did he see me crying? I didn’t shed any actual tears, so maybe it’s fine?

But I was squatting there on the ground like that...

What should I say if he asks? Ignore it? Make something up?

Come to think of it, I still haven’t properly returned that theory book from last time...

Her face darkened as she agonized over everything, but before long—

As she kept glancing at Ernеst for cues, Eris realized something odd.

...Why the hell isn’t this guy even looking at me?

No matter how fidgety she was, no matter how obviously she kept glancing at him, Ernеst didn’t react in the slightest—he just kept walking at his own pace.

He took deep breaths of the fresh air, soaked in the surrounding scenery, and occasionally looked up at the sky.

He was the very picture of someone simply enjoying a walk.

“......”

Eris’s tangled thoughts began to calm down.

And in their place, an unexplainable irritation started to bubble up.

“...Hey.”

Ernеst turned to look at her.

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you call me out here because you had something to say to me?”

At her sharp jab, Ernеst paused for a beat and then answered:

“No, not really. I didn’t have anything in particular I wanted to say.”

Eris twitched.

Her cheek trembled slightly.

She was so irrationally angry, even she didn’t know why it was hitting her so hard.

She snapped at him, annoyed.

“Then what the hell? If you had nothing to say, why call me in the first place?!”

“I said I had nothing I wanted to say. I never said I had no reason to call you.”

“Then what is that reason?! At least say it so I can agree or refuse!”

“You already agreed. You’re walking with me, aren’t you?”

Eris blinked, speechless at the completely unexpected answer.

She now felt betrayed—like he was mocking her.

“What the hell is that... You mean all this was just for some pointless—”

“It’s not pointless.”

Ernеst cut her off.

The firmness in his voice left no room for compromise. Eris faltered for a moment.

“Moving your body, breathing in fresh air, taking in the scenery around you. Discovering unfamiliar paths, unexpectedly running into someone. All of those things have value and meaning. They’re not a waste of time, nor are they pointless.”

“You could do all that alone.”

“I could. But sometimes it’s not so bad to do it together. Reading a book alone is nice, but now and then it’s fun to share your impressions with someone too.”

“......”

Eris fell silent.

It would’ve been easy to deny what he said.

I didn’t do any of that because it was enjoyable. Reading the book, sharing my thoughts—all of it was just a means to get the magic texts I needed.

She could’ve just said that. Simple.

But she couldn’t.

Was it because she was worried that upsetting him might make it harder to borrow new books? Sure, maybe a little.

But was that really the whole reason?

When she read books she’d once dismissed as useless, when she shared and debated those ideas with the man beside her—was that time truly unpleasant? Was there not even a shred of joy in it?

No... there was.

For just a brief moment, Eris—who had been shackled since childhood by the pressure of becoming a “mage worthy of her master’s recognition”—had been able to escape that anxiety and tension.

“Striving always to do your best and fulfill your duties is admirable. But personally, I refuse to live a life that is only that.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it just too damn sad? And boring.”

Ernеst’s voice carried deep sincerity.

It wasn’t just a polite platitude—you could tell this was genuinely how he thought.

Maybe it was that honest sincerity...

But Eris suddenly found herself saying something unexpected.

“You said you had nothing to say to me, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then... will you listen to what I have to say?”

“As much as you’d like.”

That simple permission seemed to open the floodgates.

Eris began to let her thoughts pour out—one by one.

How she adored Delphinaris, both as a parent and a mentor.

How she accidentally came to realize her master’s true thoughts.

How hard she had worked to become the kind of mage who would make her master proud.

And how, in the end, a ‘true genius’ had appeared—someone utterly incomparable to her.

Eris’s rational mind warned her: Why are you saying all this to someone you barely know? But once she started, her words tumbled out like a chain reaction.

It was frustration.

It was sorrow.

It was rage and despair.

A rant with no practicality or logic—like a child’s cry of anguish.

Feelings so messy they should’ve been irritating to hear, Ernеst listened without even batting an eye.

“A perfect, superhuman Crown Prince...? Hm. I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding. The Crown Prince of the Empire I know is actually rather fond of slacking off.”

“A man who does nothing but live for his imperial duties without once glancing at another path...? I’d say it’s the archmage who’s mistaken.”

“I’m not joking. I’m being completely serious. If you hold him in such high regard, the gap between that image and the reality will only grow more painful.”

He was strangely quick to push back when it came to the Crown Prince, but Eris didn’t take offense.

She assumed the librarian wasn’t speaking from true knowledge of the prince, but was just saying that to comfort her in his own way.

After all, if you had to choose between the judgment of an archmage who had personally taught the Crown Prince, and some random librarian from a remote kingdom—whose opinion would you trust?

Of course, it had to be the former.

After she poured everything out—

Ernеst, his gaze briefly twitching as he stared at his shadow on the ground, finally spoke.

“Well, then the conclusion is simple. You’ll be facing him in the academy competition anyway—just crush him thoroughly there.”

Eris gave a bitter smile.

“It’s easy to say. Not so easy to do.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

At the time, she’d almost jumped into a duel on impulse, but now that her head had cooled, she could think more clearly.

That overwhelming intuition—being able to instantly copy a spell he’d never seen before and use it. The enormous mana output that allowed him to cast those spells repeatedly without breaking a sweat.

The boy was a genius operating on a level Eris couldn’t even approach.

“Even if I trained every moment from now until the duel, without a single break, I wouldn’t be able to reach that level. And in the meantime, he’ll only grow stronger under Master’s tutelage. The outcome is obvious.”

“There’s no need to train without rest. Even at a relaxed pace, you’ll probably win.”

“...What?”

Eris blinked, unable to comprehend what he meant.

Ernеst calmly declared:

“Show that ‘genius’ and your master the proof of ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) everything you’ve built through effort.”

***

Malik’s biological parents were merchants.

Not wealthy heirs with family capital or noble backers—self-made, rising from nothing to build a prosperous trade empire.

Unusually for merchants, they valued honor and integrity over profit. Their reputation among the public was solid, and both their employees and hired servants deeply respected the couple.

But even that model couple had one blemish: their son, a complete disgrace.

He hated studying. Selfish, stingy, and entitled. He treated subordinates with contempt and had a personality that seemed to invert everything good about his parents.

Their staff would shake their heads and joke, “How did that come from those two? Maybe the fairies swapped him at birth.”

The couple tried everything to guide Malik onto a better path, but his repentance was always temporary.

He never truly reflected on his actions—he just cried and played the pitiful son until they softened, then repeated the same mistakes.

Over time, the couple grew exhausted. The staff grew disgusted. But Malik? He never faltered.

No—he got annoyed.

“Didn’t Dad and Mom make a ton of money? Then I should just use that. Why do they keep bothering me with all this crap?”

His logic was simple: they gave birth to him. That meant they were responsible for his life. Taking over everything they had was only natural.

A mindset that would’ve left his parents in shock if they ever heard it—but Malik felt no guilt.

In fact, he was irritated about what he didn’t have.

“Why weren’t Dad and Mom born nobles? If they were, I could’ve been a noble too!”

“Why are they always donating and doing charity crap?! If they’ve got money to throw at beggars, they should be saving more for me!”

“Ugh, kids born to the right parents have it easy. If I were a prince or something, I wouldn’t get nagged—I’d just play all day!”

Human character is often shaped by environment. But sometimes, people emerge who are rotten without misfortune or hardship.

And drawn to that inner rot... a demon appeared before Malik.

“Kekeke! You sure seem full of dissatisfaction! Want a little help?”

The demon looked like a scrawny thug, with a shabby air that screamed lowlife. He gave Malik a “special” gift.

“You’re saying I can really use magic without training at all?”

“Well, you’ll need to learn a bit of control—how to push in a bit more mana. But that’s it! As long as you’ve seen someone use a spell, you can copy it.”

The demon granted Malik two abilities:

First, the power to use any magic he saw with his own eyes.

Second, an overwhelming reservoir of mana.

He could copy an enemy’s spell and blast it back with far more force. Against mages, it made him virtually unbeatable.

Even if the opponent didn’t use magic, it didn’t matter.

He could simply overwhelm them with previously copied spells.

Spells that others had poured years of blood, sweat, and study into—Malik could snatch them up with zero effort.

He begged his parents to hire all sorts of mages to “tutor” him, then copied their spells and made them his own. Before long, he caught the attention of a local lord as a “genius” mage.

In the process, he discarded the parents who had tried so hard for him.

But Malik had no regrets.

To him, it was only natural that someone as “exceptional” as he was would rise to a higher status.

And of course, someone like Malik felt zero respect for his current “teacher.”

“Tch. Stupid old hag. What’d I even do wrong to have to apologize like that? They started it!”

In the count’s villa located far from Delphinaris’s estate, Malik stomped around, kicking the furniture.

He turned to the demon beside him.

“Hey! Balzares. Do we really have to go through with this slow crap? Instead of learning magic from that old woman step-by-step, wouldn’t it be faster to just fight her and copy all her spells in one go?”

At that idiotic remark, the demon—Balzares—burst out laughing.

“That won’t work! Even if you could copy her spells, there’s no way I could give you enough mana to overpower her. She’s stronger than I am!”

“What?”

Malik blinked, clearly stunned by the demon’s open admission of inferiority.

“That old hag’s stronger than you? Then wouldn’t she already know about me? About us?”

“Oh, come on, friend! Relax! She hasn’t noticed a thing.”

Balzares chuckled and explained:

“Even the best warrior doesn’t have a better sense of smell than a hunting dog, right? And even if a receptionist can memorize hundreds of names and faces, they can’t tell one chick from another when they’re all in a box! That’s the kind of field we’re in. Detecting demons is like that for humans.”

Sure, if Delphinaris went out of her way to use spells or tools specifically designed to detect demonic traces, she might be able to find him.

But unless she had reason to suspect Malik in the first place, Balzares’s presence wouldn’t be revealed.

Hearing this, Malik let out a sigh of relief.

“So humans can’t detect you guys, huh?”

“Well... the so-called 7th-Rank folks might be a different story. But they’re barely human anymore. And other demons might notice me more easily, I suppose.”

“Isn’t that a problem?”

“Kekeke! Relax, friend! We’re keeping tabs on all the known 7th-Ranks. And even if another demon shows up, they won’t mess with me.”

Balzares proudly rolled up his sleeve, revealing a strange snake-shaped emblem tattooed on his arm.

“You see, my master—‘Deceit’—is one of the three sovereigns who rule over the demon realm! Most demons would drop dead in fear just sensing the power of this seal. So you’ve got nothing to worry about!”

Reassured by Balzares’s confidence, Malik smiled again.

Yes.

He was the winner.

And from now on, no one would ever be able to stand in his way.

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