How the Sidekick Prince Lives Again

‘Stand there and watch your attendant get punished.’

Maximo forced Renato to watch while the man beat and relentlessly swung his whip at Louis. Each time the whipping sound rang out, Louis’ flesh burst and his blood splashed everywhere. Unable to watch the scene, Renato begged the man to stop, but to no avail.

‘He’s a more tenacious bastard than I thought.’

Maximo stopped whipping only after Louis fell to the floor and stopped moving. Then, he threw the whip away with a disinterested gaze and returned to the main palace.

‘Louis, Louis……!’

As his legs became numb because of the shocking scene, Renato crawled toward Louis who was covered in blood. Seeing up close, there was no place on Louis’ body that was unscathed. His trembling hands could not reach Louis and only wandered around him. He wanted to support Louis, but he thought that Louis would be hurt no matter where he touched him.

‘W, what, what should I do? Hic.’

‘I will call over a palace doctor right now.’

Luna, who was calmer than Renato, examined Louis’ condition and hurriedly ran out to call a palace doctor. Seeing Louis losing consciousness, Renato grabbed his hem and burst into tears. It was all his fault.

‘I’m sorry, Louis, hic, I’m, really sorry.’

‘Renato, nim……’

‘Lou, Louis?’

Renato immediately raised his head when hearing the voice calling out to him. Louis barely opened his eyes and was looking at Renato.

‘Are you okay? Does, does it hurt a lot? Luna has gone out to call a palace doctor now, so hold on, hic, hold on just a little bit. Huff.’

Renato carefully held Louis in his arms so that he wouldn’t be hurt. Feeling the hot tears wet his face, Louis moved his torn lips.

‘Your Imperial Highness, please don’t cry…… I’m okay.’

‘How can you be okay, you, you are bleeding so much, huff, sorry, hic, I’m sorry……’

‘Please don’t, apologize, cough, huu, it’s not your fault……’

Louis coughed up dark red blood and struggled to speak. He raised his trembling hand, trying to wipe Renato’s tears. However, Louis’ hand could not reach Renato’s face and fell to the floor again.

‘Our Prince, what should I do? I, cough, should be by your side……’

Sensing his own death, Louis took a deep breath, then carefully looked at Renato’s face as if to engrave it in his eyes. The voice of concern toward Renato became smaller and smaller, and the reddened eyes due to blood vessel rupture gradually lost their light. His puffy eyelids which had lost their original shapes also sank.

‘Louis? Louis!’

Feeling strength draining away from Louis’ body, Renato urgently called him. But there was no answer. Only the faint breathing that seemed to stop at any moment let him know that Louis was still alive.

What should I do, just what should I do?

Realizing that Louis’ condition was serious, Renato burst into tears. He thought at this rate, Louis would really die. Not knowing what to do, Renato immediately remembered something, then mercilessly bit his finger to injure himself. Then, he brought it to Louis’ mouth.

‘Louis, drink, drink this. If you drink my blood…… Maybe you will feel a little bit better, right?’

‘Cough. Ugh.’

Renato was restless and dropped his blood into Louis’ mouth. However, Louis could not swallow Renato’s blood properly. Still, it didn’t seem totally ineffective, because the unconscious Louis opened his eyes helplessly again.

‘Re…… nim……’

‘Have, have you come to your senses?’ 

‘I’m……sorry, I’m too sleepy, so I’ll sleep a bit……’

Louis sparsely let out his words. Then, his breathing stopped. Renato hugged Louis’ convulsive body with all his might. He couldn’t let him go like this.

‘N, no, don’t…… Please, open your eyes. Louis, Louis…… Hic, I was wrong, I, I’m sorry, okay? So don’t die…… Don’t leave me, please.’

Despite his earnest appeal, Louis collapsed like a doll with a broken thread. Even when Renato called out to him, even when he put his finger into his mouth to give him blood, Louis never opened his eyes again.

‘What should I do, Luna, Louis isn’t, isn’t breathing, hic, huff, what should I do……’

By the time Luna brought a palace doctor over, Louis had already stopped breathing. Renato hugged the dead Louis and bitterly wept. It was the day he lost a precious person to him again.

I will never lose my precious people to you again.

Barely escaping from his painful memories, Renato glared at Maximo with bloodshot eyes. Even though he knew he shouldn’t be immersed in the memories of his previous life, Maximo in front of him kept overlapping with the man at that time.

“……Young Duke Maximo Florence.”

Renato hid Louis behind him and tightly clenched his fists. He gave strength to his toes, stood upright, raised his head straight, and gave Maximo a command.

“I command you as the Empire’s 1st Prince. Get out of my palace right now.”

“What…… Wait, I have something to say……!”

“I don’t want to hear anything from you.”

Maximo, who blanked out for a moment, hurriedly came to his senses and began to speak. However, Renato coldly interrupted his words. Maximo recoiled when hearing the voice as frigid as needle ice.

“Dame Luna, see the young Duke off.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”

Not wanting to talk with the man anymore, Renato looked away from Maximo and gave Luna a command. Luna, who had been waiting for a chance to kick Maximo out since earlier, immediately took action.

“I’ll take you outside, young Duke-nim.”

“Don’t touch me! Fuck! Do you think you will be safe after treating me like this?”

Maximo avoided Luna’s hand and provoked her. When Renato saw that, he put on a serious expression.

“Are you threatening my guard knight now? Even though I told you to go back? Young Duke, do you think of my words as a joke?”

“Ugh.”

Maximo looked speechless when Renato didn’t only refuse to talk with him, but also pressured him using the Prince’s authority. He never expected Renato to press him using his position.

What should I do?

Flustered, Maximo rolled his eyes from side to side. He had been behaving rudely to Renato all this time, but only in private. Even though he was a Prince disdained by everyone, it was dangerous to openly commit mutiny. After all, doing so could give the enemy an excuse to attack and cause problems with his reputation.

He glanced behind, unable to do anything. The palace attendants who sensed the commotion had appeared one by one at the end of the hallway. Things were going unfavorably for him.

“What you are doing right now is mutiny towards the Prince. I will warn you one last time, if you don’t want to be charged with profanity, get out of my sight right now!”

Confirming that people had gathered, Renato deliberately shouted loudly enough to make an echo in the hallway. Hearing the words of clear refusal, Maximo breathed in. He felt suffocated as if someone was strangling him.

“How……”

Can you do this to me? Unable to continue his words, Maximo closed his mouth. A sense of betrayal and unbearable shame swept through his heart. A feeling of frustration similar to when witnessing Renato kissing Khalid not long ago engulfed him.

“This won’t do. Dame Luna, drive the young Duke out. You may use force. I will take all the responsibility, so drive him out.”

Renato frowned when Maximo blankly stood there like someone that had lost his soul. He didn’t understand what was wrong with the man all of a sudden, but he couldn’t just face him here forever. Renato made a decision and ordered Luna to kick Maximo out.

“I will obey your command, Your Imperial Highness.”

As soon as Renato finished his words, Luna grabbed Maximo’s arm. Only then did Maximo come to his senses and try to shake off her hand, but to no avail. He was subdued by Luna in the blink of an eye.

“Let go of me! Damn it! I told you to let go of me!”

In the end, Maximo was caught and dragged away by Luna. As Maximo disappeared to the end of the hallway, Renato immediately turned his head to check Louis’ condition.

“Louis, are you okay? Are you not injured? Where did Maximo hit you earlier?”

“I’m okay, Your Imperial Highness. It was just a slight slap on the shoulder.”

“Really? It doesn’t hurt?”

“Yes, it was nothing at all.”

“What a relief……”

Renato was relieved and sat down on the floor. Louis was taken aback and hurriedly supported him. Renato hugged Louis again and mumbled an apology.

“I’m sorry, Louis. You are suffering a lot because of me.”

“Ayy, why are you apologizing to me, Your Imperial Highness? It’s not just a day or two that the young Duke has a terrible personality……”

Once again in Renato’s embrace, Louis softly laughed. After a moment of hesitation, he carefully hugged Renato. He felt sorry when sensing Renato’s body weakly tremble like an aspen.

“Thank you, Your Imperial Highness.”

Louis thanked him with all his heart. A little while ago, when Renato held him in his arms to protect him and shouted at Maximo, his eyes tingled. At that moment, Louis could feel Renato’s will. He was genuinely trying to protect him from Maximo.

“If you hadn’t helped me, I might have been in big trouble today, Your Imperial Highness. The young Duke was weirder than usual. Thank you so much for protecting me.”

Renato curled his lips inward as he heard Louis’ voice expressing his gratitude to him. When Louis said thanks for protecting him, something hot surged up inside, and his vision became blurry.

Did I protect him properly this time?

His trembling hand gripped the hem of Louis’ shirt. The warmth from his body and the sound of regular heartbeats made him feel relieved.

I protected him, I protected him this time.

Renato lowered his head, swallowing the crying sounds that reached his throat. Louis in his arms did not become cold or stiff. He was alive.

“I’m so glad…… Louis.”

Renato buried his face in Louis’ shoulder and muttered while sobbing. Either because his tension was relieved, or his trauma symptoms were appearing late, he felt both nauseous and dizzy. He could also feel cold sweat running down his back like tears flowing down his cheeks.

“Your Imperial Highness? Your Imperial Highness!”

Noticing that Renato’s body was strangely hot, Louis hurriedly called him. But Renato did not answer. Feeling the world turn upside down, he closed his eyes. Louis’ voice gradually faded away, and his vision turned white. Then, at some point, it became dark as if the light had gone out.