Secrets With the Crown Prince Chapter 1
“You are ‘Mouse Bell’, right?”
In a charity event dedicated to flood victims, the crown prince abruptly asked me this question without warning. The question was more unexpected, because it was my first time meeting the prince.
Although I had never met him before, the crown prince acted as if he knew me. He even knew my childhood nickname.
“It’s not ‘Mouse Bell’ but Ji-Bell*’. (T/N: Ji sounds very similar to Mouse in Korean.)
I couldn’t avoid the question simply because it was unexpected and reluctantly answered. Then, after gaining back some composure, I observed him.
The party’s odd fever seemed to only move aside for him – as if he had a barrier made out of ice around him, he had an icy demeanor that made it difficult to approach him.
Guests in this congested party could only sneak glances at him and circled around him without approaching him.
“Are you really Mouse Bell?” He asked me again. I furrowed my brows.
I couldn’t grasp where this question was coming from. How does he know my name? A Korean name at that? This man with a golden crown on his silver hair looked urgent.
He had the face of a person who was now able to drink a drop of water at last after wandering in the desert for days.
Why is he being like this?
“My name is Bell, but how does your highness…”
“I heard that the Lubiche family had suddenly adopted an Asian-looking girl, so I wasn’t sure. But to think that it was you. I wasn’t crazy. I wasn’t losing my mind.”
The man clutched onto me desperately while tears dripped from his eyes. Like he was in great pain, he couldn’t even speak properly as he wailed and shed more tears.
The murmurings became louder, and I looked at the man with a baffled expression on my face.
The people stared.
“Can we move somewhere else first?”
Even without this, there were many rumors about me that circulated.
Because of this damn crown prince, ten more rumors would be added on top of that. Of course, these rumors would have the crown prince entangled into them now.
I dragged the crown prince out of the party room and headed towards a dark garden. The prince meekly grabbed onto my hand and followed me while tears still dripped down his face.
From what I remembered, the crown prince was someone who was reserved and cold as ice.
Who was this giant cutie who had bawled his eyes out?
“How do you know my nickname, ‘Mouse Bell’? At this place, my name is Ena Knox Lubiche.”
“The name doesn’t fit you.” He told me with tears in his eyes.
Wipe your tears first.
I sat him down on a bench. While scrubbing his tears away, he asked me. “When did you come here? No, when did you come to this world?”
As if I had seen him just yesterday, I felt a certain sense of companionship and familiarity from him.
What is this? It was as if he knew that I was not from this world. I pondered for a bit. Could I tell the truth to this unfamiliar-looking man?
“It’s ok. You can tell me. You probably don’t have anyone else to tell except me.” With his words, my mind became a mess again.
So, in the end, I told him my situation.
“It has been five years since I woke up in this world.”
“No, what year was it in Korea when you arrived here?”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words. Did this man say ‘Korea’? Korea?
And so, finally, I began to remember who had given me my nickname of ‘Mouse Bell.’ It was PD Cha Do-Hyuk. My boss who seemed to have no blood or tears but the crown prince in front of me and Cha Do-Hyuk had such different faces.
It was impossible to see these two as the same person…
After he wiped his tears away, he sighed and murmured. “Ha. To think that I will be meeting you here.”
His unrestrained, casual speech which differed from normal royals or other aristocrats surprised me.
As if he was really Cha Do-Hyuk.
“I am not as small as a mouse bell.” I really wasn’t that small as my height was over 168cm.
Because of my body’s natural constitution that didn’t gain weight easily, I maintained a thin build and people often told me that I looked taller than I actually was.
The reason for my nickname, ‘Mouse Bell’ was simply because of my name, and Cha Do-Hyuk called me that because he was unusually tall.
Well, this man looked tall too.
“I know.” He told me as he rubbed his tired looking eyes.
“Your majesty, Reynold. If you could excuse me, but…”
“You should not call me that.” This man- no, this crown prince’s face soured. I was taken back by how stern he looked.
I mean, aren’t you the crown prince? Then, what else could I do but call a prince, a prince?
“Call me Cha Do-Hyuk.”
“That is insane. Suddenly Cha Do-Hyuk…. Sorry but what?” I was so flustered that I spat those words out and then pretended that I hadn’t.
But at this, he let out a burst of laughter.
He had such an attractive laugh that I could not do anything but stare at him.
Yes, when could I see a face like this? He was so handsome.
“Even that funny way of talking is pleasant now.”
What? I lost my chance to ask him the questions that I wanted to ask.
My hands trembled. I felt chills on my body and I grabbed his shoulders.
“Are you really Cha Do-HyuK?”
“Yes, it really does seem like you are Ji Bell.”
“Don’t lie. I have been thinking that I was in a dream. Why is this crazy bast**d coming out to make it more realistic?”
He stopped his hands as he was brushing his hair away. “What? Crazy bast**d?”
I pursed my lips and tried to avoid answering his question.
That was the nickname that my colleagues and I gave PD Cha Do-Hyuk.
At that time, he was the type of person who drove others around him to insanity as if he had really gone mad from his work.
Some even called him a rabid dog.
I could not believe it. Is this foreign stranger really Cha Do-Hyuk?
Even if I looked at him sideways and back, this man was the crown prince, Reynold.
“Ena?”
From a distance, I heard somebody calling me.
“Mouse Bell, isn’t that your name?”
“I know that too.”
I glared at the crown prince in front of me and turned my body away.
A man that wore a brown evening coat was looking for me.
Why was he looking through the bushes? It was obvious why he was looking for me so fervently when we weren’t even that close.
My adoptive father must have ordered him to look for me.
“Is he from Lubiche?”
“Yes, my new family. My adoptive father must be looking for me.”
At these words, the crown prince stared at me. “It must be hard.”
I shrugged my shoulders. Magic and divine power existed in this world.
As if the Hogwarts castle could exist, there were magicians who made deals with the gods, and followers who borrowed divine power from these gods.
Magic and divine power coexisted, and only a few selected individuals could use such a power. I also had this power from a god named Anbe or whatever his name was.
“It’s not too hard since I got this strange power. Actually, I receive favorable treatment and people don’t really mind that I joined their family.”
I mean, what could they do since I was already part of the Lubiche family registry?
I laughed loudly at this, and the prince stared at me.
I thought his reaction was strange, but at that moment, my new brother, Rioel found me.
With a crumpled look on his face, he stomped towards and halted when he saw the crown prince.
“Your majesty is also here.”
“It’s been a while. Sir Lubiche.”
Crown prince rose from his seat, and Rioel bowed his head.
Then, he glared at me from the corner of his eyes. Why? What? What are you going to do?
I furrowed my brows and communicated with my eyes.
“Ena.” The prince suddenly called me.
He kept calling me ‘Mouse Bell’ but in front of Rioel, he is calling me Ena now?
He smiled at me with a surprised expression and whispered in my ears. “It’s a pity that I have to part from you so soon. I will miss you a lot.”
Like a robot, I stared back at him. His unrealistically handsome face was right in front of me.
As if he thought my reaction was funny, he smiled. Then, like a very gentle, holy priest, he kissed the back of my hands.
I stood dumbfounded. No, no, it was only because he was so good-looking.
The gods must have poured everything they had just on his appearance.
“I will take a visit to Lubiche’s residence soon. We will talk more in depth later.”
Then, contrasting the time he wailed like a baby, he moved in a carefree-like manner and gave a sloppy farewell to Rioel and disappeared.
“What is your relationship with the crown prince?” Rioel asked me.
Rioel was a skilled knight even in the empire’s Order of Knights.
As he crossed his arms with his formidable physique and height, he looked quite intimidating.
I simply smiled at him, and he crumpled his face even more. “What?”
“Do you suddenly have an interest in me?”
Awwww. I tried to tap his bottom, but he shouted with horror.
“You crazy woman. What are you doing?”
I wasn’t really planning to tap his bottoms. After grasping his arms, I asked him. “Why were you looking for me?”
Like a teenage boy in puberty, Rioel brushed his light brown hair and heaved in annoyance. He couldn’t compare to the crown prince, but if he shut his mouth, Rioel was also quite a handsome lad.
If I had to describe him – he looked like those dandy sun-bae styles that girls watched while he played basketball with his friends and threw dunk-shots in hoops with his impressive moves.
“Father is looking for you.” Rioel answered.
He always looked like he wasn’t impressed with me and didn’t try to hide it.
I could understand his position to some degree but it didn’t change the fact that he was still my older brother.
“Ah, is that so? Then, we should go. Let’s go.”
“Why should I go with you?”
I was about to ask what he meant by that. “Aren’t you going to bring me to father?”
Hearing my response, he hesitated for a bit and sighed. “Ok, let’s go.”
He didn’t move for a while and stared at me, so I decided to tease him a bit.
“Do you not know where father is? Are you waiting for me to go ahead?”
Rioel murmured a string of curses.
“Damn it! Why do you always have to add something to every little thing I have to say!”
“Don’t I have to say things properly so you will listen?”
“Fine, fine! You won’t lose even a single argument!”
“What is fine? How come an aristocrat like you is even worse at talking than me?”
“Ok, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Are you satisfied! Please stop! You are so not cute! How come you are my younger sister?!” Rioel screamed.
To put it simply, Rioel couldn’t argue well. In addition to this, the way he talked so roughly made him all the more, cuter.
The irony was that before I was adopted into the Lubiche family, I heard that Rioel had been happier than anyone else that he was going to have a younger sister.
A fully grown, twenty-year adult had been that glad.
I finally made a satisfied face and followed him.
But then, I wondered again. Was the crown prince really Cha Do-Hyuk?
How come I fell into this world with my original body, but he became another person?
That was a bit unfair.
