The Crown Prince In Hiding

“Is he seriously hurt?”

“It could be a number of things… heatstroke, sudden heart failure… or even poisoning, it’s all possible.”

“Poisoning?”

Professor Foden turned to the medical officer.

“Yes.”

“……”

The female professor turned back, her eyes flicking left and right…

Then suddenly, one of the spell-casting medics cast a purification spell and spoke up.

“Commander, there’s no sign of toxins or illegal magic of any kind.”

“But he’s still breathing, right?”

“Yes, Professor. He’s alive… but we don’t know what will happen next.”

“…”

The medics lifted Gronk onto a stretcher and carried him out, passing rows of silent, staring students.

Professor Foden glanced down at the evaluation sheet…

Dan had a slight lead in points due to his early offensive.

Her face tightened, like something was caught in her throat.

By protocol, when a match is disrupted and one contestant is ahead in score…

The winner is automatically—

Dan Burn.

Outside, Zeedee smirked as she glanced over at the group of scholarship knights and professors who had plotted to take the prince out of the game for five weeks.

But in a twist of fate, it was Gronk who would be missing for five weeks—thanks to the potency of her poison.

Cut to the knight division.

The students were still in collective shock.

Chiesa, Helena, and Jenny weren’t present, but it wouldn’t take long for the news to reach them.

Only Aaron and Rafinya had witnessed the harrowing incident firsthand.

In the end, Professor Foden was forced to let Dan pass the exam and called the next match.

Rafinya looked around, uneasy.

Her gut told her something wasn’t right.

Then, suddenly, Rafinya shot up and ran toward the backstage area, storming past Instructor Zoros.

Bang!

She kicked the door open—startling the waiting students who turned to look.

Rafinya scanned the room quickly.

Dan Burn was gone.

Wait a second… she thought.

Something’s not right. Her instincts screamed it.

“Where’s Dan!? Where is that bastard!?”

The students looked around, but none of them knew.

“Shit!”

Rafinya turned and pushed out through the exit door.

Outside Madison Square Garden.

Rafinya’s red velvet eyes scanned every face on the street—but Dan was nowhere to be seen.

She didn’t know how or why…

But she could feel it—he did something. As for Nora’s disappearance? She might claim it was for safety… but Rafinya wasn’t buying it.

There was no way Gronk had just coincidentally suffered a seizure today of all days.

She had to find Dan—fast.

When the exam concluded, they dispersed the students. Dan, Nora, and Zeedee were already gone from Madison Square Garden.

Dan and Zeedee rocked back and forth inside Princess Nora’s carriage, headed toward her residence.

Zeedee, having been rewarded, munched on a bunch of purple grapes with great pleasure. But as she glanced over at her grape donor—who was scribbling notes with a tense expression—Zeedee couldn’t help but ask:

“…Kid, why the stiff face?”

“…”

Nora looked up.

“…It’s nothing. Really.”

“No big deal, Freya. I just gave Nora a bitter lesson today.”

Dan popped a grape into his mouth.

“She’s growing up, chew.”

“I’m not a kid anymore, Mr. Fury.”

“Fine, early teen then.”

“Then you’re basically uncle, Mr. Fury.”

“Then Freya must be the boomer.”

“Excuse me?! No way!!!”

“What do you mean ‘no way,’ Freya? We’re old.”

“‘We’? Who’s ‘we’?? I don’t see anyone named ‘we’ in here!?”

“At least you didn’t lose your cool. That’s more than I expected.”

Dan ignored Zeedee and spoke to Nora.

“I thought you’d freak out.”

“No, Mr. Fury… I kinda knew politics wasn’t exactly clean.”

“It’s not about clean or not, Nora. I’ve said it again and again—”

Dan held up a finger.

“—It’s about survival. Survival is the only thing that matters.”

Nora nodded and jotted it down in her notebook.

>

A servant knocked on the carriage door, and moments later, it swung open.

Revealing—not Nora’s residence—but an opulent restaurant in the heart of the city’s high-end district.

“!”

Dan and Zeedee were both surprised.

“What are we doing here?”

“Well, since you’ll be leaving soon… I thought I’d treat you both to a thank-you meal.”

“You brought us here without saying a word, Your Highness? A surprise?”

“If I’d told you, Mr. Fury, you would’ve refused. So…”

Now that he was standing in front of the restaurant—no way he could turn back.

“Nora… you’re devious.”

She took care of everything. Dan and Zeedee barely had to lift a finger. They were seated across from Nora in a private VIP log, overlooking the city below.

They looked up at the chandelier—was it gold-plated?

They felt a bit like country folk visiting the big city. This would be the first time the prince and his aide experienced what a “restaurant” really meant.

“No one around like the academy dining hall.”

“This whole log is ours, Mr. Fury. It’s for privacy.”

“Oh, I see…”

“Do they have this in Diablo?”

“There’s no such thing as a restaurant.”

Dan glanced around.

“When we eat, we just eat. No need to do it in a fancy place like this.”

In Diablo, from the king to the weakest demon, everyone ate the same way. There was no restaurant class system. Eating was like brushing your teeth.

“But for humans, it doesn’t work like that. Or rather—it could, but we usually don’t.”

“You mean food reflects your social status?”

“Everything can be a status symbol, Mr. Fury. Like the carriage that brought us here—it shows status.”

If she weren’t a princess, no one would’ve picked them up like that.

“Actually, Diablo probably has status markers too. You just don’t realize it. Demons aren’t all equally strong, right? So there must be something.”

“Hm…”

Dan glanced at Zeedee, then back to Nora.

“In Diablo, maybe status is shown by the prey you catch that day?”

If the hunter is strong, the prey will be rare or equally powerful. If weak, then you’d only get easy island critters.

“But honestly, we don’t pay attention to that. You catch what you catch and eat it that day.”

Zeedee: “Not counting the scavengers, Your Highness.”

“Ah, right. What about them? What status do scavengers have? I guess we don’t have one.”

“Mr. Fury, do you hunt yourself?”

“Sometimes, if I’m in the mood. But usually someone else does it… like her.” He pointed to Zeedee.

“There! That’s the status marker!”

Nora pointed.

“Normally demons hunt for themselves, but Mr. Fury has someone to do it for him. That’s the dividing line.”

“Oh… I see now.”

That was the closest thing to “fine dining” in Diablo—but still, no actual restaurants or gourmet meals existed.

“In fact, ever since I got this human body, my senses have become so much more layered. We didn’t even have a concept of ‘flavor’ before, Nora.”

“You don’t have taste buds?”

“We do, just… not like you. Our tongues are like they’re permanently numb.”

Which explained why Zeedee was obsessed with grapes—she’d only recently discovered “sweetness,” something her demon body could never feel, no matter how many grapes she stuffed in her mouth.

“At first, when I got this human form, I was overwhelmed by how sensitive everything was—taste, smell, sound, even light. It was like every sense was ten times stronger… especially for Freya. She only learned what ‘fishy’ meant after becoming human.”

“So if I became a Diablo, my senses would dull by tenfold and I’d be able to eat anything?”

“That’s right… which brings up a question I’ve had: is ‘taste’ even real?”

Diablo and humans have different receptors, meaning the reality of flavor changes between species. Leading to Mr. Fury’s philosophical dilemma: if it varies so much, does true taste actually exist?

It kept him up at night. Like wondering if what you see as red is the same red someone else sees.

“Apologies for the wait.”

The restaurant staff rolled in a golden cart and began unloading dish after dazzling dish—it was almost blinding. They didn’t even know where to start.

“Whoa…”

Zeedee’s eyes went wide.

“Please, help yourself, Miss Zeedee.”

“No holding back, then.”

“Is this pork?”

“Yes, Mr. Dan.”

“Then take it, Zeedee. Dispose of it for me.”

“You don’t eat pork, Mr. Fury?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Nora, don’t make me sing again.”

Nora: “?”