How the Sidekick Prince Lives Again

“Pardon? Uh…… It happened in December last year. Before his highness was appointed as the diplomatic ambassador and left for the Empire.”

December last year. At Alia’s answer, his heart thumped and plummeted. Renato’s heart pounded as he found out that the time when Khalid’s clock was broken and the time he returned in time overlapped.

Feeling his body tremble, Renato pursed the tip of his lips. He tried to stay calm, but it was impossible.

“December? Was it December 13th?”

An urgent question came out of his opened lips as if chased by something. The pocket watch in his hand until just before his death came to his mind vividly.

Did it return to Khalid in that shattered state? Why?

Renato bit his lower lip, feeling strangely anxious. The timing was too exact to be called a coincidence. As soon as he thought so, an intense pain rose from his left waist. Just like right after his regression.

Barely holding back a groan, Renato lowered his hand to wrap around his left waist. He hadn’t experienced this kind of pain for a while after steadily receiving trauma treatment.

“My apologies, I don’t know the exact date as I only received the command after the watch was repaired.”

“Ah……”

In response to the answer, his lips which were tightly closed to endure the pain opened wide, letting out a sigh. A disappointed look appeared on his gradually paled face. As his tension subsided as if soaked in cold water, strength also drained from his body.

“I was ordered to examine the watch around the end of December, so it must have been broken before that……”

Perplexed by Renato’s noticeably depressed look, Alia was restless and sweated profusely. She couldn’t understand why Renato wondered about this, but his darkened face made her feel like she had to say something.

“I see, thank you for your answer.”

Renato expressed his gratitude in a weak voice. When he thought about it again, it would be even stranger if Alia knew. Struggling to suppress his regret, he rubbed his throbbing waist for a while.

He hated the scar on his body for the haunting memories and terrible pain accompanying it, but it was still proof that he had gone back in time. If it weren’t for the scar, he might not feel that his previous life was real and would think of himself as insane.

In fact, Renato sometimes suffered from the anxiety that the entire previous life he remembered was a nightmare or a delusion. Renato was the only one in the world who remembered the disappeared time, and he was occasionally overwhelmed by that.

Shortly after his regression, he thought that he had gone insane after being unable to endure the harsh reality. He feared that the current time he thought of as reality was all a dream and he would return to the Fairy King’s tomb when he woke up after his sleep. On those days, he couldn’t sleep till morning.

When confused about whether this was a dream or reality, the most effective way was to go in front of a mirror and check the scar on his waist. Whenever looking at the spot where Maximo’s sword pierced, pain engraved on his body would surely come. After suffering from the pain of ripped flesh and torn internal organs, he knew that this moment was reality.

Thanks to consistent hypnosis treatment with Khalid, he had stabilized mentally a lot and didn’t need to see the scar lately, but the anxiety deep in his heart had not completely disappeared.

So he couldn’t help but react sensitively to the information that Khalid’s watch was suddenly broken in December last year. Considering the situation, the damage to the watch was likely to be related to his regression just like the scar left on his body.

So he wanted to make sure. About the possibility that apart from the scar left on his body, there was evidence of his regression.

“Is the date the watch was broken any important to you, Your Imperial Highness?”

Hesitant while watching Renato’s expression, Alia asked cautiously. Louis, who was far away so that the two could talk comfortably, also had a worried gaze.

“No. Something bad also happened to me last December. So I was curious when hearing that his highness’ watch broke around the same time……”

Only then did Renato realize he was too agitated, so he fixed his shaken expression and briefly explained.

“Aha, I see. Uhm, how about asking his highness if you want to know the exact date?”

“That’s a good idea. I shouldn’t have bothered someone who came to work. I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t a problem at all.”

“Then take a look. You said you came to check the spell on the pocket watch, right?”

Having barely regained his composure, Renato smiled softly at Alia. He felt sorry for her, who must have been surprised by him.

“That’s right. His highness asked me to find out if the protective spell on the watch can only be activated by him, or if it works for Your Imperial Highness as well.”

Fortunately, Renato’s smile worked very well. Alia’s face brightened with relief at his smile.

“Find out if it works for me?”

“Yes, his highness told me to modify the spell formula so that it could also protect Your Imperial Highness if the target is set only to him. It will function as an artifact that way.”

Alia replied with a smile. Contrary to her calm appearance, she actually smiled a lot.

“You don’t have to……”

Renato inadvertently tried to say that it was activated without any problem, but then closed his mouth again. He almost made a mistake because Alia’s words a bit while ago still affected him.

“Hmm, I don’t think you need to modify the spell…… I don’t know much, but isn’t it incredibly difficult?”

Renato intentionally coughed and changed his words as naturally as possible. Fortunately, Alia didn’t notice anything strange and responded.

“Probably so. Because unlike magic, each shaman has a slightly different spell formula. But it’s not completely impossible. We all have a standardized spell formula.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, so you don’t have to worry too much.”

“If you say so……”

“And above all, his highness wants the watch to not only function as a wedding gift but also as an artifact. So I will analyze the spell formula first.”

“Okay.”

“Then I will concentrate for a moment.”

Alia’s smile disappeared from her face after she finished speaking. She carefully observed the pocket watch. Alia’s mood was so serious that Renato and Louis were also nervous.

“Uhm…… It’s a bit vague.”

After carefully checking the spell engraved on the watch for a while, Alia tilted her head with a confused face. Her black hair, which was neatly tied up to the side, swayed in the air following her titled head.

“What is vague?”

“Ah, it’s difficult to explain…… Uhm, to put it simply, depending on the interpretation of the spell formula, the protection target may or may not be set only to his highness.”

Alia mumbled in an uncertain voice when she heard Renato’s question. She had already realized before that the spell formula left on the pocket watch was very sophisticated and complicated. In other words, Jamila was a very talented shaman.

“I think it’s closer to the former, but…… Bad things may happen if I make a hasty modification, so I will have to listen to the opinions of other shamans.”

If it was likely to protect only Khalid, why was it activated in his previous life? Renato frowned one eye upon hearing Alia’s words. His memory and her judgment were different.

In his previous life, the watch was definitely broken after protecting him. Renato clearly remembered that the pocket watch had blocked Maximo’s swords aimed at his chest, emitted a dazzling white light, then shattered.

Then, when Maximo’s sword stabbed Renato’s waist, the watch’s protective spell was activated once more. Renato recalled the blood-red light that flashed the moment his blood fell on the shattered pocket watch.

He was unfamiliar with shaman spells, and he couldn’t think about it as the situation before and after his regression was so urgent, but upon recalling it, he felt weird that the colors of the lights were different.

Is there something I don’t know?

Confused, Renato furrowed his brows and fell into agony. He kept feeling that he was missing something. He momentarily wanted to ask Alia but held back. He had already shown a strange look to her. It would be awkward to raise her suspicion if he said the wrong thing. And he didn’t know how to explain, either.

“Can I borrow paper and pen for a while?”

“Of course. Louis, bring paper and pen to Dame Alia.”

Escaping from his thoughts at Alia’s request, Renato called Louis to prepare paper and pen. Alia slowly wrote down the spell formula she had analyzed on the paper Louis brought.

“It’s done. I will go back with this spell formula and discuss it in depth with other shamans. Can I see you again after that?”

“You may do so.”

“Thank you. Then I will return the watch to you.”

Getting the pocket watch back from Alia, Renato looked at it with a complicated gaze. When he swept the smooth surface with his thumb, the unique coolness of metal permeated his skin. Suppressing his uneasy feelings, he shifted his gaze to Alia.