60 days after the explosions – ????

"Why!!!???"(prince)

The prince refused to give up yet

Part of him knew they wanted to stuck the job to him from the start, and he had been trying to slip away before they even mention it, unsuccessfully

He didn't know why they wanted him, but he would do his best to change their mind before it was too late

"Well, there are a couple of reasons actually"(former king Arthur)said calmly even after the prince outburst

Probably because he understood why he did it

"So!? what are the reasons? Because I don't want the job, and no one wants me there, so why!?"(prince)

"calm down son. Like I said, there are a couple of reasons, and the first and most important reason is clear. You passed the test"(former king Arthur)

"What test?"(prince)was caught off guard with that answer

"Of who will succeed us in the throne of course"(former king Arthur)said as a matter of fact

"Wait wait wait!!! when did this test start and why did I pass!? if we are talking about support or skill, I am way more inferior than my brothers. There is no way I passed any test, especially one so important!"(prince)

"No on no no son. You pass it masterfully....

Let me start from the beginning

We had been keeping a close watch over your sister for some time now, and we realised what she was planning at the temple and why

We thought we stop her before she caused more troubles but then we came up with an idea. Why not use this situation to chose a successor?

As you know, all your brothers and sisters had the support of a faction each and were quite capable. So instead of choosing one ourselves and pissing off the other factions, let them fight among each other, and the winner gets all. Simple"(former king Arthur)

"Buuutt, I almost die there. If I didn't accidently suffer an accident the day before, I would be dead. Besides, Paul is missing, Jorge survived by luck, and Rebecca.... well she doesn't count"(prince)

"Come on son, do you thin we are stupid?We know it was no accident, and we were sure you would try to weasel your way out of the situation like always. Besides, we were sure the priestess fell in love with Jorge, so she wouldn't let him die, and Rebecca was never in any danger like you said. Paul was the only miscalculation.

To be honest, we thought he would be back in a week at most and settle everything with his inhuman strength

I really hope nothing bad happened to him"(former king Arthur) showed a little worry expression for the first time

Meanwhile, prince was cursing a little how wicked his parents were

"But if Alice could have won in the end! Don't you care for your own land!?"(prince)tried to make them fell bad about themselves, and maybe take advantage of their guilt

"And what was so bad of her winning? We keep our family line through Alice and we unite the human population into one kingdom. Say what you want about your sister, but her idea wasn't bad"(former king Arthur)said in a serious tone

"But if she had won, I would be dead, and maybe some of my brothers too"(prince) keep trying to make them feel bad

Besides, he wondered a "little" if his parents worried about his well being

"Well.... in the battle for succession, it is normal for one or two of the princes to die. I don't like it but that is how the world works. Even I had to kill two of my brothers to get the throne"(former king Arthur)said with a sad face

"BUT I DON'T EVEN WANT IT!!"(prince) couldn't stop his outburst

"JULIAN!! Stop throwing a tantrum and act like a man!"(former queen Rose) spoke for the first time since the prince got there

And her words were extremely successful, since the prince instantly calmed down, and even lost all his vitality. There was no one he was more afraid of than his mother

"Calm down both of you. Son, I understand not wanting the throne, but as a prince, it is your duty to answer the call, even if you don't like it. You think I even wanted the throne? It was either the throne or death for me and even when I took it after countless troubles, I had to fix problem after problem or everything would fall apart.

By the time I finally fixed all the problems, I was called the wise king and everyone was depending on me. If it wasn't for your mother and all of you, I would have run away a long time ago"(former king Arthur) said with a tired face, making it pretty hard for the prince to complain

He could say it was unfair to force him to the throne, but he was a prince. Sadly for him, he had to be ready to take the throne the moment he was born.Like it or not

For the looks of things, his only way out was to play the role everyone else had stuck him over the years

The incompetent fool

"Ok fine, I get I can't get out of it just because I don't want it, but both of you should know I am not the best choice, or even the second, third or fourth choice, I am the last choice. So why stuck the most important job to the worst option? You can't say it is because I wanted because I don't and both of you know it. You can't say that it is because I am the only option left, since both Jorge and Rebecca are out there, and you can't say I am the one everyone wants, because I am not, and everyone in the world knows it!"(prince) said angrily, but holding back his outburst thanks to his mother warning

No one likes to say he is inferior to others, but the prince had come in terms with it for a long time

He knew he wasn't the best choice, that's why he gave up on the throne and decided to live a carefree life

He never regretted his choice since it was the only choice he had, simple

He hated how everyone look down on him, how inferior he was to the rest of his family, how no one treat him nicely, how many times he had to concede to something because he wasn't good enough

True, he didn't want to be king. He knew after seeing how much work his father had, and after taking a taste himself, that the job was sh-tty

But do you think it is the same to be fired from a sh-tty job because you aren't good enough then to quit because the job isn't good enough for you?

Even if practically it is better to be fired since you get compensation(money, knowledge, etc in his case), your pride gets wounded when they tell you "you are just not good enough"

And it was the same for the prince. He didn't want to be king, but losing even the possibility to be one from the start hurts even more

So after years of suffering for "not been good enough" to the sudden change off "good enough" felt like a mockery. Anyone would lose their cool in that situation

He knew he wasn't doing enough, everyone knew he wasn't good enough and mocked for it, so he didn't like how he suddenly became good enough

He wasn't good enough, he already suffer for not been good enough, he didn't even want it even if he would be considered good enough and there were better options that were more than just good enough unlike him, so the insisting of his parent to take the role of king really piece him off

If it wasn't for a mix of respect and fear he had for them, he would be screaming or punching or something to calm the anger he felt inside

He used to be taken for a fool, but even he had a boiling point

"Son, YOU ARE the best choice, why would you think otherwise?"(former king Arthur)