The Prince's Headaches 2 (Patreon)

The Prince’s Headaches 2 - or ‘I am not the heir to the throne, but I have to save my silly sister a couple of times’ (The Princess’ Jewels SI)

“I can’t believe you are that upset!”

The comment was met with a snort as I blocked a punch from the offending side of the situation. The individual grinned, wildly driven to commit herself in winning that spar despite how we were both struggling to be the victor of this competition.

“I can’t believe you ditched your family during an important date such as seeing my sister claiming your little brother as his second pet.”

That comment was met with a mild reaction from the way she got a bit feistier about this clashing but… it was quite expected considering how much my foe loved her family.

The first time I met Prince Nadia Karsia of the Eastern Land of the Sun or… the Xek Militant Empire was back when we were both kids. I was tiny, she was tiny- I was a boy and she is even now a tomboy.

Back then, considering how difficult it was for me to find a chance to socialize with my own family without having to deal with issues such as naggy tutors and the blatant favoritism Ariana was subjected to, it was a logical path for me to get myself a friend.

I didn’t expect this friend to latch onto me and become the closest thing to a legit bro minus calling ourselves ‘bros’. Still, the surprise was one that was more pleasant than anything else as Nadia was… fun.

I wouldn’t say that I outright saw her as wife material, not with how stupidly childish she could get about our friendship- but she was the kind of woman I didn’t mind being a guy around considering how she grew up like the sons of the family. Her father was forgiving of her ‘quirks’ and got a good daughter and warrior in return.

If Efrit Karsia, deemed by many as the ‘Phoenix Reincarnation’ in Xek’s mythology, was known to be the greatest fighter due to his impressive feats, then his sister was… a touch different.

Efrit led masterful battles, Nadia would be sent alone to face insane odds such as exterminating an army or two on her own. And the reason why her deeds were relatively unknown was because she never had anyone around to record them.

In fact, I may as well say that it was a bit of a secret for her family that extended to me and Asa that Nadia was the most dangerous asset in the hands of the Xek Empire.

So, it didn’t come as a surprise that Efrit’s interest to latch onto my sister didn’t spark a major war. After all, it would be quite shocking for King Carlos of Xek to just give away his best asset without a fair reason. And due to how sudden the entire ordeal was… well, I didn’t even ‘have the chance to write a letter’.

Truth be told, this was something I had expected to happen and I wanted father to stew some more rather than snap back at him at once. I had to let this matter rest and wait for others to start noticing how bad it was- and yes, people in high places were already sporting some concerns as some that I hadn’t spoken to in months asked what was going on with my sister and her ‘jewels’ idea.

Fancy as that may have sounded at court, the ‘right’ nobles, those that really ruled the political realm while I commanded the economic one, were not exactly pleased by this, but seemingly keeping quiet for the time being due to the trust they had on my father.

“Fuh! Always getting me so worked up!” Nadia whined with a hint of happiness in her tone as we ended the match in a draw. How many times did we do this? I don’t know.

To make it simple, I was a balanced fighter, while Nadia was a pure physical monster. She was what one would expect when they classify a fighter as a ‘super-tanky brawler’. She had a sword, but she favored punching people to death and… she was fast. Fast and murderous with her attacks.

“Yeah… Well, how come you skipped on that? I thought you wanted to nag on your brother for being a weak-minded moron?”

“That was the plan, then I realized that you weren’t around which made the overall visit too boring,” Nadia explained in her simple logic. “I mean, it would have been fun but… then that would not be fun for long. I need you to be around for that sort of visit to make sense.”

“Hm,” I nodded in understanding, knowing how much Nadia didn’t like being around the rest of my family. Especially Ariana. “So, why tag along with this boring task of mine?”

“Well, dad said ‘it is either visiting the Emperor or you go be useful in the occupation duty’ and I said ‘guess I will take the funniest option then’.”

Always the dumbass when handling authority and formality.

“Speaking of this, how are you feeling about your sister doing all of that? You know, getting herself a harem?”

I scratched the back of my head. “I am upset. I already made this point clear to my father but… he is too deep in his idiotic thoughts to realize this will only end poorly.”

“But why are you not being the one stopping her yourself? Shouldn’t that be your best bet against her- smack your thick head against hers and win her with that logic stuff you go for?”

“As if that was that simple, Nadia,” I lamented, knowing she had a point if not for the fact this was not the first time I thought and tried going for this path. “I already did this for lesser reasons, my sister would just cry, get father involved and then get me to ‘concede’. Considering how bad the situation is-”

“You don’t want to risk ‘conceding’ to her because it is quite a bad move,” Nadia interrupted, getting straight to the point and then smiling as she realized she got it right. “Man, that sucks.”

“Yeah…”

“You know what doesn’t suck?”

I frowned and I saw her taking a few steps towards me. It was a familiar tactic- one that I was already grimacing over in recognition.

“Don’t you da-AH!”

The sweaty tackle-hug was one of the most horrendous treats to my sanity. While one would happily enjoy wrestling and cuddling with a muscular tomboy with a tan skin complex and quite the friendly attitude- many also forget that Nadia was a physical fiend and one that could easily crush a rock by pressing one of her fingers against it.

So yeah, I was super-sweaty, super-tired and super-sore.

Luckily for me, I didn’t have much to do for the day. It’s been just two days since I got to my new main effort, still retaining the Prime Minister role but having to assign a deputy to take care of the situation in the capital while I was away.

Not a funny occurrence considering that many things were already happening and my father’s decision was revealing to be what I had feared the worst: the fact that my sister was getting an easy path to secure herself a harem and potentially undermine the Empire’s stability with this move.

While the people wouldn’t give a fuck, many nobles would see it as a dangerous trend to allow to perpetrate. If a single ruler could get so many consorts, then the point of arranged marriages for the sake of stability would fade away in a society where things were still old-styled compared to its technological progress.

Yes, we were in no middle-age due to the presence of printers, mechanical systems and even modernized ships, but that didn’t mean that some mindsets had changed in the rapid modernization that the world had gone through- I would say, actually, that the traditions had mutated for the sake of survival and… succeeded in that endeavor.

Pushing a reform through that radical method was a suicidal move- and I wasn’t saying this while just comparing Ariana’s chances to the current risks, I was actually comparing my own chances against that issue. That was no way to force a change, not when so many people had interests to keep the status quo in that regard.

Not only that, but the morality of that concept would push the Church of the Goddess to react- same for the other religious chiefs of the countries where the ‘Jewels’ were from.

Luckily for me, there was something I could do to start containing this mess before it became too dangerous. Reaching for my communicator, I contacted the very group I had formed in secret to keep an eye on my father and the rest of the family.

I had to get some preparation going before commencing my distraction plan.

“Hello? Yes, it’s been a while- No, I am not taking your offer, you pervert… Yes, I need the Secret Police in action to… yes, but that’s after dealing with any moles. I get it… and I get it… No, I am not giving you my bone, stop it, Helia. That’s the end of the topic. Bye.”

I closed the call there and…

It was time to lean back and let some fireworks go boom.