Slow Prison Life Chapter 45

Prince Learns the Limits of His Power

Garden parties get regularly held at residences inside the cities suburbs, and while these parties are meant to be events where different n.o.ble families can mingle and form connections, for the children in attendance, it is more of a dull get-together where no fun is allowed.
In the beginning children are always forced to stand next to their parents and greet the other party-goers, but once the adults start talking, it would be normal for them to neglect their children. And so the children would inevitably gather together as well, spending their time chatting with one another or exploring the garden. While the parents all form their factions, the children were off building cliques.

Such a situation had developed with one group where Elliott (6 years old) stands at the center, and it was safe to call this group the largest faction amongst the children.
No matter what Elliott is the first prince. Even children can understand he holds a special status. Furthermore there were a number of royalty or high ranking n.o.bles older than them surrounding him as escorts. So naturally, the other n.o.ble children would keep their eyes on him…….so Elliott walked everywhere with a big head on his shoulders.

“So then Your Highness, do you want to explore the Eastern Forest?”

As the boys moved from the cobblestone party area into a place in the garden with more nature-orientated terrain, the second son of a marquis walking a half-step behind Elliott made a suggestion for what they should play today.
The eastern side of the venue had a small forest growing there……….well it was actually a grove rather than a forest, and an adult could make their way through in under two minutes………but it was still a good piece of property that stimulated the boys' adventurous spirit.

“Hmm, that's right………..”

Thinking for a moment, Elliott was about to say they should go………when he noticed a girl with chocolate colored hair crossing his path. The girl was around Elliott's age wearing an ap.r.o.n dress but because of its size it looked more like a regular one piece. She was holding a dish in her hand and looked like she was just about to go grab some food.

What is this!

Elliott is great.
'The Prince' is amazing.
How dare somebody cross in front like this when that Elliott and his “retainers” are walking along!
No, even Elliott thought it couldn't be helped if somebody was in a hurry, but this woman was just going to go get some food.
In such a case she should have stopped and waited for Elliott to pa.s.s, but she just walked past as if it were normal.

“Oi, you!”¹

Elliott started shouting at the girl who had already showed her back to him.

And he was promptly ignored.

“Oi, you over there! Hey, are you listening to me!?”

The girl continued on her way while still ignoring the increasingly furious Elliott. The boys who had been following him quickly ran forward and detained the girl.
The girl looked to be in a bad mood having been forcefully brought back like she was, but having been ignored up until now, Elliott's own bad mood wouldn't lose out.

“Oi, you! What is it with you ignoring somebody when they're calling you!”

“Pardon my impoliteness. I didn't hear you.”

Answering as if she had done nothing wrong, the girl pinched the edges of her skirt and performed a curtsy. The girl looked to be around the same age as the boys yet the way she spoke and the way she curtsied was no different from a well-mannered adult.
Elliott couldn't help but get irritated seeing this “adult”. It made him somehow feel stupid.

“You, even though the Prince told you to wait, 'I didn't hear you' is all you have to respond!”

“That's right, that's right!”

“It's disrespectful that you didn't notice His Highness!”

The followers all started berating the girl as well. In response, the nasty, disagreeable girl once again gave them a curtsy.

“My sincerest apologies. A limited time, limited availability cherry cheesecake is currently being handed out that I must urgently secure, so I shut out any unrelated or low priority information that would distract me from that goal.”

“I, I see………”

The girl had used a bunch of words that were hard to understand, and the only thing Elliott really got from her explanation was 'cherry cheesecake'. Well, that's fine. He didn't want to admit he didn't understand what she was talking about, so he had no choice but to veer the conversation off into a different direction.

“Mu……….fine then. You will join us on our adventure. Feel honored.”

Elliott made an arrogant declaration. He was going to take her on an adventure that usually only his “va.s.sals” could come along with. This girl should naturally be appreciative of his good will.
However the girl, didn't seem happy with the invitation at all and refused.

“No thank you. As I said earlier I'm in a hurry to get some cherry cheesecake. I don't have time to get involved in any unimportant, inessential tasks. So then adieu.”

The words she was using were polite, but it didn't seem like she was paying the other party any respect at all.
Elliott was stunned by the girl's att.i.tude, and then after realizing this wasn't a dream, grew angry at her arrogant way of talking.

“You!? I just gave you the great honor of inviting you to go on an adventure with us!?”

“And please take care. However I hold absolutely no interest at all in any adventures(LOL), and will instead with Your Highness good fortune while smacking my lips in the sweets corner. Now then”

“What's 'adventure(LOL)' supposed to mean!? ………….rather, what are you saying!?”

The girl was going off somewhere irregardless of Elliott's reb.u.t.tal. Even though her tone and the words themselves were polite, her att.i.tude and responses completely rejected the Prince. Exemplary superficial courtesy coming from a child.

He couldn't stand it any longer.
He'd never been very patient to start with, but he absolutely couldn't put up with this girl!

“T……….This girl!”

All the blood rushed to Elliott's head, and before he realized what he was doing, he threw a stone at the girl who had shown her back to him.

This girl!

The girl stopped after the stone hit the back of her head.

“You are being disrespectful to the Prince! How about it, do you get it now!”

The Prince's proud voice mixed together with his followers' cheers and flattery……..while the girl silently stroked the stone she had picked up.
For this girl, things wouldn't end until she puts her head up and apologizes. Elliott walked over to grab her shoulder with that thought in mind.

This!

The girl used the sound of Elliott's footsteps to tell his position, so right when he got close enough to be able to reach for her, she swung her fist around, back-handing him in the face and blowing him away.

“UGYAaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Your Highness!?”

Some of the hanger-ons rushed over to Elliott to try and help. The other boys blocked the girl in, keeping vigilant of the girl who had just a.s.saulted the Prince.

“This girl! ……….UWAaaaaaaaaaaaa!?”

The third son of an earl reached out to try and grab her arm. But he ended up getting tripped up, performing a somersault, and rolling away.

“How did you do that! ………..GUFouuuuu!?”

The eldest son of a marquis tried attacking the girl, but she jumped into his chest, slamming her fist into his upper jaw. He floated up in the air for a second before crumpling down in the dirt.

“What is this!?”

“Dangerous, what!”

Even discounting the physical disparity between genders………no matter how you look at her, this girl is the same age as Elliott and the others, yet there was so much weight behind her punches.

“Ow, Ow, stop it!?”

As a special bonus, the last kid to fall over got the gift of being cruelly kicked over and over again to wrap everything up.

………….this girl is dangerous.

Naturally Elliott and his friends would start to think they'd run into some kind of unknown monster seeing this extreme girl capable of first-cla.s.s overkill.

“d.a.m.n, smash this girl!”

Finally helped up, Elliott shouted out his order while holding his sore nose and tears in his eyes, and all of his underling boys rushed the girl all at once……….or not.
Honestly, everyone was already showing pained expressions after attacking wildly……..four, five guys were already lying sprawled out on the ground while the girl practiced a little shadow boxing throwing a couple jabs here and there into the empty air.

What's is the best thing to do?

The girl looked like she was around the same age as Elliott, but most of the other boys here were older. Even though they had all hit growth spurts and were almost a head taller than her……….none of them could see themselves winning by just punching or kicking. So the second son of an earl standing behind Elliott shouted out to all his friends.

“Oi, everyone get help! This girl has hurt His Highness!”

“That's right!”

“I-I see!”

It was a plan to call for backup that the others hadn't thought of in their haste. It sounded like a very good hand to play.
Seeing a ray of hope, the boys surrounding the girl moved to execute this new plan as if it were their only chance. And so they all ran back to the main venue to go get their seniors.
…………and so, Elliott and that second son of an earl found themselves alone standing besides the other boys who were still sprawled out on the ground not moving. The area had gone quiet, the only sound being the earl's son's shocked breath and the crack of the girl's knuckles as she walked over to the two.

“………to purposefully reduce the number of people here……..quite confident, aren't you?”

“Eh? Huh? Oi, hey somebody………FUGYAaaaaaaaaa!?”

♠

Inadvertently all of the uninjured boys had run off to get help and came back with just three older boys…….and found the girl just about to leave the scene of the a.s.sault after having dealt her finishing blow.

“……………..Bleh!”

Seeing that reinforcements had arrived, the girl stuck her tongue out at all of them.

“This, this girllllllll………..!?”

A disastrous situation spread out before them……….and seeing Elliott, who must be protected especially, was in tatters, the older boys felt more a sense of crises rather than any anger.
The fact is that these boys had all been gathered together to act as bodyguards, and they all had their b.u.t.ts kicked by a single girl with the all important prince beaten and bruised……..
As an excuse, the fact that these older boys weren't there when it happened would probably just get them in even more trouble………..
So one boy gave out some commands to his friends around him.

“d.a.m.n, go beat that girl!”

“But Steve, beating up a little girl……….”

The leader of the boys started yelling at one of his friends who hesitated and was still saying sweet things.

“Do you think we won't have to answer for His Highness being in this state!? Whether she's a girl or not, if we don't beat the h.e.l.l out of this girl and get her to apologize, just how angry will His Highness be……….!”

This boy, he was the most adult out of anyone else in the boys' group.
He was an adult who was able to figure out just how poor of a position he now found himself in.
However, the actual problem is that he's still just a ten year old boy.
And so, he wasn't mature enough to know to be wary of his surroundings while trying to persuade his friends.

“Good? Do you get it!?”

“Steve!”

“What?”

“Behind!”

“………..huh?”

Looking back, what was reflected in the boy's eyes……….was the figure of a little girl who had at some point snuck up on him carrying a long, slender stick.

“Grosvenor's been done in!”

“UWAaaaaaaaa!?”

The girl had gotten a stick from somewhere and promptly started using it to beat the older boy. The remaining two older boys tried to stop her, but they just ended up beaten and sprawled out on the ground as well. The backup that had come at great pains was completely annihilated.

Neither using superior numbers nor calling older boys for a.s.sistance did any good. It was just one little girl, and she was facing almost a dozen boys all older than her. Yet none of them could picture themselves coming out on top against her.

“What do we do? What can we do!?”

While helping those with minor injuries, the boys couldn't figure out what to do next. Although the Prince should have surrounded himself with a bunch of excitable, go-getter kids, their lack of judgement was being exposed and they were reduced to an indecisive lump.
However they were keeping an eye on the girl now even while they were talking, so you could say they've done some growing up through this ordeal.

Having been woken up with the help of the older hanger-ons, Elliott was chewing his lip seeing what the situation had become.

“Why is one person………..”

Seeing the current situation get so out of hand for his followers…………Elliott suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

“Oi, everyone throw stones!”

Dozens of projectiles being thrown when the enemy is a single little girl.

But the boys were in a secluded area, and their common sense had already long flown away.
So on Elliott's orders, the boys started gathering up stones lying on the ground around them and started throwing.

As expected even this girl couldn't do much against getting stoned, so she retreated away to get some distance. That simple sight excited Elliott, prompting him to push forward with that momentum.

“Yosh, let's go!”

“We can win!”

It's a shameful victory even if they do win with this difference in strength, but right in front of these kids who didn't understand that………..the girl finally ran.

“Hooray!”

“Now let's hunt her down and force her to bow her head to the Prince!”

Thinking that the other side had lost their fighting spirit, all the boys had to do was cut off her escape route and force her to surrender. And so the boys started running in the direction the girl had left in while carrying their stones……….only to find that the girl had climbed up a tree.

Throwing rocks upwards is hard, and no matter how hard they throw them, none of them are reaching the girl.
They were supposed to be hunting her down, but now they've been driven into a situation where half-measures wouldn't work………..
Elliott and the other boys gathered at the base of the tree and looked up. The girl was clearly aiming for a counterattack from her branch, and the cute smile on her face made their faces twist dissatisfied.
The boys started talking countermeasures.

“What do we do? The stones won't reach her.”

“If we wait for her, we have no idea how long before she'll come down.”

A siege wouldn't turn out well was the common consensus between the boys……..when all of the sudden a banging noise started up above their heads.

“Huh?”

Looking back up you can see that the girl was now hanging off of the thick branch she was on and is now kicking some gathered branches below her.
The boys didn't have the time to wonder what she was doing before a thin branch fell right in the middle of their group……….and then a large number of bees started attacking from the splendid 20 cm in diameter beehive that was attached to said branch.

“UWAaaaaaa!”

“HELP!”

In the bees' eyes, the people gathered around the nest appeared to be the criminals who broke their home………so rather than the girl above them, it was Elliott and his followers that the bees attacked.
In a fit of anger, the bees haphazardly chased after boys. The boys themselves tried running away, everyone going in one direction or another, but in the chaos there were those with bad luck who got stung and cried out in pain. It was the very picture of h.e.l.l.

Elliott managed to escape the scene and found refuge at the sh.o.r.e of a pond. The situation was changing so rapidly, he didn't know where he was right now nor what was going on.

“I-I thought I was going to die……….”

He no longer had the energy to stand up any longer……….when a shadow came up from behind him.

“Huh?”

When the exhausted Elliott slowly raised his face………..right there in front of him, was the girl who should've been up in that tree. That girl currently had one of her legs pulled back.

“Eh? ……….GUEH!?”

Elliott rolled away after getting kicked, but when he tried to pick himself up, he got kicked again in the b.u.t.t. He rolled across the ground again, landing on all fours, but his hips were kicked once again and he rolled head over straight into the pond.

“Ubobidi elpaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Somebody help! was what Elliott would've shouted if it wasn't lost in the bubbles and muddy water he was swallowing.
In the green water he couldn't tell if his head was pointing up or down. As he desperately struggled, water kept pouring into his mouth and nose. Every time he tried to breath out, water came in instead, so Elliott was left continuing to fruitlessly struggle with water filling his throat and unable to say anything.

(I'm finished………….)

It was at the moment he thought that.
The moment that Elliott saw his own death coming that his head finally jumped out from the water.

“Fuah!?”

The sight of hazy green smoke suddenly cleared away and his eyes were exposed to the bright sun overhead. It was an absurd miracle that Elliott's head was able to break through the water's surface when he thought all he'd done was sink until now.

“*Cough* *Cough* So-Somebody!”

Because his head had finally left the water, Elliott was able to breathe in the air he so desperately needed. He inhaled as if this were the last time he would ever taste fresh air again and tried calling out for help inbetween spitting out the pond water he swallowed.

While struggling as hard as he could, he saw how far away the sh.o.r.e was from him. He must have pushed himself so far out while he was desperately struggling, or at least the girl standing at the edge of the pond seemed to be a long ways away in the eyes of a child.
Elliott continued flapping his limbs, somehow getting himself closer to dry land. The sleeves of his jacket and regular clothes got tangled together in the water, so moving his hands was extremely difficult.
But just as he was finally starting to make some progress getting back to sh.o.r.e.

*WHACK*

Elliott was only able to see it for an instant. But at the same time that he was able to understand that something b.u.mped into him, his forehead grew hot.

prison life v2 12

“Eh? What?”

Elliott couldn't comprehend what just happened.
But as he continued to force his way back to sh.o.r.e, an answer to his question would show itself in a few seconds.
Immediately after the girl standing at the sh.o.r.e moved her arm, another pebble hit Elliott's head. As Elliott was trying to get over to dry land, the girl seemed determined to block his way by throwing stones at him.

“U……………UWAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?”

If Elliott were to stay in the center of the pond she'd overlook him, but if he continued trying to make it to dry land, it would be the stones for him. Her accuracy was great as well, so she would definitely hit Elliott if she wanted to.

“E-EEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!”

It was hopeless. He couldn't just give up and stay in the pond. The pond wasn't shallow enough that a six year old Elliott could reach the bottom.
During the time that Elliott had desperately tried to float up and thought he was going to drown, all of his followers had gathered around the girl standing on sh.o.r.e. It looked like they were all begging on Elliott's behalf, but the girl was ignoring them. She just kept playing with a couple of small stones in the palm of her hand while silently staring down Elliott.
Elliott slowly faded out of consciousness as he watched a group of adults rushing towards the gathered children.

♠

The area around the pond had become the stage for a terrible incident with agonizing cries filling the air.
While the maids took care of the wounded boys, some of the other servants jumped into the pond to rescue the sinking prince. n.o.body looked to be seriously injured, but everyone needed medical attention and follow up. The royal court physician was thus called just to be safe.

The King and Queen arrived at the scene after receiving a sudden report, and were clued in to details that sounded straight from a battlefield.

“…………and so if the only calm one of the bunch, Duke Ferguson's daughter Rachel, is to be believed, then it's worse than we thought.”

Even though this incident involved only young people who lacked a certain level of judgement with such things, it's still hard to believe that a dozen boys would gang up on a single n.o.ble daughter just because of some perceived disrespect……….and then just one person completely annihilated the Prince and his entourage that was supposed to protect him……….
This wasn't on the level where you could call this a failure in education. Elliott's group and the girl too. Figuring out what to do with these kids was giving the King a headache.

Duke Ferguson was down by the pond, his face a rich shade of blue and holding his daughter who was at the center of all this. No matter how much anybody tried to persuade her, she wouldn't stop throwing stones at Elliott, so her father had to forcibly hold her in his arms so that she couldn't throw any more.
She was a cute little girl that looked like an expressionless doll, and she seemed all the more doll-like being held up in her Father's arms the way she was……….however, while her face may have been expressionless, there was clear anger and murderous intent in those eyes that made even the King shudder.
The King was looking into the Duke's arms at the calm face of a young girl the entire time the Duke was rattling off his apologies and excuses.

“So you're Rachel? May I talk with you?”

Hearing her name, the eldest daughter of the Ferguson house tilted her head to the side.

“Your Majesty, will this be a long talk?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

While the King was speaking as gently as possible, the six year old daughter of a duke was speaking quite seriously.

“Because the distribution for the cherry cheesecake will soon end, is it fine if we continue this after I've received at least one?”

On the King's orders, a servant ran back to the venue to get a slice of cake.

Naturally the King was left stunned by this development, so the Queen who was standing beside him spoke up.

“Your Majesty.”

“What is it?”

“This is a big deal for Rachel.”

“Well………I can't deny that………”

Rather, even a generous man would have to admit she's focusing on the wrong thing, the King thought to himself.

“I've come to a decision. Rachel shall be Elliott's bride.”

The Queen made a sudden declaration as if a brilliant idea had suddenly struck her.
……….But in that situation, how was such an idea formed? Even the King was unable to understand his wife's train of thought when seeing this little girl.
And so the King unintentionally responded.

“………seriously?”

“I'm very serious. She was able to do all of that, and now here she is, calmly and objectively describing everything that happened. It'd be difficult for anyone to do that.”

“I suppose you're right………..but isn't it just that they didn't understand what they were doing because they're kids?”

So the Queen asked Rachel.

“Rachel. What were you thinking when you injured Elliott.”

“I, was giving him the death penalty? I wanted to take his neck before the cherry cheesecake ran out.”

“How about it Your Majesty? Even though it may have landed her in prison, she still calmly describes her actions!”

“More than that, I'm worried about this cherry cheesecake that Rachel seems so obsessed with.”

♠

Elliott awoke as if he had only dozed off and had no memories of the garden party.
To be exact, he remembers that something happened at the garden party, but those memories were random and fragmented as if he had dreamed it all.
This was quite fortunate for the Queen who proceeded to introduce Rachel to Elliott as his future bride rather than as the criminal who almost killed him. Although Elliott was struck by the sudden decision, he thought it didn't matter since it would be over a decade before he'd get married.

“For that reason, since Elliott agrees to it as well, you can send your daughter over.”

“Don't be absurd!”

The Duke made a firm protest after everything had been cleaned up, but it's not like he could resist the decision of the King and Queen. Not to mention, his daughter did just a.s.sault the Prince…….the Duke's house can't show any opposition if they want to secure that acquittal.

“It's fine, isn't it? Isn't it about time you found a marriage partner for her anyway?”

“Yes I suppose so……….but are you sure you're fine with this?”

“What do you mean?”

The Duke let out a sigh while wiping his face with a handkerchief.

“Are you sure you're fine taking in a girl capable of that into your family as a bride.”

Now that he mentions it………no no, the King shook his head and tossed out his newly emerging thoughts.

“W-Well……..Well, I'm sure such an incident will never happen again. Hmm.”

“I hope so………..”

It would be another ten years before those two kids would cause a much larger incident.

1. Just wanted to point out that Elliott is still using 'kisama' even as a kid to address Rachel. So he has always been foul-mouthed and rude.