Reincarnated as the Prince's Rival!

- 6

Emil thanked every God that was listening that Kingdom of Thorns was a contemporary fantasy novel. It was the only good thing about that accursed book.

Kingdom of Thorns took place during modern times, so, luckily for Emil, he didn't have to ride in a stuffy carriage or, God forbid, walk to town. The Rossi family had a designated driver that (albeit very reluctantly) had taken him to the Third Tower.

The Third Tower wasn't too hard to find. Quite honestly, Emil had no clue how he had missed it. It was a giant building that stood tall on the outskirts of town. Some vines were embedded within the crevices of the aged brick whilst others draped down the sides of the roof– the outside looked much older than the other buildings that surrounded it.

Emil surveyed the tower up and down and sucked in a breath. He began to walk to the door, his chest tight. It felt hard to breathe– to think. There wasn't anything like this where he was from. Of course there wasn't... this was so ridiculous. Why did this have to happen to him?

"Fuck me... Stupid fucking book, I can't believe thi–"

"Halt."

Two... guards? Knights? Stood in front of Emil, their lances blocking the door. Green eyes leered cynically at Emil. One of them spoke, boredom dripping from every syllable. "Identification, please."

Identification? "Uh... I'm sure you already know who I am– I doubt you need to see my ID." When he left the estate he took everything he needed. Eden's wallet (which only had a few coins and a picture of Allistor and some other girl in it), Eden's phone (which is what reminded Emil that the book took place in modern times in the first place), and a map that one of the maids had given him. He didn't see any ID, so...?

"You can't enter without identification, Rossi. You should know that. Come back with your ID and we may consider letting you in."

Ah. There it was. The same venomous and hostile tone that Elliot had spoken to him with. Were they just giving him a hard time because he was Eden? Ridiculous. It was absolutely ridiculous. Were all the people in this book petty?

"Listen. I'm busy. I won't be in there for long, so please just let me–"

"Not everyone will bend the rules, just to make it easier for you, Rossi," the other guard began to prod at Emil with his lance as he spoke. "You are not special nor will you ever be. You don't get to break the rules whenever it inconveniences you. You can't come in."

"I suggest you watch your mouth– How dare you– Stop poking me with your weapons before– I will burn you alive!" That was an empty threat and Emil knew it. Yet his blood boiled– his body itself nearly went ablaze from this whole interaction. Fingers shook uncontrollably, he took in a breath in attempts to calm himself down, but to no avail.

"Was that a threat? I suggest you watch your words–"

"Giving the guards trouble again, Eden?"

A man had emerged from behind Emil. Shimmering aureate eyes took a moment to take him in before he chuckled and tossed a small leather booklet at Emil, who barely even caught it.

He turned his attention to the guards and spoke, one of his fingers absentmindedly twirling a tawny strand of hair. "I would think you'd know not to speak to an Archmage so... rudely," The guards had immediately straightened up, bored gazes now turned attentive as the man continued to speak. "He wouldn't need an ID and you know that. He got past the first barrier, that's proof enough, no? Physical IDs are so antiquated anyways..."

One of the guards had looked away quickly, eyes barely concealing the embarrassment he had no doubt felt, whilst the other nodded solemnly.

There was a barrier? He'd just pretend he knew that. "Precisely that. Why these... fools," Emil had turned to face the guards, who, at that point, were glaring at him. "Insisted I show them my ID– I don't know."

"You wouldn't have this problem if you didn't leave your ID in my sister's room or kept a spare, Lord Rossi. Did you do this with the other women you visited in the past, hm? Leave your belongings in their rooms?"

"I..? Hm? Your sister?"

"Yes," his voice was pleasant, light and airy, a nice change from the thinly veiled hostility he's been experiencing all day. "She said that you left it after you visited her."

Emil scoured through the information on Eden in his brain. Eden visited women? Plural? Other than Elaine? The novel never said anything about Eden visiting women. Hell, there weren't even any women Eden could visit. Aside from Elaine, who would have Ivan toss him out the moment she saw him at the gates. Most people in the novel hated Eden, aside from maybe one or two of his minions– so, what women did he visit?

"Well?" Emil broke out of his thoughts and craned his head to look at the man who had stood besides him. The man's finger still playing with strand of his blond hair.

"I'm really sorry," a quick nod followed by the swift turn of his body towards the guards. "Can I go in now?"

One guard huffed whilst the other groaned before one both had begrudgingly spoke up again. "You can't."

"What? Why the hell not?"

"Meeting between the Four Ancients. No one is allowed in."

Who? Emil had looked around, thoughts buzzing around in his head. Words formed in his throat but struggled to come out. Pure unadulterated anger clashed with genuine confusion in his head, giving rise to some emotion he couldn't quite name. So, they had just wasted his time for no reason then. He looked over to the blond haired man who looked... relatively calm– his features relaxed and head clearly somewhere else.

A sound almost resembling a laugh forced its way out his throat. This was so... "–stupid. This is so stupid. I cannot believe you people just wasted my ti–"

"How much longer do you think the meeting will take?"

Emil's eyes shot to the man beside him, whose hand squeezed his shoulder. He looked over to Emil and flashed him a sly smile before turning back to the guards.

The guards looked at each other before turning back to Emil and the person beside him. "I'd say... about an hour? Yeah. They should be finished in about an hour, Sir Yves."

The man, Yves, nodded curtly and began to squeeze Emil's shoulder... again. He winced. It hurt. If Yves noticed him wince, he must've not cared, as he continued to squeeze it harder.

"Let's go explore, Eden."

—————————
hi it's me da author 😋😋😋

okay so i feel like you can clearly see a decrease in quality in my writing from this chapter and the previous ones and like i am so so sorry

i haven't written anything since the last chapter because i was hospitalized bc of my mental health (yes. really) which by the way was a very ?? Life changing experience. it was very eye opening (negative) like "wow you gotta try this dude this sucks!!!" except don't. please don't end up there you will probably not like it

anyways that's why i've been away and haven't really been writing 👍🏾 i hope you like the chapter regardless 😋😋😋 i made reference art for Eden and Yves but i wanna redo it before i show y'all so please wait for me.........

also i am on the bus right now! heading to class!!! im planning on skipping my class even though this is literally my second day back 🤷🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️ what can i say i hate college classes very much!! it's stressful!

anyway i love you guys MWAHH