The Unwanted Prince

Ch. 18 - Adrian

Oliver had gotten back to filling the silence with his banter. He was talking something about his time in the university, I think at least.

Honestly, everything he was saying was just going right through my head.

I could sense Mar's irritation from where I was.

"As it turns out, half of the collection was actually fake and made by a plagiarizer. I think the student was expelled, obviously. But I must say, his collection was impressive even if it was fake. It would've been amazing to see real artifacts from the Zedan Empire."

Oh, right. He was saying something about artifacts.

I'm not sure what's wrong with Oliver, but it's weird that he's so fascinated by the Dark Empire. Heck, I didn't even know the Dark Empire had an actual name until now thanks to Oliver's endless chatter.

Oliver kept talking, every word he said was with a sophistication that even I, a prince, couldn't keep up with. "Speaking of artifacts, do you think we'll find any once we reach the Zedan Empire? There's so many wonders there that no human has ever seen."

"Oh, I'm sure some humans have seen them," I told him, not bother to look behind to catch his face.

I could just tell his interest had peaked from the excited shrill in his voice, "You really think that? Why, have you met anyone who's been to the Zedan Empire?"

"No," I couldn't help the small laugh, "They're dead. Probably prisoners of the empire and killed off because they're human."

"Oh..." Oliver said quietly, defeated.

I heard a loud groan from Mar, "We get it, the Dark Empire is powerful and really really cool. They're still our enemy, Oliver. We've been at war for centuries, we're lucky we grew up in the age where the war is on standby."

"Right," Oliver muttered, "Though, it'd be nice if you refer to it as the Zedan Empire."

I scoffed, finally twisting my body to look back at Oliver. Oliver had caught my eyes, quickly looking pale.

"Uh, with no due respect, Your Highness," He had said anxiously.

"Why would I call them the Zedan Empire? That's a deadname, isn't it? No one knows about that name anyway," I rolled my eyes, turning back to look straight ahead. I couldn't be distracted right now.

We were traveling in a forest, a thick one too. A creature could jump out at us with the intent to kill. You can never be too safe in a forest. Maybe there's even bandits here too.

"Your Highness," Oliver cleared his throat, "My apologies, but you're wrong."

.

.

.

"What did you say?"

My head turned, glaring at Oliver. Look, I know I can say some nasty things sometimes but what I said earlier was a fact! No one calls the empire, "The Zedan Empire". Well, except for Oliver. But he's weird and a total nerd.

Oliver grabbed the strap of his satchel. From behind him, I caught a small grin from Mar. Oh, she was getting entertained from this.

Oliver pushed his glasses up, not meeting my eyes, "Your Highness, humans may call the empire dark and cruel, but that's only due to us knowing the human's side of the story. The Zedan Empire has a name, they built a land of their own. Their name should be said with respect."

"So, you want me to respect the ones whose been fighting against humanity for hundreds and hundreds of years?"

"Um, yes."