After the suffocating tea time with the Emperor ended, I left the greenhouse with heavy steps.
'The second would like him.'
Walking down the corridor back to my quarters, I chewed over the Emperor's nonsensical parting words.
If he meant the second, it would be the 2nd Prince, but I didn't really know what kind of person he was.
What had he meant by asking if I liked moving my body?
Did it mean he had a hobby of being enthusiastic about sports like horseback riding or chariot racing?
'...I don't have any hobbies like that.'
Well, in my previous life, I was someone who watched baseball avidly, and in this life, my hobby was a bit of fishing.
In other words, I was a person with no real connection to either when it came to sports.
And to be honest, now that I'd been dragged here as a hostage, I hated constantly getting entangled with the Imperial Family.
Getting entangled with the 2nd Prince on top of the 1st Princess and the 2nd Princess was exhausting.
I let out a light inward sigh as I turned the corner of the corridor.
"Oof!"
I smashed my forehead into something like a giant stone wall and staggered.
Wondering if there had been such a random pillar inside the Imperial Palace, I raised my head and nearly screamed.
"Hm? What rascal is this?"
A deep, thick voice that seemed to make a cave echo poured down from above my head.
When I looked up, a giant man who looked, with a bit of exaggeration, like a bear wearing human skin was looking down at me.
The man wore a beast-hide shirt with its sleeves torn off, as if he'd thrown imperial etiquette to the dogs, and his muscles, bulging as if about to burst, and the veins on his forearms were so overwhelming they were grotesque.
It was a type of pressure completely different from the sharp pressure emitted by the 1st Princess Victoria.
The thick smell of sweat wafting over and the pressure of pure physique—if Victoria was sharp, this side was heavy.
"Ah, so you're the hostage brat who came from the south."
The giant scratched his chin with thick fingers and looked me up and down.
His irises were purple, the symbol of the Imperial Family.
Only then did I realize the identity of this lump of muscles in an instant.
"I am Ian Sterling, Your Highness the 2nd Prince."
"Hmm, you know me?"
"His Majesty the Emperor mentioned you."
"Father did? I see."
When I hurriedly bowed my head, the 2nd Prince nodded as if it were no big deal and strode up.
And then, out of nowhere, he grabbed my shoulder with his massive hand.
"Gah!"
"Hm. Your collarbones are nicely spread, and your limbs are long."
The 2nd Prince, as if he couldn't even hear my scream, began pressing firmly on my trapezius and deltoids like a butcher picking out good meat at the market.
"Your frame itself isn't narrow, but your muscle mass is sorely lacking. To think you have such an excellent frame and yet merely drape yourself in fluttering clothes like this."
His thick eyebrows furrowed deeply.
"This is a grave sin."
"...Pardon?"
"God granted you a frame perfect for exercise, yet you let your body rot without lifting iron—this is blasphemy against muscles."
Without even waiting for my answer, the 2nd Prince roughly grabbed the back of my neck.
"Follow me."
"Y-Your Highness? Where are we going all of a sudden—!"
"Where else? To the forge where I'll remodel your weak body."
Behind me as I was being dragged away, I spotted Amber, who had come to fetch me.
I sent her a desperate look pleading for rescue, but when Amber saw the 2nd Prince, she jumped in fright and dodged away.
'Wait, what's the point of having a guard if she's going to do that?'
And so, I was dragged all the way to a massive iron door located deep underground in the Imperial Palace.
When the 2nd Prince pushed open the heavy door, a wave of heat and the smell of metal stung my nose.
"..."
I couldn't close my mouth at the sight before my eyes.
I wouldn't have been very surprised if it had been a torture chamber or something, but what lay before me was something I couldn't have even imagined appearing in a romance fantasy.
'...It's a gym.'
On the massive floor that looked to easily exceed several hundred pyeong, thick leather mats to absorb impact were laid out without gaps, and in every direction, densely packed dumbbells and barbells of all shapes cast from jet-black steel, as well as weight training machines made using magitech, filled the space.
"Welcome to my domain."
The 2nd Prince spread his arms wide and proudly introduced that bizarre space.
"...Your Highness. Why on earth did you bring me here?"
"Anyway, my excellent older brother will inherit the throne. My sister Victoria lives out fighting on battlefields, and my other sister Chloe flutters through books in the library. I don't have a rat's ass of interest in such things."
The 2nd Prince lightly lifted a heavy black steel barbell in the corner as if it were a feather and grinned.
"I don't trust lips that lie as easily as eating rice, or heads that harbor betrayal. Only honest muscles that tear, recover, and grow are the one and only truth in this world worth believing. I am interested solely in training my body to its limits."
The moment he finished speaking, he began loading massive plates onto the barbell.
"And now that you've caught my eye, from today you too shall learn that truth. Strip."
"...Huh?"
"Workout clothes are prepared over there. Change into them immediately. Today is legs."
In that moment, I finally understood why the Emperor had mentioned his second child.
'...So he'd thrown me to a gym rat?'
"What are you doing, not hopping to it!"
When I hesitated, a sharp order fell.
Resigned, I went into the changing corner and came out wearing short pants of rough cotton material and a sleeveless shirt.
"Good. Your frame isn't bad. First, shoulder the empty bar. You know how to squat, right?"
The 2nd Prince placed a cold iron bar on my shoulders. A heavy weight of well over 20 kilograms pressed down on me.
"Keep your back straight, push your knees outward so they don't cave inward, and go down."
"Nnngh-!"
"More! Deeper, until your ass touches the floor!"
"Hnngh-!"
"Come up! Don't use momentum, push using only your quadriceps!"
"Hah!"
"Good! Down again!"
It was hell.
If my form wavered even slightly, the 2nd Prince mercilessly smacked my thighs and lower back with his thick palms to correct me.
His voice counting the reps was far more ruthless and imposing than the Emperor's in the audience chamber.
"One more! You still have strength left in your legs!"
"Y-Your Highness. I really can't..."
"No whining! The moment muscles scream is when real growth begins! Push!!!"
Sweat poured down like rain. My thighs were burning as if on fire, and my legs trembled like aspen leaves.
In my previous life, I'd occasionally gone to the gym, but I'd only run a bit on the treadmill—I'd never exercised to this extent.
I wanted to throw down the barbell and run, but the shadow of the massive bear-like man standing behind me weighed down on me, making that impossible.
If I gave up or sat down here, politics aside, I felt like my spine would literally be snapped.
"HAAAAAAAH!"
I let out a desperate shout and forcibly pushed the barbell up with a face that looked like my veins would burst.
The moment I barely finished the last rep and set the barbell on the rack, I collapsed pathetically onto the mat on the floor.
"Hah, hah, hah...."
My lungs felt like they would tear. My vision was spinning, and the feeling in my thighs had completely disappeared.
I felt like passing out like this would be more comfortable.
Then, a cool water bottle thudded down above my head.
"Excellent."
Turning my head while lying on the floor, I saw the 2nd Prince looking down at me with a thoroughly satisfied face.
"I've invited every hostage brought to the capital to come exercise with me. Most hostage brats would vomit on the floor or sit down crying in the first set as soon as I put an empty bar on them. But you didn't let go of the barbell until the end, clenching your teeth and pushing it up."
The 2nd Prince wiped his thick jaw, beaded with sweat, and showed the brightest, purest smile in the world.
"I liked that attitude very much. You have sincerity toward muscles."
I wanted to deny that I had any such thing, but no sound came out of my mouth.
"Let's meet here every other day from now on. I shall forge that weak body of yours into steel that won't envy even the Empire's average knights."
"..."
"For your information, if you run away... regardless of what Father or my sisters say, I will visit upon you the maximum vengeance I am capable of. However, if you follow me on this journey... then no matter what difficulties you encounter during your life in the Empire, I shall take your side. How about it?"
"...I will do it."
"Good, good. Catch your breath for a moment; if you go to the back over there, there is a bathtub with warm water. Loosen your muscles there and then return to your quarters."
Having left those words, the gym rat prince went straight back to his own workout.
"...I'm screwed."
Entangled with yet another eccentric, I felt my hostage life getting twisted all over again.