I'm also enjoying the presentation of a royal murder mystery for a sorely-needed if sudden exposition. Maybe the author, deciding that he's done enough swerving with this dredge barge of a story, found a lane for some competent storytelling. We'll see...
i dont get why author trying to push that MC is the long lost prince. Early on when it talked briefly about his backstory it mentioned he had a sister. Yes, sister... not step sister.
Even if he's not the lost prince himself it's an interesting explanation for how the sword ended up choosing him. The sword really made so many bad decisions that it pretty much ended up self-destructing lol