CH 73

Chapter 73 – The couple and the shrewd prince

I am currently visiting the guest room, wearing Lord Nazel's jacket over my swimsuit.

We are sitting side by side across from Belle on the sofa, and behind us stands Kelly quietly, expressionless as ever.

The front buttons of my jacket are all tightly closed and it is hot, but when I try to open it, Lord Nazel says "No" with a red face.

Belle, the merchant, smirked and said, "Do you like it?" But Lord Nazel probably doesn't think anything of my swimsuit.

Because he was the fiancée of that voluptuous Princess Mia.

I'm a potato in comparison, and it's obvious that I'm lacking in many ways compared to Her Highness.

Lord Nazel looked at Belle and coughed, then spoke to him in a formal tone.

"I think that's enough of your games, Your Highness Bertrand."

"Hmm?"

At that moment, the room was enveloped in silence.

His Highness Bertrand, the first prince of this country, but I had heard that he was not in good health and was bedridden in his room at the castle.

I did think that he had the same blonde hair and overly glamorous atmosphere as the royal family. What on earth was going on?

After a few moments, the air around Belle, who was smiling with a goofy grin, became cold and serious.

Then Belle straightened his posture and spoke to Lord Nazel in an imposing tone of voice.

"You've already noticed. You are an uninteresting man, Nazelbert."

Lord Nazel looked back at His Highness Bertrand with an unconvinced expression on his face.

I was just looking at the transformation of His Highness in awe.

Perhaps sensing this, His Highness Bertrand began to observe me.

"Sorry, I'm the bedridden first prince. Are you surprised?"

I was surprised, of course, but I didn't understand what he meant.

Why is the prince a merchant? Why go to the frontier when he's so sickly? And why doesn't anyone around him stop him?

The questions swirled around and around in my head.

Lord Nazel was also puzzled and asked a question His Highness Bertrand.

"Um, are you feeling all right?"

"That's a very kind question to start with. My "infirmity" is a feigned illness, so don't worry about it. I was poisoned many times by the queen in the past, and I didn't want to be bothered with the attempts on my life, so I decided to say that I was bedridden. Thanks to that, no one comes to check on me now, and I'm at ease."

It was rumored that the first prince's mother was not the queen, but a concubine...... and that she was the most loved by His Majesty. But she died when Prince Bertrand was still very young.

"Does anyone ever find out that you've slipped out of the castle?"

"No problem, because my wife is using illusionary magic to fool them. The number of people she can trick is limited to two, so it's difficult to make complicated movements. I can fool the people who come to check on me from time to time. No one is interested in me."

Then His Highness Bertrand told us what had happened.

Her Highness the Queen and the Princess have a lot of power, and His Majesty the King is sitting on his hands.

And His Highness the First Prince and His Highness the Second Prince are by far the least powerful.

To fill the gap, His Highness Bertrand has been working steadily for a long time to gather evidence of the Queen's faction's misdeeds and increase their power.

In the midst of all this, Lord Nazelbert broke off their engagement, and His Highness Prince Bertrand saw this as an "opportunity". He was planning to use the engagement between Robin and the princess as an opportunity to drag down the queen's faction.

The people who were involved in this were not happy, but His Royal Highness Bertrand had no ill intentions at all.......

"So, it was on purpose that you were in the vicinity of Baron Quiggionne's house?"

"Yes, I knew Nazelbert was going to make a move, so I got ahead of things. I was about to have a chance to take advantage of Robin's weakness."

"I see. I have heard from Lilianne and have enlisted her cooperation. I don't want them to send another assassin, so I want to make a move."

His Highness Bertrand nodded his head in a hawkish manner at Lord Nazel's words. Then he got a troubled look on his face.

"I've been working separately from Nazelbert, but I've got a general grasp of the story of this case, and I've also obtained evidence that the Count and the Baron are connected to Robin. But it would be a bad idea to give out the information now. If we make a bad move, the royal family will cover it up, just as they did when you were exiled."

"Your Highness will have to do your best out there."

Lord Nazel smiled and turned his attention to His Highness Bertrand.

"Don't be absurd, Leonardo and I are not strong enough. If we don't do something, His Majesty will turn a blind eye and we will be crushed. We need them to do something more ...... spectacular, something so stupid that will force His Majesty to act. At least if I was involved in internal affairs at the castle, I could get behind the scenes."

It seems that the only thing we can do is to give instructions to His Royal Highness Prince Leonardo to steadily hunt down the Queen's faction.

For me and Lord Nazel, it is more important that Robin does not interfere with the frontier than what Her Highness the queen does.

Even so, Lord Nazel is listening to his highness with a serious expression on his face, as if he is willing to help if our interests are aligned.

"Well, that's how it is. You're in the second princely faction, too, in case you need any help."

"I understand. By the way, Your Highness..."

"What is it?"

"Was the swimsuit Agnes is wearing now recommended by you?"

His Highness Bertrand looked puzzled for a moment, then bent over and smiled broadly.

"I picked it out especially for you because I thought you'd like it, but even so, you've become an interesting guy since you came to the frontier. Nazelbert has become more human, and that pleases me!"

"Please don't make my wife wear anything strange."

"It's non-returnable. By the way, Kelly was the one who hand-picked it."

"No wonder!"

Kelly, who was standing by the wall, averted her gaze with a blank expression.

His Highness Bertrand seems to be a man with a hard-to-please personality.