Volume 3 - Epilogue

「Clara……are you finished with the “preparation”?」

「Yes Elena-sama. Patricia-sama withdrew in the end, but Carla-sama and I have already finished preparing. The plan is to meet up at the port city in the territory of Duke Fudale.」

The royalties who would shoulder the next generation along with the fiancées were ordered to conquer a dungeon. They were making their preparation on their own.

It wasn’t just the royalties who were forced to enter a dungeon, but also their fiancées because this also served as a test to their resolve as the next generation royalties. Furthermore it also showed that currently the number of the royal family was not enough.

Although this dungeon was located in the territory of Duke Fudale, the daughter of Duke Fudale withdrew because it was impossible for her to do so ability-wise and personality-wise. The girl was also the daughter of a second wife, so this meant that Fudale House had pulled out from the struggle for queen position.

With this Patricia got tentatively fixed to become the third queen. The seat to become the leading fiancée who would become the first queen would either be obtained by Clara the daughter of Margrave Dandall or Carla the daughter of Count Lester.

「The crown prince Ervan-oniisama and I the first princess will also aim to conquer the dungeon at all costs, but the main objective of you two the fiancées and I will not be 『receiving the divine protection from the dungeon’s spirit』, but to make sure his highness the crown prince return alive in good health. Do you understand?」

「Yes……」

In this Claydale Kingdom, each generation the royal family would send royalties into the dungeon to obtain Gift that they would use to keep the country stable and protect the country from external threat.

But, the divine protection of spirit wasn’t something that could definitely be obtained.

The spirit of the dungeon was called as spirit by people in general, but they were essentially not normal spirit that governed over elements like light, darkness, earth, water, fire, or wind. They were an existence that was closer to 『holy spirit』.

“Holy spirit” was considered as high rank existence like spirit king or fairy king, but their true form was unclear, they had whimsical nature, and many times they wouldn’t grant divine protection just because someone struggled till the depth of a dungeon.

In fact the current king and previous king didn’t obtain divine protection and in these few decades it was his majesty’s little brother, the second prince who obtained the divine protection. But he had already died young because the second prince was someone with weak body from the start.

A royalty’s rank within the royal family wouldn’t change just from obtaining divine protection. All royalties had been educated until they understood that special ability and the ability to rule the country were two different things.

Because of that, the current king who picked a viscount daughter as his first queen provoked the displeasure of the noble faction and the ill effects from that could still be felt at Clara’s generation.

The country would fall into ruin if the crown prince died in such situation. It would be possible for Elena to manage the country as a queen for a short term, but it would allow the noble faction to obtain great influence and weakened the power of the royal family.

Clara too, even if her position among the three fiancées got fixed in whatever ranking, in the end she would only be a queen of Ervan who was currently still just a crown prince. In case Ervan got reduced into a state where it was impossible for him to ascend to the throne, the second prince who was still an infant would have another noble lady his age chosen to become his queen, while Clara would become unable to ascend to become a queen of the country.

Regardless of their respective motive, Elena who wished for the royal family to regain their strength and kept the country at peace, and Clara who was burdened with the desire of Dandall House for her to become the first queen, the two of them were in the same page for this matter.

But……even while they were talking to each other without anybody else present like this, the “gap” that was formed between the two of them was still remaining as a deep rift that separated the two of them.

The one who created the gap was Clara who regained her memory from her previous life and became an 『other world reincarnator』. Since then she was on guard against Elena who would grow to be called a villainess.

What became the impetus of that gap widening must be the pink haired maid who became close with Elena. That maid had the same hair color with the 『Otome game’s heroine』 who Clara instinctually felt rejection toward. And then, that maid girl’s whereabouts became unknown and Clara expressed her 『condolence』 to Elena. It caused a decisive gap to form between the two because Elena believed that the girl was still alive.

This time the two of them were meeting like this was also solely because the supreme knight order commander was feeling worried for his daughter who would enter a dungeon and asked his little sister, the second queen to arrange for the two to meet so it could become an impetus for the two to make up with each other.

「This dungeon conquering by the royal family is something that is kept secret from other noble houses, so we can only bring the minimum number of bodyguards. Considering the width of the dungeon passage and the marching speed, we shall bring two servants, ten high rank royal guards, three royal sorcerers, and five baggage carriers. In addition a rank 5 adventurer party that consisted of five people. So in total our group will number 30 to conquer the dungeon.」

Elena dispassionately stated before she took a breather and smiled icily.

「Patricia is wise. She understands very well what she can do. Our first priority is the safe return of his highness the crown prince. Second is for the four of us to obtain Gift. And last is for our safe return. Clara……do you have the resolve to protect his highness the crown prince for the sake of the country, even if it will cost you your life?」

「……Y-yes.」

Clara replied with a pale face and hoarse voice. Elena looked at her coldly while quietly getting up from her chair.

「Make your resolution soon, whether you will become a queen by your own initiative or simply going along with the flow. Someone-, we have finished talking.」

Elena called out to the servant who was waiting at the next room, then she left the palace’s drawing room without even giving any glance at Clara who was still unmoving while looking down.

.

(What to do……)

Although Clara had knowledge from her previous life, in the end she was nothing more than a normal high school girl who was playing that 『otome game』.

Although she felt threatened by the danger of the heroine and her beheading at the game’s ending, she also felt a yearning for the gorgeous world where the capture targets were living. She was also unable to clearly think about her death with clarity of mind.

She lived a peaceful life in her first life. She had never even thought about “death” as something that would happen to her. But, due to this dungeon exploration that never got mentioned in the game and occurred before the main scenario began, she was finally able to keenly understand that she was standing side by side with death. She turned pale and bit her lip.

The Clara in the game didn’t have any divine protection. The heroine only obtained divine protection in the war event against the evil race, even so that was something that happened only after the game started.

(I……in order to survive among these scary people, do I have to obtain the divine protection no matter what?)

.

While Clara was quietly hardening her resolve for her own sake, Elena who returned back to her room while being accompanied by a servant was greeted by a Cruzian maid which was rare in the palace.

「Sera, what’s the matter?」

This high ranked maid was a knight of the black ops. She was also the one in charge of the security in the queen’s palace. The crown prince didn’t really like the black ops, but Elena’s servant and maid was also black ops member and she trusted her because she knew her very well. This time she also wished for her to accompany her to the dungeon this time as one of the servants.

Sera showed her a refined smile with her glamorous light brown skin, then she bowed and handed a letter to Elena’s bodyguard maid.

「I have something to inform your highness and put it in this letter. I recommend your highness to “dispose” the letter after you finish reading it.」

「……I understand.」

If Sera said that then it must be something important.

After Sera left, she told her maid to break the letter’s seal to confirm the safety of the letter. Then she ordered the maids to standby outside the room and she opened the letter to read it alone.

「……tsu」

That letter contained information about a certain person.

Elena hadn’t known that person for long. In fact it was only for several weeks, but for Elena who was being forced into a lonely fight in a situation where she couldn’t even rely on her parents, the way 『that girl』 lived gave her a peace of mind that she wasn’t “alone” even though their status differed.

Even when Elena earnestly told her father, the one who caused this situation that she was worried about the current state of things, she was only told that the problem wasn’t something that a child like her should be concerned about and she was kept at a distance from politic. Even her big brother with whom she was pretending to idolize didn’t have any sense of danger at all despite being the one placed in the most dangerous position.

“She” was the only one who “understood” Elena who was fighting against the present situation. She even risked her life to save Elena who got attacked during her lone battle.

Even if no one else could understand it, the two of them shared the feeling of being able to understand each other as “the same kind”.

Elena thought that the words “she” said that night when she swore her oath could only be said because she had seriously faced Elena’s resolution.

That was why Elena also made an oath in order to reward “her”.

That was why even when she heard that “she” went missing, she believed that there was no way that she had died.

Alone inside her room…….

Elena pressed the letter on her chest and embraced it strongly.

.

「Thank goodness. ……Aria……you live.」