CH 36

“Wha… What did you say…?”

“Am I correct? Yay! I was right! Actually, I was just asking a leading question.”

“Huh?”

S-shoot. She indicated as if she knew the future, so I got distracted and got caught up in her trap.

I clenched my fists, but it didn’t seem like things were going to go back to the way they were.

Vivienne’s eyes were sparkling with joy. Seeing her like that, I wondered why she had to do that. But then I thought that I’m the one not good enough, for falling for such a simple leading question, even though I was born as a prince.

As a prince, it would be fatal for me to be perceived as looking at my personal knight in that way.

I may have to rethink my relationship with Mika a little bit, as Machina also almost found out about it. As I regretted this with a hand on my brows, Vivienne continued.

“I don’t know who he is, but he’s certainly cool. He looks refreshing… and like a dominant doggy guy?”

“D-doggy…? Wait, you said you know the future. You don’t know about Mika?”

It no longer mattered that I was shy or nervous. I had lost all awareness trying to sound proper like a prince, I ended up speaking normally as if I was talking to Mika. Vivienne also spoke in a very casual way, so I thought it should be fine.

However, I can’t feel any malice directed at me coming from Vivienne, even though she’s trying to play such a deceitful trick on me. I also can’t grasp her intentions.

I ended up deciding to treat her as if she were that kind of bothersome woman.

“I don’t know about him. No, I know that he’s the son of Count Chardin. But he didn’t appear as such a handsome man.”

“…Appear?”

“That’s right. Your Highness, I remembered my past life. This world is based on a romance game… I mean book, and I had read about it.”

“What do you mean?”

I could hear the sound of water drops from time to time, as if rainwater was leaking from somewhere. The air also seemed a little damp.

Vivienne said, “Please hear me out for now,” and she began to talk while walking.

“In the book that I read, the main character of this world is neither Your Highness Prince Nagi nor myself. Nor is it any other prince. It’s Baroness Emilia Tessier. The daughter of a poor baron who dreams of a mutual love marriage. The first prince Seth, the second prince Vincent, the knight Jelaire, the wizard Renalge, and the duke Tillois appeared in the story as her romantic partners. No matter whom she chooses as her partner, the end will come. But in this world, she chose the second prince without hesitation. The world is at peace in any other route, but the route of the second prince is not good. It means a future of ruin, of the overthrow of the state. It starts with the execution of me, the love interest of the second prince. After that, His Highness Seth will be executed for assassinating His Majesty, and Your Highness Nagi will be burned at the stake as a devil.”

“Wait a second. This story about dreaming of a mutual love marriage is too brutal…”

The thing about the kidnapping or the mines had long since been blown out of my mind.

There was too much information being given to me one after another, it was all too crazy, and I couldn’t keep up with understanding them at all. Anyway, I listened to what Vivienne had to say while just continuing to walk, but her story didn’t seem like she was “returning from death” or “knowing the future” or the like.

But, it’s correct.

What she said was correct.

What she said was what I had experienced in my first life. Brother Seth, who loves his country and adores his father, of all things, was executed for the crime of assassinating His Majesty. I don’t understand. I knew that someone had set him up, but I had no idea how or when.

But at this point, no one should have imagined that my brother would kill His Majesty with his own hands.

If anyone knew, it was only the person who was planning to commit the crime.

Since Ackerson is from the second prince faction, it could be that Vivienne found out about it through that connection.

I’m not sure about the truth of the book that she said.

But even if that book had existed or not, her behavior was too incomprehensible. Even if she knew about the execution of my brother and me, she was supposed to be in the second prince faction. If so— why?

“Why… are you telling me this?”

I must be cautious about this. This could be my chance to get involved with the faction that was trying to pin the blame on my brother. I cleared my throat, thinking that if I made a good impression on Vivienne here, it might become a stepping stone to something.

Vivienne blinked her eyes, tilted her head, and said to me without a hint of malice in her eyes.

“Huh? Ah, I see. It was partly because Your Highness Nagi is about to get executed like me, but you and I are fellow ‘villains’.”

“V-villains…?”

“ ‘Nagi’ is the villain in the first prince’s route; you’re obsessed with your brother, evil, lecherous, and a difficult prince. And me— I’m the villainess from the second prince’s route; with a jealous, selfish, and possessive personality. The power of the aristocratic drill roll hair was so great that I wanted to keep it that way identity-wise, but when I looked in the mirror, I couldn’t stop laughing, so I got rid of it.”

“…W-wait.”

I held out my palm to Vivienne and urged her to stop.

I felt like I was being told something unbelievably disgraceful, but that’s not the crucial part anyway.

I was racking my brain about what Vivienne meant by route, and she told me, “It’s a book with multiple choices, and the ending changes.”

And then, she said I’m supposed to play the role of an enemy to Baroness Emilia Tessier, who stands in her way if she falls in love with Brother Seth.

But thinking of the circumstances that way, I’m pretty sure I would do that.

I thought that if my brother, who had a promising future and was smart enough to be the king, had gone crazy and fallen in love with a baroness, I would obviously move to get rid of that person. I don’t think that brother would do such a crazy thing though, to the point of forgetting his position… I thought about all that and suddenly felt a chill.

(That’s right… And so is Brother Vincent- yeah.)

Brother Vincent certainly had a lot of problems around him.

But still, as the second prince, he’s competing with Brother Seth. There is no way he would do something so irresponsible as to have a love affair with a baroness, even if it meant cutting ties with the Ackerson.

No matter how much he was in love with her, he could have just taken her as a concubine. If that person was of low status as a baroness, she could have been made a mistress unofficially. There was no need to go to the trouble of taking her as a regular wife. When I thought about it, there were so many strange things. When I was about to ask Vivienne about it, she said to me,

“By the way, I only found the mention of Your Highness Nagi’s ‘loved one’ in the character settings. In that game- no, I mean book. In that book that has multiple choices, it was only strongly mentioned that you’re obsessed with your brother. That’s why I completely thought you had a forbidden love affair with His Highness Seth. But when I saw you on the way here, I realized that this knight must be the one you’re in love with! My delusion ran wild imagining the two of you being alone together in a horse carriage. Thank you for the food. Thank you very much. In the book, ‘Nagi’ is obsessed with his brother Seth and indulges in debauchery in his private life. He’s a ruthless prince who seduces married men and women regardless of their factions and discards them when they fall in love with him. He’s probably become so warped that he can’t tolerate any other person other than his brother.”

“…Wait!”

Forbidden love with Brother Seth?! Alone in a horse carriage with Mika?! What did she mean I became ‘warped’?! I was so confused that I couldn’t catch up with what was going on. However, Vivienne never stopped talking. Her eyes widened and she spread her hands out as if she was grasping an invisible apple and began to talk about the most outrageous things.

“I have fantasized about it, I did! If Nagi’s loved one was his personal knight, then perhaps he would drown in a love affair just on the other side of the door where his beloved knight was standing on guard.”

“Y-You Idiot! H-h-how dare you, a pre-married lady, say such a shameful thing…!”

“Well, I have the memory of living until the age of twenty-four in my past life. Your Highness Nagi, you pervert.”

“M-me?! Wait. No, wait a second. I’m not-…!”

It’s not about how old she was in her previous life.

Inadvertently, I almost imagine myself doing such a lewd thing as Vivienne said. Combined with the fact that she guessed my relationship with Mika, my face was so hot that it felt like it’s going to explode, so I hid it with my hands.

I’m sure that even my ears would be red now, even though I knew what she said didn’t make sense. Still, I had to hide my face. What in the world is going on? The question came to mind, but the question didn’t even form in my head.

I glanced at Vivienne and saw her with her eyes wide open, almost overflowing, and clenching her chest and trembling.

“Huh… Oh my, what do I do? You’re so red, Your Highness…. c-cute.”

“S-shut it! D-don’t tell anyone about this…”

“Oh no. I might burst into flames from your cuteness.”

“Burst into flames…?”

I thought I heard some kind of disturbing words that reminded me of five years in the future. But Vivienne, I don’t know why, was putting her hands together, and facing me with her eyes closed. At this rate, before I believed or not believed what Vivienne was saying, I shouldn’t let this young lady do as she pleases.

I can’t take this anymore… But then, I suddenly thought to myself, “Why did I have to go to this tunnel and listen to this crazy woman in the first place?” And my head became calm at once.

Vivienne said that she had visited this mine a hundred times in her mind.

If so, this mine should have been mentioned in that “book” or whatever it was called.

I had come here by accident, because I mistakenly approached Tillois. Even that coincidence, unless incorporated, was probably different from what she knew about the book.

Also, Tillois said that Vivienne insisted that something bad is going to happen without her. Why, apart from the fact that she wanted to talk to me, was it bad if Vivienne didn’t come to this mine? While thinking about that, I asked a question.

“By the way, why did you want to come along to the Taurus mine?”

“Ah, that’s because a cave-in is going to happen right up ahead.”

It was right after Vivienne had uttered the extremely disturbing words, that there was a voice nearby saying, “There they are!”

And then—

It was at that moment I heard a sound as if a rock had exploded.

The loud explosion that seemed to shake my head sent chills down my spine. I quickly grabbed Vivienne’s arm and tried to pull her closer, but I was yanked in the opposite direction. My eyes widened in astonishment.

A frightening rumbling sound. Then an earth-shaking roar.

My vision was thrown into total darkness.

What’s going on, what’s going on?! I fell into a state of panic, with the same question in my head for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

At that moment, the glasswork pendant inside my clothes seemed to glow blue for a moment. Mika, who had bought it for me, said that he had applied some kind of magic to it before giving it to me. I know it was some kind of spell, but I put my hand on my chest as quickly as I could.

Mika’s words resounded in my head.

“I put a spell on it to protect you, Nagi.”

I squeezed the pendant, remembering the look on Mika’s gentle face at that moment.

I thought that I had to protect Vivienne, so I hugged her body as she was holding my arm.

(Mika…! Grandmother…!)