CH 40

“Fun tunnel exploration with coal miner Leon?”

“Yeah. That’s right. Isn’t that true, Leon?”

“…Huh?! Ye-yeah!”

I told that to Mika, who was glaring at Leon and Vivienne with a deep crease between his eyebrows.

After that— just like what Vivienne said, we are currently walking towards the surface in the tunnels with Mika, Tillois, and the knights, who had followed the underground water vein to find us.

Vivienne was facing me, clasping her hands together and closing her eyes, but after a while, she started to giggle and relaxed her face, which was gross.

But I’m aware that I looked so relieved earlier with Mika, so I feel too embarrassed and try to avoid turning my face to Vivienne.

Mika stared at me for a while, but then while squinting his eyes, he said, “Hmm,” and asked me what was going on.

As I walked while telling him what Vivienne and Leon had told me, he was apparently convinced and said, “That sounds like a fun tunnel exploration.” I get a very bad feeling that he wants to say something, and I feel frightened.

I can’t apologize to other people, but I think it’d be okay to do so to a childhood friend. I decided to tell him what happened truthfully.

“I’m sorry I made you worried.”

“…Really. Never do that again.”

“I-I’m sorry…”

As I looked at Mika, who seemed to be sulking, I thought of what he felt when I was suddenly gone and I felt sorry for him.

If the person he was supposed to protect had disappeared from view, it must have been quite stressful. As I was walking on while feeling down and dejected, I heard Mika’s low voice coming from beside me.

“You seem…kinda close with her.”

“Huh?”

“…No, forget it. We’ll talk about this later.”

What is he talking about? As I blinked my eyes in confusion, Mika turned his head to the other side. This might be the kind of thing that he holds against me for a while, I thought as I recalled the behavior pattern of my childhood friend I had seen several times, and I sighed quietly.

If it had become like this, Mika would think about it for a while until he was satisfied with it, so I also turned my face to Tillois, who was on the other side.

When Tillois listened from next to me while I was talking to Mika earlier, he had a very grim look on his face.

Vivienne saw that and couldn’t just stand still, and she was about to tap Tillois on the shoulder. But then she remembered that she was dressed as a maid and hurriedly withdrew her hand. I also whispered to Tillois.

“Tillois. I don’t think a single town mayor can do this. Something bigger could be going on behind the scenes.”

“Do you mean someone is trying to bring down the Ackersons?”

“Yes. I’m going to give what Vivienne says some thought.”

“…Excuse me? Huh, do you believe that story she told you, Your Highness??”

This was a very difficult problem.

Judging from Tillois’ reaction, he has listened to Vivienne’s story.

So, he must have thought that she has lost her mind, after all. I wouldn’t have tried to approach Vivienne either if I didn’t know the real future.

But this is the only chance to bring the Ackerson family to our side.

If so, what was now being expected of me was not on the dimension of believing or not believing Vivienne’s delusions. Surely her outburst is the shins of the incoming duke, Tillois.

Whether her story is true or not, it will only harm the Ackersons.

In the first place, if what Vivienne says is true, the Ackersons will want to sever their ties with Brother Vincent and the Tyndall family.

If what Vivienne says is just a falsehood, he risks marrying off her crazy sister to the royal family.

What I have to do, is to ‘negotiate’ with him. I’ll lend my power to help solve his problem, and I’ll ask him to help me in exchange.

The Ackersons hope that Brother Vincent will regain his sanity and that Vivienne will marry the royal family.

Perhaps the reason he doesn’t believe Vivienne is because he doesn’t think Brother Vincent would go so far as to break off the engagement in the future.

Weighing those two issues, the one with Vivienne on it is somewhat lighter.

All I have to do is put more weight on Vivienne’s problem.

“She said things that only I should have known.”

“!”

“Besides, you probably have heard about the cave-in from her, Tillois. It really happened where she said it would be.”

The crease between Tillois’ eyebrows grew even deeper. Then, he bit his lip and cast his eyes downwards while walking.

The pressure of being the next duke is weighing on his shoulders.

The collusive relationship with the Dukes of Tyndall plus their position as the second prince faction, and the decision to abandon it, is out of the ordinary.

But even Tillois must feel the strange credibility of what his sister is saying.

“I’m not asking you to be in the first prince faction. But, what do you think? I can only think of the Ackerson’s disdain for Brother Vincent’s behavior.”

“…We thought of it as a passing fancy of his…”

“Of course. But what do you think of Brother Vincent, who displays his misgivings so brazenly?”

In my first life, in the next year, Vivienne was actually executed.

And then, the relationship between the Duke of Ackerson and the Duke of Tyndall was shaken. Inevitably, the Dukes of Ackerson lost faith in the royal family and distanced themselves. The division of the dukes, the old overlords, would surely have led to the collapse of the monarchy.

I don’t know what Duke Ackerson or Tillois had thought in my first life. But, judging from Tillois’ reaction, he seemed hesitant.

(Earlier, Vivienne was trying to tap Tillois on the shoulder. At the very least, they must be sisters and brothers with a trusting relationship.)

After all, in my first life, His Majesty had passed away, then Brother Seth and I were executed, so the second prince faction essentially won. But after that, probably…The Kingdom of Pluvia must have been in a terrible state.

Whether things would have worked out if Brother Seth and His Majesty were still alive is also something that remains to be seen. But I will prevent that future from happening.

If there is any doubt in the Ackersons now, I should take advantage of it.

I made a suggestion.

“Why don’t we join forces?”

I heard Mika gasp from beside me.

I guess he never thought I would come up with something like this. But immediately, he went around behind me and instructed Leon and the other knights to keep their distance, so that they wouldn’t hear what I was saying.

(That’s a great help. That means Mika is cheering me on, too…)

This is all I can do for now. In a state of uncertainty, where you don’t know who is on your side, who is your enemy, or which future is the right one, you have to build a relationship that you can trust, even if it’s fumbling in the darkness.

It doesn’t have to be a relationship of complete trust. Just like aristocrats, all that is needed is a trustworthy alignment of interests.

“I’ll lend a hand to protect Vivienne.”

“Do you think the life of my sister, who was raised from birth to be a political pawn, is enough to influence the judgement of Duke Ackerson?”

“I’m not talking to the Duke, I’m talking to you, Tillois. I’m asking what you want to do when you find out your sister’s life is truly threatened. Even if I’m an unreliable prince, I’m still royalty. There is something I can do.”

“…….”

The things that I can do. That’s what I need to show him.

Up until now, I’m a useless third prince who has always holed himself up. All I can do is “bluff” without substance. But I’ll show him how to make it into reality. Otherwise, surely the future of this country will be…

I bite my back teeth and put on my best pretense.

“The enemies who are trying to bring the Ackersons down may well be enemies of the country.”

“Impossible… Is it the Rubrum Empire?”

“I’ll avoid explicit statements. But if what Vivienne said is true, I’m very suspicious about this mine and Baroness Tessier. As a member of the royal family, I will cooperate with that investigation.”

Right now I can only borrow the authority of the ‘royal family’.

This is the cost of not doing anything until now. Having done only what those around me told me to do, I ended up with nothing to be proud of.

No, I have one knight I’m proud of.

But, even then it was a knight I had acquired only a month ago.

But even for Tillois, if the royalty was willing to investigate his sister’s delusions, which he could only assume were madness, the conditions shouldn’t be that bad for him. And then, I have just implied that it may decide the fate of the ship called the Kingdom of Pluvia, on which the Dukes of Ackerson are riding.

“And so, if I can save Vivienne…”

Yes, that’s as far as the deal goes. It’s just a matter of joining forces out of interest.

But, after that. When his precious sister’s life is saved.

“I want you to swear allegiance to me, the third prince.”

“…Not to the royal family, but to His Highness Prince Nagi.”

“Yes. To me.”

I pretended to be confident and declared so. Inside, my legs were about to tremble.

What I see before me is not my schoolmate Tillois. It’s the next Duke, Tillois Ackerson.

To my shame, I had never had a single political exchange with him. No track record of any kind. In my first life, I had never felt so miserable about myself like this, because of having no redeeming qualities.

Surely it’s not enough.

My ‘bluff’ alone will not make this negotiation work. I let my mind wander through my thoughts to see if there is anything I can offer. The memories of the future, the magic plants, the everyday magic, the experiments to be liked, all I had in me was just hope, and none of it was mine.

(How frustrating… In such an important moment, I have nothing to bargain with…)

I clenched his fist tightly, painfully aware of my helplessness.

But then— Vivienne, who was walking behind Tillois, called out to him, perhaps because the knights had left at Mika’s order.

“Tillois. I really like Prince Nagi. His highness is still unreliable in some areas, but I’m sure he can help us.”

“…Sister. I do not believe a single word of what you are saying.”

“But you’re worried about me. Isn’t that good enough to make a deal? After all, even if His Highness Nagi cooperates with us, the Ackersons have nothing to lose. And it wouldn’t be surprising if your feelings were to shift away from the Tyndalls and lean toward the first prince faction, given the current situation of His Highness Vincent. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to start a business with the Dukes of Uniac (the birth family of the first queen) privately, not as the Ackersons?”

“…Please do not make it sound so easy. Father’s wishes are on the matter as well.”

I knew Vivienne was a weirdo, but I was happy to see her help.

She believes in me, even though I have only talked to her a little and don’t have anything to show yet. It makes a warm feeling spread slowly inside me. As I was running my hand over my chest, Mika opened his mouth.

“You’re so hard-headed, Tillois. You’re going to be a scary old man with very deep wrinkles between your eyebrows. No one is talking about the Ackersons now. We’re talking about you. Should I use Chardin’s technology to process the magic ore for you? If we can connect our territory with the sea, we might be able to get preferential treatment for exports~”

“I still have not said anything yet! Chardin is too unrestricted. I do not want to get along with you.”

“Why? Isn’t it fine? You should be a little bit more flexible, Tillois.”

“I do not want to hear that from my sister who went mad with jealousy until recently. After that, your madness is getting even worse!”

The quick-witted Mika heard the mayor’s story and probably thought that something was up with the Ackersons about Vivienne. And although I haven’t said anything, he probably supports what I’m trying to do.

There were many things we had to talk about later.

Still…

(Even if he doesn’t know anything yet, he still believes in me…)

Even though I have nothing, I have one knight who believes in me unconditionally.

It was something that had never happened in my first life.

Besides, Vivienne also seemed to be rooting for me. There are many things that I really don’t understand about her thoughts behind it, but still, there was no doubt that she is a comrade who wanted to change an unwanted future.

Surely, I shouldn’t say anything uncertain such as “I will do my best”. I smiled at Tillois, who looked irritated, while thinking that it would be better to seem like I have the upper hand.

“I’ll produce results that make you want to pledge your allegiance to, Tillois.”

Tillois looked at me and blinked his eyes in surprise.

Then Tillois furrowed his brow deeply again when he heard Vivienne’s voice fussing about how “his highness smile is too precious,” and he said with a deep dislike.

“I understand. If you do not produce enough results, that is the end of the deal.”

The way he spits out his words made me laugh out loud. These siblings are so alike with one another, not at all behaving properly to royalty.

But that was the right attitude toward the slug prince, who still had nothing in him.

It got even crazier when I saw the three people around me widened their eyes in surprise when they saw me laughing.

While laughing, I thought about it again.

(From now on, I will definitely change the future!)