CH 77

2-1. Where will the wandering prince go?

It was like the moon had just fallen from the night sky.

The darkness could be seen through the glass. In the writhing dark shadows, I learned what my own silver hair color looked like.

The wandering prince walks at night~

Clatter clatter, tap tap~

Where is he going~?

A song that the town’s children hummed while spinning the jumping rope.

At dusk, when it’s almost time to go home, this game begins and the children scatter from house to house.

As they crossed to the right and left in turn, the children jumped the rope. And then, finally, the two children who had been spinning the rope also jumped the rope and went home, saying to each other, “It was a fun day.” It was that kind of a peaceful game.

But somewhere in their heart, they felt scared— it was such a game.

I couldn’t help but hear that song which was sung by the children echoing in my head. The white skin that emerged, coupled with the white clothing, makes it seem like…

(How to put it? It’s like the moon being eaten by the darkness…)

It was a strange place that seemed somehow sacred.

The building was surrounded by a mansion that, until now, I had thought was abandoned, and I had never even peeked inside because of the trees. But after passing through the dense garden, a glass-walled building that looked like a greenhouse appeared.

The glass, which was so large that it was not often seen even in the royal castle, continued to the ceiling and looked like a large birdcage. The silver-haired prince sitting in the center of the room, dressed in white, shined brightly. Those in dark-colored clothing that surrounded the prince gazed at him with enraptured eyes.

With just a little bit of blue magic light illumination and the moonlight shining on there, the shadows are lifted.

It was different from Duke Marcotte’s strange darkened look. Rather, this is more like…

(……It’s like the temple of the moon.)

I don’t even want to think too much about why I thought of that now. However, this strange holiness made me feel sick because it reminded me of the incarnation of the moon, which has been said to deceive people since ancient times.

Since when did the royal city of Corliss become such a strange place like a fairy tale world?

After Duke Marcotte’s evening party, now this temple of the wandering prince.

My eyebrow furrowed involuntarily with a sickening feeling as if the city I was supposed to be familiar with since I was born, the city I was supposed to protect, had become a place I did not know at all.

As I cast my eyes downwards, I heard a small voice from next to me that reassured me just by listening to it.

“I also…don’t know everything about this yet.”

“Huh?”

“I still don’t know what that thing is.”

“…Ah, yeah. When did you start to notice it?”

Mika and I were peeking inside from the shadows of the medium trees around the building. And then after I heard what Mika said, I was reminded again.

Still, I waited for Mika’s next words, thinking that since he had decided to leave it alone, he must have taken some kind of action.

“Well, you can be rest assured. I think it was probably after I became your knight that thing started its activity.”

“…What exactly do you mean by activity?”

Mika said that he first noticed it during the summer vacation, and that he had a guess when Miss Yoshino said that I was “someone of many loves”. Judging from Mika’s foolish actions from earlier and Miss Yoshino’s remarks, I think that the other me has relationships with various people.

I stared at the other me, sitting comfortably in a place that seemed to be shining brighter and brighter, but what in the world is the point of that act? I can’t help but ponder.

At that moment— the other me, sitting on the white marble chair that looked like an altar, gently reached out and stroked the chin of the man beside him with his fingertips.

“Huh?!”

“I told you to be quiet.”

On closer inspection, the man appeared to be the eldest son of Marquis Savatier.

As my eyes became accustomed to the night darkness, I gradually began to see the faces of people sitting and relaxing around the other me.

Although the man was already in his thirties, he was a player and was not married. But I felt something bothering me, and I tilted my head.

Marquis Savatier’s eldest son was, I believe, testifying at my trial.

After I had lost Brother Seth, I no longer cared about my crimes. I didn’t listen carefully to him, but I wondered what kind of testimony he was giving. The last time I saw him, he was more haggard and his hair was getting worse.

I wonder why.

His brown hair looks a little similar to Mika’s, depending on how the light hits it.

Seeing the other me staring at the man’s face somewhat cheerfully, my heart pounded.

I remember being just as smitten at the trial, only with the color of Mika’s hair.

And then—

(Ah, right. Speaking of which, Marquis Savatier is going to fall into bankruptcy. That eldest son has created a debt…wait, huh?!)

I blinked my eyes as I realized a possibility.

“Huh, no way… he was giving tributes to me…?”

“Ohh. You noticed it right away, despite always being so dull. I think…you’re probably right.”

“What?”

I looked back at Mika with surprise at the calm words he said from next to me.

Mika stared at the other me in the middle of this mysterious place, and then turned his glance at me. Then, as if prompted, he turned his eyes again to the glass.

The man’s hand gently overlapped the hand of the other me.

I stared at the mouth of the other me and tried to read his lips.

[It’s not nice to touch royalty without permission.]

At those words, the man’s hand twitched and was quickly pulled back.

But the hands of the other me became bolder, and he laughed as if there was something funny. He was cupping the man’s face in his hands, poking the man’s lips with his fingertips, stroking the man’s neck, and making other sensual movements.

Marquis Savatier’s eldest son gazed in a trance at the face of the other me, even though he never touched the other me himself.

I couldn’t tell the expression on his face clearly, but I had a feeling that his cheeks must have been a little red.

Then, still with an ecstatic expression on his face, the man’s lips moved.

[I…brought this.]

Hm? The other me tilted his head and opened the box that was offered to him.

The air around me felt tense.

I can’t say for sure from a distance, but it looks like a large Pluvia sapphire. The beautiful gemstone, glistening blue in the moonlight, is in the country’s symbolic royal blue color.

The sound of surprise couldn’t help but leak out of my mouth.

“……Huh? N-No, no way. There’s no way…”

“No, he’s giving it to royalty, so there’s no problem. He’s probably doing it for you.”

I can’t tell if it really is Pluvia Sapphire.

But originally, the Pluvia Sapphire was a rare gemstone and could only be owned by royalty. On rare occasions, it is awarded in honor of a vassal’s achievement, but if one ever comes into possession of a Pluvia sapphire, it is customary for noble families to keep it as a treasured heirloom for generations to come.

Even when inherited in the family, it was so controlled that proper change of ownership paperwork must be filed.

The other me took the large sapphire to his hand and held it up to the moonlight while saying, “Hmm.”

The silvery light that passed through the glass was casting a blue shimmer in his eyes through the sapphire.

The man’s lips moved.

[Ahh, how-…how beautiful. If it’s for your sake, I will do everything—]

The lips of the other me arched like the moon as he turned his back to the man. Then he mumbled a small “okay” and turned around, bringing his face close to the man’s, and spoke.

[I guess I’ll have you walk me home tonight.]

I didn’t even have to read his lips to know. The man seemed to reply cheerfully, “Yes, I’m honored.”

Then the two of them left the place. The other men looked frustrated as they watched over the shadows of the two, but they kept their eyes on the other me until the end.

A sickening chill crawled up my spine.

I burned this scene into my eyes while clasping my hands, which were almost shaking.

Count Tardieux, the eldest son of Marquis Fauconne, the second son of the Chancellor, and is that someone from the Dukes of Uniac…? I couldn’t believe it. I never expected that he also had his hands on the Queen’s birth family.

And then, the more I tried to remember, I recognized the familiar faces of the men there.

(Ahh, this is…that thing?)

I remembered my crime in my first life.

It was highly likely that the sin that was referred to as ‘fornication’ at the time was about this. Many of the men here were named at the time of the trial.

If I really had a relationship with the men here, this would certainly be ‘fornication’. But in practice, royalty was not supposed to receive that charge.

In the first place, royalty is allowed to practice polygamy in order to prosper. If it was excessive, it would count as a crime. Still, I wonder if my deeds after five years have accumulated over this to become that crime.

Many things I didn’t understand passed through my head.

I mean, in the first place…

“……Why are there only men here? I mean, what’s to be gained by doing something obscene? Is he just trying to make the first prince faction collapse?”

“…Y-You’re unexpectedly calm about this.”

“What?”

“The first time I saw it, I was so surprised that I couldn’t even speak.”

I was not at all calm or anything. But I was also surprised that I was not that shocked about the fact that I was indeed apparently doing something obscene.

(No… I would have been…just as surprised if I had encountered this all of a sudden. But, there was something more surprising that happened before this…)

I almost remembered Mika from a few moments ago, and shook my head hurriedly.

And then I think. If I seemed calm, it was thanks to Mika. Since Mika was going to leave this alone, I had the assumption that it must be okay, so I could concentrate on figuring out what was going on.

Anyway, since the other me had left, it seemed there was not much we could do here.

“For now, let’s go back to the castle. I’ll tell you the details later.”

“……Ah…Yeah…”

Hearing Mika’s disgusted voice, I sighed thinking that from here on out, it was going to be a tactical retreat with my knight, which I didn’t expect. Looking at the white breath I had exhaled, I finally realized that Mika had used wind magic to keep the cold wind off me here.

I know Mika wanted to protect me.

(But…I wonder what he was going to do by hiding this…)

It made me hate my own ignorance.

I had to have a good talk with my knight about that as well.

The sound of a bell ringing to signal midnight rang out.

It was probably different from the bells of Vivienne’s world. But the sound resonated heavily inside me. It seemed like the new year had arrived before we knew it.

I think about the other me, which I had just seen.

However, there was something else that made me curious rather than the fact whether the other me was doing something obscene.

The eldest son of Marquis Savatier was supposed to be a player, but I was shocked to see such an ecstatic look on his face and for him to be played around by the other me.

If this world is really going to follow the same path as last time, he’s going to give so many presents to the other me, enough to bankrupt his house.

A melancholy expression. Watery eyes, thinly opened lips. Seeming like full of gaps, and yet probably not.

That ‘s…how to put it.

(—It looks just like Antoine…)