Chapter 151
The Princess (2)
“……So, Your Highness Milene.”
Noel spoke while releasing a chilling aura.
In front of her, Milene was kneeling, deliberately avoiding eye contact as she feigned ignorance.
As always, she was fully clad in heavy armor, making it difficult to read her expression. But from the way she was outright whistling on purpose, it was obvious she had no intention of properly engaging in the conversation……
“……Please focus over here.”
“…….”
“Are all the princesses in the Holy Crown Kingdom talented at making people’s lives difficult……?”
At Noel’s heartfelt question, which slipped out as she watched Milene persistently pretend not to hear, I broke into a cold sweat and responded with a sympathetic nod.
Well, she was still better than when Katya first ca to visit, but it was undeniable that she was reckless enough to firmly cent that image Noel had just described.
“Well, I told Alester oppa everything properly before coming.”
“……Aren’t you soone with considerable standing within the Holy Crown Kingdom? Is it really acceptable for you to move about like this—”
“The ones who supported were just people who banded together of their own accord because they disliked Alester oppa or Julius oppa. Now that it’s already been decided who the Pontiff is, no one pays any attention to anymore.”
“…….”
“So if you’re worried about so kind of political backlash, there’s absolutely no need.”
As if she had prepared in advance, her sentences fell neatly into place one after another, leaving Noel montarily speechless as she stared at Milene.
……It was true that there was nothing to refute.
If Alester, the current Pontiff, had permitted it, and there was no particular harm being caused, the Empire had no justification to refuse her entry.
They could fabricate one if they really tried, but with a new Pontiff having just taken office, there was no way they would want to create conflict over sothing this trivial.
Though to Noel, it was far from trivial.
“Let’s at least hear the reason. Why in the world did you do sothing like this?”
When Noel asked in a voice that sounded as though her will to live had plumted straight down, Milene tilted her head.
Her expression seed to ask why she was even being questioned about sothing so obvious.
“Why? Because there’s still sothing I have to finish, so I ca.”
“……Excuse ?”
“That man.”
Her fingertip clearly pointed toward .
With that single gesture, the uncomfortable pressure that had been lingering throughout the cabin since earlier seed to intensify even further……
“He once told he wanted to form a close relationship with , but he slipped away without wrapping that up.”
“…….”
At the sa mont a fierce fla ignited in Noel’s eyes, the air around the back of my neck rapidly turned icy.
“……So, you ca barging in like this to advance that kind of relationship?”
“For now?”
As soone who had, just minutes ago, wondered why Noel tended to turn violent later on, I felt like beating myself up for ever having such a thought.
Why on earth had I been curious about sothing like that? Just witnessing a similar phenonon unfolding right in front of already made want to die…….
“Honestly, could you maybe…….”
Grinding her teeth audibly, Noel shot a glare.
“Stop seducing people so much……!”
“…….”
Hmm.
At this point, I honestly felt that making excuses would be even more shaless.
The ferocity blazing in her eyes was easily twice what it had been when Morrigan showed up before; it genuinely felt like my life was in imminent danger.
“-No, wait. Just a mont. Da Noel. Her Highness Milene did say ‘for now.’ Let’s at least hear the rest.”
When I hurriedly threw those words out, Noel, fortunately, managed to seize the last fragnt of her reason and took a deep breath, successfully calming herself.
As the atmosphere shifted to one where it seed certain she wouldn’t imdiately pull sothing out and smash it over my skull, Milene shrugged and continued.
“That man. From what I’ve seen, if soone’s nearby, he helps them without caring about the consequences.”
“……Mr. Aiden is kind of like that.”
“I’ve got sothing I want from him too. Princess Katya had such a troubleso issue, and he resolved it for her, didn’t he?”
By the ti she finished that sentence, Noel’s expression began to soften slightly.
In other words.
Milene’s approach carried more of a calculated benefit than an emotional trigger toward , and that nuance must have eased Noel’s mind…….
Still, unacceptable was unacceptable. Clearing her throat, Noel responded.
“……No. Even so, approaching like this is, in terms of propriety, a bit much—”
“I’m confident I can be of help.”
“…….”
“Even among royalty, I was treated as high-tier talent. No matter what happens, I’ll earn my keep.”
Well.
She would be helpful.
In terms of pure combat power, Noel or Katya far surpassed Milene, but Milene handled one of the most unusual forms of Holy Fla.
If I hadn’t copied her skill, there were sections during Act II where I would have struggled considerably.
‘……There are still more skills I can obtain.’
Like Alester and Julius, Milene was soone whose skills were highly valuable to copy, especially because she wielded a completely aberrant form of Holy Fla.
Considering how quickly the Main Story was progressing, the fact that she was approaching of her own accord to raise Affection Level was, in any case, quite the favorable developnt…….
“……?”
Sothing felt off.
Originally, wasn’t Skill Copy sothing I obtained by raising other people’s Affection Level and extracting it from them?
Not the other way around, where soone approached to raise my Affection Level.
“Hmm, well, it doesn’t look like he has much of a psychological resistance line anyway.”
“Excuse ?”
“Isn’t that man the type who doesn’t really have a limit when it cos to accepting won? Adding just one more like wouldn’t cause any real prob—”
“……That’s seriously a misunderstanding.”
I had copied plenty of skills while mingling with n too. I would rather not be treated like so lunatic obsessed with won.
It just so happened that many of the ones I had to work on ended up being won…….
‘……This is completely backwards……?’
Since when had things started getting this twisted?
While I was staring off with distant eyes, lost in that thought, Milene showed no sign of stopping and kept pressing the accelerator all the way down.
“Misunderstanding or not, I’m saying I can do anything if it’s to get close to him.”
“……Excuse ?”
“Yeah, seriously. If it’s sothing that man wants, I’m willing to do anything.”
“…….”
As Noel’s expression darkened far more severely than before, the back of my neck also grew far more damp than before.
“……Anything, you say?”
Noel spoke with her crimson eyes gleaming as if she were about to devour soone, but Milene nodded coolly.
“Anything.”
“…….”
“I’m actually pretty open-minded.”
“…….”
“Why, I know the Empire is basically monogamous. But if you go through certain legal procedures properly, polygamy is entirely possible, from what I’ve hea—”
“……That’s not sothing I think we should be hearing from a princess.”
Noel cut in sharply, practically shooting lasers from her eyes, but Milene only looked at her as though she genuinely didn’t understand.
“……Your reaction’s kind of strange. What’s the problem?”
“What do you an?”
At this point, it wasn’t just the back of my neck that was soaked—my entire spine felt like it was standing on end.
As thick beads of sweat now rolled down my forehead as well, Milene spoke again.
“It’s not just . There aren’t only one or two other candidates aiming for him, you know?”
“…….”
“I an, co on. He made a na for himself in the Empire, and he was that active in the Holy Crown Kingdom too. It would be stranger if he didn’t attract any attention.”
“Lionhearted, you know. I get that you’re engaged and think of yourself as his fiancée, but there are plenty of open-minded people in the world. There are won who don’t mind being the second or third of a truly outstanding man. Actually, there are quite a lot, right?”
“…….”
“If you look hard enough, you could probably find four or five. For a man like him, that is.”
“……No, Your Highness—”
“Everyone has the sa eye for people.”
With an expression that seed to question why sothing so obvious hadn’t been considered until now, Milene continued speaking matter-of-factly.
Even I hadn’t known she was capable of speaking this fluently.
“It’s obvious it’ll get harder and harder to protect him as ti goes on. You still haven’t given up?”
“…….”
“You’d better stop thinking you’ll be the only wife. You’ll realize it the mont you return to the Empire.”
……Sohow.
The way this situation was unfolding didn’t feel normal.
▣
I had heard that it was customary to catch up when eting a friend after a long ti.
yer, who resided within the ntal World, was soone far above the level of a re friend, but still, catching up was necessary.
“……That’s what happened.”
“…….”
yer looked at with a sullen expression.
“No, things were an absolute ss over here, and you’re giving that look?”
“If the first thing you say after showing up for the first ti in a while is basically bragging about how you’re struggling because you’re so popular, who’s going to sincerely sympathize with that?”
“…….”
It wasn’t that I was popular. Wouldn’t it be more accurate to call it romantic misfortune?
At the very least, the fact that Noel had been sitting there seriously contemplating sothing afterward wasn’t a good sign for . And considering how Milene had practically warned that I’d be swept up in romantic trouble, it was even worse.
‘……Well, Katya can’t really be helped.’
On that point, I had no intention of backing down.
Two, I could sohow manage.
Yes, sohow.
At the very least, in the sense of taking responsibility for those within my fence, I believed that those two were beyond re romance or affection—I had to take responsibility for them.
I considered them family, in the sense of maintaining a relationship to the end, person to person.
If I put in superhuman effort, maybe I could manage.
But three?
Four? Five?
“…….”
Just kill instead.
I was human too. I was fully aware that it would be impossible to return equal feelings to that many people.
‘……Honestly.’
Everyone kept saying sothing close to prophecy—that I would end up with multiple wives.
But at the very least, I had no intention of doing that. Not now.
“Right. It’s good to have constructive concerns about your family environnt.”
As yer said that, he glanced sideways.
“……But shouldn’t you deal with that first?”
Following his gaze, I let out a dry laugh.
Anyone would probably have the sa reaction upon seeing a man repeatedly slamming his forehead against the floor of the ntal World with deathly determination.
It was a space where one revived no matter how many tis one died, so it wasn’t exactly achieving any aningful result.
“Who’s that, and why is he doing that over there?”
“He’s the strongest wielder of Holy Fla in nearly a hundred years.”
“……Why is he acting like that?”
“He died while acting all cool, and now he’s too embarrassed to face the person he said those lines to.”
This was quite a rare experience.
After all, it wasn’t often that you got to witness soone who genuinely ‘wanted to die from embarrassnt.’
“……Your Holiness. Please co over and sit.”
With a sigh, I called out to him.
“We have a lot to discuss about Katya.”
And that wasn’t a lie.
At least, based on what I had observed.
“……There’s sothing strange about you.”
Abigail III, who had been smashing his head against the floor, finally turned toward us.
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