Interlude 1! From Wilfred’s perspective!
■Wilfred Well Dehauvals’ Perspective
“Damn it!”
I suppressed the pain in my body, inflicted by that man… Harold, the “Incompetent Rascal Prince,” and kicked over a nearby table.
Marion watched me with eyes full of anxiety and fear, which only irritated me further.
“Kyaa!? Y-Your Highness!?”
“It’s all because you’re useless that things have come to this! Even after I gave you that ‘Battleaxe Skydrive’!”
“P-Please forgive me!”
I grabbed Marion’s wine-red hair and slammed her against the wall.
That’s right, it’s all this woman’s fault.
Even though she’s just Harold’s hand-me-down, I kept her around because she’s pretty, but all she can do is try to flatter me.
She can’t even work properly as a Maid, and she can’t even do something as simple as tormenting that guy’s fiancée.
“P-Please forgive me… Please forgive me…”
Marion trembled and rubbed her forehead against the floor, begging for forgiveness.
“…I’m sorry for taking my anger out on you ever since I lost to that man. But believe me, Marion. You’re the most important thing to me… You’re the only one who accepts me.”
“Ah… Wi, Wilfred-denka…”
“We’re alone now. You don’t have to be so formal. Call me ‘Wil,’ like you always do.”
“Yes… Wil-sama… Wil-sama…”
I helped her up, and Marion burst into tears, throwing herself into my arms with an overwhelmed expression. She really is an easy woman to manipulate.
Even though she’s just a pawn for my purposes.
That’s right… as the protagonist of this world, I have a duty to become a hero.
◇
“My siblings are all idiots. The King is obsessed with my mother, and she’s desperately trying to please him so she won’t be abandoned. The other two Queens are jealous of my mother, and their sons, my brothers, are incomprehensible… well, except for Harold, who’s just a simple, incompetent fool.”
I, now ten years old, watched Harold desperately trying to appeal to the First Queen with the answers to the problems given in today’s tutoring session, and sneered.
Even if he did a little better than usual, there’s no way he’ll be praised.
Well, whatever. The more simple-minded he is, the more I stand out.
I may be called the “Tainted Prince” now and looked down upon by those around me, but that will all change when I grow up.
Rather, I need to use Harold to show how unfortunate my circumstances are by then.
I’ve been committing misdeeds in the Royal Palace and blaming them all on Harold.
Thanks to that, Harold’s reputation is now the worst. No one even tries to deal with him properly.
“Come to think of it, locking up that insignificant young lady in a room was a masterpiece.”
The screams of the woman crying in a deserted room on the outskirts of the Royal Palace were very pleasant.
I don’t know if that young lady was rescued safely afterward, or if she’s still starving to death in that room.
Well, I said it was Harold, so he’s taking all the blame.
Although, if she was such a shabby woman, I doubt she was from a very important family.
A turning point came for me in the summer when I was twelve.
“Hello, you must be Wilfred?”
I was summoned by my father, King Aival, and a man who looked three or four years older than me appeared before me in the throne room.
He called himself “Ulisse” and spoke to me with a smile.
“Ulisse. Is it true that Wilfred will succeed me and become the king who rules this world?”
“There is no doubt.”
“Hmm… not that I doubt you, but it’s hard to believe…”
That lustful, lazy King and an unknown man are saying whatever they want, ignoring me.
But… King Aival did say it.
That I would “become the king who rules the world.”
“So, Aival, please do as I say, okay? Otherwise, your wish won’t come true.”
“Well… I suppose so…”
King Aival sighed deeply and nodded at the smiling “Ulisse.”
“So Wilfred, you should follow my instructions too, okay? You want to be king, don’t you?”
“…Can I really become king?”
“Of course. But only if you listen to me.”
…It pains me to say it, but this man… “Ulisse” seems to be the same kind of person as me.
He doesn’t trust anyone, doesn’t doubt his own abilities, and just manipulates everything as he pleases.
He can’t understand unnecessary things like kindness or compassion.
But that’s why I can trust this man.
Because people like me don’t compromise or lie when it comes to what benefits us.
We’re just faithful to our desires.
“…I understand. I will follow you.”
“Well, as expected of kindred spirits. It’s helpful that we can talk so quickly. I think you’re just like Aival in that respect.”
“Ulisse” smiled broadly and shook my hand.
This was the beginning of my and “Ulisse’s” path to supremacy.
◇
“…Wil-sama, what’s wrong?”
In the middle of the night, after indulging in Marion’s desires, she hadn’t fallen asleep yet, and she leaned her cheek against my chest, peering into my face.
Marion, who usually doesn’t show much emotion, had a spoiled look on her face at this moment.
I’m not interested at all, though.
“No… I was just remembering the past.”
“I see…”
I told her this and shook my head, and Marion lowered her gaze and smiled.
She probably feels lonely that she’s not in my memories.
“Well… I’ll be entering the Royal Academy soon. I lost the Duel with Harold the other day, but that disgrace will all be washed away when I go to the Academy.”
“Eh! Disgrace? How could you say that!”
“Calm down. Everyone who was there saw me lose to that guy. Even if Harold cheated.”
That’s right… it’s being spread throughout the kingdom that Harold cheated in that Duel.
I can’t fool the eyes of the audience, but many people who weren’t there will believe that cheating really happened.
Combined with my reputation and the “Incompetent Rascal Prince’s,” many people believe in me, the hero.
Also, from Samantha becoming the Third Queen and King Aival’s attitude, it seems he wants me to be the next king, and now some nobles from Cardis’s and Raphael’s factions are trying to cozy up to me.
My position won’t be shaken by just one loss.
“Marion… I’m going to have you attend the Academy as a freshman, even though you’re older…”
“Yes. I, Marion Shearer, will definitely be of service to Wil-sama even at the Academy.”
“Yes, I’m counting on you.”
“Ah… n…”
I embraced Marion and kissed her.
Now… my story is about to begin.
According to “Ulisse,” the real thing is a little over a year away, but I’ll let him taste despair even before that.
—That “Incompetent Rascal Prince,” who is nothing more than a stepping stone.
Thank you for reading!
Amidst the afterglow of the Part 2 finale, this time it was from Wilfred’s perspective!
This is an important interlude that reveals the true nature of the protagonist of “Engage Hazard”!
It was an important episode that leads to the story after this!
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