Episode 10: The Abandoned Prince Lets His Guard Down
“—And that’s what happened. We’re having the wedding soon, so you guys better come too!!”
“””…”””
My subordinates, whom I hadn’t seen in several weeks, looked at each other after hearing my story.
They were currently prisoners of war.
However, it wasn’t like they were suffering any particular mistreatment.
Utilizing the healing magic skills they had cultivated on the battlefield, they were working at a clinic in the Imperial Capital and earning a salary.
Today, I had invited them to my room, and we were catching each other up on what we’d been doing.
I couldn’t leave the Imperial Castle, but listening to their stories, it seemed there were many interesting things in the Imperial Capital, so I liked this time.
After hearing my story, my subordinates said in unison.
“”””How did it come to this?!””””
“Whoa, that surprised me.”
They all said the same line in unison.
“Just who is our captain?”
“How did things even lead to him marrying the Empress of a major power and the Seventh Imperial Princess…?”
“A mother-daughter bowl, huh. I wish his thing would just fall off.”
“Just falling off isn’t enough. This guy regenerates from any injury, after all. If we cut off his ‘package,’ we’d have to seal it.”
“Vice-Captain Dangan, what do you think?”
One of the subordinates sought the adjutant’s opinion.
That’s the guy who frequently pokes me in the stomach to wake me up when I’m sleeping on the battlefield.
“Well, this might sound a bit calculating, but isn’t this a good thing? Honestly, the Kingdom has been growing weaker year by year. No matter how much support we receive from other countries to stop the Empire’s invasion, there are limits.”
“”””…””””
“Wh-what is it, you guys? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Dangan is, for better or worse, an overly serious man.
He has a strong sense of loyalty to the country, or rather, a very strong spirit of national defense, and he has a harsh personality towards invaders.
However, it seemed Dangan had mellowed out considerably while I wasn’t looking.
He said that if it meant reconciling with the Empire, it was a good thing.
Hearing that, the other subordinates seemed to have guessed the reason for something and were smirking gleefully.
“What is it? Do you all know something?”
“Ah, right. Your Highness didn’t know, did you? Vice-Captain Dangan, you see, is getting along rather well with a girl he met at a tavern in the Imperial Capital.”
Oho!!
“Tell me more about that.”
“It seems she’s a girl who works as a waitress at the tavern. Apparently, before they met at the tavern, she was seriously injured in a collision with a carriage and brought to the clinic. He healed her without leaving a single scar, and now it seems the girl is aggressively pursuing him. I caught a glimpse of her; she was a simple but cheerful girl.”
“Well, in short, it means that our esteemed Vice-Captain-dono is heading towards the same situation as Your Highness.”
The other subordinates spoke with smirks, while Dangan listened in silence, his face red up to his ears.
That overly serious Dangan, in love.
“I feel kinda happy, and kinda sad at the same time.”
“What position are you even saying that from? …Ahem. Enough with the idle chatter, there’s some information I’d like to report to Your Highness.”
“Hm? What? Dangan, are you getting married too?”
“…We’ve only just started dating, and I’m not as decisive as Your Highness, so it’s still undecided. B-but that’s not it!!”
Dangan said with a serious expression.
“It seems there are many in the Empire’s central leadership who consider Your Highness a nuisance. Please be careful.”
“Eh?”
I was genuinely surprised by how serious the topic was.
The other subordinates, too, had come over intending to chat idly as usual, and their expressions changed at the sudden serious talk.
I listened to Dangan’s words.
“What do you mean?”
“The Empire’s central leadership, in other words, the ministers who support Empress Alkalion’s administration. It seems they don’t like Your Highness getting friendly with the Empress and the Seventh Imperial Princess, especially since they themselves just eat and sleep.”
“…Well, if I think about it calmly, I’m a NEET who hasn’t done anything. I guess I’d be a nuisance to people who work seriously.”
“A ‘nee’? I don’t quite understand, but anyway, it seems the Empire’s central leadership is full of complaints and dissatisfaction towards Your Highness.”
Apparently, Dangan had been gathering information from soldiers working at the Imperial Castle whom he’d met at the tavern.
He said there was a storm of dissatisfaction towards me among the Empire’s ministers.
“Well, most of it is just talk, mere slander, so to speak…”
“From the way you say that, it sounds like some of them are seriously trying to eliminate me.”
“Yes. The likelihood of them trying to do something by force is probably low, but it seems such factions do exist. Please be careful, just in case.”
I can’t imagine there’s anyone who would go so far as to incur Alkalion’s or Rosemary’s animosity to do something to me…
However, it’s a warning from a trusted subordinate. I should probably keep it in mind.
And so, our gathering for the day came to an end.
My subordinates left the room, and I rested alone until Rosemary and Alkalion arrived.
Lately, I’ve been spending every night in the same bed with the two of them.
Alkalion shows the example, and Rosemary improves her technique.
Perhaps because they’re burning with rivalry towards each other, the sex sandwiched between them is intense, and the pleasure just doesn’t end.
It was truly a moment of bliss.
Just then, someone knocked on my room door, “kon kon.”
“Oh? They’re here, they’re here!!”
Thinking it was Alkalion and Rosemary, I opened the door to welcome them.
However, there was no one on the other side of the door.
“Huh? I was sure someone knocked… Was I imagining things?”
Just as I was about to go back into the room.
I received a strong impact on the back of my head, as if struck by a blunt weapon, and lost consciousness.
The injury was instantly healed by “Complete Regeneration,” but there was nothing I could do about being unconscious.
No, with my “Complete Regeneration,” there’s a good chance it could even heal unconsciousness…
Unlike poisons or curses, which I’ve experienced many times and can heal unconsciously, I haven’t fainted often enough for that.
I let my guard down.
To be in this sorry state right after hearing Dangan’s warning.
I’m so incompetent, it’s no wonder my younger brother stole the throne and my fiancée from me.
◆
Side: Agaram ??? POV
“My Lady, are you truly intending to escape?”
“But of course.”
The historic royal castle of Agaram.
In a section of that castle, which exuded history, there was a room for my confinement.
I spent five years in that room, avoiding contact with anyone except for a single trusted handmaiden.
Even the new king, to whom I was newly engaged and then married, I wonder how many years ago it was that I last saw him.
Originally, the new king made me his fiancée merely because he wanted to bask in the sense of superiority of having stolen me from him.
The fact that he didn’t come on our wedding night is proof of that. He never had any love for me from the start.
“Then it should be fine if I prioritize my own love, shouldn’t it?”
“…That may be so, but…”
My handmaiden, who, despite knowing my will is harder than steel, still offers her frank advice.
She is a beautiful woman with black hair, rare in these parts, tied in a ponytail.
Frustratingly, her figure is outstanding, even from my perspective as someone of the same sex.
Well, I’m not losing either, though!!
In terms of size, I might be a bit smaller, but when it comes to shape, mine are better formed than hers.
I passionately explained to her.
“If we’re going to do it, it’s now. There’s no other time.”
“Why go that far?”
“I hear he’s become a prisoner of the Dragoon Empire, isn’t that right?”
“…Yes, that’s… correct…”
There is only one person I refer to as “he.”
My former fiancé, my beloved, the person who it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call my everything.
“What if, just supposing, he’s suffering terribly in the Empire?”
“My Lady…”
“I believe.”
If I’m to do it, it has to be now. Because—
“Seeing me appear gallantly to rescue him, he’s sure to think, ‘Kyaa, how wonderful!! Elsa-san, be my bride!!’ That’s what!!”
“You truly are driven by selfish desires, this hopeless Ojou-sama. Is His Majesty the King not good enough?”
“That one is impossible. A brat like that is not worthy of me.”
In these past few years, Agaram has fallen into ruin.
Taking advantage of the substantial aid received from various countries, not a few individuals are pocketing a portion of it instead of using it for the country.
The bureaucrats who worked diligently either quit early on or were corrupted by the influence of the rotten ones.
This country is already done for.
“If it had been him, things wouldn’t have turned out like this.”
He was isolated from aristocratic society.
Naturally, there is always a reason for things.
For better or worse, he was incompetent.
“You know it too, don’t you?”
“Well, yes. It’s a famous story.”
He once petitioned the former king and had a minister, who had supported the kingdom for many years, dismissed.
That minister had taken a town girl, who had a fiancé, to his mansion and did terrible things to her.
The town girl’s lover was a young man, a soldier working at the royal castle, and he happened to overhear that soldier lamenting.
What was surprising was his decisiveness afterwards.
He petitioned his father, the former king, to investigate, and after confirming the truth of the matter, had the minister dismissed.
The minister and the nobles belonging to his faction protested vehemently, but the words he uttered at that time are still unforgettable.
—”No, having a rapist as a high-ranking official in the country? That’s just all sorts of messed up, isn’t it?”
The dismissal of the minister would have no small impact on the country.
Not understanding that, he was branded a fool by many nobles.
But, that’s precisely why I fell for him.
How many rulers are there, I wonder, who can judge evil deeds as evil deeds?
Perhaps because of that, his reputation among the common people was high.
What he lacked was probably the power to minimize the subsequent impact and the communication skills to avoid being shunned by the nobles.
However, those are issues that can be resolved if someone else makes up for them.
For example, someone like me, or me, or perhaps, me.
“In short!! He needs me!!”
“Haaah.”
“Hey. Did you just sigh?”
“It’s just your imagination.”
Well, it doesn’t really matter.
“Alright, let’s go!! Thanks to me behaving myself for these past five years, the guards have let their guard down. If we’re going to escape, now’s the time!!”
“…Understood. I am still inexperienced, but I shall pave the way for you, my Dajōsama.”
“Oh my, how reliable!! But if you call me ‘Dajōsama’ again, I’ll punch you!!”
And so, I escaped from Agaram’s castle and headed towards the Empire.
What I learned there was that he had gotten engaged to the Empire’s Empress and the Seventh Princess, and then, a few days later, he had gone missing.
“No, what in the world is going on!?”
I couldn’t help but scream that out.
He was always someone who did outrageous things, but I never thought he’d go this far.
How on earth did things lead to him marrying the Empress of an enemy nation and her daughter, the Seventh Princess?
I’m completely panicking.
―――――――――――――――――――――
Afterword
A Trivial Little Story
Author: “So if you pluck it and then stick duct tape on it, it won’t regenerate… huh…”
Rei: “Hiee!”
To those who thought, “Lol, it looks like his subordinates are about to pluck him too,” “The ex-fiancée is heeeere!!” or “Lol, the sealing method has been revealed,” please leave your thoughts, bookmarks, ★ ratings, and reviews.