“Prince Harold. Prince Cardis’s chamberlain has requested that you join him for dinner tonight.”
It was the morning exactly one month since Marion became my maid.
And of all things, she brought me an unwelcome invitation.
In this past month, my relationship with Marion has been far from good.
Partly because I’ve been avoiding contact with the characters from EnHaza, but also, she keeps our conversations to the bare minimum of business matters, clearly trying to avoid getting involved with the infamous me.
Besides, whether she knows I can hear her or not, she occasionally mutters complaints to herself, and sometimes I hear her clicking her tongue. She’s incredibly unpleasant.
Well, it’s better for me if she avoids me like that, as it saves me from having to worry about unnecessary things.
“Huh? Then why not just fire her as your maid?” you ask?
Fool… Marion is the main heroine of EnHaza, you know? If I did that, when the main story starts, I’d be her enemy and get closer to the bad end. I don’t want to raise any unnecessary flags.
Anyway, what I need to think about now is the dinner with Cardis.
Well, the reason this happened is that Harold was trying his best to curry favor with Cardis to get his mother, Margaret’s, approval. What a brown-noser.
From the memories of the previous Harold, Cardis, being his actual brother, seemed to keep him around with the feeling that he might be useful somehow, so I don’t think it will turn out badly. It won’t, right?
Although, the way Cardis looked at him in Harold’s memories didn’t seem like how a brother would look at another brother.
But… Cardis is two years older than me, so he’s a first-year at the Royal Academy now, right?
The Royal Academy requires even Royalty to live in the Dormitory, so it’s not like it’s a long vacation period yet, so why is he at the Royal Palace? Actually, I haven’t seen him once since regaining my memories from my previous life.
…I have a bad feeling about this, but refusing would probably lead to more trouble.
“What would you like to do?”
“…Tell him I will join him.”
“Understood.”
With a respectful bow, Marion quickly leaves the room.
Even she, her manners are perfect… though I know she sometimes slacks off on her work… wait.
“Ah, that’s right.”
I’ve got a good idea.
I’ll push Marion onto Cardis at the dinner party.
That way, I can keep the heroine away from me, and Marion might be able to become Cardis’s maid, which she’s been hoping for, as he could support her. A win-win situation.
“Heh heh… that takes care of one of my concerns.”
Well, since she’s being reassigned after only a month of being my maid, those around us will probably think she incurred my displeasure.
It helps that I’m the infamous Harold in times like these, so it won’t seem out of place. It hurts to say that.
“Alright then, shall I get going?”
So, I left my room and headed to the Training Grounds.
Since regaining my memories from my previous life, I’ve been training every day to get stronger. I don’t want to die if I get caught up in an event or something.
But.
“…The problem is how to get stronger.”
In Harold’s memories, there was no concept of levels like in the game in this world.
In other words, to max out my stats, I have to train myself and get stronger… but.
“How am I supposed to raise my magic attack and magic defense when I don’t have any magic skills?”
Standing in the middle of the Training Grounds, I couldn’t help but tilt my head.
Well, as for physical stuff, I guess I can just train normally, but if that’s the logic, then I can understand that magic-related stuff can be trained by using magic, right?
But, unfortunately, Harold only has physical skills, so there’s no way for him to use magic.
“Haa… in that case, I guess I’ll have to get a weapon with magic skills and train with that…”
Some of the weapons that appear in EnHaza have unique skills.
If I use a weapon with magic skills among them, maybe I can train my magic-related stats. I’m not sure, but it’s worth a try.
It’s true that this world has the concept of skills but not levels, so it feels incomplete. The reverse is also true, though.
“In any case, what I should do is max out these weak physical stats and become a little better.”
Even after that, it’s not like there’s no way to go forward.
It’s not like there’s no way, but I don’t want to do it if I can avoid it.
“Anyway, all I can do now is do my best with what I can do.”
I took up the Wooden Sword and started swinging it repeatedly.
◇
“Nine hundred and ninety-eight… nine hundred and ninety-nine… one thousand!”
After finishing a thousand swings, I collapsed on the spot from exhaustion.
W-well… it’s quite taxing on this slightly marbled Harold body, though I wouldn’t say it’s fat…
I slowly poked my slightly protruding stomach.
I always think, why is it more embarrassing to be skinny but have a protruding stomach than to be generally overweight?
Well, to train my body and get rid of this sloppy stomach, I have to keep working hard.
More than anything, I promised Alexandra.
“In three years, I’ll become a man worthy of her… what!?”
A girl with Sapphire Eyes came into view as I tried to get up.
Why is she here!?
“A-Alexandra-dono!?”
“Prince Harold, you must be tired.”
Coming to my side as I involuntarily raised my voice, she wiped my sweat with a Handkerchief.
“W-what brings you here?”
“His Majesty the King said that I may come to the Royal Palace at any time, so I have come to see Prince Harold, though I am afraid to intrude.”
Well, as much as I’m happy that my favorite fiancée has come to see me, the Duke Chevalier family’s territory, her home, is two weeks away from the Royal Capital by carriage. She shouldn’t be able to come so easily.
More than that, even though she’s my fiancée, I’m Harold, the Incompetent Rascal Prince. She shouldn’t want to get close to me unless King Aival ordered her to…
“Actually, I received permission from my father and will be spending my time in a Townhouse in the Royal Capital until I enter the Royal Academy.”
“A… I see.”
In other words, Alexandra will be close enough to me that I can see her whenever I want.
Then, it hit me.
She’s going to determine that I’m not worthy as her fiancée, report it to her father, Duke Chevalier, and break off the Engagement.
It makes me a little sad to think about it, but I don’t want to break off the Engagement with my favorite person in order to avoid the bad end.
This… I can’t let my guard down for even a moment.
That’s what I was thinking, but.
“But… Prince Harold, you have already begun working hard to fulfill the promise you made a month ago, haven’t you?”
“A… haha…”
Alexandra praised me.
I was caught off guard, but there’s no way I wouldn’t be happy to hear that to my face. I’m really happy.
“I-I have no talent and have been lazy all along, so I have to work harder than anyone else to stand next to you as your fiancée in three years.”
“Is that so…”
Saying that, Alexandra looked sad for a moment, but quickly returned to her original expression.
And then.
“Um… if it’s alright with you, would you allow me to help you with your training?”
“Huh…?”
Alexandra put her hand on her chest and made such a request, and I couldn’t help but let out a dumbfounded voice.
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