I apologize, it has become long again, so it will be in two parts!
The first episode of the manga adaptation is now available for free on Nico Nico Manga and Piccoma! Please check it out.
“Your Highness, this way. The two others have not yet arrived, but would you care for a beverage of your preference?”
“…Thank you. It seems I have arrived a bit early. Perhaps something warm?”
“Understood.”
Even without specifying a brand, the castle maids know his preferences. The maid, without hesitation at the vague request, gave a graceful bow and began preparations.
Elvan, having taken a seat at the table prepared on the terrace of the Princess’s Palace, took a sip of the tea prepared by the maid and slowly exhaled.
He had been summoned by his sister to discuss something, and he had arrived earlier than the appointed time because he wanted this time to calm his mind. More than that, he sought an opportunity to speak with the two girls who had been close to him since childhood but were now distant.
As Crown Prince, Elvan never moves alone. Like Princess Elena, he is always attended by several Royal Knights and chamberlains, but for this invitation from Princess Elena, Elvan brought only his chamberlain.
Only those trusted by His Majesty the King are allowed to enter the Princess’s Palace. A viscount’s daughter without an invitation cannot even approach, and even Prince Amor, a member of the royal family, is not allowed to enter the Princess’s Palace without the Princess’s permission.
Even so, Elvan wanted to come here alone. His spirit was driven to the edge.
His childhood friends left him as Elvan changed.
His half-sister, whom he had trusted, left him because he did not change.
The son of the Baron of Law, who had become a new friend, was said to be weakening day by day, on the verge of death.
His uncle, who had protected him, had become ambitious as if he were a different person, spending all his time with the Aristocratic Faction and the Second Knight Order, which had become his faction.
And—
“Miss Clara, daughter of the Margrave of Dandole, has arrived.”
At the maid’s voice, Elvan looked up and saw Clara, accompanied by several maids, entering the terrace.
“Clara…”
As Elvan rose slightly, seeing her after so long despite being his fiancée, Clara’s escort maids gave him wary looks. Clara, gesturing them to stay back, dismissed the maids and walked alone to the table.
“It’s been a while… Your Highness.”
“…It has.”
Elvan, shocked by Clara’s different way of addressing him than before, managed to greet her.
The maid at the table placed a drink in front of Clara, and as the other attendants retreated to the wall where the other chamberlains were, Elvan spoke once they were alone.
“…I wanted to see you.”
“…Why? I thought you had forgotten about me.”
“That’s not true… It’s not like that.”
Clara looked at him, slightly surprised by Elvan’s momentarily raised voice, and Elvan lowered his voice and shook his head.
A moment of silence. They both had things they wanted to say and things they wanted to ask, but they feared putting them into words, afraid of not receiving the desired answer.
It was—
“First Princess, Princess Elena, has arrived.”
Elena, entering the terrace, was accompanied by her former friends, Mikhail and Rookwell. Unable to bear the cold eyes that his friends directed at him, he shifted his gaze to his sister, but Elena, with even colder eyes, wore a manufactured smile.
“Oh, Brother, good day. And Clara too.”
“Ah, yes…”
“Good day, Elena-sama.”
Mikhail and Rookwell, showing their allegiance to Elena, lined up with the attendants, and Elena took a seat between Elvan and Clara, facing them.
A maid placed a drink in front of Elena, and once the three were alone, Elena began to speak.
“Thank you for coming today. I wanted to hear what you both have to say.”
“Talk…?”
Elvan asked involuntarily, and Elena nodded quietly.
“Yes. What do you intend to do, Brother?”
“What do you mean…”
Nobles use vague and roundabout expressions to avoid giving weaknesses or being caught out, but Elvan was taken aback by Elena’s direct way of speaking.
“Do you intend to become king, Brother? For what purpose?”
“That is…”
Elvan hesitated involuntarily. It had been decided that he would become king ever since he was born. So he had never questioned it. He had childishly imagined himself as king, wanting to create a country where everyone could live happily.
But as his education became stricter, his mother told the young Elvan, who was complaining, that it was okay to be more free. That was why he felt sorry for his sister, who had ruined her health due to the strict education, and took her out into the bright world. Believing that it was the right thing to do…
But his sister, standing before his eyes, did not want that.
“Brother. I will become queen. For the sake of the people. To protect this country. Even if it means dying for it… for the sake of those who follow.”
“…”
Elvan could not respond to Elena, who declared while looking straight into Elvan’s eyes.
Elvan realized that he was running away. In a peaceful world, he could have become an ordinary king. That was why he had received a strict education, and the two margrave families of the old royal family were by the king’s side.
His mother had told him that if it was hard, he should run away. But—
“Brother… stop running away. Commoners may run away. Lower nobles may have somewhere to escape to… But we, the royal family, are never allowed to run away.”
People say to run away if things are tough. Because there is nothing worse than death… But that is the way of thinking of those below. Those above are never allowed to run away.
Elena was saying that if Elvan was going to run away, she would become queen in his place. That she would never run away and would continue to fight for the people and the country, risking her life.
Elena’s eyes were telling him to show it in his attitude if he was going to continue running away. To yield the Crown Prince’s seat to his sister and become like Amor.
Even with Elvan’s ‘Eyes,’ he could understand that Elena had gained enough experience to make that resolution.
“At least, break off your relationship with that viscount’s daughter. Otherwise—”
—You will die.
But before those words could escape Elena’s lips, Elvan denied it with a pale face.
“No, Elena! She… Licia is not like that.”
“…Brother?”
It had been painful since childhood.
His overly talented sister. His overly talented friends. His fiancées were also true nobles who had received elite education since birth. Clara, the only one who had sensibilities close to his own, treated him like a young child.
Carla and the Pink Hair Girl both possessed terrifying powers that belied their young age.
There was no way he could fall in love with such girls. Elvan, who had grown up hearing love stories between his mother, a former viscount’s daughter, and his father, found it painful to marry someone chosen for him just because he was a noble.
Elvan knew the “difference” between himself and those around him precisely because he had seen it with his ‘Eyes.’
Elvan’s Divine Protection (Gift) — ‘Complete Appraisal’ — allows him to see “everything” about the target person. That was why he was made aware of the difference between himself and them, and he became infatuated with — and drowned in — Licia, a girl who truly had no power.
He felt comfortable by her side, as she affirmed him like his mother.
He was coddled like in a lukewarm bath of sweet honey, and he sought her out as if to escape reality.
He could trust her precisely because she had less than he did.
It’s okay to run away if it’s hard. If you just become king, your excellent retainers will take care of everything. Licia entangled Elvan’s body and soul, telling him that she would always be by his side.
Her — Licia’s Divine Protection (Gift) is ‘Bewitchment’ — its effect is a slight increase in favorability. People cannot harbor ill feelings towards her… that is all it does.
She called it the ‘Heroine’s Power.’ He did not understand what that meant. However, although it was an ability that had almost no effect on those who hated her or were hostile to her from the beginning, she used her skillful speaking and her own body to quickly increase her followers and even rise to the seat of Saint.
And Elvan gradually became terrified of her insane behavior.
“Now, the Aristocratic Faction, the Holy Church, and the Second Knight Order… almost all of them are on her side. I saw it… the terrifying ‘darkness’ within her… Elena, you must not antagonize her. If she disappears, many people will die…”
Terrifying… but he cannot leave.
Even with how terrifying she was, she didn’t seem like a bad person.
Even if he thought it was because of her Divine Protection (Gift), Elvan found solace only in the place where she was.
“…”
Elena looked at her brother and realized that his Divine Protection (Gift) was the same ability as the previous Crown Prince who died young.
Elena’s uncle, the Second Prince, used his power extensively for the sake of his brother, the King, and lost his life at a young age. But thanks to that, dangerous nobles and spies from other countries within the kingdom were eliminated, and a temporary peace was achieved.
What he really should have done was eliminate the Viscount’s daughter who was merely lovely and in love, but the brotherly Second Prince couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Elvan was using that power only for his own sake.
By seeing “something” inside Saint Licia and “seeing” the people who blindly believed in her, he understood that if the Saint were to disappear, those people would run wild and much blood would be shed.
That’s why Elena and the others were planning to eliminate her, but if they believed Elvan’s story, Elena understood that they needed to eliminate the power on her side first.
However, it was difficult to do that in the short time before graduation.
No matter how much power Aria had, if they tried to eliminate her by force, their malice would be directed at Elena and the royal family.
Elena took her, a free force, into her fold as an external deterrent… and even more to protect Aria, but Aria, who had stepped onto the stage, had her actions restricted.
But Elena had a solution that Aria couldn’t do.
(…To think I’d really have to use the “poisoned chalice.”)
It wasn’t a method Elena liked to use either, but she was already prepared to take the blame for killing her brother. At worst, she could remove her from the education of the Queen Consort and leave it to the Second Prince, who had begun his own royal education.
But in that case, Clara, who was present, would no longer be able to become Queen.
Clara, who had previously been mentally ill and showed dangerous signs, had finally made up her mind, and the petty bourgeois thinking that had appeared since she was eight years old had subsided, giving Elena the impression that she had returned to the noble Dandole princess she had been before.
This meeting was also meant to confirm that.
When Elena turned her gaze to Clara, who had been silent since the beginning of the meeting, Clara was staring intently at Elvan.
“I can’t say that I can protect you…”
Clara quietly opened her mouth, and Elvan turned his haggard face towards her.
In his eyes floated despair, or the fear of being rejected… But Clara smiled slightly before continuing.
“But… I want to be with you. …El-sama.”
“Clara…”
Clara was also a daughter of a high-ranking noble. She understood that she would be ruined if things continued as they were. But even so… even if it meant dying. Clara said that she would be with Elvan.
Whether he understood the meaning or not, Elvan’s eyes wavered in confusion.
Elena, while rejoicing at the sight of her “cousin” finally returning, narrowed her eyes slightly, wondering if she would lose her soon.
But at that moment—
“Eh…”
A small sphere of “Darkness” appeared in front of Elena, and when it burst in an instant, a single pendant appeared from within.
Elena knew what it was. Only Elvan and Clara noticed the phenomenon, and Elena, who gently touched it, opened the small piece of paper tied to the pendant and read it, narrowing her eyes so much that a slight Killing Intent burst forth, but she smiled thinly.
“Elena-sama…?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Elena, with a chilling smile, turned to Clara, who had called out to her in confusion, and faced Clara and Elvan.
“It seems Aria has passed away?”
While Mikhail and Rookwell were entrusted with guarding Elena, who was meeting with the Crown Prince and Clara from noon, I visited the Holy Church’s Temple in the guise of an Adventurer from the morning.
“…It’s amazing how quickly it’s been rebuilt.”
I couldn’t help but mutter such a thought as I looked at the newly completed Temple.
The Holy Church’s Temple, which Carla had burned down, should have been mostly destroyed, although the foundation remained. The fact that it was rebuilt in less than half a year, even in this world with Magic, made me unable to imagine how much effort and funds were poured into it.
Perhaps the nobles also provided funds, but it was probably related to the believers of Dark Magic and Earth Magic throughout the country.
However, the reason why it was possible to enter quite far into the Temple, even for ordinary believers who had donated, was because it was newly completed, and there were many people, including many Adventurers like me, and I could enter the Temple without any problems even while wearing a cloak.
But the reason for that was to show the legitimacy of the Guidance Squad, which had become a rumor for a while, and the Holy Church had given up on questioning Carla’s sin, and because the “Saint” was there.
Saint… I don’t know what that is, what kind of existence it is, but I felt like she was loved in the current Holy Church.
“…”
The people involved in the Temple. The commoner believers who worship. From the children in the Orphanage in the back of the Temple, I occasionally heard the words “Saint-sama.”
…There was no sign of being brainwashed in particular. I felt that the children admired the Saint from the bottom of their hearts.
That’s why there was a sense of incongruity. According to Theo, she should only be able to use Light Magic of level 1 or 2. Why would such a person be revered and admired as a Saint?
Should I go to the back…? As I memorized the structure of the Temple as if I were strolling around the backyard where building materials still remained, a reddish-dark blonde girl was looking down at me with a smile from the top of the external stairs that probably led to the back.
“This area is off-limits.”
What will happen to Aria? What is the meaning of Elena’s smile?
The reason will be revealed next time! Part 2
Will the author, who gave up on trying to put it all together in one chapter this time, be able to finish it next time!?
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