Chapter 18 - The Imperial Prince
8 min read ·
“... Dame Noel. Are you all right?”
Stella sounded worried. Little wonder, with Noel looking deathly pale for some time now. Even on the battlefield together, she had never seen Noel this shaken. She had been like this ever since the imperial prince took Aiden away.
“If you feel unwell, please take a moment to rest. I’ll make your excuses.”
“... Then I’ll step out for a moment.”
Noel forced a smile and rose from her seat.
She walked out of the hall. Beyond the noise and splendor, the cool night air gently stirred her hair.
“...”
She looked in the direction the breeze had come from, and her face froze. Her superhuman senses let her see clearly through the darkness to what lay beyond.
Mr. Aiden. And the imperial prince.
They were sitting across a table from each other, talking.
She drew a deep breath.
‘The right to interfere...’
She had none.
Whatever he might say, she had no right to stop the prince. Given the “past” that bound them together, that was only natural. She had not let Aiden go without protest for no reason.
She turned to move away from the two men. With her hearing, she could catch every word of their conversation even at this distance.
“Break off your engagement to the Lionhearted.”
... She would have left, had she not heard those words.
“In return, Mr. Aiden, I will grant you anything you wish.”
“—”
Noel stopped dead.
Without thinking, she studied Aiden’s face. She did not know why her first impulse upon hearing that was to check his reaction. Somehow, she simply felt she had to.
He merely gazed at the prince with no particular reaction, his face blank and his thoughts unreadable.
“... May I ask why you would request that?”
At Aiden’s husky question, the prince interlaced his fingers and rested his chin on them.
“Heaven’s Light is coming, Mr. Aiden. Many interesting things will soon happen in the capital.”
That inscrutable, gentle smile remained on his face.
“I simply don’t want a decent citizen like you caught up in them because you stayed beside someone so wicked.”
“Did you just call Dame Noel wicked?”
“Oh, yes. Of course.”
Then, like a serpent’s tongue curling into coils, the prince’s voice wound around Noel’s ears.
“It’s a rather long story, but to put it simply...
“... That woman ruined my future.”
In that instant—
“That woman they call the Lionhearted is a coward, a traitor, a failure, a murderer, and a fugitive. Even she could not deny it.”
Noel’s breath stopped.
“Wouldn’t you say that’s reason enough to call her wicked?”
“...”
“If anything, shouldn’t you thank me for getting you away from a woman like that?”
“...”
“And I know who you are, Aiden Kellermain. I know what you want, too.”
The prince smiled as he spoke.
“Getting involved in matters beyond your station is a sure way to invite disaster. Haven’t you taken on something you cannot handle?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I want to give you peace.”
Aiden went still. Even Noel, who had not spent very long with him, could tell that he had been caught completely off guard. The prince, by contrast, continued watching him with the same gentle smile.
“Go home and rest. Leave the difficult matters to extraordinary people. Put some distance between yourself and all those mortal dangers.”
His assurances came one after another, as though this were the obvious choice for Aiden. As though he were calmly stating facts. As though reminding him that someone had “forced” these ill-suited duties upon him in the first place.
“And above all else...”
As if that were not the end of his offer, the prince paused before continuing. As though promising to give Aiden what he “truly” wanted.
“Whatever may happen from now on, I will protect your family. No matter what. Even if it costs me my life.”
“...”
“I swear it on the honor of the imperial family. If that is still not enough, I will even make a sacred pledge to Karva, our chief deity. I keep my word.”
“...”
“Leave the woman who saddled you with that... ‘cruel’ fate to me. Return to your old life.”
Noel clenched her hands until they bled.
He was not wrong. Everything Aiden Kellermain was going through had begun when he met her. None of it was his choice. It had all begun “because of” her.
“...”
She lowered her head, breathing hard. After hearing all that, the answer Aiden would give was obvious.
And something inside her was rejecting it.
‘... Why?’
She herself could not understand her reaction. Their relationship was bound by a contract. There was no reason for them to provide each other with emotional support.
If Aiden accepted the prince’s offer, she could simply find someone else to fill his place somehow. Surely neither of them had attached any greater value to their relationship.
But...
‘I don’t want to hear it.’
She did not want to hear that man reject her. For reasons she could not explain, the thought came unbidden.
She wanted to leave immediately, but her legs felt nailed to the ground. She could not even muster the strength to move them.
When Aiden quietly opened his mouth, Noel squeezed her eyes shut.
“Your Highness.”
But...
“There seems to be no limit to what you’ll say about my fiancée.”
The words that followed were nothing like what she had expected.
... Noel’s eyes flew wide open.
▣
A chill settled over the table. Naturally, that was the atmosphere one could expect after insulting a direct member of the imperial family.
“... It seems you still don’t understand.”
Despite what he had heard, the prince broke his brief silence with little change in demeanor.
“She does have a good public reputation. The imperial family and the military ‘manufactured’ it that way, after all. But—”
“I’m sure there’s propaganda mixed in. Plenty of terrible things must have happened during the war, too. I never thought Dame Noel was spotless to begin with.”
“...”
“As you say, Your Highness, Dame Noel may not be the person she’s made out to be. I won’t deny that.”
Aiden answered calmly.
“But even so...”
Calmly, but firmly, he delivered his answer.
“I have no intention of breaking off our engagement.”
Admittedly, everything the prince had said was unexpected. Clearly, there had been some bad history between him and Noel. That would explain his unmistakable hostility.
But however dark and momentous those events might have been, Aiden had a reason he absolutely could not give up on this marriage.
-Quest Info
▶ Failure in the events listed here will incur severe penalties!
◈ Sham Marriage
- You have been chosen as Dame Noel’s spouse. Maintain your contract with her to the end!
The reason he could never give up was spelled out right there, plain as day.
‘Is this bastard trying to get me killed...?!’
No matter what happened, he could not abandon his relationship with Noel...!
His only option was to keep it going, even if it killed him...!
“... You will face a great many things you cannot handle.”
At the prince’s solemn pronouncement, Aiden inwardly ground his teeth.
Yes, he understood everything the man was saying, but...
‘I’ll die right now if I break off the engagement...!’
He somehow turned that desperation into a relaxed smile and answered.
“I’m prepared for that.”
The immediate response left the prince silent for a moment. It felt as though he was taking Aiden’s measure, unable to fathom what he was thinking.
“... You would do well to think carefully.”
The prince’s voice was cold. Presumably, he was warning Aiden that he might make an enemy of him as well.
‘What do you want me to do...?!’
It was better than dying on the spot, damn it...!
“I don’t mind.”
When even that answer came without hesitation, the prince stared at him, speechless.
“... Why go so far? You’re only bound to Dame Noel by a contract.”
What reason was there? He was doing it because he had to...
But there was no point explaining that. Whatever he said, the prince seemed likely to keep pestering him.
Time to put his brain to work.
He did not know why the prince was demanding that he break off the engagement, but at the very least, he had to stop him from continuing to interfere in their relationship like this. It was annoying, and a tremendous nuisance.
The best pretext for putting a stop to it in one fell swoop, then, would be...
‘Ah.’
There was one.
Even if it did not solve the problem, it would give him grounds to shut down any attempts by the prince to worm his way in and “persuade” him.
“I...”
Aiden beamed, as though speaking from the heart without the slightest trace of deceit.
“Have feelings for her.”
... He lied without so much as batting an eye. Such brazen confidence befitted a man whose day job was fraud.
“...”
For the first time, the smile vanished from the prince’s face. He looked as though that answer had never even crossed his mind.
“... You have feelings for her?”
“Yes.”
“... And for that alone, you would make an enemy of the crown prince? The man who will rule the Empire?”
“Yes.”
Silence fell, far heavier and more profound than before.
A long time passed like that.
“Ha.”
With that brief exhalation—
“Ha... Hahahaha!”
He burst into uproarious laughter.
-System Message
▶ You have made contact with the ‘Usurper,’ Arden Brimstone Lionel.
▶ [Malice] has increased by 1 level!
▶ A new function of ‘Weaver of Fate’ has been unlocked.
▶ Copying a ‘Mutated Skill’ from the target!
“...?”
Aiden frowned at the system window that appeared. He had never seen one like it before. Until now, he had copied skills as affection increased. What was all this about Malice levels and Mutated Skills?
Before he could even finish wondering, another window appeared.
-System Message
▶ The affection of target ‘Noel Astria Seamus’ has increased.
▶ Affection has increased tremendously!
▶ Bond has surged from Level 3 to Level 5.
▶ You have gained 2 additional skill copies!
▶ Your accumulated Bond is sufficiently high. The way ‘Weaver of Fate’ applies will soon change!
▶ Related content will soon be added to the Main Quest!
▶ A new entry has been added to the quest ‘Sham Marriage’!
“...”
Now what had gotten into her...?