I know in my head that this is crazy, but for some reason my heart wells up with joy when I spend time with Pina. I asked my fatherâs trusted aides, with no other words to be spoken,ăDo you have any idea of this inexplicable phenomenon, where the womanâs behavior and words and actions are repulsive to you, but for some reason, your feelings are joyful without your permission?ăBut I didnât get the reaction what I was hoping for.ăWe all do that, more or less, when we have a partner we like during puberty.ăHe only looked at me with what smiling eyes, and he didnât take me up on my question about the possibility that she had used charm or mind manipulation magic to get under the protection that I, a royal, wore.
Because itâs crazy, this person⊠When Iâm alone, I miss Remy, but when Iâm with Pina, I donât care about anyone but Pina. Itâs like my feelings donât belong to me and Iâm scared.
Pina, who was initially looked at from afar and calledăa person without common senseăby the whole school, is now a popular person in all grades. Some of them even came up to us and asked Pina for an autograph, sayingăthey wanted the blessing of the Star Maiden,ăeven though they were with us. It was too unnatural.
ăHey, Your Majesty, Will⊠I wonder if Remilia-sama doesnât like me.ă
ăNhn? âŠNo, itâs probably just my imagination.ă
She initiated the conversation, but end it there in a brusque manner. If this had been about another person, I would have asked,ăWhatâs your point?ăand that person would have choked up.
I felt as if my ability to think had been reduced by Pina, who touched my hand while saying,ăItâs okay.ăWhich one of these am I happy about? âŠNo, Iâm glad Remy is jealous of me. I guess I am happy to know that Remy likes me to the point of jealousy. It was never because Pina held my hand.
There are things that even that perfect lady, the talented Remy, canât control. Itâs amazingly cute that she was jealous of Pina, who is just a partner in my countryâs business, like a normal girl.
I didnât realize at this time that the pressure in my heartăto be a king worthy of Remyăhad lightened a little.
I had accepted it at that time.ăRemilia, the duchess who is jealous of Pina.ăI gladly recognized it as the truth.
The next thing I heard was Remyâs jealousy becoming more and more irritating⊠There were several eyewitnesses, so I and my entourage, including Claude, no longer doubted it was true.
I tried to get through to her several times, but Remy stubbornly refused to admit thatăshe had done anything.ăRemyâs friends have told me that she wasăactually doing thisăandăsaying that,ăwhich corroborates Pinaâs testimony.
It is bad publicity to be told that the future queen is at loggerheads with the Star Maiden, a symbol of the founding of the kingdom alongside the heroes. Just as we were working to solve the problem somehow, an incident occurred in which Pina was pushed down the stairs by Remy.
Remy was⊠When people gathered, she stands there with her hands outstretched and says nothing. Irritated by the lack of even a hint of apology, I moved with Pina to the first aid room without speaking to her.
Pina, who apparently twisted her leg and bruised it in several places, was very vocal,ăItâs my fault, Iâm being favored by Williard over Remilia-samaâŠăShe was being treated behind the curtains while saying such things. The magician treating her was sympathetic to Pina, who often comes to the emergency room with injuries related with Remy.
In an accident, but if it was an accident, why not even an apology? While I was thinking about such things in a roundabout way, as if I was protecting Remy, Miss Pina, who seemed to have finished her treatment, clung to my arm.
ăPoor⊠Will, Your Majesty⊠Youâre engaged to that person like thisâŠă
ăThat person..?ă
How could a duchess be calledăthat personăby a viscountess, even though she was adopted? In my head I know it is terribly insane and disrespectful, but for some reason I donât feel like reprimanding her. All along, Iâve been subconsciously restricting my behavior, trying to keep Pina fromăhatingăme.
ăI donât care how much she like Will-sama, she canât do this to me⊠Itâs too muchâŠ!ă
ăRemy was,ă
She did this because she likes me.
I felt joy as I muttered this. Up until now, Remy has been sneaking around⊠She was aware of the harassment with not a few witnesses and evidence left behind, as if she was doing it in secret. She doesnât admit it, but I find it cute when I think it is also her resistance to me. Furthermore, I canât believe that Remy loved me enough to do this.
An incoming queen who is jealous of the Star Maiden and perpetrates harm to her would be considered unfit.
Even with Remyâs achievements up to now, it cannot be said that there were no such flaws. Even outside the academy, this ugly news was circulated, especially among the aristocrats of the parentsâ generation.
I set the scene for the hand-wringing, and Remy made a formal apology to the Star Maiden. If I do this much, people around me will be satisfied⊠Then Remy will thank me. She had no choice but to thank me.
But no matter how much praise she was subsequently heaped on her for being a wonderful queen, this one incident would cast a shadow over Remyâs achievements. In the future, she will not be appreciated with open arms. They may say, âShe is competent, but she has a personality problem.â I can just imagine her apologizing before the wedding a few years later, saying,ăIâm sorry about that, I liked Will too much at the time, and something went wrong.ă
âŠThatâs right, a little crazy is more appropriate for a mediocre crown prince like me.
Ahh, Remy has fallen to where I am. We are finally equal.
Claude takes the initiative to organize and arrange the evidence and witnesses so that she cannot be excused as before. If she still refuses to admit her guilt even after all of this, there is no possibility of rehabilitation.
She had not thought about it. I canât believe she would go this far and still deny it⊠I donât think Remy had one because she was a smart woman. Claude says that I could cancel the engagement as a punishment to change Remyâs mind once and for all. He said,ăMy sister is that stubborn, once she gets stubborn.ă
ăYouâre right. Then⊠In fact, Iâll break off the engagement. But she was a brilliant woman, and even if she had to retreat to the countryside, it would be easy for her to use her ideas and skills to quickly make achievements and return to aristocratic society once again. At that time, once again, I will welcome her into the royal family, assuming that purification ceremony has been completed and the domestic aristocracyâs opposition is gone. If the engagement is called off, make sure Claude to blast Remy so she doesnât go rotten and lock herself away.ă
ăI donât know if I can hold the reins of my sister.ă
I had no doubt at the time. Remy, who had indeed given up on excusing herself, bowed her head, even if only formally, and that was the end of her external appeal. I said I could re-create memories of our school days until the graduation ceremony and marry Remy a few years after I left the academy. That I donât have to hold somewhat demeaning feelings as I have in the past, and that I can be equal in our relationship by forgiving Remyâs flaws, thatâs right⊠I was thinking about that.
I didnât expect her to be stubborn to the end. I wanted to speak in a small voice,ăPlease, acknowledge me,ăbut I couldnât do that with Pina strapped to my arm.
Pina smells more than usual of that sweet perfume, and I have to do what Pina wants, or I will ignore the thoughtfulness I should have cultivated as the crown prince.
Remy would not admit to any of the charges. It was as if she really had no idea what we were talking about. Her words that she had done no harm to Pina seemed to be true.ăIâm not jealous,ăitâs like sheâs denying that she has feelings for me⊠While Pina stuck to my arms conveyed a sense of intoxication⊠I found myself talking about breaking off an engagement that I had only considered in case I had to do it.
I know that Duke Graupner was much more disappointed in Remy than I expected, and even gave her an abandoned village without a single inhabitant as her fiefdom, but I know that she is not a woman to give up in such a small amount. Because⊠Because Remy liked me enough to do something like that. Thatâs why she wouldnât give up her feelings for me because of something like this.
At first it was good. I could only hear Remy talking about how hard she was working from nothing, and I even felt superior that she was working so hard to get back to my side. Furthermore, after graduating from the school, Pina received requests from aristocrats from all over the country. As she traveled around the country in her capacity as guardian of the Star Maiden, Pina and us were applauded each time she gave strength to a thinning farmland or revived a dwindling water source.
After a while, Pina went abroad⊠She also wanted to go on a journey to defeat demons, and when I kept dismissing it as not possible, her attitude got worse and worse. She began to antagonize those around her, and quickly changed from being allowed some rudeness asăThe Star Maiden who was not dyed by the nobilityătoăa fool who has been a member of the nobility for more than a year and has not even learned proper manners.ă
Even so, she is still occasionally asked for her power as the Star Maiden, but apparently Pinaâs power as a star maiden is much weaker than the depiction in the lore, and there are many discouraging reactions. Then Pina would get even more peeved and throw a tantrum.
ăMy strength is weak because of Will and the others who wonât train with me!!ă
Saying that I have an office as the crown prince doesnât get through to Pina. When I asked her if she wanted to hunt magical beasts on the way to the requested work, she refused for some unintelligible reason, saying,ăI havenât even seen their names in this place, and itâs okay because no events are going to happen.ă
Many times, I told her,ăThen you can go for a few days with a female knight,ăbut she said she didnât want women in the mix. Even though she is a candidate, I cannot allow her to stay out with only the opposite sex for any reason, for physical reasons. Pina was not convinced when I told her so, and she resented it. This was repeated every time.
When I was tired of dealing with Pina. Remyâs achievements began to be appreciated much earlier than I had expected. Contrary to that, my direct control was slowly waning⊠If you have a city that is starting to prosper and develop a little further away, this amount of population change will happen with a temporary spike in employment, itâs acceptableâŠ
Even the thought of it rekindles my jealousy of Remy, which I thought I had conquered long ago. Ahh⊠I knew it, she was amazing at everything she does. All I can do is laugh at myself dryly.
Pina, too, I used to think she was prettier when I was a student. Even though I was frustrated with her selfishness, I was willing to listen to her and say,ăIt canât be helped.ă Because this girl is safe and loving⊠Like Remy, I never had the feeling that I would be more miserable than I was, and I guess thatâs what made me get into it without thinking about it. I am sure that is why I feel I like Pina. If Remy came back to me, I would have been willing to take her as a concubine or a concubine, as she seems to be not too full of herself. Because if Pina were there, Remy would be jealous. Ahh, obviously, I had no intention of making her my wife, as my patron nobleman had told me. But I would have liked her enough to want her by my side in the future.
Now, whenever she begs me for something that is out of the ordinary, I almost scream out loud out of frustration. I thought she was stupid, I thought she was stupid and inferior to me, and I thought that was cute, but now I was annoyed that she was learning more than a dog.