CH 36.1

“That’s the fourth one.”

*Clink*

Accompanying those words was the delicate sound of a porcelain tea cup, which brought Albert back to reality.

“Thank you… what’s the fourth one?”

“The number of times you sighed.” – Said Natalia; she had a concerned expression on her face.

“……I… see… . ”

Aside from those simple words, Albert didn’t say anything. He just grabbed the tea cup and leaned back into the couch.

The two of them were in the student council room, a place located at the top floor of the academy.

The student council room was big, like a huge party hall. There was a beautiful and expensive chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the windows were big and a lot of sunlight illuminated the place. There was also a pair of comfortable couches, with a small coffee table in between them, in one of the corners of the room.

But although the place was far from looking like a normal office, Albert’s desk was, as usual, packed with documents, which showed that this was indeed the student council room. However, he was the exception. All the other student council member’s desks were clean… they had already finished their work.

“What’s wrong, Albert? You were absent minded throughout the whole day… and you looked a bit depressed… . ” – Said Natalia, as she poured a cup of tea for herself and sat beside Albert.

“It’s just… I can’t concentrate today… that’s all… . ” – Said Albert, with a smile, as he tried to gloss it over.

But that didn’t work on Natalia, after all, she knew why he was like that–

“–I see… so it’s about Leonora, isn’t it?”

Albert didn’t say anything to defend himself. He just kept quietly sipping on his tea as he looked the other way. However, he was going against his cousin, and to her, that was the same thing as admitting that she was right.

Few things could make Natalia’s perfect cousin lose his concentration… and Leonora was one of them.

“Albert, you know you can rely on me, right? So please, tell me what’s going on.” – Said Natalia, as she gently grabbed Albert’s hand.

“I already said it’s nothing… you don’t have to worry about me… . ”

“If it’s nothing, then why are you so depressed?”

Albert had a lot of responsibilities.

He had to act the part of an outstanding student council president and an even more outstanding crown prince. But he wasn’t very good at expressing his emotions when he was sad… his repeated sighs were a clear sign that something was wrong.

That’s why Natalia would sometimes sit down and make him talk. Otherwise, he’d just bottle things up, which wasn’t a healthy thing to do.

With a sour look on his face, Albert returned the tea cup back to the table, then he said–

“–I’m not good enough for her.”

“You’re not good enough? What do you mean by that–?”

Albert was one of the most handsome and intelligent men of the whole empire, so it was a bit surprising that he, of all people, would be having problems with love.

“–You’re the Crown Prince of the Weiz Empire and the best student council president that the magic academy ever had. The nobles and the commoners love you. And you also have enough spirit power to be a Child Loved by the Spirits. Isn’t that good enough?”

“Thanks for the praise, but… that’s just propaganda. We both know I don’t have nearly enough spirit power to be considered a Child Loved by the Spirits… and I’m not the best student council president… that incident * is the proof… . ”

( *Tl/n: The original was ⇒ Harlet’s incident, but that wasn’t good enough, so I changed it to ⇒ that incident.)

“But you were the one who united the commoners, the lower nobles and the high nobles. The academy is at peace because you did your best to improve things.”

“But at what price…? By putting a little girl in a position that she didn’t want?” – Said Albert; his tone was sad and he had a bitter expression on his face.

“Albert, listen–”

“–I scared her, Natalia… . ”

Albert then began his explanation of what happened in Richard, on the day of the Festival.

“Leonora went there to visit some friends that lived in an orphanage. She even brought along some soldiers of the Harkenberg household to protect her. But while the soldiers were busy doing something else, a thug began to harass her—”

It was faint, but Natalia could see a smile forming on Albert’s lips—

“—She was gallant… she was protecting Kai and the woman behind her with just a kitchen knife—”

—However, that smile was soon replaced by the same bitter expression that he was making earlier.

“—But instead of attacking the thug… she was ready to hurt herself… . ”

Albert was hurt and angry.

Hurt because his loved one almost killed herself.

And angry because she was forced her to do that.

“I went there to enjoy the festival… I didn’t know she was in Richard… I found her by chance… and I lost my cool trying to protect her… . ”

If Albert wasn’t there, something irreversible would’ve happened.

Why she did that?

Why she tried to hurt herself?

Why she doesn’t want my help?

Those were the questions that Albert kept asking himself. However, once he realized why Leonora was acting like that–

“I didn’t want her to see my violent side, but that thug was pissing me off… so I broke his arm… and then I told her that I would lock her in her room * if she did it again.”

–Albert became depressed.

( *Tl/n: That “I’ll be forced to lock you up” that Albert said on the last chapter had a double meaning of “I’ll be forced to put you in house arrest,” and can also mean “I’ll be forced to lock you in your room,” which is a common punishment for bad kids.)

Natalia was, in a way, really confused. Her brain was so fried by all the romance novels she had read so far, that she couldn’t understand why Leonora would be scared by that.

A handsome prince beating up some thugs to save a maiden in distress was every girl’s dream. Even more so if the charming prince was slightly sadistic. It added an extra spice to the whole thing.

And that’s exactly why Albert didn’t want to talk with her at first.

“I know what you’re thinking Natalia, but Leonora isn’t a normal girl… she hates violence because of all the bad things that happened in her past. She used to live in confinement, remember? And I said she would have to go through that hell again, so of course she’d be scared… who wouldn’t…?”

(Ugh! That’s right, I forgot about that! This isn’t a novel! Of course a normal girl would be scared if she saw someone breaking another person’s arm!)

“For me, of all people, to forget something like that… I’m ashamed of myself… . ”

“That’s exactly how I felt when I realized that, you know…? She was really scared… she was even flailing her arms and legs around, in an attempt to escape from me. But I couldn’t simply let her go… I was afraid. She would probably disappear again if I did that… and I couldn’t let it happen a second time.” – Said Albert, as he lifted his head to look outside of the window.

To some, it was like he was staring at the void… but he was actually having flashbacks of the day of the presentation.

Fear, anger… and frustration.

On that day, he felt all of them at the same time.

“Haha, I’m so pathetic—”

Albert looked down and stared at his tea cup; he was looking at his own reflection on the tea with a mocking smile on his face—

“—I just want to be by her side and protect her… but my presence alone is enough to put her in danger. I can’t even protect her without losing my cool and scaring her. It always works when I try to help others… but it never works when I do the same for her… what the hell is wrong with me…?”

—However, even that wasn’t enough to hide the tears spilling out of his eyes.

“Albert… . ”

Natalia was worried. Albert was always calm and collected. She had never seen him acting like that, so she didn’t know what to say. However, as if to imply that none of that ever happened, Albert wiped his tears and smiled, like he usually did, then he said–

“–I’m, uh, sorry… for worrying you… I just wanted to get that out of my chest. I’ve been feeling weird lately… I get angry easily. Even when Gustav was scolding Leonora because of that water crest, I had the urge to enter that room and beat him, like I did to that thug… I’m always worried that she’ll disappear again.” ( Tl/n: Ch-26.2)

“But that’s because you care about her, so you’re not weird! Even I care about her!”

“And that’s the problem.”

“Problem…? Why caring about someone would be a problem!?” – Said Natalia, in an angry tone.

She was furious. To her, it was like Albert was forsaking the little girl… but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“It is a problem because we care about her… but she doesn’t.”

When Natalia heard that, she calmed down a bit. However, she was still a bit confused, so she asked–

“–What do you mean she doesn’t care about herself…?”

“Think about it. She’s always the first one to jump in front of someone to save them. She did that during the tea party to save Bianca… during the presentation to save everyone… during our business meeting to save Oscar, Rolf and me… and during the winter festival to save Kai and the woman that was with them. She always does that, so we need a to change the way she thinks, but , without locking her in her room and without scaring her… . ”

Changing someone’s mindset could be a extremely hard job sometimes. Even Natalia didn’t know how they would do that. After all, the person in question, Leonora, was so altruistic, that she didn’t even mind laying down her own life for the sake of others.

“That will be hard… really, really hard… you know that, right?”

“Yes, I know… and I have a plan–” – Said Albert, with a serious expression.

He was way more serious than normal.

“–We just have to save the people she’s trying to save, before she can save them.”

“So we have to ‘save the people she’s trying to save,’ huh? That will be even harder.”

“Yes, it will–”

Albert then stood up and approached the window. In the distance, he could see the silhouette of a beautiful–no, a decaying city.

“–But this time we have a clue. When I went to Richard, I noticed that the city had changed. The streets were filthy… and the drinking water was dirty. The spirit church used to take care of those things, but now, no one is doing anything.”

“T-the water is dirty!?”

“Yes… it’s not just a shortage of water like we thought… something big is going on there.”

The petals of the flowers planted during the Winter Festival, were used to pay respect to the spirits during the Spirit Festival. But with all the reliable sources of clean water now gone, there would be a huge problem on their hands soon enough, since most flowers needed clean water to grow.

And if one of the most anticipated festivals failed because of a water shortage, the citizens would certainly blame the nobles and royal family for that. Some would probably even say that Harlet was right all along… and then a revolt would start.

“Leonora is smart… I’m sure she already knows what is happening in Richard. She’ll probably try to solve things on her own again, but since we have more people on our side, we have the upperhand, after all, I’m cooperating with the Bernsteins and their water business.”

“A water business?”

Albert then told Natalia everything about the new water business that Oscar’s brother, Francis, was taking care of, which picked her interest.

“I see, so you guys were already trying to help the citizens of that city…. but Francis is still in need of more water mages, right? Well, it’s not going to be easy, but I think I can handle that… I have some connections.”

“Thanks, that helps a lot.”

Hiring more water mages was the best option they had right now, since the other two weren’t that viable.

Normal magic crests were too expensive to use them all the time. And the less expensive version was still considered unstable.

The other option was hiring more spirit mages* , but since most of them were affiliated with the church, and considering what the went through recently, the chance of them accepting the job was less than 10%. ( *Tl/n: That name is probably going to change in the future, but I’ll use it till then.)

“Francis is trying to approach that situation in a way that is both beneficial to the population and to his family, since they are earning money and helping people. The Bernsteins are creating more job opportunities and the number of jobless people is decreasing. But Leonora’s way of doing things will harm the progress we made… and she’s probably unaware of that.”

“Well, in a way she’d be a great Queen, after all, she really cares about the well-being of the citizens.” – Said Natalia, with a teasing grin.

Albert was happy in hearing that; there was a big smile plastered on his face. But since he had his back turned to her, Natalia didn’t see that–

“Yeah… I think so too.”

–However, although his happy tone gave him away pretty easily, it didn’t change the fact that there was something worrying Albert.

Francis had a great idea. Most cities were too dependent on the Spirit Faith… however, he wanted to change that. His project would benefit the entirety of the Empire in the long run. But unfortunately, not everyone seemed to agree with him.

It was the duty of the local lord to create a good environment for his citizens to live in. But most of them didn’t even care about that, which began their dependency on the church, since they did everything for free. However, the Bernstein company was a paid service that was being backed by the Crown Prince of their own country, so they had to comply, after all, the church didn’t have enough people, nor the capital, to do what they used to.

“Haaah∼, what is it this time? Are you afraid of the opposition? You’re the crown prince of this country, so your word is law. If you know what’s good for your people, then don’t be afraid of doing what you want.”

Apart from being his cousin and childhood friend, Natalia was also a candidate for being the next Queen. She was the one who spent the most time with him on a daily basis, so she knew he was a bit reluctant to make the final decision.

However, she was slightly wrong this time.

“No, I’m not afraid of the opposition… I was just contemplating my decision. I know what I have to do. We need more people who know how to use water spells, it doesn’t matter if they’re from the church or not. I’ll make sure of that every single one of them is working for us… even if I have to become the bad guy and do that by force.” – Said Albert, as he turned around to at Natalia.

His eyes were serious. They lacked the fear a normal person would feel when they were about to do something reckless.

“Y-you want to hire the spirit mages from the church!? Do you know how much the nobles hate them!?”

Albert looked over his shoulder and glanced at Richard one last time, then he turned around and said–

“–It’s not just Richard, there are signs of the same thing happening in other cities… and outside of their walls, the livelihood of the citizens is even worse. Some people live near the sewage and that’s the only source of water they have. Even the poor people inside the walls have it better than them. So if we’re going to help lower-class citizens, then we’re going to help everyone , because I don’t want to see a little kid drinking muddy water ever again–”

Albert’s tone was heavy… and Natalia knew why. She couldn’t even imagine what those people were going through.

“–Richard’s Mayor, Sir Hagmeyer, was already looking into those matters, but he wasn’t prepared for what happened after Harlet’s incident, after all, he suddenly lost the church’s support. And if we don’t do something soon, even more people will suffer.”

“I… see. So we’re out of time, huh?”

“Unfortunately, yes, we’re out of time. When things start getting worse, the weak are always the most affected… and the ones who should’ve been protecting them aren’t doing anything. I don’t want to sit in my chair and do nothing, I need to help them. After all, this is what she would do if she were in my place.”

“Albert… . ”

Natalia was impressed. This was the first time, in ages, that her cousin took the initiative to do something he really wanted to.

(Look at him, he’s all grown up now… Onee-chan is proud of you, Albert…)

Crown Prince. Natalia knew that that title was imposed on him.

When Albert’s father inherited the throne, he suddenly became the replacement of the previous Crown Prince.

At the time, he was showered with criticism. Some even said he wasn’t good enough. But instead of giving in to the pressure, Albert showed them that he was more than capable.

Handsome, intelligent, strong and kindhearted.

Eventually, the young Crown Prince became know as the Perfect Prince. And those who once doubted him, were now praising him.

However, everything had a price.

Albert wasn’t naturally gifted. He had to work really hard to surpass everyone’s expectations. But because of that, he ended up losing many things… and his selfishness was one of them.

Although, recently, he was getting better. Albert was laughing more frequently, he would get upset easily, and he sometimes would get really angry for the strangest reasons.

(And it’s all thanks to her…)

Until now, even though he always had a smile on his face, Natalia knew that Albert didn’t really care about anyone outside his family. He just wanted everyone’s approval, so he acted like a grown-up man all the time and did what was expected of him.

But after he met Leonora, Albert finally started behaving like a boy of his age. And that made Natalia really happy.

“You probably think my idea is stupid, right–?” – Asked Albert; his expression was barely visible because of the sunset on his back.

However, even though Natalia could barely see his face, she knew, by the tone of his voice, that he was a bit sad.

“–The job of a Crown Prince is to be likable and to reassure the people that he’s good enough to take care of them… but even though that’s my only job, I can’t just turn a blind eyes to this situation.” – Said Albert, with a troubled smile.

In some ways, the former Crown Prince, August von Weizsäcker, was like Albert.

They were both intelligent and they cared about their people. However, August let his infatuation with Flora cause a disaster.

Well, maybe he wasn’t just blinded by love. Maybe, like Albert, August was facing a crisis, or there was something troubling him.

Then a girl named Flora appeared and helped him solve some of his problems, which led to the disaster, since he felt compelled to do the same for her.

But if so, then Albert was walking the same path as August… maybe Leonora was his Flora.

“Yes, your idea is really stupid, Albert… so please be careful. If you do that, the nobles will see it as a betrayal. This choice will affect your right of succession… no doubt. But I’m on your side… always. Just promise me that this won’t turn into another disaster.”

Natalia was on Albert’s side and that’s everything he wanted to hear. Well, yes, she was probably tearing herself apart, after all, that was a hard choice. However, the prince couldn’t help but smile.

“I promise that I’ll do my best to not turn this into a Leonora’s Disaster .” – Said Albert; his happy expression was lightening the mood in the room.

But happy moments have a short lifespan.

As soon as he finished his sentence, Albert felt a familiar sensation around his neck.

“W-wait! Isn’t that–!!!” – Yelled Natalia, in a tone of disbelief.