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Appearance
“Yo, Joshua-kun. It feels like we haven’t met in a while, huh?”
The prince, with his guard Arthur, were heading to the Royal Castle after the morning classes were over but ran into Joshua. Arthur noticed Joshua was walking in front of them and greeted him.
The number of times they met with Joshua face-to-face after he had returned from Imperial Japan could be counted on one hand.
“Long time no see, Arthur-sama. Good afternoon, Your Highness. Are you on your way to attend your official duties? Your tight schedule really puts me in awe.”
Joshua turned his head upon hearing Arthur’s call and bowed in salute to the prince.
“I don’t think you’re much different from me in terms of having a tight schedule. If the complaints at the company get too out of hand, the Royal Family doesn’t mind lending a hand, you know?”
After letting Joshua raise his head, Prince Edward expressed his concern to Joshua, who kept taking leave from the academy.
“I dare not. How could I be so discourteous to trouble the Royal Family with such a trivial matter? It surely has caused a little disturbance, but resolving such issues is also part of my job.”
The two of them seemed to be having a friendly conversation at first glance, but sparks of rivalry were secretly flying between them.
The Royal Family and merchants became very busy because of the appearance of the Holy Maiden Joanna. Although both the prince and Joshua were used to being busy, they had amassed considerable stress from not being able to meet Emma as often.
-A Holy Maiden appears in a different world-
Thinking about it normally, this would usually be a joyous event for everyone, but these two could only think of her appearance as a nuisance.
The prince didn’t fall in love with the Holy Maiden at first sight, and Mr. Rich Merchant didn’t worship the Holy Maiden. They only recognized her as “the person who doubled the amount of work in their already busy schedule” and nothing more.
After all the two’s concerns and interests only revolved around one person.
“Well if you excuse me, as I will be joining Emma-sama shortly, so please take care on your way, Your Highness and Arthur-sama. “
Joshua bowed with a beautiful gesture which would make it hard to believe that he had become an aristocrat not long ago.
“
Mhm.”
Joshua could see the prince’s annoyed face after lifting his head.
Joshua got the information that Prince Edward had sat next to Emma in this week’s Monster Science class while he couldn’t make it to school. He would surely be forgiven for a slight jab like this, right?
Joshua wasn’t someone who would falter just because his love rival was the prince.
Right at that moment,
“Joshua! Em-
”
“Lead the way!”
*flash* Hue, who was supposed to be tailing Emma, suddenly appeared without any prior notice. He would never reveal his presence in front of other people besides the three siblings and Joshua, unless it was an emergency.
And Joshua took off without waiting for Hue to finish his sentence the moment the letter “Em” from Emma’s name came out of Hue’s mouth.
“
That’s some super fast reaction
” Arthur, who was left in the hallway alone, unconsciously muttered. Before he could take a fighting stance to guard the Prince against the unknown boy who suddenly appeared, the Prince had also already ran off after Joshua.
While Arthur was shocked by the two’s proactiveness, he was also a bit
, no, completely put off by the weight of their affection.
“
ah, Your Highness, don’t just leave your guard behind. You’re going to put me in trouble, seriously
”
Arthur snorted with a laugh and chased after the two before he lost sight of them. The boy who had appeared in a flash earlier, had already disappeared from his sight before he realized it.
“
I guess I’ll have to get him to explain this to me
 again
”
I’m a little scared of asking, though
 Arthur wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, still with a smile plastered on his face.
♠♠♠
“Emma-sama!!!”
“Emma?!”
Joshua and the Prince found the three siblings in the middle of the hallway.
Emma was crouching on the floor while hugging her shoulders to quell her trembling body.
William kept muttering some incoherent words they couldn’t understand.
George was hugging the shoulders of his shaken younger sister and brother in a protective stance with a pale face, while raising his vigilance to the surroundings.
“What happened?”
“Emma? Emma? Are you alright?”
Joshua and the Prince rushed up to the siblings and called out their names, but the three didn’t give any clear-headed response.
“The Holy Maiden was distributing cotton cloth down there earlier. They suddenly became like this the moment they saw her!”
*whoosh* Hue appeared again without any warning and explained the situation.
“Emma-sama? Emma-sama? Can you hear my voice? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Joshua kneeled to Emma’s eye level and called out to her loudly to wake her from her stupor.
“
Joshua?”
After several calls, Emma finally noticed Joshua kneeling before her and immediately threw herself in his arms and hugged him tightly as if seeking for his help.
“Woah!”
Emma clinging to Joshua’s neck suddenly made him stagger back and fall on his bottom, but he ignored the pain and caught her in his arms tightly to keep her from shaking.
“What should I do, Joshua? Why? Why? Why is it there? Hey, tell me? Why? Am I
 going to die?”
Emma clung to Joshua and talked to him with a quivering voice.
“Everything’s alright, Emma-sama. Everything will definitely be alright. I will always protect you.”
Joshua put more strength into the arms wrapping around Emma to stop her trembling, even if it was just for a little.
“Hue, prepare a carriage. The back gate is closer from here
 wait for us there.”
“G-Got it!”
Hue again disappeared in a flash after receiving Joshua’s instructions.
“Your Highness
 and Arthur-sama, I will have to humbly ask you to help move George-sama and William-sama towards the carriage.” Joshua spoke to the Prince, who had fallen into a daze upon seeing Emma’s state, and Arthur, who came several steps later than them.
“Y-Yeah.”
“This
 What happened? Joshua-kun?”
Arthur couldn’t hold back his question as he looked between the shaken three siblings and the frighteningly calm Joshua.
“I’m not sure
 I’m also as clueless as you. However, they are currently this frightened, so I have to get them to the safest place where they can feel secure
” Joshua answered quietly.
‘To their father, Leonard-sama’s side
To their mother, Melsa-sama’s side
To the cats and Koumei-san’s side
As soon as possible.’
“Why, Joshua, why? Why? Why?”
Emma desperately sought the answers to an unanswerable question from Joshua. She could do nothing but keep asking the Mr. Goo*le of this world, Joshua. She knew that even Joshua wouldn’t be able to answer, but she couldn’t control herself.
‘Why does the Holy Maiden


the Holy Maiden Joanna has the exact same face as me?
No, it’s not just the face.
Her dyed hair color, hairstyle, body shape, and everything look exactly like me.’
That’s right, because Holy Maiden Joanna had the exact same appearance as Tanaka Minato in their previous world.
♠♠♠
Author’s corner:
Mr. Crisis & Mr. Serious: ” “We will work hard this year!” “