Chapter 53

“Fania-chan, welcome home. You must’ve been tired, your room is ready.”

The one who trotted over to hug me was Princess Consort Jane. Al’s birth mother.

The elegant house was Princess Consort Jane’s hideaway. I also had the chance to visit here a few times. She always said to me, who couldn’t return to the House of Arginia, to freely treat this house as my own. This house was used by Princess Consort Jane when she went out for eating trips; although this was still inside the royal capital, the location was quite hidden.

I was told that Princess Consort Jane and the King who no longer shared the bed together had become sort of comrades in arms instead. She actively participated in country administration; rather than the Inner Palace, she could be seen more in the office inside the Main Palace. She was always busy alongside Al.

“Did Your Majesty come here today?”

“Ufufufu, come now, it must have been tough on you. How about some tea?” Princess Consort Jane held my hand and dragged me to the sitting room.

“You must be surprised when you were suddenly kidnapped away. I’m sorry for that”

“It’s nothing. I reckoned that it was for my sake after all.”

Once the maid who set up the tea had left the room, Princess Consort Jane showed me a playful smile as if she had just made a successful prank.

“But, I thought it was His Majesty who dispatched the man in red…I mean the kidnappers. Were they instructed by you, Princess Consort?”

“No, it was His Majesty’s private soldiers. When Carina came crying at His Majesty, there was no way His Majesty would do nothing. I just want to properly be by Fania’s side, so I requested His Majesty.” Princess Consort Jane said it ahead as a consideration for me, so I wouldn’t mind about the matter.

Carina was my biological mother, she and Princess Consort Jane were by no means close. Mother always troubled Princess Consort Jane, from what I had heard.

Mother and I looked very similar, yet our personalities were starkly different. Having memories of my past life, I was quite a peculiar one; while my mother was someone who was nothing but cute just like how she looked, which led her to be exclusively loved. She couldn’t even go stop her own husband who recklessly attempted to kill their only son; she only sobbed and wept while depending on others around her.

For what my shitty father had done, she only realized it for the first time when she heard it from His Majesty who already ran out of patience. Since I was born, for alllllll those whiles, she didn’t even realize that I was alienated by my father. Did she have eyes on her head or not? Even then, at least she still had that intention of saving her own son—albeit by only asking others to do it in her stead.

“I want Fania-chan to stay here until things calm down in the House of Arginia. It would take some time, but I hope you can be patient.”

“It’s fine. I have to thank you for your efforts regarding the matters there.”

“Don’t say that, Fania-chan, don’t talk like we’re strangers. That’ll only make me feel sad.” Princess Consort Jane gently hugged me once I bowed my head.

“B-but, Al and I…” My eyes were about to be brimmed with tears, but I tried hard to hold it in.

There was no more reason for Princess Consort Jane to care so much about me. Al and I were no longer engaged.

“Well, Fania-chan, don’t worry. My son who is obses-uhuk uhuk, who loves Fania-chan so much, there’s no way he would let go of Fania-chan.” Princess Consort Jane wiped my tears that had spilled down.

“Please believe in my son. He surely would come get you, Fania-chan.”

“Jane-samaaa~” While clinging on Princess Consort Jane, I cried as much tears as I couldn’t let out until now.

“Oh yes, Fania-chan. Until this whole mess settles down, how about we go travelling? Let’s not shut in the house, we should go have fun somewhere!” Princess Consort Jane waited until I calmed down from crying and suggested in a cheerful voice.

“Eh, travelling?”

“Yes, we should just outright go abroad!”

“B-but, if we go abroad, it’ll use up so much time, won’t it? Would you still go together with me? Don’t you have official duties…”

“Yeah. Actually about that, I think I had enough already.”

“Hweh?” I let out a wacky sound when I heard her answer as he playfully winked at me.

“I think of the relationship between His Majesty and I as comrades in arms. Thus, for His Majesty’s sake, I worked hard doing the official duties in my own way. Well, with how I look now, I don’t want to appear in public, so I did whatever within my capabilities. However, people around me still look at me as an outsider from a foreign country—no matter how many years it has been. Nothing had changed about that.” Princess Consort Jane lightly laughed and that sounded so sad.

“It has been nearly twenty years. I think I already served enough. From now on, I want to do fun things. With this, I can be together with Fania-chan. I’m so looking forward to it.”

“Urm, urmmm, you’re only quitting the official duties, right?”

Her words made me feel uneasy. She couldn’t be…

“Good gracious! How can I be so adept to be able to only quit that? A divorce maybe?”

“Eh!! Di-divorce! Is that even possible?”

”

”

“Well, no need for you to worry about that. Even if I got a divorce, or confined, or mysteriously passed away, my birth country wouldn’t say anything about it. It has been twenty years.”

‘Right, as long as the term of the contract is fulfilled, that is my son becomes the next King, my birth country wouldn’t care if whatever happens to Jane. They probably wouldn’t interfere.’ Jane swallowed the latter part of her answer. There was no need for her to tell this to Fania.

“It’s a di-divorce! How about Al, does Al know about this?”

“I wonder?”

“Wha~”

“It’s fine. Al is all grown up now, He could settle his own matters.” Prince Consort Jane was quite indifferent about it.

“Rather than that, let’s decide where we should go for the trip. I’ve been tied to official duties for long years, this is getting me excited too. Let’s make it a long one. It’s fine even if we only return after next spring.”

My heart ached listening to her suggestion. Next spring was when Al would be engaged. She probably suggested going abroad until after spring so I could avoid witnessing that firsthand.

“Thank you. You went all the way to invite me, but I will not go on a trip. It’s impudent of me, but I have something to request from you, Princess Consort Jane.”

“Well, what is it?” Princess Consort Jane properly looked at me when I was being all formal.

“Until now, I only dazedly went with the flow. I was protected by people around me, and I took that for granted; I did nothing on my own initiative. But this time, I don’t want to run away. With my own will, I want to believe in Al. I believe that Al will come to get me. On top of that, I don’t want to simply wait for him. In the meanwhile, I want to do whatever I can. Princess Consort Jane, will you allow me to receive training in order to become a Prince Consort1 from you? When Al later comes to get me, I wish to be someone who is worth standing by his side.”

“Ohh… Well, well, Fania-chan. What a laudable child you are. Of course. If that is your wish, I’ll be glad to coach you as much as I can. It’ll be a strict one, alright. Although I formerly was one, this is a genuine Princess Consort personally coaching you, so I’ll make sure you’ll be the perfect Prince Consort. Just leave it to me!” Princess Consort Jane patted her well-endowed chest with a thud.

It’s quite scary when Princess Consort Jane is so eager like this, but I’ll do my best. I’ll just work hard at things I can do now. In my heart, I was resolved to do so.