CH 52.1

What the Crown Prince Wants

The three headaches of this school, myself, Flare, and Alice, along with Ian, the Prime Minister’s son, all head for the Crown Prince’s room.

Flare suggested simply summoning the Crown Prince because it would be a hassle, but Alice blamed me for taking up too much of their time, and I was too tired to waste any more time, so I appealed to them to let him eat the weeds (that were growing next to the water outlet) as soon as possible, and Flare agreed to go see the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince, you poor thing.

Ian, Flare, and the Crown Prince Julio had been childhood friends, and Ian had been a proud boy since he was a child, but Flare seemed to have knocked him down at every turn, and he grew up to be a rather gloomy character.

“Look, you only wanted to show off to a pretty girl, didn’t you? Now you have deteriorated beyond help, and it’s annoying, so I’m torturing you.”

“Nn.”

Well, if that was the reason, I couldn’t blame her.

In fact, he also happened to meet me around that time, though I doubt there was any connection.

And as for why I was walking alongside Flare, Ian wanted to walk next to Alice and didn’t want me or Flare in his sight, so it was inevitable that I and Flare would be together.

…No, it’s inevitable, isn’t it? I couldn’t be distracted because she would try to kill me every once in a while as a test. By the way, if it hadn’t been for the poison resistance that began to fuse with me and my player character, I might have died two or three times already.

But Flare laughed happily when I didn’t die.

Maybe this feeling was similar to the female skinship in my previous life, when my friends would suddenly tickle me at a girls’ school.

Though could you please stop trying to kill me with your playful banter?

“We’re here. I’m going with Alice to report our arrival to His Highness, and you guys can wait here…”

“I’m coming along, Carol.”

“Nn.”

“Ah, wait!”

Ian said as soon as we arrived at the royal family’s special wing, and Flare led the way, followed by me and Alice.

“Hey!” I heard Ian’s voice from behind me.

I could hear Ian’s voice behind us, but I didn’t think it was appropriate to ignore Alice, let alone Flare, so I decided to go with them.

*Chirin.

“Ah, that’s the sound of a copper coin falling.”

I drop the coins on the floor, and they bounce around before Alice jumps up and stuffs them into her pockets. It’s good to know she’s not deaf after all. Also, why aren’t you returning the coins to me?

*Slam!

Flare opened the door without knocking, completely unconcerned with this exchange.

“Julio, I’m coming in!”

“Flare-san, it’s not polite to come in without permission.”

Julio and Flare were already in the room.

“Flare? What’s wrong, and Alice is with you too?”

The boy at the office desk stood up from the back of the room that resembled an office.

Ian didn’t recognise him right away because of his disfigured appearance, but I recognised him because of his blond hair, blue eyes, and princely appearance, which matched the Otome Game artwork.

“Julio, eat your worm.”

“Julio, you want to eat my cicada, right?”

“I don’t understand what you mean!”

Well, as expected. Julio looked around as if looking for help, and his eyes widened a little when he spotted me.

“The dark-haired half-elf…you must be Miss Carol, my uncle’s fiancée. I am Julio, the King’s son. I heard that the young lady who was engaged to my uncle and is not good at socializing was a half-elf, and I wanted to meet her, but my mother wouldn’t give me permission.“

Julio smiled softly and calmly, then kneeled in front of me, took my hand, and lightly touched it with his lips.

“I’m sorry. Did I make you feel uncomfortable about being my uncle’s dainty fiancée?“

“…”

I was rather baffled by the impression I got from him compared to what I know from the Otome Game.

Huh? He seemed like a pretty decent guy. I thought that since he was the head of the nobility in this country and the son of the king, he must surely have had strange interests, but there were also people like Cam who became normal in other countries, so maybe I was looking at him with a prejudiced eye.

“Oh, I really like your elf hair. Do you mind if I touch it?”

“…”

I felt something strange and unintentionally took a step back.

If it were a normal young lady of noble birth, it would be a scene that would make her swoon, and though it was much better than Dirk touching me in a sexually harassing manner, the light in his eyes seemed strange to me.

“Oh my, Julio has become quite a man that you would touch a woman in front of your fiancée, even if said person is someone else’s fiancée.”

“Flare…”

Oh, did I mention that Flare and Julio were engaged? When Flare interrupted, Julio blatantly frowned.

“Well, for now, eat my insect dishes! You’ll get triple points for it!”

Was this the time for that? And what was she talking about?

In the midst of the awkward atmosphere, Alice pulled a bag of cicadas from her pocket.

“Ugh.”

Julio, who hated insects, groaned when he was shown a larger number of cicadas than expected, and…for some reason, he nodded his head, his eyes glowing brightly.

“If you say so, I’ll eat them…”