chapter 14

The season continued to pass, and now winter was coming. On my next birthday, I will be eighteen years old and will be married to the royal family. Half a year before the marriage, Prince Glenn came to the Arch region to greet me. In the original game, his route with Eugenie the heroine was supposed to start on this visit, but due to my interference, the two did not even meet.

How did I do it, you might ask?

“Your Highness, I’d advise against going to the local villages too often,” I said.

“Why?” Prince Glenn asked. “Is there something the matter…?”

“Well… the compost piles smell particularly foul this time of year.”

“Understood, I will keep away for now.”

… And this was enough to avoid Prince Glenn and Eugenie’s meeting. I told Genie not to approach the castle while the prince was staying, and she gladly obeyed. But even still, I had yet another problem to deal with…

Prince Glenn, who has yet to meet Genie, is eager to marry me. Well, rather than being interested in me personally, he’s far more interested in strengthening the royal family through a union with House Stanley.

It is Prince Glenn who most strongly took after the former King Cyrus, once called the “Supreme Ruler”. Terrifyingly driven, he is passionate about restoring the royal family to its former glory, which was lost during his father’s reign. However, now the family was split into the first and second princes.

Traditionally, the first prince will be the next king, but he is unlike his father and lacks charisma. So it was that many politicians and bureaucrats secretly supported Prince Glenn and his promises of bringing back the prosperity of before.

Marrying me and absorbing House Stanley the Prince Glenn’s faction even powerful and influential, which led to another depressing problem: if the union goes as planned, the royal family may finally collapse.

(It’s just one thing after another in this world.)

There are other problems on my mind. Shortly after Prince Glenn returned from the Arch region, my father died of a heart attack. Now Randolph has officially inherited the title, becoming the head of House Stanley and officially taking over all the work.

But the biggest problem of all is—

“Fuu …” I sighed.

“What’s the matter, Rosalin?” Randolph asked. “When you sigh, your work doesn’t magically disappear.”

“I know,” I said, “but sighs are all I can really accomplish these days. With the tension near the borders increasing this past month, the work just keeps on coming.”

“It seems that war will break out any day now,” Randolph said.

“It’s an unfortunate turn of events,” I said. “But… that’s just the way it is, isn’t it? We can’t deny the reality forever, after all,” I said as I looked outside the window, and let out another sigh.

The Otome game “Rose of the Battlefield” is a work set in a war zone. As the fires of conflict rage through the land, a single rose blooms on the battlefield. Eventually, the capture character who fell in love with Eugenie helps lead to the end of the war and which country was victorious.

However, in this world where Genie and I fell in love, what kind of future will unfold? There was no Yuri route in that game, so I can’t even begin to guess what’s going to happen next.

“Regulation and exclusion of products from the Kingdom of Valhalla in Amelia territories,” Randolph said. “Restrictions on entry and exit at the borders. I hear that the Valhallan citizens who are unable to return to their homeland are struggling.”

“On the other hand, some Amelian citizens have been unable to leave the Valhalla,” I said. “I hear rumors that they’re starting to build concentration camps…”

“We’ve got trouble on our hands,” Randolph said.

For the time being, the cracks in Fort Horns’ defenses are being covered up, with countermeasures against flying dragon riders, plus reinforcements in the form of knights and mercenaries, and contingencies should both sides become entrenched and it turns into a siege. We’ve also secured logistics for supplies and food, just in case.

Thanks to all that, I think Fort Horns will be a much more difficult target than the original game.

“If you were born a boy, you might have become a hero who would make a name for yourself among future generations,” Randolph said, yet again.

I sighed. “Hey, if I was born as a boy, we would not be as close as we are right now. Even if I didn’t have the desire to challenge you, our people might stir up tensions anyway. I’m a woman, and because of that, we haven’t gotten into such a troublesome state of affairs.”

“You have good points,” Randolph said. “If you have a mediocre brother and an excellent brother of great courage and wisdom—well, you can’t just split the power between them.”

“Randolph?”

“No, it’s nothing. Let’s get back to work, Rosalin. I’ll have to do as much work as I can while you’re still here at Arch. You won’t have a smooth marriage otherwise”

“Alright…” I said.

I understood Randolph’s perspective. Perhaps he was worried about the state of the royal family. He is close to Prince Glenn, so he’s deeply afraid of the two of them being to forced to come to blows. It’s also inevitable for him to be hurt because his beloved little sister is getting married.

I really didn’t want to get married if my heart wasn’t in it. However, as it was a contract with the royal family, it cannot be breached so easily.

I look outside the window. It’s the end of November now. At the farms, the harvest season is over, and the world is getting ready for winter. It was already starting to snow in many places, and tonight I could see it falling outside the window. The weekly tea parties have been canceled for now. And due to all the work and the cold, I could not enter the forest, and I could only speak to Genie through letters.

“Lady. Rosalind, I have received a letter from Rose Village,” a servant said as he entered my room.

“Thank you,” I said, before I cut off the seal, tried to calm my pounding heart down.

“To my dear Rosalind,

How are you? I’m doing okay, but I’m wondering how you’re doing as the days are getting colder. Since you’re now the Lady of the Manor, I pray you’re still going strong in spite of the work and the weather.

I’ll be celebrating my first winter in Rose Village soon. It’s already snowing here in November! In the town I lived in before, we never saw snow until the new year, so this all so new to me.

The morning before yesterday, the village lake froze over! I skated with the children in the neighborhood. They’re better at it than me and have teased me about it.

Are you good at skating, Rosalind? Since you’ve got such great reflexes and mobility, you’d probably be great at it. It would be nice if I could go skating with you someday.

Oh, oh, my aunt also taught me how to make a special honey milk tea. It helps warm your body to the core during the winter. I want to make it for you someday.

You know, Rosalind, they say the winter season makes people fall in love. I haven’t seen you for days, but I’m always thinking about you–”

“I am too, Genie,” I muttered softly as I looked up from the letter. The longer we couldn’t meet, the more intense our love for each other grew. I finished reading the letter, then started writing my reply.

“My dear Eugenie,

Thank you for the letter, I’m always looking forward to hearing from you.

I heard you’re not accustomed to snow, so are you feeling sick? I’m worried because you seem to be getting a bit too excited.”

… I don’t know what to say. I already sound like I’m her guardian. If I sent her this, she’d surely be repulsed—

– I should write whatever comes to mind, just like a diary. Genie is such a curious person. I feel I could tell her everything. Let her see what lay beyond the surface, to the deepest, darkest parts of me. I wouldn’t even be embarrassed if she ever saw the diary I’ve been writing since childhood.

“… With love from Rosalind.”

I planted a kiss next to the signature, carefully sealed it, then summoned a butler to deliver it to Rose Village.