CH 17

For that sake, I shouldn’t let him hear those words from Ariel for the first time. Then I should be fine

“Her words were nothing special, but when he heard them for the first time, it was as if she engraved herself on him.”

Of course, I think it was more so because the innocent Ariel had said them. If I do it, it may not be that much to him, but I might be able to gain Cain as a my precious friend.

“If that happens, I’d be very thankful.”

Perhaps with that, he will still fall in love with Ariel for different reasons, but he wouldn’t love her as desperately as he did in the original. Then the crown prince would not trample on the duke as much as in the original.

“Then, Herace?”

Herace, the crazyly rich leader of the information guild, who was the third supporting character. This free-spirited character, who was very different from Eugene, saved Ariel and died while persuing her to see her tears.

“He seems like that kind of character , who would never die.”

Theres also a solution for his dilemma. Just like with Cain, there’s a way that reduces Ariel’s impact on him a little.

“But, him neither. There’s no need for me to take him with me.”

This is because Herace has a friend who values him very much. The most important person to me right now. The villain Daniel.

A man who evokes a dual feeling in me, that I want to avoid him but meet him at the same time. Herace was a precious friend of that Daniel.

“If I were to feel uneasy in three months after the original starts, it’ll be safe to subtly mention it to Daniel.”

Then, who remains are Yvienne and Jane. Yvienne, who loved the crown prince dearly but gave up on him for her friend Ariel,  also gave up her dream of becoming a top-ranking financial manager. And Jane, the girl who dies after drinking poison in Ariel‘s stead. Yvienne is a little harder to take care of, but Jane…….

“I should think about Jane after saving the rest. But if there comes a dire situation where I have to take care of her……. That’s when I ask for a doctor.”1

Yeah, that would work. Then, for the fear of their death,  the only one I should take with me is Eugene.

“Tomorrow, my recovery break will be over, so I’ll start helping Eugene to get close with Cain.”

Somehow I fell asleep with a less worried mind.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

Eugene, who was walking slowly to the main gate of the Princess‘ Palace, stopped abruptly.

“Hmm.”

Looking back for a while, he asked the passing servant to call the head maid. There was something to check briefly.

“…….”

The palace he looked around while waiting was definitely different from before. What he said in front of the Princess earlier was something h couldn’t express fully. In fact, after being assigned here for the first time, he worked for a week and then went on vacation instantly.

“I was out of breathe.”

Differently as the rumors said, she was not a Princess who liked to spill blood or anything like that. But she was as terrifying as the rumors said.

A doll made of ice.

The palace of such a princess was exactly as it’s owner. Everyone was always on edge and watched their steps carefully. Conversations between the servants working there were almost non-existing. It was the same even on a clear spring day. I didn’t want to stay in such a dead palace.

Do the maids over there, who talk and burst into laughter, really feel the changes that had occurred here? It is still a bit difficult with the Princess, but it is completely different from before.

“Sir Bolton, did you for me?”

“Oh, you must be busy. I’m sorry for calling you, ma’am.”

“Not at all.”

Stopping his his thoughts, he politely extended his hand to lead Emma, the head maid. Emma nodded without pointing it out because she was somewhat familiar with his tendency to keep distance with everyone. The two headed together to the garden behind the Palace.

“Do you have any questions?”, asked Emma. As always, she was a gentle noble lady.

“Yes. I was wondering what happened to the Princess‘ Palace. If there’s something going on, shouldn’t I know in advance before returning?”

“I see.”

The question was actually  about how much Emma knew about the Princess situation and when her rapid change had began. Emma replied: “There was nothing you need to keep in mind beforehand, Sir.“

“Is that so?”, nodded Eugene.

Emma continued with an unwavering expression.

“Even if there is, it won’t be something I would talk about. You must taken charge of  escorting Hour Highness, so it would be enough for you to experience it for yourself.”

Eugene carefully weight up wether it was possible or not while still listening to her. He decided to protect the Princess. Even if she was not someone he would risk his life for, he would be happy if he could protect her. That’s why he volunteered to help Rox.

What I wanted to know now was how much information about the princess could be shared by the head maid.

“Once again, there is nothing you have to keep in mind, Sir.”

So, he shouldn’t worry about the disease and its symptoms. Seeing Emma’s gentle but multilayered face, Eugene agonized.

“Thank you for your kind cooperation, Sir.”

And I decided. After Emma finished talking, she walked slowly away first and headed inside. Looking at her back, Eugene gently moved her red lips: “Yeah, it’s her duty to be loyal to her master. Of course.”

She probably notices a lot of things. She was the most faithful servant here. Eugene stood with a thoughtful expression on, then distorted his face with a sudden thought coming up.

“It’s dangerous to cought up blood all of a sudden like that.”

I don’t know much about medicine, but a well trained knights feel very sensibly about how the condition of the body. The physical condition of the Princess, who’s condition he briefly checked using his mana, was the worst. The Princess was aware that vomiting up blood, even if it wasn’t necessarily like that, was a symptom of a serious disease.

However, he could not find any gloomy characteristics unique to the sick on the Princess. He was amazed by it, but concerned at the same time.

‚It must not be a pain that you could get used to, but you responded that it was nothing special to you.‘

The condition of the Princess may be a bigger problem than he thinks. It might be more that just the disease called Raphaelis.

‘We need to check he condition in more detail. I should start working with Rox.’

It a fortune that his return was accepted by the Princess. He recalled his memory of her, who smiled broadly, welcoming him back.

As expected, he wants to protect he.

After a while, he headed for Rox’s office. If one think about it, they have to move right away. It was also an inevitable process because he decided to start working properly now. by the way…

“This is…”

At the doctor’s office, where he arrived, Eugene raised the corners of his mouth drowsy and murmured in a pleasant tone: “I thought neglecting work was just for me, but my comrade isn’t here.”

There were no-one indDoctor Rox’s office. It didn’t feel like he just left a few minutes ago, rather the space seemed cool as if it had been empty for a long time.

“He didn’t go to the Duke, so did he go to the palace?”

Eugene, who was looking through the office with a dissatisfied look, then frowned slightly.

“I’m going to take a look around. Maybe he’s close by.”

After leaving Rox‘ office, he glances at the princess‘ room with an expressionless face for a while and then headed to Main Palace with a sigh. There, he ran into Rox, his junior Ripley and Cain, the Duke of Irick.

“At first glance, it seems like a problem with Her Highness the Princess, or why else are you all gathered here?”

Except for him. When Eugene laughed smoothly while swallowing his words, Rox replied with a faint smile:

“Even so, I was just about to call you.”

Rox’s soothing words were full of goodwill.

Not long ago, after getting to know about the Princess facing a miserable reality due to his carelessness, Rox did not seek anyone out for helping him to find the cure of the Princess’ illness but Ripley and Cain to not spread more awareness about her condition. Of course, Ripley, Rox’s junior, also accepted the silent threat without much dissatisfaction.

“Are you also working with us?”

When Eugene approached and asked Cain, who was deep in thought, Cain looked at him only then and nodded.

When Eugenes‘s smiling face caught his eye, Cain replied: “I’m using my vacation for this.”

“Vacation… You really did?”

It was an ambiguous question whether he knew such a word, but Cain nodded as if he didn’t understand it. But everyone here was looking at him with a subtle look. As for the Princess, all he had seen before was Cain saying that he wants to help the Princess.

Eugene didn’t know such an inside story, but he noticed one thing: Oh, this Duke is more meddlesome than he seems. Whether there was any other reason or not, the Princess was a person who had nothing to do with Cain.

‘Or maybe you don’t like the current crown prince.‘

Eugene looked at him with a warily look and went on.

“We’re going to start researching with these people here”, coughed Rox in vain and changed the subject, “Let’s look in two directions. Complete recovery and relieving the symptoms. Duke Irick told me that he had some thoughts on releasing the symptoms.”

The duke nodded and opened his mouth. Everyone listened to him seriously. The four people gathered here were ordered to remain silent under the order of the Emperor. So Cain could explain with a little more intimate story, to the extent to touch the topic of his trauma.

“I can freely use the magic power within my body…”

“… Are you saying that it’s used like divine power?”

“That’s right.”

That alone made the three of them exclaim and intrigued. Eugene was also surprised and raised the corners of his mouth.

“Interesting. And it makes a lot of sense.”

“You two must feel a lot more than we do in this part.”

Eugene looked at Cain with a very surprising look at Rox’ words and opened his mouth when he was allowed to: “It’s a matter of the nature of mana. Perhaps Your Grace the Duke wants to propose to mix our mana?”