Chapter 67: Using the Media for Propaganda…How Wicked and Cunning Must a Villainess be to do Such a Thing? (2)

“Lord Michael.”

“I am aware.”

The third prince of the Siegfried Imperial Family.

Michael von Siegfried still looked out the window as he dismissed his subordinate.

“…Has it already come to that.”

The village seen from outside the window was bustling.

Lin no longer needed to waste money by purchasing large quantities of food from outside at a premium for her snack expenses.

Abel Town was in the midst of busy preparations for a harvest festival, declared by Lin to celebrate the village’s self-sufficiency.

“I never thought I’d say this, but. It’s quite a pity.”

For him, a prince,

Events like harvest festivals were merely a part of his troublesome duties.

Though he wasn’t as close to the commoners as this, he had experienced similar events due to the Emperor, who was particularly fond of banquets.

But what was this?

He, who had always inwardly grumbled about when these commotions would end,

For some reason, this time felt a small pang of regret that he couldn’t enjoy the harvest festival and had to return.

In fact, the Emperor and the Crown Prince, excluding Michael, had already left for a tour of other colonies long ago.

It was entirely Michael’s own decision to stay in one colony until the seasons changed.

When that news reached the Emperor, the reply was,

‘Do as you please. It would be even better if you made a grandchild while you’re at it.’

‘Not only am I not yet an adult, but even so, isn’t it a bit, no. Very early to expect a grandchild right after getting engaged, Your Majesty…?’

Attaching a precious vitality tonic—originally intended for himself—for his youngest son was an added bonus.

Naturally, he didn’t take it.

Though he had a rough idea, Michael deliberately pretended not to know and stashed it away in a corner.

“Huhu.”

Michael laughed, realizing how much he had changed from a few months ago.

At the same time, a face came to mind.

The face that had changed him in that short time was none other than his fiancée, Lin Rosegarden.

“Lady Lin is busy with preparations for the harvest festival. Please come back next time.”

“You don’t even bother with the polite ‘sorry’ anymore, do you?”

Michael, visiting to see the face that had planted the seed of emotion in him,

To tell her that he had to return to the mainland due to his schedule.

Lin’s close maid, Heine, full of hostility, responded with a look as if she were seeing a bothersome fly.

“…Well, alright.”

“Ah…!”

Michael naturally ignored Heine,

And flung open the door to Lin’s personal laboratory, striding in.

‘She’s in her laboratory, yet she says she’s preparing for the harvest festival.’

‘This impertinent maid, who doesn’t even try to fabricate lies anymore.’

“Michael? Is there something you need?”

“I heard you were preparing for the harvest festival.”

Smile, Michael put on a mask-like smile.

A remark laced with an intention as if targeting Heine.

The quick-witted Heine immediately grasped his intention and glared at Michael from behind.

“Yes! I’m in the middle of making fireworks for the harvest festival!”

“…I see.”

It turned out Lin really was preparing for the harvest festival.

Nevertheless, Michael still didn’t lose his characteristic smile.

This much was now extremely familiar to him.

Though he felt as if some maid was triumphantly sneering behind him.

He didn’t bother turning his head to check.

It felt like it would only annoy him further.

It already had, but it felt like it would more so.

“Fireworks, you say…. Considering Miss Lin’s alchemy skills, it seems it will be quite a grand fireworks display.”

“Indeed. Furthermore, Lady Lin has even created a new type of firework that shines in rainbow colors.”

“……”

However, Heine, as if to show off, stepped forward and subtly glanced sideways at Michael.

Though Michael still wore his characteristic smile, it momentarily created the illusion that his eyebrows had twitched minutely.

“It will surely remain a fond memory for the villagers. Thanks to our Lady Lin’s diligent ‘preparations for the harvest festival’.”

“Huhuhu, that’s exactly it. My alchemy lessons might have been for this very moment, in a way.”

Whether the two were having a battle of wills or not,

Lin was busy praising her own rainbow-colored fireworks like a child.

“Huhu, that is certainly something I’d like to see.”

“In a week, it’s the long-awaited harvest festival! You should wait with bated breath for the rainbow fireworks that will embroider the night sky that day!”

“I would like to do so as well, but…”

“Yes? Your fingers? Your Highness, did you have such a peculiar hobby? Perhaps you’re missing your mother’s embrace. If that’s the case, Lady Lin. Wouldn’t it be better to pretend an engagement with such a mama’s boy never happened?”

“…This maid, truly has not a speck of fear towards the imperial family.”

“I also miss a little when my father and older brother used to pat my head every day….”

‘Even so, that’s a bit much….’

Lin looked at Michael with pitying eyes.

It was a moment where Heine’s efforts to break up the two briefly saw the light.

“…I too would like to enjoy the harvest festival, but.”

To that, Michael corrected the meaning of his words more precisely.

“Unfortunately. It seems I have to return to the Imperial Palace soon.”

“Yes?”

Her home on the mainland.

It was Heine, not Lin, who reacted first to the news that he had to return to the Imperial Palace.

Lin, his actual fiancée, simply tilted her head nonchalantly, busy recalling the colonial tour schedule in her mind.

“That’s… very unfortunate…!”

“You, you were surprisingly bad at hiding your emotions, weren’t you? Or are you that happy that I’m leaving?”

“Lady Lin, I will prepare His Highness’s carriage immediately!”

“You truly are a maid who gets things done quickly. But I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Heine’s lips slowly curled up at the news that the fly that had been annoyingly buzzing around her precious master was finally leaving.

Considering her usual rather expressionless and cool, businesslike demeanour, this was a very unusual occurrence.

“Aha, it’s about time for the Emperor’s colonial tour to end…. So that’s why you, Michael, also have to return, is it?”

“That is correct. You always have a good understanding of unexpected things.”

Now that the only airship capable of crossing the great sea—the very airship Lin had ridden—was destroyed.

The Emperor had to travel to all overseas colonies by ship.

Of course, he rode the largest and best-performing warship, but just traveling took a considerable amount of time.

Above all, thanks to the Emperor’s personal amusement of thoroughly enjoying the colonies—or more accurately, the game in the colonies—the colonial tour alone took nearly half a year.

While the Emperor and Crown Prince toured all the colonies of the Empire,

Michael, who had remained alone on the Albion continent, sharing a sweet love…… with his fiancée.

But even that fleeting romance was now signaling its end.

“When I return to the Imperial Palace, I, as a prince, will be extremely busy again.”

After the colonial tour ended,

Michael would be fourteen when he returned to the Imperial Palace.

The eve of turning fifteen after his next birthday.

His debut in high society, the start of formal Holy Knight training, and so on.

It was obvious that he would lead a life incomparably busier than before.

“So. I came to tell you this.”

Michael knelt on one knee before Lin.

Heine’s pupils momentarily dilated at the unexpected, impulsive action.

A courtship behavior Michael himself found hard to believe, something he had never done in his entire life.

Lin, the one directly involved, still hadn’t grasped the situation at all and merely blinked her eyes.

“Will you come with me?”

“I can’t because of the harvest festival.”

“If you accept my proposal, I can wait as long as necessary for that.”

“Really?”

To Michael’s proposal, she replied.

“Then, watch the fireworks, and then go.”

For Michael, who had seen all sorts of masks in the Imperial Palace, Lin’s innocent face was incredibly easy to read.

In Lin’s expression, as interpreted by Michael, only a pure desire for him to enjoy the harvest festival was evident.

Lin smiled.

She seemed to fully understand the meaning behind the words she had uttered.

Yet still.

There wasn’t a single drop of affection in Lin’s eyes as she looked at Michael.

The subtle glance, naturally feigning normalcy and pretending otherwise, clearly showed that she wasn’t just a foolish girl.

“Huhu, I knew you would answer that way.”

In a word, she was rejected.

Unlike their first meeting, in a relatively gentle manner.

Michael had been formally, and definitively, turned down by his fiancée.

It was a confession that, regardless of their engagement, Lin would never harbor romantic feelings for Michael, at least not now.

The next day.

Michael boarded the carriage to return.

Was it the boy’s last shred of pride?

He chose to return home as scheduled, leaving behind his fiancée’s suggestion to watch the fireworks before going.

“Then. Our next meeting will be at the academy, I suppose.”

“…Yes?”

Lin, who had come to see Michael off, tilted her head.

Although she had rejected his confession, they were still engaged.

So, it was a rather unnatural statement that they wouldn’t meet until they entered the academy, which they could only do when they were seventeen or eighteen.

“You don’t need to be puzzled. As of today, our engagement is, scheduled to be broken.”

“Eh?”

“Yes!? Your Highness! What on earth are you saying right now…!”

Michael, unilaterally declaring the annulment of their engagement at his departure.

Since he was actually in a position to choose to break off the engagement at any time, his surrounding subordinates were startled.

Even Heine, who more than anyone else had wished for her master Lin and Michael to be separated, was flustered, which said it all.

“It can’t be helped. Well, I’ve genuinely fallen in love.”

“Th-Then…!”

“It’s surprising even to myself to say this, but…. Being bound by a contractual relationship, I found, is somewhat not to my taste, it seems.”

Michael quietly declared that he would win her over with pure love,

Not by being bound by a contract backed by the power of the imperial family.

“Nobles and commoners. Royalty and nobility. In the academy where everyone becomes equal, I too, not as a prince but as one man, will be able to confess to you once more.”

“Wow, so clingy…”

“That delinquent maid over there. Would you please refrain from interfering?”

Lin didn’t answer.

Because she had already answered definitively.

“If you give the same answer next time, I will truly give up then.”

Nevertheless, Michael paid no heed and showed a sincere smile.

“…Then.”

“Yes. Goodbye.”

Michael’s carriage door closed.

A small smile bloomed on Michael’s lips as he mulled over her parting words, which were like those to a friend.

Soon, the news of their broken engagement spread throughout the world,

And everyone, without exception, began to gossip fervently about it.

“His Highness chose to break off the engagement because he loved the Young Lady too much…!”

“Isn’t this a story more romantic than any romance novel I’ve read so far….”

Also,

As the hidden reasons behind it also spread.

Countless romance novels based on this story were mass-produced in the empire and gained considerable popularity.

“Have you all seen this recently popular novel?”

“A novel… Your Majesty?”

“It’s very interesting, perhaps because it’s based on our Michael’s story. It’s a masterpiece that can’t even be compared to other shoddy piles of print. Well, seeing is believing.

I’ll lend you each one specially, so read them all by next month and write a review.”

“…Yes?”

“For reference, this is an imperial decree.”

It is said that the Emperor especially liked it.