The Princess’s Love? (4)

After completing a two-day carriage journey, we returned to the campus of Luminor Academy.

As usual, with no particular plans to meet anyone else today, Princess Mezlen sat on the bench in front of the Magic Department building, chatting idly with me about this and that.

“Um, it seems I misunderstood something last week, Miss Lilith… Ahaha…”

“……Yes.”

“I-I had no idea that he was actually overseeing your swordsmanship training… To think that you, a Magic Department student, would also be taking swordsmanship classes…”

“……That’s correct.”

“A-And to think you’ve been serving at the Blackwood residence for over eight years… T-The world is full of coincidences, isn’t it…”

“……Indeed.”

“S-So, by the way, Miss Lilith. Could you perhaps tell me what Professor Harold’s interests are…?”

“I’m sorry. Something urgent has come up, so I’ll take my leave now, Princess Mezlen.”

-Slam!

“Ah, w-wait! Please don’t go, Miss Lilith…!!”

As soon as we met again after a long absence from the academy, Mezlen greeted me with absurd nonsense and ridiculous questions.

Not wanting to get entangled in her romantic schemes any further, I tried to quickly excuse myself, but she frantically grabbed my arm and clung to me.

“P-Please, just give me some advice…! Since you’ve served Harold-nim for so long, surely you must know something about him…!”

“There’s only one piece of advice I can offer you, Your Highness. It would be best for you to give up on Professor Harold as soon as possible.”

“W-Why would you say that…?! D-Don’t tell me you’ve secretly been in love with him too…?”

“Being a princess doesn’t give you the right to say whatever you please, Princess Mezlen. I have already given my body and heart to Young Master Ethan once. How dare you suggest that a woman could harbor feelings for two men at once? Huh?”

“…O-Okay. I-I get it, that’s not the case… So could you stop glaring at me like that…?”

Mezlen finally shut her mouth after spouting nonsense about me having eyes for another man despite Ethan. I then explained to her, in terms so simple even a fool could understand, why things wouldn’t work out with Harold.

“First, let me tell you the biggest reason: Professor Harold has not kept a single woman by his side since losing his wife over twenty years ago.”

“T-That’s just because no woman attractive enough to catch Harold-nim’s eye has appeared until now…”

“That can’t be. Though he is somewhat advanced in age, Professor Harold is a Sword Master and one of the Empire’s Three Swords. Even now, marriage proposals and social invitations from noble ladies continue to pour into the Blackwood residence. According to the head maid, who has served at the Blackwood residence for many years, they’ve been arriving nonstop ever since Duchess Tanathia passed away twenty years ago.”

“…B-But I’m a princess, so my proposal would carry far more weight than those from ordinary noble ladies…”

“The marriage proposals sent to Professor Harold aren’t limited to noble ladies of the Empire. Even renowned female figures you’d recognize, Princess Mezlen, have sent letters, and even foreign princesses have proposed to him before.”

“……”

“Originally, Duchess Tanathia, Professor Harold’s late wife, was the daughter of a relatively obscure viscount family from the borderlands. If Professor Harold had valued lineage or bloodline, he would never have married Duchess Tanathia in the first place.

So, Princess Mezlen, your noble blood won’t help you in seducing Professor Harold. In fact, he hasn’t even kept a personal maid for over twenty years, showing just how little interest he has in other women.”

Mezlen looked like she wanted to argue but had nothing to say, so she kept her mouth shut.

It might have been a bit harsh, but cutting things off clearly from the start was for her own good. There was no point in wasting time on a love that would never be realized.

I emphasized the twenty-year span multiple times, hoping she’d take the hint and give up. But then Mezlen suddenly latched onto that detail in a strange way.

“I-It’s been twenty years… doesn’t that mean he might not remember anymore…?”

“Huh?”

“I-I understand that Professor Harold’s lingering feelings for his late wife kept him from seeing other women for twenty years… B-But he’s still a healthy man in his prime, so surely his… urges must be boiling over…?”

“…What?”

“M-Men think about women even when they’re just holding forks and knives, so someone as vigorous as Harold-nim, who swings heavy swords every day, might actually be looking for someone to… accommodate his overflowing vitality…!”

…Just call yourself the Lewd Princess already. Maybe then I can drop the Lewd Maid title.

Despite her innocent appearance, even more so than Celista, Mezlen was spouting nonsense about urges and vitality without a care in the world. It was baffling, but she seemed oblivious to how outrageous her words were.

“Princess Mezlen, if Professor Harold were to hear such things…”

“W-What if the reason Harold-nim hasn’t been with another woman for twenty years is because… his… marital compatibility with the late Duchess Tanathia was too good…?

M-Maybe Harold-nim has certain… tastes he couldn’t reveal to anyone, and the late Duchess Tanathia was the only woman who could… accommodate them…!”

“W-Wait a minute! You shouldn’t bring up such topics carelessly…!”

“S-So after losing Duchess Tanathia, he thought no one else could accept his… preferences, which is why he hasn’t been with anyone since…! In other words, maybe Duchess Tanathia was secretly even more lewd than commoners-?!”

-Thump!

Before this insane princess could spew any more nonsense, I covered her mouth and quickly scanned our surroundings.

They say speaking of the devil summons him, but thankfully, talking about Harold didn’t seem to have made him appear.

If Harold had heard this, he would have been furious-not just at Mezlen, but at me too, for letting such insults to Tanathia’s honor slide.

“If you ever want to look Professor Harold in the eye again, you must never repeat those words in front of him, Princess Mezlen.”

“…Huh?”

“Actually, when I had just completed my first year of service at the Blackwood residence…”

To illustrate how serious it was to mess with Harold’s ‘family,’ I told Mezlen the story of ‘Aeria’ and ‘Alicia.’

How they had stolen Tanathia’s heirlooms-of all things-and were caught, leading to Harold beating them so severely that every bone in their bodies was broken.

‘For all we know, they might still be working as sex slaves for the frontline soldiers at the northern border of Silverwood Territory.’

Even if Tanathia’s heirlooms were valuable, three years would have been more than enough to repay the debt. But Harold’s rage wasn’t factored into the appraisal of those items.

Since Silverwood Territory was inescapable without outside help, it was entirely possible to keep them enslaved ‘until death’ if he so desired. In this world, high-ranking nobles could legally exact revenge on commoners as they pleased.

I glossed over the ‘sex slave’ part to avoid making the mood too grim, but Mezlen seemed to grasp the underlying message.

“I-I see… So no mentioning family in front of Harold-nim…”

“To be precise, you must never speak ill of his family or tarnish their honor. And that applies not just to Duchess Tanathia, but also to Young Master Ethan.”

“O-Okay… I’ll keep that in mind…”

I wasn’t sure if this lewd princess would actually heed my advice, but it was better than leaving her completely uninformed.

If she went around seriously spouting nonsense about Tanathia being secretly lewd and Harold still being hung up on her because of their ‘compatibility,’ Harold might one day resort to actual violence against Mezlen.

Even as the Duke of Blackwood, assaulting a royal would be a serious crime, so to prevent collateral damage to Ethan and me, I had to make sure she kept her mouth shut.

“D-Do you have any other advice, Miss Lilith…?”

“Huh?”

“L-Like things to be careful about around Harold-nim, or other things he likes… T-The earlier story was somewhat helpful, so…”

“…I wasn’t exactly giving you romantic advice.”

“B-But still…! O-Oh, do you happen to know any stories about the late Duchess Tanathia…? M-Maybe they could be useful…”

“I mean, you really shouldn’t casually bring up Duchess Tanathia’s name…”

Just as I was about to warn Mezlen again for carelessly mentioning Tanathia’s name-

“You two seem to be talking about Tanathia. Did I mishear?”

“…………?!?!?!”

My body froze like a statue at the familiar voice coming from behind me.