Chapter 95: Love Is War

If there was one fortunate thing about this…

It was that by the time Clarisse’s carriage reached the Brentarion Kingdom, Prince Raphael had been caught and brought back.

That day, a brief exchange took place between her and Brentarion’s royal family over a meal.

“What kind of food does Prince Raphael enjoy?”

During the meal, a soft, yet natural conversation occurred.

King Raboden and the queen nodded with satisfaction at Clarisse’s proactive attitude towards Raphael, but…

“I like Auren.”

“Auren, you say?”

Clarisse’s violet eyes blinked a few times. As if he had been waiting for this, Prince Raphael raised the corner of his mouth in a sneer.

“It’s a traditional Brentarion dish, made by stewing chicken. I suppose you don’t have it in Albion.”

“No, but I’m interested in it.”

“Hmph.”

His sneer that was getting wider only made the dining atmosphere more awkward. Clarisse still maintained her smile, but her hands that were gripping the cutlery had tensed up considerably.

After all, from those words, Prince Raphael basically told her that she didn’t suit him at all.

Though he mentioned his favorite food, at the same time he mocked her, as if to say, ‘You don’t know anything, do you?’.

“It seems we have a lot to learn about each other. I’m looking forward to it.”

“There’s no need to try too hard.”

“I appreciate your consideration.”

“Ha, consideration…?”

His blatant disregard continued, yet Clarisse didn’t drop her smile.

Anyone could see that she was showing a much more mature demeanor, and that his sarcastic tone didn’t affect her at all.

“I’m not feeling well, so I’ll retire now.”

In the end, he stood up.

A rude and irresponsible act.

He even said something to Clarisse as he passed by her.

“Do you know what love is?”

“…Pardon?”

“If you do, you’d understand why I’m acting this way.”

With that, he left.

Seeing him like that, King Raboden let out a sigh and shook his head. Naturally, Clarisse had heard of the king’s weak disposition, but she never expected that he’d be pushed around by the prince so openly like this.

Meaning, the generational shift had almost completely taken place here too.

“Please let me apologize on his behalf, Princess Clarisse. That boy is immature, but he’s also passionate and capable.”

“I hope you won’t just focus on his negative aspects.”

As King Raboden and the queen apologized, Clarisse smoothly deflected the issue.

“It’s alright. This marriage was requested by our side, so I suppose he needs time to accept it, given how sudden it is.”

“The princess is truly mature.”

“You’ll be a perfect match for our Raphael.”

“To win over one’s husband is also a quality of a good wife.”

With a slight smile, Clarisse finished her meal.

“What was that all about?!”

The moment she entered the room that was provided by Brentaren’s royal family, Clarisse immediately grabbed a pillow and started hitting the bed with it.

“What, do you think I like you?! Of course not! We’re supposed to get to know each other gradually from now on, and yet—!!”

“…”

“…”

The Grandmaster and Isaac—who had followed her into the room—kept their mouths shut.

“What do you think we are, children?! You guys will only get benefits if you guys strengthen your alliance with us! We can block the Demonic Beasts coming from the North for you!!”

Thump! Thump!

“In turn, we receive support from you while we devise strategy against those damn Transcendent Race!”

Thump! Thump!

“If you’re royalty, at least show that much sense of responsibility! Aren’t you ashamed of the people who are loyal to us?! Do you think the privileges we enjoy come from nowhere?!”

“…She’s surprisingly sensible for royalty?”

“Despite how she might appear, she’s someone who has a sense of responsibility.”

“Actually, I can see that from the fact that she came all the way here for this marriage…”

“You’re asking if I know what love is?! Of course I don’t know!”

Thump! Thump!

Even after hearing the Grandmaster’s and Isaac’s muttering, Clarisse didn’t stop.

Only after she slammed the pillow in her hands into the bed a few more times did she finally tire herself out.

Then she threw the pillow aside and plopped down on the bed.

“Stupid prince. Did he think I threw my smile at him because I liked it?”

Princess Clarisse covered her face, sinking into despair. Since this marriage was an important matter for Albion Kingdom, this matter stressed her quite a bit.

Isaac and the Grandmaster held their tongues, waiting for her to finish her rant.

“This can’t go on.”

Her voice flowed softly through the gaps between her fingers.

“We can’t ruin everything just because of one emotion. Do you know how much this marriage benefits our kingdom?”

As if hypnotizing herself…

Or as if trying to persuade a non-existent Raphael…

“We are not those who enjoy, but those who take responsibility!”

Clarisse stood up abruptly.

Her violet eyes now held a glimmer of intelligence.

“Heyrad, you’re outside, right?”

“Yes, Princess.”

Heyrad immediately entered the room at her call.

Due to his recent argument with her, she had been telling him to guard her as inconspicuously as possible.

“Go and find out who the woman is that Raphael is so infatuated with. I want to see how great she is. Appearance, style, preferences, wealth, background, everything. Gather all the information you can.”

“Understood.”

Like a commander issuing military strategy.

Clarisse’s cold voice and gestures made Heyrad look like an extension of herself.

This…

Isaac couldn’t help but admire her from that. The demeanor she carried was fitting of the woman who had once been responsible for humanity.

Even the Grandmaster showed a faint interest in the charisma she was exuding.

“I need you to keep an eye on Raphael. You’re the only one here who can move around without being noticed by anyone.”

“As you command… Is that how I should respond?”

The Grandmaster grinned before heading out.

“Baron Logan.”

Leaving Isaac as the only other person in the room.

Clarisse approached him with big strides and called out to him.

“Yes, Princess.”

“You will have the most important role.”

Isaac, who had already guessed what he needed to do, almost let out a bitter laugh, but…

“You need to help me seduce that stupid prince.”

“…”

“Will you?”

Her serious demeanor made him calmly accept his role.

“That’s one thing I’m really good about.”

‘Love is war.’

It was a famous phrase, but Isaac wasn’t quite sure where he heard it for the first time.

In any case, Isaac quite deeply agreed with the saying.

However, he felt that it’d resonate more with him if the phrase was changed into ‘marriage is war’ instead.

Anyway…

Clarisse also had a favorable view of that phrase.

“Love is war, you say?”

And since that was the case…

“Strategy and tactics. Logistics, intelligence, command, psychology, diplomacy! We’re gonna use everything available to us!”

She started to treat love like a real war.

The people around her became her adjutants, supporting her decision as a commander.

Isaac calmly spoke to the maid doing Clarisse’s makeup.

“Too much makeup will have the opposite effect. Go for a more pure and innocent look instead.”

“Um, is that really gonna be okay? Considering she’s a princess…”

“It’ll be fine. He already has a bad impression of the princess, so what we need here is to leave him with a different impression, not a stereotypical image.”

“I see.”

“There’s gonna be a banquet six days from now on, we’ll make our move then. It’s better to tone it down a bit for now so we can use the banquet to show her best appearance.”

Following Isaac’s words, the maid started applying lighter makeup on her, meanwhile, Clarisse herself looked a little uneasy.

“Um, is this really okay? Showing my unflattering appearance to him…”

“Princess, do you know when I felt my heart flutter the most for Rianna?”

Isaac suddenly brought up such an interesting topic that even the maid turned her gaze at him.

“It was when she showed me her awkward smile. When I see an unexpected side from her usually expressionless and authoritative self.”

“Ah…”

“That’s how it is. Think of it like this. The other side is prepared for a cavalry charge, which means, we’d need to either outflank them or wear them down with arrows.”

“Okay, I understand what you mean.”

Clarisse nodded.

She stood in front of Isaac after finishing her makeup.

“How do I look?”

“It’s sufficient. Not excessive, but not unattractive either. Fortunately, you’re naturally beautiful, Princess.”

“Of course I am. I am a princess, after all!”

Clarisse puffed up with pride.

“Smile for me.”

But, Isaac ignored her. She seemed a bit hurt by that, but she immediately let out a bright smile.

It was such a radiant smile that Isaac thought Rianna should learn from it for a moment. But then a frown appeared on his face.

“I’ll be blunt. When you go out there, don’t smile.”

“What?! But why?! My smile’s pretty, is it not?”

“You smiled at the dinner table too, didn’t you?”

“…I did?”

There wasn’t a single moment when she dropped her smile back then.

And that was exactly the problem.

“He’ll perceive your smile as fake. From what I see, he is extremely faithful to his emotions. He isn’t the type of man who’d be swayed by an artificial smile.”

“…Does my smile look fake to you?”

“Your smile is perfect, actually. But, the moment he sees it, doubt will creep into his mind.”

It’s like when you see someone who never stopped smiling, you’d start to think that they’re forcing themselves to smile.

“Princess, from now on, when you go there—“

“I’ve practically become an expert at running away now. I might have the makings of a thief.”

Having escaped the palace, Prince Raphael headed into the city with a self-deprecating smile.

Why am I born a prince?

Actually, him being a prince was fine, the problem was that he fell in love with a baker’s daughter.

Truly a tragedy.

But, such was love.

Without hesitation, he rushed out, immediately pulling up his hood.

After hiding his face, he planned to go to the flower shop as usual and buy flowers for her.

Rationally speaking, the political marriage with the Albion Kingdom is important for us too, but…

Even if he were to abandon everything else, his love for her was something he wouldn’t abandon no matter what.

Truly a despair inducing situation.

But, such was love.

He decided to think of something else.

The bakery should be past its busy hours now, so she should be free.

I probably hurt her when we got caught for trying to run away last time…

So, I’ll buy more extravagant flowers today.

When he reached the flower shop, a frown appeared on his face.

Because he saw a woman with her hood up—just like him—standing in front of the flower shop.

She was eating a skewer bought from a street vendor while listlessly choosing flowers.

“Princess Clarisse…?”

He even called out to her unconsciously due to how surprised he was to see her here.

“…Prince?”

Clarisse also looked at Raphael with a surprised expression.

As an awkward atmosphere flowed between them…

Clarisse let out a sigh.

“I heard you have a lover you’re in a relationship with. You’re going to meet her, aren’t you?”

“A-Ahem…”

Raphael couldn’t answer that.

It was obvious that if Clarisse reported this to the palace, he would be caught and brought back immediately.

As he was pondering how to defuse the situation.

“Prince Raphael.”

Then, with an exasperated sigh, completely opposite to how she had been conducting herself at the dinner table, Clarisse…

“I don’t like this marriage either.”

“…Pardon?”

“I don’t want to marry you either.”

Prince Raphael’s eyes widened at Clarisse’s words.

Surprised by her completely different demeanor from what he had seen at the dinner table.

Realizing that these were her true feelings, he felt a glimmer of hope blooming in his chest.

Could this be…?

He started thinking that this would end with them not getting married.

And that’s what I want him to think.

Figuring out what was in his mind, Clarisse laughed inwardly.

[Right now, you need to close the distance. Make him empathize with you.]

She kept mulling over Isaac’s advice in her head.

[Fortunately, there’s something you two can empathize over, so it should be easy for you.]

[So, from now on, you need to act.]

‘Act?’

[Act out your true feelings.]

Acting out her true feelings.

At first, Clarisse didn’t understand the meaning of those words, but…

Seeing the situation unfolding like this, she finally understood what he meant.