You and My Secret. (3)

Elford Royal Labyrinth.

He, the princess’s half-brother, was a better brother to his younger sister than I had thought.

It was right after that incident that he could have dragged her away, saying he was worried about his younger sister, or he could have thrown a tantrum and said he couldn’t stand her tantrums, and returned with the guards, saying that from here on out, he wasn’t responsible. But he accepted her words with a suggestion that he never thought of.

-One hour. Koti, I’ll do whatever you want, just listen to me for one hour.

-No. I’ve already lent you Rudis for over 15 minutes.

-That guy doesn’t care, I’m saying this for your own good. Now, look in this hand mirror. How do you see?

-Ooh… What is this? This dirty, earthy, filthy thing that looks like it came from a manure field?

-It’s you.

-Eek?!

She just asked for time to wash up and get ready again.

And in the meantime, the crown prince made my eyes widen as he displayed incredible speed in handling things, such as calling the maids needed for her grooming, moving the escorts to transport the kidnappers, and summoning the attending physician to check on her health.

Since this kind of appearance was not shown in the novel, there is nothing to say other than that it is truly amazing.

“It’s something I do every day, so it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Do you speak every day?”

When I asked him, tilting his head in confusion, how he seemed to have read my mind by looking at my expression, he shrugged his shoulders, wrote a text message on his phone, gave some instructions, then looked at me and snickered before speaking.

“Coty has been living like a tomboy since she was 7. It took almost half a year for Her Majesty and I to realize that it was because she was smart. And while we couldn’t forgive ourselves for making her act that way, we thought we should take her side even if she acted that way. Think about it. How could that child, who didn’t have a single friend to lean on, live like that, causing trouble… no, causing trouble?”

In other words, the cleanup of her mess is not just something that appears in a novel, but is also something that has been done over the course of more than 10 years to a degree that she is quite skilled at in reality.

When I think about it that way, I can’t help but think that the Imperial Rankings battle, which was so chaotic that even the skilled crown prince couldn’t possibly handle, might have been her last desperate attempt to escape her fate.

“Anyway, the maid who is helping Koti with her grooming right now and the captain of my guard are people His Majesty trusts. So when she comes out properly dressed, don’t forget to praise her.”

“… Is that a strange story?”

“Don’t worry about that kid getting kidnapped again. And praise him properly. I’m a little busy, so the conversation is mixed up.”

Maybe because he was concerned about what I was worried about, he started to throw out some kind of conversational synopsis, and I had a difficult conversation with him while waiting for the princess to return.

“Okay!! It’s done.”

“What on earth have you been doing?”

“Huh? Oh, I just infiltrated a squad of the Imperial Knights into the amusement park. I’ll tell His Majesty about Andrew, and from now on, my escorts will be your escorts, and the other knights will execute anyone who behaves strangely on the spot. The rest of your date will be absolutely uninterrupted. “

“… … “

“Don’t worry, our escorts are around, so you won’t be able to find them even if you try to find them.”

As I watch him talk as if he’s done his work while stretching, something comes to mind.

‘Siscon…? Isn’t this just him wanting to be a little sister rather than a good older brother?’

When I think about how he asked me to take good care of his younger sister, I feel my heart pounding.

If the princess really likes me, what should I do?

As I was sorting out my slightly dizzy thoughts, the princess finally returned.

“Whoa!! Sorry! Girl, I’m late! Did you wait long?”

“No, I just got here too.”

“Oww! As expected from a commoner! You’re showing me the ad-libs I want without holding back! I’ll give you a girl reward!”

“Oh. What kind of reward is it?”

“Whew! Are you looking forward to it?”

“Yes. Very much.”

It’s so comforting to talk to her now that things have returned to normal.

Even the clothes are exactly the same as the one-piece dress before it got dirty, and the hat is the same… No, how can it be exactly the same as before?

Usually, when it comes to clothes for a princess, don’t you dress them up a bit more?

As I looked at her, feeling a little lonely and alone, she smiled like a flower in full bloom, not knowing what I was thinking, and told me about the reward.

“I’ll give you a chance to go on a date with a girl on a Ferris wheel!”

Well, if she doesn’t care, then it doesn’t matter.

*

I couldn’t even eat the lunch I had reserved, and now I was looking at the sky turning red, arm in arm with Princess Coti as we headed toward the Ferris wheel.

-Rust, rustling.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m hungry. Girl, I’ll give you a late lunch, even for commoners. Okay. “

“Chocolate bar?”

“The girl is so cute! And strawberry milk!”

Judging from the food that popped out of her bag that wasn’t there before, it seems like the maid who dressed her up packed it for her.

-for a moment.

-? who…?

-I am Elford’s maid, and I also work as the princess’s maid. The princess said she wanted to go back to that appearance, so we used magic to fix her clothes and make her makeup look like it did in the morning. So please don’t misunderstand.

-?

-And, please give the princess as much praise as possible. Well, that’s all for now.

-???

When I recall the story of how a bespectacled maid with brown hair approached me while Crown Prince Elford and the princess were talking and threw me away very quickly, I began to think that the maids didn’t seem to dislike her that much either.

As expected, compared to the girl in the novel, she feels like a girl who is a bit more direct and eccentric than a villainess.

But the maid just now said that she was a level 5 in magic and a level 5 in martial arts. Is that really a maid? She was much stronger than the escorts I gave her earlier, and even if she was the captain of the escorts, her movements were incredible enough to be trusted.

Of course, the princess didn’t even notice her approaching and then disappearing.

“Oww yum yum. Gulp.”

“Is it delicious?”

“So delicious!”

“Pfft!”

“Commoners also want a bite?”

“Ah.”

“… Oww…! Aang!”

I really hope this is her plotting.

Thinking like that, I took a big bite of the soboro the princess offered me, and then she started looking at me with a resentful expression, as if I had lost my country, wondering if I had eaten more than she had thought.

“The girl’s revenge is freaking scary.”

“No, I ate it because you gave it to me.”

“Shut up. How could you eat a third of it in one bite! I thought you could eat the girl’s hand too!”

“Oh, can you feed my hands too?”

“What the heck!!”

-Hug!

Oh my god, this is plotting and if it’s not greenlit I’m going to cry.

When we arrived in front of the Ferris wheel, she hugged my arm tightly, not caring that her pride would be affected, saying that she would take revenge, and the staff tried to take away the princess’s bread and milk, saying that she was not allowed to ride with food.

“… Oh, girl, you haven’t finished eating lunch yet…

“Excuse me, this is a small ‘thank you’, but how can it not be?”

“Ahem! Get on, get on!”

An employee who quietly hands over gold equivalent to almost an hour’s wages turns his head and immediately opens the Ferris wheel door.

And the cute princess whose crimson eyes sparkled and her lips pursed in delight at my actions.

After all, money is good.

So I and the princess slowly began to ascend the ride that would probably be our last ride of the day.

“Oww yum yum, gulp! Oww yum yum!!”

“Eat slowly.”

“I have to talk here, so I’m going to eat quickly! Don’t interrupt me! Yeah, man!!”

No, if that’s the case, then leave it to someone below. He doesn’t say things like that without thinking.

Because her appearance was like she was relieving her stress by eating.

That means she’s nervous about what she’s going to say from now on.

When the Ferris wheel was halfway off the ground, she finished off the bread and milk, quickly stuffed the trash into a bag, looked at me, and began to move her glistening, salivating lips.

“I’m sorry today. The girl ruined my date.”

“There’s no need to be sorry. Rather, it’s my fault for not being able to protect you even though I was there for you.”

“Oh no… The girl should be sorry. Because, the girl was expecting the guy to move a little bit. She didn’t… say anything.”

Her speech is the same as usual, but her serious expression and crimson eyes dyed in the sunset are completely different from usual.

I thought it would be better to just listen to her words rather than deny them any further, so I kept my mouth shut and started listening to her story.

“Andrew is my ‘real’ older brother. But the girl doesn’t think of him as her older brother.”

“I see.”

“And he’s trying to use me. Talking to his ‘mother’.”

What she’s trying to say now is, in fact, something I already know.

In the novel, she is dumped by Raoul once, but she cannot give up and shows her villainous side without hesitation, openly harassing the princess of Ellis and the Kingdom of Frisia.

And the guy who accelerates that action is Andrew. And the guys behind the scenes.

“The girl… approached Rudis to ‘use’ her.”

“Huh?”

“To avoid being used by those guys, to avoid being targeted… and to properly give my brother the throne of the emperor… I went to the side of the commoner, Rudis.”

-Thump thump.

Suddenly, I don’t know. I think there was a scene in the novel where he said this to Raoul, but the atmosphere at the time when I read it and the atmosphere now are quite different.

Back then, she had been yelling at the whole world, getting annoyed and angry, asking why she couldn’t do what she wanted, and telling them to do whatever they wanted, but now she was talking to me calmly, as if she was confessing, but also as if she felt guilty.

“A girl shouldn’t be with a high-class noble bastard, and even lesser noble bastards. She’s that dangerous. If…my ‘ability’ is revealed to the world, it’s a ‘bomb’ that could push out my brother, who is already the crown prince.”

“… When you say that, it sounds like you approached me with the intention of marrying me.”

“That’s right. I thought that if you were a girl with black hair and black eyes, and even a black magician that the world hates, you could completely remove yourself from the throne just by getting married.”

-Thump!

Really? You chose me over Raoul?

My heart pounded, even through self-hypnosis, but my reason, telling me to focus properly on the sight before my eyes, drowned out the sound.

Yes, she is not [Princess Coti Royal Labyrinth] from the novel, but Coti, my classmate and friend.

So, both instinct and reason tell me to focus on the girl in front of me, who looks like she might cry at any moment.

“But now that’s the end. Because the girl was complacent, Andrew thought Rudis was a man he could use, and he’s trying to target Rudis with the girl’s power. This is the same as the will of those ‘behind’ him. They’re people that even our papa and brother wouldn’t be able to easily defeat. So… “

I think I know what she’s trying to say, what she wants to say.

Perhaps she chose me, and is trying to choose the same path as Raul’s story, but different.

Because her eyes, which looked like they would burst at any moment, and her trembling lips were telling me something.

“So-nyeot…! Izzet… At Rudis’ side…!!”

-Hug.

“Don’t cry. If you cry here, Princess, I’ll fly over and kill all the crying babies.”

“Shut up… !!”

She sits across from me, gently holding the hand on my knee with one hand and smiling as if to reassure me.

And I hope in my heart.

Please, I hope you don’t give up on me with that mouth, because even though he said he didn’t like you when I was with Raoul, I don’t hate you.

More than anything, I like you because you approached me without any favors, debt of gratitude, or prejudice, even though I have been living a single life for nearly 40 years.

I don’t know yet if this is love or just a male instinct to be attracted to a beautiful and pretty appearance, but if you choose me over Raoul, I intend to try my best.

So I hope you don’t give up on me.

“… Cow, yea…!! Ability…! What a scary ability. If I do it wrong, I could ruin Rudis’ life…! Maybe even the lives of the people around him…!!”

“Princess… Miss Coty. If it’s okay with you… No, it’s okay if it’s not. Could you just tell me everything?”

The princess, who had her eyes tightly shut as she listened to my story, looked like she was about to cry at any moment, but she was trying to hold it back.

I think he’s probably taking seriously what I said when I said that if he cries, I’ll really run over and kill everyone, including Andrew.

And, not knowing my strength, she probably thinks I might die, so she endures it.

He is truly a kind person.

“… The girl’s ability is… not a trait. It’s an ability given to her by a ‘god’ that doesn’t even appear in the trait machine. It’s the ability of the ‘overlord’ that the three empresses of the empire had. “

“I’m not good at studying history, so what abilities did he have?”

-Brrr.

I know what that ability is.

But when I see you shaking your shoulders as if you’re about to cry at any moment, I don’t want to back down.

Really, if you choose me, if your heart is truly sincere.

I hope you trust me just a little and take one more step forward.

Then I…

-Tiring!

[You’re a bad man, a bad man who makes even bad women cry! Quest: A bad man who escaped from being a third-rate villain and yet makes women cry again!]

[It’s been a while, bad boy. You still haven’t kicked your bad habits and are making women cry!]

[But you were the first to find out. That a bad girl has feelings for you!]

[But the road to becoming her is not that easy. It will be more difficult and arduous than you know.]

[And yet, will you go down that path? If you just ignore her tears and pass by, a new life awaits you that thinks only of you.]

[So, it’s your choice. Will you destroy the ‘story’ of this world and prioritize the girl in front of you, or will you trample on her heart and prioritize the ‘story’?]

[Of course, there are few people who would blame you if you pretended not to see her here. Maybe the crown prince or the emperor? Even then, they wouldn’t be much of a threat.]

[Hear from your own lips the power of Princess Coti Royal Labyrinth (0/1)]

[Participate in the Imperial Ranking Match and achieve 1st place. (0/1) <[Payment] cannot be used while this quest is in progress.>]

[… … … Survive the battle with (0/1) <98% chance of your own death>]

[The death probability of Yuria Fortward when participating in a battle with … … … is updated.]

[The probability of death when Piana Stone participates in a battle with … … … is updated.]

[If you check the target … … …, the contents will be updated.]

[When giving up: The favorability rating of the princess, crown prince, and emperor of the empire decreases.]

[If successful: Black Magic Lv. ?? will increase. Swordsmanship Lv. ?? will increase. Additionally, you may be able to win the princess’s heart? <Or not?>]

“Please tell me. I want to ‘save’ the princess.”

“Keep going… !!”

For the first time, I decided to rebel against the story.