Ch.166Chapter 166: Journey, Starting Again

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As the situation seemed to have settled, I slowly entered the cabin, watching Sister gesture for us to come in.

Shizu just blinked her eyes, apparently not quite understanding the situation.

Excel finally showed his displeasure at the fact that the prince wasn’t leaving and would be staying here longer.

And lastly, there was the shadow who had been standing guard outside the cabin like an abstract figure—the one the princess called Weibel.

When I first directed my steps toward the cabin at the beginning of our journey, I had moved forward while admiring the interior, which rivaled any decent villa.

That impression hadn’t changed much even now, after being away from the cabin for about 15 minutes and returning.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to contemplate such things while looking around the cabin interior now.

Sister showed clear signs of exhaustion, as if all her energy had been drained by the conversation that had continued for 15 minutes.

“…Hehe.”

And across from her sat the princess, displaying the composure of a victor with a cheerful expression.

The presence of the shadow seated right beside her robbed me of any such composure.

Anyway, because of this sudden situation,

My mind was in such disarray that I couldn’t think straight.

I felt the urge to just let my mind go blank, but

If I actually did that, there was no telling what might happen, so

I focused on clearly understanding the situation at hand.

Well, that’s what I told myself, but

Every time I tried to come up with a plan,

I couldn’t help feeling my common sense slipping away.

…This really is absurd.

Because of the major family matter of succession,

We’re urgently heading to the main house instead of the Cradle where we were supposed to return.

And bringing along Shizu and Excel, who have nothing to do with family affairs,

Is Sister’s business to handle, but

Since we need to make up some excuse for the family members,

I also need to help and have a lot to think about and organize in my head.

And as if that weren’t enough,

Now we’re heading to the Ranos main house with a direct bloodline royal who attracts nationwide attention and interest just by appearing somewhere other than the capital.

How could this not be absurd?

If I still had my old temperament,

I would have certainly confronted either Sister, who allowed this, or

The princess sitting over there,

With harsh words, but

Such passionate outbursts from me…

“Don’t say a word.”

As she said this,

Sister was pressing both her temples firmly with her hands in distress, and

Though I hadn’t noticed it when she first appeared,

“…”

Despite her cheerful expression, the princess was rubbing her eyelids with her own hands.

Seeing the dark circles under her eyes from overwork,

My outburst died before it could even leave my mouth.

Sister was one thing, but

Seeing the princess with clear traces of overwork all over her face,

I simply couldn’t bring myself to lash out.

So instead of passion, what came from my mouth was

“Sigh…”

Just a sigh expressing my disappointment.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but since I’m riding the train on Sister’s dime anyway, I’ll just go with it.”

I made sure not to forget to express my respect for Sister’s choice.

Normally, Sister would have reacted in some way to such a small gesture, but

She seemed too distracted to show any reaction to what I was saying.

Well, with her mind so preoccupied, how could she have time to listen to what others were saying?

I tried to calm my mind with that thought, but

Sensing that it was simply impossible, I was about to just hopelessly mess up my hair when

“Grr…”

An androgynous voice filled with something like regret reached my ears.

I turned my head toward the source of the voice, and

“…I’m terribly sorry.”

I could see the Third Prince—I keep calling them a prince—showing embarrassment and regret on their face, clearly indicating that all this was their fault.

And it wasn’t just a perfunctory apology made reluctantly.

“I’m sorry for causing unwanted fatigue to you all, who should be busy recovering from the exhaustion of the subjugation festival…”

They spoke with sincere apology infused in every word.

…Well, this is something to see in a lifetime.

-How can a human being commit such acts!

-Does doing such things bring you joy?

-I swear by the gods looking down on us from on high! Not a single part of your body will remain on this earth!

Before my regression, I had received such venomous curses from this person.

Remembering that, I wanted to grimace and give a bitter smile if no one was watching, but how could I lose control of my expression and show a bitter smile in front of royalty with whom I had no personal relationship?

Moreover, seeing the traces of overwork on that face, I could somewhat understand why the princess had made this choice, so

“An apology? Not at all. We’ve simply gained a travel companion.”

What came from my mouth was not a bitter smile but a sincere response.

I saw a strange ripple in the prince’s expression upon hearing my answer, but

As someone who lives disguising their gender,

This direct royal, excellent at restraining their emotions, immediately composed their expression and

“Thank you for saying that.”

Expressed gratitude to me.

To think I would receive both an apology and thanks.

It felt strange.

How could it not?

In the life I lived before regression,

Just as this person’s curse had predicted,

I met my end with my entire body turning to ash.

And as I was dying, the desperate wish I made was strangely granted,

Experiencing the miracle of turning back time,

Correcting wrong choices,

And with the determination to change a future full of nothing but ash into one of hope,

I had been taking one step at a time on what I believed was the right path, albeit slowly, and yet

Now I was hearing such regret and gratitude from this person whom I had encountered in an unexpected situation.

Huh…

I feel like I’m repeating myself, but

Truly, the world is full of surprises to witness in a long life.

[You’re not even 40 years old despite living through time reversal, you youngster!!]

‘How nice it must be to be so old…’

[#$#!@%^!##% !!!!]

Ah, my head is about to explode.

As I tried to ignore Paphnir who was getting furious at my teasing,

“Let me introduce myself again.”

Whether aware of my complicated feelings or not,

The princess looked at me, Shizu, and Excel—everyone except Sister—and

Rose from her seat with a posture that exuded elegance at first glance.

It was clear she intended to introduce herself again with proper formality as a fellow traveler, so

I simply waited with a composed expression for the words to fall from the princess’s lips.

I was sure she would just express the same introduction we had earlier in a more refined and elegant tone.

And accordingly, we would also reintroduce ourselves with proper formality.

Sister, who was standing not far from where the princess stood,

Seemed to be steeling herself for something, but

I thought it was simply an expression of the psychological pain caused by having another burden added to our journey.

“I am Lucius Bright Solarium.”

She revealed her real name, not the male name she used when disguised as a man, and

Removed the brooch with magic that maintained her male disguise from the royal ceremonial coat she was wearing,

Completely stripping away the male persona she had been presenting until now,

Revealing an appearance that proved the expression “peerless beauty” was no exaggeration.

“I am a princess, not a prince. I look forward to our journey together.”

That’s what I had thought until I saw her openly revealing her gender.

·

·

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Haah…

I had felt like I’d experienced all sorts of strange things since my regression, but

Just as I was thinking that the scene unfolding before my eyes would rank among the most absurd moments I’d ever experienced,

Screech-!!

The sound of the train’s iron wheels sliding on the rails pierced my now hypersensitive ears, and then

-This is Conductor Steiner. Our train bound for Ranos Territory has just departed. We will do our best to ensure a peaceful journey.

The conductor’s announcement, now with a much smoother tone than when we had departed from North Kessler Town, was heard.

The train, having ended its long stop at Solarium, was now moving toward its next destination with a quietness that seemed unbelievable for its size.

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Our three reactions to the princess suddenly removing her disguise and revealing her gender were all different.

Each had its own distinctive quality, but

Among us, Shizu was the most composed.

“…”

One might question how simply blinking without saying anything could be considered composed, but

At least Shizu’s expression remained undisturbed.

“Uh…”

Compared to Excel, who was acting like he might faint,

Letting out a sound that violated etiquette in front of royalty,

Raising his right hand to point at her,

Shizu’s reaction was composure itself.

Well, take it as you will.

As for me, since I already knew that this direct royal before my eyes was a princess, I was merely pretending to be surprised on the outside, so I should be excluded entirely from this comparison.

Among the three of us, Excel clearly showed the most dramatic reaction.

In addition to what I mentioned earlier, his expression, soaked in surprise, kept changing visibly.

Until just a moment ago, he had shown discomfort and wariness toward the princess (still disguised as a prince), viewing her as a potential rival for Sister’s affection.

In stark contrast, Excel seemed to have received a great shock upon seeing the princess’s revealed appearance.

But such displays of surprise were brief.

As the train was departing, standing dumbfounded wasn’t the best choice, so

Everyone in the cabin, including Sister, the princess, and the shadow attending her, moved to their respective seats.

The seating arrangement had changed somewhat from when we first sat down before the princess entered this cabin.

Excel, who had tried to stay close to Sister out of wariness toward the disguised princess,

Seemed to have let go of his concerns, as

He no longer showed any signs of vigilance toward the princess sitting next to Sister and was simply looking at the constantly changing scenery outside from his seat.

Unlike Excel, however,

This time it was I who faced an awkward situation, sitting across from the princess and Sister who was seated beside her.

“Hey, Shizu?”

“…Yes?”

“Do you really need to link arms?”

“Kal… do you dislike me linking arms with you?”

Dislike it? If there were no onlookers, I would have asked her to stay like this all day.

So I readily shook my head to indicate that wasn’t the case.

Shizu smiled brightly at me and said,

“I want to stay like this all day.”

Her voice, sweeter than anything else in the world, tickled my ears.

There was no problem at all.

It was Shizu, of all people, wrapping her arm around mine and sharing her warmth with me.

What could possibly be problematic about that?

Just having her arm around mine, her body pressed close to me, breathing her warm breath on me,

Was enough to give me strength to get through the day.

The only problem was,

“…Ahem.”

Sister clearing her throat once after seeing Shizu’s forward behavior.

“…”

The princess’s shadow, pretending not to see while clearly seeing everything, and

As if watching some kind of spectacle,

“…Oh.”

The princess expressing admiration with the most curious gaze among the three.

That was the problem I faced.

Moreover, as the curiosity in the princess’s gaze toward me intensified,

Squeeze

I could distinctly feel Shizu’s arm tightening around mine.

When I turned my head to look at Shizu,

I could see her smiling brightly, similar to before, but

Strangely, I could tell that something different had seeped into her smile compared to earlier.

If I were to roughly identify it,

Firm resolve, wariness, and concern all clearly evident beneath a single smile?

Something like that.

…Ah.

Is this… what I think it is?

I was beginning to understand the reasoning behind Shizu’s sudden action of embracing my arm.

She was showing clear signs of concern that I might lose my senses

At the beautiful appearance revealed by the person we thought was a prince

When she removed her disguise.

[What a cute lady. This guy isn’t the type to turn his head at a pretty woman, though.]

Hmm, among all the things Paphnir has said in my head today, this is the most agreeable.

It’s mostly correct, but

‘Shizu is the prettiest person here, what are you talking about?’

When I pointed out the one thing that was wrong,

[…I should just keep quiet.]

Paphnir’s voice, tinged with a faint sigh, fell silent after that.

Anyway, even as I conversed with Paphnir,

The strength of Shizu’s arm around mine continued to increase as time passed.

Since I understood the worry behind her action,

It was only right as her fiancé to alleviate that worry.

With that thought, I disregarded the gazes around us and

Gently extended my right hand to place it on top of Shizu’s head.

At my action, which seemed even more out of the blue than Shizu’s arm-linking,

“Ah…”

A single exclamation of surprise escaped her lips, and from mine came,

“Then…”

Beginning with these words, I gently stroked her head with my right hand.

Seeing Shizu’s seemingly artificial smile melt away into a genuinely relaxed expression,

“Then I’ll do this all day.”

Her expression softened even more when she heard my statement that I would return her arm-linking with head pats.

This should be enough for her to realize.

That there’s no way I would be interested in any other woman but her.

“Hehehe…”

Only then did a satisfied laugh escape from Shizu, who had finally let go of her wariness toward the princess whom she had perceived as a potential rival.

At this point, the three people who had been giving me intense looks should have turned their gazes away and started doing something else, right?

With that thought, I raised my head to look across from me.

“…”

“…”

As I expected, I could confirm that both Sister and the princess’s shadow had turned their gazes away without a word, but

Just one person,

Princess Lucius, contrary to my expectation,

Far from avoiding my gaze, had firmly fixed her eyes on me.

Wow, she’s not avoiding even after seeing this.

I was about to feel a slight admiration for the princess who wouldn’t avert her gaze, but

I noticed that the nature of her gaze was different from the curiosity it had initially held,

So I withdrew my admiration and analyzed the character of her gaze.

It wasn’t difficult to discern.

She was still looking, but unlike the initial curiosity,

“Hmm…”

The princess’s gaze, as she let out a faint murmur, revealed envy toward Shizu and me.

She repeatedly glanced at us and then shifted her gaze toward the shadow beside her.

The movement was so distinct that there was no need to wonder what kind of envy it was.

There was no need to think deeply about it.

[Even a princess is a young girl at that age when romance is of great interest.]

How obvious must it have been for Paphnir to say such a thing?

At this rate, the princess’s gaze toward us would likely continue all day if nothing happened, but

“Stop staring, you’ll wear the kids out.”

Thanks to Sister lightly chiding the princess, her prolonged staring didn’t continue.

On the second day of our journey, as we passed through Solarium, one of the most important points,

The first moment created by the addition of what could only be called a burden to our journey was a moment full of indescribable tingling sensations.

…With a fervent hope that nothing else would happen from here on, that is.