Ch.242242. At This Point, Isn’t This What the Etherian Princess Was Aiming For?

With a tense gaze, I headed toward the Etherian Princess’s bedchamber.

Fortunately, there was no one guarding the door—she must have already arranged for that.

Creeeeak-! Clunk-!

Holding my breath for fear of being seen, I opened the door to the Etherian Princess’s bedchamber.

And then.

“Lord Selden Alphonse, it’s been a while!”

There stood a woman with flowing golden hair and sparkling red eyes.

Her features were distinctly foreign, yet there was something natural about her appearance.

She seemed much more ladylike than when I had last seen her.

Hiding my bewilderment, I opened my mouth.

“…Princess Sairine, is that you?”

A table filled with bottles of alcohol.

And sitting in chairs, staring at me intently, were the Etherian Princess and the Sairine Princess.

Concealing my surprised expression, I greeted them respectfully, whereupon Princess Sairine pointed to the chair beside her.

“Sit here!”

“Ah… yes.”

Princess Sairine repeatedly jabbed her finger at the seat next to her, insisting I sit there.

Even so, I kept glancing at the Etherian Princess as I cautiously lowered myself into the chair across from her.

Thud-!

As soon as I sat down, something fell from my pants pocket with a ‘thud.’

Princess Sairine was the first to notice, picking it up herself and exclaiming:

“This is… ‘Cleansing Water’ for rinsing your mouth? Why are you carrying this in your pants pocket?”

Sigh…

When the Etherian Princess had abruptly summoned me to her bedchamber, I had no proper way to refuse.

Even when I asked why, she simply repeated, “Come to my bedchamber in the evening.”

So I had brought it just in case… but was being too prepared the problem?

The Etherian Princess’s face turned strawberry red as she fanned herself with her hand.

Quickly forcing a laugh, I snatched the ‘Cleansing Water’ from Princess Sairine’s hand and continued:

“Haha! I must have accidentally put it in my pocket after rinsing my mouth after lunch earlier.”

“Oh! Is that so?”

Thankfully, Princess Sairine nodded with an expression of pure innocence.

The problem was the Etherian Princess, who was still red-faced and muttering.

“…Pervert.”

Pervert?

Peeeeervert!?

Wait, she could have just told me exactly why I needed to come to her bedchamber, but she calls me a pervert!?

At this point, I wonder if this was her plan all along?

Moreover.

The Etherian Princess’s proactiveness was astonishing.

How had she arranged this meeting with Princess Sairine so quickly?

The reason she asked me to come to her bedchamber rather than elsewhere was probably because there would be too many eyes watching elsewhere.

If this meeting had been formally arranged, the princesses’ close aides would have opposed it.

Having fully assessed the situation, I scratched my head and laughed nonchalantly.

“Well, shall we have a drink?”

“Yes!!”

Princess Sairine cheerfully waved her glass while the Etherian Princess silently pushed her glass forward with her finger.

“By the way, Princess Sairine, you’ve matured so much since I last saw you.”

“Oh my! Is that a compliment?”

“Of course it is!”

“Does maturity have anything to do with being pretty?”

As she spoke, Princess Sairine rested her chin on both palms and gazed at me with sparkling eyes.

I was surprised by how coquettish she was.

“Princess Sairine has always been beautiful.”

“When I first saw Lord Selden Alphonse, I was so surprised by how handsome you were.”

“Haha… really?”

“Actually, the first thing I wanted to tell you was how disappointed I was…”

“Why?”

“Every time you came to the palace, you only ever visited my father or my sister before leaving.”

“That’s because the Etherian Princess summoned me…”

At that, the Etherian Princess, who had been silently drinking, threw out a remark.

“Are you blaming me now?”

“You have good hearing despite my speaking so softly.”

“We’re this close—unless I were deaf, how could I not hear?”

“…I apologize.”

After I apologized, her anger seemed to subside as she resumed sipping her drink.

Meanwhile, Princess Sairine continued her questioning.

“Lord Selden Alphonse, what brings you to the palace this time? It seems you’ve been here for a few days?”

“His Majesty the Emperor summoned me, so I’m staying at the palace for a few days.”

“Ah… I see. What did my father summon you for?”

“…I’m afraid I can’t discuss that yet. And I would appreciate it if you would speak less formally.”

After my polite request, Princess Sairine gave a faint smile.

“I prefer speaking this way. By the way, Lord Selden Alphonse, you’ve completed your coming-of-age ceremony, right?”

“Yes, just recently.”

“Then you’ll need to get married soon… have you found a fiancée?”

“Haha! I’m still too busy with other matters to think about marriage.”

“…I see. Shall we have another drink then?”

“Gladly.”

Princess Sairine continued her barrage of indiscriminate questions.

Perhaps because things were still awkward between her and the Etherian Princess, she seemed to direct more questions at me.

That’s right.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Even if things were awkward now, as they continued to meet like this, their relationship would eventually improve.

Fortunately, the Etherian Princess didn’t seem to dislike it either.

“When we were young, my sister and I were picking flowers together when we got stung by bees and clung to each other, crying our eyes out.”

As the alcohol took effect, Princess Sairine’s voice grew louder.

Naturally, the content of the original novel came to mind.

The Etherian Princess would be killed by the protagonist, Serion Lycus, and Princess Sairine would ascend to the throne as queen.

Yet her expression wasn’t happy.

A succession dispute thrust upon her.

Because of it, she lost her only blood relative.

Therefore.

I could tell without even using my “Insight” that Princess Sairine wasn’t wearing a mask now.

Despite her slurred speech, she smiled brightly.

The Etherian Princess simply watched her silently.

Even though I possessed the “Immunity to All Poisons,” I didn’t dispel the alcohol’s effects, wanting to enjoy this pleasant atmosphere, making it feel like a rare enjoyable drinking session.

“…Really, my sister…”

Princess Sairine’s voice trailed off as she bowed her head deeply while still seated.

I placed my glass on the table and looked at the Etherian Princess.

“Should I call Butler Oliver?”

“You even remember the name of Sairine’s butler?”

The Etherian Princess asked with slightly glazed eyes.

Why wouldn’t I know Butler “Oliver”?

As a reader of the original novel, I knew him even better than Butler Welsran, who was currently the Etherian Princess’s attendant.

“…I have a good memory.”

“I see.”

Just then, Princess Sairine abruptly stood up.

She staggered toward the Etherian Princess’s bed.

“Tonight, I’m sleeping with my sister.”

With those words, she collapsed onto the bed.

As I started to rise, the Etherian Princess spoke.

“It’s fine. Let her sleep.”

“Are you sure?”

The Etherian Princess, who had been quietly sipping her drink, gazed at me intently with her flushed face.

“Do you think I would harm someone in their sleep?”

“N-no, that’s not it. If Princess Sairine sleeps here, rumors will spread quickly throughout the palace.”

“We can wake her early and send her back, so there’s no need to worry. Besides…”

The Etherian Princess’s voice trailed off as she glanced at Princess Sairine sleeping soundly on the bed, then carefully continued.

“…What was that earlier?”

“What are you referring to?”

“The Cleansing Water.”

“Ah, didn’t I explain earlier? I rinsed my mouth after lunch and accidentally left it in my pocket.”

“Pervert.”

“…Pardon?”

“Never mind.”

Was it because I hadn’t dispelled the alcohol’s effects with my “Immunity to All Poisons”?

Or was it because I disliked being labeled a “pervert”?

Or perhaps I was annoyed by the Etherian Princess’s dismissive “Never mind”?

I raised my voice with a bit more courage.

“Honestly, didn’t you create this misunderstanding yourself?”

“I… did?”

“Suddenly summoning a man to your bedchamber in the evening—isn’t it natural for thousands of thoughts to cross his mind?”

“W-what did you say!?”

“Why are you flustered? Am I wrong?”

Having hit the mark, the Etherian Princess, with her reddened face, downed several glasses in succession.

As I matched her pace, I felt my own face growing hot.

“…Damn you.”

How many glasses had we emptied in silence?

Whether it was because she had drunk too much, or because she had fallen for my provocation and drunk too quickly, the Etherian Princess staggered toward the bed.

Holding my glass, I murmured quietly.

“…Did I win?”

After emptying another glass, I looked toward the bed.

There they were—the Etherian Princess and Princess Sairine, sound asleep on the same bed.

As a reader of the original novel.

And as “Selden Alphonse” who had possessed this body.

I couldn’t help but feel extremely pleased.

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Just up to that point…

I should have immediately dispelled the alcohol’s effects with my “Immunity to All Poisons.”

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When my consciousness, which had been abruptly cut off, returned, an unfamiliar ceiling greeted me.

As I narrowed my eyes against the sunlight streaming through the window, Emperor Malius was staring down at me intently.

“Y-Your Majesty, why are you in my room…?”

The alcohol from the previous night left me in a daze.

Only then did I notice Butler Welsran and Butler Oliver standing beside Emperor Malius, clutching their heads.

“No, why…?”

Once again, I tilted my head in confusion and tried to sit up to assess the situation.

That’s when I felt a weight on both my arms, as if something was resting on them.

‘No way…’

With a heart hoping ‘It can’t be,’ I turned my head to the left.

There was Princess Sairine’s face.

Before I could even be shocked, I turned my head to the right.

Sure enough, there was the Etherian Princess, sound asleep with her head on my arm.

‘Sigh…’

For the first time, I understood how people wish for impossible miracles when pushed to the edge.

The words I then blurted out to Emperor Malius were so insane that even I thought I had lost my mind.

“You… you’re not Balthasar, are you…?”