Chapter 100: Caught

“…”

After returning to her room, Clarisse flopped onto the bed. The feelings rising in her heart were something that she couldn’t quite explain, but…

Isaac, someone whom she could ask, wasn’t here.

He had laid her on the bed before leaving immediately.

When she watched him go, she felt a mix of disappointment and anxiety.

She was afraid if he noticed something strange in her behavior.

After all, he had an exceptionally sharp intuition.

Thump thump thump.

M-My heart…is racing…

For some reason, her heart refused to calm down. She reflected on what she had done, and when she did, she berated herself for doing something so ridiculous.

Why on earth did I say such a thing?!

Because she realized that she had thrown away the chance for her to spend more time with Prince Raphael.

As she lay on the bed alone, lost in thought for a while…

Creak.

Sound of footsteps, followed by the door opening entered her ears.

“Isaac?!”

She bolted upright, but the person who entered wasn’t Isaac. It was Heyrad.

“Princess.”

“Ah, Heyrad. What’s the matter?”

For now, he was tasked to monitor Del and gather information about her.

Which meant he had no reason to be here. But he scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he said what he needed to say.

“Baron Logan proposed that we switch roles, so I’ll be back on escort duty from now on… If I may, is there some problem between you and him…?”

“Ah.”

At that, her expression froze as she let out a gasp.

“Aah?!”

Then, her face grew increasingly red as she cupped her cheeks with both hands.

“Aaah?!”

Had there ever been a time in her life when she felt this embarrassed?

To that question, she could say with certainty.

That this was definitely the first time.

“Aaaah?!”

“Princess?”

Clarisse, who wished to do nothing but to hide in a rat hole, burrowed into the blankets as they were the best place she could find, and started hitting the pillow with both hands.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

He knows…!

The next morning.

Isaac was warming up with the Grandmaster in the training grounds.

“Look, someone who hasn’t been coming much since coming here. What’s the occasion?”

“…”

He had nothing to say in response. It was true that he had been staying by Clarisse’s side since coming here.

The busy man just didn’t have enough time to worry about Sharen or the Grandmaster.

“A-Ahem. Well, I am still a swordsman. I feel I’ve been too negligent lately, so I wanted to focus on training today.”

“Hmm… The banquet is tomorrow, is it not? So, shouldn’t you be preparing for that today?”

“Prince Raphael is seriously considering Del’s proposal.”

“Proposal?”

“She wants him to keep her as a concubine, while still marrying the princess.”

“Hmm.”

The Grandmaster’s eyebrows twitched. Sharen, who was stretching her legs nearby, also lifted her head to look.

“Since he’s considering it, then it’s already over. The marriage will go through.”

Though Clarisse hadn’t completely won Prince Raphael over, judging by his reaction yesterday, it was clear that he felt some attraction towards her.

“From now on, the princess will manage well on her own. We should begin our preparation to return.”

“Hmm?”

The Grandmaster found Isaac’s somewhat hurried explanation questionable, but she decided to not press the issue.

She noticed that he didn’t want to talk about it, so she just let it pass.

But, it was Sharen who came up with an unexpected question.

“What? So Del becomes a concubine, and the princess becomes queen?”

“You could say that.”

It was hard to call it a compromise.

After all, there was a stark difference in status between a princess of a different country and a mere baker’s daughter.

“…That sounds really unpleasant, don’t you think?”

Sharen’s dissatisfied mutter surprised Isaac.

“I mean, it feels like he just couldn’t decide! He should just choose one, either the princess or Del! This way he just ends up not choosing both!”

“Hmm, to think the day when I’d agree with Sharen would come…”

Isaac let out a bitter smile at their responses.

“Still, we need to consider the fact that we were the ones who made it difficult for him to make a decision.”

“…Not me!”

Sharen immediately distanced herself.

As if feeling this gave her the right to speak freely without consequences, she continued.

“It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? Before we came, he was ready to abandon his kingdom and run away with Del, but after just a few days of the princess seducing him, his heart wavered.”

“…”

“The fact that he’s weighing both sides and is trying to accept them both is just not it!”

“I’m telling you, we were the ones who made it that way.”

“Not me!”

Right, not you.

Isaac muttered while sighing.

“Isaac, is that what men are like?”

Sharen asked, her eyes sparkling as if she had realized something.

Seeing this, the Grandmaster crossed her arms with a sly, playful smile.

“Yep, that’s what men are like. If a woman is like a strong wind, they’ll let their coat fly off, and if a woman is like the sun, they’d take off their coat because it’s hot. That’s what men are.”

“Ooh.”

“Stop teaching her strange things!”

Sharen, who was about to nod as if she had understood something, suddenly made a doubtful face and stared at Isaac.

“But Isaac isn’t like that.”

“…”

“Even when Silverna ribbed her huge chest all over him in the North, he didn’t waver.”

If Silverna hears this, she’ll chase us with her spear…

Thinking that, he decided to correct her statement.

“She never did that.”

“Never? I saw it at least three times!”

“…”

Hearing that, a few scenes played in Isaac’s mind, prompting him to keep his mouth shut.

The Grandmaster chuckled and rested her odachi on her shoulder.

“My, my, how many women’s hearts have you stolen? Let’s see, the kingdom’s flowers, the eldest daughters of Helmont and Cardias, then—”

“Me! Include me too!”

“You too? Alright, let’s add myself too and increase this fellow’s crimes.”

“Wow! Isaac, this number is enough for a death penalty!”

“…”

Suddenly, he couldn’t understand where this conversation was going.

The Grandmaster, who had folded four fingers, smiled and folded the last one.

“And now even Princess Clarisse, who’s about to get married. What a sinful man you are.”

“Not her.”

Before he realized it, he replied to her seriously.

But the Grandmaster leaned in teasingly and put her arm around Isaac’s shoulder.

“Child, you’re really bad at lying.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Stop lying to yourself, Child. Sometimes, being too perceptive can backfire on you.”

“Haa…”

Isaac let out a sigh and tilted his head slightly to look at the Grandmaster.

Seeing him, she clicked her tongue and looked at him with pity.

“I may not know much about matters of the heart.”

“…”

“But I have an eye for changes. The princess’ gaze when she looks at you is clearly different from before.”

“That doesn’t mean she loves me.”

“Well, you would know best. After all, you’re the man among us who has experienced the most passionate love.”

The Grandmaster teased with a grin.

Sharen, who had been listening to the conversation, looked up at Isaac blankly.

“Isaac, have you ever whispered sweet words to Sister?”

“…?!”

“Oho? Now that is an interesting question.”

Oftentimes, children would ask surprisingly sharp questions.

And this was one of those cases. Startled by that question, Isaac took a step back instinctively.

“Come to think of it, yours and Del’s situations are similar!”

“Indeed. Given your personality, you probably told the Blood Rose to marry another man.”

“Ugg…”

He took another step back.

The Grandmaster then slyly linked arms with Isaac and grinned.

“Come on, tell us~”

She poked his cheek playfully with her finger. As for Sharen, since she was too short to reach his cheek, she poked his waist instead.

“Tell us! Tell us!”

“Haa…”

Finally caving under the pressure from the two women, Isaac recounted the story from that time.

How he had told Rianna to marry another man, and that he would wait for her by the riverside…

How she rejected him with a firm ‘No’…

And how he had been so happy with her answer that he couldn’t control his expression.

After sharing everything, the Grandmaster muttered, a bit dazed.

“Did that really happen? My, this is… I feel somewhat sorry.”

“You’re saying that after hearing everything?”

“I mean, it’s just, you know… Too spicy for me?”

“Wow! But, you know…”

Sharen, having heard it all, clenched her fist.

“Doesn’t this make the prince look even worse in comparison?!”

Neither of them could answer that.

“…”

“…”

“Am I wrong? Should I think about it differently?”

Seeing her tilting her head in confusion, the two found themselves having trouble to explain to her.

The problem here was that she wasn’t entirely wrong, so it was hard for them to defend the prince here.

And so…

“It’s not that he’s bad, your sister is just amazing.”

The Grandmaster decided to just praise Rianna.

“Sister is?”

“Yes, think of it that way.”

“I see! Right, she’s amazing!  Did you know? The other day, she tried to cook with a kitchen knife!”

“…She did?”

This was unexpected.

“Yeah, but she kept accidentally cutting the chopping board with the kitchen knife, so she switched to a greatsword instead.”

“…”

“Could I call this typical Helmont behavior?”

“In the end, she got chased out by the head chef!”

Well…

It’s good to hear her enjoying herself in her own way after becoming the family head, I guess…