The Crown Prince’s Fiancée, Episode 4
What, what is this? Am I in mortal danger again?
…It seemed so, apparently.
“What were you thinking about?”
“Ah… Um, well… that is…”
I couldn’t possibly tell him the truth, that I had been thinking how sorry I felt for his fiancé.
As I mumbled and failed to get a proper word out, the Crown Prince moved his hand to the scabbard.
“Do you want to take your leave of this world right here?”
“I-I just got distracted for a moment!”
At my excuse, the Crown Prince only hardened his expression.
Whatever it was, I seemed to have thoroughly offended him.
“You dare let your mind wander while I’m standing in front of you. It seems you’re ready to bid this world farewell.”
“Please spare me! I’m sorry!”
“That remains to be seen.”
He probably meant to wait and see, and then kill me. Terni, who had been watching us from the side, cut in.
“Adrian, stop teasing her~.”
Surely he didn’t mean the Crown Prince was teasing me?
But the Crown Prince acted as though he hadn’t heard a word of what Terni said.
I stared at the Crown Prince’s hand, still resting on his scabbard. It looked ready to draw at any moment.
If that came out, I would soon have my head cut off. Hic. I don’t want to die! I haven’t even realized my dream of owning a house yet!
When I gazed at the Crown Prince with a pitiful expression, he said coldly,
“Tell me what I just said.”
“Um…”
I had been lost in other thoughts, so there was no way I could know what the Crown Prince had said.
Ah, so this is where I take my leave of the world.
Holding onto one last hope, I glanced furtively at the people standing behind the Crown Prince.
Two men stood behind the Crown Prince.
One was a man with pale pink hair and light green eyes. It was a hair color that reminded me of a rose quartz I had seen once.
Those light green eyes swept over me indifferently, as if without any interest at all.
So the rumor was true after all: the Crown Prince’s aide-knight Diano knew nothing but swordsmanship.
And next to him stood the man who called himself my brother, Terni.
Scanning them with the feeling of someone grasping at a rotten rope, I met Terni’s eyes.
The indifferent man, Diano, didn’t look like he would give me any help, so I turned a pleading gaze on Terni.
Brother, help me just one more time, like before. Are you really going to send your little sister off to the other world like this?
But Terni only looked at me with a smile on his face and did nothing at all.
…It seems you are going to send me off.
Was this family just a hopelessly dysfunctional one?
Under the Crown Prince’s piercing stare, I felt as though I might melt away at any moment. That was how precarious my life was.
Right there in front of him, I tried to guess at the lines the Crown Prince had spoken, which I couldn’t remember at all. But nothing came to mind.
Of course not! How could anything come to mind when I hadn’t heard anything!
I’m ruined! I’m as good as dead!
“I still don’t hear an answer.”
Irritation seeped into the Crown Prince’s voice.
I lifted my head a little without thinking, and caught sight of Terni, who seemed to be muttering something.
What is he saying? I quietly focused on the shape of his lips.
Ga… ga what?
“Have you suddenly forgotten how to speak?”
At the Crown Prince’s cold words, I started and blurted something out.
“G-gay?”
“What? What kind of nonsense is that?”
What? Wasn’t that what he said, gay?
I hurriedly turned my head toward Terni. The bastard was wheezing with silent laughter, slowly sinking out of sight.
That man must have done it on purpose, just to screw me over.
It might be a little everyday amusement for him, but couldn’t he spare even a moment’s thought for the fact that my life was on the line?
The Crown Prince quietly drew his sword.
To survive, I threw my pride aside and begged.
“I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please spare me!”
But the Crown Prince smiled sharply, as though my pitiful voice never reached him.
“Even though I gave you so many chances.”
Wow, what a lie…
Lying without batting an eye. He had never given me a single chance!
I was dying to argue, but unfortunately my life was more precious.
Pressing down my fear, I looked up at the Crown Prince pleadingly.
“I couldn’t hear what you said. I’m sorry.”
“Why do you even carry those ears around?”
“Indeed, useless ears… They must be for decoration…”
I agreed with the Crown Prince’s words and berated myself.
I failed to hear the dignified voice of His Highness the Crown Prince, so noble and exalted. It is all my fault…
As I mourned my life, which was about to vanish, the Crown Prince turned around and looked at Terni.
“This one seems stupid. Won’t she be useless? She’ll probably be found out quickly.”
“Still, she’s better than nothing!”
At the cheerful reply, something welled up inside me. They say the one who pretends to hold you back is more hateful than the one doing the beating, and that fit perfectly.
You rotten bastard!
He called himself my brother, but brother my foot. He was shoving me into the jaws of death.
It seemed he really had made up his mind to kill me, and why had that so-called brother suddenly muttered “gay”…
My only crime was saying aloud what his lips had shaped, so I felt deeply wronged.
To die for the crime of saying gay was far too miserable! It would be a death so ridiculous it was beyond miserable.
I thought it would be too shameful to tell my parents in heaven why I had died.
Mother, your daughter was killed by the Crown Prince for the crime of saying gay…
The Crown Prince showed no sign of taking his hand off the sword.
“She does seem to have some sense, though.”
The pink-haired man, Diano, who had been silently watching the situation, cut in.
He hadn’t seemed interested in me at all, so his sudden intervention puzzled me, but for the moment I was grateful that my life had been extended.
Judging by everything this man had done so far, he was clearly a follower of the Crown Prince.
This man’s eyes lit up and he studied the Crown Prince whenever he said or did anything.
The Crown Prince glared at Diano with a displeased expression.
“Are you defying me now?”
“No. How would I dare to contradict Your Highness’s orders?”
“You did contradict me.”
“Ah, no, I didn’t…”
He had pretended to help, but he was utterly useless. On top of that, he had a faintly clumsy side.
Great. Enemies on every side. These people seemed to be itching to kill me.
I don’t want to die, Mother…
But judging by the situation, today seemed to be the day they would be holding my memorial rites.
Terni, who had been watching all this, smiled meaningfully.
“Your Highness. So then, you gonna marry ‘that woman’, huh?”
Pick one, formal or casual; Terni was speaking in some bizarre, hybrid tone.
“Do you want to die too?”
“Oops, sorry.”
Terni shut his mouth at once.
Still, who on earth was ‘that woman’? I remembered hearing the same ‘that woman’ when I came on Princess Marie’s errand.
Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to have any intention of explaining it to me. They had started up an earnest conversation, leaving the person concerned out of it entirely.
The one bright side was that the topic had shifted from ‘my death’ to ‘that woman’. That fact alone made me happy.
Please keep on shunning me.
While they were talking among themselves, Diano suddenly turned to look at me.
“The Princess was looking for this maid, you know. She said she sent her on an errand to Your Highness and she never came back.”
Diano’s expression was grave.
That’s right, I had. I had come on an errand to deliver porcelain to His Highness the Crown Prince.
And yet, in the blink of an eye, my existence had vanished from this world, and out of nowhere I had been given the name ‘Artienne Chevil Rabat Obiedo’.
An ordinary person might have been delighted at a rise in status, but not me.
What good is a rise in status when I’m in danger of dying whatever I do!
Hadn’t I already slipped through several brushes with death today alone?
“I told you to say she died.”
“Well, who would believe that? She didn’t seem to buy it.”
“Handle it however you see fit.”
The Crown Prince waved a hand at Diano and Terni, as though it were all a bother.
I had become a thing to be handled however they saw fit.
“Ah, you’re giving us another difficult task.”
I had become a difficult thing, too.
Terni scowled as though it were truly a bother, but then he met my eyes and returned to his usual smiling expression.
Whether they liked it or not, there was no way I could join this conversation. The topic of the conversation was me, yet I was being thoroughly shut out.
I was perfectly content with that, when out of nowhere Diano spoke up.
“Your Highness. If you’re going to kill her anyway, I think it would be better to do it quickly and dispose of her.”
That, that mouth needs to be sewn shut. Why was that bastard suddenly saying such awful things about someone else’s life?
A moment ago he had said I had some sense, and now he was suddenly telling them to kill me.
I’m not going to die! I want to live, I really do!
But it seemed no one could hear the voice in my heart. Wondering if this was how I would die, I studied the Crown Prince’s expression.
“What nonsense is that now?”
At the Crown Prince’s words, my face brightened. Thankfully, it seemed he wouldn’t kill me.
For the first time, our hearts were in agreement.
The Crown Prince glared at Diano, his voice full of irritation.
“Then will you marry that crazy woman?”
“No, Your Highness. There are things one may say and things one may not, so how could you say something so cruel…”
Who on earth was this crazy woman, to make Diano’s face twist in shock and terror?
Diano’s face had gone deathly pale, as though he had heard something he truly should not have.
At a glance, it was clear he didn’t just dislike the crazy woman; he was terrified of her.
Before long, he dropped his head and clutched it in his hands. He looked tormented.
“…I would rather die.”
“No, there’s no need for you to die.”
I envied him. Even when I wanted to live, they were making a fuss about killing me.
Listening quietly to the conversation, I found myself with a question. I watched the mood for a while, and in a quiet moment, I slipped in softly.
“But… does there really have to be a fiancée?”
