Who Could Have Loved the Monster Princess? - Chapter 47
I looked at Carnelian suspiciously, then a different thought crossed my mind.
‘Ah, no, he couldn’t be talking about himself, could he?’
I asked:
“Aren’t you thinking of getting married?”
“I am.”
“Then who doesn’t? Is it the person you wish to become Crown Princess who doesn’t intend to marry?”
The Crown Prince didn’t answer. He let out a long, frustrated sigh and finally said:
“Anyway, what I need right now is something that will make the nobles trust me.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“If the woman who is to be my future empress has a distinguished reputation, that might be enough.”
I nodded in agreement.
“You’re right.”
If the Crown Princess could prevent the Crown Prince from doing anything reckless and also support the Empire’s development, I figured I could trust her too.
‘He said something similar before, but isn’t it true there’s no such lady right now?’
The Crown Prince paused, looked at me, and murmured as if to himself:
“Having no intention to marry…”
“……”
I had no idea what he was trying to say. When I didn’t respond, he spoke as if resigned,
“If there isn’t a suitable candidate, then one can be made.”
“How very like Your Highness to speak so boldly of cheating.”
“…I want to ask you to help me make that candidate.”
Candidate? A candidate for Crown Princess? He wants me to help create one?
“Are you saying… you want me to admit someone into Staedt as my sister?”
The Crown Prince sighed with a disgruntled expression and nodded.
“You understood that right away.”
My father would be absolutely thrilled. Adopting a daughter just to marry her into the imperial family — how delightful. That was sarcasm, of course.
“Do you really think that’s possible? My father would strike the palace with lightning.”
“I thought it might be doable if we made use of the flag tournament.”
I suppose so. Convincing my father would be tough, but not impossible.
“If it’s Staedt, you wouldn’t try to suppress imperial power as an in-law faction. And you, as the head of the Crown Princess’s family, would be a very good ally.”
His words made me waver. Suppress imperial power through marriage? That kind of exhilarating strategy? It was the sort of brainless revenge scheme only imperial types would dream up.
“I’ll think about it.”
The idea of suppressing the imperial authority had me inadvertently giving a response tinged with agreement.
“I do hope you’ll consider it favorably.”
After walking with him for quite some time, I found myself back at Staedt’s seat in the banquet hall. But I had a feeling the Crown Prince wouldn’t let me go unless I gave him an answer.
Just as I was reluctantly about to nod, a woman burst into the center of the banquet hall, clad in pitch-black mourning clothes and with her hair in wild disarray.
“What light of Latropole?!”
She pointed a trembling finger at the Emperor and screamed. The palace guards hurried to seize her and began dragging her out of the hall.
“My son! Give me back my son! Why did you summon him to this damned tournament?! We did everything you asked!”
She shrieked until the very end, her voice more like a scream than speech.
A suffocating silence settled over the banquet hall.
The Crown Prince, without a flicker of emotion on his face, gestured to the orchestra to resume a bright waltz. He was composed, as if he had expected something like this to happen.
I was just about to mentally commend him for his composure when a knight approached and bowed low before him.
“In a moment,” the Crown Prince said, dismissing him with a flick of his hand.
But the knight spoke gravely.
“I believe Your Highness must meet with the woman we just escorted out.”
Carnelian looked at the knight as if to ask, Is that really necessary? The knight, as though about to speak of something inappropriate for others to overhear, covered his mouth slightly, and the crown prince leaned in obligingly.
The knight whispered in a hushed tone”
“Her Grace, the Grand Duchess of Felix.”
But I still heard it.
‘The Grand Duchess of Felix?’
Of the Northern Felix Grand Duchy?
Right after the Demon King’s invasion, Felix had requested military aid from the Empire. The Empire stalled, offering no reinforcements and only buying time. Still, Felix stubbornly endured and, against the odds, remains standing to this day.
After the war, the Grand Duke of Felix, in acknowledgment of the fact that two of the five heroes who defeated the Demon King were imperial citizens, sent an envoy to the Empire’s victory celebration to promote goodwill. Since then, Felix has kept up steady, relatively positive diplomatic relations with the Empire.
‘But why would the son of the Grand Duchess of Felix be participating in a flag-hunting tournament?’
Carnelian, just like me, looked puzzled.
“Only imperial citizens were allowed to participate in the flag-hunting tournament. What do you mean?”
“They say one of the deceased was the illegitimate child of the Grand Duchess of Felix.”
Of all the complications that could arise… this was a spectacular tangle.
“The Grand Duchess’s? Who was it?”
“Geoffrey Buser.”
“What?”
I forgot I was eavesdropping and blurted out without thinking.
“He’s dead?”
My question made both the crown prince and the knight momentarily turn to me in surprise.
“Why…? That wasn’t a fatal wound.”
“Belienne, it would be best if you didn’t speak further of this,” the crown prince said, shaking his head. He must have misunderstood something from what I said. Perhaps he thought I’d harmed him. After all, they had practically told me to do with the man as I pleased.
But no, I hadn’t laid a finger on a single hair. In fact, they were the ones who took a piece of my hair.
The Crown Prince silenced the knight, telling him not to speak further, and then followed him out.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Suckerforshipping
an interference 👀👀