/
“Pa-Pavel
”
The young Countess of Olette looked helplessly at the Second Prince for help, but he was just as distraught as she was. They were both accomplices after all.
“Once I get home, I’m going to sit down with my grandfather and father to have an in-depth conversation.”
I looked at the fidgeting Orange-haired lady, who seemed so restless, and the seaweed head prince, who was stunned stiff.
‘I got you.’
“Young Lady Sabrina, excuse me. Please wait!”
Countess Olette approached me with an urgent look on her face.
Since when are we acquainted?
“Please address me properly, Countess Olette. We’re not close, are we?”
It’s alright to forgo formalities among the nobility if you’re close enough to call each other by name, or if, like Young Lady Bright, you’re so well known that everyone knows you’re name.
Obviously Countess Olette and I were neither of those things.
“I-I’m sorry, I was in a hurry.”
After pointing out the issue with a displeased expression, Countess Olette gave me an apologetic look.
“Anyway, Viscountess Sabrina, please listen to me!”
Countess Olette couldn’t hide her impatience. The adultery she’d gotten away with so far was about to be exposed for all to see.
‘And she deserved it.’
“I’m sorry for what happened earlier, but the other thing is simply a misunderstanding. I mistook you for the Young Lady Bright, and I thought you were
”
“What’s the misunderstanding?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say that even if my twin sister had behaved herself, there’s still no way for the Second Prince to have chosen her? You said my sister was too greedy wasn’t she?”
The Countess Olette’s face went as red as a moldy rotten orange, after I returned all those things that she had uttered with a smile.
“No. No. I’m not, I’m–.”
She stammered, her face turning sour, and the Second Prince, who stood in a feverish huddle, and was as stiff as a statue immediately stepped forward.
” Viscountess Sabrina Enough!”
The Second Prince was different from Countess Olette. His tone was polite, but his demeanor was still overbearing. Despite the situation, I still couldn’t help but applaud at how thick skinned this seaweed head prince was.
“I apologize for my rudeness earlier, but I don’t think it’s right to drive people around like this.”
“When have I driven anyone?”
“I told you before, Archie and I broke up, not because of Eris. It was because of her behavior.”
Ha, unbelievable. That adulterous bastard. He doesn’t even have a hint of remorse.
I laughed in disbelief at the Second Prince’s attitude. Of course, he must have had an affair because he’s like that.
“These are all the words of Countess Olette herself, I was simply repeating them.”
The corners of his eyes twitched as I retorted without backing down.
“Then are you saying that Countess Olette lied?”
I didn’t think I could get through to the adulterer, so I turned to Countess Olette, and she shuddered at my question.
The sight of her fluttering her skirts, unable to speak, was overwhelming.
“Tell me, my dear Countess Olette. Have you been lying to me?”
“Well, I
”
She was so easy going earlier, now all she could do was pursed her lips like a person who was at a loss for words, her tear-streaked amber eyes shifting out of focus.
It was a pitiful sight for a stranger to see, but unfortunately, it didn’t work on me. “Viscountess Sabrina. Didn’t you hear me?”
The second prince looked at Countess Olette, and saw her about to burst into tears.
“You’re simply a country bumpkin, a Viscountess, and you’re simply relying on the Bright family. You think you can go wild just because of that!”
“A mere viscountess huh, are you done talking?”
Funny, then why did you treat the Young Lady Bright, whose grandfather is a duke and whose father is a marquis, like that.
“And you, His Highness the Prince, cheat on your fiancĂ©e because you’re a member of the royal family?”
“What?”
I asked in a sarcastic tone, and the Second Prince crumpled his face in disbelief. He was about to pounce on me.
“How dare you
”
“Pavel,” the crown prince, who had been quietly observing our conversation, stopped him from advancing on me with a formidable glare.
“Arguing with a young lady in the street, that’s very inappropriate.”
“Brother.”
The crown prince looked at the second prince, his emotions running high. While the crown prince was different. He was calm as if the scene in front of him wasn’t bothering him. He smiled gently and stopped his unruly brother.
“I am responsible for escorting Viscountess Sabrina today. If you’re going to be rude to her, you’re also being rude to me.”
“It is not like that.”
The crown prince’s momentum ebbed a little as he spoke.
“Unless you want to be caught up in the scandal of an imperial prince running amok in broad daylight. You better go home.”
The crown prince didn’t get angry or raise his voice, but reprimanded in a soothing tone as if he was talking to a child.
‘Oh my god how could he be so dainty? It’s overwhelming.’
“There are a lot of eyes here.”
At the crown prince’s words, the second prince clicked his tongue as he finally realized the people staring at us.
“Escort the young Countess of Olette back, and return to to the palace.”
The crown prince’s voice was as soft and gentle as cotton’s, yet somehow it had an irresistible power. A gentle charisma, if you will.
“I understand.” The prince, who had been pursing his lips, withdrew in exasperation.
“Good.”
The crown prince, who had defeated the adulterer in a flash, looked at me with an apologetic expression.
“I’m sorry, I feel embarrassed because of how my poor brother treated you.”
“Your Highness need not apologize, you don’t owe me an apology. You and the second prince are obviously different.”
After ignoring the vicious glare that fell upon him, the crown prince then gave a small, as if he couldn’t repress it, he said, “Let’s go, then, Viscountess Sabrina.”
“Yes. Your Highness.”
I waved my hand with a leisurely expression and linked arms with the crown prince.
“Now, wait a minute..!”
Behind me, Count Olette shouted in a panicked voice, but I pretended not to hear anything. Fortunately, unlike a moment ago, the two weren’t pursuing her anymore. The crown prince was there as a shield after all.
“I’m so sorry.”
The crown prince said again after they had exited the alley. His face was as withered as grass in the heat.
“I did not expect them to run into you here like this. It’s all my fault.”
“As I said before, this is not your fault.”
“Still
”
The crown prince squirmed like a puppy with grass in his mouth, but I couldn’t let him continue to beat himself up.
“On the contrary, I should be grateful. If it weren’t for your highness, I’d still be in the hands of those two.”
Nobles take honor seriously. What the Second Prince and Count Olette did was no light matter, and today, thanks to the crown prince, she was finally able to get away from it, but the Second Prince and Count Olette will definitely not go down without a fight. Next time, they’ll probably try to silence me. Of course, I don’t intend to be taken lightly. I’m never going to let an adulterer get away with what he did.
“Your Highness, thank you so much for your help.”
The first thing I had to do was to thank the crown prince, so I bowed to him, still looking a little impassive.
“I haven’t done anything to deserve your thanks
”
The crown prince smiled bitterly, as if embarrassed by my greeting. Then he cautiously extended his hand.
“What?”
“Excuse me.”
My eyes widened in surprise at the sudden closeness. At that moment, the crown prince gently grasped my right hand, which was still sticky with juice after crushing the oranges earlier. Droplets of water gushed out of the air, and a stream of clear, cool water enveloped my hand.
“You know,” he said, “It’s been bothering me for a while now.”
The crown prince looked at my hands, which were now clean from the orange juice after being washed away, and flicked his fingers lightly.
Click.
It was followed by the sound of his fingers colliding, then a gust of wind rose up and blew off the remaining water from my hand. It happened in the blink of an eye. That I couldn’t even react.
“You’re an Elementalist?”
I exclaimed in surprise, while looking from my plumped-up hand and to the crown prince in astonishment.
“I’ve never heard of His Highness being an elementalist before
” I tried to remain calm, but my voice kept shaking. That’s how incredible it was. No matter how far away our estate was, as a noble, we had to have at least some knowledge as part of the nobility. Even if the information was a little late, news of the imperial family was bound to get out somehow. Especially if the crown prince was an elementalist.
“I didn’t hide it on purpose.”
The crown prince made a bitter expression after seeing my reaction. Then, in a low voice, he quickly added, “There was nothing I could not do, in order to survive.”
“Ah.”
As it turned out, the crown prince was the son of the former Empress, and the current Empress’ son was actually the seaweed-haired prince I had seen earlier. I think even without looking further into it, I can still get a general idea of the current situation.
The empire had been founded by an Elementalist who had once possessed the legendary Great Spirit. But elementalist were rarer than mages. Even in the lineage of all the emperors, there were more people who were not elementalist than those who were.
Thus, it was both a blessing and a curse to be an elementalist in the imperial family. If you had the power, you could wield it more powerfully than anyone else. But without it, you would live your entire life under scrutiny and danger for the rest of their lives.
In the course of history, illegitimate children of the imperial family or the imperial family were often killed if they were found to be elementalists. The crown prince was a bit of a special case. His mother, the former Empress, was from a foreign family, so the crown prince had no real outside power to protect him. So even though he was the next in line to the throne, his support base was tenuous and he was constantly under scrutiny from opponents, including the current empress.
With his position in jeopardy, being known as an elementalist would do more harm than good.
That’s probably why the crown prince kept his secret. But was it really so easy to display the power he’d been hiding for so long in front of her?
“But what if I tell anyone about this?
”
“Huh? Are you going to tell them?”
“Oh. No!”
I quickly threw up my hands.
‘I’d rather die.’
With the poisoned holy grail that is the secret of a royal family, and a powerful man who controls the political system. A mere viscountess’ daughter like me, could easily die tomorrow, just to keep me quiet.
“All right, then.”
‘Why would you trust me too easily.’
“What?”
“You’re fine.”
“?”
“I trust you because you’re you.”
‘That’s
’
‘You believe it because It’s me? What does that mean?’
( T/N : I have a hunch that there’s more to this than meets the eye. Although the crown prince looks nice, he actually seemed like he was plotting something. I have a feeling that her meeting with Orange hair and Seaweed guy is not just a coincidence at all. He might be planning to use her as a chess piece but I don’t know yet. We’ll see.)