How to Become Your Princess
I agonized over it all night long. What exactly did I need to do to become your princess? Sien cautiously opened her eyes. The sun, rising faintly, slipped its light through the half-open window. Floating specks of dust, a cool breeze whispering in, birds chirping to announce the morning… An alarm blared as the terminal flashed noisily. Monday. I had stayed up through all of Sunday thinking only of how I could make you mine. I didn’t feel tired at all. I simply wanted to see you as soon as possible.
“We’ll be able to meet again, right, Lord Rain?” A faint smile curved Sien’s lips.
Fate lasts only a moment, but coincidence is the same. So what draws the line between them? Continuity. Coincidence ends after a single encounter, but fate turns that coincidence into an unbroken chain. You are my prince. Yet I know that to you, I am not a princess. How could I make you see me as your princess? How could I make you promise to stay by my side? I had thought about it like a madwoman. The answer came more easily than expected: to have you save me from danger once again. To etch into your heart one more time the realization that I am the princess you must protect. Because I believed without a shred of doubt that the kind-hearted you would surely come to save me again.
“…I can’t let this chance slip away.” Sien picked up the terminal.
Roughly thirty people, by her estimate. The device brimmed with messages packed full of violent words and deeds from those commissioned by her twin older sisters and younger brother to torment her.
The line of succession. Ever since Sien had cast aside her humanity and chosen to become a doll, those three had never once beaten her in a sword duel. Not even with a three- or four-year age gap. In Elensia, greater age meant greater experience, refined skill, and mastery over one’s Authority; a three-year difference was a gulf that should never be bridged. Yet Sien’s overwhelming talent and flawless command of her Authority had not only closed that gap but completely surpassed it. At this rate, the day she came of age, her two sisters and younger brother would undoubtedly fall behind in the competition. So they had tried to ruin her by exploiting their position outside the direct bloodline, but…
Hehe—. As Sien read the messages her smile widened further and further. To think the perfect situation would build itself even while she did nothing.
“…You’ll come rescue me, won’t you?” Her heart raced. Life blazed in her eyes. The smile refused to leave her lips. She felt alive.
“Puhaha, so this is Alencia?!” Some unknown liquid splashed over Sien’s head. A woman wearing a manic, satisfied grin tossed the empty bottle aside and seized Sien’s chin in a bruising grip.
“I heard all about it. They say you can’t do anything, right?”
“How much do your own siblings have to hate you to ask people to bully you!”
“We’re the ones getting a nice show out of it, though.”
“Sigh… I’m gonna make this bitch cry one of these days.”
“Aww~ What a bad guy~.”
The man who kicked and laughed while roughly yanking Sien’s hair in every direction, and the girl snapping photos of the scene. They were all strangers, but Sien could tell from their name tags that they were children of fairly prominent families.
…Well, did that even matter? All that mattered was that people like them would pile up and up until the situation finally reached you. That single fact was Sien’s only interest.
…Will I get to see him today?
No matter what, she didn’t want a magic department student coming all the way to the knight department. Even if you were her prince, the two of them had only known each other for a single day. And a bond was never built by one person alone.
Like in the fairy tales—together. If a hand was offered, it was important to grasp it tightly and never let go. And if that hand was ever missed, one needed the courage and action to reach out again. This time, it was her turn to extend her hand first.
She had to spread rumors that those people were harassing her as quickly as possible and create an environment where she was truly being tormented. Only then would you surely, surely see her.
For now, this was merely the preparation for that day. Just as Sien was thinking so and trying to lull her reason to sleep while erasing her senses—
“…Ah.” Her eyes trembled violently. This emotion was surprise. The shock that the most ideal yet seemingly impossible possibility—one she had abandoned long ago—had actually come true.
You stood before her eyes. The expression that had looked urgent and earnest instantly froze over, swept away by cold fury. You were worried for her. You were angry for her sake.
“Sien, let’s go eat.” Yet you smiled for her once again. A smile that comforted her, telling her it was all right, that she could relax now that you had arrived.
Sien bowed her head deeply. ——This emotion was pure ecstasy.
“…When I’m smiling and talking, shouldn’t you step aside?”
“What is a magic department brat doing here?”
“I came to eat with a friend.”
Friend. At that pleasant word, Sien lifted her head and looked at Rain.
She had already noticed that Rain was extraordinary. She didn’t know the details, but he used a type of magic she had never seen before, and for a commoner admitted to the Academy, his skill had to be exceptional. Yet no matter how generously one judged it, his level could not possibly be called third-circle. The burly boy standing before him belonged to the Dirk family—renowned for fist techniques—and possessed tremendous strength even among the new fourth-circle students.
No matter how they fought, it was difficult for a mage to gain the upper hand against a close-combat specialist in melee.
This can’t happen. She could never allow you to be hurt. Even if you had come to save her, she could never forgive a single scratch appearing on your body.
Just as Sien began to twitch, instinctively concluding that she would have to kill her opponent—
“Don’t tell me your friend is that bitch?”
“Hey———.” An overwhelming aura slammed down on the space. Though the aura itself targeted the young master of the Dirk family, its savage force rippled outward like a wave and filled the entire area.
The boys surrounding Sien clutched their chests and groaned in pain the moment they felt it, but… to Sien it was a very familiar presence—killing intent.
“Don’t you dare call Sien that way in front of me.”
A vicious lump of emotion that wanted only to kill someone was now pouring from you.
“I don’t have that bad a personality…?” All because of the single desire to save her. Who could possibly call this killing intent? This was not killing intent.
Love. It was unmistakably love.
——Ahh, I feel like I’m going to lose my mind………… Sien bit her lip so carefully that no one could see and held her emotions in check. A trace of blood welled up. Even that pain felt unbearably sweet. Tears flowed once more.
“You bastard, what the hell did you just do?!”
“If they suddenly collapsed, maybe they’re just sleep-deprived? I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s ridiculous—!”
“Come on, if we waste time here we’ll lose our lunch break. I want to enjoy this moment quietly with her, so why don’t we just call it even and go our separate ways?”
As if someone had deliberately erased every sound in the world, only Rain’s voice reached her ears and only Rain’s face filled her vision. In that dreamlike rapture Sien closed her eyes.
He was coming. You were coming to save her.
The footsteps stopped. Feeling her heartbeat thunder, Sien slowly opened her eyes.
“……It must have hurt.” An expression twisted with barely held sobs, blue eyes glistening with unshed tears. You were smiling with effort, as if apologizing.
“…Ah, sorry.” She shook her head.
“You’re telling me not to be sorry?” She nodded.
I’m the one who should be sorry. The one who didn’t believe you existed until now was me.
“I’ve made one decision.” You smiled. Simply seeing that smile from so close felt like recompense for all the pain she had endured until now.
“I said I’d make you happy, but you and I are from such different worlds. That’s why these worthless punks keep bothering you. I find this situation incredibly irritating.”
No. I’m so happy right now. And if it weren’t for these people, I would never have met you… But if you hate it, then I hate it too.
“I won’t be irresponsible. I’ll protect you. I’ll stop everything that torments you, and I’ll help you gain the strength to overcome it all someday.”
How adorable. It wasn’t that you were weak, but she was far stronger than you imagined. If you wished it, she could turn the entire world against her… Of course, not yet, but she would work hard to live up to your expectations one day.
Still. She had that kind of longing too. A fairy-tale story where the princess is saved by her prince. In truth, simply having you by her side was already enough salvation, but…
——Please save me, my prince.
“I swear on my mana.”
Thump—. Sien’s amethyst eyes shook violently. She thought her heart might stop. No matter that the two of them were fated to be together someday, she had never imagined you would stake the most precious thing a mage possessed—your mana—on such a vow.
…Ahh, truly. It felt like tears would spill. How pathetic she had been. The self who had tried to force something because she feared their relationship might end as mere coincidence now looked so small. They had thought the same thing. Just as she had been thinking of you, you had been thinking of her—so what exactly had she been so afraid of? Just as she could give anything for you, you had told her again and again that you could give anything for her. They had been destined from the very beginning———.
At the sensation that her heart and Rain’s were now linked, Sien’s eyes shook violently once more.
“Yeah. I don’t know why I did it either.” Rain scratched his head with an awkward smile. His mutter sounded like an impulsive remark he might take back later, and she flinched for a moment, but soon assigned her own meaning to it. He was hiding his embarrassment. To Sien, even that gesture was simply a cute attempt to hide his shyness, and she interpreted it however she pleased.
“Just… I don’t want to watch you hurting anymore.”
——As expected. At Rain’s words that showed he was thinking of her, Sien whispered fate to herself. You truly were my prince, Lord Rain.