The Prince and the Prince (4)
Having heard Agnes's account of her first meeting with Prince Antonio, I could finally make some sense of his sudden obsession with her.
Put yourself in Antonio's shoes, and it must have felt like a prince on a white horse—no, closer to some fated encounter, a stroke of destiny that rescued him from danger out of nowhere and then vanished without a trace.
Whatever Agnes's actual intentions had been didn't much matter. In Antonio's head, she would remain forever as the woman who saved him and disappeared without so much as giving her name.
Heck, even hearing it explained from Agnes's perspective—the one where she considered the whole thing no big deal—I could sort of understand it. Which meant that from Antonio's point of view, the memory was probably embellished tenfold by now.
'Antonio's not a bad person, all things considered...'
They said he had no particular ambition for greater power, but that was less a virtue than the inevitable product of the environment he'd grown up in.
His basic temperament was gentle enough, and while he always wore that unreadable expression and went about grinning at everyone, even that suspicious smile was nothing more than survival tactics crafted for personal advancement.
He never betrayed anyone in the game, either. Aside from his somewhat underwhelming performance, he was a perfectly decent guy.
And honestly, that "performance" issue referred strictly to his showing in the Demon King's subjugation force, not any personal failing. Judging a person solely by combat power was never an objective standard to begin with.
'Well, at this point, me evaluating Antonio doesn't mean much of anything anyway.'
Granted, this whole situation had its roots in the snowball effect of me attending the masquerade with Ethan, but in the end, this was a matter between two people who had nothing to do with me or Ethan.
Naturally, deciding their future was their business and theirs alone.
No matter how much I sang Antonio's praises, it would mean nothing if Agnes didn't like him. And, of course, the reverse held true as well.
All I could really offer was a sympathetic ear for her worries and a modest bit of advice.
"What is it you want to do, Lady Agnes?"
"...Huh?"
"It may have been a rather sudden confession, but a confession is a confession. Running away doesn't make it unhappen, Lady Agnes."
"...I know that."
With that, Agnes leaned against the railing with a complicated look on her face and gazed out at the view beyond the imperial palace.
Perhaps because this was the imperial capital, thick with people, the lights that hadn't gone out even after nightfall cast their glow over the darkening streets below.
If she became the prince's consort, this was a sight she'd see every single day. No wonder her mind was in turmoil. If I were in Agnes's shoes, it would have given me plenty to agonize over too.
"First, I'm going to find out whether he actually means what he said."
"And if he does?"
"...If he does, then I'll do it, I guess."
"Oh? Really?"
"It's advantageous for my succession, isn't it? Get engaged to a prince and I'd check off most of the qualification requirements the old fossils back home keep droning on about."
...She's slotting her succession problem into even this critical moment and running the numbers.
I had no intention of getting in Prince Antonio's way, but personally, I hoped Agnes would come to her decision a little more carefully.
If she accepted the engagement now for no better reason than "because I need it," she'd end up throwing away the chance to truly understand each other—both of them.
"I understand where your heart is, Lady Agnes, but... is there really any need to decide right this instant?"
"......Huh?"
"I know an engagement to Prince Antonio would bring you plenty of benefits. But an engagement is only the stage before choosing a lifelong partner. Settling it on barely your second meeting seems awfully hasty to me."
"......"
"Setting aside whether you actually want to marry him, why not take some more time to get to know each other first? Prince Antonio will be enrolling at the Academy around next year anyway, so you'd naturally have far more opportunities to meet once that happens."
At first she'd frowned at my words in doubt, but having actually heard me out, Agnes was now giving the matter some genuinely serious thought.
After all, my advice had paid off for her once before. And coming from one of her precious few friends, it probably landed a little easier on her ears, too.
That said, her honest reluctance to let this rare opportunity slip through her fingers came through loud and clear in everything she said next.
"And what if I say all that and Antonio gets offended and calls the whole engagement off entirely?"
"Then Prince Antonio is simply a man whose limits end there. An engagement to someone like that would have been nothing but misery from the start, so there's nothing worth mourning."
"...You talk awfully careless for someone whose life this isn't. Not just anyone gets handed the chance to be engaged to a prince."
"Doesn't the same apply to you, Lady Agnes? Do you have any idea how rare it is to get the chance to be engaged to the next head of House Elizabeth and the next Tower Master of the Red Tower?"
"Th-the next head of House Elizabeth...? Th-the next Red Tower Master...? Huh. Yeah. I guess you've got a point there, Lilith."
...Well, her pride where she herself is concerned is rock solid, at least.
I'd mentioned this once before, but even in the original game, Agnes ended up with a solo ending the vast majority of the time unless she got together with the Hero.
In other words, you needed to be at least the Hero to earn the right to take Agnes's hand.
So looking at it objectively, if anything it was Antonio who'd been handed a rare opportunity with Agnes.
Right now, Agnes hadn't yet joined the Demon King's subjugation force, and her qualification as the next head of House Elizabeth hadn't been recognized either—meaning this was the only point in time where Antonio could even hope to stand on equal footing with her.
"Romance is a structure where the one who wants it more always ends up losing out. And if you accept a public confession today—with zero prior discussion, mind you—what do you suppose Prince Antonio will think of you from then on?"
"...What will he think?"
"He'll think, 'This is a woman I can be as rude to as I please.' And from then on he'll act with less and less restraint. He'll push to share your bed before the formal wedding, stop caring a whit about what you actually enjoy whenever you two go on a date, or maybe start bringing in a secondary wife and a few concubines on top of you."
"...Th-that kind of thing happens?"
"It does. So this is exactly the kind of moment that calls for a firm answer. First, make sure Prince Antonio understands just how out of line it was to confess publicly without any prior agreement, then tell him that an engagement feels premature, and that you'd like to start by taking time to get to know one another.
That way, he'll come to his own realization, won't he? That 'this woman is no pushover I can toy with as I like,' and that 'she isn't approaching me because I'm a prince—she's genuinely taking me seriously as a person.'"
"......"
"Of course, this is all just my opinion, and the decision is yours to make, Lady Agnes. Even after everything I've said, if you're still going to accept the engagement simply because the man happens to be a prince, I won't talk you out of it."
I'll admit I'd leaned somewhat toward the extreme in order to put a proper scare into Agnes.
Demanding to share a bed before the wedding, or installing a wife and concubines by the handful—knowing Prince Antonio's character as he appeared in the game, those scenarios were all but impossible.
That said, there was no harm in staying on guard. A person's nature is never perfectly consistent, and there was no telling what direction two years with Agnes might have bent Antonio's personality.
Just look at Ethan. The Ethan of today and the degenerate scumbag from the game had changed so completely, inside and out, that they were practically two different people.
...In Ethan's case it was a change for the better, but there's no law saying the change always goes that way.
-Bang!
"F-found you! Here you are!"
"L-Lady Agnes! N-no, Your Highness the Princess Consort! You must return to the Sunflower Hall at once—"
In that instant, members of the imperial palace guard came bursting into the outdoor garden, and spotting Agnes and me, hurried over.
Going by their utterly worn-out appearance, it seemed they'd searched the palace floor by floor from the ground up before finally making it here.
...Well, decent timing, all things considered. I'd already said everything that needed saying.
"Your Highness the Princess Consort, Prince Antonio is still in the banquet hall, so—"
"Don't call me Princess Consort. Nothing's been decided yet."
"......Pardon?"
"And don't flank me on both sides, either. I'm not going to run. I just need a little time to think."
"Yes, ma'am! Our apologies!"
At the noticeably firmer edge in Agnes's voice, the guards straightened up at once and split to either side of her.
She and Antonio weren't engaged yet, to be sure—but the fact remained that she was a woman who had caught his eye, and that changed how everyone treated her.
I fell in step behind her as we made our way once more toward the Sunflower of Noon Hall, and Agnes, walking beside me, looked me in the eye and brought up our conversation from the garden.
"You said romance is a structure where the one who wants it more ends up losing out, right?"
"That's right, Lady Agnes."
"I'll keep it in mind. Since it's you saying it, Lilith."
"Thank you, Lady Agnes."
"Watching the way you and Ethan carry on... I figure it can't be too far off the mark."
"......Pardon?"
Before I could puzzle out what that last remark meant, Agnes pushed open the doors of the Sunflower of Noon Hall and stepped back into the banquet hall.
From here on out, all I could do was quietly watch and see what kind of judgment Agnes would render.