Chapter 235
Chapter 235
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Peeking into the Future (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“It’s been a really long time since I’ve been here.”
The shop where I’d visited with Irina in the past to get our fortunes read.
Today, I arrived there with a suspicious schoolgirl in tow.
“So, who’d you come with before?”
The girl with mature eyes, walking alongside me with her hands clasped behind her back, asked.
A single document was tucked between her fingers.
“Uh…”
I hesitated for a moment before I could answer honestly.
Bringing up Irina in front of Lea right now felt like it would lead to trouble.
She usually didn’t pay Irina any mind at all, but…
Ever since we’d gone to that concert together, the way she looked at me had somehow grown even deeper.
“Ah, well… I’ve never actually gone inside. I just remember seeing the sign every time I passed by—”
I flashed a bright smile, like a friendly animal.
“Let’s head in. It’s getting chilly—winter must be on its way.”
It’d be fine.
The fortune teller who’d been there when I visited with Irina had been fired from this place anyway.
I just had to act like it was my first time.
With that thought, I pushed open the door to the workshop.
But the moment I stepped inside.
“Welcome— Oh…?”
A familiar face greeted us—a fortune teller with long red hair.
She froze the instant our eyes met, words catching in her throat.
“You…”
She recognized me right away and slowly turned her head.
Then she stared intently at the girl in the school uniform beside me.
“Eek…!!”
As expected from someone who’d dealt with hundreds of customers.
She instantly clocked the sensual figure sealed away in Lea’s school uniform, like an hourglass.
The fierce yet intellectual gaze reminiscent of the Conqueror King.
“Oh, my, it’s been a while. Knight…! Or should I call you Marquis now?”
“Nice to see you. But I heard you got fired from this shop…”
As I scratched the back of my head and asked, the red-haired woman waved it off lightly.
“Ah, well… My street fortune-telling happened to be spot-on a lot, so I got rehired. Lucky break.”
Her red eyes sparkled.
Come to think of it, most of the fortunes she’d told us had come true.
“Hm…? Hold on. If that’s the case…”
It was a bit far back, so my memory was fuzzy at first.
Then it clicked—the fortunes she’d given us.
Instinctively, I slowly turned my gaze toward the blonde princess beside me.
“What’s wrong, Veil?”
Lea looked up at me steadily.
I hadn’t noticed it much before, but sometimes a rich fruit scent wafted from her.
“That fruit… was it pomegranate…?”
“Well, anyway, congrats on the rehire.”
“Haha… Thank you.”
The fortune teller slipped the crystal orb on her round table discreetly into her pocket.
Lea, masked up, stared at her intently.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Fortune Teller. You remember me, right?”
“Of course… How could I forget, Your Highness…”
Realizing the woman remembered her, Lea slowly lowered her mask.
Golden strands of hair caught on it, sticking messily.
The Empire’s First Imperial Princess elegantly brushed them aside with graceful fingers.
Then, with the back of her hand, she lightly wiped the sweat beading on her cheek.
“Whew…”
Somehow, the pomegranate scent grew even thicker.
“…”
Lea glanced at me as I sharply inhaled her potent aroma.
A smirk tugged at her lips.
“What? Wanna smell?”
Like training a pet, she held her hand to my nose.
The noble princess’s scent intensified.
“N-No, I’m good…”
I forced a smile and refused.
But her hand inched closer to my lips.
“Good boy…”
Her sweat mingled with the pomegranate fragrance, creating a strangely alluring aroma.
When her soft skin touched my lips.
I licked her hand slowly, tasting it.
Like a wild animal.
“…!”
Lea startled, her sly eyes widening at the sight of me licking her hand.
She’d teased me first, but now she yanked it back in a fluster.
“Ahem…”
The red-haired fortune teller watched the whole thing unfold right in front of her.
Suddenly faced with the Empire’s First Imperial Princess and a marquis, she trembled with unease.
“So… what brings you here today…?”
At her words, we finally pulled apart.
With an awkward smile, I explained why we’d come.
“Ah, Her Highness mentioned she had business at this workshop.”
Business from a princess, no less.
The fortune teller’s shoulders involuntarily hunched.
She tried to cautiously hide her crystal orb under the table.
But.
“That’s quite the pricey crystal orb you’ve got there.”
She couldn’t avoid Lea’s gaze.
“Y-Yes…?!”
The fortune teller jumped in shock.
Her young hand trembled around the orb.
“That’s mystic ore. Only handled by the Magic Tower—super expensive stuff.”
She’d snapped up every watermelon seedling in an instant.
She’d handed over prime imperial real estate dirt cheap.
For her to call something expensive…
Like a petty thief caught red-handed, the fortune teller shoved the orb into her sleeve.
“You got permission from the Magic Tower, right…?”
Lea’s lion-like intense blue eyes drew closer.
The fortune teller slowly nodded.
“O-Of course…!!”
The princess smiled benevolently, like a mother with a young daughter.
But her words were brutally sharp.
Like a mom who’d sniffed out her daughter’s lie and was demanding the truth.
“Then, mind if I check?”
Lea extended her hand to the young fortune teller.
Finally caught, the woman muttered in a tiny voice.
“W-What do you want from me…?”
Satisfied with the response, the First Imperial Princess gave a warm, smiling glance.
“It’s nothing tough. I just came to investigate this.”
Turning her back to me, Lea secretly handed her a sheet of paper.
It depicted a crystal orb similar to the one the fortune teller held.
The redhead read it, her face turning deadly serious.
She brushed her lush hair from her forehead and asked.
“How did you know about this…?”
“Doesn’t matter how I know. I want the item itself.”
With her unauthorized orb already exposed.
Lea held all the leverage.
“Yes…. It exists. I currently possess it…”
The fortune teller answered quietly.
Lea began questioning her in earnest about the orb.
“Its performance is reliable, right?”
“Of course. Trust is everything in our line of work.”
The Empire’s First Imperial Princess nodded calmly at the woman’s confident gaze.
Then she suggested I browse the shop for a bit.
“Nothing major, right?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Take your time and relax, Veil.”
Hands behind my back, I stepped away to give Lea her alone time.
I slowly browsed the alchemists’ curiosities.
“What’s this? Some kind of puzzle?”
Lea watched from afar as I fiddled with a wooden cube.
I must’ve looked like a curious wild fox, because her lips twitched involuntarily.
“Ahem. Your Highness…?”
“Ah, yes. Let’s continue.”
With me out of earshot, the Empire’s First Imperial Princess switched to the cold tone from the ceremony.
She explained the target she intended to use the hypnosis orb on.
“The target resists most dark magic. Will it work on someone like that?”
The fortune teller blinked at her words.
Then she stared at me, fiddling with the cube from afar.
“Ah…”
Lea clearly meant to keep the target secret.
But the fortune teller caught on instantly, nodding with the sour look of someone jealous of a couple.
“Well…. Should work. Ancient sorcerers used it to hypnotize a century-old giant serpent and harvest its scales.”
Giant serpent.
Lea swallowed hard at the words, something clicking in her mind.
Then she eyed my rumpled casual pants intently.
“That’ll do.”
The Empire’s First Imperial Princess exhaled lightly, as if her blouse felt tight.
She turned to the fortune teller with a request.
“So, care to show me the item now?”
“Understood.”
The redhead rose at Lea’s words.
She headed toward the dim door behind the counter.
“But this is something…”
“What is?”
Lea tilted her head, and she let slip her tactless remark.
“Didn’t think the famous First Imperial Princess would have a man she couldn’t seduce.”
It was meant as a joke.
But the moment she heard it.
“What…?”
Focus vanished from Lea’s mature eyes.
She halted mid-step.
In a cold voice, she asked the fortune teller.
“Miss Fortune Teller. What’s your name…?”
“R-Regina…”
The princess peered down at Regina from the shadows upon hearing her name.
And she said.
“Miss Regina. It’s not that I can’t seduce him.”
She caressed the young redhead’s hair with elegant fingers.
Regina unwittingly exhaled deeply at the sensual touch.
“It’s just… I want to spend long stretches of time with him, without any hesitation…?”
Regina, skilled in fortunes and prophecies.
Faced with the mature lioness’s aura, a chill ran down her spine.
“So, no idle fantasies.”
At last, Regina truly felt it.
The hidden desires Lea had inherited from Grand Witch Rozanna and Conqueror King Leonhardt.
“Understood…”
I felt it from afar.
Sensing her discomfort, I approached the counter and asked.
“Everything okay with you two?”
“Ahh…. Just showing Her Highness an item.”
Regina, grasping the princess’s ambitions, answered shrewdly.
“No issues?”
“Yes. If you’re bored waiting, care to look at this crystal orb?”
To deflect my suspicion and please the princess, the fortune teller produced her hidden orb.
She placed it gently before the round table.
“What’s that…?”
“Hehe…. This is a prophet’s orb that lets you glimpse your target’s future.”
The blue crystal orb rested on plush cushions.
Regina placed her palm on it and explained.
“Put your hand on it like this and focus your mind—it takes you to a scene from the future.”
“Hoo…. Neat.”
As I showed interest in the orb, the fortune teller relaxed.
Then she headed to the sorceress’s storeroom with Lea.
“Have a good time—.”
Following the redhead’s words, I slowly placed my palm on the crystal orb.
“…”
At first, the orb showed no reaction.
But as my curiosity about my future grew.
―――――.
My mind grew hazy, as if I were being pulled somewhere.
When that sensation peaked.
“…!!”
It was like closing my eyes—I arrived in pitch darkness.
“W-What’s going on…?”
Like my soul had slipped from my body, I couldn’t speak.
Just alone in a black-as-ink world.
“The fortune teller said it shows the future…”
If this was my future, it looked pretty grim.
As anxiety started building.
“…!!”
Suddenly, I felt myself laid on a bed.
On incredibly soft, plush sheets…
“A bed…? Feels really comfy…”
Warmth melted through my body.
Like curling up under thick blankets.
“Fwew…”
I exhaled deeply within it.
Stretching my legs to savor the bed’s softness.
“Ouch…!”
Something collided.
“What…?”
Then a young voice.
Thinking I’d misheard, I slowly stretched my arms.
Something soft touched my hands again.
“Daddy…?”
Daddy.
A form of address I’d never heard in my life.
My closed eyelids twitched at it.
“Ugh…. Daddy hit me…”
Not just one or two.
Several kids seemed to be lying with me on the huge bed.
“Me… a father…?”
Bewildered at first, but the sensations grew familiar.
As if I really were the father of several children.
Following the feeling, I slowly opened my eyes.
And then.
“…”
Under warm sunlight.
On luxurious silk sheets, I saw myself.
No idea what year it was. But thankfully, I looked healthy.
Had my dream of becoming a NEET come true? I wore rumpled shorts and a T-shirt.
“Did it work…? A comfy, leisurely future life…?”
Excitement swelled, lifting my mood.
Emboldened, I looked around.
Next, cute kids sleeping beside me caught my eye.
From a pure girl with silver hair.
To a cheeky little one with black hair and red eyes.
Adorable, pretty children snuggled against my side, dozing.
“No way these kids are…”
I gently lifted the face of a young boy with hair my color.
That instant.
Sly eyes just like mine.
A fox-cub-pretty kid’s face.
“Haha…. Yeah, looks like it.”
My chest swelled inexplicably.
I stroked the young siblings’ heads, basking in this happy future.
But.
Peace didn’t last.
“Hm…?”
Footsteps from afar.
I turned toward the sound.
“…!!”
Golden-haired children approached from the distance.
“Daddy…?”
“When’d you wake up?”
Kids around the same age as the sleepy ones on the bed.
Twins, maybe—they looked alike.
“Time to get up. Mom wants just the two of you for dinner out tonight—.”
Clearly the same age as the carefree little ones beside me.
But these twin siblings seemed incredibly mature.
Like they took after someone.
The boy had sharp eyes and handsome features.
The girl, radiant golden hair and already womanly eyes.
“You two wouldn’t be…”
I opened my mouth to ask who their mother was.
But then.
“What, Daddy’s up?”
Another blonde boy approaching from afar.
Seemed younger than the twin siblings.
“Yeah, Mom sent me to wake you, but you’re already up.”
“Mother had the carriage prepared. The fourth wants chicken tonight.”
“Fourth…?”
Hearing that, unease crept in.
I tried to get up, planting my feet on the bedroom floor.
“Gah…!!”
I slipped on juice spilled by one of the sleeping kids and fell.
That instant.
――――――!!
Like an electric shock, my hand jerked from the orb.
I snapped back to reality.
“Hah…. Hah…”
Regaining my senses, the alchemist workshop lay before me.
But cold sweat drenched me, as if I’d truly visited the future.
“Whew…”
I exhaled raggedly in relief.
Trying to dismiss the future I’d seen as mere illusion.
But.
“Veil, let’s head out.”
A sensual voice from behind.
Then, plump flesh enveloped my nape.
“You’re sweating. See a bad future?”
Lea draped over my chair from behind—her touch stirred something odd.
A naughty pomegranate scent rose from her soft skin.
“N-No…”
Sensing my unease, the princess tilted her head.
Then, with a fresh smile, she slowly took my hand.
“What’s wrong? Shake off that daze.”
Lea shook our joined hands gently.
Like an innocent schoolgirl.
“Since we’re out, wanna grab dinner?”
Her kind voice to my troubled self.
In that moment, she seemed every bit the noble princess.
“Sure. There’s a good spot nearby—.”
I chuckled softly and nodded.
A prophecy is just a prophecy, after all.