[No title provided]
The day after facing the emperor.
Contrary to my expectation that Princess Astraia would skip classes due to shock, she was up and about the academy looking perfectly fine. Of course, she couldn't go around blabbing about her unannounced marriage herself, so she was keeping it hush-hush. But her noticeably darker complexion suggested she'd spent the night sleepless, agonizing over the matter.
Probably figuring she needed to tie up loose ends with me before rumors of her marriage spread, she was out in force, claiming she'd asked me to play her boyfriend specifically to catch the stalker who'd been obsessed with her lately—packaging all our recent antics as one big act. It was nonsense, of course, but the students, firmly convinced there was no way someone like me could be dating the princess, swallowed her excuse without a shred of doubt.
...Couldn't at least a few of you wonder about it a little?
"What the hell happened over the weekend?"
The young lady glaring at me suspiciously must have picked up on the princess's sudden attitude shift.
"Well..."
What to do. Should I just tell her the truth? How do you explain getting dragged to the emperor, grilled for details, and witnessing her get sold off to a foreign prince in real time?
"What, did you go meet the emperor himself because of those rumors?"
I flinched.
"...It was true?"
"Sigh..."
In the end, since she'd already clocked my reaction, I decided to come clean with the young lady. I wanted to stop the princess's marriage, but pulling it off would be incredibly tough. Still, if someone as powerful as her was on my side, maybe we could at least make an attempt?
"It's true? She's getting married? To some foreigner?"
"Yes. And what's with 'that woman'..."
"Too sudden. I've heard the emperor doesn't care much for the second princess, but enough to shove her out of sight?"
Thinking back on her words, it did seem odd. Some of the emperor's reactions during the audience had seemed like a normal father's agitated concern for his daughter's well-being. But I couldn't read minds, so I had no clue about the full story. Did the emperor really hate Princess Astraia that much?
"So. What do you want to do about it."
"Uh... Huh? What?"
"What's with you? You don't like her getting shipped off?"
"No, well... yeah, but..."
I'd never even voiced my opinion—how'd she know? Was I that easy to read?
"You've had that 'worried about the princess' look on your face since earlier, duh. Look, I'm telling you now: arranged marriages between noble houses are super common. Could even be a boon for her. Better than scraping by here without real recognition—living out her days as a pampered queen in some small kingdom, right?"
"...Could be, yeah. But..."
Her despairing expression kept flashing in my mind. Just like me, abandoned by parents, never acknowledged as their child. Unlike my past—mother fled, father killed by my own hand—I wanted her to walk a different path. I wanted to save her.
"Hard to explain why, but... I want to help the princess somehow. Sorry."
"Fine, whatever. Knew you'd say that."
The young lady looked resigned, like she'd seen it coming.
"Jeez... Thought my rival was finally out of the picture, but back to square one..."
"Pardon? What was that?"
"N-nothing! So, got any brilliant plans?"
I'd been mulling ways to derail the wedding and missed her mutter. She brushed it off in a fluster, but I had no real strategy to share. Interstate political marriages were huge deals. If a baron's son like me meddled, it wouldn't just screw me over—it could drag my innocent territory down too.
"No idea how to even..."
Beep beep.
Then, the communication stone in my pocket started buzzing. Hers did too, so we both pulled them out to check.
"This is... that, right?"
"Yeah, probably."
* * *
The next afternoon.
We all gathered in the clubroom as the princess had messaged via communication stone. Polo was thrilled at the rare reunion, and while the saintess didn't show it outright, she couldn't hide her smirking lips as she took the seat next to him.
"Ahem! I wonder what Her Highness wants. Calling just us aside like this... must be something serious..."
The saintess put on a worried face to mask her grin, but I knew better. Before any official announcement, she wanted to discreetly inform us of her situation. Knowing her personality, she wouldn't ask for help outright. It wasn't something we could handle anyway—if we sided with her and demanded the marriage be canceled, it'd just paint us in a bad light with the emperor. She knew that, so she'd called us to ask for simple words of congratulations in advance. Plus, with her lingering regrets over Polo—no real connection yet—she probably wanted to steal a bit more time with him while she could.
Knock knock.
The door burst open.
"Everyone's here nicely. Thanks."
Not long after the rest of us arrived, Princess Astraia entered. She looked a bit worn from all the worrying, but her stunning beauty remained unchanged.
"No problem. So... what did you want to say?"
"Well... that is..."
Even she hesitated to blurt out her sudden marriage, especially in front of the guy she'd crushed on. It had to be tough admitting she was wedding someone else.
That's when I caught noisy sounds from outside the clubroom. At first, I thought it was just other circles' activities, but the racket was clearly heading our way, growing louder.
Footsteps stopped right in front of our clubroom.
The door flew open with a bang!
I was dumbfounded by the audacity—no knock, no question, barging into our private space like he owned it. But when I saw who it was, my shock went beyond that.
"So this is the clubroom with Princess Astraia... Smaller than I imagined."
"Wh-what are you doing here!?"
"Haha! Can't a man come see his future wife himself? How stingy."
His bull-like bulk and fierce eyes evoked Zhang Fei from Romance of the Three Kingdoms—arrogant, but undeniably powerful. The impression burned into my brain.
"Who the heck is that...?"
"No way..."
The saintess seemed clueless about his identity, but the young lady, thanks to what I'd told her yesterday, had a rough guess.
"Whoops! Got so excited I forgot introductions. I'm the first prince of Creteia Kingdom, Taurus Creteia."
"!!"
"Prince Taurus!"
Everyone except me and the young lady jumped in surprise. Understandable—rumors aside, he was a swordsmanship prodigy, an Aura Master in his twenties, and a crown prince. Word of him showing up would spread like wildfire.
Taurus laughed heartily, shaking hands warmly with everyone in the room. For the saintess, he bowed his head instead—probably figuring he shouldn't touch the church's spiritual pillar carelessly.
"You're... Mars, right? Heard you pretended to be her lover to fend off a stalker..."
"It was an honor beyond my station. Thanks to Her Highness's trust, we caught the culprit quick."
"Haha! Honor, yeah, total honor! Don't worry—I ain't the jealous type!"
He'd apparently picked up on the rumors about me and the princess somewhere, adding that snide remark before our handshake unlike with the others. Shady as hell.
Thwack—
"...!"
This aura...!
"Alright, greetings done. I know my sudden entrance startled you—don't be shy! I'm not here as Creteia's prince, just as a man come to see his wife!"
"Wife...?"
The saintess glanced at the princess with dawning dread, and the princess, resigned to no longer hiding it, let out a sigh.
"Yes. I'm to wed Prince Taurus here. That's why I called you all today—to let you know."
"Gasp!"
"Th-that's so sudden..."
The saintess and Polo gawked, eyes wide, unable to hide their shock at the bombshell marriage news. The room buzzed a bit, but I had no attention for that.
Because...
The same slimy, dark aura I felt from that chimera maker... why's it writhing deep inside him?
I'd sensed it clearly when I took down the previous chimera creator—that viscous darkness, now squirming from the depths of First Prince Taurus's body.