Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: The Mood Was Good, Wasn't It?
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Having wrapped up a somewhat amicable(?) agreement with my father, I was now heading to Jenia's room.
There was a little time left before our evening appointment, so I figured we'd chat in the meantime.
'It has to be... one of the Reincarnation Boons, right?'
I'd been half-skeptical at first, but the mention of "stats" tipped me off.
And rightly so—what's the gold standard of Reincarnation Boons? Sure, there are tons of perks, but the prime example is the Status Window.
Stats originate from the Status Window, so it wasn't hard to put two and two together.
'But why don't I have a Status Window...'
I'm reincarnated too, but no matter how desperately I searched, I never found one, so I'd just accepted it and moved on.
Now that I knew they actually existed, a bitter taste filled my mouth for some inexplicable reason.
Muttering to myself as I walked, I soon arrived at Jenia's door.
Shaking off my thoughts, I knocked. With her permission, I opened the door and found...
"Your Highness, you've arrived?"
Jenia, who had apparently been gazing into the mirror moments before, turned around with her cheeks slightly flushed from excitement and beamed at me.
The hem of her warm green dress flared softly, and her face bloomed like a flower.
'Clothes make the woman...'
"Your Highness?"
Jenia's call snapped me out of it.
"Oh, yeah. Should we sit first?"
With no reply, she just stared at me with wide eyes.
I gathered myself and sat on the sofa.
We faced each other, our eyes locked.
'What was I going to say again...'
As we stared blankly, the awkwardness must have gotten to her, because Jenia spoke up.
"P-Prince! Lily picked out a few dresses for me. What do you think?"
"They're gorgeous. I want to give Lily a bonus."
In my mind, I decided to raise Lily's salary. Jenia blushed and grinned shyly at my response.
"Hee hee hee... Really? It's all thanks to you, Your Highness. Things I couldn't even imagine yesterday are unfolding one after another."
Ticklish words slipped from Jenia's lips.
I stared blankly at her reddening cheeks until a sudden jolt brought me back, and I got to the original topic.
"Ahem! Jenia, we had something to talk about, right?"
Jenia snapped to attention as well and started.
"Yes! Your Highness, do you perhaps...?"
She gauged my reaction, broaching the subject carefully.
She was probably scared of blurting it out first and being treated like a madwoman.
I answered her question.
"Yeah. I have a past life. I was playing Rebel of the Academy, fell asleep, and woke up reborn as a prince."
"I knew it!"
With my confirmation, Jenia's eyes sparkled. She jumped up, grabbed my hands tightly, and unleashed a torrent of words.
"Me too... me too, Your Highness! I was uploading game videos to YouTube! When I first opened my eyes, I was in this dingy room and thought I'd been kidnapped—I was so scared!
But then I looked in the mirror, and it was that minor noble lady from a duke's family who barely appears in the game!
I was suffering alone, thinking I'd die screaming, but... I'm just so glad! So, so glad!
Waaah! You have no idea how much I've cried and fought just to survive, and now seeing someone from the same world makes me so happy!"
All her pent-up grievances exploded as she rapid-fired her words through tears.
She was so thrilled that even while crying, her mouth didn't stop.
"Right! P-Prince, where were you from originally? America? Japan? China? Or maybe..."
"Korea."
My answer made Jenia shriek.
"Kyaaah! Oh my god! Me too, me too—I lived in Korea, Your Highness! Eating nothing but that hard stone bread every day, I missed Korean food so much!"
That made me happy too. Fate's prank, dropping us in the same world from the same homeland.
I spoke to the excited Jenia, who was gripping my hands tight.
"Um... Jenia? Calm down a bit first."
"Ah! Look at me!"
She plopped down beside me and leaned her head toward mine. Cute.
"So, Your Highness, how far did you get in the game? Did you play the other series too?"
Then came words I couldn't ignore. Other series...?
"Hold on, Jenia. There were other series?"
"Huh? The Academy series is super famous, but you didn't play them all?"
"I... I only played Rebel of the Academy."
"Well, it's the latest in the series, so I get it. But it's such a shame! It's huge in the romance fantasy genre—you really should try them..."
World-shattering words emerged from Jenia's petite mouth.
"Wait, what? What do you mean, Jenia... 'romance fantasy'...?"
"Huh? The Academy series is romance fantasy...? Did you skip the story?"
"Yeah, I did..."
Horror dawned on both our faces.
'This wasn't dark fantasy?'
'He didn't read the story?'
Our wildly different playstyles left us both wounded.
We struggled to continue the conversation.
"Uh... how come a romance fantasy game has so many combat scenes? I feel like I fought everyone I met...?"
"Combat scenes...? You fought everyone you met? What about the Crown Prince then?"
"I fought the imperial family, lost, and passed out? Woke up here."
Jenia gulped and spoke.
"Your Highness... no, future Crown Prince...? Um? Anyway, the Crown Prince isn't meant to be fought—you're supposed to raise affection and romance him..."
Jenia pulverized my shattered world into dust.
All those battles I fought to win, and there was an affection system?
Dizzy, I toppled backward but caught myself on the sofa, slumping like a world-weary man.
"To think... it was an otome game... Then why were the battles so realistic...?"
"It was famous for that. Won tons of awards. You should read the story sometime..."
Her pitying gaze made me wilt more.
"Ah! So cu— ahem! It's okay, Your Highness! We can skip the story! Don't worry—I'm a hardcore fan who's devoured all the setting materials and behind-the-scenes lore. Hehe."
Her confident smile felt like a ray of light. I clung to it and spoke.
"Jenia, do you know the imperial family's secrets then?"
"Of course! Obviously! The imperial family's secret is... Huh?"
At my question, Jenia's eyes shook violently, and she muttered in confusion.
"No way... Why can't I remember? This can't be... I played it so many times collecting endings..."
"What?"
I grabbed her shoulders as she looked bewildered.
"Jenia, snap out of it. What's going on with your memory?"
She answered blankly.
"I don't know... When I try to recall, it's like it's been painted white—I can't think. And I just realized my memories are gone..."
This was eerily similar to what happened when Lumie's light enveloped me.
Knowing the process of recovering such memories, I stopped her.
"Jenia, don't force it. There's no other way right now."
She replied dejectedly.
"Okay... I'm sorry, Your Highness..."
"Sorry? Jenia, you're incredibly precious to me right now."
A fresh tear fell from her eye at my words.
"I... I've never heard anything like that in my life..."
Her heartbreaking line prompted me to just hug her.
Jenia shed silent tears, streaming down steadily.
Her past sorrows mixing with this sudden warmth amplified her emotions.
For some reason, that hurt my heart even more.
Then Jenia began her story.
"When I first woke up here, it was some cold attic-like place. I was dazed and confused, but seeing myself in the mirror shocked me—a scrawny girl staring back."
She spoke calmly of her buried tale.
I hesitated to ask, thinking it painful, but she mustered the courage herself.
"Amid the chaos of my changed appearance, this guy called 'brother' came and kicked me, hurling abuse. One look at his face, and I knew instantly—it was Yohan Ardell...
Having a character I knew curse at me was terrifying...
The moment I heard my mother died because of me, I realized I'd possessed a minor character with just a few lines."
I couldn't imagine how Jenia felt, lost in an unfamiliar place with no clue about her future.
"I came to my senses and tried to run, but family beat me, maids tormented me with needles... I had no strength..."
Suddenly, Jenia began trembling.
As if hating the memory, she burrowed into my chest like hiding from darkness.
"So... I killed them. I felt like I was going to die. I hid in the stables and made a horse kick them, pushed them down stairs, secretly picked poisonous mushrooms and slipped them into the servants' food."
Hearing that actually felt refreshing.
If Jenia hadn't killed them, I would have.
"Did you know? I have a Status Window, and killing people gave me EXP. I invested in stats and got some energy back."
Like a confession, she continued.
"That was just the start of the problems. The curse that ate my mother now devoured those around me. Family called me cursed and beat me mercilessly, but recently I found an opening and escaped."
Like seeking light in darkness, Jenia looked up from my chest into my eyes and asked.
"I'm still scared. What if this is a dream and I wake up? Is it okay for someone like me—who killed to survive—to be happy?"
Pouring her heart out to someone she'd just met revealed how precarious her life had been.
She must have always craved an answer from someone.
I asked her.
"How many have you killed so far?"
She flinched but answered haltingly.
"Eight."
Fewer than I'd thought. If it were me, I'd have wiped out all the servants. Casually, I said.
"That's not many."
"Huh?"
To the bewildered Jenia, I continued.
"You did well. Better they die than you—those worthless pests aren't worth it. You're more important to me than all of them. Want me to pin rebellion on them and execute the lot?"
I valued the person before me more than those child-tormenting scum.
Her expression grew dazed at my words, then she asked.
"Did I... do well?"
"Yeah."
"Am I... valuable?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"Can I... be happy?"
I chuckled and replied.
"Do you want to be?"
"...Yes."
"Then I'll make you happy."
With that, Jenia burrowed deeper into my arms, as if to forget the attic's chill.
We held each other silently for a long while, until Jenia murmured softly.
"Heh... heh... smells like the Crown Prince as a kid... sniff—haa."
'...Jenia?'
Our mood was good, wasn't it?