The Prince's Proposal and the Road to Retsher City
The emperor, Valderic, broke into a gentle smile at those words. Princess Mage, however, looked utterly shocked as she glared at her brother.
“Brother! What on earth are you thinking? You’re going to propose to Miss Charlene?”
“I’m serious. There are no ulterior motives. I want to marry Miss Charlene.”
A brief silence fell over the room. Emperor Valderic let out a hearty laugh, clearly in high spirits for the first time in a while.
“Cassian, you who have turned down every beautiful noble lady who approached you… this is the first time I’ve seen you like this.”
“Father. Will you give me your permission?”
Emperor Valderic stroked his chin for a moment, humming thoughtfully, before answering.
“I could give permission, but… I doubt Miss Charlene would accept.”
“Pardon?”
“That young lady seems to have eyes only for Kailon. Do you really think you could steal her heart?”
At his father’s question, Prince Cassian’s clenched fist trembled. Me? The one who has rejected every courtship and date request from countless women… and I can’t even beat a mere commoner?
Emperor Valderic, as if reading his son’s mind, stroked his beard and continued.
“No matter how much of an imperial prince you are, you cannot control someone’s heart. Go ahead and try. Shouldn’t you experience rejection at least once to understand how ordinary citizens feel?”
Princess Mage jumped in at that moment.
“Brother. Once everything is settled, you can propose to Miss Charlene or whatever.”
“What?”
“Right now we have no idea where the Demon King Apocryon and that wicked mage Sephirot are hiding. The Demon King’s army is about to swarm again. Proposing marriage in the middle of all this? It doesn’t seem appropriate.”
Prince Cassian nodded at her words.
“You’re right, Mage. Let’s do that for now. Are you really going to follow Kailon and Miss Charlene?”
“Yes. I think they’ll need me too.”
Emperor Valderic then spoke up with a perfectly innocent expression.
“Mage. You haven’t fallen for Kailon as well, have you?”
“F-Father!! What are you saying?!”
Princess Mage’s face turned bright red as she raised her voice at her father for the first time in ages. Seeing his daughter throw such an adorable tantrum, Emperor Valderic chuckled warmly.
“Kailon seems like a decent man. He has a good sense of humor and he’s quite sly. Don’t you think so?”
“N-No, he isn’t!”
With her face still flushed crimson, Mage huffed and turned away. Emperor Valderic’s expression grew serious once more.
“We don’t have time. There’s no telling how long the imperial army can hold back the Demon King’s forces. Leave tomorrow at once.”
“Yes, Father.”
Princess Mage and Prince Cassian bowed and withdrew from the emperor’s study.
The moment they stepped out, Princess Mage spoke up.
“Brother. Don’t do anything stupid like proposing.”
“Huh?”
“Miss Charlene will get angry.”
“W-What are you talking about? How well do you even know Miss Charlene?”
“Better than you do. Miss Charlene is strong and beautiful, but she also has a dark side to her personality. Stop thinking about proposing.”
“That’s exactly why I like her. She has qualities that ordinary women don’t.”
Prince Cassian gave a small laugh, patted his sister’s shoulder, and headed to his own room.
Sigh. I hope nothing goes wrong.
Princess Mage watched her brother’s retreating back and thought to herself. Suddenly, an important idea flashed through her mind.
“Brother! There’s something important you need to do at the palace.”
Hearing that, Prince Cassian turned around.
“Something important?”
“Yes. Don’t you have messenger crows that can be used for letters?”
Prince Cassian tilted his head.
“Crows?”
The next morning.
Good. This time I prepared for the journey properly.
Charlene and I loaded the carriage’s luggage compartment with emergency rations, spare underwear, sleeping bags, and other necessities.
“But… how are we supposed to know exactly where the Temple of Macius is?”
When I asked, Princess Mage, dressed in comfortable traveling clothes, proudly held something out with a flourish.
“What is this, Your Highness?”
“It’s a map. An atlas of the Arcadia Empire. It’s in book form, so you can find routes to most regions. I dug through the imperial storage specifically for today.”
Oh. As expected from the meticulous Princess Mage.
In the meantime, Charlene slammed the carriage trunk shut with a loud thud and spoke in a clearly dissatisfied tone.
“I feel like the princess will only get in the way…”
“Miss Charlene? Are you looking down on me?”
“I’m simply being realistic. Master? Shall we depart now?”
Alright. I climbed into the driver’s seat, took the reins, and gave them a shake while clicking my tongue. The two young horses immediately began to move at a brisk pace.
Clip-clop. Clip-clop. The pleasant sound of hooves rang out.
“The weather is lovely today. It would be wonderful if it stayed this nice the whole way,” Princess Mage said, opening the small window that faced the driver’s seat from inside the carriage.
“Indeed. But I don’t think we’ll have time to relax like this. We need to reach the Temple of Macius quickly and obtain the spell to seal Apocryon—”
Charlene, sitting beside me, answered my words.
“The spell itself probably won’t be that long. Master? There’s no need to rush. We should stop at famous restaurants along the way and enjoy some good food. After all, the princess will be paying for everything, won’t she?”
“W-What did you just say, Miss Charlene? Don’t you understand what kind of crisis the empire is facing right now? Famous restaurants?”
“We’re traveling for once. Stopping at good eateries isn’t a bad idea. Hmph.”
“You really are strange.”
After a brief silence, Princess Mage asked,
“By the way, Miss Charlene? What do you think of my brother?”
“Your brother? You mean Prince Cassian?”
“Yes.”
What the—? Why is the princess suddenly asking Charlene about this?
Charlene, wearing comfortable short pants for the journey, didn’t even glance at the princess leaning out the window and answered coldly.
“I have no feelings toward him whatsoever. I forget he even exists most of the time.”
Wow. As expected of Charlene. Her response was as sharp as a blade.
Princess Mage let out a deep sigh.
“I thought so. I knew it would be like that. Mr. Kailon? Let’s head straight for the Temple of Macius.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
And so our carriage slowly began to leave Aurelium behind.
At that same moment.
Inside the Eisenvelt family mansion.
“What?”
Duke Lucas Eisenvelt reacted in surprise. Elder, the noble who usually followed Eisenvelt like a loyal lackey, answered.
“It appears Kailon, Charlene, and Princess Mage have just left to secure the magic spell that can seal Apocryon. Duke Eisenvelt. Doesn’t this throw our plans into disarray?”
“It would be troublesome if they obtain that spell. The Demon King’s army has only just begun appearing in the empire again.”
Eisenvelt stroked his beard, sinking deep into thought.
“Duke Eisenvelt. What should we do?”
At Elder’s question, Eisenvelt answered in a low voice.
“Elder. Do you happen to know any highly skilled… mages who won’t be detected by anyone?”
“Duke Eisenvelt. You know as well as I do that while Kailon and Princess Mage might be manageable, Charlene is frighteningly strong. Who could possibly handle that woman?”
“Even so, we must act. If we do nothing, my entire plan will collapse. Are you just going to stand by and watch?”
When Eisenvelt lightly scolded him, Elder lowered his head. Eisenvelt continued.
“I have no retreat left. We must eliminate them.”
“Pardon?”
“Elder. Hire a skilled assassination squad. We will remove Kailon, Charlene, and Mage—all of them.”
“Is… is that really acceptable?”
“Of course. We can’t let a perfectly cooked meal get overturned.”
Elder hesitated. An assassination squad capable of eliminating those three… especially Charlene? If anyone could do it, it would have to be them…
Noticing what Elder was contemplating, Eisenvelt smiled ominously and spoke again.
“Don’t worry about the cost. I can squeeze it out of the imperial budget if necessary. It doesn’t matter who. Just hire an assassination squad capable of removing them.”
“Understood, Duke Eisenvelt.”
Elder bowed and withdrew. Eisenvelt rose from his armchair, gazed out the window, and muttered.
“Anything that gets in the way… must be removed.”
That evening. A village inn.
We unpacked our belongings at the inn and spread out the map book.
“So… this village is called Sirount Town, which lies on the road to Retsher City. The spot I’m pointing to on the map should be correct, right?”
When I pointed at a location on the map, Princess Mage tilted her head.
“Y-Yes… I suppose it is…”
At that moment, Charlene tapped my shoulder from the side and answered.
“We don’t need a map. If we just keep following the road we’ve been on, we’ll reach Retsher City where the Temple of Macius is located. Master? Should I heat some water so you can take a bath?”
B-Bath? Heh. Does that mean Charlene will scrub my back for me?
Princess Mage cut in right then.
“Miss Charlene. Have you been to this area before? How do you know that if we keep going this way we’ll reach the Temple of Macius?”
“I came here once for work a long time ago.”
Hmm. Is she talking about her time as a Grim Reaper?
Princess Mage rested her chin on her fingers and spoke with clear suspicion.
“That comment you made in the library last time, and now this… Miss Charlene, just what is your true identity?”
“I’m not telling you, Princess. Bleh.”
Charlene rummaged through her bag, pulled out a towel, and continued.
“Then I’ll take a bath first. Since this is a rural inn, I’ll have to heat the water myself. Master? Are you sure you don’t want to join me?”
“Really? You’re serious? Wait a second—”
Right at that moment—
Stomp!
Someone crushed my foot hard. Ow. That hurts. I nearly fell over clutching my instep. Of course, it was Princess Mage who had stepped on me.
“Mr. Kailon? Stop falling for Miss Charlene’s weird temptations and focus on figuring out how we’re going to obtain the sealing spell at the Temple of Macius. Are you really going to keep acting this foolishly?”
“N-No, I was just joking… There’s no way I would actually bathe with Charlene. Hahaha.”
Damn it. Why do I have to make excuses like this? What did I even do wrong?
Charlene, who had been watching the whole scene, waved one hand and grumbled.
“Then I’ll bathe first. Princess? If you want to bathe too, feel free to come in.”
With that, Charlene entered the bathroom first.
“Princess. No matter what kind of plan we come up with here, there’s no guarantee it will go according to plan. We don’t even know for sure if the sealing spell is at the Temple of Macius.”
When I spoke, Princess Mage huffed in response.
“I know that. I was just making a serious face because I couldn’t stand watching you drool over Miss Charlene.”
“W-When did I drool? And why would that bother you, Princess?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t.”
With that answer, the princess went over to the bed on the other side and flopped down.
Hmm… Since there weren’t enough rooms, we rented a large one with multiple beds… Maybe we should have just camped in the forest instead?
Ugh… No. It’s better to sleep at an inn when you can. That way we can bathe and rest properly.
Thinking that, I closed the map book with a clap. Still, I was worried about whether we could reach the Temple of Macius safely in this state.
Sigh. Surely we won’t get ambushed by weirdos or anything.
As I lay on the bed with that thought, the princess suddenly bolted upright from the other bed.
“Earlier, Miss Charlene said I could come into the bath with her, right?”
“Yes, she did. Why?”
Princess Mage suddenly shouted.
“I need to get a proper look at Miss Charlene’s naked body.”
Excuse me?
Ten minutes later. Inside the old, cramped bathroom.
Charlene was soaking in the small wooden tub, washing away the fatigue of the day.
“Bathing alone really is boring. It would be much more fun if I could scrub Master’s back.”
As Charlene muttered to herself, there was a sudden knock on the bathroom door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Miss Charlene?”
It was Princess Mage’s voice.
“Yes, Your Highness. What is it?”
“Open the door. Let’s bathe together.”
“Pardon?”
Even Charlene, who rarely got surprised by anything, was taken aback. Is she serious? I was only joking earlier…