Episode 10. The Princess’ First Love (End)
“What?”
I inadvertently asked back.
My thoughts were momentarily paralyzed, and the words came out of my mouth without passing through my brain.
“I asked if you could stay by my side forever. When I become emperor.”
He speaks the sound of a sigh clearly and clearly.
Come to think of it, in the game, Seri asked Tina if she would be a knight to protect her for the rest of her life. Maybe that’s what it means?
“You… what did you say now? Why is Master by your side all your life?”
Maria glares at the tax collector. She wondered if the people she would fight with in the future were already her own.
“Maria.”
“But Master!”
As I shake my head, her mouth opens and closes. Maria glared at the tax collector, then pointed her finger at him.
“Don’t expect Master to be by your side!”
“…… I’m asking Prause. Miss Maria. Do not worry. Because it doesn’t mean what you think. At least ‘for now’.”
There were a lot of things that bothered me, but first I had to ask why he said that as a condition.
“It’s a lifetime… …. Why?”
“If I become emperor, I won’t need an escort knight.”
“Ah…… Is that what it means?”
It was as expected.
By the way, an escort knight…….
Surely, if you join her faction and make the most of it, you’ll have the qualifications to become an escort knight.
“But I am not a knight.”
“It’s not a knight, but it has much stronger military force than a knight. No one would argue with Prause being my escort.”
I have no intention of denying the saying that those who must protect the emperor must be strong, but I had no intention of being tied to the imperial family.
Seri became the emperor, and she was going to give her some motivation, but the condition she said was unacceptable.
“It’s hard to accept under those conditions.”
“…… Why?”
“Isn’t the escort knight supposed to be with the emperor all day wherever he goes?”
“Right.”
“Then I won’t be able to.”
“Why?”
“Haven’t you heard from Emperor Rufen? When I have to, I have to defeat the demons. I can’t afford to be an escort driver.”
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“I’ll let you go then. Because Prause is a great person. I don’t intend to monopolize it as my escort driver. Prause can save a lot of people, for sure.”
The feeling of talking is very strange.
Did you know I would turn it down?
While I was embarrassed by her excuse for disappearing so naturally, she continued her words.
“Is there any other reason?”
I ask with a smile.
If there is another reason to convince yourself, you say that you will give up.
“…… Do you think it’s too early to decide on an escort driver?”
“Sometimes I saw it in a book. People say that the person who reaches out to you when you become ugly is ‘real’. I tend to agree with that phrase.”
“…… Forever. All day. I can’t just look at you.”
“That… It sounds good.”
“…… ?”
The corners of his mouth stretched upward. It was a meaningful laugh.
Is this real? Aren’t I mistaken?
Could it really be that attribute? No way… ….
I have an uneasy intuition. I feel that something is wrong.
“No. It’s nothing. I don’t want more than that, can I be an escort knight?”
“I intend to do so until you ascend to the throne. But you can’t do that all your life. Is there any reason why I should be like that in the first place?”
“You never know when I might be assassinated, right?”
“At that time, you can use the transmission magic scroll I gave you. Don’t worry, I’ll be back right away.”
“Teleport is a magic that allows the user to move to a place he remembers, right? What would you do if Miss Maria found me somewhere unknown?”
Once he ascended the throne, he could keep the strong by his side. Still, I don’t know why I should care.
“…… It’s unpleasant. Isn’t it something you should be grateful for just being my strength?”
She smiled at my point. It was a serious expression that resembled a serious expression.
“Prause, this is not just my foolishness or stubbornness.”
“What?”
“I don’t know why, but Prause would be in trouble if I died?”
“!”
Involuntarily, I flinched.
Thanks to the facial expression management skill, the agitation was able to calm down quickly, but my head was in a state of confusion.
“What are you talking about?”
“You told me at the New Year’s party two years ago, ‘That’s the way you live,’ right? The advice Prause gave me that day was not the kind of advice you would give to someone you just met.”
Do you remember my words that day? I thought I would hear it with one ear and let it flow.
I said this because I wanted you to stay calm, but I never thought that it would hold me back here.
“That advice would never have been given unless you knew about my position.”
“…… So?”
“At first, I thought Prause had connections to the imperial family. So I thought you knew about me. But it wasn’t like that. Nobody knew about you.”
Did you even do some research?
“That doesn’t mean there was a person named Prause in my memory. The first time I met Prause was at the New Year’s party two years ago. When the hell did Prause and I first meet?”
We met in a game.
…… Can’t say that
“I’ve only seen it by chance.”
“Somehow…… ? Do you have the ability to know all about a person’s past with just one look?”
“… ….”
Damn it. I’m not going to let you be fooled around.
“Is it important when we met?”
In the end, it was me who raised the white flag first.
“Hmm. It doesn’t matter. I’m just curious. If it’s a long-term relationship…… I’m so sorry I didn’t remember.”
“No need to apologize. It was just a one-sided relationship.”
That was not wrong.
I could see and remember Seri in the game, but she was just a character that flowed according to the story the author had created.
“…… Has it been a long time?”
“Okay. I don’t know.”
“Yes. That’s not what’s important Anyway, Prause, I must live to ascend to the throne, right?”
“… Yes.”
“Then I will ascend to the throne. Instead, it will be difficult if I die, so please be an escort knight. I don’t think it’s bad because the conditions are consistent with each other’s understanding. What do you think of Prause?”
I couldn’t resist.
As she said, it wasn’t just childishness or stubbornness.
In a way, the publican’s request was quite natural. It was a proposal for mutual benefit.
Anyone would have thought it persuasive, logical, and reasonable.
“…… All day long Because I have work to do. And, of course, a lifetime is impossible.”
“But you never know when I will die.”
It’s difficult to refute this guy because he only says the right things. Damn.
I was silent for a while trying to find a compromise.
“…… Then do this.”
“How?”
“Um… …. If you need to meet someone or go somewhere, tear the magic scroll. Then let me follow However, except when you are in danger, I may refuse the request when I am doing something. How about this?”
“Good. I also thought that compromise was the best.”
It was an immediate answer.
In the end, is Princess Seri’s will…….
Really this woman…….
As it was in the game, she’s a really formidable woman.
“Maria, is that okay?”
“It’s okay if it’s Master’s request. Aren’t you taking her words too seriously?”
Maria questioned and listened if I didn’t like me for quietly complying with her condition. With her small hand, she points at the tax collector and strokes her face.
“Princess tax collector was not wrong.”
I didn’t use a bunch, and I didn’t force myself.
She only said the right thing. And that’s just what I was convinced of.
“That’s it.”
Se-Ri’s hardened expression finds a smile again. It was a dull look.
“It’s refreshing to be out for the first time in a while.”
Se-ri felt the wind of early spring and watched the sun go behind the mountain. I looked at her and turned her gaze toward her sunset.
The blue sky is turning purple around the sunset.
“The sunset here… You are pretty. More than when I saw it from the terrace on the highest floor of the Imperial Palace…….”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. After all, it’s fun to see all of these things together.”
It’s bothersome in many ways, but now that I’ve said this, she’ll be determined to become emperor.
Yeah, that’s it.
* * *
Before dinner time, the princess tax collector returned to her own room.
This time she came over as only Maria teleported without Prause.
“I want to kill you on the spot right now, but Master says he needs you, so I’m holding back. So live in the future. Don’t flirt with Master.”
“I knew, but you are an elf. Miss Maria.”
“What? Do you think it’s a little rough because elves, a different race, roam freely?”
“Not at all. I just know why you get angry, so even if you curse, I just listen.”
“…… Under?”
Seeing the reaction of the calm princess, Maria’s forehead sprouted blood vessels.
Quack!
Maria grabs her princess by the collar and vents her hostility.
“What is still?! Don’t play your mouth before you really kill it. On human subjects. I hate your royalty, and I hate your nobles. He hates humans so much.”
“Then why are you with Prause? Prause is human too.”
“Master is an exception.”
“Then can’t I be included in that exception?”
“Go away.”
Let go of the collar as if to beat him up.
It was a force that would have knocked him down if he was a normal person. However, princess tax collector stumbled and barely managed to stand up.
“If I said that strange thing to Master again, I would die.”
“…… If.”
Maria let go of her bluff and was about to use her teleport. The princess tax collector opened her mouth.
“What?”
“What would you do if the Empire freed the Elves and Beasts from slavery and treated them the same as humans?”
“What…… ?”
“…… I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. If I become the emperor, I plan to create an empire where other races are no longer persecuted. Of course, slavery will also be abolished.”
“You… ….”
At the aspirations of the princess tax collector who suddenly revealed, Maria had a sense of anticipation without realizing it. Even though she knew it wouldn’t happen, she inadvertently expected it.
“So I hope you don’t hate me too much.”
‘I wonder if Prause said he would become this woman’s power… ….’
Maria looked at the smiling face of the princess tax collector for a while, then turned her body around.
“That…… You know you have to go I don’t believe in people who just talk.”
“If you prove it, then you believe it.”
“…… “Teleport”.”
Maria disappeared without answering. Princess Ceri lay down on her bed while looking at the location where her Maria had disappeared.
“Today is a really good day… ….”
She didn’t think she had a way to live, so she brought Praus, who was said to be the strongest in the empire, into her power, and she was no longer afraid of her.
Above all.
– Lifetime. All day. I can’t just look at you.
A lifetime. All day. Only you
Ever since Prause uttered those words, they have been lingering in her mind.
“How can there be such a good sense of language?”
‘If you don’t mind being a little greedy, you can go further than an escort knight… ….’
She flopped down on the bed.
Asking her feelings was her specialty, so Prause couldn’t grasp her feelings either.
‘This is the first time I have a crush on a man. You’re my first love, Prause.’
‘Prause, I want you to give me the attention you give to others. As a man who only looks at me…… I want to make it.’
I want to hope that that day will come someday.
Because she didn’t grow up being loved around her, the princess buried a certain emotion deep in her heart that she had no choice but to crave more than others.
That way Prause won’t feel burdened.
I do hope she wouldn’t become a yandere, she’s too good to become one