56 – Saint Cynthia
The night that Priscilla and I reaffirmed our bond.
We rested our backs on each other’s backs on the bed and took out the stories we had stored in our hearts one by one.
“Maximilian said that. “The owner of the estate is busy, so you have to understand.”
“So?”
“I could feel that Yeongji was getting more and more difficult because of me. So, I tried to understand why he had bad feelings towards me.”
“Then, that cold and grave expression towards the Count is an expression you made because you didn’t know how to react?”
“… Yes.”
Priscilla seems to have grown up thinking that Count Arvest was just a blunt father.
It is said that the reason the attitude has become increasingly strict over the past six years is because the count’s family situation has become more difficult.
… It was a moment when I felt a little sorry for making the Count imitate a cuckoo.
“Was it a gamble?”
“I thought that somehow we had to make progress this year. But it was my sincerity that led me to visit Maximilian in the hospital that day.”
Priscilla said that and looked at the back of my head with a slightly worried gaze.
When I shrugged my shoulders, Priscilla looked down at her hand, not mine.
Indeed, he was constantly wiggling and acting as if he was hesitating.
“Didn’t we decide to reveal everything now? Okay. “Ask anything.”
“Why did you tell me to watch that day…? ?”
I told Priscilla that for some reason, I had lost most of her memories from 6 years ago.
Then it is inevitable that questions will arise.
Why did they suddenly ask me to watch that day?
‘It’s easy to get around it.’
I fell in love with you for the second time that day, hahahahaha!
It’s enough to just talk like this and talk around.
However, she wanted to be honest in front of this guy.
“Nobility exists even in princely countries, Priscilla.”
“Yes? Ah… Yes?”
“Do you know how the nobles of a princely country treat the royal family of a princely country?”
“It’s a little different from the Empire… ?”
Priscilla spoke awkwardly, but she was like the nobles of the princely country, the common nobles of the world.
If it gets in the way of fulfilling their own interests, they even aim to overthrow the throne.
But the empire is different.
“The difference between an empire and a princely state. It is the presence or absence of the ‘Emperor Embracing the Sun’.”
According to the myth of His Majesty the First Emperor, the people of that era are those who came to this continent and settled with His Majesty the First Emperor.
Almost like immigrants, they built history by working with heroes imbued with the power of God.
That immense pride has continued for over a thousand years.
If it had ended in nothing more than a myth, the admiration would have already weathered over time, but the legacy of the first generation has continued to protect the empire.
Those beings are emperors who embrace the sun, showing genius that is too overwhelming to be human.
Because these living legends are with us, the nobles of the empire truly respect the royal family, unlike the nobles of other kingdoms.
And the royal family also does their best to be honorable to the nobles who show such loyalty.
“But why is that story suddenly….”
I strengthened my resolve in response to Priscilla’s question.
“The emperor who embraces the sun. “In the era when they ascend to the throne, an event that will become a turning point in history will inevitably occur.”
“… Ah.”
“On top of that, as if by fate, I was born with the ability to solve him.”
When I said that, Priscilla seemed to have realized something and avoided my eyes with a slightly awkward expression.
“A vision of the future vaguely occurred to me. In the future, I… “I had a sword pointed at you, Priscilla.”
Priscilla pressed her chest and took in her breath.
“In that future scene, you became a witch who worshiped the ‘Shadow of the End.’ That’s why I wanted to keep an eye on you.”
Priscilla carefully held my hand with her white face.
“… There must have been a better way.
Do you advise that there was a more reliable way to take my life in this situation?
Such a foolish thing.
“Yes, there was definitely a way to do that. But….”
Her father certainly had an opportunity to mention Priscilla before he left for talks with the princes.
But for some reason, I had an ominous feeling at the time, and I couldn’t tell him about the future in which Priscilla would become a witch.
“It seems like the red thread of fate has connected us again.”
When I said that and smiled lightly, Priscilla also smiled.
“… “I thought Maximilian remembered everything.”
“Why?”
At that question, Priscilla wiggled her hands and smiled slightly.
“Royal Baroque is the most popular in the Imperial Palace, and Maximilian said that the tea from our estate is the best.”
That is purely a matter of taste, so I have nothing to say.
“He naturally conceded the victory….”
Priscilla said this and her cheeks turned bright red.
“Cowardice. “It is polite not to look at unopened cards.”
“Yes, I will be careful~”
It was an excited voice that seemed to be neither sorry nor cautious.
“I immediately asked her to embroider freesia on her handkerchief, and she protected me with the same warm eyes as before….”
I felt the hot body temperature from her shoulder that was touching her.
She glanced next to her and saw Priscilla, her whole body stained bright red, cooling off the heat on her face with a fan of her hand.
“Was it all an act…? ?”
─ Were all the promises of that day a lie?
It felt like she was losing her mind at the sight that suddenly came to her mind.
I hurriedly wrapped my hand around Priscilla’s shoulder and lightly hugged her body.
“Consider it my second and first love. “I don’t even know when I started being serious.”
I think the most defining moment was the moment I had a nap with Priscilla in her garden.
But now that I think about it, I think I was strangely attracted to him from the moment he came to visit me.
‘Falling for the same woman twice…’ .’
I’m also a really clumsy guy.
“So why did you take out the belt, you blasphemous thing?”
Priscilla said she was going somewhere for a while, and she suddenly appeared holding a bandeau.
Even though I clearly told him not to take out his pigtails again.
“This is really the last time. “I promise.”
Priscilla said and carefully took out the red thread that had accumulated in her handkerchief.
She then started stroking the side of her head as if she was embarrassed.
The appearance overlapped with the one from six years ago, so it felt even more magical than usual.
“What were you planning on doing?”
“I want to embroider the sun with this red thread.”
“Were you thinking of embroidering something more?”
“Yes, I’m going to put a sunflower in this little corner.”
Priscilla smiled brightly as she said that.
“Unexpected. “I thought you were going to use freesia.”
“hehehehe.”
Priscilla gently laid her head on my shoulder and then she lifted her head slightly and looked into my eyes.
… Each and every gesture was harmful to the heart.
“I like sunflowers better now.”
A capricious thing.
“Now buy who you are now, not memories… hehehehe.”
If you are going to say something, you will say it until the end.
Priscilla put her shoulder to me and began to embroider, humming her tune.
I sat shoulder to shoulder with Priscilla and read the material that someone had given me.
To summarize the information given by so-and-so─
‘I’m not sure? Under!’
I don’t know why Mana calms down only when Priscilla is by her side.
I don’t know why my memories keep coming back.
When will my body return to normal?
However, the cracks in the soul are gradually being filled.
‘Time did increase.’
Before, I couldn’t last even a minute without the magic tool that so-and-so gave me.
But now I have reached a level where I can somehow survive for about 20 minutes even without so-and-so’s magic tool.
Of course, even that was not a normal situation.
Does Priscilla know anything?
While thinking that, I glanced next to her and caught Priscilla’s eyes.
“What is it, Priscilla?”
Before, I was so focused that I didn’t even know if someone was carrying me….
“Oh, no one! Also! “No?”
It was truly a unique vocalization.
“Then don’t get stabbed again.”
“Yes, yes.”
Unlike before, I talked with Priscilla, who continued to have a hearty conversation while doing her embroidery, until I fell asleep.
However, as she talked, Priscilla also seemed to not remember the moment when the dark mana was present.
As expected, there seemed to be something more left in her memory that had not yet returned.
***
There is a saying that blood is thicker than water.
From Noble mtl dot com
Before I left Count Arvest’s house, I realized the true meaning of those words.
Priscilla did not harbor such ill feelings towards her Count from the beginning.
She said that as a child of a family with a blunt father, she was a little difficult, but she did not hate him.
In such a situation, she could not have the Count imitate a cuckoo forever.
So she hinted that it was okay to quit.
But the Count remained the Cuckoo Count until the day we returned to the Islands.
It was a moment where I could clearly see where Priscilla’s personality came from, as once the switch was turned on, she had to give up her game.
“Ugh….”
Priscilla must have been shocked by her father’s imitation of a cuckoo, whom she admired in her own way, so Priscilla’s face was dead and blue the whole time she returned to her island.
─ If it’s like this next time… I won’t come again.
─ Cuckoo, cuckoo….
Priscilla’s determination reminded her of the Count, who was so discouraged that he clucked a little, and even though she knew she shouldn’t have done that, she ended up laughing.
Then Priscilla twitched her eyebrows and glared at me.
It was a truly arrogant expression.
“… Why?”
Priscilla, who was careful to say a word for fear of being hated by me, has now disappeared everywhere.
But I think that change shows a cross-section of our new relationship─
More than before… Hmm.
“… “Something weird.”
“Yes?”
It felt strange.
“I had no idea that the King of the Holy Kingdom would move so quickly.”
Martin said this and began to tell anecdotes related to the Holy Kingdom.
According to him, it is very unusual for the king of the Holy Kingdom to visit Jedo.
Still, there was a case where an institution was always sought, and that was the coronation ceremony, where the person who embraces the sun ascends the throne as emperor.
But this time, even though it is not a coronation ceremony, he comes to Jedo to meet the crown prince.
It is said that it is truly unusual to send a letter with such polite expressions.
“I believe that the nobles in the system have a lot of weight on their shoulders. “We will likely show a more cooperative attitude in the future.”
That was a welcome sound to hear.
“Honestly, I was surprised too, Your Highness!”
If Martin was simply complimenting me by saying he was impressed by seeing an unexpected side of me, so-and-so’s words were mixed with a hint of rudeness, like, ‘You idiot is doing this?’
If it weren’t for the prime minister’s wife and the savior of my life, I would have been exiled to a secluded island with no way to return….
“Hey, hey!”
Suddenly, so-and-so made a strange sound and naturally hid behind Martin’s back.
It seemed like he had found an invincible zone where my attacks couldn’t reach.
I was looking at so-and-so and then at the now considerably smaller mansion of Count Arvest.
‘This will be the last time.’
In global terms, the ‘Count Arvest family’ has just come to mind in relation to the crown prince.
It can be seen as the beginning of a miracle that will never fall for at least the next 60 years.
Perhaps when you come here a year from now, that shabby mansion will be gone, and there will be a majestic fortress in its place?
‘Didn’t you have a truly good son-in-law, Count?’
Thinking like that, I passed through the teleport gate to the island.
……
…
It was three days after returning to the system.
Finally, Gregory, the king of the Holy Kingdom, came to the island.
Everyone in the islands was preoccupied with the unusual visit of Gregory, the king of the Holy Kingdom.
My father, the Prime Minister, Lord Bertrand, Martin, so-and-so, and even Priscilla.
But only I was looking not at Gregory, but at a woman whose entire body was decorated in pure white.
‘… ‘Why are you there?!’
Default name ‘Cynthia’.
The main character and heroine of the game ‘The Gardener of Thorns’ has appeared in the system.