Chapter 1: The Armistice Memorial Gala

Cocolette

Fifteen years had passed since the Kingdom of Cheriotte and its neighbor to the south, the Portanian Empire, signed a peace treaty. A party to celebrate the occasion was taking place in the Cheriotte royal palace, and as I walked underneath the numerous large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling in the palace’s main hall, I could hear several flattering comments and sighs sent in my direction.

“That must be Cocolette, daughter of Marquis Blossom, one of the princes’ marriage candidates. She’s even prettier than people say.”

“Oh, look at her wavy rose-pink hair and her leaf-green eyes! She looks just like a spring fairy.”

I knew, of course, that this was not mere lip service—after all, I had worked hard to make sure my beauty was unmatched. I had been blessed with a naturally pretty face, which despite its youthfulness was already hinting at the full gorgeousness I would grow into in just a few years’ time. I also took considerable care with my physique; at just fourteen, I had already developed a somewhat large, shapely bust. And the dress I was wearing, made specifically for tonight, also perfectly matched the blue-sapphire hair clip that Prince Raph had gifted me.

Smiling sweetly, I went to greet the lady and gentleman who had complimented me only a moment before. Since this was my first time being invited to a formal party, it was best I use this opportunity to make as many allies as I could.

The madam I had the pleasure of meeting was a refreshing beauty; were we in my old world, she’d be flooded with modeling offers. Being the absolute sucker that I was for a pretty face, I couldn’t help but be entranced by her loveliness.

Next, I greeted her husband. The gentleman wore a suit on the cutting edge of fashion—but was a total orc-face.

“So, Miss Cocolette, I hear you started at the royal academy this year,” he said. “That was where my wife and I met. I hope your youth is as wonderful as ours was.”

“Oh, dear—please, not in front of Miss Cocolette,” the wife said, the fetching blush appearing on her face making it clear her protests against him indulging in his memories were half-hearted.

Not for the first time, I thought, I’ll never quite understand how things are here.

The world I had reincarnated into held unique values about appearances. While beauty standards for women were fundamentally the same as the ones I’d known in my past life, men with monsterlike features—such as orc-faces and dwarf-faces—were extolled as the height of male beauty. Those who would’ve been considered bishonen in my old world—that is, incredibly pretty or gorgeous boys—were instead looked down upon as ugly.

These twisted beauty standards were seemingly caused long ago by a curse uttered by the demon dragon Rex Draconis in his final clash against Heros the hero before his defeat. I had absolutely no idea how to lift the spell. And what a troublesome piece of magic it is...

I’d worked myself to the bone to snag myself a bishonen in this world of backward beauty standards, and the “ugly crown prince,” His Highness Raphael, had chosen me as one of his marriage candidates. There had been twists and turns, yes—like Second Prince Orkhart also selecting me as a potential fiancée for himself—but Prince Raph and I were in love with each other. I hoped things would continue smoothly so that Prince Raph and I could someday be married.

After I parted from the husband and wife, I heard voices call out from behind me.

“Miss Cocolette!” said Miss Mystère. “It is nearly time for us marriage candidates to greet the royal family!”

“We will only be meeting with the queen consort, however,” Miss Lunamaria added. “His Majesty remained only for the initial address, and the royal concubine is not in attendance tonight.”

In her soft drawl, Miss Violet admitted, “I’d rather not go... Since my family belongs to the royal concubine’s faction, the queen consort will most likely be keeping her eye on me.”

Like me, these girls were also marriage candidates to the princes. Prince Raph, whose mother was the queen consort of Cheriotte, and Prince Ork—born to the royal concubine, who had come from the Portanian Empire’s imperial family to marry His Majesty—each had three potential fiancées. As Miss Lunamaria and I were suitors to both brothers, there were only four candidates in total.

Normally, only adults of the nobility attended parties hosted by the royal family (excluding the garden party I had partaken in when I was eleven, but that had been organized exclusively for the princes to choose their marriage candidates). It was still far too soon for girls our age to be at a royal function such as this, since Miss Mystère and I were fourteen, Miss Lunamaria was fifteen, and Miss Violet was thirteen. However, the reason we were attending this event, the Armistice Memorial Gala, was that we had all passed the first stage of our queenly education. Tonight, we were being officially introduced to noble society as candidates for marriage to Prince Raph and Prince Ork.

“This will be my first time meeting Queen Marie-Jewel,” I noted as we headed to see Her Majesty.

Miss Mystère’s expression darkened, and after a moment she warned, “Be careful, Miss Cocolette.”

Miss Mystère’s shiny black sausage curls, her ruby-red eyes, and the mole under her eye were just as sexy as ever—she had grown up quite beautifully. She wasn’t particularly tall, but in all other aspects she was like a work of art, with her voluptuous bust (the shape of which even her dress couldn’t hide), elegantly shaped hips, and slender waist, wrists, and ankles. She even wore glasses. I easily understood why so many boys were completely enraptured by her.

“It would be in your best interests to say only what is necessary, and nod along to whatever you hear,” Miss Mystère added.

“Mm,” I replied vaguely.

“I agree with Miss Mystère,” Miss Lunamaria said.

Miss Lunamaria’s straight, sparkling silver hair reached all the way down to her hips, swaying elegantly with each step she took. The tallest of all four candidates, she had a model’s slender, statuesque build. Her beauty was spellbinding; she looked like an ice fairy come to life.

“Please, Miss Cocolette,” she continued. Her expression was as emotionless as ever, but her ice-blue eyes glimmered with worry. “You should remain quiet and obey the queen consort. Rest assured that with the eyes of the Portanian Empire on her tonight, I believe that even Her Majesty will not do or say anything rash.”

“Oh, Miss Lunamaria, for even you to warn me...?” I asked.

“I think you will be just fine,” sweet Miss Violet said in encouragement, her laid-back drawl as relaxed as ever. “After all, the three of you are all His Highness Raphael’s marriage candidates; I am the only one who is solely His Highness Orkhart’s prospective match. Her Majesty will surely be far more critical of me than you.”

Miss Violet had distinctly fluffy, chestnut-colored hair and large purple eyes. By all appearances, she was a gorgeous young noble girl. She was also the shortest and smallest among us four, and what with her soft drawl, she seemed even younger than she was. In reality she was actually the most well put-together among us—and the most accomplished by far in the martial arts. From swords to guns and more, the sugary sweet Miss Violet was a deft hand in the art of combat.

Well, to be quite honest, I understood where the other girls were coming from. As the queen consort would be my future mother-in-law, it would be best—at the very least—not to go against her authority. Still... Something Prince Ork had once told me crossed my mind.

The queen consort was excessively prideful, possessing great prejudice against her own son Prince Raph for his appearance and never once acting as a mother toward him. Yet she placed immense pressure on him to maintain his position as His Majesty’s heir, the crown prince. She was her son’s enemy, eating away at his heart like a ravenous worm.

Since Prince Raph did not wish to reconcile with the queen consort, I figured that sooner or later, the day would come when she and I would be adversaries.

Anyway, it was time to scout out my foe! I’ll get a good look at the queen consort with my own eyes and get all the information I can!

“Thank you so much for your concern, everyone,” I said. “While I do have many thoughts about how Her Majesty treats Prince Raph, I will remain on my best behavior tonight.”

My words seemed to relax the other three girls, and at once the mood between us became light.

▽

At the far end of the main hall, where seating was reserved for the royal family, sat Her Majesty Marie-Jewel, Queen Consort of Cheriotte. The moment the invitees in front of us had finished their introductions to her, she turned her sharp glare toward us.

Her indigo hair was perfectly styled into a bun, with her head crowned by a tiara glittering with countless dazzling diamonds. In her luxurious dress, a deep navy blue to match her hair, she looked every part the villainous queen.

The queen consort had quite the pretty face—as one would expect, given that she was Prince Raph’s mother—though the outer corners of her eyes were quite high, giving her a sinister air, which was supported by her lips, curved in a cruel smirk. Of note was her makeup; the dark blue eyeshadow around her eyes covered more of her face than the standard application, and even her lipstick was a striking azure. So avant-garde were her choices that they leaned into the bizarre.

The four of us curtsied, and Her Majesty Marie-Jewel pointed to Prince Raph’s marriage candidates with her folded-up fan. “You three may rise. As for the last one—keep your head down.” She grinned sadistically at how her orders kept Miss Violet frozen in the demure bow we had all performed.

What childish harassment is this...? I wondered.

If Lady Saravia the royal concubine were here, she might have objected to such despotism, but the cross-dressing woman almost never appeared in public. The nearby attendants and knights were also forbidden from expressing opinions to Her Majesty Marie-Jewel and so kept silent.

The other candidates and I cast worried glances toward Miss Violet, but she just gave us a stealthy smile and whispered, “I have faced much harder challenges in my family’s training.”

That’s Miss Violet for you, I thought, feeling a little relieved.

Her Majesty Marie-Jewel haughtily looked at us three other marriage candidates in turn. “Lunamaria, Mystère—it has been a while. You have both become taller since the last time I saw you. Children truly do grow so quickly.”

Miss Lunamaria, with clear hesitation, began to speak. “And you seem to have not changed whatsoever, Your Ma—”

“Ah-ah,” the queen consort tutted. “I care not for flattery, Lunamaria. Be quiet.”

Miss Lunamaria paled and went silent.

Her Majesty Marie-Jewel looked away from her and set her gaze squarely on me. “And you must be the fabled Cocolette Blossom. You indeed are the most beautiful among the girls here. In a few years I imagine you could seduce nearly any man in high society. And yet you waste yourself on that freak.”

I realized after a moment that she was calling Prince Raph a freak. I couldn’t help but ball my hands into fists.

“Isn’t that right?” Her Majesty continued. “One smile from you is all that freak needed before he absolutely lost his head. And he used to be so obedient. It’s disgusting, but it’s just the way men are. My son may be hideous, but he knows how to wield his authority like an adult. What a truly stomach-churning child.”

Is this truly what a real mother would say? About her own flesh and blood? I wondered, my clenched fists growing tighter as I dug my fingernails deeper into my skin. Yet such pain trifled in comparison to the blazing heat of rage roaring to life in my body. If such a woman birthed Prince Raph, then God really is cruel.

“Now then, Cocolette. What does Marquis Blossom want?”

I blinked repeatedly, not understanding the queen consort’s sudden question.

“What does the marquis hope to gain by courting royal power at this stage?” Her Majesty continued. “Cocolette, should you do as I say, I will let you join my faction. I will let you be that boy’s concubine. With beauty as great as yours, I am sure you will bear a gorgeous prince even with that freak as the father. And you will ensure the stability of the next generation.”

I had been working my butt off for the past three years to marry Prince Raph, only for her to tell me I could be his concubine...? And that my doing so was just to ensure the next heir’s looks? Was this woman’s sole purpose in life needling others?!

This was impossible. Absolutely impossible. Her Majesty Marie-Jewel might have been a beauty, but even as shallow as I was about appearances, I did not like her. And I could not tolerate this any further.

“I will not be Prince Raph’s concubine!” I snapped. “I am the only one in this whole world he needs to love! It is I and I alone who can make him happy, and should some other woman even attempt some sort of affair with him, I will personally kick her to the curb! Prince Raph will live his life devoted to the Cheriotte Kingdom, and I will support him as his queen for as long as I draw breath!”

Miss Mystère and Miss Lunamaria had gone out of their way to warn me to keep quiet, yet I had done the exact opposite and picked a fight with Her Highness Marie-Jewel. Perhaps there had been a way for me to resolve the situation peacefully by cajoling her with my good looks.

But I did not regret my words. I had no intention of becoming buddy-buddy with someone who wanted me to merely be Prince Raph’s mistress. Prince Raph was all mine, and we were going to have a wonderful marriage with a lovey-dovey happily ever after!

Her Majesty Marie-Jewel seemed shocked. “Huh?” she replied. “I would not have you speak about how that freak loves you, or affairs, or all this nonsense. And you, the queen consort? What could the royal family possibly gain from having a member of the Blossoms marry into our ranks? Cease this foolishness and accept the offer of concubinage, with its allotted funds and privileges, that I would give you.”

Clearly Her Majesty Marie-Jewel wished to use Prince Raph’s marriage to claim the power of the Kleist Premier Duchy for her own, making her top choice for queen consort Lunamaria Kleist. But if Miss Lunamaria married Prince Ork, the Kleist family would ultimately be brought into the fold of the royal family anyway. There was no reason for Her Majesty to go out of her way to push Miss Lunamaria as Prince Raph’s bride.

Her Majesty Marie-Jewel scowled at me. I smiled in return.

Just as sparks were about to fly, Prince Raph appeared on the scene.

“Are you having fun, mother?” he asked coldly.

✛

Raphael

I am Raphael Cheriotte, also known as the ugly crown prince. I had died once before only to have a second chance at my life. And now, in my new life, I was at the Armistice Memorial Gala, exchanging pleasantries with the nobles in attendance.

In my past life, my hideousness had caused most people to not even give me the time of day, but thanks to Dwarphister’s magical invention, the mite-misty glasses, and its subsequent popularization among high-ranking nobles, I had many more people willing to interact with me than before.

“I am delighted to make Your Highness’s acquaintance. Even the masses speak very highly of you.”

“Goodness, I really am quite thankful for your recent guidance on operations within my territory. I knew I could count on you, Your Highness.”

“Now that I have been able to discuss matters with you personally, I truly understand Your Highness’s thought processes. Though my family has remained neutral, going forward we shall support you as the crown prince.”

It had been boon after boon to hear such flattery from so many aristocrats, all wearing mite-misty glasses of different designs.

After a while of friendly conversation, my exclusive vassal, Ford, whispered into my ear. “Prince Raph, it is time for the marriage candidates to meet with Her Majesty.”

“Understood,” I replied before cutting off the conversation I had been in the middle of with some nobles.

I hurried toward where mother was, but the thought of what worthless drivel she might hurl at Coco and the other girls made me increase my pace even more. I arrived at the end of the main hall, the area reserved for the royal family, in time to hear part of the argument between my mother and Coco.

“What could the royal family possibly gain from having a member of the Blossoms marry into our ranks? Cease this foolishness and accept the offer of concubinage, with its allotted funds and privileges, that I would give you.”

How dare she make such a rude proposal? Coco is as beautiful as a goddess, both inside and out!

I might have wished for my mother’s love in my past life, but in this one, I couldn’t help but be embarrassed to share her blood. My fists shook with anger.

“Are you having fun, mother?” I asked.

There was my mother, sitting on the queen consort’s throne, and while my marriage candidates stood, Miss Berga remained bowed in a curtsy. Orkhart must still have been talking to the Portanian delegation.

None of my marriage candidates looked to be at ease; Miss Kleist and Miss Wagner were pallid, and though Coco smiled, her hands were clenched in tight fists. Her eyes, usually so gentle, blazed with tempestuous fury.

“Miss Berga, please be at ease,” I said.

“My gratitude, Your Highness,” Miss Berga replied. With my permission granted, she nonchalantly straightened her posture.

“I will not have you so arbitrarily retract my commands!” mother shrieked, her face contorted with displeasure. “And why are you even here, you hideous creature?!”

Truthfully, I spent most of my life avoiding my mother. Even in public, I refrained from getting close to her. I’d never expected to actually show myself during her initial meeting with my marriage candidates.

“You did summon my and my half brother’s marriage candidates, mother,” I explained. “I assumed you invited them to an interview of sorts, and so I have come to convey my opinion of them to you as well—after all, the ones to be married will be myself and my half brother.”

“Ughhh!” Mother turned her face away from me and stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Oh, I feel so ill...! My stomach aches at the sight of that freakish face. I will be returning to my quarters!”

As mother stood from her throne, I saw that her face had gone pure white; she really did seem like she was about to vomit at any moment.

“How could I have birthed such an abomination?! You are a stain upon my whole life!” she spat.

With that, she left with her immense crowd of servants, leaving with all the bustle and chaos of a storm.

“Prince Raph...”

I turned around at the sound of Coco’s voice, finding her gazing at me with an expression of pure heartbreak. Without even thinking I reached out and gently stroked her cheek, hoping to comfort her after my mother’s wounding insults.

“I’m sorry my mother said such terribly rude things to you, Coco...”

“That is not something you need to apologize for, Prince Raph,” Coco said decisively. She took my hand on her cheek in both of her own and gripped it tightly. “I’m always on your side, after all!”

The sadness in Coco’s eyes was because of me.

“Children cannot choose their parents, nor is it an easy task to escape their influence,” she continued. “But I love you from the bottom of my heart, and I will stand by you always. No matter how much Her Majesty Marie-Jewel tries to oppose it, I will absolutely become your queen!”

I...was supposed to have saved Coco from my mother’s wickedness. Instead, Coco had been the one to save me. I felt as if she were reaching out to the young, little me from my last life, the one who never could quite stop himself from crying out for his mother’s love.

I desperately swallowed up the heat that threatened to rise up in the back of my throat. “Thanks, Coco,” I said after a moment. “And I will always, always love you. Only you could ever become my wife.”

“Prince Raph...!”

Coco could remember her previous life in another world and still upheld the beauty standards she had learned there. Though here I was scorned and my looks were considered abhorrent, she looked at me with genuine love in her eyes. The joy of loving someone and being loved by them in return filled my heart with more than enough encouragement to weather whatever hardships might come my way.

After that, I apologized to Miss Kleist and the other girls for my mother’s rudeness, then explained that I would have to fill in for her sudden departure from the party.

“I’m sorry that I can’t spend more time with you. I hope you can enjoy the rest of the event tonight, Coco.”

“I will be all right—I have Miss Mystère and the others. Good luck!” she replied, waving goodbye.

I watched her leave, then left the area myself.

▽

Cocolette

I was still seething over the queen consort. Her attitude toward me and the other marriage candidates had already had me in a temper, but hearing her call Prince Raph a “freak” had had my blood positively boiling! How could she say that about her own son?! Toxic parenting doesn’t even cover it!

To me, Prince Raph was the handsomest prince in the whole world! Now that he was fourteen, he had grown into the perfect prince—the type that could go toe-to-toe with any of the best heroes the dating game industry had to offer. His voice had deepened, he had grown taller, and his face was still the absolute best one out there.

After I had confessed to Prince Raph about remembering my past life in my old world, he had lopped off the long bangs that he’d used to hide his eyes behind. Now, I got to see not only his divine face—honestly, it should have belonged to an archangel—but also those precious blue sapphires he had for eyes.

“Honestly, I wanted to cut the back as well...but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it,” he had told me at the time, seeming disappointed with himself for being unable to completely get over his cold feet.

I, on the other hand, adored his long hair. Thank goodness he left some behind!

Of course, if Prince Raph one day decided to completely live his life without worry about the public eye and wanted to cut all of his hair short, I would be happy for him—after all, he would be handsome no matter what, and I would love whatever look he went with.

Ah, he really did look so charming in that magnificent suit... ♡

Thinking of how Prince Raph was dressed for tonight soothed me, and as my irritation began to fade, all the other marriage candidates turned their attention in the same direction.

“Oh?” Miss Mystère said. “His Highness Orkhart is coming this way.”

“He seems to have a young gentleman with him,” Miss Lunamaria noted.

“From the Portanian delegation,” Miss Violet noted.

I followed their gazes to watch Prince Ork and his guest steadily approach us.

“Oh, the candidates are all here!” he said by way of greeting when they arrived. “With such lovely young ladies gathered together, the party is a lot more lively!”

While Prince Ork had the same blond hair and blue eyes as Prince Raph, his gorgeous face left him never wanting for attention. Meaning: He was an orc-face. His eyes were sharp, his nose and mouth were large, and his build was decidedly broad, with an undeniable thickness. His growth years had made him even more monsterlike than before.

Miss Lunamaria, absolutely smitten with him, immediately blushed. Even Miss Mystère, who had no particular amorous feelings for Prince Ork herself, seemed enchanted by the dazzling suit he wore. (Miss Violet had a boyfriend, so she was as unaffected as ever.)

“Your dress tonight is as lovely as always, Coco,” Prince Ork said.

“Thank you, Prince Ork,” I replied. “May I ask who is accompanying you?”

“Ah, let me introduce you.”

Prince Ork’s companion was a boy from the Portanian delegation, and was no doubt an important guest; the Armistice Memorial Gala tonight commemorated fifteen years of peace between our countries and was a critical milestone for both nations, after all. He seemed to be about Prince Ork’s age, with glossy dark brown skin and orange hair and eyes. He was of slight build, and clad in the vibrant clothing that was the norm for his countrymen.

What was most distinctive about him, though, was that his long nose, pointed chin, uncanny lips, and incredibly small eyes made him a goblin-face.

The Kingdom of Cheriotte’s proper bishonen hierarchy had orc-faces at the top. The runner-ups were the “cool beauties,” those being dwarf-faces. However, it seemed that in the Empire of Portania, the most popular and handsome men were goblin-faces like this boy.

I didn’t understand it whatsoever, but apparently, goblin-faces were treated as elegant, fragile bishonen. Really, though. Why...?

The people of Cheriotte, who believed that orc-faces were the tried-and-true handsome men, and the citizens of the Portanian Empire, who claimed that goblin-faces were supreme, had gone to war with each other numerous times because of their differing ideas of beauty.

I couldn’t count the number of times I’d nearly rolled my eyes out of my head during history classes in our queenly education... Personally, I thought these conflicts were based on absolute nonsense, but I supposed that in their own way, these conflicts—based on deeply ingrained ideals and values—were just like the religious wars back in my old world. But ever since Lady Saravia had married His Majesty and become the royal concubine, no major conflicts had broken out. She really was a saving grace.

“This is one of my marriage candidates, Cocolette, daughter of Marquis Blossom. Coco, this is my cousin, Goblynx Portania. He’s the second prince of the Portanian Empire, and a year older than myself.”

Ah, so he’s a prince. No wonder he was the most goblin-like among the Portanian delegation. His name certainly reflected his physique—or more specifically, his face.

“It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Your Highness Goblynx,” I greeted him.

Prince Goblynx, however, did not reply whatsoever. Upon closer inspection, I could clearly see a flush spreading across his face, strong enough to be visible even through his complexion, and he wavered unsteadily where he stood. He stared at me with a lost, confounded stare, as if his soul were about to leave his body.

Ah, I realized after a moment. My beauty translates even across cultural barriers.

Prince Ork tried waving his hand in front of the imperial prince’s eyes, but it was hopeless. Then he put his finger near the other boy’s long nose. “His breathing seems okay,” he reported, tipping his head in confusion.

“Sorry, Coco,” Prince Ork continued. “Gob was fine until just a minute ago, but now it appears he’s caught a fever.”

Surely it’s because he’s fallen head over heels for my looks, I thought. “Then let us call for a doctor. Someone, please bring His Highness Goblynx to a lounge.”

I made the request to a nearby waiter, and some knights promptly came to carry the imperial prince away. All in all the incident was resolved quite smoothly.

“Now, Your Highness Goblynx, I do hope you feel better soon,” I wished.

“I’ll go with Gob,” Prince Ork said. “You all enjoy the party for me.”

The four of us girls then saw the two princes off.

▽

Now then, I thought, why don’t I take advantage of this gala and gather some intel on Her Majesty?

And with seemingly perfect timing, Miss Lunamaria introduced our group to her father, the premier duke of Cheriotte and, equally as important, a gentleman rumored to be the core of the queen’s faction.

“This is my father, Duke Kleist,” Miss Lunamaria introduced.

“Miss Wagner, Miss Blossom, Miss Berga—it is a pleasure to meet you,” said the premier duke.

The premier duke had the same silver hair and ice-blue eyes as Miss Lunamaria. His face was unremarkable, if slightly orcish—though in this world, that meant his looks were above average. And at first glance it was clear he was incredibly sociable, with the kind of smile that suggested it was something he liked to do and did so constantly. Considering his daughter’s normal state of stoicism, this made Duke Kleist’s smile all the more dazzling.

“My, the three of you young ladies are all quite lovely,” he praised. In a rather theatrical gesture, he kissed the backs of all our hands, showing neither contempt for his daughter’s rivals nor any distaste toward the different factions present.

I promptly asked him about the queen consort.

“Her Majesty? She is quite the beautiful woman. Small fry such as myself can’t help but be in thrall just by being in her presence. The royal concubine is gorgeous as well. And you candidates are all so terribly lovely! The palace has become just like a flower garden!” He laughed.

Having dodged my question, Duke Kleist suddenly continued, “Ah, it seems that there are more people waiting to meet you. I should let them have their turns. Now then, ladies, have a good evening.”

He made his leave. In his own modest way, he had refrained from sharing even a hint of his own opinion whatsoever. What a rather quirky fellow...

“You must have had a very honest upbringing, Miss Lunamaria,” I said sincerely.

She didn’t seem to really understand my praise, instead tilting her head. “Thank you...?”

▽

As the party progressed I managed to gather more concrete opinions on the queen consort. One of her supporters told me, “Her Majesty may be stern, but her judgment is geared toward our kingdom’s best interests.” Another praised her, saying, “His Majesty could only be supported by our queen consort.” But there wasn’t just praise; a series of suspicious deaths had occurred to a number of her political opponents, so there were endless dark rumors surrounding her as well.

I decided to keep gathering more information on the queen consort. At the same time, I kept thinking about what I could do to protect Prince Raph from his toxic mother. If he were a commoner it would be easier to simply separate them, but the trouble was that they were royalty...

This was a real head-scratcher.

Chapter 2: Daemons Academy

Cocolette

I passed excitedly through a pair of white school gates that could have just as easily been found in the opening scene of a dating game. Starting today, I was a student at the royal academy.

Of course, I was also enrolling alongside Prince Raph, Prince Ork, and Miss Mystère. Unfortunately, Miss Violet, who was a year younger than I, and Raymond, who was two years younger, couldn’t yet join us.

But Miss Lunamaria and Lord Dwarphister were already sophomores at the royal academy, and Douglas would also be coming and going so he could serve as Prince Raph’s bodyguard. Maybe I would meet a new eye-candy bishonen here at the academy too! There was so much to be excited for.

Although I hadn’t yet come up with a way to help Prince Raph with his wicked witch of a mother, he should be safe so long as he was here at the academy—for a while, at least, I could set aside the issue with Her Majesty Marie-Jewel. Perhaps in the meantime I would stumble upon a bright idea.

A wide stone-paved road, lined on both sides with beautiful groves of spring green trees, led from the front gate to the main school building. Several forks in the path branched out along the way, with routes seemingly leading to a research hall, greenhouses, the library, a gymnasium, and other facilities.

The students along the road all looked my way simultaneously, becoming momentarily spellbound at the sight of me before singing my praises.

“Ah, look. That young lady there is Miss Blossom.”

“I had the fortune to once speak with her over tea. She’s wonderful—neither looks nor status sway her.”

“As you would expect from His Highness Raphael’s favorite. She’s more than adequate to be the next queen consort of Cheriotte.”

“Coco-puff, my angel...!”

“I wish Cocolette and I were sisters!”

Well... Unlike the adult-only gala the other day, there seemed to be some strange people here. I supposed it was fine, though; they didn’t seem to be causing any harm.

Anyway, the fervor in the air was unavoidable; this was my formal debut in a school uniform, after all. The uniform—an academy-designed white sailor-style top and elegant knee-length skirt, as well as the accompanying red scarf signifying I was a freshman—suited me perfectly.

My meticulously polished persona had taken on a life of its own, and people who knew nothing about what I was really like on the inside were free with their praise of me. But their ignorance didn’t trouble me; I didn’t have any sort of delicate feelings about wanting people to know the “real me.” I didn’t even want Prince Raph to know me that way—all I had ever really told him were things about my old world. Not me.

For the rest of my life, I just wanted to continue duping everyone with my good looks, no matter what. If I could pull it off, then the “kindhearted Cocolette Blossom” could shower as much love on as many “ugly” boys in this world without anyone getting in the way. Tee hee hee.

After a short while, I finally arrived at the main schoolhouse. The Western-looking building also seemed like it came straight from a dating game—my inner self-shipper stood up and applauded this world for its meticulous eye for detail.

There was, however, one thing to lament about it all, and that was the school’s name: Daemons Academy.

I looked at the academy’s nameplate hung on the main building and smiled dryly.

▽

“Good morning, Coco.”

“And an especially good morning to you, Prince Raph!” I replied. “You’re here early.”

Prince Raph stood in front of the students’ entrance. The boys’ uniform he wore included a jacket and pants, and the pure white color acted like a photographer’s reflecting board, making him look even more lovely than usual. ♡ His long legs really stood out too. He looked just like a model. ♡

Nearby were Ford—his exclusive vassal—and several knights, including Douglas. However, it seemed that Miss Mystère had yet to arrive.

“I’ve been designated the freshmen class representative, so I came for a meeting,” Prince Raph explained. “I do have to hurry off to the antechamber, but I was waiting for you—I had to see you at least once this morning.”

“Aw, you, ♡” I replied. “Why don’t I come with you?”

“You’ll be late for the entrance ceremony,” he pointed out.

“But I would rather be with you for even just a little bit longer,” I said, looking at him with patient, upturned eyes.

Prince Raph smiled, if seeming a bit at a loss. Then, he gently patted my hair. “You realize the next queen consort can’t be late for her school entrance ceremony, right? No matter what my mother says, I do intend to make you my bride once we graduate.”

“Prince Raph... ♡”

After he’d learned that I was only interested in ugly people, Prince Raph finally came to believe in my love for him. “Absolutely no one can surpass my hideousness,” he’d said, and nowadays, he was a lot more composed about the whole thing.

We were so in love, in fact, that I’d heard others saying things such as “Crown Prince Raphael and Miss Cocolette have overcome the barrier of appearances and found ‘true love’ together.”

I wanted to wield this gossip as a bludgeon to swat aside all the remaining obstacles in my way. If I got more of the public to ship Raphael/Cocolette, would that be enough to make Her Majesty Marie-Jewel take back her idiotic idea of relegating me to Prince Raph’s concubine? Hmm... That probably won’t work, I admitted to myself.

But I did know there were still people who were deeply skeptical of my relationship with Prince Raph. Surely this was—

“I’m quite sorry to interrupt while the two of you are getting so excited, brother, but Coco will remain a marriage candidate until she’s eighteen—and there’s no guarantee that you two will tie the knot!”

—because...Prince Ork hadn’t yet given up on me...

I had noticed Prince Ork standing next to his brother and wearing the same white boys’ uniform, but I had been so preoccupied with getting my fix of Prince Raph that I hadn’t yet greeted the younger prince.

“Good morning, Prince Ork,” I said.

“Don’t just raise your voice out of nowhere, Orkhart—you might startle Coco,” Prince Raph scolded. “And all things considered, you’re still chasing after her?”

“I, too, think you should man up and accept Lady Lunamaria’s feelings already, Prince Ork,” I agreed. Prince Raph and I had told Prince Ork many times already that we were an item, but he just wouldn’t accept it.

Prince Ork grunted, as if a bit taken aback. “If I’d had any intention to give up that easily, I wouldn’t have chosen Coco as my candidate in the first place...” he said, his shoulders drooping.

Well, to be fair, sorting out one’s feelings was a difficult task. Even I had been shocked senseless once before when one of my favorite characters suddenly didn’t end up with the heroine and chose a different female character altogether...

Prince Raph, also seeming to pity his brother, gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. “I imagine this new environment will do much to change your opinion on the matter, Orkhart.”

“We’ve only enrolled in the academy. I don’t think it will...”

“You’ll understand in due time,” Prince Raph replied. After a moment, he added, “It is about time for me to head to the antechamber. I’ll see you later, Coco. Watch after her, Orkhart.”

“I’ll be rooting for you from the audience, Prince Raph,” I cheered.

“You can trust Coco with me, brother!” Prince Ork added.

Prince Raph left for the antechamber along with Ford and half the knights, including Douglas. It seemed the remaining knights were Prince Ork’s escort.

Looking to change gears, I turned to him and asked, “Prince Ork, I was planning to wait here for Miss Mystère; would that be all right?”

“Sure,” he replied. “It’d be too bad if we left Tear behind. And Luna’s coming here first, so why don’t the four of us all head to the assembly hall together?”

“Yes, let’s,” I replied.

And so, we were waiting for the two, when—

“Ahh!”

A female student near Prince Ork suddenly let out a rather cute shriek as she seemed to stumble over something, falling right against the middle of Prince Ork’s torso. And with quite gentlemanly manners did Prince Ork assuredly catch her in his arms.

“I-I’m so sorry...!” she gasped. “I can just be so careless! Oh, are you hurt at all?!”

“I’m just fine,” Prince Ork replied. “And you, miss—are you all right?”

“Yes, I am!”

The girl raised her head from his chest, revealing that she was quite lovely, with glossy red hair and large, sparkling emerald green eyes. As soon as she saw Prince Ork properly, a bashful expression overtook her face.

I watched her closely from the sidelines. It had been a while since I’d seen such an outstandingly adorable maiden—probably not since I’d met the other marriage candidates. But even a shallow girl like me could see that the absolute best part about her charm was her simplicity.

To attend Daemons Academy, you had to be the child of nobility or wealthy merchants. Of course, this meant that she had to belong to a rich family. But she didn’t carry the same refined air that was so characteristic of the affluent. In fact, she seemed more like an innocent, if rather energetic, commoner.

She also looked like the type who would be chosen as the heroine in a dating game. Actually, thinking about it that way, her current situation couldn’t have been better. Nearly falling on the first day of school and being caught by a male student was the classic of classic scenarios.

But in this case, Prince Ork was filling the role of the hero, so all I could see was a beautiful yet pitiful damsel clutched in the claws of a monster. I felt a bit disappointed.

However, the people around me were a lot louder about the situation.

“Oh my! Such disrespect toward His Highness Orkhart!”

“And in front of his marriage candidate Miss Cocolette! How shameless!”

“What family does she hail from?! How poorly they must have brought her up!”

Everyone watching unleashed critique after critique, as if they had just seen a B-level monster movie. Let’s all calm down now, I thought.

It seemed like the female student also heard these reactions, because she separated from Prince Ork in a panic. Then, she gave him a clumsy imitation of a curtsy. “I-I’m sorry...! You see, I’m always tripping over nothing, and my mother is always telling me that I need to be more careful since I’m so thoughtless. Anyway, I never imagined I would be saved by such a charming prince...! My name is Pia Abbott! My prince, thank you so much for rescuing me!”

Her voice was adorable, and even her choice of words clearly revealed her lively and bright nature. Even her name was adorable. It looked like my list of delights to look forward to here at school had just gotten a little longer.

As I stood on the sidelines silently thanking God for blessing me with another pretty person to look at, Prince Ork said, “No worries. I’m glad that you’re unharmed, miss. Do try to be more careful from now on.”

Prince Ork carried himself with the dignified air befitting his station. He had changed himself ever since I had been kidnapped by members of his faction three years ago. He no longer childishly trusted anyone and everyone, but rather deliberately and meticulously observed them first. Even now when he talked with Pia, he remained composed despite her potent cuteness, and seemed focused on properly ascertaining her character, like one might do at a first interview with a new retainer.

Prince Ork really was doing his utmost to become Prince Raph’s advisor someday. I was impressed.

For a moment, Pia’s expression turned serious at his composure, her eyes widening as if silently communicating that she thought something unexpected had happened. It did catch my attention, but really, that sort of look on her face was also adorable.

“Ah...” She hesitated. “Yes, I’m fine... Well, except...”

“Hm? Is something the matter, Miss Abbott?” Prince Ork asked.

“Oh, please feel free to call me Pia!” she insisted. “Um, but how should I address you, my prince?”

“No, I couldn’t address a lady I’d just met by her first name,” Prince Ork politely declined. “But you may address me as everyone else does: Your Highness Orkhart.”

“Ah, I see... Your Highness... Ork...hart...”

Pia’s shoulders drooped for just a moment before her face completely and suddenly transformed into a bright smile. She gazed at Prince Ork with upturned eyes, cutely tipping her head.

“Your Highness Orkhart, you must be heading to the assembly hall for the entrance ceremony too, right? I am as well, but...I’m quite directionally challenged, so I’m rather worried about making it there on time. Would you be willing to allow me to accompany you?”

Wh-What...?! My heart raced at the unexpected development. This was the same pick-up technique I’d used when I first met Prince Raph! Did she fall for Prince Ork at first sight?!

“Coco, do you mind if Miss Abbott joins us?” Prince Ork asked.

It hardly mattered how I felt about the issue, but we had plans to meet with the other two marriage candidates enrolled in the academy. Miss Lunamaria wouldn’t like having another girl so close to Prince Ork, and I imagined that Miss Mystère would yell something like “You cannot show favoritism to a woman outside of your marriage candidates!” and throw a fit. I thought it would be best to ask other students to guide Pia.

Pia popped her head out from around Prince Ork’s silhouette. “Excuse me, miss, but would you mind if I...joined...?” she asked, voice slowing as she saw me for the first time.

As soon as she did, her face went redder than ever and her face completely froze. “Uh...?” she whispered, at a loss for real words.

People looked at me with that sort of expression all the time. I really was just the most beautiful girl these people had ever seen, after all. I understand, dear Pia, I assured her silently. It truly is rare to see such a gorgeous woman alight from the heavens. Your surprise is only natural.

I was, of course, only human. Relax; I am neither a goddess nor one of the fae, I thought, filling the smile that I showed her with that soothing sentiment.

“I apologize, Miss Abbott, but there are people waiting for Prince Ork. If you are worried about making it to the assembly hall on your own, shall we ask another student to escort you? Would one of you kindly trouble yourselves in acting as this girl’s guide?” I asked the surrounding students, and all at once, the ones who had been watching us raised their hands.

“I’ll do it since you’re the one asking, Miss Blossom!”

“No, I’ll take charge of Miss Abbott! Another girl like me would be the far safer choice!”

“I know all the school’s shortcuts by heart! Miss Cocolette, please, order me to do it!”

I picked a number of the students who gathered to my summons and said, “Please, everyone, take good care of Miss Abbott.”

“Yes, Miss Cocolette!” they all echoed in unison.

They urged Pia to get a move on, and she at last finally seemed to relax—only to look around in a panic. “Huh? Huuh?! Huuuuuh?!”

Swept up in the movement of the people starting to walk around her, Pia turned around, flustered. She caught my eye, and all of a sudden I could see a profound, inexplicable sadness in her gaze.

Had there been something else she wanted to say?

I tipped my head, watching Pia leave.

▽

Miss Lunamaria and Miss Mystère joined us after that.

“Good morning, everyone,” Miss Lunamaria greeted us. As a sophomore, the scarf she wore at her breast was blue. It suited her tremendously. “Please, let me lead the way to the assembly hall for the entrance ceremony.”

Her expression was as emotionless today as always, but nevertheless there was a bubbly air around her, as if she were incredibly pleased that we had enrolled. Even here at school, the feelings that seeped through her impassive face seemed to be widely understood, and the students looked at her warmly. If Miss Lunamaria were in a dating game she would no doubt have been cast as the gorgeous villainess that everyone called an “ice princess,” so I was really glad that the people around her were so understanding.

“I admit that I was so excited to start school that I barely slept last night,” Miss Mystère said. “My heart is still pounding. I hope I can fit in with the class.”

“You will be just fine, Miss Mystère,” Miss Lunamaria assured her. “You are quite popular wherever you go.”

“Well, you do have a point.” Miss Mystère puffed out her chest with clear delight at the praise and giggled haughtily.

The white uniform and red ribbon also looked lovely on Miss Mystère, and she was drawing the attention of students around us. The boys were, of course, drawn to her elegance, but so were many of the female students. I was glad that she had so many friends; were she a beautiful villainess in a dating game, she’d probably be called a “rose princess.”

As I thought about these things, my three companions peered at me in clear worry.

“Miss Cocolette?” Miss Lunamaria asked hesitantly. “Is something the matter?”

“It’s rather disturbing for you to be silent for so long. What are you thinking about, Miss Cocolette?” Miss Mystère added.

Prince Ork spoke up too. “You all right, Coco? Are you nervous about the entrance ceremony?”

Perhaps because of the enchanting school buildings all around me or meeting Pia, who reminded me so much of a game heroine, I had unintentionally let myself get absorbed in the delusion of being in a dating game—and apparently not said much.

“I apologize for worrying you all,” I replied. “I was thinking about how Prince Raph will be giving a speech, and I suppose it occupied me rather thoroughly...”

It wasn’t a lie. The mite-misty glasses were expensive, so while the palace had been able to outfit every one of their servants with a pair, the glasses were only popular among the family heads of the upper nobility rather than the whole of the aristocracy. And I wouldn’t be able to stand at Prince Raph’s side during his address either. Without the extra help, I kept worrying that some students might overreact to Prince Raph’s face.

My companions soon wore worried expressions of their own.

“Ah...! I knew I should have pestered Fiss to make more mite-misty glasses!” Miss Mystère lamented.

“The students here at Daemons Academy are all wonderful people,” Miss Lunamaria assured me. “I’m sure when they see His Highness Raphael’s visage they will display their utmost self-control... Or at least, they should...”

“If I go now, I could ask the teachers to allow me to stand up there next to brother,” Prince Ork offered.

“Changing the plans now would only serve to hinder the ceremony,” I reminded him.

The four of us continued to worry about Prince Raph as we walked along, until finally we reached the auditorium.

It was inside a beautiful building with a domed roof, with many students—incoming freshmen as well as upperclassmen—still lingering at the entrance. Upon our arrival, however, the other students cleared a way for us as we continued, one after another. Prince Ork took the lead of our small procession naturally, making no comment on the clear passage we had suddenly and wordlessly gained; I felt a keen understanding then that Daemons Academy’s foundational principle that “all students were equal regardless of societal status” was just lip service.

Pia came into my thoughts suddenly. I took a look at the students surrounding us but saw no sign of her. I did catch sight of Lord Dwarphister, however. When he noticed us, he gave us a cold, even cynical smile. Looks like you’re doing well...

The inside of the auditorium was built just like a theater. The room was fully carpeted, with a pair of descending stairs bracketing rows of seats arranged in a semicircle, so that no matter where you sat, you could see the stage at the far end.

Miss Lunamaria guided us toward our seats in the front row. With Prince Ork being from the royal family, Miss Mystère from a duchy, and I from a marquisate, these three spots were nearly as conspicuous as the center stage itself. The seats behind us continued on in order of one’s status.

I straightened my posture, then silently waited for the entrance ceremony to begin.

▽

Sadly, events proceeded just as I had predicted; the moment Prince Raph, as representative of the freshman class, began his address, a commotion began to spread among the seats behind us.

Many of the incoming students were from faraway territories and brand new to the royal capital, and thus it seemed they were unable to hide their turmoil at seeing “the ugly crown prince” for the first time. The upset wasn’t nearly as terrible as the pandemonium at the garden party I’d attended when I was eleven, but I could hear suppressed screams here and there around the auditorium, and the violent clattering of people’s chairs as they were caught in the throes of disgust and dismay.

At first glance, Prince Raph kept up his poker face, but I could see that his fists were clenched in a tight grip.

He’s in trouble! I need to do something!

I slowly turned to look over my shoulder with an expression of innocent curiosity, as if a sudden ruckus had captured my notice. I tipped my head, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, and surveyed the students behind me.

All according to plan, every student—both the girls who looked about to vomit at the sight of Prince Raph’s face and the pale boys shaking in terror—turned their eyes on me. Seeing the bewitching beauty in the front row took their breath away. And just to make doubly sure I’d gotten them all, I gave the crowd a pleasant smile before daintily turning forward once more.

No one was looking at Prince Raph’s face any longer. Every student’s attention was focused on my back—I could practically feel their scorching gazes on me.

Prince Ork and Miss Mystère gave me smiles as well as praise.

“Good going, Coco.”

“Just as expected of you, Miss Cocolette. That was superb.”

From up on stage, Prince Raph sent a gentle look my way.

Thus, his address ended without a single person leaving their seat, and the entrance ceremony continued smoothly.

Chapter 3: Louise’s Decision

Cocolette

Daemons Academy had four main areas of study: the advanced course, the general course, the management course, and the ladies’ course. Each department facility was connected to the main school building by interconnected corridors.

The advanced class was for students with superior grades; Prince Raph, Prince Ork, and Miss Mystère were in the freshman class, which overall was ninety-percent male. Students with average grades went into the general course; the management class was made up of both the children of merchants and aristocratic boys who would inherit their territories; and lastly, the ladies’ course was filled to the brim with girls who were looking to marry.

I had deliberately taken the examination to enroll in the ladies’ course despite having diligently taken my queenly education classes since I was eleven, and in spite of the fact that my grades would have generously allowed me entry into the advanced class.

After all, since I would become Prince Raph’s queen consort one day, I had to get all the ladies in high society to fall in line! I figured I’d better start interacting with them all now and strike while the iron was hot.

But of course I loved the idea of taking classes with Prince Raph: of doing homework together as a pair, and walking down the hallways hand in hand. I could have found him asleep at his desk after school and kissed his cheek! And then he’d wake up, maybe with a little bit of a teasing look—

“Prince Raph, were you just pretending to be asleep?!”

“Mm-hmm. Sorry, Coco.”

“Oh no...! How embarrassing!”

“Thank you for the kiss... Hey, Coco, close your eyes. Let me kiss you in return.”

“Prince Raph... ♡”

Aaaah! I’d really wanted us to have our lovey-dovey high school romance as soon as possible!!!

But if I could become a pillar among noblewomen while we were all still students, then in the future—for example, if Prince Raph had to push forward new policies—the friendships and alliances I would foster with these girls here and now might garner him additional support once they all married into families throughout the kingdom.

No matter what Her Majesty Marie-Jewel said, I was going to strive to be the best queen consort for Prince Raph that I could be!

▽

And so, once the entrance ceremony had concluded, I headed to the ladies’ course department.

When I opened the door to the freshmen classroom, a sweet, gentle scent wafted out toward me, as if I had opened the door to a flower meadow instead. Ahh, of course it would smell like this when all the students are young noblewomen...!

As I walked inside, the students all simultaneously turned to me and bowed. It was at times like this I really did feel the weight of my position as a marriage candidate for the royal family.

A girl with an earnest air about her came to stand before me. Her ash-gray hair was tied into a tight braid, and her face was reddened with nerves.

“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Cocolette. My name is Louise, of the Bartles county,” the girl said.

“A pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Louise,” I replied. “If I remember correctly...the Bartles have directed Daemons Academy for many years, haven’t they?”

Miss Louise nodded happily. “Yes! All of us in the ladies’ course were immensely pleased to hear that His Highness Orkhart’s marriage candidate herself would be joining our class. Please, Miss Cocolette, if you have any trouble here during your time at the academy, please let me know. My father has asked me to aid you whenever possible. For now, let me show you to your seat.”

“Oh! Thank you for your kind consideration, Miss Louise.”

As Miss Louise led me to my chair, I wondered why she hadn’t brought up that I was also the crown prince’s potential bride... She had only said that I was “His Highness Orkhart’s marriage candidate.” Perhaps the Bartles family was aligned with the royal concubine? Hmm...

▽

Two weeks had passed since school started. I had no issues keeping up with classes. Since the ladies’ course placed more emphasis on manners and communication skills rather than straightforward academic prowess, the actual classroom lectures weren’t particularly difficult.

I was doing rather well with making connections too—thankfully, Miss Louise had been only the first of the many wonderful girls I’d met in my class. In fact, they were all lovely, all incredibly refined in their manners, choice of words, and conversation topics.

And my classmates were just so adorable too! With just a smile and greeting from me some would turn bright red and fall to their knees, while others would start praying as if caught in a rapture—even more would be moved to tears. When classes ended they would hurry to my side to ask me all kinds of things: questions about the lecture, or my opinion about the latest music or fashionable dresses, or even to seek me out for a soul-saving girls’ talk. I also went to lunch with them, and made plans to join them for tea or go with them to the theater on our days off. Academy life really was off to a smooth start.

The one regret I had during this new, fun time in my life was that I neeeeeeever ever got to see Prince Raph!

Aside from a subset of students who lived in dormitories, the majority of Daemons Academy students commuted to school from their estates in the capital. Prince Raph took a carriage from the palace, but his day-to-day schedule differed depending on official business, so sometimes he only attended classes in the afternoon. That meant that going to school together—a standard activity for student couples in my old world—was impossible for us.

As for having lunch together with Prince Raph, that was a moot point for the time being—I wanted to prioritize spending that time with the girls in my class until I got familiar with all of them. And since Prince Raph often left class early to handle matters at the palace, my dream of having an after-school date with him was rather impractical in reality.

Hey, hold on a minute... Wasn’t he way too busy for a student?!

Second Prince Ork was enjoying a pretty normal school life, but Crown Prince Raph had far too much official business to deal with! I’d thought that academy life would help physically separate him and Her Majesty Marie-Jewel, but it wasn’t actually doing a thing!

And anyway, I was suffering from major Prince Raph withdrawal...!

▽

“Miss Cocolette,” Miss Louise began, her cheeks darkening. “Our next lesson will be dance, and take place in the ballroom. Shall we head out?”

I looked around the class to check if everyone else was ready, then smiled and nodded. “Yes. All right, everyone, let’s go.”

“Yes, Miss Cocolette!” the girls chimed in unison.

We all lined up to leave, with Miss Louise standing next to me. At some point, that had become her usual position.

“You have such an elegant walk, Miss Cocolette,” she praised. “You know, when I saw you at the entrance ceremony with His Highness Orkhart, I was fascinated; you reminded me of a goddess, arriving to confer her blessing unto a hero.”

I hesitated. “Thank you for the compliment, Miss Louise.”

Apparently Miss Louise was also the type to obsess over good looks, and she always seemed to melt when she looked at me in particular. Prince Ork appeared to be her fave—so much so that she occasionally muttered such dreadful nonsense. After some time in her company I could now infer that the reason she’d called me “His Highness Orkhart’s marriage candidate” when we’d first met was because of this trait of hers.

Part of me was a bit on guard, since I had been kidnapped just a few years ago by some overzealous Orkhart/Cocolette shippers. I’d done a bit of digging to find out that the Bartles were in the queen consort’s faction, so I assumed Miss Louise wouldn’t ignore her family’s wishes... Or at least, I hoped she wouldn’t.

Besides, I just couldn’t think badly of Miss Louise herself. After all, her eyes had filled up with delight—for she had found her “ideal heroine” in me.

That’s right: I’d sniffed out a fellow self-shipper!

But, seeing that Miss Louise and I had despairingly different ships, I decided to change topics.

“This will be our first joint lesson,” I pointed out to the class. “Does everyone know who they’d like to partner with?”

Dance lessons were combined with another department. As there were girls in the ladies’ course who were not yet betrothed, this was an excellent opportunity to attract someone they might one day marry. The departments that would take dance lessons together were changed up from time to time, but today it seemed we in the ladies’ course would be paired with the management course.

As the girls started to answer me, it was clear that they all had immense interest in boys; though they were shy about it, I could tell they were getting quite excited.

“My fiancé is in the management class,” said one girl quietly.

“My childhood friend is too,” another added. “I’m planning to dance with him.”

A third admitted, “While not even a single acquaintance of mine is in the management course, I shall be content with the first gentleman who asks me for a dance.”

Miss Louise had another spellbound expression on her face. “I hope more than anything that a handsome boy invites me to be his dance partner. I have yet to be betrothed, so I really would like to have a fairy-tale meeting with someone.”

As we headed down the hallways, I noticed a gleam of blond hair pass outside one of the windows. There was no mistaking it—that glittering golden head moving out in the courtyard belonged to Prince Raph!

Prince Raph was wearing the academy’s designated sportswear and walking along the promenade toward the playing field. The advanced class must have martial arts next. Ford and Douglas were also near him as well.

“I apologize, everyone,” I said. “I just remembered a small errand I must attend to; please head along to the ballroom. I will catch up.”

I was starving for Prince Raph.

I avoided Miss Louise’s and the other girls’ bafflement with my special “goddess smile” technique, then made my way to a spot devoid of people. Then, I pulled out an item from my uniform pocket that I kept just for times like this: a telescope.

And with it, I drank in Prince Raph’s beauty.

With the campus’s flowers blooming in the background, he looked more like an archangel than ever. My beloved. My eternal fave. As he spoke to Ford, the edges of his lips lightly curled into a darling smile.

Oh—on second glance, Prince Ork was next to him too.

For Prince Raph, I could endure whatever obstacle stood in my way. I could forgo lovey-dovey commutes to school with him, give up going on after-school dates indefinitely—I could even endure the pain in the patootie that was my future mother-in-law. The moment I saw Prince Raph’s gorgeous face, I became a slave to love.

I enjoyed watching Prince Raph until I couldn’t see him at all anymore, then decided to make my way back to the ballroom.

As I walked the halls, I caught sight of a male student with orange hair. Haven’t I seen that hair color before? I thought, but just as I tried to get a good look at the boy’s face, the first bell rang.

Knowing I had to get to the ballroom before the second bell rang, I quickened my pace, and left without seeing the boy properly.

▽

I peeked into the ballroom to see that many students had already arrived. The majority of the ladies’ course and management class pupils stood apart and on alert, but a good number of the boys and girls had already paired up and were chatting pleasantly.

Miss Louise seemed to have already found a charming partner, and the two were having a private conversation.

“Hey, why don’t we pair up for dance class?” he said. “You’re super cute, Louise—totally my type.”

“Oh my! Such flattery!” she giggled.

Miss Louise seemed quite pleased that the male student she was speaking with was quite a high-level orc-face. Yes—if she could find a boyfriend to obsess over, perhaps she wouldn’t have the time to conjure up any more dreadful suggestions regarding Prince Ork and I getting together.

Silently, I cheered on Miss Louise’s youthful romance before joining the rest of the girls in the ladies’ course.

Soon enough the dance instructor entered the classroom, and class finally began. “Now then,” they said, “hurry and pair up so we may begin practice.”

As if that was their cue, a flood of male students rushed me.

“Miss Blossom! If you would, pair up with me!”

“Please dance with me!”

“I implore you for a dance, Miss Blossom!”

I frantically searched for a partner. There were far too many orc-faces in this world. I know that asking for a bishonen of Prince Raph’s caliber would be too much to ask for, God, but if you could please give me a gentleman to dance with who’s at least a little easy on both my heart and my eyes...!

“Miss Blossom, I have never seen a woman of your beauty before! Please, pick me as your partner!” cried a particularly high-level orc-faced student as he held out his hand in a bombastic gesture that felt more appropriate to an actor on a stage rather than a schoolboy in a ballroom. The moment I got a good look at his face I realized that he was the very same boy who, moments ago, had promised to pair up with Miss Louise.

Panicked, I flicked my eyes to Miss Louise and found her glaring furiously at him. It seemed that he had deliberated his options and promptly decided to backstab her.

This boy not only breaks promises to maidens, but fools around to boot! Miss Louise should never even give him the time of day!

“And what about your arrangement to pair with Miss Louise?” I asked.

“Miss Blossom, please call me Robert!” the orc-faced replied.

I paused. “You do realize you already have a partner, don’t you?”

“I’ve already forgotten everyone I met before you!” Robert chirped.

What is this boy’s problem?! He held not an ounce of remorse for what he’d done to Miss Louise, but that wasn’t even the issue at hand—I couldn’t get through to him at all!

“Huh?” Miss Louise gasped, her eyes widening as she stared at Robert. The surrounding students were also left speechless.

Right on time, I caught sight of a guy who gave me good vibes—were we in my old world, I would’ve pegged him for the fifth-most popular boy in class or so, easygoing and stylish without necessarily being a standout hottie. I decided on the spot that I’d pair with him.

I ignored Robert and headed over to Good-Vibes Boy. He was surprised at my approach, but when I smiled sweetly at him, he seemed to guess my intentions right on the money and held out his hand.

“Miss Blossom, would you please be my dance partner...?”

“Yes, gladly.”

At the sight of me pairing up with him, Robert let out a shriek. “Why, Miss Blossom?! Why would you ignore me? Why even touch that ugly guy’s hand?!”

“Oh my,” I replied steadily. “You must not know what a mirror is. I’m sure that if you did, you would surely know what the word ‘ugly’ really means.”

I did happen to prefer Good-Vibes Boy’s looks by a long shot, but no one in this world would understand that anyway—which is why I had made that snide comment about Robert’s hideous heart instead.

Well, if Prince Raph was ever heartless and cruel, I wouldn’t hold it against him. In fact, I’d still have the hots for him! Bishonen can never go wrong! ♡

Robert was just as terribly shallow as I was, and the students around us were only confirming that fact.

“Going back on your word to Miss Bartles like that is a disgrace to gentlemen everywhere.”

“Poor Miss Louise...”

“It’s like Miss Cocolette said—physical beauty doesn’t matter nearly as much as inner beauty.”

Sorry, everyone. Physical beauty actually matters to me a whole lot!

Robert flinched at the criticism. “I get it,” he said before walking back to Miss Louise. I watched, waiting for him to apologize, when he once again double-crossed her. “Dance with me, Louise? After all, you’re the second prettiest girl in the ladies’ course.”

“I think not!” she snapped, slapping his outstretched hand away and turning her back on him entirely.

“Huh?! Wait a sec!” Robert hurried after her, but another boy quickly stepped in to pair with Miss Louise.

Having made an enemy out of every girl in the ladies’ course, Robert was forced to pair with the instructor. For him, this dance class had turned more into a public execution via pure humiliation than anything else.

▽

Miss Louise left the ballroom the moment dance class finished. We took our lunch break next, and Miss Louise would have normally joined everyone else in heading to the cafeteria, but she must not have been in the mood.

“I will go check on her,” I told the other girls. “Please enjoy your lunch, everyone.”

“It wouldn’t do well for us all to go after her,” said one of them. “Miss Cocolette, please take care of Miss Louise.”

“Please cheer her up,” added another.

I waved goodbye to my worried classmates, then hurried after Miss Louise.

I found her in the courtyard gazebo. At my approach she stood up immediately and bowed her head.

“I apologize deeply for what happened in class, Miss Cocolette. I caused you a great deal of trouble...” she said.

“It’s not your fault, Miss Louise. The blame lies with that insincere fellow,” I replied.

“No,” she said. “I am responsible.”

For now, I urged Miss Louise to sit on the gazebo bench, and she obediently took a seat.

“I put our classmates in quite the uncomfortable position,” she continued. “I must apologize to them later...”

“Everyone is quite worried about you, you know,” I pointed out.

“I’m so sorry...”

“You should just forget about him. He was quite rude.”

“I’m afraid that isn’t the issue, Miss Cocolette. Such a shallow boy didn’t actually hurt my feelings—how could he? It was my first time meeting him after all; I didn’t really know him.”

Miss Louise sighed deeply, fiddling with her stiff braid.

“What upsets me is my poor judgment in men,” she admitted. “As soon as that boy asked me to dance, I felt like I was in heaven. He looked so manly and gorgeous that I fell for him like that. In all honesty I’m just like him—someone who only cares about physical appearances...”

Meaning that you’re just like me, Miss Louise! Isn’t being shallow just the best? ☆ Ah, but I suppose it wouldn’t be good to just thoughtlessly agree with her right now...

I put on my best serious expression, then took Miss Louise’s hand in both my own. “It’s a natural thing for a heart to be swayed by the beauty of another,” I told her. “Even if that beauty happens to be external.”

“Miss Cocolette...” she murmured.

“However,” I continued, “when choosing a lover or fiancé, I do think it is important to understand certain conditions you will absolutely not concede on, lest some sham try to mislead you.”

“Conditions that I absolutely will not concede...” Miss Louise repeated quietly.

Despite how orc-faces were lauded as the handsomest boys in this world, I only wanted to marry my kind of bishonen. That was my irrevocable condition.

Miss Louise thought for a moment. “I see what you mean. Until now, I haven’t had many chances to meet with gentlemen my age, so when I see a handsome boy I get carried away without realizing it... But when I actually try talking to them, I realize that a pretty face isn’t enough. And I’m sure that there are many more ‘conditions that I absolutely will not concede on’ that I haven’t even thought of yet.”

“Discover those things, and the next time a sham appears you won’t be so easily fooled,” I assured her. “After all, there are plenty of boys in this academy far more wonderful than that Robert.”

She did not respond.

“Miss Louise?”

She bit her lip, then finally, painfully whispered, “I know there are plenty of boys better than Robert. But I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone more wonderful than the perfect prince I’ve had in my heart ever since I was little.”

Ah... There it is! For us self-shippers, having the indulgence of sweet fiction is far more delicious than a morsel of bitter reality!

But nevertheless, most young noblewomen in this world came to an understanding about their getting married in one way or another. That was precisely why I had told Miss Louise to prioritize her thoroughly uncompromisable conditions. To put it another way: Once she decided on what she couldn’t compromise, she should be able to compromise on everything else.

And with that being the case—

“Why don’t you just make up your perfect prince?” I suggested excitedly.

“Huh?”

“Why don’t you write a story for yourself where your perfect prince and ideal girl fall in love in the best way possible?”

“Uh—huh? Write?” Miss Louise echoed. “A story?”

Plan big, Miss Louise! You could write the novel of your dreams—a piece of fan fiction tailored for self-shippers, where you pack all your perfect thoughts of romance into a story and create pure art in the process! Once you understand your ideals, you can face reality!

“Miss Louise, have you ever imagined yourself as another person—perhaps with a different appearance, status, or character—who falls in love with your ideal gentleman and, after surmounting trial after trial, are bound in holy matrimony?”

“Y-Yes, I have...!” Miss Louise’s eyes glittered as she gripped my hand. “Actually, there is another me: A beautiful blonde with blue eyes who is a princess from some other country. And then beside me, there has always been a strong, handsome knight with silver hair, who protects me and wishes for my hand in reward for being victorious in his many battles...! But the prince from the neighboring kingdom—ah, a beautiful gentleman with black hair—arrives to propose that we unite in marriage. And the two of them struggle in a duel for my love!”

“That scene is absolutely awesome!” I gushed. “Please, Miss Louise, you simply must write it!”

Literature in this world was, incidentally, only made up of fine writing—there was nothing aimed specifically at girls, and thus, no novels that easily got my blood pumping. It had been a long time since I had gotten this sort of supply from someone else, and I was immensely delighted by the possibility of getting my fix from Miss Louise.

In all likelihood, Miss Louise’s heroes were orc-faces. But if I simply skipped over their physical descriptions when I finally read her work, I could surely make them generic bishonen in my mind.

“I always considered that the knight would be quite upstanding and well-mannered, while the prince would have a slightly more casual, roguish aura,” Miss Louise continued. “What do you think, Miss Cocolette?”

“That sounds superb!” I replied. “It would be lovely if the prince had a more casual affect as well.”

“Like His Highness Orkhart then! That kind of coolness. And then for contrast, the knight would speak quite politely...”

We forgot about lunch entirely, instead staying in the gazebo and building up the setting and plot for Miss Louise’s story. Before we realized it, that incredibly rude Robert had completely slipped our minds.

▽

We just barely made it back to our homeroom before the end of the lunch period. Miss Louise was immediately surrounded by our worried classmates.

Miss Louise bowed her head. “I apologize for making you all worry about me,” she began. “I have decided to call off the search for my real-life perfect prince. Instead, I will pursue a more enchanting method. I shall keep the particulars a secret for now as I want to keep it a surprise for everyone, but once it is complete, I will share it.”

“Sounds like the beginning of something wonderful,” said one of the girls. “I look forward to seeing it. I’m quite glad to see that you haven’t let what happened discourage you. I’m sure Miss Cocolette is to thank for that.”

“You two skipped lunch, correct? I asked the staff at the cafeteria to pack a light meal for you two, so please eat it during our next break,” urged another.

“Oh my, thank you!” I said. The ladies’ course was truly full of such wonderful girls!

I’m so glad I joined this class! I thought, carefree as I took the packed lunch.

I had no idea that at the same time I thought this, Miss Mystère was having a heated argument with Pia in the advanced course.

▽

In just one week, Miss Louise finished writing a masterpiece that spanned five hundred sheets of parchment.

The foundations of her dream novel had been laid from a fantasy she had been nurturing since early childhood. I imagined that her elite education provided by the Bartles family helped quite a bit as well, providing her a deep familiarity with reading and literature.

The Silver Knight and the Golden Princess was Miss Louise’s debut novel, and an extremely interesting one at that. It was a classic love story featuring a suspenseful rivalry between the knight and the prince for the princess’s affections, but ultimately stuck to the pure love between the heroine and her childhood friend, the knight.

I found myself totally absorbed in a girls’ novel for the first time since coming to this world—at least, so long as I pretended that passages like “the the plump valley between the knight’s cleft chin gave rise to his seductiveness,” “he blinked repeatedly, his tiny eyes like stars hidden behind his thick eyelids,” and “his lips, like a fish’s eggs, clung to the princess’s pure pink lips” didn’t exist.

I wasn’t the only one, however, who was completely hooked on The Silver Knight and the Golden Princess. My classmates were also crazy for the world’s first girls’ novel.

“Miss Louise, Prince Eugene needs a happy ending too! Please, you simply must write a love story between him and myself!”

“Knight Commander Hamm is really only there for a short while, but he is just so charming! Is he single?”

“Miss Bartles, please teach me how to write! To be honest, I, too, have imagined a handsome gentleman for myself since I was little...! I want to bring him to life in a story!”

And that was how, as a class, we founded something akin to a girls’ novels appreciation club. Everyone shared opinions on their ideal boy’s appearances or romantic situations, and soon enough from those initial brainstorming sessions an increasing number of girls began writing stories of their own—girls with practiced hands drew fan art of it all. For the first time since coming to this new world, I was having fun doing typical self-shipper activities.

Given the situation, I really wanted to have Miss Louise’s story be properly bound and shown to the world. I was certain that if it was published, the story would speak to many like-minded people and inspire a new genre of writing.

As it turned out, not only was the solution a piece of cake, but the cake was given to me on a silver platter.

“I wanted to thank you for pairing up with someone like me during dance class the other day!” a male student said to me one day.

“Oh, of course,” I replied. “You are from the management course, correct...?”

“My name is Dante!” he said. “I am the second son in my family. We own the Taurus Trading Company.”

The boy who had gone out of his way to thank me was Good-Vibes Boy, with whom I had danced. Dancing with him specifically had only been a bit of a perk for me, honestly, but he really was a sincere fellow.

By the by, news about the incident with Robert had spread throughout the school, and now not a single girl would pair with him for dance class. He was now stuck as the instructor’s partner for every lesson.

“Anyway,” Dante continued, “I’d like you to have this as a sign of our newfound acquaintanceship.”

“Oh, and this is...?”

“A stationery set made by my family’s company. I’ve put in a number of different designs inside that have a distinct feminine appeal; I would be overjoyed if you were to use them to write love letters to His Highness Crown Prince Raphael.”

“Goodness, how lovely,” I replied. “I will use them gladly. Thank you.”

To already be shrewd enough to use a moment of thanks to advertise his family business... Dante had a promising future ahead of him.

A sudden thought occurred to me. I asked, “Does the Taurus Trading Company mostly handle paper products?”

“Yes,” Dante said. “Though our business is not exclusive to paper products; we also sell a wide range of stationery and office supplies.”

“Does your company print stationery sets such as the one you just gave me?”

“Yes—our printing techniques are well regarded.”

“Would you be able to do book binding?”

“We have the know-how, yes,” Dante replied.

“Dante,” I said, “do I have a manuscript that you absolutely must read!”

And thus, through Dante’s hands, Miss Louise’s work The Silver Knight and the Golden Princess got to the Taurus Trading Company. I actually intended to pay the full cost of publication from my own finances, but Mrs. Taurus took an ardent interest in the manuscript and was determined to get it commercially published.

As Miss Louise’s story was the first of its genre, its first printing and distribution to bookstores was modest. But I just knew that there would soon be a storm of reprints in its future.

“Thank you so much, Miss Cocolette. This feels like a dream...” said Miss Louise, moved to tears as she hugged the copy of The Silver Knight and the Golden Princess that she had just received. “It really does comfort me to know that my perfect prince and ideal romance are all packed in here... I feel like even if my parents were to arrange a purely political marriage for me, I could now face it head-on—without needing to have my fantasies fulfilled in the real world.”

W-Wow, Miss Louise...! You’re incredible! If I hadn’t met Prince Raph and my father told me I had to marry an orc-face for political reasons, I think I would’ve just flown the coop. Miss Louise was quite the exemplary young lady.

“But that sort of conversation has never come up, so I shall keep searching for a charming gentleman to marry for love,” Miss Louise continued, giggling.

“That would be wonderful, Miss Louise,” I agreed. “And you still have time—it would be a waste to abandon hope at this stage.”

“You’re quite right about that. Now, for my next stage of improvement: refining my taste in boys!” Miss Louise declared with an adorable smile.

✛

Raphael

When the first sizable break in some time appeared in my schedule, I made plans at once to invite Coco over to the villa for tea at the conclusion of her queenly education for the day, and asked Ford to make the necessary preparations. With the majority of the marriage candidates now enrolled in Daemons Academy, the girls’ special education at the palace was now mainly held on their days off from school.

Subsequently, teatimes with them had become less frequent, and I found myself feeling lonely. I missed the leisurely time I spent with Coco, of course, but I hadn’t realized until now just how much I had also enjoyed the boisterous moments I spent with everyone else.

Well, with Miss Wagner and Orkhart in the advanced course, things are just as boisterous as ever...

Seeing that I had been enrolled in school for over a month, I supposed that I had gotten a little used to balancing academy life and my duties as crown prince. My life had become extremely busy, though I could trace the reason simply to just how different my life was now compared to my old one.

For example, while I was immensely grateful that there were many more nobles who acknowledged me as the crown prince, there were now an equal number who visited me unannounced, seeking my advice on how to manage their territories or for similar matters.

By all rights, His Majesty the King...or perhaps my mother the queen consort should have been the one performing this job. Instead, these aristocrats would confide in me. It was as if they thought that going to His Majesty would be utterly pointless, or worse, going to Her Majesty would simply open them up to her manipulations, and that with those options it was I that was more likely to hear them out. Lately, even Prime Minister Duke Wagner and the commander of the knights had come to me for advice.

Of course, it behooved me to help them; their goals aligned with mine. For the sake of those I had betrayed in my past life, I wished to lead Cheriotte to the best of my ability. But as of now I was still a student, and as such had little free time outside of the academy.

I had plenty of concerns regarding my school life as well. I’d thought that Orkhart would have given up on his chase for Coco by now. It was true that he had remained devoted to her these past couple of years, but I’d believed it would have been a fleeting feeling—specifically, something that would fade once he started school and eventually met and fell in love with Baron Abbott’s daughter.

But Orkhart showed no signs that he was smitten with Miss Abbott. Was it because we had only been enrolled for a month? But I felt like in my previous life I had already seen the two of them being intimate by this time... Argh, I can’t remember the details. I hope Miss Wagner doesn’t cause too much of a fuss...

A knock sounded at the door while I was recalling the circumstances of the advanced course. From the hallway, Douglas announced, “Miss Cocolette has arrived.”

Coco appeared once I gave Douglas my approval to let her enter. She wore a light-blue dress, decorated with finely arranged blue gemstones—seeing my color on her made me smile involuntarily. Coco’s beauty erased the burdensome melancholy that had held me in its clutches only moments before.

“It’s good to see you, Prince Raph. I’ve brought along an enchanting novel with me today!” she said, sitting in her chair and quite merrily taking out a book to place on the table.

“Is it the latest literary craze?” I asked, looking at The Silver Knight and the Golden Princess. I was a moderate bookworm, but I didn’t usually read fiction.

Coco bent forward with excitement. “No—this book is going to be the craze!” she declared. “And I plan to help advertise it with a bang!”

“I see you’re quite passionate about this. Do you know someone involved in the making of this book?”

“Yes,” she replied, chipper. “My classmate in the ladies’ course, Miss Louise Bartles, wrote the book, and Sir Dante Taurus from the management course published it through his family’s company!”

I paused, astonished, and stared at Coco. “Miss Bartles?” I asked.

Miss Bartles had been one of my marriage candidates in my past life. She had been chosen because her family was well considered among my mother’s faction, but Miss Bartles herself had been against marrying an ugly boy such as myself. She had attended her queenly education with reluctance but staunchly refused to meet me for tea. As a result I had hardly ever met with her.

After enrolling in Daemons Academy, she had met and started dating the handsome Robert Anderson, only to elope with him after becoming pregnant with his child. Anderson, however, had been unable to adapt to their new life together as commoners and abandoned her. After that, Miss Bartles had committed double suicide with her child.

Had Miss Bartles merely not been chosen as one of my marriage candidates, she would never have run away with Anderson—she would have had a marriage celebrated by all those around her.

Perhaps in this life, she could be happy.

That’s what I hoped, but...

“Why did Miss Bartles write a novel, of all things?” I asked finally, curious. I hadn’t known her to have that sort of hobby.

Strangely enough, Coco started by telling me about an incident that happened during a joint dance class. Then, she continued: “Miss Louise is the type of girl who really longs for a perfect prince, so the reality of meeting boys really shocked her. But now I think she should be able to separate her thoughts between 2D and 3D.”

“And what are two-dee and three-dee?”

“Dreams and reality.”

Now and then, Coco used words that weren’t from this world. It made me glad, though—it was proof that she was more open to me than before.

“By the way,” I added. “Who was the student who broke his promise to Miss Bartles during the joint dance class?”

“A boy named Robert.”

“Ah... Robert Anderson.”

“Did you know him too, Prince Raph?”

“In my last life, yes. But only his name.”

“Is that so?”

I didn’t feel it was necessary to tell Coco that in my past life he had been Miss Bartles’s lover nor that she had originally been one of my marriage candidates.

But now that I’d heard how cavalier a person Anderson actually was, I supposed the previous Miss Bartles must have been happy for only a very short amount of time. It might actually be better that, this time around, those two didn’t end up together.

I silently, secretly wished that in this life, Miss Bartles would only walk down her best possible path.

Chapter 4: Mealtime Mutiny

Cocolette

Now, time to spread the gospel of The Silver Knight and the Golden Princess! Maybe I should evangelize to Miss Mystère first?

If I wanted to meet Miss Mystère at Daemons Academy, first I had to leave the ladies’ course building, go through the schoolhouse where the faculty and medical offices were, and then cross through the connecting corridor to where the advanced classes were held. The school was constructed such that students from different departments had few opportunities to meet.

We were in the latter half of noon recess, which meant Miss Mystère had likely finished her lunch and was in the advanced course’s lounge. Each department had a lobby with a lounge that was much like one might find in a luxury hotel.

The lounge in the ladies’ department, for example, was like a garden for maidens. Kettles, cups, and any other teatime utensils a lady would need were always set aside there for anyone to use, and there was even a piano for those who wished to play at their leisure. The air itself was always filled with a sweet, gentle scent. At any moment there would be a number of beautiful ladies in the lounge chatting together. Truly, being there was like entering the world of a yuri novel.

As the advanced course was mostly made up of male students, I imagined that their lounge had a completely different feel to it. I looked forward to paying it a visit.

If Miss Mystère is not there, though, she might be in the salon designated for the upper nobility. Though she could perhaps be in her classroom...

I walked through the main building, wondering where Miss Mystère could be, when straight ahead of me appeared a boy wearing a vulpine mask. No matter how I looked at him, it could only be my adopted little brother.

“Raymond?!” I gasped in surprise. “What are you doing here?!”

“Sister!” Raymond called brightly, coming over to me.

Raymond was only twelve, too young to be enrolled at Daemons Academy. Unless they’re giving him special permission to join because he’s such a genius? If it’s Raymond, that could totally be possible!

Being the doting older sister that I was, I was already convinced that was why he was here—but Raymond’s reply was far different from what I’d been expecting.

“I’m here as Lord Fiss’s valet!”

“His valet?”

Students from the upper nobility were allowed to bring their personal servants to school. I myself brought my maid Amaretti on occasion, but only when I really needed her; today, for example, I had come alone.

Oh, I know what I could do! I could have Raymond join me at school as my attendant!

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, however, I immediately composed myself. What was all this about being a valet instead of inheriting the marquisate?

“Raymond,” I said finally. “You are the precious heir to the Blossom Marquisate. Isn’t learning to inherit father’s position more important than being Lord Dwarphister’s valet?”

At my admonishment, Raymond replied, “I finished all the lessons!” with enough cheer that it was recognizable even through his fox mask.

“Huh?”

“I completed all the lessons that father told me to take before I was to start school!” Raymond explained. “Father was really proud of me, so he said that I could spend the next two years learning all sorts of things from Lord Fiss!”

My little brother was just too smart. Adorable too...! “That’s just what I expect from you, Raymond! I’m proud of you too!”

He giggled. “I’m happy to hear that, sister.”

I patted Raymond’s soft white hair to my heart’s content, but then, now seeming troubled, he continued, “Sister, I do need to get back to Lord Fiss...”

“Where is Lord Dwarphister?” I asked. “If you’ve been put in his care, then I’d like to properly give him my regards.”

“He’s in the library! But don’t you have your own business you need to attend to?”

“You take priority right now, Raymond,” I said.

“Okay! Well then, how about I lead you to where Lord Fiss is?”

“All right. Please and thank you.”

I took Raymond’s outstretched hand, and together we headed for the library.

▽

“Oh, it’s you, Miss Blossom—my comrade in magic.”

“Lord Dwarphister. It has been a while.”

In the back of the library inside a private study room, Lord Dwarphister sat behind a desk, surrounded by so many books that he might as well have been buried by them. At fifteen, Lord Dwarphister had grown a ten-centimeter goatee that he kept tied with a red ribbon. I imagined a full-blown beard would appear in the near future.

“How are your studies going?” he asked.

“I’m getting along quite swimmingly with all my classmates in the ladies’ course,” I replied.

Lord Dwarphister huffed. “Is that so? You know, if you had said the opposite I would have tried to get you to transfer into the advanced course. A shame. Without you in my department I’m struggling to invent anything new, magic-wise. It’s enough for me to crave for an excursion much like the ones we used to take some time ago.”

“Since Prince Raph entered the academy, our chapel inspections really have decreased in number,” I agreed, taking a seat in a nearby chair.

Lord Dwarphister pointed at Raymond. “Hey, Ray. Go make us some tea.”

“Right away, Lord Fiss!” Raymond chirped before leaving the private study room.

“You really are treating Raymond as your valet,” I noted after a moment.

“Ah, so that’s why you’re here,” Lord Dwarphister said as he watched Raymond leave. “It’s nothing more than camouflage.”

“Camouflage?”

“Ray’s memory is incredible. A priceless asset that I want him to really use,” he explained. “By appointing him as my valet I can bring him to Daemons Academy two years ahead of time and have him memorize all the books in this library.”

“You can’t wait until he enrolls?” I asked.

“By the time he’s a proper student I’d like him to read the texts kept by the research department. And I believe His Highness Raphael has already been having Ray read from the royal palace’s library for some time now. Just think about it, Miss Blossom! Think of how useful Ray could be to the crown prince’s reign as his ‘living library.’”

So they’re making him into a walking Wikipedia...

“So Lord Dwarphister, do you intend to make Raymond your aide when you become prime minister?”

“Wizard prime minister,” Lord Dwarphister corrected. “And if Ray ends up not liking government work, he can simply manage the Blossom Marquisate. His knowledge won’t go to waste.”

“That is true,” I agreed.

I knew Raymond would speak up if he ever found something unpleasant. And Lord Dwarphister truly cared for Raymond; he would never force my brother to do anything.

“Please continue to watch over Raymond,” I added.

“Yes, of course. Cross my heart,” Lord Dwarphister promised.

Afterward, Raymond returned and the three of us commenced an enjoyable teatime. As usual, our conversation turned to a lively discussion about magic.

“If Saint Cecelia had been able to properly draw magic circles to use her holy magic, I believe she would have lived a much longer life,” I said. “I think using magic without channeling it through circles shortens the life of the caster.”

“So a saint is a witch who specializes in holy magic,” Lord Dwarphister surmised. “If that is the case, then does that mean that the reason saints are nearly nonexistent today yet were so common in the past is because they did not pass down their magic circles among themselves? That would surely lead to the prevailing theory that saints are women who have the power to heal others at the cost of their own minds and bodies...”

“Yes. They essentially were unable to properly control their mana.”

“Miss Blossom, this is indeed a very interesting hypothesis,” Lord Dwarphister admitted.

Raymond checked his watch and made a small noise of realization. “It’s about time for afternoon lessons to begin,” he said. “You two should return to your classrooms.”

The three of us left the library. As soon as we entered the corridor, we saw the back of an orange-haired boy as he ran toward the main building. He seemed familiar to me; he might have been the student I had seen in passing somewhat recently.

“The second prince of the Portanian Empire,” Lord Dwarphister noted.

Now that he’d said that, I was certain that the orange hair and small build belonged none other than to Goblynx Portania, the imperial prince of our neighboring country. “Why is His Imperial Highness Goblynx here at Daemons Academy?” I asked.

“He’s studying abroad in the advanced course,” Lord Dwarphister explained. “He’s in my and Miss Kleist’s class.”

“Oh, really? Is he sojourning with Lady Saravia?”

“No; I hear he’s living in the dormitory reserved for high-ranking nobles. Since those students usually commute to school from their town houses, he must have it all to himself most times and be quite at ease.”

“I see.”

Hmm. If His Imperial Highness Goblynx both wasn’t staying at the palace and was also in a different grade than I, that meant we wouldn’t get many opportunities to meet.

At least, that was my understanding at the time.

Ah—I did make sure to tell Lord Dwarphister and Raymond all about the gospel of The Silver Knight and the Golden Princess.

▽

“The recommended dessert in the cafeteria today is apparently the vanilla soufflé!”

“How wonderful. I hope there’s still some left.”

“By the way, Miss Louise, I heard that there is a gentleman in your new book who likes sweets! When will you be finished?”

“Right now I’m actually at the climax of the narrative. If I can just finish writing this, I should have it completed soon.”

“Ah, I can’t wait to read your new book, Miss Louise!”

It was now noon recess, and I was heading to the cafeteria in the main building with my classmates. Since the majority of students came to the cafeteria at the same time, there was quite a high level of foot traffic, but by this point everyone seemed to be used to it. Some had their attendants fetch their lunch for them, while others personally stood in line at the counter to order. Likewise, some students ate their meals in groups, while others preferred to enjoy their food by themselves.

Incidentally, Prince Raph brought his food from the palace, so I had yet to meet him in the cafeteria. I did want to make him a boxed lunch someday. Since I’d told him about my old world, Japanese food might be nice...

My dreams are only getting bigger, I thought as I lined up at the counter with the other girls who got their lunch at school.

Just as I did, a sudden quarrel erupted from the stairs that led up to the deluxe suites on the second floor.

“I have told you this before! Why must you, the daughter of a baron, dine together with His Highness Orkhart?! It is simply unheard of! Know your place!”

Ah, I knew that voice very, very well. It was Miss Mystère.

“Must you speak so harshly, Miss Wagner...? It may be true that I used to be a commoner, but there is nothing in our academy regulations that says I can’t invite His Highness Orkhart to eat with me!”

“‘Academy regulations’? Forget about academy regulations; what I refer to is common sense. A lowborn noblewoman should never speak to a member of the royal family on such familiar terms!”

“But at Daemons Academy, students are supposed to be equal regardless of social standing!”

“Silence! In the first place, we have a preexisting arrangement!”

“And that’s why I’m also asking to eat with you!”

“Which is why I have been refusing from the beginning!”

Miss Mystère stood with her attendant in front of the stairs, alongside Prince Ork and Miss Lunamaria. Opposite them was Pia, holding a tray laden with food. Miss Mystère and Pia absolutely looked the parts of a villainess facing off against the heroine, respectively. Students throughout the cafeteria were watching, some even surrounding them, if at a distance.

Perhaps Pia had seen Miss Mystère and the others heading for the deluxe suites, then come up to Prince Ork and asked to eat with him...?

My turn to order arrived while I was still analyzing the scene. Once finished I moved over to the waiting area.

Then, a new character appeared on scene: Imperial Prince Goblynx.

“What’s with all this racket? It’s annoying,” he said, sweeping aside his bangs.

I realized that this was the first time I’d ever heard his voice. When we’d first met, he hadn’t spoken a single word.

At the sound of his voice, the surrounding female students grew quite lively.

“Such a delicate face, and what lovely dark skin! Just what you’d expect from a member of the imperial family of Portania! ♡”

“I’m one of Prince Orkhart’s serious fans, but Prince Goblynx looks so ethereal! I don’t know if I can stay faithful!”

“Hmph,” His Imperial Highness Goblynx sneered, turning his gaze to Prince Ork. “Hey, Ork. Why not eat with me? You can bring your candidates, and I’ll have the redhead join as my guest.”

Prince Ork took a moment to respond. “I don’t mind, Gob, but why Miss Abbott?”

“Just a whim,” Imperial Prince Goblynx replied. He turned his attention to Pia. “Hey you. Didn’t you want to eat with Ork? I expect a thank you.”

“A-Ah, yes! Thank you very much, Your Highness Goblynx! Well then, let’s all have lunch together!” Pia declared, smiling innocently.

Both Prince Ork and Miss Lunamaria looked at Pia with total bafflement, while Miss Mystère’s face grew red with rage. Imperial Prince Goblynx watched all four with a smirk he didn’t bother to hide.

His Imperial Highness Goblynx seemed to have a rather nasty personality—to me, he really did look and act just like a malicious goblin. Do people really see him as some ethereal-looking bishonen...? Well, if he looked more like a standard delicate-but-cruel pretty boy from my old world, I’d have been over the moon about him too, honestly.

The food I’d ordered was finally ready. I took my tray and turned to make my way over to the table where the other girls from the ladies’ course were gathered—but then I made eye contact with Miss Mystère.

“Miss Cocolette, come here!” she demanded.

I hesitated. “Coming.”

Miss Mystère, you spoke so loudly that it echoed through the entire cafeteria, I told her silently. There was no way I could have escaped it. And stop acting so stern! Everyone is mistaking you for a total villainess right now.

I quietly joined them, and Miss Mystère put her arm around my shoulders, holding me firmly in place.

“Your Imperial Highness Goblynx,” she began. “You permitted us marriage candidates to come along, correct? If that is the case, would you mind if Miss Cocolette Blossom accompanied us?”

I paused before politely saying, “It has been a while, Your Imperial Highness Goblynx. I would be delighted if you would permit me to join everyone for lunch.”

Honestly, I would have rather spent my lunch chatting with my classmates about our imaginary crushes, but I didn’t want to just leave Miss Mystère and the others. I was also curious about Pia. If I left with them I would have to have someone let the ladies’ course girls know about my whereabouts.

When I looked at Imperial Prince Goblynx, his shoulders twitched in almost exaggerated surprise. His dark complexion was deeply flushed, and his mouth flapped open and shut much like a koi fish’s.

This was exactly like when we had first met. It really did appear that my beauty maintained its powerful influence even over people from other countries.

Ultimately, Imperial Prince Goblynx couldn’t speak; he nodded to show his approval.

And just then, though I didn’t notice at the time, Pia glared at us with pure hatred in her eyes.

▽

This was the first time I had visited the second floor of the cafeteria, where several rooms had been set aside for the exclusive use of members of the upper nobility. Among them all, we were led to the best: The furnishings inside were in a completely different league than the ones on the first floor. Even the tea was elite; it was a brand of black tea that the royal palace used.

I couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “Oh, my... What a lovely room.”

“Whoa, this is so fancy!” Pia exclaimed.

Our reactions had been almost exactly the same. I gave her a smile in an attempt at camaraderie, but her mouth only twitched.

“Come to think of it, Miss Cocolette,” Miss Mystère said, ignoring Pia, “I have not seen you in any of the deluxe suites before.”

“You’ve never been up here, Coco?” Prince Ork asked.

“Miss Cocolette has not even gone to the salon for upper nobility,” Miss Mystère pointed out.

She was right; since I’d been having so much fun in the ladies’ course, I had not gone to the salon in the main building even once. Lately, Miss Louise’s book had crossed the boundaries between academic years and had become popular throughout the entire ladies’ course department; in fact, girls from all grades had started coming to the girls’ novels appreciation club, making our lounge quite the lively venue.

But in all honesty I really should start going to the salon and making connections here. It would be a shame to cut out my ship-gushing time with the girls... Not to mention the population of orc-faces in the salon would most likely be quite high... But this is for Prince Raph!

“That reminds me,” Miss Mystère continued. “Fiss said that you were writing books with the students in the ladies’ course. With all the fun I suppose you’re having, you must have no time to spend with me.”

She huffed, expression sulky as she looked away with an irritable turn of her head. Her curled black hair swung with the motion, forcefully elegant, and combined with the accompanying sway of her large...ladies, they made her a picture of flawless beauty. Indeed, Miss Mystère was a gorgeous young lady of powerful looks. Ahh, she’s just so ravishing!

“Please do not speak like that, Miss Mystère,” I said. “You must know just how dearly I’ve longed to see you and Miss Lunamaria both.”

“W-Well, I do know how much you admire me...” Miss Mystère replied.

“Miss Mystère is merely sulking because you’re not in the advanced course with her, Miss Cocolette,” Miss Lunamaria explained. Despite her expressionless countenance, the air around her prickled with palpable anxiety. She must have been especially alert to our moods in an attempt to prevent a potential squabble.

I smiled, hoping to give Miss Lunamaria peace of mind. “After this, please allow me to give the two of you copies of a novel written by Miss Louise Bartles, my classmate in the ladies’ course. It’s an absolutely wonderful work; I believe you both will become thoroughly engrossed in it.”

We each took our seats, and while we waited for attendants to bring along lunch for Prince Ork and the others, I promoted not just The Silver Knight and the Golden Princess, but also the Taurus Trading Company.

Throughout the conversation, His Imperial Highness Goblynx kept his eyes downward and didn’t say a single word. And just where did his cruel personality run off to?

Pia, sitting in the seat opposite mine, also observed our conversation. Finally, when everyone’s lunch had arrived and the meal had started, she asked, “Miss Blossom, why did you go out of your way to enroll in the ladies’ course? You are one of the marriage candidates for Their Highnesses, right? But why didn’t you join the advanced course? Did you have bad grades?”

“Silence, girl!” Miss Mystère snapped, not even giving me room to reply. “You are being rude to Miss Cocolette!”

She had demeaned Pia by calling her a little girl here too. Given their earlier argument as well...could it be that these two regularly quarreled in the advanced course?

“But I’m saying if it were me, I wouldn’t want to be separated from the boy I like at all!” Pia insisted. “I’d want to be with him all the time! It’s strange to choose to be apart from the one you love!”

To be fair, I completely understood Pia’s point. If I could, I wouldn’t part from Prince Raph for a single second. But, I had chosen to halve my clingy, lovey-dovey adolescence with him in order to construct the social network of people who would support him in the future. After all, people tended to avoid the one I loved—for he was the ugly crown prince.

“I truly understand your feelings in not wanting to part from the one you love, Miss Abbott,” I replied. “But I am not here at Daemons Academy to throw myself into love or to get good grades. I have chosen to spend my time here building personal connections with the girls in the ladies’ course, for if and when I must call upon them as queen consort.”

And the fact that a good amount of that is just self-shipping fun doesn’t hurt either!

Pia paused. “You’re just a candidate, but you sound so sure that you’ll be the queen consort. You must have a really high opinion of yourself, Miss Blossom. I really respect that.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Miss Abbott.”

The decision on who the princes’ fiancées would be was still off in the future, but I loved Prince Raph from the bottom of my heart, and I could feel that he fully returned that love. It wasn’t just confidence that told me I would be his choice.

“I heard that you two met at a palace garden party,” Pia went on.

“We did,” I replied. “The garden party was set up for Their Highnesses to have the opportunity to choose their own marriage candidates, and I was invited.”

“What was your first impression of the crown prince?”

I paused. “I thought that he had such kind eyes.”

If I blabbed the truth—that I’d thought Prince Raph looked like an angel—Pia might call for a doctor. A more general compliment like this was safe.

Beside Pia, Miss Mystère and Miss Lunamaria were speaking with growing excitement and curiosity about The Silver Knight and the Golden Princess.

“A love story sounds enchanting,” Miss Mystère said. “I’d like to read it at once.”

“I’m looking forward to it as well,” Miss Lunamaria agreed.

Prince Ork, meanwhile, was speaking in an increasingly worried tone to Imperial Prince Goblynx—who hadn’t even eaten a single bite of food, much less spoken one word. “Do you need me to get a doctor for you, Gob? You look like you have a fever.”

I’d thought at first that he’d just been bashful about how pretty I was, but for him to get this bad perhaps meant that he really had suddenly fallen ill. In the end, His Imperial Highness Goblynx was once again taken away to see a doctor. Prince Ork accompanied him out of the room.

“His Highness Orkhart really is such a kind gentleman,” Pia gushed. “When he and I first met, he held me so gently to stop my fall!”

“Yes, he truly is,” I agreed.

“He really is kind to everyone, so I’m sure there must be people who get the wrong idea about the individual treatment he gives them. There must be some who think he’s nice only to them, or would love only them...or choose only them,” Pia continued, whispering so that only I could hear. She sighed. “I do feel sorry for him...”

I didn’t quite understand what she was saying, but regardless, I could see clear contempt in Pia’s eyes as she looked at me—and I didn’t know why.

Chapter 5: Stalkers Galore

Cocolette

When I first met Pia, I had the impression that she was much like the heroine in a dating game. But as I had further opportunities to get to know her, I found her behavior baffling.

Well, I supposed it was inevitable that she seemed head over heels for Prince Ork. He was a prince—and to the people in this world, a handsome one at that—and they’d had a classic meet-cute. However, Pia’s attitude around me was bizarre. If she knew even a little about me, she’d know that I was Prince Raph’s first choice; there was no reason for her to think of me as her rival for Prince Ork’s affections...

For the time being, I had my maid Amaretti gather some information on Pia.

Apparently in his youth, Baron Abbot had been in love with a commoner. However, their differing social statuses had prevented them from marrying; after much weeping and sobbing, they had parted.

However, the Abbott family went a long time without children. Baron Abbott, fearing that his clan would one day cease to be, had reunited with his former lover from his younger days. To Baron Abbott’s amazement, however, his lover had kept a secret: She had borne and raised his child. As soon as he discovered this, he’d decided to formally bring his new daughter into the Abbott family.

That daughter was Pia—whose life had been just like the ones you saw in dramas.

Daemons Academy had two buildings set aside as dormitories for students who did not have townhouses in the royal capital; one was for upper nobility, and the other was for lower nobility—the latter of which was where Pia currently resided. As all higher-level nobles had estates here to begin with, the residence hall set aside for them had always been more of a decorative piece than anything else—with Imperial Prince Goblynx studying abroad here this year, it was actually getting some use. As for the second dormitory, it seemed that every year saw a fair number of students from the lower nobility move in.

It sounded like Pia was quite the exemplary and kind presence in the residence hall, someone quick to lend a helping hand to anyone in need of it. Her bright, innocent personality made her popular among the boarding students.

However, it seemed to be a different story entirely in the advanced course—and mostly because of Miss Mystère and Prince Ork.

In the first place, the advanced class was made up only of students from the upper nobility for the simple reason that their education at home prior to enrolling at the academy was far different than what students from the lower nobility had. For Pia, that meant no one she knew from the residence hall was in her course. And in such an environment, trying so desperately to appeal to Prince Ork was much like coming up to bat, injured, in the final inning of an away game. It was no surprise that her actions were met with constant disapproval by her classmates.

Daemons Academy might have been founded on the principle that while on school grounds, all students were equal regardless of status, but in reality the upper nobility found the fact that a baron’s daughter was hitting on a member of the royal family to be an unacceptable insult. Thus, Miss Mystère was spearheading the campaign against Pia.

Miss Mystère was earnestly loyal to the crown, full to the brim with righteous morals, and thought deeply of those she was close with; at her core she was a truly kind girl. So I knew that all her spats with Pia was to both keep the baron’s daughter from acting inappropriately toward a member of the royal family and to protect the heart of her friend, Miss Lunamaria, whose first love was Prince Ork.

I truly adored all these things about Miss Mystère, but she was acting exactly like the villainess in a dating game. Would things really be fine if they continued as they were...? The majority of the advanced course did support her, but some of the male students had already started to side with Pia. Most of the students in the general class were students from the lower nobility—a number of whom also lived in the dormitory—and they seemed to be allied with Pia as well.

Miss Mystère had an enthusiastic bunch of fans, but I did have to wonder if she would be able to reverse this sort of power imbalance...

They aren’t going to punish Miss Mystère, right? They wouldn’t do something so horrible as to execute or exile her, right?! Pia isn’t really the heroine in her own dating game world, right?!

I paused.

All right, calm down, Cocolette, I told myself. By all appearances, this place was just another world with backward beauty standards. Even if in my old world it seemed like Japanese people were constantly being reincarnated into different realities like it was going out of style, a dating game where you went after monster-faced men was just way too weird and specific. What game company would make something like this?

Anyway, I already had my own allies in the ladies’ and management courses. There likely wouldn’t be any more people flocking to Pia’s side in this argument.

There was, however, one specific person I needed to check in on...

▽

“I have noticed, Prince Ork, that so far you have only observed the recent proceedings in the advanced course. May I ask what your intentions are in doing so?”

“You know, Coco, it made me so happy when you called me out here, but I see this isn’t about what I’d hoped. Well, all right.”

When noon recess had started, I’d asked Prince Ork out to an unpopular section of the campus. Now that my intentions for this invitation were perfectly clear to him, Prince Ork went inside a nearby gazebo and sat on one of the benches there. I followed, sitting opposite him.

“To be clear, I am talking about the situation with Miss Abbott,” I continued. “Am I correct in assuming that Miss Mystère is bearing the brunt of this situation in your stead?”

“Yes, and I’m grateful to Tear for it,” Prince Ork replied.

“Then please tell her that directly. With even just a single word from you, I’m sure that Miss Abbott would realize the state of affairs and give up.”

“You can’t just assume that. People’s hearts aren’t such simple things,” he argued with a slight huff. He looked at me, a lonely expression on his face.

Come to think of it, I realized after a moment, Prince Ork, much like Pia, is also the type who won’t give up even when he’s rejected.

“Goodness—do you empathize with Miss Abbott?” I asked.

“Yeah, I do,” he confirmed. “And despite what others think, everyone is equal here at the academy, regardless of status. I don’t think it’s right to disrespect and criticize her for liking me.”

“But you must think that the way Miss Abbott is trying to approach you is a complete faux pas. Do you not?”

“Think of it this way, Coco—I think you, of all people, should be able to understand this...” Prince Ork paused. “You and I are far more beautiful than others. Girls usually fall for me at first sight, and confess just as easily. Turning down every single one of them would be an endless task, you realize. And though Miss Abbott is relentless in coming after me, she’s not actually breaking any school rules. I therefore bear this responsibility, and all other responsibilities, as just part of what it means to be born as a peerless beauty. She’s just another victim of my good looks...”

He smiled, somehow pained yet dazzling; around him it seemed to glow, as if an obscene amount of sparkles emerged to surround him.

But to be honest... I did understand what Prince Ork was saying. I mean, possessing unrivaled beauty came with its share of difficulties. But in my case I had no issue tidily rejecting anyone besides Prince Raph who came at me with romantic feelings—they were bothersome otherwise. Prince Ork, being so pure of heart, had a sort of cruel kindness that made others expect more from him.

I hesitated, drawing closer to Prince Ork. There was just one request I had to make. “For the time being, at least, I ask that you promise not to punish Miss Mystère.”

“Punish Tear?” he echoed. “There’s no way I’d do that. No, all she’s doing is cautioning Miss Abbott in my stead. Tear’s a really kind girl.”

“That puts my mind at ease.”

With our conversation over, I watched Prince Ork return to the main building.

Finally, I let out a long, long sigh, my torso collapsing limply onto the table in front of me. “And that was thoroughly exhausting.”

Someone suddenly spoke.

“My, young lady, don’t you think it’s a bad idea to hold a clandestine meeting with the second prince all the way out here? No matter your reason for it, you must know Her Majesty has her eyes on you, right~? If you don’t stay careful, I’ll be the one in trouble, you know.”

The speaker was male—and someone I didn’t know.

I leaped up, panicked, and turned toward the voice—

“Whatever you think you’d like to do, young lady, will only entertain me. Anyway, you must realize that it looks quite bad for you to have been all alone with the second prince.”

The person in front of me had somewhat long, indigo-colored hair, and sickly, pale skin. An eye patch covered his left eye, while the small iris of the uncovered right eye glittered blue. He had thick brows, massive lips, and an undeniably large face. Were Miss Louise here, there would have been hearts in her eyes at the mere sight of him...as he was a complete orc-face.

A new orc has appeared! And what’s more, this one’s wearing black from head to toe—just like an assassin!

The sudden arrival of a monsterlike boy on the same level as Prince Ork had me aghast.

“Oh? Ah, young lady, did I surprise you so much that you can’t speak? Sorry about that.”

The orc-faced young man approached and, with a strangely theatrical flourish, knelt before me, his longish hair swaying smoothly with the motion.

“I am a shade from the royal family sent to protect you. Please feel free to call me Shadow.”

A shade from the royal family, here?!

What in the world was the Kingdom of Cheriotte doing with these kinds of people?! Since when had a stalker been given the royal seal of approval to tail me like this?!

Wait—speaking of which, had this orc been constantly watching me wherever I went? And what was with the “young lady” business?

What should I do?! This guy’s scary! I’ve got goose bumps all over me...!

I found Shadow’s words unbelievable—or rather, I didn’t want to believe them. “What sort of proof do you have of being a ‘shade of the royal family’?!” I asked. “If you really are one, then why have you appeared before me?!”

I really hoped that this guy was just some extremely weird pervert who was only claiming to be what he said he was. After all, if he wasn’t...it was just too freaking terrifying to think that while I’d been changing or using the restroom or sleeping, this orc had been nearby, watching me! I hadn’t even shown Prince Raph any of my skin yet!!!

I was near tears as Shadow replied, “Because not only am I giving you a warning, young lady, but there is no harm in you knowing of our existence. But I’d say the biggest reason...is that you’re entertaining.”

“Huh...?”

“I’ve been at this job for a rather long time, you see, and that means I’ve gotten to know as many girls as there are stars in the sky,” Shadow continued. “Yet I’ve never met a girl as interesting as you. You really are quite fascinating.”

N-Nooooooope!!! “You’re an interesting girl” might have had the enviable status of being in the Top Things Self-Shippers Want Hotties to Say to Them Hall of Fame, but I did not want an orc-face to say that to meeeeeeeeee!

Shadow was oblivious to the sudden despair that swiftly and violently squashed my hope. “As for proof...” he went on slowly, thinking. “Hmm. Well then, young lady, how about I prove myself to you with a rather harmless topic. May I detail to you the contents of your school lunches for the past week?”

Shadow pulled a report out of his breast pocket and showed it to me. The Cheriotte coat of arms was neatly printed on the record, and on it was not only what I’d eaten, meticulously listed, but also the names of the chefs who had prepared the food, the names of the suppliers and distributors for the ingredients used in the food, and the origins of the food itself. I assumed the documentation was necessary in case someone decided to poison me.

This orc really was watching me...!

“S-Since when?” I asked breathlessly. “And how in the world...? Wait—are you also following the princes and the other marriage candidates?”

“Her Majesty Marie-Jewel has ordered shades of the royal family to keep an eye on you and Miss Lunamaria Kleist since you entered Daemons Academy. The official reason is to guard you two against any unwanted vermin.”

Certainly, Miss Lunamaria and I were not only Prince Raph’s marriage candidates, but also Prince Ork’s. Now that we were going to school, the queen had likely dispatched palace staff to keep an eye on us and make sure that we weren’t growing too close to Prince Ork. It was why Shadow had shown himself to me now—as a warning after spending time alone with the second prince.

Rage started to boil up in my body.

It went without saying that part of my anger was due to the fact that the royal family couldn’t even bother to pick a bishonen to do this stupid, sneaky job.

But secondly, and most importantly—

“Her Majesty Marie-Jewel’s mind remains unchanged, then. She still believes Miss Lunamaria should be Prince Raph’s queen?” I surmised. “Because if she approved of me as his future bride, then she would not have assigned a shade to Miss Lunamaria at all.”

I hadn’t expected Queen Marie-Jewel’s opinion to change so easily, but Miss Lunamaria wholeheartedly yearned for Prince Ork! Assigning a terrifying stalker to follow her was just awful!

“Young lady, something like ‘love’ is not a requirement for royal marriages,” Shadow pointed out. “You must see the obvious differences between what your two clans can provide to the crown—Duke Kleist is not only the premier duke of Cheriotte, but his family controls all the information channels throughout the country. In contrast, the Blossom Marquisate does nothing to stand out.”

“Even so, Miss Lunamaria loves Prince Ork! Forcing her to be Prince Raph’s bride is unfair!”

“Which is why you would become his royal concubine. So long as the crown can obtain the Kleists’ support through marriage, the couple themselves don’t have consummate the marriage. Everything will be resolved once you bear the next heir.”

“But that’s...” That’s sad not just for me and Miss Lunamaria, but, naturally, for Prince Raph too.

However, I knew that any attempt to appeal to Shadow’s sympathy at this point would only turn into a report straight to Queen Marie-Jewel.

I took a deep breath and stopped speaking, smoothing down my disheveled rose-pink hair with my hands.

“Ah, young lady. There’s one last thing I should tell you,” Shadow said. “Watch out for the Portanian prince.”

“Huh?”

I was about to ask him why, but Shadow—as if he had run out of time—disappeared instantaneously.

“So that was a shade...”

No more. My HP’s at zero...

▽

Times like these were perfect opportunities to consult Prince Raph! I’d made a promise to meet with him during noon recess, hoping to make one or two of my dreams come true.

Yes—I was going to have a lovey-dovey lunch with him!

Since this was a special occasion, I’d decided to make him some Japanese-style food. I’d never seen rice, miso, or soy sauce in this world, so—using ingredients that were easy to find in Cheriotte—I made a rolled omelet, salted fried chicken, and pork cutlet sandwiches (pork cutlet sandwiches did fall into the category of Japanese food, since they originated in Tokyo’s Ueno district).

I stuffed the food into a lunch box and headed to Prince Raph’s salon in the main building. In truth the salon was designated for any member of the royal family, but since Prince Ork preferred the salon for the upper nobility, Prince Raph held an apparent monopoly on the room.

Ford opened the door for me.

“Welcome, Coco,” Prince Raph said when I walked inside.

“It’s good to see you, Prince Raph,” I replied. I looked around the spacious room, with its calm atmosphere and uniform furnishings. The open windows showed the refreshing greenery of the campus outside. “This salon gets a lot of sunlight; it’s quite lovely.”

“I’m glad you like it here.”

I suddenly noticed that there was something behind him that was out of character for such a beautiful room: a tower of official-looking documents. That surely can’t be homework...

“Goodness, Prince Raph—are you performing your official duties here at school as well?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “More and more nobles seem to like me, but that just means there are more people coming to me for advice or asking me to help them with some troublesome chore. But they all have such high expectations of me, so I’m working carefully and diligently on their behalf.”

“But don’t you think that you have too many papers on your desk...?”

“Well, maybe a little...” Prince Raph admitted, looking a little tired. A closer inspection revealed faint circles under his eyes.

My poor Prince Raph’s precious face is withering from all his hard work! I’m so worried...!

“Are you all right, Prince Raph?!” I asked. “Please, let me help you!”

“Dwarphister and Raymond have been assisting me; it’s all right,” he assured me. “Besides, this is how I must atone for what I’ve done to our people.”

He must have been talking about the surprise attack he’d launched on the royal capital in his past life. If immersing himself in his work will relieve his guilt, perhaps that’s a good thing... Still, I couldn’t help but worry.

“So long as you properly rest during your breaks—please,” I said.

“Yes, I know,” he replied. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Then please eat up and get your strength back! I made your lunch today myself.”

“I’ve had your snacks plenty of times before, Coco, but I believe this will be the first time I’ll have a meal you prepared. I’m looking forward to it.”

First, as Prince Raph’s bodyguard, Douglas tested the food for poison (giving his seal of approval on the taste in the process!), and then I unpacked the food in front of my beloved.

“It all looks delicious, but I’m afraid I’ve never seen any of it before,” Prince Raph admitted.

“I made it from what I remember about that one time,” I replied, indirectly hinting at knowledge from my old world.

He immediately understood what I meant. “Ah, I see. Then I really do look forward to it.”

Prince Raph first picked up the pork cutlet sandwich and, without a single bit of hesitation, took a bite. “The inside holds pork, yes? The meat is quite tender and incredibly delicious. The sweet sauce goes well with the bread too.”

“I’m glad you like it! ♡”

I’d made the tonkatsu sauce by simmering spices imported from the Portanian Empire alongside fruits and vegetables. The heat had had to be adjusted (by our family’s head chef) to avoid burning the sauce, but clearly all that effort had been worth it.

I happily watched Prince Raph eat the dishes one by one.

Suddenly though, his hand stopped. “Sorry, Coco. Your food is so good that I didn’t realize that I’m the only one eating. Please eat your share.”

“But I’m actually quite full...” I could watch a pretty boy eat for hours... ♡

Right in front of my eyes, though, appeared a piece of rolled omelet speared on a fork.

“All right, Coco. Say ‘ah.’”

“Wh— Prince Raph?!”

“A few years ago you fed cake to me just like this,” he pointed out. “So today, I’ll return the favor.”

Prince Raph was smiling, but all the same he seemed bashful about his own playfully pushy behavior. The sight made my heart squeeze. To such a shallow girl as myself, there was no greater victory than seeing the divine gift of Prince Raph’s face make such an enticing expression. I promptly caved, accepting the bite of egg.

“This rolled omelet is the most delicious thing in the world!” I praised.

“That’s because you’re good at cooking, Coco,” he insisted. “Here, have more.”

“Gladly! ♡”

I immensely enjoyed our lovey-dovey lunchtime. Afterward, Ford brewed us tea. I clung tightly to Prince Raph as we each enjoyed a cup.

He tipped his head. “By the way, Coco, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

Oh, right. I’d been so enamored with Prince Raph’s stunning features that I’d promptly forgotten about meeting a new orc. Remembering so suddenly made me flustered, but nevertheless I told Prince Raph about what happened the day before, growing serious as I detailed the strange encounter.

He listened, looking somber, and was quiet for a while in thought. The melancholy tinge to his profile made my heart squeeze once again.

“Thank you for telling me this, Coco,” he said at last. “In short, it would be best to assume that the shade is still near you, and is listening in even now.”

I gasped. “Y-You have a point about that!”

To be honest, I was a bit surprised that I hadn’t thought of that earlier. I supposed I had been too preoccupied with my lovey-dovey lunch with Prince Raph to even have had time to consider it.

“Then we’ll keep our conversation to matters that would be no harm for my mother to hear about, just in case the shade leaks them,” Prince Raph said. He thought for a moment. “Coco, how much do you know about my mother’s family?”

“Her Majesty’s family?” I echoed. “If I remember right, she hails from the Valentine Duchy.”

I had looked into the Valentines before, but I hadn’t been able to glean much information. They were a small clan; I had no clue as to why they held the rank of duke at all.

“The Valentines have the oldest history among all the duchies,” Prince Raph explained. “And among the duchies, they also have the smallest amount of territory, which is why, on the outside, they have no outstanding achievements.”

“On the outside...” I echoed. “So what about the inside?”

“That is where you’ll find the ‘shades,’ who have supported the crown since the founding of Cheriotte itself.”

So that was the case... No wonder I hadn’t been able to dig up much info on Queen Marie-Jewel. The more information someone knows, the more they keep quiet.

“So it’s really Her Majesty Marie-Jewel who ordered Shadow to follow me,” I realized.

Knowing Queen Marie-Jewel’s background, it was no wonder she wanted the Kleist family’s power for her own. In that light, my only advantage to Her Majesty was my willingness to bear Prince Raph’s child, but that was something that even a royal consort could do, not just his wife.

“Coco,” Prince Raph said. “I truly intend to make you my queen. I won’t let my mother have her way. I’m going to look into things from my side as well.”

“Okay. Thank you, Prince Raph.”

I was a bit disheartened, but as he gently petted my hair my mood lightened considerably.

All right! Prince Raph is so handsome, he should be considered a national treasure! I’ll do whatever it takes to make him mine forever, even if I have to bulldoze straight through Queen Marie-Jewel’s defiance!

“I don’t think the shade himself will cause you any harm,” Prince Raph continued. “But in the case that you no longer love me and end up leaving me, I think I’m going to have to figure out how to deal with him one way or another...”

“I would never do something like that!”

“Thank you for saying that,” he replied. “For the time being, Coco, I will have Douglas serve as your bodyguard. That should help you calm down at least a little, I hope?”

“Oh my, Prince Raph, thank you!” I chirped. “Having Douglas by my side will be incredibly reassuring!”

Yeeeeees, woo-hoo!!! If I had to have someone follow me around, I was by far happier with the wild-type bishonen Douglas rather than Shadow the orc-face! Gosh, Douglas was a sight for sore eyes!

“Also, I’d like you to please always wear the Aurora Shield that Dwarphister made,” Prince Raph urged.

“I always do,” I replied, pulling the pendant out from under my uniform. The magic item deployed a one-time-only defensive barrier. Lord Dwarphister’s invention had been extremely useful to me before.

After seeing with his own eyes that I had an Aurora Shield in my possession, Prince Raph smiled, seeming relieved. “If a shade really is following Miss Kleist as well, I should probably let her know.”

“I agree. She may be in far more danger than myself. Please be careful.”

“I will,” he promised.

Finally, I told Prince Raph about Shadow’s warning to be wary of His Imperial Highness Goblynx.

“I’ll look into the second imperial prince as well,” Prince Raph decided. “What could he possibly be plotting while he’s here, I wonder...? Please keep an eye out for yourself, Coco.”

“Of course.”

▽

Douglas, who was now seventeen, had short, dark-brown hair, suntanned skin, and alluring golden eyes. He was already a wild-type bishonen, but his training as a knight had sculpted his body into a thoroughly sexy work of art. He had become a masterpiece of male beauty.

Thank you so, so much, Prince Raph. Once I was nearly overcome with the urge to make Douglas my exclusive vassal, but I kneel to your foresight. You were right. A wild-looking knight full of sex appeal is truly the best. Your Highness has such impeccable judgment...!

I was in an incredibly merry mood. After all, Douglas had been escorting me around since the morning had begun.

“Prince Raph has assigned me a bodyguard,” I’d told the girls in the ladies’ course to explain Douglas’s presence in the room. Miss Louise and more than half of the class had paled at the sight of him, but I was relieved that they’d said nothing unkind directly to him.

Now that my lunch with my classmates was over, I brought Douglas with me to the courtyard, where I wished to spend the remainder of noon recess. I sat on a bench, reading the manuscript for Miss Louise’s latest work: The Frosty Duke Fancies Dessert.

Soon enough, Douglas began to restlessly pace around the area.

Curious, I asked, “Is something the matter, Douglas?”

Douglas shook his head, seeming frustrated. As usual when he spoke, his accent couldn’t help but slip through his polite speech. “I apologize, Miss Cocolette. I’ve been able to sense the shade’s presence since this mornin’, but I haven’t been able to figure out where he’s been hidin’...”

“Huh?”

My eyes widened in wonder at the unexpected reply. Douglas has been doing that since this morning...? Incredible.

“I deeply apologize for my inadequacy,” he went on. “My teachers would surely be able to figure out where the shade’s hidin’ already, but I ain’t that good yet. But sooner or later I’ll be sure ta put down that guy for ya!”

Douglas had used some strong language, the kind I didn’t know how to reply to. I was glad that he was keeping Shadow away from me, but “put down” wasn’t a term to be used lightly. My lip twitched.

Putting that aside, who are Douglas’s “teachers”? Knights, perhaps?

“So long as you do not put yourself in undue danger, Douglas,” I said at last.

“I’ll do my best!”

No longer in the mood to read, I ended up also looking out around the area. With bushes, flowerbeds, trees, and even overhead leaves and branches, this area held many places one could hide.

Thinking it couldn’t hurt to try, I called, “Shadow, where are you?”

Suddenly, a red flower appeared next to me on the bench. It seemed like he had picked it from a nearby flowerbed and brought it over.

“Oh my, what a beautiful flower,” I said. “Shadow must really be here.”

“Miss Cocolette, ya can’t just start talkin’ to the shade like that!” Douglas insisted.

“I’m being careful.”

Perhaps Shadow was over by the flowerbed? I looked toward that direction—

Tunk-tunk-tunk!

The unfamiliar sound caught my attention, and when I looked for its source, I saw that several knives were now sticking out of the trunk of a tree.

Whaaaaaat?! Holy shit! Did Shadow throw those to keep me from looking for him?! That was so fast—if it happened again, would I even be able to use the Aurora Shield in time...?

“Tsk. I missed... But at least I was able to make him leave.”

From behind Douglas and me came not Shadow, but someone completely unexpected.

It took me a moment to speak. “Is that you, Salvador Ince?”

“It is. It has been a while, Miss Blossom,” he replied.

Salvador possessed completely average features, with his hair and eyes a matching shade of deep purple. He was Miss Violet’s lover, as she was Prince Ork’s marriage candidate in name only, and was actually acting as the second prince’s bodyguard.

What in the world is Salvador doing here at the academy? Miss Violet wouldn’t enroll until next year, and as her attendant, he shouldn’t have been here until she was. Unless I had been mistaken? I’m so confused!

Salvador walked up in front of me, but spoke instead to my temporary bodyguard. “Hey, Douglas, what’s the big idea, letting that guy so close while you’re supposed to be guarding Miss Blossom? You’re getting sloppy.”

“I apologize, Master Salvador!” Douglas said. “Ya know about the shade then?”

“Yeah. I’ve gone against that guy a number of times.”

“Of course ya have! I’m ashamed to say it, but I still can’t figure out where he keeps hidin’.”

“You’ve still got a lot of training to do,” Salvador said. “But for you to struggle is understandable; even Milady Violet has difficulties with him.”

“No way! Even Mistress Violet can’t catch the shade?!” Douglas asked, incredulous.

“She can’t, which is why we need to keep him away from Miss Blossom for the time being. All right, Douglas?”

“Yes, Master Salvador!” Douglas agreed.

Wait a second! There’s too much information going on all at once, Salvador! Did he have some sort of tie to Shadow?! And furthermore, when did this master-and-student relationship between him and Douglas start?!

Oh! Come to think of it, hadn’t Douglas been training with Miss Violet and Salvador for a while now? Their hierarchical relationship was actually surprisingly easy to see! And here was Douglas, trying so hard to speak respectfully to someone younger than him—it was really cute to watch!

“It seems like he’s withdrawn for now. Let’s take the opportunity to come up with a countermeasure against him with Milady Violet.” Salvador paused, addressing me next. “I must apologize, Miss Blossom, but would you be able to skip your next class? We will explain the situation to you as well.”

“I don’t mind,” I replied, nodding desperately. “I have many things I’d like to ask myself!”

Time for Cocolette Blossom to play hooky! I haven’t done this since my last life!

▽

“I’m feeling a bit fatigued. Perhaps it is a bout of anemia; I will go rest in the medical office,” I told one of the girls from the ladies’ course, asking her to pass along the message to our classmates.

My absence from the next class would undoubtedly make everyone worry about me. Of course, telling them it was for medical reasons was also liable to cause concern, but it was preferable to being totally unaccounted for. There should be no problem if I returned to everyone hale and hearty afterward.

With that out of the way, Salvador was going to take Douglas and me to meet with Miss Violet.

“So, Salvador,” I started. “Are we to leave the academy for Miss Violet’s estate?” How far away is the Berga family townhouse from here?

Salvador shook his head. “No. Milady Violet has a room here at the school.”

“Huh?”

Salvador guided us to a plain, simple door in a corner of the main building. It was the janitors’ closet. I never would have imagined a count’s daughter to be behind this door...

Completely ignoring my bafflement, Salvador knocked on the door. “Milady Violet, it is me. I have brought Miss Blossom and Douglas.”

“Oh, please, do come in,” came Miss Violet’s unmistakably sweet, relaxed drawl from within the janitors’ closet.

Following her invitation, I opened the door and crossed the threshold, Douglas behind me.

The room, without a doubt, belonged to a highborn young woman: The walls were covered in a simple wallpaper of repeating violets, frilled curtains lined every window, and the room was decorated with all-white furniture. The space was dotted with vases stuffed with multitudes of blossoms, scenting the air with a sweet, perfumey fragrance. It felt like I had been teleported from Daemons Academy to someone’s estate.

And there, in the middle of this lovely room sitting on the sofa, was Lady Violet—inexplicably dressed as a maid.

“Where has the janitors’ closet disappeared to?” I asked her.

“We took over the space,” she replied easily. “Such an unappealing room is not needed here.”

Can she really just do that?! I thought, bewildered. And where the heck did the janitors get sent off to?!

Miss Violet beckoned me over to the sofa, and I sat. Douglas, for his part, seemed absolutely unbothered by everything and calmly came to stand behind me.

Salvador brewed some herbal tea, and a sip of it helped me calm down. “Miss Violet, Salvador,” I began. “I must ask: Why in the world are you two here at Daemons Academy?”

“As you know, Miss Cocolette, Salvie and I are acting as His Highness Orkhart’s bodyguards. We are currently undercover here as his servants.” Miss Violet smiled, pinching the skirt of her maid uniform to show me.

The academy itself employed many maids, and with the upper nobility’s exclusive attendants all over the campus as well, Miss Violet and Salvador had the perfect method by which to seamlessly slip into the school. After all, even my adorable little Raymond was allowed to come to the academy as Lord Dwarphister’s valet—so really, the school’s review criteria for this kind of thing was far too loose.

“Anyway, Miss Cocolette, Douglas,” Miss Violet went on in her sweet, languid tone. “Why have you come to visit me? Are you not supposed to be in class now?”

“I will explain that matter, Milady Violet,” Salvador said.

He went on to describe how the royal family’s shade had gotten close to me, and Miss Violet listened, a serious expression on her face. She didn’t seem to need any kind of explanation of who Shadow was.

Just like I thought; it seems like they’re both already acquainted with him.

“I’m glad that you are unharmed, Miss Cocolette,” Miss Violet said. “He has been our enemy for many years.”

“A longtime foe, then,” I noted.

“I wonder how much you know about what has been happening,” Miss Violet said. “First, I would need to tell you about from where the queen consort hails, and their family trade.”

“Prince Raph informed me that the Valentine Duchy is synonymous with the royal family’s shades. I also know that Her Majesty has assigned shades to me and Miss Lunamaria.”

“So Miss Lunamaria has a stalker of her own? Goodness. Well, I suppose that is to be expected; the queen consort would not simply hand the Kleists over to His Highness Orkhart.”

Miss Violet let out a small sigh, twirling a lock of her wavy chestnut hair around her finger. Then, she continued, “I do not know who the shade tailing Miss Lunamaria is, but of the one assigned to you, I know a little. Out of the shades he is perhaps the strongest, second strongest at minimum. Since Salvie and I became His Highness Orkhart’s bodyguards, he has made several attempts to assassinate the prince.”

“A-Assassinate Prince Ork?!” I gasped.

“Of course the attacks all ended in failure, but he was a difficult opponent,” Miss Violet grumbled, clearly vexed.

I stared, mouth stuck agape, at her adorably troubled face. I would never have imagined Prince Ork to have been in such danger... Well, to be fair, I knew Lady Saravia had assigned a bodyguard to her son in the first place precisely because of potential dangers such as this, but to have these possibilities be actually confirmed was another shocking thing entirely. The gut-wrenching reality of what was happening behind the scenes made my body tremble.

“As of now, we have not a single shred of evidence to directly link the queen consort to these attempts on His Highness Orkhart’s life,” Miss Violet continued. “But if we can get our hands on him, we may be able to convict her.”

I see... I hadn’t been able to think of a proper method to separate Prince Raph from his toxic mother recently so I had put the idea on hold, but it seemed there was a way: expose Queen Marie-Jewel for her crimes and punish her accordingly. If she could be imprisoned—or even executed—the final obstacle barring me from marrying Prince Raph would be gone. Organizing multiple assassination attempts on the second prince’s life was an inexcusable offense, even for the queen consort.

“So the problem is whether or not you can capture Shadow...” I mused.

“My goodness, Miss Cocolette—you know his name?” Violet asked, astonished.

“Soon after I spent some time alone with Prince Ork, Shadow appeared to give me a warning.”

“I see... So his name is Shadow.” Violet turned toward Douglas. “Douglas, do not ever lower your guard, understood? I do not believe the queen consort would make an attempt on Miss Cocolette’s life, but anything less is possible if Her Majesty were to feel threatened in any way. Make sure to protect Miss Cocolette.”

“Yes, Mistress Violet!” Douglas replied.

Huh? I’m still in danger, even if my life isn’t?

But actually, once I thought about it, Queen Marie-Jewel only needed me well enough to have Prince Raph’s child, and I didn’t need to be in perfect health to do that... Yikes, I need to be careful.

After that exchange, we kept speaking until the current class period ended. For now, Douglas would report to Prince Raph about the information that Miss Violet had shared with us. As Shadow was sure to be following my every move, there was no point to me imparting that knowledge.

Ahh... Not being able to speak freely with Prince Raph was such a pain. I couldn’t even write him a letter; Shadow might just read it from the ceiling or something...

The only saving grace in this situation was that I could still get all the lovey-dovey in-person time I wanted with my beloved. If that had been taken away from me too, I would probably have died from Prince Raph withdrawal.

Our conversation came to a close just as the chime signaling the end of class rang.

Douglas and I left the former janitors’ closet. As we walked down the hallway, I saw a door with a label still shiny and new on it: Custodial Room. It seemed that the janitors Miss Violet had driven out had somehow managed to relocate to a safe haven of their own.

I found myself strangely relieved to see them end up all right, and it was with that feeling that I returned to the ladies’ course department, Douglas in tow.

▽

Though I had many things on my mind, the time came for the semester’s final exams. The entire academy had fallen into a studious mood, and the ladies’ course students were no exception; instead of reading girls’ novels, they now had their textbooks open.

The semester finals consisted of a unified academic test across all departments, with each individual course requiring their own additional practical exams and reports. The practical exam for the ladies’ course students was on manners.

I studied vigorously for the tests. After all, I had to show through my grades that I was capable of becoming queen.

I now headed for the faculty office—Douglas in tow—with a question for my instructor. Upon arriving at the corridor that connected the ladies’ department to the main building, I spotted Imperial Prince Goblynx, of all people, lingering nearby. He leaned against a wall, arms crossed and head lowered as if trying to hide his identity, but with his dark skin and orange hair, he could only have been the imperial prince.

What in the world is His Imperial Highness Goblynx doing here? Shadow’s warning made me oddly curious about him. What sort of danger did this goblin pose, other than his dreadful face?

Perhaps because I had unintentionally been staring, Prince Goblynx snapped his head up. “What’s the problem? I’m not some sorta side...show...”

He glared my way, but as soon as he noticed that I was the one looking at him, he blushed and froze up.

Well, I still had to be polite. I smiled and gave a slight bow. “It is a pleasure to see you, Your Imperial Highness Goblynx.”

He didn’t speak. If anything he would have made things easier for the both of us if he acted like I wasn’t even there, but instead Imperial Prince Goblynx’s eyes went wide as he stared at me, and a surprising amount of time passed before he nodded in return. I supposed that would have to suffice as a reply.

Is he really that into my looks? Is all this strangeness just out of extreme nerves? But why—he doesn’t seem like one of those pure, modest types that get flustered easily...

“Please excuse me,” I said, unwilling to continue our conversation any longer. I quickly took my leave.

Once down the corridor, Douglas whispered into my ear. “The imperial prince is still lookin’ at you, Miss Cocolette...”

“Huh? Really...?”

Surprised, I looked over my shoulder to see that Imperial Prince Goblynx hadn’t moved a single step from his spot—but he was still watching me.

Had Shadow’s warning been about that goblin falling for me?!

Dear God... I begged silently. Please, please don’t let any more monsters catch feelings for me!

My prayers did not reach Heaven. I knew so because after this encounter, I kept coming across Prince Goblynx all over Daemons Academy.

And so I had gained another stalker...

✛

Raphael

Today I arrived early to Daemons Academy, as I had plans to meet with Miss Kleist before classes began. As she was a sophomore in the advanced course, seeing her only entailed climbing a flight of stairs in our building, and then descending those same stairs when we finished to return to my own class.

When I arrived at the sophomore classroom it was sparsely populated, with Miss Kleist sitting at her desk. At my arrival she stood and left the classroom, following me as we walked down the hallway.

“Good morning, Your Highness Raphael. Thank you very much for going out of your way to meet with me,” she said.

“Good morning, Miss Kleist,” I replied. “I apologize for asking you to meet with me so early in the morning.”

“It is all right, Your Highness; you may ask for me at any time. I am sure you are quite busy.”

We moved to the end of the hallway. There was no time for us to go all the way to my salon, and I had no desire to go to the advanced department’s lounge. This spot would be sufficient; few students had arrived to school as of yet, and our conversation would be short besides.

I lowered my voice as I said, “Truthfully, what I have to tell you comes from Coco. My mother has assigned shades from the royal family to follow Coco’s every move, as well as yours. That leads me to what I’d like to ask of you, Miss Kleist: Have you noticed any unusual events as of late that may have occurred because of the shade following you?”

“Shades from the royal family...” Miss Kleist repeated slowly. Her ice-blue eyes flickered, and she was silent for a moment. Her gaze wandered about as she combed through her memories, and then, she slowly shook her head. “No. There has been nothing unusual.”

I paused. “Truly nothing?”

“Correct.”

Something felt a little out of place about Miss Kleist’s words, but since she herself had insisted things were as usual, for the time being I let myself feel a bit of relief.

“I would like to assign a knight to guard you, just in case,” I offered. “I have already provided Coco with Douglas.”

“No, thank you; I will be all right. I will ask my father if I feel one is necessary.”

I paused. “All right. I’m sure that Duke Kleist would find a fine guard for you; he quite adores you. I must admit I’m extremely jealous that you have such a wonderful father.”

“My father is simply an opportunist who likes to please everyone,” Miss Kleist insisted. “It is why even though he always tries to maintain the queen consort’s confidence, he assisted me when I asked for his support in becoming His Highness Orkhart’s marriage candidate. Personally I think Miss Cocolette’s father is far more wonderful.” Her eyes glowed with admiration for Coco, and she continued, “Should the shade make contact with me, I will make a report.”

“I do apologize for burdening you with this,” I said.

“It is no fault of your own, Your Highness.”

“What’s this?” came a sudden voice. “What’s a freshman brat doing up here in the sophomore hallway?”

The boy who’d interrupted my conversation with Miss Kleist was none other than the second imperial prince of the Portanian Empire.

Even among the emperor’s sons, His Imperial Highness Goblynx Portania had a reputation for his ethereal beauty. He had vivid orange hair and eyes, with dark skin so lustrous and alluring that it caused onlookers to instinctively flinch at its perfection. His face, with glittering beady eyes and a long pointed nose that seemed to defy mortal understanding, was as if his country’s god had painstakingly and lovingly sculpted it themselves. His beauty was overwhelming, overpowering, and all he was doing was standing there in the hallway.

I had heard that Imperial Prince Goblynx was a particularly coldhearted person, but even still, just by looking at him, it was easy to believe the gossip that he had captivated every man and woman in the Empire of Portania with his looks alone. He stood with such absolute confidence in himself—in his beauty—that I couldn’t help but shrink back from it a bit.

How shameful of me. I’m the crown prince...

Imperial Prince Goblynx looked at me and Miss Kleist, then snorted. “Isn’t this silver-haired girl one of Ork’s? Or did I walk into some illicit meeting with the ugly crown prince?”

“Your Imperial Highness, I implore you to cease using such abhorrent language toward His Highness Raphael,” Miss Kleist said, her voice cold. She took a step forward, as if to shield me with her body.

Sneering, Imperial Prince Goblynx looked down on...well, looked up at her. Miss Kleist was a great deal taller than him.

“Everyone at Daemons Academy is equal, regardless of social status, isn’t that right? What a shit idea,” he said. “To think Cheriotte’s crown prince my equal? No one, inside this school or out of it, would ever think someone this hideous to be on my level. Ork is a much better fit to lead this country.”

Despite the pressure emanating from his immense confidence, it was my turn to step in front of Miss Kleist and face Imperial Prince Goblynx directly. “So,” I said. “It’s the Portanian Empire’s wish to see Orkhart made crown prince of the Kingdom of Cheriotte.”

“Well, who can say?” Prince Goblynx replied. “But wouldn’t your people be much more satisfied with him than you, the infamously ugly crown prince?”

Imperial Prince Goblynx’s official reason for studying abroad at Daemon’s Academy was, quote, “I want to learn the culture of the Kingdom of Cheriotte.” I had immediately looked into that after Coco had consulted with me. However, judging by the prince’s current words and actions, I could guess that those words were empty. In his deep contempt for me, it seemed he no longer felt the need to keep hiding his motives.

The ultimate goal of the Portanian Empire was to rule the continent, and instill their belief worldwide that the pinnacle of beauty was the goblin face.

And...to be fair, His Imperial Highness Goblynx as he stood in front of me was glamorous in a way that should have been impossible for mere mortals to accomplish.

But I could never bend my knee to such a dreadful ideology. My ancestors had staunchly resisted the empire, protecting the Kingdom of Cheriotte’s culture and our value in the belief that orc-faces were a beloved gift from God... And we still held on to those ideals to this day!

Orkhart, through his mother, had the blood of the Portanian Empire in his veins. If he were to ascend to the throne, it would be tantamount to allowing the Portanian Empire to interfere in the Kingdom of Cheriotte’s affairs. That was why, despite my hideousness, my mother was desperate for me to inherit the crown.

She was not doing this out of a sense of virtue or justice—never that. However, I wanted to ascend the throne for the sake of my people.

Overcoming my fear of Imperial Prince Goblynx, I stated clearly, “Orkhart is too inexperienced to become king. It would be impossible.”

“But doesn’t his inexperience rather work in his favor?” the imperial prince retorted. “After all, isn’t it more than enough for the king of Cheriotte to just sit on his throne all day?”

For just an instant, I thought he must have been hinting at my father, but I corrected myself; there shouldn’t have been any way for that kind of information to have been leaked just yet.

“I’m jealous,” I replied. “I wasn’t aware that the Portanian Empire would allow someone of such caliber to ascend to the throne.”

“You bastard!” he snarled. “How dare you insult our emperor!”

“It was not my intention to deliver an affront. Regardless, no matter what the Empire of Portania’s intentions are, we will not allow another country to take our throne.”

Imperial Prince Goblynx huffed. “Yap all you want, but it’s clear as day to me how this will end. How could the common people ever follow such an ugly crown prince?”

He had a point—neither the citizens nor the nobility would follow a lone, hideous man such as myself. But I had Coco. And through Coco’s help, I had many friends who understood me. So long as I continued forward with her hand in mine, I was sure that the path ahead would be different than the one I’d walked in my previous life.

I must have unconsciously smiled while thinking of Coco, because Imperial Prince Goblynx suddenly seemed uncomfortable and averted his gaze, as if the sight of me had become intolerable.

“Well, whatever. I’m here for a reason, and it’s not for Cheriotte’s future figurehead.” His profile suddenly lit up in an expression of rapture, and his next words were soft, spoken nearly to himself. “I’ll never hand such a graceful goddess over to some puppet... She’ll bloom in all her glory at my side.”

With that, he left us and went into the sophomore classroom.

It seems like His Imperial Highness has Orkhart in his sights, and someone else as well...

His final words ensnared my mind; even after I parted ways with Miss Kleist, they remained stuck in my head.

✛

“Prince Raph, I’m so tired of all this! Please, you must help me—give me a kabe-don!”

It was now several days after my discussion with Imperial Prince Goblynx. Coco, here at the palace for her queenly education, had just rushed into my villa. I’d been sitting at my work desk, but at her sudden entry I’d instantly hastened to usher her inside.

Coco’s expression was usually so radiant, fit for a goddess, but today for some reason she looked dreadfully doleful, like a flower drooping in the rain.

“What’s the matter, Coco?” I asked. “You look so sad... Tell me what issues trouble you and I will help you get rid of them.”

“I do have some monsters I’d like you to lock away, but for now please let me just soak up your presence...”

“You seem awfully tired, Coco. Take all the time you need to talk,” I said soothingly as I led her to the sofa.

Coco sat down lightly, then took a sip of the tea Ford offered her. Finally, the tension left her shoulders.

“Now, Coco, what happened?” I asked.

“Prince Raaaph...” she whined. “There are so many goblins in my vicinity recently—I can’t stand it anymore...!”

With Coco’s downhearted explanation in my ears, I now finally understood Imperial Prince Goblynx’s remarks from the other day.

“So His Imperial Highness Goblynx has his eye on you, Coco.”

She wailed. “But the only one I want is you, Prince Raph...!” she declared adorably, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.

It seemed like the imperial prince’s ethereal beauty hadn’t moved Coco’s heart one bit. I was immensely glad for that. “I must say I’m delighted that, even when faced with him, you still want me.”

“It’s only natural, Prince Raph. Someone like His Imperial Highness Goblynx really, reeeeally is not my type. Really, if the only man I ever looked at again was you I’d be perfectly fine with it.” She paused. “As well as Raymond and Douglas.”

“Thank you for keeping me and those close to you in mind.”

I took Coco’s hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. She showed not the slightest bit of distaste in my action; rather, she seemed enraptured.

“No matter how much His Imperial Highness chases after you, I will not let you go,” I promised.

“Prince Raph...! ♡”

It truly did seem that Imperial Prince Goblynx wanted to install Orkhart as Cheriotte’s crown prince. He might have been thinking that if he could make Orkhart his puppet, it would be quick and easy to snatch Coco away immediately afterward.

His only problem was: How was he going to remove me, the crown prince, from my position?

I imagined that something more forceful, like trying to assassinate me, would be impossible. I had my mother—loathe as she was to do so—watching out for such a thing behind the scenes. Were my life in imminent danger, she would move to protect me no matter the cost.

In my previous life, my ugliness had left me unable to wed, which was the reason Orkhart had usurped my position as crown prince. This time around I have Coco, so I think I should be all right on that front... No—if His Imperial Highness Goblynx takes Coco away, then things may end up similarly to as they did last time...

To Imperial Prince Goblynx, Coco was both his objective and his means.

“So His Imperial Highness has been loitering about you, but not speaking to you?” I asked.

“Correct,” Coco replied. “I did greet him one time, but he did not reply.”

I found it a bit surprising that the imperial prince was such a late bloomer in that regard. Well, it may be difficult to speak normally in front of someone as beautiful as Coco, I mused.

But if His Imperial Highness was unable to approach Coco naturally, and was unable to remove me as crown prince through definitive means, how did he intend to get his hands on Coco...?

“Prince Raph!” Coco said suddenly. “Now that my report is finished, you wouldn’t mind if we moved along to my treat time, right?!”

“Hmm?” I paused, taking a moment to come back to the conversation. “Ah, if there’s something you’d like, I’ll buy it for you; whatever you want.”

“I want you to give me a kabe-don!”

“Cabbie Dawn? Is that a new book by Miss Bartles? Where is it sold?”

“A kabe-don isn’t a book or something you can buy—if anything, it’s an eternal classic! Now, Prince Raph, please come stand over here!”

“Huh?”

Coco took me to the edge of the room, where—where...for some reason, she had me place both hands against the wall and lean over her as if I might fall on her. What in the world is this gesture...?

Coco stood there between my arms, her eyes glittering. I didn’t really understand why, but our positions seemed to elicit from her a supreme satisfaction.

After a moment, I asked, “Umm... Coco, is this really the right posture?”

“It is. ♡ This is the only way to do it, ♡” she said adoringly. “Seeing you look down on me from this angle is just heavenly. ♡”

Would it be so wrong just to hug her normally?

Now that I believed in Coco’s love for me, I no longer felt any unnecessary hesitation in touching her. Consequently, I found myself wanting to cuddle her all the time, but...

I remained standing like this, feeling a bit dismayed and not a small amount of dubiousness about the whole thing, when Coco went even further by chanting some enigmatic spell: “Prince Raph, now please—a chin lift!”

It seemed like she wanted me to grasp her chin and tilt her face up. “Isn’t that what one does in preparation for a kiss?” I asked.

“If it’s preferable to you, then please kiss me, Prince Raph!”

“We mustn’t, Coco. You aren’t even my fiancée yet...” I said, unable to keep the churlishness from my voice—Coco was egging me on so much that I couldn’t quite suppress it.

Her resulting impish smile made me cave immediately, and I pressed a kiss to her forehead. When the faint smack of my lips parting from her skin sounded out, she looked up at me with soft eyes.

“Once we grow up a little more, I’ll give you a proper kiss,” I promised. “Okay, Coco?”

“Okay, Prince Raph, ♡” Coco said, nodding happily.

I happened to glance over and saw that Ford and Douglas were keeping an eye on us. Ford was wiping away tears from his eyes, as if deeply moved by witnessing me so happy. Douglas bowed his head in acknowledgment. I could almost hear him say, Those two’re as sweet on each other as ever. This country’s got a good future ’head of it.

It was frankly a bit embarrassing to be seen this way, but I was encouraged by the fact that even surrounded by so many enemies, Coco and I still had friends who were happy for us.

Chapter 6: Summer Break

Cocolette

The first semester finals ended without incident, and the results were posted on the bulletin boards in the student entry hall. The top freshmen were, in order:

Raphael Cheriotte

Cocolette Blossom

Louise Bartles

Mystère Wagner

Orkhart Cheriotte

Pia Abbot

I sighed in relief upon seeing my name. These grades should be more than enough to demonstrate that I could be a great queen. Wherever you’re stalking me from, Shadow, make sure to put in a good word about me in your report to Her Majesty Marie-Jewel!

At any rate, with the top score of our year, Prince Raph wasn’t just naturally gifted aesthetically, but academically as well! He really was the ideal man... ♡ He had a great personality, a perfect physique, and adored me—no man could compare to him. ♡

“I knew you would do well, Miss Cocolette!”

“Miss Blossom, congratulations on getting the second-highest score in our grade!”

The praise from my classmates in the ladies’ course and the students in the management class left me feeling quite proud. “Please, everyone; you’re embarrassing me—but thank you nonetheless,” I said.

Miss Louise, who had gotten the third-highest test score, excitedly approached me. “It’s such a relief that the results have finally been posted. Now all that’s left is to enjoy our summer break to the fullest, Miss Cocolette!”

“How do you plan to spend the vacation, Miss Louise?” I asked.

“I will be writing a new book!”

“Oh my—I’m looking forward to it!” I gushed. “I cannot wait until it’s complete!”

Miss Louise paused, fidgety and bashful. “Also, I would like to invite everyone in the ladies’ and management courses to my family’s townhouse for tea; would everyone like letters of invitation? You have all been so helpful to me during the first semester...”

The surrounding students rushed in toward her, eager to join.

“Of course!”

“I look forward to it!”

“Actually, my younger sister is your fan—would it be all right if I brought her along?!”

All of us left the student entryway, deep in discussion regarding Miss Louise’s summertime tea party.

▲

Unknown

I took cover in the shadow down the hallway, watching that girl walk away with her crowd of devotees. Ugh, how annoying.

Every person that girl met, without exception, became utterly bewitched by her beauty, falling to their knees with rapturous, flushed faces. Some of them—total morons—even cried over her, praying over her radiance. They all watched her, they all paid attention to her: boy or girl, upperclassman or teacher—even him.

Everyone’s acting like imbeciles.

I did have to admit—that girl’s beauty was a real pain. Even I’d thought, upon first seeing her, “Is she really a human from this earth? She’s not some goddess or pixie?”

But because she was enrolled in the ladies’ course—a cushy class if there ever was one—I’d thought she was some bimbo who was all looks and no substance. And I had reason to think so too; at lunch, when I’d hurled sarcastic line after sarcastic line at her, she’d just looked at me with a blank, uncomprehending look on her face.

Yet despite that, she’d gotten the second-highest score in the freshmen class! She’s got more brains than the second prince—what gives?!

What would it take to rip her away from him? Could I really get her off his list of marriage candidates?

I have to think, and hard. If I don’t, then...

“That girl is such a pain...” I grumbled.

I would never, ever let Cocolette Blossom have His Highness Orkhart—even if I, Pia Abbott, had to use everything in me to do it, and then some.

▽

Cocolette

Our monthlong summer break had begun. Some students returned to their territories for the vacation, though many others remained in the capital at either their family townhouses or the dorms.

Since my queenly education at the palace was still ongoing, and I had quite a number of tea parties here and there throughout the break, I had also decided to stay in the capital.

Today, I was visiting Miss Louise’s home, where she was hosting her much-discussed get-together.

“Your Highness Orkhart, Miss Kleist, Miss Wagner, and Miss Cocolette! Welcome to the Bartles home, and thank you for coming to tea!” she greeted us.

The tea party was taking place on the lawn of Count Bartles’s estate, which was lined with plenty of trees to provide shade as a fortuitously pleasant breeze rolled through the property. Students from the ladies’ and management courses sat at a white table—Dante Taurus notably among them. Since it had been recently announced that Miss Louise’s new book, The Frosty Duke Fancies Dessert, would soon be published, the invitees had each brought along their fiancés and friends in celebration.

Given the special occasion, I’d invited Prince Ork and the others along. Miss Louise was a fan of Prince Ork, and ever since Miss Lunamaria and Miss Mystère had read The Silver Knight and Golden Princess, they had been fans of Miss Louise. Of course, Douglas, as my bodyguard, was also with us.

I would have loved for Prince Raph to have come with us too, but he’d had to stay away due to some urgent official business.

You really are too busy, Prince Raph...even if I am very grateful that it is because there are nobles who trust you enough for these things.

After Prince Raph had declined my invitation to join me at Miss Louise’s tea party, I’d boldly asked him, “I understand why these nobles would prefer not to rely on Queen Marie-Jewel, but is His Majesty truly not an option?”

Prince Raph had paused. “I suppose it’s about time to properly tell you about my father. How many times have you met him, Coco?”

“The first time I saw His Majesty was at the Armistice Memorial Gala.”

Though I’d said “saw,” I’d really only observed His Majesty at a considerable distance (though it was close enough for me to sense that he was a ghastly orc-face).

“I imagine that even if you attend a great many official events from this day onward, you would still have very few opportunities to meet my father.”

I’d hesitated. “Is His Majesty perhaps ill?”

“He has never been officially diagnosed,” Prince Raph confessed, “but he remains in bed napping all day long. Whatever the case, he has no intention of managing the country himself. He leaves virtually all matters to my mother.”

His Majesty is a real slacker! No wonder the kingdom might collapse at any moment... And to support such a king, I can’t help but think Her Majesty is indeed an excellent queen consort...

“I’m afraid I had no inkling that His Majesty was such a person,” I said.

“With mother and Duke Kleist’s family controlling the flow of information, I imagine the knowledge would be kept to only the heads of noble houses. Mother has gotten rid of anyone who has tried to put father in a difficult situation by dealing with them in the political realm. Apparently, people call him ‘The Indolent King’ behind the scenes.”

“Is that why Her Majesty wishes you to wed Miss Lunamaria? To more efficiently quash any information about His Majesty?”

“Though there are numerous ways the Kleist family could be of use to the royal family, I think that is one of the biggest reasons,” Prince Raph had admitted. “Should this information about father leak to the Portanian Empire, we might even have another war on our hands.”

Many, many things made sense to me now—like how, with circumstances like these, of course the nobles would all be relying on Prince Raph, and why Queen Marie-Jewel wanted Miss Lunamaria as her son’s bride.

In the end, it all comes back to the king! Get your butt in gear and do your job—please, Your Majesty!

But a part of me couldn’t help but think, just a little bit, that the pairing of a husband who absolutely didn’t want to do his work with a wife so dangerously diligent that she ordered assassination attempts on the second prince might make for a surprisingly good married couple.

▽

“Miss Louise, would you please sign my book? You may make it out to ‘Mystère’!”

“Would...you mind singing my copy as well, Miss Bartles?”

“Of course, Miss Wagner! You as well, Miss Kleist. My goodness, I’m overjoyed that the both of you have read my book so thoroughly!”

Right in front of me, Miss Mystère, Miss Lunamaria, and Miss Louise continued to chat excitedly. Prince Ork spoke with Dante, and I took the opportunity to make new connections with male students from the management class with whom I hadn’t spoken before. Other girls were begging for Miss Louise’s autograph, or covertly waiting for their chances to speak to Prince Ork. Douglas, incidentally, was on alert, mixed in among the Bartles family guards. Truly, the tea party was turning out rather splendidly.

But such a delightful tea party was suddenly interrupted by an intruder: Robert Anderson, the boy from our joint dance class who had two-timed Miss Louise.

And, even more unexpectedly, he had arrived with Pia.

“Goodness!” she said. “Even His Highness Orkhart is here! It must be fate for me to meet him during our summer vacation!”

Pia, wearing an adorable dress that perfectly matched her red hair, made a beeline straight for Prince Ork before delightedly leaning against him.

No matter how I look at it, all I can see is the tragedy of a heroine who’s been brainwashed by an ugly man...

Of course, I knew Prince Ork wasn’t the type of person to use such underhanded tactics, but the thought left such a strong impression on me that the color drained from my face, and I had to cover my mouth with both hands.

Pia caught sight of me like that, and for a moment, I thought I saw the edges of her lips curl into a sneer.

Dante immediately protested Robert’s presence. “No one invited you here! Hurry up and leave!”

“I thought all the freshmen in the management department were invited,” Robert replied. “Was I wrong?”

“All the freshmen except you, Anderson. You shouldn’t have received any letter of invitation. How dare you show your face here after the discourtesy you showed Miss Louise!”

“C’mon, Taurus,” Robert said easily. “You’re the son of a merchant—you really think you can stand up to me? We’re not at Daemons Academy; none of those stupid school rules apply here.”

“True, Lord Anderson,” Miss Louise interjected. “We are not at Daemons Academy. So why have you come to my home, where you were not invited?”

Miss Louise, with her braided hair and refined dress, looked even more gorgeous than usual today. In the face of the one-two punch that was her utter loveliness and ice-cold glare, Robert’s arrogance seemed to shrink, and with some awkwardness he pulled out an envelope from his breast pocket.

“No need to look so scary, Louise; it’s a waste of your good looks,” he chided, trying to pull himself together. “How about you cut me some slack this time? Here, I have a letter signed by both the royal concubine and His Imperial Highness Goblynx.”

“A letter...” Miss Louise echoed.

Lady Saravia and Imperial Prince Goblynx were aunt and nephew to each other, but why would they have a letter sent to Miss Louise, of all people?

I cast a glance at Prince Ork, but he shook his head, seeming just as confused as I was. Incidentally, it seemed like Pia had politely peeled herself away from him, and was now sitting beside him looking visibly displeased.

After Miss Louise finished reading the letter, she looked at Robert and Pia, face creased with anxiety and confusion.

“Miss Bartles,” Prince Ork said. “What did my mother and Gob write?”

Miss Louise, trembling, read, “‘We would like for Lord Robert Anderson and Miss Pia Abbott to join your tea party.’ That’s all that’s written.”

“Really? That’s all?” Prince Ork asked.

Miss Louise passed the letter to him, and I promptly took a peek of my own, taking advantage of how close I was sitting to him. It truly was all that was written on the letter aside from the neat signatures that Lady Saravia and Imperial Prince Goblynx had left.

“This really is mother’s handwriting. Gob’s too...”

“Lady Saravia told you nothing about this, Prince Ork?” I asked him.

“No, nothing,” he confirmed.

Though no one was satisfied with the situation whatsoever, the Bartles family had no authority to refuse the royal concubine and an imperial prince from the neighboring country. Thus, we had no choice but to allow Pia and Robert to join the tea party.

The delightful atmosphere from before had taken a complete and sudden one-eighty turn, replaced by a tense air. The students from both the ladies’ and management courses kept watch on Robert like he was a criminal on a wanted list, staying vigilant in the event they had to prevent him from getting involved any further with Miss Louise.

With her protection seeming all well and good, I decided to stick close to another person in particular.

Yes—none other than Miss Mystère, who was rapidly transitioning into the role of a villainess.

“That girl...” Miss Mystère snarled. “She schemed all this just to meet with His Highness Orkhart!”

“Please calm down, Miss Mystère,” I gently urged her.

“This is not the time to ‘calm down’! I was careless because we are on holiday... Negligent, even! Me!”

As I comforted the grieving Miss Mystère, I wondered what Pia’s goal really was. If she had the backing of both Lady Saravia and Imperial Prince Goblynx, then it would’ve been far faster and simpler for her to just ask them to arrange a meeting between her and Prince Ork. Not do all this.

But was she actually getting backing from them? The imperial prince had taken Pia’s side in the cafeteria for fun, after all. Had he, acting on another one of his whims, pulled some strings to get her to join today’s tea party?

The Bartles family was of high standing and belonged to the queen consort’s faction, so the power of the empire alone wouldn’t have been enough to force them to comply. I could guess that this was why Imperial Prince Goblynx had asked Lady Saravia for help. But she had so much power that using it to help Robert and Pia barge in on a tea party was...oddly trivial.

I tilted my head, confused, and watched Pia—only to see that she was still next to Prince Ork and taking every opportunity possible to touch him.

Miss Lunamaria stood on Prince Ork’s other side, as if nearby to keep Pia in check. Her face was even more stiff and expressionless than usual as she wordlessly exerted her own pressure on Pia.

“Oh, poor Miss Lunamaria. I cannot bear to watch this,” Miss Mystère bemoaned. “She’s so frightened, and yet that girl is merely a baron’s daughter...”

“Yes, poor Miss Lunamaria,” I agreed softly.

Truly, Miss Lunamaria seemed terrified of Pia. Before Pia came along, the Kleist heiress had never had to directly fight a rival for Prince Ork. Both I and Miss Violet had other boys we preferred, and most young ladies who had their eyes on him fell prey to my looks, and became far too intimidated to actually approach him.

Lady Lunamaria desperately glared at Pia with all the hostility and disdain she could muster, but a girl who openly targeted a prince with multiple marriage candidates would never balk at such a subtle attack.

“That’s it! I must make my stand here!” Miss Mystère declared. “That girl is getting a tongue-lashing now!”

“Please stop, Miss Mystère,” I said.

“Why would you say that, Miss Cocolette? Don’t you think Miss Lunamaria is in need of help?”

“I understand how you feel, but...”

I hesitated. I worried about Miss Lunamaria, but I just couldn’t let Miss Mystère continue plunging down the dark villainous road she seemed all too eager to travel. A faction supporting Pia had already formed within the academy, and no matter how much Miss Mystère acted in the name of maintaining honest justice, there was a high probability that Pia’s group would misinterpret her actions.

“Please leave this to me,” I said at last.

I called Douglas to me, instructing him to keep Miss Mystère back. Then, with a glass of a drink in hand, I headed over to Pia.

“It has been a while, Miss Abbott,” I greeted.

Now what do I do?

I’d spoken so coolly to Miss Mystère, but really, I had no idea what to do to pacify such a forward girl. It would do no good to lecture Pia about aristocratic manners like Miss Mystère would, and it was pointless to subtly signal my intentions to her like Miss Lunamaria was doing. And since Prince Ork himself empathized with Pia, I couldn’t ask him for help here either.

However, if we continued to denigrate Pia as our social inferior, we might be setting ourselves up for future suffering, just as the villainesses in dating games eventually did. No, the easiest thing to do would be to become the heroine’s friend, but...

“Oh my,” Pia said after a moment, turning to look at me. Her tone was bright and bubbly as she went on, “You’re here at the tea party too, Miss Blossom! You’re in the ladies’ course, right?”

She gave me a glittering smile, but I could feel a barrier emanating from it, one that screamed, Stay away!

“But Miss Blossom,” she continued, still chipper, “is it all right for you to be here?”

“What do you mean, Miss Abbott?” I asked.

“Well, I saw the final exam scores! You got second place in the whole grade! It’s so amazing!” she gushed. “I mean, there’s no way you could get such a high placement with just the ladies’ course curriculum—it’s so easy, after all. I’m sure you must have studied so, so, so much behind the scenes, right~? Even for me, I’m in the advanced course and had to sacrifice my sleep to study, and I still couldn’t get the top score. You must be busy studying every single day. So I can’t help but wonder if it’s really okay for you to come to something like a tea party, you know~? I’m just really worried about you!”

“There is no need to worry,” I replied. “Everyone needs to relax every once in a while.”

“Oh, I see. I’m glad you’re just relaxing! After all, there’s no way you’d really just spend your time out and about, not studying, saying, ‘Oh, the test results were actually rigged~’ or something like that. I mean, as His Highness Orkhart’s marriage candidate and as pretty you are, Miss Blossom, I bet you could even tempt the teachers to falsify the test answers.” Pia giggled.

Was...Pia doubting the validity of the grade I had worked so hard to get, the one I had achieved to show everyone that I could be a good queen for Cheriotte?

To be fair, it might have been rare for a girl in the ladies’ course to place second in the grade in final exams, but through my queenly classes, I had been receiving the highest quality education in the country since I was eleven years old. I thought my results had fit my expertise and effort. Actually, if anyone deserved praise, it was my classmate Miss Louise, who had placed third...

Miss Lunamaria came to stand beside me. “I cannot stand by any longer and silently listen to you say such rude things to Miss Cocolette...! Listen well, Miss Abbott. Miss Cocolette will become the queen consort of Cheriotte one day, and your attitude, should you continue in this way, will only strangle the Abbott family.”

“My, Miss Kleist! You say such funny things,” Pia replied. “Miss Blossom is still only a marriage candidate. The prince won’t choose his fiancée until he turns eighteen. You can’t just declare Miss Blossom the queen co—”

“It is reality,” Miss Lunamaria interrupted. “The two love each other from the bottom of their hearts.”

“People’s hearts are fickle,” Pia pointed out. “Will they really still feel the same way about each other in another four years?”

Miss Lunamaria did not reply for a moment. “Even if Miss Cocolette’s feelings were to change, she is the only one in this country who can bear His Highness’s child.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Pia asked, puzzled. “Any woman could do that...”

My heart grew warm—Miss Lunamaria was giving her all to stick up for me. I instinctively took her hand. “Miss Lunamaria, for as long as I live, my heart will not waver. Please rest assured that I will never love another gentleman.”

Prince Raph had a handsome face, was gorgeous and cool, precious, and had an amazing personality on top of all that—who would let such a bishonen get away? If I can’t marry him, then honestly, what was the point of me even being born in this world?

Miss Lunamaria nodded, relieved.

“Wait just a second!” Pia yelled. “Please don’t just ignore me! Miss Blossom, how dare you look down on me for my commoner roots! You’re so mean!”

“Huh?”

Pia suddenly charged at me. I hurried to dodge, but lost my balance in the process.

I didn’t fall, but I watched in slow motion as the drink I’d been holding slipped out of my hand, its contents flying in the air and moments away from spilling onto Pia’s dress.

For a split second, Pia smiled gleefully, and the moment that she screamed—

Crack! Crackle-crackle-crack!

—a white light, much like a membrane, appeared in front of her. My drink hit the veil of light, then disappeared as if it had evaporated.

In the end, Pia had not a drop of liquid on her, and her dress remained clean.

“Wh-Whaaat?!” she cried out. “What was that?!”

Pia was panicking as if what had just happened was some sort of unheard of supernatural phenomenon, but...that veil of light had to have been a barrier made with defensive magic, right? I hadn’t had time to use my Aurora Shield, but maybe someone else had?

I looked around, noting in particular Prince Ork and Miss Mystère, who should have had their own Aurora Shields on them, but neither seemed to have activated it.

Then where in the world did that magic come from?

“Don’t tell me you can use some strange power too?!” Pia said, abruptly contorting her face into a terrifying glare.

Strange power? Did she mean a magic tool? But that barrier hadn’t come from my Aurora Shield...

I couldn’t come up with a good answer, and Pia’s expression turned more and more skeptical.

Just then, a maid from the Bartles family appeared.

“Excuse me, Miss Blossom, Miss Abbott,” she said, her tone relaxed and her accent dragging on her vowels. “I have had rooms prepared; if I may please guide you both to them? It may be prudent to confirm the state of your dresses.”

Although I had seen the barrier pretty much evaporate the drink midair, it was a good idea to check my dress just in case. Pia also started to worry, panicking, “That’s right, my dress!”

“Yes, I appreciate...” I began to say to the maid, but when I got a look at her face, I realized that it was Miss Violet. She must have been acting as Prince Ork’s bodyguard today as well. Behind her was Salvador, dressed in the uniform of a high-ranking servant.

Miss Lunamaria and the others didn’t seem to realize that the maid was Miss Violet. It was strange, considering how her face was out in the open for all to see.

Miss Violet promptly led Pia and me to separate drawing rooms, seeming to know her way around the Bartles estate quite well.

“Miss Cocolette, why don’t you sit on that sofa?” she said. “Salvie will bring us some tea in a moment.”

“You seem quite familiar with this mansion, Miss Violet,” I noted.

“For those estates that have grown complacent in peacetime, it’s light work to get ahold of their floor plans and the patrol routes of their guards,” she replied calmly, letting out a dry laugh.

My home is probably one of those “complacent in peacetime” mansions, I mused.

“Now then,” Miss Violet said, easily changing the topic. “I’m sure you saw that white light, correct? That is Shadow’s secret.”

“I just knew that it had to be defensive magic,” I said. “Is Shadow a wizard?”

“That, I don’t know,” Miss Violet admitted. “But in my previous bouts with him he deployed magic several times. I have three theories for this: Shadow himself is a wizard, there is a wizard supporting him, or he is in possession of magic tools.”

“If the last theory is correct, I imagine whatever countermeasures you’d have would depend on whether the manufacturer is someone within the shades of the royal family or someone from the outside.”

“If they procure from the latter, then it is a mystery as to who,” Miss Violet admitted. “The number of mages is quite small.”

“True,” I agreed.

Magic tools were within our reach thanks to Lord Dwarphister; otherwise, obtaining them was far from easy. But regardless of whether Shadow himself was a wizard or simply used magic tools, the situation surrounding him was nonetheless extremely troublesome.

“What other magic has he used?” I asked.

“That Shadow himself cannot be found makes me suspect that he is using some sort of magic in that regard. After all, even I must disguise myself in garb such as this to carry out my covert operations,” Miss Violet said.

“So that’s how magic might come in...” I muttered. Even though she was an expert in combat, Miss Violet would struggle to capture an opponent skilled in magic.

“But why did Shadow use magic just now?” I continued. I’d thought Shadow had been ordered to tail me to make sure that Prince Ork and I didn’t grow close; no matter how I looked at what had just happened between me and Pia, Prince Ork hadn’t been involved.

“I believe it may be because Miss Abbott is suspicious,” Miss Violet replied.

“Miss Abbott?”

“Remember that Miss Abbott was adopted into her father’s family, which holds only the rank of baron, and yet she has obtained the support of both Lady Sara and His Imperial Highness Goblynx. One must maintain vigilance around her,” Miss Violet warned. “Shadow must have concluded it best to eliminate anything that could ignite a quarrel with her.”

I paused, collecting my thoughts. “So he was protecting me.”

Had my drink spilled on Pia, Imperial Prince Goblynx might have found the perfect excuse to butt in. How terrifying... Thanks for the save, Shadow.

“I do have to wonder just what Lady Sara is thinking...” Miss Violet muttered unpleasantly, but just then, there was a knock at the door, and she called, “Please come in!”

Salvador entered the room, pushing a tea trolley laden with delicious-looking slices of cake and black tea, and stopped right in front of us.

“Oh, Salvie, how is Miss Abbott?” Miss Violet asked.

“I checked, but she has no kind of magic tools in her possession,” he replied. “She has already returned to the tea party.”

“Then it truly must have been Shadow’s magic at work. Just as I suspected. Thank you for looking into it, Salvie.”

“Anything for you, Milady Violet.”

She giggled. “Oh, Salvie, you sweetie.”

Watching the two in front of me start acting all affectionate made me suddenly long for Prince Raph.

Fine. When I report to him about Shadow’s magic, I’ll make sure to get in lots of lovey-dovey time!

▽

With tea and cake in our bellies, we decided to return to the party.

“Miss Violet, why is it that Miss Lunamaria and the others haven’t realized that you’re here, just wearing a maid uniform?” I asked curiously as she led me down the mansion hallways. Having such a beautiful, well-manicured girl play a maid of all things seemed a bit forced.

“I have great command over the aura I exude,” she explained. “Right now, I am keeping myself within the limits of what a maid generally attracts.”

“My goodness.” I supposed there was no other way to explain it. I found myself strangely convinced. “Extraordinary as usual, Miss Violet.”

We continued down the hall for a minute, then realized in our time away that the estate had grown boisterous. Servants were rushing up and down the corridors, calling out, “I’m heating up some water!” “Get a bath ready!” and “Someone please bring more towels!”

“I wonder if something’s happened,” I said to Miss Violet.

“It appears so,” she replied.

Once we arrived at the entrance hall we immediately noticed a large group that had gathered nearby, among them Miss Louise, Miss Mystère, Prince Ork, and Douglas. And there in the middle of that same group, soaking wet, was Miss Lunamaria, pale and wrapped in towels.

“Miss Lunamaria?! What in the world has happened?!” I cried out.

It was as if she had stood in a shower while fully clothed and been doused from head to toe. Her dress, in fact, was so drenched that it leaked puddles onto the floor. A mere drink being spilled on her could not have caused this.

Miss Lunamaria, face pallid with cold, looked up at me, but she soon bit her lip and looked away.

“We’ve prepared the bathroom,” a maid said as she approached Miss Lunamaria and gently urged her to move. Miss Lunamaria nodded minutely, then headed into the depths of the mansion, her dress skirt—heavy with the weight of water—trailing after her.

▽

“Miss Lunamaria says she slipped into the garden pond,” Miss Mystère said.

A butler had led me, Miss Mystère, and Prince Ork to a drawing room, where we now each sat on our own sofas. Douglas, as my bodyguard, stood nearby, while Miss Violet and Salvador—both masking their auras—were waiting on us. Miss Louise, stating that she was going to announce the end of the tea party to the other guests, had returned to the lawn.

Miss Mystère sipped some black tea from her cup, then continued to explain the matter to me in more detail. “I had been having an enjoyable chat with some members of the management course when that girl came back from the mansion and started looking for His Highness Orkhart.”

Prince Ork took up the next part of the story. “I thought I’d go for a stroll to help my digestion along. Luna was with me, so she and I went by ourselves to the far end of the garden. We found an excellent pond, so we spent a little bit of time there...but then Tear and Miss Abbott came running, arguing all the while. It was quite the surprise.”

“I was trying to stop that girl from doing something rude to His Highness Orkhart,” Miss Mystère explained. “But being a former commoner, she’s quite fast... I couldn’t stop her—she made it all the way to where His Highness and Miss Lunamaria were.”

“Miss Abbott flew at me, and that being a dangerous maneuver since we were so close to the water, I threw my arms around her to stop her,” Prince Ork added. “Then next to me I heard Luna scream...”

“By the time we realized what had happened, Miss Lunamaria was already in the pond.”

“Luna said it was her own fault—that she slipped.”

“My word...” I breathed. “I can hardly believe it.”

From their account, it appeared that no one had seen the moment that Miss Lunamaria had fallen into the pond.

The most natural assumption in this case was that Miss Lunamaria had slipped while about to physically peel Pia away from Prince Ork. But if it really were just an unfortunate accident, there was no reason for anyone to get upset. Miss Lunamaria had suffered a disaster, yes, but she was lucky to have not been injured—it seemed like she had only gotten wet.

“By the way,” I continued. “Was there any inconsistency between your testimonies and Miss Abbott’s?”

“No, there was not,” Miss Mystère replied. “His Highness was holding her at the time, so it appears that she did not see the moment that Miss Lunamaria fell into the pond.”

“Just so you know, Coco,” Prince Ork began. “Me holding Miss Abbott like that was something I had to do...”

I had no need for the justification. “Please tell that to Miss Lunamaria,” I replied.

Prince Ork hung his head, something I had rarely seen him do. “You really do have no interest in me, huh...?” he muttered.

There was a grief in his words that I hadn’t heard from him before. Had he finally realized that I only wanted the two of us to be friends?

A short time later, there was a knock on the drawing room door. After Douglas checked who it was, Prince Ork allowed them into the room. Miss Lunamaria, who had bathed and changed, as well as Miss Louise, who had seen off the guests, both came inside.

“I apologize deeply for causing everyone so much worry...” Miss Lunamaria said, contrite. “Miss Bartles has even lent me a dress... Thank you so much.”

She bowed her head to Miss Louise, who instantly flew into a panic.

“N-No, Miss Kleist, please raise your head!” she begged.

Miss Lunamaria, however, instead clasped Miss Louise’s hands with her own. “My family shall return this kindness.”

The color had returned to Miss Lunamaria’s face. I imagined that her pallor had been caused by both the shock of falling into the pond and the ensuing chill of the water.

“You’ve suffered quite the misfortune, Miss Lunamaria,” I noted. “But I’m relieved that you’re unhurt.”

“I must have caused you such worry, Miss Cocolette,” she replied.

“It would be awful to catch a summertime virus, so perhaps we should all make our way home,” I suggested.

“Yes, let’s,” said Miss Lunamaria.

While Miss Louise sent for wagons, I asked her how Pia had been when she’d seen the girl off.

“Far too lively. She was yelling about wanting to leave with His Highness Orkhart.” Miss Louise knit her brows together. “Just seeing Robert Anderson’s face today frustrated me to no end, and then, to have Miss Abbott appear on top of that... I suppose I simply must channel this frustration into my writing! Ah, that’s right. Miss Cocolette—thank you so much for introducing me to His Highness Orkhart! Now I feel I can write the most wonderful gentleman character!”

“I look forward to it, Miss Louise,” I replied.

And with that, the tea party—an occasion of many scandals—was over.

✛

Raphael

“A request to replace a worn-out bridge, huh...?” I muttered as I sat in my office at the villa. “And from this territory... Did we happen to visit this area on one of our chapel inspections?”

Raymond and Dwarphister, who had come to lend me a hand, looked over at my question.

“I believe we did, Your Highness,” Dwarphister said. “Ray, do you remember a worn-out bridge?”

“Of course I do, Lord Fiss!” Raymond replied chipperly. “Constructed fifty years ago, the bridge spans a river along the southern highway! During the heavy rains last year, a crack formed in the girder that was impossible to mend, forcing the bridge to close. Its closure has caused quite the delay in the distribution of goods in that area. Consequently, the territory’s annual income has dropped thirty percent, with the unemployment rate...”

A bevy of information—far more detailed than what had been submitted alongside the written request—flew out of Raymond’s mouth. As one should expect from someone with a perfect memory, I mused.

“Well then, we’ll dispatch specialists at once. Ford, please take this document to the prime minister; he is here at the palace today,” I said.

“With pleasure, Prince Raph,” Ford replied. “I will return soon.”

After the specialists completed their survey of the bridge, I’d need to immediately get the relevant documents in order and send them off to father to have the budget approved. He might have had a lazy personality, but he did realize that letting the country fall to ruin would be a far greater pain to him than helping prevent its collapse. So long as any paperwork sent his way was completed to the point where all he had to do was sign his name, he would do his lone duty—sign it.

As it was summer break, I’d had no reservations in sending for Dwarphister and Raymond to help me with the duties that had piled up over the semester. I was immensely grateful that the numerous excursions to different territories here and there on chapel inspections, which at the time had often felt like gallivanting across the kingdom, now proved to be of great use. Not to mention that with Raymond’s assistance, research took hardly any time.

We continued to work. After a while, Ford returned from the palace. Behind him were Coco and Douglas.

“Is something the matter, Coco?” I asked.

I hadn’t had plans to meet her today. The marriage candidates had increased the courseload of their queenly education classes during the summer break, and her other days should have all been crammed full of tea parties.

Coco came to see me in the middle of all that hustle and bustle, I thought, my face unconsciously softening.

“Hello, Prince Raph!” Coco said. “I happened to meet Ford just as my classes were ending, and he was kind enough to let me join him on his way back to the villa.”

“Though you must no doubt be tired from your classes and your busy schedule, I’m glad you came to see me,” I replied.

“I would dash off anywhere in order to see even a glimpse of your face—be it the Budokan, a sumo arena, or on safari!” she declared.

Coco was using words I’d never heard before, but she said them so cutely that I had no choice but to take a break and spend time with her.

I sat next to her, while Dwarphister and Raymond sat on the sofa across from us and Ford served us tea. Douglas stood in front of the office door, alert as always.

“It’s fortunate that Lord Dwarphister is here,” Coco commented. “I would like to discuss what happened at the Bartles’ residence yesterday during the tea party.”

“Douglas gave me a report about it, but I would like to hear your detailed account as well,” I said.

Coco then went on to describe how Baron Abbott’s daughter had intruded upon the tea party at the Bartles’ estate, and then how Miss Kleist had fallen into the pond.

When I informed her that I was aware of that much, she said, “Then I shall report on other matters.”

I nodded.

“This is about Shadow,” she went on. “If possible, I would like to ask Lord Dwarphister his opinion...”

“Ah, I see,” I replied. “Then let me explain the matter to Dwarphister and Raymond.”

Briefly, I explained how shades from the royal family had been assigned to follow Coco and Miss Kleist. Raymond’s eyes went wide with shock, but Dwarphister seemed less surprised, nodding with a displeased look on his face. “Quite like the queen consort to do such a thing,” he said.

“So then, Coco, what information do you have about Shadow?” I asked.

“You see, yesterday, something happened...” Coco began, launching into an ultimately mysterious retelling of how, though her drink had spilled and nearly landed on Miss Abbott, a white membrane of light had blocked and subsequently evaporated the liquid before it could stain Miss Abbott’s dress.

“It was quite like defensive magic,” she went on. “Miss Violet also said that she has witnessed Shadow utilizing magic in the past. But it is currently unclear if Shadow himself is a wizard, or if he is merely in possession of magical tools...”

Dwarphister’s eyes twinkled. “Incredible! A magic user in Cheriotte other than myself! Oh, I wish I’d been there to see it. I should have gone with Tear yesterday.”

“So you also think it was magic, Lord Dwarphister?”

“If not magic, then what else was it, Miss Blossom?!” he said excitedly. “While I cannot confirm that the royal shade used defensive magic specifically, as I did not see it with my own eyes, I would say that it’s highly likely he did.”

Dwarphister was thrilled, but Raymond, on the other hand, gazed at Coco with concern.

“I can’t believe that a shade from the royal family has been watching you...” he admitted. “Are you all right, sister? Please let me know if you’re ever scared. When we’re at the estate, I’ll be right beside you!”

“Thank you, Raymond; that’s very reassuring. You’re quite the marvelous gentleman.” She smiled, a goddess of affection made flesh, and patted his head.

“Thank you for sharing this important information, Coco,” I said. Much had happened to her, and there was a need in me to console her somehow, so I added, “I’m sorry I couldn’t go with you yesterday. I’m truly glad you’re all right.”

Coco, again, gave a radiant smile. “Well then, Prince Raph. Since I worked so hard, perhaps I could receive another reward?”

✛

“Coco,” I said after a moment. “Is this really a reward for you...?”

“Of course it is. ♡ Having you use my lap as a pillow is the best. ♡”

At the moment, I was lying down with my head on Coco’s lap.

Because we were so close, I thought it likely that not only was my face red, but my ears and neck as well. I might have been used to hugging Coco, but this was certainly something else...

Coco, as she looked down at me, was certainly in a good mood. Her hand slowly touched my head, gently combing through my hair with her fingers. I somehow felt like a defenseless child—and the thought was extremely embarrassing.

Even through Coco’s dress, I could feel both the warmth of her body and the softness of her thighs. Her floral scent, too, was so close—it was impossible for me to stay calm.

Furthermore, Dwarphister and Raymond were still here and had already gotten back to work; I could feel their unimpressed gazes on me. I rather wanted to disappear on the spot.

I hid my face, mortified.

“Ah-ah, Prince Raph,” Coco tutted. “I cannot see your face like that.”

“F-Forgive me, Coco...!”

“There are still five minutes left.”

“Besides,” I added. “This feels less like a reward for you, and more like one for me...”

“Well, I’m quite glad that this prize works out well for us both!” she declared.

I’d felt bashful about this in the beginning, but as Coco continued to tenderly pet my head, my eyelids steadily grew heavy. By the time I realized it, my hands had slipped off of my face, giving Coco a clear look at my expression.

“You must be tired, Prince Raph,” she noted. “Please go ahead and get some sleep.”

“But I...” I couldn’t be the only one to take a nap...!

“It will be all right, Your Highness Raphael,” Dwarphister assured me. “While you rest, I will summarize these affidavits.”

“And I’ll write up those documents,” Raymond added.

With Dwarphister and Raymond readily undertaking the work, Ford added, “Miss Cocolette, please continue lulling His Highness to sleep. He was up late last night with work as well.” He even brought over a blanket. Douglas, too, went over and closed the lace curtains.

“Ahh~ ♡ Your sleepy face is just too cute, Prince Raph,” Coco said softly, but as I had already fallen asleep by then, I didn’t hear her.

▽

Cocolette

After having my fill of lovey-dovey time with Prince Raph, my summer break was spent here and there at the tea parties of various estates.

I encountered Pia many times. At each party, she would arrive with a different partner, only to ignore him completely and make her assault on Prince Ork. She must have really liked him.

I also picked up a vague sense that Pia considered me a romantic rival for Prince Ork... Why though?! It was true that I was one of his marriage candidates, but it should have been a well-known fact by now that I was Prince Raph’s first choice. Why hadn’t anyone on Pia’s side told her something so important?

On the off chance she didn’t know, and that if so, she might as well hear it from me, I had tried to approach Pia numerous times, only to be met with trouble at every encounter.

Most occasions ended with a failed attempt at getting me to fall, as Pia would always bump into me to set me off-balance. Or rather, Pia always seemed to be falling down herself—at a very high rate, at that—but before I knew it, she would always be upright again, in the same exact place she was before she fell.

Pia, as confused as I, had said, “Huh? I thought I fell...” while tipping her head and shooting me a harsh glare.

It seemed like Shadow was using magic to make it as if her falls had never happened.

There had also been an incident where Pia dropped her necklace at my feet, timed so that I would step on the pendant. Judging by the sound that came from under my sole, I knew I’d broken it, but when I’d lifted my foot in panic...nothing was there. At some point, the pendant had returned—fixed and whole—to its original place around Pia’s neck. This too had to have been the shade’s magic at work.

Thanks, Shadow. At first, I hadn’t liked him whatsoever, but now I was grateful—he’d become less of a stalker in my eyes than a kind of guardian spirit. He’d really ranked up.

And so, that was how I’d come to like my extra shadow, but completely missed any opportunity to clear up Pia’s misunderstanding.

▽

Today, we were having tea with Prince Raph. Though I had come to see him now and then to report on Shadow, this was the first time during summer break that we had set up a proper get-together. After all, even though I’d been busy, Prince Raph always had to get through whole mountains of paperwork. Curse His Majesty the NEET...

For a change of pace, today I wore a gold dress to match Prince Raph’s hair when I went to the palace.

Vibrant summer flowers bloomed in the villa’s garden. A table covered in a cloth of pure white had been set out along with chairs for Prince Ork, Prince Raph, Lord Dwarphister, Raymond, and the other marriage candidates.

“I have finished reading Miss Louise’s new book, The Frosty Duke Fancies Dessert!” Miss Mystère declared. “The protagonist is the destitute daughter of a count, and, through her skill in making confections, gets the titular young duke to fall for her. I found it incredibly enlightening! Perhaps I too shall learn how to properly bake.”

“Miss Mystère, what sort of gentleman would you like to set your sights on?” Miss Violet asked curiously.

“To be candid, I do feel that it’s about time to start the search, so to speak... I will be His Highness Raphael’s marriage candidate until I’m eighteen, but after that, a plethora of marriage interviews will most likely follow...”

“That sounds like quite a pain,” Miss Violet noted. “Once I receive the monetary compensation from being a marriage candidate, I plan to marry Salvie immediately.”

“Could you really marry him so easily?” Miss Mystère asked, worried. “What if your family all comes after you?”

“As for that, I plan to use a portion of the reward money to buy a large supply of weaponry,” Miss Violet said simply in her airy drawl. “So I suppose you could call it a ‘war fund’ instead.”

“Honestly, I really can’t tell if you’re serious about that or not.”

With the maidens’ talk about love (if it could be called that) as our background music, Prince Raph and I cuddled together as we sat on the roots of a large tree. Our heads were completely empty except for our lovey-dovey affection for each other.

“Prince Raph, would you like to play a game?” I asked.

“Sure,” he replied. “What kind of game?”

“A game where I tell you all the wonderful things about you.”

“Oh. That sounds a bit embarrassing...”

“Number one: Your blue eyes are so gorgeous. Just like sapphires.”

“Coco...” he protested weakly.

“Number two: Your golden hair is so smooth and elegant.”

“Then I’ll play the game too and tell you what I find great about you,” Prince Raph said. “Number one: Your smile is always bright.”

“Your cheeks are as smooth as a baby’s,” I went on, forgoing numbers.

Prince Raph did the same. “You always give it your all, no matter the circumstances.”

“You have beautiful, soft lips.”

“You’re so kind to the people.”

“You have a pretty nose...”

“Your grades in both your queenly education classes and at the academy are excellent...”

It was then that Prince Ork and Miss Lunamaria returned from their walk around the gardens. There was a cheerful atmosphere surrounding the two of them as they had what appeared to be a lively conversation.

I looked up to call out to them—when my eyes suddenly widened.

“Miss Lunamaria!” I cried. “The train of your dress has been torn! Did you catch it on something?!”

“Huh?” Miss Lunamaria said belatedly, not seeming to have noticed the matter. Then, she let out an incredible scream.

“Are you all right, Luna?!” Prince Ork asked worriedly. “Are you hurt?!”

Fortunately she was unharmed, and her dress had been designed with so much volume in the skirt that her legs remained covered. But she was deathly pale. Ford handed her a large shawl, which she wrapped around herself as she started to shiver.

“Miss Kleist, allow me to lead you to a room where you can change,” he offered. “I will arrange a new dress for you.”

“I apologize for the trouble, Ford...” she murmured.

“Are you all right, Miss Lunamaria?” Miss Mystère asked. “I will come with you. Perhaps your dress caught on a rose thorn?”

“Thank you, Miss Mystère...”

As I watched the three of them head into the villa, I thought the rip in Miss Lunamaria’s dress seemed oddly clean, as if the fabric had been cut with a sharp knife. A thorn, if it had been the culprit, should have torn her dress in far more ragged lines.

Miss Lunamaria had suffered a string of misfortune as of late. What with her dress fiasco today and her fall into the Bartles’ pond previously, it was like she was jinxed.

Of course, at that time, I had yet to realize what unusual changes were happening around Miss Lunamaria.

Chapter 7: Scandal After Scandal

Cocolette

Our turbulent summer break ended, and our second semester began.

Daemons Academy didn’t have any student-led functions like a sports day or culture festival. Instead, there were spots here and there about the school where every day, tea parties were held. Students could attend one to network, deepen relationships, or enjoy their youthful time together with their significant others.

As I had spent practically the entire first semester networking within the ladies’ course, I thought it best to use my second semester to expand my circle into other departments. My plan was to start by going to one of the salons.

There were three total salons within the academy. The first was for the royal family to use; as Prince Raph was using it as a private office, no tea parties were held there. The second salon was for the exclusive use of the upper nobility, meaning those holding the rank of count or above; Prince Ork, Miss Mystère, and Miss Lunamaria had a firm hegemony over that area. The third salon was for the use of lower rank nobles—viscount and below—as well as students who hailed from merchant families; this area happened to be the stronghold of Pia’s faction.

Even if someone didn’t want to go into a salon, they could still use the department lounges and commingle with fellow students there. And in the schoolyard or cafeteria there were always plenty of students having tea parties of their own as well.

Incidentally, Imperial Prince Goblynx didn’t go to any of the salons; I assumed he was a solitary figure. Or perhaps he’s too busy stalking me around school to bother getting to know the other students...

“Well then, Miss Louise, shall we head to the upper salon?” I asked.

“Let’s,” she replied. “This will be my first time at a salon here.”

“Mine as well.”

I and Miss Louise—as she held the rank of count—headed together to the main building where the salon for the upper nobility was. Since I was going anyway and Miss Louise was in the midst of looking for someone to marry, I thought she could join me—I could help her promote her novel there too.

An academy servant stood in front of the salon, and upon seeing us, immediately opened the door.

The inside was spacious. Many comfortable-looking chairs and sofas had been set out, and there were numerous large tables and windows where girls sat gathered and small groups of boys stood, respectively. Tea trolleys piled high with tea and cake were brought to each and every table too.

“My, my, if it isn’t Miss Cocolette! Miss Louise too! Please, come this way.”

The voice belonged to Miss Mystère, who sat in what appeared to be none other than the VIP seat in the far back of the salon. Standing at attention nearby were three rather high-level orc-faces. As they were rather ardent devotees of hers, it would have been a good guess to consider them her elite guards.

“First time here for the both of you, yes?” Miss Mystère asked. “Shall I give you a tour?”

“There is no need, Miss Mystère; I will be fine,” I assured her. “I plan to make my way around and say hello.”

“Please do not go out of your way, Miss Wagner. I will be seeking out my dear friend first,” Miss Louise added.

“My, are you sure?” Miss Mystère confirmed. “Well, I imagine that His Highness Orkhart and Miss Lunamaria will arrive in the meantime. Once you’ve finished your greetings, we can all get together and have some cake.”

“That sounds lovely,” I agreed.

“I look forward to it,” Miss Louise added.

We left Miss Mystère, and Miss Louise went to find her friend.

I started to make my rounds. There must have been about thirty students in the salon currently, and regardless of school grade I was acquainted with all of them. As upper nobility of similar ages, we had all attended the palace garden party where the princes had chosen their marriage candidates; there I had met everyone at least once. I had also taken a class in my queenly education courses titled Host Your Own Tea Party, in which we had invited girls from the upper nobility to attend numerous times, so I’d had a fair amount of interaction with them.

The problem I had was the fact I’d hardly met any members of the lower nobility—the viscounts and barons. And they were numerous. I knew from democracy in my old world that numbers were a force to be reckoned with, so I really wanted them on Prince Raph’s side.

When I greeted a male student from a fellow marquisate, he replied with something rather odd.

“I’m relieved to see that you haven’t changed a bit, Miss Blossom.” He paused. “I consider you the ‘angel of love.’ Please come to me if you ever need someone to talk to—I’m on your side.”

His words left me perplexed and momentarily dumbfounded. “Thank you; that’s quite reassuring,” I said at last.

He was worried about me for something I absolutely had no recollection of. I thanked him reflexively, but had something happened to me...?

He wasn’t the only one to say something strange to me. A young lady assured me, “I believe that you’re in the right, Miss Blossom,” while another boy added, “I never lend my ear to prattle, Miss Cocolette; please do not worry yourself over it either.”

I was glad for their support, but this didn’t mean that the plan to overthrow Queen Marie-Jewel had been exposed, right?

After quite a number of these declarations, I decided to end my duties at the salon for the time being so that I could have Amaretti gather information for me later. And of course, I joined Prince Ork and the others for tea.

▽

But before Amaretti could gather any information, trouble came rolling in.

Today as I was heading for the salon, several people began shouting from behind me.

“Cocolette of the Blossom Marquisate! You will cease your torment of Pia Abbott at once!”

“You coward! You’ve been watching from the sidelines this whole time, ordering the Wagner heiress to do your bidding, haven’t you?!”

“Exactly! You’re just jealous because Pia’s cuter than you!”

This was the first time since I’d been born in this beautiful body that such verbal abuse had been thrown at me. I couldn’t help but freeze. Not only could I not remember doing anything these boys were talking about, but I was shocked that they would even speak this way to such a peerless beauty as myself.

Has something happened to these boys’ eyes...? The idea that “the cute are correct” was already commonplace in my old world, but here? In this world, where the beauty standards were even stricter, wasn’t I—being so gorgeous—not just correct, but practically a sacred text...? A god, even...?

“How dare ya speak so rudely to Miss Cocolette!”

Just as I turned around, Douglas yelled and pinned all three boys, who had been trying to approach me, to the floor. I couldn’t see them well, so I looked over Douglas’s shoulder.

It must have taken an incredible show of will to dare insult me—for God blessed all of His divine power unto my beautiful face. I shall remember you boys well.

The boys, all orc-faces of moderate degrees, looked up at me—and then promptly looked as if their souls had left their bodies.

My, my. This is familiar. Still, what kind of people could insult me and then, in the next second, instantly fall for my looks? I really didn’t understand them.

The boys, whom Douglas had already forced to the floor, prostrated themselves with their foreheads to the ground—all of their own volitions.

“I-I deeply apologize...!” said the first. “For you to bully anyone, Miss Cocolette, is just unthinkable—not when you’re as lovely as a goddess...!”

The second cried out, “We were wrong! We’re sorry! Please inflict the most relentless of punishments upon us!”

“How could we have been so foolish...? There’s no way you could be jealous of Pia, Miss Blossom! We spoke out of turn...”

The boys’ attitude had changed so quickly that I had to wonder what their earlier outbursts had actually been about. Their faces were so pale that just looking at them now made me feel bad.

All right, I decided after a moment. It’s prime time to get some solid information out of them.

As much as I could, I smiled faintly, channeling the feeling of a noble young lady who, though wounded by the harsh words of these young men, accepted their apology with her innate compassion and truly beautiful heart into my expression.

“It appears that we have some sort of mutual misunderstanding,” I said at last. “You see, I am deeply concerned about both Miss Mystère and Miss Abbott. I would very much like to hear what you boys have to say.”

Terribly worried about my friends tears also appeared in the corners of my eyes. Well, I truthfully was actually rather distressed about Miss Mystère’s villainess act, but I decided to turn up my performance to two hundred percent.

And just like that, the boys easily gave in to my good looks and spilled the beans. According to them, a rumor was circulating among the inner circles of the lower nobility here that I was the mastermind behind Pia’s treatment by Miss Mystère—that Miss Mystère, as my subordinate, was actually acting on my orders to torment Pia.

Wait, wait, wait. This is just strange.

For generations, the prime ministers had come from the Wagner Duchy. In what world could I, the daughter of a marquis, command Miss Mystère to do anything? Actually, the opposite was more likely to happen.

There were also other various rumors, like that I was bullying Pia because I “was envious of how cute she was” or that I “was jealous that His Highness Orkhart loved Pia.”

Isn’t this all strange...?

Sure, at first glance Pia looked like a heroine—someone everyone could get along with. And of course, I also thought she was cute. But...I was prettier; I was a goddess of beauty...

These boys, incited by righteous indignation upon hearing these rumors, had boldly come to rail against me while my back had been turned. But as soon as they had seen my face, their anger had vanished, leaving them with only regret and apologies.

This is all extremely strange.

Pia was the only person I could think of as the perpetrator behind these rumors, but just in case, I decided I would have Amaretti do some digging.

▽

“It’s just as you suspected, Miss Cocolette!” Amaretti cried, enraged. She clutched a written report in her hand so tightly it sounded like the document was being crumpled. “That girl is spreading malicious rumors about my lady! What a bitch!”

She handed me the paper. Written upon it were the results of the past week, in which I’d had Amaretti accompany me to the academy so she could observe Pia’s movements. It confirmed what I had suspected: Pia had been spreading nasty rumors about me among the students in the lower nobility.

The past week had also had a multitude of these same students storming at me, yelling at me to “Stop tormenting Pia Abbott!” Then, every time the perpetrators saw my utterly peerless beauty, they had knelt on the ground and blubbered, “I’m so sorry! An angel of love such as yourself would never bully anyone!”

Such strange events had occurred time and time again. Moreover, among these culprits, a couple of barons’ sons—Lord Homer and Lord Lidl—had harassed me twice.

After the first incident, they had prostrated themselves, pale-faced, and exclaimed, “There’s no way you could be a bully, Miss Blossom! We apologize deeply for such rudeness!”

The second time we met, however, it had been as if the boys had reverted back to square one. They’d stormed at me, yelling, “Miss Blossom! We must protest your unjust behavior!” only to start when they saw my face and immediately stop objecting to my very presence. They’d burst into tears at the fact that they’d blundered yet again.

“I knew you weren’t jealous of a girl like Pia,” Lord Homer had despaired. “But Miss Blossom, when I saw you from behind, I just got so angry...”

Lord Lidl added, “Before I realized what was happening, I was shouting at you. I don’t know at all why I did something so outrageous...”

The boys knew full well that it was unacceptable for a barony to protest twice against a marquisate without proof, which I assumed was why they had divulged their mental states as best as they could. By all means, this issue should have been formally protested to their families, but considering that what had happened was as of yet ambiguous, I’d put the action on hold.

What in the world was that about...? It was almost as if they had been manipulated...like marionettes...

For now, I was saving the matter to eventually report to Prince Raph.

Amaretti continued on with her tirade. “That tramp possesses a talent for lying, she does! She went to all the particularly good-looking male students in the lower salon and threw herself at them in tears! ‘Miss Blossom was so coldhearted to me again... I knew it—she must be upset that His Highness Orkhart is so kind to me...!’”

Amaretti’s impression of Pia’s speaking mannerisms was spot-on, but as she continued, her own frustration was added to the mix. “Miss Cocolette, my kindhearted lady—there’s no way you would ever do anything so absurd! Ah, and then there was that time she was clinging to the second prince of the Portanian Empire! How vulgar of her!”

“My goodness...” I said softly, glad that I hadn’t investigated Pia myself. Most likely I would have witnessed something that, as a self-shipper, I wouldn’t have been able to bear.

“We must chase that strumpet out of Daemons Academy!” Amaretti urged. “You may leave all matters to me!”

“No, Amaretti; we must not be so extreme,” I warned. “I want you to continue observing Miss Abbott’s movements and report as necessary. Should something happen, consult me immediately.”

Amaretti paused, swallowing her disappointment. “Yes, Miss Cocolette. If my kindhearted lady says so, then I will do as she wishes...”

“Do not act without orders, Amaretti,” I cautioned.

“I understand, Miss Cocolette.”

Failing to consult with others and, by doing so, make the situation worse was the heroine’s fundamental role. It was a standard trope for the heroine to push herself valiantly to the limits all on her own, her efforts heightening the story to a climax in which the hero came rushing in to save her—but in reality, she was causing trouble for everyone around her. While I did admire this aspect as a self-shipper, inconveniencing Prince Raph was out of the question.

After reminding Amaretti not to behave recklessly out on her own, I decided to head to the royal salon to report to Prince Raph.

▽

I was just telling Prince Raph about Pia when it happened.

Miss Mystère’s bodyguards came to the royal salon bearing a message from their lady. Miss Mystère herself was nowhere to be seen; I had a hunch that she was already deep in an emergency situation.

Ford let the elite guards in; all three wore mite-misty glasses with lightly colored frames that matched Miss Mystère’s. They approached Prince Raph, then bowed their heads respectfully.

Prince Raph recoiled at their glittering aura, but still asked, “What in the world is this all about?”

“We have come with a message from Lady Wagner,” said one of the bodyguards. “Miss Kleist has fallen down the staircase in the advanced course building. Fortunately, she has not suffered any major injuries, only bruises. Lady Wagner urgently requests Your Highness’s presence in the medical office of the main building.”

“Miss Kleist?” Prince Raph echoed. “She fell down the stairs...?”

“Oh, no—this is awful! Prince Raph, we must hurry to the infirmary at once!” I cried out before turning to the bodyguards to ask, “Is Miss Mystère with Miss Lunamaria?!”

“Yes,” the same one replied. “Others have already arrived.”

I, Prince Raph, our guards, and Miss Mystère’s elite bodyguards all headed to the infirmary.

▽

When we arrived, we were met with some familiar faces: Miss Mystère, eyes already swollen from crying; Prince Ork, who wore a grave expression; Miss Violet in her maid uniform; Salvador; Lord Dwarphister; and my darling Raymond.

Miss Lunamaria lay in bed, pale-faced and shivering. Prince Ork was at her side, worriedly gripping her hand.

“Miss Lunamaria, are you okay?!” I asked.

“Miss Kleist, I’ve heard you were bruised, but do you have any other injuries?” Prince Raph added.

As the two of us hurried up to the bed, Miss Lunamaria turned her head to look at us, her ice-blue eyes still shining with terror.

“Thank you for your concern, Miss Cocolette, Your Highness Raphael,” she said after a moment. “I am not particularly hurt.”

“How did you fall down the stairs? Did you lose your footing...?” Prince Raph asked slowly.

Miss Lunamaria shook her head. “I apologize, Your Highness Raphael...” She paused; it seemed that recalling that moment brought back fear, given the way her shoulders began to tremble fiercely. “I do not...recall... One moment I was fine, and the next, I was tumbling down the stairs...”

Prince Ork, who had been nearby when she fell, explained, “I spent our break period with Luna, but when it was almost time for our next class to start, I only saw her to the staircase... I should have escorted her all the way to the sophomore classroom... I’m truly sorry.”

He hung his head.

“That girl must have pushed Miss Lunamaria down the stairs!” Miss Mystère suddenly yelled, clutching her impeccable black sausage curls in such a tight grip that they were instantly disheveled. “I saw her! With my 20/4 vision! I watched Miss Lunamaria ascend the stairs, and up at the top was that idiotic Abbott girl! Just as Miss Lunamaria reached the top, she suddenly fell...! It had to have been that girl!”

“Calm down, Tear,” Lord Dwarphister soothed, hugging Miss Mystère around the shoulders as she sobbed in indignation. Her elite guards also clustered close to her, worriedly holding out handkerchiefs for her to use.

“Miss Mystère,” I began. “Did you see the actual moment Miss Abbott pushed Miss Lunamaria?”

If so, then this whole incident could be resolved rather quickly—if strangely, given the fact that the perpetrator who had supposedly pushed the heir of Cheriotte’s premier duchy hadn’t been arrested despite being caught red-handed.

“As for the actual moment...I did not see it,” Miss Mystère mumbled. “But that girl is always far too suspicious! I mean, when Miss Lunamaria fell into the pond she was close by as well!”

At that time too, no one had seen the exact second Miss Lunamaria had tumbled into the water, and Miss Lunamaria herself had said she’d slipped...

Huh? Come to think of it, hasn’t she been having way too much bad luck since summer break...? Thinking back, her dress had been slashed a little too cleanly when she and Prince Ork had so happily gone on a walk around the villa garden. And now, she’d fallen down the stairs...

Isn’t this pretty similar to those plots where the heroine gets bullied by the villainess...?

As I ruminated on all this, Prince Raph spoke up from beside me. “Coco has been having her maid observe Miss Abbott’s movements. We may be able to learn more details about what Miss Abbott was doing at the moment of the accident from her.”

Miss Mystère’s eyes glittered. “Goodness, Miss Cocolette—aren’t you on top of things!”

“Coco, could we ask your maid some questions?” Prince Raph asked.

“Of course,” I replied.

“Then I’ll go get Amaretti!” Raymond chirped.

Seemingly filled to the brim with a sense of duty, he left the infirmary without any prompting. After a while, he returned with Amaretti in tow.

“Most unfortunately, that hussy did nothing,” Amaretti reported. “At the time Miss Kleist fell down the stairs, Miss Abbott was merely watching in apparent surprise.”

“I see...” I murmured. “Thank you for the report, Amaretti.”

Miss Mystère seemed displeased, but Pia’s innocence had been proven, and so the accident was attributed to Miss Lunamaria’s own negligence.

▽

After that incident, the Kleist family assigned their own guards as Miss Lunamaria’s escort. By all rights, these should have been knights dispatched by the royal family, like Douglas was for me—however, Miss Lunamaria herself had declined that offer.

“I will be all right; my family’s guards, much like the ones kept by the royal family, are a cut above the rest,” she had said before pausing. “Besides, I would feel guilty relying on the royal family’s assistance because of troubles caused by my own carelessness.”

But regardless of it being your fault or not, isn’t it fine to rely on others when you need to?

Still, it was Miss Lunamaria’s wish and hers alone; there was no changing that. I just had to pray that the guardsmen belonging to the premier duchy of Cheriotte were on par with those employed by the royal family.

However, despite my hopes, Miss Lunamaria’s bad luck just didn’t know when to quit.

“Miss Kleist was walking through campus with the second prince when a potted plant fell from one of the upper floors in the main building! Thankfully it didn’t hit her directly, but the pot shattered and one of its shards cut her arm!”

“There was poison mixed into Miss Kleist’s meal! They quickly pumped her stomach, but she is still quite unwell; she will not be attending classes today!”

“Miss Kleist was returning home from the hospital when her carriage was attacked! Her guards managed to drive away the ruffian, but couldn’t capture them—”

Miss Mystère’s elite bodyguards kept bringing these reports to me one after another, shocking me to the core.

Wh-Whaaaaaaat?! Aren’t these all classic examples of the heroine getting bullied?!

Regarding the potted plant—it seemed to have truly been an accident, as it had been arranged on a third-floor windowsill and just happened to fall; Miss Lunamaria’s cut had occurred when she had helped to clean up the resulting mess. But there just had to be a culprit behind both the poisoning and the attack on her carriage! Who in the world is going after her?!

Apparently, the toxin had been mixed into her meal after it had already been taste tested for poison. The maid who had set out Miss Lunamaria’s meal had immediately been assumed to be the prime suspect, but she was innocent. She was the daughter of Miss Lunamaria’s wet nurse, so not only was she trustworthy, but in the immediate aftermath she had also done her utmost to give Miss Lunamaria first aid and have the young heiress vomit up the toxin. The maid had neither the motive to administer the poison nor had she done anything strange; more than that, Miss Lunamaria herself had vouched for her. In the end, the perpetrator had not been found.

Furthermore, the ruffian—yes, a lone criminal and not a group—who attacked the carriage was also still at large. Apparently, this single person had been an even match against the five guards who had been accompanying Miss Lunamaria and had escaped. Such a brute is far too strong...

Incidentally, on each of these occasions, Pia had been nowhere near Miss Lunamaria, nor had she been doing anything strange (according to Amaretti).

There was no way I could stay silent under these circumstances, so I went to visit Miss Lunamaria.

“Miss Lunamaria, you should have knights as your guards,” I advised her, despite her rank being superior to mine. “Though I will concede that the incidents at the pond and the staircase could have been the results of your inattention, the poisoning and the attack on your carriage are completely different matters. Those are maliciousness made manifest. I truly believe you should have knights from the palace dispatched for your protection.”

Miss Lunamaria hesitated. “But Miss Cocolette...”

“You needn’t feel like you’re being a burden,” I reassured her. “I am from a marquisate, after all, but still have a knight assigned to me. A sizable escort bordering on the excessive would only be appropriate for a young miss from the premier duchy.”

I had not been met with any particular accidents or scandals, but that was only because I had both Shadow the royal shade following me and Douglas serving as my guard. Miss Lunamaria...

—Huh? Wait, didn’t Miss Lunamaria also have a shade from the royal family assigned to her?

Then what were they doing all those times they failed to protect Miss Lunamaria...?

Before I could deliberate on that sudden question, Miss Lunamaria finally responded.

“I understand. I will request knights from the royal palace.”

Thus, Miss Lunamaria’s defenses grew stronger.

▽

“Really...” I murmured. “It’s definitely strange.”

I sat on my bed late at night, deep in thought about the shades of the royal family.

Shadow, sticking to me as he did, had protected me from Pia’s “blunders” so many times that he might as well have been a guardian spirit—so long as we ignored his outrageous orcish features. In short, the shades that had been deployed to follow both me and Miss Lunamaria should have been both conducting surveillance for Queen Marie-Jewel and protecting their charges from scandals and accidents.

Yet despite that, Miss Lunamaria had been met with trouble after trouble. Her shade wasn’t fulfilling their role.

“Just why, then, is Shadow different...?” I wondered aloud.

The lamp placed on my bedside table glowed softly. In such a silent space, my words echoed clearly across the room.

Immediately, I heard the tap-tap of a knock at the window leading to my balcony. Behind the curtains, the light of the moon outlined a defined silhouette—someone was out there.

Whoever it was knocked gently on the window again with an incredibly slow, almost dramatic rhythm, as if hinting at the dazzling rendezvous that would begin if only I drew back the curtains.

I held my head in both hands.

Prince Raph was definitely not the person on the balcony. I also knew that it was neither Raymond nor Douglas. After all, whoever could have orchestrated such a thing—who could so directly appeal to a self-shipper’s heart like this—was someone who had confidence in his charm, and they certainly didn’t.

He was definitely a monster. I really wished he would just stop. Why are all the dreams that self-shippers yearn to do with bishonen—midnight meetings in their bedrooms, trysts on the balcony—being smashed to smithereens with heavy machinery...?!

Despite my despair, I just barely managed to open the curtains. And just as I feared, Shadow was there on the balcony, fluttering his hand in a wave.

“Hey, young lady. You seem troubled.”

Like absolute hell I was going out on the balcony; I only opened up the window enough to hear Shadow’s voice.

When we get married, Prince Raph and I are definitely canoodling out on a balcony, I promised myself firmly.

Shadow praised my caution. “How chaste of you, young lady. Another reason you are a perfect fit as His Highness Raphael’s royal concubine.”

“If you wish for me to remain chaste, Shadow, then why have you come to visit me at this hour?” I asked. “If you are seen I’ll be suspected of having a nighttime lover.”

“It’s all right,” he assured me. “No one is on watch at the moment. There are no witnesses around.”

Shadow, his black eye patch in stark relief against his face, crossed his arms cheerfully. “Now then,” he continued. “You have questions for me, right? I’ll answer just one of them for you—a lucky opportunity for tonight only. ☆”

He was acting quite suspiciously, but I had no other person to ask. Finally, I said, “I understand that there should be a shade from the royal family attached to Miss Lunamaria; why are they not protecting her? I thought Queen Marie-Jewel wanted her to be Prince Raph’s queen consort, but at this rate, Miss Lunamaria’s very life is in danger. And even if things do not degrade to such a degree, there is a very real chance of Miss Lunamaria incurring major bodily harm.”

“About that,” Shadow began. “We shades should only protect those who are worth protecting—our charges must act in ways that make them deserving of it, you see.”

“Are you saying that Miss Lunamaria is not someone worth protecting?” I asked. “Even though Queen Marie-Jewel herself wants her to be the next queen consort?”

“I believe I answered one question, young lady. Your lucky opportunity has ended.” Shadow uncrossed his arms, then stretched them. “Ahh, I’m bored. Hey, young lady—how about a nighttime stroll? I’ll make sure the guards don’t see us.”

“That sounds absolutely deplorable. I think not.”

Meandering around in the middle of the night seemed like a perfectly lovely and romantic experience—for me and Prince Raph to do together. There was no way I was doing that here and now.

“Well shoot,” Shadow said, turning his face away somewhat standoffishly and shrugging his shoulders. “But I guess you being like this is precisely why I want to protect you.” He paused. “I’m sure he’d have been happy to have you as his charge.”

The last words had been a whisper—something that thoughtlessly left his lips instead of something he intended for me to hear. For a man who had never been without a sort of gaudiness to him from the moment we met, he had, for just a moment, let slip a sad mood into the air.

“And who is ‘he’?” I asked.

He paused. “Ohooo? You want to know? Young lady, are you developing an interest in me?”

“No, that is not the case.” I had absolutely no interest in Shadow’s personal relationships. However... “Your face seemed positively wretched just a moment ago. I thought you might be speaking about someone very important to you.”

“You really can see right through me, can’t you, young lady?” Shadow said finally. Suddenly, he seemed quite tired, but in a blink his face smoothed over with a bright expression. “There is a great person who is not just my teacher and my superior, but my family too. I’m always wishing for his happiness.”

So even Shadow, a shade of the royal family, had a cherished family member. It sounded lovely. However, based on his expression, that person might have been in some sort of trouble.

“Are you worried about that gentleman?” I asked. “I will listen, if you’ll have me.”

Shadow burst out laughing. “Trying to glean information from the royal shade tailing you, huh? Even in this whole wide world, only you would do something like that. You really are such an entertaining young lady!”

He continued on guffawing for some time. Then, finally, he continued on in a much quieter voice. “But if things do get too much for me to handle, then I might actually end up turning to you.”

“Shadow...” Without having even a clear conjecture as to what sort of serious issue he was handling, I had not an idea how to reply. I was baffled.

“Sorry. Guess the mood got pretty heavy there,” Shadow said with a smile, but I could sense how stiff it was. “See ya, young lady. Staying up late is bad for your beauty. Go get some sleep.”

Shadow ended the conversation by blowing a kiss, then disappeared like smoke into the night.

▽

The academy was closed today, so in the morning I went to my queenly education classes at the palace.

Miss Lunamaria was absent. She hadn’t been to Daemons Academy either since the ruffian’s attack on her carriage several days ago.

Just having one person missing made the rest of us still taking lessons incredibly lonesome. Miss Mystère’s usually bouncy black sausage curls were limp and lifeless, while Miss Violet had no enthusiasm for our classes. Normally we would have lively conversations, but no one seemed to be in the mood for them today; when our lessons ended, we hurriedly went our separate ways.

“When I’m down, looking at bishonen is best,” I mused. “I’ll go see Prince Raph!”

Besides, Raymond (and Lord Dwarphister) had come to the villa to help Prince Raph out today. With Douglas along as my guard, I’d be able to look at him too; my paradise would be complete!

And so, Douglas in tow, I decided to head for Prince Raph’s villa.

Not only was it detached from the palace, but it was also the farthest building away from it. It had been made so that Cheriotte’s royal family could segregate Prince Raph, King Schwarz, and any other ugly men born into the royal line from the rest of the family. Getting there was always a bit of a walk.

As usual, the farther I moved away from the palace, the fewer people there were. The servants became few and far between, the presence of the gardeners becoming so infrequent to the point that I couldn’t see them anymore, and even the knights on patrol shrank to just mere specks in the distance. It was then on my walk that I heard a masculine voice coming from a gazebo.

“But...from His Imperial Majesty! Why...you...!”

It sounded as if the owner of the voice was trying to coerce whomever he was speaking with.

Without thinking, I stopped in my tracks. Douglas and I silently exchanged looks and nodded, then crouched beside some bushes and stealthily peeked at the gazebo.

It wasn’t very ladylike, I had to admit, but it was necessary—I’d definitely heard the words “His Imperial Majesty.” Cheriotte’s king was addressed as “His Majesty.” Among our neighboring countries, the only one that called their leader “His Imperial Majesty” was the Portanian Empire.

Anyway, who wouldn’t have been curious to figure out who was talking about the emperor in such a deserted place?

I carefully looked out toward the gazebo and saw Lady Saravia, the royal concubine and Prince Ork’s beautiful mother, with His Imperial Highness Goblynx. Two bodyguards stood at the gazebo entrance.

She looked as ageless as ever, her dark brown skin granting her a lustrous, graceful air. Her orange hair was short overall and shorn at the back of the head, and she was in her usual fashion of men’s clothing from Portania—her home country. She elegantly held a teacup in her hand.

Across from her, with the same distinct skin and hair, was Imperial Prince Goblynx. He suddenly leaped from his chair and slapped his hands on the table with a bam!

“Please, Aunt Saravia! You must listen to me! This is a decree directly from His Imperial Majesty!”

Lady Saravia took her time to respond. “I’m listening, Gob. But I’m not hard of hearing yet, so there’s no need to shout.”

“Then why don’t you immediately send your acknowledgment—”

“Acknowledgment?” she echoed. “Don’t pull my leg. I don’t take orders from anyone. I simply won’t stand for it, kiddo.”

He grunted, taken aback. “Aunt Saravia, do you intend to betray the emperor...?!”

“Of course I won’t betray him—I can’t. I never pledged my loyalty to the Portanian Empire in the first place. I may have become a hostage to the Kingdom of Cheriotte out of my duty to the empire as a member of the imperial royal family, but that is as far as my obligation goes.”

“Ork is our pawn,” His Imperial Highness Goblynx said. “If you don’t—”

“I won’t let the empire have its way with my adorable son.”

I didn’t really understand what they were talking about, but the atmosphere between them was incredibly tense. I monitored my breathing, keeping it slow and stable to prevent either Douglas or myself from being noticed, and kept watching.

“Tell His Imperial Majesty this, O nephew of mine,” Lady Saravia continued. “‘I will not budge. Nor will I let anyone interfere with Ork. Become more beautiful than I am, and then I will do as you wish.’”

Imperial Prince Goblynx did not answer for a moment. “You’re insane, Aunt Saravia.”

She chuckled. “Wasn’t I sent here to this country because our family deemed me worthless? It’s far too late to start whining now.”

Imperial Prince Goblynx paused once more. “I will leave matters here for today,” he said, “but His Imperial Majesty’s orders will be followed to the letter.” He called out to one of the guards. “We’re leaving.”

His Imperial Highness Goblynx and his guard departed, leaving only Lady Saravia and her escort in the gazebo.

Lady Saravia returned her teacup to its saucer, then—suddenly—called out toward the bush Douglas and I were hiding behind. “All done playing hide-and-seek? Won’t you come out and have tea with me...Coco?”

I hesitated. “Yes.”

Caught red-handed...

My face felt like it was about to twitch; I paused and composed myself, then revealed myself alongside Douglas.

The first thing I did was apologize for eavesdropping, to which Lady Saravia smiled in amusement.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I was the one who neglected to ensure this area of the gardens was cleared of people. It’s not a popular spot.”

She offered me tea. I took a sip, and the spicy aroma gradually spread from my mouth to my nostrils. It was a spice tea much like that from the Portanian Empire.

“Now then, where should I start?” Lady Saravia continued, putting her pointer finger to her chin. After a moment of thought, she said, “I guess I’ll begin with the Portanian Empire, where I was born and raised. I assume you’ve already learned through your queenly education classes that the empire and the Kingdom of Cheriotte hold differing beauty standards?”

“I have. I believe that gentlemen like His Highness Goblynx are considered delicate or ephemeral...”

“Mm-hmm,” she agreed. “Wheras in Cheriotte, men like my Ork or His Majesty the King are considered the handsomest of men. It’s those differing merits that have caused numerous wars between the two countries throughout our history.”

“Yes...”

As I listened to Lady Saravia speak so gravely, I carefully placed my hands on my lap at such an angle that the table would conceal me pinching my thighs through my dress. Keep a straight face, Cocolette! I told myself. No matter how utterly useless those wars were, they’re an important part of the history of this world you’ve dropped into! You are an actress!!!

I put my all into making a sorrowful expression, one that expressed I wish there were no such thing as war on this earth, and Lady Saravia smiled back.

“You’re a kind girl, Coco,” she said. “You see, even though I was born as an imperial princess of the Portanian Empire, I hated the men in our royal family.”

“You did...?”

“The Portanian Empire discriminates based upon not only personal appearance, but also sex; men dominate at every level of society, and their power is deeply rooted within the empire’s history,” Lady Saravia explained. “I suffered terribly at the hands of my father and the imperial princes. My mother, the emperor’s other consorts, and the other imperial princesses were all also looked down upon—simply because we were women.”

So the Portanian Empire had a culture that wasn’t only prejudiced against the ugly, but was also just plain sexist as well? In other words, goblin supremacy...? Whoaaa... Sounds like hell...

“From the bottom of my heart, I despised every single one of the men in the imperial royal family,” she continued. “And then one day, I had a thought: I would show them all what an ideal gentleman really looks like. That way, more respectable men might start popping up in the empire.”

“May I ask, Lady Saravia, if that is why you started dressing as a man?”

“It is. However, things did not go as I planned. The men in my family deemed me insane. It was at that time that the Portanian Empire had lost its latest war to the Kingdom of Cheriotte; you see, as part of the empire’s reparations for that war, I was married off to the king. They cared not for what would befall me once in the hands of the enemy. I was worthless to them as a princess, after all.”

“No... That’s awful...”

“But ironically, coming to Cheriotte and getting married here has allowed me to see how much more sensible this country is in comparison to where I came from. Though the aesthetic values are different here, women, at least, are respected,” she said before smiling bitterly.

The gentle rays of the autumn sun shone down around the gazebo, making the garden foliage—just starting to turn crimson, amber, and orange—all the more vibrant. I imagined that what vegetation survived the empire’s hot climate looked much different than what could be found here.

Lady Saravia looked upon the garden—a scene utterly unlike her homeland—with a tender, almost bruised softness, the softness that came from letting go of tightly held dreams. Then, at last, she spoke.

“The Portanian Empire is trying to make a puppet out of my Ork.”

Finally, it appeared that we had come to the topic that she and Imperial Prince Goblynx had been discussing. I remembered that he had ridiculed Prince Ork as a “pawn,” then—in a particularly oppressive manner—tried to press Lady Saravia into accepting the emperor’s orders.

“Ork has Portanian blood in him,” Lady Saravia continued. “The empire intends to make him crown prince, which would effectively make the Kingdom of Cheriotte their vassal nation.”

“They want to make Prince Ork the heir...?” I said slowly. “But Prince Raph already is crown prince. How does the Empire of Portania intend to remove him from the position?”

“Every last one of that lot doesn’t care one bit about His Highness Crown Prince Raphael,” she replied. “They look down on His Highness because they believe he holds no real power as crown prince—that his face has handicapped him.”

“How cruel!” I gasped. “Prince Raph may not have an appearance that appeals to everyone, but he works so hard, and has done much to deepen the trust between him and all manner of people around him! Even now, the upper nobility expects great things from him! Such mockery against him is unforgivable...!”

“Yes, Coco; your anger is natural,” Lady Saravia agreed. “The Portanian Empire clings to truly foolish values. Nothing has changed from when I lived there myself...”

Detestable Portanian goblins...! May all of you spend your next lives in Japan in those exact same forms!

It satisfied me, somewhat, to imagine those wretched goblins in Japan—having zero luck with girls, looking up the latest fashions trends in immense suffering, and desperately shrieking, “Please make me look cool!” in the middle of a beauty parlor.

Lady Saravia continued on. “You know, Ork is always so happy when he talks about the crown prince. I hardly have any personal connection to the gentleman myself, but despite his exceedingly complicated upbringing, as a brother, he has properly looked after my son. I have always been grateful to His Highness for that.”

“Lady Saravia...!”

“I was surprised when Ork told me he wanted to work as His Highness’s diplomatic aide. You see, my son is just so adorable that I couldn’t help but coddle him while I raised him. The people around him have no backbone when it comes to his beauty either, which means that unfortunately, he depends upon others far too much... I believe it is His Highness who has raised Ork to be a proper prince.” Her expression took on a motherly look.

“I’m afraid all I can do is drive off my nephew and refuse His Imperial Majesty’s orders,” she continued. “Though it may not be much, I hope I can be of some small assistance to His Highness Crown Prince Raphael.”

“Thank you very much, Lady Saravia!” I said, bowing my head. “It’s deeply reassuring to know that you are among Prince Raph’s allies.”

She burst out laughing. “Already acting like his queen consort, aren’t you? How amusing.”

After that, Lady Saravia and I enjoyed our tea in a much more relaxed mood, discussing what Prince Ork was like at Daemons Academy and other such topics.

“Speaking of which...” I began. “May I ask why Pia of the Abbott Barony came to a tea party with a letter from you and His Imperial Highness Goblynx?”

The question had been on my mind for quite a while, but Lady Saravia answered nonchalantly. “My nephew was especially obstinate that day. ‘You will obey His Imperial Majesty’s orders!’ he’d said. Furthermore, he’d wanted to slip just one girl into a tea party, so I signed my name to it just to get rid of him. Why, did you bump heads with her?”

“You could say that...” I replied, nodding.

It seemed like Lady Saravia had no direct relationship with Pia after all.

When my unexpected teatime with Lady Saravia was finished, I hurried to Prince Raph’s villa.

✛

Raphael

Because Miss Abbott had been spreading malicious rumors about Coco while the events surrounding Miss Kleist simultaneously multiplied, there was no end in sight to the mountain of documents stacked on my desk.

It wouldn’t have been too difficult to get rid of Miss Abbott herself. She, a member of a barony, had spurned someone from a marquisate—a higher peerage than her own. I could have had her expelled from the academy on those grounds alone and that would have been that.

The problem, however, lay in the lower-ranked nobles accosting Coco with their untrue accusations. Punishing all of them would damage a fair number of aristocratic families. If they didn’t own territory, they might be forced to dissolve, lose their inheritors, or see numerous engagements broken off. This would have a significant influence on the country going forward. The situation, then, required careful assessment.

Besides that, Coco herself had told me something: “Something strange is happening. It’s as if they were being controlled... I would like to monitor the situation for a while longer.”

The idea of control had brought magic to mind. When I’d asked Dwarphister about it, he’d told me that such magic spells and tools were the stuff of legend. Apparently, even in his tomes, they were only written about as mere rumors.

If Miss Abbott really was controlling the students of the lower nobility, how had a commoner-born girl gotten her hands on something so valuable—something even Dwarphister of the Wagner Duchy didn’t have?

As for the incidents regarding Miss Kleist, I’d had a number of knights assigned to conduct an investigation, but neither the criminal who had poisoned her meal nor the ruffian had been caught. Whether the culprit in these incidents were actually the same person or not was also still unconfirmed.

I looked outside the window, noticing that evening was drawing near. The sun sank toward the west; within an hour, its rays would probably dye the sky crimson.

I put my hand to my temple, rubbing my tired eyes, but it was no use; my concentration had been broken entirely. But no matter what, I would be working until just before bedtime tonight as well. A break might as well be in order, and so I looked around the room. Dwarphister had gone to see his father the prime minister while Raymond was off at the library in search of new information, so Ford was the only other person here. In his own unique way, he was sorting through other documents.

“Ford,” I said. “Let’s take a short break.”

“Ah, is it that time already?” he replied. “You must be thirsty. I’ll prepare some tea right away.”

Ford stood, then left the room to go prepare the tea... Or so I thought, because he soon returned.

“Excuse me, Prince Raph.”

“What’s the matter, Ford?”

“Miss Cocolette has just arrived.”

Coco, Douglas at her side, unexpectedly appeared from behind Ford. “Good evening, Prince Raph!” she greeted. “I have some new information for you!”

“I’ve missed you, Coco,” I replied. “What information...?”

Her lovely face turned tense. “I was with Lady Saravia until just a few moments ago.”

“With the royal concubine?” I repeated, surprised.

I ushered Coco into the room. Ford left for a second time, and Douglas stood guard at the entrance.

Coco sat on the sofa as she always did, then began speaking before the tea even arrived—telling me all about what the royal concubine had told her about the Portanian Empire’s intentions.

✛

After a while, Ford brought out the tea. Coco and I each took a cup, then sipped.

I spoke first. “I am aware that the Empire of Portania wants to make Orkhart this country’s puppet-king.”

“Goodness, Prince Raph—of course you knew already!” Coco praised, genuine.

When we had been in the sophomore hallway, Imperial Prince Goblynx himself had hinted about this matter. At the time, I hadn’t known how exactly he intended to get rid of me, but...

I see. He had planned to enlist the royal concubine as an ally and influence Orkhart that way. But from the outset, the royal concubine’s love for her motherland was nothing in comparison to her love for her son. I imagined that to His Imperial Highness Goblynx, the royal concubine’s refusal to assist him was a grave miscalculation.

“But I still cannot believe it,” Coco went on. “The idea that you can’t ascend to the throne just because the people of this world find your face a bit...plain! Why would they think such a thing? You’re the perfect handsome prince who excels in both academics and swordsmanship! And you juggle your studies and official duties on top of all that too—perfectly, I might add!”

“I think it’s just like you to overestimate my abilities, Coco, but I thank you all the same,” I replied.

Certainly, in my past life I had been removed from my position precisely for being the ugly crown prince—just as Imperial Prince Goblynx now anticipated. Without a woman willing to wed me, there hadn’t been any hope of me producing an heir.

Perhaps...His Imperial Highness Goblynx expects that I won’t manage to marry anyone this time around either? If that’s the case, then since he didn’t get the royal concubine’s cooperation as he planned...

I sorted the pieces around in my mind. I only had a hypothesis based on what I had observed in my last life and what was different this time around, but the more I thought about it...the more likely it seemed to be.

“Ford, Douglas, leave the room for a while,” I said, for the ensuing conversation would have to touch upon the fact that I had gone backward in time when I was reborn.

When they left, Coco and I were left alone. However, it was still highly likely that a royal shade was listening in on us, so I lowered my voice as much as possible.

“I may know His Imperial Highness Goblynx’s plan. In my last life, I’m sure he succeeded.”

“Oh. You mean...” Coco’s face paled, and her beautiful peridot eyes filled with tears. “That terrifying story about your past life where...all those bishonen were executed...?”

Ah, it pains me to tell Coco—as pure as she is—about such a bloody past, but...

I wrapped my arms around Coco’s shoulders, hugging her close to console her. “Don’t cry, Coco... I swear to you, in this life, I absolutely will not choose such a path.”

It took her a moment to respond. “All right. Rather than see such hell, I’ll use my utter beauty to move the masses and stage a coup d’état! Then, we’ll make a new country! A paradise where all bishonen can live without a care...!”

“Thank you, Coco. You really are kind.”

Coco clung to my chest as she cried, and I petted her hair, waiting for her to calm down.

After a while, I continued our conversation. “Just as His Imperial Highness Goblynx planned, I was removed from my position as crown prince in my last life. It had nothing to do with my ability. Without a wife, I had no way of fulfilling my most important role as king: to pass the country on to the next generation.”

Unlike King Schwarz, who had reigned until his quite younger brother came of age, I had been born within the same year as my spare, Orkhart. My being replaced had been quite abrupt.

“But even though Orkhart ascended to the throne, I don’t think the Portanian Empire was fully able to manipulate him,” I continued. “Perhaps the royal concubine interfered; she would have wanted to protect Orkhart.”

“I agree,” Coco said. “Lady Saravia adores Prince Ork from the bottom of her heart.”

“Perhaps His Imperial Highness Goblynx had another means to completely control him... Such as by having one of his game pieces be Orkhart’s queen consort.”

“Huh? Prince Ork’s queen consort?” Coco echoed. “Do you mean Miss Lunamaria?!”

“No...” I paused. “I haven’t told you this before, but every single one of Orkhart’s marriage candidates from my last life are different from the ones he has now.”

“Really?! Ah, well, the previous me did die from the epidemic,” Coco said easily, nodding in acceptance.

“Orkhart’s previous three marriage candidates all hated each other,” I continued. “It was quite savage; to be the only one to earn his affection, they constantly tried to get their fellow candidates assassinated.”

“They sound completely different from me and the other girls...”

“Orkhart became afraid of them. By the time we entered the academy, I believe whatever affection he might have had for them had disappeared completely.”

“Prince Ork has a bad eye for women,” Coco noted. Then, in murmur, she added, “Well, he may have picked them himself, but three yandere girls? That’s intense...”

I didn’t know the term “yawn dairy,” but Coco was so sweet. I was sure it was some incredible bit of knowledge that she had obtained in her old world.

“It was then that Orkhart met Miss Abbott,” I continued.

“Hmm...?” Coco murmured. “I...know this plot...”

“Miss Abbott had just risen to nobility from her common roots, and was unskilled in etiquette. She acted familiarly with Orkhart despite his royal blood.”

“Oh, I’m getting déjà vu...!”

“Miss Abbott was empty-headed, but perhaps Orkhart saw a girl who was—to put it kindly—genuine and naive. He fell in love with her. But his marriage candidates were incensed and couldn’t allow such a thing, and so they bullied her relentlessly.”

“Ahh... I’ve played this route a million times.”

“Orkhart couldn’t forgive them for this. He stripped them of their positions as his marriage candidates and had them expelled from Daemons Academy. He declared Miss Abbott his ‘true love’ and married her after graduation.”

“It figures. Pia really is a heroine...”

Coco, who had been muttering something or other this whole time, suddenly hung her head, as if totally drained.

“Anyway,” Coco said after a moment. “Miss Abbott is from a barony. I thought the queen consort had to be from a county or above; am I wrong about that prerequisite?”

“A marquis from Orkhart’s faction adopted her before they wed,” I explained.

“Of course that happened...” She paused. “But normally, I would take a commoner becoming a queen to be a Cinderella story. So why do you think Miss Abbott is one of His Imperial Highness Goblynx’s pawns, Prince Raph?”

“Thinking about it now, Miss Abbott’s intervention caused Cheriotte’s national power to decline considerably,” I said.

When I recalled those future-pasts in this new light, it was clear that Miss Abbott had provoked much of the chaos in the country. Orkhart hadn’t been the only boy she’d been intimate with, after all—Dwarphister had been only the first of the upper aristocrats she’d been after.

They had all ended up with miserable fates in my last life. Dwarphister had thrown away his social standing as the next prime minister and left Cheriotte to become a wizard. The other young noblemen had fallen out of love with their fiancées, many of them even breaking off their engagements. Some boys had been disinherited, others confined to their territories, and still others had been forced to become commoners. There were even those who had brought their entire families to ruin.

But there had been nothing to be done about it. And so as each young nobleman fell to ruin, various business alliances and agreements of support that had been tied together through political betrothals vanished instantly, resulting in a dark shadow cast over even the citizens living in the aristocrats’ territories.

The brilliant noblemen who were supposed to have supported Orkhart in his reign had disappeared, leaving only the boys who had kidnapped Coco a few years ago as his closest advisors. They had strongly believed that so long as the king was beautiful, his subjects would happily work for him, but of course such a policy was bound to go nowhere.

And it had been in these circumstances—without any resourceful or significant allies and without even having a solid foundation in his own princely education—that Orkhart ascended to the throne. I recalled too that Miss Abbott—who hadn’t even mastered a noblewoman’s etiquette—had left the queen consort’s duties to stagnate.

“There was one other man she was involved with: His Imperial Highness Goblynx,” I said. “In my last life, he didn’t study abroad, but he was often in and out of the royal palace. While others plunged onward down the path of ruin, he was the only one whose behavior was not thrown into disorder. He seemed to have been advising Orkhart even after the latter became king.”

“Whoa... Cheriotte went full tilt toward becoming a vassal state,” Coco noted.

“I imagine it completely did become one after I was executed.”

“It seems like the only happy one was His Imperial Highness Goblynx.” Coco tilted her head, puzzled. “But I can’t imagine that Queen Marie-Jewel simply watched and let it all happen.”

“Oh, mother? Before I was removed from my position as the crown prince, her chronic illness worsened. She became bedridden,” I explained.

“My goodness! I didn’t know Queen Marie-Jewel was ill...”

“That’s because she hides it, you see. I believe she’s always wearing that blue lipstick so that she may attribute her poor complexion to her makeup.”

“So that’s why she wears all that makeup?!”

Coco’s surprise was understandable. I probably wouldn’t even have known it myself if I didn’t remember it from my previous life.

“Anyway, Prince Ork ended up having a pretty hard life,” Coco noted.

I hesitated. “He did.”

In my last life, I’d obsessed over losing my title—on my title having been stripped away from me—to the point where I only had room in my heart for the fires of my own hatred. But...

I had assumed that Orkhart simply became the crown prince and married the woman he loved, but it seemed like his life, too, had not been smooth sailing.

“This time, Orkhart has turned out much better,” I said.

He was taking his princely education seriously, with a clear focus on diplomacy, and had revised his stance toward women to be entirely free of capriciousness. In this life he had built himself up as a trustworthy second prince.

Well, when it came to women, the truth of it was most likely that he didn’t have eyes for any woman other than Coco, especially because she was so often nearby. She was like a goddess. But at least he wasn’t weak in the knees for Miss Abbott this time around.

“That’s because you raised him this time!” Coco pointed out.

“I raised him...?”

“Yes,” she insisted. “As his older brother, you raised him into the best Prince Ork he could be.”

I paused. “Is that so?”

Hearing Coco say that tickled the depths of my heart—just a little bit.

Chapter 8: Pia’s True Love

Cocolette

It was now the day after I’d had tea with Lady Saravia and discussed the Kingdom of Cheriotte’s and the Portanian Empire’s future-pasts with Prince Raph.

I had just arrived at Daemons Academy to find Miss Mystère on the watch for me in the student entrance, her hands on her hips and chest puffed out. Her usual elite guards were also there, standing behind her.

Immediately, she called out, “Listen up, Miss Cocolette! We shall soon commence the ‘Cheer Up Miss Lunamaria Party’!”

“The party to cheer up Miss Lunamaria...? Could you be more specific?” I asked.

“I mean a tea party, of course!” she declared. “Miss Lunamaria is slated to return to the academy starting next week, so let’s go all out with a grand after-school tea party! We’ll have plenty of delicious confections prepared, and more than enough delightful conversation. After all, too many bad things have happened to her; it’s past time she was given a distraction from it all!”

“You’re right about that,” I agreed. “What a wonderful idea, Miss Mystère.”

Everyone needed that kind of diversion. I too found that no matter how crestfallen I was, just looking at Prince Raph’s face made me perk right up.

“Now then,” Miss Mystère continued. “I would like to enlist your help!”

“Yes; I’ll do whatever you’ll ask of me.”

“I shall choose guests from the advanced course and those who affiliate themselves with the upper salon; would you please pick others from the ladies’ and management courses?”

Miss Mystère snapped her fingers, and one of her elite guards presented me with a document. I took it, realizing that it was a list of students’ names from the ladies’ and management departments.

“Please mark which students you wish to invite. I will have letters of invitation sent from my estate, so I ask you to return this to me by tomorrow.”

“I understand, Miss Mystère.”

“Now then, things are about to get busy!” Miss Mystère declared. “First I shall ask around on how I might rent a space here at the academy, and then I shall put an order in for tea and sweets at the capital’s most popular patisserie!”

Filled with vigor, Miss Mystère left with her elite bodyguards in tow.

▽

“A tea party, hmm...?” I murmured as I gazed at the student register during free period, thinking about the ‘Cheer Up Miss Lunamaria Party’ Miss Mystère was organizing.

First of all, Pia would undoubtedly barge in on the event, just like she had at all the other gatherings that had occurred during summer break.

I then recalled what Prince Raph had told me: “Miss Abbott may be controlling others through some sort of spell or magic tool. Dwarphister has informed me that such things are the stuff of legends; however, being that His Imperial Highness Goblynx is the second prince of the Portanian Empire, he may have been able to actually get his hands on such power.”

He had also said maybe that the Empire of Portania had magic tools stored in its castle, or perhaps His Imperial Highness Goblynx had used his wealth and power to find a wizard.

“In controlling those around her to slander you, Coco, she may be trying to get you removed from Orkhart’s list of marriage candidates. For the time being, I will look into the Abbott Barony.”

Prince Raph’s thinking had impressed me. I hadn’t considered that Pia might have been using magic to puppeteer people. If that ended up being the case, then we could apply the same logic to what was happening with Miss Lunamaria; it was possible that Pia—in hopes of becoming Prince Ork’s fiancée—was controlling others with the intent to attack Miss Lunamaria and thus eliminate her entirely as a marriage candidate.

If this deduction was right, then both His Imperial Highness Goblynx and Pia had major tunnel vision, and the moment I had the opportunity I was going to shove a hard dose of reality right in their faces.

Thought it was funny to ignore Prince Raph, huh?! I would yell at them. He’s the crown prince in the first place, and I’m only going to marry him—if you really wanted to get your hands on Cheriotte, maybe you should’ve tried splitting us up to start with!

It’s infuriating how the both of you keep believing that Prince Ork will be crown prince! Haven’t you people ever heard of ‘intelligence gathering’?!

So! I’m going to deliberately let Pia trespass on this tea party so I can show her just how in love Prince Raph and I actually are! This is reality!!!

My drive fully ignited, I threw myself entirely into guest selection for the tea party.

▲

Pia

I had nothing. No parents, no siblings—not even a name.

I had lived in an orphanage even before I was old enough to understand my surroundings, but there, I lived like a mere slave. And even though I was always filthy, I had been born with an exceedingly pretty face. Living as a woman was hard in the Portanian Empire, but as a gorgeous girl at the bottom of the social barrel, I had it even worse. I was nothing but a target for sexual exploitation.

Whatever time I had I spent desperately thinking of ways to protect myself from this shitty society. The last thing I wanted to do was continue on the path I had been forced onto, where inevitably, like some idiotic airhead, I’d have to debase myself as a prostitute.

I discovered my powers when I could no longer dodge either the stupid boys at the orphanage or the creepy orphanage director. But even that event was shitty; an older boy had managed to lock me in a storage shed with him, then pinned me down to the floor.

He laughed. “About time I got a taste of you! You’re pretty scrawny, but you’ve got the best face in this dump!”

“Shut up, you dumbass!” I shrieked. “You son of a stinking bitch, don’t you dare get horny over a kid like me! Don’t touch me!!!”

Dammit, dammit, damn it all!!!

Even though I was near to bursting with frustration, there was still a part of me that had already given up fighting. There was a part of me that thought that struggling would only make things worse—that losing my virtue was better, at least, than losing my life.

But suddenly, the world decided to take my side.

I’d told the son of a bitch not to touch me—and he really stopped.

“I understand.” An intoxicated expression came over his face. “I will not touch you.”

Somehow or other, if someone had an interest in me—whether through a more general fascination or a sexual attraction to me—I could rob them of their ability to think. In other words, I could bewitch them. All I needed to do was think of a command, and they would obey.

This sort of brainwashing power turned my life around entirely.

▲

Thanks to the combination of my powers and good looks, everyone fell completely under my spell—not just those in the orphanage, but everyone in town as well. Young and old, men and women—everyone spoiled me, or murmured sweet words that tickled my fancy, or gave me presents, or made sure I never had to do any kind of manual labor ever.

I was so happy I could fly. Everyone was acting so dumb. Just a while ago they had looked down on me, thought me unbecoming and wrong and—and rage burned in my gut.

I hated this world—despised it—and yet here I was in the middle of it, getting petty revenge and looking down on others like they’d looked down on me. I was a huge idiot. I was a terrible pest of a girl who despised all of humanity, including herself.

The one who so graciously changed me was Prince Gob.

We met on a sunny day. I had been walking down the road, stuffing my cheeks with bread that the baker’s son had given me. I was continuing like that onto the main street when a luxuriously decorated stagecoach knocked me over.

“Hey, that hurt!” I yelled. “I could’ve died if that had hit my head! Watch where you’re going, asshole!”

I was sure the carriage was full of some stodgy moneybags, and I was going to bewitch him and swindle him into paying me for damages for a long, long while.

Bang, bang! went my fists on the stagecoach door. “C’mon, open up!” I threatened.

It was then that a boy from the palace—a peeved expression on his face—emerged from the carriage.

His immense beauty stopped my breath entirely. His dark, elegant skin shone with a subtle glow, while his hair was the vibrant orange of crackling flames. His nose was so long that a small bird could have perched on it, and his small, bean-like eyes glittered like stars. I had never seen a boy with such ephemeral radiance before.

His gorgeous eyes filled with derision as looked down at me, and, annoyed, he flung a leather bag at my face. It was tightly packed inside with gold coins, so it hurt a lot.

“Is that enough for you?” he demanded. “Hurry up and leave my sight. Don’t make me waste my time.”

It was absolutely not enough. Money was just another silly thing I could get any time I wanted it. But for this beautiful boy I would do anything, be anything—slave or prostitute—if it meant I could stay by his side.

In this shitty world, this boy was the only thing that sparkled.

“Please hire me!” I begged.

I couldn’t bring myself to bewitch him—it felt embarrassing somehow, to do so—so with my full power I contorted his valet to my will then and there. He hired me at once.

The boy was Goblynx Portania, Second Imperial Prince of the Empire of Portania, and he was the absolute loveliest prince in all the empire.

▲

It was Prince Gob who named me “Pia” and gave me a job: Under the guise of a maid, I manipulated his political enemies as he saw fit.

Prince Gob had a magnificent objective: He was going to be emperor, conquer the world, and popularize the Portanian royal family’s beauty in every nation in the land.

“What an incredible goal, Prince Gob!” I gushed.

Using what I had observed from the young noblewomen and maids I’d seen around the palace, I learned how to feign a personality that better matched my pretty face—all to make Prince Gob mine.

“I know,” he replied. “But to get there I’ll have to thoroughly defeat the other imperial princes such that His Imperial Majesty has no choice but to name me his successor. And now he has ordered me to annex the Kingdom of Cheriotte; I will not fail him.”

Despite the fact that I put everything into my adorable acting, none of it got through to Prince Gob. When it came to women he was highly disciplined; he never made a move on me or any other girl at all.

If I had ever tried to, I think I would have been able to make Prince Gob fall in love with me and only me. At the very least, I could have done it back then. Even if he didn’t seem to see my feminine charms, he had taken me on as one of his subordinates.

But Prince Gob was the only one I didn’t want to bewitch. I knew that if I ever planted such a fake feeling in him, it would only leave me feeling empty.

I wanted Prince Gob to see the real me.

I knew how strange it seemed for someone like me—someone who so easily and willingly controlled the mind of others—to think this, but even I wanted true love.

▲

And then one day, the girl who stole Prince Gob’s heart finally appeared.

“I’ve never seen someone so beautiful before...” he murmured.

“What’s the matter, Prince Gob?” I asked cheerfully. “You’ve been acting rather strangely since you returned from Cheriotte, you know? You met with Puppet Boy, right?”

“Surely I’ve met a goddess...” Prince Gob continued, as if he hadn’t heard me. He sat deep back into the sofa in his room, face red, as he stared off into space.

I had never seen him so listless before. Even his other servants were bewildered by his behavior.

We spoke with a valet who had attended to Prince Gob during his trip to the Kingdom of Cheriotte—only to discover that the second imperial prince had, believe it or not, fallen in love at first sight with a young noblewoman there.

Prince Gob, who hadn’t even touched me, with all my adorableness and charm, once? Prince Gob, who was cold to every noblewoman in the Portanian Empire no matter their rank? That Prince Gob had fallen in love at first sight?!

Like a fool, I was slow to let the reality of those words sink in, but once I caught up, fierce jealousy consumed me.

I won’t let this happen! What sort of slut seduced my Prince Gob?!

According to Prince Gob himself, the girl was the daughter of a marquis, and was incredibly gorgeous—the type who captivated everyone around her. To make matters worse, she was also one of Puppet Boy’s marriage candidates.

So it’s just sheer divine favoritism that she has anything and everything she could want! I hate that girl’s guts! I’m going to destroy absolutely everything she has!

“I’ve made up my mind! I’m going to study abroad in the Kingdom of Cheriotte!” Prince Gob suddenly declared. “I’ll go to Daemons Academy and make that girl mine. Pia, you’re coming with me.”

“Are you sure, Prince Gob?!”

“Yeah. I’ll grant you a baron’s status. You’ll enroll in the academy along with me, seduce Ork, and get him to break things off with my goddess so she’s no longer one of his marriage candidates. Then I’ll swoop in, comfort her, and truly make her mine. You’ll stay with Ork and become his queen consort, and under my orders transform Cheriotte into the empire’s vassal state. Two birds, one stone.”

Prince Gob went on to bribe the impoverished Abbott Barony to adopt me, then set me up with a diverse backstory to create “Miss Pia Abbott,” an illegitimate child who had come from the masses.

And so I enrolled in Daemons Academy, pretending to follow my prince’s orders to the letter, all the while plotting my revenge on this noble tramp.

▲

“Excuse me, miss, but would you mind if I...joined...?”

The first time I saw Cocolette Blossom’s face, I initially thought something like There’s no way she’s human. Her skin was as pale as porcelain, while her shining peridot eyes were hemmed by long, elegant eyelashes. Her cheeks were a light, fetching red, and her lips were vibrant and smooth. From her rose-pink hair a gentle scent wafted in the air, soothing any blessed to smell it. Every single bit of her, from her head to her toes, just wasn’t human.

She’s a goddess. She’s a goddess who got lost and came down to this shitty plane of existence. If she isn’t a goddess, then she’s some sort of pixie or angel—whatever the case, she’s otherworldly.

In just a single second of looking at her, I knew that I had lost.

“I apologize, Miss Abbott, but there are people waiting for Prince Ork. If you are worried about making it to the assembly hall on your own, shall we ask another student to escort you? Would one of you kindly trouble yourselves in acting as this girl’s guide?”

Her mannerisms were the perfect example of what a lady should be. Even her voice was gorgeous. What is this girl?

Bitterness, defeat, understanding, and frustration swirled inside me, giving birth to a violent storm.

It was there that my battle began, but I was doomed to lose it.

▲

Just as Prince Gob had ordered, I hurried along with our scheme to seduce Prince Ork. Once I used my power on him he would easily fall under my control.

But for some reason, I couldn’t bewitch him.

I tried clinging to Puppet Boy and acting as friendly as I could with him, but I couldn’t charm him or get through his royal demeanor at all.

Once I tried asking for his help, saying that since I had just come from the countryside, I’d like someone to guide me through the castle town, and oh Your Highness Orkhart, would you take me to your favorite shops?

Puppet Boy, however, smoothly evaded me. “I’m sorry, Miss Abbott. I understand that you are new to the capital, and I would like to help you, truly I would—but my duties as the second prince make me far too busy to do so. Please ask someone else to guide you around town.”

And Puppet Boy wasn’t the only one who didn’t act like I wanted.

The girl with the big black hair shaped like sausages screeched at me, saying, “You are severely deficient in tact! His Highness Orkhart happens to be the honorable second prince of this kingdom—to ask him to escort you around town, as if he were some employed guide, is completely blasphemous!” while the expressionless silver-haired girl glared at me silently with repulsed eyes.

Even the other students from the upper nobility looked either shocked or displeased with me.

Why? Why can’t I bewitch any of them?

But not all students were immune to my power. The boys and girls from the lower nobility easily bent to my will.

Still there were others that didn’t act how I wanted—they seemed to be students from the advanced, ladies’, and management courses, but I didn’t know why.

But starting then, the more I used my power, the harder it became to shake off the physical exhaustion of its use. My mental state grew unstable; I grew more irritable than ever, only moments later falling into deep despair.

Little by little, my power became a burden.

▲

“Hey, Pia. Why haven’t you gotten that Ork to fall for you yet?” Prince Gob demanded. “Hurry up! My goddess must be free of him immediately.”

“I understand fully well,” I said at last, but still cutely.

And I fully well wanted to hurry up and bring an end to this shitty job.

Prince Gob’s brows were furrowed in dissatisfaction, and as I looked at his face in profile, I forced myself to swallow the feelings I wanted to vent.

Why couldn’t I bewitch the people here? Was it because we were in another country? Was it racial differences? Even if people didn’t like me or have any sexual interest in me, I couldn’t believe that they didn’t have a single care in the world for me at all...

The fact that I couldn’t come up with any solid reason my power wasn’t working whatsoever only further increased my frustration.

In essence, Prince Gob was Prince Gob. He was a cruel person for making me take on this job while knowing how I felt. But I couldn’t help but love that terrible side of him too.

Despite his efforts, even Prince Gob hadn’t managed to get Cocolette Blossom to fall for him. Far from it, actually—all he could do in front of her was stare, like any ordinary boy suffering from puppy love. When we’d had lunch with her, he’d been so overcome with emotion that he hadn’t even been able to eat his meal. All in all he’d been pathetic. It was the last thing I’d ever wanted to see from him.

“This is a letter of invitation signed by me and my aunt,” Prince Gob continued. “You should be able to get into most tea parties with this. Get in touch with Ork over summer break and get the bastard to fall for you.”

“Of course, Prince Gob,” I sang.

There was no helping it now. It would be a hassle, but I had to do things another way.

The most important thing was to get Cocolette Blossom kicked off of Puppet Boy’s list of marriage candidates. His other contenders would surely be no match for me.

I had only a few cards up my sleeve, but if I played them right, I could sabotage that girl for sure.

▲

Over summer break, I showed up at all sorts of tea parties, working hard to spread rumors about that girl. And of course, any time my path crossed with her and Puppet Boy’s, I put my all into breaking them up.

There were times I attempted to make her splash me with a drink or break a cheap pendant. But, while she seemed to easily have fallen for my traps...she actually beat them with ease.

No—that drink was definitely dumped right at me, and that pendant should’ve been trampled on and broken to pieces! But as soon as I’d realized that, the liquid had evaporated or the broken jewelry had been fixed, good as new, and brought back to its place around my neck.

What was with this girl?! Did Cocolette Blossom also have a strange power?! No matter what tricks I threw her way, none of them worked in the slightest!

I just want this to be over. I want to go home to the empire and just be Prince Gob’s pretend maid again...

▲

When the second semester began, I started bewitching people out of sheer desperation.

“Miss Blossom is bullying me, you see” is what I would start with. “I’ve learned that she’s the one ordering Miss Wagner around because she’s jealous that His Highness Orkhart is so kind to me—but for her to be the one pulling the strings is so awful... But it must be my fault somehow. It’s Miss Blossom who should really be receiving His Highness Orkhart’s favor, after all...”

Now, my pawns: Go and spread as many terrible rumors as you can about that girl. Go to her and yell right in her face. Get her kicked right off that list of marriage candidates...

“Ahh, poor Pia!”

“Leave Miss Blossom to us! We’ll scold her for you!”

“Miss Blossom must be quite the wicked woman to bully you, Pia—you’re too cute for such cruelty!”

My pawns obeyed my fervent command and went forth to disparage that girl as I had commanded. But for some reason, as soon as they saw her face, they snapped back to reality.

“I’m so deeply sorry to have disturbed you, Miss Blossom! My heart, body, and soul are yours!”

“I was mistaken! You are a goddess—no, The Goddess, who has come down to earth...!”

“Someone as pure as you could never bully someone, Miss Blossom! But if it is your wish, I will destroy Pia for you!”

Those guys, who had just moments ago been under my control, did a complete one-eighty at the drop of a hat.

What the—?! What is this?! What are you, you whore?!

There were a couple students I could bewitch a second time, though I wasn’t sure why. The only thing the boys had in common was that they’d been excessively pursuing me even before I’d used my power on them. But if there needed to be romantic feelings in the subjects I bewitched for me to control again, then there was no way I could control whether people had that response toward me to begin with.

It was in this way that my pawns kept being stolen from me, gradually leaving me with fewer and fewer resources. Not only did I have Prince Gob hounding me, but at this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if the Blossom Marquisate also formally lodged a complaint against me.

A time like this honestly called for fleeing the country, but my pride got in the way—how could I not accomplish the mission Prince Gob gave me...?!

While I racked my brains for my next move, Prince Gob said this to me:

“Hey, Pia! Sounds like next week after school there’s going to be a pretty big tea party on campus. I heard my goddess will be attending, so we’re going to use imperial authority to gate-crash! Good grief, how could they have not invited me? The people in this country are really such idiots.”

I didn’t reply.

Prince Gob spoke so arrogantly that I couldn’t help but get irritated. Were he an everyday person and not an imperial prince, he wouldn’t have been able to order me around like this or demand things of me all day long.

Will there ever be a day Prince Gob falls all the way to my level?

The sudden thought charmed me, holding me spellbound.

That’s it. If Prince Gob comes down to my level, then he can’t keep hitting on that tramp—he’ll be all mine.

“You get it, Pia?” Prince Gob demanded. “Free your schedule that day.”

“Okey dokey, Prince Gob,” I sang at last.

Oh, if only you could really be my one and only, Prince Gob. Then I’d dote on you all the time...

▲

The day of the tea party had arrived. With my remaining pawns in tow, I headed for the venue on campus where it was being held. Even down the hallway, far from the gathering, I could hear happy laughter and music, and smell sugary snacks as their scent spread throughout the building.

Prince Gob was already standing next to the entrance. He snorted upon seeing me, then shifted his gaze to the pawns behind me. Smiling dryly, he asked, “Ready to barge in?”

“Of course, Prince Gob,” I replied chipperly. “I have these boys for my protection!”

He huffed. “Fine.”

Prince Gob nodded pompously, with not an inkling that I was about to betray him. His profile was as gorgeous and resplendent as always. What a total idiot, I thought helplessly. I absolutely loved it.

I was going to break his heart.

I was exhausted. The more people I bewitched, the more mentally unstable I became. Even my body was giving out—perhaps to compensate for drawing upon my power.

For so long my adoration of Prince Gob’s beauty had had me willing to fulfill any and all orders he gave me. But none of his loving looks—the ones that had shown he was completely charmed—had been for me. None of this had been worth it.

I’d lost to Cocolette Blossom. Completely and irreversibly. The one thing left for me to do now was forcefully pull Prince Gob away from her.

Here, at this tea party, I was going to cause chaos.

Directly telling Puppet Boy “Cocolette Blossom is bullying me” would swiftly expose all of my lies. They’d investigate me, and like how a single domino could topple an entire monument of tiles, they’d find out my relationship to Prince Gob and end up deporting him back to the Portanian Empire.

I didn’t care about how I’d be punished. I’d done a lot to that marquisate girl, so a simple banishment from the Kingdom of Cheriotte would be a best-case scenario for me. But so long as Prince Gob could never see that girl again, I’d be fine.

The thought of Prince Gob finally having his heart smashed to bits made me break out into a broad smile.

“Well, Prince Gob, let’s go in,” I chirped.

“Hey, don’t get too close to me,” he snapped. “You know if I look like I’m close to you, my goddess might misunderstand, right? The last thing I want to do is upset her.”

I didn’t respond.

Prince Gob had refused to even escort me—showing not even a shred of gentlemanliness—but I still couldn’t refuse his gorgeous face. So we entered the venue, myself following a half step behind him.

▲

The place was decorated with blue flowers and silver ribbons, and standing in the most conspicuous spot inside was the organizer of the event: the girl with the black, drill-like hair.

Next to her was Puppet Boy and that expressionless silver-haired flunky, all of them chatting happily about something or other. Other guests included the drill-haired girl’s older brother (the ridiculously cool heir to their family); a mysterious valet wearing a fox mask; a maid and servant who, in an odd way, didn’t stand out much; and a student from the ladies’ course who wore her hair in a braid. A friendly mood hung about them all.

But in that ring of people, I didn’t see Cocolette Blossom at all.

Usually she, like a goddess descended to earth, would be standing in one spot while surrounded and fawned over by a crowd of people. Had she not arrived yet?

Well, whatever. Her being late wouldn’t change my plans.

I walked over with Prince Gob and my pawns, heading straight for Puppet Boy.

“Your Highness Orkhart!” I called.

Puppet Boy and everyone else all turned to look at me in unison. Some looked puzzled, while others frowned.

Immediately, the drill-haired girl lashed out at me. “You wait just a moment! I have no recollection of inviting you to this party!”

“Hey, Sausage Curls,” Prince Gob snapped. “I am an imperial prince of the Portanian Empire, and this girl is my guest. Let her stay out of respect for me.”

“You were not invited either, Your Imperial Highness!” the drill-haired girl objected with what seemed like enough force to burst several blood vessels, but Prince Gob was unruffled.

Puppet Boy, seemingly unable to just watch, came over.

“Gob,” he said. “Today is to celebrate Luna’s... Miss Lunamaria Kleist’s recovery. This is for only her and for those in her circle of friends. Could you and all in your company perhaps leave this place?”

“Don’t be so cold, Ork,” Prince Gob said. “We’re cousins, aren’t we? Be a little nicer to me.”

“But...” Puppet Boy cast an anxious look at the silver-haired girl.

I took the opportunity to approach him. “Your Highness Orkhart, I have something to say—this won’t take much of your time, so please hear me out! I have a formal complaint I’d like to lodge in front of all of you.” I paused. “About Cocolette Blossom’s wickedness.”

“Coco’s wickedness...?” Puppet Boy echoed.

“Yes,” I said. “All this time, from behind the scenes, Miss Blossom has been harassing me...!”

I put all my effort into shedding large crocodile tears. Crying at will was child’s play for me.

My pawns hurriedly soothed me with cries of “Don’t cry, Pia” and “Poor Pia!” Prince Gob, on the other hand, seemed to be at a loss for why I’d started talking about this.

“Miss Blossom seems upset that Your Highness Orkhart and I have gotten close...” I went on. “Many times when we attended the same tea parties over summer break, she tried to spill drinks on me, over and over... And then she tried to break my pendant... In truth she’s starting to scare me.”

“Why would Coco be upset that you and I were getting closer, Miss Abbott?” Puppet Boy asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Why would you ask such an obvious frickin’ question? God, you’re irritating. Cut the questions and just punish me already.

“I mean, of course it’s because Miss Blossom is one of Your Highness’s marriage candidates!” I insisted. “She felt her position was threatened...”

“In other words, Coco was jealous?”

“Exactly! Miss Blossom was jealous, so she bullied—”

“That’s just not possible for Coco.”

“But it is! Miss Blossom did all those foolish things to me so she can marry Your Highness—”

“Like I said, that’s just not possible, Miss Abbott,” Puppet Boy insisted, absolutely not even attempting to understand my point. “After all, she and my brother—”

Just then, a shout of joy came from the entrance to the venue. It seemed that Cocolette Blossom had finally arrived.

As we waited for her to walk over, she—as I had expected—moved with the grace of a goddess who had erroneously come down to earth. And for some reason...her arm was linked with that of an atrociously hideous boy.

Have you lost your sanity, Cocolette Blossom?!

Since we were in the same class in the advanced course, I’d actually seen the total uggo a few times already. I mean, we were in the same classroom, but he sat in the back row. I’d never caught sight of him during break periods, and since I couldn’t see him at all from my desk, most days he was someone who completely escaped my notice. I mostly hadn’t wanted to look at him because the sight of him made me feel like puking.

That was why I absolutely could not understand why Cocolette Blossom was leaning up against such a disgustingly ugly person, nor why she was smiling as if somewhat...taken with him. When I looked closely, she was even pressing her chest against his arm. The uggo was completely red in the face, withdrawn and sullen looking.

What the hell’s going on? Is she actually deranged?

But strangely, today I didn’t feel any of the kind of violent repugnance toward the uggo that I usually did. Perhaps Cocolette’s Blossom divine beauty canceled out my instinctive response to such hideousness.

The nearby students didn’t seem to have any particularly dubious thoughts about the pair and merely bowed their heads politely as they walked by. I, dumbfounded, could only watch what was to me an unfathomable spectacle; Prince Gob and my pawns, however, grew outwardly flustered.

“Wh-Why is my goddess snuggled up against the ugly crown prince of all people?! That’s impossible!” Prince Gob screeched.

“Miss Blossom and His Highness Raphael...” the first pawn said slowly. “Why did I ever believe Pia when she said she, Miss Blossom, and His Highness Orkhart were in a love triangle...?”

“I’m starting to wonder the same,” the second agreed. “How could it be? Especially when Miss Blossom has His Highness Raphael.”

“Miss Blossom shouldn’t have any reason to be jealous in the first place; after all, Pia’s of a lower rank,” the third added.

My pawns had regained their senses the moment they saw her face. I had no idea how they had been able to escape my power, but now, not a single one was on my side anymore.

The plan was going to shit. But I couldn’t stop here; I had to do something to get Prince Gob deported from Cheriotte.

I glanced at him and saw he was furious.

“Prince Gob, do you know that student?” I asked.

“That’s the heir to the throne, Raphael Cheriotte! The ugly crown prince...!” he seethed.

“Huh?!” I gasped. “That’s the crown prince?!”

Now that he mentioned it, I felt like Prince Gob had once said something about needing to usurp the current crown prince from his position and then get a replacement—the second prince—installed as a figurehead.

To be fair, that face wasn’t going to attract a ton of allies. Even I could understand that.

But just why, then, was the ugly crown prince so intimately escorting that girl? They looked just like lovers, or even a betrothed couple.

I mean, she was Puppet Boy’s marriage candidate...

Wait—

“Prince Gob,” I said slowly after a moment, pieces coming together in my mind to create an unfortunately awful portrait. “Do you know who the crown prince’s marriage candidates are...?”

“Like I care,” Prince Gob snapped. “And it doesn’t matter who they are—such a hideous prince will never get married! No woman would ever want to wed someone so disgusting!”

“B-But, right now, she’s right next to the crown prince...”

“As if my goddess would ever be that sickening schlub’s briiiiiideeeeeeee!” he shouted, so forcefully I thought he might spit up blood.

Just then, Cocolette Blossom finally stopped in front of us.

Prince Gob widened his stance, then yelled, “O, my goddess! Please, with all haste, step back from that disgusting filth! It’s hazardous to your health!”

For a moment, Cocolette Blossom cringed, as if thinking, Huh? What’s this about his goddess?

Or...so I thought. I must have just been seeing things, because when I took a closer look at Cocolette Blossom’s face, she was tilting her head to the side as if both puzzled and uncomfortable. Goodness, Your Imperial Highness Goblynx, has something happened? her expression seemed to say. It was the kind of look that made anyone who saw it want to take away her sorrows and protect her.

Prince Gob’s cheeks suddenly went red. Were this any other time, he would have become unable to speak, but for just this moment, he was full of fighting spirit.

He pointed at the uggo and declared, “That man is the ugly crown prince! He must be taking advantage of your kindness; he’s only going after you for marriage! Now please, you must hurry and escape! I shall protect you from all harm, my goddess!”

His words did nothing to perturb Cocolette Blossom whatsoever. Instead, she looked up at the uggo beside her and smiled—the very image of a shy maiden in love.

“There is no problem at all, Your Imperial Highness Goblynx,” she said, her voice vacant. “After all, I am Prince Raph’s marriage candidate. He could ask me to marry him any time he pleases.”

We screwed up! Cocolette Blossom was the crown prince’s and the second prince’s marriage candidate at the same time!

Prince Gob had told me that she was His Highness Orkhat’s marriage candidate, and I hadn’t looked into it any further. My pawns, while under my thrall, were unable to think and could only answer questions when I asked directly. There was no way for me to have known this unless I had explicitly asked questions like “Is Cocolette Blossom a marriage candidate to the crown prince?” or “Is Cocolette Blossom a marriage candidate only to Puppet Boy?”

Wait, I told myself after a moment. Don’t forget that your ultimate goal is to get Prince Gob sent back home. It didn’t matter if she was the crown prince’s marriage candidate; my objective hadn’t changed.

This ridiculously gut-wrenching fact had thrown me off my game, but I took a deep breath.

With my composure back, I looked at Cocolette Blossom...to find that she had gone completely insane?

“I want to marry you as soon as possible, Prince Raph!” she said bashfully, putting her head on the uggo’s shoulder.

Did she want power? Money? No—with her looks she could seduce any rich guy she wanted, so really, it had to be the power, right?

Cocolette Blossom was an extraordinarily ambitious person to have buttered up such a hideous guy. It was kind of scary—though maybe “off-putting” would be a better word.

Prince Gob—seeing such a catastrophically opposite pair flirt right in front of him—descended to shrieking once again.

“You freak! What sort of trick have you used upon my goddess?! If you’ve touched her mind in any way, I’ll strike you down, you despicable bastard!”

Most likely because he’d seen me bewitch so many people himself, Prince Gob seemed convinced that Cocolette Blossom was also being similarly controlled.

While I didn’t think that there were other people with powers like mine out there, what he’d said did make some sense. After all, if Cocolette Blossom was only after money or power, she could simply marry Puppet Boy and actually dethrone the crown prince at the same time.

Right, right! Such a beautiful young noblewoman wouldn’t be tempted by something as lowbrow as money or power. The crown prince of Cheriotte actually controlling her mind obviously made more sense.

“Raphael Cheriotte!” Prince Gob barked. “I challenge you to a duel! If I win, you will free my goddess!”

The uggo fixed his crude, bulging eyes on Prince Gob and furrowed his brow.

“Are you aware, Your Imperial Highness Goblynx, that you are royalty?” he asked, disdain dripping from his voice. “The hands of royalty and nobility are raised for the sake of their countries and their citizens only. For you to cry war for personal reasons is inappropriate.”

“Y-You bastard,” Prince Gob choked out. “You’re just a disgusting schlub...!”

From her spot snuggled within the cradle of one of the uggo’s arms, Cocolette Blossom let out a sweet sigh. “That’s just like you to say, Prince Raph... ♡”

It really did seem like she was being controlled, hook, line, and sinker. She might have been my enemy, but I couldn’t help pitying her...

Prince Gob, seeing the goddess he adored act like she truly was in love with the uggo, started yelling again. “How dare you scramble my goddess’s mind like this?! Have you no compassion?! Ahh, O goddess—I, your humble disciple Goblynx, vow to rescue you...!”

“Your Imperial Highness Goblynx, I implore you—you have gone on long enough!”

The drill-haired girl suddenly interrupted the conversation, protectively stepping in front of the uggo and glaring at Prince Gob.

“Miss Cocolette is not being controlled! In fact, she has adored His Highness Raphael for a long time already!” she declared.

“What the hell are you talking about...?” Prince Gob spat.

“Fine, then look for yourself at Miss Cocolette’s face!” she insisted, pointing.

I, too, couldn’t help but look closely at Cocolette Blossom. God Himself had given her plenty of affection, for her face was so gorgeous it was practically otherworldly.

“She’s beautiful...” Prince Gob murmured, spellbound. It infuriated me to see him like this, but I couldn’t help but understand.

“Exactly! Miss Cocolette is beautiful beyond comparison!” the drill-haired girl continued. “Please consider what Miss Cocolette might feel, having to see herself in a mirror, day after day! To her, there is no one in this entire world more beautiful than herself—meaning that in her eyes, all of the rest of humanity is homely!”

“Wh-What?!” Prince Gob choked.

“Tremble before her!” she continued. “For Miss Cocolette surely sees Your Imperial Highness, His Highness Orkhart, and even myself as nothing but grotesque! Between all of us and His Highness Raphael, she sees no difference!”

I see, Cocolette Blossom...! Drill-haired girl’s explanation makes total sense!

It was no wonder that, having been born so incredibly gorgeous, she had also been born with such a grave malady. With all of humanity equally unattractive in her eyes, it was no wonder that she had then chosen one who was rich, powerful, and had a good personality. The crown prince might have been a prime uggo, but he as royalty he seemed almost perfectly respectable...

The explanation was so reasonable I had no choice but to accept it. I looked at Miss Blossom again—to see that, for some reason, her eyes looked as blank and listless as a dead fish’s.

It was so surprising that I looked at her again, only to find that Miss Blossom had buried her face against the uggo’s shoulder, hiding her expression.

What was that face just now?

Uggo patted her head comfortingly. “I understand the matter perfectly, Coco,” he said. Something in my head automatically thought it was off.

“Now then, Second Imperial Prince Goblynx,” the uggo went on, his voice turning far more serious.

Prince Gob, incidentally, had collapsed in on himself and now sat on the floor, his eyes filling with tears at the truth about Cocolette Blossom. The uggo continued.

“You are charged with attempting to use Miss Pia of the Abbott Barony as a honey trap against Second Prince Orkhart Cheriotte.”

“What did you say?!”

“You are also charged with lèse-majesté—violating my dignity as the crown prince of the Kingdom of Cheriotte,” the uggo continued. “Douglas, arrest him.”

“Yes, sir!”

A knight—another disgusting-looking guy who looked like he’d been born in the pits of hell—took hold of Prince Gob. Prince Gob tried to resist, but he was no match for the knight’s brawny strength.

“Dwarphister, Raymond—the documents, please.”

“As you will, Your Highness Raphael,” said drill-haired girl’s supercool older brother, while the valet in the fox mask chirped, “Please excuse me for standing in front of you.”

Together, they came to stand in front of the ugly crown prince. The valet reverently gave the documents he was holding to his companion, who smoothed down his glamorous yet quirky beard and began to read.

“We have confirmed that Miss Pia of the Abbott Barony is a spy hailing from the Empire of Portania. During questioning, Baron Abbott confessed that His Imperial Highness Goblynx Portania, the second imperial prince of the Portanian Empire, paid him via a lump sum of money and other assets to formally adopt Pia into his family. Baron Abbott now accuses her of being a covert operative sent as a honey trap for His Royal Highness Orkhart, the second prince of the Kingdom of Cheriotte. Miss Pia Abbott shall be detained on suspicion of espionage. We shall hear your defense at the palace.”

The boy in the fox mask then came close and restrained me. Prince Gob was still trying to resist his hold, but the knight had him completely under his control.

The uggo spoke again. “Just a moment ago, Your Imperial Highness Goblynx, you said that I was controlling Coco’s mind. It seemed like you weren’t joking whatsoever.”

Prince Gob hesitated. “What’re you trying to say?”

“You also used the word ‘trick.’ By that, did you mean magic? Did you perhaps jump to that conclusion because you are aware of the existence of mind-controlling magic?”

Prince Gob snapped his mouth shut in surprise, but the uggo wasn’t finished questioning him.

“You see, as of late there have been a number of people saying strange things to Coco. Uniformly, they accuse her of bullying Miss Abbott. But upon seeing Coco’s face, they immediately return to their senses and apologize, saying things like ‘I made a mistake’ and ‘There is no way you could bully Miss Abbott.’” The uggo paused. “It’s almost as if someone forced them to do what they did.”

“I-I have no clue what you’re babbling about...”

“Then we shall investigate this magic.”

And thus, it was decided that Prince Gob and I would be taken away to the palace.

Ah... Finally, Prince Gob’s first love is over.

In the end, it was Prince Gob who had led himself to his own destruction, but at any rate, I had at last reached the ruin I’d wished for.

Giving a sidelong glance at Prince Gob—who was still struggling under his restraints—I called out, “Cocolette Blossom! May I say how glad I am that you never snatched away Prince Gob? He’s mine, you see? You could never understand his appeal—I’m the one who knows his beauty best!”

Cocolette Blossom’s face...went blank.

Or at least, I thought it did. It must have been my imagination. My rival in love was far too gorgeous to have ever pulled such an awkward expression.

I hate your guts, but your looks, at least, I’ll acknowledge.

▽

Cocolette

Before Miss Mystère’s tea party for Miss Lunamaria was to start, I visited Prince Raph in the royal salon with Douglas in tow as my guard.

“Coco,” Prince Raph greeted. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come pick you up.”

“Please, do not worry yourself about that,” I assured him.

Prince Raph—ever the gentleman—had wanted to come and get me himself, but his schedule had left no room to spare; I understood that well.

“Besides,” I added, seeing how Ford, Lord Dwarphister, and my adorable Raymond were hectically collecting documents around him. “You seem incredibly busy. Is there anything I can help with?”

“No, we’re fine. Everyone,” Prince Raph continued, addressing the group, “are you about ready? I’d like you all to depart for the tea party ahead of us.”

“As you wish, Your Highness Raphael,” Lord Dwarphister replied. “Hey, Ray—grab that paper, will you?”

“Okay, Lord Fiss!” Raymond all but sang. “I’m glad that we managed to get everything together in time for the party—even if just barely.”

“Then, Prince Raph, I shall tidy you up a bit,” Ford said.

Lord Dwarphister and Raymond left the room while Ford prepared a comb and some hair oil. At the sight of the comb and oil Prince Raph let out a meager complaint of “No matter how much you fix up my hair, my homeliness won’t change...” but Ford just chided him with “As Crown Prince, you must look prim and proper.”

My fave’s getting ready right in front of me! What a rare sight! ♡

I sat in the best place I could to get a good look, thoroughly enjoying watching Ford comb Prince Raph’s hair.

“I should tell you this ahead of time, Coco: The Abbott Barony will be dissolved.”

It took me a moment to process that. “Oh! So suddenly?” I’d heard that Prince Raph and the others would be looking into the Abbotts because of how suspicious Pia was, but this was a rather drastic development.

“Baron Abbott holds quite a large gambling debt, apparently,” Prince Raph went on. “That is why he accepted payment from His Imperial Highness Goblynx in exchange for adopting Miss Abbott and enrolling her in the academy. The baron was well aware that she was here solely to honey trap Orkhart. If things had gone according to plan, Baron Abbott would have had much to gain from his adopted daughter becoming queen consort. What a shallow man.”

“My, my... So that’s what was going on.”

To solve his own woes, Baron Abbott had been willing to cooperate with a spy from a foreign country and betray his own nation, and for that, his entire barony would be dissolved.

“I hear that Miss Abbott appeared at quite a few tea parties over summer break, so I assume that she’ll intrude upon today’s as well,” Prince Raph said. “So... I plan to arrest her there on suspicion of espionage.”

I’d had a hunch that Pia would barge in on today’s tea party, and Prince Raph had not only shared my suspicion, but also planned to apprehend her and judge her for crimes. So that’s why he’s been so busy!

“As her accomplice, His Imperial Highness Goblynx will be arrested as well. After that, I intend to find further proof that he has been trying to manipulate Orkhart and turn our country into a vassal state of the Portanian Empire,” he added.

“Then I’m sure that Lady Saravia would help us!” I said. “Let’s lock up Miss Abbott and His Imperial Highness Goblynx good and tight!”

“Yes, that we will.” Prince Raph paused. “Coco, I really am sorry that I couldn’t come pick you up. It took far more time than I expected to pull this plan together. Will you forgive me?”

“I was never angry to begin with,” I assured him. “After all, I love the fact that you work so hard to get things done right!”

It took him a moment to process my words. He then chuckled. “Thank you, Coco.”

With his hair now done, Prince Raph’s gorgeousness had been upgraded to a whole new level. He and I, alongside Douglas and Ford, headed for the tea party.

Partway there, I suddenly remembered my own lovey-dovey/canoodling plan: the “Everything you’ve done has been for nothing, Pia!” strategy. I was going to show her just how head over heels Prince Raph and I were for each other and give her what for! I’d intended to tell Prince Raph about it while we were in his salon, but given the news about the dissolution of the Abbott Barony, I’d forgotten.

“Ah, Prince Raph—about Miss Abbott controlling people and spreading ill rumors about me,” I said.

“I plan to fully investigate that matter once we arrest her. Don’t worry,” he assured me.

“Yes, and I thank you for that... However, I was hoping you might listen to my hypothesis...”

“Hypothesis?”

“If Miss Abbott truly is trying to remove me from Prince Ork’s list of marriage candidates and, to that end, coerce others to become rumormongers, then she may also be involved in the various bouts of bad luck that have befallen Miss Lunamaria.”

Prince Raph paused to take in my words. “Ah, I see. That may be possible. Understood, Coco—I’ll look into that as well when it comes time for questioning.”

He smiled, as if trying to give me peace of mind. And normally I would have forgotten all about my worries upon seeing it, but—just this once—I couldn’t. After all, I was absolutely furious with Pia and Imperial Prince Goblynx. I needed to act on this grudge!

“I can’t help,” I said, suddenly and with fervor, “but be infuriated that even though you’re the crown prince of Cheriotte, both Miss Abbott and His Imperial Highness Goblynx still won’t even give you the time of day...!”

“Coco?”

I continued on my tirade. “For them to think that by eliminating Prince Ork’s marriage candidates and making Miss Abbott his fiancée, they could manipulate the whole Kingdom of Cheriotte, just like that! They are making a mockery of you, Prince Raph! I will not stand for it!”

He paused. “I’m grateful that you feel so strongly on my behalf, Coco.”

“So Prince Raph...!”

“Yes?”

“Let’s get all flirty in front of Miss Abbott! We’ll show her that you’re the one who will reign as king!”

“Yes...?”

Prince Raph had been smiling happily at me—and now, his smiling face was frozen in that expression.

Without giving him time to think about what to do next, I clung to his arm and squeezed it. Now it was so close it slipped into my cleavage.

“C-Coco...?!” he cried out. “H-Hold on—w-would you p-please wait?!”

“Now, Prince Raph! Let’s hurry to the party!”

“But like this?! Wait—please forgive me, Coco! This is too much for me...!”

“It’s all right, Prince Raph, for what’s mine is yours, and that includes my bosom,” I assured him. “You’ll get used to it!”

“No, Coco, this is impossible!” he cried out. “Please—I can’t!”

Ford and Douglas shared a wry smile, and did nothing to save their prince.

Taking that as permission, I dragged Prince Raph in that exact position to the tea party so we could make our proper entrance.

▽

Once we were in front of other people, Prince Raph stopped resisting. But with how close we were to each other I could feel how stiff he was.

In the middle of the venue were Prince Ork and the others, who were, for some reason, standing off against Pia and Imperial Prince Goblynx.

Thinking it strange, we approached—only for Imperial Prince Goblynx to stand in our way and shout, “O, my goddess! Please, with all haste, step back from that disgusting filth! It’s hazardous to your health!”

His words took me aback for a moment, but I hurried to return my expression to the perfect ladylike countenance I had worked so hard to perfect. Here I am, just a sweet maiden totally bewildered by His Highness Goblynx’s actions...!

He, however, was not done with his wild words. As he went on and on, I was sorely tempted to throw my Aurora Shield at him to shut him up inside it, but I instead looked at Prince Raph’s face to calm myself down.

“There is no problem at all, Your Imperial Highness Goblynx,” I told him calmly. “After all, I am Prince Raph’s marriage candidate. He could ask me to marry him any time he pleases.”

I got more flirty with Prince Raph to show off just how close we were. To my amazement, Imperial Prince Goblynx then challenged him to a duel—which Prince Raph flatly refused.

“How dare you scramble my goddess’s mind like this?!” the imperial prince screeched. “Have you no compassion?! Ahh, O goddess—I, your humble servant Goblynx, vow to rescue you...!”

Prince Raph might have been ugly by this world’s standards, but the fact that Imperial Prince Goblynx was so openly voicing his contempt for him made my blood boil. Showing no consideration for others and asserting his own “dislikes” constantly was just asking for him to get canceled!

Besides, explicitly mentioning mind control at this point was really letting the cat out of the bag. Now it was almost certain that the imperial prince was employing a mage or had acquired some kind of magic item.

“Your Imperial Highness Goblynx, I implore you—you have gone on long enough!”

For some reason, Miss Mystère intruded on the conversation right before Prince Raph could begin indicting the Portanians for their crimes. Even in front of a member of imperial foreign royalty, she was as lovely and dignified as always.

“Miss Cocolette is not being controlled!” Miss Mystère insisted. “In fact, she has adored His Highness Raphael for a long time already!”

True, true. Go off, Miss Mystère!

“Miss Cocolette is beautiful beyond comparison!” she continued. “Please consider what Miss Cocolette might feel, having to see herself in a mirror, day after day! To her, there is no one in this entire world more beautiful than herself—meaning that in her eyes, all of the rest of humanity is homely!”

Huh???

“Tremble before her! For Miss Cocolette surely sees Your Imperial Highness, His Highness Orkhart, and even myself as nothing but the grotesque! Between all of us and His Highness Raphael, she sees no difference!”

Excuse me???

As the guests around us watched the uproar began, as they murmured things like “So that’s how it is...” “It’s entirely possible, given how gorgeous Miss Blossom is,” and “So that’s why Coco-puff is the angel of love and kind to everyone!” I was completely speechless. Even Miss Louise was in agreement, nodding so enthusiastically that I thought her head would come tumbling right off.

I’m shocked... To think that Miss Mystère has always thought that I am a person who “can only see all of the rest of humanity as homely.” And on top of that, everyone just accepted it...

What was the point, then, in me working for years to cultivate the image of “the young lady who was nice to everyone, no matter what”? If her declaration had at least gone in the direction of “Miss Cocolette is pure of heart and can see the beauty in everyone,” then my work would’ve been worth something...

Despondent, I pushed my face into Prince Raph’s shoulder, and at once he patted my head in consolation. Once he confirmed that I was calm, he began the indictment.

“Now then, Second Imperial Prince Goblynx. You are charged with attempting to use Miss Pia of the Abbott Barony as a honey trap against Second Prince Orkhart Cheriotte,” Prince Raph declared.

Douglas arrested Imperial Prince Goblynx, with Lord Dwarphister reading the document they’d prepared in the salon soon after. Raymond moved forward to also put Pia in restraints.

A lot had just happened in the middle of the tea party, but in the end the goblin had successfully been subdued.

Prince Raph looked just so cool when he got all angry on my behalf! ♡

As I stood there totally spacing out about how Prince Raph was the ideal man, Pia called my name.

“Cocolette Blossom! May I say how glad I am that you never snatched away Prince Gob?” she said. “He’s mine, you see? You could never understand his appeal—I’m the one who knows his beauty best!”

So... Pia’s heart doesn’t lie with Prince Ork, but with His Imperial Highness Goblynx instead. Huh...

Finally, something had been established which was absolutely of no consequence to myself, and my expression warped into an entirely deadpan one.

▽

“Miss Kleist, I am deeply sorry for causing such a ruckus during your recovery party,” Prince Raph said.

He had come over to give his regards to her before taking Pia and Imperial Prince Goblynx back to the palace. Beside him and the Kleist heiress, Miss Mystère—overjoyed to have received specially made sweets from the royal family—was distributing the food to the guests.

“Please, Your Highness Raphael; there is no need to apologize,” Miss Lunamaria replied. “You have accomplished quite an impressive feat.”

Prince Raph, now tasked with the aftermath of what had just happened, promptly left the tea party with Lord Dwarphister, Raymond, Ford, and a contingent of knights serving as guards.

“I for one am relieved to see that girl gone,” Miss Mystère declared. “Day after day, the disrespect she showed His Highness Orkhart was intolerable!”

Miss Violet, who was in her maid uniform and eating a fruit tart, replied, “I’m surprised that His Imperial Highness Goblynx was arrested as well, but as he was the mastermind behind it all, it makes sense. He isn’t a very sophisticated gentleman.”

“True,” Miss Mystère replied calmly, continuing the conversation. “He was terribly rude to His Highness Raphael.”

Did...Miss Mystère think she was merely speaking to a maid who happened to be close by, rather than Miss Violet who was wearing a maid outfit?

I didn’t know how to properly act around Miss Violet when she was disguised, so I stayed quiet; it was just then that Prince Ork and Miss Lunamaria came up to me.

Prince Ork, seeming to be brooding over something, took a moment to speak. “Coco.”

“Is something the matter, Prince Ork?” I asked.

He hesitated. “After listening to Tear’s explanation, I’ve finally come to my senses. At last, I’ve realized that even someone as gorgeous as I am doesn’t look that way to you, Coco—not with how exceptionally beautiful you are. If my looks don’t charm you, then it’s only natural that you’ve chosen my brother.”

“Ah—yes! Yes, exactly!” I cried, fiercely nodding like I never had before. I was basically headbanging.

Thank you ever so much, Miss Mystère! Your irrational argument has had a major influence on Prince Ork—finally, it really seems like he’s going to give up on me...!

“Just as I thought... I see why; on the inside, brother is truly an incredible person.” Prince Ork smiled, pained. “Miss Cocolette of the Blossom Marquisate, I have pined for you for so long. You were my first love. While my own wishes were not granted, please: I hope that you make my brother, His Highness Crown Prince Raphael, very happy.”

“Goodness—Prince Ork!” I gasped. “Do you mean...?”

“Yes. As soon as I return to the palace, I will have your name removed from my list of marriage candidates.” He formally bowed his head. “Coco, all I ask of you now is to always smile while you stand beside my brother. After all, I so dearly love your smile...”

“Thank you so much, Prince Ork!!!” I cried before bowing my own head deeply.

I had been Prince Ork’s marriage candidate for three years, and by now the sight of him inspired affection and feelings of friendship within me. But neither of those emotions would ever grow into romantic love.

I imagined that even if Prince Ork had been a bishonen on the same level as his brother, in the end I still would’ve chosen Prince Raph. It was like how I felt about Douglas or Raymond, who both nourished my soul with their looks without sparking a hint of romance inside me; I only felt love for Prince Raph.

Prince Raph not only has the face of an archangel, but slowly and steadily he’s growing into the perfect man. He’s the one for me. I absolutely can’t have anyone else.

“I will definitely make Prince Raph happy,” I promised. “So, Prince Ork, please make someone else happy yourself.”

Such a line might have been harsh for him to hear right now, but Prince Ork only gave me a firm nod in reply.

Miss Lunamaria, who had been silently watching our exchange, seemed relieved.

My goblin stalker had disappeared, Pia’s scandals were over, and Prince Ork had given up on me. Today was an absolutely magnificent day.

Overjoyed, I clasped Miss Lunamaria’s hands, smiling, and cheered for her. “Miss Lunamaria! Now you’re effectively Prince Ork’s only marriage candidate. Please do your best to win his heart!”

“Miss Cocolette...”

“And you know how Prince Raph just took His Imperial Highness Goblynx and Miss Abbott into custody? Those two are suspected of using mind control to manipulate several individuals. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were also responsible for the recent incidents surrounding you, so Prince Raph said he would look into that for me,” I explained. “Isn’t that great, Miss Lunamaria? Everything has turned out just fine!”

Miss Lunamaria’s blank expression became utterly stiff. Then, her eyes watered, just a step away from bursting forth into full tears. The sudden change had me reeling in confusion.

Reluctantly, she admitted, “His Imperial Highness Goblynx is not responsible.”

And then, in a small, fragile voice, Miss Lunamaria revealed the unthinkable: “The true identity of the mastermind trying to cause me harm...is Her Majesty Marie-Jewel.”

If you knew who it was, Miss Lunamaria, you should’ve told us sooneeerrrrrrrr!!! Haven’t you heard of this thing called communication!!!

To think that there was such an orthodox heroine right under my nose just letting her own situation get worse and worse without consulting us...! I’d made a mistake in focusing only on Miss Mystère’s descent into becoming a villainess...

I felt weak in the knees, but I just barely managed to keep myself from collapsing.

This was an emergency. If the queen consort really was responsible for all of Miss Lunamaria’s recent misfortunes, then I could say with almost complete certainty that the culprit who had attempted to harm Miss Lunamaria was the royal shade assigned to her.

It was quite likely that her shade was much like my guardian spirit, Shadow—using magic or a magic item to hide themself. And since we couldn’t see them, the shade could have easily pushed Miss Lunamaria into the pond, slashed her dress, pushed the potted plant from the third floor, mixed the poison into her food, and whatever else they wanted. Though I couldn’t say for sure how just one person had been an even match for a multitude of guards; that sounded way too strong...

Well, fortunately, Miss Lunamaria’s accusation had been spoken so softly that it had instantly disappeared into the liveliness of the tea party the moment it was said; I didn’t know where the shade was hiding, but they probably did not hear her. Even Prince Ork, who stood near us, seemed to have not heard our conversation.

Of course, this was just wishful thinking on my part, but at the very least, it seemed that no harm would come to Miss Lunamaria at this moment.

I took Miss Lunamaria’s and Prince Ork’s hands, then called out: “Miss Mystère, we have something we must report to Prince Raph at once. I apologize, but we must leave you here.”

“Oh my, really?” Miss Mystère replied. “I suppose there’s no helping it. Do your utmost for His Highness Raphael.”

“Of course!”

With that, I left, a pale-faced Miss Lunamaria and thoroughly ignorant Prince Ork in tow.

Prince Ork tipped his head in confusion. “I know I gave up on chasing after you, Coco, but perhaps you could wait to tell brother until after the party?”

“No,” I replied. “This is a race against time, Prince Ork.”

I wasn’t able to explain the particulars to Prince Ork just then, but he had to come along. After all, if he went, then his guards Miss Violet and Salvador would have to come as well. The protection assigned to me and Miss Lunamaria—Douglas and the other knights—would unfortunately not be enough to go against a shade of the royal family and come out victorious.

I surreptitiously glanced back over my shoulder. Miss Violet and Salvador were diligently following us.

We continued on, with me acting all the while like the three of us had left the party to inform Prince Raph that Prince Ork was going to remove me from his list of marriage candidates.

I suppressed my sense of unease as we headed for Prince Ork’s stagecoach.

Chapter 9: The Shades of the Royal Family

Cocolette

Prince Raph was already at his detached villa. The matter concerning the Empire of Portania had been reported to the top brass, and it seemed everyone was preparing for a special meeting of parliament. Raymond, Lord Dwarphister, and even his father, Prime Minister Wagner, were hurrying about Prince Raph’s office.

It appeared that Pia had been put in the dungeons, while Imperial Prince Goblynx—being royalty—had been locked up in a special cell. They would soon be questioned.

I felt guilty for bringing forth a completely different issue while Prince Raph was occupied, but there was no way I could delay addressing the issue of Miss Lunamaria’s misfortune any further.

“I apologize for intruding during such a hectic time, Prince Raph,” I began. “However, there is a matter I must report to you no matter what...”

Behind me, Prince Ork spoke up. “Actually, Coco, I believe we really should do this later. Brother is terribly busy,” he said, trying to put a stop to what was happening, but I decided to ignore him.

“I don’t mind, Coco,” Prince Raph replied. “Some parts of this matter regarding our new Portanian prisoners were previously arranged, after all. I imagine Prime Minister Wagner should be able to handle some of it himself.”

“But Your Highness Raphael...!” Prime Minister Wagner protested, panicked.

This was the first time I was seeing the Duke of Wagner, though it wasn’t as if I had gone out of my way to avoid him or anything. As a dwarf-face, he seemed to be far better suited to overalls, hammer clutched gamely in one fist, than he did the dignified dress suit he was actually wearing; basically, he was a gentleman who looked like what I imagined Lord Dwarphister would in twenty years. Incidentally, the duke also favored his pair of mite-misty glasses.

“Prime Minister Wagner, I ask that you please convince my father to partake in some of the work as well,” Prince Raph continued. “Dwarphister, Raymond—I will be stepping out for a short while.”

The duke seemed about to stop Prince Raph, but Lord Dwarphister made him sit back down, chiding, “Father, stop moaning and get to work, please,” while Raymond set a mountain of paperwork atop his desk.

The four of us moved into another room. Prince Raph took a look at everyone who had gathered, murmuring, “This is quite a lot of people for a simple report.” At a more normal level of voice, he said, “To think that so many people have left the tea party that Miss Wagner organized... And since Miss Kleist herself is here when she’s the star of the party, this must be quite urgent, Coco. Am I wrong?”

“Prince Raph, I must ask for some time before we can begin speaking,” I said. “Miss Violet, would you please clear the premises?”

“Oho? My, my,” Miss Violet replied, giggling with her sweet, airy tone and a smile blooming across her face. “Calling me by name, Miss Cocolette?”

As I’d suspected, Prince Ork seemed to have known that Miss Violet was guarding him in disguise, but Miss Lunamaria’s eyes went wide with surprise. “Why is Miss Violet wearing a maid uniform?” she murmured, tipping her head.

“Well then,” Miss Violet went on, “I will be borrowing Douglas. Salvie, start by investigating from the first floor of the villa. We shall have Miss Lunamaria’s escort of knights stand guard outside.”

Miss Violet—having guessed that the matter was about the royal shades without even an explanation on my part—commenced “cleaning” the villa. Both Shadow and the shade tailing Miss Lunamaria had to be driven away before any discussion could begin; the details of our upcoming conversation could not afford to be leaked to the queen consort.

We sat on the sofas, waiting for Miss Violet’s signal that she had finished exterminating the vermin. During that time, I informed Prince Raph that Prince Ork had officially given up on his pursuit of me, to which Prince Raph nodded and replied, “Finally, huh?”

Eventually, Miss Violet and the others returned.

“Shadow and the other shade have been driven away,” she announced in her sweet drawl. “The villa should be safe for the time being.”

At last, we could get down to business.

“Can you make the report to Prince Raph yourself?” I asked Miss Lunamaria.

She hesitated. “Yes.”

Since we had come here straight from the academy, we students were still in our school uniforms. Miss Lunamaria gripped the fabric of her skirt at a spot around her knees, then started to speak.

“Your Highness Raphael, please allow me to name the mastermind behind the accidents and scandals that have been happening to me as of late.”

Prince Raph and Prince Ork both stared at Miss Lunamaria in surprise.

“The orchestrator behind everything has been Her Majesty Marie-Jewel.”

Prince Raph took a moment to respond. “Do you have any proof, Miss Kleist?”

“I have no material evidence,” she admitted. “However, I have been threatened by the queen consort multiple times in the past.”

And so, Miss Lunamaria began to speak about how, over the past several years, Queen Marie-Jewel had been harassing her.

Apparently, every time they met, Queen Marie-Jewel would try to frighten Miss Lunamaria into withdrawing her candidacy as Prince Ork’s potential wife and instead do her all to become Prince Raph’s queen consort, thereby demonstrating complete loyalty to the kingdom.

Miss Lunamaria, however, had never once bent her knee to such threats. From the beginning, Queen Marie-Jewel’s aim had been the Kleist Duchy’s powerful information network; since the queen consort had never made any attempts to diminish that asset itself, Miss Lunamaria had believed that she herself would be all right so long as she endured the queen consort’s treatment.

But upon Miss Lunamaria’s enrollment in the royal academy, the situation had changed. The moment that no one from the palace was watching Miss Lunamaria, Queen Marie-Jewel was prepared to do anything to convince her to withdraw—even resort to violence.

“In truth, the queen consort’s only wish is ‘for the daughter of the Kleist Duchy to marry His Highness Raphael,’” Miss Lunamaria admitted before pausing. “She has told me that even if something should happen to me, it would be enough for her to have my family’s power; that even if I became bedridden, for example, it would be no matter, for the country would still function if Miss Cocolette were to have His Highness Raphael’s child and even perform some of the duties of queen consort in my place...”

Eeeeek... Shadow had also told me that in Queen Marie-Jewel’s eyes, the only use I had was birthing Prince Raph’s child; but for Miss Lunamaria, it seemed to be only “be alive.” It was entirely possible that the queen consort was weaving a malicious plan to leave Miss Lunamaria with an injury that would never heal, the likes of which would leave her in too poor of health to wed Prince Ork.

“I understand the situation now,” Prince Raph said at last. “While what my mother has done to you cannot be excused, Miss Kleist, please accept my humble apologies.”

“N-No, there is no need for that,” Miss Lunamaria insisted. “Receiving your remorse when you have done nothing wrong would be discourteous to you, Your Highness...”

“Nevertheless, Miss Kleist...why did you not come forward with this information sooner?” he asked. “I believe I asked you to report to me should anything unusual occur.”

She hesitated. “I truly do apologize about that, Your Highness Raphael.”

A single tear streamed down her cheek.

“Were I to have informed you of this...I would have worried all of you...” she admitted. “And above all, I feared too much the possibility that if I were to say anything, I would be removed from His Highness Orkhart’s list of marriage candidates...”

Miss Lunamaria’s confession made me want to hold my head in my hands. Prince Raph, on his part, looked completely exhausted, while Miss Violet let out an astonished “That would be unthinkable for the knights back in my county.”

Prince Ork, however, was the only one who reacted differently. A deeply moved emotion, as well as the beginnings of tears, filled his minuscule eyes, and he gripped Miss Lunamaria’s hands in his own.

“Luna...” He paused. “You’ve always been so close to me, yet I never realized how troubled you were. I’m sorry... And you never stop thinking of me...”

“Your Highness Orkhart...”

“I have no intention of removing you from my list of marriage candidates. You haven’t done a single thing wrong!” he insisted. “Everything is the queen consort’s fault! I’ll fight with you, Luna!”

“Thank you, Your Highness...!”

I imagined that since Prince Ork had also been targeted by Queen Marie-Jewel’s assassination schemes, he was feeling a surge of closeness to Miss Lunamaria. It was inappropriate of me to think this way at the moment, but a part of me did hope that would mark a transformation of his feelings for Miss Lunamaria—from friendship to tender affection.

Prince Raph took the opportunity of the duo’s emotional silence to speak to them. “Miss Kleist, I ask that you speak to us should something happen. Until now, the violence has been kept to a cautionary level by the royal shades, but I expect the next time will be much worse.”

“Huh?” I gasped. Were the poisoning and the ruffian’s ambush not terrible enough? They’re only going to get worse? I thought, and couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you say that, Prince Raph?”

He smiled uncomfortably. “Because the situation has changed, Coco. Until now, you’ve been Orkhart’s preferred choice, but you are finally no longer a contender. His remaining candidates are Miss Kleist and Miss Berga, but the shades of the royal family are probably fully aware that Miss Berga is Orkhart’s bodyguard and nothing more. In short, the candidate closest to becoming Orkhart’s fiancée is Miss Kleist and Miss Kleist only.”

“And with things as they are, Her Majesty Marie-Jewel would never stand for Miss Lunamaria to be chosen as Prince Ork’s betrothed...!” I realized. Queen Marie-Jewel might have been able to let things slide if I were to become Prince Ork’s fiancée, but definitely not Miss Lunamaria!

“The attempts on Orkhart’s life may become even more intense,” Prince Raph warned. “After all, if my mother can get rid of Orkhart altogether, then Miss Kleist cannot marry him at all.”

“Please leave His Highness Orkhart’s well-being to us, Your Highness Raphael,” Miss Violet drawled, smiling brilliantly. “After all, we have been protecting him all this time. We will not let the queen consort get her hands on him.”

“That is truly reassuring, Miss Berga. I leave Orkhart to you.”

“Understood.”

With that settled, it was only Miss Lunamaria’s protection that remained. Would it be best to leave Douglas in charge of her? Gah, I wish we could just clone Miss Violet. Then we could fight the shades...!

The delusional thought had just crossed my mind when a sound came from the corner of the room. I turned to look in absent curiosity—

“Hey, young lady. Looks like you all are having quite the interesting discussion. Mind letting me join?”

It was the monster with sickly pale-white skin, longish indigo hair, and a single eye patch over his left eye.

“Shadow!” Miss Violet yelled. “Time to finally put a hole in you!”

From under her maid uniform she pulled out a massive gun and immediately started firing. How exactly had she hidden it there? Battle-ready noblewomen are incredible.

I really had no way of determining what kind of gun it was, but whatever the case, the crack of its shots were nearly deafening. I covered my ears with my hands, but my eardrums were already tingling with a strange numbness. Maybe you shouldn’t be firing that thing so close to other people?

All of the bullets Miss Violet had fired, however, collided with a wall of light and failed to even scratch Shadow. He really does seem to be using defensive magic, or at least some sort of magic item.

Miss Violet threw aside her now empty gun and pulled a knife from her sleeve, then dashed toward the barrier.

Just before she began to slash at it, Prince Raph called out, “Miss Berga, halt. It’s pointless to do any more.”

She grunted, protesting, “But Your Highness Raphael, if we capture him, we might be able to get information about the queen consort!”

“Fighting an opponent using magic or magic items while we only have physical means of harm would be challenging even for you, Miss Berga,” he explained. He turned his gaze toward Shadow. “Besides, I don’t believe that he came here alone just to fight.”

The shade clapped. “As expected of the crown prince of Cheriotte! You’re quite the gentleman, you know; my young lady is quite resolved to be your wife because of it. It’s only proper that you deserve his admiration.”

Shadow dissolved the barrier, then folded himself into a deep kneeling bow in front of Prince Raph.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Crown Prince Raphael. My name is Shadow—Shadow Valentine.”

I started in surprise at his surname. Without a doubt, that was the same name as the Valentine Duchy—the family that Queen Marie-Jewel hailed from. Is Shadow related to Prince Raph by blood?

“The Valentines should only have one son to inherit the estate, and one daughter who has already married into another family...” Prince Raph said slowly, recalling the duchy just as I was. He observed Shadow with clear suspicion. “Are you an illegitimate child?”

“My, Your Highness,” Shadow replied smoothly. “Are you of the belief that the genealogies the Valentines have supplied to the royal family are as true as they claim to be?”

Prince Raph paused. “Are you saying that the Valentine Duchy has deceived the country? That the family trees they’ve submitted to the crown are false?”

“No, no—His Majesty would know,” Shadow assured him. Then, after a moment, he added, “Hmm? The kings of our history would have surely known, but would the current King of Cheriotte remember? I wonder. Perhaps he has forgotten.”

Prince Raph did not reply.

“Ah, but listen to this! Her Majesty Marie-Jewel knows! After all, she is a former member of the royal shades herself.”

“Mother was a shade...?”

What’s with this info coming out of left field?!

Of course Prince Raph was baffled, but so were Prince Ork, Miss Lunamaria, and Miss Violet.

“Every one of the Valentines—both its public figures and its private operatives—are shades of the royal family. After all, we all trace our bloodlines back to the duke’s in some way,” Shadow explained. “We are divided and given our duties based on our aptitudes. I mainly guard my charges and gather intelligence, while the current duke is only in a public position because he is the best suited to manage our territory. Even Her Majesty Marie-Jewel was assessed to possess the requisite qualities for a queen, which is why our family arranged for her marriage, but that doesn’t mean that she was a daughter of the Valentines to begin with.”

So Queen Marie-Jewel wasn’t directly related to the Valentine Duchy, but had instead been adopted from a branch family?

But that wasn’t something that had to be kept secret. After all, Raymond was the heir to the Blossom estate and father had adopted him from a distant relative; even in Prince Raph’s past life, Pia had been adopted from a baron’s house into another family’s in order to marry Prince Ork. Well, she had never actually been Baron Abbott’s child—even illegitimately—which meant that she didn’t have an ounce of royal blood in her.

If the Valentine Duchy was actually a group of people who were descended from repeated adoptions of distant relatives—even if they weren’t direct descendants of the family—then that was one way of preserving the blue blood of the nobility.

“I am sure that I can look into your declarations later to figure out whether they are true or not,” Prince Raph said. “Now, Shadow: Why have you come here alone? I assume it wasn’t to explain the inner workings of the Valentine Duchy.”

Shadow straightened his posture, then looked up and stared at Prince Raph. There seemed to be not even a hint of repugnance in his expression at Prince Raph’s hideousness. Rather, I could see that Shadow felt anxious, worried—even miserable.

“To be honest,” Shadow said at last, “I have long been troubled about whether I can change the current status quo. However, thanks to the young lady’s concern for me, I’ve gained the courage to put my faith in someone else.”

Huh? Me...?

“Crown Prince Raphael, I have come seeking your assistance,” he continued. “You are the only one who can stop him—the man who is my mentor, superior, friend, and family—for he admires you from the bottom of his heart...”

Was Shadow perhaps referring to that dear person he’d been talking about during our conversation on the balcony? He had looked so sad when he had said, “But if things do get too much for me to handle, then I might actually end up turning to you.”

“The leader of our secret unit, the royal shades, is named Lucifer,” Shadow continued, tone growing increasingly desperate. “You are the only one who can save him! You both are in the same position, and better yet, he respects you. If it’s you, I’m sure he would listen!”

I really couldn’t grasp the full picture here... But, a warning bell started sounding off inside me.

“Please—I’m begging you to save him! Lucifer has been struggling all his life with the same sort of homeliness Your Highness was born with...!”

And that warning bell started blasting at full volume:

EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY! Sonar has picked up a high-level bishonen signal! Cocolette, secure the hottie at once!!!

❦

Shadow

“Please—I’m begging you to save him! Lucifer has been struggling all his life with the same sort of homeliness Your Highness was born with...!”

I didn’t expect Crown Prince Raphael to believe my sudden plea so easily. Indeed, I knew full well just how suspicious my behavior must have seemed to him.

I’d had a couple of opportunities before this to protect His Highness from the shadows. His hideousness had often made him the target of callousness, but nevertheless, he was a patient and prudent gentleman who neither held his power over others nor punished them for no reason. I was sure that at this moment, he was calmly coming to his own conclusion about my words and actions.

Honestly, Lucifer...I get why you admire him. Truly I do. He is quite the capable young man.

To an outsider, this must have looked like nothing less than a trap set by the queen consort herself. After all, here I was, nonchalantly appearing in front of the crown prince and blithely revealing the true nature of the royal shades to him (who, without my doing so, would not yet have known of such conditions due to his current status)—it would be more than reasonable to suspect this all a ploy for sympathy. It would have been no surprise if they suspected that I was trying to lower their guard so I could make an attempt on His Highness Orkhart’s life. My sincerely betraying the queen consort, especially after they found out she and I were fellow Valentines, was an absurd notion in the first place for them.

But all I wanted was to help Lucifer. He was stuck between the queen consort’s orders and his admiration of His Highness Raphael—and it was breaking him apart. I couldn’t bear to see him struggle any longer.

What more can I say to His Highness Raphael to persuade him to help Lucifer?

Ugh... I was Shadow the Scoundrel! I was known for being able to seduce anyone, and I had charmed a great number of men and women—young and old—to back up that claim. But when I really needed help, the words just wouldn’t come to me...

I let my head drop gracelessly.

And then, the young lady called out to me.

“Shadow, please raise your head.”

At some point, she had come to crouch down right in front of me.

Her eyes, the color of fresh green leaves, were filled with unshed tears. Ah... Surely she pitied me, and there was no mistake that she worried for Lucifer as well, even though I had only spoken about how much I wanted to help him. The young lady was compassionate that way. I had never met such a mysterious girl before.

That and the simple fact that she was incredibly outstanding were the reasons I had been chosen to be her guard in the first place.

“Cocolette is untrustworthy, but you’ll do as her protection,” the queen consort had said when she’d selected me. “After all, she hasn’t done anything so foolish as to have her eyes on another man.”

Had the young lady been a more promiscuous girl like the Kleist heiress, my skills as a guard and intelligence-gatherer wouldn’t have been appropriate. If she were, I figured she would have had someone like Lucifer assigned to her—someone who was better suited to assassination and sabotage.

To sum it up, the queen consort valued the young lady because she would never betray His Highness Raphael. But now that I had actually worked as the young lady’s guard, I could truly see why.

With such beauty and power afforded to her, the young lady could have easily grown up to be a haughty, arrogant woman, but she had remained kindhearted to all. Not once had she ever raised her voice to her family’s servants, and not once had she ever acted less than a proper older sister to her hideous adopted brother.

If I had any criticism of her, it was that her attitude toward her father, the marquis, was a little cold. She must have been setting a boundary, refusing to be spoiled by her father since she was a lady. It was truly admirable since she was only fourteen—I doubted a normal young noblewoman her age would have been able to manage this.

She was amicable toward everyone she met at Daemons Academy, and made not a single complaint when His Highness Raphael assigned his revolting knight to guard her (despite the fact that there were numerous other fair-looking cavaliers!)—she even made a point of making pleasant conversation with him during rest periods.

Of course, that wasn’t all.

She never paid any mind to how ugly someone was, smiling and exchanging pleasantries with them despite how much of a social pariah they might have been—though to be fair none of them were ever as hideous as His Highness Raphael. She remembered her manners even with students of low status. Despite how busy she was with her doubled courseload of both queenly and academy classes, she made sure to spend her spare time at the church to volunteer. She truly was a goddess of affection made flesh.

The young lady wasn’t a peerless beauty just on the outside, but also on the inside—and there were ample temptations around for her to be less so.

In addition to His Highness Orkhart and Imperial Prince Goblynx of the Portanian Empire, the academy was full of beautiful young men who were in a completely different aesthetic league than His Highness Raphael. The young lady herself seemed well aware that these boys gave her heated looks.

“But I am Prince Raph’s chosen...” she had murmured before, seeming pained. I had seen it happen.

Even if her heart wavered for some handsome young nobleman, she was still an adolescent girl. If she had such feelings for another and kept them hidden she would’ve been forgiven, but such an occurrence never happened. No matter what, she remained chaste and faithful to His Highness Raphael and him alone.

Why, though, just why was she so devoted to His Highness Raphael? I hadn’t known in the beginning. But through guarding the young lady, I’d realized something: The girl was a profound patriot.

She always studied right until the last minutes before her bedtime. I could recall one incident when she opened up a history textbook and thought nostalgically upon one of our virtuous rulers of the past, saying, “I wish there were a more detailed biographic section on King Schwarz. They should have put a picture in here too.” On another occasion, I heard her say, “There must be plenty more oppressed people like Douglas in the slums. I wonder how we might track them down? Ahh, I’d like to make a hoastklub and hire them on... I want to go to it too...” which was just further proof of how deeply she thought about helping her fellow citizens, even to the point of speculating how they might find proper work—though I had no idea what a hoastklub was. Likely another of her brilliant, patriotic ideas.

When I looked at the young lady, I couldn’t help but think that while she was still young, she loved her country from the bottom of her heart—and that was why she had pledged her allegiance to His Highness Raphael and not His Highness Orkhart, who, while still a prince, had the blood of the Portanian Empire in his veins.

Her loyalty was the real deal. Occasionally she would let His Highness Raphael lay his head in her lap as she soothed him, and at other times she would encourage him with sweet words of love. She thought of him even when they were apart, though she sometimes said some words that were too difficult for me to grasp, such as, “I wonder how I can get some good old fan service to happen. Maybe Prince Raph would be happy if he got a good glimpse of my panties?” However, no matter what she said, I was sure that she was coming up with ways to delight the crown prince.

And then, at the tea party a few hours ago, the young Lady Wagner’s words had been the coup de grâce: Of course the young lady’s indomitable beauty had caused her to view all of humanity at the same level of homeliness. In her eyes, His Highness Orkhart’s loveliness and His Highness Raphael’s hideousness were one and the same.

I’d seen it as well... The young lady’s cheeks hadn’t even reddened for me, Shadow the Scoundrel.

A while ago, when I had orchestrated a romantic scene late at night on her balcony, the young lady had made an approach—but her heart had not been swayed one bit. Rather, she had only opened her window the smallest amount, as if making sure that even there she could not betray His Highness Raphael.

Truly, she was different from other girls—in her heart lay not romance, but her country.

If the young lady was truly the kind of girl I believed her to be—one who looked past beauty standards to treat all with fairness—then surely she wouldn’t dismiss my story outright.

I gazed at her, imploring her through my single eye.

As she looked back at me, her expression stiffened... It seemed that seeing me in such a weak state for the first time had caused her to worry.

“Take your time,” she said at last. “Please, tell me all about Lucifer. I told you that I will listen, if you’ll have me—did I not?”

“Mm, that you did,” I replied.

Ordinarily, girls’ hearts fluttered at my lady-killer look, but she hadn’t been affected at all. Somehow, that made me happy, incredibly so. I had the sense that she didn’t care about my appearance; rather, she was seriously worried for me.

Her words encouraged me, and I turned to His Highness Raphael.

He was looking at her, utterly besotted. “Goodness, Coco, sometimes you can be too compassionate,” he murmured hopelessly. I shared his opinion.

“Shadow,” His Highness Raphael went on. “As you are one of my mother’s minions, we hesitate to extend you our trust. I am sure you are well aware of that. Yet still, you came to me asking for help; I commend your bravery and shall listen to your story until the end.”

As if affirming His Highness’s words about trust, the young lady frantically shook her head and said, “Please tell us all about Lucifer! Is he really, really as unsightly as Prince Raph? You aren’t lying? I will not forgive you if you are lying, Shadow!”

She seemed quite worried about Lucifer.

“I shall tell you about Lucifer, and about how important he is to me,” I promised.

I had already made my decision—I would save Lucifer, even if it meant betraying the queen consort.

❦

We shades of the royal family are composed of all those who carry the blood of the Valentine Duchy. It matters not if the mother is a maid or the father is commoner—so long as one is born to the Valentines, they are one of us. All children are gathered and trained, but only those that survive become the shades of the royal family.

Children are difficult to raise. If they get sick, they die in the blink of an eye, and they’re weak to both the heat and the cold. And between self-defense, assassination, and training in poison immunity, it takes no time at all for the body to wear down. Most of them get weeded out.

In my early childhood, every day was nothing but gray.

The self-defense work in swordplay and martial arts was pretty fun, but sure enough, practicing how to kill made me feel ill. At the time I was still only strangling chickens for us to eat—which I knew was important—but doing so still made me feel down.

I’m not trying to lament the fact that I was born to the shades of the royal family. The gray zone we live in is necessary to protect the country. If we kept clean, the royal family couldn’t carry on. Someone has to do the dirty work.

Well...I knew that all along, even as a kid. But still, I also just wanted to play—so it wasn’t fun at all.

Lucifer is ten years older than me. He always looked after me.

“Why don’t you just run away from all this, Lucifer?” I asked.

Lucifer was an absurdly ugly boy. He had the indigo hair and eyes all Valentines have, but his face looked just like a ghost’s. He had huge, bulging eyes, a strangely straight nose placed high on his face, and weak, thin lips.

To an outsider, he looked like a person destined for the kind of behind-the-scenes work the shades do, but this isn’t the sort of occupation someone would willingly decide to do.

“If I ran away I’d only be purged,” Lucifer answered in a quiet voice. “Besides, I have a dream. One day we’ll have an ideal king—one who thinks of all his subjects, regardless of how they look.”

“So not the current king,” I teased.

“Come on, Shadow. That’s disrespectful.”

“Sorry, sorry!”

Still, I thought that it would be interesting if such a king did appear. I wanted to see what Lucifer dreamed of: a wonderful king who reigned over the kingdom with consideration for all of his citizens.

Over time, Lucifer continued to support me, and I eventually completed my shade training.

Building up an immunity to poison was especially difficult, and I lost the vision in my left eye because of it. It was an exhausting and overwhelming time, but Lucifer kindly nursed me back to health.

Before I knew it, I was assigned to more intelligence jobs than assassinations—after all, my good looks are my greatest asset. I treat girls with the slightest bit of kindness and they spill all sorts of information from their lovely lips. And if I feel so inclined, I can tempt men too. Well, I guess keeping an old guy company for an evening is better than killing him, but it doesn’t exactly excite me either.

That was when the name “Shadow the Scoundrel” started popping up.

❦

To earn their trust, I’d begun by telling everyone about my past.

His Highness Raphael nodded with apparent great interest, while the young miss of Berga County mused, “It seems the training the royal shades go through is quite different than what my family does after all.” Even His Highness Orkhart and Miss Kleist were both listening attentively.

The young lady, however, cried out, “Please, Shadow—tell me more about Lucifer!” as she pitched forward.

I see. With the young lady being so compassionate, she wouldn’t be interested in my personal history. Given the time we had already spent together, there was no doubt she already trusted me—and right now, Lucifer’s situation was far more critical. Of course her concern was mainly focused on him.

Was it really all right for her to be so trusting...? Well, even if it wasn’t, I was there to protect her. Good grief, what an outrageous young lady she could be.

“Hurry!” she urged, banging her hands on the table. “Talk about Lucifer!”

And so, I continued.

❦

A few years ago, Lucifer changed.

He’s always been the type to care only for his work, but around this time he started to space out during breaks. And when we had days off, he would leave our hideout completely and head somewhere else.

“What’s up, Lucifer?” I asked him. “Find a cute girl?”

“No,” he said finally. “Unlike you, I’m not in a position to take love so lightly.”

“Then what is it? You’ve been so restless lately.”

“It’s... Well, I’ve, uh, been looking into the crown prince...”

“The one everyone’s talking about? What, did the queen consort assign you to protect him?”

“No, not that...”

Lucifer told me that he’d been on a mission where he’d seen His Highness Raphael by chance. Since that moment, he’d become one of the crown prince’s biggest fans. And when he talked about His Highness then, Lucifer’s eyes glimmered with something I’d never seen there before.

“He’s truly a wonderful gentleman,” he said. “Despite his youth, he’s putting all his energy into going out on inspections. Any injustice he sees, he puts to rights, and should a problem occur, he joins forces with his aides and marriage candidates to come up with a solution. Just recently, there were bandits causing trouble in a distant territory. The residents had pleaded to their lord for help, but he had ignored their cries—he had been bribed by the bandits, you see. It was then that His Highness Raphael and his retinue appeared on the scene and decided to rout the brigands...”

Upon speaking of the crown prince, Lucifer was so full of energy that it seemed as if left to his own devices he would talk of His Highness Raphael for hours, moving from the crown prince suppressing bandits to his wildlife control and flood prevention efforts had I not cut him off.

“So in short Lucifer, you’ve finally met your ideal king?”

Lucifer’s answering smile was so broad it crinkled all the features of his ugly face. “Yeah. He will become a true king, one I will gladly serve,” he said, looking truly happy.

Over time, Lucifer grew steadily more and more absorbed with His Highness Raphael.

He would be incredibly excited every time he returned to our hideout. His constant taciturn nature seemed to emerge a lie, for he would chatter away endlessly, saying things like “Today, His Highness practiced with the knights. His swordsmanship is incredible—I can’t believe he’s royalty,” “He gets fantastic marks in his princely education. He must be the best crown prince in generations, right?” “Lately, he’s been taking over His Majesty’s duties, and his directions are spot-on. Crown Prince Raphael would truly fit the name of ‘the Wise King’ when he inherits the throne,” and “His relationship with his leading marriage candidate, the daughter of Marquis Blossom, seems to be going well. Such a magnificent gentleman would surely captivate the young lady with his personality alone, despite the handicap his countenance might give him. Miss Blossom is in quite the enviable position by being chosen by His Highness.”

I started to wish, too, that His Highness Raphael would become king—and would become Lucifer’s master.

And then, a couple years later, the queen consort gave me and Lucifer our orders.

I was to be the young lady’s bodyguard.

And to Lucifer, she said, “Do all you can do to prevent Lunamaria from seducing the second prince. If she loses a limb or two in the process, then so be it.”

We are shades of the royal family; to refuse an order from the queen consort is out of the question.

After we received our commands, however, Lucifer looked disgusted. “Lunamaria Kleist of the premier duchy of Cheriotte, huh...” he murmured.

“Do you have some sort of problem with her?” I asked.

He took a moment to answer. “Crown Prince Raphael already has his heart set on marrying Miss Blossom, and he has no intention of making Miss Kleist his royal concubine.”

“But Her Majesty Marie-Jewel wants the Kleist Duchy’s power, doesn’t she?” I pointed out.

“The second prince intends to serve Crown Prince Raphael,” Lucifer explained. “Should His Highness Orkhart marry Miss Kleist, His Highness Raphael will still gain her family’s support.”

“Oho? Then Her Majesty’s orders are meaningless?” I replied, teasing.

“Worse than that... Should His Highness Raphael see Miss Kleist come to harm, it will hurt him. He is a kind gentleman that way.”

“Then why don’t you just pretend to follow Her Majesty’s orders and leave Miss Kleist alone?”

“I can’t do that,” Lucifer said flatly. “I’m a shade of the royal family. I have my pride.”

As tainted and wretched as this way of life has made both our bodies and souls, it is the only life we are allowed. If we weighed their worth, our lives are as air, empty and void. We tell ourselves that “we live for our country” lest we succumb to the nothingness of it all.

“Pride” is a cheap word, but it’s a pretty one. To keep ourselves going, we have no choice but to wield it.

▽

Cocolette

“Thus...Lucifer followed the queen consort’s orders. Whenever Miss Kleist was alone with His Highness Orkhart, or when he judged she was being too familiar with him, he would warn her. It was Lucifer who caused her to fall into the pond at the Bartles’ estate during the tea party, who slashed her dress in the palace gardens, and who has done much more,” Shadow finished.

So according to Shadow, the series of misfortunes surrounding Miss Lunamaria had been instigated by the queen consort. Though it was only a verbal testimony, the information he shared was quite significant. If we were to ally with him, we might even be able to get our hands on physical evidence to convict Queen Marie-Jewel too.

Prince Raph also seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he then asked Shadow, “You realize that by giving us this statement, you are completely turning your back on my mother?”

“But of course, Your Highness Raphael. That is my aim. I can also obtain proof of what I have disclosed,” he replied before pausing briefly. “And so, I beg of you: Please help Lucifer. He is suffering terribly, torn between his desire to protect Your Highness’s heart and his duty as a shade of the royal family to obey the queen consort’s orders! He must be set free from her clutches...!”

Though Lucifer might have been under orders from the queen consort to do so, he had still assaulted the daughter of a duke. If I had been the target here, I’d have claimed the bishonen was blameless, but Miss Lunamaria was the victim, not I. Her suffering and distress at his hands weren’t things that couldn’t be easily dismissed.

Lucifer is the perpetrator. Can we save him...?

As I worried, Prince Raph turned to look at Miss Lunamaria and told her, “I would like to help Lucifer. I understand that he is the culprit behind the string of events surrounding you. You are a victim here, Miss Kleist, have no doubt of that. I feel terrible for making light of your feelings...”

Miss Lunamaria, as expressionless as ever, shook her head. “After listening to Shadow’s story...I believe Lucifer to also be a victim of the queen consort’s machinations. It is true that I have faced numerous terrifying ordeals, but part of that is due to my failure to report the situation to Your Highness. Please do as Your Highness’s heart tells you, and as your humble servant, I shall abide.”

“Miss Kleist... I thank you, from the bottom of my heart,” Prince Raph replied.

“Me too!” Prince Ork burst out. “I agree with you too, brother! I believe I am also to blame for never realizing Luna was in danger. And considering the circumstances, I think we can make some allowances for this Lucifer character. Most importantly, if there really is a shade of the royal family out there who admires you, I want him to be your ally!”

“Orkhart, I thank you as well. Truly.”

Prince Raph smiled kindly at Prince Ork, who nodded happily in turn.

“Now then,” Prince Raph continued. “Let’s rescue Lucifer the shade from my mother.”

With just those few words, our meeting had become a rescue mission.

Woo-hoo! New bishonen, here I come! As fellow Prince Raph fans, I hope we get along swimmingly!

▽

In the strategy meeting afterward, Shadow told us about Lucifer in even more detail. Apparently, Lucifer was a wizard.

“I never met the guy myself, but a while ago, there was a wizard in our ranks. Lucifer trained under him and learned a number of spells that way. The way I hide myself is thanks to the invisibility cloak that Lucifer made for me,” Shadow explained.

Whoa... That’s pretty much the perfect tool for a criminal, I thought, recoiling.

Beside me, Miss Violet gritted her teeth. “I knew you were using a magic item. How infuriating.”

“Besides Lucifer, are there any other witches or wizards among the shades of the royal family?” Prince Raph asked.

“Only a few can use magic; Lucifer taught them when they were kids. But none of them are better than him.”

“Is that so...?” Prince Raph crossed his arms, pondering something.

“Is something the matter, Prince Raph?” I asked.

“I’m wondering if we should invite Lucifer to join the royal magic division that Dwarphister is planning to create.”

It seemed like signs of Lord Dwarphister’s dearest wish for progress were finally here, sprouting for all to see.

“Then for Lord Dwarphister’s sake as well, let’s all work hard to save Lucifer!” I insisted.

Things would be all right. With everyone working together, we would surely free Lucifer from Queen Marie-Jewel’s domination.

We worked on our plan late into the night.

▽

On another day, after our preparations had been made, we resolved to carry out our ultimate plan: to capture Lucifer.

Our strategy would be executed at Prince Raph’s villa. Being as far from the palace as it was, even in the worst-case scenario it would not be paid a visit by Queen Marie-Jewel. Of course, not coming to see her son at all gave her the Worst Mother Ever award.

To start, Prince Ork and Miss Lunamaria would serve as bait.

“Miss Berga, Sir Ince, and Douglas will be in position. Of course, Shadow will also be around in the event they are in need of backup,” Prince Raph told the two of them. “But... Orkhart, Miss Kleist, that does not change the fact that you will be exposing yourselves to danger. Do the two of you truly feel up to the task?”

“Brother, we’ve been fencing together for years now,” Prince Ork replied. “If you had ordered me to defeat Lucifer, that would have been another matter; that would be impossible for me to do even if I sacrificed my life. But I can at least serve as Luna’s shield for a time.”

“Although I do not act quite as boldly as Miss Violet, I too am able to protect His Highness Orkhart,” Miss Lunamaria said.

“Hold on a second there, Luna,” Prince Ork interrupted. “I’m grateful for your words, but I ask you not to deprive me of my chance to shine. After all, I’m here today to protect you.”

“But... Your Highness Orkhart...” she protested.

“Let me protect you, Luna. You’re my marriage candidate, after all.”

Miss Lunamaria paused. Then, finally: “Okay, Your Highness.”

Just for today, I—from the bottom of my heart—agreed that Prince Ork was handsome. It was like a halo of light had emerged to glow around him.

Hearts shone in Miss Lunamaria’s eyes. Hearing the person you liked saying something like “I’ll protect you” was pretty much Cupid’s arrow shot through a maiden’s heart. Any self-shipper longed to hear such words spoken to them.

“Orkhart, do as much as you can to protect yourself as well,” Prince Raph cautioned. “After all, you’re royalty, my spare to the crown, and...my precious little brother.”

Prince Ork smiled so radiantly that I thought he was about to discover his affinity for light magic.

“There’s no way someone like me could ever replace someone as incredible as you, brother,” he replied. “But since you’re worried, I’ll make sure to take care of myself. Besides, I believe that Vi, Salvie, Douglas, and Shadow will protect us. Together, their power is the real deal. Not to mention the plan you put together is, if I may say so, perfect!”

The edges of Prince Raph’s lips curved into a smile, and he patted Prince Ork’s shoulder. “I’m counting on you, Orkhart.”

“As you command!”

I also gave Prince Ork and Miss Lunamaria my own words of encouragement, and then we watched as everyone headed off to their positions.

Please, God, please don’t let anyone get hurt...

✬

Lucifer

My name is Lucifer Valentine. I lead the shades of the royal family—Cheriotte’s secret task force.

For the past several days, the second prince’s bodyguard, Miss Violet of the Berga County, had strengthened her defenses; as a result, I hadn’t been able to get close to Miss Lunamaria Kleist. Despite being only thirteen, as the direct descendant of her line, the Berga daughter displayed astonishing ability. The thought of how she might further grow put me on edge.

At last, however, today had come—and with it, a gap in her defenses.

I found Miss Kleist near the divine Crown Prince Raphael’s villa, sitting in one of his garden gazebos. She and His Highness Orkhart were there spending time alone together.

I spotted no bodyguards or maids nearby, but I assumed it highly likely that Miss Berga was lying in wait. I also had to be on alert for her servant, Salvador of the Ince Barony.

Don’t get too close, you two, I thought, directing the sentiment toward Miss Kleist and His Highness Orkhart. The queen consort would not stand for the two to join in a romantic relationship, and I would have to step in and hurt the Kleist heiress before any improper conduct could occur.

As a shade, I could not refuse an order from the queen consort. And all this was to take possession of the Kleists’ information network for the sake of the royal family, for the Valentines—for Crown Prince Raphael. But...I had been watching over His Highness for so long; I knew he did not wish for Miss Kleist to suffer.

To me, Crown Prince Raphael was the single ray of hope that shone down upon this world.

I had been born not only with the blood of the Valentines in my veins, but also with a disgusting face; therefore, I had been raised only to assassinate others. No one had ever bothered to look for a more reasonable job for me, much less one that I could do in public.

But still, my duty was preferable to the persecution other ugly men faced in society. I had a job that did not require that I show myself to others, and more, one that supported this country. My hands, filthy as they were, were still deemed necessary.

Even if there should come a day I was thrown away like so much trash, when I was to die unknown and forgotten, it would still be leagues better than a life no one would wish for themselves.

It was during those gloomy days that Crown Prince Raphael appeared.

His Highness, like myself, was immensely disadvantaged when it came to his physical appearance. Many years my junior, he had also been born with far more heavy burdens thrust upon his shoulders. Even though he was despised as “the ugly prince,” he kept a public presence and earnestly performed his duties for the citizens of Cheriotte. He was incredibly patient—a gentleman through and through.

And while His Majesty the King—the current ruler of this kingdom—was unrivaled in his handsomeness, he was exceedingly indolent and foolish, and held not an ounce of interest in public affairs. His Majesty was the exact opposite of his son Crown Prince Raphael; it was no real wonder, then, that I felt such fascination for His Highness.

How blessed would I be if I could serve Crown Prince Raphael instead? Should that chance ever arise, I would dirty my hands, over and over, so long as I could be of service.

I admired His Highness so much that I believed that I understood his feelings: No matter how much the royal family needed the premier duchy’s power, he would never agree to harming Miss Kleist, physically or mentally, to obtain it.

If only I could do as you wish, Your Highness.

We shades of the royal family could only follow the wishes of the head of the country: His Majesty the King. And as His Majesty had secretly transferred the majority of his power to the queen consort, we had to obey her orders. As she hailed from the Valentine Duchy, it was even more forbidden to disobey her commands.

No matter how wonderful Crown Prince Raphael was, he was still only the crown prince.

As I considered these thoughts, Miss Kleist—from where she sat right in front of me—moved.

“Your Highness Orkhart...” she said slowly. She picked up a cookie off the table that had been set in the gazebo. Then, with her face completely red despite maintaining absolutely no expression on her face, she brought the snack toward the second prince’s mouth. “P-Please...open wide...!”

“You’re feeding me a cookie? Thanks, Luna!” His Highness Orkhart cheered.

How loose the youth have become... I could not let these two express any further intimacy than this.

First, as a warning, I threw a knife down at the bench they sat on. The weapon whooshed through the air, then stuck into the seat. Instantly, the both of them raised their voices in panic.

“Aaah!” Miss Kleist cried out.

“Luna, are you hurt?!” His Highness Orkhart asked.

That should have been sufficiently frightening enough for them to call off this private tea party, I hoped.

But then a voice suddenly spoke behind me.

“Yo there, Lucifer. Couldn’t see you since we’re both wearing invisibility cloaks, but that knife you threw helped me finally figure out where you are.”

Shadow’s supposed to be guarding Marquis Blossom’s daughter. What is he doing here?

But before I could locate Shadow’s voice, he tore off my invisibility cloak.

“Shadow?!” I gasped. “What are you doing...?!”

“Sorry, Lucifer,” he replied in his usual lilting tone. “The thing is, I care about you a lot more than I do that stupid king and his queen consort.”

“What are you talking about...?” I asked, bewildered—but the terrifying Miss Berga was suddenly flying toward me, with Sir Salvador Ince and Douglas the knight following close behind.

Miss Berga bent a whip in her right hand, an ecstatic smile on her face. “I finally get to see you with my own eyes, Lucifer,” she said in her characteristically sweet drawl. “It’s truly an honor.”

The invisibility cloak was the ace up my sleeve—but with that stolen, and with Shadow having betrayed me, I had nowhere to run.

✬

“I take it that you are Lucifer, the leader of Cheriotte’s secret task force, the shades of the royal family?” Crown Prince Raphael asked.

“Yes...” I said at last. “My name is Lucifer Valentine.”

I had been captured and dragged in front of His Highness. The second prince and Miss Kleist were already beside him, and others were there, including Ford, his retainer, and Miss Blossom, his marriage candidate.

Miss Blossom, perhaps feeling pity at the sight of me in restraints, clasped her palms together and prayed, “Oh, my God...!” toward the heavens.

Crown Prince Raphael cast a loving look her way, then slowly turned back toward me. “Lucifer,” he began, “Shadow has told us quite a few things about you.”

Shadow, now out from under his invisibility cloak, stood by the window. He gave me a fluttering wave.

“I’d like you to give me evidence of my mother’s wrongdoings,” Crown Prince Raphael went on. “Should you refuse this request...”

His Highness did not speak further, but it was clear that he meant to have me quietly eliminated.

I wasn’t afraid of dying. On the contrary, to meet my end at the hands of this magnificent gentleman would be quite the joyous outcome.

But.

“My most beloved and respected Crown Prince Raphael,” I began. “If it is your wish, I shall serve you until my dying breath.”

I could not refuse His Highness, not when he asked me directly. After all, I had spent so long wishing to serve him.

And so, on that day, I swore utmost fealty to him.

✛

Raphael

So this was the leader of the shades of the royal family, Cheriotte’s secret task force—Lucifer Valentine.

While he pledged his loyalty to me, I took the opportunity to study him thoroughly.

He wore a black robe, his face revealing a man in his thirties. While I could tell that he was related to my mother and Shadow given the indigo hair and eyes so commonly inherited in the Valentine family, his appearance otherwise was like mine: terribly hideous.

“Your Highness Raphael,” Lucifer said after a moment, looking up at me curiously. “Is something the matter?”

I considered my next words. “You called me your ‘most beloved and respected’ prince, but I find myself wondering if there is something specific about me that you have taken such a liking to...”

In my previous life, I had gathered ugly men to me and attempted a coup against the crown, but Lucifer hadn’t been among their number. I assumed he had sided with the royal family. But if that were the case, then what was it about this time around that made him willing to betray my mother and father to side with me? I had to get to the bottom of this—why his actions had changed from that of my past life. And so, the question.

“Of course, Your Highness Raphael, it is because you would make a worthy monarch for the Kingdom of Cheriotte,” Lucifer stressed, his overlarge eyes glittering with conviction.

“During your studies as crown prince you took time out of your schedule to travel to various territories, and the skill you displayed in solving the numerous problems you encountered was truly brilliant despite your youth,” he continued. “Even when your responsibilities pile up to the point of near unreasonableness, you dutifully see them through; when you have spare time, you temper your fencing skills and even deliberately clear parts of your schedule to meet with your marriage candidates... Your Highness Raphael, in just about every aspect, you are my ideal of royalty...!”

I had no idea how to take his passionate words, and found myself unintentionally shrinking back from his praise.

“Lucifer, I understand your feelings perfectly!” Coco said suddenly from where she sat next to me. Her eyes shone, as if to compete with Lucifer’s own gaze, and her cheeks were flushed an adorable pink.

“Prince Raph is a magnificent gentleman—truly a marvel! Not only is he perfect from his head to his toes, but at his core, he is sincere, thoughtful, kind, and just the best...! Lucifer, I’m glad that you also stan Prince Raph! I would never reject a fellow stan. And it’s no surprise that he has such a passionate groupie among men too! Now, as Prince Raph stans, let’s both do our best to help him flourish!”

Coco used words I was unfamiliar with, but maybe she had meant something like, Let’s both make sure to help Prince Raph’s monarchy flourish in her own chaotic way.

At first, Lucifer seemed dumbfounded by Coco’s words as he looked at her, but when he heard all she had to say, he replied with only, “Miss Blossom, I admire the passion and sincerity you have for His Highness Raphael. Although my help may be worth little, I will devote every one of my remaining days to supporting His Highness.”

After that, the two delightedly delved into a discussion about me; even Orkhart joined the conversation with “I think so too—brother really is a wonderful gentleman!”

Listening to the three of them talk made me feel quite awkward. But however off-putting I felt Lucifer’s words were, I now finally understood why he had decided to join me in this life: All the actions he had so admired were different from what my old self had done.

In my past life, I had never conducted chapel inspections and explored other territories. Back then I had been so afraid of even meeting eyes with anyone that I had rarely left my villa.

And since the royal family had held no expectations of me, I had had no extra duties to occupy myself with. I hadn’t fenced, nor had I learned anything beyond what my royal duties had demanded of me. Most of all, my relationships with my marriage candidates had been nothing less than catastrophic.

Of course Lucifer hadn’t admired the shameful crown prince I had been in that future-past. I must have only been able to earn his loyalty this time around because I’d changed so much.

I would continue to change more, change further, as my future would no doubt change along with me. And I wanted to carve a path straight ahead into that future—for Coco who loved me, for my vassals who trusted and followed me, and for the citizens I must protect.

Mother had no place in that future. Of that, I was certain.

▽

Cocolette

Here in the villa office with the gorgeous archangel Prince Raph, my adorable idol Raymond, the wild knight Douglas, and now our new, beauty-obsessed big brother of an ally Lucifer, my paradise on earth was complete.

Quite honestly, I wanted to just slow down and really get my fill of all this, but...

“All of my subordinates have chosen to follow Your Highness’s command,” Lucifer said. “With this, the shades of the royal family are yours.”

“Thank you, Lucifer,” Prince Raph replied. “Now, what of your progress regarding the gathering of evidence concerning both my mother’s assassination plans against Orkhart and her assaults against Miss Kleist?”

“Shadow and I are currently gathering proof at a steady rate. For the time being, please review these documents.”

“These are...incredible...” Prince Raph breathed. “You’ve done well to obtain this.”

“All for Your Highness,” Lucifer replied humbly.

“Truly, thank you.”

At last, preparations for indicting the queen consort had begun in earnest.

Lucifer and his shades were gathering evidence from the Valentine Duchy, taking detailed reports from Prince Ork and the royal concubine about the repeated attempts on Prince Ork’s life through the years, and learning from Miss Lunamaria every minute detail of the queen consort’s sabotage against her.

This was a separate matter, but we had also sent a written protest to the Empire of Portania about the situation concerning Imperial Prince Goblynx and Pia.

In the empire’s reply, they apologized for His Imperial Highness Goblynx’s disrespect toward Prince Raph and offered reparations, but absolutely refused to acknowledge any attempt at turning Prince Ork into a figurehead to try to interfere in Cheriotte’s domestic affairs.

In fact, the letter not only contained a distinct disregard for Pia, a commoner, but also for Imperial Prince Goblynx. The way things were going, it was likely the Portanian Empire would disinherit him and strip him of all his titles until he became a commoner too, then desert him in our country. We don’t exactly want him, though.

I breathed a silent sigh just as there was a knock on the office door. Ford opened the door, admitting Lord Dwarphister, who held a paper in one hand.

“I have returned, Your Highness Raphael,” Lord Dwarphister said. “I have questioned Pia Abbott, although no new information has come of it.”

“Is that so...?” Prince Raph replied. “Regardless, thank you for your hard work, Dwarphister.”

Lord Dwarphister went over to Lucifer. “As you are a wizard yourself, I’d like to ask your opinion on the matter of Pia Abbott using mind control over lower-ranked nobles.”

Lord Dwarphister was completely taken with his first-ever wizard friend. When it came to magic, and forging relationships through it, the boy really had a one-track mind. Whenever he had the time to spare, he would use it to chat with Lucifer about spells.

Lucifer put a hand to his chin, and after a moment of silence, posed a question while still clearly thinking through his response: “She couldn’t use magic, and possessed no magic items among her belongings, correct?”

“Right,” Lord Dwarphister replied. “A bodily search was performed, and both her rooms in the dormitory and at the Abbott residence were also combed through, but nothing has been found as of yet. Of course, an investigation of His Imperial Highness Goblynx’s palace in the Portanian Empire is impossible, but for argument’s sake, even if there were a magic tool there, I believe it would be at too far a distance to be effective. What do you think, Mr. Lucifer?”

“I agree. It’s unlikely that the cause is a magic item left in the empire. If they had such a powerful magic tool at their disposal, they would have used it on His Highness Orkhart in the first place.”

“You have a point...” Lord Dwarphister paused. “Then just how did Pia Abbot control those lower nobles?”

I listened to their conversation with one ear while my mind swirled in circles, thinking of an answer.

She didn’t use magic tools, nor magic circles... She controlled others... She has a heroine’s...charm... Hmm.

The self-shipper sense I’d developed in my last life was telling me, “Pia just might be a saint, just with the power to bewitch people instead of heal them.”

“Lord Dwarphister,” I began. “Do you think that Miss Abbot could perhaps be a saint?”

Not only did Lord Dwarphister’s eyes widen, but so did Prince Raph’s.

“But Miss Blossom, my comrade,” Lord Dwarphister protested. “Did we not hypothesize that saints were witches who specialized in holy magic? Miss Abbott controlled others, but she did not show any healing abilities, nor any other similar skill.”

“What if the power to heal others is but one part of holy magic?” I posited. “After all, the only people who come to mind who can use mysterious powers without use of a magic circle are saints.”

In the first place, Saint Cecelia had had the power to send Prince Raph back in time to redo his life. A saint, then, was not simply a woman who healed others.

After a moment of thought, Lord Dwarphister replied, “So you’re saying it’s possible that successive generations of saints had the ability to control others, but either didn’t use it, or the power simply wasn’t recorded anywhere for posterity.”

“Miss Lunamaria is far more knowledgeable than myself about saint folklore, so I suggest we try asking her,” I said.

Maybe there was a pattern among some saints—perhaps there had been those who had weak mana, which meant they couldn’t perform any healing but could only bewitch people.

I did have just one matter that weighed on my mind, though: Pia hadn’t used magic circles to channel her mana. How, then, had she compensated for it...? She had already undergone a physical examination, but she had nothing akin to Saint Cecelia’s blindness, and there had been no clear sign of illness either.

“Dwarphister, please do as Coco says and investigate whether Pia Abbott is a saint or not,” Prince Raph ordered. “Let Miss Kleist know that I am asking for her help as well.”

“As you will, Your Highness,” Lord Dwarphister replied.

“Prince Raph, may I also assist in the Pia Abbott case?” I asked. I had a feeling that my self-shipper senses might be indispensable for the matter.

“Understood, Coco,” Prince Raph replied. “You have my approval.”

“Thank you, Prince Raph!”

“However, Coco,” he cautioned. “I cannot go with you since my mother’s case needs my attention. I am assigning Shadow to you, so make sure you stay close to him.”

I paused. “Would Lucifer suffice as a guard instead?”

“I’m sorry, Coco. I want Lucifer’s undivided attention on gathering evidence against mother...”

“I see. I apologize for making such a selfish request, Prince Raph.”

“No need to worry about that,” he assured me.

Shadow again, huh...?

Just then, I met Shadow’s gaze.

He stood just beside the door to the office, and with a cool expression like he was posing for a photo, said, “Rest assured, young lady. I will protect you even if it costs me my life.”

If only Lucifer had said that to me instead...

▽

When we went to our resident saint otaku and asked if she had heard of any stories about saints having the power to bewitch people, her face remained expressionless, but her ice-blue eyes lit up in recognition.

“There are many folktales in literature referencing those who were attracted to saints with just one look,” she explained. “I had always thought that those people had just been drawn to the saints’ inherent benevolence, but you have a point—the saints could have actually possessed the power to charm others!”

Miss Lunamaria, after learning of our investigation into whether Pia Abbott was actually a saint, promptly joined our investigation group and came with us to our questioning of Miss Abbott.

As Pia was still being held in the dungeons, Douglas led me, Miss Lunamaria, and Lord Dwarphister (as well as Shadow, just hiding his presence, so in total there were five of us), down into the depths.

In one of the dim, musty dungeon cells was a simple bed, atop which lay an incredibly bored-looking Pia. At the academy, her eyes had always sparkled like she was the heroine in a dating game, but now, her skin was chapped and her hair was disheveled; she seemed much less a heroine than a degenerate.

It took her a moment to notice us. “Oho? Looks like I have an interesting guest today, don’t I, Cocolette Blossom?”

“Please address Miss Blossom with respect,” Douglas said, though it was more an order than a request.

“Eeeeeugh.” Pia cringed. “Don’t look at me with your gross-ass face... I’ll call her ‘Miss Blossom,’ all right?”

“S’long as ya understand,” Douglas replied begrudgingly, his accent slipping through.

Pia seemed pretty lethargic now. She sat up with apparent sluggishness, then sat on the edge of the cot and slowly crossed her legs.

“I’m glad you’ve come to see me again, Mr. Noble. After all, you’re both as cool as ice and sharp as a tack. But, I’m tired of your questions.” She paused. “You’ve brought some guests with you today, so I’m guessing the topic this time will be a little different?”

“No, it will be the same as last time,” Lord Dwarphister replied. “About controlling those students from the lower nobility.”

“I told you a million times already,” Pia stressed in reply. “I can’t use magic, and I don’t have any magic items.”

“Are you a saint?” Lord Dwarphister asked bluntly.

Pia’s emerald-green eyes went round and blank.

“What’s that? Me, a saint?”

Miss Lunamaria came forward, eyes twinkling. “A saint is a woman who casts healing power upon others at the cost of her own body and mind. There are many methods to call upon this curative ability, such as by singing, praying to God, and directly touching the wounds of the afflicted. The ability is not bound by any specific form.”

“I didn’t ask for a lesson on saints, Miss Moron,” Pia snapped. “I said ‘What’s that?’ out of shock because there’s no way that I’m one of ’em!”

But her sneering did not shake Miss Lunamaria one bit. “This is Miss Cocolette’s hypothesis, but saints may be witches that specialize in holy magic, with healing being merely a component of holy magic magic, not the whole thing; other powers might even include bewitchment,” she fervently declared. It seemed that since she might have been speaking to a saint, her otaku nature couldn’t help but shine through. “You see, literature and folktales just abound with endless portrayals of people charmed by saints!”

Pia was clearly a little put off by Miss Lunamaria’s spiel, so I added, “Miss Abbott, we think that you may be either a saint who is hiding her healing powers and only using her bewitching abilities, or that you are a saint who lacks restorative talents altogether and can only charm others.”

“Hmm...”

Pia’s expression turned vacant as she looked up at the ceiling. Then, she slowly returned her gaze toward us and breathed a deep sigh.

“Fine,” she said. “I don’t care anymore. I’ll tell you. I don’t know if I’d call myself a saint, but I can charm people and have them do what I ask. I call it bewitchment.”

Beside me, both the magic otaku and the saint otaku buzzed with excitement.

“Back in the Portanian Empire, I could order anyone to do what I pleased,” Pia continued. “But ever since I came to this country, for some reason there’ve been a lot of people who just won’t obey me. It was frustrating. I was going to just bewitch His Highness Orkhart from the start, but it wouldn’t work. I found out the only ones who I could control were in the lower nobility. But as soon as they saw Miss Blossom in person, they snapped right back to reality. It was impossible!” she finished, letting out a long sigh.

Lord Dwarphister put a hand to his chin. “Returning to their senses upon meeting Miss Blossom...” he murmured, a cool, contemplative expression on his face. “Could it be due to her countenance being as beautiful as it is?”

“Why do you say that, Lord Dwarphister?” I asked.

And thus, he posed a hypothesis: “Pia Abbott’s power to bewitch others comes from her charm, which may be weaker in comparison to the natural appeal that Miss Blossom’s beauty affords her. Thus, Abbott’s bewitchment did not work on people that Miss Blossom already knew, such as His Highness Orkhart and other members of the upper nobility. Abbott might have been able to charm members of the lower nobility because Miss Blossom had never met any of them before, but Miss Blossom—seeing your face must have broken the spell, correct?”

“That must be it!” Miss Lunamaria insisted. “Miss Cocolette’s beauty could never lose against Miss Abbott’s bewitchment!”

Wh-What did he say...?!

But now that I thought about it, those lower nobles who’d come directly to me, demanding I stop bullying Pia, had done a complete one-eighty the second they met my gaze... It appeared that such bizarre events had happened because the sheer power of my face had snapped them back to their senses.

Even Pia, whose shoulders slumped in dejection after hearing Lord Dwarphister’s theory, murmured, “So that’s what it was. It’s not like anyone could actually beat your looks, anyway...”

Like Cecelia, the more mana a saint had, the more they must compensate for its use without employing a magic circle. But seeing as how Pia seemed to have a low level of mana, she might have been able to live with the compensation. Or at least, that was what an incredibly excited Miss Lunamaria hypothesized.

Lord Dwarphister eyed Pia like he had just found a prime lab rat. “I can use this girl,” he murmured, and his words were so terrifying that I immediately turned away from him as stealthily as I could.

And so, that was how our day’s questioning ended.

▽

Miss Lunamaria, Lord Dwarphister, and I went back to Prince Raph (yay!) and reported our conclusions regarding Pia’s bewitching ability, making sure to include our hypotheses.

Prince Raph immediately turned to Ford. “Please notify the knight commander that all knights guarding Pia Abbott are required to have met Coco at least once before undertaking this duty,” he ordered. “I fear any who haven’t may run the risk of being bewitched and manipulated into helping Miss Abbott escape.”

Prince Raph had a point. How careless of us...

With those orders Ford left the office at once. Prince Raph, seated behind his desk, folded his hands over his knee.

“Dwarphister,” he began. “Is Pia Abbott necessary for the royal magic division that you wish to create?”

“Of course she is necessary, Your Highness Raphael!” Lord Dwarphister cried out. He must have been waiting for the question, because his crimson eyes were sparkling with hope.

“Then I shall order Pia Abbott to work for the royal magic division permanently,” Prince Raph decided. “But we must reckon with her power as the double-edged sword it is. As I said a moment ago, there is a possibility that she may encounter someone who has not met Coco and bewitch them to help her flee. Having said that, it’s not as if we can feasibly have Coco meet every citizen in the country to prevent this.”

Normally, criminals were ordered to perform work for the country without pay as punishment for their crimes, and that was it. But Pia’s brainwashing ability meant her circumstances would have to be a little different.

If we were going to add her to the royal magic division, then she should at least be free to walk the palace in order to do her job, but we also could not give her the freedom to just approach every single stranger she met and bewitch them into helping her escape. Locking her up in the dungeon would also just prohibit her ability to work.

On the other hand, though I could stave off her bewitchment by showing people my face, there were far too many people in Cheriotte for this to be a reliable solution. There were plenty of people just working in the palace, but then there were traders coming in and out of the grounds constantly, alongside their assistants and envoys from foreign countries—there were new, different people coming to the palace each and every day.

“If only there were some way to limit Miss Abbott’s power...” Miss Lunamaria said.

Lord Dwarphister nodded. “Right? Ideally we could have some sort of magic tool that compels her to only obey our orders, or something along those lines.”

It was quite like Lord Dwarphister to seriously consider manufacturing such an inhumane magic item.

But both of them had a point... A way for Pia to follow our commands exactly... Sure enough, the solution had to be connected to that goblin.

“Prince Raph,” I began. “It may be possible for Miss Abbott to follow our orders to the letter...”

“Truly, Coco?” he asked.

“To do so, I will need to use His Imperial Highness Goblynx as bait. Would we be able to give Miss Abbott free rein over his treatment?”

“You mean to hand over the imperial prince himself to Pia Abbott?” Prince Raph clarified. “But she’s his servant. If we do that, we run the risk of them escaping together.”

“I think it’s likely that will not come to pass,” I replied.

Were Pia loyal and faithful like a normal vassal, I imagined she would have tried to set the imperial prince free. But frankly, Pia reeked of yandere tendencies. My self-shipper senses were telling me that if we gave her both His Imperial Highness and a secure location to keep him imprisoned, she’d follow us to the ends of the earth.

“I’d like to execute a plan by which Miss Abbott will follow our instruction of her own free will,” I continued. “Please place your faith in me, Prince Raph.”

And please try to trust in that yandere’s totally twisted love...!

“I understand, Coco. I know I can rely on you.” Prince Raph nodded, his resolve set. “Besides, I too have someone I’d like Pia Abbott to bewitch. If she’s willing to cooperate, then I would be grateful for her assistance.”

▽

Later, on another day, everyone who had gone to see Pia the previous time visited her once again.

“So?” she asked. “I take it you talked to the higher-ups about how to best use my powers?”

The way to utilize a criminal with a handy ability was to bleed them dry until their dying day. Pia knew that well.

Lord Dwarphister began by discussing his plans to launch the royal magic division. Pia only looked exasperated.

“Giving decent work to a criminal? Just how soft can this country be?” she jeered. “The Portanian Empire would just laugh in your faces. You do know that once I get out of this dump, I’ll grab Prince Gob and escape, right?”

“You will not run away, Miss Abbott,” I cut in.

She shot me a glare. “What?” she asked, lingering on the vowel. “Surely you wouldn’t stay by me twenty-four hours a day to keep my powers in check, Miss Blossom? You wouldn’t be able to, you know.”

Pia was right: It would be impossible, given that I still had to go to the academy and my queenly education classes.

But I had leverage: His Imperial Highness Goblynx himself!

“As the situation stands, it seems that His Imperial Highness Goblynx will not only be disinherited from the imperial royal family, but also be stripped of his titles and made a commoner,” I explained. “The Portanian Empire intends to abandon him here as well.”

“Oh...” Pia breathed.

“In short, His Imperial Highness Goblynx is at the mercy of the Kingdom of Cheriotte.”

Imperial Prince Goblynx had been thrown away by his own country. We could boil him or burn him if we wanted to.

“Miss Abbot,” I continued. “If you were to use your power of bewitchment for the Kingdom of Cheriotte, we have a particular compensation to reward you with. You see, His Imperial Highness will remain imprisoned, but Prince Raph is prepared to hand him and his quarters over—”

“Sign me uuuUUP!!!” Pia cried out, eyes flaring with lust as she rushed to snap at the bait.

And so, we succeeded in getting Pia completely under our control.

Chapter 10: Indicting the King and Queen

Cocolette

It was decided that Pia would thereafter be Lord Dwarphister’s subordinate.

Stroking his black beard—which was steadily growing more splendid by the day—Lord Dwarphister noted, “For the time being, I’d like to study bewitchment’s exact threshold. For example, I’d like to observe how many dozens of people she can bewitch in succession and then study her mental state right afterward.”

He said even more, with his words increasing in their terrible brutality, but at the end he added, “Sooner or later we’ll draw up a magic circle to suit her holy magic, and then the compensation issue should be resolved.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

But for now, Prince Raph had put a stop to any experiments Lord Dwarphister wanted to conduct on Pia. He wanted to make use of her power first.

Once again, we headed down to the dungeons to see Pia. Today, the retinue included myself, Prince Raph, Lord Dwarphister, Raymond, Ford serving as an attendant, and Douglas acting as bodyguard. Shadow was probably somewhere around us too.

Miss Lunamaria the saint enthusiast had stayed at home today. It seemed that she had plans to have a heart-to-heart with her father, Duke Kleist, about indicting the queen consort.

“My father is a particularly easygoing man, one who has made his way through life by being a people pleaser at each and every opportunity. I am sure that now, once he sees the merit in siding with His Highness Raphael, he will immediately turn his back on the queen consort,” Miss Lunamaria had declared confidently.

She’d had a point; when I thought back to when I’d first met Duke Kleist, he’d seemed quite like the opportunist who was comfortable perpetually straddling the fence... After all, even though he was known as the center of the queen consort’s faction and his own daughter had been selected as one of Prince Raph’s marriage candidates, he had still squeezed Miss Lunamaria onto Prince Ork’s own list of candidates as well.

Well, if Miss Lunamaria was successful and Duke Kleist allied with Prince Raph, then there wouldn’t be too much turmoil within that faction even if we managed to indict the queen consort.

Shifting gears, I looked up at Prince Raph as he escorted me through the dungeons.

“So, Prince Raph,” I began. “Who do you plan on using Miss Abbott’s power on?”

He’ll likely use Pia to bewitch someone to make them put him in power... Would it be Queen Marie-Jewel then? It would be good if she could no longer perform any more wicked deeds. But she knows what I look like, so Pia’s power won’t work...

Prince Raph looked at me, smiling impishly.

Oho ho... ♡ I wuv dat faceee...!

“I’ll tell you once we see Pia Abbott,” he said.

“Okaayyy, ♡” I replied happily.

Today, just like every other day, I was head over heels for Prince Raph’s looks.

▽

“Bleugh,” Pia said, cringing when she saw me clinging to Prince Raph. “Are we really sure this girl isn’t brainwashed? No hints of delusionment at all?”

“Yer bein’ disrespectful!” Douglas snapped.

“Well, whatever. It has nothing to do with me.” Pia paused. “Wellll? What is Your Highness doing all the way down here? You got a job for me?”

“Yes, exactly that,” Prince Raph replied, giving a small nod. Pia’s conduct didn’t perturb him whatsoever. “I have been thinking long and hard about how to convict mother.”

He had started speaking to me, Lord Dwarphister, and the rest; Pia, who had no idea what was going on, tipped her head in confusion and said, “Huh? You’re taking legal action against your mom?”

Prince Raph continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “The one who would protest most strongly over my mother being convicted is my father. I imagine that even if we were to go through the formal process to indict her, he would just kill the proposal before it was sent to court. After all, I have little doubt that he has known all along all the terrible things she’s done. I first considered a large-scale operation where I would list my complaints of mother’s crimes in front of a massive gathering of high nobles; I thought that only such a public crisis would prevent father from smothering the indictment. However, given the numerous risks involved in such a plan, I was hesitant to go this route.”

I couldn’t help but think that what he spoke of sounded like a scene in one of those deluxe-edition dating games where the plot called for someone’s conviction at a graduation party or something similar.

“But,” Prince Raph went on, “thanks to Pia Abbott’s bewitching power, we now have a secure way to convict mother of her crimes.”

Gluk! The sound of someone gulping echoed in the dungeon. I, too, waited in anticipation for Prince Raph’s next words.

“She will bewitch my father and place him under my direct control. This way, we can definitely convict my mother without having to denounce her in front of the upper nobility.”

Pia sighed. “That’s just not possible. My power doesn’t work on people who have seen Cocolette Blossom, and that goes even more so for people who’ve actually interacted with her. Even the king...”

“That will not be a problem,” Prince Raph replied. “Father has never met Coco.”

That was true; I had yet to meet His Majesty the King personally. Even at the memorial gala when His Majesty had given his introductory greeting, I had only seen him from far away—and he had not seen me before promptly leaving right after he spoke. Pia would likely be able to bewitch him quite easily.

Coming up with such a groundbreaking solution is exactly what Prince Raph would doooo! ♡ I thought dreamily.

Lord Dwarphister, Raymond, and Ford suddenly burst into shouts of joy.

“In other words, Your Highness, you can finally get His Majesty to perform his duties!” Lord Dwarphister noted.

“What a splendid plan!” Raymond cheered. “I’m sure Prime Minister Wagner will be very happy!”

“I’m so happy...! So, so happy!” Ford cried. “Prince Raph will be able to sleep more...! Every day he toils late into the night, and I have been so worried for his health since he started that habit!”

All the consequences His Majesty the NEET had left in his wake had piled onto these poor boys... But since Prince Raph was the perfect crown prince and was on his second life, Lord Dwarphister was a genius slated to be the next wizard prime minister, and Raymond was a prodigy with a perfect memory, they had somehow managed to endure the stress.

But in the end they were all just young boys between the ages of twelve and fifteen. Putting so much responsibility on them was just pitiful. Well, Ford had already become an adult, though.

I rubbed Raymond’s back as he cried tears of joy, a faraway look in my eyes.

“I wanted to levy a fitting punishment on father for leaving mother to her wicked ways,” Prince Raph explained. “Besides, even if we were to successfully convict mother, he would be the type to take great joy in declaring abdication of the throne to ‘take responsibility,’ or something along those lines. He would see being forced to relinquish his position as just another reward.”

He was right. His Majesty hated work; letting him retire to a life of leisure would amount to no punishment for him whatsoever. The best retribution, in this case, would be forced labor under Prince Raph’s control.

“And so,” Prince Raph continued, this time to Pia, “I request that you bewitch my father, His Majesty Urukhai.”

“You’ve made a lot of points I don’t really get, but so long as you’re giving me Prince Gob, I’ll do whatever you want,” Pia readily agreed.

❅

Marie-Jewel

“Your Majesty Urukhai, the details of the reparations to be made to the Portanian Empire were decided at the meeting earlier today.”

At the sound of my voice, His Majesty Urukhai’s eyelids fluttered open. Until just now, he had been languidly sitting in a lounge chair, enjoying a nap. As always, he looked as if a painting had come to life, a scene from a holy text animated into the everyday. The man was indolent and obtuse, but such handsomeness alone was still deserving of admiration.

But to me, that was all he was.

While this man had been born to be heir to the throne, he was far from capable of being king. Ironic, then, that the hideous son born between us very well was.

His Majesty Urukhai swept his long golden hair back with one hand. He had sparkling sapphire eyes as small as berries; the bridge of his nose was large and weighty; and his lips, which drooped at the corners with age, emanated the charm of a mature man.

His Majesty’s private sunroom had been cleared of all except for him, myself, and the secret royal shades who served as his bodyguards. Had there been any maids in the room, his allure might have caused them to faint—such was his immense seductive power.

This man...was an odd one. With a face and figure so immensely suited to seducing women, he should have taken many concubines, but he hadn’t. He couldn’t even be a proper stud horse.

The son I’d borne was so repulsive that, were the times different, he likely would have been locked away immediately upon birth. The second prince, while the spitting image of His Majesty, had blood ties to the Empire of Portania, of all places. Were there a respectable prince with a respectable appearance and a respectable lineage present, I would have backed this hypothetical boy as inheritor of the throne instead.

Because I could no longer bear children after my first, I had sent far too many women to count to this man’s bed, but every time, I heard their encounters ended without this man doing a thing to them. The indolent man had found even making an heir bothersome, claiming, “There are already two princes, so isn’t my job there done?”

After a long pause, he said, “If the reparation claim has been settled, send an envoy to the Portanian Empire immediately.”

“First, Your Majesty Urukhai, I must please ask you to confirm the details,” I replied.

“Haven’t you managed all this quite well, Marie-Jewel?” he asked, smiling brilliantly up at me from his supine pose on his lounge chair.

I imagined this was his attempt at some sort of flirty banter. He knew full well that I held no feelings for him, but was still searching for a response.

“The sum for the reparations is here,” I said, holding out the relevant papers and pointing out specific parts. “And here is the list of goods that we will have them lower the tariffs on.”

He let out a long, low, noncommittal grunt. Rather than taking the papers I held out to him, he shut his eyes once more.

“Hey, Marie-Jewel,” he said. “You’ll be able to handle the talks with the empire on your own, won’t you?”

“I will have you join the discussions of course, Your Majesty Urukhai,” I said.

“Huuuh?” he protested petulantly. “The Portanian Empire is at fault for everything, aren’t they? Why should I have to put in any work?”

“Because it is the duty of His Majesty the King.”

“Ahh...” he groaned. “I’m not a selfish man—I just want to spend my time lazing about. Why was I born as heir to the throne...?”

This man had a tendency to spiral in self-loathing from time to time, and it always started this way. I turned my back to him and set the documents on the side table, then said, “Your Majesty Urukhai, I shall take my leave here. You all, ensure His Majesty’s safety.”

With the latter half directed at the hidden shades, I left the sunroom.

Behind me, I heard a loud, ostentatious sigh.

❅

“Leave me,” I said, dismissing my maids once night had fallen. I then secluded myself in my quarters.

I had already bathed and changed into a negligee. Now that I had rid myself of both my torso-constricting corset and heavy dress, I was finding it somewhat easier to breathe. It was in these first moments of adjustment that I was painfully aware of the burden wearing dignified clothing put on my body during the day.

Now that no one’s eyes were on me and I could let down my guard, I instantly launched into a violent coughing fit.

When I pulled the hand I had placed over my mouth back from my lips, I found fresh blood splattered thickly across my palm. The scent of iron flooded my nose, and the inside of my mouth tasted foul.

Just how long will my body continue to last...?

“Oh... Mary-Pearl...” I murmured.

Whenever I grew weak willed, I recalled my older sister, Mary-Pearl.

We members of the Valentine Duchy often did not know our parents’ faces. In such an environment, she and I had been lucky to have had the same father. I idolized my older sister from the bottom of my heart, and Mary-Pearl had deeply adored me in return.

I thought back to how the king had been today, and tried to imagine how Mary-Pearl would have responded to him, tried to imagine Mary-Pearl as the queen consort instead. However...I could not come up with anything.

Had plans gone as expected, it would not have been I who married into the royal family, but Mary-Pearl.

Even among our family, my elder sister had been exceptional—a girl with a particularly calm mentality. I knew how fragile the human heart could be because I was familiar with my own; after my first kill I had been unable to stop shaking for hours, and I could never stop myself from feeling pity from anyone I swindled for information. But Mary-Pearl’s heart never wavered more than was necessary, no matter the trial.

“It’s all right, Marie-Jewel,” she’d told me, trying to cheer me up during a bout of crying. “Assassination and intelligence-gathering are scary and hard at first, but the more you do it, the more you get used to it. Soon enough it just becomes a job.”

It was because Mary-Pearl had been so perfect that it was decided she’d be the one to marry into the royal family. At the time she was technically only a marriage candidate, but secretly she had already been given the offer to become queen consort.

But right before Mary-Pearl was to be formally unveiled as the debutante of the Valentines, she suddenly passed away.

Part of one’s training to become a shade of the royal family included building the body’s resistance to poison. From childhood we would drink small amounts of various toxins, slowly increasing the dosages over time, but many died before they developed their immunity. Mary-Pearl, who had been so full of life one day, could not tolerate the amount of poison she had consumed and was gone the next.

But no matter what the facts were, I had never been able to actually accept my older sister’s death.

“We will have Marie-Jewel marry into the royal family instead of Mary-Pearl.”

Duke Valentine’s order thrust me from the shadows to stand at center stage as the next Valentine heiress... Why, when I had originally been supposed to come to the palace as Mary-Pearl’s exclusive maid?

But I knew it was because there was no one else. The shades of the royal family were constantly short on personnel.

But I had not the intellect, the eloquence, nor the guile that Mary-Pearl had possessed—how could I have been qualified to become the queen consort?

In the end, the only thing I had was what I had cultivated as a shade: violence.

Sometimes I merely threatened others; in other cases I punished them; and while there were occasions I quietly dealt with those who dared defy the royal family, there were some events I turned into grand executions.

If only the king were respectable, my reign of terror wouldn’t have been so necessary.

If only my son had been born with a respectable appearance, then all these maneuvers behind the scenes wouldn’t have been needed.

“Mary-Pearl, my sister... What would you have done if you had been queen consort? Would you have been able to make that man a respectable king?”

The departed soul I spoke to did not manifest to answer my question. Even when I closed my eyes, Mary-Pearl’s face was hazy in my mind.

All of a sudden, I sensed someone behind me.

I knew him well, and addressed him without turning around: “What business do you have with me, Shadow?”

“I have arrived with a regular report, Your Majesty,” Shadow replied. As he had been assigned to monitor Cocolette Blossom, he brought me a report of her movements every few days.

“Truly, what is with this girl...?” I muttered. The document detailed a young lady who maintained incredibly consistent and far too well-adjusted behavior.

Oh, the beauty, Cocolette, renowned for her kindheartedness, I thought disdainfully. No matter how deeply I investigated her, I could never gauge her true intentions. Why did she feign interest in the ugly crown prince? What did she want so badly that she was willing to sully herself so to get it? Was it the country, power, money—or perhaps as big an audience as possible to laud her compassion? By no means whatsoever could she desire the ugly crown prince himself...

“Well, fine,” I said. “I may not know what the girl is thinking, but there is no sign that she will betray the crown. Even if she should be hiding some ulterior motive, it shall be excusable as long as she bears the ugly crown prince’s heir.”

Now, the more important problem was...

“Shadow, pass this message on to Lucifer: It’s about time he at least broke Lunamaria’s heart.”

With the Kleist Duchy’s powerful information network, it would become easier to manipulate any noble who resisted the royal family. And Miss Lunamaria, despite being a fool, was obstinate; there would be trouble down the road if we did not get a move on and break her spirit soon. There was no way I would hand her over to the second prince so easily.

At my orders, Shadow let out a short huff of laughter. Because we came from the same bloodline, we had similar indigo hair and eyes. The effects of poison training had caused him to lose the vision in one of his eyes, and his skin was considerably pale...but his health was likely still far better than mine.

“Will do,” he chirped nonchalantly. “Understood, Your Majesty... May I suggest you go to bed early tonight? Your face seems terribly pale.”

With that, he disappeared like smoke.

After a moment, I let out a short chuckle. “Terribly pale, huh?”

In the same vein that Mary-Pearl had suddenly lost her life to poison, my own body was steadily rotting from the inside out from all the toxins I had ingested over my life. My organs were so badly damaged that even my lovely-colored makeup couldn’t hide my skin tone. Shadow had to know full well that sleep wouldn’t improve my condition.

How long is my body going to hold up...?

I had been born a shade of the royal family, and so it was my duty to protect the crown. I had to properly establish a solid foundation for the ugly crown prince—the boy who had inherited the blood of this country—to rule.

I had to do all I could, whatever I could, so that one day, when at last my body stopped moving and my soul flew to Mary-Pearl’s side, she would praise me with “You did such a good job, Marie-Jewel. That’s my little sister for you!”

▽

Cocolette

Finally, the day of our major operation had arrived: We would go to His Majesty Urukhai with complaints about Her Majesty’s wicked wrongdoings...or at least, we would pretend to. In reality, we would confront the king and have Pia bewitch His Majesty into becoming Prince Raph’s puppet.

At this moment, Queen Marie-Jewel was devoting all her time and energy to preparing for the meeting with the envoys coming from the Empire of Portania. And with the royal shades guarding His Majesty Urukhai already serving Prince Raph, there was no worry of being us disturbed.

“It’s finally time, Prince Raph. Just thinking about that really rattles the nerves, doesn’t it?” I noted.

“You’re right about that, Coco,” he agreed. Then, after a moment to register what was happening, he looked at me in bewilderment. “Huh? That is you, right?”

“Yes!” I chirped, nodding enthusiastically. “Rest assured that I’m your Cocolette!”

I’d prepared a Japanese-style rabbit mask especially for today. Prince Raph hadn’t actually chosen me as part of the group he would be leading to His Majesty Urukhai’s room; after all, my face would render Pia’s power useless.

But I’d still wanted to go along with everyone, no matter what—hence the mask. So long as I hid my face, I wouldn’t interfere with Pia’s bewitchment.

“Sister, you look marvelous in that mask!” Raymond said. “And we match! I’m so glad!”

I giggled. “Thank you, Raymond. You see, I bought it at the store I got your mask repaired at. The fact that we match makes me very happy as well.” His words of praise lightened my mood, and—now brimming with confidence—I looked up at Prince Raph. “With this, there shouldn’t be any problem if I come along with you all, right?”

Prince Raph considered the question, then replied kindly, “Yes, you’re right. Thank you, Coco, for doing this so you can come with us.”

Those joining us to meet with His Majesty included Lord Dwarphister, Raymond, Prince Raph’s retainer Ford, and then our security, which consisted of Miss Violet, Douglas, Salvador, Lucifer, and Shadow. Prince Ork, Miss Lunamaria, and Lady Saravia would attend as well to attest to the indictment. Then, there was myself, Miss Mystère, and Pia...which, listing it this way, made for quite a lot of people. Duke Wagner would also do his best elsewhere to keep the queen consort from moving about.

Moving around in such large numbers was unusual enough that it would be highly likely the knights who saw us would notify the queen consort at once; therefore, we would be splitting up into smaller groups and taking separate routes to reach His Majesty. Because Miss Lunamaria had successfully persuaded her father to side with Prince Raph, Duke Kleist had mixed his subordinates among the knights stationed in the palace; should push come to shove, they were prepared to disrupt the flow of information and delay the queen consort from being notified of our plan. But all the same, I just wanted to make it to our destination safely.

“Coco, everyone,” Prince Raph began. “Today, we shall surely gain victory against my mother.”

“Yes, sir!” everyone called out, nodding.

Please... I prayed. Let us successfully bewitch His Majesty Urukhai.

✛

Raphael

The twists and turns of fate are truly mysterious, I thought suddenly.

I walked with Coco, Dwarphister, and Raymond, with Ford and Douglas in tow, as we headed from my detached villa to the salon where my father was. I could not see Lucifer and Shadow, but they were supposed to be accompanying us as well.

In my previous life, I’d led a charge on the royal capital, with the ultimate goal being to murder His Majesty Orkhart. Back then I’d had no real desire to claim the Kingdom of Cheriotte for myself. It had been nothing but a desperate wish to destroy everything that had been stolen from me.

And now, walking down this unbroken hallway toward father’s chambers, I felt as if I were once again seeking vengeance—only this time setting my revenge right. My current self was progressing down a different path than the one I’d taken in my past life; even the future I sought was different. Yet here I was, at a point that my former self, despite all his fiery rage, had never been able to reach: the deepest reaches of the palace, trying to usurp His Majesty the King’s power.

“But the me now isn’t targeting father to destroy this country...” I murmured.

Quite the opposite; I’m returning the country to its proper form, with a crown that leads its government and a queen consort that doesn’t tyrannize others with her power. That is why I will turn father into a puppet.

Coco, it seems, had heard the words I’d directed to myself. She gave me a nod, and kindly said, “Prince Raph, what you’ve decided to do is no mistake. We all believe that what you’re doing is just.”

Coco knew the errors I had made in my past life, so hearing her affirmation filled me with courage.

I looked to my side to thank her...only to once again find the questionable rabbit mask. A laugh reflexively escaped my lips.

Coco tipped her head to the side questioningly. “Is something the matter, Prince Raph?”

“It’s heartening to have you at my side, Coco,” I told her. “Thank you, truly.”

Hiding her tremendous beauty behind such an odd mask just to stand beside me made me love her all the more.

✛

We arrived in front of the salon without incident to find that Orkhart’s group, which had taken another route, was already there.

“It looks like we all arrived without arousing the guards’ suspicion,” I noted.

Though no one spoke up in response, their eyes showed their agreement.

“Your Highness Raphael.”

I turned my gaze toward the speaker to find Lady Saravia, the royal concubine, smiling at me. Though the woman normally wore men’s clothing, today she was wearing a properly feminine dress. The ensemble was from the Portanian Empire, but it harmonized with her dark skin and orange hair and eyes.

“Lady Saravia, you are as lovely in a dress as you are in suits,” I complimented her.

“Thank you,” she replied, her vocal mannerisms still as masculine—with only a hint of femininity—as ever. “I’ve decided to stop wearing men’s clothing; it’s pointless to chain my heart to my rotten motherland forever. Besides, should Her Majesty withdraw from her position, my worries about Ork will lessen considerably. And with those burdens lifted from my shoulders, I will take on the queen’s official duties in her stead.”

“I appreciate your kindness immensely,” I replied.

“It won’t be for too long, at any rate,” Lady Saravia noted, tone light. “Just a mere few years until Coco becomes your wife anyway, right?”

“Goodness, Lady Saravia—you tease! ♡” Coco giggled, as if the royal concubine’s words had made her bashful.

Lady Saravia had many enemies because of her cross-dressing tendencies, but at the same time, she also had many allies, starting most prominently with the Bergas. Publicly performing the role of a proper queen would likely narrow the gap between her and the nobles who had, until now, been estranged from her. With her education as an imperial princess, she should have few to no problems performing queenly duties. Knowing that the hole mother would soon leave behind would be filled rather promptly was a great relief.

“Now then,” I said. “Let’s go.”

There were two knights standing guard on either side of the salon entrance, and Douglas—taking advantage of their seeming bewilderment at our visit—pushed open the massive door without interference.

The scent of imported white sandalwood hung in the air, and directly across from the entrance was a large window, beyond which stretched a verdant garden. Normally, the king would have used this salon as a gathering place for his closest friends and allies, but now, where the parlor furniture should have been, a massive canopied bed had been placed instead. It was there that father lay.

“Father, please excuse the interruption,” I said, taking a step inside. “I have come to speak with you about an urgent matter.”

Father did not answer for a long moment. Finally, he said, “I don’t know what you came here for, but I have not given you permission to enter. What disrespect.”

Even though he and I had the same blond hair and blue eyes, my coloring might as well have been completely separate from his altogether. His hair glimmered as if wrapped in light; he seemed a painting of a god brought to life, with his minuscule eyes suggesting a pair of glittering treasures asleep in the depths of the sea. If he were to ever curve his massive lips into a smile, even the chaste moon goddess herself might fall in love with my father.

As he had been enjoying his afternoon nap, father only wore simple trousers; his torso was bare.

At such an alluring feast for the eyes suddenly right in front of her, Miss Kleist’s face flushed a bright, burning red, and she staggered. It was a panicked Orkhart who caught her in his arms.

I looked toward Pia Abbott, worried that the keystone of our strategy would fall to my father’s beguiling beauty. Though she seemed to have a slight interest in the king, she was muttering something to herself: “I already have Prince Gob, and he’s all mine. In fact, he’s locked up and waiting for me to come back... Hee hee hee...”

It was a relief to see that she somehow didn’t seem to have succumbed to my father’s charm. Should she fall for him in the worst of ways, we wouldn’t be able to bewitch him at all.

Incidentally, Coco—with her unique perception of male beauty—had taken one look at my father and frozen stiff. With her rabbit mask adorning her face, she looked somewhat like a decoration rather than a person.

“Hurry up and leave,” father said, annoyed. “Marie-Jewel can listen to your ‘urgent matter’ or whatever it is. She’s well capable of it.”

So, father truly had no intention of working. But that would end today as well.

“Father,” I replied. “I have come to you to charge mother with the numerous wrongdoings she has committed.”

Finally, father’s expression changed.

His wide, shocked eyes were not because he was ignorant of mother’s wickedness. His astonishment was because I, his son, had come all the way here to hold them accountable for the open secret they both shared.

“I accuse mother of planning and attempting various assassinations against Second Prince Orkhart, as well as coercion against Miss Lunamaria Kleist of the premier duchy of Cheriotte,” I stated.

“You said you’re here to indict Marie-Jewel?” father asked. He moved to the edge of the bed like how one would adjust their posture sitting on a throne, and smiled dryly. “I didn’t realize you were so foolish, Raphael. You disappoint me.”

“I have witnesses as well as physical evidence,” I replied.

At my cue, the victims I’d brought with me—Orkhart, Miss Kleist, and Lady Saravia—stepped forward. The proof that Lucifer and the shades under him had gathered were in Dwarphister’s and Raymond’s hands.

Yet father shook his head. “Did you not hear me say that I’m disappointed in you, Raphael?”

“I act only for the Kingdom of Cheriotte. I cannot allow mother to run rampant any longer.”

“And how do you expect the country to run without Marie-Jewel?”

“That is a matter that would be settled, father, if you were to run the government.”

“And why should I have to do something like that?” he asked. “I can just leave everything to Marie-Jewel. Some nobles just get so fussy, and she pulls the strings to shut them up. Isn’t that good enough?”

I paused to take in his words. “So, father, do I hear you correctly: You will not listen to our indictment?”

“Of course I won’t,” he said decisively. “What merit would it bring to me? A nice nap is far more valuable.”

I stifled a sigh. I’d expected father to say something like this, but all the same it was lamentable to finally hear it. Just as I’d thought, our only recourse was to use Pia Abbott’s power.

Just as I was about to give her the signal to act, someone from outside the room flung open the salon door.

Standing there was my mother, her blue-painted lips twisted in a sarcastic smile. Her indigo eyes blazed with rage.

“Oh my, my, my!” she said, lingering on the last word. “What a large crowd; a party, perhaps? The guards called me over, you see, because it sounded as if everyone was having oh so much fun. May I join you all? I’m afraid you forgot to send me an invitation.”

Behind her stood a pale-faced Prime Minister Wagner, Duke Kleist, and a great number of knights. It seemed like the two dukes’ plan to keep my mother in her office hadn’t gone well.

“Marie-Jewel,” father called. “Come here and listen to this ridiculous story.”

Mother observed father as he beckoned her with an excited fluttering of his hand, then approached the bed. She stopped and stood at a slight distance from him.

“Your Majesty Urukhai, what is this ‘ridiculous story’ you speak of?” she asked.

“This group seeks to indict you for your wrongdoings,” he said, amused. “Said that you planned to assassinate Orkhart and blackmailed that duke’s daughter.”

Marie-Jewel simply let out a long, low hum in response.

“Oh, Marie-Jewel, it’s not like you to leave evidence behind!” father added before bursting into laughter.

Mother turned her gaze toward me and grimaced at once, as if trying to refrain from vomiting. She unfurled a blue rose-patterned folding fan and hid her mouth behind it.

“Did a worm like you really expect His Majesty to be respectable enough of a man to actually accept an indictment against me?” she asked.

“No, mother, I did not,” I replied.

“Then why behave like this?” she demanded. “And where did you get your hands on this evidence?”

Mother was paler than the last time I’d seen her. She seemed to have also lost a lot of weight.

In my last life, she’d become bedridden by the time I graduated from the academy; it must have been around this time when her symptoms started to show more. Her illness had progressed to the point where she was even unaware of Lucifer and his subordinates’ betrayal.

“I have taken control of the shades of the royal family,” I declared.

“You...?!” she gasped.

Mother’s eyes stretched wide. Father, too, became lost for words.

“What is the meaning of this?! Lucifer! Shadow! Show yourselves!” mother shrieked. She looked around the room anxiously—and Lucifer and Shadow instantly revealed themselves. Immediately, she continued, “The shades of the royal family have always been His Majesty the King’s to command, and his alone! Why, then, have you betrayed His Majesty Urukhai and sided with the likes of the ugly crown prince?!”

“We among the secret corps have all decided to forsake His Majesty Urukhai,” Lucifer replied. “That is all.”

“Your Majesty Marie-Jewel, losing your temper like this is bad for your health, you know,” Shadow pointed out.

At their frank replies, mother closed her folding fan and flung it toward them. It whooshed through the air, but the two easily dodged the attack, with the fan striking the wall in a useless collision.

“Knights!” mother cried out. “Arrest them all! They intend to harm His Majesty Urukhai!”

The knights seemed bewildered at her orders. We had technically disrespected my father by entering his salon without permission, but the people she had ordered them to take into custody included myself, the crown prince; Orkhart, the second prince; and the royal concubine, Lady Saravia. But after mother screeched, “Hurry up! Do you want to be fired?!” they started to move.

“Be at ease, Your Highness Raphael. We’ll take care of this,” Miss Berga assured me in her relaxed drawl.

“Please excuse me for this, everyone!” Douglas called out to his seniors in the knights’ division. “But right now, I must protect His Highness Raphael and Miss Cocolette wi’ everythin’ I got!”

“Milady Violet, please leave the rear guard to me,” Sir Ince insisted.

“To think that the day has come that—to protect Crown Prince Raphael—I would need to form a united front with, of all people, Miss Berga and her retinue...” Lucifer muttered.

“Come now,” Shadow urged him. “Isn’t it heartening to finally have allies? Lighten up, Lucifer!”

Miss Berga, Douglas, Sir Ince, Lucifer, and Shadow, who had all come as our guards, began a battle with the knights in earnest. Though the palace guards were seasoned veterans, our group of five rendered them helpless with nary a drop of sweat among them.

“Miss Violet and the others will win no matter what, but just in case, I shall put up a barrier,” Miss Mystère said, fiddling with her Aurora Shield and casting the built-in defensive magic.

Now, even if the knights were to slip through any of our people’s attacks, the shield would prevent them from butting in.

“Wh-What is going on?!” mother raged. “How can all I have be a bunch of useless pawns?!”

In contrast, father nodded, seeming delighted. “I see. So, Raphael, you want to ascend to the throne in place of a good-for-nothing king? What a wonderful idea! I can finally retire!”

“That cannot stand, Your Majesty Urukhai!” mother insisted. “That child is only fourteen! If he becomes king now he will merely be exploited by nobles!”

“If he wants to do it, then why not let him?” father said in reply. After a moment, he hummed in thought. “But didn’t you say something else a moment ago, Raphael? About convicting Marie-Jewel of her wrongdoings and having me run the government?”

“I said exactly that, father,” I replied.

It was mother who burst into laughter this time. “His Majesty Urukhai, administer the government?” she repeated incredulously. “This foolish king would never do such a thing!”

“I say, Marie-Jewel, aren’t you being rather cruel?” father protested.

Mother ignored him. With each word her emotions ran ever higher until she was practically spitting them out. “Were this a respectable man, even someone such as myself could have supported him! And I could have done it in a respectable way, as a proper queen—without threatening or killing a soul! But you see, this man is just a good-for-nothing, idle piece of trash! The only one who could have had even a chance of turning him into a respectable person was—!”

Mother’s tirade suddenly slammed to a halt. All that continued was merely her labored breathing, a series of deep rattling gasps.

In the face of all of mother’s criticisms, father, in his typical way, simply and selfishly only seemed dejected. “I don’t like hearing that from you, Marie-Jewel,” he murmured. “Even if it is true.”

“Mother,” I began. “Father can be a respectable king. I can make it so.”

Mother looked at me as if I had said something utterly nonsensical.

“Pia Abbot, it’s your turn,” I said.

“Yooouuu’ve got it, Your Highness,” Pia Abbott sang in response, slipping past me and moving to stand in front of father.

“What’s with this girl?” he asked. “I didn’t give her permission to approach.”

“Can’t lie mister, you are pretty suave and sexy, but on the other hand, Prince Gob is young, beautiful, and evanescent, y’know? But whatever. You’re my pawn now, old man!”

Pia Abbot’s emerald green eyes began to glitter and glow; her bewitchment had begun. Father’s own azure irises began to slowly dull, as if her light was draining him of energy.

“You’ll do as I say, right, mister?” Pia Abbott asked.

Father was silent, then finally muttered, “Yes, of course.”

“All right, then do your job,” she ordered. “Start with your wife’s prosecution.”

Once again, father was slow to speak. “Yes. Of course.” He stood from the bed, then pointed to mother. “I have heard Raphael’s indictment, and I shall have you imprisoned, Marie-Jewel. From now on, Saravia will perform the queen’s duties. Is that understood, everyone?”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty!” Prime Minister Wagner immediately replied, voice filled to the brim with delight. “Understood!”

To think it would work so easily... I marveled. Pia Abbott had thoroughly bewitched father; he was completely under her control.

I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, and I heard Orkhart’s and the others’s voices as they relaxed too. Coco, still in her rabbit mask, let out an excited, “After all, a heroine with bewitching powers can’t be beat!”

Douglas and the other combatants had already finished their fight and left the knights utterly powerless. Miss Wagner double-checked the state of the palace guards, then let down the barrier.

“What...just happened...?” mother asked, in a daze. She was the only one who hadn’t understood one lick of what had just happened.

“Pia Abbott has the power to bewitch others,” I explained. “Father is now under her control, and she serves under me. Until I ascend to the throne, father will be my puppet.”

Mother ran both hands through her hair, ruffling it up wildly. She took no notice of how her barrette, shaped like a blue rose, or her hairpin, the one adorned with a large teardrop of a jewel, both dropped to the floor as she clutched her head in her hands.

“Aha... Aha ha...” she began slowly, before her laughter launched into a full uproar. “For something so simple to make him into the respectable man I always wished him to be?! And without me lifting a single finger?! And the country! To think the day would come when the government could run properly...!”

She laughed hysterically once again, gradually lowering into a crouch on the floor. It was a terribly pitiful sight.

In my previous life, I had painfully yearned for this woman to be a mother to me, to give me nothing but her love and approval. I had been so desperate for it that I’d single-mindedly poured my heart and soul into my education as crown prince. But for all I did, mother only looked at me and saw a freak. In the end, I could no longer endure her degrading regard, and I had finally given up on seeking out her affection.

It was only now that I realized my mother, who had mistreated and callously used me over the course of both my lives, was actually a terribly fragile person.

“Prince Raph...? Are you all right?” Coco asked.

The realization of how weak and delicate my mother really was shocked me to my core, my body trembling with it. Coco noticed and nestled close to me. Feeling the warmth of her arms made me sigh with relief.

“Thank you, Coco.” I paused. “I think I’m all right. Probably.”

I was almost certain now that from the very start, mother was not the sort of person who was strong enough to even be able to love a child she’d birthed. That was her problem, hers alone, and nothing to do with my appearance.

“I will make sure to protect the Kingdom of Cheriotte without dirtying my hands like you have, mother,” I declared. “And I will do so alongside Coco and my allies.”

Douglas put mother’s arms in restraints.

“Dirtying my hands, you say? Seems that’s all I can do! I’m just a failure of a sister! Aha ha ha, will she still speak highly of me after all this? I wonder!” mother shrieked nonsensically, her shrill voice eerily similar to the hysterical sobs of a small child. She then turned her tirade on me. “And you’re not just some freak, are you? You’ve actually outwitted me! Aha ha ha!”

“You must not say such cruel things about Prince Raph!” Coco yelled at mother from underneath her mask.

“Prince Raph is the absolute coolest, most charming archangel of a prince there could ever be! He is an intelligent, kind, and even sacred gentleman—we should be thankful to God that he is even upon this earth, breathing the same air as us! You are his mother—how could you disavow him when he is truly so wonderful?! Your Majesty Marie-Jewel, I may absolutely loathe you, but at the same time, I’m truly grateful to you for the simple fact that you brought Prince Raph into this world!”

I was momentarily stunned by Coco’s rather confusing logic, but her abundant words of praise made me bashful nonetheless. Mother might not have ever given me her affection, but now I had Coco to shower me with more than enough love.

Mother stared at me and Coco. After a moment, she slowly muttered, “So you really are respectable, despite having been borne of someone like me...”

“Mother...” I murmured, looking at her in a daze. I don’t think she had ever complimented me before in either of my lives.

Even after mother left the salon, her words still echoed deep within my ears.

I had a feeling, somewhere, in a past life, there was a version of me sobbing tears of joy from the bottom of his heart.

▽

Cocolette

Several months quickly passed after Prince Raph made His Majesty Urukhai into his puppet.

Queen Marie-Jewel’s wrongdoings were formally brought to light, and it was decided that she would be imprisoned in a castle under the royal family’s direct control far away from the capitol. Her organs were apparently worn out from all the poison she had drunk as a Valentine; the doctor had said it was a miracle that she had even been able to perform her queenly duties at all up to her arrest. As she didn’t have much longer left to live, everyone believed that she would spend her days in incarceration quietly until she passed.

Meanwhile, it was decided that House Valentine was to be stripped of its noble peerage. Prince Raph had explained, “We shall henceforth cut back on the shades of the royal family, dismantling the duchy entirely so that only Lucifer and his secret task force remains.”

Apparently, this whole mangled mess had begun when the influence of House Valentine had grown so enormous that they had been able to successfully plant one of their own to marry into the royal family. From now on, we would need to search for the proper way the shades ought to exist.

Because Pia’s bewitchment forced His Majesty Urukhai to work so hard that his previously indolent lifestyle seemed like an utter falsehood, public approval of the royal family skyrocketed. And thanks to His Majesty’s efforts, Prince Raph’s own workload returned to normal, to the extent that he could regularly attend Daemons Academy too. Even just the other day, my after-school dream date finally went off without a hitch! It felt like the ultimate blessing. ♡

However, I heard that His Majesty often suffered from bouts of full-body hives. It seemed that the stress borne of his bewitched heart acting against his naturally work-shy body couldn’t help but manifest physically.

Chapter 11: Vows

Raphael

Four years passed, and when Coco and I were eighteen, we graduated Daemons Academy together. At the graduation party, we announced our engagement, as did Orkhart and Miss Lunamaria.

Coco and I decided that we would hold our wedding in one year’s time, on the same day as my coronation. Coco had giggled cutely and said, “I spent a long time being your marriage candidate, but now I’m already your fiancée—time truly does fly.”

Orkhart and Miss Lunamaria chose to hold their own wedding ceremony after the excitement from ours had settled down.

“Marriages among the royal family have a massive impact on economics!” Orkhart explained. “Brother, your union with Coco will spark the first big wedding boom, and then mine and Luna’s will spark the second—in no time the country will be thriving!”

If Miss Lunamaria was fine with it, then I had nothing against it either. Orkhart really has grown, I realized keenly.

After a year of frantic planning, both my coronation and my wedding were held on a sunny, yet slightly chilly, spring day.

✛

I stood in front of the mirror, dressed in the magnificently embroidered formal suit prepared for my ascension.

Ford already had tears in his eyes as he affixed a scarlet cape around my shoulders. “Prince Raph,” he croaked. “You look absolutely splendid...”

“Thank you, Ford,” I replied. “You’ve been by my side ever since I was but a small boy; it truly warms my heart that you are also here with me now, readying me for my coronation.”

“To hear you say such a thing when you so often bemoan dressing up...”

“That’s true. Today’s a special occasion, though.”

And that was especially the case given that I had never been able to show King Raphael to the Ford from my past life.

Ford tidied up my hair, then did one last check of my attire. “You look flawless, Prince Raph,” he said with a nod, and so I left the antechamber.

Douglas, who had been waiting in front of the door, bowed his head to me as soon as I entered the hallway. “I wish you my sincerest congratulations today, Your Majesty Raphael.”

In the past four years Douglas had thoroughly grown into a proper knight, with the tall stature and broad chest suited to his station. He was already considered a contender to be one of the most influential members of the knights’ order, and he was also a commanding officer. Being able to work his way up in the ranks despite the impediment his homeliness presented just meant that he’d earned everything through his own merit.

“It’s still a little early to be calling me ‘Your Majesty,’ Douglas,” I said. “Still, I thank you. I’m counting on you to watch my back as always.”

“Yes, sir!” Douglas replied, golden eyes sparkling as he smiled.

We walked slowly along the long corridor that led to the throne room. En route, the knights and servants watched, bowing politely as I passed. The majority were wearing mite-misty glasses; ever since Miss Pia had become Dwarphister’s subordinate, their mass production had become more regulated. The glasses themselves were extremely popular.

Thanks to such a revolutionary invention, the severe criticism and mistreatment that the homely were exposed to had lessened significantly, and the number of joyous cases in which love and matrimony sprouted between the average person and the grotesque had risen bit by bit. In fact, the ugly were now quite simply worshipping Dwarphister—the inventor of the mite-misty glasses—as a savior. I too looked forward to what the man would engineer next.

When we arrived in front of the throne room, the two knights standing on guard opened the massive door together.

Gathered there within the largest room of the palace were invited nobles from across the country, all of whom were lined up in order of rank. At the furthest reaches of the chamber sat the throne, in front of which stood my father, waiting for me.

And so, I proceeded straight ahead down the red carpet path, alone.

The nobles I passed by all looked at me with goodwill. Many were even acquaintances I’d made on my travels around the territories in the name of chapel inspections.

When I passed the line of counts, I spotted Miss Violet and her fiancé Salvador in the middle. Should he not be standing with the lower-ranked nobles? I thought for a moment. Well, I’ll pretend I didn’t see that.

I saw Marquis Blossom and Raymond among the row of marquises. Raymond held his fox mask in both hands like the precious charm it was to him, but his delighted, smiling face was exposed for all to see. Next to him, Marquis Blossom’s peridot-green eyes had also softened tenderly.

Among the ducal families were Dwarphister and Miss Mystère, side by side and refined. Their looks made it easy to understand why many called them the sibling gods of beauty.

And then in the line for the royal family, Orkhart and Miss Lunamaria stood intimately next to each other. Beside them—today clad in a dress unmistakably Cheriotte in design—was the royal concubine, Lady Saravia.

I took even more steps to reach the spot for my fiancée—and found Coco standing there with elegant poise.

At nineteen, Coco had now grown into a woman with both the beauty and grace of a fae queen, and her unrivaled radiance had even made her name known among various foreign countries.

But today, however, she hid that beauty.

As Coco always had to cover her face when she was in the presence of my father, she typically wore her rabbit mask; for today’s occasions, however, she naturally wore a veil instead.

As I passed by her, I peeked through the gap in her veil and saw the arc of her lovely lips. Just that small glance filled me with courage.

“Raphael Cheriotte,” my father called. “Approach me.”

As a precaution, Miss Pia had been positioned behind the throne; from where I was standing I could not see her whatsoever. Shadow, Lucifer, and other shades must have been somewhere watching over me as well.

I stood in front of father, then recited the sovereign oath. The long pledge was something I certainly had never uttered in my previous life.

“In conclusion, I, Raphael Cheriotte, so do swear to adhere to justice and to the laws of the Kingdom of Cheriotte, and to preserve the doctrine of the church,” I finished.

“And so, Raphael Cheriotte, I do proclaim your ascension,” father declared.

He lifted the resplendent crown of the Kingdom of Cheriotte in both hands. I lowered my head, and he placed the crown upon me.

The profound weight now resting on my head caused a surge of ardent emotion to well within my chest. From this moment on, I would be protecting the Kingdom of Cheriotte, and I could feel the crushing pressure of that duty descend upon me. I clenched my teeth as if to bite it.

I lifted my head and turned to face the nobility.

Coco was the first to raise her voice, and the other aristocrats joined in, clapping as well.

“Long live His Majesty King Raphael! Long live His Majesty King Raphael!”

Orkhart grinned, Miss Lunamaria’s lips were curved into a rare smile, and from their position Dwarphister and Miss Mystère clapped bombastically. Miss Violet and Salvador, Lady Saravia, Marquis Blossom and Raymond, and Ford and Douglas all raised their voices in joy.

A dear sentiment came bubbling up from the bottom of my heart.

Everything will be all right. I’m not alone—not by any means.

▽

Cocolette

Wheeeeeew... King Raph’s absolutely stunning visage during his coronation ceremony was just not leaving my mind. I’d honestly thought the sheer exalted energy he’d exuded was going to send me straight to heaven. He really was the most beautiful person ever. Ahhh...

I recalled how King Raph had looked in that crown over and over again—so many times I thought I’d just die from it—even as I left the palace by carriage and went to the Kingdom of Cheriotte’s central church. The wedding ceremony would be held there and then be followed by a parade, which would lead us back to the palace.

Nine quick years had passed since I remembered my previous life at ten years old and wished to marry, and be loved by, a bishonen.

Finally, today was the day that dream would come true.

I was led to an antechamber in the church, where Amaretti worked with palace maids to quickly get me changed into my wedding dress. The royal family’s exclusive seamstresses had dedicated themselves to handcrafting a top-of-the-line dress, weaving lace especially for the occasion, embroidering the garment with the finest silk, and expertly incorporating several high-grade jewels across the entire ensemble. After all, I had a big job in the parade too—I had to dress so perfectly that my gorgeous looks would drown out all the hate King Raph would receive from all the citizens who still didn’t have mite-misty glasses yet!

“Oh, Milady Cocolette...! You don’t even look human anymore!” Amaretti cried out. Her choice of words was dicey as praise, but she spoke with an expression of total rapture on her face.

“Amaretti, I am so grateful for all the support you have given me until now,” I said. “My time with you was nothing short of an incredible delight.”

“And I was so happy as well! Taking care of you was my life’s greatest joy!” Amaretti replied dearly.

Amaretti and the palace maids were in the midst of praising my appearance in the dress when there was a knock at the door to the antechamber. As even in the Kingdom of Cheriotte it was typically the father of the bride who served as her escort, I thought that it was perhaps time for my father to come and get me.

However, beyond the door were other familiar faces: Miss Mystère, Miss Lunamaria, Miss Violet, Prince Ork, Raymond, Lord Dwarphister, and even Pia, Shadow, and Salvador.

Isn’t it time for all the wedding guests to be in the ceremony hall already...? I wondered, eyes wide.

Miss Mystère chuckled at my surprise and puffed out her chest. She had already had the largest breasts in school during our academy days, but as an adult, she now had a voluptuous body to match.

“The wedding ceremony is planned to immediately be followed by the parade, correct?” she said. “If we were to let this opportunity slip us by, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to speak with you, Miss Cocolette, so we all came!”

“Of course I’m elated that all of you are here to see me, but do you have enough time?” I asked.

“No need to fret about that!” Miss Mystère declared. “We shall all slip into the ceremony hall before you do.”

Everyone nodded in agreement with her words. Well, okay, I thought, relaxing my shoulders. The former marriage candidates had all been brought up to be surprisingly robust for highborn noblewomen, and the same could be said for Prince Ork and the boys. Something as simple as dashing to the hall and slipping to their seats would be a piece of cake for them.

“Anyway!” Miss Mystère went on. “I offer my sincerest congratulations to His Majesty King Raphael and Her Majesty Queen Cocolette on their union! May the two of you lead Cheriotte to lasting strength and prosperity! As your vassal, I shall do my utmost to support you!”

Miss Lunamaria was next to speak. “Congratulations on your marriage, Miss Cocolette. You are even more beautiful than usual today. I would love to wear a wedding dress just like yours when I marry Prince Ork.”

“As for me, I absolutely want a voluminous dress with a copious amount of frills and ribbons for my ceremony with Salvie,” Miss Violet said. “At any rate, Miss Cocolette, I wish you all the happiness in the world.”

“Prince Gob and I will get married someday too. But I can’t have him running away, so when the time comes, I’ll have a collar with a really strong chain put on him to make sure he can’t. You’ll help me out at my wedding too, right Miss Cocolette? Anyway, congrats!” Pia cheered.

“Congratulations on your wedding, Coco,” Prince Ork said. “You have been beautiful since the day I met you, but today, you glow the brightest I’ve ever seen. I leave brother to you.”

“You look quite stunning, sister!” Raymond complimented, his voice no longer the high chirp it had once been. “Despite your marriage, I will always remain your brother; please feel free to rely on me whenever you need to!”

“O my comrade, Your Majesty Cocolette,” Lord Dwarphister began. “For years you have spoken again and again about becoming His Majesty Raphael’s queen consort, and now your wish is finally coming true. Truly, that is something to be expected from you. Yet I imagine many difficulties still remain in your future. I shall walk together with the two of you as your wizard prime minister.”

“Congratulations on your marriage, young lady,” Shadow said next. “Lucifer is currently guarding His Majesty Raphael and couldn’t come to see you in person, but he’s just about as happy for you as I am.”

“I suppose since it will be impossible to call you ‘Miss Blossom’ from here on out, I shall also have to do as Milady Violet does and call you Miss Cocolette—‘Queen Cocolette’ soon enough,” Salvador noted. Even he was giving me his blessing. “A heartfelt congratulations on your wedding. I wish you nothing but happiness, Miss Cocolette.”

The warm well-wishes from everyone made me very, very happy.

There had been plenty of times over the past nine years when I’d figured I’d just never be able to get used to this world, primarily because of its backward beauty standards. Despite the distress those differing values often caused me, I’d formed bonds with many others and before I’d realized it, found a place for myself in this world. Now, here I was, with all my friends gathered here to celebrate my joys.

There was nothing I could do about these peculiar societal norms, but I was truly happy that I had been reborn in this world—that I had met everyone here.

“Everyone,” I began. “Thank you so much for your congratulations! I will work hard to make sure that I, King Raph, and all the citizens of Cheriotte can be happy together! So please, I ask for your continued support!”

“My answer is obvious!” Miss Mystère replied.

“Of course,” Miss Lunamaria answered.

“Understood,” Miss Violet said sweetly.

“Yeah, leave anything you need to me,” Shadow added.

The others put in their own words of agreement, and after a short while, my father appeared at the end of the corridor. It seemed like it was about time for the bride to get moving.

Realizing that, Miss Mystère declared, “Then we shall be watching in the hall!” before she and the others hurried off.

When they passed my father, he smiled, despite his surprise. Then, he came down the rest of the hallway to me.

“My darling daughter, Coco. You look so beautiful,” he said.

“Thank you, father,” I replied.

“I’m sure up in heaven Clarissa is also celebrating your wedding today as well.”

“Mother? If she is, then that would make me very happy.”

I had absolutely no memory of my frail mother; all I knew from her portraits was that she had been beautiful beyond compare. I had looked up toward the heavens so many times over the years, thanking my mother for giving me my looks. I love my face.

“Now then, Coco, it’s about time we got moving,” father said. “Your prince has been waiting eagerly for you.”

“Then let’s go, father,” I replied.

I took his hand, and we headed toward the sanctuary of the church. Amaretti and the other maids carefully carried the hem of my dress’s long train.

After a moment, my father spoke, his voice shaking slightly. “Kids grow up far too fast, I think. You used to be such a tiny little girl, and now you’ve already rushed off so far ahead of me.”

“Father,” I began. “Being your daughter truly made me so very happy.”

There had been numerous nights my father’s orc-face had terrified me so badly that I’d nearly been driven to tears. I’d held back my screams at the sight of him far too many times to count. Yet, it was because of father’s visage that I’d been able to adapt to this strange world at all.

“Thank you so much for raising me all this time,” I finished.

Father took a few seconds to reply. “Coco, you will always be my and Clarissa’s daughter. So come visit the Blossom estate whenever you like—and I mean that. Of course, His Majesty Raphael is welcome to join. Raymond and I will be waiting for you both.”

“Of course, father.”

I gave father my best smile, then pecked his cheek with a gentle kiss. Father returned the gesture, kissing my cheek with his thick lips—and for a split second, I wondered if he was going to eat me.

Father lowered my veil, and then we stood in front of the door to the main sanctuary. The guard pushed open the door, and in unison, the guests on the other side turned to look at me.

When the pipe organ began playing the composition for the bridal procession, I walked down the aisle, hand in hand with my father.

I could hear feverish murmurs of “Beautiful...” and “Just as you’d expect from Miss Cocolette...” from the guests. Among them I saw Miss Louise, who had in the years since we started school established herself as a full-fledged author.

At the edges of my vision, I kept catching glimpses of my friends, all safely seated in the audience, but as soon as I could clearly see King Raph’s face as he stood in front of the altar, the only person I could see was him.

His outfit for the coronation was lovely, but he also looks gorgeous in this royal blue frock coat!

King Raph’s sapphire blue eyes softened with tenderness upon seeing me, and he held out his hand. I let go of my father’s hand, then took King Raph’s, and the two of us stood side by side facing the pastor.

As I listened to the pastor give his blessings, my gaze unintentionally shifted toward King Raph. At nineteen, his contours had thoroughly grown into those of a young man with both a tall stature and broad build. Now this was the embodiment of handsomeness.

I’m finally going to marry him, I thought, feeling the depths of my heart quiver.

My affection for King Raph had started with falling for his face at first sight, but now, I truly loved him: his serious disposition, the occasional deep darkness he showed me—I loved every single thing about him. ♡

“And now for the bride, Cocolette Blossom,” the pastor said. “Do you swear to love Raphael Cheriotte as your husband for as long as you live?”

My answer was powerful: “Yes, I swear!”

I would love King Raph with all my heart forever and ever and ever, even when he was a dandy middle-aged bishonen, even when he was an adorable, wrinkled grandpa. Even if King Raph fell to the dark side and schemed for world domination, or even if the entire kingdom ignited in revolt and he lost everything, I would follow him unconditionally.

I wanted to watch every moment of this beautiful man’s life with my own eyes.

“Now then, you may kiss to seal your vows,” the pastor said.

King Raph slowly lifted my veil.

I was relieved to see that he was merely in a normal state of nervousness. During the lead-up to this occasion, I had persistently pleaded to him with cries of “Let’s practice!” Thanks to that, it seemed like he had avoided falling into an extreme bout of tension and clamming up with fright.

“Coco,” he said at last. His eyes were wet with emotion. “I love you with all my heart.”

“And I love you with all my heart, King Raph,” I replied, gazing back at him with half-lidded eyes, waiting for his kiss.

King Raph tenderly lifted my chin with a gentle touch of his fingers, then pressed his soft, moist lips against mine.

When we finished, the pastor calmly said, “Dear friends, let us pray for God’s blessings upon this couple. May He tenderly, deeply protect and sustain these two who have been bound together in marriage.”

When the prayer ended, King Raph and I turned toward the guests. They all cheered for us with words like “Congratulations!” and “May His Majesty Raphael and Her Majesty Cocolette find everlasting happiness!”

King Raph and I looked at each other, smiling.

“Well, King Raph, let’s find that happiness together!” I said.

“But Coco,” he replied. “I’ve been happy ever since I met you.”

“Oh my—to be honest, so have I!”

After this, the plan was to go outside to the front gate and board a special carriage for the parade. And so, King Raph and I left the church to find that the attendees who had gone out before us stood waiting for us in lines, all clapping.

When I saw Miss Mystère and the others standing in the front row, a sudden thought occurred to me, and my gaze dropped to the bouquet I held in my hand. The flowers were vivid pinks and blues, chosen to represent me and King Raph.

There was no custom in the Kingdom of Cheriotte of the bride throwing her bouquet. According to one theory in my old world, that practice dated back to England in the fourteenth-century or so. Apparently, it had been born out of safety, to protect the bride, as prior to this women hoping to have the same prosperity as her would often fight for what she had actually worn.

“I’m going to share some of my happiness with you!” I called out to Miss Mystère and the other girls. “The person who catches my bouquet will be the next bride!”

Despite the girls’ apparent surprise at my sudden declaration, they were brimming with motivation.

“Then I will have to get the bouquet for Prince Ork’s benefit as well as my own,” Miss Lunamaria said.

“My, my,” Miss Violet drawled. “I’ll also do my best for my Salvie.”

“I’ll be damned if I lose. I have to win for Prince Gob!” Pia declared.

Miss Mystère snapped back at them all. “You ladies do realize that you already have partners, correct?! As I have yet to meet a gentleman that makes me cry ‘he’s the one,’ I have the most need for this bouquet!”

In my old world, the bride would typically toss the bouquet behind her back toward the attendees, but as I hadn’t practiced this beforehand, it didn’t quite seem possible at the moment. I would have to do it head-on. But perhaps the distance between me and the girls was more than I’d realized...

“Coco, I wonder if throwing the bouquet from a higher spot would let it get to everyone more easily,” King Raph said. “I’ll lift you up.”

“Thank you, King Raph!” I replied, delighted. “Okay, everyone! Here we go!”

King Raph lifted me up firmly in his arms, and I tossed the bouquet high, as if trying to reach the shining sun at its zenith.

The girls, shouting excitedly with laughter, stood ready beneath the spot where the bouquet would likely drop. At last, Miss Mystère shouted with joy, “I did it!!! The next marriage interview I have will be with my future spouse!”

King Raph and I looked at each other, beaming.

And so, that was how, even in a world of backward beauty standards, I, Cocolette, finally...

...got the ugly crown prince!

Afterword

Thank you for reading. This is Sankaku Mikaduki.

I would like to thank you very much for picking up volume 2 of Miss Blossom’s Backward Beauty Standards: Give Me the Ugly Crown Prince! I’m very, very happy!

I can breathe a sigh of relief that the foreshadowing remaining from volume 1 has been safely resolved.

Volume 2 is full of all sorts of topics, like Raph’s conflict with his parents, the ulterior motives of the neighboring kingdom toward Orkhart, and the mysterious baron’s daughter. Of course there was also the question: Would Coco and Raph really get married?!

While I was initially guaranteed multiple volumes for this story when I received the award, a work aimed at female readers about reversed beauty standards is in a niche category; I have immense gratitude for the staff at Drecom for actually allowing Backward Beauty to continue publication. Thank you so much.

Continuing on, riritto-sensei was graciously in charge of illustrations for this work. Thank you so much for bringing life to so many character designs despite your busy schedule!

From the expressionless but pure Lunamaria who looks coolheaded at first glance, to the adorable Violet in her maid uniform; from pushy-yet-cute Pia to the absurd request for a “dark-skinned, ephemeral goblin,” which you perfectly represented with Goblynx; and then to Raph, who had a makeover by cutting his bangs and got even more handsome: Thank you immensely, riritto-sensei! They are all wonderful!

I’m especially taken with Coco on the cover. Her smile just screams, “I did it! I finally married King Raph!” I was actually so happy that her cover illustration was just so her that I had a go at putting in a bouquet tossing scene that fit with it (lol).

Each of the characters have been drawn perfectly to capture their distinct essence, so I encourage all readers to take their time looking at the frontispieces and illustrations.

Now, to the readers, my editor, riritto-sensei, and everyone else involved in the making of this book, thank you very much!

A manga version has been confirmed, so by all means, please look forward to when more information about that is made public. I would be grateful for your continued support of Backward Beauty!

With that, I hope to see you all again soon.