Volume 01 Side Story 04 - Side Story 04: Angry Princess (1/2)

Volume 01 Side Story 04: Angry Princess

Life study? I tilted my head in confusion, and Dr Lezzi stared at me with his distinctive eyes.

“Hmm, are you the girl who the chick-like boy was desperately trying to get back from the fox? Do you want to hear an old story from the boy? If you pay for my drinks, then I’ll tell you half-truths about the boy.”

Half-truths? Fox? I blinked at those strange words and His Highness forced his way in front of me.

“They’re both none of your business, old man Lezzi. Don’t extort Elli.”

“What? Your body grows a little big, and so does your attitude. Or is it that? Are you trying to show off because you don’t want the girl you love to know about half-truths?”

“You only want to brag!”

Your Highness, your words are getting jumbled…

The old man laughed dryly at His Highness, who seemed aggravated, and Lord Alan whispered, “He has something in common with Prince Theodore.”

“Mm… Are you a part of Thistle Star? My name is Elianna…” I hesitated to say my surname. Paolo might not know about this, but most adults should know that I’m the fiancée of the Crown Prince of Southlynd. I thought that revealing my identity would be the same as revealing His Highness’s.

The old man stared at me with a different kind of interest. “Miss, have I seen…” His Highness drew the old man’s attention when he started whispering. “Anyway, I have something I want to say to you. Old man Lezzi, take me to the chief of the Roma people.”

“The chief? What? Are the knights of Southlynd going to raid the Roma’s chief?”

At that moment, I could tell that the Roma men were seething with anger. The two guards quickly readied themselves and placed their hands on their sword handle, and Sir Glenn restrained them.

His Highness sighed.

“I have something I want to talk to him about. I also have something I want to ask him. I want to talk to him because now is a good chance. Introduce me to him. Think of it as a service to someone who paid for your alcohol.”

“I only remember you paying for my alcohol once. It’s not worth it,” the old man grumbled. His Highness put Rene down, patted his head, and said, “Rene. Go to your mother first. We’ll go there later.”

The boy’s blue eyes swayed in anxiety, but he nodded back firmly. Invisible bonds seemed to have formed between His Highness and Rene in this short time.

I felt a haze over my mind and asked His Highness, “You… Prince Christ, you know people from Thistle Star?”

“Yeah… Well, no. A long time ago.” His words were prevaricated, and he smiled. Is it something he can’t tell me?

“Let’s go, Elli,” he tried to hold my hand, but I quickly avoided him.

“Elli?”

“Mm… I’ll go with… Rene. You… Prince Chris, please finish your business.”

I should deal with my house’s problems, but I was trapped by a strange obstinate thought.

I lightly curtsied, took Rene’s hand and turned away. A surprised voice called out to me, but I couldn’t stay by His Highness’s side right now for some reason.

Since coming to the Roma market, I have been surprised by the sides of His Highness that I haven’t seen before, and I felt an indescribable anxiety when I caught a glimpse of his unknown past.

You can’t know all about a person who is different from you. His Highness and I were raised in different environments. I think my hazy feelings are a bit different from feelings of wanting to know all about His Highness.

But I do think… that there are a lot of things that I don’t know about him.

The root of my anxiety is because of my lack of confidence for not being able to remember our interactions from when we were younger.

His Highness sighed and looked at me as if it was no use. Two guards followed after me.

“――― Miss Elianna.” Alan approached.

“I have to leave you for an errand, but you can’t leave your guards.”

“Okay.”

Alan said with a wryly smile, “Miss Elianna. Don’t worry by yourself, it’s better to tell Prince Christ about your frustrations and fears. If not, then he’ll take it out on Glenn, and his hair will get thinner.”

Alan teased, then he said something to Paolo, and both of them left. Rene spoke to me as I saw them off, “Sister.”

He opened his little mouth as if he was hesitating, and a new voice spoke, “Rene. ――― Rene.”

Several children beckoned at Rene with a serious face from the shadows of the thicket. Rene approached them with his hands still in mine, and the children kept their guard up and looked as if they were going to flee, so I asked the two guards to keep their distance.

They looked grim, but the children seemed relieved when the guards distanced themselves.

“Rene, weren’t you caught?”

“Where’s Paolo? Weren’t you with him?”

The children, who continued to question Rene, looked around the same age as Paolo. Apparently, they were the children who helped Rene and Paolo steal books. Rene replied in a slightly cheerful voice, “We were helped, so it’s alright now. They also said they’ll help with mum.”

That was what His Highness had promised Rene before we left the dining area. “I’ll help your sick mother,” he’d promised.

The complexion of the children changed, and they looked at each other.

“Rene… Listen to us calmly. We saw that you got caught by someone who looked like a noble. So, we waited for the mole noble to come, then we told him that we won’t listen to what he says anymore because you guys were caught. And then…” the children looked awkwardly at the younger Rene.

“The mole noble suddenly panicked when he found out that you guys weren’t caught by Roma people. He said, I’m a Bernstein, tell them not to say anything unnecessary… He locked up your mum, who he was supposed to get a doctor to see.”

“Eh…”

“It’s kinda bad, right? He also said to get rid of the evidence, so they’re getting ready to burn the books. We thought about consulting with the chief, so we came back.”

“Sorry, Rene. We couldn’t protect mum Marissa…”

Rene turned pale, and I also shivered when I heard inexcusable words.

“Burn the books…?”

By locking up Rene’s mother, he could use her as a hostage so that they wouldn’t say anything that would inconvenience him. And I can’t even call him human anymore since he’s using such barbaric methods such as burning books to get rid of the evidence. An animal… no, that’s something a fiend would do.

“Where is he?! Where is that noble!?”

The boys winched as if they were frightened by my threatening attitude. “I’ll guide you!” Rene said as he pulled my hand. I followed him without looking back.

“Miss Elianna…?” The two guards’ surprised voices overlapped with the boys’ voices.

The guards tried to rush after me, but I could hear that the boys were getting in their way because they were on guard against adults who weren’t Roma.

They probably considered me a friend because I was holding Rene’s hand. I wanted to explain a lot of things, but I couldn’t afford to think about other things because I had to stop the barbaric act of burning books as soon as possible.