Chapter 17 – And So the Stage Draws to a Close ②
The King fixed his gaze squarely on Dale.
“Answer me… now!!”
The air seemed to shiver with a crackling sensation.
Enveloped in a chill colder than freezing, his eyes brimmed with contempt and overflowing rage.
The Queen standing beside him was truly “absolute zero”.
He wanted to protest that this wasn’t the gaze one directs at a biological son, but it seemed such a rebuttal would not be permitted.
“Dear, please calm yourself… and you… what did you just say to Duchess Solfege…?”
There was no warmth in the Queen’s words either.
A strange sound, like a hiss, escaped his throat.
“Answer me promptly. Have you lost your voice?”
The Queen took a step closer to Dale.
“After declaring your intentions so boldly… now you can’t say them before myself and His Majesty the King? Is that it?”
“Ah… n, no… “
His mouth seemed painfully dry.
He was so overwhelmed that he couldn’t even moisten it.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince. You need only repeat the words you spoke earlier.”
A soft voice came from behind.
It was unnaturally light and cheerful for this situation, and unlike anything he’d ever heard before.
“Y, you, uh…”
He gritted his teeth, grinding them as he glared at me, but the girl in front of him was smiling with utter delight.
“I merely follow the Royal Family’s orders. Now, please try again.”
He was told with a smile, and when he looked back at the King, the temperature of his gaze had dropped even more.
Could anyone withstand the absolute zero gaze and atmosphere of the King and Queen who rule a nation?
Usually, there was kindness within their stern gaze, but now it was completely absent. There was no mercy, no leniency, nothing.
Besides, I was smiling calmly even when he declared the annulment of our engagement, and even seemed to be enjoying it.
He thought I would be flustered.
I wasn’t flustered at all.
I showed not even a hint of regret.
On the contrary, with a radiant smile unlike any I had ever shown before, I was urging him to repeat the words ‘annulment’.
“If my ears serve me right, you were spouting something about breaking off the engagement.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The engagement forged by the Royal Family… no, an engagement that we had wished for and finally fulfilled. Never did we imagine the day would come when our child would break it off.”
“…… Huh?”
What did they just say?
“We all wished for and finally fulfilled.”
His father and mother definitely said that.
Manna, who was standing next to him, wore an expression of utter shock.
As their eyes naturally met, they saw each other’s pale faces reflected in their pupils.
“Wasn’t it… Lady Lunaria who wished for it?”
“Of course she didn’t wish for it. It was none other than I who wished for it.”
Immediately refuting Manna’s words, the Queen wore a cold smile as icy as absolute zero.
“My precious, dearest best friend. Her daughter… Lunaria is a truly kind and good girl. I wanted to maintain a connection with my best friend through marriage, so I made a selfish request. To His Majesty.”
The audience held their breath as the Queen casually said something rather outrageous with a girlish smile.
“It was the Queen’s sole wish, so I felt I had to grant it. However, the late Duchess had imposed a condition.”
“‘If the Crown Prince ever opposes the engagement and demands its annulment, grant Lunaria any wish she desires’, that was the sole condition.”
“And so the prophecy has come to pass.”
Hah, a deep sigh escaped from the two of them.
It wasn’t Lunaria who wished for it, but rather the Royal Family insisted on this engagement.
An engagement between two children, arranged by their parents.
“You’ve made a splendid mess of things…!”
This wasn’t just any noble engagement.
It was an engagement between the Duke’s Daughter and the Crown Prince.
“To let such excellent blood slip away…”
A gentle, considerate, serene, and beautiful young lady.
The only daughter of the Queen’s one and only dearest friend. An irreplaceable, precious treasure.
“Hey, will His Highness the Crown Prince cherish my daughter?”
“Eh, I’m certain he will!”
The voice of her beloved friend, from a memory from long ago, flashes through her mind.
And the Queen’s wish, now forever unfulfilled.
“Your Majesty, Your Highness the Queen, you must not blame them so. Please grant your approval for their union.”
A voice, far too cheerful for the moment, rang out.
The King, who covered his face with his palm, let out an even deeper sigh than before and looked straight at me.
“Your reason?”
“Their love for each other—is that not a wonderful thing?”
“For the prince of a nation to be swayed by such emotions…!”
I continued with a smile, seemingly unconcerned about the King’s anger.
“It’s like a fairy tale, isn’t it?”
Cheerfully. Yet, my eyes held no mercy whatsoever.
“Now then, Miss Manna. Do you love His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“……… Oh, of course!”
“Well well! How splendid! How marvelous! Truly like a fairy tale! A Viscount’s daughter catching the Crown Prince’s eye, falling deeply in love, and becoming his Queen!”
Unexpectedly cheered on, Manna’s expression turned suspicious.
A villainess supporting the heroine? That shouldn’t happen. It’s impossible.
“Well, do you dislike him?”
“Of course I don’t dislike him?! Are you stupid?!”
The students in the hall looked at Manna with disdain as she boldly hurled insults at the Duchess.
But Manna couldn’t back down now.
She desperately tried to think of a way out. Her mind raced at full speed.
“Then do get married. Ah, but……
At that point, I deepened my smirk.
“Huh…?”
She must have had a bad feeling.
She had been certain that marrying the Crown Prince would mean hell awaited me. That Lunaria would surely become a secondary consort and face her relentless torment.
“In fairy tales, no one ever says that the princess will live happily ever after… so Miss Manna, why did you think you would?”
A bead of sweat trickled down.
“Well, isn’t that obvious? How could you possibly think a low-born lady, untrained in royal duties, wouldn’t suffer after marrying into the Royal Family?”
The Crown Prince and Manna both stared wide-eyed.
The Queen somehow understood the implication and snapped the folding fan she held shut.
“In a fairy tale, it ends with ‘The princess lived happily ever after’, but reality goes on beyond that. Could you endure it?”
This never happened in the game.
Although it was a little late, Manna gradually began to understand. Dale felt the same.
“I accept the annulment of the engagement. And I approve—nay, demand—that these two marry!”
She declared it loudly and clearly.
“Furthermore, I, Lunaria il von Solfege, declare here and now that no matter what happens, I will never become a secondary consort! I also will not permit a parting in lieu of the annulment you just mentioned!”
“Lunaria… Huh?”
“Now now, Your Highness the Crown Prince. Please don’t address me by my name. Your true love is Lady Manna, who is sitting beside you.”
Coldly rebuffed, Dale wore an expression of despair, but it was too late.
“Please, persevere in your true love.”
“…Indeed… You declared it yourself. Take responsibility for your own actions, my son.”
I wonder if I’ve finally managed to put on an expression befitting a Villainess.
Oh no, this is only the beginning. Yes, I thought, deepening my smile.
If they intended to spin the continuation of this fairy tale, there was one thing they had to understand.
It was far too naive to think one could become the leader of a nation without doing anything.
“Stop, please…”
The voice of the devastated Manna could not reach Lunaria. Even if it did, she wouldn’t have listened.
It was only here and now that Manna finally began to understand.
She had made an enemy of a woman she really should never have crossed.
Sads Translates 