Chapter 21: Capture Target Prince Alfeld

The moment Prince Alfeld smiled bewitchingly, the female bureaucrats and ministers’ wives in attendance, as well as the maidservants who were waiting for her, all became excited.

“Wow~ Only 11 years old and that kind of sex appeal…amazing!”

I was slightly taken aback by the fact that he was still smiling the same bewitching smile I had seen in the game when I was 20 years old.

Then Prince Alfeld gave the women a sidelong glance and winked at them.

At that moment, some of the women swooned and fainted on the spot.

Soon the men helped the women and the audience became very busy.

After some women had been carried out of the room, the king cleared his throat and called to Prince Alfeld.

He said, “Prince Alfeld, you are welcome in our country. Enjoy your stay here until your return.”

“Thank you, sir. And to thank you for acknowledging my visit, I have brought you a few of my country’s specialties, which I hope you will accept.”

Prince Alfeld said so and took out a curled up letter from his pocket and held it out to me, so my father, who is the prime minister, received the letter and checked the contents on the spot.

“I have received the inventory. I will examine the contents together with the original later.”

“Thank you”

My father nodded one nod and lightly bowed to Prince Alfeld before stepping back from the spot.

Then Prince Leon poked and prodded me in the arm as I was watching the sequence of events.

I wondered what in the world was going on at a time like this, but when I glanced at Prince Leon, he spoke to me while leaning towards me.

“Hey, Cecilia-sister, do you know what the mineral in that offering is?”

“What? Which one is it?”

Look, it’s in the box next to that bundle of carpets.

So Prince Leon told me to take a look at the place, and I found a luxurious box next to a lot of beautifully patterned carpets and a mountain of unusually shaped ore in it.

“Is that…is that…could that be the ‘Desert Rose?’”

“As expected of my Sister Cecilia! Actually, I’ve never seen the real thing before either, but I saw the illustrations of ‘Desert Roses’ in a book and I thought it might be so.”

“It’s definitely a distinctive ore.”

As I said this to Prince Leon, I stared at the ore.

The “desert rose” is a mineral that is mainly made of gypsum or barytes, and although it was originally transparent, it has a brownish color because of the desert sand that adheres to its surface.

The reason it’s called “rose” is because of the natural phenomenon of crystallizing into a shape like a rose, which is why it’s called a “rose.”

The desert rose is not a beautiful jewel-like mineral, but it is used as an ornamental because of its unusual shape.

I remembered seeing such details in a past life when I looked it up on the Internet.

And when I briefly explained about the Desert Rose to Prince Leon without mentioning his previous life or the internet, he looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and looked at me happily.

“You really are amazing, Sister Cecilia!”

“No, I don’t think so…I just happen to know a lot of people…”

“It’s awesome that you knew! Because before I was surrounded by…”

“Leon, you’re still in an audience. Please be quiet.”

“…Yes. I’m sorry, brother.”

Kaiser admonished Prince Leon, who was getting more and more excited, with a serious expression, and Prince Leon apologized as he became smaller. With a bitter smile at the appearance of these two people, I glanced around to see if other people were inconvenienced, but I was relieved that no one was particularly aware of our situation.

I looked at Prince Alfeld again and saw that he was holding a beautiful, silky, shiny, pearly cloth in his hand.

“This is a silk that is made in my country, and I have brought it to you because I would like you to use it for the beautiful queen’s outfit. I have no doubt that you will be even more beautiful than you are now.”

“Oh! I’m so happy!”

Prince Alfeld smiled bewitchingly at the queen, and as expected of the queen, her cheeks dyed with pleasure at Alfeld’s praise and at the prince’s appeal.

The king frowned for a moment at the queen’s appearance, but soon returned to his usual dignified expression and thanked Prince Alfeld.

“Prince Alfeld, I thank you for giving the queen a very fine gift.”

“No, I just wanted to give the lovely lady something beautiful to wear as a gift. So…I would like to present this earring to that lovely lady over there as well.

Prince Alfeld said this and opened a palm-sized jewelry box from the cloth he was holding in his hand, and showed me the large emerald earring in it, looking at me.

Huh? You’re giving that to me? I mean, it’ll definitely be heavy if I wear it in my ear.

I thanked him with an affectionate smile, although I thought such an honest impression in my heart, but I couldn’t say such a thing in this place, as expected.

“Thank you very much. It’s a very nice item.”

“I’d like to see you wearing this, up close and personal, if possible.”

With that, Prince Alfeld smiled that bewitching smile of his at me.

At that moment, for some reason, I felt an unusual presence from both sides of me, and with only my gaze, I fearfully checked on Kaiser and Prince Leon.

Then I noticed that both of them were smiling as usual, but it was obvious that their eyes were not smiling.

Hey, why are these two angry!?

I was confused by their unfamiliarity, but I took my gaze away from them, thinking I had to reply to Prince Alfeld for now.

Then I saw that Prince Alfeld was still looking at me with the same enchanting smile on his face.

I gutted my cheeks at the sight of him and managed to maintain my affectionate smile as I spoke back to him.

“I’m sorry, Prince Alfeld. I am not allowed to show you myself up close and personal, so I will refrain from doing so.”

“You don’t need to be so modest.”

As he said this, Prince Alfeld winked at me as if to say no.

I was frozen in place at the action of Prince Alfeld.

Hey, hey…You’re in an audience right now. Why are you hitting on me? And considering the arrangement, I think you already know that I’m Kaiser’s fiancée…

As I was thinking this, Prince Alfeld threw another wink at me.

As expected, I, too, was completely taken aback by his behavior, and I couldn’t help but make a confused expression on my face.

I’m not sure if he was expecting such a look, but he looked at me with a blinkered expression.

That’s when I realized and hurriedly changed my expression back to an affectionate smile.

But as he looked at me, Prince Alfeld kept a puzzled expression on his face.

That night, after my audience with the Prince, a banquet was to be held to welcome him, and I changed into my ball gown and attended the ball with Kaiser.

There, as I had expected, Prince Alfeld approached various women, and those who were approached by him were captivated by him.

I watched it from a distance and knew I would never go near him.

“Cecilia…I spoke to Alfeld in person before the ball, and he was very easy to talk to and friendly. It’s just…Alfeld seemed to want to ask a lot of questions about you, so I went off on a tangent, emphasizing only that you were my fiancée. So please be absolutely careful that you don’t let Alfeld get close to you!”

“Yeah, yeah. I wouldn’t get too close to him if I could help it…”

Kaiser seems to be worried about something, but I nodded obediently because I didn’t want to approach Prince Alfeld in the first place. Kaiser looked relieved in response to me.

It’s a good thing that I was able to get away from contact with Prince Alfeld during the ball.

After the welcome ball, I spent some time at home, but I had a book I wanted to read and went to the castle alone.

I went to the Ministry of Science and Research, where the book I wanted to read was stored, and was warmly welcomed by Professor Dimitria, with whom I had a nice cup of tea and an opportunity to chat for a while.

When it became time for Dimitria to tutor Kaiser, I thanked him for the tea and grabbed the book I had wanted to borrow, leaving the Ministry of Science and Research.

I was walking down a deserted corridor facing a beautiful courtyard to go home with the book in my arms.

At the end of the corridor, I caught a glimpse of an all-white outfit and the clothes of a maid.

I stopped to stare at the familiar clothes and saw a young maid with her cheeks against the wall, her face stained with swooning, and Prince Alfeld, looking at her face and kissing her hand.

Wow! I’ve stumbled upon a seduction scene…

I didn’t expect to see such a scene in this place, so I was taken aback by Prince Alfeld’s womanizing, with my cheeks clenched.

But then I got a huff, and not wanting to stay here and make things awkward for both of us (me and that maid), and not wanting Prince Alfeld to find me either, I quickly spun on my heel.

And as I stepped out, I heard a voice behind me calling out to me,

“Wait! I believe…you’re Lady Cecilia, aren’t you?”

I heard Prince Alfeld’s voice, and I shook my shoulders with a jolt before slowly turning back with a mechanical motion.

“Ah, I knew it. Because I couldn’t forget your beautiful silver hair.”

Prince Alfeld walked towards me with his usual bewitching smile on his face.

“No, no, Prince Alfeld…wasn’t he dealing with that maid over there?”

I said this and glanced at the maid, who was still staring at me with a red face.

Then she noticed my gaze and hurriedly bowed to me and ran away.

No, hey! Take this prince with you if you can!!!!

There was no way for me to hear such a cry from my heart, and in no time at all, it was just me and Prince Alfeld alone.

“Ah, Prince Alfeld, are you sure you didn’t want to chase after that person?”

“Yes, I’ve already talked to that person earlier, so it’s fine. But more importantly, I want to talk to Lady Cecilia now.”

“What? With me?”

“Yes, Lady Cecilia and…ah, Kaiser called you Cecilia, so I shall call you that too.”

“Well, I don’t mind the name, but why did you wish to speak with me?”

“At the last ball, Kaiser wouldn’t let me talk to you at all.”

As he said this, Prince Alfeld smiled bitterly.

“……So what kind of a discussion do you wish to have with me? As far as I’m concerned, I’m just heading home, so would you excuse me from this?”

“…Well, I can see why Kaiser didn’t want me to meet you. You seem to be a bit different from the other women.”

“…Why does everyone say that to me?”

I couldn’t understand those words that were said every time.

People say that I’m somehow different or different from the rest of the other daughters… I’m not even aware that I’m doing anything that different…

I thought back to my previous actions, but I still didn’t understand.

Then Prince Alfeld scooped a tuft of hair from my mind.

I looked at him with my eyes wide open, and he leaned closer to my face, checking the texture of my hair with his hand.

“It is as smooth and soft as I thought it would be. And when you look at it up close, those purple eyes are very nice. I’m sure I’ll be able to find a way to get rid of them and bring you back to my country.”

“…Prince Alfeld, you’re a little close.”

I wrinkled my eyebrows and turned a stern expression at Prince Alfeld, who was approaching in front of me with a bewitching smile on his face.

“…You’re the first woman who didn’t fall for me to this extent.”

“I’m not a cheap woman who falls that easily. And…even after watching that scene with another woman just a few minutes ago, this doesn’t move me at all. To be honest, it puts me off.

“…”

I took the hair back from Prince Alfeld, who froze at my words, and quickly stepped back and looked at Prince Alfeld while opening the distance and fixing his eyes.

“Hmm~ I’m wondering if you’re the one who is grooming a woman to enter the harem in this country?”

“What! Whoa, how do you know that?”

“I’m not the only one who was asked to be taken back to the country anyway, am I?”

“…”

“And since I know most of Prince Alfeld’s country, I could easily imagine that Prince Alfeld’s actions were a preliminary chasing to get a woman he liked into his harem.”

“I don’t think that’s…”

“Well, every country thinks differently and that seems to be the way it is…but for the record, I don’t like people who surround themselves with a lot of women because they seem to disrespect women!”

“Huh!”

When I said so crisply, Prince Alfeld stared at me with wide eyes and a shocked expression.

Looking at the situation, I thought that I might have said too much as expected, but I decided that I couldn’t help but think that I had already said it.

…It’s true that when I was playing a game in my past life, the way he hit on the heroine with sweet words after seeing him hit on another woman, like this time, he looked so cool on screen that it was easy to forget that he was hitting on another woman. Well, maybe it was the thought that this was a two-dimensional world called a video game that made me feel that way…but as expected, I don’t like it when it’s done in real life.

I remembered the scene I saw in the game where the 20-year-old Prince Alfeld was saying sweet lines with a bewitching smile on his face, and I compared it to reality.

“…You’re the first person to ever tell me so clearly that you dislike me.”

“I’m sorry if you’re offended. But I thought it would be better for Prince Alfeld if I made my feelings known to him. So from now on, I don’t mind—”

“I’ve decided! I won’t make a harem, and I’ll only take care of one person!”

“What? Oh, well, if that’s what Prince Alfeld has decided to do, then that’s good.”

“Thank you. I’ll definitely be a man recognized by you.”

“…Why are you telling me this?”

For some reason, I was puzzled by Prince Alfeld, who declared this with a serious expression towards me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

T/N: And here we go again

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