We finally arrived at the first shrine after being rocked by carriage for half a day after leaving the capital.
It was a white shrine standing quietly in the forest, but it seemed to be well maintained, as if there was a guardian for generations.
When we opened the door of the shrine and entered with Viktor in the front, we saw a small altar.
And behind the altar, there was a statue of a goddess with her hands crossed as if in prayer.
“Beautiful…”
I couldn’t help but mutter that as I stared at the goddess statue.
Sure, the goddess statue was depicted on the game screen too… but the real thing is so beautiful! Wow, I’m so glad I came!
I was simply moved by the beautiful statue of the goddess as I thought about it.
“It’s really beautiful…”
As I heard Nina’s murmurings, I glanced at Nina, Kaiser and the others, who were also staring at this mysterious goddess statue.
No one said a word, and silence reigned over the place, until Nina noticed and hurriedly moved to the front of the altar, where she got down on her knees, crossed her arms, closed her eyes and prayed to the statue.
“Goddess…please see to the peace of the people…”
Nina was praying earnestly, hoping so.
Just as I was gazing at Nina’s back, a light suddenly shone through the gap in the shrine and shone down on Nina.
Whoa~! Nina, you are beautiful! You look like an angel! Ahh, I knew Nina would look good as a maiden! That’s the heroine of this game! What man wouldn’t fall in love at the sight of this?
I glanced at the attackers, but for some reason Kaiser was smiling at me, Prince Alfeld and Ghislan were talking while pointing at the statue of the goddess, and Viktor was wary of the entrance to the shrine and was not looking at Nina at all.
I was intensely upset in my mind at the sight of these men.
Hey! Why doesn’t anyone look at Nina!? Nina is your love interest, right? And the only reason you’re following me on this trip in the first place is because you care about Nina, right?
As I was looking around at Kaiser and the others with an astonished expression while thinking about this, Nina, who had finished her prayers, ran over to me at a small run.
“Cecilia-sama, I’m done!”
“Oh, thank you. By the way, Nina looked so beautiful in her prayer.”
“What? Oh, really?…I’m so happy to hear you say that, Cecilia-sama!”
I told her with a smile, recalling Nina’s appearance earlier, and she smiled happily as she put her hands on both cheeks.
I was writhing in my heart at such a cute reaction, but for some reason the men didn’t react well to Nina.
While I was puzzled by their completely unexpected reactions, it was time to leave, so I decided to return to the carriage.
But on the way back to the carriage, Kaiser approached me and grabbed me by the waist.
“Huh? Kaiser?”
“Come on, Cecilia, let’s get in the carriage.”
“What? No, Kaiser just got on, so…”
I was baffled by Kaiser’s behavior, and he walked me closer and closer to the carriage.
Then, just as Kaiser was about to let me into the carriage, a hand was placed on his shoulder.
Kaiser…what are you doing, trying to get into the carriage as if you are supposed to? Now it’s my turn, okay?”
“I…Couldn’t you just go away?”
“Of course!”
He looked at Prince Alfeld, who had placed his hand on Kaiser’s shoulder and kept his eyes fixed on me, and he let out a small sigh of disappointment.
Then, reluctantly, Kaiser took his hand off my waist and stepped back, and immediately, Prince Alfeld switched places and put his hand around my waist and motioned me to get into the carriage.
“…Alfeld, please remember that Cecilia is my fiancée.”
“I…I know.”
When Prince Alfeld was about to board the ship after me, Kaiser gave him a sharp look of warning.
He was greeted by the bitter smile on the face of Nina, who was on board before him, and they were finally able to leave for their next destination.
“…Prince Alfeld, why are you sitting next to me?”
“What’s the matter?”
“No, it’s not that much of a problem…but…wouldn’t it be better to be next to Nina? I thought that…”
“Kaiser was sitting next to Cecilia anyway, right?”
“Yes, well…I suggested to Kaiser that he sit next to Nina as well, but he smiled and said that he had to sit next to his fiancée, and I couldn’t say anything else.”
“Then I have no problem sitting next to Cecilia as a guest. Cecilia is the Prime Minister’s daughter, so she should be entertaining the country’s guests.”
“Ugh…Hey Nina, if you want to sit next to Prince Alfeld, we’ll change places?”
“No, I’d rather be next to Lady Cecilia…”
I spoke to Nina, who was sitting across from me as if I was half-helping her, but she stared at me with a frustrated look on her face.
“Then I’ll sit next to Nina…”
“Cecilia, it’s not safe to move around in a moving carriage.”
At Nina’s words, I stood up and quickly lifted my hips to move next to Nina, but Prince Alfeld quickly grabbed me by the waist and made me sit down again.
He put his hands around my waist firmly so that I couldn’t get up further.
”Nina, I’m sorry, but for Cecilia’s safety, I’m going to leave her like this.”
“I…Yes.”
Nina reluctantly nodded at Prince Alfeld’s words.
I was so dismayed, but I gave up and decided to sit down quietly.
After being rocked by the carriage for a while and staying at an inn on the way, we arrived at the next shrine.
It was a shrine built on the cape, and from that place, we could see the vastness of the sea.
“Wow! The sea! How wide! Lovely!”
As I was marveling at the cobalt blue sea in front of me, Ghislan came next to me.
“…I’ve read about it in the documents too, but this is the first time I’ve seen the ocean in person. It’s amazing.”
“I’ve never seen such a beautiful sea either! Because the seas I used to see were much murkier…”
I stopped talking when I suddenly realized that I had seen the sea in my past life, because I had seen the sea in my past life, which was not so clean. Because the sea that I saw in the past was the sea that I had seen in my previous life, and it was not so clean because there was a lot of garbage.
“The sea you saw in the past? Has Cecilia ever seen the sea before?”
“Uh-uh! Now that I remember, that was the sea I saw in my dream. I guess I made a mistake between dream and reality.”
I managed to fake a bitter smile as I said that.
“…Well, sometimes dreams can be an illusion of reality. How many times have I dreamed about you too…”
“Me in your dream?”
“No, it’s nothing!”
When I asked back, wondering why Ghislan had stopped speaking, Ghislan blushed and didn’t tell me more about it.
…What kind of embarrassing thing was I doing in Ghislan’s dream?
I felt uneasy about that, but I didn’t pursue it because I felt like I’d probably be happier if I didn’t ask.
“Come to think of it…the continent on the other side of this ocean is, I believe…”
“Yeah, the continent where my country is.”
Ghislan muttered as he stared at the sea, and Prince Alfeld replied as he stood next to Ghislan and stared at the sea as well.
“Oh, come to think of it, that’s right. There’s the Molvarado Empire on the other side of this sea, isn’t there?”
As I said this, I was remembering the map in the setting book.
“I’m sure you know it well, Cecilia. By the way, I took a boat from the country and got off at the port town you can see over there.”
Prince Alfeld smiled at me and pointed to a port town a short distance away.
“I’m sure you’ll find a lot of ships docked in that city facing the sea, so much so that you can see them even from here.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to make the most of it.”
This time it was Kaiser who came to stand next to me as he said this.
“I see.”
“Oh, yeah, I heard we’re supposed to stop for lunch over there afterwards.”
“Oh! Then we’ll have seafood!”
“All the seafood there is excellent, so please look forward to it.”
“I’m looking forward to it! I mean…what? Has Kaiser ever been to that city?”
“Yes, I’ve done a few tours.”
“Oh, now that you mention it, you’ve been out on official business from time to time.”
I remembered the moment and was convinced.
“Well, I’m going to go and pray to the goddess statue, so you can all wait here for a moment.”
“Oh, do you want me to follow you?”
“No, it won’t take long, I’m fine on my own! Then I’ll be off.”
“Yes, ma’am. Have a good day.”
So Nina went into the shrine and Viktor, her bodyguard, followed behind her.
And after a little while, Nina came back after finishing her prayer, so everyone immediately went to the city of Landaine.
“Ahhhh, Nina, that was delicious!”
“Yes! The paella was especially excellent, with lots of seafood!”
“Yes, I understand! Also, the seafood salad was fresh and delicious.”
“It was awesome!”
Nina and I were both excited as we left the restaurant, and we both commented on the taste.
“I’m glad you were so pleased. I’ve been wanting to give Cecilia a taste of this restaurant’s food one day ever since I had a chance to try it during my visit.”
“Thank you for introducing me, Kaiser!”
“No, no, no, if you ever want to eat again, I’ll bring you here…then we’ll be alone.”
“Oh, well, with so many people, it’s pretty conspicuous.”
Then we glanced at the people on the street, and they were looking at us with curiosity.
…Well, if there were such a group of glittering and beautiful figures, even I would be wondering who on earth they were.
I dared not to pay attention to the gazes of the people in the city as I felt their eyes on us.
“…That’s not what I meant…”
“What? Then what do you mean by that?”
“No, no, don’t worry about it.”
“Huh…”
“Don’t you two even talk about it, I’m going!”
“Oh, Prince Alfeld, I’m sorry. I’m coming!”
When I was confused by the meaning of Kaiser’s words, Prince Alfeld, who was already walking ahead of us, hurriedly chased after us.
We’re going to take a break here in Landaine to walk around the city, so we all huddled together and walked around the city.
In addition, there was only a minimum number of security guards to keep the atmosphere down.
As we were walking towards the harbor, enjoying the view of the city, I noticed Theo and Douglas standing side by side in front of one of the stalls, looking at the merchandise.
Oh my, that’s the store that sells accessories, isn’t it? Oh, I see, they’re picking out souvenirs for their beloved wives who are waiting for them at home.
I smiled as I watched the two earnestly holding the necklace in their hands and discussing it with each other.
When we left them alone, we came to the harbor and were blindsided by the various ships docked there.
“It’s so big up close! And each shape and color is different… spectacular!”
“By the way, the ship docked there is my country’s trade ship.”
“Wow, that’s big!”
The ship to which Prince Alfeld pointed was larger and more magnificent than any of the others.
Moreover, the sailors who were busily carrying the cargo were clearly dressed in Arabic style clothing and brown skin.
“The ship I’ve been on is even bigger than that one.”
“Really? I’d love to see that!”
“Hmmm, yes, I’m having my detached palace built in my country right now, and I’m going to invite Cecilia to come along when it’s finished, so I’ll give you a ride then.”
“…I don’t know if I’ll be able to go, but if I do, I’ll look forward to seeing you there.”
“Huh, as far as I’m concerned, I look forward to having you on board.”
As he said this, Prince Alfeld grinned with his usual bewitching smile.
Seeing Prince Alfeld’s smile, for some reason, a chill ran down my back and I was confused by this unfamiliar sensation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|♡| Table of Contents |♡| Support me! |♡|
KizunaTLs 