Chapter 49: Each of Our Own Feelings

I was puzzled as to what on earth I should do in this situation, which had a tense atmosphere.

How could this happen? I mean…really, why are Kaiser and the others here?

As my doubts grew larger and larger, I called out to Kaiser and his friends, fearfully.

“It’s hard to ask this in such a tense atmosphere, but…why is Kaiser really here? And you are dressed like that, it seems like you are obviously hiding your identity…”

“That’s because I’m here to help Cecilia, of course.”

“Huh? Oh, wow, to help me?…You bothered to come all the way to this foreign country? Why…”

“…Is that seriously what you’re asking?”

“What?”

“…Did you forget my confession?”

“I……Oh.”

“Ah, so my confession amounted to that much…”

“I’m sorry…but Kaiser is the crown prince, remember? And yet…”

“It doesn’t matter what your status is when you’re helping someone you love.”

“Huh!?”

The seriousness of Kaiser’s expression made me nervous.

But suddenly I looked at Viktor and Ghislan there.

“I understand that Viktor was followed as Kaiser’s escort, but…why did Ghislan come with you? I don’t think there’s any reason for him to come in the first place…”

“…I’m doing this for you.”

“What?”

“Because…you are…important.”

“Important?”

I tilted my head and looked at Ghislan curiously, not understanding the meaning of Ghislan’s words, and then that Ghislan glared at me sullenly with a blush on his face, wrinkling his brow.

“Che—come on! I love you!”

“What? Lo—? Who?”

“I said you!”

“Eh? Ehhh!?!?!?”

“…Is that really so surprising?”

“It’s shocking! Huh? Huh!? Ghislan likes me!? Really!?”

“I can’t believe you’d think I’d lie about this!”

“Oh, so it’s true…I mean, when did this all start?”

“…Since the first time I met you.”

“The first time you met me…you mean when you came to my house with Mr. Dimitria?”

“Uh, yeah.”

I was dumbfounded with my face heating up as I heard Ghislan’s story.

No way… I was avoiding the death flag and set up a love flag there too…

Realizing this, I put my hand on my forehead and gulped.

“Princess…I’m sorry to break up the story, but could you listen to me as well?”

“Viktor? What’s wrong?”

“…The Princess seems to believe that I was following as Prince Kaiser’s bodyguard, but I volunteered to be the one to save you. In fact, I wanted to save you all by myself…”

“… I’ve been wondering for a while now, but why is Viktor so devoted to me? Well, I certainly don’t know why, but you even took an oath of allegiance to me. But…I think it’s Kaiser, the Crown Prince, and the King that you should be serving, not me, don’t you think?”

“No, it’s you, Princess, who I want to serve with all my heart!”

“…Is that really a good idea for a Knight Commander…?”

I was taken aback by Viktor’s crisp words, as I pulled at my cheeks.

But Viktor stared at me with a serious expression on his face and put his right hand on his left chest.

“Of courrse, I’ve already told the king and Prince Kaiser that my number one priority is the princess. I’m sure you’ll be able to find a great deal more information on this topic. So there is no problem at all.”

“Huh…Is that so…”

“Princess…I have not been able to decide whether I should tell you how I feel, but when I heard that you had been kidnapped and went far away, I regretted not having told you how I felt, and my heart was filled with regret. So…now that I can see you again, I will not hesitate anymore!”

“Hey, Viktor, you know, it’s not like you’re going to say anything crazy, right?”

“No, it’s not strange! I have been an admirer of the Princess since the time I first met her! Of course I love you as a woman!”

“Huh!?!?”

“It is true that I am old enough to be called an uncle by the princess…but I believe that age difference has nothing to do with the feelings I have for you!”

Viktor said so clearly and stared at me with a look of satisfaction.

Upon hearing Viktor’s confession, I was intensely flustered, my face heating up.

Uh, you’re lying! After Ghislan, even Viktor likes me…likes me!? Oh, it’s not possible! Because I’m…not the heroine. He’s supposed to be the dark horse love interest!

I screamed in my mind and looked around at the faces of the capture targets who for some reason said they liked me.

“Hey, hey, I’d like to confirm this with you…but do you really like not like Nina after all…?”

“I like Nina as a friend…but as a woman, Cecilia, you’re the only one I love with all my heart.”

“…As I said before, I love you. So why are you asking me now if I love Nina? I honestly don’t understand.”

“Princess…I am only aware of her as an a target of escort, nothing more, nothing less. The only person I love and care about is the Princess.”

I turned my gaze towards Prince Alfeld, who was puzzled by the three of them saying everything so seriously, and was watching what was going on in silence.

“…Don’t tell me you doubt my feelings too? I’ve told you how I feel, and I’ve shown you how much I feel. And…if I didn’t love Cecilia, I wouldn’t have bothered to kidnap her to my country.”

“Yeah, that’s right…”

I pulled my cheeks tight and let out an empty smile while looking at Prince Alfeld’s slightly unhappy appearance.

Nina, I’m sorry! Maybe I’ve sabotaged your love life from the start! But I didn’t do it on purpose! Trust me!!!!!

I clasped my hands together in my mind and apologized desperately to Nina, who would be in the kingdom of Beizelm.

But then I realized with a huff.

Ah, maybe Nina…maybe she’s on the Prince Leon route. Because all of the capture targets other than Prince Leon are gathered here…Well, for some reason, they all like me…But that might be because Nina chose Prince Leon, and so the other capture targets inevitably came towards me. Could this be another game correction? If so, it’s a game correction that honestly doesn’t make sense…

While thinking that, I was convinced and crossed my arms, nodding small and repeatedly.

“Well, the three of you should get out of here now.”

“…There’s no way I’m retreating. Since I came to take my fiancée back in the first place, we will continue to take Cecilia back with us as it is.”

“You think I’m gonna let you go?”

“No, I don’t think so. But, Alfeld…didn’t you forcibly kidnap my fiancée, the crown princess of the Kingdom of Beizelm? Do you have any idea what that means?”

“…Yeah, I know. The alliance will be broken.”

“Well, you know that much…so much for Cecilia…”

Kaiser let out a small sigh as he said that.

…What? Breaking alliances?

I blinked my eyes repeatedly and looked at the faces of Kaiser and Prince Alfeld as I heard the words ‘breaking the alliance’.

“Then…if we don’t return or can’t bring Cecilia back with us, you must expect the armies of the Beizelm Kingdom to attack this country.”

“Yeah. My father already has an army ready to defend us. We have a system ready to meet you at any time.”

Then the two exchanged sharp glances with each other with no expression.

But as I listened to them, I became even more confused.

Huh? Huh!? That could be a war, even if it’s not…War!? Wait, wait a minute…how could I be the cause of that? No way, war…doesn’t that mean a lot of people will die when it happens!? No, no, no, no, how did this happen!? I was just acting in a way that didn’t raise my own death flag… and that resulted in a war…that’s the worst!!!

I held my head in my hands and looked down, regretting furiously what my actions had caused.

Then I heard a clattering sound and looked up to see Kaiser, Viktor and Ghislan, as well as Prince Alfeld and his bodyguards who had dismounted from their horses, their swords drawn and ready.

“Wha—what are you doing!?”

“Cecilia, please stand back a bit, it’s not safe.”

“Hey, I’m not much of a swordsman, but I’m definitely gonna protect you.”

“Princess, I will give my life to protect you.”

“Cecilia, give me a moment. I’ll clean up this mess as soon as I can and bring you back to the palace.”

When they each told me that, they all re-positioned their swords and kept at a distance. The fight was ready to start at any moment.

Wait, wait a minute! You’ll get hurt if you fight with swords like that! Or worse…someone might die!

That thought came into my head, and the blood drained out of me at once.

And before I could even think about it in my head, my body began to move and I leapt into the space between the two who were about to fight.

“NO DON’T!!!!”

I shouted at the top of my lungs and spread my hands as wide as I could, stopping everyone.

“Cecilia! Please step back, it’s not safe!”

“That’s right, Cecilia! This is a battle between men, so you just have to wait quietly until one wins or loses.”

“No…I don’t like it! I’d hate to see one of you get hurt…much less die…I hate it!”

I screamed and shook my head repeatedly, not wanting to leave my spot.

As I did so, tears gradually began to well up until they accumulated and overflowed from my eyes.

“Cecilia…”

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry…it’s my fault…because of me…all this happened…”

I could hear the puzzled Kaiser’s voice, but I couldn’t see his expression clearly due to the tears flowing endlessly from my eyes.

I hurriedly wiped the tears away with my hands, but they wouldn’t stop at all.

Eventually I began to cry in earnest, but then I heard the sound of a sword being sheathed in its scabbard.

And then a cloth was wrapped around my head and something else was wrapped around my body.

I was surprised at that, and when the tears stopped, I wiped my tears away and looked at the cloth.

The cloth was the same robe that Kaiser and his friends had been wearing a few minutes ago.

I was puzzled and looked around to see Kaiser and the Prince Alfeld looking at me with confused expressions.

And that’s when I noticed that Kaiser was not wearing a robe.

“W-what’s wrong?”

“…I’ve never seen Cecilia cry before. And I am dismayed at my own inadequacy in causing it.”

“Huh?”

“…Even you can cry. I mean…I’m sorry.”

“Ghislan?”

“I’m sorry, Princess! I’m sorry I made you cry…and I’m going to cut myself open right now and apologize…”

“No! Please don’t do that!”

“Cecilia…I’m sorry. I have been so selfish and made you, my precious girl, cry.”

“Prince Alfeld…”

I was puzzled by the obviously subdued air, but I was also relieved that they had put their swords away for the time being.

“Gentlemen, don’t be so depressed! I’m not crying anymore, and besides…I’m just so glad that no one else was hurt. Because…I don’t want any of you, my dear friends, to have to fight amongst yourselves!”

I said what I thought so clearly, and for some reason everyone became even more depressed.

And then Kaiser muttered to himself.

“…Friends, huh?”

“Oh…I’m sorry. It’s…I’m very glad you all feel that way, but…I honestly can’t think of anything else right now. But Prince Alfeld!”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to forcibly kidnap and marry me, but furthermore, I don’t want to break the alliance and war! Even if you do that and marry me…I’ll continue to hate you for the rest of my life!”

“Huh! I don’t…I don’t want that. I’d hate it.”

“Then you can’t break the alliance and just go to war, okay?”

“Oh…I won’t, because I don’t want Cecilia to hate me. I’ll tell my father that.”

“Thank you. Now then…Kaiser.”

“Yes!”

After thanking Prince Alfeld with a satisfied look, I looked at Kaiser next and called out his name.

“Since Prince Alfeld has said this, we can make sure that we don’t start a war from the Beizelm Kingdom’s side, right?”

“No, but…having Cecilia kidnapped, it’s not that simple…”

“I came to see the sights myself!”

“…What?”

“Because no one ever saw me leave the castle, did they? If that’s the case, then it wouldn’t be wrong to say I left on my own, would it?”

“Yes, but…well, I do believe that Cecilia has been kidnapped, because I only assumed from the information I received that she had disappeared after she went to Alfeld’s room…”

“So I wasn’t kidnapped! Then we wouldn’t have to break the alliance or go to war, would we?”

“…Cecilia, are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Yes, that’s good!”

I smiled and nodded widely at the words that Kaiser asked me with a bitter smile.

“…I understand. I’ll report that I spoke too soon.”

“Thank you, Kaiser!”

“Damn, Cecilia really is funny. You rounded up two princes in this situation like nothing.”

“…Ghislan, is this really so funny?”

“No, it means that the princess is a wonderful person!”

“…Hah!”

Ghislan clutched his belly and laughed, and Viktor looked at me with respect.

We managed to avoid any bloodshed, and afterwards we discussed it, and finally we were able to return to the Kingdom of Beizelm together.

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