What Happens When the Second Male Lead Powers Up - Chapter 152:
Chapter 152: My partner’s partner (1)
I had made up my mind not to get tangled up with the main characters, but I had started hanging out with the two of them.
In the beginning, it was a lot of getting swept up even without realizing it, but recently, I have been pretty active about it as well.
I had no intention of denying that.
I also had no more desire to avoid them because they were people that Eunseo liked.
“What will you do once your dance practice is over, your highness?”
Sir Johann gently asked.
Christelle and Eva had moved on to the next movement.
A slow dance song started to play to match the sound of the four feet moving around.
I wrapped my hand around the warm acacia tea as I responded.
-♪♩♬……
“They said that Tithé’s pond is finished so I plan on going to take a look.”
“That sounds fun.”
His mint-colored eyes shook with anticipation. It meant that he would go with me.
I smiled to finish the conversation and looked down at my notebook.
I was sure that there were a lot of things I couldn’t recall, but there was a lot of information related to QNW that I continued to fill into this notebook since the first day I transmigrated into this world.
There were fragmentary things such as the crown prince’s nickname being Crapdric, as well as abstract things such as ‘first kiss at the ball.’
How was I supposed to predict when the two of them would have their first kiss when this Empire was capable of having a ball every night?
But using the stories that Eunseo told me allowed me to make some guesses.
For example……
∙ Lotus Festival
∙ Spear Jousting competition
∙ Hawk Hunting competition
I could see the topics that were crossed out.
Those were things that I had put together from Benjamin’s list of important dates for the second half of the year in Riester along with my own memories.
All three were events that appeared in the original novel but were also things that Christelle and Crown prince Cédric showed no interest toward.
While the Lotus Festival was going on, we met with Elise and had wandered around Aightz Village.
I later learned that the Spear Jousting competition happened at the beginning of June, but that was when I was watching the duel between the crown prince and young Duke Blanquer.
The Hawk Hunting competition is scheduled to take place next weekend but neither of the main characters seemed interested.
‘Dame Sarnez, what do you think about going to the Hawk Hunting competition next week? His Royal Highness can go with us too.’
‘It would be fun if we can all go together, but…… Wouldn’t it be difficult? We have to finish our last dance lessons.’
I asked Christelle to see if I could get some interest but she responded with facts.
The crown prince showed no interest either.
‘Your Royal Highness, are you not going to the Hawk Hunting?’
‘Are you saying you want to raise a hawk now too?’
‘What? No, that’s not it.’
– Pipipi!
The conversation ended kind of messy because Percy got angry at the crown prince’s unbelievable response.
The chimney bird absolutely did not want me showing any interest in other birds.
‘I thought I’m not your master……’
– Kiiiiiii!
“Okay, I got it.”
I grabbed Demy, who was climbing up the chair, and placed him on my thigh.
The other red pandas were biting and pulling at Benjamin’s pants.
I then took a look at Percy and Tithé who were sleeping on the couch.
My thoughts calmed down as I rubbed Demy’s tail.
“Mm.”
Basically, my conclusion was that QNW was not following the same path of the original.
It was disappointing, but even thinking about it for a little bit would make anybody see that it was inevitable.
Elise had come to the Empire for the Holy Knight Appointment judging, but the main characters were not Holy Knights in the original.
The reason that that crown prince punk threw his glove at Robert Blanquer was because I was mocked.
There was no way that he would do something like that for Prince Jesse, his rival in love, in the original.
The other reason that nobody cared much for the Hawk Hunting was because we would be heading toward the Blanquer Duchy the next day.
“Still……”
I mumbled to myself and circled the word, Romfan.
Still the main frame of this being a romantic fantasy seemed firm.
Christelle and the crown prince were slowly getting closer and the two of them were highly likely to attend this masquerade as partners.
“Sir Johann.”
“Yes, your highness.”
“His Royal Highness and Dame Sarnez… Don’t you think that they have gotten much closer than before? What is your perspective as their instructor?”
“……Compared to the beginning, yes.”
He slowly answered my question.
‘See, I’m not the only one who feels that way?’
I smiled and looked at the first page of the notebook. I could see the words that I clearly wrote down.
– My goal. Don’t get involved with the MCs and survive until the end so that I can go back home in one piece!
‘……I hope the flow of things continues to change and the war that happened later in the series never happens.’
However, I didn’t think that the author would easily give up on such a major event.
There might have been foreshadowing or baits thrown around the main characters that I don’t know about.
And, if I consider that the war will definitely happen…
– Cruuu.
“Okay, I’ll keep going.”
Demy whined once my hand stopped moving. I quickly started petting his back again.
Christelle, who had been spinning around with Eva, saw me and smiled brightly. It felt like a star was up in the sky despite it being the middle of the day.
“……”
Honestly, I did not want to leave her and the crown prince’s side if a war did start.
They were highly likely to participate as they were the only Holy Knights of the Empire and I was their official partner and friend.
The two of them would need to get ether from another priest if I was not there.
Most importantly, I could not hide away in a safe space while my friends were out on the battlefield.
My body might be safe but my mind would feel like it was in hell.
“Dame Sarnez, please put your hand on my hips. Not like that!”
Eva laughed and shouted at Christelle, who grabbed and lifted her high into the air.
The main character started tickling the young Duchess with a mischievous gaze.
Eva’s high voice soon became very loud.
“I guess both of them will become true Holy Knights after next week.”
Sir Johann sipped on his black tea as he said that. I turned my head and made eye contact with him.
The Vatican finally sent an envoy to the Empire two months after Elise left the Imperial Palace.
They were sent to deliver an edict approving of Christelle and the crown prince’s appointments as Holy Knights.
Cardinal Boutier was to present the divine will on this coming Tuesday, personally blessing and appointing the two of them in front of the Empress and the Pair de Riester.
“Yes, I didn’t expect it to take so long.”
“Two months is average, your highness. It took me seven months to pass the Archbishop advancement assessment.”
The unofficial Cardinal sighed as he responded.
It was probably because of his background.
Sir Johann’s eyebrows sank down after seeing the look on my face.
“I said it for you to smile, your highness.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“No, it looked like you were angry, your highness. I know you are not just superficially being compassionate.”
He then added on about how I looked like the Pope when he was angry.
That unbelievable joke made me quietly chuckle.
Talking about this made me think of Elise.
It would be great if she and Cornelisse were safely reunited with the prince again, but how that would happen was also a headache.
I picked up the quill pen and wrote down whatever came to mind.
∙ My (new) goal.
– Work hard so that my friends do not get hurt
– Stay healthy so that the three Holy Kingdom siblings can meet again
– Gather information while by the main characters’ side and go back home
‘……Does this make any sense?’
I couldn’t help but scowl at the inconsistency.
I was planning on being with the MCs if a war broke out, but the three siblings have to be reunited as well?
Wouldn’t they never be able to see each other if such a big issue arose between the two nations?
Also, if I somehow end up dead on the battlefield, what happens to my plans of returning home?
– Squeeeee.
Demy, who was looking into the notebook, suddenly stood up.
The red panda’s black eyes were solemnly sparkling.
‘What’s going on?’
– Scrreech, screech, screeeech!
“……”
– Cruuuuuuuuuuu, cruuu!
“……”
– Whimper! Sqoo
He seemed to be trying very hard to share his opinion but I could not understand as I was completely clueless to the language of divine beasts.
He must have gotten frustrated as he raised his front paws and lowered them over and over.
He opened his mouth and closed it as well. I scowled.
“You want to fight?”
– Whimper……
Demy weakly plopped down. He then gently pushed against my stomach and pretended to console me.
The way he was sticking out his tongue looked so lovely.
I grabbed his body so that he would not fall and asked.
“Don’t fight and make peace?”
– Squeeeeee!
Demy seemed to be saying, ‘that’s right!’ He then rolled to the front.
I smiled brightly and hugged him.
‘Don’t fight and make peace……’
My eyes jolted open.
“Don’t have a war? Are you telling me to prevent the war from happening?”
– Squee
I quickly whispered and the divine beast let out a short squeal as if that was obvious.
I could only scoff in disbelief.
I would have tried that from the beginning if that was so easy.
However, I was not someone with authority but a diplomatic hostage of a hostile nation. My words would hold no weight……
“Or maybe not?”
I subconsciously said that out loud. It would definitely be the case at the beginning of my transmigration.
However, I had earned some goodwill with the Empress in the past half year and became the Cardinal’s only disciple.
I was also the Imperial Crown Prince’s friend and partner.
In addition, I had built a great friendship with the Duke’s House of Sarnez and the other four major noble households in the Empire.
‘Huh?’
“This…… Might work?”
I petted Demy and mumbled to myself.
First of all, Empress Frédérique was famous for being anti-war.
Saving Sir Johann and Gerrit was thanks to everybody’s help, so maybe, a lot of people could cooperate again to prevent a terrible war from breaking out.
Of course saving two people was extremely different from saving hundreds of thousands of people and pretending such a major event seemed close to impossible, but……
“Mm.”
“It’ll all work out, your highness.”
Sir Johann resolutely commented. I turned toward him in shock.
His eyes were curling up with certainty.
“I do not know what you are thinking about, but everything will go as you wish so please don’t worry, your highness.”
He said that to me and…
Ganael, who happened to come in with new snacks at that time, placed some Mousse au citron in front of us and smiled brightly.
“That’s right, your highness. Everything will end up going as you wish. But I don’t know what you are thinking about either.”
“Thanks.”
“Please eat a lot and cheer up, Your highness.”
The young boy clenched his fists. Eva, who made eye contact with me in the distance, pouted.
She seemed to be thinking that my break was getting long.
I smiled bitterly and looked into the dessert cup.
‘I’ll just eat three of these things and head right over, ma’am!’
*
“We will be waiting here, your highness.”
Benjamin, Ganael, and Sir Johann stood in a row in front of the Imperial Family Library.
Christelle and Eva stayed behind in the Juliette Palace ballroom to keep practicing.
I was in no place to slack off either, but I made some time because there was something I wanted to confirm in the library.
I told them that I would be back soon and walked away from them. The attendant from the Empress Palace opened the door for me with familiar movements.
The large library appeared in front of me. This place always felt like a scene from a movie whenever I came here.
“Spy, spy, spy……”
I quickly walked through the scent of books without any hesitation.
Bright fall sunlight was pouring in through the windows that filled the wall.
I would have enjoyed a nap and gotten some photosynthesis if this was a regular college library, but I had no choice but to be serious right now.
I thoroughly looked through the spines of the books stacked throughout the ebony bookshelf.
This was around the area where I found records of the late Emperor Romero last week as well.
‘Right around here……’
“Why is it over there?”
I extended my neck and mumbled.
< Romero: Records of Executions >. It was a history book published during late Empress Céline’s reign.
This book was at eye level last time but it was quite far away today.
I looked at the scary title and Joanne’s warning filled my ears once again.
‘The household that framed us is still on their high horse living a great life. Who knows if they are still spies for the Holy Kingdom?’
I clenched my mouth shut. It wasn’t that I completely trusted her words.
However, it was weird that Joanne’s great grandfather, Baron Haas, maintained his innocence until the end and was murdered by the late Emperor.
The Empire had numerous priests and Romero could have used a confession at any moment to verify whether the Baron was telling the truth.
< Romero: Records of Executions > explained why he did not use priests during trials.
‘After being betrayed by his most believed priestess, the late Emperor could not believe in any servant of the Almighty God. He never gota Religious Partner and only trusted himself until his last breath.’
It was such a terrible case of a broken heart. Romero’s broken heart was what caused the Warring Era.
However, the records he left behind may give me some clues.
I got on my tippy toes and extended my arm.
‘I need to read through that thoroughly again’
“Damn it. It’s too hi-”
– Tap!
A large hand leisurely pulled the book out. My eyes opened wide as I looked to the side.
“This is an unexpected choice.”
“Eek!”
Clear orange eyes were looking at me. I thought I was going to faint from shock.
‘You should make some noise when you walk!’
“Are you curious about the people who were killed by my great grandfather?”
The crown prince asked in a scary voice. I grabbed the bookshelf and took some deep breaths.
Between how I met Christelle here last time and this time, the people who say that the library is a romantic place really needs to reflect on their silly thoughts……
