Volume 01; Behind the Scenes: Part 01

Side Story 01: Behind the Scenes (Males)
(Alexei’s POV)

I had been stunned when I met that girl for the first time.

Her silvery-golden hair that was close to silver. The fluffy aura that lightly coloured her as if it was melting, and the mysterious air around her that was transparent in the day and highlighted her pretty features.

Her hazy eyelashes covered her ashy-blue eyes. Her small nose bridge and lips. Her slender body and white skin.

――― She is a beautiful girl who looked like a doll.

That was my, Alexei Strasser’s, first impression of her.

It was honestly surprising. Is this secluded young lady really someone from the Bernstein House who is also known as the『Brains of Southlynd』?

Unfortunately, I have little memory of her debut. I only remember that Christopher, my cousin, childhood friend, and the Crown Prince of this kingdom, had been restless.

I did know that he has been persistent about her since long ago.

She was given the title of his fiancée about a month after her debut, and I was shocked rather than surprised… No, I take my hat off to his skill. I wished that he was that enthusiastic about political matters though.

Shortly after she started coming to the royal palace, I came home to find my sister, Theresa, awfully excited.

“――― Brother!” I can hear you even if you don’t shout. It was shameful for her to show that kind of expression as a Duchess, even if she was in front of her family.

“Argh! Stop making that scary face. That’s why your migraine never goes away.”

Who is the one making my migraine worse?

“Anyway, hey! The Queen’s tea party was today, wasn’t it? I met Miss Elianna for the first time since the engagement party…”

Come to think of it, there was something like that. I remembered.

My sister, Theresa, had just turned 15 this year. She has the same black hair like me and reddish-brown eyes from father. She is a beautiful and dignified lady, even if I take away my bias as her brother.

My sister was at the top of the list for fiancée candidates for Prince Christopher because they were close in age and because of our parentage before Miss Elianna showed up. But, she was also kept at a distance because mother was the former King’s sister, and their blood relations were too close.

The expectations of the lazy Prince, who wouldn’t choose a fiancée, became apparent, and I couldn’t cause a fuss in the royal court. This was probably also true for my sister and the ladies who were considered as his fiancée candidates.

When I wondered if his ex-fiancée candidates were invited to this tea party, my sister blushed for some reason and started shaking.

I questioned this, and she began to laugh because she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

… Theresa. I’ll have you spend twice the time with your etiquette tutor tomorrow.

“Brother…! Don’t look sly. You look like a black-hearted officer of the devil!”

Rude.

According to what I heard from sister when she managed to calm her laughter down:

At the tea party, the table surrounding Miss Elianna was occupied by the young ladies who were admirably given the title of His Highness’s fiancée candidates.

As soon as the tea party began (――― sister heard the bells chime), they all attacked Miss Elianna.

They said, “… Even if she’s from a Marquis House, there’s a limit to how shameless someone from the lowest rank can be. A country bumpkin who doesn’t know her place. I wonder how many men she has deceived with her docile appearance. She’s just like a poisonous insect. Like a poisonous moth that has infested the royal palace. But it seems like she’s still a larva right now…”

“Hohoho,” the young ladies laughed together, and Miss Elianna opened her mouth.

『The period for larvae have already passed.』

“Hah?” One of the ladies blinked her eyes as if she had heard wrong, and Miss Elianna explained indifferently.

『The fresh green season is already here, so the poisonous moths should have evolved from larvae into pupae. They will become adults in about half a month and gather around light, like the ones outside. We have to be careful in their breeding season. Some eggs are injected with poison to protect them from predators.』

“What…?” The lady next to her seemed to have forgotten to hold her fan to her mouth.

『Some species are even dangerous to touch because the adults attach their poisonous hairs on their eggs. Poisonous moths mainly lay their eggs on rose plants.』

Was it intentional or accidental when she stared at the hair of the most arrogant lady as she said that?

“Eep,” the lady said as she panicked and ripped off the rose from her neatly arranged hair. She turned pale, probably because she had imagined that the insect’s eggs were in the rose she wore.

Apparently, Miss Elianna didn’t seem to care and kept on speaking.

『The larvae of poisonous moths cling to the poisonous hairs shortly after hatching and pass winter with the group. That kind of hairy variety is generally called caterpillars. There are poisonous and non-poisonous kinds… By the way, the opposite of that is a hairless caterpillar.』

Then, Miss Elianna talked about the ecology of hairy caterpillars and hairless caterpillars in detail, and when she ended the conversation by saying that some varieties in the southern islands had a habit of eating larvae from trees, the ladies shrieked, 『Stop already!』

The ladies who had met at the table looked miserable.

A certain lady, who had prepared her hair especially for today, was nowhere to be seen, half the ladies at the table looked pale and nauseous, and the rest were in tears while crying out, “Please stop it already.”

“…”

I was also speechless. I wonder how my sister is since she was happily saying, “It was a masterpiece, Brother!”

“I talked with Miss Elianna after the tea party.”

“Bravo,” apparently this was a sincere compliment from Theresa. Because Miss Elianna had crushed the former candidates head-on and had also met the expectations of the Queen and her court ladies, who had gathered at one table.

Miss Elianna tilted her head because she didn’t understand what was going on, and Theresa indirectly pointed out what had happened earlier…

『Everyone seemed interested in insects.』

“I only told them what I knew,” Miss Elianna, who had replied sincerely, honestly thought this, and seemed to have attracted sister’s interest.

“She didn’t take it badly. Although it’s not like she can’t feel emotions. She’s interesting, Brother. Introduce me to Miss Elianna.”

Sister, who was leaning forward with her eyes sparkling, made my head hurt.

I still don’t know Miss Elianna’s nature yet, but it’s sheer stupidity for me to introduce a lady who remained composed as she caused a commotion to my openly pleased sister. I don’t want to imagine what would happen.

I treated my sister coldly, and she grumbled in dissatisfaction, “Fine. I heard that Miss Elianna is on good terms with the three Storrev sisters. I’ll get them to introduce me…”

I’ll tell mother and father that it’s better to keep Therese in the house with the private tutor for a while.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

Another time.

Glenn casually mentioned the topic of the Hero King’s dragon extermination to Miss Elianna.

“――― Ah. It’s a thief story.”

“Th-thief…?”

It was an adventure drama that every man in Southlynd has read in their childhood. Glenn looked as if he had misheard her, but Miss Elianna quickly nodded before he could say anything.

“In the old days, people came to the dragon, who lived peacefully and quietly. The dragon’s land was bountiful, and they wanted to make it their own. When they told the dragon to leave, the dragon got angry and blew out fire. Then, a thief, who claimed to be a hero, came. He bullied and drove away the dragon who had done nothing wrong. He also took the dragon’s most important treasure and boasted, 『Your things are my things. My things are my things.』This story is about a thief, is it not?”

Pitiful. Even I could hear the sound of Glenn’s heart breaking. …Your Highness. You’re desperately turning away, but your shoulders and the arms that are pressing on your stomach are shaking.

I could guess this from sister’s story, but she really wasn’t the standard lady.

According to His Highness, Miss Elianna had learnt etiquette, so that the court ladies wouldn’t find fault in her because she didn’t want her reading time interrupted.

I wondered if her values were alright, but I was surprised to hear that she voraciously read books from A to Z. Is this the Bernstein blood at work?

If she could help me organise paperwork, then I could use her more than the half-hearted assistants. When vital documents for cases suddenly appear, she also attaches documents from a different perspective, and I could use those as reference. She also accurately put together the main points. She can also display strength that ladies don’t have.

I’d like her to work under me and use her if she wasn’t His Highness’s fiancée… but he glared at me viciously, so it was impossible.

But, Your Highness. I often wonder if she will do.

She lacked emotions, just like a doll, and only became lively when she read.

However, the title of the book she read when His Highness gazed at her and smiled a smile that would make ladies blush was 『Ecology of Wild Animals Who Live in the Jungle』.

Where is the element that makes young ladies blush and go starry-eyed?

I sighed at the recent causes of my headaches and recalled the hushed mutters of the royal archive staff as they looked confused.

『Somehow, the number of peculiar books have been increasing lately』, they had said.

I held my temple again at the fact that I played a part in this.

A little while ago, Miss Elianna’s brother, Alfred, who is also my friend, secretly consulted me. “My sister said something outrageous,” he said.

『――― Brother, when should I return the ornaments I borrowed from the royal family?』She’d said.

I was also stunned when I heard this. In other words, she didn’t think that the gifts that were given to her ever since she became Christopher’s fiancée was from him; she was under the impression that they were loaned to her as the Crown Prince’s fiancée.

“No way,” I included this in my gaze, and Alfred, who usually looked meek, seemed troubled as he shook his head. It’s true.

I felt more mind-boggled than a headache. I think that her thick-headedness is extremely problematic, but I wanted to pinch the corner of my eyes instead of my temple. She wasn’t even aware that he had gifted her those under his name, just how much has our handsome Crown Prince of Southlynd not been able to take advantage of his reputation in front of her?

“Ah… How should I put it, my sister is strangely honest… Well, she’s too honest.”

Does her honesty lead to a situation where the Crown Prince’s office gets turned into the devil’s room?

I looked at my friend with resentment. If His Highness finds out the truth… or if she actually returns his gifts, then he would be depressed. But first, he would probably go wild like never before.

It goes without saying that his first victim is Glenn, and even if that is fine, he also involves me.

“Ah, that’s why we made those conditions.”

Alfred smiled wryly as he escaped from my gaze. I stared at him in annoyance.

I know that Alfred, like his father, Marquis Bernstein, doesn’t want his sister to become the Crown Princess. I had once asked him what he thought about His Highness’s actions, and he said.

『Hmm. I feel like supporting him as a man because of his tenacity, but it’s pretty tricky to do so since he’s going after Elianna. I think it’s going to take time. I’ll be happy to support him if he could get her to pay attention to him without feeling down.』

He just looked back with an inscrutable smile. I felt like I was reminded that it was challenging.

Even I got caught up in this.

Anyway, I talked with Alfred, and we decided that he will get Miss Elianna not to return the gifts, but instead, wear them regularly. Also, I will discourage His Highness from showering her with gifts.

I looked for a day when His Highness seemed to be in a good mood and coughed once.

I casually waited as he made arrangements for new ornaments, then His Highness must have noticed it himself because he looked unusually depressed.

“I know that Elli doesn’t enjoy dresses or jewellery. But those gifts are from my personal assets. I don’t want to be thought of as an unromantic man who can’t even gift a single ornament to the woman I love.”

He was a young man who had yet to become an adult, even if the wise young Prince was equipped to be King, and lionised by the people. Sometimes, he probably wanted to give priority to his wishes.

I sighed, and was stuck with giving advice that I wouldn’t typically give, “Doesn’t a gift have worth because it makes the person you are giving it to happy?”

His Highness frowned as if he was sulking and went silent.

After that, he stopped showering her with ornaments, and the archives started getting more questionable books.

Miss Elianna will visit the royal palace more if there’s a book that interested her.

Is the authority of the royal palace archives alright? I had a new reason for my headaches.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

However, there had also been an incident where those ornaments were the trigger.

Was it about a year after Miss Elianna had become His Highness’s fiancée?

Miss Elianna, who dressed up for the annual royal family sponsored ball, was always surrounded by the court ladies in the past year or so. She was no longer the country bumpkin and had become a refined woman as the shiny Crown Prince’s fiancée.

I recall that Miss Elianna had worn a light-coloured dress with delicate and eye-catching lace on the edges. It was a lovely outfit suitable for young ladies.

――― There is a sequel. Until then, dark-coloured dresses with lace peeking out from the edges were the mainstream fashion. However, as soon as Miss Elianna wore a light-coloured dress which matched her hair, with dark lace peeking around the corners, it became popular among the young ladies. Conservative elderly women would frown upon it because it was improper, but ladies loved it since the whiteness of their skin stood out more with this style of dress.

But, what I heard from Theresa was 『Miss Elianna’s clothes usually use those combinations. Apparently, her cuffs always get dirty when she reads.』

Incidentally, she preferred clothes that weren’t overly decorated for a similar reason, so Glenn and the others would say, “I’m so glad my wife’s dress is so easy to take off recently.”

Other than being a target for His Highness’s burst of anger, Glenn should also be careful of his back too.

Leaving that aside.

That day, Miss Elianna was like a flower bud before it bloomed, and attracted everyone present with an innocent yet hidden scent.

One of the items that played a leading role in this was the wonderfully blue corundum, which was sparkling like a star and adorned her chest. It wasn’t hidden in the whirls of glittering light from the night party and shone brightly.

His Highness, who had given her this corundum, which was the same colour as his eyes, was in a good mood when he saw her wear it, and he turned more than necessary while dancing. Every time the star sparkled, Miss Elianna’s innocence became more noticeable.

Miss Elianna looked unusually gentle, and her ashy-blue eyes sparkled as she enjoyed her conversation with His Highness.

From an outside point of view, they looked harmonious and suited each other.

But, I know.

She happened across a book she’d wanted to read, and was still excited from that. His Highness was probably only talking about that book.

I endured my headache and tried not to let it show on my face when I suddenly noticed that a man was fascinated by Miss Elianna.

He was the new ambassador from Miseral Dukedom, a seaside nation in the southwest. The previous ambassador was a gentle elderly man, but the new ambassador was a man who looked around the same age as Uncle Theodore. He seemed friendly, and I could see through his ambition.

I had a bad feeling about this.

The new ambassador should have met Miss Elianna, who was present when he met the Queen the other day. I don’t know what had happened then because His Highness and I weren’t present, but Alan reported that the ambassador seemed interested in Miss Elianna.

… I’m begging you. Please refrain from behaving in a way that would wake up the sleeping devil. I prayed, earnestly.