What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 118

“……”

Elise stared intently at Christel.

The Crown Princess’s blue eyes didn’t seem to be scolding or angry.

They were just shaking with a painful understanding. Christel was familiar with that expression.

“You already know, don’t you?”

Elise remained silent even at the noble lady’s whisper.

Then someone had to take on the role of the villain even more. Someone was needed to present a story that could be presumptuous and hurtful, framed as an opinion.

No one around the Crown Princess would dare to say such a thing, and neither Cedric nor Cardinal Boutier were in a position to do so.

Because there were diplomatic issues involved.

Christel closed her eyes tightly and then opened them. She could hear Eva’s faint laughter in the distance.

“I’m not saying you should break up forever. I’m not suggesting a situation where you won’t be able to see each other for the rest of your lives.”

“……”

“Just… as things are, Your Highness will be in too much pain. You might end up resenting the Prince someday. I know you care about your brother, but people’s hearts are like that.”

At first, she might have been able to live with a hopeful attitude, believing that her family would return to her.

But human psychology was very strange, cunning, and bizarre.

If the other person was doing well without them, they would suddenly feel resentful. Even while saying they wanted them to be happy, they sometimes wanted them to abandon that happiness and turn back to them.

Of course, that might have been just her. But the situation the Crown Princess was in was extreme.

The Prince was living as a hostage without a set time limit, and the root of all evil, the Royal Consort, was her own father.

“If you fall into such contradictions, it’s very mentally exhausting. Aren’t you already in a position with a lot of pressure?”

“Weren’t you an only child?”

The Crown Princess asked. It was a question of how she knew such feelings.

“……Yes. But I’ve heard such stories from people around me.”

“Around you.”

Silence followed.

It wasn’t that the conversation was over, but rather that they were both busy calming their minds.

Christel was the first to speak. Now she really had to say something unpleasant.

A truth that the Crown Princess herself knew, but no one would step up to point out.

“As long as the Royal Consort is alive… the Prince cannot be truly safe in the Holy Nation.”

“……”

“Of course, he suffered hardships here as well, but soon he will receive the Marquis title, and His Majesty will support him, so he will be much more at peace.”

Elise looked at Christel intently.

The child was staring straight at her with clear, gray-blue eyes.

She already knew that she wasn’t making this eloquent speech as a member of a powerful ducal family.

Then what on earth was she doing it for?

“I will also become stronger than I am now and protect the Prince. The Prince already knows. So……”

“……”

“I think you can rest assured a little. We are friends.”

The noble lady smiled shyly.

From the hand scratching the tip of her nose and the gesture of readjusting the whip, Elise knew that the child was telling the truth.

That was the answer to the question that the Prince had not answered and that Yeseo had not been able to answer.

She recalled the scene from a few days ago.

Her brother, who felt sorry for her but did not back down in front of the Prince, and the warm gazes of those standing by her brother.

A sight she had never seen even once in her hometown.

“Then, if you’ll allow me… I’ll take my leave now.”

The noble lady’s words broke her reverie. Martier, who was standing next to her, was visible.

Whether she had heard the conversation or not, she was smiling brightly even while rubbing her sore shoulder.

Elise nodded slightly. Christel bowed gracefully and walked away.

“Lady Sarnese, receive Ether!”

“Thank you, Eva.”

Soon, one of the tables became noisy. The Crown Princess stared at the scene for a long time.

Ever since I saw Martier by the window, it had been raining all summer.

In the meantime, I had been living without incident at the Juliette Palace.

Cedric and Christel’s tests were successfully completed.

I heard that Elise had confirmed their special Ether manipulation abilities, and Cardinal Boutier and Elder Ari had checked their Ether circulation and vessel condition.

So today, I was at the Imperial Palace, to attend the Crown Princess’s farewell banquet.

“Please enjoy your meal, Your Highness. We have prepared a lot of your favorite meat.”

“Thank you.”

The servant said as he served a veal steak in front of me.

I often ate lunch here after Cardinal Boutier’s class, and it seemed they had figured out my taste in the meantime.

Elise across from me gave me a pitiful look.

I didn’t know what it meant, so I just smiled.

I expected a grand scale for the farewell banquet, but it was the opposite.

Emperor Frederick, Cardinal Boutier, Prince Cedric, Christel, Elise, Martier, and me.

It was just a lunch with seven people.

The topic I wanted to discuss with Elise was difficult to bring up in front of many people.

The fact that Elder Ari’s meal was being served separately also suggested that the Emperor was conscious of the ‘deal’ and had created this setting.

I glanced at the gift I had placed on my lap. How should I start?

“Have you been writing in your diary?”

Then, Elise spoke to me. I blinked.

Among the Prince’s belongings, the only thing that could be called a diary was the magic tool notebook.

It seemed that the Crown Princess had given it to him.

That meant she also knew the notebook’s function.

“That is……”

I put down the knife I was using to cut the meat.

I understood the intention of the question, and all I had to do was answer well to start the conversation, but it wasn’t easy.

It would definitely be a big shock. But I couldn’t keep it a secret, and I shouldn’t.

She deserved to know the situation.

“I used it once. At the beginning of this month.”

-Clang!

At my words, Elise dropped her fork.

It meant that the magic tool had been activated by Sir Haines’s sword.

Her beautiful and strong face turned pale with shock. She immediately looked back at the head of the table.

The Emperor quickly grasped the situation and gave an answer.

“It was Johann Haines.”

“……That can’t be.”

The Crown Princess’s voice became thin. Martier looked at me and mouthed.

“No way. No way, Your Highness. Sir Haines is……”

“The Royal Consort took Sir Haines’s son hostage.”

“Good heavens.”

The escort roughly wiped his face.

Turning his head, Elise was looking at me with a miserable face.

Her eyes were red as if she would shed tears at any moment, but she did not cry.

“How… How did you survive? He must have been an unapproved Cardinal [a cardinal not officially sanctioned by the church].”

“Lady Sarnese and the Prince saved me. Although they are not here, Viscount Mute and his father also helped a lot. Marquis Francois D’huem and Her Highness Aurelia also helped.”

As I answered calmly, Elise looked back and forth between the Prince and the noble lady sitting on either side of me.

In particular, there was a strange sense of relief mixed in her gaze towards Christel.

“Those two are your partners.”

“……Yes.”

“The rumor that you were promoted to Archbishop is also true.”

“That’s right.”

The Crown Princess pursed her lips tightly. Blue flames flickered in her eyes.

The words came out after a long time.

“What happened to Johann Haines?”

“I kept him alive. He’s sleeping.”

At the Emperor’s answer, Elise looked astonished.

“Your brother asked me to. He made a pretty good argument.”

The Emperor said nonchalantly and began to eat coquilles Saint-Jacques [scallops cooked in a creamy sauce and served in a shell].

I swallowed hard and looked at Elise. Her eyes met mine in an instant.

If the Crown Princess didn’t want to forgive Sir Haines, I couldn’t force her to.

My neck stiffened with tension.

“Sir Haines’s son is sick, and I heard that the Royal Consort is not giving him medicine and has imprisoned him. He’s only ten years old.”

“……”

“I hope Your Highness will help that child come to the Empire.”

Then Martier sighed loudly.

I couldn’t read any thoughts from Elise’s expression.

I decided to start the story I had prepared.

Hadn’t I decided to do my best, whether it turned out good or bad?

“I don’t know exactly which prison he’s being held in, but he can be transferred due to his illness and age. It’s not like he’s being freed, so the Royal Consort won’t care, and if Your Highness helps, he can get medicine for a while. And August 2nd is Cornelise’s birthday.”

All sorts of information I had scraped together from came to mind.

Among them was a list of national holidays in the Holy Nation.

“On Cornelise’s birthday, there is a large-scale special pardon, and you personally decide the targets and number of people. But since the child is still young, Your Highness is acting as his proxy.”

“Your Highness, even if the Crown Princess releases the child on a special pardon… How can you smuggle him to the Empire? The kid will be in danger the moment he comes out.”

Martier said worriedly. I nodded calmly.

“That’s right. But if he is sent to the Vatican as a server, he will be guaranteed at least minimal safety.”

“A server, then,”

“It is a position that only children under the age of 15 can go to if they are guaranteed identity by two or more bishops.”

Thanks to memorizing the magazine article, the sentences flowed smoothly.

A ‘server’ was a child who attended to the priests of the Jushin Church.

In particular, sending children to the Vatican as servers was a big trend among aristocratic parents in Liester these days.

They believed that it was better to have them help the priests in the ‘Shrine of the Boundary’ where the Pope lived than to have religious education at home.

They also read that it was a way to show off their bishop connections, so it was also of great interest to vain people.

“Lady Eva of the Blanquer family wrote a letter guaranteeing the child’s identity.”

“Oh my.”

Martier was amazed.

On the opening day of Operation Verona, Eva handed me the letter herself, even while grumbling that I was gullible and ‘seductive’.

She was a grateful and kind child.

“The other one will be written by Her Highness Aurelia.”

“Me?”

Cardinal Boutier looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I wanted to speak to her directly without going through a letter, but I couldn’t get a private audience with her, so it ended up like this.

I gave her a desperate look. Soon, my teacher softened her eyes.

“That’s right. I’ve decided to write it.”

The corners of my mouth went up on their own. Thank you!

“If he is a boy whose identity is guaranteed by an Imperial Cardinal and a great aristocrat, he will be safe on the way to the Vatican, as well as after he arrives. Because the Royal Consort won’t be able to touch him carelessly.”

I said. Elise still had no reaction. Martier was the one who continued the question.

“Then how do you get that kid to the Empire……”

“There is a priest named Santra, who belongs to the Vatican. He is dispatched to the Empire to supply Ether to the Prince and Lady Sarnese.”

“You’re meticulous, Your Highness. I knew you were the type to do things when you do them.”

The middle-aged man muttered in admiration. I submitted the answer sheet I had studied hard.

“I asked Father Santra, and he said that if you apply to be his server from the beginning, it will be unconditionally possible because he has never had another server before.”

‘Then the Vatican will send Sir Haines’s son to me in the Empire!’

That was the reply Santra wrote to me.

I thought of Ganael, who had worked hard to send my letters here and there outside the Imperial Palace.

If it hadn’t been for the people who had given me big and small help, I would never have come this far.

Maybe I would still be sitting in the Juliette Palace.

“……So you mean to let the child meet his father.”

“That’s right.”

Elise finally opened her mouth. The face she showed was both smiling and tearful.

She slowly reached out one hand towards me.

In an instant, the guilt I had been suppressing welled up.

It wasn’t like I wanted to be possessed, but the person she desperately wanted was not me.

I was sorry that I couldn’t be a real brother to her.