Chapter 143

The festival period was also a break designated by the imperial decree, so most of the palace’s functions were operating at minimal capacity.

That said, the succession battle didn’t halt, so there was no chance to see Acella letting her guard down and playing around.

Even in her spare time, she busied herself with reading and managing the nobility.

However, she seemed to have some breathing room, as she took longer breaks than usual.

“Max, catch it!”

She was amused to see Max chasing after the lizard released in the garden for magical ingredients, panting heavily.

I wondered if it was appropriate for emotional education—both for Max and Acella.

You could definitely call it a sadistic tendency to torment others; it was very much an Acella thing to do.

“When I woke up, that lizard had torn up my thesis.”

“Your thesis?”

“Theory on constructing space-time magic circles. A professor from the Hero Academy suggested I submit it, so I was just writing it for fun. They say I could get a doctorate.”

“You’d need to complete a course for that, though. Don’t you have to attend for at least two years?”

“That’s right. I have no intention of going to such a trivial place. When does the emperor of the empire have the time to attend the academy for two years? Surely they would grant some flexibility.”

It seems she was already thinking of using that thesis as a pretext to earn her degree when she eventually becomes the emperor.

For an emperor of the empire, it should be doable.

Acella was already sketching out the big picture for the future.

“Max, hey! I told you to catch it, not to play with it!”

The gentle-natured Max was now holding the lizard, licking its belly with his tongue.

I guess this could be seen as a cute prank. At the very least, I wasn’t running for my life in danger.

Although I had never seen Acella lock someone in a beast cage and enjoy the chase, I felt it was something she could have done in the future.

“What’s wrong?”

It seemed I was staring too intently at Acella while lost in those thoughts.

She approached me, grinning like a devil.

“You want to play too, Prince?”

“No, I’ll pass.”

I immediately declined, knowing she was concerned about my stamina. I didn’t want to end up soaked in sweat in broad daylight.

Acella swiftly grabbed my wrist and brought it to the choker part of the dress wrapped around her neck.

Swish, my fingertip caught on her choker.

It felt like I was gripping a dog’s collar.

“Let’s play.”

“What do you mean?”

“Woof.”

Acella smiled wickedly, raising her lips.

Hmm.

The roles seemed reversed from what I had in mind.

“Your Royal Highness, there are eyes watching. As the owner of the palace, you must maintain your dignity…”

“Oh, darling, don’t you know that if a servant and knight divulge what happens in the lord’s private time, that alone is a death sentence?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Let’s play.”

How on earth was I supposed to accept this?

Since the confession, Acella had oddly grown more proactive.

Don’t read too much into it.

After all, there was no bad ending to worry about now, and I decided to treat Acella as my heart dictated, without much thought.

“Hmm… hand.”

“Woof.”

Acella laid her hand gently atop mine.

For a moment, her fingertips began to tickle my hand softly.

It gave a slight electric thrill.

“You look happy, Lars Gothberg.”

Acella smirked and lifted her head high.

“So, what was it like? The experience of treating the empire’s princess like a dog.”

“If you use that expression outside, no matter how many heads I have, it wouldn’t be enough.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take the fall for that crime.”

Acella confidently replied, tossing a snack to Max.

*

“The magical circuits are normal. We finally have some time, so let’s go to bed on time. The hormones that help with sleep will be released, and you’ll feel even better.”

“Hormones, huh? Are they really that good?”

“Of course! Your skin will even become firmer. In my hometown, there’s a saying that beautiful women sleep a lot.”

“Oh, so that’s why Lau sleeps so much. Skin… it’s important.”

Acella focused on what I said.

“Since it’ll get busy again from New Year, I guess I should sleep now. Alright, I’ll do as you say.”

The night examination went as usual. Acella changed into a nightgown, and we sat across from each other at a table in her room.

Looking at it this way, I realized we had been pretty annoyingly close together all this time.

“Oh, I’ll dispose of the painkillers in your room, Your Royal Highness. I don’t need anything that strong anymore, and taking old medicine might cause more problems.”

“Really? Hmm… somehow I feel uneasy.”

Acella seemed a little restless.

“I understand your feelings, but you won’t have the previous kinds of attacks anymore, so it’s okay. Anyway, I always carry basic medicine with me.”

“Yeah, that’s true. You know my condition best.”

“I’m your attending physician, after all.”

“You—know me best.”

Acella pointed at me while propping her chin up with one hand.

“Because I’m your betrothed.”

“Haha, saying that is a bit scary.”

“Is this all it takes? I’ll have to stay on my toes from now on.”

How far was this princess planning to dig into me?

I got a bit curious and leaned toward Acella.

“Despite this, I’m always on my guard in front of you, Your Royal Highness. I can’t be rude to someone of the imperial bloodline.”

As I leaned in, this time Acella subtly leaned back.

“…Somehow your words and actions seem opposites.”

“If it seems that way, it’s because I’m influenced by your majestic presence. So, tell me, will I be able to bask in the radiant remnants of your aura tonight as well?”

Clears throat, Acella coughed and avoided my gaze.

“From now on, you’ll sleep in your own room.”

“Well, that makes sense. Until now, I’ve been with you to prepare for your potential emergency.”

I casually added.

“Do you not need your comfort doll? It was actually included in your last birthday gift…”

“Shut up.”

Acella’s hand struck my knuckles with a snap at lightning speed and then vanished.

“At my age, who needs a doll? No, actually, I do need it…”

With a displeased expression, Acella mumbled something.

“Not now… I can’t stand it.”

*

Well, that’s how the festival period flowed without too much trouble.

Heike showed no particular movements, and there were no major political incidents on the continent.

Patients don’t care about timing, so the Inner Palace ran constantly, but other than that, I could enjoy a sort of half-vacation.

Above all, Acella’s attitude had changed significantly.

The festival wrapped up successfully. The people of the empire returned to their daily routines welcoming the New Year.

And then, that day, a major incident occurred that would shake the imperial family.

“Urgent report.”

It was the commander of the Moonlight Palace’s knights. Acella’s expression turned serious upon hearing the story.

“What about Your Majesty?”

“Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

Click, Acella bit her nails. The emergence of that habit indicated how serious the matter was.

“We need to act fast. Send out the communication spheres right away.”

I happened to be at the Moonlight Palace and asked her.

“What’s going on?”

Acella bit her lip as if she really didn’t want to tell me.

But it seemed she didn’t think she could hide it. After taking a deep breath, she answered.

“I found the hero.”

Huh.

I went momentarily blank at those unexpected words.

There was only one hero, so she must be referring to her.

“What do you mean by ‘hero’ out of the blue?”

I pretended not to know and asked Acella.

“Do you know Baron Volpenbueter?”

“He was a lord managing pastures in the eastern region. His eldest son has been friendly toward the Moonlight Palace.”

“Correct. We were distributing samples of medicine made in your pharmaceutical company to the nobles in the Moonlight Palace.”

“So, that’s sales. And then?”

“Our knights felt something off about the baron’s demeanor while escorting the medicine and investigated. I had ordered them to collect anything that might be a weakness against the nobility.”

“And the baron was with the hero?”

“Correct. Seems he had been hiding her for about a year now. Perhaps he didn’t know how to handle it or was looking for someone to negotiate with. Given the circumstances, it could be treated as a major crime.”

“I see. The emergence of the hero means that the Demon King must also have descended into the Demon Realm. Chaos will arise on the continent.”

“…Exactly.”

Acella looked anxious. Perhaps it was because an unexpected variable had appeared at a critical time when she needed to focus on the succession battle.

While I had known of the hero’s arrival in advance, I was surprised like Acella.

From what the hero had told me in the future, she would be institutionalized three years from now, after Acella gained power.

The magic explosion was originally an event that was to happen at the end of last year.

This implies that Acella had grown into a leader of the Moonlight Palace since the year her doppelgänger Camilla disappeared.

Now Acella had discovered the hero. It felt like her change had altered this process too.

This might be a good opportunity for me.

I checked the ending list.

―――――――――――

No. 005: Demon King’s Army Victory 58%
No. 006: Demon Lord Appears 26%
No. 008: Impregnable Fortress 33%
No. 009: Demon Realm Swamp 4%
No. 010: Holy Sword Destruction 72%
…

―――――――――――

Out of 101 bad endings, 52 were related to Acella.

I deleted 51 of them, leaving only one.

Among the remaining 50, 13 dealt with the Great Demon and barbarian endings deleted alongside Gishta.

I had already erased one related to the Rock Tribe, along with one concerning Gishta, titled [Ice Age], so a total of 15 were gone.

I had also deleted three related to Sarong, Hugo, and the Black Magician.

That left thirty-two bad endings remaining.

There were bad endings related to combat that occurred while fighting the Demon King’s army and some minor external forces.

There was one significant obstacle.

The hero.

There were fourteen bad endings associated with her.

It didn’t involve the hero maliciously destroying the world as much as a series of unfortunate accidents—quite fatal ones.

For instance, [Holy Sword Destruction].

Without the Holy Sword, there would be no way to defeat the Demon King.

Our hero is indeed lively and positively wonderful.

I couldn’t even recall how many times she had broken the Holy Sword.

Each time, the world perished as a bonus.

Anyway, I was already planning to visit her once I left the palace.

The thought behind trying to pair her with Tanya was a way to help her grow further, too.

But as of now, I didn’t have any intel that she was already the hero.

In the original history, the baron had hidden her for a long time or perhaps been politically used, prompting her whereabouts to circulate. Or maybe it was confidential.

In any case, I had plenty of time to spare. The Moonlight Palace even had the rights to contact her first.

It’d be great to erase any bad endings related to the hero as soon as possible.

Thinking that, it seemed Acella had finished her decision too.

“Lars, given the importance of this situation, we cannot avoid Your Majesty’s eyes. Reporting it first is the best course of action.”

“I agree. The entire continent will likely go crazy wanting him.”

“Oh, not him. I mean the hero…”

“Hmm? Is there more information?”

“…No, nothing.”

Acella shook her head.

“A meeting will be urgently convened. As your attending physician, you’ll be joining us.”

“Sounds about right.”

“Lars.”

Acella stared directly at me and said.

“If you happen to have the chance to speak during the meeting, don’t hesitate to chime in.”

---

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