5 Years Old – Q of Hearts (Part 2) After flying about for a while, we could see a beautiful garden. Somehow there was this high cla.s.s feeling about it, so the important people might be there. I headed in the direction of the garden. In the centre of the garden was a white fountain surrounded by roses in full bloom. Red, white, pink – flowers of beautiful colours were mixed together.
Suddenly, I felt like I heard a voice, so I looked down, and when I did, I saw the figure of a child about our age. They were a small boy with beautiful blonde hair, and surrounding him were a group of boys dressed like n.o.bles. The boys surrounding him might be a little older. But for a group of children playing together, things looked a little strange.
“Is that, bullying”
One of the children grabbed the small blonde boy by the collar, and the other boys started cackling. It was a revolting scene. Before long, the surrounding boys began to push the blonde child around. …I can’t watch this.
“Will you save that boy?”
As though he was waiting for this timing, Achille whispered in my ear. I reflexively got gooseb.u.mps. This kid aimed for my ear on purpose, didn’t he? But I can’t object to his words. I’m anti-bullying!
“Is it okay to go down? Won’t I get you mixed up in it, Achille?”
“It’s fine, but? That blondie is probably a kid from the royal family… It might be a good chance for me to establish contact with him.”
What a mercenary child! I’ve misjudged him. But now is not the time to be stunned at Achille. I have to save that child.
The blonde child accidentally fell on his b.u.t.t. At this rate, he might start getting hit or kicked. As one of the children was about to try and mount him, I got in their way, still on the broom.
“Heyy! Stop thaat!”
The child who was trying to mount him got hit in the b.u.t.t by the broom handle. Because of the impact, the bully fell over. He immediately got back up, red faced and rubbing his b.u.t.t painfully.
“What the heck is with you!? Where’d you come from!?”
“That’s my line, you d.a.m.ned brat! Ganging up on a little kid to bully him. Don’t you feel embarra.s.sed!?”
While I replied sharply, Achille helped the blonde child up.
“Shaddup! Stop meddling, you b.i.t.c.h!”
“Yeah! Yeah!”
One of the large kids near me turned my way and tried to hit me.
“Geh-”
Right now I’m a feeble little five year old. Close combat isn’t my thing. I immediately used magic to defend. At my actions, the surrounding kids widened their eyes in surprise. It seems that children who can use magic at my age are rare.
“Take thiiis!”
I tried to use some light offensive magic, but for some reason smoke came out of my hands and just disappeared. Did I fail?
“Oh?[/Are?] My magic won’t come out…”
“Except for those in security, n.o.body can use offensive cla.s.s magic without permission here.”
The one who spoke was the blonde child. What the heck? That’s super inconvenient. Is it because it’s the castle?
“Camille, the broom!”
I came back to my senses at Achille’s voice. While stopping the children with defensive magic, I straddled the broom. Right now the priority is to get away from here. While urging the blonde child to get on the broom, Achille got on as well behind him.
“We’re ready!”
“Alright!”
With Achille’s voice as the sign, I levitated the broom, and steadily rose at a fast speed. The dumbfounded bullies gazed up vacantly. What stupid expressions. Serves you right. While laughing, “Kekeke,” I flew a lap above their heads to provoke them.
“Let’s return to the Magician’s Building… Father might have returned.”
“Yeah.”
I turned around, and headed back to the Magic Building. But still, the broom has gotten slow. Three people are riding on it, so that’s natural though. It’s like when the basket on your bicycle has a lot of drinks packed into it.
We could see the window of the Magic Building now. I’m glad that it wasn’t too far. Having 3 people ride this is a little bit much… It might be necessary to have more practice, and further improvements to the broom. We unsteadily entered through the target window, and landed.
“Ahhh, I’m tired. That was heavy.”
After returning the broom to where I found it, I collapsed on the sofa. Achille was looking my way with an astonished expression, but I’m tired so it can’t be helped.
“Are you okay?”
The blonde child peered in on my face. Uwahh, he’s a bishounen too. A bishounen with the sure-fire combo of blonde hair and green eyes, he’s like a prince.
“Thank you for saving me, you two. I’m Royce Garnet, the first prince of this country.”
“…Prince? Roiss?”
Royce Garnet he said? That moment, all the blood in my body boiled. Royce-sama… ROYCE-SAMAAAAAAAAAAA!?
Speaking frankly, I’m a huge fan of his.
He’s one of the love interests in 『Carte à Jouer』, the future K of Hearts. And he was the love interest character that I adored the most.
Royce’s route was standard among standard routes, but while I was playing the game, my heart was struck countless times by his smile. Royce who shouldered the pressure of being the first prince as he entered the Magic School… He who held no confidence in anything was encouraged by the heroine, and before he knew it, he had ended up with romantic feelings for her. After overcoming numerous ordeals (obviously including the Q of Heart’s interference), in the end the admirable two ended up married. The commoner heroine, who despite being a commoner had hidden potential, in the end even became the queen of this country. ‘She got the beloved prince, and even succeeded in rising in ranks!’ in other words.
When I had a look at Achille, he was smirking. A person of influence = royalty. Getting close to him means that Achille’s goal was achieved. Good for you. Speaking of which, just as I feared earlier, as expected, isn’t Achille also a character from the game? There was certainly a character with his upbringing in the game.
With Royce and Achille together, my memories are gradually becoming clearer. Achille was something who had nothing but a friendship route, so I was beginning to forget him but… As expected, he was a character that thoroughly crushed the Q of Hearts, and was the close aide of the K of Hearts, the J of Hearts! Scary-!
Aahh… Perhaps I’m headed down the same path as the original story.
No, this is a dream. A dream. …That I’ll be socially exterminated is, impossible… It’s impossible, right…? This world that’s progressing just like the original story is getting scarier and scarier.
After that, we introduced ourselves to him, and chatted with Royce in the break room of the Magician’s Building. It’s like a dream… No, it is a dream, though!
“You two really saved me. I got seen being pathetic though, haha…”
While being a little shy, Royce-sama thanked the two of us. As expected of Royce-sama, even when he’s very young he has this refinement about him.
“No, we just happened to be pa.s.sing by, but I am glad that we were of use to you, Your Highness. What is most important is that you are safe.”
Oooh, that smiling Achille has completely entered his sales mode. Unlike Royce-sama, Achille is really an uncute kid.
“You don’t need to be so formal, you know? Our age is close, and I’d be happy if we could get along from now on as well. Unfortunately there aren’t many people in the castle that I’m close to, you see…”
After saying this, Royce-sama made a slightly sad expression. Even his sad expression is beautiful! I didn’t notice while I was playing the game, but did Royce-sama grow up in a pretty lonely environment?
“Royce-sama… In that case, I shall ask my father[/otousama] for permission and bring Achille again to play.”
I can meet Royce-sama, and it gives Achille an excuse to leave the house too. A good idea, if I do say so myself.
“Really?”
His beautiful blue eyes narrowed, and Royce-sama happily took my hand.
“Of course! If my father allows, though.”
“I’ll have it arranged.”
As expected of a prince! Even at a young age, his authority sure is effective, huh. But if I can meet with Royce-sama, then I have no complaints.
“Camille, I’ve kept you waiting.”
“Ah, Father[/Otousama].”
I ran over to greet my father who had just entered the break room. Soleil came in as well, behind father. Soleil saw Royce-sama who was sitting with us, and stiffened.
“Y-, Your Highness!?”
After that, Royce-sama spoke about everything that happened, and hearing that, I was ended up scolded by father. Well, Royce-sama stopped him halfway, though… Surprisingly, Achille did too. Soleil contacted the castle to let them know that the prince was here, and somebody immediately came for Royce-sama.
“Your Highness, it is good that you are safe.”
A prim gentleman with the air of a butler appeared in front of the door. His age might have been between forty and fifty. His monocle flashed in the light, and gave off the feeling of being a very adequate chamberlain.
“Henri, I’ve worried you haven’t I? When I was surrounded by my cousin’s group, these two saved me, you know?”
Henri nodded understandingly, and turned to look at our faces.
“Very good.”
What is? I don’t really get this Henri person. After telling Achille and I to wait here, he left with father, Soleil and Royce-sama.
Left here, as expected I couldn’t comprehend what was going on, and stared towards the door. Perhaps because he couldn’t pretend he didn’t see, Achille spoke to me.
“Are you okay with that, Camille? Getting close to Prince Royce means that you’ll be making enemies of the Royal Prince(King’s Younger Brother) Faction, you know?”
“Mn? What’s that?”
Why did the conversation suddenly turn into this
“Today you made enemies of the son of His Majesty’s younger brother, you know… I did too, though. That’s why from now on, whether you like it or not, you’ll be seen as part of the King’s Faction.”
As expected, I don’t really get what he’s talking about. Speaking of which, the game had a setting like what he just mentioned… or so I felt.
“Ahh… So that’s how it is.”
I suddenly understood what Achille meant.
The current king――――Royce’s father, and his younger brother were presently on bad terms. His Highness the Royal Prince was blatantly aiming for the throne. Right now the n.o.bles were split in two between those who supported His Majesty, the King Faction, and those who supported his brother, the Royal Prince Faction.
One day their conflict would spread to their children, and the confrontation between their children was one of the scenes in the game. It might be that Royce-sama was thinking about quickly finding reliable allies, and bringing them to his side. And today, we who happened upon him by chance became those allies… in other words. He was properly thinking about his own future as well. That’s why he immediately revealed his position to us when we first met. So that he could guarantee his allies, and absolutely not let us go.
“Mn, they might be talking about the same thing outside, huh…”
By the way, father’s life is magic, so he hasn’t been getting involved in annoying political struggles, but because of my actions today, he might end up being labelled as part of the King Faction. I feel a little guilty…
It seems that the ones bullying Royce-sama were the children of n.o.bles in the Royal Prince Faction.
“I’m fine… After all, one day I’d have to choose which faction to fall under after all, and I like Royce-sama too…”
“Eh, ‘like’!? …Camille …Are you aiming to marry into power?”
Achille turned my way in shock.
“Huhh…? What are you on about?”
“I’m hoping that Prince Royce will become my patron, but I was wondering if you were aiming for the seat of the Queen, you see… Unexpected, ambitious?”
“‘Sif I am!”
That’s probably impossible. After I said that, Achille smiled happily for some reason. He’s probably thinking ‘being Queen is impossible for someone like you‘ anyway… That I’m not suitable for Royce-sama! I know that even if you don’t tell me.
Royce-sama is somebody that I long for. I want to get closer to him, but I’m not thinking of something presumptuous like becoming his partner. After all, Camille was a character that couldn’t end up with Royce-sama. The Royce-sama in the game also cringed at being relentlessly stalked by Camille. Even while I think that this world is a dream, it’d be painful to be avoided by Royce-sama. I don’t want to be hated by him.
“That’s true. Right now you’re the only daughter of Marquis Rhodolite after all, so you have to find a husband and succeed your family, right?”
It seems that Achille who didn’t know what I was feeling a.s.sented to my answer.
“But Royce-sama being the first prince means that he has a lot of enemies, huh…”
And then, I suddenly realised. With Royce-sama, apart from the other rival girls, there were many other flags for downfall.
His ‘downfall level’ was incomparable to that of I who was just a rival character. For Royce, if the heroine chose any K other than him, then his life would automatically head full throttle towards destruction.
For example if the heroine chose the son of the Royal Prince, Roice’s cousin the K of Spades, then Royce-sama would be overthrown in a coup d’etat. If she chose the prince of the neighbouring nation, the K of Diamonds, then a war would begin and our nation would lose, with Royce-sama being placed under house arrest. The she chose her commoner childhood friend, the K of Clovers, then a revolution would begin and the royal family would be destroyed, with Royce-sama executed.
It’s impossible… Royce-sama… Even if this is a dream world, I don’t want my beloved Royce-sama to head towards ruin. Even if it’s impossible for us to become a couple, I want to protect him. Just by myself, I might not become very helpful to him. I’m just an otaku girl after all. However, it would be better to have even one more person to protect him. Fortunately, I know the contents of the game, so I should be able to at least him keep away from danger. …I’ve made my decision.
“I’ll become a magician that protects Royce-sama.”
I’ll study magic even more than I already am, so that I’ll be able to protect him, no matter who the enemy. Achille looked at me in astonishment, and after looking like he was thinking for a little, he took my hand.
“Then I’ll become an aide that can help Royce-sama.”
“You’ll become a knight?”
“Nope, an aide.”
Thinking about it, Achille had that kind of position even in the game, huh. He’s a character who’s brains over brawn.
“I see! Then let’s try our best together.”
After I said that, Achille smiled like he was truly enjoying himself. Like a child who had found an interesting game. …Well, he is a child though.
More importantly, I wonder if he could hurry up and let go of my hand. Just how long is Achille planning on holding my hand for?
‘flags for downfall‘ → have stated this earlier, but I am writing under the a.s.sumption that you’re familiar with ADV lingo. Think of a flag, as in programming flag, because that’s more or less what ‘flag’ means in visual novels. Raising a death flag etc. yeah?
Rather than ‘dignified gentleman‘, the text said キリリとした, but there’s no word that I can think of for this. It’s like, pulled tightly, sort of. Like a person who is proper in posture, smartly dressed, professional, proper, and un-relaxed. Like a super-butler character would be. EDIT: After many long years, has graciously reminded me that the word I was looking for was prim.
王弟(outei) means king’s younger brother. Apparently that’s still just ‘prince’ in English though, cause we don’t have a word for it.
Also, perhaps you’ve already realised, but everyone in this series has a French-a.s.s name. Well, I don’t speak French, but going by the names in j.a.panese, they’re supposed to be the French versions of these names (for those that have equivalents in other languages). Now again, I don’t actually speak French, but I can tell you something that approximates the sounds, based on the j.a.panese. So yeah, if there are people who speak French, don’t get p.i.s.sed. These names aren’t actually French. They’re j.a.panese appropriations/approximations of French names, so yeah. And ain’t n.o.body can p.r.o.nounce your ‘mille’ sounds anyway.
Camille (kah-mii-yyh) Charles (sharl) Soleil (soh-lei-yyh) Achille (ah-shil) Aimée Afriat (eh-mehh ah-free-ah)