Eh!? Lila"s brother!?
This may be rude of me to say, but they definitely don"t look like it. Her brother"s plainness… Though I don"t really want to say it"s the same as me, who"s the best of the best when it comes to plain.
I looked at Bern to check if he was surprised, but instead, he was observing Lila in great detail.
I don"t really get why, but he smiled just a tiny bit, as if he was satisfied with her reaction. Although depending on how you look at it, rather than cold, his expression looked as if he was watching his prey.
Y-yeah. For some reason, his face just now honestly looked like a villain"s.
Even though Alois" evil deeds were being exposed, why is it that Bern looks more of a villain than him? As expected, even villains can have a dignified appearance.
“By chance, I came to help with Thanksgiving, so I was on standby in the room next door.”
That"s definitely a lie.
Look, even the pure but somewhat idiotic Prince is making an expression as if he knows that"s a lie~
It"s not an accident, or rather, he was accompanied and slipped in with the merchants coming and going, is what everyone is thinking right now, but even so, the shrewd and meddlesome Alois unnaturally fell into silence. Lila being her usual self, she stood on her feet for a while, as if she was being pulled up like a puppet.
I wonder if Lila"s brother"s only role is to persuade her.
“This person is Raul Carneille. Lila"s brother.”
“This is the first time we"ve met, Your Highness.”
“Yeah…”
It looked as if His Highness didn"t know how to react to his appearance, but when I looked at Bern and Alois, Alois was grinding his teeth as he glared at Bern, unaware of His Highness" gaze at him.
And Bern gave a small smile to Alois, in provocation.
By the way, I have a bad feeling about how things are turning, but I carelessly thought that he looked handsome like that. For just a moment, I thought that I had definitely gone crazy.
I"m probably tired because of the tense atmosphere that"s been going on for a while now.
“I came to apologize about my younger sister today. To seduce Your Highness despite having Katerinsama…”
“You"re wrong!”
“Lila…?”
“You"re wrong, onii-sama, I… I…”
Lila unsteadily staggered backwards.
“Lilsan was coerced into getting near His Highness because you were held hostage.”
Lila"s eyes widened, and looked at Bern.
“In order to get back your brother who was taken hostage, you did as Alois said. Isn"t that right?”
“ah…”
“Stop saying weird things! Bernhardt, your actions are intolerable. I"ll sue you for defamation!”
Alois yelled, with sweat glittering on his face.
“Is that true, Lila?”
Before she knew it, Raul had found out that he was taken hostage, and seemed to be troubled on how to explain it.
It seems that he was brought here without being informed of the situation.
“Lila! I"ve always been on your side, right?”
Alois with his disheveled hair.
“Didn"t you love me!?”
His Highness scrambled about, like a boyfriend finding out about his girlfriend"s infidelity, which was pretty much what"s happening.
Lila"s gaze restlessly wandered about from Alois, His Highness, and then settled on Raul.
She was being cornered by all three of them with their words piling on top of each other, so as expected, Lila looked pitiable. I, who had been keeping quiet all this time, half rose to my feet.
Suddenly, Bern stood up, and in my place, threw a single cold look to silence the three who were pressing her for answers.
T-That"s Bern for you…
Just like that, he stood in front of Lila who was breathing roughly beside the wall, and unexpectedly asked her in a voice that only I could hear.
“Lila, even if you were to disappear, it"s weird that you have yet to do so.”
“B-but–”
“You"re not wrong for being afraid. But think about it properly. What is it that you really want? Where does your happiness lie?”
“I…”
Lila slithered down to the floor to sit, and looked up at Bern from below as he continued on.
“Lila, I don"t get what it is that you"re clinging to. But see, if there"s one thing in this world that you can have without needing anything else, it would be love. But you already knew that, right?”
He said that with a surprisingly gentle voice, as if he was talking to a kid.
Finally, Lila"s eyes widened, as if she had woken up from a dream. Then bit her lips as she looked at someone behind Bern.
She slowly opened and closed her hands in front of her eyes, and after digesting that sensation, tears rapidly fell from her tourmaline eyes, intricately mixed with pink and light blue.
Her expression didn"t seem to have any pain in it. Instead, she looked refreshed, as if her demons were laid to rest.
I have a feeling Lila"s fine.
“Then let"s hear it. Lila Carneille, are you prepared to become the future Queen?”
At Bern"s question, everyone of them waited for Lila"s answer, with their own respective selfish reasons.
She tightly closed her eyes, and hesitated just a tiny bit.
Though the next time she opened them, she looked straight at Bern despite the traces of helplessness in her eyes.
“…No. I… can"t become the Queen. I was manipulated by Alois to get close to Prince Edwin.”
“Lila! What nonsense are you…”
“No…”
His Highness fell onto the sofa, as if all his strength left him.
“Your Highness, please get yourself together. Everything was devised by Bernhardt. Lila too, wake up!”
“No, it is us who have to wake up. Even if I really were to disappear, I"m fine with that. I was wrong… I"m sorry, Your Highness. For loving me, and helping me out with a lot of things. But my true happiness isn"t by your side.”
As she said that, Lila awkwardly averted her gaze from His Highness, and glanced at Raul.
Despite how elegantly she had done that, it still showed just who she really loved.
Huh, but, they"re close relatives… Well, it"s such a minor detail, that"s fine!
“…I"m really sorry.”
She apologized as she knelt on the floor, bowing deeply.
“I"m sorry.”
Her apology sounded as if she wasn"t apologizing to him as a prince, but as a person who she directly, or indirectly hurt.
Someone slowly walked, and knelt down halfway to that small body. That person was Lila"s brother, Raul.
“Lila, raise your head.”
“Onii-sama, I did a lot of horrible things–”
“That"s fine. You were scared all by yourself, right? I"m sorry for not noticing.”
“No, it"s not your fault. Everything was mine!”
Lila"s words worsened, and as if he was handling a fragile object, he softly hugged her.
“We"ll talk about this properly. That"s right, tell me about your strange world, like back then. Won"t you tell me again?”
“…Yeah, sure.”
With her red-rimmed eyes, Lila was supported by Raul as she stood up.
“I sincerely apologize for doing this at this time. But I still have yet to properly understand the situation…”
“You helped me out this time. Regardless, please do help Lilsan calm down.”
“I"m extremely grateful for this… Lila, let"s go.”
Lila took a backward glance at the heartbroken prince, who had clearly been dumped, and the ruined Alois, who she had betrayed, and gave a small bow to both of them along with her brother. Darius, who had been on standby by the door this whole time, was to accompany them, and left the lounge.
“Lila!”
When I hurriedly called after her retreating back, she awkwardly looked back.
I was at a loss for words as I had no reason for calling her.
W-what should I say?
‘Let"s meet again," or ‘I"m not angry," maybe something like that? That"s a little too overtly brazen of me… Or better yet, ‘Be happy!" or something… Maybe? Yeah, never mind.
That suddenly brings up the question of what I really think about Lila. I do think she"s pitiful. But by no means do I like her.
My feelings of wanting to be friends with her haven"t changed, but I can"t forgive her for everything she"s done. It"s because I can"t just immediately forget the hateful things she"s told me.
When I think about it, I"ve tried not to hate anyone until now. It"s not particularly because I wanted to become a saint, but it"s because I was afraid to hate someone.
My official stance is that I probably don"t hate Lila, but the truth is,
“I hate you.”
Whack.
I"m pretty sure that"s the sound that would suit Lila"s idiotic expression, and because of that, I gave a slightly inappropriate smile.
But without her Lila facade on, I think that her idiotic expression is by far better, and more beautiful than the perfect smile she always had on til now.
And that"s why I said,
“I"m pretty sure we would have been good friends enough to joke like that.”
Although it seemed like a joke, I definitely did think that deep down. Though I was worried she didn"t hear the sarcasm in it.
I"d surely feel sad if she didn"t reply back, but when I looked at Lila, she was tightly pressing on her lips, as if she was overcome with emotion.
“Thank you for properly looking at me. After all the mean things I"ve told you, I"m sorry.”
Then with an awkward smile, she finally moved towards her brother who was waiting for her by the door, and disappeared.
“Did I misunderstand?”
His Highness, who was shocked from having been dumped and couldn"t get one word in, mumbled.
For some reason, the way he said that was annoying.
It seemed that Bern felt the same, and he sent a cold look towards His Highness.
“Does Your Highness really understand what you misunderstood?”
“What?”
“Is it that you fell in love with Lila Carneille without looking at her true colors? And how you joined in on Alois" cajoling, and criticized both Katerina, and Lizzy? Or is it how you only believed Alois" words?”
“It"s all of those. I had to be more mindful of my actions as the crown prince of this country… But for once, I wanted to decided on something on my own. My whole life, everything"s been decided ever since I was born. From what I had to wear, to what I talk about, and even how long I"m supposed to sleep. That"s why at the very least, I wanted to choose my queen with my own will. It"s only her that I wanted to choose myself… Haa, and the result of that is this.”
“You wanted to choose with your own will, you say?”
Bern opened his eyes wide open, and the face of a demon showed on his face.
This is the first time I"ve ever seen him this angry.
“Without considering the significance of forcing it on others, mistakenly doing whatever you pleased, or saying things like your own will — stop acting like a spoiled kid. If you wanted to do things with your own will, then you should have said from the beginning what you don"t like. If you"re annoyed, then just work hard to shut up those annoying people. You, Alois, and Lila — It"s because you all entrusted your responsibilities to other people, and surrendered yourselves to other people that everything turned out this way, didn"t it?”
His Highness was offended at Bern"s choice of words, but he recognized it was his fault, and didn"t say anything. He"s an earnest person through and through.
“I"m sorry. I"m still inexperienced, but…”
“You know, I"ve always hated the idea of forgiving you for your mistakes.”
The corner of His Highness" mouth twitched. It seems he"s really angry.
Bern regained a bit of his composure, and this time around, quietly continued.
“But at the same time, I was jealous of you. Someone definitely wished for you to be born, and was allowed to be born. It was the exact opposite for me.”
“So you still hate me?”
“…That"s not it. Despite both of us having the same royal blood flowing through us, you were loved and protected, while on the other hand, my life was constantly targeted. I… hated you. I"ve also considered stealing the throne away from you. Until Lizzy changed me.”
Hmm!?
Suddenly, I was brought up, and for a moment, I had a bad feeling, but it was already too late.
Instead of looking embarra.s.sed, Bern looked really serious, and spun a tale filled with pleasantly embarra.s.sing things one after another.
“Lizzy taught me the joy of having my existence acknowledged. Even though she knew that my hands were dirty, she still held them, and taught me the warmth of a person every time. For the first time, it felt like she was telling me that it"s okay for a person like me to live. For me, that was like a far away dream, and something that you guys wouldn"t understand.”
Waaaaaaaahhhh!! T-this is embarra.s.sing! Stop, it"s so embarra.s.singggg!
I wanted to scream that, but because I rarely hear Bern talk about his own feelings that he keeps hidden, I was surprisingly sweating as I frantically strained my ears.
Mine isn"t that exaggerated, but if Bern was saved by my existence, then I shouldn"t be this happy. I really don"t think I did something so important though.
Ah~! If I had a voice recorder, I"d preserve it for life~!! At the very least, if magic existed, I would have worked hard at it for this…
Just ignore my idiotic thoughts, please.
“That"s why I don"t plan on forgiving you guys for involving Lizzy.”
With Bern"s ice-like gaze, Alois flinched.
“You! To say you won"t forgive us, what are you going to do!? Are you going to sue me? With what crime? I didn"t do anything. I only cooperated since Lila was in love with His Highness. What"s the crime in that? Come on, tell me.”
“Dunno. But the King has already been informed of everything. His Highness forgot his own duties, skipping out on his work being preoccupied with Lila, cancelling the engagement with Katerina without knowing its significance, and running about, right?”
“Huh?”
“t.i.tus-sama over there was charged with a royal order to monitor His Highness. When His Majesty hears of this information, I think he"ll reconsider the succession to the throne.”
t.i.tus gave a hatefully theatrical bow.
Fooling around, his gla.s.ses shined. If he wasn"t, why would he have a self-satisfied grin on his face?
“Why?!”
Fl.u.s.tered, His Highness shouted, and with no ounce of pity on his blank face, Bern coldly answered.
“School is not a place to relax. Your abilities were being tested. And you messed up. It"s rather unfortunate, but it"s over.”
As expected, in addition to having been dumped and the fact that his succession to the throne was in jeopardy, His Highness seemed as if he couldn"t take it anymore, and he held his head between his hands, face ashen. For some reason, he was mumbling under his breath, which made it look kind of horrifying.
“No! It"s not over yet!”
No matter how you looked at it, it was over, but Alois cried, unable to give up.
The redhead"s face was covered in sweat, and his face looked lifeless, with eyes shining like that of a wounded beast — worthy of being described as evil.
As if he was making fun of that Alois deep down, Bern said,
“Speaking of, I wonder what happened with that rumor about Duke Rottger. Didn"t you plan on making it seem like she was the Duke"s daughter through Lucas?”
“Lila… is the Duke"s real daughter. That"s right, Duke Rottger won"t silently let what you did go!”
At that moment, he thought of an obviously transparent bluff.
To end up like this, he looked really pitiful.
“Ah, about that, I haven"t talked to the Duke yet about what you suggested~”
Lucas had been grinning in the corner of the room as he watched the events unfold, but when I thought that he would suddenly b.u.t.t in, he instead dropped a serious bomb with an inappropriately carefree att.i.tude.
“What did you say!? Lucas, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, did you betray me!?”
Alois looked like a deplorable man who wouldn"t stop despite having a bomb dropped on them.
With his usual unreadable, smiling face, Lucas, this time around, looked at Alois with scorn in his eyes. Somehow, it looked like a villain"s face similar to that of Bern"s.
“If you"re taking about betraying you, I"ve been doing it since the beginning. How should I say this, it"s because I"m the Hidden Student Council"s adviser! Oh dear me, I may be Bittner-sensei on the public records, but for you to believe even that, you"re unexpectedly so honest, huh~”
When I heard of what the Hidden Student Council does, I thought that they were crazy, but the real crazy one was their adviser.
Or rather, for him to officially be that old Bittner-sensei. I have often seen him basking in the sun near the Fifth Building though.
I mean, I"m not sure anymore if I had the energy to be surprised at this, but for some reason, I understood, and could only let out a smile, which made me feel bad for Alois, who was being made fun of until now.
But I wonder if he was a guy that repaid horrible things done to him.
“You finally understand. You"ve lost from the start.”
“I-I told you, so what!? I have nothing to do with Duke Rottger anymore!”
Just a while back, he wouldn"t shut up about Duke Rottger, and despite running out of things to say, it seems that he just won"t give up.
“That"s not enough, huh? If so, I"ll tell you about my trump card. An army of officials from the Investigations Bureau is already heading towards the Donitz house. I have a good feeling that the fortune teller is there as well, but there"s also a large number of rural n.o.ble families that came out complaining about the damage from fraud. Despite the sudden jumps in prices with various products, they suffered heavy loss because they were told that they had to buy at these ridiculously high prices by an oracle. You thought of covering this up by having Lila be the queen, huh? And that lifeline of yours that you so heavily depend on, Viola, should have been arrested by now.”
“It… It shouldn"t have…”
“To go so far as to dirty your hands by relying on oracles, the price for what you want isn"t that cheap. You picked the wrong person to fight, Alois. We"re on different levels.”
With Bern"s finishing blow, Alois fell to his knees, and finally gave way. Although it was extremely provocative, it felt like overkill.
t.i.tus restrained both of Alois" hands behind his back, was forcibly made to stand with no strength left whatsoever, and taken away.
As I idly watched over that scene, I thought, ‘Ah, finally, it"s all over," and was overcome with an extreme sense of fatigue.
For some reason, there wasn"t much sense of relief, nor was it a weight off my shoulders.
Even after remembering how Alois didn"t know when to give up, and the miserable prince, a hateful feeling gushed within me when I looked at their terrible states.
I"m pretty sure Bern also has a lot of things going through his mind right now. As I carelessly thought, ‘I"ll probably try and reward him later just a bit," it happened.
I noticed that t.i.tus smiled.
He whispered something to Alois, and smirked, one corner of his mouth raised.
That smile gave me an extremely bad feeling, and at that moment, I rose to my feet.
In the next instant, with the last bit of his strength, Alois shook off the surprised t.i.tus, and turned his body towards Bern.
In his hand, he was gripping a shining, long silver object.
A sharp and bright tip of a sword. There"s no mistaking it. It"s a dagger.
Why does Alois have a dagger!?
The mood within the room relaxed after having reached a conclusion, but it immediately filled with tension.
While shouting weird things like ‘Die," and ‘Disappear" in his madness, Alois charged at Bern in a straight line. My feet froze, shock going through it, at the same time I heard the killing intent in his angry voice.
When I looked at the confused Bern, he only had his arms to the side, and was firmly focusing at Alois.
Everything looked slow, just like that time during Thanksgiving when a knife was pointed at me. And yet I turned pale — everything felt extremely close and far at the same time.
‘Why is Alois suddenly attacking? Was he hiding a weapon all this time? Why is Bern just standing there?" All these questions were trivial right now!
I have to save Bern right now!!
That one thought instantly ruled over me.
“Watch out…!”
My body unconsciously rushed towards Bern to push him away.
He looked at me rushing over with a bit of impatience in his eyes, and pushed me away instead.
“Bern!”
A shriek tore through my throat.
With a repulsive smile, Alois swung down the dagger.
The dagger, with its cold glint, cut through muscle.
At that moment, Bern suddenly looked at me with his gentle grey eyes, and then smiled.
With the tip of my extended hand, a red painful color danced before my eyes.
Bernhardt Youth Brunsmeier"s funeral service was grand.
The chief mourner was his sister, Katerina Ema Brunsmeier, who took over his Ducal responsibilites, and even the king personally came — a lot of people mourned his death.
His death had a huge effect, even going so far as to putting an end to the feud with Prince Edwin"s fiancee.
First off, it"s been established that because he had royal blood flowing through him, the Queen had been relentlessly aiming for his life throughout the years. Furthermore, a note sent to Alois Donitz, the murderer, from her was discovered and hinted at the murder. Although the Queen herself wasn"t charged with the crime, the power of the Queen faction was greatly reduced.
Adding to that, because of the fiancee feud that had led to his death, and the decline of the Queen faction, the First Prince Edwin had seceded his right to the throne. With this, the Second Prince Selim was backed to become the Crown Prince instead. With his guardians being that of the Wehner family, whose power extended far despite being a rural n.o.ble family, and the Brunsmeier family, other emerging n.o.bles supported him. Although the change in inheritance for the throne was sudden, its foundation had already been firmly established.
The leader of the rebellion, Alois, and the mastermind fortune teller, Viola, were incarcerated in a prison on a solitary island for their whole lives, and although Lila Carneille was pardoned, she herself intended to enter a monastery instead. Naturally, the land from the Donitz family was seized, and they had met a miserly end.
And as for his fiancee Lizia Rietberg, of which he was known for being intimate with, she dropped out of the Royal Academy, unable to cope with his death. One year later, they had taken in a son-in-law who almost never shows his face in high society, and they were said to have quietly been living their life in their territory in peace.
OH NO BERNNNNNNNNNN. d.a.m.n, that was actually nerve-wrecking, the part where Alois stabbed him. There"s still going to be the sequel next, and Bern"s POV. The main story is about to come to an end, but don"t worry, we still have the Prenuptial Travel Logs Arc!
Author: adorkablerika Name"s Erika. For some dumb reason, I decided to major in Physics. I"m stuck in this major now. I used to translate manga and light novels a few years back, left, then came back cause I found some good novels to read. I"m the only TLer on my site, so rip. I"m apparently also good at drawing, and I also like kpop (BTS, I mean, I have Hobi as my pic). I don"t bite, so feel free to chat me up on here or on NU @adorkablehiko. If you see my translations on other sites, please do consider reading it on my Wordpress @ c.r.a.ppya.s.stranslations.