Translator : KuRuuRuu
UNEDITED
The Crown Prince"s Bride
~ Sometimes Brother and Sister ~ 8
Despite being invited to the tea party, Christina and the others went around the location of the tea party, and were led to Marx’s room.
It was a room typical of Marx. A bookshelf where fastidious-looking books were lined up, and his fancied swords were decorating the wall all over his room.
Entering the room first, Marx extended his hand towards Anna who was looking the room over curiously.
“Over here, please, Hime-sama”
“Th……Thank you”
Perhaps she was happy from being treated as a lady by Marx, Anna’s cheeks slightly blushed.
Marx saw that reaction, and in order to guide them in, he turned his face towards the right side of the room ── to the sofa located beside the fireplace. Anna might not be able to see it, but on the face that was turned towards the fireplace, a pleased smile was formed as if he was enjoying something.
── Really, I really don’t understand what is he thinking about.
Christina looked strangely at the man who could nonchalantly talk about the fake engagement, and went towards the same sofa as Alberto.
Having his time with Christina being disturbed, Alberto’s mood worsened; he sat in front of Marx and began to ask.
“──so, what’s up?”
Christina seated herself next to Alberto, while Anna sat beside Marx.
It seems both Alberto and Marx did not find it strange, but in time like this, shouldn’t Marx sit at the one-person sofa? Or instead, let Anna sit at the one-person sofa?
Anna is not a little girl anymore. She is, in her own way, a grown up lady after all, so to casually let her sit beside him like that is a bit questionable.
With Christina not noticing how she herself was actually treating Anna like a little girl, she glanced alternately between Marx and Anna.
Marx seemed to not notice Christina’s gaze, and smiled at Alberto amiably.
“Don’t be that mad. After you get married you can be intimate whenever you want, right? It’s my bad for interrupting though”
Alberto raised his eyebrows, the corner of his lips crooked.
“It’s not like I’m angry because you interrupted us. Your half-baked stance is what I’m irritated about. What’s with that att.i.tude at the tea room. You, aren’t you engaged with Miss Irene?”
You’re being too insincere──he rebuked his friend.
Anna seemed to not notice Marx’s insincere behavior. She stared blankly at Alberto and then looked at Marx.
Marx laughed bitterly, and leaned his back at the sofa.
“Is that so? Even so I did try my best to be sincere, you know. Since I don’t have any intention to marry Irene, I worked quite hard at it”
“Nn?”
“Eeh──!?”
Covering Alberto’s voice, Anna raised a shout. When Alberto glanced with criticizing eyes at Anna who was being magnificently surprised, Anna fl.u.s.teredly cover her mouth.
While Christina, rather than being surprised, she was feeling relieved.
To be honest, after being told will you please keep it a secret, she felt a murky feeling in her chest. Although she understood that for the sake of the two who seemed to have their own circ.u.mstances keeping it a secret was the best possible course of action, however, keeping a secret from Alberto felt unpleasant to her.
Nonetheless, with a feeling that couldn’t be expressed by words, Christina looked at Anna.
Her honest reaction of being surprised, expressed her unawareness of the situation. Since she had suddenly become lively, Christina thought that maybe Marx had explained the situation to Anna, but it seemed the reason for her liveliness was simply due to Marx’s skillful way of lifting up her mood.
Though that itself is quite──worrying.
If she was to be that cheerful from just a lip service from Marx, isn’t it hardly possible to be his lover?
He who managed to control her mood certainly seemed like a wonderful gentleman. However, even if her mood got better, at the tea room where it was done, the fact that Marx already had a fiancée named Irene still didn’t change.
Towards the princess who appeared to be skillfully made to dance on top of his hand, Christina just stared listlessly at her.
Alberto looked suspiciously at his friend who was smiling aloofly.
“──Are you planning to push some troublesome things over to me?”
Being asked with a voice full of criticism, Marx grinned.
“Un. Because Alberto, aren’t you my friend? You’ll help me, right?”
“……”
Alberto made a sour face[1] and shifted his gaze to Christina. He softly watched over Christina who didn’t show any speck of being surprised at all, and glared at Marx.
“You’ve involved Christina in this, haven’t you?”
Marx smirked and tilted his head.
“Un. So, what will you do? Isn’t it infuriating for you to have Chris and me share a secret together?”
“──You didn’t change at all, still a crafty man as usual”
Alberto held his irritation and breathed out, then leaned his back on the sofa like Marx did. He crossed his legs and uttered.
“I’ll listen to your story. But before that, give us tea or something”
Surely it was to calm himself down.
Being asked to prepare tea, Marx rang a bell and summoned his servant. He ordered the servant to prepare tea for the ladies and alcohol for him and Alberto.
Anna, for some reason, looked at Marx with sparkling eyes. He asked for tea for the ladies while having alcohol for themselves, but that seemed to tug at her heartstrings.
──Maiden in love just beautified everything, even when she shouldn’t.
.
The wine was prepared, and Alberto drank it in silence. Until Alberto’s feeling calmed down, Marx engaged in a trifling chat with Christina and Anna.
His stories were interesting. The foolish fight he saw in a bar in the neighboring kingdom, the story about the acrobats he saw, or the love story he heard from a minstrel.
If one had to say, there was a sense that he was trying to please Anna, and just according to his intention, Anna was merrily listening to his stories.
Before long, clack, Alberto put the emptied gla.s.s on top of the table.
“You seem to be enjoying Sechs Kingdom quite much, don’t you, Marx?”
“……Ah, do you want to drink a bit more wine?”
Without waiting for Alberto’s reply, Marx took a bottle from the cart that the servant left behind and poured it into the gla.s.s. While gazing at the alcohol being poured to the brim, Alberto sighed and said.
“Hurry up and talk. What’s the thing with Miss Irene? ──If it is something that involved the royalty, there is a limit to what I can do”
“……”
Marx’s arm that was pouring the alcohol, slightly wavered. Christina didn’t quite understand and looked towards Alberto.
“Why would you say that it involved the royalty?”
Shouldn’t this story just about the love relationship between Marx and Irene?
Alberto smiled at Christina.
“She, you know, Christina. When Marx started to talk about the royalties, her face suddenly stiffened”
Marx let out a sigh, and replenished his own gla.s.s with alcohol.
Christina who was only worrying about Anna, didn’t pay any attention to Irene’s expression in the tea room.
While Alberto who kept an eye over the entire tea room, looked with a pondering thought.
“That’s why when I tried to say that a royalty is coming, she turned pale, and left the tea room. Even Marchioness Klüger, the moment she heard the talk about royalty, the expression in her eyes changed. No matter how I see this, Miss Irene seems to be a lady who has a problem with royalty. Moreover, on her way to the mansion after leaving the tea room, Miss Irene met up with the butler and maid before being guided to her room with an anxious look. ──This house seems to band together in protecting her, is what I thought”
Christina, couldn’t do anything but stared blankly. The moment Irene left the tea room, Alberto who tried to take her to the garden had actually observed that much; it was something that she didn’t realize at all.
“── as I expected, you’re a crafty guy too, Alberto”
As Marx said it unpleasantly, he sat deeply on the sofa and swirled the wine. Alberto snorted.
“There is no way that everything will just go as you expected, right? It’s not Anna’s case anyway”
“Eh?”
Alberto squinted at Anna who was staring in puzzlement so adorably. While Marx, after looking at Anna with gentle eyes, bended himself forward to Alberto.
“Naa. So does that mean, the talk about the First Prince is coming is──……”
“──unfortunately, that’s true. Next week, he plans to come here. It was such an abrupt talk that to be honest it is troublesome, but since they don’t need to have any reception prepared for them, they insisted on the plan. The Prime Minister’s mood has been getting worse day by day that it is such a trouble”
It is unusual for Alberto to talked bitterly about something.
But, it was true that Father’s mood has been getting worse day by day. The wrinkle between his eyebrows after he came home, has been getting deeper with each pa.s.sing day.
Alberto’s jet black eyes turned towards his friend.
“Quickly say it. I’m sorry to say this, but I have no obligation to protect Miss Irene. That alone you should understand. The one I’m giving priority to, is the country”
“Onii-sama……”
Hearing that intense statement, Anna’s face started to show uneasiness. Marx exhaled haa, and looked up at the sky.
“I understand. ……It’s just something I guessed, but it seems the neighboring kingdom’s first prince, is infatuated with Irene”
“I thought so”
Although Alberto easily nodded, but Christina and Anna were so surprised they couldn’t even follow the conversation. However the atmosphere in the room was being dominated by Alberto and Marx, thus both of them couldn’t do anything but to meet each other’s eyes and kept on blinking.
“But Irene doesn’t want to marry His Highness Tobias. Even for me it was a story that I personally think to be unpleasant too”
“Why?”
Anna’s eyebrows drooped, as she looked up at Marx. Marx smiled as if to soothe Anna, then said quietly.
“That guy……the moment he saw Irene at the Royal Family’s banquet, the first thing he said was ‘become my concubine’, you see”
“…………”
A wrinkle appeared between Alberto’s eyebrows, as he put his elbow on the backrest.
Christina was so astonished that she couldn’t say anything, but Anna asked curiously.
“That Highness Tobias, is still single, right?”
Marx gently nodded towards Anna who didn’t seem to understand.
“Yes, that’s right. For the unmarried His Highness Tobias, he thought of Irene not as a legal wife but ordered her to be his concubine, you see. Since his legal wife still hasn’t been decided yet “
It went without saying, for a lady with such standing that could only fit the position of being the legal wife, that remark was nothing but an insult.
However, why──
Alberto spoke out the doubt that everyone had.
“Why won’t he ask her to be his legal wife?”
If he is not married with anyone, shouldn’t it be okay for her to be the legal wife? As Alberto said so, Marx laughed sarcastically.
“Although your face is not beautiful enough to be my legal wife, but I’m pleased with your hair──was what he said”
“──……”
A painful silence surrounded the whole room.
Prince Tobias was nineteen years old.
While being the first prince, unlike Alberto, he didn’t have his fiancée decided from a young age.
In Sechs Kingdom, there was two Princes with the same age. Both of them, were concubine’s children. The throne succession system in that kingdom was different from the one in Noin Kingdom, it was the system where the King would nominate who would succeed the throne or become the crown prince, although up until now there still no declaration about it. After the present Queen gave birth to a princess, she gave no indication of getting pregnant anymore.
The privilege of having a concubine, besides the King, belonged to the Crown Prince.
In other words, Prince Tobias was planning to be the Crown Prince.
Marx hung his head down.
“We became acquainted with Irene after we moved there, you see, but her mother died when giving birth to her. She became attached to my mother, and my mother also took care of her like her own daughter. My mother happened to be present during that incident and wasn’t pleased at all with the Prince’s remark”
“……then, did she said since Irene is going to be engaged with you, so he can’t? She’s quite hasty, isn’t she?”
Alberto calmly interjected. No matter how much she wanted to avoid the Prince’s proposal, to tell a fake story like that, what would she do if it becomes reality?
Marx raised his tired face.
“It’s because my mother likes Irene. Even if that story becomes reality, she’s fine with it”
Anna turned pale. As the atmosphere between her brother and his friend broken, she seemed to forget to keep up her appearance.
Alberto chira peeked at his little sister, then snorted.
“Then, you just have to obediently marry her. You don’t hate her after all. Isn’t it alright? There is no loss for both of you”
“Alberto-sama”
Christina inadvertently glared at Alberto.
Somehow, it feels like Alberto is being mean on purpose.
From his gaze and expression, doesn’t it seem like he vaguely notices Anna’s feeling? she thought. After all he is a person that realized the extreme slight change of Irene’s expression in the tea room. It’s not strange at all for him to realize his own sister’s subtle feeling, was what Christina able to think now.
Marx put both of his elbows on the backrest, loosening his body up.
“About that, you see, since it is so troublesome it’s not like I’ve never thought about it…… But, as expected a girl wants to be happy, right? For me Irene is someone like my own little sister”
The moment Marx uttered those words, with her face still being pale, Anna blinked with a snap, and raised her face up.
──She’s too easy to understand……
On the contrary, Christina’s complexion worsened.
If she shows such an easy to understand reaction, her feeling should be leaking out to Marx, and rather than saying that he’s bad at guessing her feeling──maybe it was more correct to say that he doesn’t want to guess it──that feeling also reached Alberto.
Fortunately, Marx was not paying attention to Anna. Alberto, after seeing Christina’s expression, turned towards Anna. He then uninterestedly replied.
“A man that can make a little sister happy[2], do you have someone in mind?”
“U~n. I wonder?”
“Her unrequited love, maybe?”
“I wonder……”
“Isn’t she’s in love with you?”
“Eh, that’s not true”
Looking at the sky listlessly while answering, Marx then sat up. However Alberto’s gaze was fixed at Anna.
Anna who was staring at Marx with a maiden in love’s eyes, finally realized her brother’s gaze.
“……nn? What’s wrong?”
Looking like he didn’t quite understand a thing, Marx looked and compared the two.
Alberto was looking at his own sister with stare that showed his disbelief, while Anna was wincing from her brother’s intense stare.
This, he surely has noticed.
Christina held Alberto’s fist which was clutched tightly on top of his lap to the point that blood vessels rose up.
Alberto turned towards her with a grim face. While Christina showed a gentle smile rivaling that of a G.o.ddess.
“Then, when His Highness Tobias come, we will deal with him. After all it’s only if he suddenly comes here. Although his intention may be insincere, but his attachment is real. There was nothing better than to avoid an undesirable marriage”
“No……”
Alberto tried to spit out words of denial, but as Christina gripped his hand tightly, his tongue was tied.
“It’s about someone who is like a sister to our friend after all. Let’s help as much as we can?”
“……”
Thinking humanely, she thought of wanting to help him. In addition, from now on Marx surely would be someone who would help Alberto. Helping him during his distress was not a bad thing at all.
And from now on, he might also become an existence that is more than a friend with Anna after all.
──I’m a bit worried about that, though.
Marx laughed in relief.
“Thank you, Chris. Maybe that guy will say that it is an inspection and searching all around for Irene, but I’m counting on you”
“Yes, I’ll do as much as I can”
Having the whole talk brought into a conclusion, Alberto once again shifted his gaze towards his sister. While staring at Anna whose cheeks were stiffened in a startle, he quietly muttered.
“……my little sister, seems to have an extremely bad taste……”
“Nn?”
Marx looked down at Anna with a look of incomprehension, while Anna hung her head with a blushed face.
[1]If translated literally, ‘he made a face as if he chewed on a bitter bug’↵
[2]妹を幸せにする男 Alberto only said imouto (little sister), he didn’t specify it being Anna or Irene (since Marx thinks of Irene as his sister). It works both way in j.a.panese, maybe it was intended to be ambiguous?)↵