(O3O)/ – Here is chapter 23.2!!!
(OwO) – The POV kept changing till the end of the chapter.
(-.-) – This chapter was h.e.l.l, it didn"t have any indications for the POV changes, so I did it myself and improved some things here and there. I"ll just have to edit this later.
(OwO) – I don"t have a recommendation for you guys right now, but I"ll search for more.
(-.-) – And if you guys have a story in mind, that was dropped or that"s not translated yet, send me the link and I"ll check if I can do it.
(O3O)/ – It has to be Gender Bender!!!
(-.-) – Well, I hope you like the chapter.
(OwO) – Enjoy∼♥
Natalia, who heard the conversation between Bianca and Leonora, was feeling proud of her cousin.
(Really… Leonora did it again)
She remained quiet and sipped on her tea.
Bianca is the First Princess of the Weiz Empire.
But with Leonora"s help, the girl whom Natalia once regarded as her little sister, was now taking her first step into adulthood and becoming independent. This made Natalia a bit jealous, because she wasn"t the one who inspired this change in Bianca.
Because Bianca grew up with no one that she could call a real friend, it turned her into quite the selfish person and she stopped caring about other people. The only ones that she cared about, were Albert and Natalia, so Bianca did anything that she could do to keep them from danger. She hara.s.sed the girls who wanted to seduce Albert and humiliated the boys who approached Natalia with bad intentions.
(But Leonora changed Bianca)
Bianca was finally looking at what she did in the past and trying to fix things.
It was a tremendous change.
(And Albert too)
Natalia was honestly surprised by his change.
Since the day Albert met Leonora, he stopped caring about the consequences of the Dragon Mark, and said something that Natalia would never forget: “I just need to make this Empire the most prosperous one and then the Dragon Mark will stop working, because everyone will be rich, even the poor people.” (Tl/n: I would vote on him for president)
Leonora, the Altruistic Saintess.
(Does Leonora even notice the impact she has on people?)
Natalia wondered, how could she be more like her.
“…Neh-sama, if you, hug me, this tightly, I"ll suffocate….” – Leo.
“Wh! I"m Sorry, Leonora!!” – Bianca.
And as Natalia kept listening into their conversation, Bianca grabbed the canvas that was in the corner of the room.
“Here Leonora, Natalia Onee-sama told me to show you this painting.”
“Painting…?”
Leo was surprised, he didn"t expect to see another painting so soon.
Bianca then removed the cover of the painting.
Leo"s eyes were s.h.i.+ning in expectation.
“It seems to be Bernard"s latest painting.”
“Bernard…?”
“Yes, he"s a famous artist. But you know, I"m kinda of jealous, whenever I try to paint something it always becomes a mess and I can never get my paintings to look as good as his.”
Bernard was known for his satirical art style, which was usually hidden in the painting.
But this wasn"t his original art style.
In this small canvas, he painted a rough landscape.
Covering the lower part of the canvas was a crowd of people, but the most part of the people was painted facing backwards from the viewers, while kneeling on the ground and praying.
On the upper part of the canvas was the figure of a man and a woman, they seemed to be standing on some sort of altar while holding hands and looking at each other in the eyes.
The young man was wearing a white, short sleeved robe with golden ornaments, and his golden hair was s.h.i.+ning because of the moon light.
…
…
…
The young man was Prince Albert.
And the girl standing in front of him–
“–……!?”
(HGYOMNSTRLPWASVCTMGFD!!!!!!!!!) (Tl/n: LOL)
The young girl"s black hair was fluttering in the wind, and she was dressed in a simple, white, sleeveless dress.
Yes, the girl was Leonora von Harkenberg, whose amethyst eyes were s.h.i.+ning on this beautiful night of full moon.
When Bianca looked to the side, Leonora"s face was beet red.
“Oh dear…!”
Leo"s face was red, not because shyness, but because he was angry.
(Why was I painted while holding his hand!?)
But Bianca couldn"t have known about that.
“What a wonderful painting! I"m s.h.i.+vering from the excitement!”
“……!”
Leo didn"t say anything, he was just s.h.i.+vering from the anger and having gooseb.u.mps.
(Why did Bernard paint this accursed thing!?)
Leo still remembered the day he was re-summoned to the academy.
His thoughts when he saw the prince"s face?
It went like this: “At least kill me fast, please.” But the prince wasn"t mad, just happy.
Albert grabbed Leo"s hand, gave him the Dragon Mark, and said: “I want you to treasure it for the rest of your life, can you promise me that?” But Leo was too frightened to say no… it"s not like he had a choice… so he only said a meager: “Un, I promise.”
Leo was happy, he was spared by the prince. His face while crying from happiness and relief, plus the slight smile that he showed to the prince, made everyone mesmerized by the sight.
“The name of this painting is still undecided, but at least there are two options, “Midnight Vow” and “The Gold Coin King"s First Triumph.” So, which one do you like more?”
“…….”
It"s not like the painting wasn"t good, but it made Leo remember all of those emotions he felt at the time.
“Well, you don"t need to answer right now, but I personally think that Bernard is good at predicting the future.”
“The, future…?”
Leo looked at Bianca, he didn"t understand what she meant by that.
“Yes. If you look closely, this painting is an allegory. You and Onii-sama may really exchange vows in the future, who knows.”
“Hmm, Neh-sama…?”
Bianca winked toward Leo, which made him s.h.i.+ver for a moment.
“Bernard is one of the only mages that can use “Oracle,” a magic that predicts the future. It"s the same for the Harkenbergs, your amethyst eyes can see the truth, right?”
“……………Eh?”
But, Leo had yet to receive the most shocking revelation of his life.
“Oh G.o.d! But if he really is right, we should start searching for a good wedding dress. Maybe on our next day off we could–”
“–………!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
Leo would need to make another escape plan.
But this time, for the sake of his chast.i.ty.
Natalia on the other hand, was smiling in the room next door.
“I have to prepare for the wedding.”
But it wasn"t a normal smile.
“This time, I"ll be the one to chose the dress.”
It was a twisted smile.
“And I won"t let anyone interfere with my plans.”
The dress Albert chose for the presentation was pretty, but too extravagant.
One of the reasons for Natalia"s outburst of anger at that time, was because she couldn"t pick the dress for Leonora.
But at this exact moment, Natalia promised herself.
(Leonora"s wedding dress needs to be white! And I"ll make sure it happens!)
At this time, n.o.body knew that the cunning Natalia would become Emilia von Harkenberg"s pupil. (Tl/n: Another Onee-san joined the loli covenant)
But on the other room, Leo was so shocked by Bianca"s previous statement that he wanted to hit his head on the wall, just to make sure that he wasn"t having a nightmare.
Even though Bianca made the declaration of being Leo"s Neh-sama just a few minutes ago, she was already breaking the promise of keeping him from danger.
“Kyaaah∼! I can"t wait! If it really happens, I"ll be your real Nee-sama!”
“B-but Neh-sama, it"s not like, me and Albert-sama, will really marry. It"s just, a prediction.”
Leo was s.h.i.+vering in fear, he didn"t want to marry Albert.
But Bianca perceived it in completely different way.
“You say that, but you"re fidgeting∼. You can"t hide anything from your Nee-sama∼♥. Besides, your face is red, you know∼?”
Bianca was grinning towards her new little sister.
So of course Leo"s face would become red…….
Red from anger.
He wanted to scream: “Who the h.e.l.l would want to marry that f***ing prince!?” But Leena"s spell blocked him from saying that.
“Bernard said you could keep the painting. So, do you want to have it? ……Leonora? What"s wrong?”
Leonora"s shoulders were trembling, so Bianca looked at her worried.
“……–an"t….”
“Are you okay? I asked if you want–”
There is no sane person who would refuse a painting from Bernard, the genius painter of the current era.
However, Leo wasn"t a normal person.
“–You can"t!!!” (Tl/n: “Dameeee!” – Or something like that)
He didn"t want to receive such a grim and sinister painting.
(I can"t keep this thing, it will bring misfortune! But even if I were to send this to the orphanage, Leena would probably kill me! I need to trow it away!)
Bernard.
Leo once thought that this man was a skilled painter, but Bernard was actually a devil.
“You didn"t like the painting…?”
“I-it"s, not that….”
Leo wanted to put this painting in the gallery, but he immediately rejected the idea.
He was trying to think of a place that other people rarely go to.
But then, Leo had a sudden realization–
(–Right, there is that place! Okay, lets ask! Even if I"m rejected, it"s better than keeping this accursed thing!)
Leo then grabbed Bianca"s hand and said–
“The church! Please give, this painting, to the church!”
“The church…?”
Despite being a rather small painting, Bianca was still surprised that Leonora wanted to give one of Bernard"s best paintings to the church.
This painting"s a masterpiece, it could easily fetch a hundred gold coins in an auction.
And Leonora was giving it to the church, the same organisation that tried to harm the students, their parents and the high cla.s.s n.o.bles of foreign countries.
“Are you serious, Leonora? If you really donate it to the church, they wont give it back.”
“I know!”
People donated jewelry and other valuable things to the church all the time. But, as a tribute to the crown, the church is only allowed to keep the bare minimum to stay working.
Specially the basilica of the academy, it used to have a lot of different paintings hanging on the walls. But now, that place looked desolate, all of it"s decorations were stripped away by the crown after the incident. (Tl/n: If you want to know what a Basilica is, click HERE)
“I want to, donate it, to the church!”
Leonora had a beautiful smile and right now, it was beaming with antic.i.p.ation.
But Natalia on the room next door was–
(–Did someone tell her what happened to the church?)
The church betrayed the Weiz Empire, and their sins were heavy.
The betrayal in itself wasn"t something so shallow that Harlet could pay with his life.
Not only the students, but their parents, the n.o.bles, other countries, the common people, no one trusted the church anymore.
(But it"s true that even the good priests received the backlash of Harlet"s punishment…)
If this painting was to be donated to the church, whether they would use it as decoration, or even if they were to sell it, the church would appreciate her kindness.
After all, Leonora is a kindhearted girl. While trying to prove the innocence of the remaining good people, she was even providing a helping hand to the church.
“…W-well, if you say so….” – Bianca.
If this kind girl were to marry Albert, his reign would receive the support of a person that not only can grasp the hearts of the common people, but even the hearts of those arrogant and wicked n.o.bles.
Natalia then stood up and left the room, with a new found determination.
“But if we"re going to donate this to the church, who should we give it to?”
It"s as Bianca said.
There is no one to fulfill the role of Head Priest right now, since the previous generation, Harlet, was executed by the crown.
But then, all of a sudden–
*Bam*
–The door opened and Natalia entered the room.
“A new Head Priest just arrived–”
It was a new piece of information…… but that"s not the point!!!
“–Natalia Onee-sama!? Since when were you listening!?”
“It doesn"t matter. What really matters is that a new Head Priest is running the academy"s church. I don"t know his name, but he was chosen by the Emperor himself.”
“Muuu∼, meanie… but, can we really trust that priest?”
At this point, Leo didn"t care if the new Head Priest was a good guy or not, he could even be young boy or an old man.
“Then, I"m going, to the church!”
Leo just wanted to dispose of this accursed thing, so he grabbed the painting an tried to leave in a hurry.
“Right now?”
“Yes, the sooner, the better!”
Natalia believed that Leonora was trying to save the church, so she didn"t even think twice before saying: “You"re right. The sooner, the better–”
Leo smiled, thinking that his plan had worked.
“–But, if that"s the case, I"ll go with you. Bernard personally asked me if I could give this painting to you, so I cannot let you go there alone. I"ll see with my own eyes you delivering the painting to the hands of the Head Priest.”
But his smile froze in place, he never thought that Natalia would want to go there together.
*Whisper*
“What are you planning, Natalia Onee-sama…?”
At least Bianca noticed, but Natalia didn"t answer, she was looking to the side a bit shy.
If it"s just delivering the painting, Leonora could do it alone.
“//////I-I just, wanted to… spend some time with her….//////”
“//////W-well… un, if it"s just that, t-then there"s no p-problem… I think.//////”
It seems that the two of them needed a bit of time, to be more honest with their own feelings.
And like this, Natalia, Bianca and Leonora went to the basilica to deliver the painting.
(OwO) – Now we have 3 dangerous Onee-sans on the loose.
(-.-) – It was already bad with just the grandmother and the head maid. But now, even Natalia joined the team.
(O3O)/ – Well, that"s it for now!!!
(-.-) – If any of you want to support my work, consider donating me a tip on . I would be really glad if you did.
(OwO) – And that"s it for now, see you all next week.