ARTS 20

CHAPTER 20

 “Son of the Knight Commander”

I completely forgot to include the son of the knight commander.

“What kind of bad things am I supposed to do?”

“Huh?”

While eating lunch in the dining hall as usual with Labura-chan and Catherine-chan, I decided to try asking them.

“If I want that perverted idiot prince to hate me, I need to do something bad, right?”

“Um, Your Rose Highness? Like… for example, maybe try bullying me?”

Labura-chan said this with a troubled expression.

“If I have to bully someone as cute as you, Labura-san, then it would be better to bully the prince instead!”

“Your Rose Highness, that’s not allowed~.”

“But! Labura-san is beautiful and cute! I want to protect her!! If it’s the prince, I could totally kick him down the stairs without hesitation!”

“Please don’t~. Your Rose Highness, come back to reality~.”

I grabbed Labura-chan’s hand and said:

“My prediction is that next year, a cute angel with pink-gold hair will come to this academy. Even if I don’t bully her, I’ll somehow end up being accused of bullying her anyway, my engagement with the prince will be broken, and I’ll live happily ever after.”

“P-pink-gold-haired angel… where is that coming from…?”

“…Intuition?”

Labura-chan’s face stiffened.

“Wouldn’t it be faster to just bully me instead of waiting for an angel who may or may not even exist? Look, I’m clumsy, I even accidentally got my chest touched by the prince… even I think I have main-character heroine potential!”

I said with a smile.

“I want to read a story where Labura-san is the heroine!”

Labura-chan froze completely.

“If Labura-san is the heroine, I will fully support her!! First step: file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the prince!”

“I feel like the genre of your story just changed completely!! Your Rose Highness, come back to reality!”

Labura-chan is so cute!!

I’m starting to want to punch the prince.

“Hey, I heard you talking about suing me.”

Perfect timing—the prince appeared.

“Yes! First, please clench your teeth!”

“You’re fully intending to hit me, aren’t you?! You’re absolutely planning to punch my face!”

“Yes! …Is that bad?”

I tilted my head cutely.

“You’re cute, but what you’re saying is terrifying.”

“One punch! Just one!”

“……”

At that moment—

The knight commander’s son stepped between us.

He glared at me strongly and said:

“You! Do you even understand who you’re threatening?”

“Of course I do!”

“Do you think you can act violently just because you’re a girl? If you lay a hand on royalty, that’s another matter entirely.”

“Then what if I use force? I don’t mind.”

The knight commander’s son twisted his face in irritation.

“Cardinal, show me at least some respect.”

“You’re too loud, you perverted idiot prince.”

“You—!”

Seeing him reach for his sword, I closed the distance instantly and grabbed his hand tightly, applying pressure.

A long sword becomes useless when your distance is broken and your hand is restrained.

I then placed a short dagger—crafted from a hair ornament—against his neck and whispered:

“You underestimate me because I’m a girl. That mistake cost you your life. Consider that you already died once just now.”

When I slowly stepped back, his face was pale.

“Build, it’s not that you’re weak. It’s just that our angel is on a different level.”

“Brother! I’m not invincible!”

“Kana, isn’t it a problem if your intelligence agents don’t even act because you interfere first?”

“…The agent assigned to my brother was still sulking after I beat him up last time so he’s a bit unmotivated… and besides, he can’t hold back. He’s not from the intelligence division, he was pulled from the assassination unit…”

My brother smiled and gently patted my head.

“I felt a killing intent earlier, but if he’s ex-assassination unit, he still has a long way to go.”

“He’s in training to suppress killing intent. I’m teaching him, so he’ll learn quickly.”

“You’re personally training him? Do you like him?”

“He’s someone who will eventually report to Father, so I’m training him thoroughly.”

My brother laughed lightly.

“So the reason your special forces are so highly rated is because you’re the instructor, Kana.”

“You’re overestimating me.”

From an outsider’s perspective, the children of the chancellor probably look quite terrifying when they give off such an ominous atmosphere.

That must be your strategy, right, Brother? I understand!!

“Hey, Bart! Don’t let Cardinal do such dangerous things—she should be studying how to become a royal wife…”

“I have no intention of giving Kana to you.”

“Hey!”

“Unless Kana says so, it won’t happen. Meaning: it will never happen.”

“Hey!”

“Can’t be helped. Your reputation is ‘idiot pervert,’ after all.”

“That misunderstanding about me being a pervert is—!”

“Whether it’s a misunderstanding or not doesn’t matter. My happiness depends on you being disliked by Kana.”

Ah… my brother really has a terrible personality.

“Cardinal, your brother is that kind of person!”

“My brother is so cool!”

“Why?!”

In the end, I think the reason I can’t fully hate the prince is because he gets teased like this anyway.

I sincerely hope he finds happiness with a cute heroine who isn’t me.

That was a certain day’s event.

Ah, and Build-kun ended up being such a minor character…

Is Kana’s team the strongest after all?