TIRS 58

CHAPTER 58…..

 Passionate Love

“Piya! You’ve been binge eating!”

Pyu-rrrrrr!

I was genuinely worried.

Piya had eaten so much that it looked like he couldn’t even fly anymore.

While I was fretting over him, he let out a loud Pyu-eet! and stomped on the dessert plate with his left foot.

Of course, since his feet were so tiny and light, it wasn’t a real stomp—it was more like a cotton ball tapping.

“Eek! I-I’ll bring you fresh macarons right away, Prince Ancelot’s bird!”

The attendant, pale-faced, scrambled to move at Piya’s “demand.”

Oh…

I watched Piya with a new sense of awe as he enjoyed his full authority to eat as much as he pleased.

“Luenhart seems to be quite a dignified kingdom,” Klaus said pleasantly, sounding just as content as Piya. It seemed he had also been treated very well.

“Why?”

“I told them I wanted to see the knights’ training, and they gladly let me watch the training grounds.”

In Azester, you needed the emperor’s permission for that.

In fact, most kingdoms on the continent didn’t let outsiders easily observe their knights’ drills.

“They’re a good country with strong spirit.”

“Ahh.”

I let out a short exclamation and silently thought,

That’s probably just because we’re with Salto’s group.

Especially since I’d seen the face of a palace knight darken when Klaus said that—it was definitely that reason.

Well… Klaus is so straight-laced, he’s not exactly the perceptive type…

“But where’s Ancelot?”

Having cooled off after my morning stroll, I generously asked about Ancelot’s whereabouts.

“Prince Ancelot left in the morning with soldiers to meet King Titarus.”

“The king?”

“It seems there was some sort of unpleasant incident at the prince’s palace last night.”

“Ah…”

I thought of the assassin who had attacked Ancelot in the middle of the night.

The palace staff had been whispering rumors about him afterward, making the story sound worse.

It wasn’t even Ancelot’s fault.

At this point, Klaus spoke in his usual calm tone, reassuring me.

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t Prince Ancelot’s fault, so there shouldn’t be any trouble.”

I widened my eyes in surprise.

“How do you know…?”

“Prince Ancelot may be a lunatic, but he’s not the type to kill without reason.”

I felt a sudden warmth in my chest at Klaus’s trust in Ancelot.

Seems he doesn’t exactly like Ancelot, but he does trust him in his own way.

Pyu-rr, pyu-r!

—Exactly, Lady Lulu! Forget about Ancelot—let’s eat something delicious and have fun!

Piya flapped his wings to come over to me, but maybe he’d eaten too much.

He lifted off a little… and then dropped right back down onto the plate.

Quack!

He let out a strange cry and flopped forward on the plate, making me chuckle.

After breakfast, Ancelot still hadn’t returned, even by evening.

When I casually asked an attendant, they said Ancelot had cut the audience with the king short after speaking to him rather brazenly.

“Then why hasn’t he come back?”

“It seems he went out beyond the palace.”

Leaving Ancelot to his business, I got ready for the party.

Every day, the palace hall was hosting parties in celebration of the upcoming festival.

Since I needed to gather information for the next stage of the scenario, I left Illei in Klaus’s care and went with Piya to the party.

Having eaten so much that he’d turned into a pig-bird, Piya couldn’t fly and sat quietly in my pocket.

Where’s Prince Arno?

Scanning the crowd, I searched for the prince who would likely appear in the next quest.

In the original story, he was that petty villain who bullied Maria and ended up dueling Hezen.

Being a prince—and a villain who picked on the heroine—I thought he’d definitely be at a place like this.

But there was no sign of him anywhere.

Just in case, I stepped out onto the terrace to look around when—

Bam-ba-bam!

SYSTEMSYSTEM Target of conquest is nearby!

At the loud system notification, a pink heart icon popped onto my minimap to mark Maria’s location.

“Huh?! W-what is that?”

Pyu-reet.

—In conquest mode, the target is marked on the minimap with a heart icon.

“…What a useless feature.”

Pink heart effects bloomed like footprints everywhere Maria walked, so flashy and distracting that I just turned the minimap off.

Pyu-eet!

—Lady Lulu, why are you turning it off? You should hurry and find Maria!

“It’s not that I’m ignoring the quest, but… I should gather more info on Arno first…”

I mumbled excuses, trying to delay.

Peeeep!

—Ah! Maria’s right over there! Hurry, Lady Lulu!

This sharp-eyed little bird didn’t even need the minimap—he quickly spotted Maria and pushed me toward her.

On the large terrace, open with the curtains drawn back, Maria was surrounded by a group of noble young ladies.

Even among their glittering finery, her pure beauty stood out.

“Wait, Piya. I need more time to mentally prepare.”

Peeep!

—What do you mean! You need to complete the quest right away!

“And besides, Maria is with her friends right now…”

I was still trying to stall with flimsy excuses when—

“I smell… a commoner.”

Huh?

I thought I’d misheard, but I looked sharply back at them.

“Oh my, surely not. This awful, rotting stench can’t be the smell of a commoner, can it?”

“I’d rather dunk my nose into sewage, hohoho.”

The girls around Maria burst into cruel laughter.

I hadn’t misheard.

Now I saw that Maria wasn’t playing with friends—she was being bullied!

Those wretched brats!

In the original story, Maria was never bullied by noble ladies.

But since most of the story was told from Hezen’s perspective, it was probably just an omitted detail.

Even though I had my reasons for avoiding Maria, she was still my favorite female character in my favorite work.

I couldn’t just walk away—I strode onto the terrace and interrupted.

“What did you just say? That something smells?”

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

To nasty words—nasty words in return!

“That’s right. Something does smell. Like a filthy, yapping mouth.”

I looked straight at the red-haired girl who seemed to be the ringleader, using the nasty phrases I’d learned from Ancelot.

The startled redhead raised her voice at me.

“Did you just say that to—!”

“Wait, Lady Azeline. That’s…”

Another girl grabbed the redhead’s arm to stop her.

“It’s her! She’s from the Azester Empire…”

“What? She’s Salto’s…?”

Realization dawned, and the redhead paled.

“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”

I narrowed my eyes sharply at them, fully aware of why they looked so afraid.

The “lover of Salto,” Louisbel Azester, had already become a figure of caution on par with Salto himself.

After my morning walk, I’d seen just how true that was.

I glared harder.

“I thought it was just your mouth that stank, but have your eyes rotted too?”

“Eek! S-sorry!”

The girls bullying Maria flinched at a single glance, trembling and apologizing before retreating.

SYSTEMSYSTEM has been rescued from danger.

QuestProgressQuest Progress <Main Quest: Love and Duel! (1/3)> Rescue Maria from danger (3 times completed)

I snorted at their pitiful retreating backs.

[Main Quest: Love and Duel! (1/3)] Completed!*

By sheer accident, the quest had been cleared.

SYSTEMSYSTEM Quest success!
SYSTEMSYSTEM Gained 25,000 EXP.
SYSTEMSYSTEM Level up! (Lv. 39)
SYSTEMSYSTEM Gained 10 skill points.
SYSTEMSYSTEM ’s affection has reached maximum.
SYSTEMSYSTEM feels passionate love toward you.

…Passionate… what?

For a moment, I wondered if the system was glitching, blinking at the message.

Maria, cheeks tinged with shy blush, spoke to me.

“Thank you, Lady Louisbel. Oh, may I call you Lady Louisbel?”

Apparently, she’d already learned my name.

“I didn’t realize the one who saved me was Princess Louisbel of Azester. You’ve already rescued me from danger three times.”

“Usually, picking up something someone dropped or checking the clock at the tower doesn’t count as rescuing from danger, does it?”

I gave an awkward laugh as I asked, and Maria’s eyes curved sweetly.

“To me, the helping hand you offered was a tremendous grace.”

And then, of course, a choice menu popped up.

1.(Catchherbythewaistandwink)‘Yourlovelybeautyisthetruesalvationhere.’1. (Catch her by the waist and wink) ‘Your lovely beauty is the true salvation here.’
2.(Leaninasiftokiss)‘ThenmayIreceiverepaymentintheformIdesire?’2. (Lean in as if to kiss) ‘Then may I receive repayment in the form I desire?’
3.(Takeherhandsandspeakpassionately)‘Ifcoincidencesrepeat,isn’tthatfate?’3. (Take her hands and speak passionately) ‘If coincidences repeat, isn’t that fate?’

Wow… Piya, you really have a type.

I swallowed my insult at the equally cringe-worthy choices, no better than last time.

Besides—wasn’t #2 basically harassment? What kind of relationship did we even have to justify a kiss?

Peeep?

Piya tilted his head, not understanding the problem.

Maria gazed at me fervently.

I picked the one that seemed least inappropriate—#3.

“If coincidences repeat, isn’t that fate?”

Hearing the overly romantic tone coming out of my own mouth made me want to bite my tongue.

And of course, right at that moment—

“Your Highness, here you—”

Ancelot stepped onto the terrace, pulling back the curtain, and froze when he saw me.

He repeated my words in a low murmur.

“If… coincidences repeat… then it’s fate…”