Jeord Stuart—a romanceable character in the first Fortune Lover and my fiancé—had blond hair and blue eyes. He truly had the appearance of the most classic fairy-tale prince. However, to my absolute shock, he did not end up seeking the hand of Maria—the protagonist—as he did in the game, but instead ended up falling for me. I was still stumped as to why he had chosen me—with my villainess face and bad grades—rather than Maria, who was pretty, clever, and lovable.
Incidentally, though Jeord had professed his love for me, I had asked him to hold off on our marriage—I needed him to wait until I had managed to evade a Bad End in Fortune Lover II. For someone like me, who had zero romantic experience—even in my past life—a sudden confession of love from a prince was just too much to process. I certainly couldn’t deal with it while I was busy trying to escape doom. I was such a scatterbrain—Jeord really was very patient, being willing to wait for someone like me.
It wasn’t a rare event for Jeord to come to my home without an appointment. If anything, he came extremely frequently. However, he almost never came so late in the evening. He usually visited on my days off from the Magical Ministry.
Ah! I suddenly remembered there had been one time he had come to visit very late in the evening. A little while ago, he had been targeted by a particularly troublesome noble, and had spent every day under close surveillance. I wonder if Jeord’s in some kind of trouble again, I thought, suddenly getting worried and hurrying over to meet him.
“Excuse me,” I called out before entering the guest room where Jeord was waiting for me.
Jeord was sitting down, but once I entered he elegantly rose to his feet.
“Welcome home, Katarina,” he said with a broad grin.
I couldn’t help but be swept along by his greeting.
“Eh? Ah, yes. I’ve just arrived home,” I replied.
“Tee hee hee,” giggled Jeord. “With that exchange, it’s almost like we’re already a family.”
Having said that, he looked at me with a satisfied expression on his face.
It’s like we’re already a family? What does he mean? That we’re like brother and sister? Is he saying that, since he only has older brothers, he wishes he had a big sister?
I only had older brothers in my past life, and had always wanted a big sister myself, so perhaps that was how Jeord felt.
Jeord noticed my quizzical expression.
“How very like you, Katarina. I might have known that you would completely fail to understand me.” He giggled. “I meant that it feels like we’re already husband and wife.”
“H-Husband and wife?!” I couldn’t believe my ears.
So that’s what he meant... Hmmm, well, I guess we are engaged, so if things go as planned we will be husband and wife. Though, Jeord was supposed to end up with Maria... But he didn’t—he’s in love with me! If that’s so, and I choose to accept his love for me, we’ll be husband and wife...
Somehow I felt myself starting to get confused and flustered. My face began to feel warm for some reason. Perhaps I was blushing.
Seeing my discomposure, Jeord giggled once again. His reaction reminded me of my run-in with Sora earlier that day.
Huh? Could he be making fun of me, just like Sora was?
“M-Might you be teasing me?” I gave Jeord a stern look right in his pretty face, though I had to look up a bit.
Jeord blinked in bemusement, then buried his face in his hands. He spoke in a strangled voice.
“No, I did not mean to tease you at all, but... Please, could you refrain from making such an adorable face?”
Eh? He wasn’t teasing me? And wait, what does he mean by “adorable”? Maybe he really is teasing me?
I cast a suspicious glance at Jeord, but with his face still covered, I couldn’t make out his expression.
Is it just my imagination, or are my ears turning a little red? I can’t actually see them. I shook my head in exasperation as I tried to figure out what was happening. As I did so, Jeord finally looked up.
“The reason I called upon you today, Katarina, is because there is something that I really ought to tell you.” He said this all very smoothly, as if everything were normal.
I got the impression that I couldn’t expect any answers if I broached the subject of what had just happened between us, so I decided to ask why he’d come to see me.
“May I ask what it is?”
If he’d gone out of his way to visit me at such a late hour, it had to be something of great importance. I gulped in anticipation.
“Though this can probably be made known to the public very soon, the truth is that, in a few weeks’ time, a prince will be coming from Ethenell to study here.”
I had expected something more concerning, such as Jeord having been targeted by another troublesome noble, or another girl stepping forward to announce herself as a new potential fiancée. His answer was so unexpected that I could only stare blankly at him.
“A prince from Ethenell is coming to study here? Erm, does that pose some sort of problem?”
Our kingdom, Sorcié, was the wealthiest and most advanced kingdom in the region. Because of this, nobles often came from other kingdoms to study our customs. When it came to royalty, this was not so common, but as far as I knew it was not unprecedented.
Just who is this prince from Ethenell? Who could be so problematic that Jeord would feel the need to come and report his visit to me, wearing such a mysterious look on his face?
“No, I would not call it a problem, per se, but... Katarina, could it be that you’ve forgotten about the Prince of Ethenell?” asked Jeord, a dubious look on his face.
Forgotten about the Prince of Ethenell? Why, I don’t know any prince of...
“Ah! By the Prince of Ethenell, do you mean Prince Cezar?!”
I’d been so taken aback by Jeord’s sudden visit, and our conversation up to that point, that the prince’s identity had totally slipped my mind.
That’s right. Cezar is the Prince of Ethenell!
“It would appear that you remember now... Though, I wish you could have simply forgotten him for the rest of your life,” mumbled Jeord. I couldn’t quite make out what he said next, but judging by the slightly gloomy expression on his face, I guessed that it probably wasn’t anything positive. I decided not to press him any further.
“I see, so Prince Cezar is coming to study here, is he?”
I happened to meet Cezar Dahl—the Prince of Ethenell—at the International Assembly I attended a little while ago. We found ourselves getting along very well before either of us knew the other’s identity. We crossed paths again when he helped me out during the kidnapping incident that took place in the port town of Ocean Harbor. Later, I had learned that Cezar was one of the hidden romanceable characters in Fortune Lover II. Incidentally, I only found that out after we parted ways following the incident in that port town, so I hadn’t yet spoken to him since learning that he was a romanceable character.
However, despite Cezar’s status in the game, he was a prince from Ethenell, and would only ever visit Sorcié during an event like the Assembly. He would therefore have very few opportunities to interact with the protagonist. I had wondered to myself how he was ever supposed to develop a close bond with the protagonist under those circumstances. Now I realized his trip to study abroad in Sorcié had to be some kind of event from the game. Cezar and the protagonist would have an opportunity to grow closer through such events.
If that happens... There’s a possibility that some doom flags might emerge.
After all, it was the villainess herself—Katarina Claes—who appeared once again in Fortune Lover II to stand between the protagonist and her conquest—in this case Cezar. Katarina would go so far as to commit crimes to prevent their romance, and would meet her end by being thrown in prison or slain in battle.
As if I didn’t already have enough to deal with, worrying about sealing my own doom by getting between Maria and the other romanceable characters—Cyrus, Dewey, and Sora—Cezar had to show up as well. Cezar was a good person, but when I thought about his role in the game, I was overcome by melancholy. However, since I had been informed ahead of time, rather than having him just show up one day, I could prepare myself. When I considered that, I was glad that Jeord had come to visit so late, since he had done so in order to tell me.
Hmm, hang on a moment. I could see why Cezar—one of the game’s romanceable characters—coming to study in Sorcié might be a huge problem for me, but as far as Jeord—who didn’t even know about the game—was concerned, I couldn’t see how Cezar coming here to study was such a big deal. So why did he come over so late just to tell me?
“I beg your pardon, Prince Jeord, but, though I do remember Prince Cezar now, I can’t see why him coming here to study is such a problem.”
Though I had only met Cezar in his role as Prince of Ethenell one time, he had seemed perfectly well mannered to me. I couldn’t imagine him offending anyone no matter where he went. Besides, he was also incredibly gorgeous and, though he had been the subject of a great deal of attention from the young ladies gathered at the Assembly, I hadn’t heard any negative rumors about him.
“I don’t know that I would call it a problem, exactly...” Jeord began to say, then fell silent, apparently lost in thought.
This was a rare sight, so I decided to keep quiet and waited for him to continue.