But my praise could only apply to him as a man. He was a prince, so I could not let him sacrifice himself like a pawn in a fight.
“Er—o-of course I’ll be more defensive in a real battle. After all, the great Miss Mylene taught me so!”
“If you value my teaching so much, here’s a lesson you ought to cram into your skull first: You should never be in a real battle to begin with.”
“Oh—oh…!”
If Albert were defeated in combat, Eltania would be forced into a war of retribution. And if it came to that, Gods of the Moon would make great strides bringing about their world of chaos. The motherfucking world from my past life, that is.
I’d beaten him over the head with that advice, but he just wouldn’t take it. It made a guy wanna clutch his head and scream.
If we weren’t at school right now (back garden aside) and away from potential witnesses, I would have scolded him and given his head a good smacking—but I was already putting all my energy into minding my language. There was no way I could land a proper punch in these conditions.
It ain’t easy being a little lady.
“Now, now, don’t tease him so,” Colette said, offering some kind words to the cowering prince. “A little spirit is nice—shows his potential as a man.”
“If you ask me, Princess, you need to tone it down a little as well. But as you are technically the princess of another nation, it frustrates me that I cannot use stronger language with you.”
If ya asked me, Colette was the one who needed to calm her shit. Colorne and Eltania were both considered powerful nations, but the truth was that there was no comparison between the atrophied Eltania and Colorne, an empire that had spent the last several decades at war.
If Colette were to die, the lion would rampage in a berserk rage. I wasn’t all that interested in world peace, but if war literally erupted across the whole world over, I couldn’t exactly say it wasn’t my problem.
“Wise as ever, Mylene! Well…if you promise to be my wife, I suppose I could take the advice of somebody I’m entrusting the future to.”
If marrying her was all it would take to get her to listen to me, I could think of no better scenario than that…but as Colette pouted hintingly at me, my lips twitched a little.
I’d lived as a girl for a long time now, but I still felt like a man at heart. Colette was a beautiful and openhearted girl—becoming intimate with her was not unappealing.
“Princess…you’re still going on about that? Do forgive me, but that is a burden far too heavy for the shoulders of a common daughter of the nobility such as I…”
But it was painfully obvious that coupling with an empress from the most powerful empire in the world would be beyond your common hassle.
For a start, it was highly dubious that Colorne would allow its princess to marry another woman. In which case, I guess I’d be regarded as a mistress of sorts? Yeah, no thanks. I’d rather not be tucked away in a closet somewhere until I die.
“Q-quite right!” Albert stammered. “Besides, Miss Mylene is the pride of Eltania! And, with all due respect, she is also my fiancée, you know?!”
Yes, in addition to all that, I’m engaged to this guy. If the princess from the neighboring empire plundered their prince’s fiancée, the entire kingdom of Eltania would lose face. And Eltania and Colorne’s relationship would be screwed.
“I know there’s many obstacles,” Colette conceded. “And as I am now, I am unworthy to stand by your side, Mylene.”
“Please, Colette, don’t flippantly dismiss everything as an obstacle!”
“Can I help it if everything else seems trivial in the face of love?”
Luckily, Colette was a smart girl. She seemed to understand the intricacies of the issue and wasn’t planning on marrying me tomorrow. (Then again, behind her words, it was clear she was keen to screw everything up royally in the future.)
Colette and Albert snipped back and forth like this for a while, until the princess suddenly glanced at the clock.
“Would you look at the time? It pains me to leave, but I had a little matter to tend to.”
She seemed to be telling the truth—though something in her words felt a little off to me.
Albert voiced my suspicion. “Oh my, it’s not every day that Princess Colette prioritizes an errand over spending time with Miss Mylene—is it important?”
“Let me guess…is it related to the scandal?”
Colette was, in a word, self-righteous. She did the things she wanted to do and didn’t do the things she didn’t want to do. She had a characteristic simplicity to her.
Having said that, it was incredibly unusual for her to cut short her training session with me to run an errand. If it was so important that she couldn’t refuse, I could only conclude it had something to do with our little run-in with Gods of the Moon.
“Mm…yeah. Well…I suppose you could say it’s related to it…and not related to it… No—it’s a personal matter. Aww, are you worried about me?”
“I merely thought…that it might mean your errand was related to me as well.”
“There you go again, Mylene. Always so cold.” Colette innocently snickered.
It seemed it truly wasn’t anything to worry about. Perhaps it was quite simple, and Colette was just interested in other things. I was a little miffed that she’d meant what she said, but it was better that than something legitimately serious.
Still, it was a little concerning that she seemed nervous. Was it something she felt guilty about?
“Well, I’ll take my leave, then. See you later, Mylene, Prince Albert.”
“Oh! Er, yes, see you tomorrow, Princess Colette,” Albert stammered.
“Do have a safe walk home.”
If she won’t tell me willingly, there’s no point in thinking about it.
Colette waved and slipped out of the back garden where we trained.
Well, guess I might as well take her cue and call our training session quits for the—
“Miss Mylene, what shall we do after this? If you have the time, I would love to receive some more lessons from you… At the very least, I’d like to catch up to Princess Colette.”
“Yes, Your Highness. If that’s what you want, I shall gladly comply.”
If he was game, then I was glad to join him. Little guy had balls, asking someone stronger than him to kick his ass—I liked it.
“Heh… Now, come at me however you wish.”
Saying this, I gripped my practice sword again. As I watched Albert stand firm and let the magic energy flow within him, I snorted and smirked.
Would ya look at that? Weak little prince is growing up.