“I don’t intend to force you,” the prince added. “I’m just asking for now.”
“At my age?”
“Chris was the same age when I first met him.”
Please tell me more!
“You’re avoiding our family, aren’t you?” he continued “I’ve heard from Chris that you’ve been very adamant about not marrying any of us. The Royal Spirits have also declared that they will eliminate anyone who does anything you do not agree with. That’s why no one can force you to do anything. The only option we have is to convince you to choose us. You’ll start attending tea parties once you turn six, right? It’ll become a battle to see who can make you fall for them.”
“Even though I won’t get engaged to anyone until I’m fifteen?”
“Yes, even despite that,” he said with a nod. “What I’m concerned about is that unfortunately, when you start school, I’ll have already graduated from elementary. But my brother is only one year older than you.”
“So you think I might end up choosing Prince Eldred?”
“I mean, there’s a possibility you will fall in love with him, right?” he pointed out. “And then another power struggle will undoubtedly happen.”
I could say with complete confidence that such a future would not come to pass. When you added the years I’d lived in my previous life as well, I was a woman well into her thirties now. I was no longer capable of the single-mindedness necessary to sacrifice others for the sake of love.
“I don’t want to be put through etiquette lessons, I’m bad at talking like a noble, and most importantly, I don’t want to become an imperial consort in the first place.” I put it as bluntly as I could.
“Isn’t that something girls usually want very much?”
“I don’t want a job with so much responsibility that the stress might drill a hole through my stomach.”
“What would you do if the person you loved ended up on the throne, then?” he pressed.
“I’d break up with him.”
Why were even my brothers shocked at that response? If they thought women lived to dedicate themselves to their husbands, they had better reevaluate their way of thinking. As someone from the modern day, that was impossible for me. If I get married, I want it to be a relationship where we respect each other equally and work together to build our lives. They would be my life partner. My bestest friend.
“Honestly, I would refuse to court someone who had a chance at the throne in the first place.”
“Wow. It’s genuinely impressive you’re able to state that so unequivocally.”
But of course. Like hell I’d let them put me through the education required to become an imperial consort. There were a ton of other things I’d rather do with my life.
“My brother will certainly try to get close to you, though,” the prince warned.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. You’d better start realizing how cute you really are.”
Whoa there. Putting on a royal smile, lowering his voice, practically flirting... You’re a sly one, prince boy.
“Deir doesn’t intend to become the bride of any ruler in any country,” Chris interrupted. “If you still say that this country will not stabilize without her help, then I think you’d better consider passing on your position to your brother.”
“As blunt as always, aren’t you?” Andrew said, turning toward Chris.
Oh god, their eyes were so serious. Do they always talk to each other like this?
“In that case, how can I interact with you without making you hate me?” the prince asked, turning to me again. “Since Her Majesty and the margravine get along, their generation will be fine, but I want to maintain cordial relations with the Belisarios in my generation as well.”
“Aren’t you already friends with Chris?” I pointed out.
“He’ll always prioritize you over me, so that isn’t enough.”
Chris really doesn’t waver on that point, does he?
“But mother would also prioritize us over the empress.”
The prince’s eyes widened. The empress’s orders came before family, before one’s own children. As a noble, that was the natural way of things. Yet, how had I managed to continue avoiding the imperial family since the meeting? If my mother had asked me desperately enough, I might have even changed my mind. I might have considered meeting with the empress just once, so long as it was just us. If my mother had prioritized the empress’s wishes, she and father might have begun fighting over no longer seeing eye to eye.
And yet, the March of Belisario was as peaceful as always. Mother always invited me to go to the empress’s tea parties with her, but that was all she did. She never pressured me to go.
“Don’t say that to anyone else in my family,” warned the prince.
“Her Imperial Majesty already realizes it,” I began. “If she didn’t—”
“Deir,” said Chris.
“Okaaaay.”
When Chris pushed me to stop, I listened and acquiesced like a good girl. Everyone here knew very well who would be in trouble if anything happened to our mother, even if it was because she didn’t put the empress first.
“Have all the Belisario children decided to abandon all pretense of acting their age?” sighed the prince.
“You’re one to talk,” Chris sniped back.
“Hey, I’m normal.”
If he’d been a normal child, he’d have been getting fed up with this conversation already. If he’d been all, “Aw, this is all so difficult. I don’t get it!” he’d probably have been met with a backhand from Alan.
“Well, this isn’t good. I really have no idea how to interact with you.”
“Then try acting like my big brother,” I suggested.
“Excuse me?”
“Your Highness should protect his little sister from any strange bugs that try to attach themselves to her.”
“Ha ha ha, that’s rich.” The prince sank back into his chair and laughed. “Then let me give you some advice as your older brother. It may be too early to say this to you, but you’d better carefully consider the position of the one you fall in love with.”
“Huh?”
“You not only have the power to make the empress act, you’ve even begun holding your own private assets through your new company. If you don’t pick someone with his own position and power, he’s going to be ripped apart the minute you pull him into your circle.”
Oh... I hadn’t stopped to think about that. Right. My husband would be in a coveted position.
“Choose a partner whom I can wish happiness to as your brother. If they’re worthy, I will use all my power to protect them. If not, then your lover may end up getting assassinated.”
Assassinated? The person I fall in love with? Was there a threat hidden in those words?
I suddenly felt as if the temperature in the room had dropped dramatically.