Chapter 37 Ugly Princess
"Sarah... Lady Sarah Belts!"
Kaine barely managed to hold back from calling her by her first name, forcing a smile.
Right now, Kaine was disguised as a fictional noble named Straeten Garbinder.
It would be bad if Sarah recognized who he really was.
"Well, well, to meet the beautiful flower of the court in a place like this."
"...Can you answer a question? Who are you?"
Sarah asked suspiciously.
She seemed to be wary of Kaine.
Kaine put on a friendly smile on his false face.
"How rude of me. I am Straeten Garbinder, a humble Viscount from the Gailran territory."
"Hmm, even though I've never seen your face before, how do you know me?"
"I recently arrived in the capital, so it's natural that Lady Sarah wouldn't know about me. However, it's only natural that I know about you, Lady Sarah. After all, you are quite the celebrity. There isn't a noble in this court who doesn't know the name of the prince's beloved girl."
"Then why are you here?"
"Embarrassingly enough, I'm not familiar with the court and got lost."
Sweat trickled down Kaine's back.
He was aware of the painful lie he was telling with the barrage of questions.
However, surprisingly, Sarah seemed to easily believe what Kaine said and clapped her hands.
"Oh, I get it! The court is like a maze! I'm directionally challenged too, so I often get lost. I stumbled into this place recently and learned about it."
"...Is that so?"
"I feel a sense of familiarity. Nice to meet you, directionally challenged Mr. Straeten!"
Sarah beamed a cheerful smile and reached out her hand to Kaine.
Realizing she was asking for a handshake, Kaine responded with a smile on the surface.
In the darkness, Sarah looked quite disheveled.
Kaine took a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to Sarah.
"Excuse me, my lady, but it seems your clothing is wet..."
"Ah, thank you. I've been really unlucky lately. There are days when I just keep having bad things happen to me. Today, I fell into a ditch, got hit by water balloons from kids, and kept snagging the hem of my dress everywhere. It's just the worst..."
It seemed that the traps set to hinder her from coming to this party had worked to some extent.
Despite getting caught in various traps, Sarah had stubbornly made it this far.
One had to admire her determination, even if she was the enemy.
Unaware that the person in front of her was the source of all her troubles, Sarah crossed her arms with a troubled expression.
"I feel like I might be cursed or something. I think I should go get a purification ritual (oharai) or something."
"Purification (oharai)...?"
"Oh, right! There's no purification (oharai) in this world! Never mind, it's just something from my side."
As she said this, Sarah carelessly wiped her body with a handkerchief she had borrowed from Kaine.
"I rushed out and forgot my handkerchief. This really helps. How's this? Is it a bit better?"
"Well, yes. But with you being that wet, you'll catch a cold. At that point, you should have gone home."
"Well, I had my reasons for being in a hurry..."
Sarah looked at Kaine with a scrutinizing gaze──no, she was staring at the directionally challenged Viscount Straeten Garbinder.
After a moment, she opened her mouth.
"If it's you, Mr. Straeten, I guess I can trust you. You're just a background character anyway. Actually, I'm being bullied by this really mean girl..."
"Being bullied?"
"I come from a low-ranking noble family, but I'm the prince's girlfriend, you know? She seems to have a problem with that and keeps telling me to know my place..."
As she said this, Sarah's eyes glistened with tears as she clasped her hands together.
Just from that, anyone would think she was a pitiful girl.
(How many people have been deceived by this innocent facade...)
Hatred swelled within Kaine.
Because of this woman's lies, Rhiannon had been humiliated time and again.
Oblivious, Sarah continued to play the role of the pitiful heroine.
"The name of the noble girl who is bullying me is Rhiannon Mimi Clahsen. She is the only daughter of the Clahsen Count family. She's really mean and twisted, just like a classic villainess. She surrounds herself with girls from all over the country, taking advantage of the fact that she's a daughter of a high-ranking noble...!"
"Lady Sarah, even if Lady Rhiannon is bothering you, I don't think it's appropriate to call her 'that girl'."
Kane suppressed the nausea rising in his chest and barely managed to say that much.
He judged that Sarah's tone was a bit too much to overlook as a noble.
However, instead of reflecting on Kane's words, Sarah's expression turned sour for a moment.
"...What? Do you not believe what I'm saying, Ms. Straeten?"
Sarah's ugly side emerged.
She had no hesitation in belittling others for her own benefit.
(This duality makes me want to vomit...)
It's undeniable that Rhiannon, whom Kaine serves, also has her own duality.
In public, she behaves like a perfect noble lady, but in front of Kaine, she shows a somewhat clumsy side.
However, Rhiannon's duality is not used to belittle others.
Once again, Kaine felt disgust towards the girl in front of him.
But he couldn't let this disgust show for even a moment.
To protect someone important, he needed to extract as much information as possible.
Kaine slowly shook his head.
"My apologies. I spoke out of turn without knowing the full circumstances."
"...Well, sometimes outsiders want to chime in. Don't worry about the details!"
"Lady Sarah, you are quite kind."
"Exactly! If I weren't kind, I couldn't play the role of the protagonist in a dating sim, right? It's tough. Anyway, Rhiannon is really a nasty piece of work. ──That's why I'm here to play a little prank on her tonight."
"A prank, you say?"
"You'll see when you look at the party venue from here. It's going to be interesting."
As Sarah pointed to the center of the party venue, she said,
"Over there is the villainess Rhiannon. That unnecessarily arrogant and flashy woman. And look, there's the blonde waiter over there, holding a glass──"
The blonde waiter, whom Sarah was looking at, seemed a bit pale.
After glancing around as if searching for something, he walked over to Rhiannon with a determined look.
"...What's going on between that waiter and Lady Rhiannon?"
"Well, you'll see if you watch."
The waiter approached Rhiannon and exchanged a few words with her.
After Rhiannon took the glass, the waiter quickly left the scene, almost as if he was scared of something.
(...That waiter is clearly acting strange.)
While Kaine frowned, Sarah wore a cruel smile, no longer trying to hide her ugly side.
"Come on, drink up, villainess Rhiannon..."
"...Lady Sarah, please tell me. What's in that glass?"
"That's fruit water with poison in it."
"Poison!?"
Kaine leaned over the railing from the second floor.
It was clear that Rhiannon was in danger.
This situation couldn't be ignored.
(If I jump down from the second floor suddenly, it will draw attention. But this is an emergency. I have to save the lady──)
However, with one foot on the balcony, Kaine suddenly froze.
A blonde man stopped Rhiannon just as she was about to bring the glass to her lips.
To his surprise, it was the third prince, Werner, who had saved Rhiannon.
Sarah gasped in shock.
"That's... Werner? Why is he stopping her!? It was a perfect chance to disgrace Rhiannon!"
Kaine was stunned.
He couldn't hide his surprise that the annoying third prince had saved his former fiancée, Rhiannon.
(...Did Prince Werner really help Lady Rhiannon!? The man who had been making Lady Rhiannon his enemy until now, what kind of change of heart is this!? Could it be that the king has already set things in motion with the third prince...? Or is it just the third prince's whim!?)
In any case, there were too many things Kaine didn't understand.
Ignoring Kaine's confusion, Werner quickly turned on his heel and left the venue.
Rhiannon hesitantly followed after Werner, and soon the two of them disappeared from sight.
(Prince Werner and the lady are alone together...)
They would probably discuss the engagement proposal that the king had brought up, just the two of them.
Jealousy swirled in Kaine's heart, so intense that it made him momentarily forget about Sarah.
He wanted to chase after them right away and stop them.
Yet, Kaine's feet didn't move an inch.
Having stopped drinking the poisoned fruit water, Werner had just become Rhiannon's lifesaver.
Rhiannon would likely see Werner in a new light.
She might reconsider him as a suitable future partner.
If that happened, Rhiannon would happily be bound to Werner and quickly go to a place beyond Kaine's reach.
The happiness Kaine wished for Rhiannon had never included a place for a lowly man like him.
It should have been fine, yet Kaine's heart was filled with bitterness.
Kaine sluggishly turned to Sarah, who was nervously biting her nails beside him.
Sarah, having watched Rhiannon and Werner's actions, had flames of anger burning in her eyes.
"Why are Werner and Rhiannon leaving the party together? This is not how it was supposed to go!"
"...Is this what you meant by something interesting happening?"
"Oh, this is a disaster, a disaster!"
Sarah answered in a high-pitched voice.
The usual innocent look had vanished from her face.
(Oh, how ugly...)
Kaine couldn't help but grimace.
Sarah's face twisted in irritation, and her clothes looked like rags.
She resembled a cunning witch.
"Is mixing poison into someone's drink just a 'prank'? Lady Sarah, what you were trying to do is a serious crime."
"Shut up! What do you know? My plan is ruined all because of that guy!"
"...The princes who claim to love you must have terrible judgment."
Kaine's true feelings slipped out.
"Wha──."
At Kaine's words, Sarah instantly turned bright red.
Then, trembling with rage, she pointed at Kaine and shouted hysterically.
"That comment is insulting not just to me but to the princes too, right!? That's blasphemy! I'm going to tell the princes!"
"You're threatening me using the princes' power, huh? This is getting serious."
"Wha──what do you think you are!? I'm Sarah Belts, favored by 2 princes! Did you say Viscount Straeten Garbinder? Remember those words! You'll regret this soon!"
Sarah laughed with a triumphant expression.
"Even if you tell others about today, it won't matter. No one will listen to someone from the Viscount family!"
"...Well, that's true. Certainly, no one would listen to me, Straeten Garbinder."
Sarah looked puzzled at Kaine's ambiguous remark.
A tense silence filled the dusty, deserted second floor.
(This back-and-forth is pointless...)
Though she wanted to say more, Kaine turned on his heel.
"...Well then, it's time to leave the party tonight."
"Wait, my handkerchief..."
"I'll give it to you. We probably won't meet again."
With that, Kaine left Sarah, who was left stunned, and walked straight into the darkness without hesitation.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)