by Yu Sakurai
“I’ve always heard that women are jealous creatures, and I guess that’s true after all. You’ve got quite the nerve, using your title as a shield to bully Sumia. Don’t you have any honor?”
He held out his arms to protect the girl.
“Lord Dustin… You have my thanks…”
“I-It’s nothing at all!!”
His face reddened, and he turned away from her. On the inside, I wanted nothing more than to let out a dramatic sigh.
Et Tu, Dustin?
The famous words of Caesar echoed in my mind.
It appeared that Dustin, now in addition to the crown prince, had completely fallen for Sumia.
Dustin is the third son of a duke.
Between his father, a commander, and his three brothers, Dustin spent his entire life being trained in the ways of the sword.
As a result, he’d grown into a brawny man who lacked any experience with women of his own age.
In fact, it invoked a distant memory from my past life in Japan. I’d seen boys who spent their high school days with nothing but sports and athletics in their brain, only to get to college and start hanging out with nasty, manipulative girls.
“Come on, Laetitia. Don’t you have a response? Or do you finally get it now?”
“I have no intention of conversing with a mannerless man who refuses to address me correctly.”
Both the muscle-head and I belonged to families of equal rank.
He’d always referred to me improperly, but that didn’t make it right.
“Y-You just can’t let anything go, can you?!”
“It’s not only about my form of address. Lord Dustin, I have yet to receive an apology for pushing me into the fountain.”
“I did that because you were getting too close to Sumia, Lae— Lady Laetitia!!”
“I only approached her to talk, and nothing more. Did you see me raise a hand against her? You saw no such thing, and you pushed me down before I could get a word in edgewise.”
“How else could I have protected her?!”
“What are those muscles of yours even for, Lord Dustin? You could have just as easily grabbed me by the shoulders with those bulky arms of yours if you really wanted to stop me.”
“…You seriously want me to apologize to you?! Even after what you’ve done?! I know you pushed Sumia down a staircase! You’re completely shameless!!”
…What the hell is he talking about?
Dustin’s angry accusation was the first I’d heard of this.
“…There’s no truth to that whatsoever. What proof do you have?”
“Sumia said you shoved her from behind…!”
“Is that all? It would be easy enough for her to fake something like th—”
“That’s enough. Shut your mouth at once.”
My heart skipped a beat at hearing Fritz’s icy voice.
The look he was giving me, brimming with disgust and resentment, stung deep inside my chest.
Our parents were the ones who first arranged our engagement when I was twelve years old.
The betrothal was strictly political, but even so, the two of us were to be partners who would spend the rest of our lives together.
I always knew our relationship would never be a passionate love affair, but at the very least, I hoped we could live in mutual respect of each other. For that reason, I spent years working to become a person who could support the crown prince.
But that aspiration had been shattered to pieces. Fritz was now glaring at me like I was his greatest enemy.
“I’m tired of this act, Laetitia. Always keeping a straight face as you manage to find the perfect words…even when you were mocking me behind my back all along.”
His face twisted into a pained smile.
“Your Highness, I’ve never done such a thing. As you are my fiancé, I’ve always cared deeply for y—”
“Enough. You never had any feelings for me. Your one and only goal was the future title of ‘queen,’ wasn’t it?”
…Why are you stating the obvious as if it’s a betrayal?
Our engagement was a political arrangement and was never born out of love. And yet, I still believed we could forge that connection together someday.
I’d worked so hard for a goal that Fritz didn’t seem to have the slightest notion of.
“All your studying was to secure your place as the crown princess. I know you’ve been mocking me behind my back because I can’t keep up with you.”
“You’re wrong. I’ve never once looked down on you.” I immediately objected, though, on the inside, I felt a brief tug of doubt.
To be entirely honest, Fritz was not exactly a shining example of a prince. He possessed no notable talents, nor did he make up for it with his work ethic.
He was lacking when it came to studies, magic skills, swordsmanship, and even his ability to command people. I knew he harbored fears about his future reign as the next king, and for that reason, in particular, I would have expected a more mature attitude from Fritz.
…Which is why I tried so hard to be a woman who could make up for his flaws. It might even be more accurate to say that I was so busy trying to better myself as the future queen that I never even had the time to “look down on” my fiancé.
Even though it was wrong to say I had disrespected him, a rift had clearly grown between Fritz and me as I dedicated myself to my studies. Once his inferiority complex reached critical mass, there was no way to talk him back down.
“All you have are your words, Laetitia. You’re just like all the gossips throughout the royal court—an empty shell of a person hiding behind a respectable name. …But Sumia is someone who actually cares for me. Even though I made fun of her commoner upbringing at first, she’s still always shown me nothing but genuine kindness.”
“Your Highness…I also care about you…from the bottom of my heart…”
Sumia drew closer to Fritz, her expression a mix between bashfulness and joy.
The heroine’s humble origins soothe the weary prince, who’s so weighed down by all his responsibilities, and thus, he falls in love with her.
…I saw this trope all the time in my past life. It was a regular feature in romantic fiction.
But that left me to fill the role of the villainess, who existed only to come between the two lovers.
“I’ve decided to take Sumia as my wife. Laetitia, you’ve committed a grave crime by bullying the future crown princess, and shall therefore be expelled from the kingdom immediately as punishment.”
The echo of Fritz’s declaration was the only sound throughout the hall.
…Me? Expelled from the kingdom for a crime? Have you lost your marbles or something?
…I was so stunned, even my thoughts were turning silly.
By that point, I was starting to accept that our engagement was truly over, but I never expected it to go so far.
I was from a ducal family that figured centrally in the political system.
To drive me out of the kingdom over a perceived slight was an act of tyranny from the crown prince.
…I can’t stop him from ending our engagement, but where does he expect me to go?!
This wasn’t like banishing a commoner.
There was a procedure that needed to be followed for the process of exiling a noblewoman, or so I believed…
Knowing Fritz, he probably hadn’t thought ahead at all.
Glasses Creep, a.k.a. Ilius, looked just as panicked as I felt. He was fiddling with his glasses, and it gave me the distinct feeling that my hunch was right.
Ilius has a disagreeable personality, but he’s far from stupid. The two of us were always battling for the top grades at our academy.
Though our rivalry was fierce, the two of us eventually…well, no, we never really bonded over it, but we had a repertoire of our own as rivals.
“Oh, Cantaloupe Head, come translate this ancient text for me.”
“Glasses Creep, could you lend me your textbook?”
Unlike Fritz, Ilius was not the kind of person who would make an ally out of a girl who had nothing to offer him, like with Sumia.
If he was helping her, his motivation had to be his own self-interest.
I did know that Sumia’s and Ilius’s families were distantly related.
On the other hand, my family had a strained relationship with Ilius’s.
It was clear he intended to steal the title of crown princess away from me by pushing Sumia and Fritz together.
…I’d been aware of his schemes for some time, but now it seemed he’d actually managed to best me.
However, I doubted even Ilius predicted how his efforts would be rewarded. His family’s plan was probably centered around destroying my engagement in a much less severe manner.
In the end, Fritz’s decision came in the worst conceivable way.
I knew for a while that Fritz and I were growing apart, and yet, for things to conclude this idiotically was still unthinkable to me.
In front of the world, the crown prince had declared our engagement over and that I was to be expelled from the kingdom.
It was a foolish declaration of war against the Gramwell family and me.
The Gramwells are an esteemed family. We possess a great amount of land and wealth.
If people of our means believed His Majesty had agreed to banish their daughter…it could break apart the very unity of our kingdom. Ilius had surely reached the same conclusion—he was shooting me nervous glances, as if pleading for my help.
…Don’t give me that pathetic look, Glasses Creep.
The boy, usually filled with an irritating amount of self-confidence, had completely transformed…
Sure, you didn’t expect Fritz to be so stupid, but this is all thanks to your plan!
I wanted to scream that this was his fault…but unfortunately, I appeared to be the only one who could fix this whole mess.
I was out of options. All I could do was grit my teeth and accept this fate for the good of the kingdom as a whole.
“…I understand your concerns, Your Highness… But I must ask, does His Majesty know I’m to be banished?”
“I’ll inform Father once it’s done.”
As I suspected, Fritz’s decision appeared to be the result of his own shortsightedness.
…Despite the foolishness of this crown prince, he was the only male heir born to the king and queen.
If Fritz became unable to succeed the throne, the next in line would be the king’s younger brother, who was known to be a wise man.
But this brother was not in good favor with the king, so His Majesty would never think of letting him inherit the crown. Fritz was to remain the crown prince under any circumstances.
At the same time, His Highness should know well enough that he had no right to do something as foolish as to expel me from our kingdom on his own. It would become a political headache for the king if his son were to force this any further.
“…Very well. Since you’ve come to despise me, I’ll respect those feelings and leave the kingdom for some time.”
His hatred was the crux of this whole situation.
Of course, he possessed no real evidence that I had ever bullied Sumia.
It was his emotions, or more accurately, his selfishness, that forced my hand. The best thing I could do was curry favor with His Majesty and avoid causing any trouble for my family.
With nothing left to say, I decided there was no reason to be humiliated any further.
I turned and made my way back to the school entrance as hushed cries of pity surrounded me from all sides.
“She’s the woman rejected by the crown prince.”
“That poor duke’s daughter, banished from her glorious homeland.”
Their voices buzzed against my eardrums, burrowing their way inside my head.
Since our kingdom had survived through era after era, many nobles looked down on our neighboring countries for their lack of history.
They all judged banishment to be as grave a punishment as death.
Thanks to the memories of my past life, though, I didn’t find it to be such a horrifying prospect…
Even so, on that day, I lost both my fiancé and my home in one fell swoop.
◇ ◇ ◇
“GOOD afternoon, my lady. You’re later than I expected you today. Was everything all right at school?”
My carriage was parked a short walk away from the school gates.
A man with neatly styled black hair stood in front of the carriage, awaiting my arrival.
This man was none other than Lucian, my head servant.
He stood tall over me, with a handsome face that displayed both his attentiveness and poise.
Anyone’s first impression of Lucian would be that he looks like a capable butler, but that position wasn’t yet his due to his young age of only twenty-two. His talents were all but guaranteed to carry him to the role in the future.
“…I found myself in quite the predicament today. We can discuss it in the carriage.”
I took Lucian’s outstretched hand and stepped up into the passenger car.
We were the very picture of a distinguished young lady and her doting servant.
I’m sure I would have been a combination of bewildered and elated to be in such a situation in my past life. But to Laetitia, the current “me,” it was the most ordinary thing in the world.
My customs as a noblewoman appeared to now coexist with that middle-class lifestyle I experienced in the past.
I sighed and leaned against the soft seat. Lucian took his place across from me. With that, the carriage began to creak forward at the beckoning of the driver.
Putting my thoughts in order, I managed to convey the day’s events to Lucian.
“Today, His Highness informed me that our engagement is over.”
“…Come again?”
Lucian’s blue eyes went wide. He stared at me intensely.
“What does that mean, exactly? Surely, it must be some kind of joke…”
“Sadly, it’s all too true. He announced it to the whole world, right there in the entry hall. I’ve also been told I’m to be expelled from the kingdom.”
The more I explained, the sharper Lucian’s gaze grew.
“…What an absolute fool, that prince. A thousand deaths wouldn’t be enough to atone for casting shame upon my lady.”
He didn’t hesitate to hurl insults toward Fritz, the crown prince of our kingdom.
“That empty-headed, spoiled little brat…,” he cursed.
His tongue was sharp for a servant.
…Well, I guess I was just calling Fritz “the foolish prince” in my head earlier, so I suppose I can’t judge him…
…But my innermost thoughts could be ignored for the time being.
Lucian usually carried himself in a dignified manner, like someone born to an upper-class family, despite being a commoner himself.
Throughout all the years of his service, I’d only heard him resort to commoner speech a handful of times…or perhaps a bit more.
“I knew that dunce would screw everything up at some point… Do you have any intention of accepting that ridiculous demand? Expulsion from the kingdom?”
“Yes, and I’ll be going peacefully. I can’t let this land be divided by a rift between the royal family and my own.”
This was the responsibility that came with my title in this world.
Our kingdom wasn’t nearly as peaceful or prosperous as the Japan I once knew. The fact that I could live my life without hardship was thanks to my noble status.
“…A noble must be ready to give up everything for the sake of the people.”
It was my father who’d repeated those words to me many times over the course of my life in this world.
Father was a man with a dauntingly terrifying face. Sadly, this made people overlook his traits as an admirable p
erson with a strong sense of duty.
“…I don’t know where I’ll go when I leave. I could be sent to a distant empire or to a dreadful land somewhere. If that happens, I want you to stay here without me, Lucian.”
“My lady, you couldn’t get rid of me if you were sent to the ends of the earth.”
So that was a no.
“Because you’re the one who saved me from that orphanage after I lost my parents.”
“Lucian…”
That was seven years ago. I was ten years old at the time.
When Father told me to select a few servants of my own, it proved to be more challenging than I anticipated. But one day, when I was visiting an orphanage as part of my philanthropic work, I met the then fifteen-year-old Lucian.
Despite never receiving a real education, the boy had taught himself to read and write all on his own. He even assisted in the operation of the orphanage with those skills.
Moved by his story, I begged my father to let me employ him as my personal servant. He was hesitant at first but eventually agreed to a year-long trial run to evaluate Lucian’s performance.
By the time that year was up, Lucian had become an impeccable servant, both in etiquette and job skills. Even Father came to approve of him.
…Everything worked out in the end, but it was a bold request of me to make.
As a duke’s daughter, I wasn’t supposed to associate too closely with commoners. I’d only just regained the memories of my past life, but it was possible those experiences and the values I held then still influenced me in this life, even before today.
“Thank you, Lucian, but there’s no need to be so loyal to me. I only employed you because I wanted a skilled servant for my own devices.”
“Yes, I know. I’m aware of your reasons…and how you were truly worried for me above all else—not to mention your noble, dignified aspirations to put your kingdom above your own desires… I know these facts better than anyone.”
Lucian placed his hand on his chest and bowed.
My heart was filled with warmth and contentment to hear his declaration of loyalty. It was also just a little bit embarrassing.
…It really was a terrible day.
I had my engagement annulled, I was pushed into a fountain, my former fiancé had all sorts of choice words for me, and a brute of a man tried to threaten me…