The Beloved Fiancee Is Likely to Be the Villain

“You, those who cannot distinguish between story and reality, the ones who are shallow in their thinking, or the ones who do not know the harm that can be done when someone disturbs the order of the status quo, are the real culprit of today’s incident–”

The students look at each other as if their venom have been drained out of them after I gave them a light admonition and broke the bonds between reality and imagination. When they heard my words, they frown even more in shame.

As Lord Domenic had said, the use of the novel doubled the effect of the “Enchantment”. However, after seeing the true nature of Miss Ulysses and having the story denied by me and Elizabeth, the power of the blessing has weakened.

To put it simply, everyone woke up from their dreams and regained their rationality.

“What was I even thinking, it’s embarrassing. ……”

“What would my father say if he knew I was so excited about a novel?”

“It was Miss Ulysses was after the Crown Prince, wasn’t she?”

I could hear such whispers.

Even Edward has sneaked away from the front row. Now Count Norden will no longer have to worry about his son’s future. …… No, that’s not the case, although the too-challenged part might be worrisome.

The frenzied air that had filled the hall slowly cooled down, and the audience start settle down, leaving only a buzz in the air. The atmosphere is similar to that after the end of a play, as if “Otohoshi” is jus a story and could not have happened in real life, which is true.

However, in the middle of the audience, only Miss Ulysses shakes her head, unable to accept the ending.

She shakes her head as she exclaimes, “From the beginning, what the…..! Why!”

Elizabeth, who felt sorry for the weeping woman, calls Harold and sent her away with the soldiers and maidservants.

She still has the power of the blessing. She will live in a room in the royal palace without seeing anyone for a while until her magic power is gone.

“As an apology, I will give you anything you like, Liza.”

“It’s okay, Your Highness. I should be ashamed of my lack of knowledge.”

Elizabeth now smiles a bright smile and looks at me with a respectful gaze.

I told her I was sorry, but she just said she was sorry too.

Yeah, I guess I’m not jealous or anything. ……

The bow was the same as it has been since we first met, a perfectly respectful bow.

I am really sad to lose the hand that I have been holding for so long. Before she can take her hand back, I immediately took her hand and kissed it.

Now, if I show that person that I’m making out like this, I should be able to catch another guy who can’t give up.

I am really going to kiss her in front of everyone if he didn’t show up yet.

“Don’t be a prude, Vincent!”

A high-pitched voice echoed through the hall. Finally, the main culprit reveals himself.

It’s Lars. His petite body is clad in a high-quality ceremonial dress, and he walks slowly through the crowd to the center of the hall.

Lars’s brow furrows and his cheeks turn red with anger, but his expression quickly changes when he sees Elizabeth’s eyes widen in surprise.

I, too, keep my face expressionless and speak to him in a calm voice.

“Elizabeth is my fiancée. I don’t think there’s anything strange about that.”

“That engagement was called off a few minutes ago,” he said. “You said so yourself, with His Majesty the King’s permission, you broke the engagement. Are you trying to deny it and impersonate His Majesty the King?”

After saying that, Lars, who seems to have regained his composure being convinced of his victory, smiles.

“I can’t believe you are still talking about the engagement. I’m glad that you have a good frame of mind. But don’t you know anything about Miss Elizabeth’s notoriety has spread so far.”(Lars)

“Hmm?”(Vincent)

“……?　What’s that?”(The crowd)

“It’s no use playing dumb. At the very least, she will be expelled from the school. After all, she bullied a Baroness and it became known to the whole school.”(Lars)

Lars proceeds to talk on his own while narrowing his eyes and smiling thinly.

I and Elizabeth’s head fill with question marks in. Maybe the students around us, too.

But Lars doesn’t stop.

“I heard that she spread bad rumors, encouraged her cronies, tore up notebooks and reference books, and even pushed Miss Ulysses into a pond! I fear for the future of the country if such a woman is the Crown Prince’s fiancée!”

He lists the charges as if he is proud of his victory.

Unaware of the cold stares of the …… people around him.

The people around us have the face of “Are you still talking about ‘Otohoshi’?　What’s wrong with you?” They’re looking at him with a “You’re a fool” expression.

I’m sure Miss Ulysses only gave you a colorful report, but why do you believe her so much?

“As I said earlier, …… I did no such thing.”(Elizabeth)

Elizabeth begrudgingly denies it, so I explain back the rest of the story before Lars could say anything else.

“Ah, yes. Did anyone here see Elizabeth harassing Miss Ulysses?”(Vincent)

I look around to see if anyone nodded their head or agreed with Lars accusations, and of course there is no one. I’m not defending Elizabeth because she is my fiancee. People around us are well aware of this, so countless unsure look comes back to me.

Elizabeth has not approached Miss Ulysses. She herself has tried many schemes, but thanks to Raphael’s defensive wall, she has not gone so far as to spread the bad news about Elizabeth. She was too busy complaining to me that she was being harassed.

Lars’s eyebrows rose again. He senses something that is cracking his confidence, and a faint hint of fear can be seen on his face.

“What do you mean, ……?”

“Mr. Lars, there is no evidence that Elizabeth harmed Miss Ulysses, but there are witnesses to the fact that Miss Ulysses tried to make up a story about Elizabeth’s harassment and that she jumped into the pond herself in Elizabeth’s presence. She also deliberately touched me in front of Elizabeth’s eyes. This proves that she had hostile feelings toward Elizabeth. There are many witnesses to this as well.”

“……”

Lars’ gaze moves dizzily. His appearance looks that of a wounded beast. His mouth half-open, his eyes gleaming, he is looking for a way out.

I pull Elizabeth’s hand and hid her behind my back. Elizabeth’s expression is normal, but I know her heart is in turmoil.

Lars seems to be even more agitated by our actions.

And where did this unrestrained anger come from?

“Heaven! You were in on it with Vincent, weren’t you?”

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

Miss Serena’s scream comes from the corner of the hall in response to Lars’ roar before a flurry of footstep goes away.

I see, Miss Serena has successfully rolled false news to Lars. It seems that the author had made up a story full of realism.

“You are all lying to me!”

“It’s your fault for believing them without seeing them with your own eyes. And for Miss Ulysses, the story had a happy ending when she thought she had won my heart, but you have forgotten this is reality.”

The flustered woman happily said, “The whole scenario worked. ……!” and he believed. What a stupid.

I said, and huffed in annoyance, Lars stops talking after hearing my explanation.

He finally realizes that he had misspoken. But it’s too late.

It’s our turn to smile.

“I knew you were connected to Miss Ulysses.”

“No, I’m ……”

“You were angry that Elizabeth refused to marry you, so you tried to trick her and her fiancé, me.”

“No!”

He says ‘no’ but no further words follows.

There is no way he could say that he still loves Elizabeth and that he did it with a mixture of love and hate.

I glance at Elizabeth, who is stoutly looking at Lars, but her face is pale. Lars looks down, unable to hold her gaze.

This is warm-heartedness, Lars. If you told even once to Elizabeth how you felt, you might not have been rejected. But you’ve lost your chance.

Knowing this, Lars gritts his teeth, but in the end he keeps his mouth shut.

Silence falls.

Those who did not know what is going on is standing speechless with surprise at the revelation of the unexpected mastermind.

It’s Lars who breaks the silence.

“….. But the engagement was broken, wasn’t it?”

The look he gave me contained a final expectation.

I couldn’t help but sigh and wonder if this is the real purpose of this man after all, to break our engagement.

“It’s not. I told you that I have obtained permission to make this announcement here on this very day. What I asked my father, the King was whether or not to use this party to play a farce, not to break our engagement.”

“……”

“We’ll hear the rest of the details at the palace with Miss Ulysses.”

It refers to the court.

Lars’ face flames with rage as he realizes that he is about to become a sinner. His brow furrows and his teeth peel back from his twisted lips.

“Screw you, ……! I’m like your brother, Vincent!”

Lars, already without any shame, rushes toward me, flapping his arms and legs, which are not moving properly in the excitement.

His bloodshot eyes catches mine.

Screams from the ladies around me ring everywhere.

I make sure I am standing in a position to protect Elizabeth behind me and turn to face Lars.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while,” I said. “You are the son of a Duke and I am the Crown Prince, the future ruler of the kingdom.”

“So please, respect me according to your title, Master Lars.”

Boom!

With a somewhat carefree sound, Lars’ body is blown away at a speed that is not carefree at all.

After drawing a parabola, Lars falls to the marble floor with a thud. Harold, looking down at Lars coldly, is ready for another palm strike.

“Ugh. ……”

“This is called ‘Palm strike’.”

I don’t know what is ‘Palm strike’ but I’m happy he did it.

Lars, who is still lying on the ground grunted and seems to be conscious, so I guess that by ‘Palm strike’, he meant he took it easy. There is no external injury in spite of the loud flying.

Hr is still the son of a Duke after all, even though he tried to grab the Crown Prince’s fiancee, Harold can’t hurt him without the King’s permission.

But I’m also capable enough to sink Lars when I get upset. Harold, you have earned one point for Miss Margaret. I don’t care if I hit Lars in front of Elizabeth, it’s not worth the points.

Harold walks up to Lars and kneels down.

, “Please take my hand and get up, Master Lars.”

“Ha, ha.”

Lars backs away with a frightened look on his face from Harold, who holds out his hand after hitting him.

He stands up without Harold’s help, but Harold still grabs his his wrist because there’s still a chance he’ll resist.

But well, that’s all settled for now.

When I was about to relax my shoulders thinking that everything has ended peacefully, Elizabeth peeks out from behind me.

“Lars-sama!”

Elizabeth called Lars’ name, in which Lars looks up reflexively.

Elizabeth, who is holding my hand, looks at Lars, who is being held by Harold. Perhaps it is the first time since that day that their gazes has crossed.

“I’ve felt sorry for Lars-sama all this time,” Elizabeth said. “But I’ll forget it now. …… let me say this one last time.”

“……”

“I’m sorry.”

She apologizes, but doesn’t bow.

Slowly, Lars’ left cheek turns red. It spread across his entire cheek as if he had been slapped. I think …… it was actually the bruise from Harold’s palm strike.

Elizabeth stands with her posture straightened, meeting Lars’ stunned gaze head on. I’m sure thousands of thoughts must be swirling around in his mind.

The two, who share the same ducal status, doesn’t make the slightest move.

Lars could not move, because his soul has already flown away.

“Take him.”

“Ha…”

Lars, whose soul has been drained out of his body, is quietly led out by Harold’s hand.

Elizabeth, unaware that she has just put an end to the situation, releases the tension on her shoulders and looks sadly at his back.