Chapter 25 – Curriculum for Pride and Prejudice (1)

 

I think I slept for about 10 hours.

Christelle, the main character, proclaimed that she would get a new occupation while Imperial Prince Cédric looked a lot like someone else I know.

Then there was the mystery about the divine item from the Temple.

I wondered if I would be able to sleep because I had so much to think about but I knocked out as soon as I washed up and laid down on the bed.

It was 9 a.m. when I opened my eyes.

– Chirp, chirp……

“It’s nice and peaceful.”

I agreed with Benjamin, and took a sip of cinnamon tea.

We had morning tea time like this quite often but it felt as if we had not had it for a long time because last night felt so long.

The garden, which was even nicer than usual because of the guests, was as quiet as a library.

It was as if a storm had gone through.

“I think I will need to pretend to be sick from a couple days out whenever there is an event in the future.”

Benjamin nodded his head.

I put a piece of apple in Demy’s mouth as he sat on my lap, and looked toward the notebook on the table.

Benjamin made sure to never look at me, not even withan accidental glance, whenever I was writing something in the notebook.

Maybe he thinks this is some kind of tragic memoir of a diplomatic hostage or something like that.

He wasn’t completely wrong so I didn’t say anything.

– The divine item that was stolen from the Temple of Vigilance.

It is possible that it did not disappear, and that someone had used it.

This was the first thing to figure out.

This is all just a hypothesis from here but it would be completely different moving with an idea in mind versus without any thought.

I started to analyse all of the information Lady Sarnez told me in front of the carriage last night.

The divine item at the temple that should have been used to save Christelle had been used up after fulfilling someone else’s wish first.

That led to Lady Sarnez having no choice but to use the ‘Blessing of the Blue Sea’, which was used in the original story as a wedding gift for Christelle and Imperial Prince Cédric.

It was such a powerful variable that it warped the story for the main character.

There was only one external factor that could have done this in my opinion.

It was me.

– Squeeeee.

“Demy, don’t climb on top of the table.”

I hugged Demy’s black belly as he reached his paw toward the table and put a grape in his mouth.

The red panda quickly calmed down.

‘Jesse Venetiaan’ died for sure in the original.

The next day, someone did something to revive him, leading to my possessing his body and time regressing.

I thought that this was some kind of natural phenomenon until now.

Things like this happen frequently in webnovels where the main character ends up possessing a character in a novel.

No ‘external power’ seemed to have done anything, and they just ended up in the book.

The life after possession was more important than how the possession happened.

I believed that I was in a similar situation until yesterday.

The theft of the divine item at the temple was a bit concerning, but I had not thought much about it especially after almost dying.

But it ended up not being a simple theft.

Someone made a wish to save ‘me’ and I ended up possessing this body as a result.

– The divine item that was stolen from the Temple of Vigilance.

It is possible that it did not disappear and that someone used it.

– Who made the wish?

– Do other divine items have the power to grant wishes as well?

If this is the case, then who is the culprit?

I was a bit curious about that, but I didn’t think that much would change even if I knew.

Even if the future Christelle made the wish after hearing the news about Prince Jesse’s death, the current Christelle would have no idea.

I thought about Eunse as well, but that seemed even less likely.

I have no idea what Eunse would have to do to make magic like this happen since she was not a part of the novel.

In the end, there were two important things for me to consider.

– Do other divine items have the power to grant wishes as well?

A lot of people seem to know that the divine item at the temple would grant someone’s request through a ‘wish of blood’, but that did not seem to be the case for the Blessing of the Blue Sea.

According to what I read in a book, it was just an extremely strong water-attribute divine item.

The fact that it saved Christelle was just the author forcing it to grant a wish in order to push the story forward, but I could not ignore this glimmer of hope.

– If other divine items could react to human desire and grant their wish, would they be able to fulfill my request to go back home?

Even I could tell that it was probably too optimistic to be true, but……

“Vice Captain Élisabeth is headed this way, your highness.”

I snapped out of my thoughts. My notebook was full of underlines and circles.

I raised my head to see Vice Captain Élisabeth energetically walking over with her olive-colored short hair fluttering in the wind.

Ganael was with her as well.

“Good morning, Prince Jesse.”
“Hello, Vice Captain Élisabeth.”

The Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard seemed quite refreshed after successfully completing a big event.

I closed my notebook, and put it in my pocket.

Benjamin got up and offered her a seat while Ganael chatted with me.

“Her Eminence, Cardinal Boutier, said that she would personally contact the Duhem March. She asked how 3 p.m. this afternoon would work for a meeting.”
“That’s fine with me. I’m surprised that her Eminence is okay with it. Thank you, Ganael.”

Ganael also told me some more information about Demy, along with the fact that my personal tutoring with the Cardinal at 11 a.m. was rescheduled for the afternoon.

I thought about skipping the lesson today because I slept in and I had a lot of thoughts to organize, and then, I ended up with a response like this.

Benjamin quickly took care of his and Ganael’s empty cups before telling us to ‘chat in peace’ and walked toward Juliette Palace with the boy.

“Thank you for coming all this way despite your busy schedule. You worked really hard last night.”

I personally poured some cinnamon tea for Vice Captain Élisabeth.

She received the cup and smiled. Her grey eyes were sparkling while looking at the desserts.

“Your highness, I welcome your summons at any time. It gives me an official excuse to avoid my work. I worked pretty much until right before I died yesterday so I am feeling very refreshed now that it is over.”

She took a sip of tea as she told me about everything that happened at the Spring Ball.

Most of it was related to the nobles, especially ones who wouldn’t listen to the Imperial Guards and would only listen when she, the future Count, showed up.

It led to her having no choice but to show up at each incident.

“Now that I think about it, I heard that you were actually at the Strauder Palace for a bit, your highness.”
“I was only on the balcony. It was because of this little guy.”

I said that as I pointed to Demy, who was starting to climb up my chest.

“Is he the same one from before?”
“Yes he is. I thought that he had left, but turns out he was still in the palace. He should be headed to the Duhem March where the other divine item is located soon.”

– Screeeech

Demy quietly screeched. I gently patted his back and opened and closed my mouth a few times.

I had called for Vice Captain Élisabeth early in the morning because I had something to say, but it was not easy to actually ask it.

I wondered if it really was okay to ask this question, but I also felt that I had a right to know.

“Please feel free to say whatever is on your mind, your highness.”

She must have noticed my hesitation as she started to speak first.

I finally managed to say the thing that had been worrying me the most since last night.

“I recently saw a young boy in the Imperial Palace. He asked me to keep it a secret, but I don’t think I can do that anymore.”
“I see.”

She put the teacup up to her lips.

“He has black hair and his eyes are orange. He is about this tall……”
“Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough!”

Vice Captain Élisabeth started coughing after she choked on the tea.

Demy got shocked by this and raised his tail.

I quickly handed her a napkin and poured some water into the now-empty cup.

She took a while to calm down, but there were still tears in her eyes.

“Are you okay?”
“Please, ahem, please continue.”
“Ah, of course. That little boy and I have run into each other a few times. He says name is Cédie.”
“Haaa…………..”

She sighed and covered her mouth with the napkin. It really seemed as if there was something she was hiding.

“He looked quite a bit like Imperial Prince Cédric. I’m sure you would think that if you saw him as well, Vice Captain Élisabeth.”
“I see……”
“Have you already met him before?”

Vice Captain Élisabeth nodded her head with a stiff expression on her face.

“Do you know him?”

She nodded again.

“He seemed to wander through the Imperial Palace as he pleased. Is that kid part of the Imperial family as well?”

She hesitated for a moment before nodding her head.

As expected, the ‘Imperial Prince’s best friend’ really did know everything.

An image formed in my mind.

I recalled how Eunse would call the Imperial Prince trash all the time.

< I quit my job and ended up as a noble young lady in another world > was said to be loved by many people because it mixed together old cliches and new ideas.

It seems more ridiculous than a novel concept no matter how many times I think about it, but I guess people would keep reading about a male lead like this because they were interested in his back story.

“Does he have a place to stay? His Royal Highness is taking good care of him, right?”
“……I don’t think I heard you properly, your highness?”

She was blankly staring at me.

“That kid would even hide in the Imperial Palace Confessional. I don’t think that his educational environment is very good. I know that it is not my place to say this since I am not his family member nor his parent, but……”
“Excuse me, your highness. I’m sorry.”

Vice Captain Élisabeth reached both hands out to cut me off.

“Umm, may I ask who you think that child is?”
“Whatever mistake his Royal Highness may have made when he was younger is none of my business.”

I sternly responded.

Cédie was born with Divine Power. He seemed to have learned how to use it as well.

However, he claimed he is neither a priest nor a Holy Knight.

He found it difficult to tell me his parents or how old he was.

His tone was arrogant and his actions were elegant.

That must mean that the person he learned from was the same way.

‘Crapdric, that shithead, he really needs to think about what he did to Christelle. He better regret that for the rest of his life. Erase your past, you little punk……’

Eunse’s voice echoed like a siren in my mind.

The ‘past’ that she might have been talking about could be this kind of past.

“I just ache seeing a child in a similar situation as myself. I was a child born between royalty and a priest as well.”
“……”
“I hope that you can take good care of him, Vice Captain Élisabeth.”

She bit down on her lips.

It must be hard for her to maintain her expression as her face was completely red from the neck up.

She seemed to be shaking a bit as well.

“Demy, a toothpick is too sharp to eat. Spit it out.”

Demy started causing some trouble at that point, so I could not observe Vice Captain Élisabeth any longer.

I think I heard her mumbling something about telling the truth or karma, but I wasn’t sure.

Anyway, I organized my notebook and had a nagging question resolved thanks to Vice Captain Élisabeth.

My morning tea times were always so helpful.

*

“Your Eminence, Prince Jesse has arrived.”
“Come in.”

Every second and every minute seemed like an eternity yesterday but time was moving quite quickly today.

It was 2:40 p.m. so I left for the Cardinal’s office and I was standing there right now, making sure that I looked okay.

Cardinal Boutier’s attendant, Natalie, told me that I looked fine. She then opened the door.

Benjamin and Ganael, who were standing behind me, told me to ‘not hurt myself,’ along with ‘your highness, don’t roll on the ground too much today!’ They both quietly whispered that to me.

I couldn’t tell whether they were worried about me or mocking me.

“Hello, little prince. Did you rest well?”
“Prince Jesse greets her noble Eminence, Madam Cardinal.”

I bowed and raised my head to see her eye sparkling under her monocle as she pointed to a side of her office.

I had an ominous feeling while looking at her bright smile. I slowly turned my head.

Another guest had arrived before me.

“Hello, Prince Jesse Venetiaan.”

A woman smiled brightly and greeted me respectfully.

It was the last pair of eyes I saw before closing the door of the Strauder Palace balcony.

Her blue-gray eyes looked cold but clear.

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Her outfit was different from yesterday, but her pink hair was still tied up the same way.

“This is young lady Christelle de Sarnez and she will be learning with you starting today.”

The Cardinal was declaring that we would be working as a team today. This was not something that was not in our original tutoring syllabus.

—