CLWE 09

Chapter 09

“This?”

It was hard to lie and say no—the blades of the scissors gleamed dazzlingly white, like snow. Anyone could tell they were no ordinary scissors.

I shrugged.

“Luì-Luì likes serving me like this. He says it’s much more idyllic now than back when he used to see people’s blood.”

—When did I ever say that?! Master is a total con artist!

Before I could even finish speaking, Luì erupted, buzzing loudly in outrage.

Watching Luì flail about as if he might fly into the sky with my fingers still looped through him, Karmine narrowed his eyes.

“……It doesn’t seem like he agrees.”

“Luì’s the type who pretends to resist even when he likes it. He understands the art of push and pull—he’s a sophisticated blade.”

—Stop spouting nonsense, Master! People will think I’m some kind of freakish sword!

So what if I spout nonsense? He can’t hear your voice anyway. And besides—

“Hey, if I talk like this, he’ll think you and I are close and give up and go back. Do you really want to go with that guy?”

—Ugh… I see. I didn’t think it through, Master.

Easily deceived yet again, Luì muttered in a deflated voice. Finding him adorable, I patted the scissors. Karmine looked at us with a dumbfounded expression.

“No, if you say things like that where I can clearly hear you, what’s the point? And I have no intention of ever giving up the Ego Sword.”

“Oh, so you’re the obsessive male lead type?”

“…What does that even mean?”

It’s a thing.

“You didn’t come today with that man who was yelling like a dinosaur?”

“Ah, that fellow was far too noisy…”

“Good posture. He was really too loud and rude—I didn’t feel like having a conversation with him.”

“Well, you’re not entirely blameless either…”

As if I cared. This was my home, my farm. Other people’s criticisms were completely out of sight and out of mind.

I jerked my chin toward Karmine.

“Could you carry those sweet pumpkins over to the storage shed?”

“Why? Aren’t you selling them right away?”

“To raise their value, you have to dry them for about twenty days. As they dry, the sugar content goes up.”

“Oh?”

He looked down at the pumpkins with interest. As I wiped Luì clean with a dry towel, I added,

“If you carry them all for me, I’ll treat you to knife-cut noodles as thanks. They’re incredibly good. So good you’ll dream about them.”

A menu personally bestowed by a mountain spirit, no less. Look forward to it.

Meanwhile, in the royal palace of the kingdom.

It was the very place where, several years ago, a black-haired angel had suddenly descended from the sky.

Some had rejected the sudden appearance of the black-haired angel, calling her a demon, while others insisted she should be treated as an honored guest. Amid those who sought to exploit her politically, the girl ultimately fell in love with Crown Prince David and became engaged to him.

If the story had ended there, it would have gone down as a once-in-a-century romance spanning dimensions. But life did not end there.

At a loud crashing sound, Crown Prince David—who had been attending to his duties—slowly raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t tell me…”

A headache crept in, and David pressed his palm firmly against his forehead.

And sure enough, the office doors burst open, and a young woman with flowing black hair rushed in.

“Talk to me, David!”

“…Sena.”

She was none other than Crown Prince David’s fiancée—the black-haired angel, Kang Sena.

When she first fell into this world, she had been a high school student. Now she was fully an adult woman. Her carefully put-together appearance and subtly exotic features stood out.

There was a time when that face looked nothing but lovely.

Overwhelmed by sudden fatigue, David pressed at his temples. Love? What nonsense. Now, just looking at her face made him tired.

“Who allowed my fiancée into my office?”

“Th-that is…”

Since David had strictly ordered that Sena was never to be let in, the knights guarding the door stiffened nervously.

At that moment, Sena suddenly stepped into David’s line of sight and shouted,

“Don’t punish other people! This is entirely your fault for avoiding me!”

“What did you say?”

The crown prince never apologized, no matter the situation. Nor did anyone openly point out his faults; such things were always phrased indirectly.

And yet—your fault. At the unfamiliar phrase, David’s brow creased sharply.

Unaware of his irritation, Sena snapped at him,

“Why do you keep avoiding me? I can’t even remember the last time we had a proper conversation!”

“A proper conversation? Do you even have the intention to properly talk with me?”

David was equally incredulous. Running a hand through his hair, he growled,

“Last time, you got angry because I danced with Lady Altair. The time before that, you were furious because I didn’t give you the Mermaid’s Tear you said you wanted. And today—what are you angry about this time?”

“That’s all your fault! You said Lady Altair would become your concubine! And the Mermaid’s Tear is probably hanging around the neck of some neighboring princess by now. Do you think I got angry without knowing that?”

“Sena.”

The weariness on David’s face deepened further. Pressing his eyes shut, he said,

“How many times do I have to explain this to you? For the king of a nation, the position of queen is an extremely important political tool. And I intend to fill the position of principal queen.”

“That’s a cowardly excuse!”

There had been many calculations behind his choice of Sena. Still, it was also true that choosing her—who had neither a powerful family nor backing—had been a tremendous loss.

Sena dismissed all of that as cowardly excuses.

“You’re all I have! I have no family, no friends in this world! So how can you talk about taking in piles of concubines just because it’s politically necessary?”

“For a king, what reason could be more important than politics?”

“Stop making excuses! In the end, you’re just saying you’re an incompetent crown prince!”

“You really—!”

Enraged, David slammed both palms onto the desk and rose from his seat. Barely regaining his composure, he gestured sharply to a knight.

“…Hah. Take the holy maiden outside immediately.”

“Don’t make me laugh! Is this supposed to be a serious conversation? Hurry up and explain yourself!”

A serious conversation? That’s something you have only when the other party is willing to listen.

She has the nerve to spew only what she wants to say and still act shameless.

David twisted his lips. Why had things turned out this way? The reason was clear.

This all started when things went sour with the Duke of Pond.

When he became engaged to Sena, there had been movements to elevate her as a holy maiden. The authority of the church had only recently been suppressed—bringing up a holy maiden now would have meant surrendering the initiative.

Unwilling to give the church that advantage, he had forcibly tied Sena down through an engagement.

In truth, he had also assumed that the Duke of Pond would beg him to accept Rienna as a concubine. Who would dare push a marriage proposal for someone already the crown prince’s fiancée?

But the Duke of Pond made a move no one had anticipated. Calling her a disgrace to the family, he expelled his own daughter, gathering sympathy in the process.

That old fox… I never thought he’d really throw his daughter out.

Not only was Rienna stripped of the position of crown princess, but the Duke of Pond acted as though he had been forced by royal pressure to abandon her. This earned him the cooperation and sympathy of the nobility.

Armed with that public sentiment, the Duke of Pond aligned himself with the Second Prince’s faction and began pressuring the crown prince.

A dispute had arisen over what had once been an unquestioned right of succession. That was what David faced after driving Rienna away.

“…Rienna wouldn’t have acted like this.”

The words slipped out unconsciously, and David flinched. He had never imagined a day would come when he would recall her with something like longing.

Taking advantage of the moment, he asked his aide,

“How is Rienna doing? Have you found out?”

The aide lowered his head with an awkward expression.

“That is… they searched the entire Duchy of Pond, but couldn’t find even a trace of her.”

“…So the duke really cast his own daughter out as a commoner?”

David was genuinely shocked. No matter how heartless the Duke of Pond was, David had assumed he would only pretend to expel her and hide her somewhere deep within the duchy.

“How pitiful. How can a woman who only knows embroidery survive as a commoner?”

It wasn’t something the man responsible for her expulsion should have said. Unable to respond, the aide closed his mouth uneasily.

Ignoring the aide’s expression, David rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.

Sena’s usefulness is already exhausted. Once she became engaged to me, there was no way she could be installed as a holy maiden.

In that case, was there any need to keep her as crown princess? He could simply break the engagement and discard her.

And if I raise Rienna to the position of crown princess again, it would make for a convincing picture. The Duke of Pond might even return to my side.

Having become a commoner and struggling through life, there was no way she would reject him. Rather, she would greet him with tears of joy, grateful that he had not forgotten her all these years.

Such a scene would surely move others as well.

Having finished his calculations, David ordered his aide,

“Find Rienna. At once.”

And while Crown Prince David was indulging in his one-sided lingering attachment without even hearing Rienna’s opinion—

Kang Sena, who had been all but thrown out of the crown prince’s office, bit her lip.

What is this, really?

Though the situation wasn’t entirely incomprehensible, Sena was so anxious she began biting her nails. She had her own reasons.

In the novel, you were the one-and-only male lead, a man who vowed eternal love! Countless concubines—there was nothing like that in the story!

Kang Sena—

she was a transmigrator.