childhood
005. Onii-chan meets the Crimson Prince
“Long time no see. Leonhard-sama.”
The person to whom the aristocratic ceremonial greetings trained by my father are directed is the Prince of the Crimson Country, His Highness Leonhard Carnell.
A handsome boy with fiery red hair, the same age as me, 12 years old. Contrary to his hair, his blue eyes usually exude an air of victory and cleverness.
Yes, normally.
His eyes are red now, as if he's swollen from tears, and his doesn't even care about my greetings.
His clearly depressed appearance was quite different from his usual somewhat arrogant impression.
"I-I'm sorry. Your Highness is now..."
"Good. Get back."
The prince, who seemed to have finally realized that I had greeted him thanks to the attendant who stepped forward to follow me, turned his gaze in this direction languidly.
"I'm sorry. I was thinking about something else. Nice to meet you. Selene."
"Well, even though your fiancée came all the way, were you thinking about other women?"
When I replied with mischievousness, the prince said, "I'm sorry," and regained his usual tone a little.
Yes, this prince and I were engaged.
Originally, it was customary for daughters of aristocrats who held a certain position in the Blue Country to marry into the royal family or high-ranking nobles of the Crimson Country.
I, a duke's daughter, was no exception, and just a year ago, I got engaged to this prince.
Well, it seems that there was a lot of speculation there, but honestly, I don't really care.
Prince Leonhardt is the next king with the right to succeed to the throne, and in short, I am in a position to become the future queen.
The heroines of otome games seem to have something spectacular from birth.
Well, first of all, this person will definitely become a capture character.
However, there was one problem.
That means that I have become a candidate for the Holy Maiden.
The existence of a saint is destined to reign as the queen of the white country.
In other words, if I become a saint, I won't be able to marry into the Crimson Country.
Therefore, today, the parent and child came to the royal palace to discuss the dissolution of our engagement.
My father is having discussions with the king and other heavyweights of the country.
During that time, we, the parties involved, met in the huge garden in the royal palace.
“I have heard various things from my father.
"I myself am very surprised."
The two of us walked side by side in the garden and returned that.
"Um, what is it... has the atmosphere changed a little?"
"Is that so...?"
"Ah, in the past, when I walked like this, uh..."
Oh, come to think of it, at times like this I always clung to the prince's arm while walking.
Before my memory returned, I was in love with this prince who was my fiancée.
He's handsome after all. Moreover, despite being a young prince, his skill with the sword is first-class, and I remember his heart beating fast when he showed me his sword dance.
But for me now, he's just a 12-year-old boy.
unlike before, my heart don't fluttered, and I didn't feel like I was going to actively stick to it.
“Because it seems that Leonhard-sama’s temperament is not good.”
When I replied appropriately, he narrowed his eyes in surprise.
"What's up?"
“No… nothing.
"Did something happen?"
"Hmph... it's just that I realized my lack of talent."
Leonhardt stopped and slowly closed his eyes.
“The other day, I also received a magic release ceremony. I invited a high-ranking priest to the royal palace, and it was already done on a large scale.
As if digging up his trauma, the prince distorted his handsome face.
"I didn't have one..."
"It wasn't there... what do you mean?"
"It's magical power. I didn't have magical power."
After that, the prince fell silent.
I have no magic.
Sure, sometimes there are people like that.
But most of them are civilians.
Most nobles have children with people who have magical power, so normally it is rare to have a child without magical power.
Thus, when a child without magical power was born among nobles, it was common to think that it was a child of a concubine.
"That, Leonhard-sama..."
"Encouragement is useless. Apart from that, I don't have any doubts about my origins. However, it's true that I didn't have magical power that anyone possesses."
Did it become unbearable as soon as you put it in your mouth?
The prince let out a sob and crouched down.
I hurriedly rubbed the prince's back.
Despite his coughing, he looked desperate.
"I...I...wanted to be like the Lion King."
Lion king. That is the nickname of the first king who was the founder of this kernel kingdom.
Legend has it that he was one of the brave member who once defeated a demon king who was trying to invade this continent.
And Leonhardt inherited the name of that king.
Perhaps it was because his eyes and fiery red hair were exactly the same as the first king.
As my fiancée, I also knew that he, who had inherited the name to become a great king equipped with martial arts like the first king, had devoted himself to a fairly high level of martial arts training.
But he can't use magic.
In fact, as a warrior, it is nothing but the fact that he cannot become a first-rate.
Magic that uses crimson magic is magic that works on your own body.
Its main use is to improve physical performance.
It can dramatically improve various physical functions such as arm strength and leg strength.
Many of the royal palace knights also use a fighting style based on the premise of improving their physical abilities through magic.
It is difficult for those who cannot use magic to overturn the advantage of those who can use magic.
That's why he seems to have given up.
Seeing the prince crouched down, the attendants who were watching over us from afar were also shaken.
Hmmm, Yua also said that it would be better to nurture friendships with capture characters in their own way, so let's encourage one thing here.