Chapter 23: The Princess and the Premonition

So it was true that your mind goes blank when you’re too flustered.

When I was thrown into the snowfield, I only turned physically white; I was relatively calm, assessing the situation and able to act.

But right now, my mind was so full of the thought ‘Why?’ that I couldn’t make any other move.

As if indifferent to my situation, the green-haired woman drew closer and closer.

With calm, light steps, unlike my tense self, she looked somewhat pleased.

“It’s Her Highness the Princess. Did you have a connection?”

The man whispered softly to me in a surprised voice.

‘A connection.’

‘Could controlling her count as a connection?’

I forgot her full name, but she was Princess Amelia, a playable character from the game I reviewed.

Was she called Amelia by those close to her?

Anyway, in the play throughs I repeated, I never saw any content about the princess attending Iris’s coming-of-age ceremony?

It should have been something passed over with just a line of text, let alone a choice.

“Greetings to Her Highness the Princess—”

“There is no need for formalities.”

While my mind was elsewhere, the princess, who had come right up to me, stopped the man from paying respects.

The man stood up straight behind me with an expression of awe.

The princess lowered her head to meet my eyes and smiled joyfully.

“Pleased to meet you, Young Lady.”

Her golden eyes, full of hope, seemed to absorb the surrounding light.

With a voice that somehow felt warm, the princess spoke again.

“You probably don’t know how much I wanted to see you, Young Lady.”

Unable to even respond to the princess’s incomprehensible words, I just stared at her face.

The reflection of a girl with a stiff face appeared in the princess’s eyes.

Seeing that, just as I wondered, ‘Is this okay?’

The Duke and Iris appeared in the banquet hall.

The slightly noisy surroundings instantly fell silent.

The princess straightened her posture with a look of disappointment.

The two strode forward and soon approached, positioning themselves between me and the princess.

As if an invisible wall had formed. Others couldn’t approach, merely watching us from afar.

It felt like being inside the eye of a storm.

The Duke and the princess began to converse.

Talk with nuances like hearing she was coming but not expecting it.

Talk with nuances like asking if she had been well.

Even amidst that, the princess kept glancing at me.

Faced with her incomprehensible gaze, I felt even more flustered than when I was thrown into the snowy mountains.

‘Why… is she here?’

———————–

“…Did something happen?”

Iris’s voice reached me.

I saw Iris, dressed in a black gown with her hair down.

Iris’s hair, which always swayed like a ponytail, was like a cascading black waterfall.

It shimmered, reflecting the banquet hall lights, boasting its glossiness.

The dress, emphasizing her well-trained, firm waistline before flaring out, suited her perfectly, the thought came naturally.

Perhaps because it was a sight I didn’t usually see, I felt a little awkward.

Thanks to that, my highly tense mind felt a bit softer.

“What’s wrong with Ev? Did I not tell you to take good care of her without issue?”

“Pardon? No, I, I faithfully carried out the order—”

I grabbed the wrist of Iris, who was chiding the man, and shook my head.

An expression that the man had done nothing wrong.

Iris, after glaring at him briefly, bent down and whispered softly.

“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

“…It’s nothing, just thinking about something else for a moment.”

“Don’t push yourself. Wouldn’t it be better to rest if you’re tired?”

“Uh, yeah. No, I’m fine.”

“Please let me know anytime if you feel tired.”

“Yeah… I’ll manage.”

“Understood. Then, I shall see you again shortly.”

“Okay.”

Finishing our private conversation, Iris turned towards the Duke and the princess.

“Iris… Unni(sister).”

I called out to Iris as she was moving away.

I had to call her Unni because I was conscious of the surroundings, which felt a bit embarrassing.

But still, I felt she might be disappointed if I didn’t say it.

“Today… uh, you look very pretty.”

Hearing those words, Iris’s expression became the one I had seen once in the library.

Some might call it expressionless, but that’s how it felt to me.

I felt a little anxious at the expression whose meaning I still didn’t know.

‘Was it too one-dimensional… a compliment? Should I have said something like beautiful, or elegant… or like a star fallen from the black sky?’

Iris, who was looking at me, straightened her head, and a voice, almost inaudible, reached me.

“…Ev, you too.”

The rest of her words were hard to hear due to the banquet hall becoming noisy again, but maybe it wasn’t bad?

Iris and the Duke, having moved away like that, announced the start of the banquet.

After the words of blessing for Iris, followed by the congratulatory speech from the distinguished guest, the princess, etc., ended.

The quiet music changed, and the Duke and Iris began to dance.

As if they had been waiting, people headed towards the center.

Watching them with my arms crossed, the man behind me spoke with a laughing voice.

“Aren’t you going, Miss?”

“…You think I could?”

“Haha, please don’t be angry.”

“When was I angry…”

‘While squeezed between the princess and the Duke, you pretended to be calm while sweating bullets, but now you seem to be feeling better, huh?’

Forcibly suppressing the urge to deliver a sharp kick to his shin, I waited for Iris to come.

However, Iris, who said she’d see me shortly, was surrounded by people and couldn’t break free.

Dealing with people with her usual face, Iris looked every bit deserving of being called the star of the banquet.

The Duke, likewise, was blocked by a wall of people just like Iris.

But he showed no sign of trouble.

He led the surroundings with a relaxed face as if it were only natural.

The princess beside him, too.

Somehow, I felt they were like people from another world.

I felt an unknown tickle rising from my heart.

Feeling stifled, I leaned against a pillar and sipped my drink.

There were people glancing at me from the surroundings, but they didn’t approach.

I didn’t know why. But actually, it was good.

Just then, a man approached me.

His face looked vaguely familiar.

‘I think he was one of the people behind the princess earlier.’

Looking where the princess had been, I saw she was gone, having disappeared sometime.

The man conveyed the princess’s proposal to me.

That she was waiting in a quiet place.

If it had been anyone else, it would have been an offer I’d gladly accept.

But I felt anxious.

‘The princess hasn’t done anything to me yet, maybe I don’t need to be so tense.’

‘Regardless of that, I should probably go… right?’

‘Is this an offer I can refuse?’

‘Probably not.’

‘I did control her as a playable character, but it was fundamentally a choice-based game.’

‘Besides, there were bizarre choices mixed in, so I couldn’t properly deduce the princess’s personality.’

‘It was about the mental growth and sweet flirtations of a doted-upon, mischievous princess… and then destruction.’

‘This should be the beginning of such a story, but the princess I just observed seemed far removed from those initial settings.’

‘What went wrong?’

‘I decided to stop thinking of it as a game, so this could certainly happen,’ I tried to calm myself down.

But it wasn’t easy to calm down.

‘If I want to know what happened, I’ll have to face it.’

Having made up my mind, I followed the man with my escort to a quiet place.

As I was the only one invited, other men stopped my escort.

After waving my hand at the man, who looked at me with trembling eyes, signaling it was okay, I entered the curtained-off interior.

A space too large to be called just a balcony.

The princess, seated at a table inside, smiled at me.

“I’ve been waiting.”

“…”

She gestured for me to sit down as I remained silent.

“I thought you’d be quite startled since I called you so suddenly, both earlier and now, but you’re quite composed, aren’t you?”

“I would like to hear the reason you sought me out.”

I didn’t know how to beat around the bush, so I decided to just go straight to the point.

Honestly, I probably couldn’t even manage polite circumlocutions without feeling awkward.

…And it felt like it would be okay to do so.

At that, the princess’s smile deepened.

Thinking the conversation would only continue if I sat down, I obediently sat, and the princess pushed a glass towards me.

It was the same sweet drink I had earlier.

The princess merely continued to gaze at me with an amused smile.

Feeling frustrated, I drank the beverage, and only then did the princess begin to speak.

Words I hadn’t expected.

“What do you think… about the end of the world?”

Her golden eyes felt like they were constricting me.

The brightly smiling face from moments ago was gone without a trace.

But seeing my face, a faint smile appeared on the princess’s lips.

“Just as I thought, you know, don’t you?”

My heart pounds.

So violently I can’t control it.

The thought that I shouldn’t show it was in my head, but my heart, having already heard her voice, pumped blood furiously.

I felt my breath become slightly ragged.