Chapter 5

At night, my older sister came to my room and congratulated me, saying, "Congratulations!"

"Shin, you have a fiancée too... You're going to be my sister-in-law. Was she a cute girl?"

"Yeah, she had beautiful black hair. She seemed a bit anxious, but she was polite and honest, and I liked her."

"I see. That's good. Now I can marry with peace of mind."

She really seemed happy.

"Hey, sister, do you know stories like this?"

If she wasn't just imagining it, but was influenced by some novel or story, there must be similar stories in this world.

A story where a commoner enrolls in a school full of nobles, becomes a lover with a noble at the school, and the original fiancé gets in the way, leading to a broken engagement, and the noble marries the commoner.

I'll call them "nobles" instead of "princes" to avoid confusion.

"It's like Cinderella. But I've never read or seen such a novel or play. If there were novels where a commoner marries a noble or royal just because of a love affair, they might be banned and burned. There's no such noble, and it would undermine the noble's status. There's the Cinderella fairy tale, but even if the prince had a fiancée, he wouldn't go looking for Cinderella, right?"

"You're right..."

"Is the girl thinking she might also have her engagement broken because she read such a book?"

"Um, pretty much."

Actually, she seemed quite certain.

"But in the school, it might not be impossible. When I was at Flora Academy, I followed Father's educational philosophy of 'all who enter this gate must abandon their status' and treated commoners without discrimination. The resistance from the noble brats who said it was just a facade was intense, but as I led by example, interacting with people of all ranks and commoner students, the atmosphere changed."

Sister is amazing. I love that about her.

"But I only stayed at the school for a year before I went to study abroad in Halva, so it might have gone back to the way it was. It's a shame."

I see...

"Shin, you should follow in my footsteps and break down that kind of atmosphere at the school. Don't tolerate the snobbish attitudes of the nobles or the tyranny of the privileged class. The trust and respect of the people are the only assets of the nobles. This country doesn't need nobles who just strut around. Once they enter society, they'll be overwhelmed by the class system and become corrupt. Always remember that the king must be with the people. Try your best, Shin!"

"Yes."

It's a big responsibility. Can I achieve the true form of the school that Father and Sister aimed for?

"It's natural to feel anxious when you're ten and your marriage is already decided. You're still a child. It's like pre-wedding jitters. It happens a lot."

Sister doesn't show any sign of it. If she were as confident as Sister, she would kick aside any heroine or villainess and forge her own path.

"So, Shin, you should love that girl so much that she won't feel anxious. If you do, she'll come to you with a smile. Always be her ally and never betray her. Be her knight. Can you do that, Shin?"

Just now, a really annoying line came out of Sister's mouth. I might be the one with pre-wedding jitters.

My knight wish at seven might have been influenced by Sister.

No, it definitely was. "It's your fault---!" the other me in my heart is shouting.

I have another question.

What if, on the contrary, Celia's story about being hospitalized and dying in a country called 'Nihon' was true?

Thinking about it, that seems more likely.

I also told her about the story of her being sick and having such a dream.

"I don't think that's the case. There's no such made-up story in this country. After all, hospitals were only established after I returned from studying abroad. Before that, doctors would visit patients' homes."

So, only the rich or nobles could see a doctor if they were sick. It was only a few years ago that Sister, inspired by the advanced country of Halva, established hospitals and gathered doctors to provide affordable medical care to commoners.

Thinking about it, it's really impressive how Sister, after returning from studying abroad, persuaded Father and the ministers to build hospitals and orphanages. I admire her.

"Why do you know such a novel, Shin?"

"Well, I thought maybe such a novel already exists."

"Maybe you should ask the maids? Some of them like romance novels."

I asked the maid who loves romance novels if she knew of such a novel, but she had never heard of it.

She even said she wanted to read it.

If it were all true, that would be impressive.

...And my embarrassing childhood memories were also confirmed. It's not certain, but there are many things I can't rule out. I'll need to talk to her more about the future.

Now, I've been told that the young lady is feeling better, so I'm preparing right away.

I've prepared a lot of paper and writing tools, packed them in a bag, picked a rose, and set out early in the morning with Shriegan.

"I think it'll be a long day. You can go home, Shriegan. Just come back to pick me up in the evening."

"Sure thing. I'll hang out with Bell."

"That's a bother for Bell."

"I'll help with Bell's work."

"You're not going to help me...?"

In the main hall, the maids are lined up, and the Duke and Celia are there to welcome us. She's wearing a proper dress today. A cute, white dress.

I step forward and greet the Duke first.

"Thank you for receiving me on such short notice. With the king's permission, I couldn't contain my eagerness and have come to propose to Celia."

"I am deeply grateful for the repeated visits of Prince Shin. I would be delighted to accept your proposal. Please take good care of my daughter."

"Celia."

I turn to the young lady.

"There is no one else I would want as my wife. I swear my eternal love to you in the name of Shin Midland. Please accept my proposal."

I kneel on one knee and offer her a single rose.

"An extravagant bouquet would be presumptuous. I picked the most beautiful and vibrant rose from the palace garden. Please accept this flower, along with my feelings."

"......Yes."

Amidst the cheers and applause, Celia accepts the rose.

I was guided to the salon, but I requested to meet in her room. I've been in there once before.

Today, I want to have many private conversations. It's better in her room.

"Is it really true that you're only ten, Shin-sama?"

"That's rude. Of course, it's true."

She leads me to her room, and we're alone. The tea and sweets are delicious.

"How can you say such lines so smoothly?"

"Because I'm a prince. Sister and my sister-in-law practice with me, making me say different lines each time. Social skills are a noble's pastime."

"Ah... You seem so mature."

"Sister is strict. If I don't say different lines each time, she hits me. She says I lack originality. Girls won't swoon for such lines."

"I can see why you'll be popular in the future..."

Talking like this, she's a fun kid.

The rose is in a vase on the table.

"But this flower is really beautiful. I'm so happy."

"Thanks. Don't say anything about the petals falling off, okay?"

"I'll dry it and keep it forever."

"Sure, sure."

She stretches to place the vase on a shelf.

"It's decided, then..."

"It's decided."

I nod in agreement with her sigh.

"I'm a royal, and you're a noble. You can't refuse, and even if I did, nothing would change. So, I think it's better to be happy about the engagement. I'm glad to be engaged to you. Probably more than to any other young lady."

"Thank you..."

She looks resigned. For her, this means certain downfall and exile. From now on, my job is to remove her future anxieties. Whether games or other worlds really exist or not doesn't matter right now. The important thing is different. Let's start from there.

"In the future, you'll be unhappy because I'll break the engagement, right?"

"Yes."

"So, let's do our best to change that fate and prevent it from happening."

I take out a stack of paper from my bag and prepare a fountain pen, ink, and blotting paper. We sit across the table, and I start gathering information.

"First, tell me everything you can remember about the story where you get your engagement broken, from the beginning."

Wow, it's a lot. It's a whole novel.

The protagonist meets me at seven and doesn't know I'm a prince yet. Before the ending, the prince confesses his love, and only then does she realize the boy who helped her was the prince. It's called a "dumb protagonist."

The prince, on the other hand, remembers the protagonist from the start and has been watching over her, which feels unfair.

"I had completely forgotten."

"It's a black history."

"Stop with the gut-punching hooks... But if the girl was deeply into the game, she would have already figured out I'm the prince."

"I think so. She must have thought 'Prince is here---!' when she was seven."

"But I doubt a seven-year-old would be playing such a game. She might not have recovered her game memory yet, like you."

"I recovered my memory when I met you. Maybe that's a flag."

"What's a flag...? It's a trigger, right? If that's the case, I think she would have screamed and fainted when she met me."

"...I deeply apologize for my rudeness at that time."

Clarifying the facts and revealing the story's setting and inconsistencies is quite fun. It feels like we're creating a story together.

I've been laughing uncontrollably, even though I thought it would be a tedious task at first. This is fun!

"No, I'm not being sarcastic. At this point, we can't determine if the protagonist, the 'heroine,' is a 'game memory holder' as you say. We don't know when she'll remember, or if she'll remember at all."

"That's true..."

"We don't know the heroine's name or appearance yet."

"We can input that in the initial settings."

That's convenient...

"Shin-sama, when you meet the girl, won't you suddenly remember the seven-year-old heroine, like me?"

Will I scream and faint?

If so, it's a memory I definitely don't want to remember. I want to avoid it...

Next: "6. The Strategy Guide is Complete"