How To Save A Time-limited Young Master - Chapter 15

“Heloise!”

As Heloise drank the water brought to her by a servant, she looked suspiciously at Isaac, who rushed over.

“I heard that you collapsed!”

“I didn’t collapse. I was just surprised for a moment.”

“I’m really sorry, Miss Lorca.”

Sienna mumbled sullenly while standing next to her like she was being punished.

She kept hovering around Heloise, even when Heloise had told her that she’s fine and that she could go.

It seemed that she didn’t have the slightest intention of going back until the party had ended.

It seemed like the group of children she arrived here with wasn’t present.

Isaac didn’t attend the party late, but perhaps because of his gentle personality that made him popular, so he seems to have been held up here and there before finally managing to escape.

It was to the point where Isaac heard the news that Heloise’s parents didn’t even know about yet, and came to see her.

Heloise sat on a chair next to the pillar and regarded Isaac with rapt attention.

Yeah. It’s no wonder that she was so familiar with and attached to this kid.

It was because he was her in-game target.

Amongst the bachelors available, she chose Isaac to marry off her daughter, Sienna, the most often.

The reason was that it was clear.

<Princess Sienna> was a game where players collect endings, and Heloise also aimed to collect multiple endings without a plan, so after watching the endings with most of the male characters, it was most convenient for her to set Isaac as the fiancé in order to get the occupational endings.

As such, the fiance at the Bad Ending was Isaac.

Come to think of it, Zenon was actually an item.

She can’t believe that he was neither the duke nor the male lead!

Apart from all that, she couldn’t believe that this wasn’t a Ropan novel!

It was a shock, in various ways. Heloise paled and reached out a hand, causing Sienna to receive a bottle of water from the servant and quickly refilled her cup.

“What happened that surprised you? What’s wrong with you?”

Isaac hovered anxiously at the sight of her unwell condition.

“No, something just happened. Rather than that, how’s your body?”

“Body? Ah… Of course, it has gotten better after a while.”

At the mention of his shameful past, Isaac scratched the back of his neck, out of embarrassment.

“There will be a martial arts competition soon. If I perform well there, I’ll get a knight’s appointment in three or four years. So don’t look at me like I’m a weakling, Heloise.”

“Aha, martial arts competition…”

Heloise repeated Isaac’s words with a short groan. Come to think of it, ‘The Harvest Festival’, ‘Concour’ and ‘Dance Party’ were all events in <Princess Sienna>.

Why didn’t she think of that game upon seeing the names of the events that she would soon experience?

But you would usually think of novels when you had possessed a noble young lady. Who would think of that old game?

And it’s also a supporting role in the game!

Perhaps because of her aggrieved sigh, Isaac thought that he wasn’t capable enough and mumbled.

“Could it be that you, like my older cousins, think that I won’t be appointed?”

“Hm? Huh? No, that’s not it. I was thinking about something else.”

Heloise’s way of saying that she was thinking about something else was so natural and nonchalant.

Then, Sienna cut in between Heloise and Isaac.

“Miss Lorca, were you very, very surprised because of my sudden scream?”

“What…?”

‘Very, very…?’

Is there anyone that would actually speak like this?

[T/N: The words used are a more cutesy way of speaking, which is why Heloise is surprised.]

Though Heloise was bewildered for a moment, it was as expected of a player’s character.

It was even more realistic when it’s spoken with the cute voice of her voice actor.

But if she’s here, that means that the game is being played… What’s the current status?

Heloise jumped up and started to look at Sienna from various angles, trying her best to find the stat window.

‘I’ve possessed a game. Why is there something like a ‘stat window’? Is it here? Or is it there?’

However, no matter how hard she looked, there’s no such thing as a stat window.

‘Well, is it because I’m not a player?’

As she watched Sienna blink her innocent eyes without knowing the reason, Heloise bit on the nail of her thumb lightly.

She had to know this child’s current stats in order to infer which ending she was heading towards.

The most important thing was to prevent the player from making Sienna Salles into a princess.

It’s because of the Bad Ending’s special event <Regression>, which was required to make her a princess.

<Regression> wasn’t just Sienna Salles’ personal regression.

It meant a regression of the entire world.

Sienna might be happy to regress and save her dead father and fiancé, but what kind of bolt out of the blue was it for those that didn’t deserve to die?

What guarantee was there that Heloise Lorca after time has regressed would be the same person as the current Heloise?

Heloise squinted her eyes at Sienna.

She seemed very naive, so it seemed as though the blackening caused by <Regression> hasn’t occurred yet.

Though Heloise was unsure if the player didn’t know the way to go through the Princess Route, or if they’re thinking of watching another ending, Heloise had made a decision on the spot.

To stop the Bad Ending from occurring.

⋄────∘°❃°∘────⋄

The next day, Heloise greeted Sunday by waking up very late.

She had already told the maid, Emma, not to wake her.

This was because she had placed all her focus on monitoring Sienna throughout the party, resulting in her energy to be spent entirely.

“Haah.”

After stretching with yawn, Heloise opened the window and propped her chin beside the window.

As the party reached its final hours, Sienna didn’t make any friends at the party.

From that point of view, she predicted that Sienna’s [Sociability] stats were very low, and from the frequent sobbing and crying, her [Stress] seemed to be quite high.

Perhaps she was working part-time as a tutor or at a nursery, and attended the party in a rush. Or perhaps she was working at a certain farm or mine.

That was the result of observing Sienna for that short period of time, according to Heloise’s experience from playing <Princess Sienna> several times.

If that was the case, it wouldn’t have been the second round after the <Regression>.

It’s because the <Regression> would result in starting with 150 points.

In addition, that 150 points includes Evil, so she starts in a slightly poor state.

However, according to her predictions, not only was Sienna Salles, who’s fourteen, not in a bad state, but was set to the [Gentle] state.

“I have to stop her from becoming the Princess.”

And Zenon.

It could be seen from the fact that Zenon wasn’t dead but alive, that <Regression> has yet to occur.

As far as Heloise could remember, some Duke, perhaps Duke Lionerik, held a magic crystal, and since the magic crystal’s name was <Zenon’s Heart>, it meant that the condition of Zenon’s death was required for <Regression> to take place.

“As expected, Zenon would die because of an illness.”

It’s a little bitter, as it’s like an unavoidable fate.

What would Zenon look like in the endings where Sienna doesn’t attain the Princess Ending?

She couldn’t remember that.

That was a matter of course. Zenon has never appeared as a living character in the game.

“He’s that handsome, so how could I not remember it if he did appear?”

<Zenon’s Heart> was a kind of villain-only special item that can’t be purchased from the occasional <Door-to-Door Vendor>.

And the reason that Duke something was able to use that item was because he met the activation condition of being blood relatives.

Blood relatives. Zenon happened to have a blood relative who was inferior to others.

His uncle, the Marquis of Velks. If Zenon dies, not only his power but even the remaining title of the Duke of Lionerik would be transferred to him.

That’s why Sienna’s enemy could be ‘The Duke of Lionerik’.

Because Zenon died.

In the end, everything happened because of Zenon’s death.

“……”

She could hear the sound of birds chirping.

Heloise suddenly knew what she had to do.

“Zenon… has to live.”

Zenon had to live, so that <Regression> wouldn’t be triggered.

Now, the death of the time-limited Zenon was no different from Heloise’s death.

⋄────∘°❃°∘────⋄

On Monday, Heloise prepared to head towards Langbert Mansion as per usual.

There wasn’t any difference from usual on that day, but when she arrived at the mansion, there was a carriage she had never seen before.

A black snake.

It was a carriage with the emblem of the Marquis of Velks.

“Why is that carriage here?”

What’s that person up to so early at noon?

Heloise also threw the healthy foods that she brought to forcibly feed Zenon out of her mind.

After the maids, who were anxious over the nephew and uncle’s unexpected meeting, found Heloise, they delivered the news that the young master was in the dining room.

They seemed delighted at Helose’s presence, who would interrupt their conversation.

Knock, knock.

When she knocked and opened the door quickly, she spotted Zenon sitting at the table, along with an unpleasant moustached man looking backwards.

The moustached man’s mouth twitched, perhaps due to the disturbance while conversing.

“What’s this?”

“It’s nothing much.”

Perhaps disturbed by Marquis Velks even before the meal began, Zenon, who didn’t even touch the meal, replied while looking at the tablecloth with a listless gaze.

“Heloise, leave.”

What a bad guy.

She ran over because she’s worried, but he’s so indifferent to her.

Come to think of it, you wouldn’t mess with a dog that’s eating, so why is he bothering such a skinny kid instead of feeding him?

Heloise felt sorry for Zenon, who had to sit helplessly in front of the uncle that took everything from him.

Marquis Velks would often visit Zenon like this.

Like a crow waiting for his dying prey’s breathing to stop completely, his black eyes gleamed.