WTVL – C25

10-12 minutes 25.07.2022

new chapter! I’m curently trying to translate one chapter a day so that I have a few of them piled up  I’ll continue with updates twice a week once I have finished translating volume one completly

Translator: Karo
Proofreader:
RAWs Provider/Converter: Roo

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

The man who was the object of two conflicting emotions – longing and fear – was foolish in his own opinion. He couldn’t catch princess Leticia, who was moving further away from him. His long black hair tied on one side shook slightly in the wind. Cain raised his hand and drew his hand close to the spot where she had reached earlier. He couldn’t bear to touch it earlier because he was afraid that the lingering feeling of her touched would disappear.

“…….”

He shut his mouth tightly and looked straight again. The remnants of Princess Leticia, who had moved away quickly enough to make him unable to catch her, remained. Her voice was ringing in his ears, too.

” If the Duke’s mind is struggling, wouldn’t it be better to comfortably rest instead of training? That’s what I thought.”

It was a little calmer than usual, but as always, it was a friendly and bright tone. But something was different. Maybe it’s because he heard it at the quiet dawn. Cain clenched his fist habitually as if something was bothering him.

Eighty percent of the losses he has suffered till now were caused by his unmanageable magic power. Only few people knew of the fact. Even the emperor wasn’t aware of it. The princess couldn’t have known. But, as if she knew about everything, she smiled kindly at him, like everything was okay.

“Take a rest, Your Grace.”

He couldn’t understand why those words weighted so heavily on him. Is it because she was the one who said them, or is it because he finally heard them? He doesn’t know, however…

The remnants of her are still there for a very long time. He was still standing there, dumfounded.

Meanwhile someone who saw Cain muttered with a rather unpleasant smile on his cool face: “I heard she had a nightmare….”

No matter how small the sound was, Cain couldn’t hear it even though it was muttered aloud. Someone’s eyes became swollen at the sight of Cain.

“Tsk, you’re out of your mind.”

he missed something very important.

That person was Eugene. Originally, once one reaches the level of a sword master, one needs less sleep. Furthermore, Eugene, one of the best among them, was one of them who needed hardly any sleep. That’s why he was able to notice that the princess’ room was empty faster than anyone else.

He just followed her. He was her escort knight, but it like the princess wanted to be alone. When Leticia tried to go to the place where Cain was, he inwardly shouted: ‘No!’ Still, that kind of mistake didn’t even count as a mistake in comparison to Cain over there.

” Setting aside the nightmares, Her Highness’ condition didn’t look too great”, said Eugene, while descending from the tree where he had been hiding without a sound.

Cain’s eyes slightly widened as he noticed Eugene’s presence only then: “Were you watching?”

“Is that important?”

“…….”

Cain was silenced by a blunt reply. Yes, it was the princess’ condition that mattered, not this.

“Your Grace, you just let it go.”

“I just realized what a respectful person you are.”

“Yeah, should have noticed this by now. The knights of the palace are little more useful than you thought”, answered Eugene with a smile.

Unlike Cain, Eugene, who belongs to the Princess’ Palace, had something to do when the Princess was in her room. He was mainly responsible for helping Rox’ research, but he was also in charge of training the knights of the palace.

Eugene, who suddenly had to follow the princess as an escort knight after he had trained until late, is now alone and faced Cain. Eugene said to Cain with the usual smile: “I don’t think you’ve noticed it because of how immersed you were the conversation, but Her Highness wouldn’t just have a nightmare.”

The two began talking about the princess’ condition that they had witnessed earlier. Eugene saw the princess walking slowly and taking her time while on a stroll. The small smile which appeared on her face was so dazzling, he couldn’t even face her. However, after meeting Cain, her complexion worsened when she heard of Cain’s ‘mind training.’

‘As if she was holding back something.’

Eugene’s eyes were dyed with faint sense of anxiety.

“Do you know the rumors secretly circulating in the palace?”

“Rumors?”

“Her Highness the Princess is getting closer to death.”

“What…?”

” The source of the rumors is unknown, but the problem is that the place where I heard them is around the Princess’ Palace.”

Eugene’s guess was this: Perhaps the princess heard the same whispers he had heard prior.

Eugene’s words reminded Cain of what she had said earlier: ” It’s just that knowing and understanding do not necessarily go hand in hand. That’s all.”

The perfect black eyes trembled shallowly again, but gradually regained their calmness. Remembering her words, he realized that the princess had spoken from her own sense of loss. It might have been possible because she was a princess in an extreme situation. But now that he think about it, her actions were rather sudden. What is the reason for the suddenness?

“When you train, does your mind become stronger?”

After that, what face did she make? Has she ever looked so frustrated and sad in front of him? She didn’t make that face the night when Cain vowed to protect and enable her to do what she wanted to. It’s likely that something special has happened. And suddenly, the princess took a walk at dawn.

‘Ah.’

He closed his eyes gently.

‘I see.’

Eugene was right.

“Her Highness always smiles as if she doesn’t hear anything.”

Like it’s okay. Like you’re used to it.

“Maybe it’s more serious than we thought.”

She is a person, that knows how to hold back her emotions. On top of that, this suddenness… The more things he remembered, the more tragic thoughts came to Cain’s mind.

“The rumors may not end up just being rumors.”

Although Eugene’s words did not express very specific thoughts, it was obvious what he meant. Not only physically but also mentally, the princess is becoming increasingly restricted.

“…I was too complacent.”

Eugene nodded his head silently at Cain’s sighing. Of course, unlike their serious thoughts, Leticia was preparing to go out with her escort knights. Lulu-Lala1.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

I was exhausted after heading out alone and listening to Cain’s worries this dawn. The clothes that waited for me at the palace were so naive and cute. But not as much as Rinnie!

“Princess, there are so many kinds of commoner’s clothes”, said Rinnie while blushing. Emma and Irene laughed quietly, probably because her innocent look was cute. Oh, dear, so cute!

I said softly while gently patting Rinnie’s head: “That’s right. I like them all, so will you pick the prettiest one for me?”

Rinnie’s eyes began to sparkle. Most of the clothes were brown and gray, and unlike the clothes I normally saw in the palace, they were very simple designs, but it didn’t seem to spoil Rinnie’s fun.

“Your Highness will be beautiful, no matter what you wear.”

Yeah, I know! Leticia is always pretty. Hihi.

After grinning at Rinnie who knows her stuff, I called Emma: “Emma, are you done?”

“Yes.”

What I had entrusted to her and Irene now was important. This is because it was a tool to help ‘Miss Vivienne2’.

“Your Highness, may I ask why you are doing this?”

Only after she had finished what I had asked her to do, did Emma ask me in a careful tone. It was a very Emma-like attitude. Irene, who was helping her, also seemed curious. After peeping at Rinnie, who carefully examines several pieces of clothing, I replied to her in a comfortable tone:

“Well, there’s no point in having them.”

What Emma and Irene were disposing of were the shares of the salons I owned. When I asked about the princess’ property, they came out right away.

‘They’re about to be only useful as a tissue soon.’

After the original work started, they were all in ruins. Although they are still popular in the capital city now, the salon “accidentally” discovered by the heroine Ariel in the back alley, gained massively in popularity and started to open chain stores.

So what’s the point of having so many salons?

“I’m not capable of running them properly and the best thing in the world is cash. Gold, gold!’

It made me happy to imagine all the money that would soon be in my hands.

‘Besides, if I own a fortune, I can help Vivienne.’

Originally, I thought of having a few impressive conversations with Vivienne, just like the one I had with the Duke. However, after I returned from meeting Cain, my thoughts clearly shifted in the other direction.

“Anyway….”

If I want to get closer anyway, shouldn’t I be able to present the most attractive thing?

Miss Vivienne is a self-made woman. She already had someone to encourage her to stay strong. It’s Ariel. However, she still gave up her dream because no one wanted to support her monetarily.

The princess’ property that soon will be worth only as much as a tissue can still be sold at a reasonable price, and with that money I can win the heart of Vivienne.

‘It’s a happy situation.’

After nodding my  inward, I pulled myself away from my thoughts and looked at Emma, Rinnie, and Irene.

“……?”

Then I tilted my head. The three faces had become very gloomy.

“What’s wrong with you guys?”

X1: 룰루랄라 (lulu-lala) is an expression of happiness. Very likely another onomatopoeia.

X2: I changed the name of the character to Vivienne, I sometimes used Yvonne or Yvien, since there is no clear romanized version of that name that makes sense completly;;;