This is Al’s POV~ enjoy the chapter!
TL: clover
ED: clover
"How cute."
I murmured while seeing off the carriage in which Lily was in.
When I remember the girl who my father had recognized as fiancée just a moment ago, my lips naturally turned up.
To be honest, until I saw her appearance, I thought that my engagement would not matter.
It's not because what my brother told me.
It's just that I don't have any expectation regarding my fiancée. The fiancée who was given to me as a prince.
It is my duty to accept whoever given to me. So if my father said "this", I intended to obediently accept any woman.
But the tea ceremony with my brother - Will was a bit prolonged, and when I went to the waiting room in a hurry while thinking I was guilty that I had keep a woman waiting, my mind changed.
When I looked at her sitting on the chair.
I thought that my heart would stop.
—I have never seen such a cute lady, I seriously thought so.
Beautiful waist-length blond hair that was shone on by the light was shining brilliantly.
She is 15 years old. Her skin is white, and there is still a little childishness remains on her cheek line.
The atmosphere in her intense green eyes stirred my heart.
Her eyelashes are long. Her lips are lustrous like cherries. I thought that the bright red dress which seems to be emphasizing her body line was flashy, but it looked good on her.
Her arms that seem to have been burnt by the sun are slender enough to break if I touch them.
As Will said, I have no complaints……no, she's really my favorite woman.
—I see. This is why my father said that she would be my fiancée.
I grasped my father's intention accurately, and smiled wryly. This is why my father chose her as a fiancée for me, because he was thinking of me.
—Certainly, I'm grateful for that.
I don't want to marry but I have to, and I don't have the freedom to choose. I can only say that I am grateful because my father prepared a partner whose looks are my favorite.
—How cute.
Against my better judgement, I was captivated by her and forgot to call her out, but she seemed to be in similar condition.
To my surprise, she was completely unaware that I had come.
Her beautiful green eyes which resemble emerald were staring at the floor sharply, murmuring to herself. I noticed that tears were shining at the edge of her eyes, and I listened carefully in reflex.
"I'm not a villainess……I'm not like that."
For a moment I didn't understand what she was saying, but I immediately understood.
—Oh, that's it.
Apparently, she seemed to have eavesdropped me and my brother's tea ceremony. The place she was waiting at was the room right next to where my brother and I had a tea ceremony. Perhaps, the door was opened. When she noticed that she approached the door……and then heard our conversation, huh.
She hadn't notice me standing in front of her.
I didn't feel angry about her eavesdropping. That was probably our mistake and I thought that she probably didn't intend to hear that story.
—Yes, that story.
Will had been telling me about the 'game' repeatedly from a long time ago.
Will, who was born as my twin brother, had been somewhat airy since a long time ago and there was a feeling as if he wasn't in touch with reality. It could be said that he had no sense of reality, and he did not feel 'earnest' in anything he does.
If I say it frankly, he created such an atmosphere that feels as if he treated everything as a 'play' or 'joke', or that he observed this world from a place that always one step back.
"Because this world is the world of a game."
Will often talked about the 'game' when he was alone with me.
From the moment I had awareness of things around me, until now.
In this world where we are living now, the world of the game I played in my past life, we are the capture targets. A woman called Heroine will choose one person from among the capture targets and reaches happy ending. This is the world created for the Heroine.
My brother kept saying that with a serious look.
Certainly, when I heard it for the first time, it was natural, but I doubted my brother's sanity.
"I would like the Heroine to choose Brother. That's why I will talk about this to Brother. In my past life, I was pushing for Brother's route. That's why I want Brother to be happy with the Heroine and get on the route properly."
"……I can't understand what you were saying."
"That's fine. But, just keep this in mind."
I was called a genius from a young age, but I couldn't keep up with my brother's story.
I was seriously worried whether my brother was crazy or not, but no matter how I see it, his eyes seemed sane, and he wouldn't talk like that to people other than me. He usually lived properly as the Second Prince.
My brother goes crazy only when he's talking about this 'game'.
After noticing that, I decided to go along with my brother's story without saying anything aggressive. Then, my brother would be satisfied, if I denied him, my brother would be indignant. I knew this because I have experienced it.
My brother's story sounds crazy, and there are many things that I couldn't believe.
The term 'capture targets' is obviously one of them, and his insistence that this world is a 'game'.
Far from being half-convinced, I don't really believe even about 10% of it.
But, I think that's just natural.
Even if it was the story of a twin brother who can be said to be one of the people that I love, as expected I couldn't believe him when he said that my world was 'made' and other things.
It was the same as before.
As usual, no, more enthusiastically than usual, Will talked about my would-be-fiancée.
Villainess.
A story of a woman who doesn't hold a fragment of kindness and does all kinds of evil.
My brother said, that woman, despite her beautiful appearance, seems to be the worst person who only takes actions that would make me want to furrowed my eyebrows.
And that person is no one other than my fiancée.
That woman and I would continue to be engaged with each other, but finally I would abandon her and choose to be engaged with this 'heroine' that my brother said. And then, happy ending.
It seems that it was a happy ending that my brother wants.
—Yeah. It's quite a tragic story.
Plainly speaking, I became unamused.
Because that woman is the fiancée prepared by my father. Even if she's the worst woman, normally I wouldn't be able to disregard my engagement without permission and move on to another woman.
Or rather, I wonder if he seriously thought that I should do it like that.
I asked that with a serious expression, but my brother was laughing and said, "Because it's a game, it has such a setting."
I couldn't make my brother understand about this subject. It was a moment when I felt it again.
Still, indeed it's impossible to stay here as it is. It's time to face the reality, because of my brother's counsel, I'm late in meeting her. To be late at my first meeting with a woman, I'm the worst.
Then, I hurriedly headed to the room she was waiting at and stood in front of the duke's daughter Liz Beltran.