Chapter 2

Theodore nodded a bit after he had heard her explaining. He either thought it was an elaborate plan to get him to be interested in her or she had not been right in the head after she fell down. Still, Theodore decided to ask.

“So you mean to say that you used to be a person from another world?”

A nod.

“Where you roughly played an otome game called ‘My Princess’ where the protagonist tries to get attention from love interests?”

Another nod. He looked a bit skeptic

“And there are 5 romantic targets including me?”

A hesitant nod. Veronica seemed to be thinking something else.

“I mean I only watched and played a few times, your route was the second hardest while Siri’s was hardest. Also it was the first otome game to have triple the amount of time you play because the world was huge. There was also extra DLCs planning to be released and expansion pack and many more. I was just getting into it….”

At least, she was not stammering like before. Then she suddenly realized she slipped a little more than she was comfortable with. Tears started to gather around her eyes as she sniffed. Theodore found it a third adorable and two thirds confusing. He could hear her muttering.

“Sniff…..Getting lead on by a 10 year old…..what kind of middle school student am I?”

Then she felt a pat on her head. She looked up to see Theodore smiling. To her, she found it adorable. He was not smiling that threatening smile but a genuine one. Well according to her at least.

“There there…It’s all right.”

She found herself nodding. A little bit of warmth entered her heart and then suddenly was poofed by a single dreaded question which he asked.

“So you are the villainess of the story?”

Suddenly she felt as if she was in the tundra as she nodded hesitatingly. Theodore asked.

“How so?”

“Ummm I basically obstruct the Heroine from making lovey-dovey progress to you. You know by harassing her and challenging her. I also kidnapped the Heroine…. In the end my engagement gets annulled and I am to be executed for my crime and… and….”

She paled as if she had realized something horrible. Theodore thought for a while. Now he could see how that would lead to a possible strife. The Duke Karmellia is one of the oldest House and they had a lot of political power bar the King and the Prime Minister. Right now there were factions forming since the seat of Crown Prince is technically empty until the King decides his heir. The other reason for this engagement was to make Theodore’s faction stronger by including the Karmellia House. His elder brothers were already amassing political power to contend against Theodore.

‘Especially the 2^nd eldest brother. I can see this turning into a ‘Civil War’ if I were to execute her….’

“It turns into Civil war right?”

Veronica nodded albeit with less energy.

“House Karmellia will be stripped of their land after you win. Father will be executed while the rest would be pardoned but kept a close watch…..”

‘An end to the line of House Karmellia. The head would have to be executed along with the direct family line. It seems I still retained some affection for them if I did pardon the Karmellia family. Most suggest that to cull the entire family to be safe from future worries….’

Then he noticed her suddenly clinging to his feet. He was confused to say the least.

“Wha-….?”

“Please don’t murder my family! They are good people!”

 “Why would you I would do that? And as a matter of fact, let me go!”

But she was adamant.

“Because you were making very serious face and I thought you were going to kill them! Don’t, they are good people. They loved Veronica soooo much! They always took care of her, gave her cookies, took care of her clothing, raised her…”

Theodore tried to pry off her arms from his leg but the crying child had a grip of a gorilla! He sighed as he tried to salvage the situation.

“So you said you were from another world. Then why do you have Veronica’s memory?”

“Only bits and pieces, but from those memories it was clear that she loved her family and was loved dearly as well so please don’t kill them!”

Theodore could only say.

“You are trying to base the assumption on a future that may never happen.”

Veronica looked shocked as she slowly left his legs alone. It was entertaining look but right now he was just tired.

“What do you mean?”

And she was kind of…. dumb as well.

“Your very presence has changed the way things are. I know for a fact that you won’t do what your counterpart will do right?”

She nodded vigorously.

“Then why would I execute someone who did not slight me?”

Then as if a light bulb had lit, her expression brightened as she murmured a bit.

“If I leave her alone then I won’t raise any ‘Death Flag’…. But won’t I raise any if I don’t get engaged?”

Then Veronica looked resolutely at him. Her puffy eyes with contrast to a determined gaze was a sight to see. But the next moment she said something blew his expectations away.

“Prince Theodore! Let’s not get engaged at all!”

Theodore could only stare at her with a blank gaze. Was she thinking at all? Looking and knowing how dumb she was, he face-palmed. Veronica was startled by that but before she could say anything Theodore raised his other hand and asked.

“Do you know what you are saying? Do you know what would happen if you do that?”

“What?”

“If would be better if the one who wished to annul the marriage was me because WE, the royal family, were the one GETTING the engagement request. If you do that, it would be a slap to our Royal Family’s dignity. Besides, the one you are annulling the marriage is with me, the most likely future King. Do you want to ruin my reputation?”

Theodore’s gaze was getting more and more menacing the more he spoke. Internally he was quite amused to see Veronica becoming more and more pale. He could see her shaking her head and gulping. After she shook her head, the atmosphere lightened up.

“Alright then. With this our conversation is over. I bid you goodbye, my fiancée.”

Before she could say anything else, Theodore walked out of the Greenhouse. He had spent much time with his fiancée already. It was time to go home. He had much to ponder about her claim to be a person from another world. Also Theodore didn’t like to admit but it was fun messing with her. If it was the old her then from what he had heard from the new Veronica, was not better than his imagination. But he was getting a nagging feeling that it wasn’t so simple. He had glanced at her once in the palace. As they say “The eye is the window of the soul”, he didn’t feel that old Veronica was so narrow-minded as she was portrayed in this ‘game’. At least he was sure she was intelligent, extremely so.

That was the feeling he felt at that time. So it was confusing that the old Veronica would stoop to such low level of bullying the Heroine. Also the Heroine was the daughter of the King of a Vassal state of Haelen and she wielded [Light Magic]. He may have to send some spy there soon. [Light Magic] was rare. Incredibly so due to the fact that it did not originate from any spirit or God despite the claim that it originated from a God called [Light God]. It still was a mysterious force.

Theodore then looked at his anxious father as he asked.

“How was your meeting with Veronica?”

Theo smirked as he thought of the dumb yet hilarious girl. He replied absent-mindedly.

“It was…… pleasing. Definitely different from others”

King Edward quirked an eye at that and so did Siri as they were returning to the palace. This was unexpected as Theodore never gave much attention to anyone. But before he could ask Theodore, he noticed him closing his eyes. A gesture that he picked out was that Theodore was not in the mood to talk as he was pondering on something. The King was now curious.

 ‘Only something related to Magic could get him this curious. Finally, something that got his damn head out of Magic for once unlike the eldest Prince!’

He would not ask his son about it because their relation was extremely strained by this engagement. The King was basically forcing Theodore to be the next King. His 2^nd eldest was already a war-monger while the eldest prince was into the pursuit of magic. Similar to Theo but his humanity was far removed from himself. He did anything, moral or immoral things in the pursuit of magic.

Internally the King was crying in joy. After all the brat was not interested in anything, not even in succession war! They returned quickly to the capital. Since the Karmellia Duchy was quite close to the capital, it did not take them more than few hours to return back to the Palace from there. However, it was already dark as a happy looking King got off the carriage with stoic Prince and his retainer. The Prince looked at his retainer before saying.

“Late at night.”

Siri nodded as the Prince went back to his study room as his schedule required him to have a class before dinner. The study room was a library in of itself as it was filled with books. In the middle of it all was a small table where Theodore was learning from a teacher. The teacher said.

“Your Highness, we will have a review session today as you had a taxing journey for your engagement. Congratulations to your Highness.”

Same old, same old.

“You are too polite.”

“Therefore, let us start by reviewing the history of Haelen and it was founded, if you will Prince Theodore.”

Theodore nodded a bit as he replied.

“A thousand years ago, the Kingdom of Haelen was once a place filled with dispute between various small states. New states would arise and the old ones fell. It was in this uncertain times that the [Sun God], gave his blessing to a young heir of the Haelen County, Julius Haelen. From here, with the [Blessing of the Sun God] and his own strength, he started to conquer the neighboring warring states, to form a Kingdom and bring peace in the chaotic time. However, peace would not last as new foes emerged. The ‘Chaos Dragon Kronos’ and ‘Demon King Xolotl’. After a long and hard battle, he managed to gain the approval of the dragon and got his help.”

“Through this, the young King and his Dragon as well as his companion, defeated the ‘Demon King Xolotl’ bringing back peace to the world. This is how the Kingdom of Haelen was established. After the battle the central plains, northern mountains and the western forest was annexed by Julius Haelen and his companion, becoming the first Kingdom on the continent after 1500 years. Other began to make their own Kingdom, following the example of Haelen Kingdom, established their own. We have few small vassal Kingdoms under our protection.”

‘And if I am to believe, the Heroine is from one of the Vassal Kingdoms. But which one? I forgot to ask her.’

The teacher nodded as he looked passionate, missing the disinterested look of the Prince.

“An apt textbook explanation, as expected. It fills me with joy, hearing the story of the first King! It was due to his effort that we are the strongest! Alas! No one after him truly got the [Blessing of the Sun God] even after a thousand years! The closest one we have is of course, your Highness, who has gotten the [Blessing of the Fire God], the closest existence to [Sun God]. Blessings from Gods are extremely rare as it is with few are blessed in a century!”

The teacher continued his gushing while Theodore sighed in exasperation. After he had done reviewing, he left for his room, not bothering to eat dinner. Theodore just didn’t want to. After a while he heard a knock on the door which he opened to reveal Siri. Siri entered as Theodore asked.

“How much time do you have left?”

“More or less 1 hour.”

Theodore nodded, seemingly pleased with himself.

“Additional 30 minute more than yesterday. I need to fill you up with my [Magic].”

Siri nodded as he began to undress himself. Siri slowly unbuckled his shirt, revealing his long green hair and…. Bandages? Theodore couldn’t help but say.

“Really, no one said that [Hidden Twilight] would require the caster to regularly give their magic as a fuel!”

The History was twisted to say the least. The Dragon Kronos was defeated and killed. And through his blood, Julius managed to tame the dead dragon into a state that was neither living nor truly dead. A dormant ability called [Hidden Twilight].

It was the ability to bring back the dead but not as well. The soul would be passed on so to fill in the gap, the user would part away a piece of his soul into the dead vessel, making it a clone somewhat. However, the body would possess the strength it had displayed when it was alive. Through this, the young King and his ‘Twilight Dragon’ as well as his companions, defeated ‘Demon King Xolotl’.

Only his father knew the fact that Theodore could use and had used [Hidden Twilight]. Theodore couldn’t help but sigh. Siri was a splendid child. He still regretted the fact that she had to die while shielding him from an assassination attempt. Siri never survived. It was her selfish request that she wanted to be used by Theodore even after death that caused him to use his ability on her. At first he too thought that Siri was a boy. Only after death did he find out that Siri was actually a girl. Personally, Siri was someone who he could open his mind to. He was close to. Then remembering what Veronica had said, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“No one can capture Siri because Siri is a girl. Also that she is already dead and a portion of my soul is in her body….”

Pushing away the thought he focused on recharging Siri. Siri sat in front of him while he touched her back. Just as he was in the middle of it, his eyes twitched as it turned golden once more. Seeing in front of him, he could see that something had entered Siri just like it did with Veronica. He could feel his part of the soul suppressed but not gone completely as Siri’s body tensed. She seemed to be alarmed as she looked here and there but upon feeling that something was touching her back she slowly looked behind her to see Theodore. His eye twitched as he thought.

‘This again?’

Before Siri could scream in abject terror, Theodore quickly pressed his hand on her mouth. Theodore sighed.