"mmmmmmmmmmmmmh"
I let out a muffled scream into my pillow. I honestly can't believe that Bernadette made me pop a boner. Well I suppose its not technically Bernadette, but that doesn't excuse her shameless. I'm a god damn prince, you know? You can't just up and press your breasts against my arm like that. What are you, a damn succubus?
"mmmmmmmmmmmh"
I should probably back up and explain who I am and why I'm doing this. My name is Alford Gray Esu, the eldest prince of the Esu kingdom. I have pretty much just gotten back from a visit to my would be fiance, Bernadette Autumburn. Except When I got there she acted way more bold than usual then dropped a couple of world changing pieces of info on me.
I honestly couldn't stand Bernadette before. She'd always try to suck up to me and demanded attention constantly, which was incredibly annoying. When I wasn't around it seemed she also had a terrible personality. I have heard far to many tales of her abusing her servants and being incredibly selfish. I tried talking with Father about changing my engagement, but I was told there were many political reasons I couldn't and that if I wanted to have a lovey-dovey relationship, that I had to do it with concubines in private. It wasn't even just that I wanted to marry for love. I just wanted to not have to deal with Bernadette.
Then my most recent trip happened. Her etiquette seemed passable enough, but noticeably worse when I greeted her. When we went on a walk in the Autumburn gardens, she physically clung to me and,
"mmmmmmmmmmh"
Ignoring how I reacted to her actions, she proceeded to tell me about a secret organization that was forcing our engagement behind the scenes. They apparently also have their hands on many nobles. Honestly if I wasn't so flustered I might have been more skeptical. However after thinking about it, a lot of things started clicking. Strange political moves like certain nobles suddenly switching opinions on a bill wouldn't be that strange if an organization either bribed or blackmailed them. Assassination attempts are rather common, but I can see that being because the organization has been ordering them for people who refused to kneel or were a pain in the neck.
No, what's hard to believe is what she told me after our walk in the garden finished. While ber... the girl who took over Bernadette had finished talking about the organization while in the garden, she told me a lot more about herself over the rest of our time together. She didn't tell me her real name because she thought I'd leak it, but apparently she was someone who reincarnated into Bernadette. She said that in her past life that she worked as the receptionist for a store, but died in a robbery. She then woke up as Bernadette. She also said some outrageous things like knowing how the future will be like because in her past life she lived in a different world that was far more advanced, but didn't have magic. Apparently there was a tool they had that could simulate the future and that's how she knows about the organization.
She even told me my fate, although she did mention that its subject to change as she was going to mess with the organization by running away and potentially foiling a few other their other plans. This could snowball and completely change the future. Apparently I'm going to struggle with controlling my magic because I never got around to practicing it. This leads me to accidentally releasing a very large fireball when I was practicing in private at the academy. I severely burn myself because of this blunder, but I'm saved by a commoner girl who I then fall in love with. I then use my love with this commoner to try and break of my engagement with Bernadette. This will enrage Bernadette, so she exploits her connection with the organization to try and ruin the commoner's life. This plan not only fails, but also leaves behind a paper trail leading to the organization. For Bernadette's crimes she is executed and the organization starts resorting to terrorism to try and take over Esu.
To try and disprove this future I almost immediately tried practicing my magic when I returned home. My idea was that if I practiced my magic, I'd have fine control over it in the academy and not have that accident. However when I tried practicing I accidentally lit a curtain on fire and was banned from practicing magic until I get to the academy. It seems like that future really will come true...
For now I should focus on taking on the organization. While I can very much see how they could exsist, I'm not sure how much my father will. Getting him on my side will be essential, but to do that I'll need evidence. That girl claimed that there would be evidence in the Prime Minister's secret safe. To think that the organization already has its hands on the Prime Minister sends shivers down my spine. Just how deep do their roots go? Even she didn't know every single person involved, just a few major players.
"So I'll just need to get into the safe. Seems easy enough," I say to myself.
Wait. . . What was the code to the safe again?
Lmao, "In Alfreds defense, the author has also forgotten the safe combo."
Loving this so far.
So the prince is a natural-born screwup, can't say I am surprised. All the more reason not to really like him
I tried to do a show don't tell thing here like with Sam being out of their element in physical fights. I tried to portray the negative embarrassing moment having a lot more impact on Alford than the other information. It also adds a bit of comedy into the story.
The main reason I did this is so that when the academy arc comes along (which takes place 6-7 years in the future) the organization will still be around. Sam not taking part in bringing down the organization personally would be really lame imo and I can't see the organization surviving long after having hard evidence of their deeds being shown to the king. But I also couldn't see Sam not being able to pinpoint a single piece of evidence of the organization's wrong doing with their game knowledge. So this was my solution.
Finally in Alford's defense, I've also forgotten the code to the safe and had to look back at chapter 5 to get a refresher.
@Afewconcepts65 I do that a lot myself, so I understand. I also keep notes, but it only works so long as you take good ones, and remember what folder you put them in. I occasionally misplace mine, but when you write as many stories as I do things can get hectic.
@Afewconcepts65 reasonable, I always go back for details too
I don't know. He apparently has a clue now thanks to Bernadette and wants to act against the organization. That would certainly be huge monkey wrench in the strings of fate.
@Kaetii in truth I was originally going to have a paragraph or two about Alford's plans going foward but cut it because ending the with
Wait. . . What was the code to the safe again?
had a lot more impact.
the reason I'm having Alford take littleaction in universe is, that inorder to take the throne he needs the backing of nobles. All his backing is pretty much in the organization's clutches. This means that if he openly shows his knowledge of the organization without a sure-fire means to take them down, he'll instantly lose most of his support and won't be able to become king. He will be making moves in the shadows but generally speaking the organization has a pretty tight seal on their secrets and won't easily reveal them. This causes a stalemate where Alford realizes the organization's attempts to influence him and he weasels out of it, but Alford can't really make a strike at the organization
@Afewconcepts65 Hee. Yes, he can't be overt, but he has been gifted with the intelligence to be covert.