Home/The Prince died, so we're starting over!/ch10

Episode 10

Under these circumstances, the arrival of an Imperial marriage proposal at Lulupel was nothing short of a stroke of heaven-sent fortune for the couple.

In their view, a marriage alliance with the Imperial family was as honorable as the countship itself.

"...You're right, the terms aren't bad."

Not bad, she says.

Objectively speaking, the Third Prince's prospects in the marriage market were nearly perfect.

Though he had the drawbacks of having little chance of inheriting the throne due to his two older brothers and a mother of humble birth, those weren't significant demerits.

After all, frontier lords like Lulupel had little ambition for central power.

Regional lords ruled almost like kings within their own small territories. As such, they were relatively less greedy for additional wealth or power.

What they wanted was something else.

Honor!

What they coveted was honor alone.

Only the prestige of the Imperial bloodline was something they could not attain through their own efforts.

The Third Prince possessed the noble blood of the Imperial family, but as a bastard and illegitimate son, his succession rank was low.

He was a child in a unique position—noble, yet removed from central power.

For any lord with a daughter, he was practically an ideal son-in-law.

"There is indeed no young lord of Hariella's age who compares to His Highness the Third Prince."

"Exactly, isn't that so?"

At Count Lulupel's agreement, the Countess's face brightened considerably.

She was very pleased with this proposal. Which was precisely why, in my previous life, I had to struggle so hard to refuse it.

In my three previous lives, I had rejected the Third Prince's proposal every single time.

In the first life, it was on a whim. From the second life onward, once I realized this was a novel, I did it to deviate from the original story.

And what changed as a result?

Honestly, I wasn't sure.

I'd spent all my time cooped up in the manor—how could I possibly know if anything had changed?

But back then, I was too depressed to want to do anything.

Of course, when I'd first been reincarnated into the novel, I had roamed around and tried all sorts of things.

At that time, I didn't know this was a world inside a novel, so I'd desperately searched for a way to go back home.

Then, without any warning, I'd regressed.

Everything I'd painstakingly built in that unfamiliar world had vanished like foam on water overnight.

I lost all motivation in an instant. So from the second life onward, I stayed holed up in my room all day, sleeping away the hours.

And how did the Count and Countess comfort me in my sorrow?

They never once consoled me. They didn't even notice I was depressed.

Because what mattered to the Count and Countess was the image of themselves loving their daughter—not Hariella as an individual person.

"But His Highness the Third Prince's mother is of fallen nobility."

"At the same time, she is also the greatest archmage in the Empire."

Even now, it was the same.

The Count and Countess were too busy chattering among themselves to notice whether I was there or not.

I chewed on my salad like a rabbit nibbling grass, waiting for their conversation to end.

In my second life, I'd once interrupted their long-winded debate out of frustration and gotten thoroughly scolded for it.

The Count and Countess doted on their youngest daughter in their own way, but they also had an authoritarian streak.

Sometimes, I felt I understood just a little bit why Hariella had gone astray.

"As you know, Lady Ramier is among the finest Imperial mages. Her background is hardly an issue for someone of her caliber. And furthermore..."

By now, only the tasteless boiled beans remained on my plate. But the Countess's speech showed no sign of ending.

The Countess reeled off information about Lady Ramier without pause.

Her tale was nearly the length of a book—a biography titled The Life of Lady Ramier, perhaps.

I scooped up the dry, bland beans while half-listening to the Countess's monologue.

I'd noticed it before, but she seemed to be a tremendous fan of Lady Ramier.

Having heard so much about Lady Ramier from the Countess, I could now recite the woman's entire life story from memory.

I had to struggle to keep from yawning.

"...So as long as Lady Ramier, Her Majesty the Empress, and His Highness the Crown Prince remain secure, there's no danger of His Highness the Third Prince being caught up in succession disputes."

"That's also true."

"Moreover, His Highness the Third Prince is renowned far beyond the palace walls as a brilliantly clever and beautiful young boy. Is there any better match for our Hariella?"

"That's also true."

Count Lulupel looked almost mesmerized by the Countess's words.

He had the expression of a man who would nod in agreement even if the Countess called red beans black beans.

"Then, as you say, we should accept this proposal..."

Having finished their discussion, the Count and Countess, as expected, attempted to make their decision without once asking for my opinion.

Wait a minute—shouldn't the person actually getting engaged have a say in this?

Even though this wasn't the first time, I still couldn't get used to it.

Of course, the Count and Countess weren't intentionally ignoring me.

They simply hadn't realized that they should also consider their daughter's feelings.

Nobles' ways of thinking were terribly self-centered.

It was like a chronic illness that every noble carried.

After all, nobles lived on their own self-importance.

In my first life, not knowing this, I had waited patiently for the Count and Countess to ask for my opinion.

And I ended up going all the way to the brink of being engaged to the Third Prince.

At the time, I didn't know this was the world of a novel.

But I did know at least that I had to prevent an engagement to a child I'd never even seen.

So I'd feigned illness for over ten days just to call off the engagement.

I couldn't get out of bed, and I barely ate. It was no small ordeal.

But now, I was a seasoned Hariella Something-or-other Lulupel, on my fourth run!

Convincing the Count and Countess was something I'd long since mastered!

"Just a moment, Papa!"

By now, coaxing the Count and Countess was easier than eating cold porridge.

I called out to Count Lulupel with confidence.

"What is it, Hariella?"

Count Lulupel turned to me with a puzzled expression.

To win against the Count and Countess, it was best to tackle the Count first.

Because despite his bear-like stature, he was surprisingly easy to handle.

The Count's weakness was that he was deeply immersed in the role of "a wonderful father who loves his young daughter."

He'd melt like summer ice cream at the slightest comment like "Daddy's the best in the world!" or "Hari's going to marry Daddy when she grows up!"

"Hari, well—Hari..."

Speaking in the third person was perfect for acting cute.

Of course, at this age, lisping like a toddler came with a fair amount of cringe...

But nothing was more effective on Count Lulupel, so I had no choice.

"Hari doesn't want to get engaged just yet."

Adding a drop of my phenomenal acting skills to this, and the situation was as good as settled.

"Because Hari promised to marry Daddy."

For the record, I had made no such promise this time around.

But Count Lulupel seemed in no state to question the truth of my words.

Clutching his heart in an exaggerated gesture, he had long since departed for the land of dreams and fantasies.

Good, the mid-boss was down in one shot.

Now only the final boss remained.

The ultimate decision-maker of the Lulupel household—Countess Lulupel.

The Count was essentially a figurehead.

He was so easily swayed that a single word from the Countess would flip him like a sheet of paper.

The fact that the Lulupel territories ran without major issues was largely thanks to the Countess.

"Hariella, engagement isn't something you can decide to accept or refuse just because you want to."

The Countess was a gentle yet firm person.

People with that kind of personality tended to be the most stubborn.

But she too had her own weak spot, of course.

I secretly bit my tongue. Pitiful tears welled up in my wide eyes.

Hariella, true to her position as the sole villainess of this novel, was drop-dead gorgeous.

Ever since possessing Hariella's body, I had benefited greatly from her outstanding looks.

Combined with my excellent acting skills, that heartbreaking beauty could sway even the most ironclad of hearts.

"Hack."

"Hariella!"

"Hack, hack. Getting engaged to a stranger... Hari's so scared, she thinks she's getting a fever... Hack, hack."

What's more, the Countess had a fatal weakness.

She was extremely sensitive to Hariella falling ill.

I'd discovered this by accident in my first life, when I feigned sickness as a last resort.

Later, Anna told me that a severe famine had struck the territory around the time Hariella was born.

A daughter born during such a time, without proper nourishment, and frail by nature—how must the parents' hearts have ached?

Because of this, Hariella remained the Countess's eternal sore thumb.

Well, it worked in my favor since playing sick always did the trick.

...No, calling someone else's painful history "working in my favor" was a rather villainous thing to say.

'Ah! Come to think of it, Hariella really is a villainess after all.'

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