Home/The Prince died, so we're starting over!/ch12

Episode 12

He had the look of a man clearly yearning for a lavish, splendid engagement ceremony.

Well, that was only to be expected of Count Lulupel.

Count Lulupel loved to show off, but he rarely got the chance to boast.

Because his territory was in a remote corner, he didn't often meet people who would listen to his grand stories.

"Staking the name of Lulupel, I shall prepare an engagement ceremony that will go down in history!"

Count Lulupel's eyes burned with fighting spirit, as if he were a knight charging into battle.

"That's very kind of you. But I don't wish for a lavish ceremony."

However, the Third Prince seemed to have a different opinion.

With no hesitation at all, he poured cold water on Count Lulupel, who was radiating the aura of a five-year-old boy awaiting birthday presents.

"Judging by your reaction, Count, it seems news hasn't reached Lulupel yet."

"...Pardon? What news do you speak of?"

"My brother Velos recently broke off his engagement."

Vel... who?

I had been tapping the egg in my egg cup with a tiny spoon, but I stopped and perked up my ears.

Anyone with such an odd first name was highly likely to play a somewhat important role in this novel.

This was a sort of hypothesis I'd built based on my innate deductive abilities and years of experience accumulated in this world.

Though it was still just speculation, this hypothesis had a fairly high degree of reliability.

Just looking at the difference between Hariella's name and Anna's made it clear.

Despite holding the plausible role of the sole villainess's one and only closest confidante, Anna's name was strangely ordinary.

Why was Anna just Anna, and not Annarella?

In my second life, while pondering this question, I'd suddenly realized one day:

This was the difference between main characters and supporting characters!

"Veluga..."

That's a rather dolphin-like name. I'll have to remember it and make a note of it later in my room.

I resumed cracking my eggshell while mentally memorizing the new character's name.

"...It's Velos."

I thought I caught the Third Prince murmuring something in a small voice.

Belatedly lifting my head, thinking he might have been speaking to me, the Third Prince hastily averted his gaze toward Count Lulupel.

His bright red ears, contrasting sharply with his pale face, caught my attention.

The Third Prince dropped his fork again.

"A-anyway, under these circumstances, it would not be proper for me, as the younger brother, to hold a grand engagement ceremony."

"Your Highness certainly has a point, but..."

Count Lulupel, still indifferent to whether the Third Prince dropped his fork or not, chose to stroke his beard in deep contemplation rather than point out the child's poor table manners.

His sulking expression, so mismatched with his large frame, was quite a sight.

Though the Countess didn't show it as openly as her husband, she too seemed disappointed.

Nobles, honestly.

It was all just children's play—what difference did it make whether they had a hundred-won engagement or a ten-billion-won one?

As long as my fourth life didn't end, I couldn't have cared less whether it was an engagement ceremony or a breakup ceremony. I chewed on the tasteless boiled beans with the expression of someone eating playground dirt.

"Lady Lulupel seems... well, utterly uninterested..."

Having finished all my food and started on the last of the beans, I caught the Third Prince's somewhat melancholy voice.

As if the Count and Countess's mood had rubbed off on him, the Third Prince also seemed strangely subdued.

"...Very well. Then I shall decide all the overall matters concerning the engagement ceremony."

After shaking his head a few times, the Third Prince mustered his spirits and continued speaking.

In the blink of an eye, he settled the details—the date of the ceremony, the venue, the scale of the guest list—as if a snake were slithering over a wall.

"...So you're saying, three weeks from now, at a modest yet tasteful venue, with only the essential guests invited, while maintaining full formality and procedure?"

"Exactly. As expected of Count Lulupel."

'Classic yet modern, simple yet splendid. Oh! And the sooner the better—three weeks should be enough, right?'

By the time the Third Prince finished speaking, Count Lulupel wore the expression of a designer who'd just received such a request.

But the Third Prince seemed completely oblivious to the problem.

He blithely ignored Count Lulupel's trembling hands and nodded with brazen, adorable confidence.

The Count's complexion darkened further.

"I-I don't know about the rest, but three weeks is a bit... Just sending out invitations and confirming attendance will take at least two weeks."

"Is that so? Oh dear. I had believed that with so many talented people in Lulupel, three weeks would be sufficient. It seems I expected too much..."

The Third Prince's face fell, and he openly displayed his disappointment.

He looked so pitiable—like a poor squirrel that had lost its only precious acorn deep in the mountains.

Count Lulupel must have felt similarly, as his shoulders gave a great jolt.

According to my years of compiled Count Lulupel Strategy Guide, nothing stirred the Count more than the sight of an adorable child—one he could hold in his eyes without pain—looking disappointed.

And if that child also held high status, the effect was even greater.

Count Lulupel was a man who lived and died by honor.

At this point, he must have been seized by the peculiar desire to prove his abilities as a loyal subject and a fine adult.

Sure enough.

After gulping down a glass of cold water, Count Lulupel slammed the empty glass onto the table and rose from his seat.

"Three weeks! Yes! On second thought, three weeks should be plenty!"

Count Lulupel declared in a booming voice, like a passionate orator.

"Magnificent! As expected of Lulupel!"

Seeing the Count walk into his own trap, the Third Prince beamed with a radiant smile.

He even clapped his hands, like a teacher praising a kindergartener.

Count Lulupel seemed pleased by the praise from a mere eight-year-old. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

Suddenly, I felt I understood a tiny bit why the Third Prince—who seemed like nothing more than an innocent child—had earned a reputation for being clever.

It must have been that other nobles were so stupid that the young Third Prince looked comparatively smart.

From my third-party perspective, Count Lulupel was clearly dancing in the palm of the Third Prince's hand.

'Can someone like that really be entrusted with such a vast territory?'

I chewed the last bean mechanically, lost in thought.

Then, involuntarily, I glanced at the Countess.

She wore an expression that said she'd give anything to smack Count Lulupel upside the head.

---

The Count and Countess excused themselves and left the dining room as soon as breakfast was over.

Or rather, to be more precise, the Countess dragged the Count out with her.

Having to hastily prepare an engagement ceremony that hadn't been on the schedule, the Count and Countess already seemed frazzled.

It would clearly be a while before I saw their faces again.

And that meant I'd have some freedom for a while.

This was an unexpected stroke of luck.

'But why isn't he leaving...?'

Even after the Count and Countess had departed, I remained in the dining room. The Third Prince was still there too.

The Third Prince and I had separate business to attend to. So I'd assumed he would lead me somewhere once the meal was over.

But it seemed expecting such careful planning from this little one was too much.

The Third Prince, who had chirped like a chick looking for its mother in front of Count Lulupel, fell silent the moment we were alone.

He just sat there, fidgeting with his fingers without a word.

I watched his antics for a while.

Then, when I felt it was going nowhere, I broke the silence first.

After all, there was something I'd been wanting to ask.

"Hey, Your Highness."

"...Y-yes?"

"Just checking, but..."

"Yes, go ahead."

"Surely you're not feeling shy right now?"

"...Excuse me?"

"Is it possible that I'm just too overwhelmingly pretty for you?"

Clatter-crash.

A great noise echoed through the dining room. It sounded like the world was collapsing.

And indeed, the Third Prince wore an expression as if the world had collapsed.

Having knocked over his long-cold teacup in a grand spill, he darted his eyes about frantically.

Hmm, from the way he'd been dropping his fork whenever our eyes met, I'd suspected as much. Seems my guess was right.

The Third Prince must have been so flustered by Hariella's beauty that he didn't know what to do with himself.

'But still, for someone who's supposed to be a sub-male lead... isn't that a bit too fickle?'

When my suspicion was confirmed, the first thing I felt was disbelief.

Surely, before meeting the female lead, a male lead was supposed to remain chaste, without so much as a first love?

Sub-male leads were still male leads, strictly speaking.

A male lead, who should be the very embodiment of pure-hearted romance, getting flustered over a face—even passing sparrows would laugh.

In any case, this third-rate romance novel seemed to have nothing proper about it.

"Th-th-th-that is..."

The Third Prince was so embarrassed at having been found out that he hung his head low.

Still, his ears, reddened to the point of being almost black, were impossible to hide. If I teased him any more, he might just burst entirely.

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