WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈
Chapter 54: Confession Attack (3)
──────
“I-I like you, Mirne!”
“...?!”
Crack.
The moment Bedin’s confession reached her ears, Mirne smashed the artifact without hesitation.
“Y-Your Highness? Prince Bedin?”
A genuinely flustered voice followed.
“....”
Mirne stared blankly at the shattered artifact.
“I... I can’t accept a confession right now.”
It was far too early for a confession.
If the story followed the original plot, the male protagonists would not start confessing until at least the middle to latter half of the story.
Yet this was, at best, still the early-middle portion. A confession now would ruin the original flow.
“I haven’t even decided who my Primary Spouse will be yet.”
Mirne recalled the ending of the novel she had read.
Contrary to her expectation that there would clearly be one Primary Spouse, the ending had been utterly shocking.
‘Who would’ve thought it would have an open ending, then release multiple endings?!’
Mirne lived happily ever after with everyone. Isn’t that wonderful? The End.
Then, in the side stories, it released endings where she ended up with every single male protagonist.
That insane approach had caught Mirne off guard, and she could not possibly commit herself to anyone at this point.
‘I’ll decide who my Primary Spouse is, but... not yet.’
That was why she had no choice but to reject him by claiming the artifact had malfunctioned.
Even if he caught on, there was nothing she could do. If she entered a relationship now, the consequences would be serious.
She felt uneasy whenever the story did not follow the original plot.
“The Empire is definitely going to fall. All kinds of disasters will sweep over it.”
Stopping one Dark Mage was nowhere near enough to change that.
The Empire’s destruction was inevitable. She could not even take in its citizens, since they might become seeds of disaster.
“No. It can’t happen....”
The Emperor’s disappearance alone was already a variable.
The Emperor had been in the original novel, so why had the Emperor vanished now that she had transmigrated into this world?
‘Just where is the Emperor, and what are they doing?’
The question lasted only a moment.
Mirne turned her thoughts to what she needed to do next.
[ The original story must be preserved. ]
“I know! I know that! Do you think I’m doing this because I don’t know? I’m the one who wants to preserve the original story more than anyone! If variables keep appearing, even the Macelin Kingdom could be destroyed!”
The Status Window suddenly appeared, and Mirne snapped at it.
It was not that she did not know. She wanted to remain faithful to the original story more than anyone.
She had wanted to sit still while everyone around her gave her whatever she wanted, loved her, and let her enjoy nothing but effortless success.
How had things ended up like this?
‘The Imperial Crown Prince... The Imperial Crown Prince is the problem.’
The cause was obvious.
There was no way she could fail to know what the problem was.
Only one person in this world treated her poorly.
‘But it’s not like I can do anything to the Imperial Crown Prince right now.’
The Empire was no longer in a position to keep giving things away.
The Macelin Kingdom could not do anything against the Empire.
So even though the Imperial Crown Prince was an eyesore, there was no way to deal with him.
‘Should I just tell him? Tell him how the Empire will be destroyed? No, then I’d have to tell him about the Executioners.’
It was complicated.
She could see no solution.
“Should I put this aside for now and secure other things first? There are plenty of Hidden Pieces I need to obtain.”
From the World Tree to the title of Noble.
There were so many things she needed to secure.
She had already made arrangements for a few of them, at least.
Mirne decided to wait for the right time.
The next morning, after she had gone to sleep with those thoughts on her mind...
“Mirne, is it true that the Second Imperial Prince confessed to you?”
“Pardon?”
She received an unbelievable call.
How did another male protagonist know that she had received a confession?
And someone who was not even from the Empire?
‘What the hell is going on?’
+++++
The Empire’s intelligence unit, the Empire’s Eye.
Their work involved everything related to information.
Naturally, that included manipulating public opinion.
“This is... honestly something I always wanted to try at least once while serving in the Empire’s Eye.”
“I never thought we’d actually get to do it.”
Still, what they were about to do was quite far from manipulating public opinion.
It was not really manipulation. If they had to call it something, perhaps it was shaping public opinion.
“We’re just spreading a rumor, so even calling it that is kind of funny.”
“But the rumor involves His Highness the Second Imperial Prince.”
Their mission was not to spread some rumor making the rounds in a market district. They had to spread the Imperial family’s private affairs.
There was no need to risk their lives. They only had to visit salons and back-alley taverns, dropping a few lines here and there.
Yet the rush it gave them was incredible.
A tingling thrill ran through them.
In a way, they were tarnishing the Imperial family’s dignity.
It was something they had only ever imagined doing throughout their lives in the Empire’s Eye.
Ahem.
The members of the Empire’s Eye cleared their throats.
Starting from the salons...
“Come to think of it, I heard somewhere that His Highness the Second Imperial Prince had been secretly exchanging messages with Crown Princess Mirne of the Macelin Kingdom, and then...”
All the way to the back-alley taverns.
“...in the end, he could not hold himself back and confessed. Unfortunately, the artifact broke, so he was unable to hear her answer.”
They casually dropped a few carefully prepared lines.
The rumor spread in that way.
“Did you hear that rumor? You know, ahem, the second one confessed but could not hear the answer....”
“You could say he was rejected. Definitely rejected.”
“This isn’t about someone else, either. Among my friends, there’s, ahem... Anyway, this friend of mine, you see...”
Their names were thoroughly obscured, and the rumor was polished as it spread throughout the Empire.
Still, anyone perceptive enough could not possibly fail to notice.
Even those too oblivious to have any idea caught on eventually.
“Anyone who insults the Imperial family will be executed on the spot. We will cut off their heads without even asking questions.”
The knights’ sudden remarks made it immediately obvious who the rumor was about.
Perhaps it was because they suddenly brought up the absurd charge of insulting the Imperial family that everyone had no choice but to realize the matter concerned the Imperial family.
If anything, the knights seemed to be openly guaranteeing that the rumor was true.
In any case, word that Bedin had confessed to Mirne spread everywhere.
Even intelligence units from other countries, who had risked their lives infiltrating the Empire...
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
“The magical power searching for us suddenly disappeared. It is as if they decided to let us go....”
“What do you mean, let us go? It probably means our concealment methods finally worked.”
“...Is that so?”
“Yes. Stop having strange thoughts and focus on delivering the intelligence. The relationship between Second Imperial Prince Bedin and Crown Princess Mirne of the Macelin Kingdom is top-class intelligence.”
“Understood.”
Normally, their return rate was atrocious.
But once information about the Second Imperial Prince began circulating, they all returned to their homelands with a one-hundred-percent survival rate.
“I thought it would take about a week, but apparently not.”
Five days.
“...Brother, I’m so embarrassed I don’t think I can lift my head... I can’t face the officials... Or the maids... What am I supposed to do?”
In only five days, the rumor that Bedin had been rejected spread beyond the Empire and across the continent.
Bedin hung his head low, making it clear that he was dying of embarrassment.
“It is not a rumor that you were rejected, so isn’t it fine?”
Bellon continued working through his documents without batting an eye.
“...How is that fine? She gave no answer... No answer....”
“Aren’t you angry? It looked like she deliberately avoided answering.”
“I won’t know until I hear the full circumstances. But... the fact that she hasn’t contacted me first since then is a little....”
“A little?”
Bellon raised his head from the documents at Bedin’s words.
‘Normally, being rejected could make someone turn into the type who insists on having her no matter what, but he’s calmer than I expected.’
It was what people called turning dark.
If he could not have her, he might have dark-digivolved into someone bent on destroying her instead.
But Bedin did not seem to possess any yandere tendencies.
‘Maybe Mirne rejected him because she knew that. She might not have been able to cut him off if he was the type to become seriously obsessive.’
Various possibilities came to mind, but nothing was certain.
One thing, though, was clear.
“Your Highness, the carrier pigeons from the Macelin Kingdom have been extremely active recently.”
The Macelin Kingdom was currently being bombarded with questions from all directions.
There was no need to investigate what those questions were.
Bellon already knew.
Smiling broadly, he decided not to intervene for the time being.
‘You do not taste a dish while it is boiling hot.’
If he interfered carelessly, it would turn into a dish that was neither one thing nor the other.
For now, the best course was to leave it alone until it reached the right temperature.
+++++
Five more days passed after the rumor had spread across the continent.
Contrary to my expectation that things would calm down somewhat after enough time passed...
“Your Highness, the Cireen Kingdom has declared war on the Macelin Kingdom.”
“What?”
The situation began taking a very interesting turn.
“But was the west not always packed with various kingdoms, with large and small conflicts breaking out all the time?”
“That is correct. Ordinarily, we would not have reported this to you so urgently, but we judged the reason to be highly unusual.”
“What is the reason?”
“...The justification is love.”
Did they say that one reaped what one sowed?
One of the fish in Mirne’s dating pool had finally expressed anger.
And they were expressing it in a very big way.
‘This is a chance to see how the Macelin Kingdom avoids destruction, and what form that takes.’
How could I pass up something this entertaining?
“You said it was the Cireen Kingdom?”
“Yes.”
“Find a way to support them discreetly.”
Maybe I should join in.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
