Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru Chapter 95

*Nabel's Second Prince, Johan von Wervard's point of view.

   The elaborate garden sprawled around like a labyrinth, shaping my path into a maze. Though the intricacy of the pattern was beautiful from a bird's-eye view, it was harder to admire from the ground.
   While pondering about how the gardeners would get mad at me if they had heard my thoughts, I began to walk.

"It's so difficult to walk here. I don't know much about art, but why not just make a straight path and be done with it? Honestly, you should be able to enjoy a garden with simple walkways on the ground. There's no need to be able to fly just to appreciate a pretty sight. It's just a hindrance like this."

   The words I had in my head were spat out by the boy next to me with great ire.

"I truly mean it when I say that from the bottom of my heart, I cannot even begin to understand those who call themselves artists. Don't you think so too, Johan?"

   The young boy beside me smirked and urged me to agree.
   He was a head shorter than me and his body could be described as too thin for his own good. But for a boy of his size, his att.i.tude was wild beyond belief. Although his looks weren't bad by any standards, you could still notice the sober air he gave off. His hair and eyes were both a bright brown colour, common in the country of Vint. So common that if he was to be lost in a crowd, I wouldn't be able to find him again. His haughty att.i.tude did stick out like a sore thumb, however.

   He was only twelve, but contrary to his age and att.i.tude, he acted more like a bitter old man.
   His name was Nacht. Nacht von Elster, Vint's second prince.

"Personally I do agree, but I'm afraid we're the minority in this. Your brother and His Majesty seem to enjoy it very much."

   I gave a wry smile as I looked back at him. Further beyond the twisted trails, we saw two people—a man and a woman—flirting.
   The man was tall and had a st.u.r.dy body. His two eyebrows were shaped sharply and coupled with various other charming facial features. The hair and eyes were the same shade as Nacht's, but what made him so different from his brother was the friendly atmosphere he gave off.
   Nicknamed the 'Prince of Light,' Vint's ever popular first prince: Licht von Elster.

"His ladies' face shows no sign of fatigue. I guess he still isn't satisfied with all the girls who already wait upon him hand and foot. One day, his love of women is going to lead to his downfall."

   By the way, the guy who spat a long sigh next to me was called the 'Prince of Darkness'…well, not really. I've heard his brother call him 'The Weird Prince,' and I can see why.

"It's not entirely his personality's fault. With those good looks, girls would've never left him alone in the first place anyway."

   Though I secretly agreed with his words, as rude as they were, I instead decided to keep the atmosphere light and relaxed by replying vaguely.
   Nacht then slightly widened his eyes, and every so often he would glance at me. After a few seconds, his facial expression s.h.i.+fted minutely as he began to speak blunt words once more.

"Give yourself some more credit."

"Should I?"

"You bet. My older brother have might have good looks, but when compared to you, you're by no means any less qualified. The castle maids and those n.o.ble ladies are all heads over heels for you, you know?"

   I received praise from the usually cynical Nacht, something that definitely didn't happen every day. But there's no point in being modest right now, so I just smiled without saying anything further. I finally looked away after our staring contest became boring.

"Well, even with your good looks, you still haven't captured the heart of your special someone yet."

"…My special someone?"

   Was he talking about Sister?
   The first thing that came into my mind was a figure of my sister, who I hadn't seen in four years.
   She had clear blue eyes and wavy blonde hair. Her soft cheeks took on a light colour and were complemented by her petal-like lips. She resembled a girl in a priceless painting, and her smile was as lovely as a blooming flower.
   She seemed like an angel then, so I wonder how beautiful had she become? On one hand I was excited to meet her, but on the other I felt scared. It's a complicated feeling.

"Didn't Princess Julia take a liking to you before?"

   I realised my mistake with his words.
   That's right. Normally you wouldn't consider your sister as your 'special someone.'

"Yes, but unfortunately, I couldn't win against your brother after all."

   I acted indifferent as to cover up my thoughts.
   But Nacht still sniffed me out in no time.

"There really wasn't any innocent love story playing out between you two, hm? Not that my fool of an older brother would have a clue. Your exchanges with the princess were like two sly foxes trying to outwit each other."

"I don't mind what you call me, but to call the cute princess a sly fox is just ridiculous."

"'Cute princess,' huh." Nacht scoffed at the girl who was cuddling with Prince Licht.

   She had a delicate body that only came up to the prince's chest, complete with straight black hair and her matching crystal-like eyes that were adorned with long eyelashes. Her skin was pale white, almost as if she was ill. She was like a fragile princess that sat alone behind a castle window. Her name was Princess Julia von Merquell, Laptah Kingdom's First Princess.

   Prince Licht conversed with her in a soft tone, occasionally striking a gentle smile. She currently looked like a perfect, beautiful, and obedient girl.
   But that's a lie. As long as Prince Licht was nearby, she would behave. But whenever he looked away, she would turn cold eyes towards me.

   Although she was young and gave a fragile impression, she was good as a princess.
   She probably understood her position in society very well.

"How nice would it be if she was only just a pretty princess? Really, she's such a handful." Nacht pinched his brows as he lamented.

   The Kingdom of Vint was currently Nabel's ally, but they also had a neutral relations.h.i.+p with Laptah. But that's only because Nabel and Laptah weren't publicly confronting each other. If a war was to break out, Vint would stand on Nabel's side.
   But if a prince of Vint and princess of Laptah happened to be in a relations.h.i.+p during that time, it would definitely spell trouble.

"From my point of view, it would be best if your older sister became my brother's queen. I reckon that she would be able to handle him well."

"Nice joke." I promptly answered. Nacht just gave his usual mocking smile.

   But this wasn't a laughing matter. Why would my precious sister have to be some skirt-chasing musclehead's wife?

"My brother may love women, but he's not a bad person. Also, having your sister become the queen of a neighbouring country wouldn't be such a bad idea."

"It's just as you say."

   When not bringing my personal feelings into play, I think it certainly would be a good match.
   But that was only until a couple of years ago, when there was no connection between Vint and Laptah.

   Currently, with Laptah's princess trying to court Vint's first prince, things would get ugly if Nabel pushed for a marriage alliance.
   If someone was deemed to be intruding, then a.s.sa.s.sination attempts wouldn't be out of the question.

"Even so, I'm just a little brother who couldn't survive being so far away from her. If at all possible, I want her to stay as my elder sister in our home country.

"…Well, let's put such things aside for now, shall we?"

   Towards me who struck a dubious smile, Nacht obnoxiously raised an eyebrow, but he didn't chase the matter any further.

"Nacht! Johan!"

   We were called out in a loud voice from afar. Through the maze garden, Prince Licht was waving his hand in our direction.

"Come on! Let's have some tea!"

   So you came all the way out here to have some tea?
   Looking at his cheery, untroubled smile, I was reminded of something. Once you wave back at the first prince, he'll just wave at you even more. He was similar to a friendly dog. Really, he's not a bad guy. He just had problems when it came to women and was a bit lacking in the brain department; nothing wrong at all.

"Look at that carefree face. I suppose he's already forgotten that I said anything about inspecting the western regions." Seemingly exhausted, Nacht held his head while muttering next to me.

"About the western regions, are you referring to the southern forest near the border with Sckellz?"

"…Stop being so darn perceptive, would you."

"Recently, wood exports to Flamme have been steadily increasing, right? And no matter how big the southwestern forest is, those resources are still limited."

   Actually, restrictions on logging and cutting down trees should be put in place. Not to mention the fact that there are tribes living in those forests. It was crucial that we also take them into consideration. However, I knew that I had no place to order around the royalty of another country, so I'll try a different approach.
   But I'll put my own spin on it and add on a story from one of the rumours I came across.

"By the way, it seems that there's been reports of a disease spreading in a town by the western border."

"What!? I've never heard of anything like that. Where did you hear that from?" Nacht widened his eyes and raised his voice.

"From one of the travelling merchants. He told me that he found it strange a disease would break out in the west rather than the south."

"Is it a fever? There's no reports of such a thing, but I guess it's better to be careful."

"Nacht?"

   Nacht's expression became irritated after Prince Licht called out to him in a lively voice once more.

"Hey, you idiotic brother. Is this really the time to be drinking tea?!" As Nacht cursed under his breath, I answered Prince Licht, saying that we were on our way. Beside me, the prince sighed and briefly spoke.

"Johan, tell me the details later. If possible, I'd like to hear from the merchant directly."

"I understand."

   I raised my face after nodding. In the direction of Prince Licht and Princess Julia, dark clouds were forming in the sky.
   The wind stroking my cheek was humid.
   'It's going to rain soon.' Thinking so, I started walking away from the garden.

TN: This chapter was hard. We have a banner now. Drawn by Tsunekichi. If you're out there and don't want me to use the banner then please tell me and I'll take it down.

Discord:

EN1: Holy f.u.c.king s.h.i.+t. Forgive my swearing, but I actually want to kill Nacht and Johan. Y'all are lucky you're not the ones translating. Why are these kids so G.o.dd.a.m.n vague. They're actually worse than Wolf. They probably don't even know what the definition of 'clear' is.

Also, I find it funny how Nacht was all like, "Ughhhh, artists have cooties." Like, wow. Rude. The picture below is an accurate summary of the beginning of this chapter!

EN2: Muscle brain of Miso was my favourite mistranslation of Nacht's insults for Licht. This is just how I imagine a room full of snarky n.o.bles subtly dissing each other to be. JUST KISS ALREADY