– Daddy, where are you?
Asteria’s earliest memory wasn’t a particularly happy one.
– Your Highness…
– I made a crown for Daddy with my own hands…
A flower crown held in little Asteria’s hands.
It was so perfectly made that it was clear the maids or her nanny must have helped, but to a child, anything she had even touched felt like her own accomplishment.
– Your Highness… His Majesty is…
– Ah! Daddy!
Thud thud thud.
Asteria ran with all her might on her still-short legs.
Wanting to gift the flower crown she’d made, she dashed toward her father who was just coming out of a cabinet meeting.
– Daddy! Daddy! This is for you! I made a crown for you, Daddy!
She bounced excitedly while holding out the flower crown. It was a sight so cute that anyone who saw her would surely smile with delight.
– ……
– Um… I made it…
But the Emperor who was unmoved by the youngest daughter’s playful display looked down at her with only a cold gaze.
Children weren’t fools.
They may be inexperienced and still full of innocence, but they had a unique sensitivity. They were often even more perceptive than adults when it came to emotional changes or malice.
Under the Emperor’s cold stare, young Asteria began to shrink.
She became smaller and smaller, until eventually, it was as if she had vanished from sight entirely.
“Haaah!!”
Asteria jolted up from her bed and started gasping for breath after waking from a dreadful dream.
She quickly glanced down to examine her body. Only after confirming that her skin was smooth and beautiful as usual did she finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Haah… It was just a dream.”
A nightmare in which she had grown so small that she eventually vanished from the world.
Asteria forced herself to shake off the horrible sensation and got out of bed, lamenting that the precious drowsiness that had just come over her was already gone. She walked over to the table.
Lifting the teapot filled with water, she poured it into a teacup adorned with ornate patterns and gulped it down. The cold water cooled the heat in her chest and brought her a bit of calm.
“Of all people… he had to show up… What a lousy start to the day…”
The person Asteria hated and despised most.
Angered by the fact that her father had appeared in her dream, she soothed her rising frustration with another gulp of cold water…. she was already worried that the day would not go smoothly.
***
Asteria’s days were incredibly busy.
As a princess and also the student council president at the academy, many people sought her out, and she had numerous formal appearances to make.
“President, here are the documents you requested.”
“Thank you. I’ll review them. Also, have the available staff investigate Room 2 in the second dorm wing. There’s been a report that banned experimental materials may have been brought onto campus.”
“Yes, understood!”
“Your Highness! I can’t believe you’ve written such a detailed thesis on Zeppelin’s mana resonance theory! I’m sure you’ll be top of the second years again this term!”
“Thank you for the kind words. But I’m still just a student learning from the wisdom of our professors. You don’t need to treat me with such formality.”
“Your Highness! Thank you for attending the salon hosted by our family!”
“Think nothing of it. I’ve long known of Count Colette’s eye for collecting fine art. I remember how the young lady too showed a sharp eye for great works. Perhaps you inherited the count’s discerning taste. Ignoring the invitation of such a promising talent would’ve been the act of a fool.”
…………
“Haah… What a tiring day.”
“You’ve done well today, Your Highness.”
As the princess was ending her day with the help of her maid Leto, she found herself sinking into a vague sense of emptiness.
Why am I living… Why must I live like this…?
Then, almost unconsciously, she reached out for her personal communication crystal. And she soon realized that an unidentified message had arrived.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Astrea felt a sense of curiosity about the message, unsure when it had come.
Since she had spent the entire day dealing with people, she wondered if it might be something important and quickly checked the message.
[Savior: There’s a meeting this week. The location is our clubroom, and the time is…]
Finally!!
The princess, overwhelmed by the long-awaited message, sprang to her feet before she even realized it.
“Though I’m a bit offended that he hasn’t contacted me until now… I’ll let it slide this time. Please… let it be good news.”
***
The clubroom, after a long while.
Due to various circumstances, this was only our second meeting since the first one. Still, thanks to the power held by the club members, the room had been kept in pristine condition.
Well, if the Princess or the Saintess caught a cold in a dusty clubroom, we’d all be dead.
Of course, I, as the club president and person in charge, would be the first to go.
“It’s been a while. I heard the news. Seems there was some trouble?”
“Yes. Things got a bit chaotic because of me.”
“It wasn’t the young lady’s fault, so there’s no need to feel so apologetic. It’s a relief to see you’ve recovered well.”
The Princess brought up the recent kidnapping incident and asked about the noble lady’s well-being.
From the perspective of the Princess or the Saintess, visiting Lady Euss recklessly could lead to rumors that the Eus Duchy, which served the current emperor, was siding with either the imperial family or the church. Because of that, they were in no position to act carelessly.
While it could be said that asking after her now felt a bit late, considering their social positions, the very fact that they expressed concern even at this point showed that their worry had been genuine.
“Young lady, if you’re feeling unwell at all, please come see me. As a fellow club member, I’ll gladly bless you anytime.”
“Yes. I’ll gratefully accept the sentiment.”
The Saintess’s blessing.
It was a prayer that could eliminate all minor ailments for a certain period and strengthen the body (physically). Some people were even willing to spend gold coins worth hundreds of thousands to receive such a blessing.
Seeing how she so casually offered such a blessing suggested that, rival or not, the Saintess had genuinely been worried about the noble lady as well.
“So then, why are we gathered here this time?”
“Well, Saintess, the truth is, last time we only briefly discussed our direction and then ended things there, didn’t we? Sure, a lot of things happened since, but it’s still true that we haven’t properly carried out any club activities.”
To be honest, I had tried to gather the members for activities before, but every time, unforeseen incidents got in the way and the meetings never happened.
I’d only played the original game for about thirty minutes and, at most, had read some reviews and impressions from other players, so I didn’t know much.
And as for the recent kidnapping of the noble lady and the culprits behind it. I didn’t have the slightest clue.
Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be a typical dating sim? Why was the hidden side of a fantasy world suddenly popping up?
Accidents happening during academy training were a scientific cliché on the level of “Did you get hurt?” so I was willing to let that slide. But people showing up to kidnap others for human experimentation? That was the stuff of dark fantasy, not something you’d ever expect in a romantic comedy dating sim.
I had only created this club to casually pair Pollo with a suitable heroine, but thanks to the sudden appearance of lunatics, the entire schedule had been thrown into chaos, leaving me mentally and physically drained.
There was a chance the kidnapping incident had originally been part of the story’s narrative, but unless someone had my level of skill, there probably weren’t many people on the continent who could have defeated those monsters and the chimera creator.
In other words, if I hadn’t been here, the noble lady might have boarded the express train straight to a bad ending.
Reflecting on the recent incidents, I had come to think that whether it was academy life or Pollo’s romantic ventures with the heroines, I needed to start approaching things more carefully.
“Isn’t the Harim Festival coming up soon?”
“Oh. Now that you mention it, it is.”
The Harim Festival. A day similar to Buddha’s Birthday in my previous life.
I decided to take advantage of the Harim Festival.
“Since we’re a volunteer club, we’ve arranged to collaborate under the pretense of club activities during the Harim Festival. With it being such a large event, security will be important, so we’re thinking of helping out by providing extra hands.”
“Ooh! I’m in!”
Pollo, who loved helping people, gave his full support and the noble lady also agreed.
Besides, the collaboration itself had only come about through a favor asked of the Eus Duchy, so there was no way the noble lady could have declined to participate.
“Um… I have to attend the official event hosted by the church. Because of my position, I don’t think I’ll be able to stay with you all.”
“Ah, right. That makes sense.”
The Harim Festival was a celebration of the goddess’s descent into the mortal world and a prayer for eternity.
Naturally, as the saintess of the church that worshipped the goddess, she was a key figure who could not be absent from such an important event.
“Ahem… well, that’s quite… unfortunate.”
The princess wore an expression as if she were barely suppressing a smile. She was clearly pleased by her rival’s disqualification.
Though the saintess’s face soured at the princess’s reaction, she knew that no matter what she said, the situation wasn’t in her favor. So instead, she simply swallowed her anger in silence.
“I’ll participate. It’s not that I don’t have work, but… if I wrap up everything before the day of the festival, I should be able to join the club activities.”
“Then I guess the four of us will handle the club activities on the day of the festival. Also, since it’ll be hard to patrol if we stick together in a group of four, I’d like to divide us into teams…”
“I’d like to team up with Mars.”
At the noble lady’s abrupt remark, both the princess and the saintess looked surprised.
“I don’t mind, but… isn’t that a bit sudden?”
“Actually, during the last Flower Festival, I happened to ‘coincidentally’ run into Pollo and we spent the day together. So this time, I wanted to go around with Mars.”
“I… I see.”
The princess was secretly horrified after realizing that the noble lady had already gone on what could only be described as a date (though whether it truly counted as one was debatable) with Pollo during the previous festival. She felt as if her chance had been stolen.
The princess began to think quickly, believing the noble lady was now basking in the confidence of someone who had gotten ahead. But she failed to notice one crucial detail—
That the noble lady had referred to Pollo with the polite suffix ” Mr.” while calling Mars simply by name.
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