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“Yes. It is a very generous proposal, but I cannot accept it.”

We stopped dancing, and I caught Imperial Princess Charlotte’s gaze. Her eyes were tinged red as if they had been set ablaze, and she was glaring at me angrily.

“Why? There won’t be a better proposal than this. You could become the husband of an Imperial Princess, on top of protecting your Lady who’s so precious to you!”

“…I apologize.”

Certainly, what Imperial Princess Charlotte said was true. Even though this world was based on a game, we were by no means actually inside one. In this actual world, I could manage to protect someone who was important to me while also becoming the husband of an Imperial Princess. There couldn’t be a happier ending than that.

‘However, this isn’t the happy ending that I want. Therefore, such a conclusion is worthless to me.’ I wasn’t arrogant enough to say something like this outloud, but it seemed that Imperial Princess Charlotte understood what I wanted to say.

“Is that… Is that how good it is to be by her side? But, at this rate, your Lady will be my big brother’s fiancée. I wonder if you’re saying this while fully understanding that fact?”

“…It seems that there has been a misunderstanding.”

Since the day I had become Lady Sophia’s exclusive butler in training and pledged my oath to her, my wish became to grant Lady Sophia’s wishes and make her happy.

“As it’s not Lady Sophia’s wish, an engagement between her and His Highness, Imperial Prince Harold, is impossible, because the Lady I had raised will make even the gods into her enemies in order to stay true to herself.”  

“Are you saying that she will refuse that political marriage?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Does she understand what kind of impact it’ll have on both of our countries if she does this?”

“As I said earlier, Lady Sophia is prepared for that. However—”

After we stopped dancing, I stepped away from her. In the meantime, Lady Sophia and Imperial Prince Harold had also stopped dancing midway and now stood still, facing each other.

In reaction, a stir went through the people around them. And then, Prince Lancelot walked up to them.

“Hello, you two! Are you enjoying yourselves?”

“Hello… Your Highness. As I expected, I am very impressed by the party hosted by the First Prince of the Ephenear Kingdom. Of course I am enjoying myself.”

“I’m happy to hear that. I deeply apologize for this, Your Highness, but both my younger brother and I would like to have a dance with Miss Sophia. Would you mind lending Miss Sophia to my brother for the next dance?”

The ballroom was abuzz as some of the guests started whispering to each other.

“As you know, Miss Sophia is a national treasure, even spoken of as a saintess. Many people are looking forward to dancing with her. Therefore, I cannot afford to let your Highness keep her all to yourself.”

Having been told all this, anyone would be able to understand. Sophia was a national treasure, and even members of the royal family wished for her to be their partner. As such, Prince Lancelot declared that he couldn’t simply hand her over to an Imperial Prince from another country.

“I apologize about that. Also, even though you are my guide, I have relied on you with many other things, Miss Sophia. I apologize. I won’t be needing your services any longer today, so please, feel free to dance with the other guests.”

Lady Sophia answered him by doing an elegant curtsy and then she quietly left. Prince Lancelot and Imperial Prince Harold remained standing there and began to talk. I shifted my gaze away from the two of them and turned to look at Imperial Princess Charlotte again. Her eyes were wide in disbelief.

“What… did you do?”

“I simply fulfilled my duties as a butler.”

“Stop messing around! Aggravating the situation like this, how do you plan on bringing it back under control?!”

Her amethyst eyes—same color as Lady Sophia’s—were dyed red with anger. It might have been due to Magical Overcharge Illness… but if it was, her disease was very mild. At least, she didn’t appear to be suffering because of it. However—

“Your Highness. A person very important to you is suffering from Magical Overcharge Illness, aren’t they?”

“…How do you know about my little sist—?”

Her eyes went wide. Since I didn’t receive this information from Teacher Tristan, who knew the events of the ‘Eve of the Festival’, I didn’t think of this possibility at first.

However, when the topic of Magical Overcharge Illness was brought up, Imperial Princess Charlotte mentioned it herself. ‘The Empire is looking for a way to cure Magical Overcharge Illness from all angles,’ she said.

Her statement would be a little too exaggerated if the Empire was only doing in response to a request from a neighboring country. Moreover, Imperial Princess Charlotte was unusually interested in the technique for releasing magical powers. And above all else, her and Imperial Prince Harold hurried over here, pushing their schedule of studying abroad forward. That’s why I thought, ‘I wonder whether Imperial Princess Charlotte herself or someone close to her might suffer from Magical Overcharge Illness?’

But Imperial Princess Charlotte didn’t show any indication that she was consuming her powers daily, like Fol. So I was convinced it had to be the latter.   

Of course, at that point, I still hadn’t known who the person suffering from the illness was. However, what was important was the fact that Imperial Princess Charlotte was searching for ways to deal with the Magical Overcharge Illness for someone else’s sake. Knowing that was enough.

But it was necessary to collect evidence, just to make sure. For that reason, I commissioned the Dark Guild and had them investigate it. Who was Imperial Princess Charlotte’s weakness? What kind of person were they? 

And so, her younger sister came up. They were only half-siblings, but Imperial Princess Charlotte doted on her very much—and she was a very sickly little girl. Apparently, the royal family was hiding the fact that she had Magical Overcharge Illness, but after looking at her situation with a suspicion that she was suffering from this illness, many things checked out.

I had no definitive proof that her little sister really had this illness, so, ultimately, I would have to try and bluff… but since she told me herself that it was her little sister, it wasn’t necessary for me to do so. There truly were many chinks in Imperial Princess Charlotte’s armor.

However, according to my elder sister who had played the game, both Imperial Prince Harold and Imperial Princess Charlotte were extremely outstanding people. So it was likely that the current Imperial Princess Charlotte was in a panic because there wasn’t much time left.

Also, she was considered a sharp and capable person in the game after those time constraints had been lifted. It would have been good if her sister’s Magical Overcharge Illness had been cured some other way but… considering Fol’s situation as well, this didn’t seem to be the case.    

In other words, their younger sister had little time left to live.

Taking into consideration the fact that Imperial Princess Charlotte said that our deal could wait until after the party, her little sister shouldn’t be dying in a day or two, but, if left untreated, she probably only had a few months left to live.

“…I see. So your offer to research the spell, as well as saying that you will be publicizing the technique to release powers later, was all a trap to lure us into a false sense of security?”

Her eyes looked resigned. I felt somewhat upset when I saw this kind of emotion in eyes that were the same color as Lady Sophia’s.

“No, you’re mistaken, Your Highness.”

If a family member of hers was affected by the Magical Overcharge Illness, that would put me in a most advantageous position. At that point, I would be able to stop Lady Sophia’s political marriage without any troubles.

However, if I—a mere butler—were to bargain with them like this, it would cause offense. For that very reason, I took action to settle this matter peacefully. As a result—when I shifted my gaze, Imperial Prince Harold and Prince Lancelot were hugging. The young Ladies shrieked, their voices high-pitched—not that they were particularly degenerated.

“What’s… going on? What happened to my elder brother?”

“This isn’t a matter a mere butler like me can tell you. Please ask His Highness Prince Lancelot and His Highness Imperial Prince Harold about it.”

I bowed politely. While I kept my head lowered, Imperial Princess Charlotte, seemingly a little puzzled, walked off, heading towards Prince Lancelot. Having just witnessed this, now it was Young Master Ernest who approached me.

“Cyril, just what did you do?”

“I have put a stop to Lady Sophia’s political marriage peacefully, that’s all.”

“Stop dodging the question.You had almost publicly humiliated His Highness, the Imperial Prince. Even if it hadn’t come to such a worst case scenario, you were headed into a similarly bad situation. So how–”

Right in front of Young Master Ernest’s gaze, Prince Lancelot was showing a bracelet to Imperial Princess Charlotte. Even without knowing its properties, he immediately understood that it was some sort of magical equipment.

“Cyril, what’s that magical tool?”

“It’s proof that the Ephenear Kingdom regards the Flamefield Empire a friend.”

It was the magical tool that I made. It was a custom-made item that forcibly drew out the wearer’s magical powers. 

If you had it on, there was nothing to worry about, even if you had high magical resistance. Even if a person was unable to release their own powers, for example due to illness, this tool made it possible to forcefully draw their powers out. It was an emergency safety device for people with Magical Overcharge Illness.

This magical tool was given to the neighboring country as a present in the name of the royal family. Of course, in reality, this was a precious item that would require something suitable to be gifted in return, but it was more than enough as proof of the goodwill between the two countries.

Also, I had made two of these magical tools. The other one had been given to Prince Lancelot as a present for Fol to use in an emergency. This tool was the trick for getting the royal family involved in the negotiations.

However, I didn’t know whether Imperial Princess Charlotte would publicly announce that her younger sister had Magical Overcharge Illness. Therefore, by no means could I tell him about the properties of this magical tool myself.

“If you’re interested in the properties of that magical tool, please ask His Highness Prince Lancelot about it. Personally, I cannot tell you about it, Young Master Ernest.”

“…Hm. In other words, the very reason lies within that magical tool.”

The important thing was the fact that I had managed to block Lady Sophia’s political marriage peacefully. Apparently, Young Master Ernest was aware of this too. 

“Very well then,” he said, backing down. “I will report this to my father,” he then finished his sentence and left.

I watched him leave and then checked how Imperial Princess Charlotte was doing, as I wasn’t yet relieved of my post as her guide. Not long after the start of my observations, Imperial Princess Charlotte, who had been in the middle of a conversation, came back.

“Cyril, you’ve gone and done it.”

“Oh, is it not to your liking?” I answered her question with a question of my own. 

She seemed a little puzzled before shaking her head.

“No, I am very grateful to you. But… I wanted you as well, so it’s really a shame. Do you really have no intentions to come with me?”

“That’s more praise than I deserve… However, as I said before, I am Lady Sophia’s exclusive butler. Therefore, I don’t intend on leaving my Lady’s side.”

“That’s right. I’m not handing Cyril over.”

I was startled by the voice that followed up my answer, and when I turned to look I discovered that, at some point, Lady Sophia came to stand by my side.

“Miss Sophia… I envy you.”

“That’s something I get told often. It’s also for that reason that I definitely won’t let go of this fortune of mine.”

Imperial Princess Charlotte glared at Lady Sophia as if she wanted to say ‘Hmph.’ Was it perhaps just a figment of my imagination, that I somehow felt like the aura these two emitted was the same as when they were on the verge of falling into darkness?  

…Speaking of which, there was a bad ending called ‘Mitsudomoe’ that would be triggered if the player half-heartedly went after all three capture targets. Well, Fol wasn’t here, so I think I should be fine.

“If you’re not letting him go, aren’t you just forcing him to rot away? I am willing to accept Cyril as my husband. I’ve already told Cyril as well.”

“Eh…? Cyril, you’re going to marry Her Highness Imperial Princess Charlotte?”

Lady Sophia looked at me sternly. Although she was glaring at me with what you’d call ‘scornful eyes’, her irises weren’t dyed red at all. It seemed that I had her trust in this matter. Well, since I have been working hard for Lady Sophia’s sake all this time, I’d be very sad if I wasn’t trusted.

“I will always be your exclusive butler, Lady Sophia.”

“Oh, but even butlers get at least married, right? If you’d like, I’d be fine with being your wife, you know?”

“…Cyril?”

Once again, Lady Sophia turned her doubtful gaze at me. I would like to think that the hint of redness in her eyes—which seemed a little different from before—I thought I saw was just my imagination. Or rather, could it be that? Could it be that, while I had promised to always be by her side, she wasn’t confident when it came to things that I hadn’t promised her?   

“As long as Lady Sophia doesn’t wish for it, I won’t get married to anyone.”

When I declared this loud and clear, Lady Sophia let out a relieved breath for some reason. In contrast, Imperial Princess Charlotte looked somewhat disappointed.

“It is what it is. In that case, may I at least ask Cyril to help me with my research while I’m staying in Ephenear?”

“If it’s that sort of thing, I don’t mind at all, Your Highness.”

Lady Sophia agreed to the request. But then, she raised her index finger and smiled, continuing. “However, as I just finished my duties as a guide for today, I don’t have anyone accompanying me. Therefore, may I have Cyril back?” she asserted, as if to say that, while she didn’t mind me helping with the Imperial Princess’ research, she wouldn’t let her borrow me for any other purpose. Considering the social status of Lady Sophia and Imperial Princess Charlotte, it was a considerably aggressive remark. A wry smile surfaced on Imperial Princess Charlotte’s face, perhaps because she realized this as well.

“You’ve heard her, Cyril. You’re released from your duties as a guide. You’ve done well.”

“You praise me too highly, Your Highness.”

As of this moment, I had finished my duties as Imperial Princess Charlotte’s guide. And from then on, I would return to being Lady Sophia’s exclusive butler.

“Well then, Cyril. As I just said, I don’t have a partner accompanying me today. Please, stand in as my partner from now on.”

“As you wish.”

As a butler, I should have been standing behind her, but, as her partner, I had to escort her. There were mainly two ways of escorting someone. 

The first way to escort someone was to hold out your hand with the palm facing up. This method was often used when escorting someone on uneven ground, for example, when walking up and down the stairs. 

The other way was to escort someone by presenting one’s arm. This was the general method for escorting a lady and was usually used when walking side by side.

However, Lady Sophia held out her hand. If I were to grasp her fingertips, I would be escorting her by using the first method. However, this method was unsuitable for the current situation.

I only had to wonder why she had done that for just a moment. I knelt down on one knee and gently held up Lady Sophia’s hand from below.

“Lady Sophia, may I have this dance?”

“Yes, with pleasure.”

Thank you for reading! There\'s two more parts to go before the epilogue, can you believe it? I will try my best to prepare both chapters so that we finish the main story with no holiday break in between, but it also depends on my editor and how much time I\'ll have as well,  so I can\'t make any definitive promises.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter, thank you for all your comments and support, it means a ton!

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