Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Unable to decline the next Princess’ invitation, Kyle followed Princess Milena to the courtyard of the royal palace. Though, you might as well call it a small public park.

“I really enjoy this location, see.”

At a location even deeper inside this courtyard, Princess Milena looked around, muttering these words. This place was a bit more elevated compared to the surroundings, surrounded by flowers. During the day, you could enjoy watching this spectacle and piece of art even better than now. However, thanks to the magic items imbued with [Light], the flowers stood out in a different color scheme than during the day, creating a beautiful scenery all the same.

It was currently the seventh month. The season was about to enter a fully-fledged summer soon, but at this time of day, it was comfortable outside. The faint breeze had Princess Milena’s hair sway gently.

“However, I wasn’t given much time to enjoy this sight as of late.” Princess Milena let out a faint sigh, allowing Kyle to spot a similar shadow as the one he had seen this afternoon.

In reality, she must be exhausted. In such a short amount of time, she lost her blood-related father, and she is now forced to carry the future of the entire Kingdom on her shoulders, despite being this young. Of course, she possessed the needed talent for this, but that didn’t make it any less exhausting. At the same time, despite being right next to her, Kyle was unable to call out to her.

He had no right to cheer her up. After all, the reason she was in this very situation right now was Kyle himself. Of course, without him around, she wouldn’t even be alive at this point, but since Kyle used this situation for his own benefit first and foremost, that didn’t even account to being a proper excuse. Princess Milena must have misunderstood this fact, as she showed a self-deprecating smile.

“You must think I’m a cold-hearted woman, right? My own Father just passed away, and I won’t even grieve.”

“That’s…”

“Naturally, I do feel sad. However, it honestly feels like someone else’s problem. I wonder what Father would think, seeing me like this…”

“His Majesty loved this country more than anybody else. He disregarded his own health, working for the sake of Zilgus, so if he saw you right now, doing as he did, he would surely be proud.” Kyle felt awful saying these words, but that emotion didn’t show on his expression at all, as he conveyed it with a stern face.

Even Kyle could hold back like that. And, he thanked Princess Milena for not catching on to this.

“Thank you very much…I’m sorry, I figured you would be saying that…or rather, I wanted you to say this.” Princess Milena’s voice cheered up again. “I feel better now.”

“Are you dissatisfied with your current situation?”

Of course, Kyle knew that this question was wasted breath. However, he needed to know, for his own sanity, as knowing that her previous radiance hadn’t been lost would put him at ease.

“I don’t have any complaints with becoming the queen…I was born for this, raised for this, and will die as a queen. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“That doesn’t sound like you can live freely.”

“It might look like that to other people. However, I’m not dissatisfied with this way of living. If anything, I’m just worried if I’m good enough.”

In Kyle’s eyes, there was no individual more worthy of becoming the queen than her, but she herself seemed a bit hesitant in following the hegemony. Of course, Kyle had no way of understanding the pressure from this. Hence, he borrowed the words from a certain individual.

“In order to make a hundred people happy, sacrifice the happiness of ten. In order to save a town of a thousand inhabitants, cast aside a village of a hundred. In order to win as an army of 10.000, order a thousand to die. You will be asked to possess this kind of determination from now on.”

In response to Kyle’s words, Princess Milena’s eyes opened wide.

“…Is that your thinking, Kyle-sama?”

“No, I merely borrowed the words of a certain individual I believe to be most worthy of standing on top of others. It basically means to not hesitate.”

During that Great Invasion, Kyle had seen many regimes, from both royal families and nobles. And, although they were in the midst of chaos, some of these were all useless and helpless. These previous words came from the single individual he respected. In battle, even Kyle had to decide between saving others, or casting them aside. Wanting to save everyone is but a pipe dream. Kyle understood this painfully well.

“That is correct, I cannot hesitate in any way, as that would put the entire country in danger.”

“What I would wish is for Princess Milena to not forget a single person you had to cast aside, and work hard in order to lessen those numbers as much as possible…But, I do believe I am overstepping my boundaries here.” Kyle lowered his head, realizing he spoke too much.

However, Princess Milena sounded happy.

“That is not true. I feel very thankful for these words.”

Kyle felt a bit regretful, as it sounded like her expectations of him went up even higher, but at least he got to see her comfortable expression.

After the two continued their conversation for a bit longer, the topic from earlier was brought up again.

“I am well aware that a marriage is something I have to prepare for eventually, but I don’t have time for that right now. I feel bad towards His Excellency Maizair, but we currently don’t need any such connection with the Empire.” Princess Milena argued. “At the very least, a marriage is something very crucial to be considered.”

“It is a big problem for the one governing an entire kingdom, yeah.”

“Indeed. A queen is not allowed to get divorced. The only exception would be separation by death. Since I am only allowed one marriage, I want to carefully choose my partner. And, I don’t want to use my ace in the hole this early either.”

“You make it sound like it’s not even your problem. Your marriage is something important for you, right?”

“My, I personally don’t hold much admiration and anticipation towards my own marriage…Though, it would be more accurate to say that I’ve merely never thought about it.” She clearly saw her own marriage as merely a political tool. “Even if I were to fall in love with someone, I can’t just make them my lover.”

“I don’t think that’s how that works…”

“As for a potential lover…For example, someone who appeared in my time of need, saving my life, a mysterious individual who holds a wide variety of secrets…I might have a faint interest in such a person.” With these words, Princess Milena turned around, and closed in on Kyle.

They were at a distance close enough for their breathing to touch the other, not giving Kyle any chance at looking away. With the charming face of a beauty like the princess’ right in front of his eyes, Kyle’s heart started racing. Seeing Kyle completely frozen up, Princess Milena let out a faint snicker.

“I was joking. Though, I am quite intrigued with Kyle-sama, and it isn’t too much of an exaggeration to say that I’ve taken a liking to you. I can feel that you have something all the other people I have previously met don’t.” Princess Milena smiled. “I’d like to think that I have a good eye for people.” She moved away from Kyle. “Thank you for giving me some of your time. Please, have a good rest.” She gently lowered her head, and walked inside the royal palace.

“…S-She just played with me?” Kyle looked after the princess, feeling like he had been toyed with, and flashed a strained smile.

After returning to the royal palace, Princess Milena was immediately greeted by a group of maids. One of them, the youngest Ninos, called out to her.

“Welcome back. Did you have fun?”

Ninos was one of Princess Milena’s favorites. Despite being barely eleven, she was quite clever for her age, possessing an unnatural amount of knowledge, and she was even able to use advanced-grade magic as the [Mage] that she was. She would always give a calm and collected judgement, taking proper care of Princess Milena at any given moment.

“My, what might you be talking about?”

“You were using this chance to practice playing with a man’s heart, right?”

“That makes me sound like quite the fiendish woman, doesn’t it.” Princess Milena smiled lightly, but didn’t deny it.

Just as Kyle stated, marriage was just a question of time. It was her duty to give birth to successors. Of course, if she found a partner interesting enough, she would consider it more quickly, but she was used to not getting her hopes up. At the same time, no matter what kind of person her future marriage partner may be, as long as she could control them, there was no problem.

She had gathered this type of information from married wives filled with experience during an assortment of banquets and parties, but as long as she couldn’t practice these techniques, the risk was too great. Because of the King, she was not allowed to approach any men. And, if she were to test her skill with the men working at the royal castle, it would only bring about more trouble. This is why she set her eyes on Kyle, who was of no political importance, merely a possible supporter.

“I heard that showing weakness is a viable technique, and I could see a great effect from this. Then again, I’m sure that this must be related to Kyle-sama being a kind person in general, but his reaction was not half bad, I dare say.”

As she spoke these words, there was no more shadow to be found in Princess Milena’s expression. Although her body was still exhausted, a lot of mental stress had vanished compared to before.

“Though, it did feel like I ran into some kind of psychological wall, like he was always taking a step backwards from me.”

“Isn’t that to be expected? There is nobody in Zilgus who would act careless and carefree around the Princess.”

“In addition to our social position, I feel like there was something else. Well, I don’t expect to understand a man’s heart this easily. More importantly, it seems like he will be accepting my request, which will be a profitable test…I really want him to stay with me after all.”

“I advise against that. We still don’t know that man.” Ninos immediately voiced her opposition.

It’s true that their true skill was a mystery. However, they possessed enough strength to deal with an entire Imperial Knight, as merely five people. However, on top of her being unable to witness their full strength, they possessed wealth greater than most of the nobles in this country, and their country of origin was still a mystery. At the same time, their main goal seemed to be spreading their names, gathering more and more fame.

As of right now, Ninos had no way of guessing what their goal was. And towards the unknown, she was always careful. With them practically being an unknown variable, she would rather not have Princess Milena get too close. Of course, the Princess herself was still wary, so she had no problems with Ninos’ objection. A wide variety of servants in the royal palace were ready to cast aside their lives for Princess Milena’s sake, but it was important to have someone who would properly argue with her as well.

In that, Kyle was the same, as he didn’t only nod in silence. This resulted in Princess Milena’s affection for him to grow even more.

“I know that he is hiding something. However, even without finding out what that is, he holds enough value.”

“You seem to have taken quite a liking to him, I see. Do you have a reason to trust him that deeply?”

“Well, to put it bluntly…it’s my intuition, I guess?”

In response to the princess’ words, Ninos’ eyes opened wide. She had never heard the word intuition coming from the princess so far. Seeing how the young Ninos was at a loss for words, a rare expression on her face, Princess Milena smiled, and headed for her bedroom.

Early the following morning, Kyle’s group announced that they would be accepting the request, and departed from the royal palace after accepting all the documents and papers necessary to prove themselves.