Chapter 56
I’m Back to the Start After the Prince Died
The Third Prince, unaware of my suspicions, nodded with a bewildered expression.
“It’s a book my mother often read to me when I was young.”
“Madame Lamierre?”
“Yes. She used to say the duck drawn in the book looked like me.”
“That… I can’t really deny that.”
The Third Prince gently stroked the book cover, his eyes filled with longing.
“Don’t worry! You’ll be able to see Madame again soon!”
“…Do you really think so?”
“Of course! You can use magic now, right? Although sharing your life force doesn’t seem like a good method, I’m sure we can find other magic if we look properly!”
I tried my best to encourage the Third Prince. However, he shook his head softly.
“No, the magic… it’s working now.”
“Huh?”
My eyes widened as I looked up at him. The Third Prince’s complexion had darkened.
He reached his hand toward me. His small, warm fingers passed over my forehead and touched a specific spot.
“There’s a scar left.”
“Cool, right?”
The Third Prince let out a sigh.
“Cool? Hardly.”
“Doesn’t it give off a wild, charming vibe?”
He gently rubbed the scar on my forehead with his thumb.
“Does it hurt?”
“Of course not.”
“Then, did it hurt back then?”
“No? I didn’t even realize I was injured.”
I caught a glimpse of him starting to blame himself again.
I quickly flashed him a smile.
But the Third Prince’s stern expression refused to soften.
“I didn’t get a single scratch.”
“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”
“I’m so pathetic.”
“Please don’t say that. Isn’t it natural for a stronger person to protect a more vulnerable one?”
The Third Prince looked at me with tearful eyes.
He seemed on the verge of crying, but, as if steeling his resolve, he didn’t shed a single tear.
“How long must I continue to be protected? All while being a burden to the people precious to me.”
“Does that mean… that I am a precious person to Your Highness?”
“…Is that what’s important to you right now, Miss Lulufel?”
“Yes, of course.”
I nodded without hesitation.
The Third Prince seemed at a loss for words and bit his lip.
This was better, anyway.
Staying mired in gloom wouldn’t do any good.
I knew that better than anyone, having lived depressed for a while after first arriving in this world.
I deliberately clapped my hands together to lighten the mood.
“That’s right! Your Highness, how about learning swordsmanship?”
“…Swordsmanship?”
Why is she suddenly talking about swordsmanship? His face clearly said.
“They say it strengthens both body and mind.”
“Am I that weak?”
“…Hehe.”
I couldn’t bring myself to agree or disagree, only managing a feeble laugh.
Perhaps finding his answer in my silence, the Third Prince gave a small nod.
“I think it’s not a bad idea! If Your Highness learns swordsmanship, grows strong, and then protects me, wouldn’t that work?”
“Like Viscount Caledonia?”
“Yes, like the Viscount… Wait, no.”
I was answering without thinking when I noticed the Third Prince’s face grow even gloomier.
I hastily changed tack.
“…Well, not like him. He’s not someone precious to me, after all. Being protected by a stranger and being protected by a friend are different things.”
“…A friend?”
“A clo… close person?”
“…A close person?”
“We’re not strangers, right?”
“…That’s right. We’re not strangers.”
The Third Prince’s slender shoulders slumped even further.
Why? I couldn’t understand.
It didn’t seem like he disliked the word ‘friend’.
Just then, the Third Prince kindly provided the answer.
“…But perhaps I should become a stranger.”
I shot up from my seat without thinking.
“Huh? Why?”
“Because I don’t want to harm you, Miss Lulufel. Isn’t that a clause in our contract as well?”
“B-but, a lightning bolt has never struck your head even once!”
“That’s because you don’t feel a sense of crisis around me. That’s precisely why I think we should create distance. Since you don’t guard against me, shouldn’t I at least guard against myself?”
The Third Prince was talking nonsense. I wanted to seal his cute lips shut.
“So that’s why you didn’t reply to my notes?”
He exercised his right to remain silent.
I had thought about sealing his lips, and now he’d actually done it.
This time, I found the answer in his silence myself.
“Your Highness, that’s a truly absurd thought. To be honest, what kind of great harm could you possibly inflict on me?”
“Then what about the incident where the bathtub shattered to pieces?”
“That was just an accidental! Anna said there must have been a crack in it from the beginning!”
“And do you believe that, Miss Lulufel?”
The Third Prince pointed out the very thing that had been nagging at me.
“Well… not really, but…”
The bathtub had definitely been fine. If there had been a crack, I would have noticed when I first filled it with water.
“There’s one thing I realized from that incident, Miss Lulufel, though you may not know it.”
“…What is it?”
“Fear. When the water floated into the air, I felt an instinctive terror. It was the feeling of being a foolish, arrogant human trying to defy nature itself.”
“From my perspective, it was just beautiful…”
I had never imagined that the scene, which had looked so dazzling to me, would appear so differently through his eyes.
He said he never wanted to use magic again.
“Okay, I understand.”
I reluctantly nodded.
“…And I want to keep my distance from you too, Miss Lulufel.”
“I don’t understand that.”
“But who knows when magic might erupt?”
“Why wouldn’t you know? It won’t come out if you don’t chant a spell.”
It was usually the Third Prince who was stubborn, and I who dissuaded him, but today, the roles were reversed.
The Third Prince looked down at me, clinging tightly to his arm, with a bewildered expression, and then let out a deep sigh.
“…It was a mess.”
“Huh? What was?”
“The spell I chanted back then. It turns out I had remembered it wrong from the middle. I was used to writing the letters backwards, so I didn’t even realize it was incorrect.”
“Are you saying…?”
“That magic can spill out even without chanting a spell. At any time.”
The Third Prince’s bright yellow eyelashes trembled mournfully.
I finally understood why he was so terrified.
The thought that he might harm others without even knowing it.
I couldn’t even imagine how strictly the already self-critical Third Prince was binding himself internally.
“But still… Shouldn’t you face it all the more because of that?”
“…Huh?”
“You can’t live your whole life trembling in fear. And if you can’t control your magic, you yourself are in danger too, all the same.”
“But…”
The Third Prince hung his head. He seemed deeply troubled.
I wasn’t suggesting this lightly, as if it were someone else’s problem.
This was the correct answer I had derived from my own experience.
When I first started my 4th life, I agonized endlessly over whether or not I should meet the Third Prince.
In fact, just a little while ago, I had almost regretted that choice.
But the moment I opened the door and faced the Third Prince, all my worries vanished in an instant.
Even if this life fails and I enter a 5th one, I’m certain I would courageously make the same choice.
I hugged the Third Prince’s slumped shoulders.
“You said you would save Madame Lamierre, right? Then shouldn’t you master magic control and grow up safe and strong?”
“Still…”
“Think about it. Others need to chant spells to use magic, but you don’t! If you think about it the other way, isn’t that an incredible talent?”
“…Even so, this is abnormal. And dangerous.”
“Don’t be so quick to judge. It might just be a mistake on a larger scale. Great people often make great mistakes, you know.”
“…This case is different. If this were such an incredible talent as you say, Miss Lulufel, why would the witches have driven the ‘Child of Misfortune’ from their village? This is not a blessing; it’s a curse.”
“Hmm…”
It seemed persuading him with words alone would be difficult.
I rolled my eyes quietly, then suddenly had an idea and clapped my hands.
The Third Prince’s purple eyes looked at me, filled with疑问.
I held up three fingers in front of his eyes.
“Three times! You remember our promise to try just three more times, right? There are still two left!”
“But!”
“We can try something other than water magic. For example, fire magic, which you weren’t good at. Wouldn’t that be relatively less dangerous?”
The Third Prince looked at me with anxious eyes.
He tried to protest further, but I didn’t give him the chance.
“Speaking of which, did you throw away that big candle from before?”
“…I, I did.”
“Aha. So you didn’t throw it away. Let me see… would it be here?”
Based on past experience, his hiding spots were predictable.
I got up and looked around his bed. Sure enough, I found the giant candle behind the nightstand.
I pulled out the candle and brought it to the table. An elegant candlestick was placed on the table.
After fitting the candle into the holder, I used a nearby match to light it.
The candle’s wick was as thick as the candle itself, resulting in a flame of immense size.
“Come here, quickly.”
“I refuse!”
“If you don’t come, I’ll scream. Then the servants will come rushing in. I’ll get the disgrace of being labeled a ruffian who barged into the Third Prince’s room uninvited.”
