I was wearing a thick, stiff linen gown since I was about to get into the water, so I glanced at myself, wondering if there was something wrong.
<Keep that sphere safe. If you tap it twice, it’ll connect straight to me!>
“This is amazing… It seems valuable. Can you really just give something like this away?”
<I have so much of that stuff that it’s overflowing… well, not quite! But I have enough, so I can give it to you!>
“Okay, thank you. I’ll call you if I miss you or if something happens.”
I smiled, my gratitude sincere. Just then, I heard Debbie’s knock on the door.
“Uhm, Your Highness, the… ” Her voice sounded hesitant.
I turned my head from my conversation with Vivi and asked, “Yeah? Did the temple send someone? Didn’t they say I had to soak for three hours?”
“…No. Well, a guest has come to see Your Highness. The temple side couldn’t… verify it themselves, so they asked Your Highness to confirm.”
At the word “guest,” I asked without much thought, “A guest? Who is it?”
“…The Young Count Cortez.”
It was a name I genuinely hadn’t expected. My voice was half-exasperated as I asked, “…Isn’t he sick?”
“He must be better than Your Highness, I suppose?”
Debbie’s voice was also reluctant. Right now, I was gritting my teeth just to move because of the pain! It was so unfair!
Just as I was contemplating if I really needed to start exercising, Vivi, whom I’d momentarily forgotten, spoke.
<Big sister.>
“Oh, huh? Vivi?”
I felt like it wasn’t just my imagination—Vivi’s smile was so purely innocent as she spoke to me.
<That Cortez, or Partez, or whatever his name is… he came to see you? >
“Oh, yeah, yeah. Why?”
Our Vivi is a genius, so she doesn’t usually get names wrong… does she? Did she not like the name Cortez? Was she upset because she’d heard what happened yesterday and how he made me stay up all night?
<The scuuuuum-baag who messed everything up and then kidnapped you in the middle of the night? That piece of traash?>
V-Vivi, even if he looks like that, in the original story he… he kind of hit on you and everything… Of course, you only treated him as a business partner, so he eventually gave up and became a loyal subordinate, but still?!
Ah, but honestly, there are so many better male lead candidates for Vivi that it doesn’t matter. And frankly, what that guy Flux did was worse than trash.
With his life on the line, the crazy things his father might do, and the pressure that everything he had worked for might turn to garbage, it was an insane act, even considering he wasn’t in his right mind.
Was he kidding me? Kidnapping a sleeping woman in the middle of the night? If the wrong rumors got out, it would cast a dark cloud over my future, and it was an act for which he would have no excuse even if he died.
“My Vivi’s words aren’t… too much! He’s a piece of trash, all right! Yeah! Flammable trash!”
I meekly nodded.
<Then why aren’t you angry at that traaash?>
“I got my anger out pretty well yesterday…”
<It’s obvious! You probably just got a little mad and that was it! Because my big sister is so nice!>
I blinked my unfocused eyes.
No, Vivi, I’ll always love you, but you’re talking nonsense right now.
I re-evaluated my actions since regaining my memories from my past life. The moment I woke up, I was negotiating with my fiancé. I was making a deal with the Castrain family. I was making a fire when I met with Lisianthus, who had brought me their answer. I was unleashing demonic beasts on the Imperial Palace to get back at the Empress who had messed with me…
…No matter how I looked at it, it was a stretch to call it the “actions of a nice person.” I beat the living daylights out of Flux for almost a whole night. Isn’t that enough for him to have paid his penance?
I said in a reluctant tone, “Well, it seems like the result of him trying to do his best in his own way…”
<Is kidnapping an innocent person ‘doing your best’? His method was wrong from the start!>
Vivi got angry like a barking chihuahua.
“When your own path is dark, you can’t really pay attention to others’ feelings…”
Like Titania from before, for example. Her own situation was so difficult and overwhelming that she couldn’t even grasp that her feelings weren’t welcome to Raymond. Well, she did eventually figure it out later… Thinking about it that way, I felt a little guilty. The Young Count might have also gone a little crazy due to the sense of crisis that not only his future but his family and even the entire city might be ruined.
“Anyway, thanks to you, Vivi, I’m okay! If the Castrain family hadn’t helped, the Offering Ceremony would have been ruined. Thank you.”
<It’s not over yet…>
Vivi let out a big sigh.
**<Anyway, be careful, big sister! You don’t know who the real target is for the guys who messed around in that area.> **
“Yeah, you be careful, too, Vivi.”
**<Make sure you call me if anything happens! Even though Debbie and Lisianthus contact me often, you have to do it too.> **
I soothed the scolding Vivi several times before finally saying my goodbyes.
After the communication ended, I carefully put away the sphere that had lost its light. Debbie handed me a change of clothes and a towel.
“Are you going to see the Young Count Cortez?”
“I need to figure out what’s going on.”
I got out of the tub, dried off, got dressed, and then headed to where Count Cortez was. I didn’t forget to buckle my grumbling emoticon sword to my waist. When I opened the door I was guided to, the Young Count Cortez, who was laughing and chatting with a priest, gave me a cheeky smile.
“It is an honor to meet Princess Titania. You can call me Flux Roman von Cortez, the Young Count Cortez. Or…”
Flux grinned and held out his hand to me. I reached out, unable to hide my unpleasant feeling. His lips brushed the back of my hand, which was still cold from only being briefly dried off.
“You can call me Flux.”
“Young Count Cortez? Uh… yes… It’s nice to meet you, but what brings you here?”
Flux gave a meaningful look, and the priest who was there laughed and left, saying, “I’ll bring some refreshments.”
When the priest disappeared, the somewhat slick smile on Flux’s face completely vanished, leaving only a tired expression. Of course, he wouldn’t be okay after being thoroughly beaten with a sword all night. With the face of a student who had been up all night for three days studying for an exam, Flux spoke. His voice was a mix of slight joy, excitement, and worry.
“No doctor or priest says there is anything wrong with my legs. They say my body is completely healthy.”
“Oh, that’s great! Really? Nothing hurts? You’re not sore?! That’s amazing.”
“Princess.”
Flux gave me a probing look as I made a fuss.
“The rumors about you have reached even here. Your heroic tales from the Imperial Palace were also incredibly splendid stories. But nowhere was there a story about the power to heal humans stained by demonic energy.”
The corners of Debbie’s mouth, who was watching from behind, hardened. I shrugged my shoulders.
-That’s natural, Contractor-nim, since you’re special (｡› ▿ ‹｡)~
“Right?”
Neither the Castrain family nor the Cortez family are fools. Although the details of the power of the gods have been forgotten, a family with this level of information would have some idea. Especially when it comes to the imperial family. It would be reasonable to infer that I use the power of light, and my healing ability is a derivative of that.
I hadn’t openly revealed that I had this kind of healing power, but I hadn’t told Debbie to keep it a secret, so it must have been passed on to the Castrain family. They wouldn’t just reveal my secret to anyone, since I’m their benefactor. And since Flux wasn’t in a position to openly admit that he was “almost turned into a demonic beast,” I had no hesitation in healing him.
“But still, you’re not going to use some ungrateful scheme now, like, ‘I’m a member of the imperial family chosen by God who uses sacred power, so what do you think about me becoming the next heir to the throne?’ are you?”
“Of course not.”
“…I was just wondering why you would take such a risk to… save me.”
“…”
“I am the person who dared to kidnap and threaten you.”
“That’s right, it was a very bold move. To put it bluntly, if the wrong rumors got out, your marriage proposal with the Castrain family would have been broken off, and you would have been forced to take me on. Were you prepared to take such a risk?”
“Y-yes?!”
Flux’s face turned bright red with obvious embarrassment. Maybe it was because he was still young, unlike his original character, but why was he so flustered by such a joke?
I waved my hand at Flux, who was now so red-faced he was even blushing at his ears and had his head bowed.
