Chapter 34…
“Ruden oppa….”
“Ruden?”
“Yeah. The genius archmage Ruden oppa.”
Clearus tilted his head slightly, trying not to make it obvious.
If she had just said Ruden oppa, he might’ve been able to look into it — but the moment she added genius archmage, the credibility plummeted.
If he was really the princess’s brother, that meant he was a prince — and there was no way people wouldn’t know about a prince who’s an archmage. And if he was even called a genius, then the whole world would have to know him.
“How did Your Highness meet this Ruden oppa?”
Still, there was a possibility he wasn’t actually family.
After all, everyone has secrets.
And if he really was a genius archmage, he might have become friends with the princess in secret, without the adults knowing.
Clearus tried his best to logically make sense of every possible thread of Ellie’s words.
“Well… Ruden oppa raised me….”
“……”
Ellie’s voice trailed off.
Now, even she wasn’t sure if Ruden oppa had really existed. So she couldn’t bring herself to say things like He’s in another world, He raised me, I’m not Princess Ellia, I’m Ellie.
Maybe it had all just been a dream.
“…Maybe… I was just dreaming….”
Ellie mumbled and then closed her mouth.
Clearus looked at Ellie, who had once again sunk into gloom.
Unbelievable as it sounded, for some reason he felt like Ellie’s “Ruden oppa” might actually be real.
“What kind of dream was it?”
“Huh?”
“That dream of yours. It sounds like it was a really long one.”
“Oh, that one!”
If it was a dream, she could talk about it.
Ellie perked up again.
Because this was about a dream.
Ellie began to recount, from beginning to end, the story she’d been keeping all to herself.
It was so long and detailed that by the time she finished, they’d already had lunch and dessert.
“What on earth is Her Highness talking about?”
“I’ve no idea….”
The adults nearby glanced at one another, but from the few words they caught here and there, they couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Something about possessing a book…
Something about magic…
All they could gather was that the princess seemed very interested in magic.
“We haven’t read Her Highness many fairy tales that involve magicians, have we…?”
The princess usually liked pretty stories about beautiful princesses and love — romance tales.
She might have forgotten something, but one cannot recall memories that never existed.
Lady Laval tilted her head, utterly baffled.
Meanwhile, Ellie finally reached the end of her story.
“And then, when I woke up, I was Princess Ellia! But I still look like me! I don’t even know how it happened!”
“Gasp….”
By now, Clearus had probably gasped five hundred times today.
The more Ellie talked, the more gasp-worthy her words became.
What started as a story about how amazing her “Ruden oppa” was gradually turned into their daily life together, and eventually, into a tale about the real Princess Ellia — almost prophetic — and how she had ended up in this world.
“S-so… what you’re saying is…”
In short — Princess Ellia wasn’t actually Princess Ellia.
Clearus’s mind went blank.
He didn’t know how to take this in.
But one thing was clear — he believed every word she said.
“…Then isn’t that a huge problem?”
He leaned closer and lowered his voice.
Ellie met his gaze and whispered back just as quietly.
“No, it’s fine. Oppa said he’d come to get me.”
“Then I suppose we’d better protect the world until he does.”
“Yeah! And if I stop being the king, it might be harder for him to find me, so I have to become the king!”
“That makes sense. But… you don’t know when this oppa of yours will come, do you?”
“…Mm-mm….”
No, that promise hadn’t been made.
She just thought — since the world ended in that dream, maybe he’d come before that happened.
“…Wait. The Duke of Bernd — do you actually believe me?”
Ellie suddenly looked up, eyes wide, as if waking from a dream.
“Yes.”
“Huh?”
Mr. Lombaton clearly didn’t believe her.
Neither did Lady Laval or Marquis Simon — though they humored her, their eyes said otherwise. They looked at her as if she were a child making up stories.
But Clearus — he believed her completely. So much so that he even asked questions she hadn’t thought of herself.
“Why do you believe me…?”
She was grateful and comforted — but still, why?
No one else believed her.
Not even she had dared to believe herself.
“Because Your Highness said so.”
His answer was simple.
“Did you lie to me?”
“No!”
“Then it must be true.”
“Yeah! It’s true, really!”
“Then I have to believe you.”
Clearus shrugged lightly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
That one sentence — I believe you — brought Ellie’s shaken heart right back to its place.
Just like that.
“B-but I’m not Princess Ellia….”
“But you look like Princess Ellia to me.”
“But… but still….”
People were only being kind because she was Princess Ellia.
She was being made heir because she was Princess Ellia.
Even Clearus — he had come running, carried her, comforted her, protected her… because she was the princess.
Even his vow to protect her…
“…Are you really okay? Even if I’m not Princess Ellia?”
Ellie asked, her voice trembling.
Clearus looked at her quietly.
“Hmm….”
He’d understood everything up to now, but this question stumped him.
No matter how he looked, she was Princess Ellia — and yet she said she wasn’t.
He tried to think creatively.
Ellia who wasn’t a princess. No — Ellie.
The names are even similar, he thought, which only made it more confusing.
Why was it a problem if she was the princess?
“I don’t mind. I didn’t know Princess Ellia before anyway.”
“…Oh! You’re right!”
“The Princess Ellia I met… is only Ellie.”
Clearus awkwardly said her name.
Ellie blushed a little at the sound of it.
“Uh…”
Ellie.
She rolled her own name around in her mind.
Before, she’d liked that it sounded similar to Princess Ellia’s.
But now, she liked it because it wasn’t Ellia — it was Ellie.
She loved that the name coming from Clearus’s lips wasn’t “Princess Ellia,” but “Ellie.”
“Ellie…”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you by name so casually.”
“No, no, no! I like it!”
Ellie frantically waved her hands.
“I like it when the Duke of Bernd calls me Ellie!”
Her honest confession made Clearus freeze for a moment.
That single word — like — thumped against his heart.
“I’d like you to keep calling me Ellie… But since I have to live as Princess Ellia, I guess that’s not possible, right?”
She muttered to herself and quickly grew dejected again.
“When we’re alone…”
Clearus suddenly spoke.
The words came out before he realized it — and he startled himself.
But Ellie looked up at him with hopeful eyes, so he couldn’t take them back.
“If you prefer being called Ellie, then I’ll call you Ellie.”
“Really?”
“Well, it sounds like a nickname for Ellia anyway… If anyone hears, they’ll just think we’re close.”
“Oh, you’re right!”
She hadn’t even realized that “Ellie” could be considered a nickname for “Ellia.”
As Clearus said, she could continue acting as Princess Ellia, and it wouldn’t seem strange at all.
To Clearus, she would be the real Ellie.
To everyone else, she’d just sound like Princess Ellia being called by a nickname.
It was a perfect fit.
Such a coincidence — it must be fate.
Maybe I was destined to become Princess Ellia!
Excited, Ellie almost got carried away with her own thoughts.
“Call me again!”
“El…lie.”
“Kyaa!”
She squealed in delight.
Her fists clenched beside her face, she shook with excitement and looked up at Clearus.
“Duke of Bernd.”
“Yes.”
Actually, Ellie wanted to call him by name, too.
But if she did it suddenly, she might get scolded again…
“You may speak freely,” Clearus said, noticing her hesitation.
If he said that, she wouldn’t get in trouble, right?
Still, instead of blurting out I want to call you by name too!, Ellie tried a more roundabout approach.
“But if we’re close, shouldn’t we both use nicknames?”
“…Ah.”
Clearus suddenly remembered how he had firmly told her before, Please address me as the Duke of Bernd.
Now Ellie was glancing up at him nervously — and he could see it clearly.
“I didn’t like it back then because we weren’t close.”
“!”
Her face instantly brightened.
“…But now, it’s fine.”
“Really?!”
“…Yes.”
How could a name make her this happy?
Just hearing her own name had made her so delighted — and now, the chance to call his name made her glow with joy.
Seeing that made him want to make her even happier.
“Clearus!”
“……!”
His shoulders twitched.
So this is what it feels like — having someone say your name like that.
His own name, spoken from Ellie’s lips, sounded beautiful.
