Breaking Off The Engagement… Bring It On! Chapter 25

The one’s entering the room were Chris-sama and .. Sana?
Wait, why is Sana wielding her whip?

“Sorry, we happened to overhear your conversation just now. And then Sana flared up, you see.”

“Ricardo-sama .. even though you should have received guidance from the Madam yesterday, you would be talking about these things, I see. In that case there won’t even be a need to call the Madam! I will be the one performing your last rites.”

Becoming fl.u.s.tered Brother threw a question at the two.

“Oi! Just how long have you been eavesdropping on us?”

To which Chris-sama answered.

“Eavesdropping makes it sound so bad. It’s just then when I was arriving in front of your room it seemed like you were having an important talk so I hesitated to intrude which is when Sana happened to pa.s.s by, you see. So while I was explaining the circ.u.mstances when she asked what I was doing Ricardo, you were proclaiming in a loud voice things such as Prince Leon’s feelings, how Ririina didn’t understand and more, so then Sana ended up readying her whip.”

Fair enough, Brother’s voice is rather loud after all.
It seems plausible that it could be heard just outside the door as well.

“Now then, have you prepared yourself?

She’s holding onto that whip with an incredible smile ..
But with Brother’s condition today Sana’s punishment should be really a bit severe.
It seemed like even Brother understood that as he was desperate to escape.

“W-wait! Let’s talk this out! Nnaa, Sana, you even called me ‘Rii-kun’ and followed me everywhere in the past, don’t you remember? .. er, are? Why did you suddenly start avoiding me back then? That should have been even before Ririina became Prince Leon’s fiancee if I recall correctly. Hm?”

Brother started being troubled over something or another.
Looking at Sana her face had turned even grimmer than before.

“Ricardo-sama .. what you should be thinking about right now is what you said to Ririinsama! In the first place, from Prince Leon’s behaviour so far it should have been considerably difficult to guess his real thoughts! Even if it may have been apparent from the position of an onlooker, to the person in question it would have been nothing more than somthing close to hara.s.sment. Such things happened any number of times. And hasn’t Prince Leon opened a crisis meeting each time he had made things worse for Ririinsama? Even to me a few of these are within the scope of understanding, but several dozens shouldn’t be happening. That really has long since far surpa.s.sed the scope of what could still be plead for.”

Brother was left in a daze as Sana rattled on and on.
As a matter of fact it was really rare for Sana to lash out at Brother this harshly.
It may be imprudent of me but knowing that she did this for my sake I felt happy.
As Sana was exercising her authority over Brother Chris-sama opened his mouth.

“By the way, Ricardo, aren’t you going to tell Ririina the crucial part? Just why you are being Prince Leon’s ally, that is.”

“Nah, that’s because I know about Prince Leon’s feelings after all, so ..”

“That’s not at, is it? You know that I met Prince Leon in the past, isn’t that right? And what had happened since before then, and also what happened afterwards.”

Brother was making a face as had he squashed a bitter bug.
But then he took a deep breath and, as if resigned, started talking bit by bit.

“Ahh, just how does Chris know about all these things anyway? No mistake he must have placed spies in this country for that. To begin with, the timing with which he accompanied Ririina to the capital and this time’s incident is oddly suspicious. Well, whatever. I didn’t particularily plan to hide it but it’s something Ririina hadn’t known about, isn’t it.”

Something I hadn’t known?
It’s amazing that Chris-sama knew, then.

“Ririina, listen. Prince Leon is bad with woman.”

Eh? Wait a moment.
Didn’t you say that Prince Leon liked me just before?
Whether he had noticed me doubting or not, Brother continued his story.

“Maa, a lot of things happened when he was smaller, but you know how Prince Leon’s features have come together pretty well, right? Ever since he was small woman had been drawing too close to him, blowing him away.  Among these the fiercest one was a member of the royal family of the Southern Nation. I’ll skip the details but she tried to forcibly take the young Prince Leon out of the country and bring him home with her. Of course, it ended in an attempt. But even then the incident left a deep mark on the mind of Prince Leon.”

So such a thing happened ..
But certainly, something like that couldn’t simply be announced in public.
Brother continued:

“And so, at that time there occured a single problem. That was Chris.”

Why did Chris-sama appear there?
Looking over at him he made a troubled face.

“The one that had been involved by chance in that time’s abduction attempt was Chris who just so happened to have been visiting this country undercover to sightsee. Well, as a result the southern country saw quite an amount of backlash because of that. After all royalty tried to abduct royalty there. The woman in question was dealt with but beneath the surface it seems like our and the western nation dealt a fair deal of damage to the southern one.”

“What do you mean then that Chris-sama was the problem?”

“.. During the whole incident Chris was doing his best to cheer Prince Leon up, and it seems like he even stopped the kidnapping by himself . And so, uhm, Prince Leon became completely attached to Chris and .. at the same time Chris didn’t look like anything but a girl, remember. There, he Prince Leon who had completely mistaken Chris for a girl ..”

Are?
I kind of feel like I know this story.
Could it be he proposed to him?

“Could it be he proposed to him?”

“.. exactly. There, Chris revealed that he was a boy, and Prince Leon had to stay in bed for a long time afterwards due to the shock. Is what happened. Afterwards he temporarily lost his memories of the incident and Chris, but the only thing that was left in his mind was an inexplicable fear of women, it seems.”

That’s some pretty serious business.
But, despite that why with me-?

“For the King and Queen for were full of worry the only s.h.i.+mmer of hope, that was you, Ririina. In the past you once saved Prince Leon from some monsters, remember? At that time he developed an interest in you. The Prince who had until then not let any female come close to him had found an interest in only you. That’s why soon after the matter of the engagement was raised. Even before this time’s breaking off the engagement Prince Leon had perpetrated several other aggravating things, but that is the reason everyone even then wanted to watch over him. So, the reason why Father and the others have completely given up on the Prince is because this time he declared a breaking off the engagement as if to test something. I had been opposed to the idea even if it was a lie, but something had gotten in my way so I couldn’t stop him this time.”

Whether his mood had improved after getting all this off his chest he then said to me.

“Ririina, I’m sorry. I knew that you disliked the Queen training. Also, that you wanted to go monster hunting. However, I had wanted to save Prince Leon at all costs. .. Beyond both of us having proposed to a guy in the same fas.h.i.+on, to also develop a fear of woman I just felt it was too pitiful.”

Brother mine, wasn’t that latter half your true reasons?
For now I understood the situation.
However, what should I do from here on out?