Akuyaku Reijou no Naka no Hito - CH 14.3

Extra Story : The Former Fiance’s Regret

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

As trade with the demon tribe began to take off, the name of Remy, who had been a key player in the exchange with the demon tribe, came up from the person in charge of diplomacy. Remy did not discriminate, but called those who had nowhere else to go in the city to live in her village, which apparently included quite a few demon tribe members. Remy, who saved them and even gave them a way to live, was favored by the chief of the other side, and this trade was initiated. The items that the demon tribe trades are medicinal herbs that are used to make elixirs to cure most illnesses, high quality magical stones that do not exist in our magical beasts, magical crystal stones processed from them, and many other items that could be a source of war if taken to other countries.

This thing, Remy is involved in such a story that could affect the national situation…

Enough is enough, I told my father,「I want to reinstate Remilia as my fiancée with this achievement.」But it was not accepted. When I raised my voice to ask why, I was told that there was nothing I could do to call her up.

Of course, in order to decide on a royal fiancée, one letter cannot be sent and that is the end of the story. Given the recent disasters, the royal family… For example, I can’t do anything that would appear to be a poor imitation, such as visiting Remilia myself to ask for her approval of the engagement. I understand that.

Moreover, Remy had been removed from the duke’s family register because of that one incident. Although she is registered as a noble, she is supposed to exist as an independent family separate from the Graupner dukes by being separated from her parents in the form of a branch of the family. Therefore, the climb decree, which could have been applied to counts and above, cannot be used.

Although the order to go to the castle was issued as a normal letter, it has already been refused by a sentence stating that nobles who have fiefs in remote areas that meet certain criteria under the Kingdom Law are allowed to refuse the order to go to the castle… It is a law to protect poor and nominal aristocratic families in the countryside who cannot even raise the funds to climb the castle, but now and then it seems alien to them.

Although they cannot refuse the order to ascend to the castle, such as to charge them with a crime, we cannot use it for our purpose this time.

「She was instrumental in bridging the trade with the demon tribe, and for this achievement, the current baroness, Remilia, will be elevated to the rank of viscountess next year.」

「Then…!」

「Ahh, I will approach her about reinstating her fiancée status at that time. I’m sure she’ll have grown as a woman, not only in aristocratic society, but also in imitating a merchant.」

「Your Highness, thank you very much.」

If she was promoted to a higher rank, she cannot avoid climbing the castle.

At that time, everything will be back to normal with Remy… No, I believed with all my heart that it would settle into the good shape that I had wished for.

And yet, what is this?

Remilia showed up at a social gathering with the demon tribe. Wearing the colors of a demon king with the horrifying beauty of a non-human being all over her body… The black-to-blue gradient dress, which matched the hair color of the demon king, suited the despairingly beautiful Remy.

Then the truth of the past is revealed one after another. Everything I believed, everything I relied on that hurt Remy because of what I believed, was a sham.

……Remy didn’t do anything to hurt people out of jealousy.

「Youuuuu!!! You orchestrated this whole thing!! You shitty woman! Shit, shit, shit! You’re jealous because I’m happy! It’s your own fault for being so stupid!! Don’t be so backhanded!!」

Pina jumps on Remy regardless of her own actions, even though she deserved it. The demon king knocked Pina off and patted Remy’s head to reassure her.

「It was indeed sad that I was accused of a crime I didn’t remember and that no one believed me, but I am happy now. Pina-san… You bribed them with money and even used your own body to make me look bad, but… That doesn’t make you happy, right, Pina-san…? You can’t make people love you by humiliating me or manipulating their feelings with curses… This is so sad and I feel sorry for Pina-san…」

Remy did not hold a grudge against anyone. Ahh… I knew it. The girl who was smiling so sweetly beside me, the girl who had saved my heart, would never do such a thing.

Remy, who shows mercy even to Pina, has not changed since she was a child… Whenever I heard that he was terribly jealous of the star maiden and harassed her harshly, I was filled with dark amusement「that she liked so much,」and ashamed of myself for being disappointed that「Remy would do such a thing.」Remy had nothing to do with it from the beginning.

A few days after the soiree, Father… I bowed to His Majesty the King and asked him to set up an apology with Remy. David, Stefan, and Claude both made the same offer as I did. Pina was not the Star Maiden. To be precise, the Devil is inside the Star Maiden. The truth is being withheld because the country’s faith in the Star Maiden has been shaken and「The Devil deceived the name of the Star Maiden.」

Wanting to apologize is just self-satisfaction to make myself feel better. It was like I took advantage of Remy knowing she wouldn’t say no.

When I met Remy in person and looked at her under the bright lights, I saw that she had beautiful dark blonde hair that shone brightly and was as light blue as the ocean. Her eyes are looking at me sadly… She had the same look in her eyes when I pursued her about her bullying of Pina, why didn’t I listen to her side of the story more…? Regret comes the more time passes, so much so that I feel crushed by self-doubt…

「Farewell, Prince Williard.」

I was supposed to apologize and that was all, but in front of Remy, I started to make excuses in a miserable way. No, it didn’t matter that I was miserable, or that I felt inferior to my too-good-to-be-true fiancé, as long as I could be with Remy…

Remy gets up from her seat to escape from my attempt to take her hand and walks out of the arbor. In the background, you can see the garden where Remy and I played as children. The flowers had shifted, but the landscape had overlapped with that time, and Remy standing there was cruelly beautiful.

「Will!」

I heard a young Remy’s voice. I know, this is an auditory hallucination. In fact, in the middle of a garden full of blooming flowers, the Demon King embraces Remilia and gently drops a kiss… I saw a beautiful scene, like the happy ending of a story.

I wish I had eyes that could tell a lie like yours. Then that woman would not have tricked me and I would not have hurt Remy.

At this point in my life, I’m so jealous that I can’t help but regret my past.

I want to die, but Remy will be sad if I die. This is not wishful thinking, but the gentle Remy would certainly cry for me, her childhood friend. I can’t let her be hurt any more than she already is.

I can’t believe I’m going to live with this thought for the rest of my life.

I wanted to be punished. I wanted to be punished so severely that I wanted to die. I want to be punished for the crime I committed. But that’s just a selfish wish to make myself feel better… I just want to escape from this crazy regret that I carry in my heart. Somebody kill me. I almost screamed.

「Remy… Remy…」

Instead, I couldn’t stand it and my own mouth was flooded with her name. I had it all… I had it all, but I also had a wonderful fiancée and the love and trust of that fiancée. Everything…

As I looked at her smiling happily in the arms of the demon king, all I could do was sob, lamenting the magnitude of the happiness I had lost.