Akuyaku Reijou no Naka no Hito - CH 2.3

Emi feared that the narrative was compelling, but the future was a little different. Claude and his real father’s feud could be resolved as a result. In the story, the star maiden had done it. The viscount was just in time to deal with a series of problems that had occurred in the past few years, such as crop failure in his territory, deaths due to river flooding, and the appearances of wild thieves, and he did not take much care of Claude without his wife. In the story, the star maiden finds a letter addressed to Claude in his office during a visit to the lord’s mansion in the viscount’s domain, Claude’s hometown, after they had become friends at the academy, and the misunderstanding is cleared up.

It was a gift that the viscount had prepared to give to Claude on his next birthday, in an effort to settle their differences. Claude broke down in tears when he saw his father’s handwritten apology to his son, who had been left behind by a woman he loved through a love marriage, a rarity for an aristocrat, for not spending much time with his family because of his work.

In this real world, the Viscount had given the letter to Claude with his own hands without being killed by the wild thieves, Claude, who had become a close father and son, was very exhausted when the Viscount died for an epidemic, but he slowly recovers under the care of his kind-hearted sister-in-law who took him in.

Here, too, we took a different path than in the story. In the story, Claude lived in gloom all his life, believing that no one loved him. Even after the star maiden clears up the misunderstanding with his father, he is still portrayed as a somewhat shadowy boy.

In fact, after Claude and Emi became a family, he gradually regained his original childishness and naivete and grew up to be a boy who loves his sister. Emi was so adorable when she played the big sister role and read picture books to him, and many days I fell asleep inside her with her voice as a lullaby. Together we ran around the yard covered in mud and even climbed a tree. Although they sometimes quarreled, they were a very close sister and brother, and I loved watching them laugh happily at each other as if they were the only family they had left, even though their parents did not care about them.

Emi was unaware of this, but as I watched from inside as a third party, I could see that Claude had faint feelings for her. When Claude came to the house, Emi… Remilia was the Dauphin’s fiancée, although she never expressed her feelings. I’m sure he cared about Emi more than just… family.

Emi also cleared the darkness in the hearts of the other「main characters.」

Born into a family of knights, David felt inferior to his older brother’s talents. He couldn’t win at anything he did, not only because of the age difference, but also because he was compared to all his brother’s accomplishments when he was the same age as he is now. David was also one of the best of his age group, but his older brother Silvester was even better, and was called a「child prodigy.」

In the story, David is said to be best in his grade in swordsmanship, but he is depressed, saying that he is「not as good as his older brother in any way.」The star maiden inspires him by saying,「David has a way of fighting that only David can do,」and sees his talent as a magical swordsman. Silvester, who had become a sword saint at that time, was actually dazzled by David’s talent for magic and his ability to play an active role in politics, unlike him as a sword saint only, stating「Let us complement each other as supporters of the nation, for we are brothers.」and the star maiden brings the two together and the rut is resolved.

In this real world, David also had an inferiority complex with Emi. Emi’s talent as a magician was so prominent that it was widely known among the nobility, and she was as good as an adult magician. When David overheard this, he decides to take up swordsmanship, which is different from the path he is aiming for, but he has already earned a reputation as a strong swordsman around Emi, he… has become jealous and frustrated with Remilia, the Dauphin’s fiancée. The first time I saw him, I was ashamed to say that「even I」was not happy about it, but then I found out that Emi had been using magic stones to level up.

Even Emi had company with her during her first real battle. Furthermore, wizards are not suited for close combat, but are strong in many-on-one combat against opponents of differing ability, a different premise from David’s. David, who had only had one-on-one experience, was surrounded by slimes and goblins, which are known to be weak, and when Emi, noticing David’s reckless behavior, chased after him and found him, he was not badly injured to the point of not being able to recover, but he was badly beaten up.

David, who was saved from his predicament by Emi, cried out in frustration, and asked hatefully,「Why did you save me?」and「Did you come here to laugh at me?」Emi silenced him with a slap, and then said,「If your friend is doing something dangerous, it’s only natural that you come to stop him!!」She began to cry harder than David when she scolded him.

David, who was looking at her with a blank stare, was not bothered, but Emi grabbed him by the hand and headed back home. Emi talks to David, who arrives at the restaurant, awkwardly but honestly holding her hand without shaking it off, without turning her head. Emi’s genuine concern that the boy would do something reckless again if things continued as they were was pouring into my mind.

「Hey, why did David do something so reckless?」

「You don’t want to lose to your brother, then why don’t you want to lose to him?」

「You don’t know, do you? I know you don’t want to lose, I hate losing too. But you shouldn’t make it your goal to win. What do you want to do… David, to become a swordsman who can beat your brother? Or do you want to become the best swordsman in the world? Or do you want to be able to defeat powerful demons?」

「Yeah, I don’t think you need to know that yet… me? The reason I was being so reckless? …I, beside Will-sama… have a dream that I really, really want to achieve… and I’m doing my best to make it come true, because it would be a useful power if I had it.」

At the same time as these words, Emi’s heart is filled with tender feelings. 「I want to be a woman who can support Will-sama when he becomes the king,」and「I want to make Remilia, who was a villainous daughter, a happy girl.」Emi has gone to such lengths to achieve both. It is not an easy endeavor to talk about, to hone one’s magical skills while also educating herself as the next queen. I am more than happy with the fact that Emi wishes for「Remilia’s」happiness to that extent.

When David returned to their mansion, he was thoroughly scolded by the adults around him, forbidden to go up to the royal castle for a while as a punishment, and forced to go through the hardest training among the new recruits, but when the punishment was over, he looked refreshed. He said he had learned the meaninglessness of pursuing strength without purpose, but as I watched from inside, I guessed it was Emi that David was talking about because「he had found someone he cared about who he wanted to support and protect as a knight.」I noticed that Emi, who was genuinely pleased with David’s change of heart, kept her mind on Williard and did notice the reason for it, and David kept it to himself and did not show it in a way that I could understand. This man was secretly loyal to Emi, even though he should have cared about her that much.