How To Save A Time Limited Young Master - Chapter 25

Blake led the dance skillfully, and let go of Heloise’s hand to step backwards according to the dance steps, before taking her hand again.

“At first, I thought he was angry because Astor forced his appearance.”

“…Forced?”

She looked up calmly, while Blake had a smile on his face.

“My younger brother likes a lively atmosphere. In such an event, there’s no way that he wouldn’t extend an invitation to the Lioneriks, a founding contributor of the Royal Kingdom. That means that no matter how much the Marquis of Velks wants to lock him up, today’s an exception.”

The music has ended. It was the end of a short dance.

Unlike the dancing Blake had to do with his partner in his mandatory lessons, it was his first time dancing officially at a party, so he looked at his hand with a dazed expression.

He was out of breath and his heart thumped with nervousness.

Then, Blake reached out his hand again.

“Shall we dance again to another song?”

“What?”

“Isn’t the next song starting?”

Sure enough, the next song began to play.

Then, an old official that recognised Blake spoke to him, pretending that he was unaware.

“Excuse me, but are you the Crown Prince?”

“The Crown Prince?”

The people around them began to stir at the mention of the Crown Prince.

Unlike when his hair was dyed blond to hide his identity, a person that recognised him immediately appeared as soon as his hair colour returned back to normal.

Heloise was at a loss.

However, Blake didn’t even bat an eyelid and continued to press Heloise for an answer.

“Are you going to dance or not?”

Wouldn’t it be humiliating for him if his request to dance was rejected by a woman when he’s discovered as the crown prince?

Feeling worried for no reason, Heloise held Blake’s outstretched hand tactfully at the surrounding people’s gazes.

Just at that moment.

Zenon appeared all of a sudden and pushed Blake’s hand away roughly and cut in between the two of them.

[T/N: This is very cliched but I’m screaming >.<]

“Dance with me.”

“What?”

“If you’re going to continue dancing, dance with me.”

Zenon’s words caused the onlookers‘ noise to increase in volume.

‘That person is the Crown Prince…’, ‘Young Lord Lionerik… towards the Crown Prince’s woman…’, the following words weren’t worth listening to.

Heloise expressed unwillingness before the two men that were requesting for a dance.

One of them was snickering as if he found this situation amusing, while the other was staring at him with a sharp look, but neither of the two punks seemed like they would back down easily.

The orchestra in charge of the music was also anxiously studying the atmosphere as they played the beginning of the instrumental accompaniment on repeat without finishing the song,

Around that time, the servant announced the appearance of a new person.

“Prince Astor has arrived!”

The Marquis of Velks was standing next to him.

As Blake had mentioned, the Marquis seemed quite uncomfortable at being forced to release Zenon from probation.

If he was displaying that kind of attitude while standing beside Prince Astor, the star of the birthday banquet, it was obvious how bad his mood was.

Unlike Marquis Velks, Prince Astor had a clear and dignified look on his face, and frankly had a demeanour that was much more suited for a member of the royal family than Blake.

He looked more elegant and more reliable than his brother.

When the prince arrived, the king, who was seated on the throne, rose and began to give a congratulatory speech.

“Thank you all for coming to my son’s, Astor’s, birthday banquet.”

Everyone stopped whispering in order to listen to the king’s slow speech.

Marquis Velks, who had been standing guard beside the prince with furrowed brows, recognised the strange atmosphere and his brows rose when he identified the trio that were having a confrontation in the midst of it.

“That child is…”

“The Marquis seems to worry over his nephew no matter where he goes. It’s because you always want to keep him in your arms.”

Prince Astor smiled and asked Marquis Velks in a friendly manner.

“N—no.”

“No? But you couldn’t take your eyes off him.”

Astor looked downwards as if he could perfectly understand those feelings.

Zenon was glaring fiercely, Blake was shrugging his shoulders, while Heloise was bewildered.

“I really wasn’t.”

“And… about the Viscounty of Lorca’s Young Lady.”

“Who? Are you talking about Zenon’s playmate?”

Marquis Velks’ eyes shifted over and stopped at Heloise’s face.

It was hard for him to observe closely from a long distance.

“I was just looking at the Lamb of God.”

⋄────∘°❃°∘────⋄

As the king’s yawn-inducing speech began, Heloise took advantage of the brief lull in their war of nerves and retreated back secretly.

Now that the king has made his appearance, the Crown Prince, Blake, and Young Lord Lionerik, Zenon, wouldn’t be able to move from their places without drawing the attention of others, unlike Heloise.

Amongst such a huge crowd, she was but an unremarkable young lady of a Viscounty, so she could definitely escape with a little wit.

After leaving the hall without the two’s notice, Heloise went down to the garden through the balcony’s staircase.

“Whoa, I thought I was about to die.”

She couldn’t do this or that as she was caught between the two, and if she accidentally made a little mistake or commited a discourtesy, it was evident that she would’ve provided ammunition to be talked about for a long time.

Heloise went around the garden and went through the entrance to the royal castle again.

There weren’t many people outside other than a few knights that were guarding the castle, perhaps because the king was giving a speech. It wasn’t time for her to return yet, so she still had to kill some more time in the castle.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve only been to the castle a few times even though Dad works here.’

The players that were aiming for the Princess Ending in <Princess Sienna> had to visit the castle frequently by acting as acquaintances with their family members in the castle, in order to understand the condition of their stats.

‘During then, I was stopped at the entrance often.’

If she managed to foster a relationship with the gatekeeper, she would be able to meet the <Minister> or <Bishop> that are ranked above him, but she’d be able to meet the gatekeeper mister when she missed him.

Memories of chatting with unsatisfactory results in front of the gate surfaced one after another.

After passing through the castle gate nonchalantly, Heloise began to wander deeper into the castle.

While she felt that the route she was taking wasn’t the right path the more she walked along it, she didn’t even spot any handmaidens or attendants that she could ask for directions, perhaps because Prince Astor’s birthday banquet was ongoing.

Heloise only realised that she had taken the wrong path after passing by a specific corridor and continuing to walk for a long time.

While it’s a building connected to the castle, the ceiling was blown away, the walls were old, and it was covered with moss as it wasn’t managed.

At some point, weeds were growing between the stone floor that she was stepping on.

This place was an abandoned castle from here onwards.

“The walls are also graffitied.”

Though the moss made it hard to see clearly, the things that covered the wall densely were paintings.

There were hundreds of paintings of humans, paintings of monsters, an altar and a forest.

‘Why was there such a place in the castle?’

Heloise looked around with a puzzled face. Just then, a small silhouette could be seen at the end of the hallway. It was that of a slender woman.

“You are…”

“Who are you?”

The other party backed away in surprise when she spotted Heloise.

As the entire ceiling was blown away, the moonlight that shone into the interior was quite bright, and as such Heloise could recognise the other person’s face.

“Her Highness the Queen?”

“From how you recognised my face…… Were you invited to attend Astor’s birthday party?”

The queen was visibly relieved that the person that appeared didn’t seem to be a suspicious person.

Heloise nodded bewilderedly.

The queen, Isabel.

Other than during the Princess Ending, the queen was a woman that she’d rarely meet while playing <Princess Sienna>, let alone during her life as Heloise.

Heloise wondered why she was hiding at a remote location in the castle during her son’s birthday, and not being present in the banquet hall.

“What brings you to such a place, my queen?”

“What about you? Did you enter here knowing what kind of place this is?”

“No. I was just walking, and my footsteps just led me here…”

“You’re hopeless. What would you have done if you’d met someone other than me?”

“Is this place a restricted area?”

“Of course.”

Isabel looked up at the mural and continued.

“It’s because only one person is permitted to enter this place. Actually, I shouldn’t be here either.”

“Where is this place?”

“This is the castle where the honourable person, His Highness Crown Prince Blake, lives.”

“His Highness the Crown Prince…?”

Heloise frowned.

What kind of royal family would bestow upon their crown prince such a place as his residence?

Isabel, who had been speaking with a solemn expression on her face, seemed to have detected her thoughts through her expression and smiled for the first time.

“I can clearly tell what you’re thinking.”

“Ah, that’s…”

“It’s alright. It’s natural of you to think that way when you’re unaware of the situation.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Come to think of it, the Crown Prince’s residence is also a top-secret in the castle, but I said it out unknowingly. I guess it was because I felt at ease around you.”

“For some reason, I can feel at ease around you”

‘Oh? Where have I heard of this before?’

Heloise felt a sense of deja vu from Isabel’s words and put her brain to work.

When she was playing <Princess Sienna>, she could meet people in order of rank when she visited the royal castle.

<Gatekeeper> – <Knight> – Minister> – <Bishop> – <Chancellor> – <Queen> – <King>.

However, if the stats for [Dignity] or [Sociability] stats weren’t high enough, she wouldn’t meet anyone above the <Gatekeeper>.

The <Gatekeeper> would advise her on what stats she should increase in order to approach those of a higher rank, and from the <Bishop> onwards, similar words would appear without needing to be hinted at.

The queen would say this often at that time.

“For some reason, I can feel at ease around you”

It was one of the lines that Sienna would hear if she had a high enough [Sociability] to meet the queen and continued to meet in order to increase her favorability.

‘But I’m only fourteen? I’m not too sure, but the favorability stat wouldn’t be applicable to me as long as I’m not Sienna…’

Why was she hearing a line that would only be uttered after gaining sufficient favorability from the queen?

⋄────∘°❃°∘────⋄