I Don’t Want A Prince In My Life - Chapter 3
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Now, I am in the Kingdom of Theophilus, next to my home country.
When my mother and I were expelled from the duchy, we exchanged our dresses and jewelry for money and fled to a neighboring country.
This is because Angelica’s sympathizers are so diverse and, without the backing of the dukes, we could be harmed at any time, anywhere, by anyone.
In addition, my parents had been separated because of my father’s unfaithfulness. My maternal grandparents, fearing that the Duke’s wrath would be brought upon them, had made it clear that they would disown us and have nothing to do with us.
With no one to turn to, we had no choice but to flee.
My mother and I hid our original identities and came to this country as mere commoners.
It was not easy for two women to travel from country to country.
On the way, we were sometimes cheated out of our money by the mercenaries we hired to protect us.
The only luck we had was that we were able to borrow identity papers from a stranded mother and daughter.
I had to give up the name Cecilia Bradley and take the name Pia from the papers. Thanks to this, I had the rights to live here in Theophilus.
But when we arrived in this country, I was almost penniless.
When I was a princess, I hadn’t thought much about it, but I needed money to live now.
So I decided to use my skills as a seamstress at Taylor’s in the capital.
It would have been more profitable for me to work as an interpreter, but to be involved in diplomacy and business dealings, I needed to have a backing and a means of earning a living that would allow me to keep up appearances.
So now, I’m saving up and hoping to one day become an interpreter or a tutor for upper class children.
For this reason, I’ve been earning a small fortune by translating books at night.
But I would have to be very careful about taking up these positions, lest my whereabouts should be discovered by people back home.
I don’t trust anyone anymore so that I don’t get hurt no matter what anyone does.
My mother was not dishonest. My eyes, which carry the color of my paternal grandmother’s, bear witness to this.
My father must have thought that we, mother and daughter, would die in the wild somewhere. Struggling to live is my revenge against my father and the people who abandoned me.
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After a while, the enthusiasm of the first official announcement gradually subsided.
This was because Albert, the Crown Prince, had refused all the women who came to him.
Albert, who until recently had been staying in my home country of Percival, was one of the men who had been attracted to Angelica.
He was supposed to have recently returned home from a field trip to Percival, but I suspected that he had actually been brought back because of a love affair with Angelica.
The reason is that even before I broke off my engagement with Lionel, his love affair with Angelica had already reached a very serious stage.
It was so unorthodox and ugly to see so many beautiful and talented men vying for Angelica’s favor.
Albert, I think, was still calm and controlled his behavior so as not to cause any diplomatic problems, but I could see that his patience would soon run out.
As I had expected, Albert returned from his field trip not long after my arrival in the country.
I pulled his face out of my memory.
He was an intelligent, quiet prince with lustrous black hair and eyes that were darker blue-violet than mine.
Like my former fiancé, Lionel, he was an old acquaintance, and I think we had played together since we were children.
However, he was fascinated by Angelica and became increasingly devoted to her, overriding his friendship with Lionel and me.
It was a process so similar to that of my brother Leon and my fiancée Lionel, that by then I could only think: “Here we go again”.
When I think back to that time, I still feel a boiling anger in my stomach and a sense of exertion at the same time.
What was particularly unpleasant was the way Angelica laughed merrily at the men’s quarrels without stopping them.
No matter what the trouble was caused by her, Angelica laughed as if she had no responsibility. On the contrary, she was even happy about it.
The quarrel between the next king, the crown prince, and the young people who are close to them as their future vassals caused confusion in the society. No, that’s not all. Such a conflict even brought about the adverse effect of lowering the power of the royal family.
However, no matter how many times I tried to remonstrate with them, they would not listen to me, but instead, saw me as someone who was hostile to Angelica.
Right before the engagement was annulled, I even thought about the future of Percival.
Rather, I felt a little joy when I was freed from my future duties as a queen because of my broken engagement.
The country was so disturbed by Angelica alone.
“Did you hear? The prince, how he turned away all the women who came to see him.”
“He doesn’t care how beautiful they were. He must have some strange taste…”
It was about six months after the announcement that rumors began to circulate.
It’s been almost a year since he returned home.
He may still be in love with Angelica, but it would be unbecoming of a prince to have such rumors circulating among the common people.
The most important task of the royal family is to leave descendants for the future. If the direct descendants cease to exist, there will be succession disputes, and the country will be ruined.
This is why the marriage of the Crown Prince is a matter of great interest to the people.
In addition, Albert will be 21 years old this year. The fact that he is not only unmarried at this age and also has no fiancée is an extraordinary situation.
But that doesn’t matter to me now.
I had saved up enough money by working as a seamstress and a translator, and now I was finally dressed and ready to work as an interpreter.
I had thought it would take longer, but a book merchant saw my translations and hired me on a full-time basis. Unbelievably, he even paid me for it.
I quit my job as a seamstress and used the money to move to a safer area. Thanks to this, my mother’s condition improved considerably.
She is no longer ranting day and night, and she is slowly coming to terms with reality.
Everything seemed to be going well.
However, even in peaceful everyday life, the devil lurks in the dark.
I thought I would never trust anyone again, but I was so careless.
“Pia, bring tea to the guests.”
The owner ordered me into the parlor.
Although I was nominally employed as an interpreter, in reality I was more like an apprentice, doing whatever I was ordered to do.
However, since books are basically those of the intellectual class who can read, the merchants who handle them were elegant and wealthy and never were oppressed.
So I did as I was ordered and brought the tea, but there was an unexpected encounter.
“Cecilia…”
In the room, the person who called my name of the past was Albert Blair Theophilus, the Crown Prince of this country.
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