Chapter 60: Chapter 40.2

“If that were truly the case, you would have aimed directly at His Highness Arnold and not me. Since His Highness has the knight guard, Kamil-san, by his side, didn’t you have plenty of opportunities before I came to this country?”

Theodore gasped for breath, while Rishe continued.

“You couldn’t have done anything to directly harm your brother, could you? If so, then I think the principles behind your actions were all for your brother’s sake.”

“No.”

A strange sensation hit him, as if his feet were getting warped beneath him.

Alarm bells went off his heart, making him terribly dizzy. In the midst of his wobbly world, Theodore yelled.

“No! No, no, no, no! Oh God, what are you talking about? You..!”

Right this moment, he just felt strongly that he had to resist this girl. He couldn’t care less if his brother took the words to heart.

“Tell you what, I want my brother to hate me!　I want to be shunned, hated and excluded. I’d rather be killed by my brother than be useful to him and not be accepted like you are!”

“Your Highness Theodore.”

“It makes me happy to make Brother angry. I’m glad to have Brother push me away! I did this for just that, that’s all!!”

“Your Highness.”

“Shut up!!!”

Rische said gently to Theodore, who yelled at her.

“Please tell me what you are afraid of.”

The hell was that…

She was speaking as if she was on his side.

Rishe looked up at Theodore.

With a soft voice and a somewhat labored expression, she continued

“Perhaps your fear is the same one I have for the future.”

“What?”

Was there anything this girl was afraid of?

“Rishe…”

He heard his brother’s voice, and it made him cringe and tense up.

“Enough, that’s enough.”

“Your Highness Arnold.”

“I told you to stay out of it.”

Sweat trickled down Theodore’s cheeks. Nervousness was beginning to make him thirsty, and he even began to feel a twinge of pain.

“Please wait, Your Highness. Please, I beg you, please tell me how you really feel about your brother-”

“I don’t care.”

His brother’s voice sounded still as indifferent as usual.

You’ve already expected that, didn’t you?

So why did he feel like cowering?

He didn’t care that Theodore was trembling, he continued.

“Whatever this guy wants is none of my business.”

“…”

Before Theodore could think of anything, he was running out of the room.

—

“Your Highness Theodore!”

In the room where Theodore had left, Rishe looked back at Arnold.

At the deepest hour of the night, it was pitch black outside the window. The sound of Theodore’s footsteps echoed down the corridor and gradually receded.

“Why are you deliberately keeping your brother at bay?”

She asked, and Arnold in front of her looked at her as if to say, “Nonsense.”

“I told you, I don’t care.”

“Your Highness…”

“Rest assured, if he continues to harm you, I’ll send him out of the castle just like our sisters.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

That much was apparent.

Yet Arnold was trying to weasel out of it.

But I won’t let him get away with it.

This man, “Arnold Hein”, would be the most important person in the world in the future as Rishe knew it.

It was him who waged war on all nations, overrunning and devouring them with his overwhelming military power.

In all her six lifetimes, there was no one in the world who didn’t know his name.

However, not once did his brother, Theodore Auguste Hein, appear in any of the leaked stories about the Garkhain Kingdom.

At first, Rishe had taken that for granted.

This was because there wasn’t much minutiae of the country that was circulated in other countries. If that was the case with the royal family, it would have been rumored among the upper class at most.

It wouldn’t have been surprising if it reached mere merchants or doctors.

However, it was different when it came to Theodore.

In light of Theodore’s earlier behavior, it was clear that he himself was deliberately keeping his name out of public scrutiny.

“Your brother is working to disappear from the future of Garkhain Kingdom. That is a higher priority for him than the people of the favelas…In short, his behavior must be because of you, Your Highness.”

As far as Theodore’s behavior was concerned, there was no doubt about it. What Theodore cared about more than anything else was Arnold.

“So what’s your point?”

“You told me the other day that I don’t have to be prepared to be your wife.”

When she said that, she felt a tingling pain deep in her chest. Wondering to herself what it was, Rishe continued.

“I’ve been trying to figure out what you meant. Among the many conjectures that have come to mind was that it could be associated with His Highness Theodore’s behavior.”

Rishe even thought that his statement might have been made on the assumption that they would eventually be divorced.

But if not.

What if those were words based on the fact that he would kill his father and start a war three years later? And what if Theodore, who has been observing his brother, caught wind of a portion of it?

“Are you intending to cut off the future you that should exist beyond this?”

“――――…”

Arnold turned and looked down coldly at Rishe.

“Isn’t that what His Highness Theodore is afraid of? That is why he’s been acting as an incompetent Second Prince to succeed to the throne. Even if something were to happen to you in the near future, as long as His Highness Theodore is with you, the Imperial family will continue without a hitch.”

She wondered if Arnold had already orchestrated such a future. She didn’t want to think in that direction, so she looked up to him as if in prayer.

“Can you share with me your thoughts?”

It was a gamble of sorts.

A question to see if something already existed that could turn him into the brutal Emperor Arnold Hein in a few years’ time.

If only you could confide in me a little.

Arnold has a human heart.

Truth was, he didn’t really mean for that war to happen.

That can surely change the future!

Believing that, Rishe looked at him.