[V7C1] A Man Driven Solely by Personal Feelings

——This happened ten years ago.

Louis Miller, who was 19 at the time, had just obtained a new pair of boots with the bounty he obtained for slaying a dragon, putting him in a very cheerful mood.

Clad in shiny boots, his steps were light, and with each step, the ponytail of hair he had recently grown swayed playfully behind his neck.

His hand held not a mage’s staff, but a bottle of fine, slightly expensive liquor. He planned to offer congratulations and slight teasing to a friend who had gotten engaged.

The aforementioned friend, Lionel Blem Edwalt Ridill, happened to be the First Prince of the Ridill Kingdom.

Louis, a mere private in the Magic Corps, couldn’t just casually meet Lionel out of the blue… However, he could easily fly in through the window with flight magic.

Getting caught would obviously result in major repercussions, but Louis knew of a route to reach Lionel’s room without being seen.

First, he needed to circle around to the back of the castle. As he began his sneaking mission, he sensed a human presence and hid himself in the shadows.

A few nobles of the royal court passed nearby. That was fine. The problem was the topic they were discussing.

“Did you hear the rumors?”

“Oh, you mean that story. My heart cries for Lady Mifawk…”

Lady Mifawk. She was the daughter of Count Mifawk and the woman engaged to Lionel.

So what had happened to her? Listening intently, Louis learned of the details and… became utterly furious.

Apparently, the engagement between Lionel and Lady Mifawk had been canceled due to the lady’s sudden illness. However, this was just the superficial reason.

The truth was that Lady Mifawk, in order to reject the engagement with Lionel, had attempted suicide by poison.

Fortunately, she was discovered in time, and her life was saved, but the engagement was inevitably annulled. The bigger problem came afterward.

According to the gossip in high society, the well-connected Duchess of Listor had made a statement.

——”Lady Mifawk already had another gentleman in her heart… Surely, she grew mentally ill due to the recent engagement. Poor thing.”

This statement implied that Lionel had fallen in love with Lady Mifawk, forced the engagement against her will, and drove her to suicide.

Count Mifawk was a neutral-leaning noble, but the Duchess of Listor was aligned with the Second Prince. By taking advantage of the scandal of the broken engagement, the Second Prince Faction had tarnished First Prince Lionel’s reputation.

In any case, the engagement with Lady Mifawk was not Lionel’s decision; it was a political arrangement made by influential figures of the First Prince Faction and Lionel’s mother.

Yet, these rumors implied that Lionel had forced himself on her. This was defamation, clear and simple.

Furious at the ridiculous gossip, Louis burst into his friend’s room, finding Lionel sitting in dejection.

Lionel was a large man with a stern face and body, and to put it bluntly, he resembled a gorilla. However, this gorilla was the most gentle and delicate gorilla of all.

Despite being unjustly vilified, Lionel rubbed his red, swollen eyes and quietly said…

“I am truly relieved to hear of Lady Mifawk’s survival…”

From Louis’s perspective, Lady Mifawk attempting suicide to avoid an engagement was equally ludicrous. Any noble woman refusing a marriage with royalty in such a detestable manner was beyond foolish.

And yet, Lionel was rejoicing over the safety of the idiotic woman who betrayed him.

In a fury, Louis promptly emptied the contents of the bottle he had brought with him.

The lady who attempted suicide, the duchess who spread false rumors, and the foolish nobles who believed them——Louis hated all of them. He felt a burning urge to take them all down a notch, perhaps literally.

However, as the alcohol-fueled Louis was about to storm out with bottle in hand, Lionel put him into a restraining headlock.

Lionel had stopped Louis not because causing a ruckus would worsen Lionel’s own position. He did it because…

“You said you wanted to join the Seven Sages! Do not close off your future for my sake!”

This overly kind prince was stopping Louis for the sake of Louis’s own future.

The wrestling match between Louis and Lionel ultimately continued throughout the night.

Eventually, the morning sun rose on the two. After Louis lost all the energy to complain, Lionel made a smile with his bruised face.

“Thank you for getting angry for my sake, my friend.”

…Truly, this prince’s kindness knew no limits.

＊　＊　＊

Recalling the indiscretions of his youth, the Barrier Mage Louis Miller, now one of the Seven Sages, smiled elegantly at the First Prince, Lionel Blem Edwalt Ridill. They were meeting in the same room as ten years ago.

“Congratulations on your engagement, Your Highness.”

“I believe it may be a bit early for that, Louis.”

“What are you saying? Is it not already decided behind the scenes?”

Since the scandal of his broken engagement with Lady Mifawk ten years ago, Lionel had consistently avoided any talks of marriage. It was only recently that his engagement became a topic again.

The prospective partner was Princess Cecilia, the half-sister of the Emperor of the Schwalgard Empire. She was scheduled to make an official visit to the Ridill Kingdom soon.

The formal decision on the engagement will likely be made during her visit.

Cecilia was a beautiful 20-year-old princess, 9 years younger than Lionel.

Yet despite the happy tidings, Lionel’s expression seemed somewhat gloomy.

“I must seem like an old man to Princess Cecilia…”

“You should know that a significant age difference is not uncommon in a marriage between royals.”

Indeed, the current King of Ridill and the third queen had an age difference of almost twenty years.

In fact, seeing as how the current king had married three consorts, it was clearly abnormal that the crown prince Lionel was still single at age 29.

“Bearing an heir is just another duty of the royal family. Avoiding engagement is somewhat unfaithful as a royal, don’t you think?”

“…Ngh.”

Lionel fell silent, lowering his head. Apparently he was still bothered by Lady Mifawk’s suicide attempt.

However, Louis’s assessment was that Lady Mifawk never had any intention of dying in the first place. In fact, she quickly recovered and married a young and handsome noble from another country shortly after the incident.

Despite having his reputation tarnished by the farce, Lionel still fretted over the incident… He was worried that his new prospective fiancé may reject their engagement and attempt suicide.

(…I must make the engagement with Princess Cecilia a success, using any means possible.)

For the sake of the country… and for the sake of helping his overly kind friend overcome past traumas and move forward.

Louis had already started working behind the scenes to achieve this goal.

“Your Highness, you may rest assured about Princess Cecilia’s security. I have already arranged for the personnel, and above all, I will be standing by on the day of…”

“Louis, about that matter…”

In a slightly awkward tone, Lionel faced Louis directly and said…

“You need to step down from Princess Cecilia’s security.”

“…Pardon?”

Louis needed some time to chew on the meaning of what he was told.

It was practically a tradition in Ridill to deploy a member of the Seven Sages for the protection of foreign dignitaries.

With the overwhelming power of the Sages, there would be no need to parade a crowd of guards during outings. Most importantly, this was the perfect opportunity to showcase the superiority of Ridill’s mages to foreign countries.

In recent years, the one always assigned such diplomatic protection missions was the Barrier Mage, Louis Miller.

In addition to being a master of defensive barriers, Louis had excellent looks and social skills.

It may sound ridiculous, but appearance was highly valued in diplomatic protection. Looks were prioritized even for the elites guarding the royal family. And being a handsome man, Louis had always been invaluable for such missions.

Thus, Louis did not doubt that he would be the one in charge of Princess Cecilia’s protection.

So why was he being told to step down from security duty?

Louis pondered for a moment, gazing intently with his ashen-purple eyes from behind the monocle.

“Prince Lionel, are you suggesting that I will act out based on my personal feelings?”

“What are you saying? All of your actions are based on personal feelings.”

Lionel’s words were indeed accurate. Louis’s personal feelings had driven him to make a number of discrete arrangements already.

But in response, Louis shook his head as if he were genuinely offended.

“My goodness, I’m not so immature that I can’t distinguish between public and private matters.”

“No, I must apologize. It’s not that I doubt your talent in magecraft or your character. It’s just… we’ve received a personal request from Emperor Leonhart.”

“From the Black Lion Emperor himself?”

Interfering with the security of the destination visit was quite arrogant behavior.

Just who did he think he was? Louis shook his head with a frown.

“Indeed. For the princess’s bodyguard, His Imperial Majesty has personally designated……”

Upon hearing that unexpected name, Louis widened his eyes behind the monocle, at a complete loss for words.

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