kscans

Chapter 10 - The Crown Prince and Crown Princess

In stark contrast to the three enjoying a leisurely time at the ducal estate, the recently wed couple—Crown Prince Liam and Crown Princess Falty—were having a tea party with indescribable expressions on their faces. The thought consuming them both was, How did it come to this? Liam had possessed an absurd amount of confidence that even if he married Falty, Lupia would surely accept him. When his aide asked him why, he had replied:

"She was by my side for so long as the leading candidate for Crown Princess. Why would Lupia ever leave me?"

He failed to realize that his entire premise was fundamentally flawed. Lupia had devoted herself to the Crown Princess training 'because it was an engagement ordained by the country.' She was merely fulfilling her duty as a duke's daughter. There may have been some affection there, but romantic feelings were likely nonexistent. Had it not been a state-mandated engagement, she would undoubtedly be rocketing down the path to becoming the next duchess at an even faster pace. In fact, that was already starting to happen.

Falty, too, had been overly confident. She believed that Lupia, as her 'best friend,' would always stay by her side and never abandon her, no matter what. This, too, was a ridiculous notion. The biggest reason Falty had succeeded so well was her position as the 'protagonist' in a romance simulation game called `Love☆Star`, coupled with the instructions she received from the 'System,' which was like a voice from the heavens. And because she could see each character's favorability as a numerical value, her body had naturally moved to fulfill the role of the protagonist, thinking, This person is like this, so I should do that.

Furthermore, while she had been aiming for the most difficult Grand Finale Route, she had failed to meet its requirements. The ending she had actually reached was not the grand finale at all. It was the `Queen Route`, the second most difficult ending after the grand finale.

`Love☆Star`, a romance simulation game. The protagonist, a count's daughter, enrolls in the Royal Academy. The story begins when she enters her third and final year. Until then, the academy had various class divisions. But in the final year, for finishing touches, the classes were reorganized to mix nobles and commoners together. It was a place where nobles and commoners, who had little interaction in their first year, could mingle and build various relationships regardless of rank, a place where one's social skills were greatly tested. It was here that Crown Prince Liam and the protagonist, Falty, first met. Falty herself loved to study and was recognized by the academy as a special student for her efforts, but she had another reason for working so hard.

In her dreams, she saw the numerous romance endings of `Love☆Star` play out endlessly. But a quiet narration spoke to her, telling her there was one ending no one had ever achieved. That was the `Grand Finale Route`: an ending where she would not only end up with Crown Prince Liam but also spend her academy life without any friction with her rival, becoming her best friend, and the three of them joining hands to lead the country to a better future. It was the highest difficulty ending, said to be achievable only with the trust of the people around the Crown Prince, the King and Queen, and even the so-called mobs on the street. With a mountain of tasks to complete, Falty's daily life was turned upside down, leaving her no time for detours.

But she was both diligent and ambitious.

If no one has ever achieved it, then I will be the one to do it. She decided she would carve her name into history.

She paid the utmost attention to herself and those around her, cleared away any worries, and maintained her grades. The result was 'love' from Crown Prince Liam and a relationship of trust with her rival, Lupia, who was the leading candidate for Crown Princess at the time. Or so she thought.

Unaware of what she had gotten wrong, Falty pushed forward. It certainly felt like everything was going smoothly once she and Liam became a couple. And in fact, it had been going smoothly.

"Hey... Liam, when does my Crown Princess training begin?"

While her mind raced, trying to figure out what went wrong, Falty asked Liam.

"It's going to take a little longer. You see..."

"?"

Wondering what was wrong, she tilted her head, only to receive a shocking answer.

"The marchioness who was supposed to be your tutor, the one who used to handle the Crown Princess training... she has submitted a request to withdraw."

"...What?"

She felt as if she could hear the blood draining from her face. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Falty had been confident that what she had done was not wrong. After all, she had reached the most difficult Grand Finale ending. And yet, why? She repeated the question in her mind, but no one gave her an answer. She could no longer converse with the Will of God (System) that she had relied on so heavily. She had reached the ending, and from here on was the future. It wasn't a game. The thought finally hit her, and Falty, at long last, was struck by a sense of unease.

"W-Wait, Liam...! Then... what's going to happen to my Crown Princess training?! We have to hurry... we've already had the ceremony!"

"The marchioness isn't the only tutor available. Can you wait a little longer?"

"...Yes..."

She tried to force herself to accept it, but it wasn't easy. She slowly drank the tea poured into the cup before her. It had long since gone cold. Since it wasn't hot, she drank it all without stopping. Normally, she would have asked for a fresh cup, but right now, her mind was consumed by one thought: Why is this happening? Falty and Liam didn't want to admit that the 'present' was the result of the choices they had made.

Falty's desired future was one that would have been possible had she reached the most difficult Grand Finale ending. But she still hadn't realized that she had arrived at a different route. If she had looked closely when she opened her status screen one time, she might have noticed the small letters written there.

Queen Route, Achieved

Without noticing these words, Falty had been checking to see what Lupia's favorability rating was. The Will of God (System) had indeed shown her what to do and what actions to take to move toward a better future. Once her favorability reached a certain level, it had even shown her signposts leading to each ending, visible only to Falty. So, she followed them, improved her academic abilities, and even worked hard to make her gestures appear beautiful. She had asked the Will of God (System) and understood what was necessary.

...Or so she thought.

Falty had overlooked a single mandatory condition for reaching the most difficult Grand Finale ending.

There were several reasons the Grand Finale ending was the most difficult. First was Lupia's favorability rating. It went without saying that it had to be maxed out.

And there was one more thing. The existence of Lupia's twin brother, Rupert. It was one of the hidden conditions, precisely because Rupert was such an incredible sis-con. It wasn't necessary to romance him, but there was a high-difficulty event where she needed to be introduced to him by Lupia during the short period he was back in the country. Not only had Falty failed to do this, but her favorability rating with Lupia hadn't been high enough either.

Unaware, Falty continued to rack her brain, wondering why. It should have gone perfectly. I should have succeeded! She wanted to scream, but she couldn't let Liam know about her ambition to 'test how high I could climb' by following the guidance of the Will of God (System).

"H-Hey... Liam. Should we go visit Lupia? If she's not feeling well, we were good friends, so... maybe if we go see her, it'll cheer her up..."

"You're right."

He nodded, and they smiled at each other. Neither the Crown Prince nor the Crown Princess knew that their feelings were completely different. And without realizing that it was a bad move, they were about to proceed.