kscans

Chapter 65 - The Final Episode: The Young Lady Dashed Through Life As She Pleased

Once upon a time, in a certain kingdom, there was a great love story that set the whole nation abuzz.

The Crown Prince had a fiancée, a duke’s daughter, who had been chosen for him when he was young. However, this fiancée was very cold, and she was a nasty person who would always nag him, saying things like, ‘Your Highness, please fulfill your responsibilities.’

The Crown Prince was very troubled.

This engagement was decided by the country, so he couldn’t simply dissolve it. But he wished he could somehow get away from this woman of ice.

As he was thinking this one day, the Crown Prince had a wonderful encounter!

A lovely young lady who had entered the academy as a special student. She was adorable, admired by all, and equally kind to everyone, like a goddess of spring. What’s more, she came from the wonderful house of a count, and he was thrilled, thinking, ‘Heaven has blessed her not with two gifts, but three!’ Furthermore, the Crown Prince was moved when he saw how hard she worked. ‘She possesses a diligence my own fiancée lacks, and a wonderful natural talent!’ he rejoiced, and he completely fell for her as she spoke to him with a sweet smile.

The fiancée, the duke’s daughter, was not amused at all.

"Your Highness, what is the meaning of this!"

As she scolded him like that, the Crown Prince’s irritation only grew.

"All you ever do is get angry! Can’t you learn from her and smile once in a while?!"

She must have never been scolded before. The duke’s daughter burst into tears and ran away.

"Your Highness, is this wise?"

"I don’t care! Let’s just leave a woman like that alone!"

His heart was further captured by the purity of the count’s daughter, who could even show concern for the angry duke’s daughter.

In no time at all, the Crown Prince fell in love with the count’s daughter, and as his love grew, he began to treat the duke’s daughter more and more carelessly. Before he knew it, he was strongly requesting of his father, the king, ‘I want to make her my fiancée!’ And so, his father, the King, decided, ‘Very well, then let’s change your fiancée!’ And as a result, the Crown Prince’s fiancée was replaced!

"How could such a ridiculous thing happen!"

The duke’s daughter was furious.

"Be quiet! Do you dare defy a decision of the state?!"

"How unsightly!"

Everyone ganged up on the duke’s daughter and condemned her. Finally unable to bear it any longer, the duke’s daughter and the entire ducal family did the unthinkable: they abandoned the country entirely and left for a neighboring kingdom.

"Good riddance!"

"We don’t need the likes of you!"

No one stopped them, and to everyone’s surprise, even the people associated with the ducal family left as well. The nobility was in a great panic, but the Crown Prince declared, ‘There is nothing to worry about! For I have this wonderful lady whom I truly love!’ and so they were all greatly relieved, saying, ‘That’s right!’ and ‘We have His Highness!’

And then, strangely, the administration of the country, which had never had any problems before, gradually began to falter. The nobles and commoners alike panicked, wondering what had happened, what had gone wrong.

"...It’s been like this since the ducal family left!"

The ones who had always supported the king were the very ducal family that had left.

"How could this have happened…"

Even if they muttered it, it was already too late. They begged them to come back, but their pleas were rejected with a simple, "We see no reason to return." But everyone still believed that the Crown Prince and the count’s daughter would somehow manage.

"What should we do…"

"Oh, Your Highness, what shall we do!"

To their utter surprise, these two had also relied on the duke’s daughter for this and that, so they were now completely at a loss.

"This is unbelievable…!"

No matter how much everyone regretted it, time could not be turned back.

And so. The duke’s daughter, her family, and all the people who had left the country were all living their lives full of vitality and laughter. Even if they thought, ‘This isn’t how it was supposed to be,’ it was the Crown Prince and his new love who had caused this irreversible situation….

"Finally, I can do as I please!"

The people of her former country would never know that, surprisingly, it was the duke’s daughter who was living more energetically than anyone else, and so time passed.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

"Vernella, what is this?"

"Fufufu."

Several years had passed since that commotion.

Lupia had been promoted in the blink of an eye and was now juggling multiple jobs, living a life of dizzying business. One day, Vernella popped in and showed her a book.

It was an entertainment novel titled "Who Really Laughed?" After reading the synopsis, Lupia’s face contorted. As she muttered, ‘I’ve seen this somewhere before… no, I’ve heard it somewhere before,’ a smiling Vernella said:

"It’s just like certain people we know, isn’t it? Ufufu."

"...You… I’d hate to think…"

"You’d be thinking correctly."

After Lupia and the others had moved—or rather, abandoned that country—a chain reaction of collapse had slowly but surely begun to spread. The first to notice were the commoners, then the nobles who had remained. A creeping anxiety quickly became infectious. With the Calmond Ducal Family, who had been responsible for national defense, gone, the role fell to other nobles. But because they had grown lazy, thinking, ‘The Calmond family will take care of everything,’ they ended up exposing their own incompetence in a truly disgraceful manner. When faced with a horde of monsters, they froze. Before, Aristerios had been there to inspire them, and his support magic had given them the courage to fight desperately, but they could no longer benefit from his grace. Having finally realized the situation, the nobles stormed the royal palace.

"Why did Your Highness desire that lady as your Crown Princess?!"

"This is your fault!"

"It’s because you dissolved the engagement!"

Watching the nobles shout whatever selfish things they pleased, Falty and Liam finally understood the importance of the Calmond Ducal Family, but regret always comes too late.

Although she had been tempted by the ‘System,’ Falty had had the option not to take its hand, yet she had taken it without hesitation. Liam was the one who fell in love with Falty. The royal family was the one who pushed for their engagement—no, who married them off after an incredibly short engagement period. No matter how many ‘what ifs’ they considered, like ‘what if Falty hadn’t been tempted by the System,’ time could not be turned back. They had no choice but to accept it, but they didn’t want to.

There was no point in relying on people who were no longer there, so they judged that they had to manage with the personnel they had left. Apparently, they were somehow getting by for now, but they could no longer feel the sense of security they once had, and she heard the Suppression Unit was severely fatigued. This was partly because Aristerios’s strength had been abnormal, but also because his leadership skills had been so high that the unit’s formation rarely broke, allowing for smooth subjugations. He had also properly divided duties for patrols, which had prevented them from being overburdened.

"You’ve spread it far and wide… really, you."

"It was a result of all your hard work, Sister-in-law, and they treated you with contempt, so this is what they get! I made a fairytale version and a novel version like this one! What do you think?"

"You were more thorough in your revenge than I expected, Vernella."

"Of course! And besides, you’re not showing nearly enough interest in your homeland, Sister-in-law!"

"That’s because I have other things that have captured my interest."

Just as the happily smiling Lupia was about to finish speaking, Rupert and another young nobleman burst into her office.

"You two, please fix the door properly. Did you settle things today?"

"No!"

"Yes, we will! Lord Rupert, please admit that last strike was valid!"

"If I admit it, you’ll propose to my sister! Like I’d let a stupid thing like that happen!!"

"Oh my…"

Vernella was bewildered, while Lupia watched the two of them with amusement.

Rupert and Cypher. For one reason or another, the two had become good friends after moving. Cypher had also been granted entry to the new Calmond family mansion, but just as he was getting along with the twins, he dropped a bombshell confession on Lupia. While Lupia was unfazed, Aristerios and Rupert were furious and challenged him to a duel, declaring, "If you can beat us, we’ll give you our daughter! No, we’ll let you confess to her again, and then you can get rejected!" To this day, they had fought so many duels that no one could keep count, and this commotion had become, in a way, a daily occurrence at the Calmond household.

"My ladies, would you care for a refill of tea?"

"Thank you, Jif, I’d love some."

"At once, Lady Lupia."

"Ah, me too!"

"Yes, Lady Vernella."

Smiling pleasantly, Jif prepared refills for the two of them and said nonchalantly:

"My, my, I wonder when Viscount Rudger will finally be able to confess to the young lady."

"After he gets past Rupert, he’ll have to face Father next. But…"

"But?"

"Someone with that much guts… I think I could feel reasonably at ease with him…"

At Lupia’s sigh-laden words, Vernella spat out her tea, and Cypher and Rupert, who had been in the middle of their chaotic battle, froze.

"W-what?! Whaaaat?!?! Lady Lupia, are you serious?!"

"Wait, sis, I don’t approve! Nooo!!!"

The two of them called a temporary truce and rushed over to Lupia, only to be left dumbfounded by her next words.

"I can feel at ease, but I like strong men, so please do your best, Cypher-sama."

With a triumphant roar from Rupert, the dumbstruck Cypher was sent flying, and it seemed the battle for the day had come to an end.

With a cheerful smile she had never shown before, Lupia, Vernella, and everyone else spent their days full of laughter.