Chapter 54
“I-I like you, Mirne!”
“…?!”
Crack.
As soon as Bedin’s confession pierced her ears.
Mirne smashed the Artifact without hesitation.
“Y-Your Highness? Prince Bedin?”
With a voice that sounded genuinely flustered.
“…”
Mirne stared blankly at the shattered Artifact.
“I can’t… I can’t accept a confession right now.”
The timing of the confession was too early.
Assuming the story followed the original flow, the Male Leads' confessions shouldn’t happen until at least the middle or latter half.
But right now, it was the early-to-mid part at best, so a confession now would ruin the flow of the Original Story.
“I haven’t even decided who the main partner will be yet.”
Mirne recalled the ending of the novel she had read.
Contrary to her expectation that there would be one main partner, the final content was truly shocking.
[Who would have known it would end with an Open Ending and Multiple Endings!]
Mirne lived happily ever after with everyone, how wonderful, The End.
And then the crazy footwork of releasing side stories with endings where she gets together with every single Male Lead.
Having been hit by that, Mirne absolutely could not get together with anyone at this timing.
[I’ll decide the main partner, but even if I do… not right now.]
Therefore, she had no choice but to reject him using a poor Artifact connection as an excuse.
This was an unavoidable issue even if the other party noticed. If she got together with someone now, the problem would become serious.
Because she felt anxious if things didn’t go As per the Original Story.
“The Empire will definitely fall, as various misfortunes will strike it.”
It wasn’t on a level that could be fixed just by stopping one Black Mage.
The Empire’s downfall was inevitable. She couldn’t even accept the Imperial Citizens, as they had the potential to become seeds of disaster.
“No, it can’t be…”
The Emperor having already disappeared was a variable in itself.
He was originally there in the Original Story, so why had he disappeared now that she had transmigrated?
[Just where is he and what is he doing?]
The doubt was only brief.
Mirne thought about what she needed to do going forward.
[ You must protect the Original Story. ]
“I know! I know that! Do you think I don’t know? I’m the one who wants to protect the Original Story more than anyone! If a variable occurs, even Maselin could fall!”
Mirne expressed her anger at the status window that suddenly appeared.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t doing it because she didn’t know. She wanted to be faithful to the Original Story more than anyone else.
She just wanted to sit still while everyone around her gave her everything, to be loved, and to only experience success after success.
How on earth did it end up like this?
[The Crown Prince… The Crown Prince is the problem.]
In truth, the cause was clear.
There was no way she couldn’t know what the problem was.
Because right now, there was only one person in this entire world who treated her poorly.
[But it’s not like I can do anything about the Crown Prince right now.]
Now that the Empire was no longer in a position to give everything away.
There was nothing the Maselin Kingdom could do to the Empire.
So even if the Crown Prince was a thorn in her side, there were no means to deal with him.
[Should I just tell him? How the Empire will fall? No, then I’d have to tell him about the Executioner.]
It was complicated.
No solution was in sight.
“Should I cover this up for now and take care of other things first? There are plenty of Hidden Pieces I need to consume.”
From the World Tree to Noble titles.
There were a lot of things she needed to secure.
Since she had a few arrangements set up for now.
Mirne concluded that she would wait for that time.
The next morning, after waking up with those thoughts.
“Mirne, is it true that the Second Prince confessed to you?”
“Eh?”
She received an unbelievable message.
How did another Male Lead know she had received a confession?
And someone who wasn’t even from the Empire at that?
[What on earth is going on?]
+++++
The Empire’s Information Unit, the Eye of the Empire.
Their work encompassed everything related to information.
And among that, naturally, was Public Opinion Manipulation.
“This task… honestly, it’s something I’ve wanted to try at least once while living as the Eye of the Empire.”
“To think we’d actually get to do it.”
However, the task they were about to do was very far from Public Opinion Manipulation.
It couldn’t be seen as Manipulation; if anything, it should be called Public Opinion Formation.
“We’re just spreading rumors, so Public Opinion Formation is a bit of a funny way to put it.”
“But that rumor is related to His Highness the Second Prince.”
A mission to spread not just some local Marketplace rumor, but the secret private life of the Imperial Family.
There was no need to risk their lives; it was a simple job of just quietly going around from salons to Back Alley Pubs and dropping a few words.
But the dopamine rush from it was immense.
Tingle.
In a way, it was an act that ruined the Imperial Family’s face.
It was something they had only ever thought about while spending their entire lives as the Eye of the Empire.
Ahem.
Those called the Eye of the Empire cleared their throats.
Starting from the salons.
“Come to think of it, I heard somewhere… that His Highness the Second Prince was secretly exchanging messages with Crown Princess Mirne of the Maselin Kingdom, and…”
All the way to the Back Alley Pubs.
“…eventually couldn’t hold back and confessed, but unfortunately, the Artifact broke, so he couldn’t hear the answer to his confession.”
They casually spat out a few well-crafted lines.
And the rumor that spread like that.
“Did you hear the rumor? You know, ahem, the second one confessed, but didn’t get an answer…”
“You could say he got dumped, you could definitely say he got dumped.”
“This really isn’t someone else’s story, but among my friends, there’s this, ahem… anyway, there’s someone, and that friend, well.”
Thoroughly mosaiced with names hidden, it was well-processed and spread throughout the entire Empire.
But no matter how anonymously it was handled, anyone quick-witted couldn’t possibly not know.
Even if someone was so dense they couldn’t even get a clue.
“Anyone Disrespecting the Imperial Family will face Summary Execution. We will strike their necks without asking questions.”
From the Knights' sudden lines, one could immediately grasp who was who.
Perhaps because they suddenly mentioned the ridiculous charge of Disrespecting the Imperial Family.
It was structured in a way that everyone had no choice but to know the current matter was related to the Imperial Family.
If anything, it was as if the Knights were openly guaranteeing that the current rumor was true.
Anyway, through this method, the story of Second Prince Bedin confessing to Mirne completely spread.
And the Information Units of other countries who had risked their lives for Infiltration into the Empire as well.
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
“The Magic power that was tracking us suddenly disappeared at some point. Almost as if they let us off the hook…”
“Let us off the hook, my foot. It just means our stealth methods finally succeeded.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah, and don’t think about anything weird; focus on delivering the information first. The relationship between Second Prince Bedin and Crown Princess Mirne of the Maselin Kingdom, this is truly top-secret information.”
“Understood.”
Unlike their originally atrocious return rate.
Now that the information related to the Second Prince had spread, they all showed a 100% survival rate and returned to their home countries.
“I thought it would take about a week, but I guess not.”
Five days.
“…Brother, I’m seriously so embarrassed I don’t think I can lift my head… I can’t look the Officials in the face… or the Maids… What do I really do?”
In just five days, the rumor that Bedin got dumped spread beyond the Empire and across the Continent.
Bedin kept his head bowed low, appealing that he was truly dying of embarrassment, but.
“The rumor isn’t that you got dumped, so isn’t it fine?”
Bellon was processing his work without batting an eye.
“…How is that fine? It’s no response… I’m telling you, it’s no response…”
“Are you not angry or anything? It was a reaction deliberately avoiding an answer.”
“Well, I won’t know that until I hear her circumstances properly, but… the fact that she hasn’t contacted me first since then is a bit.”
“A bit?”
At Bedin’s words, Bellon lifted his head from the documents he was reading.
[Usually, if someone gets dumped, they might change into a 'I’ll have you no matter what' kind of attitude, but he’s tamer than I thought.]
What is commonly known as turning dark.
It would be normal to undergo a dark evolution towards “if I can”t have you, I’ll break you'.
It seemed Bedin simply didn’t possess any yandere traits.
[Maybe Mirne knew that and rejected him, since she might not be able to cut off someone who turns completely serious.]
Various possibilities came to mind, but nothing was certain.
However, there was one thing that was certain.
“Your Highness, recently the carrier pigeons of the Maselin Kingdom have been showing a great deal of movement.”
Right now, the Maselin Kingdom was receiving a bombardment of questions from various places.
There was no need to go out of his way to find out what the questions were.
Because he already knew what they were.
Bellon smiled deeply and concluded that he wouldn’t particularly intervene in the current situation.
[You shouldn’t needlessly poke at something when it’s at a rolling boil.]
If he touched it hastily, it would turn into a dish that was neither here nor there.
In the current situation, leaving it alone until it reached the proper temperature was the best plan.
+++++
Five more days passed after the rumor spread across the Continent.
Honestly, contrary to my thought that the atmosphere would loosen up to some extent after a reasonable amount of time passed.
“Your Highness, the Chireun Kingdom has declared war on the Maselin Kingdom.”
“Huh?”
The situation started to flow in a very entertaining direction.
“But wasn’t the Western Region originally densely packed with various kingdoms, leading to many large and small conflicts?”
“That is correct. Therefore, normally this wouldn’t be something to report so urgently, but I judged the reason to be highly unusual.”
“What is the reason?”
“…The justification is none other than love.”
Did they say you reap what you sow?
One of the fish in Mirne’s fishery had finally expressed its anger.
And in a very big way at that.
[This is a good opportunity to confirm exactly how the Maselin Kingdom manages to not fall, given that it supposedly doesn’t.]
How could I miss such an entertaining board?
“Did you say the Chireun Kingdom?”
“That is correct.”
“Look into a way to secretly support them.”
Shall I get in on the action?