「- Shhh!

He clearly remembered his first meeting with her.

“No!”

– Puuk!

“Gasp, ugh……!”

The terrible noise pierced the man and the Imperial Crown Prince’s ears at the same time. The other sounds on the battlefield magically seemed to disappear. He felt suffocated and my world seemed to flip. The pain felt more like shock than actually hurting. A large hand touched the man who was crumbling down like a sand castle.

– Plop!

He felt the grip of the sword master who was no longer wearing gloves.

“Call the Imperial doctor from the barracks!”

“Yes, your Royal Highness!”

“Ugh……”

Groans came out of his body instead of breaths. Red eyes floated above his body like bright suns as he laid there on the ground. He looked up at the cloudless and beautiful sky. It was then that Jesse Venetiaan realized that he had done something reckless. It was quite unbelievable. His body, which had no physical sense at all, had moved so quickly, but his mind was moving so slowly. He couldn’t help but scoff as he felt so despondent. Thinking up to that point suddenly made everything feel so meaningless.

‘Death was such an easy thing.’

“Haha……”

‘I gave my entire life to avoiding death, but…’

“Quiet. It will not go out as laughter this time.”

The words coming out of his mouth seemed faster than normal.

Clang, clang! He could hear the sharp sound of blades clashing at a distance. The shouts of soldiers echoed further away. Jesse struggled to answer.

“Is that, so?”

The gaze as cold as jewels became dyed with shock. His condition must be so serious that even this cold-hearted romantic rival of his was showing emotion. The prince channeled every ounce of strength in his body to barely smile.

On the other hand, Cédric Riester scowled. The shoulder he was holding was so hot that it felt like it was on fire. The crown prince opened his mouth and his voice sounded angry.

“What were you thinking-”

“She’ll be…… sad. Ugh.” He coughed up blood and could not finish the sentence.

But the meaning behind the prince’s words were clear. If he had not seen wrong, and if an angel of the Almighty God had not covered his eyes with the veil of death……

“Ugh, cough.”

The crown prince’s face was turning pale. This was the first time Jesse knew that this man could make such an expression. Despite being covered in dust and having the blood of the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom on him, he looked more human than ever before.

“Cédric……! Damn it, fuck!”

– Clang, clang, kakakang!

This was Vice Commander Élisabeth Moutet’s voice. She must have finally realized what was happening here as the swordswoman was swearing in anger and releasing her sword aura. Oooooong, babang! Her rapier created explosions as she cut through the enemy soldiers.

‘Aaaaaaaaaaah!’, ‘Save me, please!’ Cries and screams dyed another portion of the battlefield black. No, maybe it was his own sight that was turning grey like ash.

“Don’t close your eyes.”

“I’m sleepy……”

“That’s an order.”

The crown prince growled like a black panther. The corners of Jesse’s eyes curled up. Not a day passed by without this man growling at him, but this was the first time it felt so threatening. His beautiful blonde hair was becoming dyed red.

“Tell Christelle…… I’m, sorry, ugh.”

“Shut the hell up.”

This member of the Imperial family refused to even receive the Prince’s last words. He was a terrible notary. Jesse smiled bitterly and coughed up more blood.

He remembered hearing the crown prince say something similar the day they first met. The memories of that day in spring flashed by like phantasmagoria. The beautifully decorated garden of Strauder Palace and the couples walking in pairs in between the anemones. The Spring Ball where he knew nobody. The balcony where he stared at the moon with only the golden champagne glass as his friend.

The world slowed down and a clear voice echoed in his ears.

‘Wow, that’s crazy. There’s a person who shoves an engagement down his daughter’s throat when she just woke up after three years?’

Jesse’s eyes opened wide and he looked behind him. He heard a raspy voice through the music coming from the open door. As the self-appointed ‘Scoundrel of the Holy Kingdom,’ he was well aware of the numerous choices of vocabulary and the secretive movements of the Beau Monde. Scandals were the best at creating the first prince who ‘had no interest in the throne nor the qualifications for it.’

He wasn’t actually a player who slept with a ton of women, but he was able to survive until now thanks to the help of numerous noble madams and young ladies. That was why this royal prince doubted his ears. He had never heard a young lady with such a beautiful voice saying such crude words. He needed to see if it was a royal servant of the Imperial Palace. However…

‘……Ah.’

‘Hello, mademoiselle.’

The bright sky-colored eyes opened wide at his greeting.

The woman was so beautiful that anybody would fall for her at first glance. Her rosy cheeks and cherry blossom-like lips were beautiful. Her pink hair, which was a rare color for hair, flowed like silk under the moonlight while her long inner lashes fluttered like a butterfly that just emerged out of its chrysalis. Anybody would be able to tell that her luxurious light purple dress was not something a royal servant would be able to wear.

He suddenly had a thought. He thought that he might start to like light purple…… What an unbelievably funny thought.

‘Hello sir. Would it be okay for me to be out here for a bit?’

‘Of course.’

The young lady asked him for permission as he was out here first. Even her respectful bow looked beautiful. Her shocking choice of words had made him expect her to be a troublemaker, but she was very calm this time. Jesse found this young lady, who went against his assumptions, to be interesting.

She smiled and locked the balcony door after receiving the answer she wanted and energetically walked toward the ledge.

– Riiiiiiiip!

‘Ah fuck.’

No, she tried to do so. The shocked prince opened and closed his mouth without being able to say anything. He almost dropped his champagne glass. ‘What did you just……’

‘Oh my. Did you hear that, sir?’ The young lady stood stiffly while mumbling half in laughter and half in shock.

Her ripped underskirt poked out of the dress. He didn’t know how he should answer. If he answered honestly, he would be confessing that he learned about a lady’s embarrassing moment (although he already saw something much more embarrassing), but it went against his conscience to lie.

Jesse decided to do what he could do.

‘……I know this may come off extremely rude as this is our first meeting, but I can take care of that for you if you will allow me to do so, young lady.’

He calmly pointed at the underskirt.

The woman hesitated for a moment before looking at the closed door and nodded her head. She did not seem to want to walk out and have everybody looking at her. She would probably hear a handful from her parents or chaperone as well.

He had no idea which noble house this young lady came from.

‘Mm, thank you very much. Then I will leave it to you.’ She quickly answered.

The prince chuckled and knelt down on one knee in front of her. He placed his champagne glass on the ledge.

– Rustle, rustle……

He then carefully pulled the dress back. He maintained as normal of an expression as possible in order to make the young lady not feel embarrassed. He folded the long rip in the underskirt like a string and tied a simple yet sturdy ribbon. That was it.

‘All done, young lady. It should not undo itself until you return home later.’ The prince stood up.

‘Ah, already? Thank you very much. It really looks normal again!’ She was happy. The part that had been sticking out was no longer visible. It had not been that hard.

The prince’s beloved younger sister, seven years old Cornelisse, frequently stepped on her skirt. She would frequently come find him while dragging a ripped ribbon or lace.

The cute reason she stubbornly chose to wear a dress instead of pants was because she liked looking like the royal servants. Jesse would help fix it if he had a sewing box nearby, but it was best to leave it to the royal seamstresses. That was why he would only do temporary measures to make sure the child did not trip over the loose articles. Then it would not show until she changed into her pajamas at night no matter how hard she played.

‘…….’

The prince smiled while thinking about his older and younger sisters he left behind in his home kingdom. The young lady, who had been blankly staring at his face for a bit, finally spoke.

‘My name is Christelle Olivier de Sarnez. May I ask your name, young master?’

Flinch. Jesse was shocked again. To be more specific, he was shocked three times. First of all, a middle name was something very precious. It was not something to share with someone you just met, which was a custom that was the same both at home and in Riester. But the more surprising thing was that she did not recognize him. Blonde hair and purple eyes were the symbols of Jesse Venetiaan. People had been staring at him at all times since he came to the Empire. Furthermore, the formal attire he was wearing was in the style of the Holy Kingdom as well.

Was she pretending not to know who he is in order to draw his interest?

‘……Hahaha.’

She did not look like the kind of person to do that. He laughed and Christelle slightly scowled.

Lastly, she was the daughter of the Duke’s House of Sarnez, a family quite famous even in the Holy Kingdom’s Beau Monde. He had heard the rumors of her being ill but she seemed healthy now. Should he say that he was happy to meet her like this?

‘My apologies, young lady Sarnez. My name is Jesse Venetiaan.’ He really was happy. This was the first time he was enjoying himself since coming to the Empire.

‘Ah, young master Jesse Venetiaan.’ Christelle mumbled the prince’s name. She then complimented his unique and beautiful name.

He chuckled, as he had never experienced something like this.

‘Wait a minute, Venetiaan? Isn’t that our neighboring kingdom……’

‘May I have the honor to dance with you?’

She seemed to have finally recalled some information from history books. Jesse gently changed topics. He didn’t want things to get awkward because of his identity or situation. He would probably be happy for a few days if he danced a song with this entertaining young lady and then returned to Juliette Palace.

He bowed respectfully. Christelle looked down at his hand, peeked toward the door, and then placed her hand in his. The music quietly flowing out of the palace was enough. Instead of a fancy chandelier, there was a much simpler source of light, the piece of the moon, above the pair’s heads.

-♬♩♪……

The two of them had a lot of fun for about ten minutes. This might be the most fun Jesse Venetiaan had ever had in Riester.

‘Ugh.’

His foot was stepped on many times as well. The prince would return to his lodging later that day to see that he had bruises on the top of his foot.

‘I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry, young master Veneetian. It’s not on purpose; I’m just not very confident in dancing……’

‘It’s okay, young lady Sarnez. Everybody has to start somewhere.’

‘To be honest with you, even this is the result of a lot of practice.’

He couldn’t help but smile brightly at such a response. The corner of his eyes curled up and Christelle shouted loudly that it was true.

The moment that sparkled like a star passed by quickly. The music stopped and the two of them bowed respectfully toward each other. It took a while because they were both laughing so hard, but at least they finished the formalities.

‘Wow, that was quite the exercise. May I have a sip of this?’ The young lady whose actions could not be predicted threw quite the bomb of a proclamation.

She was aiming for champagne that a man, one that was not from her family, had been drinking. The prince had no strength to even laugh anymore and just motioned for her to do so.

She said a sip but the young lady gulped the whole thing down. Once she emptied the cup, she went, ‘omeh!’ It was quite a peculiar gasp. She seemed astonished at her own shamelessness.

Jesse smiled and wiped her chin.

‘You missed a drop right here.’

‘…….’

Champagne was on his thumb. Only then did he realize that they were extremely close to each other. The two pairs of eyes looked into each other for what felt like forever. Jesse’s lips started to move.

– Knock knock knock

Someone urgently knocked on the balcony door at that moment. The pair flinched and looked away. A woman, who looked like her wet nurse, was frantically looking toward them.

‘Baby miss……! Your father is looking for you. Hurry!’

‘O, okay. I’m coming!’

Christelle ran out of the balcony. The two of them didn’t even say goodbye properly because of their shocked states. The wet nurse also did not take a good look at the prince and just showed her respects before disappearing.

‘…….’

Jesse then noticed a young man standing at the center of the ballroom. Something like this was quite rare. When he unfortunately ran into the crown prince at the garden a few days ago, his eyes were definitely orange.

‘They look like rubies right now.’

A gaze as red as the blood of a dove was glaring at him. At that time, he had no idea why this guy had looked so angry, but…

– Grab!

“Don’t lose consciousness.”

The man grabbed at his collar with rough movements. “Cough.” Jesse coughed up more blood as he opened his eyes.

‘Baaang!’ ‘Aaaaaaah!’ Disastrous and ominous sounds of war kept hammering at his ears. Everything in front of his eyes looked dark. The crown prince, who had been looking at him warily while dancing a waltz with Christelle on that magical spring night……

“If you have something to say to her, say it to her yourself back in the Empire.’

That guy now knew how to say something like this as well. The prince was quite relieved to see that. The fact that this man was changing because of her… The fact that he was slowly turning into a good person…

He was happy to see that Christelle, the woman who had given him happiness, would continue to have even happier days in the future because of these changes.

“Cornelisse, ugh. Barf.”

Jesse thought about his little younger sister. He was sorry that he could not keep his promise. ‘I’ll see you again after repeating one hundred nights a million times…… I need to apologize to her for that.’

“Imperial doctor!”

“Your Royal Highness, the Imperial doctor has been hit by an arrow!”

It did not hurt anymore. The prince turned his head. Beyond the golden spear that pierced through his body, there was a light purple meteor shower visible in the sky. It was the same color as the dress from that day.

“Jesse! No……! Aaah!”

He thought he was hallucinating as he heard his older sister’s voice in the distance. Jesse slowly moved his mouth.

“I’m o……”

He could not finish his sentence.

It was a day without the moon.」

– An excerpt from < I quit my job and ended up as a noble young lady in another world >

—
Translator’s Comments

Umm… glad to finally know the story but…wth? Why now of all things?

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