My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 35
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 35
"... I probably won't make a pretty face."
I answered promptly to the Crown Prince's words.
"That hurt."
A chuckle escaped his lips.
"Does the Princess not like me? I consider myself to be fairly observant but I'm unsure..."
"Forgive me, but my standards are a little too high."
With that, I lowered my hand from his shoulder.
At the same time, the gentle tinkling of the violin signalled the end of the waltz.
A wave of applause washed over the centre of the ballroom. It was an approval for the Crown Prince and I's dance.
"Will you allow me to kiss the back of your hand?"
I nodded at the Crown Prince's request. As I did so, his hand, which had been resting on my waist, slid down.
Even though the touch over my velvet dress, it somehow felt as close to my bare skin, sending a shiver up my spine.
"It was a pleasure to dance with you."
Bending slightly, the Crown Prince gently took my hand in his.
He held my hand carefully as if he were handling a delicate treasure, and then a sense of warmth was felt against the back of my hand.
"I will send word directly to the duke."
After leaving a gentle kiss on my hand, he escorted me out of the hall.
On that signal, countless pairs of male and female nobles began to descend into the hall.
Now that the Crown Prince's first dance was over, they could officially dance.
The orchestra's music began to play again. The ballroom rejuvenated and began to bustle.
"Princess."
I had just said goodbye to the Crown Prince and turned to leave when a voice called my name from behind.
As soon as I heard the voice, I knew who was looking for me.
The only man in a robe in the ball full of noblemen wearing suits. An exotic appearance to indicate he was not from this Empire. And a magic stone earring dangling from only one ear.
"Viscount Artisina."
It was the mage again.
"Greetings, Princess, I saw you dancing with His Highness the Crown Prince, I was impressed with the grace you danced to and I was only watching..."
"What brings you here?" I interrupted the mage harshly. I was in no mood to sit back and listen to his 100-character review.
"That... I actually have something to say to the Princess."
He stared at me for a moment, only for me to interrupt him again.
"I have nothing to say to the Viscount."
"I came here to apologise for my presumptuous behaviour the other day, please don't think otherwise." He pleaded.
But I knew at once that it was a lie.
'What if the Princess exposes me as the descendant of a witch?'
As he was thinking of something else entirely.
I sighed, not wanting to be bothered with him any longer.
"Viscount, I am a man of my word. Please don't worry about it."
"..! Are you sure?"
The mage's face began to glow, but that didn't last long.
'How does the... Princess knows why I've come to her?' The shrewd mage began to question.
How do I know? Because I can hear your head spinning from this right now.
I was about to walk away, leaving the mage with his thoughts when an unfamiliar voice called me out from behind.
"Princess Skyla!"
I turned and saw a man I'd never seen before.
He wasn't even on the latest list of nobles my mother had given me, so he's probably not that important.
Judging by the way he dressed, he seemed to be a noble from the outskirts. Compared to the people here in the capital, he looks a bit foreign.
What does he want from me?
I stared at him, wondering.
Until I saw several other men giggling behind the man.
They glanced at him and me, and laughed amongst themselves, whispering to themselves.
And it clicked.
From what I've experienced, this is the situation:
This man in front of me had been watching me from afar and took a liking to me.
I guess that this is the first time he's ever been to the capital, so he's unsure of who I am.
And because of that, he turns to his peers who have the most knowledge of the capital for help.
However, instead of helping him, these guys seem to have encouraged him to ask me to dance right away.
Just as I predicted, the man did what I expected him to do.
"P-Princess Skyla. Would you like to share a dance with me..."
"I will not." I cut him off before he could finish his sentence.
Embarrassed, he stuttered.
"Uh… Why do you refuse..."
'I'm a nice guy, aren't I? How could you instantly say no?'
Did he think there was no way he would be rejected? That's a lot of confidence.
"If you ask me why, I can only give you one answer: because His Highness the Crown Prince would not like it." I spat out to him, maintaining my stern expression.
Yeah, he's a pain in the arse, but let's end this once and for all.
The nobles know it's no coincidence that the Crown Prince chose me for his first dance, even though they're not obvious, I'm sure they've been discussing it secretly. So let's just go ahead and declare it.
After my remark, the air around us seemed to freeze.
The nobles around me, though pretending not to be, had been eavesdropping on the conversation between me and this immature young man.
"Please excuse me..."
The man went back to his group of friends with a sullen look on his face.
No one will bother me anymore now.
With that thought, I turned to go find Lancer.
But before I could take a single step,
"Princess Skyla."
A group of ladies came rushing in front of me.
What the hell?
Frowning slightly, I looked at the ladies before me. Of course, I didn't know any of them personally.
However, there were a few people with a strong influence on society. My mother said they were a 'big thing' with five stars on the list she had made.
"His Highness and the Princess' dance was so beautiful that I couldn't help myself and came to give you a compliment." One of the ladies said with a smile.
But I wasn't fooled.
'Princess Skyla is now favoured by the Crown Prince? Since when? How?'
'Does this make her an official Crown Princess?'
'Wait a minute, the dress she's wearing, it's made of velvet, my God, where did she get such an expensive thing? Is it a gift from the Crown Prince?'
They're not trying to compliment me, but they're trying to cut through me and get to the bottom of things, and they're the kind of people I find most annoying.
"Thank you." I mumbled my thanks briefly and turned to leave.
But the ladies weren't about to let me go.
"If you don't mind, please join us for a cup of tea, Princess Skyla."
"There's a table for refreshments, hoho."
I desperately tried to shake them off, but they were unwilling to let me go.
My stomach churned. What could I do about this?
If only they had let me go after that. Why do these people keep testing my anger management skills? I wonder if I should storm out of the room.
"I'm sorry, but the Princess has some business with me first."
Viscount Artisina, who had been standing in the back, stepped to the front of the ladies.
They flinched slightly when they saw a man in robes, so out of place in a ballroom.
"W-What's the matter? Who are you?"
"Ah, let me introduce myself."
Viscount Artisina deftly pulled a card out of his robe's inner pocket. It was the same imperial access permit used to convince me last time.
"I am Viscount Artisina, an imperial mage. It is a great honour to meet you noble ladies."
The ladies' faces lit up when the viscount revealed his identity as an imperial mage.
"Oh, you're a mage!"
"I'm sorry I didn't recognise you, I'm ashamed to say, but I've never met a mage in my life..."
"That's alright. It's just that there's something I need to ask Princess Kaerun, so I hope you don't mind if I take her first." Viscount Artisina let these words flow out of his mouth smoothly as if he had oiled them.
The ladies nodded in agreement.
"Of course, do as the mage wishes."
"We'll be waiting for the Princess."
That went better than I thought.
I glanced at Viscount Artisina.
In this empire where mages were rare, they were popular everywhere they went.
Moreover, Viscount Artisina was a handsome man who would appeal to anyone. Therefore, there was no reason why the ladies shouldn't comply with his request.
Hesitantly, I followed the mage's lead. My first objective was to escape the ladies.
The Viscount led me to a balcony at the end of the ballroom. This balcony, a secret meeting place for lovers, was deserted.
This was because of an incident where a young lady standing on the balcony had fallen and nearly drowned.
The balcony was closed for safety reasons after that.
The palace had posted servants to prevent couples blinded by love from going into the balcony.
However, upon seeing the Viscount, the servants made way for him and me to use the balcony.
I suppose this is one of the perks of being an imperial mage.
"Thank you, Viscount."
I sighed as we moved away from the crowd.
He stared at me.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Is there a problem?"
"No, it's just... I didn't expect the Princess to thank me."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, the princess usually acts like she's going to grab you by the throat and throw you to the ground, so I couldn't help but be a little embarrassed when she suddenly acted so meekly."
At the Viscount's gibberish, I wasn't too angry, because I had heard his inner thoughts.
'I'm going crazy, what a beautiful woman.'
Dumbfounded, I cast him a sharp glance.
Why does he always think that he's crazy? Is he out of his mind?
The Viscount cleared his throat and composed himself back as if my pointed glance had brought him to his senses.
"Anyway, just as I was saying, I have something to tell you, Princess."
"I won't tell anyone that the Viscount is the descendant of a witch, I promise you in the honour of the Kaerun Duchy."
Knowing full well what he would say to me, I struck first.
He stared at me blankly for a moment, a look of incomprehension on his face.
"...Why?"
"What?"
