~Chapter 9~
“This?”
I couldn’t lie—the blades of the scissors shone bright white like snow. Anyone could see they weren’t normal scissors.
I shrugged.
“Louis likes serving me like this. He says this peaceful farm life is better than seeing human blood.”
— When did I say that! Master, you’re really a trickster!
The moment I finished speaking, Louis buzzed and howled, shaking like he’d fly out of my fingers.
Watching Louis thrash while my fingers were still in the handles, Carmine narrowed his eyes.
“…He doesn’t seem to agree.”
“Louis acts hard to get, even when he likes it. He’s a sword that knows the art of push-and-pull.”
— Stop talking nonsense, Master! People will think I’m a strange sword!
What will you do about my nonsense? He can’t hear you anyway. And—
“Hey, if I talk like this, he’ll think you and I get along and give up. Do you want to go with that man?”
— Urk. Right. I wasn’t thinking, Master.
Tricked again, Louis mumbled in a small voice. I patted the scissors because he was cute. Carmine looked at us, speechless.
“If you say that out loud where I can hear it, what’s the point? And I will never give up the Ego Sword.”
“Ah, so you’re the obsessive male lead type?”
“What does that even mean?”
It’s… a thing.
“You didn’t come with that man who yelled like a dinosaur today?”
“Oh, that guy? He’s too noisy…”
“Good. He’s so loud and rude I don’t want to speak with him.”
“That’s partly your fault as well…”
Who cares. This is my house and my farm. Other people’s criticism means nothing here.
I jerked my chin toward the pile.
“Could you carry those pumpkins into the shed?”
“Why? Aren’t you selling them right away?”
“To raise the product value, you dry them about 20 days. They get sweeter as they dry.”
“Ohh.”
He looked at the pumpkins with interest. I wiped Louis dry with a clean cloth.
“If you carry them all, I’ll repay you with knife-cut noodles. They’ll be delicious—so good they came to me in a dream.”
A mountain spirit himself recommended the menu. Please look forward to it.
Meanwhile, in the royal capital.
Years ago, a black-haired angel suddenly descended from the sky there.
Some people rejected her as a demon, others said she should be honored as a precious guest. While various people tried to use her politically, she fell in love with Crown Prince David and got engaged to him.
If the story ended there, it would have been a cross-world, once-in-a-century romance. But life didn’t end there.
Hearing a loud thud, David raised an eyebrow.
“…Don’t tell me.”
His head hurt; he pressed his forehead with his palm.
As expected, the office door burst open and a young woman with long black hair rushed in.
“Talk to me, David!”
“…Sena.”
It was his fiancée, the black-haired angel—Kang Sena.
She had been a high schooler when she first fell into this world; now she was fully an adult. Perfectly styled, with a subtly exotic face.
There was a time that face looked lovely to me, David thought, pressing the corners of his eyes. Love? Now, just seeing her face made him tired.
“Who let my fiancée into my office?”
“W-well…”
Because David had ordered that Sena never be allowed in, the knights at the door were tense.
Then Sena jumped in front of his view and shouted,
“Don’t punish anyone else! It’s all because you keep avoiding me!”
“What did you say?”
A crown prince never apologizes. No one points out his faults. Words like that are always softened and made indirect.
But “it’s your fault”? The bluntness made David’s brow twist.
Not noticing his discomfort, Sena fired back:
“Why do you keep avoiding me? I can’t even remember the last time we had a real conversation!”
“A real conversation? Do you even want to have a real conversation with me?”
David was just as exasperated. He raked his hair and growled:
“Last time you were angry that I danced with Lady Altair. Before that, you were mad I didn’t give you the Mermaid’s Tear you wanted. So—what are you angry about today?”
“All of those are your fault! Lady Altair is supposed to be your concubine, right? And the Mermaid’s Tear is probably hanging on a neighboring princess’s neck by now. You think I got mad without knowing that?”
“Sena.”
Weariness deepened on David’s face. He pressed his eyes.
“How many times must I explain? For a king, the queen’s seat is a critical political tool. And I plan to make you the proper queen.”
“That’s a coward’s excuse!”
Choosing Sena involved many calculations. It was also true that picking someone with no family backing cost him a lot.
She dismissed it all as cowardice.
“I only have you. I have no family or friends in this world! And you want to bring in mountains of concubines for ‘political reasons’?”
“What reason is more important to a king than politics?”
“Stop making excuses. In the end, you’re just an incompetent crown prince!”
“You—!”
David slammed both palms on the desk and stood up. He barely regained control and jerked his chin to a knight.
“Haah… escort the Holy Maiden out. Now.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! How is this a serious talk? Hurry up and explain yourself!”
A serious talk requires someone willing to listen.
She dumps everything she wants to say and calls it a conversation, David thought, lips twisting. Why had it come to this? The reason was clear.
This all happened because our relationship with Duke Pond broke down.
When he got engaged to Sena, there had been a movement to enthrone her as Saintess. The crown had only recently crushed the church’s power—suddenly letting a Saintess appear would hand momentum back to the church.
To avoid losing ground, he hurriedly tied Sena down with an engagement.
He had also quietly expected the Pond family to beg him to accept Riena as a concubine at least. Who would dare push a new match at someone already engaged to the crown prince?
But Duke Pond made the unexpected move—he expelled Riena, calling her a family disgrace, and gathered sympathy.
That slippery snake. I never thought he’d truly cast out his daughter.
Not only was Riena stripped of the future crown princess seat, but the Pond family acted as if they’d been forced by the royal family to abandon her—so many nobles sided with them.
With that public support, Duke Pond joined the Second Prince faction and began to pressure David.
The once-perfect succession now had a dispute. That is what David faced after discarding Riena.
“…Riena wasn’t like this,” he muttered before he realized it—then flinched. He had never imagined he’d find himself remembering her with longing.
He asked his aide,
“How is Riena? Did you find out?”
The aide bowed with an awkward face.
“We searched Duke Pond’s domain thoroughly—no trace at all.”
“…So the duke truly cast his daughter out as a commoner?”
David was shocked. He’d thought that even if the duke was heartless, he’d only pretend to drive her out and hide her deep in the territory.
“Poor thing. A lady who only knows embroidery—how can she live as a commoner?”
Coming from the man who caused it, those words were rich. The aide kept his mouth shut with a sour look.
Ignoring that, David propped his chin and thought.
Anyway, Sena’s usefulness is over. Since she’s engaged to me, there’s no way to raise her as Saintess now.
Then there was no need to keep her as crown princess. He could just break the engagement and discard her.
And if I restore Riena as crown princess, it will look good. Duke Pond might return to my side.
If Riena was living hard as a commoner, she wouldn’t refuse him. She would cry tears of gratitude that he hadn’t forgotten her.
That scene would move everyone.
Decision made, David ordered his aide:
“Find Riena. Quickly.”
While Crown Prince David was dripping regret for Riena without asking her opinion…
Kang Sena, almost thrown out of his office, bit her lip.
What is this?
Even if it wasn’t completely unreasonable, she was so anxious that she chewed her nails. She had her own reason.
In the novel, you were the one-and-only, pure, eternal love male lead! A pile of concubines? That never appeared in the story!
Kang Sena—she was a transmigrator.
