Bibliophile Princess by Yui

Author:Yui [YUI]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Published: 2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8: Theories and Rebuilding

“People have a very frightening creature inside of them. Do you know what it is?” said a smiling young man with a gentle look on his face. This happened during a secret meeting behind closed doors at the palace, early in the new year.

The person who spoke next was known among us as the tanuki of the Sauslind royal palace, the successful minister Marquess Bernstein. “Whatever your answer may be, I shall respect it. After all, since you decided to entrust Elianna with the clue, I trust your judgment.”

At that time, the marquess had seemed angry that the prince he’d served was no more, but then he’d been seized with a different idea. He’d calmly told Prince Christopher, Glen, and me that he had obtained His Majesty’s approval for everything, so didn’t that represent a concession? His was a family that didn’t show their true intentions—not even the truth behind their hidden name—or their seriousness except to the lord they’d decided upon, so didn’t that mean the marquess was seriously confronting the prince?

Something about that had reared its ugly head inside of me—the conditions set out at the time of the engagement nearly five years ago. That’s when it had all begun, ever since those conditions were placed on the prince, which was something that any Bernstein could’ve stopped.

I, Alexei Strasser, tried not to let it show that this was an opportunity, but Chris and the marquess continued their banter as usual. They began to call each other names like “sly tanuki” and “naive bonbon,” and I could tell from the tension in the room that they were about to expose their true feelings.

I met the gaze of the young man who watched this exchange with a troubled expression. “I will give you your pearl. Does that mean we are in the same boat?” I asked. Sometimes, even those who quarreled with each other would board the same ship for a common purpose.

The young man smiled—the same elusive, gentle smile he always gave me. His voice was as serene as ever. “Alex,” he said. He was a fellow civil official of the same age, so he called me by my nickname. “If you’re going to board a ship, you’ll have to pay a fare.”

My mouth twitched slightly. It felt like he was saying that I wasn’t strong enough to ride with him. His voice had also gone deeper than usual.

“May I ask what kind of fare you want, Alfred Bernstein?” I inquired.

The gentle young man didn’t show any anger—he wore the same mild expression on his face—yet I could tell he was miffed by the soft, sarcastic tone of his voice. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me, I convinced myself. In the past, Alfred hadn’t seemed too happy about his younger sister becoming the next princess. There was nothing he could do about it if the prince fulfilled the marquess’s conditions and if that was what his sister decided, but he still had an air of resignation about him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.