45 The plan didn’t go as well as Leo expected. (2/2)

(O3O)/ – Here is Ch-45.2!!!

(OwO) – Fufufu… and I’m sleep deprived again!

(-.-) – But here’s this week’s chapter.

(O3O)/ – Enjoy!!!

(O-O) – You know, that almost sounded like an order… it’s like we’re forcing people to read this.


“!!!!!!!!!”

Leo became really surprised when he saw the aftermath of Albert’s Clean spell, after all, the dress that he worked really hard to color… had become white again.

(Why…!? It took me five days to finish this dress! And I hadn’t even sold one to the Empress yet! What am I supposed to do with this thing now…!? I don’t even have enough time to color it again!)

The destruction of his creation shook Leo a lot, however, that wasn’t the worst part–

“She’s wearing a pure white dress!” (Tl/n: In Japan, they tend to dress their dead in white kimonos for the funeral, so this part can also mean funeral clothing.)

–What Emilia said after seeing the state of his dress shook Leo even more.

(Eh…? F-funeral clothing…?)

Those words were so dreadful, that Leo became pale as soon as he heard them.

“I… I’m sorry for ruining your dress, Leonora, but… wow… you’re even more beautiful in that white dress….” – Said Albert, as he stared at his beloved with a surprised look on his face.

Once he got out of his trance, the prince then lifted Leonora, or rather, Leo, and started carrying him towards the balcony just like princess… but the person in question was too busy thinking about everything that happened, to notice any of that.

After thinking for a short while, Leo finally managed to place all the puzzle pieces together. The reason why Albert was wearing a white tunic*, and his dress had turned white again, was because the prince wanted to show Leo that there was no easy way out of this. He would never be able to escape from Albert… unless he died. (*Tl/n: That part can also mean priest clothing, which is another funeral reference.)

Needless to say, but just thinking about that was enough to make Leo tremble in fear. However, as the noise of the crowd started getting a lot more intense, something caught his attention–

—Long live the Gold Coin Emperor!

—Long live Albert-sama!

–For some unknown reason, Leo was now standing on the balcony, where everyone could see his face, with the evil prince’s left arm wrapped around his waist, which was a bit creepy, while the people below cheered Albert for his achievements.

Honestly, Leo wanted to scream for help when he realized what was going on, but right at that moment, he remembered seeing this exact same scene on the painting that Bernard gave him a while ago. (Tl/n: Ch-23.2)

(There’s a lot of people below us… and we’re standing on an elevated place… n-no way… that c-cursed painting really predicted the future!?)

The small painting that Leo received from Bernard had two names. The first one was The Midnight Vow… and the second one was The Gold Coin Emperor’s First Triumph. In a way, the elusive painter really predicted the future, after all, this was indeed Albert’s first triumph… well, his first triumph against Leo, that is.

(Aaaaaah!!! There was no point in even making an escape plan!!! I was already doomed when I received that cursed thing!!!)

Leo never expected Bernard’s prediction to be so accurate. Now, more than ever, he regretted not destroying that painting when he had the chance. Just giving it away was too lukewarm. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Leo wanted to go back in time just to turn that painting into charcoal, after all, that thing was the origin of all his problems.

However, even though Leo seemed to have hit rock bottom, things were about to get even worse.

While he was cursing Bernard’s prophetic painting in his head, Leo felt a lot of killing intent coming from somewhere in the middle of the crowd, so he turned to look at the person who was emanating such a wicked aura… only to see his own body, or rather, Leena, glaring at him with an expressionless look on her face.

(OHMYGOD!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Because of the surprised expression that Leo made when he glanced in her direction, Leena quickly noticed that he was finally looking at her, so she raised her hand and pointed at him, before sliding her thumb through her throat with the most disgusted look on her face that she could muster. Well, to tell the truth, her anger was reasonable, after all, the reason why Leo canceled their appointment, was because something “really important” came up. He never mentioned in his letter that he was going to a party in the castle, or that he was going to marry the crown prince of their country, so Leena became really angry when she coincidentally spotted him on the balcony.

(Aaaaaah!!! What should I do!? My normal life is over!!!)

After seeing what Leena did, Leo started panicking even more. There’s no way she would ever want to go back to her body under these circumstances. Leo was at the end of his wits. He honestly didn’t know what to do to get out of this situation. Every single one of his escape plans had failed so far, so he wanted to stop with his crazy ideas, before he somehow angered Albert–

(Ugh…! I never thought I would have to resort to that to escape…! But if this is what it takes to go back home, then I’ll do anything…!)

–However, things weren’t over yet… Leo still had an ace up his sleeve.

“Come on, Leonora, you have to wave at them as well. I can’t be the only one doing this.” – Said Albert, with a smile, as he turned to look at Leo.

But the person in question didn’t pay attention to anything he said.

(Golden Spirit of Coins! Great Spirit of Light! Lady of the Lake! Anyone…! I’ll do anything you guys want, so, please, help me…!) – Thought Leo, as he tightly closed his eyes, before joining his hands in front of his chest.

For the first time in his life, Leo decided to pray to the divines, after all, they were probably the only ones who could help him at this point… however, the people who were watching that scene couldn’t help but gasp in awe, since the little girl with black hair looked exactly like the Altruistic Saintess that everyone was talking about.

“Look…! It’s her…!”

“It’s the Altruistic Saintess…!”

“I heard she helped the prince solve the water shortage…!”

“And she’s even praying for us…!”

Once the people realized who was the girl standing on the balcony alongside the prince, everyone started cheering even louder.

—Long live the Altruistic Saintess!

—Long live Leonora-sama!

Seeing the two saviors of the Empire standing side by side on the balcony, made the people really happy. In fact, the people were so happy, that they started offering the petals of the flowers they planted during the winter festival, to the spirits, right then and there.

—Long live the Gold Coin Emperor!

—Long live the Altruistic Saintess!

Red, white, yellow, blue… many petals of different colors were soaring to the skies. However, the people weren’t only offering those petals to the spirits… those beautiful flower petals were being offered to the young prince and the girl standing by his side as well, as a sign of good will.

—Long live the Gold Coin Emperor!

—Long live the Altruistic Saintess!

“Fufu, it seems like you received a lot of petals before I could even give you one, huh?” – Said Albert, as he looked at Leonora with a happy smile.

During the Spirit Festival, giving a flower petal to the opposite sex meant that you were interested in that person. But Albert didn’t have the time to prepare one, so he hugged Leonora to show how much he cared about her.

Needless to say, but the crowd started cheering the two of them even louder after seeing that.

—Long live the Gold Coin Emperor!!!

—Long live the Altruistic Saintess!!!

The truly happy smile that Albert had on his face, as he hugged Leonora in front of everyone, was so priceless, that the people who were watching that scene couldn’t help but smile as well. No one even noticed Leo’s dead eyes, or the resigned look on his face–

—Long live the Gold Coin Emperor!!!

—Long live the Altruistic Saintess!!!

–The people just continued cheering on the couple until the sky turned orange.


“Next time, you should tell me your plans in advance, Balt. For a second there, I had the impression that you were really going to exile our son.” – Said Alexia, as she turned to look at Balthazar with a small pout.

Even though the crowd was making a lot of noise outside, because the curtains of the Audience Chamber were enchanted with soundproof magic, Alexia was able to talk normally without having to change her tone.

“Of all people, you thought I was going to exile our son…? Please, when did I ever do what those elitist bastards wanted?” – Said Balthazar, as he sipped on his tea.

“Of course I would think that, Balt. You were always the one telling him to do his best to not displease those old nobles.”

“I just said that because I didn’t want him getting into trouble. Being defiant like me meant he would make a lot of enemies, so until he ascended the throne, I wanted him to keep a low profile. Although, in my defense, I never thought he would create that Perfect Prince persona. That’s the reason why I gave him that little push. I wanted him to break free of those shackles before it was too late–”

‘The job of a crown prince is to be as likeable as possible.’ – That’s what Balthazar told his son a long time ago. However, to be a good Emperor, one needed an iron fist and the ability to say no whenever it was required… but Albert lacked the latter. Playing the part of the Perfect Prince left him too used to the idea that he had to please everyone all the time, which is why Balthazar let Joseph say all of those thing to his son. He wanted to show Albert that he didn’t need to concern himself with that kind of people, since they would always complain for the dumbest of reasons, even if a decree was beneficial to the whole Empire.

Thankfully though, Balthazar’s bet paid off.

Albert finally understood what he had to do after Leonora scolded him. And the cheers of the crowd only served to cement the young prince’s conviction even further.

“–But, well, I never thought this many people would gather at the palace to thank our son. Albert really outdid himself this time, huh…?” – Said Balthazar, with a proud look on his face, as he took another sip of his tea.

To tell the truth, the reason why a lot of people had gathered at the premises of the palace today, was because of Chris. She knew that Leonora had a huge self-esteem problem, so she decided to spread a lot of rumors about the little girl’s achievements to help her with that, which, in turn, helped spread many rumors about Albert’s achievements as well. But the Emperor obviously didn’t know that, so he just continued sipping on his tea with that proud parent look plastered all over his face.

“Haah∼, time sure flies, huh? Our son is already seventeen… he’s almost an adult.” (Balthazar)

“Haah∼, indeed. He was just a child not long ago… but now he has such a cute fiancee.” (Alexia)

The Empress was also really proud of her son, after all, he managed to find someone who really loved him, not just his position.

Leonora was beautiful, elegant, intelligent and to top it all off, she was also modest, which was a rare quality to find amongst the nobility. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Alexia wanted the little girl to join the royal family at all costs… but, at the time, the Empress thought her husband was going to exile their son, so she was afraid that Leonora would reject her offer.

However, that wasn’t the case. Leonora not only professed her love for Albert in front of everyone, but she also scolded him when he was being stubborn, which impressed Alexia a lot. The Empress was more than willing to give her the position of Crown Princess after hearing all that.

“Fufu, honestly, I was trembling from excitement when she scolded Albert. We sure hit the jackpot with her. I don’t think there’s anyone better for our son, Balt.”

“I agree. You need to have a lot of guts to say all of that in front of us. She has what it takes to be a good Empress in the future.”

To be a good Empress, one needed to be a good adviser and show a lot of compassion to others, all of which were qualities that Leonora had in abundance, so the two royals didn’t have anything to complain about their soon to be daughter-in-law… however, there was someone who wasn’t really all that happy about this arrangement–

“Sorry to break your little bubble, Your Majesties, but I don’t think I can accept this engagement between the two.”

–And that person was Emilia.

“Eh…!? Why…!? I-I thought their marriage was already settled…!?” – Asked Alexia, in a shocked tone, as she turned to look at the Marchioness.

For any noble family, marrying into nobility was a huge deal and a great honor, not to mention that Albert and Leonora were already in love with each-other, so Alexia couldn’t really understand what made Emilia so dissatisfied.

“Why? You dare ask me why, Your Majesty? Because I think the answer to tha is quite obvious. I just can’t trust you two, after you guys tested my granddaughter’s integrity in such a nasty way. She even started crying. You two should feel ashamed of what you did.” – Said Emilia, with a frown, as she glared at the two.

“”!?!?!?””

Emilia von Harkenberg was a model for many noble women because she was always polite with everyone, even with the worst of people, so seeing her drop all of that just to reprimand them, made Balthazar and Alexia panic a lot, after all, the Marchioness wasn’t an opponent that they could deal with alone. She was literally the last boss in terms of political power, and they managed to anger her, which was frightening, to say the least. So the two quickly bowed their heads and apologized as best as they could.

“”We’re sorry Lady Harkenberg, please, forgive us! We’ll never do that again!””

However, even with the two rulers literally begging for her forgiveness, Emilia didn’t concede. She just casually hid her mouth behind her fan and stared at them with a worried look in her eyes.

“Leonora is my precious granddaughter, you know? There’s no way I can forgive you two with such a simple apology. Your son even showed her face to the people. How can I rest easy after that? Now everyone knows how cute she is. A∼ah, what should I do, I wonder? I’m afraid something really bad will happen to her when I’m not looking. Hmmm, I’ll probably have to upgrade the security around her, don’t you two think so?”

Anyone, no matter how dumb or intelligent, could understand what Emilia was trying to imply with that statement. In short, since Albert did something that placed Leonora’s life in danger, she wanted some help to protect her granddaughter, which Alexia was more than willing to provide, after all, she wanted Leonora to join the royal family at all costs.

“I think so as well, Lady Harkenberg. Bianca told me everything about Leonora’s past, so I promise you I’ll do my best to protect her as her future mother-in-law.”

“Oh my, is that so? I feel honored to hear that from someone as great as you, Your Majesty, but… how exactly are you going to do that?”

“How? Oh, please, Lady Harkenberg, she’s my soon to be daughter-in-law, so it’s obvious that I’ll assign the entire Royal Guard to protect her at all times. You won’t have to worry about anything with them by her side, I assure you.”

To maintain the entire Royal Guard of the Empire for a month, a small country would need to use at least a year’s worth of their military budget… and Alexia was willing to lend that to a single person.

Needless to say, but Klaus was really surprised to hear that. He wasn’t expecting the Empress to go that far. However, to Emilia, that was just the beginning of the “real” negotiation.

“Oh my! The entire Royal Guard? That’s indeed a lot of people, Your Majesty. But I still think that’s not quite enough to protect her…? Well, I’m probably just being a bit too overprotective, like usual, however, I need to make sure she only gets the best of the best.”

“No, no, you’re not being overprotective at all, Lady Harkenberg. I can understand your worries, so how about I give her an entire division* of the best knights we have?” (*Tl/n: 10-15.000 people.)

This time, both Klaus and Balthazar choked on their teas. Not even a well off country could employ an entire division of the best knights of the Empire for a month. That amount of people was clearly too much for single girl… but neither of the two husbands felt like they could interrupt their wives negotiation to say that, so they just kept quiet.

“An entire division, huh? That’s really tempting… but we won’t be able to deploy them at a moment’s notice, right?”

“Hmm… then how about a unit* of the best assassins we have? They can be deployed really fast, so I think you’ll like them.” (*Tl/n: 10-40 people.)

“Hoho∼? An entire unit worth of assassins, huh? That’s indeed a lot more tempting–”

Alexia stemmed from a family of Dukes that controlled almost every single spy and assassin of the country, so she could easily get her hands on some of them for Emilia… however, that wasn’t enough to satisfy the Marchioness.

“–But I have another idea–”

Emilia only wanted the best of the best for her precious granddaughter, so she wouldn’t put an end this negotiation until she got exactly what she wanted. Although, to Klaus, that had stopped being a true negotiation a long time ago. This was more of an extortion than anything else.

(If she really wanted to break their engagement, she would’ve done so already. Emilia isn’t the type of person to waver like this. She must have a really good reason to act like that.)

A while ago, Klaus found a small diary in their bedroom… and inside the diary, there was a fifty page list of what Emilia wanted to do before Leonora finally married someone. That’s why Klaus knew his wife wouldn’t break their granddaughter’s engagement so easily, after all, one of the things on her to-do list was to find a good bug repellent for Leonora. In other words, she wanted to use Albert to keep other guys away from their granddaughter.

(Haah∼, thank god I’m her husband. She becomes really scary when she wants something.) – Thought Klaus, as he looked at his wife’s face with a relieved look on his face.

Klaus wasn’t just a seasoned warrior, he was also considered to be one of the best generals of the Empire… but not even he could win against Emilia when she was like that.

“–There is someone even stronger working for the crown, right? I want him protecting my granddaughter….

With just her fan and a smile, the Marchioness of the Harkenberg household managed to wrap the Emperor and the Empress of the Weiz Empire around her fingers.


(OwO) – That’s it, Emilia is my new favorite character now.

(O3O)/ – No one’s ever gonna beat her!!!

(-.-) – Good bye, Bruno… I really liked you, dude.

(O-O) – Oh, and don’t forget to join the discord, guys.

\(OwO)/ – Link’s HERE∼!

(-.-) – See you all soon.


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10 thoughts on “45 The plan didn’t go as well as Leo expected. (2/2)

  1. Lol, I wanted to see an entire division be deployed to protect her. Would’ve been hilarious.
    But I wonder who “him” is. Hope its not some sort of love rival. Isn’t Albert basically the strongest person now with his unbound magic?

    Liked by 1 person

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