Chapter 5: Does Speaking Without Thinking Lead to Regret?

—Perhaps my fiancée Faustina hates me…

Bernhard Louis Garcia, the kingdom’s First Prince and Crown Prince, visited the Wittgenstein ducal residence, which he visited regularly as his fiancée’s home.
However, the one who welcomed him was not his fiancée… but her younger sister.
At first he was surprised, and even after she guided him to the guest room, she remained there.
He indirectly asked her several times to call Faustina.
Whether she understood or not, she sent a servant to fetch Faustina.
In the meantime, she continued to stay by his side.

And yet, the one person he most wanted to see—Faustina—did not come.
This was his seventh visit so far, but Faustina had only come three times out of seven.
The rest of the time, he was told at the last moment that she was not present, or the head butler said she could not come due to poor health, forcing him to leave reluctantly.
…Seeing the head butler break into a cold sweat every time he came to say Faustina was unavailable, Bernhard had already seen through the lie.

While servants were sent to fetch Faustina, he could not simply ignore Elvira when she spoke to him.
And so today as well, while waiting for Faustina, he conversed with Elvira.

“And so!
I can eat carrots now, even though I hated them!”

“I see.
Getting rid of picky eating is a good thing.”

“Hehe.
Yes.”

“Does Faustina have any foods she dislikes?”

For a brief moment, Elvira looked displeased, but she quickly changed her expression.

“My sister?
She dislikes broccoli.
Ah, but she was eating it today, so… maybe she doesn’t dislike it anymore.”

“I see.”

Even while talking with Elvira, Bernhard did not forget to ask about Faustina.

And then—

“Excuse me.”

A maid entered the room.

“I have brought Lady Faustina.”

“!”

The person he had been waiting for finally came today.
Bernhard’s face brightened instantly.
Beside him, Elvira puffed out her cheeks in displeasure.

Following behind the maid, Faustina entered and greeted Bernhard with a graceful bow.
Bernhard stood up from the sofa and hurried toward her.

“Thank goodness, Faustina.
I’m glad you came.”

“Yes.”

There were so many things he wanted to say.
He had decided that today, he would definitely ask.
As he reached out and gently took her hand to lead her closer, Faustina’s eyes widened.

“Ah…”

Her pale yellow eyes were fixed on her younger sister.

Even though she was his sister, this was the first time Faustina had seen Elvira waiting together with him.
It probably did not feel pleasant after all.

Bernhard immediately looked awkward—

“Thank you, Elvira.
For attending to His Highness until I arrived.”

Without changing her expression or saying anything unnecessary, Faustina smiled at Elvira.
Elvira looked momentarily stunned, but soon returned to her usual expression.

“Not at all.
I simply felt sorry that Lord Bernhard was waiting so long for you, Sister.”

It seemed Elvira had no intention of staying once Faustina arrived, and she left the room.

—Nooo…!
I really didn’t want to see this after all!

Just as the head butler had told her during breakfast, today was the day of Bernhard’s visit.
Faustina fled to the back garden, opened a book, and tried to read while enjoying the pleasant breeze.
Then, from behind her—

“Miss!”

A voice filled with intensity called out.
Faustina flinched and slowly turned around.
As expected, it was Rinsue, her face clearly angry.

“Today is the day the Crown Prince is visiting.
I specifically told you to remain in your room!”

“But even if I go, he’s just chatting happily with Elvira anyway.”

“Miss.
May I ask—why do you feel the need to hold back at all?
The Crown Prince’s fiancée is you, Lady Faustina, not Lady Elvira.”

“I know, but…”

“And furthermore.
His Highness waits for you every time.
On the days you do not come, he always leaves with a dejected expression.
This time, even if Lady Elvira is there, you should go.”

What Rinsue said was correct.

However, even if things were different from last time, there was no guarantee they would not become the same again.
Bernhard continued to speak with Faustina’s sister while claiming to wait for his fiancée, and Faustina herself, because of her previous life, had already given up, believing that even if she did nothing, he would fall in love with Elvira anyway.

She had considered pretending to be a sickly young lady and withdrawing from candidacy for Crown Princess.
But ever since then, her health had been perfect, making it impossible.
Once the neighboring country’s ceremony ended, queenly education would resume.
Education to raise a future queen did not end in just one or two years.
In her previous life, Elvira became a new Crown Princess candidate at fifteen.
There was no way Elvira could perfectly master, by adulthood at sixteen, the queenly education Faustina had received.

That was why Faustina wanted the engagement to be transferred from herself to Elvira as soon as possible.

“Miss.
Come, let us go.”

“Yes.”

Her current fiancée position was still hers.
Until the engagement was annulled someday, she would endure.
With that thought, Faustina closed the book she wanted to read and headed to the guest room.

Inside, just as expected, Elvira was there.
Bernhard welcomed Faustina with a radiant expression.
Elvira did not seem inclined to stay once her sister arrived and quickly excused herself.

At that moment, memories from her previous life flashed through Faustina’s mind.

She had flown into a rage at Elvira, who stood where Faustina herself should have been, as if it were only natural.
She had also confronted Bernhard for saying nothing.
Even if she was her sister, she was still another woman.
When Faustina insisted she did not want them together, Bernhard had turned cold, disgust-filled lapis-colored eyes on her.

Faustina looked at the present Bernhard.
There was no disgust there.
Only gentle, beautiful lapis-colored eyes smiling softly at her.

After exchanging the customary greetings, Faustina sat beside Bernhard.

No conversation came.

Not only for Faustina, but for Bernhard as well.
Elvira always brought up various topics herself, making things easy.
But when facing Faustina, he seemed unsure what to say.
Even though Faustina herself had something she absolutely wanted to ask today.
In her previous life, she had only talked about herself and never listened, which was one reason she had been disliked.
Now, she had not thought about what to talk about at all.
At times like this, she envied how good Elvira was at conversation.

Desperately searching for a topic, Faustina decided to talk about the upcoming ceremony in the neighboring country that the king and queen would attend.

“The day before His Majesty and Her Majesty depart for the neighboring country has arrived.”

“Yes.
For this ceremony, only Father and Mother will attend.
Neige and I will remain behind.”

The name Neige referred to Bernhard’s younger brother, the Second Prince, one year his junior.
He had been frail since birth and rarely appeared in public.
This was the first time Neige had come up in conversation.

Hearing Neige’s name stirred both nostalgia and guilt within Faustina.
If possible, she quietly wished that this time, she would never cause him trouble.

“Neige’s condition has been improving little by little.
He still can’t go outside and move much, but the amount of time he can stay awake has increased.”

“That is wonderful news.
If there is anything the House of Wittgenstein can do for Prince Neige, please do not hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you, Faustina.
According to the physicians, building stamina comes first, so we’ve been adjusting his meals.
Of course, with the utmost care.”

Although the topic unexpectedly shifted to Neige instead of the ceremony, Faustina smiled at the sight of an older brother worrying for his younger sibling.
Unlike Bernhard, with his purplish silver hair and lapis eyes, Neige had honey-gold hair inherited from the queen and deep violet eyes.
Both brothers resembled their mother, but their eyes were strikingly similar to the king’s.

‘Her Majesty often says that part is adorable during breaks after queenly education.’

“By the way, Faustina.
There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time.”

‘Here it comes.
What is it?
What is he going to say to me?
Could it be that he likes Elvira?
If that’s the case, then even if I have to force it—’

“Faustina… do you dislike me?”

“…What?”

The question was completely unexpected.

“Because it seems that way.
I always inform you of my visits by letter in advance, yet there are many days when you are not here.”

“T-That’s not true at all!
I would never dislike Your Highness.
It’s just that… the timing didn’t work out.”

“…Even though I go out of my way to send notice beforehand?”

“Ah, th-that is…”

She could not find a single convincing excuse.
She was in the mansion.
She simply did not go to the room where Bernhard waited.
Suspicion surfaced in the lapis eyes fixed on her.

‘So it was you after all.
To think you would try to kill your own sister.’

The familiarity of that gaze was inevitable.
At the very end, she had tried to eliminate Elvira and failed.
Those were the same eyes Bernhard had turned on her when he arrived to rescue Elvira.

Her spine went cold.
There was none of the cruelty from that time.
Yet simply being looked at that way froze Faustina in place.

The circumstances and words were completely different, but it was enough to resurrect memories of her previous life.
Her mouth went dry in an instant.

“Even if I don’t come, Your Highness seems to be spending meaningful time, chatting happily with Elvira…”

She would never say that she disliked meeting him, or that she did not want to see him with Elvira.

The moment the words left her mouth, she realized—she had made a mistake.

Bernhard’s eyes widened, then slowly narrowed.
The air around him grew cold.

“So… you really were in the mansion the whole time.
That makes sense.
The head butler is always slow to say you aren’t here, and his face is drenched in sweat when he does.”

Faustina shot an accusing look at the head butler, but he immediately averted his gaze.

“Could it be that Lady Elvira comes every time because of you?”

“Eh?”

An idiotic sound escaped her.
The conversation had gone in a completely strange direction.

“You didn’t want to see me, but you couldn’t ignore me either…
So you used your sister instead?”

I didn’t.
Absolutely not.
Elvira comes of her own will.

As Faustina began to stumble over her words, Bernhard’s suspicion only deepened.
At that moment, Faustina briefly thought—perhaps this was an opportunity.
But she instantly rejected the idea.

“That is absolutely not the case.
It’s just… you looked so happy with Elvira that I thought it would be rude to interrupt…”

“…!!”

‘Ahhh…!
That makes it sound like I’m jealous of Elvira!
I should have said it differently—!’

While Faustina mentally clutched her head, Bernhard froze at the implication that he seemed happier with Elvira.

It was true that he enjoyed himself.
As family, Elvira knew many things about Faustina that he did not.
Even when he wanted to ask Faustina directly, he could not, because he believed she disliked him.
After today’s behavior, he had been convinced Elvira was acting on Faustina’s behalf—
But her words just now made him realize that was not the case.
More than anything, it was his own joy at hearing about Faustina that had led to this misunderstanding.

Bernhard’s guards and the servants of the Wittgenstein household stood frozen, unable to decide how to speak to Bernhard, who had stiffened, or Faustina, who had finally begun to clutch her head.

For a while, all they could do was remain in confusion.