"Do I have to get married?"
Ella, a Witch Princess, was fighting a war against the humans. To end it, she is married to someone from the Edelin Empire. Her husband is a slaughterer, the Black Reaper. He is a knight known throughout the continent, Du...
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"Even you have to admit it. He's so popular in the royal capital."
I wondered what they were gossiping about this time, but it still involved praising their lord.
"If he's so handsome and wealthy, why hasn't he gotten married already?" I asked.
All the maids laughed nervously.
"Well... He's been engaged a few times."
"Only a few?" I can't believe my husband had more than one engagement.
"Hmm, wasn't it eight times?"
"Are you sure it's not eleven?"
"I could have sworn it was twelve."
The maids counted on their fingers; however, they were already confusing one another.
I blinked. "He doesn't seem to have a hobby of annulling engagements. What happened?"
"You see..."
The excited maids were now at a loss for words. How long did they stay like that?
"His Highness Prince Albert seduced all the women who ended up engaged to our lord."
"The crown prince?"
"Yes."
I frowned. He was the human who hated witches more than the witches who hated humans. Albert Letisia Edelin, whose parents were the emperor and the empress. The empress was the daughter of a well-established noble family, so there were no objections to Albert becoming the crown prince. All was as it should be, except the crown prince had a flaw that made his background worthless. It was his personality.
The Mad Prince. That was the nickname the emperor gave him. Having a twisted mind since he was a child, Albert became more violent as he grew up. In the end, the nobles, fed up with his excessive behavior, turned their backs on him. There were even rumors the emperor favored his nephew, Duke Havel, which destabilized the crown prince's position. Some nobles wanted Duke Havel to be the next emperor. Albert must hate it.
I pitied him ever so slightly. "What did he do to seduce them?"
"His Highness bedded each and every one of those noblewomen."
"Ah."
Never mind, I don't feel any sort of pity for him. I take back everything I said. Albert was so jealous of his cousin that he stole every fiancée the duke had. It was too much.
"We don't talk about it now, but back then, a huge scandal broke out and His Majesty had to act upon it."
"There were a few nobles who cut ties with the royal family."
"The nobles whose daughters were involved were especially furious."
"That's why there's a lot of opposition to His Highness taking the throne."
