Muyoku no Seijo wa Okane ni Tokimeku

Chapter 70: The plan didn't go as well as Leo expected. (2/2)

"!!!!!!!!!"

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.

 (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.