In another world as my waifu #1: Brave New World and the Fallen Prince(ss)

Chapter 40: Once upon a Foolish Prince in the Kyrie Kingdom part 5

Three days before Licht's request I found myself in Miss Hilde's laboratory.

The reason was simple, I had decided to make that one my first stop because I had noticed that Miss Hilde's presence around my father had increased.

Thus, I thought that she could be a good source of information that could help me elucidate as to what was the reasoning behind my father's strategy.

And of course, as I said before, her position towards it.

"Ah, Crown Prince. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

At first, she seemed surprised at my sudden and unannounced appearance in her workplace, but she quickly recovered and even smiled warmly at me.

"There is something I wish to know. May I have some of your time?"

"Of course, Crown Prince. Do you wish for information on the public health project I mentioned? Trying to implement a vaccination campaign and make the vaccine at the same time is quite an interesting subject. Or is it about the rumors about our engagement? Because even if I try to deny those claims they keep surfacing. I can only offer my deepest apologies."

And just as her smile, every word that left her lips was warm and welcoming, even as she bowed deeply and apologized. Anyone else would have probably wished to just stay there and listen to her talk about whatever she wished, but that was simply not the case for me.

"Please, raise your head. Those rumors affect Miss Hilde too, there is nothing to apologize for. And I trust that Miss Hilde and Prince Licht are capable to handle such project. Alas, that is not why I am here."

"I believe I have an idea as to what that is, Crown Prince. Is it the King's plan to engage in a defensive battle against the Draconic Expeditionary Force?"

As she did as I told her and let out such question, I saw it clearly in her eyes, she knew of what I wanted to talk about all along, but she still brought out that conversation about those rumors.

That also meant that she knew all too well about my intentions.

"Indeed. I am going to be direct about this. Who proposed that plan? Was it you, my brother or was it really the King?"

Of course, she was not surprised at all by my questions or their implications.

Still, she shook her head lightly in response to them.

"Goddess no, Prince Licht and I had nothing to do with it. I suppose I can say that we were as surprised as you when the King approached us with said plan and left us with the logistics and preparations of it. I have even been trying to dissuade his Highness whenever I have time to speak with him but to no avail."

"So that is why your meetings with him have increased then."

While I am not fond of looking for reactions in such a roundabout manner, I still did so then, saying such thing intentionally.

And it worked, she raised one of her eyebrows ever so slightly, showing that the fact that I had been keeping track of her was unexpected for her.

"Of course, I have worked so hard to improve our people's lives just to see it all vanish by the sudden change of attitude in the King!"

Not only that, it surprisingly made her raise her voice and slam the table with one of her hands while letting out an important bit of information.

"What do you mean with 'sudden'?"

A piece of information I was deeply interested in, to the point that my gaze sharpened as I asked about it and that made her calm down immediately.