Magi Craft Meister 643
18 King Klein’s Treatment Arc
19-30 Proposal
“Would that be enough, Elsa?”
“Yeah.”
It looked like Elsa couldn’t get rid of her sense of fatigue, and under normal circumstances he would have kept it up until Alois III wakes up, but Princess Lieschen is there with a worried look on her face, so Jin dispelled the barrier.
And when he smiled at Lieschen, her frown suddenly turned into a smile as well.
“Jin, Elsa! You… You saved Father!”
Elsa also smiled at Liese.
“Yes, Your Highness. He’s okay now. Now he needs to rest, and start eating little by little…”
“Oh, I see! Thank you, Elsa, Jin. I can’t thank you enough…”
“For the first few days, give him a diet for the sick, starting with fruit juice, then porridge, and so on.”
Elsa gave her advice to the prince, princess, and chancellor.
“Understood. I’ll definitely tell the nurses.”
Prince Edmund replied on their behalf.
Except for the two nursing maids that stayed behind, everyone else moved to a different room.
The parasite the Mini Smith had extracted from the king’s bile duct had also been placed on a mithril silver plate.
“…This was inside my father’s body…”
Prince Edmond muttered as he scowled at it.
“…I’m seeing right here in front of my eyes, so even though I can’t believe it, I have no choice but to believe it. How did this end up inside Father’s body?”
Prince Arthur asked Elsa with the same expression on his face as Prince Edmond.
“Perhaps he ate raw fish while it still had eggs or larvae of this parasite.”
“…He did go to Lake Manuse as part of his treatment before summer, perhaps it was at that time?”, said the chancellor, deep in thought.
“Now that I think about it, His Majesty likes to eat trotto. He goes to the Imperial Villa in Dekubo almost every year… if not this year, it might have been last year.”
“… But, Elsa, was it? You sure enough did know what it was after all! That’s impressive! I apologize for my words when we first met. Please forget them.”
Prince Edmond bowed his head, referring to his previous scornful remarks. The flustered Elsa tried to stop him.
“N-no, Your Highness, please stop. Considering Your Highness’s feelings under these circumstances, I think it’s only natural.”
“… Huh, Elsa, you’re so generous. I like you! Would you be my wife?”
“Ehh!?”
“I still haven’t found a girl that I really like. I’m still a bachelor at 26, but you seem to be pretty good. So? Will you think about it?”
“…”
While blushing, Elsa glanced at Jin sitting next to her.
Jin, being who he is, and this sudden turn of events spinning around wildly inside his mind, he desperately tried to come up with an excuse for her to be able to refuse.
Then he remembered that something like this had happened in the past.
“No, Your Highness!” “I’m planning to propose to her… to Beana!”
After the Golem rampage incident in the Egelia Kingdom, when Prince Ernest saw Beana and proposed to her, those were the words Earl Kuzuma said to interrupt him.
“…No, Your Highness!”
“…Brother Jin.”
Hearing Jin’s words, Elsa’s face broke into a wide smile.
“I’m planning to…”
However, Jin’s words stopped there.
“Hmm? What happened?”
“…to…”
“To what?”
“I’m planning to find a suitable partner for Elsa.”
“What?”
“…Brother Jin…”
Elsa is visibly disappointed.
“…You dummy.”
And right after saying that, Elsa jumped off her seat and ran out of the room. Only Edgar followed her.
“Elsa…”
The stunned Jin could only watch her leave.
He was thinking of how, despite her leaving like that had certainly left a terribly awkward feeling in the room, it cannot be helped.
“You idiot.”
The one who just slapped Jin on the head was Prince Edmond. His first thought was that at least it was his open hand and not a fist.
“Even after I saw it, I understood. That girl seems to be in love with you. If you say something like you just said, of course she’d be disappointed. …Well, I suppose it’s my fault for suddenly proposing to her like that. …Come on, why aren’t you going after her?”
“…Would that be okay?”
Another smack, this time Edmond slaps his cheek lightly.
“Don’t dawdle at a time like this! Go after her this instant!”
“Brother, at a time like this, that’s a bit…”
Prince Arthur tried to stop him, but Prince Edmund ignored his words and once again urged Jin to chase after Elsa.
“That’s right, Jin, hurry up and go.”
Even Princess Lieschen spoke up to push Jin forward.
“Y-yes.”
Jin also hurriedly got up from his seat and ran out of the room.
＊ ＊ ＊
“…Brother Jin, you dummy.”
Elsa was running at full speed down the corridor. The guard knights, ladies-in-waiting, and maids were all stunned by her sudden outburst, and all they could manage to do was to simply watch her.
She ran up the first set of stairs that she saw, and then ran down another corridor. At the end of this corridor was an open door leading to a balcony.
Elsa stepped out onto this balcony. The fresh air felt pleasant against her flushed face. She rested her back on a large wooden box as tall as her, which had been placed in one of the corners of the balcony, and let out a sigh.
“…I’m the one being a dummy.”
She has also known Jin for a long time. She should’ve known the kind of person that he is.
“…Brother Jin is…”
…kind to everyone. Of course, that is within his relatives – the “Jin Family” – and friends.
“Besides…”
She was the one who had put herself forward in the beginning.
“…I’m the one who told him ‘I’ve already abandoned the Randall family. I’m all by myself. So I’d like you to treat me like your sister, Brother Jin.’.”
Jin could have declined her offer and sent her back to the Randall family. But he didn’t.
He kindly welcomed Elsa and gave her a place to live. He showed her his way of life.
The kindness she received from Jin, his affection as a family member, and his world-class knowledge. The more she thought about those aspects, the more she was shocked by their value.
“There’s nothing that I can give him in return.”
Jin wasn’t expecting anything in return, she knew that well.
Elsa herself was happy to serve Jin, and she’s been having a great time simply by being by Jin’s side.
“But, after all…”
She wanted Jin to tell her that she was special to him.
“…I’m being conceited.”
She knew she wasn’t the only girl in Jin’s mind.
Hanna, Saki, and Lithia. Even among demons, the girls named Shion and Istalis.
Maybe there was someone he liked back in the world he used to live in.
Those kinds of thoughts swirled inside her, and before she realized, her eyes were filled with tears.
Edgar, who had been by her side the entire time, remained silent as if he knew there was nothing to say at a time like this.
At that moment, she heard footsteps.
“…Brother Jin?”
Elsa turned around, wondering if he had come chasing after her.
“…Ah.”
But that hadn’t been the case.
“What happened, Miss Elsa?”
The Minister of Industry Derait was standing there with a worried look on his face.
Comments