CPSMBD Chapter 77

Maomai
Aug 25
6 min read

Chapter 77

I gazed at His Highness with sympathetic eyes.

Poor Crown Prince. Was there truly no way for him to be with this woman he liked? Or perhaps, if not her, was there another way for His Highness to find love?

'Wait a minute. The reason His Highness is experiencing unrequited love is because that woman is the only one he sees as human. What if we could cure His Highness's condition?'

If his aversion to women disappeared, wouldn't the Crown Prince eventually be able to fall in love?

Then maybe he could move on from this impossible infatuation and love another woman.

'Come to think of it, why did His Highness develop such a condition in the first place?'

I realized I needed to learn more details about the Crown Prince's symptoms.

"When did it start? When did women begin to look like monsters to you, Your Highness?"

"Well, it's been that way since I was very young. I can't even remember when it began."

"Do you have any suspicions about why this suddenly happened? Could it be psychological, or perhaps someone cast a curse on you?"

The Crown Prince set down his drink, leaned back, and folded his arms.

He seemed uncomfortable with my line of questioning.

Sure enough, he tilted his head and stared at me.

"Why are you suddenly asking these questions?"

"I want to help you, Your Highness. If we can cure your condition of seeing women as monsters, wouldn't you be able to meet someone nice?"

"Do you think I haven't tried to find the reason before? No matter how hard I've tried, I couldn't find an explanation."

"Who knows? Maybe if I lend a hand, we might find a solution."

"Forget it. I've already adapted to living this way. Besides, even if I were cured, falling in love isn't that simple. Unlike you, I don't want to marry just anyone."

"That goes for me too, you know?"

"Really? Then why were you about to accept a proposal from a man you'd only met once?"

The Crown Prince was referring to the recent incident where I'd received a proposal in front of everyone at the Imperial Palace. I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"That... I was going to refuse anyway."

"Why? I thought you wanted to get married."

The Crown Prince said this with a broad smile.

"Why are you smiling when I just said I was going to refuse the proposal?"

"Am I?"

"Yes, you're smiling right now."

The Crown Prince quickly pulled down the corners of his mouth that had risen skyward.

"Ahem. Well, it's because if you don't get married, it's good for me. I can make you work overtime as much as I want, give you more work, which in turn helps the empire's development..."

When I glared at him, the Crown Prince averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, you know... it's just a possibility..."

"This is all because of you, Your Highness."

"What did I do?"

"It's because you make me work so much overtime that I considered getting married in the first place!"

The Crown Prince's posture, which had been straight, suddenly crumbled.

"...You were thinking of marriage for such a trivial reason?"

"Trivial? Do you know how draining overtime is? Working for a whole month without proper sleep or weekends can drive a person mad. How desperate must I have been to consider marriage just to escape overtime?"

"...I see."

"Yes. Besides, didn't you say if I didn't want to do overtime, I should get married?"

"That... I was just saying that. It didn't mean anything."

"I took it seriously!"

"So if I reduce your overtime, you won't go on blind dates anymore?"

"Of course not."

If only he'd eliminate overtime, there'd be no need for me to go on blind dates looking for a man.

Of course, my desire to have someone to spend my life with hadn't changed, but I wasn't in such a hurry that I needed to rush out and find a match right away.

Couldn't I just take my time looking?

"Yes, getting married isn't that urgent. And I prefer meeting people naturally anyway."

"Naturally?"

"Yes, falling in love with someone you meet at work or social gatherings is much more fateful and romantic, isn't it? More so than arranged meetings."

The Crown Prince, who had been listening attentively, offered information I hadn't even asked for.

"I think I also prefer meeting someone naturally rather than through arranged meetings."

"Oh... I see. We're similar in that way."

The Crown Prince nodded quietly, hiding his mouth behind his beer mug.

He seemed somewhat shy...

'No, that must be my imagination. There's no reason for His Highness to be shy in front of me.'

My eyes must have been deceiving me.

***

The next day.

I opened my eyes groggily to a voice calling me.

[Master! Maaaster!]

Ugh. So noisy.

Fatigue was weighing heavily on my entire body, making it difficult to open my eyes properly.

I tried to escape the voice ringing in my head by pulling the blanket over myself.

But my efforts were in vain.

Velasquez's voice grew louder and louder until it thundered so loudly that I could no longer ignore it.

[Master! Wake up right now!!!!]

My eyes flew open as if I'd been doused with cold water.

Velasquez, sitting right in front of my face, crossed his arms and launched into a tirade.

[Ah, really. Master, you're too much. Since we came here, you haven't paid any attention to me... How could you?!]

It seemed Velasquez had finally returned to normal after spending the entire time dozing like a sick chicken since we arrived in Quaker.

I sat up groggily, scratching the back of my head. Yesterday, I had been so busy traveling all day that I hadn't been able to pay attention to Velasquez.

I only realized later that Velasquez wasn't feeling well.

I had intended to check on Velasquez when we returned to our lodgings, but I completely forgot after chatting and drinking with His Highness.

I felt somewhat guilty.

"I'm sorry. Are you feeling better? You seemed quite weak. What happened?"

[I don't know. I just felt strangely weak yesterday.]

Velasquez tilted his head, unsure.

As I pondered the reason for Velasquez's lack of energy yesterday, I came up with a likely answer.

"Do demons feel fatigue?"

[Fatigue? What's that?]

"Hmm... It's like feeling as if something very heavy is pressing your body down to the floor. Or like having extremely heavy weights tied to your arms and legs."

[Yes! That's it exactly. That's how I felt.]

"If you don't know what fatigue is, it means you've never experienced it before. Is this the first time you've felt like this?"

[That's right. I've never felt like this before. How did you know, Master? You're really amazing.]

Velasquez looked up at me with admiring eyes. I couldn't help but feel a bit proud.

"Oh, it's nothing. But why did it happen yesterday? That's strange."

Velasquez tilted his head and said:

[Maybe because I've been overexerting myself recently?]

"That could be it. You did use a lot of power not too long ago... We should be careful from now on."

[Well, I'm back to normal now, so it should be fine.]

Velasquez brushed it off as if it were nothing.

[More importantly, there's something else.]

"Something else? What is it?"