The Extra Saved the Terminally Ill Princess and Ran Away - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Everyone Has Their Own Clever Plan

***

To Her Highness Lilisiana, the sole light of the Empire.

First, I must deeply apologize for departing without a word, despite being your personal attendant. No amount of explanation could justify this.

But in the current... ah, by the time you read this, I suppose I should say "at that time." His Majesty promised to deliver this after considerable time had passed.

I hope you can understand that I had no other choice at that time.

This does not mean I grew tired of serving you, nor that I fled because seeing your face became unbearable.

I desperately wanted to endure and remain steadfastly by your side, but contrary to my wishes, my body refused. It told me it could not continue...

And so, regrettably, I had no choice but to make this decision.

Therefore, Your Highness.

Please do not feel guilt over my sacrifice. It was my choice, my desire. I hope you will not repeat what happened when you lost Her Majesty, falling into such despair.

If you were to fall ill upon learning this truth, wouldn't all my efforts have been in vain?

Surely you wouldn't want to render my efforts meaningless?

I believe that someone as perceptive as Your Highness will understand my intentions from this alone.

If, despite this, you find your sorrow unbearable, lean on those around you.

After enduring such pain and hardship, Your Highness surely has good people nearby.

However, do not rely on those who are kind to everyone. Such people carelessly offer their smiles and themselves to anyone and everyone.

Instead, keep by your side someone who looks only at you, thinks only of you.

But please do not search for me. I now need... rest.

Forget this humble attendant and live on.

If you truly care for me, that is what you must do. Your Highness must walk your own path.

That is what I truly wish for.

...I hear the cuckoo's cry. It seems my time grows short.

What I meant to be a brief note has grown quite long.

...Ah, and you, my Princess, have always been prone to doubt.

The kind of doubt that makes you wonder if this letter might be fake...

Then how about this?

Something I couldn't tell you then, but feel I can share now through this letter.

...Your Highness.

No, Imperial Princess.

I have no doubt you have become someone worthy of that name.

Because you are my Princess, and no one else's.

So now, proudly make that name known to the world.

I will always be by your side, serving you, wherever and whenever.

Imperial Year 821. On the night when the mirror of rain reflects the moon.

From your eternal attendant.

***

"...Finn"

The girl read through the letter, thinking of her lost attendant.

The letter had grown tattered from countless readings, though she'd lost count of exactly how many times.

The letter was stained with tear marks, their origins now forgotten.

The girl's gaze fell to the ring on her left ring finger. The jewel, identical to the one from the hairpin the boy had given her, glittered brilliantly in the sunlight.

Memories flashed through her mind.

-Father, I want this hairpin... made into a ring.

-Because Finn told me so. That I am the sole light of the Empire. That I should walk my own path.

-So I will never marry anyone. For that would mean I could no longer be the sole light of the Empire, that I couldn't walk the path I desire.

-So please make this hairpin Finn gave me into a ring. To show everyone I already have a chosen partner. So that no one would dare covet the place beside me.

-Because I want to reserve that place forever... for just one person.

-I... I will become the Empire's first Empress. Father.

-And as the Empire's Empress, I will live alone. Die alone.

-For when I meet him again in the afterlife. Though it's terribly presumptuous, I want to tell him that I lived my entire life cherishing his memory.

The girl caressed the hairpin-turned-ring that the boy had given her.

She slowly exhaled, trying to release the longing that welled up deep within her chest.

"Sigh..."

It was because she had failed to fulfill the one thing the boy had wanted most—or rather, because she had never intended to fulfill that particular request.

"After showing me such kindness... how could you ask me to forget and move on...? How could that make any sense... Finn?"

Though she had entered the academy and achieved the remarkable feat of top marks to prove herself worthy of becoming the Empire's first Empress, fulfilling the boy's wishes,

She still couldn't escape the guilt that weighed her down, nor the longing that came with remembering him.

"I miss you... Finn..."

'If I could only meet you again, even just once, if I could only see you one more time...'

I would give up this position, this power... everything I have....

"Sigh..."

Unlike in the original story, the girl's sigh echoed through the auditorium's back garden—the sigh of one who had chosen solitude for the sake of a single person, accompanied by her sorrow.

***

"...Ian"

"Mmph... what is it? Something wrong, Berry?"

I looked at Ian, who was sitting on the bench looking up at me with his cheeks stuffed full of the lunch his maid had packed him.

He had the typical appearance of a romance fantasy novel protagonist.

His moonlight-colored blonde hair shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight. Despite being male, its glossiness and the way it rustled resembled a woman's.

His right eye was sapphire blue, his left the deep blue of the Hope Diamond.

Looking closely, he had slightly different colored eyes like me, but since both were shades of blue, they created a harmonious effect.

His appearance perfectly embodied the concept of a beautiful young man. Ian was so transparent that his outside matched his inside perfectly,

So much so that when he gazed at me intently, even I sometimes felt my petty and narrow-minded thoughts being washed away.

'No wonder women fall head over heels'

I remembered his maid was definitely one of the heroines.

A heroine who went to the market at dawn for her master and prepared his meals with the care of an Italian artisan crafting haute couture.

What was it she said? If I recall correctly...

-Young Master, you mustn't! I'll make you something far healthier and more delicious than the academy's food, so please eat what I prepare!!

Something like that?

That's why this good-natured fool couldn't refuse the heroine's request, and despite being a noble, he was sitting here munching away at a packed lunch instead of eating the academy's food.

...Acting like a commoner despite being nobility.

"Nothing much, I just have some business to take care of somewhere."

"Hm? Where...? Wait a bit, I'll eat quickly and go with you."

...Do the protagonist and heroine always have to get entangled like this? Or is it simply because he's such a good person?

Ian started wolfing down his food, insisting on accompanying me as I prepared to move for the heroine rescue event that would soon occur.

'Come to think of it, in the original story, wasn't he able to save Lili because he was eating lunch alone outside like this?'

If that's the case, I definitely need to prevent him from joining me here.

Though I have a feeling the current Lili might not fall for him... I can't ignore even the slightest possibility.

'I don't want my complacency to ruin things again'

So I placed my hand on Ian's shoulder and flashed him a bright smile. Like the friendly grin you might see in a shounen manga.

"No, no, Ian, just wait here. I'll be right back, so save some food? We'll eat together when I return, okay?"

Ian responded by grabbing both my hands with a radiant smile. I could feel the calluses from his intense sword training against my hands.

"Okay, Berry!! Waiting to eat with a friend! I've always wanted to try that!! I'll wait right here without eating, so come back soon! Got it?"

"Ah, you son of a..."

"Son of...?"

"I-I meant I'll be back in ten minutes, Ian!"

"Oh, okay!"

Damn it all.

I nearly blurted out a curse when this guy suddenly grabbed my hands and stared at me with those sparkling eyes.

How strange....

In the story, heroines gradually fell for his boyish heart and actions that matched his appearance... so why do I just find it revolting?

Is it because he's male? Or is my narrow-mindedness harboring jealousy toward someone who was destined to be with Lili?

'Ah, could it be...'

Now that I think about it, there was a line in the story about how he never made a single male friend despite having mountains of heroines.

At first, I thought it was just to eliminate love triangles between heroines and other male characters, but now that I think about it... or rather, now that I've experienced his touch firsthand, I understand.

While women might be delighted by a beautiful young man being friendly and touchy-feely, to men it just feels revolting.

'Plus, maybe it's because his appearance is somewhat androgynous, but I get this instinctive feeling that I shouldn't get too close to him'

But what can I do? Maintaining this relationship is the best choice if I want to steal all his episodes with Lili.

And this awful relationship only needs to last through the early stages.

After all, Lili stops appearing in the original story after the early parts, so being connected to him after that would only interfere with my relationship with Lili.

'Right, just endure it... just a little longer... just until winter of first year...'

With that thought, I headed toward the auditorium, leaving behind Ian who was cheerfully waving goodbye.

And then...

***

"...How dare you try to kill me, the Imperial Princess? I'll at least acknowledge your effort."

"..."

Hidden and watching the situation, I saw the demon that had tried to ambush Lili being annihilated by a few of her spells.

Without any resistance. Like an insect, really.

And with that, my grand plan to build a relationship with Lili by saving her...

Began with warning bells of crisis from the very start.

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