I Don’t Care About the Story, I Want a Cat ～Transmigrated into an Otome Game～ - Chapter 8

The Third Prince

(TN: This chapter is set before the tea party event.)

The current King of the Kingdom of Rudusia had three sons, and one daughter.

The First Prince who excelled in both literary and military arts had already been crowned as the Crown Prince. He was now diligently studying to succeed the throne as the next King. 

The Second Prince who was two years younger, often assisted the Crown Prince as his aide, and was also part of the Imperial Knights.

The Princess was still young but had already received a number of marriage proposals; those who saw her would always say she resembled the Queen in appearance. 

The Third Prince, Edward Leo Rudusia, had grown up in the shadows of such outstanding older brothers, and younger sister.

The Crown Prince was well suited to be the heir; the Second Prince following as his reserve was full of redeeming qualities himself. Thus, the Third Prince, 10 years younger than his older brother could be nothing but a spare.

The King and Queen, like any parent, loved their children immensely. However, as the successors of the Kingdom, their treatment to their children was another matter. They were afraid that the slightest sign of trouble, that is a battle for succession  to speak frankly, would throw the Kingdom into chaos. And so they had been very strict in establishing a hierarchy among their children so there would be no mistake in their individual roles.

They did all this to protect their children, so they wouldn’t be misled and used by ambitious aristocrats, so that the Kingdom won’t fall into chaos, so that other Kingdoms won’t be given any opportunity to take advantage of them. But most importantly, they wanted their children to be able to live peacefully as members of a Royal Family.

However, the Royal Couple’s expectations and instructions were applied mostly to the Crown prince. And, while they had some direct contact with the Second Prince in raising him, their attentions were almost non-existent when it came to the Third Prince.

He was not the successor like the Crown prince, but he was well educated. However, he was always left in the shadows when compared to his excellent eldest brother, or the Second Prince who made the perfect aide to the First Prince.

His two elder brothers had married princesses from foreign Kingdoms. By the time the next Crown Prince was about to be born, he was on his way to leave the status of Royal Family and be given a new title that would establish him as a Duke. For that, he needed to marry a young lady from one of the noble families of their Kingdom. And so they had come up with the idea of adjusting the power balance of the nobility by choosing a fiancee candidate from among them. 

The Third Prince was well aware of this plan of his parents. After learning various things, and going through lots of experiences, he had come to understand his parents so much so that if he was in their position he would do the same.  

He’s not like his older brothers who are directly responsible for the kingdom, nor like his sister who is the sole female heir of his parents. He didn’t stand out in his family, and wasn’t allowed to be a burden either… in other words, his role as the Third Prince was, at best, someone who was nothing but a reserve. 

“Ed, I heard you’re getting engaged?”

“Alex. It’s been a while since I saw you and this is the first thing you think of to say?”

Alexander, the youngest son of Duke Coverdale, strode confidently in the Third Prince’s room, and plopped down on one of the sofas.

The maids were used to him walking in unannounced and so, without saying anything, they brought out his favourite tea and snacks, and placed them on the table.

“I can’t believe you would keep this a secret from me, your childhood friend!”

“Well it was decided suddenly while you were away at school, no donut busy in your studies.”

“What, so it’s my fault?”

“You didn’t even write a letter to me.” Edward smiled as he admonished his friend.

Alexander just shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh.

“Fine, fine. I’m sorry for not being able to visit you.”

“I’m just kidding. You live in a boarding school after all. How is it? Is it fun?”

“Yeah, there’s lots of stuff to do. You’ll see once you enroll in school as well.”

Edward nodded happily, moving to sit on the sofa across. He quietly ordered the maids to leave. Once they were gone, Alexander spoke up.

“…… So, any favourites so far?” 

“I don’t have any. To be honest, I’m fine with anyone.”

“Really? Well, I figured you would say that.”

“Yeah. I mean, all the candidates have been carefully selected by the court officials so there shouldn’t be any problem in picking any one of them. For me, marriage is just another one of the essential duties of being ‘the Third Prince’; I have no complaints about the chosen ladies.”  Edward replied nonchalantly as he picked up a tea cup and took a sip of the tea.

Alexander frowned at his words.

“This is about you, yet it sounds like you’re talking about someone else.”

“I suppose that’s because I still haven’t processed it fully.”

“So which houses are the young ladies from? Have you met any of them before?”

Edward didn’t feel annoyed at Alexander’s rapid firing questions. He smoothly listed the names of various families the candidates were from. The Northland family was also one of those he named. 

“I might have seen some of them in the Palace before. Do you know anyone, Alex?”

“I’ve met the daughter of Marquis Sandor at a tea party once. She’s older than me, but she’s quite pretty. Apart from her, I met the daughter of Count Northland when she came to visit our house the other day.” 

“I see.”

“Aren’t you surprised to hear this? She took our Tiger as a pet.”

“……… ehh!” 

Edward’s grey eyes rounded. Alexander watched his friend as his expression changed to that of surprise. Edward, who was one year younger than him, had always behaved like an adult ever since childhood. But, with his face showing some expression, he finally looked like his own age. 

“I thought Tiger was extremely shy around strangers, is he okay?”

“I remember he was very cautious with you as well when you first met him. But he was taken with her on the very first day he met her; even mother was surprised at that. Other cats seemed to like her too, but she decided on Tiger. It looks like she’s very fond of animals.”

“Ahh……”

“You also like animals, don’t you, Ed?”

“I wouldn’t say like but… well, I suppose I do.”

There was a reason he felt hesitant to agree. He did like animals but he felt like it was probably a different ‘like’ than the one the daughter of Northland felt towards animals.

He had felt reluctant to voice his complaints or grievances to other people ever since he was young, afraid of what they would think. Even though he had a close friend like Alexander, he didn’t like grumbling about small complaints to him. And so he kept his feelings to himself and only let them out to the dog he was keeping as a pet, or to his beloved horse when he would spend hours riding him.

If friends were those you could talk to about anything then, for Edward, these animals were his friends. In fact, he considered them among his closest friends. 

“I thought girls her age would be scared of animals. To think she actually likes them…”

“She’s not like a normal girl, Miss Amy Northland.”

“Alex?”

Edward felt something slightly different from usual in the way his friend spoke. But Alexander just shook his head no at his probing.  

“No, I shouldn’t speak anymore lest I give you some sort of bias before you even meet her. You’ll see for yourself when you meet her.”

“Well, like I said I don’t really care about the candidates but… oh well, whatever you say.”

Alexander glowered at him at his careless reply, but Edward only smiled in return. This Duke’s son was only a year older than him but he was always acting like a big brother. 

“That’s right, I heard you also had a marriage meeting recently?”

“Uh, so you heard? Well we only met; I didn’t talk to her much.”

“Is that so?”

“I’m still not interested in getting engaged or married. Plus, the girl was so small.”

In the end, Alexander had decided not to act haughty and to behave like himself.

Once he met her he found out the girl was only six years old. It seems like the meeting hadn’t been arranged with actual intentions of marriage, but rather as a formality. It wasn’t a match that would particularly benefit the Duke’s family, but the young lady had been introduced to them by someone they were obligated to. So, it was decided he should meet her at least once to fulfill their promise. He did complain for a long time to his parents after it was over. 

“Well, I’m sure they’re gonna pick someone for me soon though.”

“You don’t want them to?”

“I want to choose my partner for myself if I can. Hey, Ed, what about you? You can pick anyone you like from among the candidates right?”

“I’ve been told I can.”

“Then you should look at them properly… the candidates.”

Edward was a bit surprised at his suddenly serious tone. It was rare for Alexander to talk like this. He was always joking around usually. He also knew that Alexander did this to make Edward feel relaxed.

As he thought, there was something different about him today. Maybe it’s because he had started living in a boarding school.

“I can’t make a move if you don’t decide.”

“What?”

He had been musing over the change in his friend and so he hadn’t been able to catch what Alexander had just mumbled.

“No, it’s nothing. I guess I should get going now.”

His friend had returned back to his usual careless smile. He put down his tea and got to his feet, his eyes moving to the training ground that could be seen from the window. The two were not only childhood friends, but were also partners in sparring using swords and magic.

Edward nodded at his words and put his cup down as well.

“That’s right, General Riley is here today.”

“What? Really?”

“He said he wanted to see for himself that you didn’t slack off after going to school. He said Kevin will also come to assist, I’m looking forward to it.”

“Don’t tell me he’s going to make me fight with Kevin… uh, I suddenly remembered an important errand I had to do.”

A few minutes later, the son of the Duke was seen being dragged down the corridors by a grinning Third Prince towards the training grounds.