Chapter 25 : Where Is This?!

Translated by: chocolalaProofread by: Kitje

I woke up from a strange dream where the adult me and the adult His Highness Leodore were one step short of the scene with an age restriction… 

And then, I felt my head being patted by somebody; in my sleepy state, I assumed he was the one who would do this, so I called out his name, “…Theodore…”

And then, poof, the hand left my head.

…Ah, don’t go away, pat me more…

“Huh! Just what was I thinking?!” I jumped out of my skin. 

Although my image as a big brother had long been ruined, I was still the big brother, but certainly, we were lovers? Engaged couple…? That matter aside, was it okay for a big brother to be happy by a pat on the head?? I also had my own pride to withhold…!

My train of thoughts stopped there, and then I realised something. I blinked my eyes repeatedly. I was fully awake by then and the scenery around me was totally unfamiliar to me.  

An unfamiliar room. Unfamiliar furniture. Somehow, I was lying on a bed…  

“Where is this?” My eyes widened at the strange sight before me. 

Suddenly, I felt a gaze on me and I looked over… His Highness Leodore was staring at me in surprise…and somehow gripping on the quilt.

Why? His Highness Leodore? Huh?? 

I was so confused that I couldn’t understand what was going on. 

Wasn’t I with Brother Ben just a few minutes ago? Why am I in bed with His Highness Leodore…? 

But wait…! Wasn’t this situation similar to the strange dream I just had?! 

Whoa, so awkward! What kind of face should I wear? Or rather, what was that dream all about? It was so real, why did I have to dream like that? And I was not that close to His Highness Leodore in the first place…! Haaaa, because of that dream, it was super awkward to face him…

I couldn’t help but sit up straight.

“Oh, um… Your Highness, Leodore. Oh, it’s been a long time.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while…”

His Highness Leodore had an indecipherable look on his face. He looked puzzled, hurt even; his face was indescribable. This was the first time I had seen His Highness Leodore since the party. Nevertheless, just a while ago, I was talking with Brother Ben about His Highness, so it didn’t exactly feel like it had been that long. 

“By the way, Your Highness, where am I and why am I here? I was having tea with Brother Ben a while ago, and from then on I have absolutely no memory of what happened…”

I suppose this was not the royal palace… There was not a single window, and at a quick glance, the doors were rather sturdy with locks, and the room was fully furnished, anyone could live here comfortably… 

Hmm, it might be a bad way of saying it… but this place looked like a confinement room. 

There wasn’t a room like this in the royal palace, so it must not be the royal palace. There was no clock, so I couldn’t tell the time; it seemed convenient, but it was strangely inconvenient. 

And then, suddenly, I realised. 

What time is it? I have an appointment with Theodore…

“So, Your Highness! May I leave the room now, please?”

“Why?”

“I have an appointment and I’m about to meet someone…”

I was supposed to meet Theodore. Surely I was here because I had messed up somewhere. I was about to leave the room in a hurry. But as soon as I lifted my waist to go, I noticed that His Highness Leodore’s eyes flashed with a precarious glint for a moment… 

“Urschel.”

“?!”

Suddenly I was pushed down and His Highness Leodore pinned me under him.

“Huh? What, what are you doing?”

“…Sorry, Urschel. I can’t let you out of here.”

Huh? EH??

His Highness Leodore’s face filled my field of vision. No, no, what was going on? Why was he pushing me down? It was just like the dream I had a while ago all over again! Was that a prophetic dream?!

Wait a moment…

If that dream is a prophetic dream…  

While I was pondering, His Highness Leodore’s hand was nearly touching my clothes… This brought me flashbacks from what I had seen in my dream. By any chance, was I about to get done?!

“NO! NO! NOOOOO!!” Without thinking, I pushed His Highness Leodore away from me, got up and quickly moved away from him. 

“Urschel?!”

“I’d rather do that when I’m older, with someone I like!! No, firstly you can’t do that without consent! Or by force! How can that be allowed!! I’m heavily against it!! Anyway, just what on earth is happening here?!”

Quickly, I hugged the blanket that His Highness Leodore had let go of when he pushed me down. 

My brain was already in a state of confusion because the situation made absolutely no sense. I could no longer think of anything. I was on the verge of crashing. I felt like my brain was short-circuiting. 

His Highness Leodore, who had been pushed away, swallowed; his face contorted as if hurt for some reason. Then he gave a troubled smile.

“Urschel, do you really not understand what’s going on?”

“I don’t…”

Why am I being pushed down by His Highness Leodore? Let’s try to wrap my head around this.   

First of all, this was no ordinary room by any stretch of the imagination. It looked like a jail… Or a place to exclusively confine noblemen, and it was made in such a way that you could not tell the time. The door was locked for all intents and purposes. 

However, there was no lead that both of us were locked here. His Highness in front of me looked way too calm if that were the case. Then, this was just too strange. 

So, was this someone’s room? Did I somehow collapse and they brought me in? In that case, why was I with His Highness Leodore…

…In the first place, whose room was this? It couldn’t be His Highness’s, right? Then, it belonged to someone not here?? But, the way the door was locked was unnatural. 

No way…

I looked at His Highness Leodore, who had just pushed me down, “Am I being confined by Your Highness???” 

His Highness Leodore smiled meaningfully at me. A smile that I could only perceive as his affirmation.

You have gotta be kidding me…

“Err, um? Really? You’re not kidding?”

As I was puzzled, His Highness slowly approached me—his eyes predatory. A chill ran down my spine.

Prince Carlos did mention to me before, “Urschel, he’s still holding out for you to be his fiancée.”

Let’s say that was true. Although I couldn’t believe it, let’s say it was seriously for real. So I became His Highness Carlos’s prospective fiancé. As a result, His Highness Leodore could no longer make me his fiancé… 

Nonetheless, what if His Highness Leodore didn’t give up there? How would he act? For him, who held enormous power, money and resources in his hand, he might resort to one or two outrageous measures for the sake of his true beloved. 

Maybe… When I thought about it from his way of thinking, most probably, he would do this: fabricating a scandal in House of Minusle and taking advantage of that confusion, spur Brother Ben to abduct me and lock me up. Please, let this be merely my misunderstanding! 

This is bad, so bad…

It was scary that I could not think of any other reason for His Highness Leodore to lock me up. In any case, I had to get away from him. I spread out the blanket in my hands and used it as a barricade in front of His Highness, who was inching closer and closer to me… I was shaky though.  

“Pl-please, no touching…!”

A cold sweat trickled down my face. But against my will, His Highness Leodore came right up to me and put his hand on the blanket I was using as a barricade. 

“Why can’t I touch you?”

“…Because I won’t have security and peace of mind.”

“That’s all right. There’s no one here to interfere with us or hurt you, okay?”

“But, there’s still someone who’s about to assault me, isn’t there? That’s completely out of the question.”

“I never mean to assault you. You were just way too thoughtless in front of me, so I accidentally…”

“Is there anyone who would accidentally push down someone??? Your Highness, you’re even locking me up here.”

“It’s a necessary measure,” His Highness chuckled softly, seemingly out of place. 

I shuddered. It reminded me of that dream. The grown-up His Highness Leodore had this same level of obsession with the grown-up me. I had no idea why His Highness would have such feelings for me. I couldn’t understand why, but… If I didn’t stop him, I knew that my future self would suffer.  

I could still hold a conversation with His Highness Leodore… It was not like what I said would not go through him yet… It might only be a stopgap measure… But I should still be able to persuade him. Everything would depend on my skills… 

I prayed in my heart.  

The ring on my chest hadn’t been taken away yet. This was a great relief. I was sure that Theodore would have noticed something wrong and would have made his move… 

…Theodore, please quickly come to save me…

As I prayed, I felt the ring on my chest glow slightly for a moment.

chocolala: Yay, Theodore is coming to the rescue (in the next chapter)!