This Delusional Voice Keeps Telling Me I’m a Villain

Chapter 5 Part 4
Bargaining, Deal-making, and Mutual Deceiving (IV)

Translated by: chocolala
Proofread by: lil-valley

 

“I can’t say no when I’m put in this situation, to begin with… Well, let’s put that aside for the moment. As long as you only put my name on the list of prospective fiancées, don’t impose any responsibilities on me as your fiancé, and properly dissolve it in the future, I’m fine with it. Rumours are just rumours, and maybe Your Highness will just lose a great deal if they turn out to be false. But, if by becoming your prospective fiancé, there’s a chance that I can protect a little bit of what Your Highness has accumulated over the past few years by grinding your teeth and putting in countless efforts to strive to become the crown prince, I’ll at least lend you my name.”

His Highness Carlos was stunned into silence at my word, and then he let out a breath as if he were somewhat relieved.

“You’re still the same. You really are. You’re the kind of guy who would speak to me without a shred of pretence…”

“Did you say something?”

“No, nothing.” His Highness Carlos suddenly straightened up, cleared his throat, and looked at me.

“Are you sure about this? It’s only as a prospective fiancé, so it won’t hurt you when it’s dissolved, but from now on, you’ll almost certainly be seen as my real fiancé, even though you’re not one. There is no one who would envy you for being engaged to the unpopular me, but there will be people who will approach you; it will be a burden on the House of Minusle, which has long been considered a neutral party, despite being a member of our faction.”

“Don’t worry. My House is in solid standing, and we’ll be fine even if I become Your Highness’s prospective fiancé.”

There was Father and also Theodore at the House now, after all.

“…I’ll tell Father about this matter of me becoming Your Highness’s prospective fiancé. If everything goes well, Father will agree to it; as long as the engagement is made on the premise that it will be cancelled in the future.”

“Thanks… Truthfully, I’m afraid of your father… Normally, it would be more appropriate to talk about these things through the Duke of Minusle and then to you afterwards, but… you know how the Duke is… Anyway, it’s faster to talk to you directly.”

“…That’s understandable.”

My father could be called a raccoon. A genuine raccoon1. Totally black-bellied. Like pitch black. Even gummier than tar. I was only spoiled because I was his son; he seemed to think that everyone, other than family members of our House, was all pawns at his disposal. If His Highness Carlos were to talk to his father about this matter without my mediation, it would be… let’s say it wouldn’t turn out good at any rate.

Nevertheless, I was still the son of such a father, so…

“Ah, by the way, Your Highness. I’m not letting you use my name for free.”

“…As expected.”

His Highness Carlos let out a sigh as if he had given up. We should make a deal, right, Your Highness?

“Your Highness Carlos, because of you, tomorrow I will be the subject of a scandal that I made love to another prince at His Highness Leodore’s coming-of-age party. I’m going to be your prospective fiancée along with such untrue and disgraceful—and worst—rumours. You see?”

“…I’m sorry. If I didn’t do this, you wouldn’t have talked to me. You sweets-packed-brain.”

“Right! And yes, I admit that. That’s why I want to make sure I’ll be compensated accordingly… For example, Your Highness, you personally own a port and a ship, don’t you?”

When I said this, grinning, His Highness Carlos raised one eyebrow and made a bitter expression. His Highness Carlos lifted his head and opened his mouth somewhat reluctantly.

“All right. I’ll give you three merchant ships and a trade license. I’ll also give you preferential tariff treatment in my name. If you import from other countries, you’ll get a 30% discount on your tariffs.”

“YAY!! You really know me!!”

His Highness Carlos ran his business as a personal hobby. What kind of hobby is that—business? But that’s prince quality for you; but, let’s not go into that. It was said that he started his business as part of the prince’s education, but that hobby had grown so expansively. Recently, he established a rather large business firm, connected to other business firms in other countries, and was running quite a good profit.

And now I received a part of the ships he owned and the rights. Yay! So what did these 30% lower tariffs mean? That meant I could get sugar at 30% less cost!

“Whoo! Sugar♪ Sugar♪ Sugar♪ ”

“You really don’t change…”

His Highness Carlos looked at me, dazed, and held his head in his hands. But still, in all seriousness, he took out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote a simple contract.

“I’ll send you the official document at a later date. In the meantime, here’s the tentative contract… I’ve already signed it.” He passed it to me.

Fufufu, now His Highness Carlos couldn’t back out of this… And neither could I.

 

B-U-T!

I didn’t just come here without a plan. I was also a child of the House of Minusle.

There was suddenly a commotion outside the room. We could hear the panicked voices of the chamberlains and the confused voices of the guards.

“What’s going on?”

I smiled at His Highness Carlos, who seemed puzzled.

“Well, Your Highness. I’ll leave you to it now, okay? It’s been exactly half an hour since I entered this room. I think it’s about time we’ve reached an agreement… Yes, right. Take this for example; if a third person comes into this room right now—my younger brother at that—and he takes me out just thirty minutes after we’ve been in here, how do you think people will view you?”

“You… No way…”

“I still find it a little problematic if the House of Minusle is involved in a scandal… So, I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

Just then, the door burst open from such a forceful—enough to break the door down—kick.

“Urschel!!”

Exactly as I planned. Theodore had arrived.

chocolala: Theodore came to the rescue in style! Next week, we get to see this part from Theodore’s POV

 

 

Footnotes

In Japanese, calling someone a raccoon means they have a harmless facade but actually they have a vicious and calculative personality