The Prince Is Dead, So Let’s Start Over Everything Again! - Chapter 4.5

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(Lurelia’s Christmas Bonus – Update 3/4 🎉)

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“Let’s go to His Highness’s room right now, Anna.”

I grabbed Anna’s hand and led her towards the 3rd Prince’s room.

The guest room and the 3rd Prince’s room were far apart, so we had to move our feet quickly.

Upon arriving in front of the 3rd Prince’s room, I immediately knocked on the door loudly.

Soon, a servant opened the door and came out.

“…Ah, good day, Miss Lurupel.”

It was the same servant who had come looking for the 3rd Prince in the lake garden on the night of the welcome party.

Unlike that servant named Andrew or something, he greeted me with a fairly polite attitude.

“Hello. I came to see His Highness for a moment.”

“…I-I’m sorry, but His Highness is not in a condition to receive visitors at the moment.”

“Do I need to repeat myself?”

The servant looked down at me with a perplexed expression.

But a mere servant couldn’t win against me, the daughter of a Count of the imperial court. After a moment, the servant stepped aside with a reluctant face.

Although I had spoken like an unreasonable noble young lady, I successfully entered the 3rd Prince’s room.

‘The smell of herbs…’

The 3rd Prince’s room was filled with the acrid smell of burning herbs.

“According to the healer, it seems His Highness hit his head hard when he fell from the tree.”

The servant, who had seated me in a chair by the bedside, explained calmly.

In reality, he wasn’t hit by falling from a tree, but by a bandit’s club, but whatever.

“Did they say when he might wake up?”

“No, they didn’t. They said they’ve done all they can at their level, and the rest is up to God’s grace.”

“…Isn’t that person just a quack?”

I blurted out words similar to Hariella’s brother but soon changed my mind.

The healer’s lack of medical skill wasn’t their fault.

It was due to the low level of medical development in this world.

If we were to assign blame, the responsibility for the situation turning out like this lay with me.

I was the one who failed to stop the 3rd Prince from acting dangerously, and I was the one who couldn’t protect him from the bandits.

No matter how mature he seemed, the 3rd Prince was still a child after all. And all children cause accidents.

The responsibility for accidents caused by children lies with their guardians.

At that time on the mountain, I was the 3rd Prince’s guardian.

“…I understand for now. You can go out now.”

“If I may, I should stay by His Highness’s side…”

“Come to think of it, you don’t look well. You seem tired. Go and have a cup of tea or something.”

I was speaking to the servant, but my gaze was directed at Anna.

The quick-witted Anna quickly picked up on the conversation.

“Oh! We just received some tea that’s good for fatigue relief! Would you like to follow me?”

“N-no, I…”

“Come on! Our young lady is being kind for once, it would be impolite to refuse, wouldn’t it?”

The hesitant servant finally couldn’t resist Anna’s urging.

He kept looking back as he left, finally leaving the room with a reluctant face.

Only the 3rd Prince and I were left in the room, hazy with herbal smoke.

“Your Highness! Your Highness? It’s just the two of us now. Please wake up!”

Just in case, I gently shook the 3rd Prince’s arm.

The 3rd Prince made some groaning sounds for a moment but didn’t open his closed eyes.

I had hoped otherwise, but it seemed he wasn’t pretending to be unconscious, he really was unconscious.

I could feel the hot body temperature through the skin that touched my palm.

Only then did I fully grasp the seriousness of the situation.

Why did it turn out like this? Where did it go wrong?

It was hard to understand how the situation had come to this.

I carefully retraced what had happened to me and the 3rd Prince.

This probably didn’t happen in the original story.

The original Hariella was a snobbish young lady who only cared about herself.

She certainly wouldn’t have cared whether the 3rd Prince was cooped up in the library or not.

Without Hariella’s cooperation, the 3rd Prince wouldn’t have discovered the secret passage. The servant would have interfered.

If the 3rd Prince hadn’t discovered the secret passage, he wouldn’t have been threatened by bandits, and Hariella wouldn’t have encountered the Young Duke of Whatever.

In the end, such a small change on my part had caused the situation to become so complicated.

‘Of course, I can’t say this is all my fault, but…’

Still, I might have been able to act a little more wisely.

I sat quietly for a long time, waiting for the 3rd Prince to wake up.

However, the 3rd Prince remained asleep until his servant returned.

“…Excuse me, but it doesn’t seem to be the day.”

The servant politely disguised his words to chase me out.

It was a rude attitude, but I could understand his feelings.

No servant wouldn’t be sensitive when their sick master was beside them.

Of course, this is assuming he’s different from that servant named Andrew.

I left the room, saying I would come again tomorrow.

“Miss!”

Anna, who had been leaning against the corridor wall, called out to me.

“Anna! How did you finish your tea so quickly?”

“Oh, don’t even mention it! I’ve never seen such a rude person before! Since when is it proper etiquette in any country to gulp down tea in one go?”

Anna, with a sulky face, kept complaining about how impolite the 3rd Prince’s servant was.

I had to listen to Anna’s grumbling throughout our walk down the corridor.

During this time, Anna didn’t ask a single question about the 3rd Prince.

I didn’t try to bring it up first either.

“How about you rest a bit today?”

When we arrived at the room, Anna suggested.

“Rest?”

“Yes. You could take a nap, or enjoy a bath.”

“Is that okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

Anna kept trying to get me to sleep.

Although she didn’t express it in words, I could feel that she was worried I might have been shocked.

So I followed Anna’s suggestion and took a bath and a nap.

***

It was almost dinner time when Anna woke me up.

“Actually, I wanted to let you sleep more, but His Grace called for you…”

Anna said with a gloomy face.

“…Dad? Why?”

I just blinked slowly, still drowsy from sleep.

“He said the whole family will have dinner together.”

“Ugh… That doesn’t sound like good news.”

After stretching thoroughly, I fumbled to put on my outer clothes.

Then I headed straight to the dining room.

It had been quite a while since I had a meal with Count Lurupel.

We always ate together at the Lurupel mansion, but at Ludbekia Palace, we ate in our own rooms.

I had a bad feeling. Given the situation, I expected to hear quite a bit of nagging.

And my prediction came true.

“Hariella Liberati Lurupel!”

When I arrived at the dining room, the first thing that greeted me was Count Lurupel’s angry voice.

Before responding to his call, I looked around the dining room.

There were only members of the Lurupel family in the dining room. It was appropriate to greet Count Lurupel first.

“…Good evening, Dad.”

“How can you give such a calm greeting when you’ve nearly ruined our good evening!”