In a Female-Dominant World with a 5:1 Gender Ratio, I Saved a Girl as a Kid, and She Said She Wanted to Be My Bride—Who Would’ve Thought She Was a Princess… - 15

Chapter 15: A Secret Meeting in the Underground Archive, and Alto with No Escape

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

(Alto’s POV)

The next day after school. I descended the library’s underground staircase with heavy, prisoner-like steps. Musty, cold air crawled up from my feet. Even so… There was no escape.

Last night’s note: 『I’ll leave it here again tomorrow.』 That wasn’t just guidance. It was silent pressure from the princess, saying, “I know every move you make. There’s no point in running.” If I didn’t come here today, there was no telling what move she would make next.

What would be placed in front of my room this time? Or perhaps… Someone would be inside my room. Just imagining it made my stomach ache. I opened the heavy iron door of the underground archive. The rusty sound—giii—ripped through the silence. I cautiously peered inside.

“……”

No one was there. There was only silence, dust, and countless bookshelves. At my usual spot—the small writing desk hidden in the shadow of a half-collapsed bookshelf—sat that same forbidden book, all alone, just like yesterday.

…Thank goodness. It’s just the book.

I let out a sigh of relief from the bottom of my heart. I had imagined the worst, but it seemed my fears were unfounded. She was probably just leaving bait and enjoying, from afar, watching me take it.

…Annoying as it was, I wanted to know what came next. While staying alert, I sat down on the chair in front of the desk. I touched the book’s cover. Picking up where I left off yesterday—ancient mass weapons, their detailed specifications, calculations of crash trajectories. As I turned the page, information so captivating it seemed to burn away my intellectual curiosity flooded my vision.

Amazing. These formulas are far more advanced than the current magic theory.

I lost track of time and became completely absorbed. I forgot my fear of the princess, forgot that I was underground, and drowned myself in an ocean of knowledge. That was when it happened…

“Hehe… My, how devoted you are.”

From behind me, a voice rang out. The voice was elegant like chiming bells, yet carrying a hint of absolute authority.

“…!?”

I spun around as if struck. My heart pounded wildly. When did she—? I hadn’t heard the iron door open. From the dim entrance of the archive came the sharp click, click of hard heels approaching. Stepping into the lamp’s light was a dazzling cascade of platinum hair, utterly out of place in this moldy underground space. And beneath it, a perfect smile—belonging to the pinnacle of this nation.

Princess Lilianna.

“…Y-Your Highness…”

I nearly fell out of my chair as I stood up. She walked toward my desk with grace, as if strolling through a palace garden. In her arms, she carried another aged manuscript.

“Good day, Alto von Kirschwasser …You came, just as promised.”

“…You wrote that you’d ‘leave it here,’ didn’t you?”

I replied with every ounce of sarcasm my parched throat could manage.

“You never said you would come.”

She laughed softly, clearly amused.

“Now you’re nitpicking. …Besides, that book is a ‘forbidden text’ that cannot be taken outside. If I weren’t managing it, you’d be arrested for the crime of removing a forbidden book. …I’m here to protect you, you know?”

What a blatant sophistry. I was completely surrounded. Approaching me from behind while I was engrossed in the book… So she really had been watching all my actions all along.

“…What business do you have? I just want to study quietly…”

When I closed the book and made a motion as if to leave, she smoothly stepped in front of me, blocking my path.

“Yes, I know. That’s why I came here to ‘study’ as well.”

With that, she set the manuscript she was holding down on the desk with a soft thump.

“In this underground archive lie ‘truths’ that the surface library does not possess. …Just like the one you were so absorbed in reading.”

I swallowed hard. She sat down gracefully on the chair beside the one I’d been using—the dusty spare chair I normally used only for bags—without even laying down a handkerchief. Then she tapped the chair next to her—my seat—lightly with her fingers.

“…Sit down. Today, let’s compare answers together.”

“…Compare answers?”

“Yes. Your ‘mass weapon’ theory from the other day’s lecture and the description of the ‘Iron Castle’ recorded in that forbidden book. …Won’t you tell me how accurate your deductions were?”

Her eyes were sharp, like those of a bird of prey locking onto its quarry—and yet… they carried a strange heat. Was it “attachment” toward something she owned, or “curiosity” toward an intellectual toy? Right now, I couldn’t tell. The only thing I did understand was that if I refused this invitation and walked away, my life would be over.

No escape, huh.

Resigned to my fate, I returned to the chair beside her with heavy steps and sat down again. She was close. The noble floral scent drifting from her overwrote the musty air of the archive. My heartbeat echoed loudly in my ears.

“…Shall we begin, then? Alto-sensei.”

Smiling happily, she opened the forbidden book in front of me. A secret meeting with no escape, in a dim underground archive. With despair, I realized that I had been completely locked onto by the most powerful authority in this country.

…Dad. I might be done for.

A perfect encirclement laid by the princess, exploiting my thirst for knowledge. From this day on, my after-school hours transformed into a hellish period of confinement known as a “secret study session” with the princess.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー