My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~

He’d become engaged to the Princess.

That entire day, the whole academy was filled with that topic and made a great fuss.

Especially from Ōka, he ended up being teased to death. It was humiliating.

But their relationship with the Princess hadn’t particularly changed anything.

Today as always, the usual three gathered at the ramshackle hut that was their hangout.

“Hey, we’re engaged, so shouldn’t we at least go on a date or something?”

Outwardly feigning calm, in a quite natural manner. But the reality was that Kishō proposed while his heart pounded frantically.

But when she raised her gaze from the thick book she was reading, the Princess tilted her head wonderingly and said blankly:

“Why?”

“Why, you ask, Kuroyō…”

The Princess in question was in this state.

When receiving such a blunt response as “Why?” to a date invitation from one’s fiancé, it couldn’t be helped that he became unable to continue speaking. It reached the point where he wondered if they were even dating.

“You don’t need to worry about me. Feel free to get all lovey-dovey.”

Plastering on an annoyingly grinning smile, Ōka, with one elbow on the long table, said so. To Kishō, it looked like devil horns were growing from her head.

“Like I can get all lovey-dovey in front of people.”

“Eh? But you were kissing in front of everyone.”

“You, Ōka. You’re still bringing that up?”

Ōka grinned delightedly from the bottom of her heart.

“Of course! Who would let go of such great material!?”

Gnuuuu, Kishō, constantly kept at a disadvantage, ground his teeth.

Kishō was also half human. An adolescent age.

Faced with the Princess’s endearing and devoted attitude, he couldn’t endure it as a man and had gone as far as kissing her on impulse. He had no regret about that itself, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t embarrassed. Ōka skillfully struck at that weakness.

If he let his guard down, he’d be done for.

No lukewarm mercy would be added there.

Ōka was grinning triumphantly.

Was there no means to counterattack somehow? Kishō ran his head at full rotation but nothing came to mind.

Then the Princess, having finished reading, closed the dictionary-thick book with a snap and stood up. She walked to Ōka and took her hand.

“I understand. Ōka.”

“Eh? Understand what?”

The Princess, with natural movements, made the blank Ōka stand up and guided her before Kishō.

“You stand too, Kishō.”

“Huh? Why?”

When he stood up as told and furrowed his brow, Ōka’s back was pushed with a thump. A short scream of “Kyah!” The distance with Ōka closed to half a step.

“Alright. Kiss.”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

The two simultaneously made foolish sounds. They couldn’t grasp the situation.

“Kuroyō, you’re always so sudden!?”

“That’s right, Yō-chan. I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

Firmly gripping both shoulders of Ōka who tried to casually take distance from behind and fixing her, blocking the escape route, the Princess asked:

“You haven’t become engaged with Ōka yet, right?”

“Of course not. We’re not in that kind of relationship.”

“Yeah yeah. Shō-kun and I are just friends.”

The Princess flatly cut down their two claims.

“For a long half year, a young man and woman alone in a closed room. Something must have happened, right?”

“No, actually nothing happened!? What’s with that erotic way of speaking!?”

“That’s not the main point of the argument. I’m saying there’s no way you’d always be together with a man you have no feelings for.”

“Wait, Yō-chan!? Wh-wh-wh-what are you suddenly saying!?”

About to follow Ōka who denied reflexively, Kishō stopped his thinking for a moment there. Ōka’s state was strange. Her voice was wavering, and her face was a bit red. It clicked.

(She’s embarrassed? Meaning she’s not used to being teased herself.)

An evil smile floated on Kishō’s face. If Ōka was a little devil, it was an evil smile like a demon king controlling everything in this world. A short scream of “Hii!” rose from Ōka who had no escape with both shoulders fixed.

“Ah, so that’s it. Sorry for not noticing until now, Ōka.”

“What what what what? Why is even Shō-kun saying such things!?”

Ōka, who’d become like a boiled octopus, shook her head left and right in a confused manner.

Kishō took half a step forward and closed the distance. Ōka moved her feet trying to step backward, but because she was defended by the Princess, her body remained in place. The distance between them had narrowed to a few centimeters from nose tips. The mischievous little devil no longer had composure. Her brown eyes moistened, even looking like she was begging for forgiveness.

The situation had completely reversed.

However, at the point of one more push, Kishō burst out laughing.

“How’s that? Did you understand the feelings of being on the teased side?”

One beat late, Ōka, realizing she’d been teased, indignantly puffed her cheeks.

“Geez! Just because you got engaged, teaming up together is unfair!”

Saying so, Ōka laughed at herself.

“That was a nice follow, Kuroyō.”

Is this what they call tacit understanding? Kishō, having succeeded in landing a blow, was satisfied by himself. Entering ecstasy alone, he didn’t notice the Princess’s suspicious face. And Kishō, raised in a single-mother household, was poor in recognition of things called packs. So he couldn’t notice the Princess’s consideration valuing pack harmony. He couldn’t realize her true intent.

That the Princess, who calmly viewed everything objectively, didn’t make this kind of joke—he’d only realize much later.