The Talentless Wicked Prince Wants To Survive ~ The Only Way For Me, Reincarnated As The Punching Bag Third Prince In A Romance Smartphone RPG, To Live Is To Not Break Off My Engagement With The Duke’s Yandere Daughter Who’s Stronger Than The Heroine~ - Chapter 78: My engagement to Sandra came with conditions

“So then… Prince Harold, I hear you wish to renounce your royal title and be adopted into the Chevalier family as our son-in-law?”

After fully basking in Lady Norma’s motherly warmth, I was met with that question from Duke Chevalier, his expression somewhat complicated.

What’s this? Was he sulking because I’d monopolized his wife for a while?

“Yes. I have no lingering attachment whatsoever to the royal palace, or to being a member of the royal family… In fact, I’d rather run from that place as soon as possible.”

I said it plainly without holding anything back.

Because it was true. That place only ever brought me pain. I didn’t want to be there, not for another second.

“Hm…”

The duke opened his normally narrow eyes, fixing me with a sharp look before falling into thought.

…Well, I couldn’t blame him. For a noble of his stature, taking in a troublesome so-called ‘talentless wicked prince’ like me as a son-in-law must sound like pure trouble.

Besides, it was possible that my engagement to Sandra had political motives, something like strengthening ties between King Eival and House Chevalier. My request to leave the royal house would thus ruin all that.

“…Father, what possible objection could you have to Haru-sama becoming your son-in-law?”

“N-no, it’s not that. I have no issue welcoming Prince Harold himself, but there may be complications that follow.”

“Oh? What kind of complications?”

“Hmm…”

The duke closed his eyes again… or at least, I think he did? They were usually slits anyway. He then began to speak slowly and steadily.

Apparently, the engagement between Sandra and me had originally been requested by House Chevalier, at Sandra’s insistence, though it hadn’t exactly been what the duke had wanted.

At first, King Eival had been unusually reluctant to agree. Still, as the ruler, he couldn’t easily refuse a request from the kingdom’s most powerful noble house.

A royal marriage alliance with the Chevaliers would also help stabilize internal politics, so in the end, King Eival had accepted the proposal, and Sandra and I had been officially betrothed.

But there were two conditions attached to it.

The first was that if Sandra and I ever came to dislike one another, either of us could freely annul the engagement with no blame or obligation falling on either side.

Duke Chevalier, who’d been unhappy about our match, had accepted that term without hesitation.

The second condition, however…

“…is that, should the engagement between Prince Harold and Alexandra be annulled, she would then be engaged to another prince.”

“Huh…?”

That dumbfounded reaction came not only from me, but from everyone except the duke.

What was that supposed to mean? If Sandra broke off our engagement, she was required to get engaged to another prince?

If we ruled out Cardis, who was already engaged, that would leave… Raphael or, ugh, Wilfred.

And Sandra? With him?

“Father, even as a joke, please don’t say such dreadful things. Why in the world would I ever become engaged to anyone other than Haru-sama? Much less that scum Wilfred!”

“I know, I know. I would never allow such a thing either. If it came to that, I’d use all the power of House Chevalier to stop it. But… it’s true that we accepted that condition for the sake of this engagement. If we break it, the fault would legally be ours.”

That explanation made sense, but still didn’t sit right with me.

Why would King Eival attach such a bizarre condition in the first place?

“…You needn’t stare at me so, Your Highness. I understand what you wish to ask. But the fact remains that His Majesty has insisted that he would not approve the engagement unless we accepted these terms.”

“That’s exactly what I can’t understand. Why would His Majesty care so much? Not only was he strangely opposed to the engagement from the very start, but this condition makes it seem as if our engagement was never meant to last at all.”

That’s right… As if I were just a placeholder, a mere prelude before the real prince would come along to claim Sandra for himself.

“I cannot say for certain… but if you truly leave the palace and join our house, His Majesty may well act against you. He might try to obstruct your entry into the Chevalier family, or impose yet more conditions.”

“…”

Given the duke’s position, his caution was understandable.

As the kingdom’s most powerful noble, he knew better than anyone how disastrous an open conflict between House Chevalier and the Crown could be.

In fact, in Engage Hazard’s storyline, when Harold broke off his engagement to Sandra, Duke Chevalier rebelled. That rebellion then devastated the kingdom.

Wilfred’s “heroic efforts” minimized the damage, but the realm still plunged into chaos: its economy faltered, while law and order collapsed. That was all described in the tutorial’s epilogue.

“…Then why don’t we just have the Chevalier family declare independence from the kingdom…?”

“What!?”

The casual comment I made sent chills down everyone’s spine, except for Cass.