Vol 4 Chapter 47 – Alchemy (Shion’s Perspective)【Vol 4 – Stop Shion’s Fabricated Engagement】

Shion checked her underwear-clad body from head to toe, and just as she was breathing a sigh of relief at finding no traces of sexual assault, the sound of footsteps approached from beyond the iron bars.

The figure that eventually appeared was the crown prince.

Unlike the ceremonial attire Shion was accustomed to seeing, he wore robes like a magician, so Shion didn’t initially recognize him as the crown prince.

“How are you feeling, Princess Shion?”

“Terrible.”

“Don’t say that. You seemed to have fainted because the tea was too delicious.”

“Wh-what was that all about!? I only drank it after watching you drink first!”

“That teapot is a secret heirloom of our house. The bottom is double-layered, allowing the contents to be poured separately without the other person noticing.”

“That’s cheating! I wasn’t told about that!”

“What fool warns their target beforehand? …From your reaction, it seems you don’t know my clan specializes in alchemy either, do you?”

“Grrr.”

Shion bit her lip.

If he could make love potions, she should have anticipated he’d also be versed in poisons and their handling.

However, the fact that the current crown prince’s lineage had been alchemists for generations was classified information that even the former crown prince Nagisa hadn’t known.

As if to cover her own ignorance, Shion said,

“M-more importantly! I kept my promise, so hurry up and hand over the potion!”

“…Potion?”

“That’s right! Come on, hand over the love potion already!”

The crown prince glanced at Shion’s bravado with cold eyes.

“Don’t be absurd. Love potions are products of delusion—I’ve never even heard of them actually existing.”

“Wh-wh-what!?”

“But I see now… I understand what kind of misunderstanding Princess Shion had. Indeed, if something like a love potion could be made, I’d use it on Princess Shion first. After all, as both a queen and military force, Princess Shion is absurdly powerful. But that’s merely a pipe dream.”

“Then what did you plan to do by summoning me here!?”

To Shion’s question.

The crown prince answered quite simply, as if discussing this morning’s breakfast.

“It’s simple. —If I can’t obtain it, I’ll just create a new one.”

“…Huh? What does that mean…”

“Come to think of it, I did write in the secret letter that I’d give Princess Shion what she desires. Since we’re here, let me reveal the trick. That’s courtesy toward a future queen, after all.”

Watching the crown prince’s profile as he spoke so casually, cold sweat ran down Shion’s back.

—This crown prince was definitely not the type to get carried away, make careless slips of the tongue, and end up destroyed as a result.

Shion understood this well, having failed to gather any decent information until now.

Rather, he was the type to keep his schemes from everyone and carry them through to the very end alone.

If that crown prince was revealing his trick, then—

Had this situation already reached a point of no return—?

“Before I remove your chains, let me say that struggling is useless. After all, while Princess Shion was sleeping, I injected her with dozens of times the lethal dose of muscle relaxant for giant elephants. Well, if you still struggle, I’ll violate you here as punishment.”

“Tch, just kill me…!”

“…Rather, it’s abnormal that Princess Shion has enough muscle strength left to walk after being injected with that much… Well, fine. Follow me.”

Shion looked for an opening, but in her current state with her body not moving properly, there was nothing she could do.

Left with no choice, she obediently followed the crown prince.

He opened the iron door at the end of the corridor and entered a room resembling an alchemist’s laboratory.

A room lined with ominously toxic beakers containing chimera fetuses and monster eyeballs.

Shion didn’t know at the time that this was the room her Master and Junior Disciple had discovered before.

“Wh-what is this room…!”

“Hmph. This is nothing compared to the hidden room beyond.”

“Huh…”

Shion had an intensely bad feeling, but there was nothing she could do.

When the crown prince reached into the medicine bottle shelf and manipulated it, there was a click, and the shelf slid sideways.

“Follow me.”

When Shion was urged forward through the door that appeared beyond, it looked like a strange graveyard.

Dozens of coffins were arranged on the floor, with corpses inside them.

“Is this… a cemetery?”

“That’s right. I’ll turn on the lights so you can see better.”

The crown prince took out a magical tool and tossed it, illuminating the room brightly.

The corpses all appeared to be young girls.

And then.

Shion let out a soundless scream when she realized all their faces were identical.

All the girls were dead ringers for Shion as a child.

Vol 4 Chapter 48 – Homunculus【Vol 4 – Stop Shion’s Fabricated Engagement】

Half a day had passed since hearing Shion had gone missing.

We desperately searched for Shion but came up with nothing.

When I somehow suppressed my anxiety and returned to the inn, Yuna-san and Nagisa were waiting with exhausted faces.

“Master, was it no good…?”

“Yeah… From the way you said that, it seems Yuna-san had no luck either. What about Nagisa?”

“Me neither. I wanted to meet Master’s expectations, but…”

We exchanged information with dark faces.

Both Yuna-san and Nagisa seemed to have gathered information quite aggressively given the emergency.

Yuna-san had apparently stormed the Royal Guard headquarters alone, which she’d marked as having deep connections to the crown prince, and tried to squeeze information out of them by beating all the members there half to death.

Nagisa had also contacted nobles she’d been avoiding until now, revealed her true identity, and proposed risky deals to see if she could obtain any leads.

“—Well, even after we went that far, we got zero useful information…”

“Master saw through that the crown prince doesn’t leak information even to his close aides… We didn’t realize this and caused a ruckus, so at this rate we’ll be wanted criminals before long. This is what they mean by inexcusable.”

“No, I think Yuna-san and Nagisa’s approach was correct. If I’d thought of any possible leads, I would have stormed in without caring what happened afterward.”

The frightening part was the crown prince’s secrecy that surpassed even that.

Whether it was due to his innate personality or part of his plan, I didn’t know, but there was no doubt we were in serious trouble because of it.

Looking at the sunset floating outside the window, I reflected that yesterday I never could have imagined things would turn out like this today.

Life is always sudden.

Just hours ago, I’d been collecting information as usual today, believing without doubt that I’d be watching Koshion’s training right about now—

“—That’s it. Koshion.”

“Koshion?”

“A girl I met at the castle who looks just like Shion. I’ve been watching her training recently, and she’s so much like Shion from long ago. Not just relatives or sisters—she’s at the level of being twins.”

“But Master, there should be no records of marriage relations between the two countries…?”

“Shion said the same thing—that she double-checked before departing, so there’s no mistake. But think about it from the opposite perspective.”

“The opposite?”

“Right. —That’s precisely why there might be something we don’t know about.”

When I said this, Yuna-san and Nagisa nodded deeply.

At our usual meeting time, Koshion wasn’t at the corner of the castle.

As I waited anxiously, wondering if we wouldn’t meet today of all days, Koshion eventually came running at full speed, out of breath.

Yuna-san, who knew what Shion looked like as a child, froze when she saw Koshion.

“Master, sorry. I’m late.”

“Koshion, what happened?”

“Suddenly got work order. But I snuck out.”

“Uh… As your master, I have to warn you—if you keep doing that, you’ll get fired, you know?”