My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 109
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 109
It dawns on me when I see the mansion being cleaned up in preparation for the Crown Prince's visit.
The Crown Prince was a man of his word, and he plans to formally announce his engagement to me soon.
First of all, the visit to the Kaerun Duchy was a calculated move.
Imperials did not step outside the palace easily. If there was a noble they wanted to meet, they would order them to enter the palace, not take their own carriage to their residence.
But the Crown Prince broke that unspoken rule to come directly to the Kaerun Duchy.
All eyes will be on the Duke of Kaerun once and for all.
I wonder how everyone will react when I end my contractual engagement with the Crown Prince and marry Lancer.
I think to myself as I head for my room.
Just then, three maids approach while carrying brooms.
"Good day, my lady."
As they greet me in a cheerful manner, I hear their thoughts.
‘His Highness is personally visiting the Kaerun Duchy because of the lady, right?’
‘She chose the Crown Prince over Lancer in the end.’
‘You are too kind, Lord Lancer. To like someone so much but in the end….'
That's what everyone is thinking. I ponder their thoughts as they drift further down the stairs.
Until now, everyone in the Kaerun Duchy, including my parents, assumed Lancer and I liked each other.
But not anymore. Even if we were childhood friends, in the end, this princess would eventually abandon him in favour of the Crown Prince. That's the current image in their heads.
Technically, it's not wrong. To put it bluntly, I will be seen as someone who switched to the Crown Prince.
Later on, many people will think it's strange that I broke up with the Crown Prince and started dating Lancer.
But I'm not afraid of their stares. I don't mind being on the receiving end of their gossip.
I choose not to care what others might think. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks of me, because Lancer has clarified that he believes in me.
That's enough for me, as he will always be there for me. That fact alone is enough.
I open the door, step inside, and lie down on the couch.
And then I sit up straight.
‘Princess, Princess, Princess! I've missed you so much!’
A loud voice in the room catches me by surprise. I don't need to see their face to know who it is.
"Prince Cade!"
A round cat sits on the other side of my couch, a very familiar fluffy grey tabby.
"Nyaa."
"Stop making cat noises and return as a human." I scold it as I quickly lock the door.
The grey cat mewls and whirls around. In an instant, it was back in human form.
"Princess!" Prince Cade, standing in front of the couch, calls out to me, his eyes darting around the room. "You're sure no one's coming into this room anymore? I'm getting sore bones trying to stay in my animal form."
"Yes, I locked the door properly, you can rest in your human form."
"Oh, good. Thanks." Prince Cade sags down onto the couch.
"Did you have a good trip?"
"Don't even talk about that. I thought I was going to die."
‘I actually thought I was going to be killed by a hunter. I never knew there were evil humans who ate squirrels….'
He sweeps his bangs out of his face. He seems grim as he thinks. He indeed has been through some things.
"How did you get into my room?" I pour water from the pitcher and hold the cup for him.
He mumbles thanks and takes the cup from me. "I turned into a sparrow and flew into your room."
I imagine a small sparrow chirping and flying into my window. Pretty cute.
"Has Dandelion found out about me in the meantime?"
"No."
Hearing my answer, he shakes his head, muttering something along the lines of ‘some friend he is….’
"When did you get here?"
"I crossed the imperial border at dawn yesterday. And I think I arrived in this room around morning…. Well, speaking of which, do you happen to have anything to eat? I've been eating acorns all this time. I miss human food."
Luckily, Phoebe left a box of cookies on the table for me to eat when I'm bored, so I offered him that.
Prince Cade's face lit up as he opens the box of cookies. "Can I eat all of this?"
"Sure. Can I get you anything else? Like milk?"
"No, I got sick of milk when I was a cat." He hums and picks up a cookie.
"It's a good thing you have something like this in your room. I was so hungry for human food that I thought I'd turn into a cat and wander into the kitchen. I was even thinking of stealing Duke Kaerun's dinner or something."
"You don't need to do that."
"I thought about it. Oh, and also, your maid hated cats, right? So I realised there was nothing I could do at the end of the day. I only kept hiding under the dresser."
My heart softens when I see Prince Cade forgetting about the cookies.
Was it because I hated him, or was it because he had helped me in so many ways? I felt sorry for him when I saw his face.
"I'm sorry, I should have gotten home sooner." An apology eventually slips out of me.
Sprawled out on the couch eating a cookie, he smirks.
"I'm sorry. Didn't Dandelion call you? If it's the order of the Crown Prince, you should follow it."
I shake my head at his reply. "I didn't go to the palace, Prince."
"Oh? You didn't? But they're saying things about you and the Crown Prince?"
"Oh, that."
So Prince Cade has no idea what's going on between me and Lancer.
I pondered for a moment, then summarized everything.
"I'm engaged to the Crown Prince, but I'm in a relationship with Lancer."
"Cough!"
He lets out a series of dry coughs as if something has caught in his throat. I hastily pour more water into his cup.
"Don't lie down while eating."
"Oh, no, I'm just freaking out because the Princess said something so outrageous!"
He pushes himself up from the couch, covering his mouth with one hand as he giggles.
"Princess, is that what you decided to do after dumping me?"
"Yes."
"Good job!" He lifts his cup and gulps down the water.
"I'm sure the Princess had it all figured out. Very well done." He mutters, wiping the water from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
I glare at him. "Are you going to praise me for whatever I do?"
"Of course."
I don't bother to ask why when the answer is in Prince Cade's head in an instant.
‘Because I like you, Princess.’
For a moment, our gazes lock. By the look in his eyes, he realises I had heard him.
Yet he doesn't say anything.
"Anyway, I've had a lot going on back in Hebnia, too." Quickly changing the subject, Prince Cade says as he picks up another cookie.
I nod in response, also taking a bite. "I can see that. I'm glad you weren't taken away."
"Isn't that what magic is for? I managed to sneak away without being seen by my father, and I got to see my grandmother as I intended."
Prince Cade's grandmother is the same witch who cast this curse on me….
I think of the witch, whose face I can barely recognize anymore.
It was so many years ago. The day I realized the way Lancer liked me wasn't the way I liked him, I impulsively planned a trip to the South.
Actually, "planned" wasn't quite the right word.
My parents had just returned from a trip to the South. So I said, ‘I want to travel to the South too, let's go again.’
And that’s how I met the witch on a trip with my parents.
"...How is she doing?" I ask without realising it.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. She's still nagging me."
‘As soon as she saw me, she demanded to know why I was so skinny and forced me to sit at her table, and threatened to sell me to my father if I didn't eat what she cooked. She forced me to eat even though I told her I was full. Ugh, torturing me with food. Real witches are so scary….'
Uh…. I don't think she did that simply because she's a witch….
I guess it's a universal rule that when a grandmother sees her grandson, she always feeds him first.
"It turns out she remembers you, too."
"Me?" I freeze. She remembers me?
"Yes. I explained to her the circumstances that brought me to you, and she remembered you immediately."
Prince Cade wipes the cookie crumbs from the corner of his mouth with one finger.
"By the way, Princess. We're in a bit of a bind, or rather, for the better."
"How?"
"I found a way to break the curse on you, and I couldn't find it."
What the hell does that mean?
I shoot him an odd look. If you found it, you found it. If you didn't, you didn't. So what is he trying to say now?
"My grandmother said the Princess already knows how to break the curse."
"...I already know?"
Prince Cade's words dumbfounded me.
