Dare ga Tame? Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Princes who missed their turn (parallel world setting). [OMAKE]

RAW:

Author: (Moon Echo)

T/N: Basically the author interpretation of other capture target in the Otome Game, I guess??? This is partially edited. Appreciate if anyone willing to point out any mistake. So here goes…. This mini ma.s.s release is to celebrate the one year anniversary of Incarose Jealousy MTL….. #14

Otome Game [Love's labyrinth]

In this world that closely resembled that game, men with elegance appearances and brilliance wisdom had been prepared for the sake of the Heroine. However, apart from the Crown Prince, some of them be happy and unhappy for not been chosen by the Heroine, while others might already realize the meaning of their existence from the early stage.

The cla.s.sification of those pitiful Princes were as followed.

One future Duke, one Crown Prince's knight, and one thief; these three of them.

They were also present during the evening party when the Hero stumbled upon the Heroine. Of course, it had already been decided that the Heroine will choose one of them during that evening party.

Similar to the Crown Prince, the future Duke had also attended the party for the sake of searching for his own partner, whereas, the attendance of the knight was required to protect the Crown Prince; as for the thief, he had come to the party to steal the treasure in the castle by using the crowds as the camouflage; so on and so forth.

In the end, they did not even manage to forge any kind of relationship with the Heroine; however to leave them hanging like, were too pitiful, and it was all just because they had never received their turn. It was really not the fault of the otome game' element per say, no, no, it was probably due to the whim of the author, itself, — oh well, whatever.

In other word, I wanted to talk about the situation that will occur when the Heroine encountered these different Princes. Thus, I wanted to speak about the game in the form of the route.

——————-

In the case of future Duke (His POV)-

………..How many times do I have to attend this matchmaking party camouflaged as this evening party? I was two years older compared to the 19th years old Crown Prince and I had attended this kind of party way earlier than him. That person who was also our cousin, had always been with us since he was born. A good rival as well as my childhood friend-Alexie, had been moaning that he was getting annoyed with all of this; but, compared to him, I was already tired of being annoyed about it. However, as a senior in life, I could never said those word due to my own pride.

Alexei had a slight contempt against woman due to his position—The cause for this was due to the attending mothers who had strongly pushed their daughters against him. As for me, all what they have been aiming for was the chance to establish a connection with my powerful aunt…-Anyway, back to the story, that Alexie sure had it tough.

Women were more likely to hate me even if I were to like them.

[Alexie: Whose mouth is that? Who had been saying that my cousin is looking like a woman? You'll surely get your hand out next…..]

Oya? Why did I heard just now….?
Fuffuffu, Well, it was a matter of mindset right?

It doesn't matter if they kept glancing at each other with bad expression, I did not even care about it. It really has been… a while.

–Ha~ Where is my destined partner?

I made an excuse that I started to feel tipsy and turned my feet towards the balcony. Today was supposed to be a good day, therefore the beautiful stars should be visible to the eyes.

That was what I have been hoping for but instead I found the G.o.ddess of Venus of my destiny—

In the case of the future Duke's woman—- [T/N: Author’s comment]

He tended to daydream and believe in the fate of chance; a self-euphoric b.a.s.t.a.r.d who was confident in himself had been knocked out with the appearance of the Heroine. In other word, he started to attack the Heroine by leaning on her as he pushed himself towards her. Instead of being shaky or shocked, he demonstrated a sense of unknown positivity close to being a narcissist; and he had been steadily chasing after the Heroine that he was on the verge of receiving a certification for being a stalker. No that's wrong, cough-to seduce, the Heroine until she finally gave up and marry him….. It was possible that there might have been a future like that.

The person who was going to become the next Duke was me. I am the public officer but the true reason for my appointment was [because [I'm] so cool]. (T/N: In the first sentence, he use [boku], however the bracket is [watashi], he always used [watashi] to address himself)

How should I put it, the voice surrounding me was asking how did this things turn out to be like this.

Don't get me wrong. Although he was a little bit disappointing, however he was still a young man with beautiful appearance and style. He just a little bit of black-bellied. No, it was not an excuse, that person was truly excellent in scheming! Anyway, he was the one who was going to fill up the Prime Minister’s position in the future!

You did not have to make an excuse about him so desperately, you know [Grin].

Let's stop any further Q & A on him!

—————

In the case of the Crown Prince's knight- (Kight’s POV)

Since long time ago, I was a poor talker. What's more, people had told me that since childhood, my eyes had always strangely looked anxious.

Due to my splendid physiques, I was chosen as the knight that will accompany the Crown Prince, however, despite that, it still did not boost my self-confidence and I was still having difficulties in having conversation with others.

Therefore, I did not say anything beyond what was necessary.

On the contrary, I believed that by speaking as minimum as possible, I could ensure that I will not make any unnecessary mistake.

The surrounding people who did not know about my reasoning have come to call me with the nickname of [Taciturn Knight]. Right behind my back.

—That person himself (T/N: Crown Prince) should be the one who know the degree of my silence since my voice only reached that person's ears the most.

I was originally the third son from a Ducal's house and for me to attend the evening party as His Highness Alexie's escort, it could still be considered as a living h.e.l.l, however, since I was the Crown Prince's knight, I need to endure it. And using the escort duty as my excuse, I managed to steer off from those n.o.bles' ladies advances.

I did not understand why did these girls were flocking around me, this third son of the Duke who had already out of favor?

Although I do possessed honorable position as the knight serving the Crown Prince… however, I could not even be compared to the future Duke, Charles, in term of his eloquenceness.—Now that we talked about it, it seemed that these girls had always decided beforehand on the person that they wanted to surround with…… No, I should stop that thought. I somehow could not help but had a bad feeling about it.

I am not the kind of person who were capable of understanding others, unlike the kind of person the future Duke was.

The number of ladies around Prince Alexei could not be compared to the one that surrounded the future Duke and I. Apart from the ladies, it seemed that the parents had also decided to join in the fray. I felt like bowing down towards His Highness who did not show disgusted or tired expression and continued to properly maintain his dignity and aura befitting his status as ta Royalty….There was nothing left that needed to be improve.

His Highness was truly wonderful. I wanted to thanks my lucky star, again and again, for allowing me to serve this person.

The wave of people started to scatter around when His Highness excused himself to talk in private with the future Duke in the balcony. I descended down the courtyard, keeping a distance where I could not hear their voice but still kept their figure visible to my eyes.

I was cautious as I kept a lookout towards my surrounding for a while and before long, I came to notice a lady wearing a pale pink dress near the water fountain structure in the courtyard who was looking around with a worried expression on her face.

–I wonder if she lose her way?

It must not be so since her face appeared so forlorn, that I decided to approach her once I confirmed the safety of His Highness.

I was the type of person who could not abandon such stray cat alone. For some reason, it aroused my desire to protect such weak creature, was what in my mind.

That girl's sensor seemed to pick me up and I will never be able to forget my encounter with Lady Rachel ever again-

In Crown Prince's knight situation- [T/N: Author’s comment]

Taciturn, expressionless with large dog tendency * Despite the parental tendency, a romanticist with a pure heart. Sometimes, became too serious and turned slightly negative.

I was uninterested with the merit of female's appearance and body. I mean, the only woman that I had come into contact with were my own mother and the maids.

His preference was someone who was small and weak but actually strong in its core, he craved to protect the Heroine and will go full throttle for it, however, if he was not accustomed to that person yet, his face tended to get red. Yet, once he had set his heart on someone, this capture target will turn into the best heartwarming and bitter sweet route.

He had an amazing wild intuition though could also be slightly insensitive.

When the Heroine was surrounded by the other knights, his taciturn demeanor will collapse as he gave a completely sour look, making surrounding people poked fun at him in amus.e.m.e.nt as they watched over the heartwarming scene.

Once the knight was tied to heroine, he will resign from his position and married into her family as the son-in-law as the two of them succeed the Ducal's house.

Incidentally, due to his respect and affection to the Heroine, he will have pledged his royalty to the Crown Prince as his va.s.sal rather than a knight in the future.

His appearance couple with his [I am an awkward person] character's still image was quite popular among the game's fan.

—————-

In the case of the thief- (Thief’s POV)

Once I succeeded with this heist plan of mine, I am going to get married….Wait, why did I suddenly raise the death flag on myself! I still do not want to get married yet! I do not even have a lover! Besides that, this is an otome game! I haven't even met the heroine yet, I could not really finish it before it even started! Who is my beloved? Wait, rather than that why I am like this!!

–A~ Ahem, let's start anew.

Once I succeeded this heist plan of mine, I will stay low for a while, as I sold off the treasure, before withdrawing and settled in the countryside in another country.

If I managed to pull off this robbery within the castle compound, for sure those big wigs will launch a large-scale investigation on it. I will need to use the money that I had earned for the time being as I planned my escape.

Please wait for me! My long awaited countryside life!

I was the recently much discussed thief that had been causing alarm among the common people, the Red Wolf, also known as Sekiro. This name was originally came because of this line work of mine, one need to be self-reliant like a lone wolf, and apart from that, I also wore a full bodied black clothes with only my crimson eyes visible from it.

You unexpectedly thought that it was so simple, right? I also thought that too. Oh well, It was not like I was the one who started it, it has been just that those people in the city felt that my modus operandi was so deft that they regarded it as a legend, thus that name had taken root without my permission.

There was no indication of presence to be perceived, whereas the evidence was also clearly erased and the treasure end up being stolen without any trace.

That's all there was to it.

I was born in a hidden village, where thievery, was the main trade of my family. In this village which composed of people who were your [almost kin], everyone was trained in the heist techniques regardless of their age or gender. There was no exception.

The techniques were inherited from the elder of the family and through generations, the techniques were further improved. It was the kind of techniques that one need to polish by themselves and could not be easily imitated by others within this same profession. It seemed that these skills have been regarded as valuable by some of those dark merchant, that occasionally the village had been attacked by them, in hope to steal the secret.

Those techniques varied widely, from the simple and easy pickpocket techniques to a large scale mansion's heist.

The women in the village were forbidden from partic.i.p.ating in some of those high risk heist since they hold the most important roles in ensuring the continuity of the village's descendants— Though there were some exception-however, most of those big and high risk job was left to the men.

The elder of the village had discussed and decided on the overall plan and there will be a sole individual to perform it. Failure was not an option.

However, if I were to fail, my existence will be erased in order to ensure that our techniques will not be exposed to other…. I do not know much of a detail on that since I had never seen anyone failed their mission before.

Therefore, once a child from the village reach a certain age, they will undergo the trial of independence. I had been hailed the best one among the young generation, thus, I had been given this huge target which was the Royal Castle.

Once you become independent, you were no longer tied by the rule of the village and were allowed to go to the outside world.

Why do you ask? –That was for the sake of searching for your own partner.

Of course you could find one that from the village itself, as [the villager themselves have a higher understanding of the job, obviously] however, you could also bring your own partner from the outside world; provided, that they come at their own will and no kidnapping should occur. Moreover, if extremely vicious details were found out, you were more likely to be banished from the village.

Even if you do steal things, it was the law of the village that you should not kidnap people.

"It was unexpectedly easy that I could break into the castle. Does those guards monkeying around? Well, with that kind of flashy evening party, it could not be helped, I guess."

It was during the time when I was traversing from the normal pathway to the hidden pa.s.sage in the direction towards the treasure room that I heard something.

"Is there someone over there?"

I could hear a voice that mixed with both surprise and nervousness.

[This is bad….Did someone found me out? Sigh, it was a woman's voice…..]

The second law of the village indicated that no harm should be brought upon another person. Even if you end up wasting your time, you should never take another person's life- Of course, I, myself, do not have any desire to kill anyone, but, what should I do in order to keep her mouth shut? I suppressed my urge to scratch my head as I moved to look at the owner of the voice.

What I see in front of me was a beautiful woman in a crimson dress similar to the color of my eyes.

[It was the color of my eyes] was what I thought at that time.

–I want. I want to have this person!

From inside my body, I could feel my blood scalding as my crimson eyes got more and more p.r.o.nounced.

In thief situation- [T/N: Author’s comment]

That man was hailed from the clan of heist and was a rogue thief at the beginning, and rather than someone who seek the thrill, shock, and suspense. He was someone that gave you a sense of gentle and sweet romance. He had many fans as his disposition was different from the other capture targets.

The thief view which had been dyed by the Heroine was swayed between his sense of duty and the detestable thief policy. Despite that, the Heroine who had realized that she had been attracted to the thief at the first sight, decided to abandon everything, and follow him instead.

While both of them were on the run, the Heroine had put the knowledge that she had learned from the thief and followed him in his dangerous heist mission as she experienced not only the heart pounding dangerous situation but also heart pounding love story with the thief.

Eventually, they left that rigid village; and the thief who had washed his hand clean, decided to live calmly in the countryside in a distant town, as per what he originally intended to do so; they were also blessed with children and live happily ever after.

Somehow, the sensation that you feel from those villagers seemed to be like those of a vampire who did not possess the similar aura of a normal human but still looked human-like. Though it was only concerned to the atmosphere when they are in the village.

Q: Why did you want to leave the village and resides in the countryside?
A: The dishes that my mother made was terrible.

It was surely similar to those kind of feeling. From the outside, the appearance of that village was normal. Although it was known as hidden, it was more like a bunch of people who lived a little bit far off from the general population. So you did not really feel that there was an evil organization resided there. It could not be helped since this is an otome game.

—————-
What do you think?

This will surely close the curtain of their nonexistent story, however, for all we know, it might have been happening somewhere in the world.

I wished them as much happiness as possible if they existed somewhere else.
And for those who were here in this place, I also wished them as much happiness as possible.

 ¦  ¦