The Man’s 101st Bad Ending

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“There are things that cannot be reversed.”

When was it? When I had heard those words.

Now it was such an old memory that I couldn’t even remember the time, but it was a voice that still vividly came to mind.

Looking at the object held in Yuria’s hand, I was denying that it was me.

Saying why would I do that, that there was no way.

But the answer that came back was only too cold.

All I could do was be dragged away to receive ‘punishment’.

My feet dragging on the ground, my heels getting scraped, being dragged like that.

I think it happened not long after Mother passed away.

I denied the ridiculous accusation that I had tried to sell Mother’s keepsake, but no one took my side.

Yuria was already the Young Lady at that time, and I was just a boy who had lost his mother.

No one said that I was telling the truth.

No one at all.

Still, I tried to believe in people.

Mother always said that if I approached first, they too would change.

Wasn’t her last wish similar too?

To never give up on family, on people, on those around me.

There were a few more things, but it was certain that what I had heard then had a great influence on me.

Trust, hearing that word, I inadvertently laughed.

Had Yuria ever trusted me?

She should have known that I would not treat Mother’s keepsake like that.

Now that I think about it, I could see that I had put in quite a lot of effort without realizing it.

But why did she put in so much effort to exclude her young brother?

I realized later that Yuria had never thought of me as her brother in the first place.

Like the Taylor family’s motto, everyone was a competitor until becoming the family head.

So I was waiting for the reaction after the last incident.

How would Yuria react to my words that I would become the family head?

And what came to mind was my brief thought about this situation.

…There are things that cannot be reversed.

If I were to describe my relationship with Yuria like that, wouldn’t it be a truly fitting expression?

My gaze that had been blankly staring into the void was obscured for a moment.

After wiping my face with my hand for a moment, I soon let out a heavy sigh and rubbed my eyes.

Perhaps because I had a lot on my mind lately, I suddenly started worrying about this and that.

Before autumn came, I was content with just saving Arwen, but now I had to deal with directly facing the Crown Prince and Yuria, didn’t I?

And the Dead Dragon, although I didn’t have the luxury to take Arwen’s speculation at face value, it was true that it bothered me.

I had never considered the relationship between the Dead Dragon and the Crown Prince.

Naturally, it was because I had dismissed it as a completely absurd story.

But if it was related to the mural, the Temple of the Moon…now I needed to think about it a bit more seriously.

It was fortunate that I had already decided to go to the south.

If I didn’t go with the saint, even if I went to the south, I wouldn’t have been able to enter the Temple of the Moon.

Putting aside thoughts about that for now, the contact I was waiting for from the princess was a bit late.

It had already been a week since I met Arwen,

and during that time, except for completely mastering the investigation of the ducal estate’s servants alone at home, I hadn’t really done anything.

I had received some more information about the Crown Prince through Arwen, but in fact, I already knew all of it.

“I thought it would come soon.”

There was nothing special even when I checked the letters through Renold.

So I just fiddled with the artifact on my chest, but even that remained quiet, so it only drained my energy for nothing.

There was no way the Crown Prince wouldn’t react to that map.

I thought the Crown Prince would be intrigued the moment Miragen made the announcement.

Was my thought possibly wrong?

While I was thinking of another method, a strong vibration was felt from the artifact I was holding.

Zzzing- As I connected the mana flowing through my hand to the artifact, a voice soon came from the end of the long artifact.

As they say even a tiger comes when you talk about it, it was indeed Miragen’s voice.

-Have you been well? I originally intended to contact you a bit sooner, but I was a bit late because I was making a deal with the Duke.

“Are you referring to my father?”

-Yes, fortunately, it seems things will go well as Lord Robert wants. And there’s one more thing I want to tell you, but… it would be better to listen and judge whether this is good news or not.

Miragen was a bit uncomfortable with the Crown Prince, so what she would say was probably about the Crown Prince.

Miragen pondered for a moment and continued.

And what came out of her mouth was, as expected, exactly what I had anticipated.

-His Highness the Crown Prince wants to meet you, um. Can you come to the palace urgently?

“If it’s the palace, it seems he intends to see me directly.”

-If it’s burdensome, you don’t have to come. Sometimes he calls like this and forgets about it himself.

“No, I’ll go right away.”

-…Will you really come right away if I tell you to come like this?

“If it’s an order, I have to go, don’t I? If not, I’ll have to consider it a bit. As you know, I’m a bit busy these days.”

The princess grumbled that she felt miserable, but there was a more important fact than that.

The Crown Prince had called for me. Was this the first time in this life? But now it was the beginning.

My goal was to become the Crown Prince’s most loyal subject.

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It was almost evening now, but Father didn’t say anything about me riding a carriage towards the palace.

He seemed to have no intention of stopping any actions related to the imperial family.

It was a good thing for me.

Since I had to move frequently, if there were restrictions, it would cause various setbacks.

Despite passing through many gates to reach the palace, no one stopped me.

Even the guards immediately opened the gate upon hearing the name Taylor.

It seemed it was true that the Crown Prince had called for me.

I was wary of unexpected situations, but after glancing at the sword placed in the corner of the carriage, I took my eyes off it.

There was nothing special when I sensed the mana around me.

Well, it was unlikely that Miragen would play a strange prank on me at this point, but wasn’t it better to be wary of unexpected situations?

As I got off the carriage, I straightened my clothes.

My first meeting with the Crown Prince, although it was just a personal meeting, not an official one, it was better to give him a good impression.

“We will guide you.”

As I followed the knights who approached me towards the palace, I suddenly saw a woman far away.

I could immediately recognize her as her attire was not much different from last time.

Miragen, had she been waiting for me all this time?

As soon as she made eye contact with me, she strode over and dismissed the knights, then looked at me askance.

“You seem to have dressed up quite diligently.”

“Do I? I just came out as I always do.”

As she flipped her hair once, the scent on her hair began to spread thickly.

It was clear that she had come out with intention.

I didn’t know what aspect of our conversation last time she liked so much, but it became certain that her attention was focused on me through this action.

This had happened a few times before, so I wasn’t flustered and just quietly looked at Miragen.

She had put in quite a lot of effort in her own way, but to me, it was close to what I had always seen before.

It really meant nothing to me.

Perhaps she didn’t like my indifferent reaction,

Miragen tossed her hair a few times and then folded her arms and began to stare at me intently.

After pondering for a moment at that sight, I let out a small sigh and opened my mouth.

“…It suits you well. It’s the scent of lavender.”

“Right? Hmm, you’re not completely clueless after all. If you hadn’t said anything, I was going to say something.”

“Is that so?”

Miragen’s eyes that were looking at me widened slightly, then narrowed, showing a strange expression.

As if examining something about me, Miragen, who had been staring at my face for a while, smiled and distanced herself.

“I guess you have someone similar to me around you? Usually, people who talk to me are all surprised, so I was surprised that you weren’t that surprised.”

“Someone similar…”

It seemed my calm attitude was the problem.

Miragen’s personality was a bit light for a princess, so even people close to her mostly found it unexpected.

But I had been watching her for a very long time.

Perhaps there were parts she didn’t know, but I might know them.

So I wasn’t surprised.

After pondering what to answer, I just smiled slightly and replied.

“I did.”

“…Ah, that. I’m sorry.”

There was a lover from a very long time ago, Miragen, but she was gone now, wasn’t she?

But Miragen misunderstood something from that answer and bit her lip, then gently tapped my shoulder.

She seemed to have mistaken it for something else, looking embarrassed.

Should I correct her thought? But it wasn’t bad to see her feeling sorry like this, so I just left it.

Let’s say it was because I was upset that she didn’t contact me.

I was quite anxious, wondering if the contact would never come, so she should taste at least a fragment of that emotion.

Miragen, who said she would guide me and stayed by my side, remained silent for a moment and then opened her mouth.

She looked much better than before when she was apologizing.

“I guess the map you gave me wasn’t ordinary? His Highness the Crown Prince’s eyes widened so much when he saw it, even though knowing the location of the different races wouldn’t change anything.”

“Who knows? I’m going to talk about what His Highness the Crown Prince saw now. Don’t you know, Your Highness the Princess?”

“I’m not very knowledgeable about these things. Well, as you know, I’m not that extraordinary.”

A faint anguish was evident in her playful smiling face.

The power not being greatly distributed to her would always be a concern for Miragen at this time.

Even if her older brother became the emperor, it was a problem that there was no room for her to be active in the era that followed as long as she was of imperial blood.

In the previous run, I didn’t meet the princess, but before that, I used to give Miragen various help.

Because I judged that it would be helpful for me if her power grew.

What about in this life, if I helped Miragen’s power grow… would it be helpful to me?

I didn’t know what she would think of me after the Crown Prince died, but it was certain that Miragen had to be the next emperor.

As she had inherited the bloodline of the moon, any other legitimate heir besides her would only bring chaos.

As I was lost in thought, I called out to Miragen, who was walking ahead alone, and she tilted her head at me.

“Do you have something to say?”

“It would be good to continue to have interest in the northwest. Aren’t you doing a development project there now?”

“Oh, how did you know? I am doing it, but I’ll probably give up soon. I guess the Taylors were interested in that area.”

“I recommend you don’t give up on that. It will surely be helpful to you.”

The northwest was full of mines that produced terranite used to create artifacts.

Currently, the development had been temporarily suspended because the results were not coming out, but as soon as next year, terranite would explode in abundance.

It was advice I gave because I knew the future, but I didn’t know how much she would listen to it.

If she took it to heart, it would be a way to increase her power, and if not, wouldn’t she just keep declining?

Miragen, who had been listening to my words blankly for a moment, soon stared at me and muttered.

“Just now, you were concerned about me, right?”

“I wasn’t concerned. Since we’ve already joined hands, I just gave you a bit of advice-”

Miragen abruptly grabbed my hand and clasped her hands together.

It was quite burdensome the way her eyes sparkled as if she was moved.

I should have expected this reaction, but realizing it was a blunder, I smiled hollowly, and Miragen continued.

“Make sure to come see me next time. Okay?”

“As I said, I happen to be quite busy lately.”

“It’s an order, so just come. If that northwest thing really works out well, I’ll repay you. Understand?”

“……I understand. Should I come once more next time?”

I let out a sigh as she enthusiastically nodded her head.

Did I say that for nothing? I didn’t want to get excessive attention from her.

As I turned my back to head towards where the Crown Prince was again, Miragen added once more.

“Make sure to come, definitely. Don’t forget I said it was an order.”

She was still bothersome as always.

Well, if she changed, that would be even stranger.

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