Chapter 50 – Episode 50. Night Market (2)
“… How are you here?”
“To change my mood, I came out to look around the night market. What did His Highness do?”
“I’m just here to change my mood.”
‘This guy of mine.’
Leopold gnashed his teeth inwardly. It must have been something the chamberlain had planned. Otherwise, on this day, in this place, at this time, could there ever be a chance to meet Astrid?
“It’s a coincidence. I also came out for a while at Ashley’s invitation, but I didn’t expect to meet Your Highness like this.”
Wasn’t it something the chamberlain had planned? The Astrid that Leopold knows doesn’t lie like this. Even when she was in a play, she was clumsy and showed off quickly, but the current Astrid didn’t show anything like that at all.
“This is also a coincidence, so why don’t we look back together?”
He mustered up some courage. Leopold questioned whether this was correct even as he said it. I even left a word not to visit Astrid like that, but I wondered if it was right to recommend that we look around together because we met at a night market like this.
“You do.”
The specialty of the night market was, of course, food.
“This is a squid.”
“Know.”
In Persant located inland, fish was a precious food ingredient. Although it is difficult to eat and difficult to find in normal times, it was not too boring to find it today at this night market.
Of course, the price range was not the same, but it was fortunate that Leopold and Astrid were both people who lacked nothing at all financially.
At the stalls, there were squid on skewers coated with butter and grilled over charcoal.
‘Does it taste the same?’
Astrid bought two without hesitation. Originally, he liked squid, but since he came here, he hadn’t had a chance to try it, so he bought two to eat as much as he wanted.
“Thank you. I should have bought it.”
“… Yes? Ah yes… Yes, please.”
Astrid hesitated a little before handing out a squid skewer to Leopold. If the two of you pick up one by one and take a bite, the chewy body of the squid soaks up the rich flavor of the butter…
‘It’s tasteless.’
It wasn’t the taste I knew.
She just bought two.
I could have bought one and shared it with Leopold.
Originally, Astrid herself intended to eat both of them, but somehow, she gave them to Leopold, and after taking a bite of the leftover, I don’t like the taste.
“Come to think of it, doesn’t Ashley give it away?”
“Ah, that’s right. Ashley, my sister took a bite of this, but you eat it.”
“Uh, can I?”
Astrid held out the skewer she was holding to Ashley.
The taste wasn’t particularly to my liking, and I didn’t even want to force myself to eat it.
Astrid is so small-mouthed that even if he ate one bite, he wouldn’t be noticed.
Ashley stretched out his hand to catch the squid skewer, but there was a hand that came faster than the hand and snatched the squid skewer.
“… Majesty?”
“Mine hasn’t taken a bite yet. Eat this, Ashley. What Astrid ate… “
Leopold’s gaze turned to the squid skewer.
To be precise, he headed for the small traces of Astrid’s bite.
“I will eat.”
“Uh… Your Highness, that’s what I ate. Can I buy another one?”
“No, this is fine.”
Leopold took a bite, trying to prove that he was right.
‘… What’s wrong with the Crown Prince eating what the would-be Crown Princess used to eat?’
Thinking that to himself, Leopold chewed on the squid.
It was tasteless.
【Hey. You really.】
‘Why again? What?’
【You really… You act like a fox as if you are breathing. It’s almost like a fox turned into a human.]
‘Why are you fighting again!?’
【… Really, it’s respectable.]
The real Astrid who suddenly quarrels again.
She gets annoyed with her for making strange noises out of nowhere.
‘What on earth are you complaining about?’
【No, I didn’t mean that in that sense.】
‘Then what is it?’
【Talk to you later, later.】
The real Astrid, with a strangely weak voice.
Astrid was subtly concerned by her languid voice. But she said she was concerned and there was nothing she could do about it, so she said yes to her request to talk about it later.
“Sister, look over there.”
“Hmm?”
Ashley pointed to a small tent at her fingertips. People were crowded around it, too, but if you look closely, you can see that people are not gathered in the tent, but in the dart throwing corner in front of it.
“Isn’t that a dart?”
“Oh, I wasn’t talking about that… Would you like to see that anyway? Jeon… No, my brother-in-law goes too.”
Ashley laughed lightly and pulled Astrid by the wrist.
Astrid was dragged by her hand as if flying, and Leopold followed her, looking disapprovingly at her wrist.
“How do you do this?”
The owner of the dart throwing corner froze for a moment at the sudden appearance of the giant.
“Where did the salesman go? How do you do this?”
“Ah.”
It was only then that the host smiled awkwardly when he realized that he was a guest. After all, a guest is a guest.
“It’s 1 silver for 10 of these darts, and if you throw 10 darts and hit a prize, we’ll give you that prize. Where can you try it? On top of that, he looks like his girlfriend next to him, but he looks good… “
“No girlfriend.”
As if showing off, Leopold slipped between Astrid’s wrist and Ashley’s hand holding her wrist.
“Oh.”
While Astrid was slightly startled, Leopold wrapped his hand around Astrid’s waist.
“This is my fiancee.”
“Oh, is that so? Excuse me. Haha.”
With the owner’s awkward smile, the two plates were placed side by side in front of Ashley and Leopold.
On the plate were placed ten darts each.
‘This must be a scam.’
Astrid had seen this a few times. Of course, it was not the current world, but the original world, but it wasn’t that I hadn’t been to an amusement park like this, so of course I knew.
In addition, he naturally knew that if it was a simple corner like throwing a dart, he would not be able to reach it properly because there was a very, very fine net hanging in front of it.
‘Are you stupid to burn 2 silver there?’
【Cow, hands… Your Highness’ hand… 】
They were released at some point now, but earlier, apparently, Leopold had hugged Astrid around the waist, saying that he was his fiancée. The feeling was still there, and Astrid wasn’t very impressed with him, but she didn’t seem to be the real Astrid.
【I’m sure.】
‘What?’
【I want you much more than I do.】
‘Is that a compliment or a curse?’
【It’s a compliment. You’re saying the obvious. You don’t know such a special compliment.]
‘… I think I know why you had no friends.’
Seeing that such things are called compliments, it would not be a lie to say that he was not sociable.
When he sighed at the real Astrid’s absurd remark and looked ahead, Ashley’s third dart was already missing.
If you look closely, there doesn’t seem to be anything like a net. However, no matter how well Ashley aimed and threw the dart, the dart would fly to the wrong place.
And now, five darts missed like that already.
“I… No, you… “
The title was ambiguous, so I just said you, but Leopold didn’t seem to care.
There are now four darts left on the plate. Leopold and Ashley were in a similar situation.
“No, I threw it properly, but why is it flying over there! Isn’t this a scam?!”
As Ashley’s face flushed red, her face looked like a date. With such a blushing face, Ashley frantically glared at her master, and the master shook her head while her face turned white, diligently shaking her hand.
“It can’t be! Absolutely not a scam! It’s true!”
Even though such a commotion was going on right next to him, Leopold didn’t seem particularly concerned.
If you pick up one of the remaining four darts and throw it moderately, the dart will undoubtedly fly to the wrong place.
“Hmm. I get it roughly.”
Then he touched his chin for a moment.
“Astrid.”
“Yes, I… You.”
“Is there something you want?”
【That one, that one.】
‘How would you know if I said that?’
【Third from the bottom, second from the right!】
The shelves are stacked in several layers so that you can throw darts at them, and products are displayed in a row on each layer.
A white leopard doll was placed where Astrid was talking, and Astrid seemed to like it.
【I love that!】
I guess so. Since his nickname is also the white leopard of the snowfield, he would like to have a white leopard doll like that.
“That one. Third column from the bottom, second from the right.”
“Ah, you mean that leopard doll.”
“Yes.”
“… Hmm.”
Leopold looked at Astrid for a moment as he picked up the dart.
“… Why, why do you look at me like that?”
“No, nothing.”
Leopold picked up the dart and squinted one of his eyes as if estimating the direction along with the distance.
“I just thought it was you.”
Then, the dart was thrown from his hand.
“It’s a bit bigger than it looks.”
“Iknow, right.”
The leopard doll was a bit bigger than I thought.
The dart seemed to fly in the wrong direction as soon as it escaped from Leopold’s hand, and at one point it flew and changed its trajectory and hit the leopard doll.
“Look at that. It’s a scam after all.”
“It’s called a trick, Ashley. Wouldn’t it be easy for a business owner to go bankrupt if he did business as he did?”
“But isn’t the trick a scam?”
“It’s entertainment, entertainment. That’s a level that everyone understands.”
【That bastard never thinks of bad things. Our Highness is all right.]
‘Your brother… ‘
But the leopard doll liked Astrid too. I didn’t know it well at first glance, but when I received it and hugged it, it was soft and fluffy.
【Who’s calling you? Calm down.]
‘Huh?’
When I came to my senses, it was the tent near the dart throwing corner I had seen before.
Inside the tent was a purple crystal ball, and in front of it stood a tall woman wearing a hood.
“Oh my, what is this? Are you meeting the soon-to-be-married girl in a place like this?”
‘It’s a bit awkward to say something.’
【It doesn’t matter! You’re getting married soon!]
‘Wait a minute!’
Seeing things like that is pure fraud… For a moment, Astrid walked towards her reluctantly, forced, really forced, by the real Astrid running her rampage in her head.
“Did you tell me what you said?”
“Yes, lady. That’s right. From what I can see, the young lady is going to get married soon. Why don’t you look at the dot for a moment? I’m with you… Even a noble person wearing a wig.”
At first glance, Leopold’s black hair wig didn’t show at all.
It was a wig that the hairdressers at the imperial palace had put a lot of effort into, but it wasn’t something that would stand out like this.
“It’s just interesting.”
Leopold also seemed a bit curious.
“Then, I will look around some more. Sister, will you be here?”
“Yes, go.”
Astrid and Leopold were fortune-telling, but Ashley was sitting next to them. Ashley was well aware of that, so she moved away quickly, and Astrid and Leopold followed the guidance of the fortuneteller and entered the tent.
“Come on, sit across from there. Who do you want to see?”
“Here, look at my fiancée.”
“Maybe?”
【You said fiancee, fiancée! Oh my God, what should I do!]
‘You’re my fiancée… Calm down… ‘
Haven’t broken up yet
So, the fiancee status is correct.
But seeing that she liked it that much, I wondered how much Astrid liked Leopold.
“Ruler… Put your hand on this crystal ball, and I’ll let you do the divination… Huh?”
Before he could finish his words, Astrid placed her right hand on the crystal ball. The thunderbolts that had been swirling like lightning in the crystal ball began to rush to the surface that Astrid’s hand touched in an instant, and a puzzled light appeared on the face of the fortuneteller who had been looking into something for a while.
‘Is it strange? What?’
The fortune teller, of course, knew that this month was the month of Gemini. Being a Gemini, today was also the day when the energy was much stronger than usual. When it’s easy for twins to see the future more clearly or see two different paths.
‘Why do two fates overlap?’
Obviously, Astrid in front of me was only one. However, two destinies overlapped for this one person. Obviously not twins, but two destinies.
Moreover, this bizarre figure where destinies that had been separated from each other merged into one and coexisted.
Veracien, who was disguised as a fortune teller, was also a fate he had never seen before.
‘… It’s strange. What is it? There was nothing like this in the demon realm. How… ?’
Should I just hand it over?
Should I find out more?
Veracien pondered for a moment. But she was too short on information to find out more now. In the meantime, she had observed Astrid constantly, but that was only for interest, and in many ways it was not good to delve into strange points in earnest like now.
“Well, then… For the sake of compatibility, the lady, take his hand away, and the man, please raise your hand.”
When she said it was for the sake of compatibility, she turned her gaze from Astrid, who had a small smile on her blushing face, to Leopold.
Leopold put his hand on the crystal ball with an expressionless face, and Veracien couldn’t help but be surprised again.
“… The man, uh… Ear, are you a noble?”
“It is.”
“Why is that?”
Astrid, completely unaware that the fortune teller in front of her was Vera Shien, looked at her with her puzzled face. Leopold also didn’t say anything, but he had a puzzled look on his face.
“No… “
What was surprising was Veracien.
Now Leopold, in his destiny, saw two of his wives.
There is definitely only one Astrid sitting side by side right now, but there are two of them in sight.
“My wife… Are there two?”
“What, what?”
Confused Leopold.
The fact that he had two wives was embarrassing even to him.
Although monogamy is universal, polygamy is not prohibited. It’s not uncommon to have an afterword, but it wasn’t common either.
However, even his father, Kreuz, did not remarry, so since the emperor has been doing so, other nobles are also maintaining monogamy.
In that situation, when the crown prince himself said that he had two wives, even Leopold couldn’t help but panic.
And here, another one was perplexed.
【What?! This is pure quack… No, no. Akemilla, there are two other cheeky bitches besides her… !]
“Furthermore… Both silver haired… Ego… “
【… Silver hair?]
‘…’
【Hey, hey! Say something!]
But Astrid couldn’t answer anything.
The one who shocked her the most at this moment must have been her.
“A child… That’s seven… ? Three from one wife… Four from another wife… No, what is this… ?”
【Poem, even seven children?!】
Things started to get weirder and weirder.
‘… You have two wives. There are others besides us… ?’
* The illustration above has nothing to do with the future development of the content and does not imply any content.
