4 – The Two Princes

“…What a relief. It was almost not just your heart, but your body that was hurt.”
She was experiencing too many things for the first time at once. There was not even a moment of respite to get over the excitement and panic in order to calm her mind. Because a beautiful voice rang from above.

…Huh? Who is that?

Behind Monica, to the right, a slender young man was standing.

—-Kyaaaaa!!

If this was her old world, there would have been high-pitched screams. There was no doubt about that.
There would even be women who fainted. It was a fact.

The kind-looking man had long blonde hair that was tied together against his shoulder.
And he had ice-blue eyes that suited his features well.

…Yes. A prince.

It wasn’t his physical appearance that brought me to this conclusion, okay?
His clothes, the way he talked. Everything about him was different.
On top of that, it was the way he stood.

…Yes. Definitely a prince.

“First of all, I am called Chuzel Gran Valtar. I am terribly sorry about what my foolish younger brother did to you, and how late I was in realizing it.”
The beautiful youth said with a bow of his head.
Then he grabbed the head of Prince Egidils, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and made him bow deeply as well.
“…Oh, uh…”
The fool looked like he objected to this, but due to the sincerity of Prince Chuzel’s apology, she was able to accept it.
“Now, you apologize as well, Egidils.”
The name would have caused her to bite her tongue, but Prince Chuzel said it smoothly and then poked his brother’s head.
“…I…am…so…rry!”
He clearly did not like this, and only glanced towards her as he spat the words.

…Eh?

Rina was about to growl at him, but managed to swallow it back.
But, what else could he expect?
She didn’t know what a Saint was, but they had been the ones to call her here. And she had a bad feeling that there was no way to send her back.
And yet, not only was his apology lacking in sincerity, but he still looked down on her.
How was that an apology?

…Knock!!

A fist came down on the fool, who also went by Prince Egidils.

“…Ouch!!”
“…What was that apology!! …Egidils. Do you have any idea what you have done!?”

…Yes.
It had taken this long, but someone here had a rational opinion.
Pig. Fat. Saint. Summon. After all this senseless talk, she had been left alone.
But here there was finally someone who understood.

“…What I did? I did it for this country!!”

—Bonk!!

Once again, a fist came down over the head of Prince Egidils, who still believed that he had done the right thing.
“…Ouch!! What are you doing!?”

–Bonk!!

And then another.

…Yes. This old brother was surprisingly merciless.

It must have hurt pretty bad, as Prince Egidils was now teary eyed.

“…Now you listen to me. …What you did, was to rely on some ancient, dubious document, and then perform a very complex magic summoning. And by doing so, you have caused great trouble for this person.”
“…But!! …Trouble… But this country is…”
“…So you still don’t understand!!”

—Bonk!!

I had now lost count of how many fists had fallen.

Woah. Rina found herself looking away.
That was a lot of power from such slender arms. She could almost feel the pain if she watched.

“Yes, perhaps you did summon her for the benefit of this country. However, from her point of view, you are nothing but an abductor. Do you realize that?”
“…!!”
Prince Egidils was aghast.
It did seem like his brother’s words had finally gotten through to him.
Perhaps he had no doubts that what he had done was for his country.
However, that was just his own personal view.
For Rina, it was simply an abduction.

“…Once again, I apologize for what my foolish brother did. I promise you that a thorough investigation will be conducted, and everyone involved in the summoning will be punished as is fitting.”
He said with a smile….no. It was cool smile.

—Shudder.

…Huh?
What was this. A chill like she had never felt before.

Yes, it made sense to punish people for committing the crime of abduction.
…However, she instinctively knew from Prince Chouzel’s smile that this was not going to be her idea of ‘fitting.’

…This was someone who you did not want to cross.
Right then, in my heart, I muttered my condolences to the abductors who I did not know.

I Decided to Become a Cook at the Royal Palace!