Chapter 19: The (Fake) Rebellious Daughter Appears

At 2:30 PM, after spending about one hour at Corelia’s place, Kane went to the kitchen to get a bite to eat, accompanied by Vita and Altina.

Or more accurately, he had been ordered to eat by Corelia.

The chefs and maids in the kitchen were startled to see the three of them arrive. However, after Kane explained the situation and the two women left, the staff eagerly prepared a late lunch for him.

In truth, the women had not wanted to leave. At least, Vita hadn’t.

Altina had only tagged along to see how Kane would behave toward the chefs and other servants. Once she confirmed that he was indeed more polite than Corelia, she prepared to depart, as she had her own administrative duties to handle.

Vita was a different story. Her situation was essentially the idle treatment Kane had previously dreamed of. It wasn’t that she had no duties, but rather that her tasks didn’t require daily attention and wouldn’t pile up if left alone.

Her responsibilities included organizing various royal banquets, receiving important foreign personnel, developing and promoting the nation’s music and culture, and serving as a special advisor to Corelia and Altina.

It sounded busy, but she didn’t handle everything herself; there were various professionals under her command who managed the specific work. Theoretically, hosting Kane, a distinguished guest of the Queen, was also part of her job.

However, Vita knew very well that constantly hovering over Kane would be counterproductive and only make him suspicious of her. So, after a brief moment of consideration, she decisively left with Altina.

Left behind, Kane borrowed the chefs’ lounge to eat a simple meal.

It would have been a hassle to carry a tray back to his room, so he figured a quick bite would suffice. Besides, he needed to save room for dinner.

Once he finished, Kane first expressed his apologies and thanks to the chefs and the rest of the staff for interrupting their rest, then left the kitchen with a steady, unhurried pace.

His polite and gentlemanly demeanor earned him high praise from the chefs and maids, who considered him the most likable guest to ever visit the palace.

While Kane appeared calm and poised on the outside, he was still brooding over the events of last night. He was merely pretending as if nothing had happened.

‘Actually, how could I possibly treat it as if nothing happened?’

He knew, of course, that someone had impersonated the Queen last night to mislead him and cause a scene. He knew… but whenever he saw Corelia’s ice-blue lipstick, which was the exact same shade as the one on his own body last night, he couldn’t help but make the connection.

As a result, while talking to Corelia, he had to focus intensely on not looking at the Queen’s tender lips, staring instead into her cold, frosty eyes.

Fortunately, once Vita and Altina joined the conversation, he had a legitimate reason to look away from Corelia. Otherwise, if he ended up getting an erection in front of her, it would be a total disaster.

Even if he was a prince from another world and essentially the same existence as Corelia — meaning she wouldn’t throw him in prison for Lèse-majesté — it would still be incredibly awkward at the very least.

Corelia was indeed a very charming woman. She possessed an icy temperament that rejected the approach of others, yet she had a seductive and gorgeous figure. While she was an arbitrary and dictatorial ruler, she also had the delicate and beautiful appearance of a soft woman.

Kane felt that if her status weren’t that of a Queen, he might have tried his luck.

But since she was the Queen, he preferred to keep a certain distance. Not only was the difficulty of “conquering” her likely at the highest tier, but even if he succeeded, he felt the future would be exhausting.

If the matter hadn’t involved the Queen, Kane certainly wouldn’t have approached Corelia of his own accord.

“…I don’t see her anywhere. Should I ask someone after all?”

The question then was, since Kane didn’t want to get close to Corelia, who was he looking for as he peered around the palace?

The answer, of course, was the Royal Sister, Vita.

It wasn’t for some disrespectful reason, like the sister being easier to “conquer” because the older sister was too difficult.

In Kane’s view, as Corelia’s younger half-sister, Vita should be very well-informed about the opposition faction against Corelia. Since she was the gender-swapped version of the second prince — who was seemingly frivolous but actually reliable in the original game — she would surely be able to help him.

Altina was busy, and Kane didn’t want Edwina to worry. Even by process of elimination, Kane had to find Vita.

Kane had thought that since Vita said she was idle, he would easily run into her in the palace. In reality, he couldn’t find her at all.

Eventually, Kane sought out the Head Maid, who seemed likely to know Vita’s whereabouts. He learned that Vita had left the palace and probably wouldn’t return until after dark.

Since it wasn’t particularly urgent, Kane didn’t plan to leave the palace to search for her in the city, so he temporarily gave up on his search.

He couldn’t help but think that the Head Maid was truly as capable as the shrewd old gentleman butler from the original game. In this world, she was a gender-swapped, efficient, and sharp elderly woman.

Even though Kane had only said he was looking for Vita, she seemed to have sensed something and asked if he was in trouble. It was as if she knew Kane was seeking Vita for help rather than for flirting or fun.

If Kane hadn’t been prepared, he might have actually exposed his intentions.

In any case, Kane spent a bit of effort successfully dealing with the Head Maid, then pretended to have nothing to do and toured the parts of the palace he hadn’t seen yesterday.

Around dinner time, Kane returned to his room and waited for the eye-catching maids to deliver his meal.

After dinner, Kane chatted with Edwina, who had come to visit him again, for about one hour. After seeing Edwina off, it was already 8:00 PM.

Gazing at the darkness outside the window, Kane’s face took on a heavy and serious expression that he never showed in front of others.

Earlier, to avoid making Edwina suspicious, Kane had tried his best to subtly ask for her opinions on the various nobles.

As expected, this world was extremely similar to the original game, yet also completely different. Ever since the original heroine mysteriously disappeared, this world had veered off into a development that Kane didn’t understand at all.

Due to Corelia’s pressure, there were no longer any nobles who were openly part of the opposition — at least, their acting was good enough to fool a Princess like Edwina.

However, because he knew the plot of the original game, Kane was still aware that there were indeed a few nobles who served as villains. They were his current suspects.

Even without a “God’s eye view” like Kane’s, the tragic prince in the original game had been a smart man and had sensed the existence of the opposition to some extent.

In that case, why did the Corelia of this world choose pressure over conciliation? Why use the self-deceiving method of making those opponents appear to be supporters on the surface?

The answer to this question might be related to the “Princesses” who didn’t exist in the original game — namely, Corelia’s adopted daughters.

If he kept thinking along those lines, there were too many possibilities, and even if he guessed the truth, he probably wouldn’t be able to prove it.

So, Kane decided to stop his pointless speculation and prepared to wash up and go to bed. He planned to feign sleep tonight to see if he could catch the woman who had impersonated the Queen yesterday.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

However, as the sound of knocking echoed, Kane knew he would have to host at least one more person before sleeping.

It was nothing; he had anticipated that this person might come.

“…Come in.”

When Kane responded, the person outside didn’t push the door open. Kane wasn’t sure if it was because his voice was too low for them to hear or for some other reason.

Since the person didn’t enter, Kane simply walked to the door and pulled it open himself.

There, he saw the “other daughter” he had heard about from others but was now meeting for the first time.

A beautiful young girl with long, flowing white twintails stood before him, wearing a modified armor-dress hybrid that looked like a blend of paladin gear and formal wear.

The moment she saw Kane, the girl first tilted her head up slightly to look at him, as he was quite a bit taller. But she quickly turned her head, looking at him out of the corner of her eye, before speaking in a provocative and cold tone.

“…Good evening, Mr. Big Liar. The moon is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?”