The door to the office was originally closed. As a room reserved for the Queen, the soundproofing should have been relatively good, even if it wasn’t top-tier.
However, the two people inside could still vaguely hear a spirited greeting.
“Hi there! Good afternoon, Your Majesty, and Your Majesty from another world. I’ve come to pester you!”
In the entire palace, the only person who would dare to use such a cheerful and flippant voice in front of the Queen was her younger sister, Vita.
Realizing her sister had come uninvited, Corellia’s lips, which were about to open, pressed back together.
When she finally did speak, her words were entirely different from what she had intended to say.
“…Is that you, Vita? Come in.”
Logically, Corellia should have needed to raise her volume for the person outside to hear, but Kane, standing right beside her, didn’t feel like it was much louder than her usual voice.
Kane thought for a moment; it was likely because Corellia’s voice had more natural resonance.
Moreover, Corellia probably didn’t intend for the other person to hear her perfectly clearly; letting them catch a faint sound was enough.
Shortly after Corellia’s voice trailed off, Vita’s sunny, cheerful face appeared before Kane, alongside Altina’s cold and calm countenance.
Seeing that Kane was indeed with Corellia, Vita’s blood-red eyes seemed to grow even brighter, as cheerful and sunny as the smile on her face.
On the other hand, though it might have been an illusion, Altina seemed even colder than usual. After seeing Kane and Corellia, she immediately bowed to apologize for her failure to stop Vita from shouting in the hallway.
“…My deepest apologies, Your Majesty. I failed to restrain Lady Vita’s actions.”
“No, no, no! This was my own fault. It has nothing to do with little Altina. If you want to punish someone, just punishing me is enough. Sorry, Your Majesty, I got a little too excited.”
Seeing how serious Altina was being, Vita sobered up slightly. She followed Altina’s lead, bowing her head to apologize to the two people in the room.
Kane, deciding he shouldn’t be the one to speak here, turned his gaze back to Corellia, waiting for her reaction.
What else could Corellia say? It wasn’t a major issue, and her sister had already bowed her head in apology.
“…Raise your heads, both of you.”
Corellia was unwilling to speak even a single extra word. She simply offered a brief forgiveness for their lapse.
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you for your magnanimity, Your Majesty.”
The two of them raised their heads like proper subjects.
This small matter seemed to have passed.
Next came the real business. Specifically, the question of why Vita was so excited.
“…So, Vita, do you have some business with Kane and me?”
Corellia focused her icy gaze on her younger half-sister, inquiring about the reason for the visit.
“Oh, it’s nothing major. I just wanted to see with my own eyes if a ‘Majesty from another world’ actually existed. Wow, now that I’ve seen him, I’m convinced! So it really was the other-world Majesty chatting with me yesterday. I half-suspected Your Majesty was playing a prank on me by transforming into a man~”
Vita, who hadn’t been serious for long, saw that her sister wasn’t angry and immediately returned to her usual casual attitude. She walked into the room with a bright smile.
Her words didn’t elicit any special reaction from Corellia or Altina, who had followed her in and closed the door.
These two cold beauties of different styles almost always kept a frozen expression.
Instead, it was Kane, the only “normal” person, who wore a look between a smile and a grimace.
“So you didn’t believe what I said yesterday? Please. Putting me aside, Corellia isn’t so bored that she’d deliberately turn into the opposite sex just to play pranks on people.”
Kane’s remark seemed like a very ordinary jab.
However, his reaction exposed the fact that he was already calling Corellia by her name.
This caused a flicker of surprise in Vita’s heart. After all, until now, there hadn’t been a single person who dared to call the Queen by her name.
It was clear that to the Queen, Kane—her other-world self—was indeed special.
Surprise was one thing, but as a sister living in the shadow of her brilliant sibling, Vita had long ago learned how to keep her expressions off her face.
She merely laughed with an embarrassed air, her face lit with a vulnerable smile devoid of any gloom or hostility.
“Sorry, sorry~ Before seeing the two of you existing at the same time, I’d rather believe Her Majesty used some special magic to turn into a man than believe in the whole ‘another world’ thing~”
“I hope you won’t laugh at me, but even seeing it with my own eyes, I find it hard to believe. To think there’s really an alternate world that is so similar yet so different.”
“Ah, but you two really do make a good match. As expected of my sister—excellent whether as a woman or a man. I’m sure our late father would be very pleased~”
The silver-tongued Vita was like warm spring sunlight entering the room.
She quickly heated up the atmosphere, making it much more relaxed than the vibe when Kane and Corellia were alone together.
Her words seemed to radiate admiration for Corellia.
This was similar to how the second prince felt about the tragic prince in the original story, so Kane didn’t find it offensive.
However, he felt that the phrase ‘you two make a good match’ was a bit strange. Everything else she said implied that in her eyes, Kane and Corellia were the same person.
Why did she suddenly separate them here?
…Whatever, it wasn’t a big deal. Vita probably just had a slip of the tongue.
— Of course, it wasn’t a slip of the tongue. Vita was intentionally reminding them: even if you are the same person, you are ultimately two separate individuals.
One should never underestimate the power of such nuances in wording.
Used enough, they would eventually influence someone through a process of osmosis.
Vita’s goal was to make Corellia realize that Kane was not just another ‘self,’ but also a ‘man.’
Otherwise, it would be difficult for her to launch her ‘revenge’ against these two.
“…You are right, Vita. It is a relief that the one who came to this world was my other-world self and not yours. Just thinking about a male version of you gives me a headache. That ‘you’ would surely shamelessly hit on any woman he saw.”
Unlike Kane, who had a subtle expression, Corellia showed no sign of joy or displeasure.
She merely offered an alternative hypothesis in an icy tone that sounded more like a stranger than a family member.
This made Vita extremely irritated. After all, this high-and-mighty attitude was exactly what she hated about Corellia.
Naturally, even if she was fuming inside, Vita—who currently had no way to retaliate—only gave a forced, bright laugh.
“Oh, stop it, my dear sister~ You make it sound like I’d go up to any man I see. I haven’t approached a single man on my own… ah, well, if we count the other-world sister, then there is one, but that shouldn’t count, right? Right, little Altina~?”
“…Please do not drag me into the conversation, Lady Vita.”
Altina had been intentionally lowering her presence, her only goal being to silently observe which of the three royals before her was most fit to be King.
In the end, the over-enthusiastic younger sister had tossed the topic to her with that harmless-looking, bright smile.
Feeling speechless, Altina immediately closed her eyes. She flatly refused to join the conversation, acting as if she didn’t even know Vita.
To her, such things didn’t matter. She only cared about who was most suitable to be the King of this country. And right now, it was obvious that compared to these sisters—who were polar opposites in personality yet each had their own issues—Prince Kane from the other world seemed much more suitable.
“Whoa, how cold~ Sister… no, Brother should believe his cute sister’s words, right?~”
Although Altina’s attitude wasn’t much better, Altina and Vita weren’t blood-related, and people didn’t constantly compare them. Thus, while Vita didn’t particularly like the cold-faced Altina, she didn’t despise her anywhere near as much as she did Corellia.
Ignoring Altina’s cold shoulder, Vita looked at Kane with an intentionally “moe” expression.
“Eh? Me? Oh, well, I suppose so. Vita is probably different from that guy William.”
Facing the tall, busty, black-haired beauty who was intentionally acting cute and youthful, Kane could only offer an awkward but polite smile, trying to explain to Corellia that the two weren’t the same.
It could be said that Kane and Corellia’s attitudes were markedly different.
‘Tch, how nauseating. He probably doesn’t care about me either, just like that woman. Acting like such a good person—it’s disgusting in a completely different way.’
Even so, Vita’s evaluation of Kane was no different from her evaluation of Corellia.
Since she believed Kane was just Corellia, she viewed anything Kane said as posturing.
To crave a sister’s attention and love, yet to be filled with suspicion regarding it—this was the true face of the Princess Vita: bright on the outside, but dark and twisted within.
Without a doubt, she was a very troublesome and stubborn woman.
At the same time, if such a person ever discovered that she truly was loved… well, she would likely become even more troublesome.
***
There were actually five comments! I was browsing videos but hurried to write another chapter. Since I haven’t slept yet, it still counts as today. I’ll continue tomorrow.