She thought she would probably never meet a young elf who hadn’t had a coming-of-age ceremony, but she nodded for now.
“Anyway, I can’t let you harass my subordinates. No matter how disobedient they may be, they are still my subordinates. But this tribe continues to harass people. A few days ago, a villager was kidnapped by this tribe. If it continues like this, we will have no choice but to use force.”
After saying that, the elf child who had been thinking for a while with a pained expression suddenly raised his head as if he had a good idea and said.
“Then you guys help me with my coming of age ceremony. Then we can all live in peace!”
“Huh?”
“When I become an adult, my subordinates will also listen to me, and since I love peace, I will not allow my subordinates to go anywhere where humans live. Don’t you think it’s a much easier way than killing them randomly? Besides, In fact, you don’t want to kill someone of a different race, right? Because you seem like a good guy.”
“…”
The elf child said while looking at the prince. The crown prince clicked his tongue and looked away as if he was annoyed.
“Why would I do such a troublesome thing?”
In response to the prince’s answer, the elf child said with a bright smile.
“If you don’t help me, I’m going to tell her the name of the girl you like.”
The prince’s body trembled at the elf child’s words.
“There is nothing like that.”
The crown prince spoke in a somewhat cold tone, hiding his obvious agitation. Then the elf child, who was smiling brightly, suddenly hardened his expression and spoke. The atmosphere suddenly changed, as if it was a miracle that he had been smiling all this time. The child said, looking into his deep, dark eyes as if reading her prince’s inner thoughts.
“Your feelings are too terrible and dirty to be called affection. Your mind will change dozens of times a day to hatred and resentment. But what is certain is that, whether you acknowledge it or not, you still have a faint feeling of love for the other person. It is not affection. I think the word love-hate would be more appropriate than that. It would be better not to let people around you know your true feelings. Everyone will be wary of you.”
When the crown prince heard those words, his face turned pale. It was the reaction of someone who heard something they couldn’t stand. It seemed like the elf’s words about being able to read people’s minds were true. As he told her a secret in a language that only the two of them could understand, she got bored and just listened to the elf’s words with one ear and ignored them with the other.
‘Hmm. I don’t know why, but the elf child was only hostile to the crown prince.’
Could it be that he still has some resentment left over from the crown prince throwing him away earlier? She said, lightly placing her hand on one of the shoulders of the Crown Prince, who was still standing there in shock.
“It’s okay. Just tell me the name of the girl you like.”
“What?”
When she asked why he was embarrassed about something like that, the crown prince looked like he couldn’t understand.
“Because I won’t tell anyone.”
She told him to trust her, but the crown prince just looked at her with a complicated face.
“But how can I help you with your coming-of-age ceremony?”
Until now, she didn’t know because of his young appearance, but it turned out that he was about 200 years older than her, so she asked him politely.
“Before I say anything, promise to help me.”
“We will help you in any way we can.”
The elf child looked at them with eyes full of distrust. Especially the crown prince. The crown prince turned his head away from the elf child and said nothing. It seemed like he no longer wanted to have his inner thoughts read. She nodded his head on his behalf and gave a positive answer, and only then did the elf child open his mouth.
“Then Serabi, please marry me!”
“Okay, I will.”
“What?!”
The only person who was surprised by her answer was the crown prince. The crown prince quickly turned his head towards her, expressing doubt, and for a moment his face appeared blank. At her answer that she would marry him, which she said without a second of hesitation, the elf child held her hand and jumped up with a bright expression as if she was happy. The crown prince looked at them with a rapt expression for a moment, then finally seemed to come to his senses and separated them.
He urgently blocked her path and said:
“Are you out of your mind? Are you going to get married? In a place like this? Suddenly? With this race you met for the first time today?”
“Yes.”
When she simply answered all the frantic questions, the crown prince looked at her blankly for a moment as if he had been hit by a septum, and then spoke in a stern voice.
“No way.”
She said she was going to get married, but why on earth did the crown prince stop her? And if you think about it, she was the one who should be angry, but somehow the crown prince seemed even more angry. But the crown prince had no reason to stop her marriage. He was not her family nor her friend. Strictly speaking, the crown prince and she were strangers. The crown prince may know this well, but he did not break his will to stop her marriage.
She felt a little annoyed and spoke to the crown prince as if she were annoyed.
“What does it matter to you, Raven?”
“Because you made me…!”
The crown prince, who was about to answer boldly, stopped speaking as if his throat was blocked. Perhaps the crown prince was trying to say something back, saying, ‘You like me,’ but he closed his mouth. No matter how much everyone knew that Princess Seravi was infatuated with the crown prince, he seemed embarrassed to say it with his own words. The crown prince stared at her for a while with his red face, then stroked his hair in annoyance and said,
“Oh, anyway, if it doesn’t work out, it’s not possible. It’s not like you’re saying you’re going to get married because you really love him!”
She had a blank expression for a moment because the prince’s words were astounding. Marriage should be with the person you love? From what she remembered, most nobles in this world had arranged marriages. The number of people who got married for love could be counted on one hand. But she had no idea that the crown prince, who was no one else, would have such romantic thoughts.
When she looked at him with those eyes, the crown prince looked a little self-destructive. However, he seemed to have no intention of going back on his words. Prince Raven was surprisingly a romanticist.
She nodded and added new information. Come to think of it, he said there was a girl he liked. Was this also an extension of that story from earlier? Since he was a prince that became a crown prince, he would naturally have no choice but to think about an arranged marriage. However, if he liked someone enough to want to marry her, it was not unreasonable for him to support love marriage. Well, no matter who he liked now, the crown prince would end up with the elf queen anyway. It’s just a lightly passing feeling anyway.
“I think that marrying this elf will resolve this situation in the most peaceful way.”
“That’s right. That’s the most peaceful way. And Serabi, you want to marry me, right?”
The elf child hugged her waist tightly and looked up with bright eyes and said so. It seemed like he already knew that he would look cute if he did this. He lived for 229 years, so of course he knows he’s cute. And he was shrewd enough to take advantage of that fact. Thinking about it that way, she realized that the elf child’s sparkling appearance didn’t look as pretty as before.
If it were her before she knew the child’s true intentions, she would probably have answered ‘yes’ as if she were possessed. SheI answered, stroking the child’s head as if she were treating her mischievous little brother.
“I don’t really want to do it, but there’s nothing I can’t do.”
At her answer, the elf child closed his mouth that had been talking non-stop and looked up at her with strange eyes. The elf child looked at her as if observing her. In the meantime, the crown prince intervened and spoke.
“You know what kind of guy that guy is, so you’re just arbitrarily marrying him? You don’t even know his name!”
“That’s not important. I just have to figure it out from now on.”
She lightly grabbed the face of the elf child who was staring at her and made eye contact with him. As she just said, she was planning to find out the name of the elf child from now on. As soon as her hand touched him, she felt the elf child suddenly stiffen. He’s been carelessly touching her so far, but now he’s reluctant to have others touch him.
“What’s your name?”
“…My name is…”
The elf child, who had kept his mouth shut for a while and looked at her purple eyes as if fascinated, was finally about to open his mouth, when a loud ‘bang’ sound came from where the crown prince was standing. The elf child and she were startled and looked towards that place.
“Serabi, please talk to me.”
There was a tree there that had been broken in two by the crown prince’s kick. It seemed like he kicked it to change the mood, or perhaps out of anger. The tone of his voice when he called her name was soft, but his tone was so vicious that she almost thought he had just spewed murderous words at her.
She was nervous and swallowed dry saliva. The crown prince who brought her to the lakeside where there was no sign of any living thing turned to her and said with an angry expression on his face. He said he couldn’t understand it.
“What on earth are you thinking?”
“…”
She was more curious about the crown prince’s intention to ruin her marriage…
“Don’t be fooled by appearances. At first glance, he may seem like a beautiful human being, but because he is human, something dangerous can happen. You want to marry someone of a different race? That easily? Besides, people of this race never leave the forest in their lifetime. If you marry that guy, you too will end up in the forest. You would rot for the rest of your life. Not being able to see your family or friends! But what the hell, you, Serabi!”
The crown prince was so frustrated that he couldn’t bear to continue talking and swallowed it inside himself. The prince’s breathing had suddenly become rough as he continued to speak in an indifferent manner. After listening to his story, she decided to get married and quickly explained the superficial reason to the crown prince.
“…Elves are a race that loves peace more than anyone else. Even if I get married, something like what you think will probably not happen. And they say that if me and that elf get married, all the different races that ran rampant in the village without knowing anything about it will quiet down. A peaceful solution. It’s more than enough. This is my chance to subdue this tribe, Raven, without shedding a single drop of blood.”
The crown prince, who had been talking more and more, opened his mouth in a trembling voice.
“Are you telling me… that I’m going to sell you out to a different race now?”
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Translator Note:
Actually I started reading this story some years ago and when the translation was dropped, well, I forgot about it but now I find it quite fun so thank you for suggesting it ^^
I will now take a week to rest so let me wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, because next time you read a new post of this story will be on 2024 and with me as translator of course 😉
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on January, 7.
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thank you for the translation and your hard work♥︎ I had been looking for this story for a while but i had only found it translated up to chapter 15 and the last update had been made in 2019,I was thinking of giving up on this story but you started translating and i was happy to find it here
Hohoho how interesting indeed…
This Prince is a closet masochist! He secretly enjoyed being fawned upon by FL. But he was conflicted. Love hate indeed. Or maybe he just pretended to hate it in front of others. Or perhaps self denial.