The Lady is a Stalker

They said it would take three days to walk back to the duke’s residence. That meant she would end up wasting more than half of my remaining vacation time. But if she could borrow the power of the dragon, she would be able to return home quickly.

 

She said, urging the prince to proceed quickly with the story.

 

“Anyway, let’s quickly settle the matter that brought us here. There’s something I’d like to ask you, so let’s talk first. And it would be great if you could use Adriana’s power to help me return to the duchy in one go.”

 

At her words, the crown prince looked down slightly at the red dragon who was leaning on his arm.

 

“…Will you do me a favor?”

 

Looking at the dragon’s eyes, which seemed to have already completely fallen in love with the crown prince, it was a question with no meaning. The dragon slapped its tail in response to the prince’s request. They said it was a proud species, but it looked just like a puppy. For some reason, the crown prince’s eyebrows furrowed as if he was in trouble.

 

“…Okay, thank you. It looks like the story will be long, so why not change into a way where conversation is possible.”

 

The red dragon, who was thinking about something, nodded his head. At the prince’s request, it seemed like he was trying to polymorph into a human form that could speak the same language.

 

Dragon’s Polymorph. In the novel, all polymorph dragons were described as beautiful, and she was secretly looking forward to what they would look like in reality. The human figure that reappeared a moment later had an oddly familiar face. Adriana appeared in a female form, perhaps because she was conscious of the crown prince’s gender. Well, she was a beauty… but she had long silver hair that reached down to her waist, and serene purple eyes that didn’t waver an inch.

 

…She looked strangely similar to Serabi.

 

While she was thinking that, the dragon spoke for the first time.

 

“I think you like this.”

 

“…”

 

The voice was surprisingly quiet and mellow. However, it sounded awkward, as if she was imitating someone’s vocal chords. She tilted her head. It’s a tone of voice she had heard many times before. In the novel, Adriana was not the type to use that kind of language.

 

The prince’s face turned bright red at the dragon’s words. Then, for some reason, he became restless and looked at Serabi.

 

‘Hmm, now that I think about it, it is said that the dragon’s eyes have the power to see through a person’s inner self. So, does that mean that Adriana’s polymorphic appearance is ‘according to the taste of the prince?’

 

She took a close look at the dragon’s polymorphed human form. Shining silver hair, almost the color of pure white snowflakes, and quiet purple eyes with unknown depth, combined with long eyelashes, gave a mysterious feeling. From her pure white skin to the attractive spots under her eyes that keep attracting attention. She was such a beauty that it was difficult to take your eyes off her.

 

‘Sometimes young people have high eyesight.’

 

Well, once you reach the position of crown prince, no one will criticize you for having high standards. However, the crown prince was somehow embarrassed, like someone who had been caught cheating. As a perfectionist, the crown prince seemed to think it was a shame that his ideal type was discovered. Having high eyesight was just a personal preference, and it’s not something to be ashamed of… She too had been told that she had extremely high eyesight for a long time.

 

She expressed her honest impressions upon seeing the dragon that had been polymorphed to reflect the prince’s tastes.

 

“You have very high eyesight.”

 

The crown prince looked at her with a puzzled look on his face at her words.

 

“…”

 

He didn’t say anything for a while, as if his head was overloaded, and then he spoke in a dumbfounded voice.

 

“Is this self-praise?”

 

She looked at the crown prince with the intention of saying something strange. The term self-praise was probably not the right word to use in times like this. How could it be that she seemed to be conceited when she said that she had high regard for the crown prince? The crown prince asked her again, as she did not understand the question.

 

“I guess there are no mirrors in the workshop?”

 

“…There is.”

 

If it was a mirror, I would look at it every morning. However, the crown prince may not really be asking her about the presence or absence of the duke’s mirror. While she was struggling to understand the meaning of his words, the crown prince sighed and said.

 

“…no. It’s okay if you don’t know.”

 

The crown prince seemed somewhat relieved, but at the same time he seemed disappointed. Anyway, she was glad she didn’t have to worry about it. She erased what she was thinking about the crown prince’s words just now.

 

She told the crown prince to encourage him not to blame himself like that.

 

“Don’t be too shy. In fact, I’ve often been told that I have very high eyesight. If it’s the same price, it’s called a scarlet skirt. Isn’t it natural that the one with the prettier face is better?”

 

The crown prince, who was pondering the meaning of her words, blushed brightly and said,

 

“S-don’t praise me so openly! Anyway, you’re too honest…”

 

He spoke to her as if he were angry, but she could tell he was embarrassed. It seemed like the corners of his mouth were slightly raised. This was one of the charms of the store that was kept secret as she couldn’t understand his thoughts… To be honest this was the first time she had heard such an evaluation in her life. And she had never once praised the crown prince. She just said that he had high taste, but why did he like it so much? She didn’t know what the crown prince was thinking, but she decided to leave it alone since it would soon quiet down again.

 

At that time, their eyes met the dragon that was staring at them. The dragon was looking at them with strange eyes. What was that feeling in those eyes… pity? Sympathy? None of them were emotions that could be felt when looking at them now. Why was that lizard suddenly looking at her with pity?

 

She asked the dragon.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I don’t know why you two are together. To me, it looks like they should never be together.”

 

“What?”

 

“…”

 

An interrogative question burst out from the crown prince. She didn’t say anything, just narrowed her eyes and waited for the dragon’s mouth to open. Adriana crossed her arms with an arrogant expression and looked down at Serabi. Polymorph Adriana’s purple dragon eyes were shining strangely as if they were looking right through her.

 

“Let me make a prophecy in the name of the red dragon Adriana. If you don’t want to die the most gruesome death in this world, you had better run away quickly. The child over there will one day cut off your head and kill you, and your body will be fed to the beasts in the wilderness. He will kill you and hang your head in the square to serve as an example to the people.”

 

“…”

 

The crown prince became thoughtful after hearing the dragon’s confident prophecy, but she showed no reaction. Because it was something she already knew.

 

The prince came to his senses and stood in front of her with a nervous expression, blocking her view from the dragon. He looked at the dragon with anger-filled eyes and spoke in a voice that was holding back his kill intent.

 

“If you say one more word of nonsense, I won’t let you go.”

 

Perhaps the crown prince thought she was hurt by the dragon’s words. Well, if someone were to say, ‘You will soon be separated from your head and body and die a cruel death,’ the average person would feel as if they had been cursed. But because she knew the ending, there was nothing she could do other than get hurt. 

 

Everything the dragon saw was true. What he was saying was exactly the same as the ending of the novel. Elf children, dragons, and all beings with special abilities were all predicting that one day the crown prince would kill Serabi.

 

‘…It’s not like I didn’t think about it at least once.’

 

Maybe the crown prince wouldn’t kill her. To be honest, she felt a little closer to the crown prince these days, so she thought that if she continued like this and peacefully submitted her resignation in a month, she might be able to avoid a terrible ending. Wasn’t there a saying that destiny was something you discover? But she only found out after hearing the dragon’s prophecy.

 

The future didn’t change.

 

Her shoulders were slumping, feeling somewhat empty, when the dragon opened his mouth once again. The dragon’s prophecy did not end there. Adriana said, looking straight at the prince who blocked her path.

 

“And you will fall into mania and brutally massacre the people and practice tyranny. Having destroyed everything, you will eventually become disillusioned with the world and try to kill yourself, but due to your innate ability, you will live alone, pitifully unable to die.”

 

…? The story behind it was something she had never heard before. Would he go crazy after killing her? The crown prince? In the novel, the crown prince, who overcame all the trials and adversities and married the elf queen, became a saint, ruled his people with love, and lived happily and well. It would have ended with a typical happy ending. Why did the crown prince suddenly fall into mania, brutally slaughter his people, commit tyranny, and destroy the world?

 

…It certainly seemed like something had changed significantly, but she couldn’t tell if it’s good or bad. In the original, it would have been a happy ending if only she had died, but now the people were brutally massacred because of her death, and they had to worry about the existence of this world. Suddenly the scale changed drastically. Contrary to her shock, the crown prince did not react in any way even when he heard that he would later fall into mania and exterminate his people. He was at peace, as if he were just listening to the story.

 

As for the dragon’s example, the crown prince answered in silence.

 

“So what.”

 

It seemed like the prince’s character had changed drastically… If it were the original novel, his personality had become so chic that it would have been criticized as a character breakdown. Even though he is told that he is going to destroy the world, he has a face that says ‘that could happen’. Even though they said that if they didn’t move away from each other as soon as possible, something big would happen, the crown prince wasn’t even listening. There was no way she could be that important to the crown prince. Was it because he didn’t like listening to what other people say? Well, she could count on one hand the number of times the crown prince had ever taken orders from someone in his family.

 

—————————————————————

Translator Note: