Chapter 20 – Sleeping Prince ⑧
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On the night when Yukishiro went back to the residence of the Minatos, Aoi and Minami went to Lilith’s research facility, making use of Lilith’s permission. They intended to stand watch so Layla couldn’t get close to Yuuta.
Tonight, not only Yukishiro, but also Tomoe and Ayaka were absent. The two older women had gone to bed early, not taking part in guard duty, since they were scheduled to meet with Suzune tomorrow.
Aoi and Manami had positioned themselves in front of the deepest room of the research facility, where Yuuta was sleeping. As long as Layla wasn’t able to enter that place, everything would be fine.
Just as expected, Lyra arrived at the facility at 9 p.m., accompanied by Layla. The facility’s entrance door was opened through Lyra’s fingerprint. Layla did wonder just when Lyra’s fingerprint had been registered with the security system, but the most important question to her right now was whether she’d be able to meet Yuuta. Once the door opened, she tried to follow Lyra inside, but…
“Please wait a moment.”
A woman had been waiting for them at the entrance.
“Lyra-sama, feel free to go ahead. The caretaker over there, on the other hand, has to wait outside here.”
“Wh-!?”
This was the entrance area of the research facility, not the room where Yuuta was sleeping. Being told to wait outside the facility caused Layla to fly into a rage.
“Why!? I am Lyra-sama’s caretaker!”
“If she requires caretaking inside the facility, we will arrange for it from our side. Please wait out here, Layla-san.”
“Wh-…ah? You…”
Layla remembered the woman stopping her. At first, she thought she might be a staff member of the research facility, but she didn’t wear a staff member’s uniform. Besides, she looked way too young to be a staff member. After all, she seemed to be the same age as Layla.
While Layla tried to recall the woman, Lyra briskly walked inside. The woman didn’t hinder Lyra from proceeding.
“L-Lyra-sama!”
“Layla-san, please wait over here.”
“W-What’s it with you!? You…aren’t a staff member. I recall having seen you somewhere before…”
The woman greeted Layla, who couldn’t identify her, “We have had the pleasure of meeting once. Back then, we didn’t exchange a formal greeting. My name is Moe. I’m indirectly affiliated with Yuuta-sama. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“Aahh! You were present at the ball!” Layla remembered that the woman in front of her had danced with Yuuta on the third turn. “So you’re going to get in my way as well, huh?”
“Getting in your way…you say? Layla-san, you’re Lyra-sama’s caretaker, correct? We will take care of her inside the facility, so we will not get in your way. Rather, we are helping you with your job.”
“And why would you arbitrarily decide to take care of Lyra-sama!? That’s my duty!”
“Lyra-sama proceeded inside without saying anything about that. That means she doesn’t mind even if it’s not you who takes care of her, right?”
Layla’s annoyance spiked when she heard Moe’s words. But her position was indeed limited to being Lyra’s caretaker. Just as Moe had said, Layla had lost all reasoning when Lyra left her behind.
“Same as Manami-san, you’re Aoi-san’s little gofer, aren’t you?”
“…I am different from Manami-sama. There’s no way I could ever reach the same position as Manami-sama. Personally, I don’t care if you bark about me being a little gofer, but please stop insulting Manami-sama. Manami-sama is the person trusted the most by Aoi-sama.”
“Humph! No backbone, have you? And yet you’re a high woman! How about working hard so that you can go higher? Don’t you think you should try to secure Yuuta-sama’s love by stealing a march on Manami-san?”
For a moment, Moe felt dumbstruck by Layla’s words.
I see. I guess it’s natural since she doesn’t understand anything.
“There exists no reason for you to worry about me. All of us who belong to Yuuta-sama’s class are praying for the relationship between Yuuta-sama and Aoi-sama to go well first and foremost, and for the relationship between him and Manami-sama to go just as well second. Besides, I am no high woman.”
“Huh?”
Moe was no high woman; that unbelievable reply left Layla dumbstruck.
“You’re no high woman, you say…you…”
“I’m a common citizen.”
“Haaaah!?”
A status difference between high and common women existed in Nihon. But the status wasn’t set for life either. Even common women could be acknowledged as high women if they became the girlfriend or wife of a man and gave birth to his child. Likewise, high women could lose their status as high women if they failed to become the girlfriend or wife of a man.
The social statuses in the Mir Kingdom were royal and slave. A common citizen status, situated between the other two, didn’t exist. The only ones allowed to meet the men, who were allowed to run free, were the royals. The slaves were fated to be part of the workforce that supported society. If Layla had been removed from her status as royal due to her causing problems in Nihon, she’d become a slave. Not only would she become unable to meet men, but she’d also fall from being part of the ruling class, which meant she’d spend the rest of her life as a laborer.
Whether you could become a royal in Mir basically depended on your lineage. Slaves who were welcomed as royals after being recognized by the queen also existed, but such cases were extremely rare. Because they honored lineage, the royals sought to take men as partners who were born to royalty, resulting in a strong tendency for the blood of Mir royalty to run thick. The queen in particular possessed the thickest royal blood. If a royal gave birth to a boy by chance, that man was favored by the queen.
Mir solved the problems caused by the thickness of their blood using technologies from other countries. And because the technology of Nihon was regarded as the safest among all those technologies, the queen always desired Nihon’s technology. As compensation for the rare metals.
“A common citizen dares to talk back to a royal like me!?”
Layla knew that she wasn’t in Mir right now, but the common girl in front of her was the same as a slave according to the values ingrained in Layla. It was next to impossible for a slave to talk back to a royal in Mir.
“Yes. We’re in Nihon. You might be royalty in Mir, but here you’re a student just like me, Layla-san.”
“Y-You…”
Because she believed Moe to be a high woman, Layla didn’t mind Moe addressing her with a -san, but now that she knew about Moe being a commoner, she hated the idea of Moe calling her Layla-san.
“Move aside!”
“Do you think I will obey just because you tell me to? I’m here to prevent you from passing, Layla-san.”
“In the first place, why am I not allowed to pass!?”
“…How about you recall what you yourself have done? Do you think we would let you get close to Yuuta-sama while knowing about your past actions?”
“What!? It had nothing to do with you!”
“True, it wasn’t directly related to us. But your actions were unforgivable as a woman.”
Besides, Yukishiro-sama has become Yuuta-sama’s lover.
It still hadn’t been publicly announced that Yukishiro became Yuuta’s girlfriend. But once Yukishiro resolved the issues within Minato, it would become official.
“I cannot allow you to pass here. Please wait in this place for Lyra-sama to return.”
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Around the time when Moe had stopped Layla at the facility’s entrance, Lyra arrived in front of the room where Yuuta was sleeping. Aoi and Manami were there.
“Lyra-sama,” Aoi called out to the foreign royal with a calm voice, “You are a scientist specialized in the field of memories, is that right?”
“Mmh, that’s true.”
“It’s not necessarily true that we will find the reason for Yuuta-sama not waking up, even if we take Yuuta-sama to Mir and have you examine his memories, correct?”
“Correct. All I can do is take a look at his memory domain. This doesn’t guarantee that I will find out the reason why he’s remaining asleep.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
“But…as far as I have heard, the reason for him not waking up appears to be related to his memories in some way.”
“……”
Lyra entered the room with Yuuta. For an instant, Aoi and Manami caught a peek of him.
“If Yuuta-sama doesn’t wake up even after meeting with Suzune-san or if we don’t find out the reason for him not waking up…”
“Aoi-sama…”
“If we get Her Majesty the Queen to acknowledge the condition of us accompanying Yuuta-sama to Mir and us being present at his examination, I could even consider the option of taking him there, but…”
If these conditions, in addition to monitoring Layla in Nihon to make sure she wouldn’t return to Mir, were not met, Aoi wouldn’t want to take Yuuta to Mir. But if he didn’t wake up even after meeting Suzune, there would be nothing else left that they could do. If they didn’t get Lyra to examine his memory domain, their only option would be to wait for Yuuta to wake up naturally.
“…It’s rather noisy at the entrance.”
“Layla-san must be barking. Let’s go and help Moe-san.”
“Okay.”
Aoi and Manami started walking towards the entrance. As they got closer, Layla’s shouting became louder. She apparently let her fury run free on Moe.
“Layla-san.”
“Ugh! Even you people are here now!”
“It’s already late at night. Please don’t raise your voice like that.”
“It’s because you people aren’t letting me through!”
“Layla-san, you’re nothing more than Lyra-sama’s caretaker. You don’t even possess the right to enter Yuuta-sama’s room to begin with.”
“Are you saying you possess that right while I don’t!?”
“We don’t possess it either. Last night, we were simply allowed to enter that room to help with Lilith-san’s examinations.”
The appearance of Aoi, Layla’s target of pure hatred, triggered her agitation to grow even worse.
“If Yuuta-sama doesn’t wake up, you will take him to Mir, won’t you!? Do you think it’s smart to treat me, a royal of Mir, like that!?”
“Smart or dumb doesn’t matter here. Yuuta-sama is completely unrelated to you, Layla-san. Even in the unlikely event of us taking Yuuta-sama to Mir, it will only happen after we receive official permission from Her Majesty the Queen.”
“Ugh….I-I won’t allow it…”
No matter what Layla was trying to say, Aoi’s words were right. But now that Layla’s mind had started to go crazy, the rightfulness of Aoi’s words didn’t matter anymore. She was completely convinced that she should be wed to Yuuta, and thus didn’t stop her loathing towards Aoi and her friends.
I won’t allow it! I won’t allow it! I won’t allow it! Yuuta-sama and I should be joined in marriage! These people…these people are just getting in my way!
Some time later, Layla left the place together with Lyra, who had come out, while looking at Aoi, Manami, and Moe with eyes full of contempt.
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