Chapter 13 – Sleeping Prince ②
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Aoi and the other girls decided to take Yuuta to a hospital located close to the research facility of the geneticist Lilith. It would take around three hours by car to move there.
Yuuta’s calm snoring could be heard within the special large vehicle which had been equipped with various medical devices. Aoi, Yukishiro, and Manami were riding the car together with Yuuta. Tomoe and Ayaka were following them in a smaller car while exchanging detailed information on the class trip.
“I wonder just what happened there.”
Hearing Tomoe’s recount of the events, Ayaka couldn’t fathom what had triggered Yuuta to suddenly fall unconscious. There was absolutely no mention of that incident and even when she asked about the situation leading up to it, Yuuta had simply been enjoying his class trip.
He received birthday congratulations from everyone and became lovers with Yukishiro. And although he had accompanied Yukishiro to the meeting with Saori afterwards, he didn’t participate and never talked with Yukishiro’s mother. After he came back from it, he had some fun interactions with the girls. Only when he watched the fireworks display, he started to look unwell, before fainting.
They had set a schedule that took the burden on Yuuta into account, but maybe he had accumulated exhaustion without even himself being aware of it. But, if it was mere exhaustion, he wouldn’t remain unconscious for more than a week.
Once they arrived at the hospital, they moved Yuuta to a private sickroom and settled in. A short while after Aoi’s group had arrived at the hospital, Nanase and Boss visited the facility as well. Nanase showed up before Boss, informing Yukishiro of the progress in the talks with Minato.
“We have finalized the general framework. All that’s left now is to iron out the details.”
“Thank you very much.”
“The remaining problem would be to get Saori-sama to accept you becoming the next family head as second wife of Yuuta-sama, I suppose.”
“Yes…”
“It’s fine. I’m sure Yuuta-sama will be able to wake up again,” Nanase encouraged Yukishiro who looked clearly devastated.
Thinking of herself as being the only person capable of brightening up the dark atmosphere, Nanase directed those words not only at Yukishiro, but also Aoi and Manami. She had no basis for her words, but it cheered up the girls at least a bit.
“I’d like to schedule the second meeting with Saori-sama during August, but I think it’d be best to do so after Yuuta-sama wakes up.”
In response, Yukishiro tightly clenched her fan and said with a strong conviction, “I would be delighted if you could proceed with the meeting as originally planned.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I would prefer to tell Yuuta-sama that all problems have been resolved when he wakes up.”
“I see… Okay. We will adjust the date for the meeting with Saori-sama depending on the state of our preparations then.”
“Please do.”
When Nanase finished her conversation with Yukishiro, Boss showed up at the hospital. All those concerned gathered in the room right next to Yuuta’s sickroom.
Back when Yukishiro heard about Yuuta’s memory manipulation, she wasn’t all that surprised because she had also heard that the boss of Dreamseducers was the vice-prime minister of Nihon.
Quickly finishing the greetings, Boss basically started to speak as soon as she arrived.
“I think you have already heard about it from Ayaka-san, but we would like to examine Yuuta-sama at Lilith-san’s research facility. I also strongly requested that you would be allowed to be present during the examination, but it didn’t change the answer.”
Even after coming this far, the girls couldn’t hide their anxiety and disappointment upon Boss’s words. Nanase spoke up in response.
“Lilith-san belongs to Dreamseducers, correct?”
“Yes.”
“However, she doesn’t obey the orders of her boss.”
“I have received permission to disclose information about this from the prime minister, so I will tell you. Lilith-san belongs to our organization because she was referred to us by the prime minister.”
“The prime minister…”
“Lilith-san possesses strong connections to some of the high officials, including the prime minister. As such, she won’t necessarily follow my instructions.”
The fact that the instructions of Boss were unable to make Lilith obey caused the girls to be even more worried.
“But, that also means everything she told you has no credibility,” Nanase asserted strongly.
She had been building a friendly relationship with Dreamseducers, but that didn’t mean she believed everything the organization said or did. Especially when it comes to Yuuta.
“The prime minister is aware of the current situation. Lilith-san has been instructed by her to examine Yuuta-sama.”
“Under the condition that his memory wouldn’t be manipulated again?”
“Yes. In the first place, we cannot perform a second memory manipulation. The prime minister told Lilith-san to examine Yuuta-sama and do her best to wake him up. There is absolutely no reason for you to be anxious about any of this, I was told by the prime minister.”
“I see.”
“Here you have the corresponding letter.”
Even though those were the words of Nihon’s prime minister, they had no way of knowing whether she was telling the truth. Nanase looked at the letter, allowing her to assess it as a genuine, signed letter of the prime minister. Then again, there would be no end to jumping at shadows, if she considered it even possible for this letter to have been forged.
If Nanase could voice her honest wish, it’d be to directly meet the prime minister and Lilith and witness how the minister ordered Lilith in front of them. But, that would be far too rude towards the prime minister of Nihon.
Although Yuuta was a valuable existence for the country, he was no more than one man. The ones ending up troubled if they made excessive demands and got rejected would be Aoi and the other girls. To begin with, you could label Lilith’s examination of Yuuta as an act of kindness by the state. They were the ones begging for help here.
“Aoi-san, what are you going to do?”
“……”
Nanase asked Aoi to make the final call.
“We will have…Lilith-san examine Yuuta-sama.”
“Okay. We will move him to Lilith-san’s research facility tomorrow then. Is it alright for us to carry out the transport?”
“Yes. Lilith-san contacted me that she has no problem with meeting you on that occasion. How about you? Would you like to speak with her?”
“Yes! Please.”
“Very well. I will arrange it.”
Afterwards Boss and Nanase put their heads together, exchanging information about Yuuta. Everyone present felt the same. They wanted Yuuta to wake up without a hitch.
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The high-ranking royals from Mir, who had visited Nihon for the talks with Nihon’s government, had been staying in a hotel located not too far from the hospital where Yuuta was stationed. And Layla and Sayla were also staying in that hotel to take care of the royals and their retinue.
The negotiations with Nihon were mostly wrapped up during last night’s meeting. The failure of creating an Old World man was an undoubtable fact since Lyra had confirmed it herself.
Presently Nihon seemed to possess genetic engineering techniques that were far more sophisticated than the technology they provided to Mir. Still, they got Lilith to promise that she’d personally examine Her Majesty the Queen. Lyra expected that the queen would be able to come to terms with this compromise for the time being.
One could see Nihon’s Institute of Genetics from this hotel. And the same also applied to Lilith’s research facility.
Given that the inspection of Nihon’s top-secret project by Lyra was of utmost importance for Mir, they had booked this hotel near the Institute of Genetics.
“How about a little sightseeing tour? After all, there is no reason to go back right away.”
The royals had told Sayla to prepare everything for their return to Mir since they had finished the negotiations with Mir, so Sayla had no problem with making such an insincere suggestion. In reality, she wished nothing more than them scurrying back to their home country as quickly as possible, but because she was in a precarious situation with Nihon having dirt on her and daughter, Sayla had no choice but to smile and pretend that she cared.
Layla wasn’t able to fake her expressions as well as her mother. She couldn’t conceal her happiness over the royals, who had used her like a maid, soon being gone.
“I feel like being choked whenever I’m in this country. Please hurry up and get everything ready,” ordered a woman, who had been one of the negotiators, while looking down at Sayla and Layla.
Mother and daughter had been dispatched to this place, which she described as choking. Moreover, she was the mastermind behind the extension of their stay here in order to investigate Nihon’s top-secret project.
Sayla and Layla were both fuming in rage.
“Ah, which reminds me, you don’t have to investigate Nihon’s top-secret project anymore either. Return to your original duties.”
“T-That’s…”
“Do you understand?”
“……As you command.”
After bowing their heads respectfully, mother and daughter began to prepare the return of the royals.
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However, on the next day, the woman, who always wore her hood and was called Lyra, summoned Sayla. Thinking that it might be something troublesome, Sayla got her daughter to tag along as well. Layla obeyed while complaining as usual why she had to do this.
“Good morning, Your highness.”
“Postpone my return to Mir.”
“Eh?”
Sayla and Layla doubted their ears when they suddenly heard this statement.
“Postpone…your return…you said?”
“So I did.”
“A-As you wish. Is it only going to be you, Lyra-sama?”
“Yes.”
“When are you going to return to Mir?”
Wanting her to go back quickly, Sayla asked Lyra when she’d head back instead of how long she was planning to stay.
“I will stay until my business is finished here. I don’t know when I will head back.”
“What is that business?”
“It’s unrelated to you two.”
“O-Okay. T-Then I’m g-going to attach my d-daughter Layla to you during your stay. If there’s anything you want, please instruct Layla.”
“Huh!?”
“Understood.”
Sayla presented her daughter to Lyra and excused herself by saying that she had to prepare the return trip of the other royals, just to quickly leave the room. On the way she signaled Layla with her eyes to follow Lyra’s orders.
Layla, on the other hand, was quite pissed at her mother’s instruction, but if she didn’t take care of Lyra, she’d need to take care of the other royals, so it wouldn’t change anything for her. Believing that her mother would help with the care-taking of Lyra once the other royals left, she quelled her anger.
“Do you want to drink something?”
“Please bring me a coffee.”
“As you wish.”
Since she wouldn’t have anything better to do either way, Layla brewed a coffee for Lyra. Meanwhile Lyra continuously stared out of the window at the research facility.
Once she placed the finished coffee on the table, Layla also looked at the research facility, asking, “Do you see anything of interest over there?”
“Yeah, something interesting is happening, I suppose.”
Lyra drank the coffee Layla made for her.
“That’s a really bad coffee.”
“Ugh, please forgive me.”
“Hunting for men must be difficult over here. If there’s nothing to do, you should at least make sure to be able to brew a good coffee.”
“I-I shall work on it.”
Lyra recalled that the lass in front of her had used an aphrodisiac that’s banned in Nihon while drinking the nasty coffee.
“Ah, come to think of it, you were the one who owned that aphrodisiac, weren’t you?”
“Yes…please forgive me.”
“In that case, I guess you were able to hunt men over here. How were the men of Nihon?”
As she couldn’t find any signs of Lyra blaming her, Layla started to slowly explain. How she enjoyed Takuya and the men gathered through Takuya. And how Monica and Emily were having sex with Takuya.
“Hoooh, that is quite interesting, indeed.”
“Interesting?”
“Yeah. I would like to meet those two and ask them what drew them to that Takuya guy.”
“Should I call them over?”
Layla hoped she could push the care-taking of Lyra onto Emily and Monica.
“No, that’s unnecessary. Let them spend their time with that man for now. I can ask them after they get back to Mir.”
“O-Okay.”
“You weren’t drawn to a man from Nihon?”
“I-I…”
Layla blushed in response to Lyra’s question.
“You had no interest in that Takuya guy, right?”
“True. I have no interest in him.”
“Another man then, huh? Why didn’t you seduce that man?”
“I still didn’t know that person when I seduced Takuya.”
“You didn’t know him?”
“Correct. He had always been staying at home due to an incident in the first year of junior high school. Because of that, I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know him.”
“Hoh. And you’re now attracted to that shut-in?”
“It seems like he recovered from his state towards the end of the third year and started to actively do Service Activities. I met him for the first time during last year’s dance ball.”
“It’s rare to fall for a man you meet for the first time.”
“Yes! He was different from all the men I ‘ve seen thus far! For a man to be so considerate of women…”
“Oh, he’s considerate towards women?”
“Yes. Not only that…”
For Lyra this was probably a way to kill some time. After all, she had decided to take action at night. On the other hand, Layla enjoyed being able to talk about the ideal version of Yuuta she had created in her mind, resulting in her yapping about all sorts of things without being asked. Her tales were mixed with a lot of fictional content. Still, Aoi was always the villain in Layla’s stories.
“I see. The first one to use the Succubus Suit, which brought a lot of change to Nihon within one year, was the man called Yuuta, right?”
“That’s right…it was Yuuta-sama.”
Layla was angry at Lyra using Yuuta’s name without any honorifics. She was likely shouting at Lyra in her mind, telling her to not be so rude at her Yuuta-sama.
At some point, without knowing for how long she had talked to Lyra, Layla suddenly looked at the research facility by chance.
“Hmm?”
She saw several cars leaving the facility. And one of those cars was awfully big.
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Translation Notes: