The Kingdom of Everlasting Night and the Last Ball Translation

2.3 The Kingdom of Everlasting Night and the Prince’s Fiancée

In that world, magic resided in everything. However, if the magic zone was too low, it wouldn’t last. There were very few places where the land itself was sparse of magic.

The Fashitar Kingdom was a land where people who couldn’t thrive on land abundant with magic had gathered.

While only the people of the Fashitar could live in that land, Fashitar itself wasn’t comfortable enough of a living environment for those with high magical prowess.

As a result of both essential and unreasonable pretexts meshed together, the Kingdom of Fashitar was safe from invasion. The kingdom continued to belong to the Royal Family who ruled the kingdom ever since its founding.

…but that’s also how the people came forget about the King of the Night who dwells in the forest.

A crackling came from the fireplace—moisture in the wood that hadn’t completely dried caused the noise.

In short, it wasn’t good firewood. Fortunately for whoever prepared it, the owner of the room was no longer the fiancée of the First Prince.

Yet, Ricardo frowned and muttered that he shall order the person to deliver properly dried firewood later.

“Certainly, what exists between us isn’t the love between man and woman… that’s why I instead said that I couldn’t fulfil my promise. I’m your family, I’m close to you. From now on, this place shall remain as your house.”

“What a handful of Prince you are. It’s up to me to decide whether or not that is necessary. I may look like this, but I’m smart enough to resort to tears—that is, if things get more troublesome. That way, I wonder if Lord Ricardo could still forsake me.”

“Indeed, that kind of thinking isn’t wrong.”

Ricardo, who said so with a serious expression, was lying. He put up with her really well, this fiancé of her.

In the aftermath of the civil war, the Duke of Gillasfi had few friends.

Albeit the kingdom wasn’t invaded, trade with the neighboring kingdoms became unprofitable due to the unstable situation.

Prince Ricardo was 16 years old when Dia lost her family.

Five years ago, the Prince’s little brother was blessed with children, and the succession of the throne was no longer a thing of concern.

The Prince himself, who would become king in the future, had to wait this long to get married—all because Dia was too young at that time.

For the sake of giving the little Duke’s daughter peace of mind, he acted more like her brother. Out of kindness, he risked to be her fiancé.

Although the age of adulthood in this kingdom was 17, Dia became terribly ill after her coming of age. As such, he had to wait for another year.

It resulted in him meeting his soul mate when Dia was 18 years old.

…if there had been no such accident, I might have married Ricardo long ago…

What a twist of fate it was, she thought.

Despite that, Dia could no nothing. She also had no particular objection regarding the annulment of her engagement, especially considering his gesture.

Either way, Dia would soon die.

Therefore, if she acted like she never cared about the engagement, for even a short while, would she be able to give Ricardo a peace of mind?

Ricardo hesitated a little and smiled, patting her head as if she was a child.

“…Dia, you’re still our family. Will you rely on us, as always, without any hesitation? No matter what kind of troubles, you can come to us right away.”

Before leaving, Ricardo suddenly uttered so.

Is that so?

Dia recalled that day she went to the ball held by the Royal Family with her parents. That day, she danced with the stunning Prince. It was as if the scene itself belonged to a picture book.

That day, the little Dia fell in love with the Prince whom had patted her head in a whim.

The very next day, Dia’s family was killed.

Because she thought the Prince had come to visit her, hence the magnificent Order of the Knights, she couldn’t contain her excitement. She pretended to be a maid just so she could be the first to see him. That was the very reason she opened the front gate while in a disguise.

“…do I appear to be holding back?”

“Very. You act like a greedy person, but sometimes, I notice how far away you seem to be. When I saw you looking like that, I couldn’t help but worry about how much you’re giving up without ever asking for anything in return.”

Well…

Those words were a little unexpected.

It turned out that her fiancé was looking out for her more than she thought.

Still, Ricardo had failed to realize the most important thing.

“Lord Ricardo, thank you for putting up with me until now.”

“From now on, I’ll still be your relative. I would be glad if you don’t forget that.”

Dia smiled and nodded—albeit in her heart, she wasn’t affirming.

Ricardo and Dia, who were no longer engaged, would no longer meet like before.

Furthermore, if Ricardo had a new fiancée, it was only natural for him to distance himself out of consideration for both girls’ feelings.

Ricardo hadn’t yet realize that this casual statement of his would also become their parting words for life.

You also don’t know that I’m aware you’re planning to kill me…

On the night of Ricardo’s birthday, the day after Evemeria, at the grand royal ball, Dia was supposed to commit suicide due to heartbreak.

Ricardo probably still wasn’t aware that Dia had found out about the plan.

Until the end, she didn’t want him to be aware.

She was grateful that she found an excuse to keep her distance from him.

When the door closed and Ricardo left the violet wing with guards waiting outside the room, Dia exhaled and raised her eyebrows—a behavior unbefitting of a proper lady.

Inhaling in disappointment and loneliness, her chest hurt—it was as if it were pierced by countless shards of fog crystals.

The back of her eyes became warm, but Dia couldn’t bear to cry there.

Dia, who had lived as the fiancée of the First Prince in the Royal Palace without anything under her name, had also lost her protection.

It was all about what you could be and couldn’t be without. Those that you could be without should be gotten rid of.

At some point in life, everyone had to decide what they needed and what they didn’t need.

…that’s right, Lord Ricardo still doesn’t know yet—how selfish, how greedy, and how cowardly I am.

Dia had very few possessions.

She didn’t want to wallow in misery anymore, she also didn’t want to be scared.

She felt irritated by the unreasonable treatment. She wasn’t as calm as a person as they expected. She wanted those who had done terrible things to her to also suffer a terrible punishment.

She wanted to have good nights of sleep, she wanted to eat delicious, warm, food, at the very least for the remaining of her days.

“…but.”

Still, if only one of her wishes would be granted.

She would even bet her life on it. It might be worth the try.

What am I supposed to feel on day like this? What should I say?

Staring at the window with such thoughts, she saw a beautiful, dark blue, cape swaying in the wind.

The owner of the cape also noticed her stare and looked back—his purple eyes were so bright, they glowed in the dark. Under the jet-black sky, his smile was brilliant.

The biggest reason why Ricardo had to kill Dia stood there.


***T/N: Augh, I hope you can somehow find happiness, Dia! If not, teleport to my dimension, there might not be too much things here, but we can enjoy Asshole Prince Getting Owned story together and there’s also some snacks, moreover, all my readers were wonderful person!

E/N: What do you mean they “were” wonderful!?

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