His Highness the Crown Prince Knelt and Begged, “Please Don’t Abandon our Engagement!” Translation

2. There is no Alternative

Shortly after graduation, as His Highness Alexander said, the replacement of the crown prince was announced. The second prince, Mikhail, was to be the future king. Meanwhile, the first prince, Alexander, shall be the margrave of the Northern town of Arkhangelsk.

Even though His Highness Alexander didn’t commit any crimes, he was exiled to become a lord of a remote territory.

Regardless, no matter how unreasonable it was, I couldn’t do anything about that decision.

The only thing I could do was stay with His Highness Alexander.

In conclusion, I was allowed to go to the remote Arkhangelsk with His Highness.

Originally, I was supposed to become fiancée of His Highness Mikhail, but my sister, Elena, was chosen, instead.

Elena was my younger sister. Unlike me, she was gorgeous, and not to mention, popular.

My parents were strict towards me, but were pampering towards Elena.

Perhaps because she had favored His Highness Mikhail from the start, she seemed to be putting on an aggressive front. It seemed that Elena was chosen because of that very reason.

Elena would make a good pair with His Highness Mikhail. When compared to her, I was obsolete.

My father seemed to consent with the idea of me going to the frontier with His Highness Alexander.

Even though I was relieved, I felt anger and sadness for the first time.

As a future queen and as a future successor of the duke family, I thought I was worth something.

But…

“…In the end, I was just an alternative.”

I involuntarily muttered so.

The carriage was heading to the remote territory of Arkhangelsk. It took about 40 days by carriage to travel from the royal capital of Novgorod to Arkhangelsk.

We rode a simple two-car carriage. It was unbefitting of a first prince. In the carriage, the crown prince and I were the only ones present. There were servants in the following carriage, but only a few.

His Highness Alexander, who sat next to me, shook his head and shyly whispered.

“For me, there’s no alternative to you.”

I felt my cheeks get hot.

When I was getting flustered, I realized something.

“Back in school, you never said that.”

His Highness showed a troubled expression.

“That’s because… back in school, I had a weird sense of pride as the crown prince… No, actually, I was just scared. I was scared of being rejected by you.”

“…Me, reject His Highness?”

“As I’ve said, I have this weird belief—that you’re my fiancée. You’re supposed to be my queen. As such, I didn’t have to be brave enough to say this.”

But as of the present, His Highness wasn’t the crown prince. His engagement with me was no longer an obligation.

“That’s why I decided to say it now, even if it’s embarrassing. Besides, I’ve already performed a dogeza in front of many people. I don’t have any pride left.”

His Highness jokingly said that. Certainly, that was shocking… he begged for me not to break off our engagement…

If I were to think about it normally, what I felt for him might be pity.

But, would that be enough of a reason for me to go all the way to the frontier with him?

When I thought about it, that dogeza was very courageous. To expose your true feelings in front of many… it wasn’t something that everyone could do.

I didn’t have such courage, or passion. His Highness was dazzling to me… I was also overjoyed at having His Highness’ feelings directed at me.

“Your Highness… I have one request.”

“What is it?”

“Please refer to me by name, and not just ‘you.’”

“What?”

“I’m Your Highness’ fiancée. Won’t we get married someday? But you always refer to me as ‘you’… it feels strange… back when you knelt on the ground, you said ‘Alisa’—but afterwards, you never referred to me using my own name.”

“Oh, that’s… I did it without thinking, t-that, in other words, is it okay for me to call your name?”

“…I’m asking you to call me by my name.”

Rather than feeling unpleasant, I thought I said something embarrassing. I looked in the mirror, feeling that my face was red.

“Uh, uhm… Alisa?”

His Highness whispered my name.

…To be called by name, it wasn’t too bad… yes, in fact, I was happy.

Probably because previously, he said he needed me.

“Yes?”

I replied. His Highness blushed, but his blue eyes gleamed mischievously.

“This time, it’s Alisa’s turn.”

“What?”

“Can you call me by my name?”

Certainly, it would be strange if I was the only one being referred to by my name by His Highness.

In that kingdom, it was normal to refer to someone by name if it was done by royalty, or if it was towards a marriage partner.

However, it would be difficult to get used to it right away.

“Let’s see…”

When he saw my embarrassment and hesitation, His Highness quickly assured me.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to force yourself. If Alisa doesn’t like it, then you don’t have to do it, just being allowed to call you by name is already enough for me… I’m glad.”

“No, it’s nothing like that… Your Highness Alexander.”

When I said that, His Highness beamed, and he chuckled.

His smile was truly nice. I couldn’t believe I was the cause for such a brilliant smile.

His Highness was a person who could smile so purely.

“But, ‘His Highness Alexander’ is too formal. I want a nickname, how about ‘Alex’?”

“T, that’s…”

“It doesn’t have to be now, I’ll do my best to get you to call me by that name someday.”

His Highness smiled.

I opened my mouth, blurted out, “Alex,” and then rushed to close it again.

As His Highness said, it might not be necessary to rush.

I didn’t know anything about His Highness, yet. The only thing that was clear to me was that he needed me.

In a remote part of the city of Arkhangelsk, His Highness and I would be living together.

May it be a happy life for me and for His Highness.


***T/N: Oh my god!! This banishment reeks of honeymoon!!! //sprays a can of insulin around her. Are you sure this ‘exile’ doesn’t start with a ‘h’, and end with an ‘n’!?

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