Chapter 9

Before I knew it, three years had passed since I became possessed by [The Crown Prince Holds a Sword].

During that time, quite a lot happened. If I were to pick out the biggest changes…

“Albert, it’s time for lunch. Let’s wrap it up for now.”

“Understood, Mother.”

First, I had fully adapted to this place.

When I first got possessed, I acted cool and indifferent, but in reality, I was far from calm.

Who wouldn’t be flustered upon realizing they had been transported into a web novel they used to enjoy reading?

Moreover, it wasn’t like I had written a 5,700-character long email. I had merely left a comment saying I was dropping the novel, and yet I got possessed.

It was a situation where no one could blame me even if I threw a fit.

But as they say, humans are creatures of adaptation. Over time, I grew accustomed to everything.

If it had been me from when I first got possessed, I would have stuttered and failed to respond properly when Mother called me just now.

“Is it already time for lunch? Then let’s stop here for today, Young Master.”

“Good work today, Aaron.”

“Just doing my duty.”

Another change was that I had started learning swordsmanship.

Although this novel is a male-oriented romance fantasy, it’s still a fantasy novel.

Magic isn’t heavily emphasized in the story, but it exists in this world.

Since magic exists, I couldn’t be sure that other fantastical elements wouldn’t appear. So, I thought it was necessary to have at least some ability to protect myself.

The author, after being criticized by readers, suddenly turned one of the largest noble families, the Valencia family, into traitors.

Who knows what other strange and bizarre settings might exist that I’m unaware of?

So, when I told my father, Count Zernias, that I wanted to learn swordsmanship…

“A man should know how to wield a sword to protect himself.”

He readily assigned Aaron, a knight of the Zernias family, as my swordsmanship instructor.

Thanks to that, I trained every morning under Aaron’s guidance and now felt confident that I could protect myself.

Of course, compared to the Crown Prince, the protagonist of the novel, or my fiancée Rebecca, I still had a long way to go.

‘Well, I’m not aiming to become a knight.’

Since I wasn’t planning to make a living as a knight here, I didn’t aim for that level of skill.

“Are you going to attend classes after lunch?”

Rather, as Aaron suggested, what I needed to focus on more than swordsmanship were the lessons required to become the next Count Zernias.

The fact that I had to study here, just as I had done tediously before being possessed, was despairing.

“Those who do not work shall not eat. That’s our family motto.”

“…”

“So, study properly, son.”

After skipping a class once and enduring two hours of scolding from Mother, I was able to attend classes “joyfully” (?) ever since.

So, on a normal day, I would have answered Aaron’s question by saying yes, but…

“No. I have something to do today.”

Today was different.

When I shook my head and denied Aaron’s words, he finally nodded as if he had just remembered.

“Today is the day you visit the Valencia family, right?”

“Yes. I have to go see Princess Rebecca.”

Upon hearing my answer, Aaron looked at me with envy.

“I’m jealous. I wonder when I’ll find someone I love like you, Young Master.”

“…”

“I also want to meet my destined partner soon and live happily like you and Princess Rebecca.”

To that, I neither agreed nor disagreed.

That’s because the biggest change I hadn’t explained yet was…

“You’re late.”

“…”

“Are you scared that you might lose to me this time?”

My fiancée and the person I love, Princess Rebecca.

***

The day I fed Rebecca the last piece of cake.

That day, I realized my feelings.

I had fallen for Rebecca Valencia.

But I couldn’t openly express my feelings.

If I did, the fiery-tempered Princess Rebecca would surely shake me up.

So, to avoid getting caught, I always picked fights with her.

If I lost, I’d get flicked on the forehead or slapped on the back of the hand. Simple punishments for our bets.

The content of the bets varied, but I had never lost once.

After all, I was an avid reader of this novel and knew all about Rebecca’s traits as described in the story.

And I was someone who used that knowledge very well in our bets.

“Princess, are you scared of something so trivial?”

“This might be difficult for you, Princess.”

By provoking Rebecca like this, I always managed to win.

But there was one thing I overlooked.

“What are we betting on today?”

“…”

Rebecca’s competitive spirit and pride were much stronger than I had thought.

Even after losing for three years, she still wanted to beat me.

Every time she saw me, she challenged me to a bet.

‘It’s not like some game where you fight every time you meet.’

Of course, it was nice that the person I liked kept approaching me.

But there’s a limit to everything.

I even thought about letting her win once.

Thinking that if I let her win, her obsession might lessen.

But imagining the smug look on Rebecca’s face if I lost…

“Hah, as expected, you’re no match for me.”

I always ended up taking the bets seriously.

As I mentioned before, I’m also very competitive.

I absolutely couldn’t stand seeing Rebecca gloating over her victory.

Absolutely.

***

As I steeled myself again, Rebecca’s sweet voice reached my ears.

“Are you listening?”

“…Yes, I’m listening.”

“How are we going to bet today?”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm? Did you just say hmm?”

My vague answer seemed to irritate Princess Rebecca.

Well, after losing to me all this time, she must have come today determined to win. So, my lackluster response naturally annoyed her.

But I had my reasons.

‘What should we do?’

Having done so many different kinds of bets, I was out of ideas.

We had done everything.

Starting from our first snowball fight.

Chess, poker, Uno, Jenga, and even rock stacking and skipping stones.

There was hardly any bet we hadn’t tried.

But there was one type of bet we hadn’t done.

“If there’s nothing to bet on, how about a sword fight…”

“No.”

Physical competitions.

“Are you scared?”

Rebecca’s voice, always teasing me with swordsmanship, continued.

“Yes. I’m scared.”

I always admitted my fear outright.

No matter how much I trained in swordsmanship these days, there’s a difference between what’s possible and what’s not.

If we bet on something like that, I’d surely lose in less than 10 seconds.

I had no interest in deliberately losing.

“Tch.”

Rebecca made a disappointed sound.

But no matter what expression she made, I was firm in my resolve not to bet on swordsmanship.

***

Listening to Rebecca’s urging, I pondered for a while until a brilliant idea struck me.

“Princess, how about we change the punishment instead of repeating the same bets?”

“Instead of getting flicked on the forehead when you lose, you want to do something else?”

“Yes.”

“…I’ll hear you out.”

As Rebecca gestured for me to continue, I began to explain my ingenious idea.

“The punishments we’ve had so far have just been flicks on the forehead, right?”

“…That’s true.”

“Now that we’re almost adults, getting flicked on the forehead seems a bit childish.”

Rebecca nodded, seemingly agreeing to some extent.

“So, from now on, let’s change it so that the loser grants the winner a wish.”

“…So if I win, I can make you do whatever I want?”

“Exactly.”

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

Rebecca immediately agreed, nodding her head.

Honestly, I was a bit taken aback.

I expected her to look at me with disdain, asking, “What exactly are you planning to make me do?”

But the expression on Rebecca’s face was one of anticipation, already thinking about what she could make me do.

“…Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? You haven’t even won yet.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely win this time.”

“We haven’t even decided what game to play.”

“It doesn’t matter what it is. I’ll win anyway.”

Rebecca’s voice was brimming with confidence.

Normally, such confidence might make someone nervous, wondering what preparations she had made.

But I didn’t feel that way.

‘She always says that and then loses.’

I had lost count of how many times I had heard that line.

“Then, let’s play chess.”

“Alright.”

The first bet with the new punishment was decided to be a game of chess.

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