Chapter 12 An Orchestrated Honeymoon
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
What Cecilia Vermillion brought me was a proposal to call off our engagement.
”Marriage to someone with Zero Mana like you is completely out of the question,” she declared.
Her noble voice echoed through the quiet reception room. She looked straight into my eyes, her words as cold as an icy blade.
And honestly, I could not blame her.
The Vermillion House was a famous family of sorcery that had lasted for generations. There was no way a young lady carrying that name could ever accept marriage to someone like me, who had been marked with a “zero” in his magic measurement. Deep inside her clear blue eyes lived a fierce, unyielding will. I could clearly see the heavy weight of noble traditions and her family name pressing down on her shoulders.
”I begged my father over and over, but he would not listen at all. Xenos-sama, please… I beg you to help me…” Cecilia pleaded, a desperate look on her face.
For someone who usually looked like a frozen statue, hardly ever showing any emotion, seeing her this frantic was rare. In her voice, a faint hint of giving up mixed with a desperate wish to fight back. It was clear that this engagement was truly hateful to her.
From what she said, her father had not given her a single reason why he refused to agree to the annulment.
”Well, I suppose I would not mind helping you,” I replied.
I crossed my arms, letting a daring smile touch my lips.
I wondered how that smirk looked through her eyes. I could see a faint glimmer of hope light up in Cecilia’s face.
”――However, I have one condition,” I said.
The moment I said this, Cecilia lifted her head, her gaze turning guarded at once.
But really, she had no reason to worry. The condition I was proposing was simply for her to have an “affair” with Prince Liam.
”I need the right leverage to force your father to accept the annulment. You must show yourself as already having a partner you have promised your future to. If that partner happens to be the prince, even Lord Vermillion will have no choice but to agree to break off our engagement.”
Of course, this meant Cecilia would have to carry the heavy sin of unfaithfulness. The price of this plan would surely leave a permanent scar on her clean reputation.
I lined up one good-sounding reason after another.
Naturally, my real goal was elsewhere. But that was something I needed to keep completely hidden for now.
Hearing my words, Cecilia sucked in a sharp, ragged breath. For an instant, confusion and deep conflict mixed together across her face.
”I… I understand…. I shall, um, take the stain of this scandal upon myself,” she agreed.
She gave her consent in a trembling voice.
Her words were thin, as if they might disappear into the air at any moment. Because she had been the one to beg for the annulment, a strange sense of self-sacrifice seemed to kick in, convincing her that she had to accept even the most unfair demands.
But the fact that she did not reject this plan was not only because of that reason.
In truth, in the game I used to play in my past life, Cecilia was one of the targets for Prince Liam to win over. Liam, the main character of the game, was supposed to fall in love with her and add her to his harem, thus breaking the Vermillion House from the inside.
If the prince captured Cecilia now, it would let us weaken the enemy forces while strengthening our own allies for the great war coming three years in the future.
According to the game’s story, Cecilia’s character was originally designed so that she held a secret, hidden affection for Prince Liam anyway.
The duties of nobility, a future darkened by an unwanted marriage――
And a heroine caught in the storm of her own hidden love.
I had seen through her complicated inner thoughts right from the start. That was exactly why I knew with absolute certainty that she would bite at my proposal.
And so, Cecilia and I entered into a plot to bring about the annulment of our engagement.
First, I worked with Cecilia to put a magic tool for recording images inside an empty classroom. It was a tiny crystal, barely a centimeter wide, with a highly specialized spell formula designed to capture both pictures and sound.
When placed in the palm of a hand, it was so light that one could barely feel it.
Her cheeks flushing a faint, delicate pink, Cecilia placed the magic tool exactly as I told her. Her movements were somewhat clumsy and hesitant.
Bathed in the streaming sunlight, I could see her fingertips trembling slightly.
Then, a few days later, the prince was called to that very room.
* * *
That night.
Inside the study of my home, I poured mana into the recording crystal to start it up. The crystal gave off a pale, soft light, projecting an image into the empty air like a picture projector.
The footage showed the empty classroom after hours.
The amber glow of sunset spilled through the windows, casting long, dim shadows across the corner of the room. In that quiet space where dust danced in the air, Cecilia and Prince Liam stood facing each other with a clear, stiff awkwardness.
Cecilia began her confession in a trembling, fragile voice.
”I… I have… always held Prince Liam within my heart…”
Her face was flushed deep red, her gaze wandering aimlessly through the air.
Just as the game’s story said, she truly did hold real feelings of love for him. Prince Liam looked caught off guard, but he firmly accepted those raw emotions. A look of surprise—and an even greater wave of pure joy—seemed to wash across his face.
The corners of his mouth softened slightly.
”Cecilia, I… I wish to answer those feelings as well,” Prince Liam murmured.
Though his movements were stiff, Prince Liam reached his hand out toward Cecilia. His fingertips slowly, gently pressed against her shoulder.
”…Liam-sama,” she whispered.
Cecilia took a single step forward, leaning her body into his. And then, gently guided by Cecilia’s movement, Liam wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a firm embrace.
This was all based on my instructions. If Liam did not play an active, forward role in this, it would ruin everything.
His arms wound securely around Cecilia’s slender, delicate back. The tiny gap remaining between them vanished entirely.
Staring closely at the figures of the two lovers projected from the crystal, the corners of my mouth twisted into a distorted smirk.
(Perfect. I have secured solid, undeniable footage of the prince being the one to make advances on her.)
＊＊＊
After that day, I had the two of them continue their “secret meetings” on a regular basis.
Naturally, every single second of it was under my complete watch――
As the two fell deeper in love, their actions became more and more passionate and intense.
Liam whispered endless sweet words into Cecilia’s ear, occasionally taking surprisingly bold and daring steps.
”Cecilia, I love you.”
”And I long for you deeply. Please, hold me even tighter.”
”…, Cecilia!!”
”Right, let us use this part here, and join it together with this section…” I muttered to myself.
Muttering quietly to myself, I pushed forward with the editing process. The sharp, rhythmic click-clack of my fingertips tapping against the working magic tool was the only sound echoing through the quiet study.
In the dim room, the pale light coming from the crystal was the only source of light. The footage was carefully cut, clipped, and stitched together, making sure it looked as though the prince was always throwing himself at Cecilia.
It was framed to make it look as though their romance had been an intense whirlwind from the very start.
It was not necessarily a physical, bodily relationship――
Rather, it was made of sweet words, passionate embraces, and the intense, lingering lock of their gazes.
Yet, if any third party were to look at this footage, it would be very clear that it was nothing less than an intense display of mutual love. It was the kind of scandalous footage that would cause anyone to blush from pure embarrassment.
The two figures on the screen looked exactly like a pair of deeply devoted lovers.
(Well, with this much material, it should be more than enough.)
The sheer quality of the finished footage coming from the crystal went far beyond my wildest hopes. Prince Liam was completely captured by Cecilia, desperately wanting her every wish, and the proof was right there.
But honestly, looking back at the work I had done to get to this point――
It left me with a feeling I could hardly put into words.
As a player who had fully enjoyed this game in my past life, I actually really liked Cecilia. ――In fact, every single one of the heroines had been completely my type.
And yet, here I was, constantly working on editing a romance video featuring that very heroine—who also happened to be my own fiancée—getting close with another man.
It was a truly strange feeling.
Every single time her digital self flashed a bright smile on the screen, it felt as though something deep inside my chest was grinding together and breaking apart.
Why the hell am I killing myself to make a high-quality promo video of my own fiancée cheating on me? More than a few times, that growing doubt felt like it was going to completely crush my sanity.
My logic and emotions fought violently against each other, sending a strange mix of excitement and guilt flooding through my brain until it almost short-circuited. Having finally finished the exhausting editing work, I called out to Lilia and Mina, desperately seeking some kind of comfort.
”――Whew.”
The moment a heavy sigh left my lips, the two of them immediately offered me their tender care.
”Thank you for your hard work, Xenos-sama,” Lilia said softly.
”Master, are you feeling okay?” Mina asked.
Dressed, respectively, in a bunny girl outfit and a fluffy rabbit plushie suit.
I had a specific plan in mind, which was why I had gone ahead and ordered a wide variety of custom costumes. I was simply having the two of them try them on for a fitting.
The full-bodied, mature Lilia looked incredibly tempting in her sleek black bunny outfit, the smooth shine of the fabric beautifully showing every curve of her rich, full figure.
The innocent, childlike Mina wore an adorable, pure white rabbit plushie costume, its oversized ears bouncing and flopping around with her every movement.
Their soft, soothing voices and playful, cheerful gestures wrapped around my exhausted mind, gently washing away the full fatigue of my hard work. The feast for the eyes, the gentle sounds, and their very presence acted as a warm balm for my battered spirit.
Well, putting that aside――
The pieces were all perfectly in place.
It was time to make my move and go to the next part of the plan. A quiet, cold smile slowly spread across my face.
The dim light of my study lit up that expression, casting a sinister, yet undeniably triumphant shadow across the room.
—
Summary:
Moving forward with his knowledge of the game script, Xenos strategically accepts Cecilia’s request to annul their forced engagement under the condition that she stages an affair with Prince Liam. He meticulously setups a surveillance magic artifact in an empty classroom to record their meetings and proceeds to edit the footage to frame the prince as the initiator. While wrestling with a complex mix of guilt and odd excitement as a former player of the game, Xenos seeks visual and mental comfort from Lilia and Mina in their newly ordered outfits, leaving his final grand strategy poised for its next calculated variable.
—
Trivia:
Cecilia’s house, the Vermillion house, is a legendary noble lineage celebrated for powerful sorcery.
Xenos is treated as an absolute outcast by high society due to his assessment ranking of exactly Zero Mana during his official measurement.
According to the game script from Xenos’s past life, Prince Liam’s capture of Cecilia would split the Vermillion family’s power base and ultimately weaken enemy factions in a massive war taking place three years later.
The footage captured by the crystal artifact is intentionally cut and stitched by Xenos to highlight the prince’s active pursuit, rendering it highly compromising without requiring actual full physical consummation.
Xenos bought various outfits, including the bunny suit and plushie gear, for tactical reasons that have not yet been fully detailed to his attendants.
Notes:
• Vermillion – The Vermillion family name, carried by Cecilia. The Vermillion family name, carried by Cecilia. The lineage is a distinguished and long-running noble house of sorcery that endures for generations.
• Cecilia – The eldest daughter of the Vermillion Duchy, she is a noblewoman with striking crimson hair and translucent blue eyes. Cold and statue-like, she harbors deep disdain for her fiancé, Xenos, due to his lack of magic, and is actively seeking an annulment. Driven by status and an anxious, secret longing to become Prince Liam’s concubine, she views her current political engagement with icy contempt.
• Xenos – A reincarnated noble and Grimlock head, he masks immense power and his Magic Seal ability behind a facade of incompetence as a “Zero Mana” social pariah. He uses cold, strategic manipulation and game-script knowledge to survive and orchestrate conspiracies, such as his own annulment. While projecting haughty or cowardly personas, he remains deeply calculated, relaxing only around personal servants.
• Liam – As the kingdom’s First Prince and a game protagonist, he leads with a calm, amused, yet detached demeanor. While engaged to Princess Elisabeth, he harbors true feelings for Cecilia, marked by a secret romantic encounter. He actively opposes the Grimlock family’s war stance, rallying academy allies to his cause while skillfully balancing his complex political duties and personal desires.
• Lilia – A voluptuous, mature maid in a glossy black bunny suit who serves Xenos with absolute loyalty and deep affection. Once a slave marked by a chest tattoo and a nullified abdominal crest, she now acts as his devoted personal servant. She exudes a sweet fragrance, tenderly cares for his well-being, and shares an intimate bond with him, defined by her quiet, firm resolve and unwavering commitment.
• Mina – A dedicated personal servant to Xenos, she is an innocent, childlike individual with soft brown hair and anxious, expressive eyes. She is often seen wearing an adorable white rabbit kigurumi with oversized, floppy ears. Deeply loyal and affectionate, she serves Xenos alongside Lilia, watching over her master with unwavering devotion.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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