How to Survive as a Princess in a Reverse Harem Game - Chapter 108

I thought of Cirilla, who had risked the dangers of Morris Futurum to secretly come and warn me. That child had thought of me and tried to give me a warning, so how could I, with my personality, continue to avoid and ignore the situation?

With this, even if Cirilla couldn’t completely escape from Morris Futurum, she might be able to get away to some extent.

‘If Evgenia knows and is still ignoring it…….’

In that case, I’ll have to come up with another method.

“If what you say is true, then it’s worth looking into. They may have been working on this for a long time.”

Good.

Having received a positive response from Evgenia, I bowed to her and left her bedroom.

Looking outside through the hallway window, I noticed the sun had already set.

‘It seems too late to return to the distribution center now.’

With that thought, I exited Evgenia’s palace, and Reno appeared immediately.

“Your Highness.” Startled by the sudden voice, I flinched. Before I could react further, Reno approached, his face close to mine. His expression was full of concern.

“You’ve finally come out. I was worried since you didn’t emerge even after the meeting ended. I heard a bit from the Duke of Yelpen, but even he didn’t seem to know much after that.”

“Her Highness called for me briefly…… By the way, have you seen Killis?”

“Yes. When you didn’t come out, I inquired about his whereabouts. He already looked unwell, and he seemed even sicker, so I also asked about his condition while I was at it.”

“When was that?”

“It’s been a while. It was not long after the nobles all left.”

It seems he left immediately when I told him to rest a bit longer……

I suppressed a sigh. Everyone is so stubborn.

“That’s what’s inconvenient about Evgenia’s palace. With all the magic and spirit detection, we can’t even eavesdrop.”

“We can’t help it. Who knows what dangers could arise?”

“I know. I was just voicing my frustration.”

As if it were obvious, Isaac clarified, while Reno let out a sigh and muttered complaints. Then, as if remembering something, he looked at me.

“By the way, about the third princess—did you keep her under surveillance for today’s events?”

“It wasn’t a certainty…….”

“Wow, Your Highness. You knew things would turn out like this?”

“Of course not. How could I have known without the ability to see the future? I just thought it was a strong possibility.”

At my response, Reno showered me with a storm of compliments and admiration, saying it was essentially the same thing. Even when I told him to stop because it was embarrassing, he continued to praise me.

Listening to his compliments, I found myself arriving at the princess’s palace. There, maids who saw me approached with pale faces and reported on the situation from earlier in the day.

They explained that the royal guards, acting under Evgenia’s orders, had suddenly searched the princess’s palace. Already aware of this, I reassured them and waved them off.

“Then, Your Highness, I will see you again tomorrow.”

Isaac retreated with measured steps, and Reno followed suit shortly after, stopping at a reasonable distance.

Finally alone, I opened the system window.

‘The hidden quest I saw earlier…… Ah, here it is.’

Scrolling through the system, I reopened the window I had seen before.

[<Hidden Quest> ‘???’ Conditions

— Achieve your first merit for the kingdom: Prune (Completed)

— ??? (In progress) (※Hint: 4)

— Achieve a certain level of affection with ‘Ielo Ma of Anesis’: Close (Completed)]

Even after looking at it again, I couldn’t make any guesses. A hint of 4?

Am I supposed to collect four specific items? Since the first condition was to make the first contribution, it seems there must be a second condition too…….

‘But what does 4 mean?’

I racked my brain, but I couldn’t figure it out. Staring at the hidden quest window, I started checking other windows just in case.

[<Character> Ielo Ma of Anesis

― Affection: 71 / 100 (Close)]

As noted in the quest window, Evgenia’s affection had risen significantly.

Affection with other characters had also increased considerably, except for Isaac and Meliana, whose numbers remained stubbornly unchanged…… Huh?

Looking at the affection window, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

[<Character> Meliana Via Anesis

― Affection: -20 / 100 (Hostile)]

Meliana’s affection had gone up……?

It was still in the negatives, but as far as I remembered, the number used to be worse.

Thinking back, I remembered that I had a chart where I had recorded the initial affection levels.

Rummaging through the mess left by the earlier chaos, I finally found the chart. Luckily, it seemed the search earlier had focused only on blueprints.

Upon checking, I confirmed it. When the character log first opened, Meliana’s affection level was -40.

‘Now it’s -20.’

It had increased by a whole 20 points.

And it should have only dropped lower, not risen. Especially on a day like today when I had humiliated her family, the Futurum duchy.

‘Why?’