The Problem Is, My Ex-Boyfriend and I Are Both Dating Other People - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 20

[An Engagement Announcement to Kick Off the Social Season! Is It Love, or a Sense of Crisis?]
“Pfft. Does the Crown Prince even know what love is?”
Asta craned her neck over Rihardteu’s shoulder to glimpse the Gossip Newsletter, her face twisting in disgust. A beat later, she let out a sharp cry.
“Wait. An engagement? The Crown Prince got engaged?”
“So it says.”
Philips sighed and pointed at the text. Only then did Asta settle herself, though her eyes bore holes through the newsletter.
Her gaze wandered across Rihardteu’s face before landing on Philips.
“To whom?”
“Who else?”
“Don’t tell me—the Duke of Beluoa?”
When Philips shrugged, Asta let out a genuine shriek this time.
“Has that woman finally lost her mind?!”
“Asta.”
Until then silent, Rihardteu called her name in a low, warning tone.
“Sir, aren’t you angry? An engagement—she’s getting engaged! To that bumbling royal! And someone else clung to one hollow promise from the Emperor and suffered for ten years!”
“Did you find anything else about Hote Forest?”
“Don’t change the subject! Is that stupid forest really what matters right now?!”
Philips made no move to stop the bouncing Asta. His own feelings weren’t all that different from hers.
Asta’s fury burned so hot because she had witnessed that love from ten years ago—as wild and reckless as a moth to flame. She knew how it had ended.
Even Philips, who’d only heard the story, felt his blood boil. Asta, who’d seen it firsthand, must be seething.
Yet Rihardteu, the person at the center of it all, showed no sign of disturbance. He folded the cheap newsprint in half and pushed it aside, then spoke again.
“Hote Forest.”
“…Nothing worthwhile there. The Hunting Festival’s coming up soon, right? I poked around some of the merchants passing through the Beluoa Dukedom, and they said security’s been tightened. The Mining Operation’s been shut down entirely, it seems. The trading companies that dealt with them are practically crying.”
“And yet you found nothing at all…”
Rihardteu pressed his brow and trailed off. Asta picked up where he left off.
“Either someone deliberately placed them there, or the Monsters are being made artificially. If such a method even exists, that is.”
Making Monsters. The mere hypothesis settled a chill across the room.
Philips, who had been watching Rihardteu sink into thought, ventured to break the silence.
“What if we requested cooperation from the Duke of Beluoa?”
“No.”
“What do you mean, Philips?”
Rihardteu and Asta answered almost in unison.
Rihardteu raised an eyebrow at the unexpected response, studying Asta with surprise. He hadn’t expected her to say no. The Asta he knew would have suggested using this situation as a pretext to draw her in, tangled with Isabella.
Under his gaze, Asta planted her hands on her hips and spoke.
“Sir, listen carefully. Now that things have come to this—”
She pointed at the newsletter Rihardteu had pushed aside, her expression grave.
“We need to make the Duke of Beluoa come asking for help.”
A tense silence fell. Asta, thinking the two men hadn’t grasped her meaning, raised a finger to elaborate.
“You need to be in the stronger position.”
“Hold on, Asta. This isn’t about that. If Hote Forest is really producing artificial Monsters, that’s serious—”
“Exactly why shouldn’t our sir have to beg the Duke of Beluoa—who just announced an engagement to him, no less—to hear us out and share information?”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m saying if someone dies, that’d be a problem. The location’s too close to the Capital, besides.”
“Hote Forest is closed. The Beluoa Knight Order will comb through that forest like it owes them money before the Hunting Festival. And besides, we’re not even certain of our information. If we share something we ourselves don’t believe in with them and we’re wrong, will you take responsibility, Philips?”
Philips mumbled halfheartedly that no, he wouldn’t. Having beaten the older man with her own words, Asta turned to Rihardteu with confident conviction and continued.
“So sir, let’s counter with a countermove.”
“What are you talking about now?”
“An engagement for an engagement. A public announcement! Show that you don’t need anything, and when the Duke of Beluoa comes asking for help, dazzle her with your brilliance and make her switch sides!”
“Are you in your right mind?”
“You said you were going to get engaged anyway. So why can’t we use it to our advantage?”
Philips shook his head watching Asta clench her fist with such resolve. Rihardteu had long since stopped listening to her.
There was no need.
He had already decided to use the engagement to keep Isabella’s attention fixed on him.

* * *

Noah was startled when he discovered the Engagement Contract tossed carelessly across the desk.
“What are you doing, just throwing things around like this?”
I watched him carefully gather it up as I rolled my pen. The contract didn’t matter much. Daimon was the type who wouldn’t care two bits about a piece of paper if things went south.
What mattered more was what I’d extracted in writing it. The pen that had been spinning between my fingers lost its balance and clattered to the floor.
“Father did withdraw from his Personal Funds on Daimon’s orders.”
“……What?”
I gave Noah a brief account of what had passed between Daimon and me. His expression grew considerably graver as he stroked his chin.
“I see, I understand. But Your Excellency—even if Daimon is mad, would he really be so far gone as to siphon off his own money like that?”
“What if he had to?”
Noah faltered. Something that couldn’t be left on record. He seemed to be thinking, then muttered with an expression of distaste.
“You mean Beluoa handled it for him?”
“That’s right.”
“……Good heavens. Why would the Grand Duke deliberately walk such a dangerous path?”
“He must have negotiated adequate compensation.”
“What could a Crown Prince possibly offer to a Duke of the Beluoa Dukedom that would be worth such risk?”
“I haven’t found that out yet, but he did say the Hunting Festival should proceed as planned.”
Noah’s eyes widened as though struck without warning. He seemed to be processing my words with deliberate slowness.
“Oh!”
“Yes. The Crown Prince clearly has that much power. I pressed him hard, and he actually turned it around—asking if there was some problem with Hote Forest. I had nothing to say to that. He was so brazenly plausible I almost thought it was Daimon himself who planted the monsters there.”
“He turned it around on you?”
“Yes. He was so smooth about it that I got the distinct impression Daimon had stocked Hote Forest with monsters.”
I said it with a slight laugh, and Noah hesitated.
“Surely you’re joking?”
I shrugged instead of answering.
“Please, tell me that’s not true!”
“It’s only my theory. Nothing concrete has emerged. In any case, the Hunting Festival will proceed as originally scheduled—keep that in mind.”
“You should have stopped it by any means necessary. What if monsters actually appear during the Festival!”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.”
I spoke with certainty, and Noah’s eyebrows shot upward. The fact that he didn’t ask if I was talking nonsense showed our time together hadn’t been wasted.
“Don’t tell me.”
“Daimon said it himself. That he’d bring down Rihardteu—who rose through monsters—by monsters.”
Noah’s head tilted in confusion.
“And?”
“Ah. You don’t know Daimon well enough.”
“I don’t?”
“His way of speaking, and such.”
Noah’s mouth worked soundlessly, his expression full of unspoken words. He clearly wanted to say that I myself hadn’t been immune to being thoroughly deceived by Daimon.
But this was different. Underestimating Daimon and being familiar with his habits were two entirely separate matters.
“Daimon never threatens with something he’s not certain of.”
“?”
“He’s apparently experienced shame from bluffing before.”
So the most reliable thing that came from Daimon’s lips was a threat.
Daimon threatened only with what he could realize. Only within the reach of his own power. To avoid the humiliation that would come if it failed to materialize.
“When he said he’d end it with monsters, it was because he was confident. Because he has at least some means to make it happen.”
A threat, and the attitude toward the Hunting Festival. If it had been only one or the other, I wouldn’t have arrived at such an extreme conclusion.
But when coincidences overlap?
That ceases to be coincidence.
Noah, grasping the intent of my words, asked in return with a face gone deathly pale.
“……You’re truly saying the Crown Prince is connected to the monsters?”
“If he weren’t, would he have any reason to be so invested in the Hunting Festival? Why else would he threaten with monsters?”
At my question, Noah’s eyes filled with terror.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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