I Became the Replacement Fiancée for My Childhood Friend Who Went Missing, but Apparently He Has Been Found - Chapter 10

“What did you say? Evidence has been found that Ellis was going in and out of the neighboring country?!”

Those were the first words out of Oct’s mouth, spoken with surprise.

“Were you surprised? But it seems to be true. The information comes from a reliable source.”

The person Oct was speaking to was Shelt, an old acquaintance of his.

Shelt was the same age as Oct and currently worked as one of the servants serving the royal palace.

“When you say the neighboring country, that’s the one that recently got a new king, right? I heard that along with that, the people around the king are being replaced too. But what does that have to do with Ellis?”

“Who knows. But it seems this matter isn’t confined to just this country.”

Various rumors, big and small, reached Shelt daily, as he frequently came and went from the palace.

This was no exception when it came to Ellis. Information about Ellis was still treated as highly important within the palace walls and was a subject of great interest.

“But that alone is too little information. Even if Ellis had connections with the neighboring royal family, so what? There’s no guarantee Ellis is in the neighboring country now. For all we know, the two might be completely unrelated. And with time running short, this has become difficult.”

Oct wanted to resolve this matter quickly, aiming to get Selena out of the royal palace as soon as possible.

But reality was proving more complex than he had imagined, and an early resolution seemed quite difficult to achieve.

“If only we could find the real Ellis, rescuing Selena should be simple. It’s precisely because Schnaud remains obsessed with Ellis that Selena is being forced to act as a substitute. But if the real Ellis were to appear, there would be no reason to cling to Selena anymore. …The only question is where Ellis is…”

This was the plan Oct had devised to rescue Selena.

Oct had great confidence in this plan and was certain that if accomplished, he could undoubtedly get Selena back.

…However, facing Oct, Shelt wore a somewhat complicated expression and spoke these words.

“…Hey Oct, you better be careful?”

“Wh-what’s with the sudden seriousness? I’m already prepared to confront Crown Prince Schnaud. I’m not going to change my mind no matter what you say now, you know?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“…?”

Oct looked puzzled, unable to grasp the intent behind Shelt’s words.

To this Oct, Shelt adopted a rather grave expression, slightly lowering his voice as he spoke.

“…This is confidential, but apparently Prince Schnaud has been acting strange lately.”

“Come on, that’s nothing new, is it? The fact that he’s making an unrelated girl play the role of his missing fiancée proves he’s not normal from the start.”

“Of course that’s true, but I’ve heard the atmosphere has gotten even weirder recently.”

“…What do you mean?”

Oct leaned his body slightly forward, closing the distance between him and Shelt.

“This is just what I’ve heard, but apparently Prince Schnaud has recently begun doting excessively on the current Ellis.”

“…Huh? What does that mean?”

“She was originally a substitute fiancée, but it seems that at some point, Prince Schnaud started to believe that the current Ellis is his ideal person. As evidence, they say he’s completely stopped listening to any information about the former Ellis, which he would have definitely pounced on before.”

“……”

“Well, of course, some say it’s just a whim. But I also saw his face the other day when I passed him in the hallway. It was completely unhinged, or rather, eerie—that kind of atmosphere.”

“……”

This was very unwelcome news for Oct.

Because if Schnaud was starting to fall for the current Ellis, then even if the real Ellis returned, it wasn’t certain that his feelings would change.

“…So, you, be careful, okay? Of course, I’ll help as much as I can, but if we don’t hurry, we might run out of time.”

“…Yeah, I understand.”

The new information the two shared was very limited.

But its content was enough to instill a sense of crisis. Especially for Oct, it made him realize that the time remaining to rescue Selena was likely not very long.