The Heir I Dragged Into My “He’s My Fiancé!” Lie Is Somehow Playing Along!? - Chapter 1.5

“I’m sorry for making you wait due to my extreme hunger. First, what I want to convey to you, Shirotsuki-san, is that currently I have neither a girlfriend nor a fiancée. There’s no concern about compensation claims arising from an engagement declaration. The reason I went along with your lie about ‘there being no such fact, and that you’re seriously dating Kairi Yumikura’ to dispel the baseless rumor that ‘you were stalking a coworker’ is, as I said earlier, because ‘it seemed interesting.’ And I have no intention of letting this lie fade into ‘so what was that all about?’ atmosphere. I genuinely want to seriously date you with marriage in mind, of my own volition. That’s all.”

Alice, who had been leaning forward listening intently as if not wanting to miss a single word, felt like she hadn’t grasped even half of it.

(There’s too much information…! And yet the conclusion is so concise it’s actually harder to understand!)

Staring at the prince-like figure before her with his strong aura, serious expression, and direct gaze, Alice managed to squeeze out some words.

“It’s like a math answer sheet without any of the work shown. That kind of thing doesn’t get any points, Department Chief Yumikura.”

“Shirotsuki-san, aren’t you being way too harsh on me? If it were multiple-choice, I’d get a perfect score.”

“A perfect score means you’re number one in the nation since there’s nothing higher. Are you saying you’re the model answer?”

Sū—Kairi took a breath. Without breaking eye contact with Alice, he declared in his flowing, low, beautiful voice:

“Actually, I’m saying that with that level of confidence. At least when it comes to discussing whether to date or not, I wouldn’t list reasons unrelated to my own feelings like ‘my parents are nagging me about marriage,’ ‘I can’t shake off other women,’ or ‘a relative has an incurable disease with little time left.’ Or do you prefer men who ‘can’t even handle their own love life properly without making excuses’?”

“…Intimidation skill?”

Overwhelmed by his intensity, Alice let out a foolish murmur.

Kairi grinned, flashing a refreshing yet strong smile. “Scared?”

(Very scary desu. I’m most scared today because I have no idea what’s happening in my life!)

Still, it was Alice who had dragged this prince into her affairs and brought him to her regular izakaya near the station, so she couldn’t afford to act like it was someone else’s problem and cower.

“From my perspective, the process leading to dating specifically the ‘I’m in love with Department Chief Yumikura…!’ part is completely missing.”

“How cruel. I feel toyed with.”

Not looking particularly hurt, Kairi was chomping down on yakitori. He seemed to be the type who ate it straight off the skewer.

I also think taking it off the skewer is questionable. I believe it ruins the authentic flavor, so I eat it as is. Alice almost voiced her agreement, but she couldn’t interrupt the conversation.

Alice focused on conveying her thoughts for now.

“Until yesterday, in my conscious awareness, I was definitely dating a man named Saito something-or-other, but it seems I was set up. After he swindled the money I’d painstakingly saved, he apparently spread carefully prepared rumors throughout the company so no one would listen to my side of the story anymore. Ah, I thought maybe resigning was my only option. That’s when Department Chief Yumikura from Public Relations appeared before me.”

“You seem to be trying to speak seriously, but you can be honest here. You thought, ‘Prince Yumikura is here! I’ll use him!’ right?”

“Whoa, you’ve been learning the prince nickname. Yes, that’s right. I don’t know if he’s the president’s son or nephew, but he’s an elite, handsome member of the founding family! If I’m going to be set up and brought down anyway, I’d rather it be by a prince of that caliber than some boring coworker! That’s what I thought.”

Though she’d been led on, she’d been too honest. Kairi turned away, choking back laughter.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, ‘I didn’t mean any harm’ isn’t enough of an excuse, but I didn’t think about the consequences at all. I thought, wouldn’t the most shocking, interesting thing in that situation be someone like me dating the prince?”

“It is interesting. That’s why I went along with it.”

“I’d prefer a proper working adult not to go along with that. It’s not my place to lecture you after causing you trouble, but Department Chief Yumikura, I wish you’d value yourself more.”

“You should do the same. Your judgment of people is way off. How much did you lend Saito-san? He was scamming money from you, right?”

Hit with this sudden counter, Alice shrank back so hard she practically glued herself to the chair back.

“Too much information. How do you know that?”

“You’re looking at me like I’m some spy, but I just happened to overhear a conversation between you two once. Employees who borrow money tend to dip into embezzlement or fraud, so I thought I should keep an eye on it, then I heard he was getting married to an employee from a regional branch. That kind of office relationship gossip reaches executive level. So when I saw the name, I remembered the male employee, and wondered, then who was that female head office employee he was scamming money from the other day? That’s why I’m fairly confident I have an accurate grasp of this situation. I didn’t know unfavorable rumors about you were circulating within the company, though. That was my oversight. In that sense, it’s not a perfect score.”

He provided just the right amount of information and even reflected on his mistake. He didn’t forget to show consideration, asking the glued-to-her-chair Alice, “Want something to drink to calm down? Should we order water?” He’s too capable.

Alice was dazed for a while, but eventually let out a slow breath.

“Since I didn’t make a promissory note, I thought it might be impossible to get the money back because I can’t prove the flow of funds.”

Just knowing there was someone who knew the facts was reassuring.

Giving him the money, and moreover mistakenly thinking she was in an engagement-level relationship with him despite the vague circumstances, were stains and failings in Alice’s life.

She couldn’t ask her prince-like boss to take her side, but if anything happened in the future, at least he alone seemed likely to make a fair judgment.

After asking the staff for water, Kairi turned back to Alice with a serious expression.

“So, how much did you give Saito-san? Around ten million yen?”

“Prince, that shows you really don’t know our company’s employee salaries. Even living with my parents, I don’t think I could save that much. Did you just ask based on your own annual salary benchmark?”

“You’re so dead serious. Sorry, that was my blunder.”

She’d retorted reflexively to someone who was worried and considerate, and now he was apologizing.

“I’m sorry. I went too far too. The prince earns more than me because he does that much work, I think. Ah~, I should work too. I’ll work hard. I’ll earn enough to call the lost one million yen pocket change. Is that impossible at our company?”

“I think your positive attitude is one of your charms, but if you’re considering changing jobs due to dissatisfaction with our company’s pay, you should work a bit harder first. Even for career advancement, track record is important.”

Somehow, he was even entertaining her work concerns.

After gratefully downing the full glass of water that arrived at their table, Alice said with vigor:

“Prince, you’re an incredibly good person!?”

“On the contrary, I want to ask—today, I’ve hardly done anything that would make you think I’m a bad person, right? Just misjudged your savings amount, maybe? Other than that, I think I’ve only done things that would make you fall for me.”

“No, no, I won’t come to like you, Prince. Our status is too different. I’d probably be dumped in seconds.”

“Hmm? Then let me ask, regarding your ex-boyfriend Saito-san, did you think he was the type of man who wouldn’t dump a woman in seconds?”

“Rubbing salt in the wound… Really, you have a comeback for everything.”

“Seems mutual to me. I’m all for it since it’s interesting.”

After saying this casually, Kairi downed what seemed like his nth highball. His speech was clear, but a faint redness tinged his cheeks. He seemed fairly drunk. Though not at Kairi’s pace, Alice had been drinking steadily too.

(Hmm. My brain isn’t working well. What is the prince’s aim, ultimately? Just based on context, he knew about me and Akihisa beforehand and was concerned, and today he assessed the situation almost accurately before going along with it. Because it’s interesting…?)

Then, “Aah!” Alice exclaimed. “Whoa!” Kairi almost knocked over his empty glass. Thinking in a corner of her drunken mind that she’d done something apologetic, Alice stared at Kairi and said:

“Am I in the ‘interesting woman’ category? Kinda hate that…”

“…I’m the one who said something that would be misunderstood that way, but I’m not entirely satisfied with that.”

Both of their moods dropped simultaneously. Alice opened the menu and suggested, “This sake is delicious. Should we order it?”

“If I drink it all alone I’ll probably get drunk, so if Shirotsuki-san is drinking too, let’s order two cups.”

“Exchanging drinks is a good thing, you know. We could become like sworn siblings.”

After making drunken conversation to change the atmosphere, she turned to face him properly once more.