My Fiancée Hates Me

[Erik's Perspective]

I had pressed Arielle too far and tried to get her engaged to me while she was experiencing amnesia. She probably felt too much pressure from my actions

that it caused her to break down and take a life-threatening drug to regain her memories. It only further propelled her into the arms of another man, but she seems happier with him, so I have to let her go even though I do not want to.

That person ended up as one of my Advisors not long after Arielle broke up with me.

"I hope that Your Highness will treat me as always, or if you prefer not seeing my face, I will do my best to stay out of your way," Garett said indifferently.

If I reject him and Arielle hears about this, she will think of me as a petty person...

I can act magnanimous if I want to.

"... You do not have to do that. Just go about your business as usual," I said.

"Right...I would have done that without you telling me that. I was just testing to see if you were a petty person," Garett said as he nonchalantly marked something on his clipboard. "...Say what?"

"I have to make regular reports on your behavior. I was chosen for this position because my superiors heard that I was your cousin. Your Advisors think that you will be more careless in front of me," Garett said "Should you be revealing me this?" I asked.

"It would be faster for you to know about your faults so that you can fix them sooner. It is simply inefficient for you to learn about your own faults yourself. Consider the eyes of others a good starting point at reflecting on your own behavior," Garett said.

He is just as nitpicky as he was in my past life, or maybe he is being more relentless because the number of his targets decreased by one, while the other became his lover?

"What does she see in a hardheaded person like you?" I asked.

He showed widened eyes to much of my surprise.

"...Will you be fine talking about her? You did recently get dumped by her," Garett said sharply.

Does this person not realize I am still his superior?

"Throwing salt in my wounds?" I asked.

"...Easily provoked," Garett said as he jotted something down.

"Can you really make Arielle happy with such an attitude?" I asked.

"...I do not know about the future like either of you, so who is to say that Arielle will be happy because of me? She suffered because the other me was insensitive towards her feelings and tried to force what he believed what would truly make her happy onto her," Garett said.

"...Then, why are you with her?" I asked.

"I cannot tell if I make her truly happy because she is the only one who truly understands her feelings. If there is anything that I can guarantee for her by being beside her, it is that will care for her more than anyone and make all of her wishes come true because I love her. If she is truly happy in the end, that is when I have succeeded," Garett said.

He was a bit cool for a moment.

"...What a bland answer," I said.

"... Terribly nosy," Garett said as he picked up his pen and wrote down.

I take everything I thought of just now back...

"Has anyone ever told you that you are shrewd?" I asked.

"No, but I have been called a heinous monster before," Garett said as he turned around after looking at his pocket watch. "Forgive me for not accompanying you longer. It appears that I must leave soon." ...How can he say something like that as if being called a monster to your face had no bearings on your self-esteem?

Since then, I kept him by my side as my Advisor when necessary. He was quick witted and created numerous policies off the back of his mind. He was the same as I had remembered. It did not take me long to get accustomed to this Garett as well.

As part of my regular weekly routine,

I went to visit my mother. She had begun resting in her own separate palace. Her heart and mind had not been in the right place ever since 1 was a child. She has not called me by my name for over a decade now but has just recently remembered that I was her son and not Father whom she often confused with because I looked like the younger version of my Father. To her, I was just an extension of his image and not my own person.

"...Why are you like this, Mother?" I asked quietly.

It was just soft enough to be a whisper.

I never expected her to hear my insensitive question.

"...I met a heinous monster," she said as she lifted her chin and stared at the ceiling.

Surprised, I jumped out of my chair.

"Who is this monster, Mother?" I inquired her.

"Will you kill it for me if I tell you?" Mother asked as she latched onto my sleeves.

"Kill?"

"Your Highness, His Majesty is calling for you. It is an urgent matter," a Maid said as she came to get me.

When I came to my Father's office, I bowed my headfirst and introduced myself.

"Prince, do you know why I have called you here today?" Father asked.

"Regrettably no, Your Majesty," I answered.

"...As you know, the Queen has been mentally ill for some time and has also begun spouting nonsensical words," Father said. Have you gotten tired of her? Are you planning on sending her away since you see no hope in her recovery any time soon?

It is so difficult to tell what he is thinking with his expressionless face.

"Yes," I answered. "Just now, she asked me to kill a monster for her."

"...Are you aware that it is possible that you are not an only child?" Father asked.

"Pardon?"

I had not heard of this information even in my previous life.

"I heard the Queen say to herself that she had another child. It could have just been nonsense since I had never seen her pregnant more than once," Father said

"...I think I would have remembered seeing her pregnant unless it happened before I was born or when I was too young to remember," I said.

"It is impossible for her to have a child before entering the Castle. If she had a second child here, it would be very difficult to conceal such a matter, unless the child was born on the same day as you, Prince," Father said.

For some reason, I thought of Garett at that moment.

It was such a strange thought since he was my only cousin and he had proper parents, but when was his birthday again?

"... Why would Mother conceal having another child?" I asked.

"Twins have long been a terrible omen. In the case that a boy and girl are born, the mother is allowed to

live as long as the two aated

and their date of births are manipulated on document. When two boys are born, one child is killed along with the mother who had given birth to it," Father explained.

It was such a dark history that I had not known of until now...

"Are you saying that Mother gave birth to twin boys and hid her second child so that she could avoid dying along with her child, Your Majesty?" I asked.

"...I interrogated the only surviving midwife at the time of your birth," Father said.

"By only surviving, do you mean..."

"Shortly after you were born, all of the people present at the time all mysteriously died in various times and places. When I got ahold of witness, she told me that the Que did have another child had died at the time of birth...I want to start a search for that child. Even as a corpse, I want to see him? You are to find him," Father said.">>>>>>>