How To Screw Yourself Over

Chapter 2.6: Screams and a Temptress

When Ash enters the room the young miss currently occupies, she is immediately greeted by her raging screams.

Bernard, who had obediently fallen in line behind her, is equally bewildered by the scene before them. He tosses her a rare suggestion. "Perhaps we should return at a later time."

Unfortunately, the young miss just so happens to catch sight of them. "Too late..." Ash mutters as the pair valiantly trods towards the chaotic scene.

"This unscrupulous woman tried to drag the crown prince to her side through underhanded means!" The young miss flings an accusatory finger at the woman in question.

Unlike the young missy's petite charm, this woman has a voluptuous body with a seductive personality to match. Even if all Ash has heard from this lady are the curt retorts she hurled at Harriet, this intimidating beauty holds herself with an enticing boldness that elicits an urge to conquer within her beholders.

Or at least, this is what the information 078 provided claims. Ash feels nothing in particular when she looks at this lady.

The cause of all the commotion, the crown prince, is quietly seated on the bed in the back of the room. How he managed to extract himself from this catfight is beyond Ash.

"I was invited here," the voluptuous woman responds swiftly. "Although your status is above mine, you cannot arbitrarily choose to slander others." Her words sound righteous, but her current attire isn't one that leaves much to the imagination. This lady's intentions are quite clear.

"I saw you with my own eyes! You pinned the crown prince on the bed and—and—" The young miss fails to complete her sentence. Instead, Harriet rebukes her. "Have some shame!"

The curvaceous woman rolls her eyes. "The prince didn't seem to mind."

The missy releases a sound of complete and utter frustration. "It doesn't matter," the young miss turns to Ash and Bernard. "Capture her!"

Ash internally sighs, but still obediently detains the temptress within a whirling mass of wind. Then, when Bernard leaps forward, she dismisses the obstructive mass and watches as the guard smoothly incapacitates the alluring lady.

Prior to this event, the young miss apparently had a slight crush on the crown prince. The sole purpose of this puppy crush seemed to be its effect on Bernard. Despite the pain her little fancy inflicted upon the guard, he only fell more and more deeply in love with the young miss as he watched her "adorable" advances towards the prince.

How exactly is this man considered a protagonist? He seems like a simple pawn.

Anyway, this incident is supposed to be what crushes the small sparks of emotion the young missy feels towards the crown prince. Accidentally stumbling across an unexpectedly obscene side of your most respected idol tends to put a damper on your respect.

Ash had been looking forward to seeing the young missy's disgust and shattered hopes, but she was too late. If she knew the fun was over, she wouldn't have bothered returning so quickly.

Honestly, Ash isn't sure if it's alright for mere guards to lay such a heavy hand on a noble, but she figures the duke will cover for them. This lady is an unimportant character, one too insignificant to serve as a stumbling block for the protagonists.

The young missy's next words interrupt her Ash's musings. "Where did you two go! You are supposed to be my guards!" The hint of blame in her high-sounding words almost sounds coquettish.

Ash and Bernard both bend at the waist, falling into a 90° bow. Once the young miss finishes her speech, Ash discreetly steals a glance at the guard. When she retracts her gaze she can't help the minuscule scoff that escapes her.

The retard's absolutely smitten.

Ash cannot sympathize with the sentiment. She has no fond feelings for the young miss. Despite her arrogant attitude, Harriet holds no power and only attracts trouble from various, difficult to handle parties.

She acts domineering but ultimately forces her already overworked father to clean up her messes. Even the crown prince, someone whose influence is only inferior to the king himself, laughingly lets the young miss manage his affairs on the basis that she is "like a willful younger sibling you can't help but find endearing."

The fact Ash finds most irritating is that, because the world itself favors her, everyone bends over backward to accommodate her irrational behavior. It pisses her off that such a useless human being managed to rise to the very pinnacle of the world.

Even with the world's assistance, Liu Han was still forced to suffer as he worked his way up. However, Harriet started at the top and stayed at the top. The young missy was so well cared for that, in the entirety of her life, she failed to receive even a single scratch or scolding.

How does this make any sense?

Her very existence can bring the theory of natural selection under scrutiny.

Harriet leeched off the charity of others—for the whole of her lifetime—without providing anyone with anything even vaguely resembling compensation for their extensive efforts.

Ash truly finds her disgusting.

After a few more seconds of silence, Ash suddenly realizes that Bernard expects her to respond to the young miss. "I happened to see the third prince, who demanded we entertain him thereafter."

"You are lying." Harriet's expression twists in an especially disconcerting manner. No one but Ash seems to notice. She can empathize with Liu Han now, just a little.

"I order you to tell me the truth!"

Ash hisses inaudibly as she loses a large portion of her control over her skin-sack. This bitch used the command tool. How the hell did she manage to hide it in that ridiculous dress of hers?

Words spill from her lips the instant she opens her mouth. Ash can only barely interfere enough to exclude the part she played in their sudden disappearance. "Bernard and I had deviated from the predetermined path when the third prince spotted me. He attacked my wings, saying that I look like exactly like the man who ruined his mother. We only returned after pacifying him."

Doesn't it say quite a bit about the young miss that she failed to notice the incredibly mangled extremities attached Ash's back? Although Bernard and Ash tidied up before searching for the young miss, Ash was incapable of hiding her mutilated wings.

The crown prince's lackadaisical attitude abruptly disappears as his expression morphs into one of utter shock. "Albert?"

Ash nods, inwardly wondering what set him off. The crown prince was born of the original queen, who died soon after the birth of the first princess.

Leaping to his feet, the crown prince quickly closes the distance between them. "Do you know Albert?"

"He is my father."

"Where is he?" He clasps her shoulders, holding her in place so as to forcibly extract the answers from her mouth.

Ash would very much like to pry his grubby hands off her throbbing shoulders, but she dutifully remains still. "Dead, from what I've heard."

The crown prince freezes before he releases her and falls back to the bed, sighing. "Is that so..."

Ash frowns a bit. "Please forgive my impudence, but I would like to know why you are asking these questions." She doesn't recall the prince being such an easily agitated person.

"My father," the crown princes pauses as he tries to search for the appropriate words. "He was quite close to that man before his departure." Then, evidently reaching a conclusion that even Ash cannot fathom, the crown prince solemnly meets her eyes. "Would you like to meet him?"

The young miss looks at Ash with alarm.

A/N: The awesome DeadlyScholar edited this for me!