It was only later on that Shien found out that Lucy's true personality really was unknown to all.
Be it the knights who had always stayed by Lucy's side, her teacher who had frequent contact with her, including, her friends and sister, or even her parents the current King and Queen. None of them knew that Lucy had this hidden side of hers.
In other words, Lucy had always used her princess mode to interact with everyone else. Not even her own family were an exception.
"Aren't you doing this a bit too thoroughly?"
Shien went mute at that knowledge, even while still holding the honey tea that just had just successfully stolen from Lucy's hand.
"… You think I wanted to." Lucy looked at Shien angrily, but her hands weren't empty either. Instead, she grabbed a new cup of tea from the side as she complained, "Everyone, including father and mother, all had huge hopes for me."
"Hope that I would become a pillar for the Kingdom."
"Hope that I won't betray the talent that the goddess and Holy Sword recognized in me."
Hope that I could become a face for the royal family comparable to our ancestor."
"Hope that the Heroic inheritor after a thousand years could do as the original Hero, and bring this country and the world at large peace and glory."
As she got to that point, Lucy showed a certain amount of self-depreciation on her face.
"In the end, in order to answer everyone's expectations and to do my best to be better than anyone else, I ended up like that before I knew it. If this me were to be seen by everyone, they'll probably all instantly pass out, right?"
That wasn't an exaggeration at all.
Just from the fact that the citizenry have to see Lucy every single day and the fact that all those young noblemen were chasing after her with such fervor, it was plain to see just how perfect the image of Lucy was in their minds.
Even Vivian and Diere are guilty of this. Every single time they mention Lucy, although they weren't to the point of being fanatic about it, the respect and trust they showed the princess from the bottom of their hearts were undeniable.
It could be said that in the hearts of many, Lucy was already an object of faith.
Thus, if Lucy's true personality was exposed, there would definitely be a lot of people who would faint on the spot, right?
Even Shien had a feeling of being lied to just now, where his image of Lucy in his mind had shattered. If it was someone of this country on the other hand, they'd definitely be seriously stricken.
It's like if some superstar famed for their purity was suddenly exposed to have been sleeping around in private. Anyone who finds out would have a hard time knowing what to say, never mind the fanatic fans. There had been quite a few examples where some would even refuse to believe it and end up in flame wars on the internet, trying to protect the reputation of their idol with all they had, all while ignoring the fact that said idol was in fact human.
Lucy was an absolutely publicly recognized superstar in this world. Her fans are composed of every person in this Kingdom, and every single one of them were absolute fanatics at that. If her true personality was exposed, then given the sheer diversity of people in general, there would definitely be quite a few fools who would be unable able to take it and end up doing something crazy.
"Normal people wouldn't say something like they can only calm down if they saw the princess safe and sound everyday, and if not, they'd riot, right?" Lucy complained with all her might, as if airing out all the grievances that she had accumulated all these years, "It's because of them that I'm forced to keep near the capital no matter what. I had to be able to get back within the day no matter what, so that I could show myself at noon and keep the situation stable. No matter what kind of work I did, it's basically a race against time, otherwise I'd be unable to show myself. And the moment I finally managed to finish my work and show myself, what little moments of rest I have to myself were taken up by having to deal with those nobles trying to marry me. And I can't even chase them away either! It's so freaking annoying!"
As she got near the end, Lucy was nearly to the point where she regressed back to the start when she was rolling around on her bed.
No, the princess had already fallen onto the table, completely out of energy like a burned out wreck that had lost all hope.
"Now I have to deal with your issues, and I have to plan out a trip to the divine realm. When that time comes I'll need to figure out a way to first deal with my work. Then I need to properly check through my schedule to see if I can skip a day to show myself. If not, I'd have to figure out a way to calm down the citizenry too. Aahhh, so troublesome, so troublesome…"
Lucy had completely stopped caring about her appearance by now.
She's already been exposed to Shien after all, so the princess didn't seem to plan on continuing to hide it from him anymore.
Shien just calmly watched the princess's performance, drank the overly sweet honey tea, and half squinted.
"Who are you trying to blame here?" Not only did Shien not sympathize with her, he even started teasing her, "Even if you were trying to respond to the expectations of others, there was no need to make yourself seem that perfect, right?"
Although others might have had high hopes for Lucy's future, it didn't mean that they wanted her to become an absolutely perfect princess.
"Even if your were a successor of the royal family and had to at least maintain your public image, there was no need for you to have gone that far, right?" Shien mercilessly struck, "This was all your own fault here."
"Ugh…" Lucy had no reply with which to counter him with.
True enough, if she seriously thought about it, even Lucy herself felt like she had gone a bit overboard.
"But… But I didn't have any choice either!" Lucy could only insist with all her might, "Everyone was always looking at me with such anticipation, hoping that I could do even better you know? So of course I had to do my very best to show my best!"
"And isn't that indeed just your own just deserts here?" Shien looked down at her scornfully, "You're the one who went overboard and showed yourself to be too perfect. Can you really blame others for idolizing you more and more fanatically?"
"Oy. Do you have no sympathy?" Lucy complained, "I've already told you how pitiful I am, so can't you comfort me some?"
"Hoho." Shien immediately replied with a sarcastic laugh. Not only did he not draw back, he started speaking even more scornfully, "You second generation royals and nobles are all hypocrites like that. Even though you have such great conditions compared to everyone else, even though you were born in such a great family, with no need to worry over daily necessities or your future, yet you all act like you're the pitiful ones. You keep moaning over the fact that even though you have money, you've lost your freedom, that you gained authority, but lost the common little happiness. Don't you know just how many people outside wish in vain that they could have what you do?"
"W-wait a moment here! There's no need for you to go that far, right?" Seeing Shien's somewhat excited state, Lucy actually felt a bit afraid and weakly spoke, "I just wanted to complain a bit. It's just a bit of random grumbling is all, alright?"
"Is that so?" Shien immediately calmed down again, "Maybe it's because I got reminded of a ton of protagonists with settings like yours, and I ended up getting a bit overexcited. Sorry about that."
"I-it's fine…" Lucy calmed down as well, "Although I don't really understand what you're saying, but since it's all fine, that's for the best. You really were kind of scary back there."
After that conversation, Shien and Lucy were back to staring at each other with no idea what to say next.
After all, Shien had completely ruined the atmosphere.
Lucy was also in the midst of a mental breakdown.
Given the general plot development, at this point what the other should be doing is to sympathize with her, encourage her, and, as the only one to know her true self, he should be helping her come up with plans and even help her escape her troubles completely. That's how it's supposed to be, right?
But Shien just sent the usual development flying with a kick full of ill will and instead gave her a lecture. Lucy at this point was already questioning her life.
Right now, all Lucy was thinking was if all otherworlders were like that?
She's never heard that her ancestor was so in need of a beating… No, she meant unusual.
As she thought that, Lucy instead ended up relaxing quite a lot.
Of course Lucy wasn't completely calm at the fact that she had exposed her true self.
Originally, Lucy was even worried that something worrisome might come about due to her weakness landing in a man's hands. She might even have been blackmailed.
Currently though, Shien's attitude told Lucy that she was overthinking things.
This was someone trustworthy.
Lucy had understood this point.
And at the very least, she didn't need to hide her true self in front of him.
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