How To Save A Time Limited Young Master

The girl’s large eyes darted back and forth as she looked around nervously, and upon spotting Heloise, her eyebrows twisted like she was about to cry. 

“H—Heloise.”

“Sienna?”

Sienna Salles.

The main character of <Princess Sienna> has come to see Heloise.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so ashamed of myself for coming here because of this…”

Sienna began speaking by abruptly apologising. 

“But the only person I could think of was Heloise.”

“Firstly, calm down. Shall we have a cup of tea before talking?”

“Heok…”

Sienna sniffed and barely managed to calm down after following Heloise’s advice and sipping the tea that the maid brought over in advance. 

“So, what brings you here today?”

“It’s…”

Sienna, who was struggling to open her mouth, spotted a crumpled parchment in Heloise’s hand.

To be exact, her gaze was drawn to the painting on the parchment depicting dancing couples. 

“Where did you get that?”

“What? Oh, this? My mother showed it to me.”

“Actually, I’ve decided to attend the dance competition……”

“What?”

Although she knew that she shouldn’t do this, Heloise couldn’t help but ask back in a tone that was close to “Eh?”

The reason for that was none other than disbelief, given the fact that Sienna, who couldn’t dance to save her life, was going to participate in the <Dance Competition>. 

Has the player gone mad? No matter how attractive the reward money is, they shouldn’t push a kid that’s below the intermediate level into the dance competition of that year.

Heloise fumed, wondering if Sienna was being reluctantly dragged to participate in the competition due to the player’s heavy-handed play style.

Maybe because her expression remained dark, Sienna seemed to recognise what Heloise was concerned about and waved her hands first. 

“I know what you’re thinking. But that’s not what happened. My father said that given my skills, I wouldn’t be able to do it…… Soma dissuaded me instead.”

“But?”

So why was she participating? 

With a flushed face, Sienna fiddled with her fingers and mumbled softly. 

“Actually, my family’s finances haven’t been very good lately. Not too long ago, I collapsed while working, so I was sent for <Recuperation>…” 

“You collapsed?”

The [Stress] level was obviously high, and it seemed like adjustments had failed.

The moment [Stress] exceeds two-thirds of [Stamina], the daughter would fall ill.

And the statuses currently possessed during the recuperation period would be rapidly reduced. 

“My father offered me a vacation as an apology, so I went on an expensive vacation, but now we’re in debt…”

Perhaps <Recuperation> alone didn’t relieve all the stress that remained. 

The pricey <Vacation>, which can reduce [Stress] faster than <Rest>, was a vacation spot where special, high-quality illustrations were provided and status was increased, and a place where players had to save a lot of money in order to send their daughters to. 

However, <Vacation> would only evoke Sienna’s guilt, and if debts were incurred, the player had most likely expanded the house unreasonably in order to increase [Sociability].

For the first time ever, Heloise’s expression hardened completely in front of Sienna.

It’s because she didn’t expect the player to care about [Sociability].

[Sociability] was a stat to be mindful of when sending the daughter into society after the age of eighteen, and one of the most important factors to becoming a princess.

‘To become the princess…’

Her back turned chilly.

What kind of future does the player have in mind for Sienna?

She thought that they were only focused on making money, since Sienna was frequently sent to mines or farms, but later on, Sienna was sent to places like dance lessons and also participating in the <Dance Competition>. 

And [Sociability].

Among the players’ occupations <Traveller>, <Merchant>, <Minstrel>, <Knight>, <Fallen Aristocrat>, only <Knight> and <Fallen Aristocrat> are the only occupations that are recognized as aristocrats at the beginning of the game. 

In order to solve the difference in status as a commoner, the <Merchant> uses money and the <Minstrel> uses talent to increase their daughter’s [Sociability].

As aristocrats from the beginning, the <Knight> accumulates credit in the <Dungeon Expedition>, while the <Fallen Aristocrat> builds reputation by saving money to retrieve lost assets from his ancestors and expanding the mansion.

In this perspective, [Sociability] was a kind of reputation.

Reputation to become a princess.

“Fortunately, I was able to borrow up to 3,000G with my family’s name, but any more than that and I might go bankrupt. To me, this is akin to my last chance, Heloise.”

‘It seems like this competition was a narrow play.’

Heloise, who bit her lips at the earnestly requesting Sienna, fell into contemplation.

Sienna probably came to ask her to teach her how to dance.

She didn’t have the money to attend dance lessons, and Sienna was acknowledged as someone with two left feet. 

But if she helped Sienna, who was beginning on the Princess’s route, what about the bad ending?

What would happen to the bad ending?

Sienna was already well acquainted with Crown Prince Blake, and is a mage that’s strong enough to be the runner-up in the magic division of the <Martial Arts Tournament> during the <Harvest Festival> , but the Marquis of Velks was still formidable.

Even now, it was entirely possible for a bad ending to occur to a player that’s aiming for the princess route.

The only thing that has changed was Zenon’s freedom, and this caused Heloise to break out in cold sweat. 

‘Is it that lackadaisical?’ 

So, what about just letting Sienna go through the bankruptcy ending?

After the player’s character, Sienna, reached an ending, Heloise didn’t know what would happen to the save file that she belonged to. 

It was too big of a gamble.

It was discomforting to help Sienna in the current situation, but this time, she could only help her overcome this crisis.

If she was unaware, perhaps she would refuse, but she couldn’t stand by unconcernedly when she knew about this. 

“First of all, I understand what you’re talking about.”

“I’m sorry to bother you, Heloise.”

“It’s not any trouble to me. But Sienna, are you aware of this? If you aren’t in first place, you won’t get anything, not a consolation prize or reward money.”

All the events in Ballide followed the same standards.

It was a rule that not a single prize or reward would be given to those in places other than the first.

What Heloise meant was, Sienna will have to win first place in the <Dance Competition>.  

“Of course I know.”

How would Sienna win first place, when her teacher, Heloise, wasn’t even confident of winning first place?

Although she should have persuaded Sienna to give up immediately, Heloise couldn’t say anything.

This might seem abstruse, but the image of Sienna overlapped with the numerous daughters that she’d placed with in the past.

All those children were <Sienna Salles>, but they didn’t come forward and voice out what they wanted to do like this.

This Sienna was the first daughter that tried to solve a problem with her own power.

As such, Heloise nodded her head before she knew it.

“Okay, let’s give it a try.”

“Heloise!”

The seated Sienna jumped to her feet and hugged Heloise’s neck tightly from the other side of the table.

“Thank you!”

In her arms, Heloise felt the agitation and excitement of playing a game, which she hadn’t felt in a long time.

It was a feeling that evoked longing.

⋄────∘°❃°∘────⋄

A few days later. These days, Heloise has been extremely busy while preparing for Sienna’s dance class.

At first, she thought that it’d be better to hire a professional instructor, but the problem lies in the pressure that Sienna would feel.

Considering how easily she was intimidated and scared by the teacher at the dance studio previously, Heloise thought that she should personally teach some of the basic skills, even if she would leave it to an instructor. 

Since Heloise only knew a specific few dances, she promised to refamiliarise herself with a few moves again and begin lessons a week later.

When Heloise stayed in and practised dancing, her mother was very happy, saying, “Are you finally thinking of attending the <Dance Competition>?”

She tried her best to feign ignorance and on the sixth day of dance practise, Heloise heard a strange noise in the dance hall. 

Tap, tap. 

At first, she thought that it was raining or hailing. 

But she soon realised that it was the sound of stones hitting the window.

“Who’s the one doing this?”

Dumbfounded at the antics belonging to a mischievous village kid, Heloise approached the window. 

When she unlocked the ledge and pushed the window wide open, her eyes met a person that had his arm up and poised to throw a stone.

The moment she spotted him, her eyes widened momentarily. 

‘What is he doing here?’

The opponent smiled mischievously as soon as his eyes met with Heloise’s.

“It’s been a while, Heloise!”

“Your Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Ah, I’ll get caught if you call me that. Call me Bill, Bill.”

Blake climbed up an oak tree that had thick branches stretched towards the dance hall swiftly. 

Heloise watched this scene with a blank face and belatedly figured out the situation.

“Wait, if you’re coming over, you can just enter through the gates in a carriage. Why are you doing this?”

“In that case, wouldn’t I have to bring a lot of people along? If I came as the Crown Prince, wouldn’t you be bothered by those blabbering about whether there’s anything going on between you and the crown prince?’

“Then wouldn’t the problem be solved if you didn’t come?”

When Heloise reached a simple conclusion, Blake covered his face with both hands and pretended to sob.

“You’re so mean… You’re a bad, cold-blooded person.”

It was detestable.

“What brings you here?”

At Heloise’s straightforward response, Blake, who’d originally intended to play some more tricks on Heloise, stopped the pretence of weakness. 

“I came out and stopped by Sienna’s house like usual, but this house was empty, probably because she’s busy. So while I was wandering around, I thought of you and stopped by in passing.”

“In short, you came because you’re bored.”

“Is that the case? Haha.”

Did he really just come here and interrupt someone else’s valuable practice time just because he’s bored?

Heloise had initially thought about pushing him down from the tree just like that, but she endured that urge upon recalling that her opponent was the crown prince.

‘Calm down, Heloise. He’s a crown prince. And he also has useful information.’

Useful information?

Come to think of it, there was something that she wanted to meet Blake and ask.