My Princess and Your Princess

♪Adagio — Present♪

“Miss Adagio. Don’t die. Miss Adagio…”

Poet’s voice came from far away. Wasn’t I supposed to be dead?

I almost drifted back into drowsiness, but I gathered my courage and opened my eyelids.

There were Poet and the royal palace soldiers, peering anxiously into my face.

“Am I… alive?”

The rabbit-eared prince Poet’s face crumpled into a smile, and then his face suddenly filled my vision as he kissed me.

I flailed my arms and legs a little, but as his tongue pushed deeper, the strength left my body.

No. This is lewd. He’s passionately trying to steal my heart away.

The soldiers whistled and teased us.

“Don’t show off, you stupid lovebirds!”

The voice from Magic Chat told me that we… no, that we two were doing something incredibly embarrassing.

Yes. My heart had belonged to Poet for a very long time already. He had settled deep inside my heart. The kiss was nothing more than the final ritual of confirmation.

The legend about dragon women. The one that says they fall head over heels for the person who kisses them. As I savored the meaning of that legend, I accepted his desire with my lips.

I’ve become Poet’s. He’s usually so rational, but I’ve become a flower he can’t help wanting to pluck. Hee hee. I don’t have to go back to being a man anymore. I can be a woman for the rest of my life.

“Well, well, you two! You sure know how to show off!”

As if the levee had not been on the verge of collapse just moments ago, sunlight broke through, and white doves flew overhead.

Then, in a hologram projected through a gap in the light, the dog-eared prince Growl appeared in a huge image.

He was surrounded by treasures: jewels, gold, pearls, and more.

“Is that—did you steal that, Growl!?” Poet shouted.

“In all the confusion, I borrowed the treasure the Noah Society bastards had hidden away in the Magical Private Network. Wars drag on and on no matter how much common folk suffer, as long as the rich folks’ pockets don’t take damage. All the more so in an age where rich people can hoard as much wealth as they like in encrypted places like this! So I borrowed a little for the sake of peace. No divine punishment’s gonna fall on me for that!”

“I will not permit theft within my territory! Judging from the background, you’re on the third floor of the main building! Go capture him! Charge!”

King Sonnet had regained his energy.

“Uoooooh!”

The soldiers ran toward the main building.

“Well then, looks like it’s about time I ran. Mr. Poet, it was a short journey, but I had fun.”

“Don’t die, comrade…” Poet replied lightly to Growl.

“Oh, and one more thing. I’m taking the finest bride there is.”

“!! I won’t hand Miss Adagio over to you!”

“Not her. There’s another top-class beauty, isn’t there? In a way, she’s the protagonist of this story. See ya! Farewell!”

Who was he talking about?

Could it be…!

Could it be…!

♪Growl — Present♪

Carrying the extraordinary beauty in a princess carry, I flew through the blue sky. Only my ears were in Golden Retriever mode, flapping away. The soldiers wouldn’t be able to follow us here so easily.

The beauty woke up.

“Awake, are we, Princess?”

“You! You were traveling with Adagio! Pr-Princess!?”

An alto voice. In other words, a woman’s voice.

“I knew it. I had a hunch that your true nature was female too, and that your body had become female as well. Up until now, your head’s been filled with shame while you hid your own sex, hasn’t it, Miss Allegro?”

That’s right. Ashura’s three hearts: anger, anguish, and enlightenment. Of those, enlightenment was carved out as Adagio. The remaining two are still inside Allegro.

Among the soprano, alto, and tenor voices, only the soprano was carved out into Adagio. That means the alto and tenor remained inside Allegro.

In other words, even after cutting away Adagio, the feminine part of her inner self still remained inside Allegro.

At her core, her heart is female. Beneath the mask of an angry man, her true nature is that of a troubled maiden.

“When you were young, you burned with jealousy because a classmate girl named Canon had her skirt flipped up. But you weren’t burning with jealousy toward the boy who flipped it. You were jealous of Canon, who made boys go crazy over her. A woman’s jealousy sure is ugly.”

“Wh—!?”

Allegro blushed. What a cute one.

“Adagio’s looks were my type, but her personality was a little different from what I like. I prefer spirited, tomboyish girls. And here is a woman with both the looks and the personality.”

“Wh-what are you planning to do? If you so much as try to kiss me, I’ll bite my tongue! I mean it!”

“I don’t plan on making you fall for me right this second. We only just met, after all. I’ll take the proper steps and make you fall for me. Kissing comes after the relationship is complete. For one thing, forcing yourself to hide your true nature and getting tied down by male pride is exactly why you clashed with society. Be honest with your true self and become my woman. I won’t treat you badly.”

“You idiot! Don’t say such embarrassing things!”

The sun was bright. Oops, the Flying Rabbit Corps were chasing after us, flapping their ears and carrying otherworldly Indian instruments called nadaswarams. And just when things were getting good, too.

I flapped my ears, picked up speed, and decided to get the hell out of the Rabbit Kingdom.

♪Adagio — Several Years Later♪

To my surprise, the number of people killed by Allegro was zero. When Allegro entered a state of apparent death, every curse was undone: those who had been turned into dolls, and those who had been struck by the Prelude of Death. Just like the curse placed on the Briar Princess in Grimm’s fairy tale.

Serpent and Moderato were sentenced to life imprisonment. Considering how much chaos they caused in the world, that was only natural. However, according to legal scholars, if there is a national celebration in the future, they may be granted amnesty and have their sentences changed to fixed terms. Mr. Serpent is elderly, so he might never get out, but even so, the guards seem to treat him courteously, and he is apparently plotting to publish his memoirs.

The members of the Noah Society and the Babel Society seem to have slipped out of the Rabbit Kingdom when they found an opening. But the exposure of this series of scandals, and their attempts to take over nations around the world, became known globally. Governments in each country gained justification to suppress them, officially designated them as terrorist organizations, and even today they continue their endless struggle.

There had been no word from Growl, but the other day, a photograph arrived. It was a heartwarming family photo of him playing horsey with some children. When I looked at the children’s faces, they looked a lot like me. If they looked like me, that meant they had been born from someone whose genes were extremely close to mine. That Allegro… She went and built herself a happy family.

Officially, both of them are wanted fugitives. The photo was lit by sunlight, but they must be living in the shadows. That said, there probably aren’t many people seriously trying to find them.

As for the Dog Kingdom, it seems they are trying to establish King Howl—that is, Growl’s younger brother—as the legitimate successor. Taking the form of a bloodless revolution, they are apparently trying to build a new country after the Babel Society, chased out by the revolutionary army, withdrew. Growl is probably doing all kinds of political maneuvering behind the scenes…

The times were about to move greatly. Research into Instrumental Magic, which had often been pushed out of academic circles, began to advance. It also began to be incorporated into industry in earnest. Doors began to open to ethnic minorities and women, as long as they had ability. Research into just intonation also began to progress.

“Lady Adagio. Lord Poet is waiting for you.”

“Thank you, Masahide.”

Today is our wedding. Former King Sonnet has come secretly, so members of the media are not allowed inside.

The former king usually lives in a mountain village and works in carrot fields. The villagers seem to have a faint idea of who he really is, but they show him respect and try not to pry.

I have no father, so Mr. Masahide escorts me as I walk down the virgin road. Before my eyes, my beloved prince is waiting.

“You’re beautiful, Adagio.”

“My. Aren’t you good with words.”

I, too, have become good at feminine speech, even though I am a man. Even though I am a man, my veil is lifted. Even though I am a man, I allow myself to accept the kiss of my wonderful husband, Poet.

When I close my eyes, he gives me a deep kiss. Perhaps the baby in my belly is smiling.

I have chosen to live with him.

Accepting that I am a woman, body and soul.