Part 34: Prince’s Room

As I went to the room Prince Cinnamint talked about, I was surprised to learn that he lived here. Princess Candiere and Peppie did as well as he showed me their rooms on the ninth floor.

“Woah. You know, after hearing Princess Candiere’s story about her life, I always wondered about how you two met. I have so many questions,” I said while walking down the hallway to his room with him.

The door to that room looked like all the others but it was locked like the Cafe Catalog when I played the game. This was likely to be true for Princess Candiere’s room as well since most rooms were locked on the ninth floor.

“This might be a little off topic but, why did my clothes change when I came into Tartropolatté?”

“Oh that’s actually because of the curse The Traveller put on anyone that enters the atmosphere of our world. Any outfit you previously wore transforms into something you don’t like wearing.”

“Wow. Guess that guy really wanted to get personal. So why are you here?”

When Prince Cinnamint unlocked his door, he began to explain himself as we entered what looked like the most clean place I’ve ever seen. There were a lot of natural landscape paintings on the wall of landmarks throughout Tartropolatté. His desk on the left side had an inker bottle and an empty sheet of paper on top. His bed was had a brown fluffy pillow being covered over by a wooly black blanket.

“You want to sleep in my bed tonight?” he asked me.

Thinking about it for awhile, I decided not to because I didn’t want to be rude and sleep in something that was his.

“I’m alright. Thanks anyways. Your bedroom does look nice though.”

He smiled looking around at the place himself.

“Yes. I know you may think I’m some sort of prince but it’s really just a facade for mascot reasons. Everyone except Peppie actually believes in their roles here. I guess that’s how she is.”

“Wait, are you a human in disguise?”

“Well… This is who I am, it’s just the name that isn’t.”

“Oh. Then what is your real name?”

“Wata Nozori.”

The moment he said that, I was left wondering what I just heard. No… This couldn’t be right… So the stepbrother identity was a facade altogether? Which meant…

“Are you a Dream Academy High student?”

“You know me?”

My eyes rushed with tears as I covered my mouth over my face in horror. The curse must have transformed him into this. I didn’t understand it. He wasn’t supposed to know his memories…

Unless…

“Wata, your family misses you. I remember being very little and hearing about what happened at your school. It’s what led me to delve into the murders that started happening after you went.”

Slowly swallowing his pain, Wata closed the door of his room and locked it.

“Tell no one about this except Princess Candiere.”

I nodded but something told me that the game I loved was never a good world to begin with. It was clear that all these people were being sucked from their homes into Tartropolatté. The Traveller didn’t want them to return and it was for a very selfish reason. It must have created this entire place. The only question remaining was… Why?

If no one had ever found a way out beside that other dangerous area they told me about, that meant I was really stuck here. Forever. My heart started to beat faster than before and my head was really hot like I was coming down with a fever.

“I knew I shouldn’t have finished that game,” I said as I broke down crying.