The Emperor’s summons.
Without any doubt, the Masugaki Princess followed it.
She was heading towards the danger.
It wasn’t just the princess in peril.
The person pointed out as the real culprit was Oknodie and Reap.
Everyone was frozen, naturally about to fall into a trap.
“Is it the Emperor’s will?”
“All I know is the warning of an impending assault. And the order to bring Her Highness the Princess to the Jeido.”
“Regardless of life or death, I see…”
“…”
“What is the intention of telling me this?”
“I thought so. Though you’ve been influenced by dark mana, a ruler like His Majesty, who might have even abandoned his own daughter, surely won’t discard someone like Eungchilgeom.”
The lady’s cunning remarks stirred something within Alexander.
“It seems the kind lady over there has been bitten by the suspicion.”
That saved both the lady and himself.
Reap’s hand, which had been stroking the lady’s head, abruptly halted.
To what extent had he known and acted?
Was Alexander’s heart intentionally swayed?
What would he have done if it hadn’t?
If he had known from the start, why did he even get on the carriage?
There were many questions, but nothing could be affirmed.
The lady she served had always been that sort of being.
“Don’t you want to run away?”
“I am a maid serving the lady. I won’t go anywhere without her.”
What she could do was only protect Oknodie, as promised to her butler.
*
The Masugaki Princess was deeply displeased about being assigned a separate carriage.
Why couldn’t she move with Oknodie?
It would take several days to return to the Jeido.
Did she have to spend that long alone?
‘I’ve really changed a lot♡’
Before entering the academy, she would have desperately needed this break from her daily efforts to be a model princess.
But now, she felt agony in being alone, even amidst a grueling schedule she could never have dreamed of before enrolling.
‘While I’m gone, my useless followers will be studying hard, won’t they? If their master disappears, they’ll panic and throw their studies away, and then I’ll teach them a lesson♡’
Worries about her abandoned followers.
Concerns about the gap with other factions.
Fears about whether she could catch up on her studies safely.
Indeed.
Has the life at the academy become this important to me…?
It suddenly seemed funny.
She used to detest dark mana so heavily.
‘To think I could directly acquire a power that foolish people try to attain at the cost of their lives.’
No regrets.
She had plenty of money, after all.
The purity of the dark mana she wielded was very high.
Unlike other dark mana users whose bodies were torn apart and threatened by rampancy every time they used their powers, her stability was on a unique level.
Maybe she had a high affinity for dark mana after all.
If living in an environment similar to the attribute’s image increases affinity, then dark mana wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to her.
– “Seize the Emperor’s daughter!”
– “Because of the grain you plundered, all the children in our village have died. Now it’s the Emperor’s turn to lose a child. That’s fairness!”
– “For the Revolutionary Army!”
The Revolutionary Army was everywhere.
Even without a grand event like the city assault, she could encounter them frequently whenever she stepped out of the palace, accompanied by guards.
More often than meeting green-skinned monsters like goblins in the forest.
In cities or villages populated by humans, they appeared without fail whenever passing through.
And they died.
Without needing Eungchilgeom to intervene, they were taken down by the swords of the palace knights tasked with guarding the princess.
The guards of the escort who answered the knights’ call were burned by magic, shocked, or frozen in diverse ways and met their deaths.
Sometimes, they would explode mana stones, detonating like bombs.
– “Sister…”
On her first outing, her naive younger sister and the empire’s third princess, Yayoi, wore a hollow expression splattered with blood and flesh from the dismembered revolutionary army.
Masugaki instinctively grabbed Yayoi’s cheeks, forcing her gaze back to her.
– “There’s nothing to be surprised about♡ Useless commoners usually explode on their own♡”
– “Really…?”
– “Of course♡ If you can’t repay your mortgage, the debt bomb blows up, your luck in love crashes, the birthrate explodes, and the village gets overrun with low yields!…?”
– “Yikes! It’s scary outside… I want to go back now…”
To declare that it’s nothing unusual for people to die, that it’s common enough not to be shocked.
While comforting Yayoi, she realized.
Ah.
This was normal for me.
There’s no need to be alarmed; it’s just an ordinary day.
Death was this common, she mused.
She thought that if her timid younger sister experienced something like this, it would deeply wound her soul.
So, as a member of the royal family, she took on all unavoidable diplomatic duties herself.
Yayoi only needed to stay within the palace and enjoy peaceful days.
She would take on all the dangerous and troublesome matters.
Then her sister’s soul wouldn’t be afflicted.
– “Grandfather. Why did mother hang herself on the tree?”
– “Because her soul was sick. Kind people heal others with their noble souls, but those like her lack the strength to take care of themselves.”
– “So, mother was weak and died?”
– “That’s right. So, Masugaki, become strong. You must be strong enough to not let your soul grow sick.”
The advice of the chief palace magician was sound.
Yayoi experienced hardships but lived a peaceful life in the palace without her soul becoming sick.
She had overcome those terrible memories.
But problems arose.
– “The Emperor’s methods are flawed, and that’s why extreme people like the Revolutionary Army are increasing. I’ll inherit the throne and reform the empire until the army of the resigned no longer appears!”
The weak child entered the Gift Academy seeking strength and declared she would aim for the throne after graduating.
The Emperor’s promise that graduating from the academy would provide significant advantages for inheriting the throne likely played a part in her resolve too.
All that was none of her concern.
– “Hah~? There’s no way a weakling like Yayoi, who had all her duties taken by me, could become the Emperor♡ Yayoi should just wake up late in the afternoon, enjoy the sun, relish tea time, learn to dance, and marry a handsome man at the ball♡”
– “No. I’ve come of age to know the effort you’ve put in for me. I’ve always been grateful. Therefore, I can’t step back any further. For the sake of ending the sacrifices you’ve made for me your whole life!”
What a fool.
If you’re going to brag, at least do it well.
Now reduced to a mere upper class straggler, wandering about with no followers in sight.
That’s right.
For that girl’s sake, I have to return quickly.
Yayoi’s grades must not surpass mine!
If they do, the royal family will start reassessing Yayoi’s usefulness and perhaps assign her duties.
That delicate girl, resembling their mother, might begin to deteriorate again and one day hang herself from a tree.
“Red Magic Tower’s Explosion Technique is Coagulation, Collision, Explosion…”
With Oknodie by her side, she secretly opened the notes he had prepared for her, without the professors knowing.
Not even a month of absence, I’ll make sure it doesn’t show at all.
I’ll buy back all my insufficient attendance points and, even without attending the lectures, I’ll perfectly grasp all with Oknodie’s notes.
Without trembling in anxiety.
I’ll do it all perfectly.
I’ll become that perfect princess.
I’ll make sure there’s no place for Yayoi to stand in the academy and get her back to the most peaceful and secure envoys in the world!
Thud.
But suddenly… the carriage stopped.
“Hah? Isn’t it a rule that royal escort carriages must NEVER stop~?”
“Your Highness, I regret to inform you that escort carriage operations have been unavoidably halted.”
“What’s the reason~?”
“There has been no report from the road traffic department regarding obstacles on the route. Given that the confirmation through the diplomatic bureau has also yielded no results, it seems the road’s stability cannot be guaranteed, thus we have halted the carriage.”
Pfft. Pfft. “You’re terrible at your job. A tax thief. A national disgrace♡ I’ll wait a little, but hurry up and check it out♡”
In an attempt to prevent terror aimed at members of the royal family, this rapidly moving carriage traversed the continent, but now, Masugaki found herself terrified, unlike her bold childhood self.
They say that once you acquire dark mana, you become fearless and mad, but why am I feeling scared?
– “Your Highness, please defeat Oknodie and punch your way to the top!”
– “I’ll try my best♡”
– “Your Highness, after graduating from the academy, I plan to marry my fiancée whom I left back home. I promised I’d return safely, so please bless this photo of my fiancée. Of course, it’s not a free request, I’ll give you my father’s keepsake…”
– “… You’re going to die before you graduate, aren’t you♡ There are just too many death flags here♡”
Thoughts sprung into her mind, echoing the answers.
It’s because I’ve gained so much.
I lived a satisfying life that I’m afraid of losing.
That’s why I’m frightened.
I really must go back to the academy.
As she chuckled pfft pfft, the deep voice of the giant Eungchilgeom Hiscliff echoed from outside the carriage.
“Your Highness. Never come out of the carriage.”
“Hiscliff?”
“Assassins targeting Your Highness have appeared.”
How strange.
“The Revolutionary Army collapsed on the way here~?”
“They are not the Revolutionary Army. Their clothing and weapons may suggest otherwise, but their spirit reveals otherwise.”
If they’re not the Revolutionary Army, then who?
“They are assassins sent by His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Ah. I remember my dear brother, who fears my diligence a bit too seriously.
