Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: The One Who Should Not Be Touched
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"Ahhh..."
Fresh morning sunlight poured brightly into my room.
Like Snow White awakening after eating the poisoned apple, a woman stretched languidly and slowly opened her eyes.
"Eek! L-Lord Kayer..."
The woman, who had been stretching refreshingly, peeked open her eyes, spotted me, and jumped in surprise.
"Did you have a good dream?"
"Yes... But when did you get back?"
Armis, who had slept soundly as if in a sweet dream, had been pulled out from the magic box and slept another full day.
She looked at me with eyes asking when I'd returned, as if she had no idea what had happened.
"Do you remember nothing at all?"
"Huh? Remember? Well... I think I prayed at the temple and fell asleep... Why am I here? In Lord Kayer's room..."
Armis trailed off, her face flushing red.
'Good.'
It seemed she thought she'd just been sleeping while in the magic box.
No, she seemed to have forgotten the kidnapping entirely.
"Haha. Who knows. That's strange for me too. I rushed back because I missed you, Armis, only to find you sleeping so comfortably in my bed. I was startled."
"R-Really? Me?"
Armis's big eyes grew even wider.
"Of course. Do you think I would have put you in my bed? Me, a knight of honor—would I shamelessly kidnap the pure Armis and bring her here? Not with my sharp-eyed subordinates standing guard outside."
"Th-Then..."
Armis cut off and hid her face under the blanket.
'Good.'
I'd worried that her tender heart might be hurt, but she remembered nothing.
The guilt of failing to protect her lightened.
"Get up already, sleepy princess. After breakfast, you'll regain your strength to comfort the weary souls waiting outside."
I teased playfully and approached Armis, who was hiding her face under the blanket.
"Y-You're mean!"
Armis mumbled from behind her cover that I was being mean.
'Thank you, Armis.'
I was grateful to this woman for returning to me unscathed.
Rustle.
I gently embraced the Armis hiding her face.
Flinch.
At my embrace, Armis trembled faintly, like a bird soaked in rain.
"Tonight... let's go to the sea."
"Yes...."
Armis shyly replied.
'Oh God...'
Gratitude to the divine welled up naturally.
I sincerely bowed my head to the merciful goddess Neran, who had sent such an angel to my side.
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'I love you...'
Armis remembered everything from the moment of her kidnapping.
Trapped in the small box, unable to move, she could still hear it all.
One wrong move, and she might have been dragged to the temple, never to leave for the rest of her life.
But Armis never gave up.
She prayed fervently to the goddess.
The one man who colored her soul with joy.
She begged to be saved through him, surely sent by the goddess.
But the goddess answered.
For her faithful daughter who never ceased praying, she sent that man.
He who would overcome trials and peril to rescue Armis from the clutches of darkness.
'I swear. Until the day you say I may stay, I will forever be your shadow.'
The warm arms and chest of the man holding her gently.
Holding back her threatening tears, Armis swore not to the goddess, but to herself.
Until the day guided by the angel of death, she would live and breathe for the goddess and this man...
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"We absolutely cannot forgive this! If we let it slide again, the nobles and all the kingdom's people and soldiers will turn their backs on the royal family!"
"That's right. We still haven't received a clear response from the Bazran Empire. They insist the imperial family never issued any attack orders and will leave all dispositions to our kingdom."
"If we muster the Southern Legion, the royal Sky Knights, and the furious nobles' Sky Knights, we can easily exceed two hundred. Mobilize the ten thousand available troops at the same time, and we can capture Lord Neruman!"
"Please make a decision, Your Majesty! No matter that he's a count of the Bazran Empire, we cannot let this go unpunished!"
"He's arrogant. He killed most of the continent's magic towers and merchant guilds, and now even temple holy knights. We must punish him in the royal family's name. Grant us permission to march! Your Highness!"
In the grand hall of Habis Kingdom, one of the continent's oldest realms.
King Jarmanian of Habis, who had striven in his youth to restore the kingdom's fading glory, now listened wearily to the nobles' clamor.
Ten days prior, a battle had erupted in Count Kabalon's territory along the northern border.
Lord Kayer, lord of Neruman, had crossed into kingdom soil leading a wyvern squadron in attack.
At first, the kingdom's nobles thought it a warning from the empire and stayed silent.
But the reply from the Bazran imperial family, sent just in case, had turned these self-proclaimed patriots into a noisy mob.
The king mused that if even half these nobles had spoken so fervently in his youth, they might have recovered some national strength—even if not to past imperial glory—and reclaimed sovereignty.
"Quiet, all of you. His Majesty surely has his thoughts on this."
"..."
Hanskein, one of the kingdom's great dukes representing the nobles, silenced them.
The nobles of Habis Kingdom—subjects now more to the two adjacent empires than to the faltering crown, which symbolized the kingdom's broken sovereignty like its crumbling throne.
For the first time in ages, they sought the king's opinion.
Having earlier fumed over punishing Neruman, they now formally deferred the choice to him.
'So in my reign, the kingdom's history ends...'
There was no prince to succeed the throne.
For some reason, Habis had few heirs for generations.
The royal bloodline, barely hanging on, now reached its final thread.
The aged king, with only a beautiful princess for an heir, found everything tedious.
He wished only to toss aside his hollow crown and rest in peace.
"I've heard this Count Kayer boasts considerable prowess. Is attacking him truly wise? Defeat at his hands could threaten the kingdom's very existence."
The kingdom might collapse anytime, but the king—who could not hand over his ancestors' legacy like a fool—tossed out a word.
"Your Majesty! Speak not with such timidity! The people might hear!"
"Indeed. Other nations already call our kingdom the Lame Kingdom—what if Your Majesty says such things?"
"How dare you! Such insolence to His Majesty!"
"Insolence? Most nobles here think the same! Mind your words, Lord Koberon!"
"You..."
A few remaining royalist nobles.
They gnashed their teeth in fury at the nobles mocking the king and royal family.
But that was all.
The royalists were so few now they couldn't even ensure their own safety.
"Enough. This all happened because the royal family's power waned. The royal family will handle it."
A clear voice rang out in the increasingly hostile hall.
The nobles' gazes turned to Princess Rosiatte, seated beside the king.
"Handle it how...?"
Hanskein, with his catfish-like slit eyes, slyly turned his barbs on the princess.
It was no fun toying with the old king anymore; now he had fresh prey.
"I've heard it stemmed from Neran's holy knights kidnapping Neruman's saintess. I'll meet personally with Lord Kayer of Neruman, hear his side, and settle it."
"Oh? The princess herself will go? If anything happens to you, wouldn't it harm the kingdom's peace? Moreover, the Bazran Empire's crown prince has his eye on you—what if something goes wrong..."
Hanskein trailed off, leering lasciviously at Princess Rosiatte.
'Ah... This isn't a kingdom. It's just a filthy pigsty.'
The nobles ogled the royal heir, their future sovereign, with sticky gazes.
No different from the Bazran crown prince's stare.
"I said clearly: the royal family takes full responsibility."
Princess Rosiatte pressed strongly, despite the king at her side.
The nobles flinched.
For twenty years since the king fell ill and royal resolve broke, Habis royalty had been a mere figurehead.
They were shocked that the pretty, ornamental princess—whom they saw as no threat—pushed back so fiercely.
"Do you mean the royal family takes full blame for this incident? If it goes wrong, it's not just reparations from Kabalon territory—you risk losing the trust of many nobles and the people. Think carefully, Princess Rosiatte."
Hanskein emphasized "princess."
Any perceptive person could tell.
He was mocking the princess and the royal family.
"So be it. If I fail to resolve this smoothly, then you, the loyal subject Duke Hanskein, lead the troops and capture Lord Neruman yourself."
Rosiatte held firm, stressing "loyal" while glaring at the duke.
"If that's the princess's will, so be it. After all, Habis Kingdom is His Majesty and Your Highness's kingdom, is it not?"
Hanskein bowed in courtesy and stepped back.
'If it goes wrong...'
They called it invading Neruman, but win or lose, the nobles planned to threaten the king.
The frequent calls for his abdication in recent years.
They lacked pretext, but with one, they'd act immediately.
'Maybe it's for the best. Count Kayer... He might just save this rotten kingdom.'
She'd declared boldly to the nobles, but Rosiatte was still a fragile girl not yet twenty.
She leaned unknowingly on Kayer, who had that sturdy back she yearned for.
Without that, she couldn't have spoken so confidently before the nobles today.
"Then, to the next item. With the harvest season approaching soon..."
The nobles' meeting continued, save for Rosiatte lost in thoughts of Kayer.
They didn't know.
That they were now pointing their swords at the one they should never touch...
TO BE CONTINUED