Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The Original Story's Protagonist, Elicia
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Alina took in the sight of the kidnappers chuckling around the fire in the center of the cabin.
The rough-looking men glanced at Alina from time to time.
"Man, she really is the Eisen Baron's daughter, huh? This little squirt's got some guts."
The one-eyed man marveled as he chewed on jerky.
"Normally, girls her age would be pissing themselves and passing out by now, but look at her—eyes wide open, holding steady."
"Yeah, guess you can't fight a tough bloodline."
The kidnapper with the torn cheek clicked his tongue as he tossed more wood onto the fire.
"The real problem's that grown woman over there, though. She's been bawling nonstop and driving me nuts."
Their gazes shifted to the figure slumped in the shadows beside Alina.
Alina cautiously turned her head as well.
A woman with long sunset-red hair lay collapsed there.
She appeared about the same age as Kara.
But their vibes were total opposites.
With her hands and feet bound and mouth gagged, the woman couldn't overcome her terror. She trembled nonstop, sobbing endlessly.
"Mmmph... Mmph...!"
Her face was streaked with tears and snot.
Her clothes were caked in dirt, a total mess.
The one-eyed man approached irritably and prodded her side with his boot.
"Hey, Your Highness. Take a lesson from her? That little kid's holding it together, but here you are, a grown adult, losing all dignity."
"......!"
Princess.
Alina's eyes widened at the word.
'That lady's... a princess?'
The kidnapper smirked and yanked the woman's hair up.
"Isn't this the noble Elicia von Croa, Her Highness the Princess? Right?"
Elicia.
The heroine of the original novel The Bastard's Snowflower Path, the empire's bastard princess.
Now, she was captured in a pathetic state by these kidnappers.
"Mmph! Mmmph!"
As Elicia shook her head in resistance, the one-eyed man tsked and roughly yanked out the gag.
"There, will you shut up now, you spoiled princess? If you've got something to say, spit it out."
"Haa... Haa...."
The moment the gag came off, Elicia gasped for air.
And then.
"Waaahhh! Mommyyy!"
A wail that shook the cabin erupted.
"Waaah! I wanna go home! It's scary! I hate it here! Waaahhh!"
Elicia bawled even more pitifully and childishly than Alina.
Any trace of a noble princess's grace had long vanished with the sunset.
"......"
Alina gaped blankly at the princess.
She was older than Alina, but her crying made her seem like a five-year-old sister.
The kidnappers plugged their ears, faces full of disbelief.
"Ugh, shut up already! Hey! Gag her again!"
"What a piece of work. No poise at all for a princess?"
The one-eyed man recoiled in disgust and shoved the gag back in.
But Elicia desperately shook her tear-streaked face and screamed.
"W-Wait! Just a sec! I have something to say! Hic... Sniff!"
She sniffled urgently.
"I-I'm rich! I've got emergency funds from the imperial family! I'll give it all to you! Please let me go!"
"Are you nuts? Do you know how much your ransom is worth? You think we'd risk our necks for pocket change?"
"No! It's a lot! Over a hundred gold coins! I-I hid them in my underwear!"
"......What?"
The kidnappers froze in absurdity.
The princess hid gold coins in her underwear?
Even more ridiculous was the sheer scale of the bluff.
How the hell do you fit a hundred gold coins in underwear?
"It's true! I'll show you!"
The one-eyed man, done listening, irritably jammed the gag back in.
Of course, Elicia still had more to say and dodged it.
Left in the corner, Alina stared blankly at Elicia.
The fear she'd felt moments ago seemed to have eased just a bit, thanks to this foolish sister.
'...Is she really a princess?'
Even to young Alina's eyes, Elicia seemed utterly unreliable.
The two girls' gazes met in the air.
"Aigoo, you two. A real pair of fools. She's even figured out how to dodge the gag in the meantime."
"Babbling about her underwear and all. Hey, just tie her up. My ears are rotting listening to this crap. And she calls herself Croa?"
At that moment.
The instant a kidnapper uttered her name, her eyes changed.
Her voice trembled, but she spoke firmly.
"......No."
"Huh? No what? More nonsense?"
"My name... isn't Elicia von Croa."
Elicia bit her bloodied lip and shot back.
"Elicia Spencer. That's my real name...."
"......Ha?"
The kidnappers exchanged baffled looks.
Spencer.
Not the imperial surname Croa.
The name of her mother, a commoner discarded after one night with the emperor—not even a concubine.
A surname that wasn't a true surname from birth.
Her mother, a palace maid, had died of illness in neglect after bearing Elicia.
The world pretended to treat her as royalty by calling her Croa, but behind her back, they pointed fingers at her lowly blood.
To Elicia, the name Croa was a hollow shackle, the imperial stigma that killed her mother.
Her only pride was the name her mother left her: Spencer.
Even with death at her doorstep, the bastard clung to that one shred of pride.
But reality was cruel.
"Ha! Unbelievable."
The torn-cheek man cackled mockingly.
"All that just to correct her name? Hey, did you hear? She hates the royal surname."
"Yeah, what a dutiful daughter."
The one-eyed man grinned viciously and gripped Elicia's chin.
"That proud of your whore mother's name?"
"......!"
Elicia's eyes wavered.
As she tried to retort.
Slap-!!
A sharp crack echoed through the cabin.
The kidnapper backhanded her cheek hard.
"Ack!"
Elicia's head snapped limply to the side.
Her mouth burst open, blood trickling down.
"Who do you think you're glaring at? Still think you're in the palace?"
The kidnapper wiped his bloody hand on his clothes and roughly gagged her again.
"Mmph! Mmmph!"
"Shut it. Behave until the client arrives. Don't want to damage the goods."
The kidnappers chuckled and returned to the fire.
In the cold corner.
Elicia's gagged, bleeding glare burned with venom.
And Alina, who had witnessed it all.
Trembling in terror, the girl inched toward Elicia anyway.
She wanted to comfort her.
But her bound hands couldn't reach.
The two girls' gazes met in the air again.
"Mmmph! Mmph!"
Elicia struggled and mumbled indignantly despite the gag, but the kidnappers ignored her.
With no one paying attention, she winked at Alina through her tear- and snot-smeared face.
Crunch—!
And from beyond the forest, in the darkness, someone approached.
The mediator, here to deal with the kidnappers' leader.
The mediator smiled from under his deeply hooded cloak as he pulled a wagon.
The cargo hold was loaded with large black jars big enough to cram a person inside.
Clearly meant for transporting live humans, without even proper air holes.
"Boss, you're here."
The torn-cheek guard outside bowed.
"Goods are checked. Just load 'em up."
The boss said, grinding out his cigarette.
The mediator shook a heavy coin pouch and haggled shrewdly.
"Hold on. Heard there's extra cargo. The baron's lady?"
"Yes. Lucky break. Nabbed the target and she got tangled in on the way out. You'll have to pay extra for her."
"Hm... Eisen Baron, eh. Old, but a tough nut. How's this?"
The mediator tossed a few gold coins, starting the bargaining.
Time dragged as they haggled over Alina's ransom in that vile exchange.
With the negotiation dragging outside, the one-eyed watchman yawned boredly.
"Yawn... Taking forever."
He poked at the fire, then glanced over.
Toward Elicia, huddled and trembling in the corner.
A lecherous smile crept across his face.
"Come to think of it... Didn't the princess say she hid gold in her underwear earlier?"
"......!"
Elicia's eyes widened.
The one-eyed man rose and slowly approached her.
"Mind if I check for myself if it's true or a lie? You'll never see it again once you're sold anyway. Call it charity."
He reached out with filthy hands toward Elicia.
Alina watched, trembling violently.
Far too horrific for a seven-year-old to endure.
Her heart screamed to close her eyes and cover her ears.
But.
Alina was the Eisen Baron's daughter, Ronas's little sister.
'I'm scared... but I have to watch. Remember their faces. So Dad can punish them later.'
The girl forced her eyes wide open.
Tears welled from fear, but she never looked away.
The moment the one-eyed man's hand neared Elicia's clothes.
Sizzle—.
A acrid burning smell wafted from somewhere.
"......?"
The one-eyed man sniffed.
And as he looked down.
The sniveling, begging fool of a princess was gone.
Tear tracks remained, but her eyes had changed.
Cold, sunken golden pupils.
The noble eyes said to resemble the empire's founder stared straight at him.
"Wh-What are you...."
As the one-eyed man faltered back in panic.
Elicia spat out the loosened gag from her mouth like a cannonball.
Ptooey—!
"Argh!"
The saliva-soaked gag struck his remaining good eye dead-on.
Now fully blind, he clutched his face and rolled screaming.
Elicia seized the moment and looked at Alina.
Then issued a short command.
"Kid, close your eyes."
Alina had kept them open, wanting to observe.
But she reflexively squeezed them shut at the intense light emanating from Elicia's body.
Whoosh!
The thick ropes binding Elicia's back burned black and snapped in an instant.
The bastard princess's freed hands glowed red-hot.
The rare imperial power, awakened in only a scant few even among royals, passed down from Emperor Croatina I.
The Sun God's authority, 「Scorch」.
Elicia seized the screaming, eye-clutching one-eyed man's face with her flaming hands.
Siiiizzle—!
"Gaaahhh!"
The stench of burning flesh and horrific screams filled the cabin.
The power dismissed as legend even by royals dwelled in the bastard they called lowest blood.
The one-eyed man's head burst into flames.
"What the—! What's happening inside...!"
The boss and mediator outside whipped around in shock.
Red flames and screams leaked from the cabin window.
"Fire! That crazy bitch!"
The boss cursed and rushed toward the cabin.
That was when.
Whoooosh—!
A massive spinning object cleaved the darkness, tearing the air.
Thud!
"Hiiing!"
A dull impact, and the horse pulling the mediator's wagon had its head exploded.
The horse collapsed dead on the spot without a proper neigh.
The wagon tilted, spilling jars from the cargo.
"Wh-What?!"
The boss and mediator staggered back in terror.
Beside the horse's corpse, a massive bloodied double-headed axe was embedded.
「First Snow Fang」.
From the forest shadows emerged a hulking man.
Barg himself.
I inwardly muttered as I eyed the unjustly fallen horse.
'Sorry. You're the sacrifice today.'
Killing these guys was child's play.
But to uncover the mastermind behind this kidnapping, I had to cut off their escape first.
"Wh-Who are you!"
The boss drew his sword and shouted.
The mediator pulled a dagger from his bosom.
The torn-cheek one dropped his sword in fear.
But instead of answering, I launched myself forward.
With a beastly roar, I dove into the boss's guard.
Thud!
"Guhk...!"
My knee slammed precisely into the boss's solar plexus.
Crack.
Ribs snapping echoed through the woods.
The boss foamed at the mouth and collapsed without a scream.
"Y-You monster!"
The mediator swung his dagger in terror.
Slash!
The sharp blade aimed for Barg's throat.
But I didn't dodge.
Thwap.
I caught it barehanded.
"......!"
The mediator's eyes bulged.
Blood dripped from my palm.
But I felt no pain.
If anything, spilling blood after so long made my heart race with joy.
I glared at him with even fiercer eyes and squeezed.
Snap.
The steel dagger shattered.
"H-Hiiik...!"
The mediator's legs gave out, and he crumpled.
I lifted him by the collar with my bloody hand.
And growled low.
"Where's Alina."