Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Even an Illegitimate Daughter is Still an Imperial Princess
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"Well then... shall we hear your story?"
I dragged a chair over and plopped down onto it.
But the moment my butt hit the seat, I shot back up like a snow hare spotting a frost fox.
"......!"
For a split second, Eisen's cool gaze through his glasses flashed in my mind.
Barg, when greeting someone of higher status and introducing yourself, you must stand straight, showing your full figure without distortion, before speaking.
Of course, he was asleep right now.
And when sitting in a chair, do so silently, keep your upper body straight, your gaze softly on the other person. Don't plop down. Especially you, Barg, with your sturdy build—you need to be extra careful.
That was close.
Thinking too much because the other person was the original heroine had led to a mistake right from the start.
What if Count Eisen had seen that?
Back to remedial etiquette training... I'd just finished it all, and now of all times, with a princess...
I cleared my throat and adjusted my posture as elegantly and demurely as possible.
"Ahem. My apologies."
A glance sideways showed Kara shaking with barely suppressed laughter.
Her sky-blue eyes sparkled with mischief, as if she found it adorable.
Oh, that... that's...
I could already tell what was coming.
She was probably planning to tease Yeppi in bed tonight with, "Your daddy did this today~."
Man... before Yeppi came along, I'd give her an earful at night...
Swallowing my regret, I bowed politely toward the princess, who sat sloppily on the bed.
My inner monologue had dragged on, but anyway.
If the other side wore the mask of formality, it was only polite to respond in kind.
"Allow me to greet you properly."
I pitched my voice as deep and courteous as I could.
"I am Barg von Wintersword, son of Gorgon, chieftain of the Norheim Winter Claw Tribe, and husband to Kara von Wintersword."
The moment I finished my introduction, Elysia's golden eyes gleamed.
Clap clap clap!
Huh? Applause? I only introduced myself...
Elysia clapped like a seal from her perch on the bed, making a huge fuss.
"Ah! I heard! From Lady Wintersword earlier!"
The princess looked up at me with the starry-eyed expression of a fangirl meeting a celebrity.
"You two were childhood friends raised together on the snowy plains, right? Oh my god, that's so romantic!"
"......"
"Going from not seeing each other as boy and girl in your innocent youth, to realizing your feelings as teenagers... and falling in love! Eek! It's straight out of a novel!"
Elysia cupped her flushed cheeks with both hands and twisted her body back and forth.
She was the picture of a romance novel fanatic.
Any trace of imperial grace was nowhere to be sniffed out.
Elysia kept babbling on, her excitement unrelenting.
"That part was especially cool! When Lady Wintersword said, 'The moment I saw my husband collapsed in the woods, I hoisted him up like a rabbit and decided he was mine.'"
She flashed a thumbs-up at Kara, who sat beside me.
"A fateful first meeting turning into a kidnapping marriage! Northern romance is so bold! It's been my lifelong dream!"
"Ahaha... well, yeah. It was pretty bold. Fateful, even."
Kara broke into a cold sweat, shooting me a nervous glance.
She averted her eyes and pretended otherwise, clearly embarrassed.
Jackpot. Got some dirt to tattle to Yeppi.
But I set aside Kara's embarrassment as future teasing material for Yeppi and focused on the contradiction in Elysia's words.
Still, something doesn't add up...
Just moments ago, she'd gushed about how romantic it was that they hadn't seen each other as boy and girl in childhood.
Then the next breath, she swoons over the line about picking up her "husband" as a kid.
Not seeing him as a boy, yet deciding to marry him on sight?
That's a logical impossibility.
So, Kara, please stop lying about our love story...
No way a battle-hardened princess who's survived palace intrigues misses that contradiction. Unlike innocent Alina.
I stared piercingly into Elysia's bright golden eyes.
She was still smiling, eyes crinkled in delight.
Pure exclamations that seemed to bypass her brain entirely.
But to me, it looked different.
This girl's playing along.
She knew full well the holes in Kara's giddy tale of our romance.
Yet she pretended not to notice, chiming in to keep the mood light.
Advanced social maneuvering—matching the other's vibe to lower their guard.
Her perceptiveness, hidden behind that airhead mask, was no joke.
As expected... the protagonist's different.
I flashed a warm, affable smile and played along.
"Haha, my wife might've exaggerated a bit. Truth is, I was the one clinging to her. Begging her to marry me."
"Oh my, really? I thought you were the reliable husband type, but you begged?"
"Haha... well, I was the younger one, after all."
Easy laughter flowed between us.
The atmosphere seemed to have thawed a bit.
I didn't miss the opening.
Time for the main topic.
"I'm truly relieved you're safe. If anything had happened to Alina or Your Highness... just thinking about it makes me dizzy."
"Yesss... it's all thanks to Sir Barg. You're my lifesaver."
Earlier it was "Lady Wintersword," now she drops my name.
What calculation was this?
"No need for that."
I paused briefly, sharpening my gaze—just a touch of Eisen's intensity mixed in.
"That said, Your Highness. If I may ask..."
"Yes?"
"What brings you all the way to Eisen Guard territory?"
Straight ball.
It's the privilege of a barbarian, a barbarian lord, an outsider like me.
This was the Northguard Grand Duchy in the north.
Not as brutally cold as Norheim or the borderlands—more crisp than freezing, and now it was spring anyway.
But that didn't make it a place for an imperial princess to wander alone without escorts.
Or rather, she hadn't had any to begin with.
My question halted Elysia's smile.
A tiny blank.
Until just now, gushing over our love story like an airhead, there hadn't been a single pause between words.
Inwardly, I recited the answer.
Academy enrollment recommendation letter.
No central nobles would write one amid imperial infighting, and other feudatories might be even riskier than Norheim.
Even as an illegitimate child, she was imperial blood.
So she'd come north to the grand ducal house—close to the capital yet independent—for their letter.
And the connection was the grand duke's right-hand man, the ever-logical Count Eisen.
Will she be honest? Or hide it?
Her answer would dictate my next moves.
Elysia fiddled with her pillow before speaking.
"Ah~ well, you see..."
After that short blank, she smiled with her eyes again, her voice utterly carefree.
"Once I enroll in the academy, I'll be stuck there until vacation, right?"
"That's true."
"With enrollment coming up, everyone around me let me loose for a bit. So I thought, why not tour the empire? And then... well..."
The princess scratched her head with a "hehe."
"The romance of travel! Freedom! You know? I'd heard the northern snowscapes were gorgeous, so I came to see them and got lost."
"......"
I stared blankly at the heroine.
Lie.
Of course she's hiding it.
Tourist excuse, but the real goal's the recommendation.
Sightseeing snowscapes and stumbling into a kidnappers' den?
That meant her route was already exposed—they'd targeted her specifically.
No random traveler gets hit that organized.
She still didn't trust me, or us.
Reveal her weakness—no recommendation—and we might turn on her.
Truly the original heroine. Survival instincts on point.
Playing innocent while guarding herself tighter than anyone.
Not the type to trust easily.
I'd hoped she'd be upfront, though.
I let out a quiet sigh through my nose where Elysia couldn't see, nodded, and pretended to buy it.
"Ah, a trip, then. The northern snows are beautiful. Bad luck on your part."
"Right? Hohoho... I'll be more careful next time."
"Eisen Guard's in spring now—no snow. Though there are snowmen."
Elysia sighed in relief, patting her chest—then froze.
"Pardon? Oh, right, spring... it's spring now... no snowsca...pes..."
She realized her slip and trailed off.
"But snowmen? Lady Wintersword, is that true?"
"Ahaha... there... are some. Not sure about now, though."
Then she caught my seemingly contradictory remark, and her muddled words sharpened back up.
Confirmed.
This woman was the biggest threat to my peaceful life.
Regrettable, but Elysia was officially my top vigilance target starting today...
That was when it happened.
"Th-that's actually..."
Elysia suddenly blushed and fidgeted with her fingers.
"Yes?"
"Truth is... the trip was just an excuse..."
Her voice was small, but she spilled it steadily.
"To enroll in the academy, you need a recommendation from a prominent house... My status is complicated, so no one would write one..."
"......"
"I snuck here hoping to ask Count Eisen... Got kidnapped in the most embarrassing way."
Elysia gave an awkward "hehe" and scratched her head.
Too honest.
And right after I'd dropped the pretense—one beat late.
My head started spinning.
What? Why spill the truth now?
She'd been lying perfectly until seconds ago.
Hypotheses collided in my mind.
Hypothesis one: She read my expression and the contradiction I pointed out, realized 'This guy's onto my lies,' and switched tactics to build trust.
If so, a real pro—reading my psyche and adapting seamlessly.
Hypothesis two: Her real personality's the type who tests with a white lie, gets poked, and immediately confesses.
A klutz, potentially easy to handle.
Hypothesis three: Or is this whole thing an advanced psyop to make me drop my guard?
Disarming me with feigned honesty?
Hypothesis four...
Argh, my head hurts too much...
I'm a barbarian, yet here I am, brainworking nonstop.
But I had to keep thinking.
I'm a dad.
Reading the novel, the all-knowing author view spelled out Elysia's inner thoughts—easy.
Face-to-face, her speech patterns were impossible to pin down.
Dizzying...
I pressed my temples.
My head throbbed.
Fox? Bear? Or just an idiot? No clue.
"Ah... the recommendation... I see."
I mumbled awkwardly, and Elysia perked up as if she'd never been down.
Back to her beaming smile, she turned to Kara beside me.
"But Lady Wintersword! Tell me more details about that piggyback confession from earlier!"
"Pardon?"
"The one where you hoisted your husband, knocked him out, and kidnapped him! I'll take notes!"
Elysia sparkled and pulled a notebook and pen from the bedside table.
Kara flailed in panic.
"No, Your Highness, it wasn't a piggyback KO—it was just carrying him..."
"Oh, a matter of details! Crucial! So? When your unconscious husband woke up, what was his first words? 'Where am I?' Or 'Who are you?'"
"No... he just asked for food..."
"Kyaa! So primal! Love it!"
Elysia went wild solo, drumming and cymbal-crashing.
The mood, teetering toward seriousness over the recommendation, vanished.
The room turned into a romance novel book club again.
I stared blankly at the scene.
Elysia's unpredictable pace.
Kara was getting swept up by the madwoman with those clear eyes.
...This is bad.
This woman was far harder to deal with than I'd thought.
The original heroine exceeded my expectations by miles.
Ah... shoulda just let Eisen sleep... Help me, Master...