Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: The Impostor's True Face
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“Argh!”
“Whoops. Sorry about that.”
“Kyaa!”
“Oh dear, your dress got torn. I’ll let the dress shop know so they can make you a new one.”
There was chaos everywhere they went.
Sabrina furrowed her smooth brow and whispered to Princess Feia.
“It’s so annoying... Is she doing it on purpose or what?”
“Probably not on purpose.”
Feia gave a quiet reply to Sabrina’s words. Was her teacher really that skilled?
Her stance and form right up until she released the bowstring looked perfectly fine.
But strangely, the moment she let go, the arrow flew off in a completely wrong direction.
Maybe shooting like that was a talent in itself?
She might even have a trait like random targeting or something.
Her results were so absurd compared to her poised form that such thoughts crossed Feia’s mind.
“Her face is decent-looking, but that’s it. She’s ruining my hunt right now. This was all for you!”
“I’m... fine.”
As Sabrina stomped her foot in frustration, Princess Feia took her hand and soothed her.
Feia knew full well that Sabrina kept hosting parties and social gatherings for her sake—since Feia’s severe shyness made her freeze up in crowds, her expressions stiffening and words drying up.
‘But.’
Did she really need to make so many friends?
She was the Ninth Princess, after all, even if no one knew it meant nothing.
“I can’t believe it. She has to be doing it on purpose. How can more arrows hit people’s butts than the ground or trees? What good is potion if it leaves holes in your clothes!”
She didn’t seem like that bad of a person.
Feia gazed at Adelrian with her deep sapphire eyes, the same shade as her hair.
It wasn’t strong enough to register as a trait, but she often relied on her intuition.
And according to that, he definitely wasn’t a wicked man.
‘If anything...’
It was his two escorts who followed him.
Her faint, almost imperceptible intuition—whether instinct or something else.
It wasn’t powerful enough to pop up as a confirmed trait, but it kept baring its claws at those two knights.
‘One is so very cold.’
And the other was utterly horrifying.
The one with the ugliest appearance had eyes brimming with ruthlessness that made his face irrelevant.
A chill born of zero expectations or trust in others.
And the other one...
‘Scary.’
Did no one else sense it? Was it just her? That primal terror writhing beneath the human facade.
The moment that calm layer was peeled back, it felt like it would devour her whole.
‘But how does he keep them as escorts?’
That sparked her curiosity.
Not that the extremely shy Feia would approach him first.
‘Watching from afar is fine.’
“There! Sir Adelrian, can’t you stop?”
“I haven’t even been knighted yet?”
“Urgh! It’s just polite to call you that, and I know it!”
Feia looked at Sabrina, who was fuming atop her horse, with slightly widened eyes.
It had been years—since their childhood—that she’d seen her longtime friend so openly irritated.
“Just give me the first prize and tell me to leave the forest!”
“What? Discrimination? We all gathered to have fun together, and now you’re kicking me out? Miss Sabrina, I didn’t think you were so scary.”
“Eeeek!”
“Pfft...”
For some reason, watching Adelrian and Sabrina bicker like that made her want to laugh.
“I’ll catch just one more and go, then.”
Bang!
Feia was covering her mouth, chuckling softly, when an arrow whizzed past her nape, slicing off a few strands of hair.
“Ah, aaah!”
Turning around, she saw that the arrow—headed straight for the forehead of a girl with sandy-colored hair—had been snatched mid-air by one of Adelrian’s escorts just in time.
Feia clutched her suddenly chilled neck.
* * *
The third daughter of a baronet—an utterly unremarkable status.
No rough edges, but nothing to boast about in looks either.
Her only worry had been her dull, sandy-tinted blonde hair.
An utterly ordinary girl whose academy classes—entered at her parents’ insistence—were boring and unmotivating. Since she didn’t live in the dorms, her joys were wandering the capital’s bakeries with friends after classes or attending the occasional social event.
Today was just another ordinary day.
A social gathering turned hunting party by Sabrina of the earl’s family—complete with that level of mishap.
But now.
What was that thing in front of her eyes?
They say everything slows down right before death.
That arrow flying straight at her face.
‘Am I... going to die?’
She should duck or dodge, but her body froze, refusing to move.
Terror of death.
Her mind going blank as the arrow hurtled toward her face.
Right before it embedded in her forehead!
Was it the extreme fear? Her stomach churned.
The girl curled up, limbs trembling, and began to vomit.
Pain twisting through every finger joint, her guts being wrung out.
“Aaahhh...”
And memories tangling together.
Not the pampered life as the baron’s third daughter.
Memories of scavenging discarded food to survive, ordering every type of bread just to taste one bite before tossing it.
“Ah. Ah, aaah!”
Urk! Bleeech!
Silence reigned—no screams, no murmurs, just the sound of vomiting.
“Why... help... please help...”
Scary scary scary scaryscary scaryscaryscaryscary scary.
What were these memories?
Memories jumbling chaotically. Stealing a single bread, getting caught, kicked until she spat blood, head stomped, mocked as filth was poured over her.
Then crawling into an alley, clutching her starving belly like a lump of trash, only to be dragged away and force-fed strange drugs.
No, I... This morning I had soft bread with apple jam and juice.
Lady of a baronet’s house. Noble blood.
That’s me... I’m. My name is.
“My... name... I can’t remember...”
Shaka... That’s not my name. That’s that filthy wench’s name, so why?
Agony racking her body, she convulsed on the ground. The sandy hair swaying before her eyes had faded to a bleached dark brown.
* * *
I swear on my life, I never aimed for anyone’s butt on purpose.
Better for it to accidentally hit something non-vital like the ground or a tree trunk than somewhere dangerous and cause a huge fuss.
‘The best is hitting a rabbit or something for points, of course.’
Thwack!
“Urk!”
“Oh. Sorry?”
I’d clearly aimed for an empty spot—why? How?
I quickly handed a potion to the man glaring daggers at me.
“No matter how you look at it, it’s real skill...”
“She really can’t shoot.”
Zero and Kain were whispering behind me. Even Zero thought this was ridiculous, huh?
Buddy, if you got in this body and pulled this bowstring with these arms, you’d get it. It feels like it should fly straight, but it doesn’t!
Still, thanks to me fumbling around and drawing all the glares possible, anything I do later will raise fewer suspicions.
There might be some trying to nitpick later.
‘But that won’t matter anyway.’
As I slowly turned my head searching for my target while guiding my horse, someone rode up on a horse adorned with a flower crown.
“There! Sir Adelrian, can’t you stop?”
Sir Adelrian? What? Sure, as the grand duke’s son, I have implicit high status, but I’ve never actually been knighted—what are you talking about?
I grinned at Sabrina’s words.
“I haven’t even been knighted yet?”
“Urgh! It’s just polite to call you that, and I know it!”
Come to think of it, Sabrina’s hair was that classic villainess drill curl. Interesting.
“Just give me the first prize and tell me to leave the forest!”
“What? Discrimination? We all gathered to have fun together, and now you’re kicking me out? Miss Sabrina, I didn’t think you were so scary.”
I placed one hand over my heart and tilted my head as if truly hurt, making Sabrina tremble with rage.
Ah, teasing her gets such fun reactions.
“Eeeek!”
But any more, and I’d be a real bully.
Perfect timing—the Evil God Cult’s puppet, Shaka, was dismounting and leaning against a tree trunk.
“I’ll catch just one more and go, then.”
Since it was the “last” one, I put a bit more strength into it.
The signal I’d arranged with Kain beforehand.
I swiftly nocked the arrow, aimed toward Shaka, and released. Kain guided it with mana straight toward her forehead.
And the moment Shaka’s eyes widened in terror at the incoming arrow.
The instant she sensed death, Kain swiftly intercepted it before it could strike her head.
“Wh-what!”
It all happened in the blink of an eye. As the escorts who’d followed the kids and the other children belatedly started protesting toward me—
“Urk, bleeech!”
The baron’s lady—no, the Evil God Cult’s puppet Shaka—began convulsing, vomiting up everything in her stomach.
The children who’d rushed over recoiled step by step at her twisting, gradually changing form.
“Everyone, stay back. Something’s wrong.”
Kain, buddy. Your acting’s kinda stiff?
Or maybe that’s just his personality—going through the motions.
Even as Kain waved dismissively at the air like it was a hassle, her sandy blonde hair darkened hue by hue, her once-smooth, flawless pale skin growing rough.
Her nicely fleshed-out arms suddenly thinned, her well-manicured nails splitting and curling upward.
“No. No. This isn’t me.”
Shaka screamed upon seeing her changing body and hands. The other children paled as if doused in ice water, watching one person twist into another form before their eyes.
“What... is this?”
“Wasn’t that the baron’s daughter...?”
“Some transformation magic or something?”
“Yeah! Obviously nothing else!”
The kids started murmuring, fingers trembling. As if it was okay if it was just magic disguising her appearance for infiltration—as if it didn’t matter.
Then the girl who’d been chatting secrets and giggling with Shaka earlier about bakeries began shaking violently.
“But... but we were sharing secrets only we knew until just now!”
“Me too! She knew stuff only our group knows!”
Kyaaak.
Screams erupted among the girls.
The horror that her chattering friend was actually a total stranger.
The fear that her trust and friendship stemmed from someone entirely different from the start.
“Where are you going! It’s not dangerous. I’ll check!”
Like ghosts appearing in broad daylight, they hiked up skirts and mounted horses to flee. Sabrina tried to calm things, but fat chance.
“What? I thought something huge happened. Did we catch an infiltrator?”
“No! I-I’m the baron’s lady!”
I chuckled and spoke. Shaka, panting on the ground, yelled back. I recoiled dramatically as if terrified, then nodded at Sabrina’s escorts.
“An unidentified intruder. Aren’t you taking her away?”
“Y-yes. We’ll take her and verify. And you, Adelrian. We’ll talk about this later, the two of us.”
At my words, Sabrina and her escorts dragged off the wriggling Shaka.
They might summon me as a witness once they figure out what happened, but for now, it’s fine.
Rumors about doppelganger potions would start spreading from this and the prior Gadia incident, along with guesses on how to counter them.
‘In the past, no one knew.’
Not even until the war’s late stages did high nobles get swapped, letting countless schemes twist and info leak as a result.
‘But not this time.’
We could reduce doppelganger potion damage, even if just a little.
As I took Toma’s reins and turned to leave, Princess Feia approached on her white horse.
“Shouldn’t you head back too, Princess? All your friends have gone.”
At my smirking remark, Feia hesitated before speaking.
“You... did that on purpose, didn’t you?”