Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Even a Traitor Has Uses - 109
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And at that moment, Crown Princess Zelcy—now fully disguised as the slave named Besia.
The search party, assembled with even the Imperial Knights and mages mobilized, had been investigating frantically, but no further traces were found near where the Princess had vanished.
By the time the mages, intelligence department, and main force of the Imperial Knights arrived, the Imperial Knights who had been with the Vanilo Count's people had already conducted a haphazard search and thoroughly muddled the scene, making the search even more difficult.
p>The only clue was a box that seemed to be a magic tool that had emitted light at the scene. The 6th and 7th-class mages in charge of advisory roles and research for the Imperial family analyzed it, but the result was utterly futile.
"This is presumed to be a magical artifact from the Unified Empire era. The engraving style of this 'spellform' is similar to artifacts from that period. The spellforms are... a Light spell for emitting light and an amplification spellform... And it seems other spellforms are engraved as well... Since these are also ancient spellforms, I think we'll need to take it back for further study."
Just as languages change over time, the spellforms and languages used by mages also gradually transform or are improved.
However, the spellforms used by long-lived races like elves or dwarves show little change over time. The problem is, they are too conservative, with almost no improvement in spells or magic, and the disadvantage that humans find it hard to follow them.
"So... you have no idea of its affiliation or who owned it?"
What the Imperial Knight wanted to know wasn't such trivial facts.
He wanted to know who this came from and who used it. With no clues at all in the answer, he was driven to the brink of madness.
"Only that it's a relic from the Unified Empire era... However, someone who knew how to use it must have handled this, so we can only say it was someone with magical knowledge equivalent to a mage or higher. But judging from the fact they installed this to draw attention... it seems there was likely a collaborator from the start who helped extract Her Highness the Princess."
"A collaborator? No, how on earth did Her Highness the Princess manage to find a collaborator?"
"Who knows. Perhaps it was orchestrated by someone who dislikes the Vanilo Count's house and the Imperial family joining hands."
"But internally, news of the Princess's marriage didn't leak at all."
"However, many commoners saw the carriages leaving the capital. Moreover, six Imperial Knights going out isn't a common occurrence. With no particular conflict at the border currently, and with events happening at the Imperial Academy... If you consider they left with the Vanilo Count's people?"
"Hmmmm..."
The nobles residing in the capital did not hesitate to send spies or people to monitor each other's status. Didn't they secretly request information from thief guilds in the slums or pay maids and servants to find out, even for trivial details?
No matter how much they tried to control information, leaks were inevitable.
"*Sigh* When we return... I'll have to offer my head. Haaaaa~"
Ultimately, the Imperial Knight who had been in charge of this guard detail sighed deeply with a feeling of despair.
Since Imperial Knights were strictly selected and trained one by one, he wouldn't be killed for this mistake. However, he would now be excluded from major missions and assigned to dangerous, harsh missions or transferred to the intelligence department to take on dirty tasks.
Anyway, the path of honor and glory had now essentially vanished, so he couldn't help but be disappointed.
Although they had taken various measures like contacting neighboring territories, border blockades, etc., if they ultimately couldn't find her, he thought the Emperor's wrath would be directed at them. He got up again and moved to somehow find the Princess.
Imperial Capital, Underground Research Lab of the Merchant Guild.
The Princess, whom the Emperor, the Knight Order, mages, and the intelligence department had mobilized and were desperately searching for, was currently living as a slave in the capital's underground.
Familiar with etiquette, imperial protocol, and noble laws, she was an exceptionally suitable talent to become a maid. Under Sain's guidance, she was learning the work of a maid.
Her main tasks were attending to Beonald, Heidi, and Selina, and transporting or packaging items he had sorted and appraised.
"You have good stamina despite appearances, Miss Besia. Of course, I didn't think someone Lord Beonald brought would be incapable."
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
"Moreover, working alone is lonely and tiring... I'm really grateful you've come."
She hadn't mentioned it until now, but it had been very difficult for Sain to handle all the attendance, cleaning, meals, laundry, and even personal study for Beonald, Heidi, and Selina alone. Frankly, it couldn't be said it wasn't exhausting. Having personnel added so appropriately was nothing but gratitude.
However, a very peculiar point was that, even if she was a junior maid, she was being treated too casually for a Princess. This was because Beonald had deliberately not revealed her identity.
'If she knows, she'll definitely be too conscious to teach properly. No matter how much you say it's fine, Besia... a subordinate can't help but be conscious. So, hiding it is the best policy. Also, the more people who don't know, the better.'
It was a measure Beonald took, thinking that if she knew she was a Princess, she wouldn't be able to teach properly.
He thought it might be different if Sain recognized her first, but fortunately, she didn't seem to realize Besia was Princess Zelcy. He tested the waters with a few words, wondering if she might be hiding it even after recognizing her, but she truly seemed completely unaware.
'How can she not recognize me? I think we've seen each other a few times...'
'That's because she's had a long life as a maid. Moreover, her previous master was a very oppressive, scary, and violent person. So, it's ingrained in her body not to make eye contact when dealing with high-ranking people.'
'Why would that be...'
'Don't criticize too much the way people of lower status live. Anyway, take this chance to learn all about the world.'
So, having perfectly laundered her identity as a fallen noble slave, she was performing arduous labor under Sain's instructions.
Normally, she should have been clumsy, unable to keep up well, and hindering the work. But perhaps because she had a good mind and her physical abilities were excellent due to Aura training, she was following Sain's instructions well.
'I was worried at first that her skin was too delicate and she might not be good at work... But then again, Lord Beonald wouldn't bring just anyone.'
'This is... the daily life of the lower classes I didn't know.'
Conversely, Besia—no, Princess Zelcy—was feeling many things as she indirectly experienced what kind of life commoners and those below them lived through the hard labor and numerous tasks.
She sweated and burned her flesh while striving diligently, experiencing that the clothes she changed into comfortably, the meals—nothing was made easily but was achieved through human labor and effort.
"*Phew*~"
"How do you find the labor, Your Highness?"
As she brought down the laundered clothes and caught her breath for a moment, Beonald, who had been appraising various antiques underground, appeared out of nowhere and spoke to her.
Startled by him openly calling her "Your Highness," Besia looked around frantically.
"What if someone hears you saying that?"
"Ah, it's fine. No one would imagine it. Even from a distance, it'll just look like I'm being overly familiar. Hahaha."
Beonald's slick attitude. Although she pretended to be troubled on the outside, Besia secretly liked his attitude.
She had longed for a human relationship where they could treat each other so comfortably, so she was overjoyed now.
And as she hung the laundry, she began to talk about herself this time.
"This work is hard, but... my heart feels at ease. *Phew*~ I never knew being ignored by everyone could be this peaceful."
"At ease? Haha, you're a slave, a servant, with many forced tasks, right? You're talking nonsense."
"If you knew what a Princess's life was like, you couldn't say that."
"I know about that."
"You know?"
Startled by Beonald's confident affirmation, Besia turned to look at him.
Then, from Beonald's mouth, the things she had endured began to flow out as if he had seen them firsthand.
"From the time you wake up and sleep, exercise time, the amount of meals you eat—all checked, managing grades and swordsmanship skills, etc. Having 2-3 watchers attached is basic. I bet your body measurements were managed weekly or even daily, so you couldn't do anything as you pleased, right?"
"How do you know that? Did rumors about Imperial affairs spread?"
'How do I know...? I've lived with someone like that, so I can roughly estimate. Moreover, seeing that you had to be cautious even when eating ice cream before... makes it even more certain.'
There were past incidents, but Beonald was someone who had been subjected to a severe 'heir's education' by his father, Felix.
It was less severe when there were many competitors, but as competitors dropped out one by one, to outline the heir, he thoroughly and ruthlessly managed the heirs, including Beonald.
"Anyway... I understand you're enjoying your freedom and are satisfied with your current life, but remember you can't stay like this forever."
"It hasn't even been that long since I came here..."
"Your Highness has already experienced a major change in life once. And you experienced that when unprepared, you ultimately have to be swayed by others' hands. No one knows if you can receive my help again when the situation changes later."
"Ah..."
"So, whether it's swordsmanship, knowledge, or daily skills... try to learn them. You must not waste this precious time now. If secrecy is required, you can use my research lab."
If Deren were here, he would have retorted, 'That's my warehouse!' But it was an amusing situation where Beonald already recognized it as his own research lab.
Anyway, after checking the time, Beonald thought it was about time to go and gave her final advice.
"I'll go back to appraising then. Ah, if there are any who try any tricks, please tell me immediately. No matter how much you changed your hair color and roughly covered your face, your beauty remains, so there will definitely be guys who try to flirt."
"Ah, understood."
"Especially when making excuses, the best lie is that you've already given your body and heart to me. That gives me justification. As long as the justification is clear, I can deal with them so they can't rebel again."
"If it comes to that, I will."
"Or actually giving yourself is also a good idea. If you entrust that talent, ability, and beauty to me, I can put them to good use."
After delivering a joke that didn't seem like a joke, Beonald immediately turned and left the spot.
And now, thinking her situation would be fine for the time being, he went down to the underground research lab.
The place that was just a warehouse now had quite the appearance of a research lab, but the wall in the corner had collapsed and it was a mess... Since he planned to settle in, various constructions and renovations were underway, with the goal of improving air circulation and enabling water use inside.
'Experiments, cleaning issues, etc... Water and ventilation are essential, so there's no choice. That way, we can salvage even one more of those items.'
Looking at the antiques piled up in the research lab, Beonald put on leather gloves, grabbed a hammer and pickaxe himself, infused them with Aura, and swung them, wanting to finish the construction as soon as possible.
Although he was a high noble in his past life, he had the experience of abandoning the 'Neumel Territory' and directly creating a new base called 'Benofis,' designing and constructing various research facilities. So, he could proceed quickly without needing to newly commission or spend money.