34
Chapter 34
As I slowly raised the sword, she trembled violently and burst into tears, even while tightly bound by the vines.
It wasn't just the tears.
A stain appeared on the gray pants the Princess was wearing, and soon, a foul smell began to waft from her clothes and the floor.
I hadn't expected this, but it didn't matter.
In fact, this might have actually worked in my favor...
Terrified of dying, she wailed and begged for her life, eventually descending into incoherent rambling, but I simply watched her in silence.
After about two minutes, I decided that was enough and lowered the sword.
'Is he not going to kill her?'
'Nope.'
I never had any intention of doing that from the start.
"Are... are you saving me?"
"Do you see that crystal ball over there?"
As I pointed toward the crystal ball on the ceiling, the Princess nodded vigorously.
"It's a crystal ball with a recording function. It was originally installed for security against thieves, so it likely caught everything."
As Ark had suggested, my principles wouldn't allow me to strip her naked for a video, but the idea itself was certainly useful.
That was why I wanted to capture a recording of the Princess begging for mercy while losing all her dignity.
I wondered if that would be enough leverage, but since she'd even wet herself, it should be more than sufficient.
"Since a clever Imperial Princess like yourself surely understands what this means, I'll release the magic now."
No answer came from the bowed Princess, but I removed the crystal ball, placed it in my subspace, and deactivated the binding magic.
The Princess remained motionless, her head still hanging low.
"Go wash up first. I'll provide you with a change of clothes."
I pulled a pair of pants from my subspace that seemed like they would fit her and tried to hand them over, but she didn't budge.
She must feel absolutely disgusting...
"Do you intend to have this conversation in that state?"
"...N...no."
"The bathroom is that way."
Only then did Helena take the clothes and enter the bathroom.
I didn't bother warning her not to try and run.
There was no longer any need for that.
I used magic to clean up the traces, and after waiting about fifteen minutes, the Princess returned wearing the pants I had given her.
Her face was as red as a beet, though I couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or anger.
Or perhaps she was just cold.
Now that I thought about it, since she couldn't use magic, only cold water would have come out.
Looking closely, her eyes were slightly swollen.
However, since she was exceptionally beautiful, it wasn't very noticeable.
"You're really saving me, right?"
"I believe I told you that I would be the one asking the questions."
"I... I get it. I won't tell anyone about what happened today or who you are, so please..."
"I'll let you go when the time is right, so for now, give me a reason."
"A reason?"
"The reason you want to become stronger... no, what exactly is this bet you made with His Majesty the Emperor?"
Since I already had leverage, a simple warning before letting her go would have sufficed, but a word she uttered while rambling and crying had caught my attention.
The word I heard was Quasar.
It sounded like she was referring to the Quasar Empire, but she was so incoherent and nasal that I couldn't hear the rest.
"Oh? Then you'll grant my request... no, I'll tell you."
****
It was an ordinary day, no different from any other.
That is, until my father suddenly paid me a visit.
I worried he might be reconsidering my admission to Belliard Academy, but it was for nothing.
He looked grave, but he didn't even breathe a word about the academy.
Instead, he brought me a far greater ordeal.
"You will be married once you graduate from the academy."
I was momentarily taken aback, but not entirely surprised.
I would be twenty by the time I graduated.
All my older sisters had married before reaching twenty.
Having feared that a sudden marriage might force me to drop out mid-studies, I was actually relieved he'd wait until graduation.
I hadn't heard who the partner was yet, but as an Imperial Princess, I had no choice but to marry whoever the Emperor chose.
Since my father cherished me, I trusted he wouldn't send me anywhere terrible.
After all, my sisters had all married respectable men, including dukes and princes from neighboring kingdoms.
Of course, since my mother wasn't the Empress, I might be sent to a family slightly less prestigious than my sisters', but that didn't matter.
Surely, he wouldn't send me to a family so poor that I'd be forced to abandon my path as a wizard.
In fact, that was the case.
The place I was to marry into was incredibly wealthy—perhaps even wealthier than our own Imperial Family.
"Your partner is the Fourth Imperial Prince of the Quasar Empire."
"The... Quasar Empire?"
When I asked back in shock, my father asked if I knew the details behind the Ninth Imperial Prince's engagement a few months prior.
The Imperial Palace had been buzzing with that news, so naturally, I did.
To end centuries of intermittent warfare, the two royal families agreed to a marriage alliance, and the Seventh Imperial Princess of the Quasar Empire came to our Beluga Empire.
Since I had attended the engagement ceremony and knew of it, he told me it was now our turn to send a princess from the Beluga Empire.
And that princess was me.
I felt as if the world were collapsing around me.
I had imagined marrying into the royal families of Sachsen, Perot, or Yalta, or perhaps a ducal house, or at the very least a respectable marquisate, but the Quasar Empire—the enemy we'd fought for two hundred years...
My father claimed the Quasars had requested me, but I knew instantly it was a lie.
Even the Seventh Imperial Princess who married the Ninth Imperial Prince was born to a concubine.
There were other princesses in the Beluga Empire not born to the Empress, but they were only ten and eight years old.
I was the only princess of marriageable age.
The court officials must have all agreed that I should be the one sent.
My mother had already passed away, and my maternal family was only a count's house on the eastern frontier.
"I refuse to go to the Quasar Empire."
I understood the situation, but I hated the thought of Quasar so much that I rebelled for the first time in my life.
"There is no one else to go. The Quasar Empire's magic is advanced; since you've studied magic, going there will aid your growth."
What total nonsense.
The Seventh Imperial Princess from the Quasar Empire had been forbidden from leaving her detached palace, both before and after the engagement.
Only a few attendants and the Ninth Imperial Prince were allowed inside.
Even the Ninth Imperial Prince... no, that's just a rumor.
Regardless, if I went to the Quasar Empire, my situation would likely be no different from that of the Seventh Princess.
"You will regret sending me to Quasar. I can be of use to our empire."
"I know you have a talent for magic, but talent like yours is common throughout the empire."
He used to praise me all the time...
I felt slighted, but truthfully, he wasn't wrong.
While I had grown quickly to become a 3rd Class Master by sixteen, I had help from the palace wizards, and some of them had reached that level years before I did.
But I couldn't just give up.
"Then, would you like to make a bet?"
"A bet?"
"I will prove that I am an asset the empire needs by the time I graduate from Belliard Academy. If I fail, I will obey without a word, but if I succeed, I ask that you cancel this."
If I didn't go, another princess would, but that didn't matter.
With my own life on the line, such concerns were a luxury.
"I like the idea of you being an asset to the empire. I'll decide the terms."
I was relieved he didn't refuse, but the fact that he was setting the terms worried me.
"What terms are they?"
"If you are truly indispensable, you should at least be on par with the Imperial Guard Knights who protect me. Upon your graduation, I will have them choose an opponent and force you into a duel."
...I was devastated.
This was no different from telling me to just get married quietly.
The entry requirement for the Imperial Guard Knights was a High-grade Sword Expert.
To face a knight of that caliber, one needed to be at least a 5th Class Master.
Creating two more circles in three years would be grueling, but not impossible.
However, High-grade was merely the minimum entry requirement.
The Imperial Guard Knights were filled with Highest-grade Sword Experts.
If I became a 5th Class Master, my father would certainly pair me against a Highest-grade knight.
Only a 6th Class wizard could handle a Highest-grade Sword Expert.
But there was a massive gap in power once you reached the realm of the Archmage, starting at the 6th Class.
5th Class Masters typically took ten years or more to reach the 6th Class, and many never broke through that wall at all.
I'd heard that even the Chief Imperial Palace Wizard, the greatest mage in the empire, took four years to break through the 6th Class wall...
I wasn't sure if I could do what even the Chief Wizard struggled with, but the answer was already decided.
"I understand."
It was better than giving up without even trying.
****
"...So that's what happened."
Hearing her story left me with more than a few concerns.
I had personally escorted the Quasar princess here, yet I hadn't known about such a deal between the two empires.
Granted, Beluga was slightly stronger than Quasar, but Quasar was still a formidable superpower.
It seemed Quasar had conceded first by sending their princess to Beluga, and then it was Beluga's turn.
I had no idea the young lady I'd escorted was living under such conditions.
I assumed no news was good news and that she was doing well...
Still, it was a relief that her fiancé was allowed to visit.
From what I'd heard during my active days, the Ninth Imperial Prince liked his liquor, but his personality was decent enough.
He was described as cheerful, playful, and an animal lover, so he likely treated his poor fiancé well.
"Um... I've told you everything now..."
"That must have been very difficult for you."
'Is he actually being serious?'
Princess Helena still looked tense, but I had spoken out of genuine pity, without any ulterior motive.
Some time had passed, but since I'd infiltrated the Quasar Empire as a spy, I had a rough idea of the atmosphere in their imperial family.
It was likely worse than Beluga's, certainly not better.
While the Beluga Empire seemed to let the Seventh Princess live in the palace, the Quasar family might just send her to some remote village after a perfunctory ceremony.
They could just summon her whenever an envoy arrived.
Ah, and they'd probably destroy her mana circles first to make sure she couldn't use magic.
"If you're being sincere, could you perhaps help me? If you could help, Blue Mist..."
I felt for her, but why should I?
"...I regret it. I was wrong."
Is there anything more useless than belated regret?
"Princess, do you know why I only taught Trainee May?"
"Suddenly bringing that up is just... pity or sympathy..."
"As I mentioned, I had no desire to be an academy instructor. That's why I didn't care for the trainees, and I only learned about May's situation after I had already started teaching her."
"Then... I don't understand."
"It's because May had the right attitude toward learning."
"By 'right attitude,' do you mean the will to learn? I'm confident I can work just as hard."
Half right, but half wrong.
"It's not just about the will. When I visited her after she collapsed from overexerting herself during physical training, the wizard in charge of the infirmary started a fight with me."
"What?"
"I would have accepted a fair reprimand for forcing a trainee into excessive training, but she tried to frame May and me as having an inappropriate relationship."
"How could someone do something so absurd... I'll make sure she is severely punished."
"There's no need. Eriel, was it? Either way, she has already left the academy."
Unless Amelia was the one who spread the rumors, that wizard was the only person who would make such a claim about me and May.
I exposed her corruption and had her kicked out of the academy, just like I did with Sophia's group.
Unlike those four, she was directly involved in the corruption, so she's probably not in this world anymore by now.
"I... I see."
"I'm usually the type to react immediately to injustice, but I couldn't do that back then. It was because May stepped forward before I could."
"May did?"
"Yes. She told them to apologize, saying her instructor wasn't that kind of person. At the time, my reputation was poor because I mostly assigned self-study, and May had collapsed only the day before because of my training."
"...."
She still looked clueless.
"Oh, and Instructor Amelia once suggested she learn from her instead, but May refused. Does that explain it now?"
"Was it because she was touched?"
She still doesn't get it?
Now I see she's not as smart as she looks.
"From the very beginning, May viewed me as her master and followed me with trust. That's why I gave her my absolute best."
"Ah..."
"But you, Princess, did not."
"No, I..."
"Do you believe that trying to trap a teacher with excuses to force them into giving you lessons is the same as trust?"
Helena didn't have the right attitude toward learning.
"Princess, you went about this in the wrong order."
It was a matter of hindsight, but if she had confessed everything from the start and been humble, I might have helped her.
I know I'm not that heartless.
But instead, she dug into my past to try and bind me.
I'm not soft enough to help someone like that.
I repay kindness with greater kindness, and malice with greater malice.
That is my conviction.
Realizing her mistake, she hung her head low.
Tears began to drop one by one onto the floor I had just cleaned.
'Hey, she's crying again.'
'So what?'
'Hearing her story, she seems pitiful. Why not help her a bit?'
Just as I was about to ask Ark if it was my story he was talking about, I sensed someone's presence.
"Bio. Did you just make the Princess cry?"
A familiar voice echoed as someone emerged from the floor.
"Is it a crime to make her cry? I was planning on paying the Old Man a visit anyway."
The culprit who started all this by selling my information to the Princess.
Director of Intelligence, Daph Neumann.