Chapter 165
Chapter 165
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Dodging the Leash (4)
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Cain swallowed hard at the sight of the two Imperial Princesses blocking his escape route.
He was completely surrounded, crushed beneath their haughty gazes.
“Nothing, it’s nothing! I was just telling a folktale that’s been making the rounds....”
His brown eyes trembled.
The two princesses regarded him with the imperious stares of sovereigns.
“If it’s nothing, then why hesitate to tell it, Cain?”
“Exactly. How suspicious.”
Lea seized Cain’s shoulder with a gracious touch.
Then, slowly guided him to the seat beside them.
“Ahem....”
Cain still kept his lips firmly shut.
Women of the Grand Princess’s caliber he could have told easily.
But these were Imperial Princesses, straight out of legend.
Sharing this tale might be seen as mocking them indirectly—they could punish him for it.
“You won’t open your mouth, will you?”
Lea looked down at the bowed Cain and leisurely poured hot water into a cup.
She indifferently shook off the tea bag, now fully steeped with aroma.
“It’s fine, Cain. We really won’t reprimand you at all.”
Was it because she’d overheard Veil’s words earlier about failing to protect the one he admired? Irina’s heart was troubled as she pressed Cain relentlessly.
“Lea, promise him too. You’re the one scaring him.”
“...”
The Empire’s First Imperial Princess gazed at Cain with gentle eyes.
Then, she let out a soft chuckle and subtly nodded.
“If you promise that much....”
Only after receiving assurances from both princesses did Cain’s lips twitch.
“I suppose I should tell you.”
With permission granted, Cain took a sip of the water before him.
Then, he began to speak in his usual sly tone.
“Have Your Highnesses heard of Lady Astina, one of the princesses from the previous generation?”
The princesses nodded in unison.
She was their great-grandmother, after all.
Back then, before Leonhardt conquered the continent, the Empire’s prestige was modest.
But with a husband who was a Swordmaster, she’d built her own formidable faction.
Thanks to that, she was hailed among princesses as having the ideal marriage.
“We know. She raised her husband into a Swordmaster and amassed great power.”
“She was remarkable.”
Both princesses answered plainly, clearly respecting her.
“Do you know how she married her husband?”
“...”
The women couldn’t answer Cain’s question easily.
It was a folktale popular in the knight’s rural hometown, after all.
The imperial family might have suppressed it to keep such unseemly stories from circulating among royals.
“As I thought, you don’t know.”
Cain covered his lips with his fist.
He cleared his throat and slowly began the sordid tale.
“The truth is... Sir Brandisi, her husband-to-be, was a commoner who rejected the princess’s selection.”
“...!”
The fact that their great-grandmother had fallen for a common knight.
That piqued the princesses’ interest.
“The class difference was his biggest concern, no doubt.”
Class difference.
Irina’s clear eyes grew melancholic at the words.
As if she’d had a similar experience herself.
“That’s nothing that couldn’t be overcome.”
But Lea was different.
She smirked with sensual eyes, as if she herself were the law.
“Exactly. Lady Astina resolved to overcome it herself. So, she took the hesitant Sir Brandisi to her villa.”
Cain’s storyteller flair kicked in once more.
With a serious voice and vivid expressions, he captivated the noble women.
“I thought your great-grandmother’s villa was outside the capital.”
“Yes, she took him to that remote place and imprisoned him with magic. Then, she shared his bed repeatedly.”
Shared his bed.
Irina covered her lips with her palm.
“After conceiving, she went to His Majesty the Emperor and finally received permission to marry.”
“C-Come to think of it... I heard Grandfather was born just before their wedding anniversary.”
The sordid tale flushed the saintess’s face red.
Her green eyes quivered faintly.
“As expected of Great-Grandmama.... She thought of it before I did.”
Lea smiled meaningfully and chuckled.
She rested her chin on her hand and nodded.
“With conception confirmed, Sir Brandisi’s status rose, leaving His Majesty no choice.”
Pleased by the princesses’ reactions, Cain continued in a trance.
The princesses watched him fondly.
Like a fox performing tricks.
“Thanks for sharing, Cain. You’ve got quite the gift for storytelling, despite your looks.”
“You seem different from how terrified you were at the appointment ceremony.”
Cain scratched the back of his head, pleased.
Then, he jolted as if realizing what he’d done.
“Th-Thank you....”
But he’d missed his chance to escape.
The now-intrigued princesses kept him seated at the round table, firing questions nonstop.
“Do you know how many days they spent at the villa?”
“I-I’m curious about their meals too....”
Cain’s eyes darted wildly at Lea and Irina’s barrage.
“W-Well.... About a month? Meals were mostly pork....”
Growing flustered as his stock of stories dwindled, he hurriedly scanned his surroundings.
At that moment.
“Caine, what are you doing here?”
Having finished talking with the Cornell nobles, I approached him.
“Veil...!”
He greeted me more warmly than at the appointment ceremony.
Glancing at the princesses, he pleaded in a pitiful voice.
“Get up quick—we were gonna talk privately, remember?”
Having overheard my friend’s dangerous conversation, I decided to yank him away from the princesses.
“Y-Yes. Your Highnesses, I’ll take my leave then.”
The daughters of the Conqueror King stared intently at my back as I dragged the storyteller away.
Then, they wore meaningful smiles.
“Bye, Cain.”
“We enjoyed your stories today.”
I hurriedly led him behind the orphanage.
There, in the shadows, we talked.
“Wow.... Veil, what the hell happened to you all this time?”
“Sigh... What do you mean?”
As I glanced around and asked, my friend’s brown eyes gleamed in the shade.
Like a small animal perking up its ears.
“The princesses are all over you. Think they want to select you?”
“Could be.”
I let out a deep sigh.
At my skeptical attitude, Cain shot me a puzzled look.
“No way you don’t want that? This is a straight shot to success!”
“Not that I don’t want it.”
“Then why refuse? Both Lea and Irina are famed as wise rulers.”
My friend envied me for landing the dream scenario every man fantasized about.
“And their beauty—absolutely stunning.”
“Beautiful, yeah, they are!!”
I cut him off firmly.
Then, countered with a serious gaze.
“Romance with royalty always ends in tragedy. His Majesty the doting father won’t approve! He’ll try to boot me out somehow.”
With his personality, he might ship me off to some remote border.
Or frame me for something and exile me.
“Nah. His Majesty cherishes his people so much. No way he’d go that far.”
Cain, who’d never tasted Leonhardt’s thunderbolt wrath.
He knew nothing of the Emperor’s paternal protectiveness.
“I’m a commoner too, but I’m marrying into a baronet family. You’ve got a shot. Want me to help?”
The soon-to-be married man patted his toned thighs proudly as he spoke.
I snorted in response.
“Forget it. Just don’t tell the princesses any more weird stories. Got it?”
I warned him sternly.
Cain nodded with a sullen expression.
“I’m off to see Count Timan now, so tone it down as much as you can. Understand?”
“Uh..., got it.”
Leaving him alone in the shadows, I headed to the orphanage reception room.
Cain glanced around furtively and tried to slip out of the garden quietly.
But at that moment.
“Caine, where are you going?”
Lea the bureaucrat and saintess Irina, who had snuck up behind him.
They’d sensed his intent and were already waiting nearby.
“Uh, well....”
My friend froze at the noblewomen’s summons.
Lea tapped the round table sensually with her fingers.
“Finish that story from earlier.”
“Yes, Cain. About the meals and the princess’s attire back then.”
The border knight swallowed hard.
“I have to prepare for my engagement soon too.”
“We know. Marrying into a local baronet family around here.”
Lea, who knew his details.
Cain’s eyes flashed at her all-seeing gaze.
“H-How do you know that, Your Highness....”
Lea approached him with hands behind her back.
With each step, her voluptuous hips swayed seductively.
“If I want to know, I know everything in Leon.”
The Empire’s First Imperial Princess pulled a thin check from her pocket.
She slipped it smoothly into his jacket.
“You haven’t prepared enough dowry compared to the bride’s family for the engagement, right?”
The First Imperial Princess smiled benevolently.
“This will cover it.”
“H-How could I accept something like this?”
Cain’s eyes widened at the amount.
A whopping 500 gold.
Enough for five carriages.
“It’s payment for the entertaining stories.”
Lea led him back to the round table, claiming it a fair trade.
“Sit, Cain. I’ll lend you my carriage for the way back.”
Offering the finest carriage used by the Second Imperial Princess.
At those words, Cain sat down again.
‘Sorry, Veil....’
Overwhelmed by treatment he’d never dreamed of, his resolve melted away.
In the end, the soon-to-be groom spilled every bit of knowledge he had, satisfying the princesses’ curiosity.
“The meals featured pork daily.... And mornings always involved Sword Aura training to strengthen the lower body....”
The princesses listened fondly to the storyteller fox.
And absorbed knowledge they’d never known.
“What remarkable knowledge, Cain. Impressive.”
“Yes, your fiancée will love it.”
Cain was enraptured by the princesses’ unprecedented attention.
He flaunted every scrap of lore he’d picked up before his engagement.
‘What’s this pounding in my chest...?’
To think he’d captivate such exalted figures.
He danced gleefully before the predators.