Chapter 278
Chapter 278
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Overprotective Siblings (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Guhhh… This bastard, what kind of sorcery did he use…!!”
Two hours later.
It wasn’t until 3 p.m., with the sun blazing high in the midday sky, that Hanna’s face finally flushed bright red.
She had tried to hold out with superhuman willpower somehow.
But she couldn’t overcome my technique of lacing the alcohol with herbs and expelling the intoxication through aura.
“I wanted to see right through your true feelings…”
In the end, the Sword Dance Captain failed to glimpse my drunken state and slammed her head onto the table.
The thud was so loud it startled the waitstaff waiting in the distance.
Thud!!
“Haa… Veil, you go on ahead. I’ll help my sister.”
“Are you sure you can handle her alone…?”
I looked at the petite Lydia with worried eyes, wondering if she could lift the burly woman.
In response, the Eastern Conqueror stared at her sister with a pitiful gaze and replied.
“There’s a separate way to wake her up.”
I was curious about the method but held back from asking.
Trusting the red eyes of Lydia, who gestured for me not to worry, I left the shop alone.
“Understood.”
As I stepped outside, Lydia let out a deep sigh.
She dropped the haughty expression she’d been maintaining in front of me, her eyes softening into those of a familiar little sister.
“How long are you going to keep your head down?”
“…”
At Lydia’s call, Hanna glanced back.
With her cheek pressed to the table, she gave an awkward smile.
“You knew?”
“Sis, your drunken habit isn’t passing out. You just run around everywhere.”
The youngest imperial princess sighed deeply and pulled a hangover remedy herb vial from her bosom.
She mixed it into a glass of water and handed it to Hanna.
“Phew… I think I’ll live now.”
Right on cue, Arden emerged from the restroom.
Clutching his throbbing stomach, he shuffled back.
“Why are you two so obsessed with Veil?”
Lydia stood there alone, arms crossed, looking displeased. The twins wore sheepish expressions.
They cleared their throats awkwardly and explained to their little sister.
“We were just evaluating him a bit more strictly since he’s going to be your husband, Lydia.”
“Yeah, out of all the guys who’ve courted you so far, there had to be at least one normal one…”
Among the suitors approaching the delicate, precious mixed-blood lady, there were no normals.
Especially in that situation, for a fox-faced man with such sly eyes to approach.
The twins eyed him warily, saying even foxes were carnivores.
“I’ll choose my own husband. Don’t you trust my judgment?”
Lydia spoke coldly to her usually affectionate sister and brother.
She placed a hand on her chest and grew serious.
“I’m the descendant of the two nations’ greatest rulers. Do you think I’m so naive that I can’t judge a single man properly?”
The two siblings stared intently at the Empire’s Third Imperial Princess’s red eyes gleaming under the light.
Those weren’t the eyes of a naive teenage girl.
She had governed the capital’s eastern district so far, earning far higher evaluations than Hakim, who outranked her.
It was the aura of their mother, who had settled the easterners who crossed from Samard to the Empire.
“…”
The Arden siblings, who had become outstanding heroes through countless battles, couldn’t ignore such an aura from their little sister.
Thanks to that, they fell silent, unable to say a word for a moment.
“If you get it, then stop bothering Veil.”
Lydia rose quietly from her chair.
She gently stroked the black fur around her neck and gracefully left the shop.
“He’s not someone lacking enough for the two of you to look down on.”
The siblings blankly watched Lydia stride out confidently.
Once she was fully gone, they looked at each other like twins do.
“Lydia’s grown up a lot…”
“Yeah, standing up to us and voicing her opinion so boldly.”
Hanna stared out the window at one man and Lydia.
Both had black hair.
“Life in the Empire must have been tough. She’s grown so strong.”
“It’s a good thing. She’s on a different level from Samard’s princesses.”
The burly woman with the knife scar over her eye let out a deep breath.
Her gaze softened as she looked fondly at the two.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine. The man chosen by a child who grew up so upright…”
“I’m still worried. Sir Veil is only just 21.”
He stared intently at the man’s back as he spoke.
He seemed to think that achieving marquis status and the Empire’s Greatest Sword at such a young age might make him arrogant.
“But he did everything we asked without complaint. His character must be good.”
“…I need to watch him a bit more. To see if he truly loves our Lydia.”
Hanna nodded at the black-haired man, who showed no knightly aura despite being one.
She sipped the herbal water Lydia had given her and sharpened her gaze.
“I agree. Let’s have him escort Lydia and test his ability to handle the Empire’s Greatest Sword.”
The Sword Dance Captain looked from the man to the petite, beautiful Lydia.
She observed with pleasure the exquisite Eastern-style dress her little sister wore.
“By the way, doesn’t Lydia look pretty in her outfit today?”
“Yeah, that’s probably the cherished dress she wore from Samard for her coming-of-age ceremony.”
The Arden Assault Captain agreed.
“Yeah, if she went out of her way to wear something she treasures, she must really like him.”
Hanna’s eyes grew misty, filled with sentiment.
「―――――」
“I’m sorry. The two of them will come around on their own.”
“You’ve had a rough time.”
I flashed a bright smile at Lydia, who had come out alone with her arms crossed.
“Yeah, I don’t know what got into them today…”
“That just shows how precious you are to them as family. I understand.”
Lydia brushed the breadcrumbs off her fur.
With each shake, her unique fresh cherry blossom scent wafted up.
The elegant mingling of Eastern and Western scents.
“Is that so. I should have been a bit gentler in scolding my sister.”
The blowing wind intensified her fragrance.
Especially when her neatly tied pigtails fluttered.
“You look even more beautiful than usual.”
Lydia was gracefully brushing back her fluttering bangs.
She glanced back at my words.
“I’ve never seen you dressed like that before.”
At my rare compliment, Lydia covered her mouth with her fist.
She tried to maintain composure, as if to say she was different from her princess sisters.
“Hmph… It’s just my usual outing attire. Nothing special…”
The Empire’s Third Imperial Princess cleared her throat and smoothed the hem of her dress.
The back was long, but the front was short, exposing her glossy thighs.
“Now, let’s get to the inspection.”
Lydia took the lead, stepping out from the restaurant’s shade.
Under the hot sun, her black hair absorbed the light.
“Come to think of it, you haven’t told me specifically where we’re going.”
“Right, it’d be trouble if it got out officially.”
Was it because she stood in the sunlight?
Lydia half-closed her eyes and beckoned me to follow.
In response, we walked side by side down the main street.
Only then did the princess slowly explain the purpose of this event.
“Do you know why we came to this Rubintz?”
“Probably because it’s the meeting point between the Empire’s east and west, where Samardians and Imperials coexist.”
With alliances now in place as far as northern Bakal and southern Hawthorn.
The Empire would play various roles as the continent’s center.
Among them, it would bloom as the center of culture.
“Right, many foreigners will flock here. Conflicts will arise in the process.”
The young lady, barely twenty and more accustomed to tales of men or jewels, continued with a grave tone.
Ruby-like red pupils flashed within her black hair.
She already carried jewels within her eyes.
“When immigrants band together, dark forces inevitably emerge among them.”
“Since you’ve come in person like this, it seems they’ve actually appeared.”
Lydia nodded, pleased that the conversation was flowing quickly. Her pigtails shook briskly, as if praising me.
“Right, a drug called Dilma, procured from our East, has recently been circulating.”
Dilma.
It was a cigarette-like drug known only to a tiny elite in the Empire.
Highly addictive—once smoked, it’s hard to quit, and addiction leads to lethargy, leaving one clutching a pipe for life.
“Isn’t it dangerous for you to handle something like this personally?”
“If it were just illegal immigrants playing around, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
Lydia raised a finger toward the sky.
Following it upward, a massive mansion in the center came into view.
“Dilma is so dangerous that even we in Samard control it strictly.”
Today, that mansion hosted Lydia’s grandfather the Grand Duke, along with another Samard royal.
An important figure who usually handled internal affairs in the kingdom.
“For something like that to circulate so secretly that even we didn’t know, it must be someone high up.”
“No way…”
As I furrowed my brow and asked, Lydia nodded with a serious expression.
“Right, it might mean one of our royals is the culprit.”