Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Owl's House (4)
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Irina staggered as she walked.
Veil followed behind, supporting her.
The witch watched the two's retreating figures in silence.
Then, just as she turned her head to head back to the Owl's House alone—
"Ah... I forgot."
Margo stopped in her tracks.
She had forgotten to warn them beforehand.
"Herb ale hits you hard two hours after drinking it."
The witch debated chasing after them to tell them now.
But when she turned around,
the knight and princess were already long out of sight.
"Veil will handle it, right?"
Margo stretched with a sly smile.
Dismissing it as meddling, she returned to the shop.
* * * *
It had been fine when they left the shop.
But gradually, a sour heat rose from within her body.
Her head grew foggy, perhaps because of that heat.
At times like this, she should meditate to steady her mana and take deep breaths...
But with Irina on his back, he couldn't even do that.
As a result, the intoxication began to spread through his entire body.
"We've arrived, Your Highness."
A quiet villa near the orphanage.
No servants came out to greet them—it seemed no one lived there.
He had no choice but to wake Irina.
She opened her eyes, her hot breath brushing against his neck.
"Mm..."
For some reason, her breathing had grown even more ragged.
She slid down to the ground unsteadily and leaned lightly against the front door.
"How is it...?"
"How is what, Your Highness?"
The Second Imperial Princess gently brushed aside her disheveled hair.
She smiled faintly and pointed at the villa.
"What do you think of my villa?"
"Er... It's splendid."
Irina crouched down on her knees.
She familiarly lifted the carpet in front of the door and pulled out a golden key.
"Right? It's nothing like that kid's tavern earlier."
The princess opened the luxurious wooden door.
She personally revealed the sight of a vast bedroom with the lights off.
Luxurious furniture and marble tiles.
It was no different from the emperor's private villa.
"You've never been to a place like this, have you?"
She was right.
He hadn't even seen a villa like this in his previous life...
He almost wanted to ask where the Second Imperial Princess had gotten the money to build something like this.
"This is... where my mother used to live."
A spacious room with a luxurious silk bed and table.
Irina sat lightly on the bed and patted it.
"It's a special place my father made so he could meet my mother in secret."
"In secret?"
Right—Irina's mother had been a commoner.
For the two of them to meet without the other wives knowing, a place outside the palace like Cornell would have been ideal.
"My mother always worked at the orphanage nearby and would secretly meet His Imperial Majesty at night..."
The princess proudly introduced her villa, her face flushed.
Then, abruptly, her words trailed off.
Soon, she spotted two pillows on the bed.
"...and they would meet and... share their love intimately..."
The princess's eyes darted about wildly, lost.
She mumbled the rest in a haze.
"I see."
He nodded as if he understood.
To give the distraught princess some space, he moved toward the hallway to close the villa door.
But at that moment—
"W-Wait, where are you going?"
Irina reached out with a panicked expression.
He replied to her with a serious look.
"I think it's best if I sleep in the hallway."
It was the proper thing to do.
It wasn't right for royalty and a commoner knight to share the same space.
"On a cold night like this? The hallway has no bed—just a hard floor."
Irina seemed to have sobered up a bit as she hurried toward him.
She stood facing him at the door, trying to persuade him.
"Wouldn't it be better to guard the entrance while you rest?"
They had already come all the way to Cornell.
He was the only one to look after the princess.
Besides, this was a secret villa.
Calling Allen or other knights to guard her assets would be risky.
"If I sleep by the door, I can wake up immediately at any intruder's presence."
Mana was felt more strongly up close.
"Who would attack an orphanage like this?"
Irina drew cautiously closer to him.
"Since you're going to guard me anyway..."
She pinched the sleeve of his clothes lightly, her face shy.
"...wouldn't it be better to guard me directly in the same room...?"
Her face flushed red.
At the sight, he cleared his throat awkwardly.
Noble blood normally found sharing space with a commoner knight uncomfortable.
As expected, Irina—lover of commoners—was compassionate.
"..."
He glanced around the hallway deliberately.
Past midnight, the night streets were maddeningly quiet.
In the end, he let her timid fingers lead him back into the room.
"Understood..."
Irina, who had left him standing alone in the middle of the mansion.
She seemed to have only thought as far as pulling him into the villa; her face red, she stood there blankly.
Then, the moment their eyes met—
"I-I'm... going to wash up, so if you're tired, go ahead and sleep first!"
She waved her hands awkwardly as she spoke.
Irina headed toward the passage leading to the bathroom.
It doubled as a dressing room, with a vanity and neatly arranged clothes.
She went there, gathered her mother's well-organized garments, and entered the bathroom.
In the meantime, he quietly looked around the villa.
"A residence for His Imperial Majesty and the Second Consort..."
The exterior was plain, likely to avoid attention.
Plain and monotonous, like a city hall building.
However, the interior was all top-quality.
Almost on par with the imperial palace.
He lightly rubbed the stone wall with his finger, observing it.
Then...
One brick that seemed subtly new caught his eye.
He sensed a faint trace of mana from it.
He approached it leisurely and pressed firmly.
But the brick didn't budge.
"A security spell."
Royal villas were equipped with defenses against attacks from foreign nations or rival royals.
This brick was probably part of that...
He glanced toward the bathroom.
The faint sound of water came from afar.
Irina wouldn't be out of the bath for a while yet.
"Shall I check quickly?"
He concentrated mana into his arm, emitting a golden aura.
Preventive spells were typically dispelled by superior mana levels.
"No matter how skilled the caster, they wouldn't be Knight Captain level."
He didn't destroy the spell but delicately unraveled the formula to disable it temporarily.
Click!
A clear metallic sound from behind the wall.
He pushed the brick again upon hearing it.
―――――.
The wall, which had looked like mere bricks, rippled.
Soon, a stone door appeared.
Opening it revealed stairs leading underground.
He descended them.
And...
He came face-to-face with the Second Imperial Princess's hidden assets.
Dozens of territory documents neatly shelved.
Piles of gold coins stacked orderly.
Not on the scale of the other princesses, but enough to build an independent force.
"..."
But what drew his attention most wasn't just the wealth.
A single document on the table.
Torn and creased, it bore secret codes.
The codes were fully deciphered.
And the contents were...
A secret letter from the Imperial Chancellor.
"What in the world..."
The imperial seal in the center of the decree.
The empire in the seal was divided into four parts.
As if they had predetermined who would rule after the empire's fall...
* * * *
"Stain Principality. (First Consort, Rozanna)"
Rozanna, princess of Stain, liberates the Eckina Principality and restores her territory.
"Bern Kingdom. (Crown Prince Leon)"
The First Consort's son, Crown Prince Leon, returns all territories conquered by the emperor and founds the Bern Kingdom on the original imperial lands.
"Northland Autonomous Region. (Northern Archduke Coldman)"
Northern Archduke Coldman regains the lands he ruled before the empire conquered them.
* * * *
"The chancellor sent this to Irina."
He pondered the secret letter's meaning for a moment.
The four names listed were all closely connected.
They were the ones who had acted on the day of the purge when they all died.
Their goal in killing the royals wasn't to seize the empire.
It was to dismantle it and reclaim their own lands.
"..."
In his previous life, Irina surely hadn't known this information.
But as she formed her knight order and rose as an independent power, the chancellor began supplying her intel.
And asked him to train her knights.
"Now I understand why Irina treats me so well."
Having realized the conspiracy of the four,
the princess must be more desperate than anyone right now.
To protect the empire her father built.
In that process, the only acquaintance with Knight Captain-level skill was him...
So she wanted to hold onto him at any cost.
"Haa..."
He took a deep breath.
He glanced toward the bathroom, where the princess was still bathing.
"Perhaps this place is Irina's true Owl's House."
The sound of water stopped.
Light footsteps of bare feet soon followed.
Matching the sound, he placed the secret letter back.
He ascended from the underground vault and restored the wall.
Then, he hurried back to the bedside.
He pulled out a blanket from the corner, spread it, and pretended to sleep naturally.
"..."
The princess's refreshed breathing.
To let out the bathroom's heat, she cracked open the dressing room door.
White steam escaped through the gap.
As the steam cleared, the princess in her nightgown came into view.
She sat at the vanity, looking in the mirror.
Her face, with the intoxication mostly gone.
She hooked her hairband on her finger and gently arranged her hair.
"What is she doing...?"
Pretending to sleep, he cracked one eye open.
As he observed Irina...
His lips nearly twitched.
The princess was dividing her hair into two sides and tying it.
Just like the twin-tailed witch they had met earlier.
"It's not working out..."
A wistful voice.
She held the two tied tails in her palms.
As if weighing them.
She turned her head and glanced at him slyly.
At that, he quickly closed his eyes.
Then, her footsteps grew gradually closer.
The fruity scent of Irina wafted to his nose.
"Veil, are you asleep...?"
With those words from her, a soft sensation settled on his shoulder.
He realized it was the princess's silver hair.