Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 71. Golden Lion (5)
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I looked down at the princess hiding her face behind a book.
The once-pale face was flushed red, and the First Imperial Princess was breathing raggedly.
It seemed the curse's aftereffects were still lingering.
“Your condition looks poor. May I summon your personal physician?”
“I’m fine.”
Lea narrowed her eyes.
She steadied her breathing and spoke.
“It’s just that your rejection of my proposal annoyed me.”
The princess began giving me pointed glares.
Well, I had defied her commands twice already, so her pride must have taken quite a hit.
“I’m truly grateful for the proposal.”
From here on, I had to watch my words carefully.
Provoking her unnecessarily could doom the alliance—or worse, turn her into an outright enemy.
“But as I said, I will defend my homeland to the end.”
Lea’s expression turned interrogative, as if ready to press me.
But my next words sealed her lips once more.
“And within that defended homeland, I wish to serve His Majesty the Emperor and Your Highness with utmost devotion.”
Lea adjusted her monocle upward.
Even as her nation crumbled, here was someone vowing unyielding loyalty.
That resolve piqued her interest even further.
“Hmm… Is that so?”
The princess placed her hand on the table.
Leaning her cheek against it lightly, she flashed a sly eye smile.
“That means if the Empire endures, you’ll serve me for life.”
“Precisely—His Majesty the Emperor comes first.”
I drew a firm line against her predatory words.
But the princess pressed on, her eyes gleaming like a hunter unwilling to release her catch.
“True. If the Empire survives, I’ll ascend as Emperor by right of succession. Which makes you mine.”
‘Uh…’
It was logically sound.
So why did it sound so terrifying?
“You’d better prepare yourself for that day.”
Lea reassumed her mature, adult demeanor.
Chin held high, she gazed at me with those sensual eyes.
“Of course, for that future—as you suggested—I’ll join the alliance.”
I furrowed my brow.
Chewing over her cleverly twisted logic.
“Then you’ll safeguard the Empire too, and I’ll become Emperor…”
Lea pressed on without giving me time to think.
“Everyone wins.”
She had a point.
With the Imperial Consort and Crown Prince out of the picture, the First Imperial Princess Lea would naturally be the top contender for the throne.
But.
Even so, a lifetime under her thumb?
Right now, the First Imperial Princess was slyly trying to slip a collar around my neck.
“Very well.”
I approached her slowly.
Gazing down with a polite smile.
“But I’d like one thing clarified.”
“Speak.”
Lea looked up at me, eyes brimming with confidence.
I replied evenly.
“I serve the Empire. Not just one princess.”
“I know. The Emperor’s will is the Empire’s will. So when I become Emperor, you obey me.”
“Correct. If you become Emperor, I’ll follow without hesitation. But.”
I raised a finger.
And impressed upon the Empire’s First Imperial Princess.
“Only after you ascend as ‘Emperor.’ Until then, I’ll aid you—but I won’t be yours.”
“What… You mean stay as an advisor of sorts?”
Lea’s lips curled downward in displeasure.
“Exactly. That’s the relationship we maintain.”
Here was a mere defense knight boldly negotiating before the princess herself.
Lea found it endearing, her eyes crinkling in a smile.
“So you’ll come running whenever I call for help? That’s what advisors do.”
“For the moment, yes.”
I nodded indifferently.
Lea sliced through my words with an empress’s icy tone.
“Drop the ‘for the moment.’”
“Understood. I’ll come at once for any ‘urgent matter.’”
Who did she think she was, treating me like some errand pigeon?
Fat chance.
“Hmm.”
The princess narrowed her eyes.
She paused, running calculations through her mind.
The scenarios of uniting with the other princesses against her mother.
Hundreds of paths to victory.
Finished with her thoughts, she looked up at me evenly.
“Fine. In any case, if I put my mind to it, I can take on Mother just fine.”
“An excellent choice.”
I bowed my head in sincere gratitude.
Lea grumbled on, explaining why she’d avoided the Imperial Consort all this time.
“To reiterate—I didn’t dodge her out of fear of her power.”
Lea removed her monocle.
Her beast-like blue eyes glinted from the shadows.
“I merely spared my people and retainers from harm.”
The golden lion’s leader, who had held back to protect her pride.
That savage beast had now resolved to claim the territory from her own blood kin.
“I know full well. How could His Majesty’s kin fear any foe?”
I bowed deeply, offering polished praise.
While bowed, I secretly lifted the corner of my mouth.
Lea mirrored me.
She gazed down with a mischievous eye smile.
“Well then, shall we seal the pact?”
“Paper and pen, and I’ll sign at once.”
As I turned toward the table, Lea called me back.
“No need for paper. I always honor my word.”
She extended the back of her hand with elegant grace.
“So… a kiss on my hand will suffice as the contract.”
The princess’s hand hovered before me.
Flawless white skin, unadorned by rings.
“…”
I stared blankly at that soft, pale flesh.
Then, resolve hardening my features, I stepped forward boldly.
“Understood.”
Eyes half-lidded, I slowly pressed my lips to the back of her hand.
Straightening with steadfast poise, I saluted her.
“May our alliance succeed without flaw.”
The princess rubbed her chin against the spot I’d kissed.
Wearing an unconcerned expression, she replied.
“Now, whenever I call, you’ll come running. What could go wrong?”
Lea smiled brightly.
I countered her smile with iron resolve.
“Indeed. For any truly ‘important matter,’ I’ll be there without fail. No issues.”
“…”
Spear and shield.
We acknowledged each other’s unyielding strength and fell silent.
We simply savored the gentle spring breeze beneath the parasol’s shade.
Lea’s golden locks fluttered.
Brushing them back, she closed her eyes softly.
“Bale.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Lea, vitality restored, peeled away from the backrest.
Waist gracefully arched, she addressed me.
“Since you’re here, care for a game of chess before you go?”
Her eyes held casual indifference—as if refusal wouldn’t matter.
But with that chessboard on her table, and all the manuals I’d pored over countless times…
This was as good as a command.
“You can’t leave our unfinished match from that day hanging, right?”
Blue flames flickered in her eyes, eager to avenge the draw’s sting.
But I knew she’d trained relentlessly, surpassing my skill…
“Apologies, but I’m rather fatigued today. It’d be tough.”
Rejection, swift as a blade.
“What…?”
Three rejections in a row.
Bewilderment creased her brow deeply.
“You spent all day staring at the dirt, hunting watermelons—and now you’re tired?”
“How do you know my routine so precisely, Your Highness?”
My calm query drew a shameless retort.
“As the future Emperor, I observe my subjects’ lives. Naturally, I know.”
“Ah, mere ‘observation,’ then?”
Lea jabbed a finger at the chessboard—no more banter.
Her eyes menaced: Sit.
I parried with brutal honesty.
“Truth be told, I hate it because I’ll lose.”
“Hah?”
A knight dodging a match for fear of defeat.
My audacity drew an involuntary scoff from Lea.
“Earlier you boasted of seizing peace… All bluster, then?”
“The foe’s fully prepared. Tactical withdrawal.”
Lea sighed heavily at last.
“Fine, you sly fox.”
Eyes shut like a lion robbed of her fox mid-hunt, the princess waved me off.
“Someday I’ll strip you bare and find that tail.”
I flashed a grin and bowed.
Sauntering from the parasol, I called back.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
Warm sunlight bathed my face.
Freed at last, I resolved to depart the west forthwith.
But in that instant—
Lea’s voice cut through, laced with cynicism.
“Leaving the land deed behind?”
“It’s far too weighty a burden for me.”
Five thousand gold couldn’t touch its scale.
Swallowing such a prize outright? She’d seize the pretext to leash me.
“Take it. It’s fine.”
“Yes…?”
The princess tossed it over casually.
My brows twitched at the sight.
“A signing gift for our alliance. No strings.”
Lea eyed me coolly.
Her tone flat, devoid of ulterior motive.
“That watermelon nonsense and tools? All boxed in the warehouse. Plant it there or whatever.”
The seedlings ransacked this morning.
The northern plot she’d preempted.
The culprit behind it all, unmasked.
“Truly?”
“Yeah. Can’t stand the sight of you.”
Dialogue exhausted, Lea turned away.
Eyes sealed shut until my footsteps vanished.
“Thank you, Your Highness!”
My first genuine smile lingered as I departed.
Bound for my glorious first fief.
「―――.」
The defense knight’s footsteps faded entirely.
Only then did Lea lift her sealed golden lids.
“…”
The princess reached beneath her chair.
Out came the slender telescope she’d prepared in advance.
Through her monocled eye, she observed a distant point.
Her quarry: Bale, bound for the warehouse.
“Look at him… grinning at that watermelon.”
The defense knight who’d fed her nothing but rote smiles and hollow flattery.
Now beaming with genuine delight at a melon.
Exasperation washed over the princess.
“Do Swordmasters all turn that peculiar upon mastery?”
Lea’s question drew Damian from the villa interior.
He approached with a discreet cough.
“Sir Bale seems… exceptionally peculiar, Your Highness.”
“Well, saner than the pack of fools out there… but what a baffling mind.”
Damian blinked at her words.
“Someone even Your Highness can’t dissect.”
“Tell me about it. First specimen of its kind in my life.”
The princess shook her head; her advisor offered gentle consolation.
“Perhaps it’s his youth—just twenty.”
But Lea brushed off the comfort.
Her focus locked on that number: twenty.
“Right. Swordmaster at barely twenty. Utterly refined, too…”
Muttering, Lea set down the telescope.
Cold eyes lifted to her advisor.
“Damian. Dig into that boy. Birth records, anything.”
“At once.”
“Oh—and check Camilla’s assignment while you’re at it.”
The advisor bowed, mana surging through his legs.
He vanished in a gust of wind-like speed.
“…”
At last, the Empire’s First Imperial Princess stood alone.
Hand to her chest.
A deep breath steadied her poise.
“Strange…”
Mind clearing, Lea rose from her seat.
She approached the table and lifted the chessboard.
“This book’s supposed to be based on true events.”
From beneath emerged a familiar tome.
Monocle adjusted, she pored over the pages.
“Why didn’t it work?”
She reached the passage commanding a hand-kiss.
Success to this point drew a suppressed girlish smile.
Fingers grazed the kissed skin tenderly; she turned the page.
Next: the grand duchess seizing the tie, bullying her slave knight.
Lea dissected her oversight.
“…”
Yet reread as she might, her actions mirrored the novel to the letter.
Bale should have flushed shy like the fictional thrall…
But he’d stayed ice-calm.
Boldly thrusting forward, even.
As if she were the fool.
“No… More than that grand duchess of all things…”
Fury surging, the princess snapped the book shut.
She vowed to summon its author—that grand duchess—for interrogation soon.