Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The First Princess's Bedside Visit (3)
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Two hours after the golden hawk flew to the western imperial palace.
A lavish platinum carriage arrived in the underground city, its lion banner fluttering proudly.
Dozens of radiant knights escorted it.
Even in the dim underground gloom, the white horses they rode and their helmets gleamed dazzlingly.
Boom.
The carriage wheels came to a halt in the center of the underground city.
The knights stopped in unison.
The first to dismount opened the carriage door with polite reverence.
And then...
A woman in a snow-white uniform like a blooming flower stepped out.
Her golden hair cascaded brilliantly beneath her uniform cap.
She descended, clad in boots rising to her calves and a short uniform skirt.
...
Unlike her stunning beauty, her blue eyes radiated a cold charisma.
The empire's First Imperial Princess surveyed the ruined underground city with that piercing gaze.
"Lydia."
A calm voice.
Lea gazed steadily down at the Third Imperial Princess and asked.
"The Third Prince stole my belongings? What exactly do you mean by that?"
Lydia crossed her arms alone.
She gestured vaguely toward Hakim with her eyes and said.
"It's exactly as I said. That idiot messed with your stuff."
Lea turned her head slightly.
Then she coldly stared at Hakim, who was bound by the eastern knights.
"First Imperial Princess..."
Faced with the empire's eldest daughter, Hakim was more tense than ever.
She was known for her elegance and kindness to everyone usually, but...
When in uniform, she was a cold sovereign like the Conqueror King.
"Hakim. I know bandits ran rampant during your reign. But I never imagined you'd be in league with them."
Lydia settled lightly into her nearby leather chair.
She picked up a fan from the table and pointed at the collapsed buildings.
"Hakim turned a blind eye to their activities and took half the loot as payment."
Gleaming treasures peeked out from between the building debris.
Lea lifted her uniform cap slightly to inspect the riches.
"And among them was a box engraved with a golden lion emblem."
Lydia shrugged as if it were a hassle.
Lea tilted her head in puzzlement.
"You mean someone other than you found it?"
Lydia's lips curved into a sly smile.
She pointed at me, standing beside the box in question, and said.
"Yeah, you can see it right there."
Lea followed her gaze and turned her head.
Her brows furrowed as she spoke in a surprised tone.
"Veil Mikhail?"
"Have you been well?"
I bowed elegantly toward her.
Then, white boots strode forward, right up to my lowered face.
Soon, her shadow fell over me.
"Why are you here again?"
Her tone had turned icy cold, as if this were an official occasion.
But it wasn't just her words that had chilled.
The moment I raised my head.
Her impassive white face looked down at me so indifferently that it took my breath away.
'She seems even scarier since I provided the watermelons...'
"I heard Hakim colluded with the First Prince to attack Lady Lydia. So I struck first preemptively."
I calmly told her the truth.
However, the princess showed little interest in the fact that Hakim had allied with Leon.
As if she'd known all along.
Instead, true to her role as the empire's chief strategist, she drove a sharper question into my chest.
"Where did you get that information?"
Here we go again.
Lea's signature gaze that pierced right through you.
I responded with my own trademark shameless grin.
"I'll tell you if you join the alliance."
Lea was exasperated by my attempt to negotiate with her.
She shook her head, teeth gritted.
"Forget it."
The princess pulled a handkerchief from her breast pocket.
"So, what exactly is this item of mine that you recovered?"
She rubbed her hands together as she spoke.
"You dragged me all the way here, so it had better be something extraordinary."
Her eyes said she'd make me pay if it wasn't.
In response, I grinned widely.
"Of course. It was a very important item."
I stepped aside.
And showed the First Imperial Princess the ornate golden lion box.
"Look—it's practically screaming 'I'm valuable' just from the outside."
I stroked the box with a proud expression.
Then I looked up at Lea intently, gauging her reaction.
...
She stared fixedly at the box.
But even seeing the item she'd gone to such lengths for, she didn't look pleased.
Perplexed, perhaps.
"What's wrong? Don't you remember this box?"
I tilted my head with a cheeky grin.
...!
Lea swallowed hard, as if struck by a sudden realization.
She approached the box cautiously and said.
"Dozens of boxes come into my palace every day. How am I supposed to know from this alone?"
The First Imperial Princess slowly reached out toward the box.
"Hah, looks like I'll have to check the contents."
But just as she tried to dispel the security magic.
Her face stiffened upon seeing the lock, which emitted no trace of mana.
"There was no magic on it?"
"Oh, that? I already disarmed it."
I answered with the most innocent expression imaginable.
Lea's face gradually flushed red.
"What gives you the right to touch it!"
Unlike her usual stern demeanor, she cried out in a girlish, plaintive voice.
???
The radiant knights jumped in surprise.
They were flustered by their emotional sovereign.
Even the eastern knights and the nonchalant Lydia, who had been lounging.
Everyone focused on the princess's very human side.
"I was just doing my duty as a guard knight."
I replied with feigned innocence.
"Don't you need to check the stolen goods to contact the owner?"
"You insolent...!"
The princess hurried to the box.
She opened the lid to see how much I'd pried into.
Like a child caught with a secret toy by her parents.
The princess's pale hand rifled through the tactical manuals.
She even lifted the false bottom...
But the item she sought was nowhere to be seen.
"Is this really everything that was inside?"
The princess looked up at me with trembling eyes.
My figure, backlit, cast ominous shadows.
"Thanks to that, my face looked especially sinister."
"Who knows~."
If... I'd shown that book to everyone.
All the dignity she'd built as the First Imperial Princess would shatter.
"It was just the tactical manuals in there."
Lydia answered indifferently from where she watched.
The eastern knights nodded in agreement.
They gazed at the fussing Lea with expressions of utter incomprehension.
"This was really everything in the box?"
Lea, bewildered.
She covered her mouth with her fist and sank into deep thought alone.
I grinned at the princess.
Then I drew close and whispered secretly.
"I already removed the Northern Grand Duchess and slave knight ones ahead of time."
Lea snapped her head up at my words.
She stared blankly up at me.
Her blue eyes churned with turmoil.
As if the tension she'd held all this time finally melted away, she let out a deep sigh.
"Haa..."
Once she'd calmed down a bit, she glared daggers at me again.
With a chilling blank expression, she said.
"Come closer, Veil Mikhail."
I took a step toward her impassively.
"Closer."
Lea drew so near that our breaths mingled.
Suddenly, she grabbed my dress shirt.
And yanked me until our noses nearly touched.
"You dare toy with me...?"
The princess breathed raggedly.
Her uniform jacket pressed against my chest.
"Do you find the imperial princess amusing?"
"But thanks to me, you got the uncensored edition back safe and sound."
Even up close to the princess, I didn't flinch at all.
I even smiled sweetly as I replied.
"Given how secretly you acquired it, it's probably one of the few limited editions left on the continent."
"You... you sly fox!"
She'd pressed against me on purpose to fluster me.
But when I expressed concern for her precious uncensored edition, she looked frustrated instead.
"Haa... fine."
In the end, the princess pulled back herself.
She placed a hand on her chest and steadied her breathing.
"So, what do you want in return for hiding my novel?"
"As expected of a wise sovereign—straight to the point."
I pressed my palms together.
Chuckling, I got to the heart of it.
"I'll keep the book's contents secret forever. In exchange, just help me with one thing."
"What."
Lea rested one arm on her hip.
Her expression said she was ready to see how outrageous my demand would be.
"Imprison Hakim."
Surprised by the modest request, she tilted her head.
"That's all?"
"Yes. If we let him go now, he'll surely flee back to his homeland."
Lea nodded, as if she'd already figured that out.
"So, as the victim, Your Highness, please judge him personally."
"If I send him to the crown prince, he'll be released, so you're dumping the cleanup on me."
Lea scoffed with a derisive look.
"As if! I just want to punish the one who dared steal Your Highness's precious 'knowledge'!"
I declared boldly with the utmost loyal expression.
"Why else would you secure it so thoroughly with magic and fetch it secretly from the east?"
I spoke loudly enough for all to hear.
Clenching my fist, I shouted like a revolutionary.
"Please understand my desire to punish Hakim harshly for taking such a treasure!"
Precious book.
Lydia and the eastern knights, who'd only seen the tactical manuals, perked up at the mention of another book.
But just as they showed interest.
"I said I get it, so shut your mouth!"
Lea shouted, her face flushed crimson.
"My thanks for your boundless mercy."
Satisfied with her answer, I immediately bowed my head.
"In the meantime, I'll find evidence of the crown prince and Hakim's collusion."
Lea shook her head wearily.
Then she turned away indifferently and said.
"No, I'll take him back to the west with me, so you come along too."
I'd assumed she'd only take Hakim.
Her command to follow made my eyebrows twitch.
"Yes, me too?"
The princess turned her head slowly.
Mana shimmered in her blue eyes as she replied.
"Yes. You must be exhausted from the fighting too."
I swallowed hard.
Following her gaze, I looked down at my body.
I'd regained my swordmaster-level power fighting the Eastern Knight Commander.
But perhaps because the power had surged so suddenly.
My body felt a bit drained from adapting to it.
Lea, once a mage herself, had keenly assessed my condition.
But.
She wasn't the only one who knew.
"Wait."
Lydia rose from her leather chair.
She sidled up beside me and said.
"Do you really need to drag a tired guy off right now?"
The youngest princess, dressed for a casual outing, tilted her head toward me.
One of her twin tails tickled my arm.
"I'll put Veil up in the eastern palace, so you just take Hakim."
Hearing that, Lea halted abruptly.
She glanced back and forth between her sister and me, then said coolly.
"He has to report for duty at the guard office tomorrow anyway."
"Oh? Since when did you start worrying about his guard knight schedule?"
The two princesses glared at each other with disdain.
Their eyes said: You're really going this far in front of your own people?
Yet neither seemed inclined to back down.
Finally, they both turned to me in unison.
Killer stares demanding I choose one.
"I'm grateful, truly..."
But I chose neither.
Instead, I replied with a cheerful smile.
"I'll make it home on my own."
However, I didn't realize.
The moment I said that.
"Cough."
'Huh...?'
I'd never once fallen ill since becoming a swordmaster.
Yet after the duel with the captain, a light cough escaped me.
And the princesses didn't miss it.
"Oho?"
"Hmm~."
They looked at me with great interest—the slippery fox who'd always wriggled away until now.