Chapter 122
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Hitchhiker Traveling the Timeline (5)
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“Peep!”
In Kairen’s room, a violent cry echoed from Peep, who had half-flown into the air and was flapping its wings furiously.
“Good. So you won’t change right up to the end.”
“…….”
“Then I have an idea for you.”
At that moment, Kairen—who was holding Peep’s tail to keep it from escaping—dyed his eyes red and whispered in a low voice.
“Beep?”
Peep suddenly froze mid-flap, its eyes going wide at the suspicious sensation creeping over its body.
“You’d better brace yourself.”
“P-Peep….”
“It might be a bit hard to endure…”
Kairen’s slender fingers had already slipped under Peep’s wings, beginning to stroke its soft, fluffy down.
- Tickle tickle tickle….
Right after that, Kairen’s touch grew even more intense.
“Peeeeeep!”
“Not changing even with this?”
But despite tumbling from the air onto the bed and rolling around from the relentless tickling, Peep gritted its teeth and showed no sign of transforming into a human.
“Even like this?”
“Peep….”
However, when Kairen stuck out his tongue and licked the fluff, Peep flinched with a pathetic little cry.
“…Huh. Tastier than I thought.”
“……!?”
“Maybe I should just eat you like this.”
It was right then, as Kairen watched intently, that his eyes turned an even deeper red and he muttered in a chilling voice.
- Pop…!
Finally, Kairen’s chambers were bathed in golden light, followed by a soft mutter in his ear.
“I-I’m not tasty….”
It was the Imperial Princess Lia, mumbling in a quivering, shrinking voice just like Peep’s had been moments before.
“……Ah.”
Her face paled in an instant as she glanced downward, hurriedly crossing her arms to cover herself.
“A-Ah….”
Still unable to open her eyes properly from the flash’s aftereffects, she frantically looked around before hastily pulling the nearby blanket over her naked body.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“…Eek!?”
Just then, Kairen recovered from the flash and pushed her forward, knocking her over.
“You should at least apologize before you leave.”
“…Hah.”
“Imperial Princess Lia?”
With fluid grace, he mounted her and pinned her arms, flashing a cold smile as he brought his face close to hers.
“Haaa….”
But for some reason, as she struggled to escape from under him, Lia’s face flushed bright red and her movements stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
Finally sensing something off, Kairen loosened his grip slightly and asked with a puzzled expression.
“…I’m not wearing anything.”
A few seconds later, she turned her gaze aside, gritted her teeth, and answered in a crawling whisper.
“When the transformation wears off… I turn naked….”
And right at that moment.
- Squish….
A soft sensation finally registered across Kairen’s entire body as he straddled her.
“T-That’s… I mean.”
“…….”
“N-Not that I intended…”
Only then did Kairen grasp her words, breaking into a cold sweat as he started making excuses.
“…Move already.”
“Ah.”
“I’m seriously at my limit…”
But before his excuse could finish, Lia glared at him with her face burning red and muttered in a low voice.
- Swish….
Kairen awkwardly scooted backward atop her, his own face flushing red to match hers.
“Mm.”
After glancing at her for a moment, he curled up and turned his back to her.
““…….””
Lia turned her back to him as well, both of them unable to bear their thoroughly ripened faces as they bowed their heads.
“…Pervert.”
“…Scammer.”
And after some time passed, the two children—who had been huddled silently back-to-back—spoke up in unison.
“…You groped me even though you knew.”
“…You meant to fool me from the start.”
A brief silence followed.
“That’s on you, Princess!”
“That’s because you misunderstood…!”
Lia—still flushed red with teary eyes—and Kairen—who was stroking his heated cheeks—broke the silence again and turned to face each other.
““…….””
But only for a moment. As soon as their eyes met, they clamped their mouths shut and stared at each other in silence.
““Hmph.””
The two snorted, turned their heads back, and promptly bowed them again.
- Goooo….
And the countless gazes peeking through the door crack at their innocent display quietly set their eyes ablaze before melting into the shadows.
In the dead of night, as Belverk’s servants seethed with frustration over the budding love quarrel…
“Okay, okay, just stop already.”
“…….”
“I’m really not interested, okay? Huh?”
No, something quite similar was happening in a room from much earlier in the past.
“Get out.”
“At least a lock of hair to show His Majesty…”
“I said get out.”
Of course, it was less a sweet budding romance and more a true battle for their lives.
“I’ll really get beaten to death?”
“…Use your hidden royal power.”
“Hah, you want me to start a rebellion?”
Still, Justina wore a rather bright smile despite being repeatedly sliced by flying knives, making the mood somewhat similar to the scene twenty years in the future.
“It’s not my problem, so stop caring.”
But as she gracefully dodged the knives, Justina suddenly twitched her brow and came to a halt.
“Hmm….”
She snatched an incoming knife midair and slowly approached Astridje.
“See? You do care after all.”
“……?”
“What? Why that puzzled look?”
Only then did young Astridje grasp the meaning of Justina’s words, her face instantly twisting into a cold scowl as she spoke.
“If you mean that guardian angel pretender, absolutely not.”
“…….”
“That suspicious guy who won’t even reveal his identity… he’ll betray me someday and take my head…”
But the more she spoke, the more Astridje’s voice wavered uncertainly.
“A guy who’ll betray you someday blocks the First Princess’s strike with his bare hand and threatens her back?”
“…….”
“That’s a funny story, Astridje.”
Faced with Justina’s incredulous expression and retort, Astridje fell completely silent, lost in thought.
“I still remember what you said, crying alone in your room on your tenth birthday.”
“……!”
“If you think about it, isn’t that wish coming true?”
Astridje’s face turned venomous at Justina’s amused words, her eyes reddening.
“When did I ever say that?”
Yet Justina chuckled and continued despite the terrifying killing intent.
“What was it? Huddled alone in that cold room, eyes red-rimmed, sniffling… let’s see.”
“…….”
“Right, you definitely said this.”
Astridje’s frozen expression grew increasingly ominous, but Justina’s revelation didn’t stop.
“‘I too, someday like a fairy tale princess, a prince on a white horse…’ Ugh!?”
And that was the price—unleashed all at once on Justina’s nonstop yapping.
- Crash…!
With no time to transform into an animal, Justina was flung out the window and slammed into a distant tree, her body shuddering.
“…Yes, you’re right.”
In the room that fell into heavy silence afterward, Astridje savored the brief reprieve before her parents arrived for causing the commotion, gazing out the window.
“A prince on a white horse would never come to save someone like me…”
Her gaze fell on a puddle of blood on the floor, and she bit her lip.
“…….”
The blood left by the mysterious guardian angel who had blocked Justina’s rapier with his hand moments before.
“…Why in the world.”
After staring at the blood for a long while, Astridje bowed her head deeply and muttered.
“Would he come to help someone like me…”
That was the first day Astridje had ever bowed her head.
“…….”
Returning to the present in Belverk.
“…Was it a dream?”
Astridje, who had dozed off briefly while holding a wine glass, came to her senses and muttered softly, touching the crystal orb on her desk.
- Click….
In the blink of an eye, it glowed golden—the direct line to the imperial family.
“Hey, Astridje.”
“…….”
“What’s up?”
As the voice of her oldest friend emerged from within, Astridje began wearing her usual irritated expression before slowly opening her mouth.
“It’s about the format for the Crown Prince Selection Tournament.”
“…Oh, really. You’ve finally decided on a direction?”
The Emperor’s voice rose in interest and excitement.
“It’ll benefit both Belverk and the imperial family.”
“Is that so? Then let’s hear it.”
Astridje’s lips twitched upward ever so slightly.
“The one who breaks through Belverk will be recognized as the next Crown Prince.”
And after that fleeting moment, her low voice emerged.
“…What?”
The crystal fell briefly silent before the Emperor’s utterly baffled voice returned, but Astridje pressed on undeterred.
“Any means, any method.”
“…….”
“No matter what it takes, if they reach the family head’s chambers in Belverk, we’ll recognize them as the next Emperor.”
The moment Astridje finished, the Emperor’s voice immediately followed.
“Hm. So what you’re saying is…”
“…….”
“They have to breakthrough the descendants of those hell demons who made a name for themselves, the offspring of the First Demon King’s generals, and all three Belverk sisters?”
Astridje offered no reply, still wearing a faint smile as she turned her gaze to the window.
“Have you finally lost it, Astridje?”
And at that point, the Emperor’s voice cooled slightly.
“That’s impossible not just for me, but anyone in the world…”
“No. You know.”
But Astridje cut him off midway, gazing at the night sky as she replied calmly.
“There was definitely someone who could.”
“……Ah.”
“And that person would sometimes visit with a disguised member of the imperial family.”
After her words ended, a silence stretched out.
“Hah.”
A bewildered laugh came from the Emperor amid the quiet.
“No way…”
“…….”
“You still haven’t given up searching for ‘him’?”
As the Emperor’s voice grew somewhat serious from the golden crystal, Astridje closed her eyes tightly for a long moment.
“…From the start.”
Only after quite some time did she reply in a low voice, then cut off the connection with the Emperor.
“There was never any need to give up.”