She Wasn't the Tyrant's Daughter, She Was the Tyrant Herself (2)
She Wasn't the Tyrant's Daughter, She Was the Tyrant Herself (2)
The blue screen filling my vision slowly fades away.
I remained frozen in place, having completely forgotten how to breathe.
My mind went blank, and I felt as though my vision was spinning out of focus.
'...How on earth did things turn out like this?'
The girl with light purple hair sitting on the floor and looking up at me wasn't the tyrant's daughter.
She was the tyrant of the Berka Empire herself.
If it were up to my heart, I wanted to leave this woman here and flee right this instant.
However, I barely managed to hold onto the thread of my sanity.
'Let's say I take her back to the empire as if nothing happened.'
Having already come face-to-face with her as her kidnapper anyway, there was no way my head would remain attached to my neck.
And if I returned empty-handed like this, Arendia, who was trapped in the underground dungeon of the Harden Kingdom, would lose his life.
In the end, unable to control my boiling murderlust, I would storm the royal castle,
and end up meeting a fate where I dragged the damned Harden down to death with me.
'Right. Whether I get torn to pieces by the emperor right here right now, or die going on a rampage after losing Arendia, it's the exact same result.'
In that case, it was better to bet on the option that had even the slightest chance of survival.
Besides, should I call it fortunate?
The tyrant before my eyes—no, Karhen—didn't seem to have any intention of revealing her identity immediately or using physical force.
Just as the special note shown by the Observer's Eye indicated, she was currently viewing this absurd situation of having been kidnapped...
...as a mere form of entertainment while evaluating me.
Once my thoughts reached that point, my actions were swift.
First, I relaxed my frozen expression and put on the most harmless smile in the world.
Then, rummaging inside my tunic, I pulled out a strawberry-flavored hard candy that I had packed among my emergency rations.
Unwrapping the plastic wrapper, I held it out toward the girl and forced my voice to be as gentle and soft as possible.
"You're going to go on a short trip to the kingdom with oppa."
"......."
Karhen's red eyes shifted back and forth between the candy sitting on my palm and my face.
"As long as Her Majesty the Berka Emperor, your mother, makes a proper agreement with the Harden Kingdom, you'll be able to return to the empire without any problems."
I implicitly emphasized that this entire kidnapping was not my independent act, but something conducted by the top leadership of the Harden Kingdom.
Should this monster's wrath come crashing down later,
I cleverly diverted its direction so that it would bypass me and aim solely at the kingdom.
Of course, regardless of that, while holding out the candy, I gathered all the mana I could muster to the absolute limit.
This was so I could respond immediately in case she made an unexpected move.
Because the girl right before my eyes was none other than the continent's sole 7-star swordsman, a monster at the absolute pinnacle of martial strength.
If she were to drop her act and reveal her true power right here,
it was highly likely that let alone enduring it, even fleeing immediately would be impossible.
Even if it aroused suspicion, I had to be prepared to at least this degree.
No matter how much of a 7-star swordsman she was, if it was just a matter of creating distance and escaping...
...it wouldn't be completely impossible if I staked everything I had.
Anyway, with my mana condensed to the point that tiny tremors rippled across all the muscles of my body, I awaited her judgment.
Morning sunlight streaming through the cracks of the window illuminated the inside of the dusty cabin.
How much time had passed?
Karhen's lips, which had been intently observing me, moved softly.
"A-Are you really going to send me back home?"
A slightly trembling voice.
The girl in front of me—no, the emperor—began acting like a young child steeped in anxiety, looking as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
I slowly relaxed the tension in my tightly clenched fists and withdrew the condensed mana.
I survived.
At the very least, having my head fly off right this moment had been put on hold.
"Of course. Don't worry."
I nodded.
"Okay."
Karhen carefully picked up the candy resting on my palm.
"Now then, shall we head out?"
"Sounds good."
Four days of running while taking only the bare minimum of rest.
In the distance, the damn royal castle of the Harden Kingdom began to come into view.
Stepping down from the carriage, I walked for a long while, heading not to the castle dungeon, but to the reception room of a sunlit detached palace.
There stood the face I had searched for so desperately over the past half year.
"Prince-nim...!"
Arendia.
Fortunately, there were no traces of him having been tortured or injured at all.
A neat appearance and a tidy maid uniform.
Even his aura was completely unchanged from when I last saw him.
It seemed he had received reasonably decent treatment while I was away on the battlefield.
I slowly released the tension in my clenched hands.
Knowing full well that even if they ignored me, they had no intention of provoking or showing hostility...
...and knowing that he would never be subjected to such awful things...
...nevertheless, only after checking on him directly upon arrival before making my report was I able to completely clear away my remaining anxiety.
The joy of finally snapping one long, long chain filled my chest.
However, there was no time to fully savor that emotion.
The audience chamber I was returning to after ten days.
The King of Harden and my biological father, Theodor von Harden...
...was wearing a greedy smile upon seeing the result before his eyes.
By his side, the enemy who had poisoned my mother, Serna von Harden, was shamelessly praising my achievements.
Below them stood the First Prince Enoch, who used the head maid to bully me,
and the Second Prince Carlyle, who was wearing his usual characteristic gloomy gaze.
Looking at that sight, I thought:
'Now that I've secured Arendia as well... should I just kill them all right now?'
Without realizing it, my hand rose near the hilt of my sword.
The urge to draw my blade immediately and slice through all those disgusting throats welled up right to the tip of my chin.
However, Arendia's safety was not yet completely secured.
Breaking through the royal guards and mages deployed all over the royal palace would be simple enough for me alone,
but protecting him while escaping would be impossible.
Above all, I didn't want to render the plan I had laid out for absolute revenge completely meaningless.
'Right... let's endure just a little longer.'
I swallowed the rage that was slowly coming to a boil.
Then I lowered my gaze...
...and looked down at Karhen, who was quietly holding my hand while acting out the role of a pitiful imperial princess by my side.
'Besides, it's also because of this woman that I can't leave the royal capital in the first place...'
My ultimate goal was to completely absorb the Harden Kingdom once all preparations were complete and bring those bastards to their knees beneath my feet.
For that single goal, I had spent ten long years grinding my bones from the very bottom to prepare my revenge.
So what if those idiot royals tried to commit some horrible act against this fake imperial princess, claiming they were repaying the humiliation they suffered from the empire?
At that instant, the imperial princess—no, the emperor—would end her game and reveal the nature of a true monster.
Just because she became younger didn't mean that power had vanished.
Not only my targets of revenge, but the entire Harden Kingdom would undoubtedly be erased completely from the continent's map overnight.
'I can't let that happen.'
My mother's revenge must be brought to an end by my own hands.
Toward Arendia, who was tearing up in relief from a distance...
...I conveyed my inner thoughts with a genuinely apologetic heart, though he wouldn't be able to hear it.
'Sorry, Arendia. We've only just managed to be together again, but it seems we'll have to live apart for a while longer.'
I turned my head to face Theodor sitting on the high seat.
"As promised, I have kidnapped the imperial princess of the empire."
Theodor rose from his throne and clapped twice with genuine satisfaction.
Jjak-jjak.
"Splendid. As expected of someone carrying royal blood. I'm already looking forward to seeing what kind of face that high-and-mighty emperor bastard will make when he hears this news."
"More importantly, Your Majesty, I dare to make a request... I would like to personally take charge of the imperial princess's protection and surveillance."
At the unexpected proposal coming from my mouth, the air inside the reception room froze in an instant.
And the first to react was Second Prince Carlyle.
"How dare a bastard like you babble nonsense in the royal presence! That wench is the sole weakness we have to manipulate the empire. She ought to be locked in the underground dungeon and handled directly by my own hands—"
Carlyle's gaze swept down Karhen's slender silhouette.
Even if it was just for a split second.
I was not enough of a fool not to know the intention behind that greasy, disgusting gaze.
And Karhen, who was quietly holding my hand by my side, was even less of one.
'...Don't tell me she's going to move right away?'
Just in case, I casually rolled my eyes over to look at her...
Should I call it fortunate...? The emperor put on such a perfect act that anyone looking without knowing would think she was genuinely terrified...
...pretending to hide behind my back.
Truly, it was flawless acting that made one shake their head in wonder.
More importantly, I had to finish what I started.
Lightly brushing off Carlyle's trashy remark, I took a step forward.
"The empire is no easy opponent. The moment even a single scratch is left on the princess's body, those bastards will march hundreds of thousands of troops to the border before even sitting down at the negotiation table."
"......."
"Furthermore, royalty grow up carrying all sorts of covenants and protective spells on their bodies from birth. Even if the kingdom's strongest knights attempt to stop her, they cannot perfectly prevent the princess from self-harming or escaping through unknown magic. Only I, a 6-star swordsman, can control all variables."
The moment those words ended, Enoch as well raised his voice, veins bulging on his neck.
"Abamama! We cannot entrust the empire's hostage entirely to that baseborn bastard! Dismiss him this instant and to me—"
"Enough."
As Theodor lightly raised his hand, Enoch and Carlyle bit their tongues and took a step back, despite wearing aggrieved expressions.
The relationship with the empire, the weight of a war should one occur, and the value of a pawn like me.
The King, who had been lost in thought long enough for me to clearly see what he was thinking...
...soon slowly nodded his head.
"Ian, your words make great sense. There is no need to unnecessarily provoke the empire by entrusting her to incompetent fools. Our objective is strictly upper hand in negotiations. Very well, until formal negotiations with the empire begin, you shall be solely in charge of the princess's residence and security."
"Abamama!"
Carlyle raised his voice once more, but Theodor used his specialty, telekinesis magic...
...and shut his son's mouth with a genuinely displeased expression on his face.
With that, the audience came to a complete end.
Well, finding out about my half-brothers' filthy tastes was fucking infuriating, but...
...at least the timing of when this walking time bomb behind my back would detonate...
...became something I could control on my end, somehow.
'Yeah... for now, that's enough.'