The Princess's Flight
The woman who brought Priest Arthur’s letter to me handed it over and then began tapping her foot anxiously. On the surface, the letter contained nothing remarkable. But anyone who knew the situation could read the hidden meaning in its code. Priest Arthur had kindly informed me that my sister was safe, and that he would wait while preparing for the next Labyrinth expedition. He also offered to speak with his teammates separately, if I wished, to learn how they viewed the current state of affairs.
‘Exactly what I needed.’
I felt guilty relying on him again, but my circumstances left me no room to refuse his help. This time, too, I would need it.
Tap-tap-tap—
‘I must repay this kindness somehow…’
Tap-tap-tap-tap—
After finishing the letter, I read it once more. The mercenary who should have simply stood still kept shaking her leg, the sound grating on my nerves.
“Why are you doing that with your leg?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked why you keep shaking it. Watching you makes me feel impatient myself. And sitting with your legs spread like that is unseemly.”
“Ah! I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was doing it…”
How on earth had Priest Arthur come to know a woman like this and chosen her to deliver his letter? While scouting for teammates to enter the Labyrinth, I had learned that mercenaries who did nothing but grunt work often behaved this way. Her background was obvious.
“Are you a mercenary?”
“Pardon? Ah… yes. I am.”
“What is your relationship with Priest Arthur?”
“He showed me kindness.”
“I see.”
Given Priest Arthur’s good nature, helping others was hardly limited to us. “On top of that, he’s been feeding and housing me lately. By giving me this commission.”
At least if she felt indebted, she wouldn’t betray him easily. That must be why he had entrusted her with this task.
“He specifically asked me to deliver the letter to Your Highness. He said it wouldn’t be easy, that someone would try to interfere.”
Had Priest Arthur already known what Prince Loras had done to him?
“It certainly wasn’t easy to get a message to Her Highness. I tried to pass it along through conversation, but no one would listen.”
I bit my lip at the thought of the gatekeepers refusing even money. ‘Had Loras already gotten to them?’
I wondered how far Prince Loras’s influence had spread, but learning it this way was far from pleasant. His failure in the Labyrinth subjugation must have wounded his pride deeply. Unable to accept that humiliation, he was scrambling to recover it, acting with such haste. He seemed determined to expand his influence even at the risk of overextending himself…
‘There must be an opening.’
If I waited quietly, a moment to strike back would surely come. Didn’t Prince Loras have a fatal weakness?
‘He must know it himself.’
The truth. The truth that he had deceived His Majesty by hiding the subjugation party’s failure and reporting it as a success—that was his weakness. Right now the truth lay buried, but eventually a moment would come when it surfaced. That would be when I could truly begin my counterattack against him.
Of course, that was a story for the future. What mattered now was hiding from him.
“I managed to contact a maid who serves Her Highness. I had to work very hard to convince her it wasn’t anything bad. So please don’t blame her.”
Perhaps that girl was the only maid who hadn’t been swayed by Prince Loras. Because she was still young, he must have decided she wasn’t worth the effort and overlooked her. Thanks to his carelessness, this opportunity had arisen. It was fortunate.
“Do you accept additional commissions?”
“If you have something to send to Priest Arthur, just give it to me. You don’t need to make it an official request…”
“What I want delivered isn’t a letter. It’s rather heavy.”
The mercenary answered without much thought. “That’s fine.”
She should have considered her words more carefully, but she didn’t seem particularly cautious. If anything, someone this careless would be easier to handle. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Good.”
“What exactly do you want delivered? Do I need to go back into the palace?”
She already knew I couldn’t leave the palace freely.
“You won’t need to enter the palace again. The item I want you to deliver… is me.”
“Pardon?”
“Take me to Priest Arthur.”
“???”
“Do you still not understand? I am the item you must transport.”
“!!”
Only then did the mercenary grasp the situation. She stammered in alarm, “Weren’t you sneaking out? And I heard Her Highness is currently confined by His Majesty’s orders.”
“How do you know that? Did you learn it while investigating how to meet me?”
It was absurd that events inside the imperial palace spread so easily to outsiders.
“Uh… don’t you know? There are tons of rumors about the two princesses.”
“Rumors. Hah! Those tiresome rumors again.”
The rumors about my sister had been dreadful enough. I wondered what they were saying about me now. Of course, hearing such nonsense would only sully my ears.
“I have a rough idea, but what exactly did you hear?”
“Well…”
“You may speak. It’s only a rumor, after all.”
The mercenary hesitated, perhaps reluctant to say it to my face, so I urged her on.
“…The rumor was that you were confined for being insolent—ahem—disrespectful to His Majesty. They say His Majesty was so furious that he plans to sell you off to a neighboring country.”
“My, how vulgar. And they’ve cleverly mixed truth with lies.”
I had recoiled at the mention of marriage, but His Majesty had already anticipated my reaction. Even if I had been disrespectful, he wasn’t the sort of man to imprison me for it. It was true that he was pushing for a marriage, but he had never intended to sell me off to another nation. If anything, he had wanted to protect me.
‘From Prince Loras, perhaps?’
His Majesty must know the truth, so why did he keep that man close? I couldn’t understand it.
“It’s true that I can’t move freely within the palace. The claim that I’ve fallen out of favor is nonsense, though.”
His Majesty had expressed great concern when Sister disappeared. It was infuriating, but he seemed disappointed that she had fallen victim to Prince Loras. Since Sister had been targeted, he must have known I would be next, and confined me to the palace for my protection. It was the only action he could take without knowing the full story.
‘How foolish. I shouldn’t expect anything from him.’
Honestly, there had been times when I considered requesting a private audience to reveal everything Prince Loras had done and ask for help. But whenever I saw how much he favored and smiled at that man, the words died in my throat. Those smiles and that trust had once belonged entirely to Sister.
‘Sister worked so hard for his trust. How can he hand it all over to Prince Loras after just a few months away? What does that make all her efforts?’
I knew exactly how much Sister had struggled to earn His Majesty’s confidence. That was why his indifference angered me so much.
‘Has His Majesty truly been completely won over by Prince Loras?’
I hadn’t wanted to know this, but I’d heard that lately Prince Loras had been visiting his birth mother frequently. That woman wouldn’t leave His Majesty alone either, so he was constantly surrounded by her people, day and night. How could I possibly confess the truth about Sister to such a man and ask for help?
‘If he learned that Sister was lying defenseless somewhere, he would try to find her no matter what.’
Sister’s safety was at stake. I couldn’t make a reckless decision. I would do everything I could on my own, and only if that truly failed would I consider telling him the truth.
‘If I have to beg for Sister’s life as compensation for everything she’s done…’
The thought made me hesitate. This wasn’t just about my own pride—it concerned Sister’s honor as well, which made it even more unbearable. The idea of tarnishing her reputation was unbearable.
“Ah… It won’t be easy, but I’ll escort you.”
“However, people will come looking for me.”
“Pardon?”
“Since there will be pursuers, it would be best to flee as quickly as possible.”
Tonight, the mercenary and I would not sleep. We would escape the imperial palace. I wasn’t entirely certain this was the right choice, but staying here offered no solutions either. I decided to believe that this decision would bring a good outcome for both Sister and me.
* * *
“Find Her Highness and bring her back safely. Understood?”
““Yes!!””
The sun had only just risen. The palace gates opened early, and soldiers poured out. Their mission was to find Princess Reciel, who had vanished without a trace. After Princess Canaby had already disappeared, the same thing happening again had put His Majesty in a foul mood. Everyone was already walking on eggshells after receiving bad news first thing in the morning, so they needed to locate Her Highness as quickly as possible.
The soldiers had just begun scouring the capital when—
“She’s not here!”
“Nothing on this side either.”
“Are you sure you searched properly?”
“Should we search again?”
That might work, but it seemed more likely that Princess Reciel had already left the capital.
“No, she may have already left the city. We need to expand the search radius.”
They lifted the restrictions on the soldiers’ search area and decided to send orders to the lords of each territory to find Princess Reciel.