Chapter 107: Queen Maker (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 107: Queen Maker (7)
Francisca Frutua.
The first daughter of the former king, William.
Originally, the kingdom's line of succession had been flawless. There was only one prince, after all. Thanks to this, Francisca had been able to study abroad at the Imperial Academy with a light heart.
Those who enrolled in the academy were divided into two types: those who truly wanted to learn, and those who came to build connections.
In Francisca's case, she was the latter.
Having been born into a reasonably good family and lived a life of leisure, she had no dreams or ambitions.
She was in the middle of casually building connections and searching for potential husbands.
Then, a letter arrived from Lupus. It detailed the full, horrific story of the incident that had occurred in the city.
She was not a psychopath.
When she read that her entire family had died, she was deeply shocked and did nothing but weep endlessly for a while.
As time passed and she emerged from her grief, the emotion she felt was anxiety.
The letter urged her to return to Lupus as soon as possible, saying that she, a member of the royal family, was needed to quell the chaos.
The meaning of those words was clear.
It was telling her to inherit the throne.
That was ridiculous.
She had spent her entire life living comfortably and idly.
Unlike her older brother, she had never received any education to be an heir.
And now they were telling her to take over the kingdom?
She had neither the ability nor the sense of responsibility for it.
Therefore, Francisca returned to Lupus and declared that she would not inherit the throne.
Vowing that no matter what anyone said, she would never change her mind!
That was two days ago...
‘Why am I here?’
Shabby houses made of brick and straw.
The sounds of livestock crying out from all around.
And a wooden palisade that was flimsy beyond compare to the massive walls of Lupus.
Looking around, Francisca felt a headache coming on.
Just a month ago, she had been living at the Imperial Academy—an academy so glamorous it had stunned even her, who had grown up in the royal palace. But now? She was standing in the middle of a shabby village.
Wearing clothes like rags instead of the silk dresses she always wore.
“Today's work is decided. Let's go.”
Cloud, having finished his conversation with the village chief, approached and said.
Francisca glared at him.
‘This is all his fault.’
The day she arrived in the capital and declared she wouldn't take the throne.
Cloud had come to her and asked if she had any intention of changing her mind. He tried to persuade her with various reasons, but of course, she wasn't swayed. At that, he sighed and unceremoniously dragged her to this rural village.
And he didn't just drag her to the village.
He even came up with a strange backstory.
“Are those the siblings who came here recently? The ones from Lupus?”
“That's what I heard.”
“How pitiful.”
The village women chattered as they watched Francisca and Cloud walk down the road.
That's right.
The strange backstory Cloud had concocted was that he and Francisca were siblings who had lost their family and all their wealth in the incident in Lupus.
He pushed this strange story to get permission to stay in the village.
Of course, they weren't staying for free.
In exchange for a place to stay and food to eat, they had to help with the village work.
“You must be the siblings the village chief mentioned, eh?”
A middle-aged man standing in a field outside the village spoke to them.
He was a man of a slightly thin build, not particularly sturdy.
“Yes, that's us. I'm Kal, and this is Fran. It's a pleasure to meet you.”
Cloud said, using their aliases naturally, and bowed his head.
Then he turned his head to look at Francisca.
What. Why.
You don't expect me to bow my head too, do you?
No way.
Absolutely not.
With that sentiment, Francisca scowled. But her feelings didn't matter. Cloud pressed down on the back of her head, forcing her to bow.
Thanks to him, she became the first royal in the history of the Prona Kingdom to bow to a commoner.
Francisca stiffened her neck, trying to resist Cloud's hand, but her head wouldn't budge.
“Ngh..!”
Just as she, filled with shame and anger, was about to shout—
Cloud glared at her, his eyes narrowed into crescents.
“...”
The mouth that was about to open snapped shut on its own.
She quietly averted her gaze and looked at the ground.
“Just as I heard, you're polite folks. Follow me. I'll show you what you need to do.”
As the man said, their task wasn't difficult. All they had to do was water the potato sprouts.
The only problem was...
“We have to do this whole... vast area?”
The potato field was ridiculously large.
It wasn't so big that you couldn't see the end, but it was enough to make your vision go dark.
As Francisca stared in horror at the seemingly impossible amount of labor, the middle-aged man nodded.
“If you start now and work hard, you should be able to finish before sunset.”
“B-but, no matter how you look at it, this is too much...”
“Well then, get to it.”
The man left at a brisk pace, not giving Francisca a chance to argue.
Cloud placed a hand on her dumbfounded shoulder.
“I'll do from here to there. You do the rest.”
“...You divided it exactly in half.”
“That's what makes it fair.”
Fair?
It's fair for him, the Hero, and her, a powerless princess, to do the same amount of work?
“Did you perhaps eat your conscience for dinner last night?”
“It was delicious.”
He patted Francisca's shoulder a couple of times, then went to the village well to fetch water. He poured the water from the bucket onto the potato sprouts, a little at a time.
Francisca stared blankly at the sight.
“How did I end up like this...”
She let out a deep sigh, picked up a bucket, and walked to the village well. Drawing water using the pulley was not as easy as it looked.
‘I saw the other women doing it just fine earlier, so why can't I?!’
Could there be some kind of magic on it that makes it harder for outsiders to use?
The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
Water was also village property, so they wouldn't like outsiders taking it freely.
‘What a bunch of cheapskates.’
She grumbled inwardly, imagining a spell that wasn't even there.
After pulling on the rope with all her body weight, she finally managed to get a bucket full of water. She lifted the bucket she had drawn with such difficulty.
“Hngh?!”
It was so damn heavy that she staggered.
“Hah, I almost fell over.”
Cold sweat trickled down her back at the thought that she had almost spilled the water she'd worked so hard to draw. She walked toward the potato field, carrying the bucket carefully so as not to fall.
As she struggled along, grunting with effort—
Thump.
Her foot caught on a stone.
“Kyaaak!?”
Splat. Sploosh.
Not only did she plant her face in the dirt, but she also spilled all the water she had painstakingly brought.
“Ah... Aah...”
That water... after all the trouble I went through...
A surge of emotion welled up, and she fought back the tears that threatened to spill.
“Yulis... help me...”
She thought of her royal guard.
The guard who had gotten scared and tucked her tail between her legs during the confrontation with Cloud.
What could Yulis be doing right now?
Probably living comfortably in Lupus, right?
That damn bitch.
Just you wait until I get back.
“I-it's... finished...!”
After watering the last potato sprout, Francisca threw the bucket toward the corner of the field.
This damn work was finally over.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, a heavy sense of exhaustion washed over her. It was only natural, after working all day carrying heavy buckets.
Francisca walked toward the village, her upper body limp with fatigue.
Cloud had already finished his work and gone back.
‘If he finished first, he could have helped a little.’
He just took off on his own.
How is that a Hero in any way?
The place she grumbled her way to was a shabby house in a corner of the village. It was said to be the home of an old man who had lost all his children. The old man himself had also passed away from illness not long ago.
‘Of all the houses they could have given us, why this one...’
There must be plenty of other, better houses!
As she grumbled and entered the house, Cloud greeted her.
“You're just in time. Dinner's ready. Eat up.”
Cloud said, ladling stew cooked in a large pot into a bowl.
Francisca looked at the contents of the bowl Cloud handed her. It was a reddish-orange broth with some vegetables, grains, and a little bit of meat.
To put it nicely, it was a perpetual stew; to put it badly, it was what you'd call pig slop.
Her eyes trembled.
“This is dinner...? No, right? You're joking, just to tease me, right?”
“You'll be punished for playing with your food. Stop talking nonsense and just sit down and eat.”
“How can I eat something like this!”
Francisca burst out, overcome with emotion.
She had worked for the first time in her life. And not just any work, but grueling labor! After doing something so difficult, shouldn't she at least be given something decent to eat?
However, despite the anger in Francisca's voice, Cloud replied nonchalantly.
“Yeah. Everyone else eats it just fine.”
“They eat this stuff?!”
“Yeah. If you don't believe me, go look at the other houses.”
“...”
For Francisca, who had only eaten well-prepared palace food her entire life, this was shocking. She stared at the stew, then bit her lip hard and threw herself onto the bed.
“What are you doing? Not eating?”
“I'm not eating!”
“There she goes again, being stubborn. She'll regret that later.”
“Stubborn? Stubborn?!”
She, who had been lying down, sat up and glared at Cloud.
“You're the one who dragged me here in the first place! If you hadn't brought me here, I wouldn't have to be stubborn like this!”
“That's because you were being stubborn about not inheriting the throne. What'll it be? Want to take the throne now?”
Cloud said with a smirk.
Provoked, Francisca turned her back, lay down, and closed her eyes.
Exhausted, she fell asleep almost immediately.
And the next evening.
In the end, she couldn't overcome her hunger and accepted the stew.
Unlike last time, it had very few ingredients. Cloud explained that the previous stew had more in it thanks to the ingredients the village girls had brought over.
He said their meals would be like this for a while.
Francisca became depressed.
Two weeks after Cloud left Lupus, Eri was continuing her research in her room.
Knock, knock.
“Eri, do you have a moment?”
Ophelia's voice came with the knock.
“Has it been that long already?”
She stretched and stood up from her seat.
It was time to cast the soundproofing magic on Ophelia's room.
When she opened the door and went out, Ophelia smiled at her.
“Sorry to bother you.”
“No, it's not a difficult task at all.”
The door closed, and their voices grew fainter. When they could no longer be heard, Shedia emerged from the shadow of the table.
She immediately took out paper and a pen and began to copy Eri's research. Since it was the research Eri had been engrossed in all day, there was a lot to copy, but it was no problem.
Shedia had been trained for situations like this.
She wrote quickly, yet her handwriting remained neat. After perfectly replicating even the diagrams, Shedia quickly left the room before Eri returned.
Carrying the bundle of papers, she headed for Lupus's temporary administrative office.
Slipping into the shadows, Shedia infiltrated the building stealthily and went straight to Leslie's room.
“Leslie.”
She announced her presence with her voice before revealing herself. It was because she'd been scolded by a startled Leslie for just appearing out of nowhere last time.
“Hm? Ah, Shedia, you're here?”
Only after hearing Leslie's voice did Shedia emerge from the shadows.
“Here's today's portion.”
“Thank you.”
Leslie took the bundle of papers from Shedia and placed it on a corner of her desk.
“But is it really okay to do this? Won't that wizard get angry if she finds out?”
“If she finds out, of course she'll be angry. But why do you ask all of a sudden? Are you afraid of the wizard getting angry?”
Shedia shook her head.
“I'm afraid Cloud will get angry. If he's angry, he might not give me a moonstone.”
Or he might break it into even smaller pieces.
Shedia said with a very sullen face.
“That's possible. But don't worry. If we get caught, I'll take all the blame. Do you really think I'd pin the blame on you, Shedia?”
“No.”
Shedia shook her head from side to side.
“Besides, if getting caught is the problem, then the solution is to not get caught in the first place, right? I trust you, Shedia.”
“Okay. I'll keep doing a good job without getting caught. So...”
Shedia trailed off, her expression full of anticipation.
“I know. When Lord Cloud returns, I'll talk to him about giving you a moonstone. So don't worry, go back and get some rest.”
“Okay!”
Shedia nodded brightly and slipped into the shadows.
Leslie stared intently at where she had been.
‘...No matter how many times I see it, it's an incredible trick.’
To be able to enter and exit shadows at will. Doesn't that mean all of darkness is practically her domain?
‘And I don't think she's even revealed everything.’
It was the same for Eri, Neria, and Ophelia; I didn't know the full extent of their powers. But unlike those three, whose strength I could roughly estimate, I couldn't even begin to guess Shedia's.
If that child seriously tried to kill her, and on a dark night of all times, could she win?
No, she didn't know if she could even survive, let alone win.
‘How does Lord Cloud manage to handle a child like that so easily...’
She knew that Shedia wanted moonstones and that Cloud used that to handle her.
But for such an act to be possible, one thing had to be presupposed.
The premise that Shedia could not gain the upper hand against Cloud.
If that weren't the case, Shedia would have stolen the moonstones and left long ago.
It was a bit late to be realizing this, but her Hero was truly an amazing person.
Leslie smiled and turned her gaze to her desk. All sorts of administrative documents and the copy of the research Shedia had brought were spread out there.
She picked up the copy of the research.
Shedia's words suddenly echoed in her ears.
“But is it really okay to do this? Won't that wizard get angry if she finds out?”
A chuckle escaped her.
“The reaction of a research thief when her own research is stolen... I am rather curious.”
Leslie recalled a scene from the past.
Inside a dark laboratory.
A black-haired girl, copying her supervising professor's research journal by the light of a candle.
Leslie's claim that she had never attended the Magic Tower was, of course, a lie.