Chapter 115: 27th Floor: Who Do You Take Me For?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 115: 27th Floor: Who Do You Take Me For?
The name of the woman shouting at me was Hayla Hindaz.
It was a family name that, for some reason, reminded me of ice cream.
“Kalisha, you are now a candidate for Crown Princess. You should carry yourself accordingly! Acting like an uncouth brute and flaunting your chest like a cheap prostitute—it's no wonder His Highness the Crown Prince despises you!”
She pointed at my chest, which seemed ready to burst from a dress that could barely contain it, and spat the words with a venomous expression.
Damn.
Her words were harsh enough to shock even someone as mentally tough as me.
‘What’s with her? Don’t noblewomen usually speak more indirectly?’
In that moment, memories flashed through my mind.
‘Oh my~ Lady Crawford, you must be seeing this for the first time? I suppose they don't have such things in the Crawford territory?’
To the insult, which meant ‘Are you a country bumpkin who's never seen this before?’, Kalisha Crawford had replied, ‘Oh, how fascinating.’
I could see Hayla’s hands trembling.
‘Hohoho~ Lady Crawford, your attire is so... practical.’
Despite the jab that her fashion sense was trash, Kalisha had answered, ‘Because it's comfortable.’
I could see the corner of Hayla's eye twitching.
'Hmm... Was Kalisha just clueless? Or was it because she never had to care what anyone else thought?'
So, an embittered Hayla had once tried being direct.
'Why do you dress like that? Flaunting your chest makes you look like a whore.'
What she got in return wasn't an answer, but a fiery slap.
Smack!!!
Kalisha was not the type to tolerate insults.
The slap gave her a concussion and knocked her out for three days. But since Hayla had been the one to offer a clear insult first, there were no grounds to punish Kalisha. In fact, Hayla's own parents scolded her, asking what kind of language she was using toward a princess.
After that, she’d been acting nice, but now she saw an opportunity.
‘Please, just hit me!’
Hayla imagined what was about to happen, tucking her chin to her neck in terror and squinting her eyes.
*
Naturally, watching this, I was conflicted.
‘Hmm… what should I do about this.’
According to my memories, the old Kalisha would definitely have been unable to tolerate the insult and resorted to violence.
However, I clearly remembered a rule to be careful of during the Crown Princess competition.
[During the Crown Princess competition, any candidate who engages in fraudulent acts—be they physical or non-physical—that harm another candidate's body or render them unable to continue the competition will be disqualified.]
The Crown Prince himself had said this before I possessed this body.
It was the key rule of this Crown Princess competition.
‘Is she trying to provoke me on purpose?’
It was a trap that the reckless villainess Kalisha, before I possessed her, would have certainly fallen for.
But from my perspective, it was such a ridiculously flimsy scheme that it made me wonder, ‘Is this really all there is to it?’
Still, I couldn't just let this slide.
'If she thinks I'm the same old Kalisha, she's sorely mistaken.'
“Lady Hindaz, how could you say something so vulgar? If anything, aren't you the one unqualified to be Crown Princess?"
I grabbed the chin of the thoroughly intimidated girl and lifted it, forcing her to meet my gaze.
Mimicking Kalisha's usual expression, I looked down on her with arrogance.
"Huh...?"
As expected, she was flustered.
"And to call me a prostitute... Did you really dare say such a thing to a princess?"
My expression turned serious and cold.
I considered unleashing my killing intent, but I held back, worried it might be considered another form of threat.
Thwap!
I took off my glove, threw it in her face, and raised my voice.
"For the crime of insulting the House of Crawford! For the crime of insulting a princess! I'd like to have your head this instant, but I suppose I can't, given the competition. Instead, I demand a duel of honor!"
Kalisha's booming voice echoed through the now-silent banquet hall.
A duel of honor.
It was simple.
When nobles had a verbal dispute, it was a very clean way to settle things with strength. In the case of a dispute between women like this, they didn't fight directly but usually sent out a knight from their family to fight in their stead.
Of course, one couldn't just demand a duel out of the blue.
But right now, anyone could see that Kalisha had been subjected to extreme verbal abuse. Even if Kalisha had no allies, the spectating nobles took a step back this time.
'Lady Hindaz went a little too far.'
'She's royalty from a family of war heroes, after all...'
‘It was such an obvious ploy.’
'If King Crawford had been here to hear that, it would've started a war.'
They whispered amongst themselves, acknowledging the insult.
Now that some time had passed and peace had settled.
The second generation might not know, but the older nobles had seen and heard it for themselves.
The power and achievements of the head of House Crawford.
If the head of the house had been present, he would have instantly turned Lady Hindaz into a handful of strawberry-flavored ice cream.
Of course, Kalisha herself barely knew any of this. She just knew something along the lines of 'My dad is super strong.'
As the situation unfolded, the other two Crown Princess candidates who had come with her also began to slowly distance themselves from Lady Hindaz, their faces saying, 'Hmm... this isn't what we expected.'
"Ah..."
She finally grasped the situation.
But the words she had spoken could not be taken back.
"The condition is that the loser withdraws from the Crown Princess competition. How about it? For the record, I will be fighting myself."
"What...? You'll... fight yourself?"
Hayla was utterly bewildered.
Overwhelmed by my presence, she even resorted to formal speech, which she rarely used with me.
Her plan was to sacrifice one of her cheeks to get Kalisha disqualified from the competition, then live a life of luxury by sticking close to her friend who would become the Crown Princess. But now, that entire plan had gone up in smoke.
That stupid beast Kalisha, speaking like a person instead of resorting to violence! From her perspective, it was something she could never have predicted.
She had no other choice. She couldn't think of a reason to refuse the duel.
Did her family really have a knight capable of facing that big-breasted monster?
No matter how hard she thought, there was no one.
An image of her family's precious knights being beaten to a bloody pulp by that chest monster flashed in her mind.
Only now did she realize what she had done.
Calling a princess a prostitute... She'd have no excuse even if she were dragged to prison for it. She finally understood why her parents had scolded her instead of protesting to Kalisha.
"The time will be the final day of the banquet. That would be in two days. Please discuss the details with my head butler."
I gave Hayla one last cold look and walked out.
Thump...
In the now completely silent banquet hall, the only sounds were someone collapsing to the floor and the click, clack of my heels.
On my way out, just outside the door, I ran into the young lady who had spilled wine on herself.
A frightened expression.
A cowering posture.
And yet, I could feel more hostility from her than apology.
I could read a lot from her expression.
“Ha!”
Flinch!
"You... you did that on purpose, didn't you?"
She must have planned to fall and make it look like I tripped her. It was just a coincidence that I stood up, leading to the awkward posture she ended up in.
'No wonder she didn't even try to save the wine in her hand...'
I thought she just had poor reflexes, but it was all part of a plan.
'Damn, women are scary. So scary.'
As I glared at her menacingly, she froze on the spot, unable to speak.
"Whatever."
Thanks to her, I'd gained a reason to eliminate one of my rivals anyway.
If anything, I should be grateful.
Leaving the quiet banquet hall behind, I returned to the Crawford family villa in the capital.
Thanks to the memory transfer, it wasn't hard to distinguish my family's carriage and coachman.
"Oh, y-you've returned? Where shall I take you?"
The coachman spoke nervously, unable to meet my eyes.
In my memory, this coachman was someone who had worked for years, putting up with Kalisha's tantrums.
That meant he was desperate for the money.
"To the mansion."
At my single command, everything proceeded smoothly.
No one bothered me. The escort knights followed dutifully, and the coachman drove the carriage in silence.
When I arrived at the mansion, the maids took care of everything for me.
I was automatically changed and automatically washed.
'What the... why is this so comfortable and nice?'
The feeling of being diligently served by beautiful women was fantastic. Especially when they washed every nook and cranny, even the most intimate places... it felt so good I almost got a little excited.
I had a hard time holding back my moans.
I just stayed still, and before I knew it, I was changed into comfortable clothes and laid down on the bed.
'Wow... being a villainess is pretty great, huh?'
It's not for nothing that they say the villainess has it easy.
As I was lying in bed, the head butler came to give me a report.
“You're here?”
Speaking informally to an old man while lying down... but it couldn't be helped. Wouldn't it be weird if I suddenly started using formal language?
Even if I acted like this, this old man took exceptional care of me.
He was apparently a former comrade-in-arms of my father, and he always looked at me as if I were his own granddaughter. He was a bad adult who had contributed to making Kalisha a villainess.
“Yes, a formal announcement regarding the Crown Princess competition has arrived. I will explain it as simply as possible.”
According to the old man's summary, the competition consisted of five stages.
It would begin in two days, right after the Empire Founding Day banquet ended. The first week was a test of basic etiquette and knowledge.
The second week was experiencing the life of the common people.
The third week was a personal test from the Crown Prince.
The fourth week involved virtually taking on the duties of the actual Emperor and Empress.
And the final two days were for the final interview and evaluation.
“Wait, what… why is this so serious?”
A trial within a trial... what the hell is this?!
And what the heck was a personal test from the Crown Prince anyway?
“The most important part is the final evaluation. The judging ratio is 20% from the Crown Prince, 30% from the nobility, and the remaining 50% is decided by the votes of non-hereditary nobles.”
“Non-hereditary nobles?”
Non-hereditary nobles.
They were nobles, but their titles would disappear upon death and could not be passed down to their children.
This category usually included administrators, advisors, and knights who worked in the Imperial Palace.
“They say the voters are chosen at random one day before the vote. Therefore, manipulation is impossible unless you can win over every single non-hereditary noble in the palace.”
Right, that Crown Prince... he's really gone all out.
As for the nobles, let's say I could win them over easily since my father held the most power.
He must have thought that if you combined the votes of the factions I couldn't win over, his own vote, and the votes of the non-hereditary nobles, there was no way the villainess could ever win.
The non-hereditary nobles were more likely to judge objectively based on one's usual conduct and performance in the competition, rather than on personal interests or gains.
By setting it up this way, even the Emperor couldn't bring himself to oppose it.
“Seriously, why is this so elaborate?”
Lee Do-hee had thought that for the Crown Princess competition, she could just live a reasonably good life and then, at the very end, jump the Crown Prince and launch a pregnancy attack.
She had pictured a scenario in her head where she would use her supple pussy to make the Crown Prince climax over and over, forcing him to shoot his seed again and again, until the prince, thoroughly pickled in pleasure, was corrupted into a mindless male.
A scenario where he would eventually become unable to find satisfaction with any pussy but hers, and in the end, come crawling back to her.
'Wait, but since when did I start thinking it was natural to use my pussy to clear trials?'
I was shocked.
I was definitely not a woman who spread her legs so easily, was I?
'Alright, since it's come to this, I'll win with my own skills!'