Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Mad Dog and Mad Maid (3)
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EP.88 Mad Dog and Mad Maid (3)
The Ashen Mage, Raniel.
She had overheard from the princess about the people connected to the First Prince. Princess Luriel whispered to Raniel every single detail she had spied on and investigated throughout her life, without missing a thing.
Indeed, the First Prince's faction was enormous.
There were so many under his feet. So many that she wondered if the royal palace could even function properly without them.
That doubt showed on her face.
Seeing Raniel's expression, Princess Luriel gave a bitter smile. It was a smile that seemed to ask, "Even with this, can you handle it?"
Raniel stroked her chin.
She organized her thoughts once, then sorted out what needed to be done based on the information she'd heard.
There was a lot to eliminate.
And a lot meant it would be a hassle to deal with them one by one.
Raniel was the next lord of the Ashen Mage Tower, a capable commander and knight on the battlefield. She knew exactly how to handle a pile of things that needed dealing with.
'What a pain.'
Raniel thought that.
'It'd be easier to just flip the whole thing over.'
And that was her conclusion.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ For the past few days, ominous rumors had been circulating in the detached palace.
Rumors spread fast because they had no legs. They raced through the palace via people's mouths and ears.
"Well, lately in the detached palace..."
Rumors were noisy things that refused to stay confined to the palace.
"No, Princess Luriel herself..."
The rumors spread throughout the royal castle.
It started in the inner palace staff.
The maids serving the First Princess, Luriel, whispered among themselves. Their whispers went like this.
"Five court mages were dragged into Her Highness's audience chamber."
"But not a single mage came out of the detached palace. They were all hauled off somewhere."
"Night after night—no, day and night without distinction—screams echo from the underground of the detached palace."
Rumors built upon rumors.
"More court mages were dragged in. This time, the number's different. Ten of them. Bound and led in one after another."
"Something's off. Their eyes are unfocused. They seem terrified."
"So, what the hell did they do?"
When even guesses were impossible.
When no one could make sense of it, the rumors swelled even faster. Speculation piled on.
"Her Highness has gone mad."
"That moniker 'Mad Dog' fits her perfectly..."
"It's not just mages being taken."
"What?"
People kept being dragged into the detached palace. Many were brought in, but none left. What in the world was going on?
"His Majesty says nothing."
"He never interferes personally in such matters anyway. What about the First Prince?"
"He's silent too. It's inexplicable."
Nothing could be known.
"The Guard Captain was taken."
"That side too? Over here, Lord ... was..."
"Our Magical Beast Breeding Director was..."
"Our department's deputy was too..."
Amid the unknowable chaos, the incidents continued. At the center was Princess Luriel. And by the princess's side stood one maid.
"Black hair."
"Black eyes."
"They say her strength is insane. Tosses grown men around like balls."
"Not that it matters, but she's strikingly beautiful."
"They say she uses magic."
"Subdued a court mage in one clap, apparently."
"No way a maid like that exists..."
No one knew the maid's true identity.
The mysterious maid guarded the princess's side. The palace maids lowered their voices and gossiped.
And then.
"P-Please, have mercy!"
The rumors reached their peak.
"No, please! I'll grovel! I'll lick the floor! Just give me one chance, one chance only...!"
Someone was dragged out of Princess Luriel's audience chamber. The moment the maids saw the man's face, their expressions hardened.
The Court Archmage, Teslut.
The representative of the court mages, renowned for his pride and dignity, the Court Archmage himself.
"Just once, please, just once!"
Clung to the door handle, he begged, tears and snot streaming down his face. Then, someone approached him.
"Lord Teslut, you seem to be under some delusion right now."
It was Princess Luriel.
She smiled sweetly and reached out. She pried off Teslut's fingers from the door handle one by one.
Thud.
Finally, the last finger came loose.
Teslut, released from the handle, collapsed to the floor. He looked up with trembling eyes.
At the end of his gaze stood Princess Luriel.
She slowly opened her mouth.
"Originally, it's your role to grovel when I say grovel and lick when I say lick. Why else would court mages be 'court' mages? They exist for the royal family."
Her voice was utterly calm, as if stating the obvious. Before her confident demeanor, Teslut was speechless.
"Seems you have nothing more to say."
She gestured.
"Drag him away."
"How many lashes?"
The guard knight asked.
Luriel answered curtly.
"Until his hunched back straightens."
Teslut's face drained of color.
"Aaaagh! Princess Luriel! This can't— this won't do...!"
He screamed as the guard knights dragged him away. The watching maids quickly averted their eyes.
Creeeak, thud.
The audience chamber door closed again.
"......"
In the silent corridor, a new rumor sprouted. The princess had seized the Court Archmage and utterly crushed him. She declared she'd beat him until his back straightened...
How in the world?
No one knew the reason.
Only one maid passed through them, seeking new prey.
2.
"At this point, even I'm getting curious."
"Pardon?"
"What on earth have you been doing to handle things so cleanly?"
"Cleanly?"
The princess spoke to me in disbelief.
"I heard the court mages' labs were completely smashed. All the corruption they hid away is now laid out before me."
She pointed to the documents she'd just shoved in the Court Archmage Teslut's face.
"You brought these."
"That's right."
"You also trashed the court mages' labs and their secret meeting rooms."
"Those were secret meeting rooms?"
They opened when I kicked them.
"......Anyway, you must've caused total chaos... yet left not a single trace. How did you do it?"
"Hmm..."
"I prepared responses for if you'd left traces... but it seems unnecessary."
I almost said, "It just worked when I did it," but stopped and stroked my chin. From experience, that line tended to annoy people and twist their guts.
'Even Skeval, that skullhead, nearly died from sheer frustration.'
I couldn't do that in front of the princess, so I decided to explain in detail.
"I burned it."
"What?"
"If there were witnesses, I knocked them out, and if footprints or traces were left, I burned them."
"......You set fires in the palace?"
"Nah, not much."
I shrugged.
"Just a bit of scorch on the walls? The size you could pass off as a lab accident."
"......And the witnesses?"
"See here? If you press or shake this spot, your vision spins and narrows. Then..."
"......"
I laid out the explanation, and the princess fell silent.
Her eyes showed bewilderment.
"You..."
"Yes?"
"No, never mind..."
Her tone suggested she had much to say but chose not to. I just tilted my head.
'Did I do something wrong?'
I didn't think so.
I just did what needed doing.
3.
Two days had passed since Raniel went on her rampage.
On the morning of the third day, the detached palace corridors buzzed with all sorts of people.
-Your Highness...!
There were countless reasons to visit the princess's palace... but they hadn't gathered at dawn just to check on her well-being.
-Princess Luriel...!
-Please, grant us an audience...!
Have mercy.
Please, just one chance. That information is false.
Such voices echoed through the corridors. Regardless of high or low status, those whose lives were in the princess's hands wailed desperately.
Ledgers they'd hidden away had somehow fallen into the princess's hands.
Secret experiments they'd conducted—she knew every outline. Even where and how they'd disposed of the failures, all of it.
All this in just two days.
A single letter arriving at their departments or posts chilled their spines. That was why they'd flocked to the palace.
-Princess, please.
Those whose secrets were exposed, whose weaknesses were grasped, whose lives hung by a thread before the princess. The corridors were filled with them.
-Please, have mercy.
Despite their wails, the door didn't open. The mad dog that should bark refused to. That terrified them even more.
Have mercy.
Their voices alone echoed through the corridors.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "This soundproof barrier is remarkably effective."
"Glad you like it."
Luriel set down a chess piece.
Across from her sat Raniel. They'd been playing chess to pass the time these past few days.
"Shall we continue?"
Luriel's complexion wasn't great.
The pattern starting from her nape had already spread to her chest.
Cold sweat trickled along her cleavage, but Luriel showed no sign of it. She continued in her usual voice.
"Your rampage has borne fruit."
She said softly.
"Professor, thanks to you, my brother has lost many pieces. Those gathered before my palace at this early hour are proof."
Luriel let out a chuckle.
Those under the First Prince's protection wailing in the detached palace meant they too had been abandoned.
"With their corruption laid bare, if he tries to cover for them, he'll take a hit. Of course, it won't shake him. So he could ignore it and back them anyway..."
Clack. She moved a piece.
A black pawn landed right in front of a white pawn. A clear sacrifice.
"But my brother isn't the type. He discards things easily. To protect himself."
The sacrifice was devoured.
"Professor."
"Yes."
"I believe my brother must not become king."
Chess pieces moved.
Black and white tore at each other on the board.
"Pawns willingly sacrifice for the other pieces."
A pawn moved, and a pawn was taken.
"They're not strong. Their moves are simple. Yet they fulfill their value just by holding their ground."
A pawn checked the movement.
The white pieces wandered the board, intimidated by the black pawn.
"Because pawns become sacrifices and check opponents, the other pieces move more freely."
Pieces hiding behind pawns advanced.
"Professor."
Luriel said, holding a piece.
"I greatly respect knights."
"You said that before."
"No matter how many times I say it, its value doesn't diminish."
She chuckled.
"I value battlefield knights more than palace knights stuck in the royal family."
Thud.
"Battlefield mages chanting spells over palace mages laughing and chatting. I think those are the ones worthy of respect."
Thud. She moved the piece.
"Before them, I lower myself. I show respect."
They deserved it.
Muttering that, Luriel picked up a bishop.
"Mages are capable. Many places desire that capability. They command a price. They do what ordinary humans cannot."
The bishop was placed on the board.
"Some devote that capability to protecting humanity."
A bishop hidden behind pawns stepped forward. It stood beside the pawns. Sometimes in front.
"They forgo good conditions, rights, authority... dedicating their talents to safeguarding humanity. That's worthy of being called sacrifice."
No one forces it on them.
It's their own choice. Thus, valuable.
That's what Luriel thought.
"Whether mage or knight, for their own pride, honor, achievements... it doesn't matter."
The bishop, bitten by a white piece, met its end.
"In the end, they sacrifice for humanity. To those proud knights, I offer utmost respect."
Thus.
Clack. The princess set down the piece.
"What I can do is support this nation's internals so their sacrifices aren't in vain."
Words she'd said once before.
But more concrete now. Raniel, overhearing, fell silent for a moment.
"......"
Raniel, about to move, paused. Somehow, the bulwark around the king was complete.
The bulwark protecting the black king was solid.
The bulwark atop the sacrifices wouldn't crumble easily. Wouldn't be pierced.
"And placing a king worth their protection on the throne is my mission."
The princess touched the black king in the center.
"A king who won't waste their sacrifices must sit on the throne."
"......"
"So my brother must not become king."
"Then who do you think suits it?"
"Do you need to ask?"
She giggled.
"That child you know well must take the throne. For that, I'd even give my life."
With those words, Luriel caught her breath.
"Hoo..."
Luriel exhaled long.
Sweat beaded on her forehead. Judging she could play no more, Raniel began clearing the board.
Luriel didn't stop her.
She staggered to the bed. Lying down, she turned her head slightly and glared at Raniel.
"Professor."
"I'm listening."
"Thanks to you, it was enjoyable."
"......"
"I can't remember the last time I felt this at ease, this satisfied."
Raniel narrowed her eyes at her.
The curse neared its end. The curse devouring her body was on the verge of release.
'...And yet she keeps her sanity.'
Astonishing mental fortitude.
Not inferior to battlefield knights.
Clack.
Raniel cleared the pieces and sat on the chair by the princess's bed. Their eyes met—the sideways-lying princess's faint golden eyes chasing the blue ones.
"I."
Slowly, then.
Very slowly, Luriel opened her mouth.
"Will trust you."
Even amid the pain gnawing her flesh, her eyes didn't waver. Nor did her voice.
"Not trust based on others' judgments, but my own."
She smiled.
It was her usual mischievous smile.
"My trust is rather heavy."
Thus.
"Protect me. Since I trust you."
With those final words, Luriel closed her eyes.
The outside was noisy, but the room was wrapped in silence.
In the silence, Raniel narrowed her eyes.
The brief yet long three days were nearing their end.