Sabotaging the Princess's Inspection (3)
The princess yanked hard on the leash clutched in her hand.
"Eek...!"
The slender man wearing the collar contorted his face in pain as he was dragged toward her. He was a capable executive in one of the most powerful adventurer guilds. Yet before the authority of the empire's princess, even he had no choice but to kneel. Now, he trembled like a small animal soaked by the rain.
"Wh-what are you planning to do to me...?"
"Shh! Quiet, my little puppy."
"Urk...!"
The princess tugged the leash even harder, pulling the man right up to her face. Then she stroked his delicate chin with her slender fingers.
"The fun is just beginning."
"Kyaaah! What do I do? What do I do?!"
Princess Vanessa, who had been scribbling in her notebook, suddenly leaped to her feet and bounced around the room. Her cheeks, cupped in her hands, burned bright red, and she had tissue stuffed in her nose from a nosebleed, making her look like she'd been punched by someone. She had always loved writing novels. Ever since meeting Vivaldi, inspiration had been flooding her mind nonstop. When she saw him looking all decadent from motion sickness, she'd even burst a nosebleed. The moment she got back to her lodgings, she'd grabbed her pen and gone wild.
"Huff... huff... Let's think seriously. Seriously..."
She forced her vulgar expression—unbefitting a princess or even a lady—back to normal and calmed her excited chest. Vanessa hadn't come here for novel fodder. As a princess, she was here to pass the test her emperor father had given her.
"Mother wants to find trading partners in Labyrinth City... But Tragodia probably won't bother dealing with us... So I need to get something else out of this..."
What she'd seen following Vivaldi around had been impressive. But none of it was what she'd expected to witness at an adventurer guild.
"He was just bragging about himself..."
The guild representative had spent the whole day boasting about his own achievements. Why did he need to puff himself up so much in front of a princess?
"...Maybe he wants to use me as a connection to score a position in the empire?"
If everything Vanessa had seen and heard was true, Vivaldi wasn't the type suited for an adventurer guild. Sure, guilds needed administrators with sharp judgment and drive. But Vivaldi was too capable for what a guild could offer. Adventurer guilds were organizations for mutual cooperation and rights protection among adventurers—not cutthroat profit machines. No matter how mighty the guild, they couldn't properly reward talent like his. He had to be dissatisfied with his treatment.
"If they want a talent like that here, of course we'd take him!"
Even if she couldn't secure a trading partner, snagging Vivaldi would be a major win. And as a talent handpicked by the princess, he'd be tied to her influence forever.
"I'll summon him for intensely private, personal business from now on... Heh heh..."
Vanessa hurriedly wiped the drool trickling from her mouth. She did like Vivaldi's looks—that much was true. It might be skewing her thinking in weird directions. She shook off the stray thoughts, cleared her mind, and reconsidered. What if Vivaldi was just acting obnoxious on purpose to chase her away?
"...Then I'll take him by force. I won't let him slip away. Heh heh heh..."
...Truth be told, Vanessa hadn't shaken off those stray thoughts at all.
She rummaged through her self-defense items and pulled out a vial of transparent liquid.
After wrapping up the first day of the inspection and parting ways, Princess Vanessa requested dinner with me.
I'd spent the day blabbing arrogantly and was hit with a wave of regret, planning to just flop in my room. But...
"Welcome, Vivaldi-nim."
"Y-yes... Th-thank you for inviting me..."
Labyrinth City honestly has no restaurants fit for royalty. So I ended up at her lodgings, served a meal prepared by her maids. At the table, it was just the princess and me, facing each other.
Back to my usual unmotivated self, it didn't feel real sitting before royalty—just terrifying. I was so tense the food tasted like nothing.
"Vivaldi-nim? Is the food not to your liking?"
"N-no! It's delicious... Really..."
Vanessa seemed puzzled by how different I was from earlier. But I had no energy left to fake that confident act.
"Shall we have some wine?"
"Ah, yes..."
I don't usually drink, but I lacked the guts to refuse royalty. I'd figured the maids would pour it, but the princess did it herself.
"Ahem."
As the glass filled, her fingertip brushed the wine and withdrew. It looked like an accident, but she handed it over like nothing happened. A bit gross, but... what could I do? I had to drink.
I took a sip, and a quick buzz hit me.
"You seem like someone with big ambitions, Vivaldi-nim."
"Pardon?"
"As a mere receptionist, you've developed your guild this far."
"Uh..."
She must've misunderstood from the places I showed her.
"N-no, I have no ambitions... I just got lucky with my duties..."
"You're saying developing the guild wasn't because you wanted to climb higher?"
"Y-yes... Actually, I'm kinda negative about that stuff... Is failing to advance worthless...? Is not climbing higher worthless...?"
The alcohol was loosening my tongue. I worried I'd blurt out my goal of quitting the guild, but the words wouldn't stop.
"Wh-what... do you mean...?"
"For example, my mom wasn't great at cooking... She never practiced to improve... But I still crave her meals even now..."
"..."
"And Mom raised me doing sewing and laundry to scrape by because we were poor... She stayed low like that, but I'm proud of her..."
"..."
"Everyone pushes you to advance, calls it wrong if you don't. But is settling in place so bad...? I earn more than before, but I'm not happier than when I lived with Mom..."
"..."
Vanessa listened to my drunken ramblings with a blank face. From a royal's view, responsible for national prosperity, it probably sounded nonsense.
"S-sorry. I'm weak with booze and talking crap, so I'll stop..."
"...So pursuing your own happiness matters more than struggling to climb higher... Is that it?"
"Uh... Yeah. Something like that..."
"What if you were royalty, Vivaldi-nim?"
"Pardon...?"
"Always writing novels, falling behind in succession, mocked by sisters, jumping in late but failing... What then?"
"If I had no attachment to the throne... I'd tell you royals to have it and just write novels..."
"Even if outcast royals live mocked and forgotten?"
"If I enjoy writing, others' opinions don't matt—huh?"
Something's wrong. I thought it was just the buzz intensifying, but my vision blurred, my head spun...
Thud!
Vivaldi collapsed onto the table. The sedative in the wine Vanessa had spiked was taking effect.
"You sure talk easy."
At first, she'd planned to drag him back to the empire. To claim credit for recruiting top talent.
But that was when her goal was the throne. Now, Vanessa had a new one.
"You're the only one who's ever told a royal to just write novels."
Vanessa rose with a gentle smile, reaching for Vivaldi to tuck him into bed. But a hand suddenly grabbed her arm.
"E-eh?!"
"...Our Vivi got drunk and said rude things. I'll apologize on his behalf."
A tall woman with perky black cat ears. How had she infiltrated these lodgings, guarded so tightly by escorts? Vanessa was too shocked to scream. At least "our Vivi" marked her as from Tragodia—not here to harm the princess.
She scooped Vivi up princess-style with ease.
"...Looks like Vivi needs to head home, so I'll take him."
"Ah, sure, whatever..."
Vanessa nodded dazedly. If he was drunk and asleep, sending him home made sense.
The woman opened a window and leaped out silently into the night.