Scandal with the Imperial Princess (3)
War Maniac. The sixth member of the Saintess Party. The protagonist who crowned the Fourth Continental War with victory. Like Maximilian von Hohenberg, a Holy Swordsman who wielded one of the Four Holy Swords of Demon Extinction. And an unknown figure who remained shrouded in mystery despite countless achievements.
Ludmilla had publicly declared that she would track down the “War Maniac,” whose very existence was uncertain. With a heavy heart, I wandered the streets of the imperial capital alongside Lue.
“Edan stepped away for a moment, so the auntie asked me about the War Maniac.”
“Did she now?”
I stared into those light-green eyes, silently asking what she had answered.
“I don’t know. Never heard of him.”
“Of course you wouldn’t have.”
“Calling someone the sixth member when I’m the Saintess Party’s mascot? How utterly outrageous! If a new member joined the Saintess Party, they would obviously be my junior!”
“……”
Is that how it works? The little rascal shook her head wildly, puffing out her cheeks. She looked seriously upset. After all, she had just learned about a junior she never knew existed….
I poked one of those hamster-round cheeks with my finger. With a sharp pffft, the air rushed out.
“But what even is a War Maniac? Is it like sunlight or something?”
“It’s just a cringey chuunibyou nickname people made up on their own. Ignore it.”
War Maniac this, War Maniac that…. The bastard who coined it had the worst naming sense imaginable. I wanted to put a bullet in him. Grumbling under my breath, we finally reached the villa we were using as our lodgings.
Ludmilla’s bold claim about mobilizing the empire’s intelligence service to find the War Maniac had left my mind utterly drained. I just wanted to rest.
“To keep the Platinum Princess waiting…. How incredibly disrespectful, Edanant.”
“Your Highness Elizabeth.”
But rest would have to wait. A blonde princess holding a white parasol stood there, waiting for me.
The Platinum Princess had arrived. Word must have already spread; a crowd of nobles had gathered around her. With heavily armed troops deployed to escort her, it was impossible not to draw attention. Since this district was packed with villas belonging to nobles who had come up from the provinces, the commotion grew even louder.
“You look troubled.”
“O-of course I do.”
“But what can you do? My brother abandoned his fiancée, so you’ll have to stand in as her temporary punching bag.”
“……”
So she had deliberately wanted to put me in this awkward position. The villainess. She truly was an irrepressible tomboy—comparable to the fairy who threw daily tantrums demanding Nong-jjuk Candy.
“I know you’re flustered, but won’t you invite me inside the villa soon? How long do you intend to leave a noble Platinum Princess standing here looking foolish?”
“My apologies.”
Arrogant grace and overwhelming charisma were virtues a proper villainess should naturally possess. She dominated the crowd effortlessly. At a single gesture from Elizabeth, the throng that had swarmed like a black tide receded just as quickly. Many nobles turned deathly pale and backed away at her signal—clear proof of how widely she had spread her notoriety as the villainess throughout the imperial capital.
Elizabeth responded with a derisive snort and stepped into the imperial villa.
“So, Edanant. What exactly is your relationship with my sister?”
“Pardon…?”
The moment she sat on the reception room sofa, Elizabeth fired a direct shot. She gave me a half-lidded stare. It looked exactly like she had come to evaluate her future brother-in-law.
If I fell for such an obvious trap question, I would become nothing more than the villainess’s plaything. Unwilling to get caught in such a transparent scheme, I made it clear there was nothing between us.
“Playing innocent…. So all those private meetings were just a game to you, Edanant?”
“Why are you phrasing it that way?!”
“My sister has only ever met one man privately like that—you. So of course the imperial family is watching your relationship closely. The chamberlain is probably running around frantically right now.”
“……”
I finally understood why the newspapers hadn’t run sensational headlines despite the scandal between the second son of House Hohenberg and Princess Ludmilla shaking the entire empire.
The imperial family had stepped in.
I swallowed hard at Elizabeth’s words. It seemed I would soon be dragged before the daughter-obsessed emperor. The odds were overwhelmingly high.
The reason Elizabeth had visited the villa clearly wasn’t only about her sister’s scandal. I didn’t bother asking what other business she had. I already knew the Platinum Princess’s true feelings.
As we continued talking, she suddenly let out a deep sigh. She glanced out the window with eyes steeped in sorrow. It was the textbook image of a girl nursing the pain of a broken heart.
“I’m fine. I’m trying to forget… little by little.”
“……”
“If I just sit here wallowing, I’ll only look pathetic. By now Maximilian is probably enjoying a sickeningly sweet honeymoon with that damn Saintess.”
“You’re thinking clearly.”
Even as she chewed over the heartbreak inflicted by her cold-hearted fiancé, Elizabeth forced a smile. There was no way she was truly fine. She had loved Maximilian with all her heart. The deeper the love, the more devastating the pain of betrayal.
Clumsy comfort might only create new wounds, so I kept silent. I simply watched her with worried eyes.
“But Beatrice…! That wretched woman—I will never let her get away with this. I swear I will tear that hypocritical, fake face to shreds. Just wait until they come back!!”
She gripped the teacup with both hands as if ready to crush it, radiating sharp killing intent. Lue, who had been quietly sipping cocoa beside me, flinched and clung to me tightly.
Terrifying. Was this the hatred of a woman consumed by resentment?
The way Elizabeth bared her killing intent reminded me of Ludmilla when she had been called “auntie.”
“Your Highness Elizabeth, you must be far more cautious with your personal safety from now on.”
“What? What do you mean?”
You are fated to die.
In the second part, the villainess Elizabeth meets a miserable end. It was a death flag handed down by the author himself. Without a doubt, an event that would bring her death was coming.
Gazing into Elizabeth’s vividly shining green eyes, I urged caution. I couldn’t bluntly say, “The person who created this world has sentenced you to death,” so I had to explain the danger indirectly.
“Villains holding grudges against the Saintess Party have begun attacking the Valtaria Empire one after another. Naturally, they won’t hesitate to target you—a blood relative of the imperial family.”
“If they hate the empire, of course they would come after me, the princess.”
Elizabeth was the villainess whose tragic death had already been written. Exactly how, and by what method, would they take the Platinum Princess’s life? Only the author knew the death flags planted on her.
That was why I had to prepare for every worst-case scenario. I wanted to protect Elizabeth in place of the irresponsible Maximilian who had run away.
Was it sympathy for the villainess who had suffered so many misfortunes in the story? Or guilt toward the fiancée Maximilian had abandoned? I wasn’t sure. All I knew was the single-minded desire to keep her safe.
“Get down right now!!”
The moment I rose from the sofa and approached the window, I felt a gut-wrenching sense of crisis surge from my core and let out a shout that was nearly a scream.
It was certain. Something was about to happen.
My intuition, sharpened through countless life-or-death situations, screamed a warning. It was the veteran instinct that had always saved me on the battlefield, so I obeyed its urgent alarm.
──────!!!!
A crimson flash. A thunderous roar that spread like lightning. At the same time, the windows struck by the shockwave shattered all at once.
I yanked the pistol from my holster. Reflexively, my other hand seized the hilt of the Holy Sword.
An explosion had gone off. From the deafening roar, it was clearly man-made.
“E-Edanant?!”
“Hieeeeek!!”
I whipped my head around. Elizabeth’s face was frozen in shock. Lue, clutched in the princess’s arms, screamed in pure terror. Right after, the royal guards waiting outside kicked the door open and burst in. They too looked utterly bewildered by the sudden blast.
“Your Highness Elizabeth!”
“Protect Her Highness at once!”
What was this? An ambush targeting Elizabeth?
No, that wasn’t it. The epicenter of the explosion was at least eight hundred yards away from the villa. If the goal had been to assassinate her, they would have hidden the bomb much closer.
‘A bombing targeting the imperial capital.’
Damn it. So even the capital had become a target after all.
I rose from my crouched position and pulled the glass shard out of my cheek.
A pillar of fire shot into the sky. Thick red smoke followed, belching savage fury. The imperial capital was dyed crimson. It looked as if a rain of fire had fallen from above.
The shockwave from the explosion in the Seventh District on the outskirts spread until it engulfed nearly half the city. Citizens caught in the ferocious blast were buried without even time for a final scream. Those lucky enough to survive began fleeing in panic, shrieking as they ran.
The streets swallowed by the bombing turned into a chaotic hell where death and survival collided in utter disorder.
“Haha! Hahahaha! Serves you right, you damn empire dogs!!”
A hooded figure in a black cloak shouted. Fiendish evil slaughter. Hatred radiated from his burned and twisted features. The madman stretched both arms toward the rising pillar of fire and let out a deranged laugh, as if thanking an orchestra for a magnificent performance. The sight was utterly grotesque.
The bomber who had marked the early chapters of the romance fantasy White Blessing of the Lady. The cruel villain who had tried to blow Saintess Beatrice to nothingness. Gale Doher, leader of the Bomber Corps. The wicked criminal who once targeted the Saintess Party had reappeared on the front lines, blowing up the city streets with his subordinates.