Chapter 4
“Now, the forest keeper can’t live in the palace forest. So, it’s not the forest keeper’s daughter, but your shoes.”
Richard pointed to my feet with a nod.
“It’s unlikely that she would have crossed two or three forests wearing that, so she must live within an hour’s walk, and this is the forest attached to the Opal Palace.”
Richard frowned slightly before speaking.
“So, um… who lives in Opal Palace?”
No, you were just thinking like Sherlock Holmes, so why don’t you know my name?!
“17th princess.”
When I spoke in a nonsensical tone, Richard frowned, then chuckled. He then raised his finger and tapped my forehead.
“Don’t you know who I am? Even so, you’re so arrogant, not knowing whether I’m a noble or a royal.”
“……yes?”
I blinked and stared blankly at Richard.
It’s strange. Why does he think I’m his servant all this time?
You might not recognize her face. Lucilia has never left the Opal Palace, and unlike Richard, her hair and eye color are ordinary, so it’ll be difficult to guess.
But just looking at the clothes… … .
I looked down at my clothes.
The dress was covered in dirt since the mushrooms arrived, and it was made even worse by Richard blowing it up in all directions.
The exposed shoulder blades and collarbone beneath, and the hands and ankles that looked like they might be skeletons.
Certainly, my attire was closer to that of a maid than a princess.
“But you…….”
Richard said that to me.
“The 17th princess is starving?”
The voice was much quieter than before.
I opened my eyes wide and looked at Richard. My situation was coming together in my head, like puzzle pieces fitting together.
Richard has no intention of killing me, and he doesn’t know who I am.
“jeon……!”
I woke up in a hurry.
“I have to go now!”
“what?”
“Thank you for the jerky!”
I bowed before Richard could catch me and ran straight towards the Opal Palace.
Of course, if Richard had wanted to, he could easily capture someone like me. But I was certain he wouldn’t.
Richard’s original purpose for coming to this forest had been achieved. The shadow puppet that had attacked him had been defeated, and the child he’d mistaken for an assassin was in fact nothing more than a hungry maid.
Why would Richard chase me in this situation?
The Richard I know is a man who cares only about fighting, war, and murder. The kindness he showed me was a little sympathy, and perhaps a momentary whim.
If so, it must disappear from your sight before your mind changes.
No matter how pitiful you felt, you wouldn’t want to interfere to the point of following someone to their palace. You’re not the type of person who would go to such lengths to help others.
… … Please, that shouldn’t be the case.
After running for a while, I looked back. Behind me was the same old forest.
Richard was not there.
“I survived.”
I sank to the ground. A sense of relief filled my heart.
I was glad to have survived the near-death experience, but more than anything, it was a great comfort that Richard didn’t know my true identity.
It’ll be a long time before we meet again. By then, I’ll have completely forgotten about today.
My plan to stay out of sight and quietly for three years is still going strong!
I was so sure of that.
***
That night, a strange atmosphere flowed through the Ruby Palace.
The reason was simple: Richard Khan Esperusa, the owner of the Ruby Palace, was in a very bad mood.
Although Richard was given all sorts of provocative nicknames outside, such as a murderer and a mad dog, the people of Ruby Palace still thought he was a good master.
Although he was a self-centered, moody man, he was firm in protecting his people and was disciplined in his rewards and punishments. The pay was significantly higher than in other palaces. As long as you weren’t prepared to betray, it was a decent job.
Of course, the Esperusa Palace itself wasn’t a very good place to work, and the Ruby Palace was the one with the most murders.
Where could there be a perfect place? Our prince would be just fine!
I went back to a room I’d cleaned an hour ago only to find it a sea of blood. And when I called out in the middle of the night, they’d throw human heads at me and tell me to clean them up, more than once or twice! But there’s no place like this!
A place overflowing with the tearful self-justifications of its servants. That place was the Ruby Palace.
But today the atmosphere at Ruby Palace was a little different than usual.
“This is a big deal, Sir Luke.”
Luke Cyton, Richard’s personal attendant and secretary, stopped walking toward his office. A servant, his face visibly tearful, grabbed him.
“What’s going on?”
Luke answered with a smile. Unlike Richard, he was gentle and kind to everyone. The servants of the Ruby Palace often turned to Luke whenever they were in trouble.
“The Prince is in a bad mood, but I don’t know why. I can’t even go near his office.”
“iced coffee.”
Luke nodded. That was a guess.
“I think I know why. Don’t worry, I’ll explain it to you.”
“thank you!”
I had just heard the news from another knight. It was that Richard had been attacked.
This in itself was not surprising. In the imperial palace, where the struggle for the throne was in full swing, assassinations and raids were commonplace.
But today’s raid was a bit special. The attackers weren’t human.
And Luke guessed that was precisely why Richard was in such a bad mood.
Richard despised wizards. He considered them cowards who lacked the courage to fight, and he denigrated magic as a sinister art they employed.
Among them, the wizard he hated the most was his blood-related older brother.
Fifth Prince Rudolf Sol. Richard’s arch-rival and one of the three heirs currently considered closest to the throne.
Today’s attack was undoubtedly his work. There was no proof, but it was a well-known fact.
After a fight, Richard would feel as good as a dog after a walk, but after clashing with magic, especially Rudolph’s magic, he would always come back feeling dirty.
Since he had seen this kind of thing more than once or twice, Luke entered Richard’s office with a light heart.
“……!”
And for a moment, I almost drew my sword.
Richard’s office was filled with life. For a moment, Luke thought he’d been intruded upon by an assassin.
But when I came to my senses, I realized that the killing intent was not coming from outside.
It came from the owner of the room, who was sitting in an arrogant posture with his feet on the desk.
Richard stared into space, then averted his gaze when he heard Luke approaching.
As those red eyes fixed on Luke, goosebumps ran down his body. A warning light went off in his head.
This is definitely different from usual.
Luke slowly opened his mouth.
“Your Majesty, you have called…….”
“Who is the owner of the Opal Palace?”
Richard asked without even hearing the greeting.
“Opal Palace?”
It was a rather unfamiliar name, so it took Luke some time to remember its owner.
“The 17th Princess… I am Lady Lucilia L. I am twelve years old this year.”
“Twelve.”
Richard heard that and his mouth twisted into a grin. It was a grin like a wolf’s growl.
“You’re all grown up, aren’t you?”
Luke found it hard to agree with that, especially when he thought about what he had been doing when he was twelve.
But if we change our perspective, the monster in front of us was a human who had already killed an assassin who had come to kill him with a wooden sword when he was thirteen.
Richard’s standards were quite out of the ordinary, but for the Esperusa royal family, that might have been average.
“You know how to treat my maid badly.”
Luke, who had been lost in thought, suddenly came back to reality at Richard’s words.
“Atrocious…? The 17th Princess?”
“How much is the monthly living allowance paid by the Imperial Household to the princes and princesses?”
The question was thrown out of the blue, leaving Luke even more flustered. Richard had never shown any interest in such matters before.
“That’s… probably around 20,000 solems in 3 months….”
Richard’s face grew even more grim at Luke’s answer.
Richard continued to ask Lucilia a few more questions. Luke answered as best he could, but he couldn’t quite grasp the situation.
It wasn’t all that surprising that Richard didn’t know Lucilia. Luke, as a secretary, only knew the basics, and didn’t even know Lucilia’s face.
The 13th, 17th, and 19th princesses had effectively renounced their right to succession. They were the grandchildren who kept to themselves and were only concerned with what others thought. They were absolutely no threat.
Richard was strong with the strong and indifferent to the weak. To him, those who gave up the struggle for the throne were nothing more than trash, unfit to compete.
But why Lucilia again?
“I see.”
Richard’s face turned fierce again after hearing those words.
Now, it was time for him to ask his own question. Luke finally opened his mouth, thinking so.
“Go out and see.”
The harsh tone drove him out of the room.
After Luke left, Richard tried to control his mood.
Because it was something he never did before, his efforts failed within seconds. Richard’s face contorted into the shape of an enraged beast.
Twenty thousand solems is no small sum. It would have been enough to hire over thirty servants, and even the Opal Palace was much smaller.
As he was thinking about it, Richard suddenly stopped thinking.
‘Why do I care about this?’
I felt uneasy. Since returning to the palace, nothing has gotten done.
I kept thinking of that child. The child who cried and said he had only come to eat mushrooms.
He was a very thin child. His cheeks were sunken, his arms and legs were thin, and his collarbones were so prominent that they looked like they might pop out at any moment.
And the sight of him hastily chewing and swallowing the jerky.
All of these sights brought back unpleasant memories for Richard.
A small child locked in a room, barely able to drink water.
A child who, on days when he was lucky enough to receive food, would shove it into his mouth in a panic, afraid that it might be taken away. He had no dignity or respect for a member of the royal family.
“Richard.”
A stabbing headache and chills coursed through my body. A sticky, oozing voice, like filth, came from inside my head.
“You have to become a useful child.”
Kwaang.
Richard raised his sword and swung it carelessly. The desk that had guarded his office for so long miraculously withstood the first blow, but after the second and third strikes, it met the same fate as the other desks.
Even after smashing the desk, Richard didn’t stop. With each swing of his sword, a piece of furniture in the office shattered.
When he finally broke and broke until there was nothing left, Richard lowered his sword.
“I…, Your Highness?”
Luke Cyton’s trembling voice could be heard through the broken door.
Richard looked around at the ruins I had created and laughed ferociously. Then he admitted it.
This shitty feeling wasn’t the kind that would go away if I just left it alone.
“Follow me.”
Richard opened the door, which barely held its shape. After saying a few words to Luke, he began to walk away.
“Huh? Where are you going?”
Luke followed Richard in a panic. Richard gritted his teeth and spoke.
“I’m going to the Opal Palace.”
