Chapter 29
KRRRUMBLE!
At that moment, it felt as if lightning struck from a clear sky—an illusionary thunderclap echoed in my ears.
“What… what did you say?”
“W-what…?”
The First Prince looked utterly shocked.
The Second Prince also looked just as stunned.
“So don’t keep bothering me by coming here. I’ll play with him instead of you from now on!”
I drove the final nail in.
At that, the First Prince staggered as though unable to withstand the psychological shock.
“You… earlier you were sharing snacks with someone else instead of me… You clearly said you’d give snacks only to me, so how….”
“Those snacks? I’m giving them to him now!”
“You told me I could come visit anytime… You were the one who said that….”
“You idiot, I already canceled that!”
KRRRRRUMBLE!
Once again, it felt like thunder rumbled somewhere, carrying storm clouds with it.
The First Prince, now even paler, stammered as he looked at me in disbelief.
“You… how can you change your feelings so easily?”
It sounded exactly like one of those childish lines like, “How can love change so easily!”
The Second Prince stood there completely dumbfounded, unable to comprehend the situation.
Suddenly, the First Prince’s wounded, beast-like gaze shot toward the Second Prince, Rubelio.
Rogelio trembled like a herbivore stepping on a predator’s tail.
“Y-Your Highness Euclid? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You… since when did you become so close to Asphodel without me knowing?”
“W-what? What do you mean…?”
While the Second Prince continued stammering, the First Prince turned away with the demeanor of a wounded beast and left the scene in solitude.
“What… was that?”
Rogelio, staring blankly at the departing figure, gasped as though he had been slapped in his sleep.
“What on earth is going on right now?”
He jumped around like a colt with its tail on fire and turned back to me.
“You—you—you! Because of you, Euclid is looking at me like that with such cold eyes! And what was that you said earlier?! Y-you said you… liked me…!”
“Ugh, don’t overthink it. It’s exhausting.”
Since I had already achieved my goal, I casually let go of his clothes.
Sigh… exhausting. Since Margaret was at the divine beast nest, I should head back for now.
But since I had used him, I at least offered a brief goodbye.
“Well then, Rubelio. Nice meeting you. Let’s not meet again.”
“What?! Hey, where are you going! You just leave like that?! Hey! Hey…! Aren’t you coming back?!”
I ignored his desperate calls from behind.
What a turbulent day this has been.
Chapter 10
Touch a cute little divine beast and you’re in for trouble.
After that, for a while, the First Prince didn’t show his face before me at all—and honestly, it was a relief.
‘This is how it should have been from the start.’
It seemed I had been softer than I realized, and I hadn’t been treating the First Prince as coldly as I should have.
But now, I would change.
In this miserable child-rearing fantasy world, I would become a strong and cold, elegant lioness of a princess.
I already had too much to do to waste energy on unnecessary emotions.
“Hey, Joshua.”
“Yes, Princess.”
My top priority now was helping this future tamer friend awaken his confidence.
“If someone bothers you, clench your fist like this, and strike here—this area under the stomach—or hit the bridge of the nose.”
Right now, I was teaching Joshua self-defense.
“Or raise your elbow like this… There are also ways to use your legs and feet, but that part—”
Since I wasn’t always at the divine beast nest, I couldn’t personally observe Joshua’s every move.
I also didn’t know when, where, or how severely others might bully him.
“Don’t hesitate. Strike hard and fast! Fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee! Got it?”
So, to boost his confidence and help him protect himself in case anything happened, I was diligently teaching him self-defense.
“So, so nobles learn self-defense at such a young age? As expected of the princess.”
“No, I learned it to teach you, Joshua.”
“Oh, really? Princess…!”
Joshua looked touched.
This easy guy.
But I liked that he was easy.
Back in my first life, he had grown up already, so he had put up strong walls.
“Alright, follow me. Make your fist like this—”
“L-like this?”
Joshua, as clumsy as ever, awkwardly mimicked my movements.
He seemed to think he would never actually need to use these skills.
But the opportunity to use the self-defense I taught him came sooner than expected.
‘Ugh… what is this… am I sleep-paralyzed?’
That night, while I was sleeping normally, at some point my body began to feel heavy.
I thought I was experiencing sleep paralysis and groaned as I tried to move.
But sleep paralysis is called paralysis for a reason.
No matter how much I struggled, I could barely move even a finger.
Thump!
Thud!
Kyaa!
Sounds of bumping echoed from all around.
What the—do ghosts make sounds like that nowadays?
“Kiiiaaaang!”
Then suddenly I realized—it was the cries of divine beasts.
“Huh?”
At that moment, I opened my eyes wide.
And around me were glowing eyes…!
“Ahh! Wh-what?!”
Startled, I jumped up from the bed.
My body moved freely, as if the paralysis had never happened.
The baby divine beasts that had been on top of me backed away after seeing me wake.
Pio and Kino were also chirping noisily.
It was unclear whether they had come to wake me up or tried to protect me from the divine beasts and failed, but they too were tangled among the fluffy white creatures, contributing to the chaos.
“Divine beasts? What are you doing here?”
And at such a late hour, no less.
“Kyaaang!”
The divine beasts howled in chorus as if pleading for something.
Some of them tugged at my pajamas with their mouths.
“What? You want me to go somewhere with you?”
“Kyaa!”
“Wait… don’t tell me something happened to Joshua?”
“Kiiing! Kiiing!”
Sensing something suspicious, I asked—and the divine beasts reacted intensely.
This was clearly not normal.
I quickly left the room.
The corridor was very quiet.
There were occasional patrolling knights, but by following the divine beasts, I managed to leave the palace unnoticed.
Fortunately, no one seemed to have detected their intrusion.
The divine beasts, being small creatures filled with divine energy rather than malice or hostility, would not have been difficult to sneak in unnoticed.
And Father, who could sense even the faintest presence, was not in the palace at the moment.
Where had he gone at this hour?
Well… to Mother’s palace… ahem. Don’t ask for details.
A young married couple in their prime might meet at night, look at the moon and stars… and do other things too.
Anyway, I safely made my way to the divine beast nest.
And there, I found Joshua in danger.
‘What in the world is going on here?’
“P-please stop this now.”
The place Joshua was in appeared to be a storage room.
The door was tightly locked from the inside, so I could only peek through a small gap.
He was bound tightly with ropes, limbs completely restrained!
“If you put everything back and release me now, I’ll pretend this never happened….”
“Shut up! Who do you think you’re fooling with empty words like that?”
“I mean it!”
“I told you to shut up! Want me to gag you too?”
The man beside Joshua, who had been rummaging through something in the corner, suddenly snapped in anger.
“Damn it! I could’ve finished this without anyone noticing!”
A dim lantern lit one side of the storage room, allowing faint visibility of both Joshua and the other man.
“This is all your fault! Who told you to sneak into the storage room at this hour? You should’ve been sleeping like everyone else. Do you have nothing better to do? Huh?”
The one frantically searching the storage was none other than the abusive senior beast handler who regularly tormented Joshua.
“W-what are you talking about? You were the one who told me to fix the noise coming from the storage door.”
“What?! And you kept working until this hour… Damn it! Who would’ve thought you’d still be here! You slow idiot! Useless brat! Cursed useless hands!”
The abusive senior exploded into another tirade of insults.
“Damn it… nothing is going right… Ah! Found it!”
Then, as if he had finally found what he was looking for, his movements grew hurried.
He pulled out an object that had been hidden deep on a shelf in the corner of the storage room.
