Chapter 7
I spoke in the gentlest tone I could manage.
On the surface, I said that—but in my heart…
“I’m sorry for surviving alone, Richard.”
Guilt surged inside me.
I don’t know why, but looking back, Richard had shown me kindness in his own way.
He helped me when I was starving (even if he almost cut me in half before that), and he got angry about my troubles as if they were his own (even if he did cut my servants in half). I was grateful.
But I couldn’t just side with Richard for such reasons alone.
This time, I was determined not to fail. I couldn’t risk going under the certified bounced check of the original story—I just couldn’t.
I felt like a cowardly older sister… no, a cowardly younger sister. Sorry…
I held the words I couldn’t say in my heart and smiled at Richard.
“But I’m okay.”
Because I know the future.
“Your Highness…!”
At that moment, a pained voice came from my room.
I turned and saw Luke staggering toward me. I was a little surprised.
He had taken Richard’s sword blow head-on, yet his limbs were intact—and he was even walking? To become the secretary of a monster, you had to be a monster yourself, apparently.
Richard muttered something quietly when he saw Luke. I couldn’t hear it clearly, but it sounded like a curse judging by his tone.
Then Richard took my hand.
I had grabbed his hand first, but he seemed a bit surprised that I had.
He wrapped his left hand over the back of mine, gave a slight squeeze, and lifted it from his hand. Then, with his freed hand, he sheathed his sword.
I felt embarrassed. You could have just told me to let go if you wanted to put your sword away.
But even after that, Richard kept holding my hand. Quietly staring at me.
I met his gaze.
Complex thoughts flickered in his blood-red eyes. I could sense him trying to speak several times but stopping.
Finally, when Richard spoke, the words were surprisingly simple.
“Do as you like.”
He let go and turned, disappearing down to the lower floor.
“Phew…”
Once he was out of sight, all my tension drained away. I wanted nothing more than to collapse in the hallway.
“Your Highness, are you all right?”
Luke approached me. I nodded.
“I’m sorry, truly sorry. I must apologize for today’s events somehow…”
“Don’t.”
“Huh?”
Luke should be easier to communicate with than Richard. I deliberately spoke slowly, word by word.
“Do nothing.”
Luke’s expression instantly grew serious. He lowered his voice.
“Understood. We’ll make sure to block rumors as much as we can.”
As expected from the prince’s closest aide. He immediately understood what I wanted. I gave him a small smile.
“Thank you.”
Luke took the knights and returned to Ruby Palace. Where the outsiders had been, only the smell of blood remained.
It had been less than an hour since Richard had burst in, yet it felt like over a month had passed.
I was utterly exhausted.
And my room must be a sea of blood by now… I want to sleep, but where?
“Your Highness.”
“Hmm?”
A faint voice came. I looked over and was surprised.
Miriam was staring at me, completely moved, tears welling in her eyes.
“Th-thank you for saving my life…”
“Shh.”
I cut her off firmly. I was too tired to comfort a crying child. I had already used my daily maximum of gentleness on Richard.
Miriam pressed her lips tightly together.
“I said don’t cry, not don’t speak…”
Even funnier, her face kept turning blue-ish as she kept her lips sealed. I pressed my hand to my forehead.
“No, you can breathe. Just don’t cry.”
“Puhaha!”
…This girl isn’t just a little silly, is she? I’m seriously starting to wonder who thought she could be a spy.
Ah, speaking of spies, what about my servants’ bodies?
A headache settled on top of the fatigue. I wanted to go lie down immediately, but there were far too many things to do.
“Miriam.”
“You know my name?!”
She screamed in a high-pitched voice, almost ready to cry. My ears hurt.
There’s so much to be surprised about. There are only about ten servants working in Opal Palace, and you don’t know their names?
“Stop wasting time… Tell the other servants to gather in one place.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Miriam hurried downstairs. Shortly after, she returned.
“Where should they gather, Your Highness?”
Can’t you just handle that yourself? I’m tired…
“Hmm… the reception room?”
“The reception room is a bloodbath. Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Why not?”
“The Twelfth Prince cut off Chief Steward Ivan’s head.”
So the number of dead was four, not three… Richard already did one before coming up?
“Then tell them to go to the dining room.”
“Yes!”
I held my throbbing head and headed to the dining room, thinking hard about how to handle this mess.
Luke had promised to block rumors as much as he could. That meant not just the palace staff, but also any other eyes watching Richard.
I trusted Luke. To be precise, I trusted the character setting of Luke Saiton as described in the original story.
He never broke a promise once made, and he had the ability to enforce it. So outside the palace, rumors were entirely in his hands.
The problem was inside.
Even without the dead, there were six witnesses. I had no power to silence six insiders.
“Maybe I should have just let them die…”
My head wasn’t working well from exhaustion. I entered the dining room, silently praying the servants weren’t terrified.
If necessary, I’d even threaten them. Now was the perfect time for it.
A few minutes later, Miriam and the other servants trickled in.
Their faces were pale, vacant, anxious…
Yeah, I get it. You’ve lived peacefully while skimming money. This was a huge shock, wasn’t it?
Then—
“Your Highness!”
Someone suddenly dropped to their knees in front of me with a tearing voice.
“Thank you for saving me!”
I looked down in surprise.
It was Isaac, a general servant. Seventeen years old, still among the youngest at Opal Palace, serving the Seventh Princess for about a year.
And he was one of the lives Luke had saved.
He had entered my room and miraculously survived because Luke blocked Richard.
So if Isaac was giving thanks, it should have been to Luke, not me. I asked in a stunned voice:
“Are you thanking me?”
“Of course!”
Isaac shouted at me. Then he suddenly looked serious and lowered his voice.
“Your Highness, I… actually heard about it.”
I didn’t know what he meant, but the dramatic start caught everyone’s attention. All the servants’ eyes were on him.
“Earlier, Laura, Charles, and Jack…”
Mentioning the dead instantly dropped the room’s mood. Isaac closed his eyes tightly and continued.
“…When that happened, I almost died too. I was too scared to move far, so I hid in a nearby room.”
I understood. When I met Richard in the forest, I was too scared to take a step. It made sense he couldn’t go far either.
“When the Twelfth Prince approached Miriam…”
Isaac’s voice began to tremble.
“I knew she was in danger but couldn’t intervene. But…!”
At this point, Isaac broke into tears.
I just wanted him to get to the point quickly. I was exhausted.
“That’s when Your Highness appeared!”
Suddenly, Miriam jumped in, almost crying too.
“Yes! Your Highness appeared!”
Isaac’s voice, mixed with sobs, grew even louder. I could feel a strange intensity radiating from my servants.
“And Your Highness said: if all my servants die, I will die too!”
Isaac shouted.
…Yes, I did say that. But it was a political strategy—you know that, Isaac.
“And when the Twelfth Prince got angry, she said: we are the princess’s lifeline! We are the ones who protect her!”
…Yes, technically true, but something got left out in the middle, didn’t it?
“And also, Your Highness…”
Isaac now pounded his chest, tears flowing. Seriously, this is scary.
“She even knew that we were spies from other palaces!”
Hearing that, the other servants froze. This part seemed to shock them the most.
“The Twelfth Prince said, if they are spies, you should torture them.”
Richard did say something about torture, but that wasn’t the context here.
“But Your Highness! She said! She wouldn’t kill or torture us! All she wanted was for us to work diligently!”
…Okay, now I mostly understand.
I pressed my forehead and collected my thoughts.
Isaac had overheard everything between me and Richard. From start to finish. Completely.
But either out of fear or because he had no sense of politics, he misunderstood the conversation.
I chuckled dryly at the sight of Isaac sobbing.
He was close to a mental breakdown—unsurprising given what he had experienced.
The problem was, he wasn’t the only one who saw blood and feared for his life.
“Impossible… Your Highness…”
“Your Highness, have you been watching over us all this time?”
The other servants began to catch Isaac’s emotional contagion.
“You never said a word…”
Right. There was nothing to be done even if I knew.
“And yet you risked your life for us.”
I’m not dead yet!
“Your Highness, I don’t understand. Why… why would you do that?!”
“Why? You really don’t know?!”
Just as the servants’ confused, nonsensical cries reached their peak, a sharp voice cut through the room.
“It’s because Your Highness is too kind!”
It was Miriam.
Without wiping the tears on her face, her hands clasped tightly, she spoke as if praying.
“You’re foolishly kind…!”
Miriam couldn’t finish her sentence and collapsed to the floor, sobbing like a child.
Thud, thud.
One by one, the other servants dropped to their knees.
“Your Highness, we were wrong!”
“Please forgive us! I… I was trash!”
“I, Thomas! From today, I abandon the Sixteenth Prince! My one true master is Lucilia El Esperusaaaaa!”
The dining room was filled with tears, sighs, remorse, repentance, and oaths of loyalty.
I stepped back a few paces and looked out the window. The moon shone in the night sky.
Ah, truly, really…
I was terrified enough to want to run away immediately. And even more than that, I was dead tired.
