Chapter 4

“Forest keepers can't live in the forest inside the imperial palace anymore. So you're not the forest keeper's daughter, but your shoes...”

Richard pointed at my feet with his chin.

“I don’t think I would have crossed two or three forests wearing something like that, so at least I live less than an hour’s walk away, but this is a forest attached to Opal Palace.”

Richard stopped talking and slightly narrowed his eyes.

“So, um……. Who lives in Opal Palace?”

No, I reasoned like Sherlock Holmes just a moment ago, so why don't you know my name?!

“The 17th princess.”

When I said it in an absurd tone, Richard frowned and immediately smiled. Then he reached out and tapped my forehead.

“You don’t know who I am? But I guess that's it, being arrogant without knowing whether you're in the presence of an aristocrat or a member of the imperial family.”

“……Yes?"

I blinked and stared blankly at Richard.

Weird. Why does he think I'm a servant from earlier?

The face may not be known. Lucilia has never been outside of her opal palace, and unlike Richard, her hair color and eye color are normal, so it must be difficult to infer.

But just look at the clothes...….

I looked down at my clothes.

The dress was muddy from the time the mushrooms were brought in, and it got even more messed up when Richard blasted it in all directions.

The bony shoulder blades and collarbones revealed beneath it, and the wrists and ankles that could be suspected of being skeletons.

Certainly, my outfit was more like a maid than a princess.

“But you…….”

Richard said to me like that.

“Is the 17th princess starving?”

It was a much calmer voice than before.

I opened my eyes wide and looked at Richard. My situation was being put together like pieces of a puzzle in my head.

Richard has no intention of killing me. And he doesn't know who I am.

"Um……!”

I came to my senses late.

“I have to go now!”

"What?"

“Thanks for the beef jerky!”

Before Richard grabbed me, I bowed my head to say "bye" and immediately ran towards the Opal Palace.

Of course, if Richard put his mind to it, he could easily catch me. But I was pretty sure he wouldn't.

Richard's purpose for coming to this forest in the first place had been achieved. The shadow puppet that attacked him was defeated, and the child who was mistaken for an assassin was actually just a hungry maid.

Why would Richard go after me in this situation?

The Richard I know is a person who only cares about fighting, war, and murder. It must have been a little sympathy and a fleeting whim that he did me good.

If so, you must disappear before your eyes change.

No matter how pitiful I was, he probably wouldn't want to intervene to the point of following someone else's palace. You're not the kind of person who helps others by enduring such annoyance, are you?

……please it shouldn't be

I ran for a while and then looked back. Behind me was the same forest as always.

There was no Richard.

“I lived.”

I slumped down on the spot. My heart was filled with relief.

I was happy to have survived the danger of death, but above all, it was a great comfort that Richard did not know my true identity.

It will take a long time before we can meet again. At that point, I would have completely forgotten about today.

My plan to remain unnoticed and quiet for three years is still going well!

I was so sure.

That night, a strange current flowed in the Ruby Palace.

The reason was simple. It was because Richard Kahn Esperusa, the owner of the Ruby Palace, was in a very bad mood.

On the outside, Richard was nicknamed "homicidal maniac", "mad dog", and all sorts of crazy nicknames, but the people of Ruby Palace still thought he was a decent owner.

Although he was self-centered, he was sure to protect his people and reward and punish them. The pay was also much higher than other palaces. Serving him was a decent job, provided he didn't intend to betray.

Of course, the Esperusa Imperial Palace itself wasn't such a good place to work, and the Ruby Palace was a place where there was a lot of slaughter.

What could be the perfect place! As long as our prince is good enough!

When I go back to the room I cleaned an hour ago, it's covered in blood, and it's not once or twice that I've been called in the middle of the night and had to run to and throw people's heads at me to clean it up! Still, there is no place like this!

A place where workers' tearful self-justification overflows. That place was the Ruby Palace.

But today, the atmosphere at Ruby Palace was a little different from usual.

"It's a big deal, Sir Luke."

Richard's attendant and secretary, Luke Cyton, stopped on his way to his office. One of the servants became weepy and grabbed him.

“What are you doing?”

Luke replied with a smile. Unlike Richard, he was gentle and kind to everyone. The Ruby Palace's servants used to rely on such a Luke whenever they were in trouble.

“The prince is in a bad mood, but I don't know why. It’s hard to even get close to the office.”

"I see."

Luke nodded. If so, there was something to guess.

“I think I know why. Don't worry, I'll talk to him."

"Thank you!"

I was just about to hear the news from another article. It was news that Richard had been attacked.

That in itself was nothing surprising.

Assassinations and raids were commonplace in the imperial palace, where the battle for the throne was long over.

But today's raid was a bit special. Because the attacker wasn't human.

And Luke guessed that this was also why Richard was in a bad mood.

Richard hated wizards. He considered them cowardly, without the courage to go to war, and dismissed magic as an insidious skill they used.

Among them, the magician he hated the most was his brother who shared blood with him.

5th Prince Rudolph Sol. Richard's nemesis and currently one of the three royal descendants considered closest to the throne.

Today's raid must have been his work as well.

There was no evidence, but it was a fact that everyone knew.

After a fight, Richard was in a good mood like a puppy after a walk, but he always returned in a bad mood after encountering magic, especially Rudolph's magic.

It was not the first time or two that he had seen such a scene, so Luke entered Richard's office with a light heart.

“……!”

And in an instant, he almost drew his sword.

Richard's office was full of life. For a moment, Luke mistook that an assassin had invaded.

However, when he came to his senses, the chilling mood did not come 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 the air, but when he heard Luke approaching, he averted his gaze.

Goosebumps ran through his body as the red eyes pierced Luke. A warning light went on in his head.

This is definitely different than usual.

Luke opened his mouth slowly.

“Prince, you called…….”

“Who is the owner of the Opal Palace?”

Richard asked without even saying hello.

“Opal Palace?”

It was quite an unfamiliar name, so it took Luke some time to think of the owner.

“17th Princess…… It is Lucilia El. She is twelve years old this year.”

“Twelve.”

Hearing those words, Richard twisted his mouth and laughed. It was like a wolf growling.

“She's all grown up, right?”

Luke had a hard time agreeing with that. He was even more so when he thought of what he was doing when he was twelve.

But to put things in perspective, the monster in front of me was a man who had already killed an assassin who had come to take his life with a wooden sword when he was 13 years old.

Richard's standard was quite out of common sense, but it might have been average for the Esperusa family.

“You know how to mess with me, a maid.”

Luke, lost in thought, suddenly returned to reality at Richard's words.

“Damn it……? 17 Are you the princess?”

“How much is the monthly living expenses given to the princes and princesses by the palace?”

The randomness of the question made Luke even more flustered. Richard had never been interested in such a thing before.

"That is……, maybe about 20,000 Solem in 3 months...….”

At Luke's answer, Richard's face grew even more stern.

Richard went on to ask a few more questions about Lucilia. Luke answered as he knew, but he couldn't grasp the situation at all.

It wasn't surprising that Richard didn't know Lucilia. Luke also only knew the basics as a secretary, and he didn't even know Lucilia's face.

The 13th, 17th, and 19th princes had virtually given up their right to succeed. The royal grandsons who shun themselves and take care of others. Those who are never a threat.

Richard was strong with the strong and indifferent to the weak. To him, those who had given up the fight for the throne were nothing more than trash that couldn't compete.

But why is he asking about Lucilia again?

"Right."

Upon hearing the words, Richard's face became ferocious again.

Can I ask myself a question now? When Luke finally opened her mouth.

“Get out.”

The tone, so unkind, kicked him out of the room.

After Luke left, Richard tried to control his mood.

Since it was something I wouldn't normally do at all, my efforts failed in a matter of seconds.

Richard's face contorted like an angry beast.

20,000 Solem is no small amount of money. He could have hired more than 30 servants, and even Opal Palace was much smaller.

Counting up to that point, Richard suddenly stopped thinking.

'Why would I care about this?'

It was an unpleasant feeling. Since she returned to the palace, nothing has happened to her until now.

The child kept coming back to mind. The child who cried out that she had only come to eat mushrooms.

She was a very thin child. Sunken cheeks, bony limbs, and an inconspicuous collarbone that looked like it would jump out at any moment.

And even the appearance of chewing and swallowing jerky in a hurry.

All of those appearances kept bringing up unpleasant memories in Richard.

A small child who was confined to a small room and barely drank water.

A child who had no dignity or pride as a member of the royal family, who hurriedly stuffed food into her mouth on the day she was lucky enough to receive it, fearing that it would be taken away.

“Lucilia.”

Chills ran through his body along with a piercing headache. A gooey voice, like filth dripping down, came from inside his head.

“You have to become a useful child.”

Duang.

Richard raised his sword and swung it aimlessly.

The desk that had been guarding his office for a long time miraculously withstood the first attack, but faced the same fate as the previous desks after being hit by the second and third swords one after another.

Richard didn't stop even after smashing the desk. Each swing of his sword shattered one piece of furniture in his office.

Breaking and breaking, when there was nothing left at last, Richard lowered his sword.

"I…… , Prince?”

Luke Cyton's trembling voice came through the half-destroyed door.

Richard laughed fiercely after looking around the ruins he had created. And he conceded.

This shitty feeling wasn't the kind that would go away if left alone.

"Follow me."

Richard opened what barely retained the shape of the door. Then he threw a word at Luke and started walking.

"Yes? Uh, where are you going?”

Luke hurriedly followed Richard. Richard gritted his teeth and said.

“I’m going to Opal Palace.”

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