The bandits took me away with the carriage and stopped deep in the forest, where they wrapped my head in a burlap sack and carried me away.
I was completely blocked from seeing anything, and before I knew how I was moving, I was taken to a place that looked like the hideout of the thieves.
When I was finally let out of the sack, I looked around, feeling a little sick from being carried in an unsteady state.
…It looks like this place is an underground grocery store. There’s a lot of food lined up on the shelves, but there are no windows at all, and the air is a bit chilly, so…
I held my wobbly head as I thought about it.
“Hey, stay here and be quiet!”
So said the bandit who had taken me away, closing the door of the room and leaving me alone in the room.
I was left alone in the room, and I slowly approached the closed door and turned the handle so as not to make a sound of footsteps in the dimly lit room with only one small light.
“…Huh~ It’s still locked, isn’t it?”
I muttered with a sigh and moved away from the door and sat down on a wooden box where I could sit down and thought about it with my cheekbones.
Well, what’s going on…how did the bandit event happen in the first place? Normally, this would be an event that would only happen when I, Cecilia, worked behind the scenes, but for some reason it still happened… Maybe it was a game correction? Hmmm…that would make sense somehow, but…then why was I kidnapped? I should be completely unrelated to the bandit event…
As I thought about that, I remembered the attack by the bandits.
…When Nina was about to be kidnapped by the bandits, Kaiser had rescued her, and Viktor, Prince Alfeld, and even Ghislan should have been able to fight and impress Nina with their bravery, so this should be the end of the bandit event… After all, this is a kidnapping for the purpose of ransom outside the event…
I had a troubled look on my face and slumped my shoulders, wondering what I should do.
Just then I heard a loud shout from the other side of the door.
“You idiot!”
“I’m sorry…”
I heard two such men’s voices, and I approached the door again and pressed my ear against it to listen.
“How could we lose to that number of people! God, you’re pathetic.”
“But, sir, those princes are even more powerful than we thought! And…there was one knight who was impossibly strong.”
“Impossibly strong? …Was it a tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed man?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Oh, so there was even Viktor, the Knight Commander… that’s definitely a tough one.”
“Do you understand me?”
“…but that still doesn’t excuse you for not being able to bring Nina-chan to me, you know!”
“Uh… I’m sorry.”
It seems that the man who kidnapped me is in trouble with the man called Rabi, but I frowned at what he was saying.
I guess he was aiming for Nina after all…but what in the world was he going to do by kidnapping Nina? Is it for ransom, like me? If so, he didn’t have to stick with Nina, right? Because there was a royal family member there…
As I twisted my head as I thought about it, more men continued their conversation.
“But leader…are you really going to take that shrine maiden as your wife?”
“Yes! What’s wrong with that?”
“No, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with it, but…she’s a priestess chosen by an oracle, and I’m afraid it’s going to be a problem…”
“I’m not afraid of that at all. I’m not afraid of that. I’m more interested in Nina to be my wife. I’ve been in love with her for a while now. I will definitely make Nina my wife!”
I was dismayed to hear such enthusiasm.
Taking Nina as his wife… well, I guess I can understand why he fell in love with Nina’s dainty maiden appearance at that unveiling parade at first sight… but that’s a bit too aggressive a method!
I was tsking that in my mind and the conversation turned to my topic.
“Um…leader…I couldn’t bring the Shrine Maiden with me, but instead I kidnapped the Crown Prince’s fiancée…”
“You know the Crown Prince’s fiancée?”
“Hey. I thought that with the Crown Prince’s fiancée, we would be able to get a nice ransom for her.”
“I…I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Huh? Why is that?”
“Think about it. If you’re already a queen, well, that’s understandable, but if you’re still engaged to be married, if that’s the case, all you have to do is not pay the ransom, just break off the engagement and get engaged to another woman. Ostensibly, he’ll say that he did his best, but it was impossible. That’s what all royalty is like anyway.”
That leader’s words hit me in the chest.
Ugh! There’s certainly no denying that possibility! Maybe Kaiser will take this opportunity to break off the engagement with me and get engaged to Nina… Ugh, what will happen to me if that happens!? What happens to hostages who don’t get the ransom paid…?
I was horrified at the thought.
“But, sir, the crown prince’s fiancée, as I recall, is the daughter of the prime minister of the kingdom, isn’t she?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, that’s right…then it’s worth it.”
“And that girl I kidnapped, she was a beautiful girl.”
“Where is she now?”
“I’ve got her locked up in the cellar downstairs.”
“Well…well, I guess I should see her face once.”
Immediately I heard the sound of a door opening at the top, followed by the sound of a ladder coming down.
I heard the sound and hurriedly moved away from the door and sat down on the floor at the back of the room with a frightened expression on my face.
There is no way I can escape yet… I have to pretend to be a docile and weak young lady and let my guard down for now. And if I do that, maybe it will give me an opening to escape! Because… I don’t know if they’re going to come to help me in this situation, I have to do something about it myself!
I was secretly determined to do so and watched the door open.
Then I heard a click and the door slowly opened and two men entered the room.
One of the men was the one who had taken me away and the other was a man in his early thirties with a thick black bandana wrapped around his forehead, red hair pulled back and green fox-like eyes.
The red-haired man walked through the room with a sharp look in my direction and approached me, who was sitting on the floor, and crouched down on the spot to look at me carefully.
“Heh, that’s definitely a top ball, isn’t it? If this girl’s parents don’t want to pay for her, we can sell her at a higher price…hmm? I’ve seen this person’s face before…
The man put his hand to his chin and thought about it.
As I stared at him, pretending to be frightened, the man gasped and his eyes widened into a look of surprise.
“Oh, you! You’re the nice guy who sat next to Nina at that unveiling parade!”
“…What?”
“You! Why do you have to dress like a woman? I feel sick! Hmm, these breasts are probably fake too anyway!”
“What!?”
The man yelled and suddenly grabbed me by the chest.
“Hmm? What is this? It looks like the real thing…and it feels so good to the touch. Where did you make this?”
With a serious expression on his face, he squeezed my chest even more, admiring me so.
I shuddered as I looked down at the man’s behavior, and then I looked up and glared at him and made a fist and shook my hand in a big way.
“I am a woman!!!!!”
So I shouted and hit the man’s left cheek with my full strength.
“Guh!!!”
“Ah! Rabi!”
The man called “Rabi” received a blow with my full force and fell backwards, and then the other man rushed over and picked him up.
I was holding my chest with my left arm while I stretched my right arm out hitting him, breathing heavily with my shoulders and staring at the fallen leader.
To be honest, the fist in my right hand was tingling from the punch, but that didn’t matter now.
Also, I was groped! No one ever groped me the wrong way in my previous life!!!!
I had never experienced a man do that in my life, even in my previous life, and I was shocked at the first time in my life that a man rubbed my breasts.
When I was unable to move for a while with tears in my eyes, the leader stood up slowly while holding his left cheek, which had become completely red.
“… A woman hit me with her fist? Isn’t using the palm of her hand the normal thing to do? But…she’s definitely a woman if you look closely. Why did you dress as a man then…well, that doesn’t matter now.”
As he said this, the leader approached me again, this time standing and looking down at me in silence.
I was wary of the leader, and I hid my breasts with my arms to prevent him from touching them.
I no longer had any intention of pretending to be frightened, so I turned my eyes sharply to the leader that was looking down at me.
“What? Do you have a problem with that? …If you’re mad at me for hitting you, I’ll never apologize for it!”
“…good.”
“What?”
“Damn, I’m in love with you! Okay! I’m going to make you my wife!”
“………Huh? What the hell are you talking about? You said you were going to take Nina as your wife in the first place!”
The words were so unexpected that I shouted in surprise, forgetting to speak in my usual respectful manner.
“You heard me. Well, it is true that if I take dainty Nina as my wife, every day will be healing…but after all, a woman as strong-willed as you would be better suited to be the wife of the head of a bandit gang. But…I didn’t expect a noblewoman to be as good as this one.”
“I mean, are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m serious. You know, I haven’t told you my name yet. I’m Rabi, the leader of the Lonjar bandits. What’s your name?”
“…”
“Rabi, I think they called her Cecilia.”
“Cecilia…It’s a nice name.”
“Oh, by the way, I think they called her Princess, too.”
“Princess…good—I’ll call you Princess too.”
When I didn’t say my name, the other man with a dumbfounded expression told him instead. Furthermore, it was decided that I would be called ‘Princess’, which I was only called by Viktor.
“Hey leader…Are you seriously going to take that woman as your wife? To be honest, I think aristocratic women seem to be selfish in a lot of ways and seem to be a pain in the ass.”
“Hmm, I’m a good man who can listen to such selfishness!”
“…Huh, well, if that’s what the leader wants, then that’s fine. So you’re done with the Shrine Maiden?”
“Yes, I’ve always decided to have one wife, you know. So, you can be my wife without worrying about it.”
“No, no! Because I won’t!”
Rabi looked at me and smiled proudly, and I shook my head vigorously to the side and desperately denied it.
But ignoring me, he started talking to his henchman about the future.
“’For now, it’s not safe to stay here for too long, a temporary hiding place.”
“Hey, the other guys managed to get out and come back…but there’s a chance they’ll find this place.”
“Then we’ll leave as soon as we’re ready! Now go tell the others that!”
“I understand.”
Hearing the leader’s instructions, the henchman hurriedly left the room.
Then Rabi and I were left alone in the room.
“We’ll be ready in a minute, Princess,” he said, “just wait here for a moment. We’ll make the next place a more comfortable place for you to live.”
“No, because I don’t want that at all!”
“Then you’ll have to wait a little while. My precious wife.”
As soon as I stood up and screamed in protest, the leader squeezed me and kissed me on the cheek.
“What?”
I was surprised to see that the leader had left me and quickly left the room while I held the kissed area and was surprised.
“Hey…you! Listen to me!!!!!”
I was screaming such a cry as I banged on the door that had been locked tightly.
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