I lowered my posture as I tugged on Princess Victoria’s hand, looking for an escape route along the building.
“Well it’s a bigger site than I thought.”
“I wonder if we can really escape…”
“It’s okay! Let’s make sure we get away!”
I turned to Princess Victoria, who sounded worried, and smiled at her to reassure her.
Then Princess Victoria laughed as she saw me.
“Fufu, when you say it, I really feel like it’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah, it looks like you are feeling better. So let’s try our best!”
“Yeah.”
Then we tried to make as little noise as possible, hiding ourselves in the darkness and moving around in the trees.
As we moved forward in silence, we noticed a light leaking from a window.
I was curious about the light, so I proceeded more cautiously until I reached the bottom of the window and asked Princess Victoria to wait for me as I peered in.
“That’s…Count Strayed and that man with the scar on his cheek, isn’t it?”
While muttering this, I looked around the room those men were in.
Unlike the other rooms I had checked earlier, the furniture and furnishings were neatly arranged.
Furthermore, the carpets were as clean as new, which told me that this room had been repaired as a living space.
In the room, Count Strayed was sitting cross-legged in a chair, drinking wine in an elegant manner.
Then that man with a scar on his cheek, holding a glass of wine in his hand, spoke to him with a grin on his face.
“No~ Master Strayed, everything worked out fine~”
“Fufu, my plan is perfect.”
“That’s right!…So, Strayed-sama, don’t forget what you said about making us nobles when you become the emperor.”
“Yes I know. I promise I won’t make you look bad.”
“Oh! Thank you!”
The man with the scar on his cheek laughed happily and fanned the contents of the glass he was holding at once.
And Count Strayed wryly laughed a little bit as he looked at the man.
…Ah, that is an absolute sign of betrayal
I was very convinced of that when I saw that Count Strayed’s expression.
“But Strayed-sama…will that imperial princess really get married quietly?”
“Huh, She’ll definitely agree to it. It’s true that she may pretend to be a little reluctant to do so, but that’s just because she’s embarrassed. Besides…I’m going to make sure that I love that body so much that she can’t ever live without me.”
With that said, Count Strayed grinned. Then I heard a short little scream from behind me.
I glanced over at Princess Victoria, who was holding her mouth in her hands and looking pale and dazed.
I stroked her head to calm her down.
Then she looked at me and gave me a small nod to let me know she was okay.
I was relieved to see that and was about to move, but then I heard my name.
“Speaking of which, what do you plan to do with that woman named Cecilia?”
“Oh, that cheeky little woman?”
“If you no longer need her, can we have her? She’s a good thing you don’t see very often, and I think she’ll sell well after we’ve had our fun.”
“No, that woman is going to be my concubine.”
“What? Didn’t Strayed-sama only have a passion for the Princess?”
“Of course my love is for Princess Victoria alone. But apart from that, this woman who spoke so cocky to me, I want to make her choke with my own hands. Kekeke, I’m now looking forward to seeing how long she will last.”
When I saw Count Strayed’s very ghastly and nasty face, I made a disgusted look of my own.
“Are you…okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just that I’m very pissed off. That Count Strayed…I’ll definitely make him pay someday!”
“At that time, I’ll join you then!”
Princess Victoria strongly agreed with my words.
This time we decided to leave that place and head for the main gate, which would surely lead to the outside.
But just as we were about to see the main gate, we suddenly heard a loud noise of something breaking down.
“What!?”
I yelled out in surprise as I quickly shielded Princess Victoria behind me, and a very familiar voice jumped into my ears.
“You’re an idiot! You shouldn’t have made that noise when destroying it! Think a little more before you act!”
“Shut up. Wouldn’t this be a quicker way to get a handle on the situation rather than trying to sneak with a few tricks?”
“No one is stupid enough to throw a boulder at a locked gate to destroy it just for the sake of being quick! That would cause a commotion and put the princess in danger!”
For some reason, Rabi’s, the Lonjar bandit leader’s, voice could be heard along with Viktor’s shouting voice.
Huh? Viktor!? Rabi!? What are you two doing here? And for some reason they seem to be together too…
I was baffled by the unexpected combination when yet another voice came to me.
“…Where are you!?”
“Oh, Prince Kaiser! Please don’t go in there without me!”
The voice and Viktor’s shouting apparently indicated that Kaiser had also come to this place.
“Oh! Prince Kaiser! I’m here to help…”
“Cecilia!! Where are you!?”
“…”
Princess Victoria was about to run off happily when she found out that Kaiser had come, but she was so depressed by the fact that he only called my name, that she stopped in her place.
Seeing such a Princess Victoria, I couldn’t say anything.
Kaiser…you should at least call your own fiancée’s name too.
I was at a loss as to what to do with this indescribable atmosphere, and then heard Alexel’s voice.
“Cecilia!! and Victoria! Are you safe!?”
“Oh! Emperor Alexel! And everyone else…I don’t know anymore! Or rather, if this is how it’s going to be, I won’t hesitate to go in too!”
“Ahh, Viktor, it looks like you’ve given up on stopping already. But…why have you come Alexel…”
“Brother, just now, I was second, wasn’t I?”
Princess Victoria surfaced again at the sound of Alexel’s voice, but this time she was completely gobsmacked and disappointed at being called by name after me.
“Come on, come on! It looks like everyone is worried about us and has come to help, so let’s join them!”
“They’re not going to worry about me.”
“It’s fine! I’m sure they’re all worried about Princess Victoria, even if you they didn’t quite said it out loud!”
“…”
As I was thinking about all the things I could do to cheer up Princess Victoria, who was completely depressed, everything seemed to become even more noisy.
“What the hell! What’s the…? What are you doing here!?”
It was the voice of that man with the scar on his cheek. And following that, I heard the angry voices of the men who seemed to be his henchmen.
Princess Victoria and I looked at each other and immediately moved to a position where we could see the main gate.
Then there I saw Kaiser, Viktor, Rabi, Alexel, Prince Alfeld, and even Ghislan and Prince Leon.
And when I looked closely, I realized that Nina and Lady Lateia were watching us from beyond the gate.
I was simply amazed at the appearance of all of them gathered together.
No, no, no, no! No matter how many major figures from different countries are gathered here, it’s too many!
I felt sick that in my mind, but I watched everyone hide in the shadows as they confronted the men with the scars on their cheeks.
“Yo! Head of the Dvirish Thieves, Max, it’s been a long time.”
“…Rabi—you! I don’t know why you’re here! It’s not possible that you’re with a knight commander or royalty or anything like that!”
“…Well~ That’s right when you think about it normally. To be honest, I’m still wondering about this situation. But…you stole the most important thing to me, so I can’t forgive that.”
“What’s the most important thing in your life that I took?”
“Ah, that’s my precious, precious, silver princess!!”
“…Is it that duke’s daughter, Cecilia?”
“Oh, yeah. That princess is going to be my wife, so I can’t just sit back and let her be kidnapped by another man!”
Max’s eyes widened in surprise as Rabi grumbled, and everyone else protested to him in unison.
However, Rabi was completely unfazed and looked at Max intently.
And Princess Victoria was looking at me in an indescribable way.
No, even if you look at me like that, I’m the one who’s troubled!!
I smiled awkwardly at such Princess Victoria.
“Well well I don’t mean to complain about your taste. But more importantly, how did you even find out about this place!?”
“Hmm, it’s easy with the information network of the Lonjar bandits that I lead. I’ve had the information for about six months that the Dvirish bandits have been using this place as their base. I also have information on the aristocrats coming and going from here.”
“Oh, so you know that much. I don’t care. Hey, you guys, take care of these guys right now!”
When Max clicked his tongue, he signaled to his henchmen who were standing behind him.
Upon receiving the signal, the henchmen who had been waiting with their weapons at the ready, attacked Kaiser and the others all at once.
They reacted immediately and drew their weapons to fight back against Max and the others.
Seeing this battle, Princess Victoria and I became very upset.
“What should we do? I didn’t expect a fight to happen here…”
“Brother! And Prince Kaiser! It’s not safe to go on like that!”
“If possible, I would have wanted to meet up with Kaiser and the others before the battle broke out…”
“Then let’s join in for now!”
“No, I’m afraid that if we go up to them in this situation, it might put us all in danger.”
“Then what should we do…”
“For now, let’s just hide here and see when it’s a good time to come out.”
“Yes, well…”
“—No, now is a good time.”
“—What!?”
Suddenly, a voice other than ours came from behind us, and when I turned back in surprise, I saw Count Strayed standing there with a smile on his face.
“You shouldn’t have run away.”
So said Count Strayed, and he grabbed Princess Victoria’s arm and pulled her to his chest.
“Kyaaa!”
“Princess Victoria!”
I hurriedly reached out to rescue Princess Victoria, but another man approached me from behind and clasped my arms.
“Hey! Please let go of Princess Victoria!”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that.”
“Count Strayed! My brother has come! So just give up already!”
“No, it’s a rather opportune situation.”
“What?”
“Come on. Let’s go.”
Princess Victoria glared at the Count Strayed as he caught her. He grinned and laughed, and then, with me and Princess Victoria still in his grasp, he headed down to everyone else where the battle was still going on.
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