Chapter 52

***

“I told you that I’ve been given a lot of missions to subdue monsters, right? That day was like that, too. Just like Your Highness the Princess last night, His Majesty appeared from somewhere and saved me.”

Lora leaned near the door as if missing something from a long time ago and stared blankly at the sky. It seemed to be the extension of the conversation that was cut off when Leav came in.

Anyway, is dad some kind of victim collector? I know Sir Boyd was also saved from such a situation, but to think that Lora as well.

“After that, did you quit being a mercenary and become a knight?”

“That’s right. Well… At first, I didn’t know that he was the emperor because of his disguise. It was just, he was a strong knight, and I wanted to learn by his side. I didn’t know it would become like this either.”

She shrugged and chuckled, as she said so in a playful tone.

Then, there was a small knock. Lora and Randy, who went out to take a look for a moment, returned to the room and informed me of the visitor.

“Princess, the maid of Lady Abdrach is here. She has something to tell you. Should I let her in?”

“No, for now Randy, can you go back and ask what are her intentions?”

“Yes, I’ll be right back.”

It wasn’t long before Randy, who left the room again, came back.

“What is it?”

“She says that Lady Abdrach asked for an audience. I heard that she’s already in front and is waiting.”

I frowned my eyebrows slightly. No matter how accessible it is than usual because of the competition, it is rude to come so early like this.

“Can you tell her it’ll be difficult right now?”

“Yes, I’ll be back.”

Randy went out right away to convery my words. As I ate the fresh soup, I began to worry about Randy, who was somehow late.

“……..Randy’s running late.”

“I know right. Did something happen?”

Melissa and Amanda whispered in the back. If Randy happens to face Abdrach in person then……..?

When I thought that far, I had no choice but to put down the spoon right away.

“Will you clean up the table?”

“Oh my, Princess. Are you going to stop eating?”

“I think there’s something important happening. Don’t follow me, everyone.”

At my firmness, the maids stopped modestly, but only Lora firmly followed me.

While passing through the hallway, I caught glimpses of Lora’s silent figure in the window. I stopped walking and looked back at her.

“Lora, you wait as well.”

“The safety of your Highness is my……”

Lora’s words were cut off by my gesture. Following my gesture, I quietly whispered to her ears as she bent her upper body as much as she could.

“I’m going to make a mess starting right now.”

“Wait, wait a minute.”

“I don’t want to show a bad appearance , so please go to the room. This is an order.”

In fact, I knew that she would be watching from a distance anyway even if I issued such an order, but I intentionally said it sternly.

As if leaving behind Lora, who was taken aback, I ran to the entrance where Lady Abdrach was waiting.

And at the entrance, something I was worried about was happening.

The moment I saw Randy’s back with her head down, the neatly tied up hair in a mess, my resentment for myself who lightly handled the rudeness in the past, rose.

At the same time, anger over the rudeness of the worked up Lady soared.

“What are you doing?”

I immediately went in between Randy and Lady Abdrach.

“Your Highness!”

Lady Abdrach, looked at me as if she had become a gentle sheep as if she didn’t have an extremely vicious expression just now. I hurriedly looked at Randy, turning my back on such Lady.

“Randy, let me see.”

Randy, who was trembling with her eyes on the floor, flinched and raised her head carefully.

I didn’t know because I saw her from behind, but her left cheek was quite red. No, it wasn’t just red, it was quite swollen.

This is a clear sign of a strike. My heart pounded and a cold sweat ran in my back. The fear I felt when I was hit by my grandmother seemed to assimilate with Randy’s frightened feelings.

No, I think it’s a slightly different emotion. What is it?

“Princess………”

However, as soon as Randy’s muffled voice, came to my ears, I came to my senses. At the same time, I realized that my hands were shaking.

I quietly clenched my fist and asked a question with my teeth clenched.

“….. What happened?”

“Oh my, your Highness. What’s with the petty thing interrupting in order to separate your Highness from me?”

The answer came out of Lady Abdrach standing behind my back. I quietly turned around and glanced at the coy face of the young lady.

“It’s true that I told her not to let you in.”

“…….. Pardon?”

Perhaps she didn’t know I would speak openly, but the Young lady’s expression quietly distorted.

“That’s what I told her, but she said that Your highness couldn’t have said that……..”

“I couldn’t have?”

“Yes……..”

At my dumbfounded question, Randy agreed. The source of trouble was me ignoring Abdrach’s rudeness since yesterday.

It was just not worth it, however, it ended up like this?

Beating. Of course, even if she harms me in the future, it’s my fault that I didn’t think a mere 15-year-old young lady right now would be able to do anything.

Something wriggled in the corner of my chest. At first, I thought it was fear caused by trauma, but I can clearly feel that it was not.

The feeling of wanting to hit the young lady who hit Randy, and the maid next to her right away. The emotion that stimulates my impulse makes my anger soar to the top of my head.

Oh. I realized it late. This is anger derived from hurting the person I care about.

I decided not to hide this feeling. My gaze went straight to the maid of the young lady.

The eyes looking down calmly as if they were innocent are irritating.

“Since when did the duchy rank higher than the Imperial Family?”

I belatedly realized that if I let go of the rudeness no matter how much I don’t care, it would be my people who would be ignored.

That’s why I had to clearly break their spirits at this time.

“What do you….”

“Your greetings. I don’t think I received them properly.”

“I, I see the glory of the empire.”

“I see the glory of the empire.”

When I tilted my head and spoke, Lady Abdrach and her maid hurriedly bowed their heads. The young lady looked busy holding a letter in an envelope with one hand and holding the hem of her dress.

I glanced at the envelope with the corner of my eyes. In a smooth font, the text “Dear Your Majesty Nanuk” was written.

It seemed that there was no reason to send the letter to the academy because the engagement wasn’t official yet.

For such a mere reason, you came to see me and hit my maid……..

I burst out a brief forced smile as I saw the girls staggering while holding the hem of their dress with messy manners to greet in a hurry.

“How can people from a noble duchy greet so awkwardly?”

“That’s, our lady was flustered………”

Slap—

How painful can it be for a 10-year-old to hit, but I slapped her left cheek with all my might.

“I don’t remember allowing you to open your mouth.”

“I, I was wrong. Your Highness!”

The young lady’s maid knelt down and began to beg. The nervous Lady Abdrach took a step closer to me.

“You, your Highness the Princess. My maid was foolish, with a merciful heart please…….”

“Merciful heart? Why should I give you something that you people don’t even have?”

“That’s……..”

“That’s strange. I’ve never allowed the Young lady to talk either.”

Only then did the young lady of Abdrach, who closed her mouth tightly, didn’t know how to hold back her frowning forehead and trembled.

“Are you angry? You can answer this.”

“No, that’s not it, Your Highness.”

It was an obvious voice that forced an answer.

“Really? That’s a relief. It’s too early to be angry.”

“Yes……? What do you……?”

“That was for Randy just now.”

Slap— the sound of the friction between the palm and flesh rang one more time.

“This is for the rudeness towards me.”

The young lady, who couldn’t grasp the situation for a while, grabbed her cheek and trembled. Her clear purple eyes were mixed with shock and humiliation and became cloudy.

“W, what is this!”

I massaged my tingling hands.

“Are you angry?”

“Of course I’m angry! How can I not be?!”

She shouted with a flushed face.

“Does it hurt?”

“What kind of obvious….”

“I thought you didn’t know something like pain since you were beating her as if it was nothing.”

“Ha? Your highness, are you taking the side of that lowly maid?!”

What do you mean by sides, so childish.

Lady Abdrach’s raised eyes gleamed fiercely. I calmly spoke to the fuming young lady.

“What do you mean by lowly maid? Lady Abdrach. All the people in the Princess’ Palace represent me, so it’s like you just slapped me. If Randy and I decide to make this a problem, the Duke will have to come running right away and beg to spare you while kneeling and bowing his head in front of me. Because of you who acted foolishly. No matter how much you grew up *wrapped in a skirt, shouldn’t you be sensible?”

[tn: * it means sth like ‘spoiled’]

At my words, Lady Abdrach’s face turned red.

“That—”

“I must’ve looked funny because I just let it slide, right? I only let go of the rude words and actions that the young lady showed yesterday because it was so low to the point it was not worth answering back.”

I cut her off and said what I had to say. In the first place, the source of trouble was that I, who was almost 30, roughly let it go because I found it bothersome to think about what to say with a 15-year-old.

The young lady, who began to tear up around her eyes, closed her mouth perhaps because she could finally grasp the situation. I smiled at that appearance and said.

“But it’s different right now. This is an issue that I cannot easily let go. No matter how much you are the young lady of a duchy, I, the princess, hold a different power, I want you to remember that clearly.”

It is said that the duchy is close to the imperial family, but in the end, it is only a duchy. Do you really not know the fact that there is a huge gap with the Imperial family?

I firmy said it again.

“Don’t bother the people around me again.”

I didn’t have that many emotional ups and downs.

I always had to read the room and suppress my emotions. That’s why I roughly let go of most things.

If I can endure one thing, I’ll be quiet, but even more so, when I can’t feel the value of replying.

However, I realized this time that I wouldn’t be able to endure it when my anger is provoked.

[tn: word used for anger here means ‘making someone angry by touching a weak point that shouldn’t be touched’]

In addition, I felt something from this incident. The fact that if I roughly let something go because I find it bothersome, the arrow can be directed to the people around me.

This is probably why Lora told me to abandon excessive kindness. Lady Abdrach, who is now starting to shed tears, sniffled and said.

“I, I, I’m going to tell my dad about this in detail!”

“Do you think you’re the only one who has a dad?”

I also have one now. That too, a very reliable and caring dad.

It’s a little childish, but it was the perfect word for the young lady with low mental age.

Finally, her complexion became pale as if she had fully grasped the situation.

“Ho, however! The weight of the crime of hitting a mere maid and hitting a lady of a duchy is different!”

[tn: basically she means that ‘she just hit a mere maid but the princess hit a young lady of a duchy’]

“Do you really think that it’s a crime for me to slap the lady in the cheek?”

I don’t really like to opress someone using my position, but I should use it when I have to. The young lady, who belatedly understood what I meant, stiffened her face.

“I told you so. Everything in the Princess’ palace represents me.”

“Ho, however that maid first…….”

“What about the maid? She just told you what I said. Nevertheless, it was the young lady who misunderstood and took it out on her.”

The young lady, who now shed tears, looked at me with trembling eyes, while holding her cheek, which was smooth as before, as if she had suffered a serious injury.

“My lady, when you hit someone, be prepared to get hit as well.”

Lady Abdrach was shaking as she held back her anger with her fist clenched.

Well, that’s none of my business. I shook my hand like chasing away a fly.

“You may go now. For your information, I’m not going to tell anyone about today. Of course, if the young lady opens her mouth first….. then the situation changes.”

If I do this much, they should have understood it now.

“Randy, let’s go back.”

“Ye, yes Princess!”