CH 24

I woke up with a constant dull ache. I open my eyelids and see an unfamiliar canopy. Isn’t this a scenario where you don’t even recognize the ceiling, let alone where you are? No, no, what am I talking about? I know this canopy, don’t I? … It seems my head is still confused.

“Flora! Are you awake!?”

“… Your Highness Ludwig?” I said.

As I endured the pain and moved my head, a bright young boy peered at me. If I had a preference for BL or shota, I’d find him so so handsome I’d start squealing. Unfortunately, I don’t have that preference. He was holding my left hand and I felt uncomfortable, so I shook him off.

“Oh… forgive me,” Ludwig said. “I was holding it while you were unconscious, Flora.”

He said it with a shy smile and it makes my spine shudder. Don’t say something so terrible… I won’t feel happy if a man is holding my hand.

“Are you an idiot?” I said.

“Wha…?” Ludwig sputtered, at a loss.

I can understand it, as I’m sure that if I was the Third Prince, people wouldn’t call me stupid.

“I told you not to come. Then why did you stand in front of that monster?” I asked.

“That’s because you were being attacked, Flora…” Ludwig replied.

“And that is why I asked if you were an idiot,” I shot back. Even if I die, only the eldest daughter of Margrave Carruthers will die. However, if something happened to you, Prince Ludwig, even if I am rescued, it won’t be just me but the rest of House Carruthers will be executed, resulting in so much more loss.”

As he heard my words, Ludwig narrowed his eyes and objected:

“Even if I died there, House Carruthers wouldn’t be at fault! Besides, it’s only natural to want to protect your fiancée!”

Haa… it must be nice to have such a rosy view of things… even if Ludwig’s argument was valid, if they accepted that in a legal sense, the world would have a serious crisis from the precedent.

“Even if there is ultimately no fault, it is still clear that the feudal lord will be held responsible for maintaining security if anything happens, such as while their soldiers patrol the territory. I’m certain Your Highness knows that there will be people working behind the scenes to dispose of troublesome people, right? And even if I die, you’ll just need to get another fiancée, and there are plenty of alternatives. But, there is no substitute for you, Your Highness.”

“Mmh… guh…” Ludwig grunted at the harsh telling off, he bites his lip and looks down in frustration.

Why don’t you just go so far as to break off the engagement? Even Ludwig would be angry at my saying this to his face. Now then? Shall we just break off the engagement?

“Flora, leave it at that. Your Highness Ludwig, I am deeply sorry.”

“Father…” I said.

“Lord Carruthers…” Ludwig said.

I don’t know how long he’d been there, but Father was here in the room. Maybe it’s been since I passed out. No matter what, if you just walked into the room, he should have noticed our conversation. It’s better to believe that he was there from the start.

“It’s fine,” Ludwig said. “Do not worry yourself about it. Flora’s words are certainly not wrong. But Flora! I will always stand in front of you you are in danger! And there is no substitute for you, Flora! For me, you are the only one. The woman who will be my one and only companion!”

Ah, is that how it is…? Isn’t this prince extremely masochistic? I’m starting to worry that he’s really enjoying being bullied because I’m doing it to him, yet he’s still saying things like this.

“If I stay too long, it will be unhelpful to your condition, Flora. I’ll come to visit you again some other time,” Ludwig said before he left with Father.

I feel like I met Father’s eyes for a moment, but I feel like it was a gaze with some implications. Does that mean that the engagement between me and the prince should be canceled as soon as possible, after all?

Anyway, I check my body first. My right arm hurts like crazy. It’s fixed with a sling, but even if I move it a little, or even put some strength into it, it hurts and makes me want to cry. I may not have broken any bones, but my right arm must be in pretty bad shape.

Also, my neck and back hurt. Since my arm was knocked aside from the impact and the sheer strength meant I couldn’t even take a defensive stance, I must have taken considerable damage. It wouldn’t have been strange for me to have a cervical spinal injury or become partially paralyzed.

It’s probably because I was able to reduce the damage and take some instinctive actions thanks to my regular training. If I had been hit straight up, blown away, and slammed into the ground, there is a possibility that my spine and neck would have been broken.

It’s hard to move right away, but if I rest for a while except for my right arm, it should heal soon. I can’t check its exact condition because it’s been bandaged and immobilized. I just know that this much pain must mean it’s in terrible shape.

…… And when I have time to think by myself, I can’t help thinking of that girl’s face. That clear anger and rejection… I’ve done a terrible thing to Louisa. There is no way I can face her anymore. No, I’m not sure I’ll ever even see her again.

When I think about it, my chest hurts and my eyes blur. Haha… me, who should have lived for 30-odd years from my previous life, would do something like this to an eleven-year-old girl… was I a lolicon? I can’t relax unless I’m joking.

What was wrong? I wonder how this happened.…? I just wanted to have fun days with Luisa…

Is it because I lied about my true self after all? Wouldn’t any of this have happened if I had spoken to her from the start Flora of House Carruthers?

But my father ordered me to disguise myself as a man and disguise my true identity. I couldn’t just tell Luisa my real name and gender. Then what should I do? I don’t know anymore.

No good, it’s no good. When I’m alone, I can’t stop thinking like this. I’m going to sleep now. I couldn’t sleep because I keep waking up because of the pain, but I forced myself to cover my head with the covers and continued to struggle desperately to go to sleep.

A week has passed since my battle with the mad horned bear. My right arm still hurts but everything else is much better. With that, I was able to go outside. I haven’t been able to train for the past week, so I’m going to take a walk to rehabilitate my dulled body. That said, I just walked inside the mansion and the training ground behind it, and didn’t go outside the premises.

“Flora! How’s your injury?”

“Your Highness Ludwig… How long will you be here?”

I’m fed up with this handsome boy who keeps finding me and approaching me like a puppy, so I treat him rudely and tell him to go away already in as roundabout fashion as I am able.

“Ah, speaking of that, I decided to ask you to come with me to the royal capital, Flora,” Ludwig said.

“Huh?” I went.

I must look so dumb right now. What did Ludwig say? Me, in the royal capital? Why?

“You are to be knighted in recognition of your valiant effort to protect me at all costs, Flora,” Ludwig said.

“Yeah……?” I said.

Perhaps sensing my confusion, Ludwig explained in detail.

Apparently, it seems I risked my life to protect Ludwig. The truth is that Ludwig rushed to the place where we were being attacked, but for some reason, it seems he thinks I fought to protect him.

And at my age, I was almost alone in subjugating the mad horned bear and protecting the Third Prince.

Apparently, Ludwig worked very hard to twist this story. It’s hard to say it’s a lie, but it’s also hard to say it’s true. I think it’s a mix of twists and distortions, but there’s probably some kind of political reason for it.

For example, I am Ludwig’s fiancée. There may be some kind of meaning or purpose in giving that fiancée an independent peerage separate from her parent’s House. There’s too little information at the moment to say anything definitive, but there seems to be some sort of political intent.

Well, in the end, I was able to defeat the mad horned bear mostly by myself, and Ludwig was protected. If you ignore the fact that he was in danger because he tried to protect me… but…

Even then, talking like this reminded me that Ludwig’s bodyguards were too useless. When I asked him about it, he gave me a satisfactory answer.

Apparently, Ludwig’s bodyguards were the Crown Guard. Normally, when you think of a royal’s bodyguards, you might think they’re an elite group, but in reality, they’re just a bunch of nobles with no experience in actual combat, and they’re just there for show.

Separate from the Crown Guard was the Royal Guard Division who protected the royal castle, and that is the main fighting force. The Royal Guard Division seems to be the authentic elite group, and their security and escort details are perfect. The bodyguards only belong to the noble dandies as a status symbol, so their abilities should be questioned.

“I will ask you to come with me to the royal capital for your knighting ceremony, Flora,” Ludwig said..” We are planning to leave in three days, but are you good to travel with your injuries? If you can’t travel, we can postpone it so long as you tell me right away?

What should I say……? Why am I so worried about this kid…? It’s a little pathetic and makes me cry.

“There is no problem with my condition,” I said. “Have you already spoken to Father about this? If he gives his consent, then I have no need to speak to you.”

“Flora… I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but you’re a bit stiff with me,” Ludwig said. “We’re engaged to each other. And eventually, we’ll be a married couple.”

He says it all with a refreshing smile on his face… if I were a normal nine-year-old girl, I might be enchanted. But to me, it would either be so funny I’d burst out laughing, or my spine would grow cold in shock.

“No, Your Highness,” I said. “I am only one of the candidates for marriage. If something happens to me, other candidates will be selected immediately. I will not do anything beyond my position.”

I will just say that I am just one of the candidates for marriage. There was a notice that I was officially decided as a fiancée, but I would like to pretend that wasn’t the case. Just “one of the candidates” for the marriage. Go with this story. I don’t mind if he cancels the engagement right now and marries someone else.

“Flora… it’s said that it’s good for women to be modest and humble, but there’s no need to do so anymore. We’re to be married. If there are any difficulties in the future, we will overcome them together!”

Does this guy not listen to me at all? Or does not have a brain to make sense of any of it?

I don’t need an engagement with you, so I want you to cancel it right now! Guess that much, at least!

I couldn’t have said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be engaged with you.” so I deceived him with a vague smile, and Ludwig left, perhaps satisfied.

It’s 3 days later. As Ludwig said, I decided to head to the capital with him. My father is included in the group heading to the royal capital this time. Apparently, it doesn’t just end with simply going to the city and being awarded a peerage.

To start, is it okay for me, a woman, to receive a knighthood? As far as I heard from one of my tutors, Sigmund, there seems to be a precedent, so he said that there is no problem, but there is no precedent for the daughter of a margraviate at my age.

In addition to Ludwig’s posse, Father also has my tutors, Dominique who serves as a bodyguard guard, and both Helmut and Isabella.

The tutors will follow me so that they can teach them while I’m in the royal capital. It seems that Dominique had a dispute over whether or not he could be my escort following the mad horned bear incident, but I insisted that Dominique’s judgment was correct, so he remains as my escort.

And as for Helmut and Isabella…these two will also accompany me, personally. They didn’t accompany my brother Friedrich when he moved to the royal capital, but they are still following me. In Friedrich’s case, he stays in the royal capital all the time as he attends the Royal Academy, whereas I only go to the royal capital temporarily, so I can’t say the conditions are the same. I am glad that they are going with me, though.

My brother didn’t include them because he didn’t want them, but Isabella was already planning to retire at her age, so it’s a blessing for me that they’ll be joining me on this long trip to the royal capital.

Regarding Helmut, he had previously said that he would stay at home to take care of his younger sister… Katharina… but this time he’s accompanying me. That’s because Katharina’s malnutrition and her weak constitution have been cured, but I’m also really grateful for that in itself.

I thought I had finally gotten over Katharina, but this time I was shocked again by Louisa. My feelings for her are like a gaping hole, more painful than my right arm. I still have to walk regardless.

I wonder if going to the royal capital will change my mood a bit…? I may meet someone new. With such expectations and anxiety in my heart, we arrived at the royal capital.

T/N: Because I don’t want to reference the exact chapters and spoil future events, just know Flora/Floto’s present and future love interests will eventually return to the story, as Katharina will.