CH 152

“Don’t …… come in through the window, Alex!”

Mariastella, who had been disheartened by the unusual situation of a girl jumping in through the window, reacted with a sense of urgency.

The girl called “Rainbow Alex” is scolded with a raised eyebrow.

“Very well, sister. It is your fault that you are talking about such important matters without the mistress in the first place. I’ve heard what you said through the window.” 

“Through the window? ……You mean you were stuck to the wall?” 

This is the third floor of the royal castle. If she falls down, she might be able to get hurt, but Alex is not afraid to show her chest.

“Of course not. It’s easy for a mistress to do. Thanks to you, I know all the details!” 

Alex laughed proudly.

The fact that she was so unconcerned left Mariastella speechless with dismay.

The girl who appeared  from the way she spoke was one of the Imperial Princesses, but her behaviour was a bit rough.

“Uwaaa…..”

“…………..”

Beatrice casually moves her chair away from Alex with a blatant look of withdrawal.

Eician also stands up silently and moves to the wall.

“A,awaaaaaaa”

Startled by the intruder through the window, Carolia was on her buttocks, teary-eyed, and crawled away with her hands to the corner of the room.

The way she moves around on all four legs, it’s hard to believe she’s a woman of noble blood,……,but there’s no one in the room to blame her.

Everyone in the room was well aware of the dangers of getting involved with Alex, a girl who looked a lot like an elf.

〇　　　　　　　　〇　　　　　　　　〇

Alex Rainmakina Amaltu Alsatian is the daughter of an elven princess who married from the “subhuman countries” to the south of the Empire.

(TL:Yes, that’s her full name, アルクス・ラインマキナ・アマルトゥ・アルスライン)

The “Subhuman Nations” were a confederation of several subhuman nations, including beastmen, elves, dwarves, hobbits, giants and many other races.

Although the Empire is now engaged in bloody wars with the sub-human nations, before Zacharias came to the throne, the previous emperors, who did not like war, had a moderate diplomatic policy.

Zacharias, who was crown prince at the time, married Alex’s mother in order to alleviate the friction between the two countries peacefully by establishing a relationship of kinship.

The acceptance of the princess as his wife was the beginning of a friendly relationship between the Elven Kingdom of Amartu and the Empire. Without war, hostilities with the sub-human nations seemed to be over.

However, the honeymoon between the two countries did not last long.

One of the sub-human nations, the Kingdom of Marduk, a nation of werewolves and beastmen, waged war against the Empire because of the slave-hunting of its own people.

Amartu was caught between the Alsatian Empire, where his daughter-in-law was married, and the Marduk Kingdom, a subhuman nation that was an ally.

In the end, Amartu chose to break his friendship with the Empire and join the Marduk Kingdom.

Having lost her position due to the betrayal of her country, Alex’s mother chose to take her own life to take responsibility for her newborn daughter’s plea for her life in a letter.

As a result Alex was raised in the Empire as a motherless princess, the daughter of an enemy subhuman nation.

When a human and a subhuman have a child, the child often inherits the characteristics of its father if it is a boy, or its mother if it is a girl.

Alex was born a girl and inherited the traits of the elven race, making her a hated child in the Empire.

As the daughter of the Emperor, she was not overtly persecuted,……but her position was like a needle in a haystack.

By all accounts, the Imperial Princess Alex lives under a less fortunate star.

But……fortunately or unfortunately, she is not a tragic heroine. Her character was unbelievably strong.

In her eighteen years of life, Alex has caused many problems.

For example – when reading a grimoire in the library, she accidentally triggered a spell and caused a blunder.

Then, when she fought a knight of the Kingsguard in swordplay training, she beat him to a pulp with a cowardly method of blinding him.

In addition, when she heard a maid speaking ill of her, she retaliated by planting snakes and poisonous insects in her bed.

Last but not least, when a noble boy insulted her by calling him a “child of dirty blood” she would hang him upside down from a tree and splash him with pig’s blood from a vat. Then she would laugh loudly.

(TL:I like this tomboy elf) 

In appearance she resembled her dainty elf mother, but inside she was more like Zacharias.

Her behaviour was unpredictable, fierce and belligerent, and she had developed a personality that would use any means to hunt down those she considered his enemies.

〇　　　　　　　　〇　　　　　　　　〇

“Well,……father, I ask you why you are talking about the important subject of marriage with a neighbouring country while excluding your mistress.”

Alex burst into the room and confronted Zacharias, questioning him.

“The prince Raidorl and I are the same age. My mother is an Elven princess, so we should be of equal status. And yet you have excluded me from your political marriage. You do not despise me for being the daughter of an elf, do you!?”

“…… How dare you not say hello? Alex.”

Zacharias chuckles and scratches his head in distress.

Surprisingly, Zacharias had a weakness for daughters with a similar personality to his own.

Whether it is a feeling of bitterness, or is it remorse for having, for whatever reason, driven her mother to commit suicide? Zacharias himself is not sure.

In any case, even the ever-victorious emperor was put to shame by Alex’s uncharacteristically wild behavior.

“I’m surprised you’re so angry…….You’re not interested in marriage, are you?”

“I have no interest in marriage! But……I’m also an Imperial princess. It would be unforgivable for me to miss the opportunity to serve my country where I was born and raised! The fact that my beloved mother’s blood is underestimated, that [an Elven girl is no more than a tool in a political marriage], makes me sick to my stomach!”

“In other words, you don’t mind if I marry you…..to Raidorl? It is strange for me to say this, but the Kingdom of Zain is a former enemy. It’s not always going to be comfortable.”

“HAHA!”

When Zacharias asks, Alex turns her slender body and smiles ferociously.

“Isn’t that exactly what’s happening now!?　Father, do you think that this country is a comfortable place for me?”

“Mu….”

Zacharias is unconsciously convinced by his daughter’s rebuttal.

The Alsatian Empire was still at war with the sub-human nations, and there were few who would side with the Elven-blooded Alex.

The fact that Alex grew up to be stronger than she needed to be may have been a means of self-preservation in order to survive in an environment full of enemies.

In the western part of the continent, where the Kingdom of Zain is located, the number of sub-humans is small.

The lack of familiarity with the unknown race of sub-humans meant that the discrimination were also rare.

“Maybe it would be better for this girl if she married into the Kingdom of Zain. I don’t know what Raidorl thinks of subhumans, but …… he’s not the kind of guy who would abuse his own wife.”

It was only for a short time that Zacharias conversed with Raidorl. The emperor felt almost sympathy for his  future neighbour’s son in law.

Raidorl Zain is a man of the same as Zacharias.

He is a man who distinguishes between friend and foe. He is the kind of man who can be merciless with his enemies and generous with his allies.

That man might be able to accept Alex, who has elven blood.

“…………”

Zacharius looks down from above into the eyes of his daughter, who is staring at him with a challenging look.

Alex is an elf, a race that is discriminated against in the Empire, but she is still the daughter of Zacharius’ blood. He didn’t want her to be unhappy.

If marrying into the Kingdom of Zain is in Alex’s best interest, he should be happy to send her there.

But……

“…… I’ll answer your question. You asked me why I didn’t invite you here.”

“Mu……I did ask you, didn’t I”

Alex raised her eyebrows suspiciously at her father’s sudden return to the subject.

“YareYare,” Sighing at her curious look, Zacharias stroked her head.

“I didn’t call you here because…… you’re still a child.”

Alex was eighteen years old this year,……, but she was only about the height of the emperor’s waist.

She is too small for her age and her flat, uneven body does not look like a woman of marriageable age.

The reason why Zacharias did not invite Alx to this room was not because he disliked her as the daughter of an elf.

It was only because she looked like a child that he naturally excluded her as a candidate for political marriage.

“…..Elves are slow growers, aren’t they? Come on, you’ve got to realise that.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. It doesn’t matter if you are small, as long as you can bear children. Last week the moon came, so there’s no problem in conceiving, is there?”

“………… That’s, well.. congratulations. I’ll tell the chef to serve a cake tonight.”

As he stroked the head of his daughter, who looked no more than ten years old, Zacharias let out a sigh with an indescribably subtle look on his face.

He was refused by his other daughters who met his requirements. If he sends his daughter who doesn’t want to go, he will only make her uncomfortable because of Raidorl’s character. It would not be a wedge that would hold together the young king and his daughter. 

In some respect, Zacharias is very grateful that Alex is willing to do that…But will Raidorl like the idea of a princess who looks like a child?

“If he likes it…..That’s not going to be funny. The man who is to become my son has a taste for little girls, which is deeply unpleasant.”

The holder of the most powerful holy sword on earth, Zacharias Von Althlein, shook his head slowly as he thought of the face of the man who might become his son in law.