CH 56

t/n

i’ve decided to change ryno’s name to the literal translation, ‘muso’. i previously translated it as ryno because i mistakenly thought it was the meaning behind his name, but it wasn’t. so henceforth, ryno will be known as muso, and when i have time, i’ll go through all my chapters (on my drafts, here, and wattpad GHSLDKFJ PAIN) and correct his name ^^

“Your Highness, can we take a short break…?”

“It must’ve been very tiring for you, right?”

Ziken guided the horse with Olivia in his arms.

“Haa, just how hard was it for you while you were in there?” He brushed his thumb over her chapped lips with a pained expression.

“I want to go wash up in the stream, even just a bit.”

“Alright, it’ll be safe for a while since we’ve already come this far.”

Ziken let out a sigh as he turned back to look at the way they came from. He got off the horse first and helped Olivia down.

He let out a long sigh as he watched her walk heavily toward the sound of water. To think that such a bright and energetic child would look so dejected…

“Your Highness. It’s dangerous for Your Highness to accompany us all the way.” A knight approached him to warn him.

“So you want me to send Livi off on her own? I should at least see her off safely to the villa first before I return.”

“But the jailbreak would have already been discovered, so at any rate…”

“Do I look like someone who can’t even take care of themselves?”

“…My apologies.” At Ziken’s reprimand, the knight eventually bowed his head and retreated.

It was when he turned his head in the direction Olivia went to wash up, worried that she would need a towel or additional outerwear.

“Wh-What is that?!”

A fierce flash of light burst out from where she had disappeared to, causing the knights to kick up a ruckus.

“Livi!” The shocked Ziken dashed in her direction in an instant. 

Standing there was Olivia, whose hand was bleeding from an injury that seemed to be made with a sharp rock. Although he was momentarily surprised, he could see that Olivia was standing in the centre of a large summoning circle. 

“I’m not resigned to this…! Frody!”

The summoning circle which quickly absorbed her blood, let out a strong light, circling quickly until it formed a figure.

“Hmm? What is it?”

The figure that appeared was the demon that had been seen in the imperial palace’s drawing room. Shocked, Ziken drew his sword, but Olivia reached Frody first.

“Oh, it’s my fake saintess again.” He acknowledged Olivia, who grabbed him by the collar. 

“Sign a contract with me, right this instant!”

“Woah, calm down Miss Fake.”

“Fake, don’t call me fake!” Shrieking back, Olivia pulled Frody by the collar.

“!”

What happened next made Ziken’s breath stop. His heart sank with a thud. 

Olivia was kissing Frody. The eyes of Frody, who was looking down at Olivia with an expression of, ‘What’s wrong with her?’, met Ziken’s. The look in his eyes quickly became provocative as he wrapped his arms around Olivia’s waist. He parted his lips as his long and slender fingers swept over every corner of Olivia’s nape and hair. The kiss gradually deepened as Frody continued to keep his eyes on Ziken. 

And Ziken, whose thoughts had come to a complete standstill. With a face filled with shock, he continued to watch as Olivia and Frody kissed deeply, not even daring to breathe. 

“You, you bastard!”

Ziken only came to his senses after the angered voice of his knight had been cut off. “Get away from her, you demon bastard!” Ziken swung his sword at Frody.

However, Frody dodged it lightly and pulled Olivia closer toward him by her waist. “Woah, woah. What will happen if your pretty lover over here gets hurt?”

“Get away from Livi!” The moment he shouted that, a whiff of gold osmanthus brushed past the tip of Ziken’s nose.

“Why should I? From a girl who has thrown herself into my arms and is clinging onto me like this?”

The scent became so overwhelmingly strong that it began to dizzily muddle all of Ziken’s senses. His vision began to swim and his body swayed unsteadily. Although he tried to pick up his sword from the ground and come to his senses, all he could see in his blurry vision was Olivia, who was hanging tightly onto Frody’s neck.  

“Li-Livi…”

“This is my order as your contractor. Take me to that woman!”

“That woman? Oh, you mean my saintess?”

“Urk…! ‘Your saintess’ is meant to be me!”

“Yeah, yeah. Alright. But granting that is a bit difficult.”

“What? Why?! The words of your contractor are meant to be followed unconditionally though!”

“That’s true, but…” Blocking his words, Olivia kissed him deeply again.

“Will this do? What else do you want? You said that my body would be enough!”

“Hmmm~?”

“Do you want me to give my soul as well? Okay, I’ll give it all to you, so just take me to her right now!” 

Frody could see that Olivia was holding a dagger in her arms as well. “No matter what you give me, there’s nothing I can do to help you kill the saintess, so… huh?”

No matter how deeply the saintess fell for Lecht, she was still a saintess. He could still coax her into becoming his, so it was still too early to make a decision to kill her. 

Just as he was about to refuse, a strong flash of light burst out from under his feat. It was a teleportation circle that stretched over Olivia and Frody of course, and even Ziken and his knights. 

“Huh??” The light engulfed them along with Frody’s rather stupid-sounding exclaimation. The beam of light shot up into the sky with a powerful gale and disappeared. 

The forest returned to its tranquil state once more. With only the harrumphing sound of the horses that were still tied to the trees. 

After a while, a bear-like figure appeared behind a tree.

“This much should do it, right?” 

A baby face that seemed incompatible with that hulking body.

“Phew, teleporting is just as hard as I expected. Especially with such a large number as well.” Muso let out a sigh as he slumped against the tree. Humans needed to use a space travel portal to cross long distances, but for demons, Muso’s ability was enough to allow them to travel short distances. “Her Majesty will take care of the rest, right?” 

He looked up at the moonlight that was shining through the foliage of the trees. Seeing as his heart was pounding violently, it seemed like it wouldn’t be too long until the moon turned red. A happy smile flashed across Muso’s lips.

‘As expected, Her Majesty is the best.’

It reminded him of when he first met the saintess when he was little. 

* * *

pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:

There were many people in attendance at the proclamation ceremony. Although it had been chaotic due to the various recent commotions, they had all still come running since this had been all the talk lately. The curiosity they held toward the Saintess of the Lunar religion, who had finally appeared after a hundred years, was also quite large. 

“Your Majesty, you must have been deeply concerned.”

“What could there be to be concerned about? I’m just relieved that it could be resolved.” All of them were gradually getting on the emperor’s nerves, but the emperor only brushed it off while smiling craftily like a fox.

“For him to leave the Princess of Darchez, who will become the Saintess of the Lunar religion to be by the side of a scammer like that is a bit…”

“Shush. What if someone hears?”

“You clearly think so as well. But on the other hand, Prince Linden Ezzarson was on Grand Duke Arvis’…”

Most of the whispering was about the crown prince’s choice and their growing interest in Linden. 

[Are they cursing the crown prince as well? Is that punk actually that pathetic?]

‘I can hear it as well. My mind is already quite chaotic, so you don’t need to do a play by play commentary of the situation right now either.’

I could naturally hear it all as well, yet Lunar still insisted on delivering the news to me again.

[My daughter is holding her proclamation ceremony, yet you want me to keep quiet. Isn’t that too much?]

‘Do you want to see me make a mistake in front of everyone? I don’t have any time to worry about you, so please be quiet.’

[Eiii, how cold.]

Despite grumbling, Lunar quieted down. Thanks to this, I feigned ignorance and was able to deal with the people who approached me. 

“Thank you for coming.”

“Don’t tell me you asked for this sort of favour because you thought I wouldn’t come?”

“Would that not be the case?”

Alion couldn’t find the words to reply to what I had said with a smile. Instead, he ended up changing the subject and threw out another question. “Why did you ask us for guards?”

“You just said so earlier. Because I thought you wouldn’t come.”

“Then just giving me an invite would’ve done the job; I can’t help but think that you have other intentions behind why you deliberately asked me for guards to secure this event.”

This guy really… He wasn’t good at expressing his feelings to his younger sister, yet he’s able to be straightforward at times like this. 

“It’s not like the paladins of the Lunar religion aren’t skilled enough, and even if they are lacking, Saintess also has…” Alion silently alternated his gaze between Linden and Lecht, who were standing somewhat closeby. It was a gaze that said that I could have used the Grand Duke of Arvis’ manpower or the mercenaries that belonged to the Ezzarson Guild.

“Due to the nature of this ceremony, Kelber, who’s always attached to me as a guard, can’t be by my side today… you don’t believe this excuse, right?”

“…You mean that puppy?”

I smiled and properly explained to Alion, who had a ‘does that even make any sense’ look on his face. “Just because. It’s not bad for us to look like a close pair of siblings to other people anyway.”

Alion swept his gaze around me with a complex look on his face.

“Meliara is over there.” I pointed to an empty seat on the second floor. It was a place that I had deliberately asked the priests to leave vacant for Meliara. Alion, who was staring at that place, shook his head and turned his eyes away.

“May I ask you a question?”

“Yes. As long as I can answer it.”

“You said that you’d oust the duke, right?” I placed more emphasis on the word ‘oust’. 

Alion nodded as well, as if he had noticed my meaning behind it too. “There is only one reason why I lowered my head in submission to the crown prince. And that was because my younger sister wanted him.”

“…”

“Although I am also at fault for pushing my younger sister to that point, I still cannot condone my father’s actions. So now, I no longer have any reason to support His Highness the Crown Prince, nor the reason to go along with my father either.”

I smiled at his resolute tone. Since once a person who is simple and honest makes up their mind, it won’t be easy for them to break it.

“You’ve come to a good conclusion. I strongly support it. Then, I think today’s task will also be a good gift for you.”

“Gift?” He asked back, but a priest who was in charge of the ceremony began to guide everyone to sit down.

“Then, shall we move as well?” 

I was supposed to wait in the space behind the podium and come out when it was time for me to do so. It was when I stepped onto the stairs leading to the waiting area. 

Boom!

With a loud explosion, a huge whirlwind began to form in the middle of the temple. It was so powerful that it had enough force to make cracks appear in the floor and for the pillars to shake. People screamed and tried to flee in every direction to avoid it while Alion’s knights which were standing at attention proceeded to pull out their weapons. 

“Whew~ Muso’s wind seriously isn’t normal.” It was much more formidable than I had thought it was.

[After loosening the security of the temple’s boundaries earlier, is the play that my daughter planned finally starting now?]

‘Yes. So Lunar should also get the timing correct.’

[Of course! This is my specialty after all!]

After the wind dispersed with a flash, the appearances of Olivia and Frody were revealed, as expected. Behind them was also Ziken and his knights, who were still reeling from the teleportation.

“W-What the hell is going on with the situation here?”

“Over there, isn’t that the crown prince?”

“How could the criminal be here…?!”

“I-It’s a demon! The criminal really showed up with a demon in tow!”

All the nobles and spectators that were gathered in the temple were astonished. 

Whilst everyone was still stuck in shock, Olivia pointed at me with a dagger in her hand and shouted, “Frody, kill that woman right now!! That’s an order!”

The words that came out of her mouth made many people gasp sharply before fainting. There were some who really fainted, while others had their mouths hung wide open, unable to say anything.

“No, because our contract…” The sound of Frody’s voice, which was puzzled at the situation like everyone else, was heard slightly.

However, his words were buried under Alion’s shout. “Protect the saintess and subdue the intruders!!”

“Yessir!”

Ziken, who had finally managed to come to his senses when the Darchez’s elite corps flocked over with their swords and spears, was greatly flustered. He scanned the situation sprouting from his surroundings, and then slapped his hand to his forehead at the sight of Olivia and Frody. “Why is Livi with that bastard…” His face revealed the immense shock and betrayal he felt in that moment.

“Catch the criminal!”

But at Alion’s shout, Ziken was shocked back to reality and picked up his sword that was lying on the floor. “Protect Livi!”

“Y-Your Highness?”

“Right this instant!!”

His knights were briefly baffled by his orders. Half of them bit the bullet while half of them took up their swords with a sense of loyalty to Ziken.

“Block them!”

“Catch her!”

“Kill that woman—!!”

All kinds of screams and shouts were mixed together with the sharp sound of swords clashing against each other in the Great Temple. 

[As expected, the funniest thing in the world is watching fights!!]

Feeling refreshed as I heard Lunar say the words I had wanted to say, I struggled to keep the corners of my mouth from raising into a smile.