“Yes, Your Highness?”
The secretary asked back, thinking that she was talking to him, but Bliny’s gaze was far away.
“You can’t do that?”
“Your Highness...”
“Or, you don’t want to do it?”
“...”
The secretary closed his mouth with a troubled expression.
“What did I do so wrong? I’ve never done that to you.”
“...”
Bliny, who had been mumbling something that only she knew, lowered her body and completely submerged herself in the water.
“I...”
The secretary was startled and tried to move his body, but stopped when he saw a maid shake her head.
Bliny looked like someone who had to be submerged somewhere right now.
Bliny got up just before she could breathe.
Swish!
Water flowed down from her soaking wet hair.
Through her hair, he could see her wet, white skin.
“How do I get to the villa?”
“Yes, Your Highness? ...Ah, that..."
The secretary’s expression hardened.
Bliny was talking about going to the villa to meet someone who had something to say about her child.
She had to sneak in.
She was demanding that he come up with a way to do so.
“It’s very dangerous. If His Majesty finds out...”
“You guys. Get out.”
Before the secretary could finish speaking, Bliny sent the maids out.
The maids who remained in the palace were all those brought from the Principality of Alito. That was why the palace was so secretive.
Thump.
The bathroom door closed.
“Come here.”
Bliny raised her finger and gestured to the secretary.
The secretary bit his lip and approached. When Bliny stopped gesturing and held her hand still, he knelt down and kissed the back of her hand.
“Not right now.”
Bliny said, slowly stroking the secretary’s chin.
“If it’s dangerous, I’ll go at night. After the king is asleep.”
“That is... In that case...”
“...I’ll make it so.”
“Yes.”
Bliny grinned and took her hand away.
“Take off your shirt. And roll up your pants.”
“...”
When the secretary took off his shirt, Bliny pointed to the soap the maids had left behind.
“Since there are no maids, you will take care of my bath. Slowly, gently.”
“...Thank you, Your Highness.”
The secretary swallowed dryly and grabbed the soap.
Bliny smiled faintly as if relieved.
Once the King fell asleep.
Another problem would be falling asleep.
Black had to come on his own, no matter when. She had been making things happen.
But Bliny was wrong.
The king was even less patient than she thought.
“His Majesty sent me because he thought it was taking too long to change your clothes. He was worried that there might be a shortage of help at the palace.”
The King sent someone.
It was the chief chamberlain of the main palace with eyes as sharp as a snake.
“Tell him that I am taking a bath.”
If there was no one, she would have just left, but he came all the way to the bathroom and spoke to the closed door.
The secretary pretended not to be there and held his breath, and Bliny made a splashing sound.
“I will tell you. By the way, did the secretary of the main palace come to the Princess’s palace? ”
Bliny stopped and snickered.
“Why are you asking?”
“His Majesty the King is looking for him, but no one has come.”
“Am I the one who finds people?”
“...I am sorry, Your Highness the Princess. Then I will leave.”
The chamberlain moved away.
A maid knocked on the bathroom door to tell her that he had completely left the room.
“Greed at an old age.”
Bliny shook her head.
“He is doing things he never did before. He has never even been in charge of his own government.”
On the other hand, the secretary’s face turned pale.
As Bliny had said, it was something he never did. The King, who changed his concubine once a month, never cared about other people’s indecency.
“I... think it would be best for us to leave now, Your Highness the Princess.”
Bliny made a face that clearly showed her disappointment.
“And now?”
“That is... is Majesty the King...”
Bliny sat up and poked the secretary’s shoulder with her fingernail.
“Do as you wish. But even though you can step out of this bathtub now, you can’t step out of me completely. Don’t forget. Tonight, after the King is asleep.”
“Understood... Your Highness the Princess.”
The secretary trembled with damp hands as he picked up his clothes and put them on.
Bliny stayed in the lukewarm water, regardless of whether he went out or not.
“It’s annoying if you act like that.”
But she couldn’t kill the King because it would make her position even more difficult.
“War is the time to do this.”
War was always a good excuse when the royal family was in disarray. All the internal affairs were swept away by war.
It would be even better if the King went to his parent’s house and died on the road.
“...As expected.”
As expected, the Princess of Nauk should have been killed here.
It wasn’t too late. After all, she was here.
“...”
Bliny closed his eyes and fell into thought.
How could she kill the Princess of Nauk?
“I can’t believe it. Klinefelter opened his mouth so easily. I thought he would see worse.”
The deserted beach was covered with a different sunset today.
The colors of the red sun setting on the blue sea were so colorful that Liene stopped walking for a moment.
Black covered Liene with his body heat from behind.
“I agreed to hand over the new soldier to Nauk if he just testified in front of the King. I didn’t know he would do that.”
It would have been a lie if he hadn’t expected such words.
“I thought he would open his mouth quickly if I guaranteed him a reward. He seems to be the type who gives up quickly.”
“Um... Even from what I know, he wasn’t very persistent.”
“That’s fortunate. The King will cut ties with the Grand Princess a little sooner.”
“That’s right. Thanks to that, my return to Nauk might be a little faster.”
The sea breeze was still unfamiliar.
It was cold, humid, and had various smells, and it made Liene feel a sense of longing for some reason.
“Do you miss Nauk already?”
“A little? But it’s still bearable. But if I came here alone without you, I would have wanted to go back.”
Black smiled and stroked Liene’s hair.
“I’m still pretty good. It really feels like I’m traveling.”
“When the water returns to Nauk and I have less to worry about, I want to go to other countries.”
“I’ll do that. I’ll look for a good place.”
“Wow. How can you only say such nice things?”
Liene turned around and hugged Black tightly. That’s why Black couldn’t stop smiling. His lips were stretched out the whole time.
“But to get the ring back, I’ll have to meet the Arch Princess at least once, right?”
“You don’t want to?”
“No way.”
“Then I’ll go through someone else.”
“Hmm... I guess that can’t be possible.”
It didn’t seem like Arch Princess Bliny would give up the ring so easily. If she had, she wouldn’t have come all the way to Sharka.
“The ring is more important than anything else, so I’ll put aside my complaints. Instead, if the situation allows, I’d like to be present when you meet the Grand Duchess.”
“I don’t want that.”
“Why?”
Black briefly covered Liene’s eyes as she raised her head and looked at him.
“You don’t know what she’ll do.”
“So if it’s dangerous, you’re in the same boat.”
“I’m not saying she’ll necessarily try to hurt you. The Grand Duchess...”
Black paused for a moment.
“She’s someone who can easily make others uncomfortable.”
Bliny was the kind of person who made you feel like you were looking at a detailed painting depicting hell.
From a distance, it was a gorgeous painting that caught your eye, but when you got closer, the painting was covered up with color.
Bliny, who had been dazzlingly colorful in Bluewarren, was depicted when they met again in Alito a few years later.
Even if you didn’t believe in hell, looking at a painting like that for a long time would make you feel like something inside you was being crushed.
There was no reason for Liene to feel that way.
Since she was a good person, it would be harder for her to endure than others.
“That sounds like... a terrible person.”
Instead of answering, Black ran his fingers through her hair that was tangled in the sea breeze.
“You don’t necessarily need to know that there are such people.”
As if a living human didn’t necessarily need to see hell.
“Something is quite different from what I thought. I vaguely felt that the Arch Princess was your ex-lover.”
“I won’t deny that we spent time together. However, I would like to keep that fact and the Princess separate.”
“Hmm... If you’re worried that I might get hurt, then it’s okay. Lafitte Kleinfelter is just as bad of a person.”
Black sighed lightly.
“If it were that bad, I wouldn’t say something like that.”
“Ah... That’s why I’m even more worried. Kleinfelter did all sorts of things. He even forced me onto a cart.”
So he suddenly became worried.
Bliny was several times more horrible and tough than Kleinfelter.
“Should we go back? The nights at the beach are cold.”
Black turned Liene around.
There was no sign of people around, but this place was too exposed. If she were hiding somewhere behind the inn walls and fired an arrow, it would be too dark to see well.
“Yes. I’ve lost.”
Black hugged Liene as if he was wrapping his arms around her and left the beach.
And that choice was very appropriate.
It was more like a premonition than a thought, and at this very moment, someone was really hiding behind the inn walls.
With an arrow.
“Krrr!”
As soon as Klima saw the arrow-wielding man, she approached him and threw a punch.
He was so impatient that he didn’t think about anything. The punch, thrown without any consideration, broke the opponent’s front teeth.
“Ugh, woof...”
The man, who was probably the assassin, stumbled as he bled. He came to his senses when he saw the arrow that had fallen at his feet. Klima calmly put his arms around the assassin’s neck from behind.
“Ugh!”
“Who are you?”
“Ugh, uh-uh! Ugh!”
“Who sent you?”
“Ugh, uh, uh...”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll break you.”
The assassin struggled. Klima easily held him back using his large body.
However, the assassin had a dagger hidden. As he struggled, he took out the dagger that was tied to the inside of his thigh and stabbed Klima with it.
“...It hurts.”
Klima winced as he was stabbed in the side. The assassin, sensing this was the moment, pushed Klima away with all his might.
“No.”
Klima held on to the assassin, enduring the pain of being stabbed by the sword.
“I let go... and the Princess is gone. Now... never again...”
“Let go! Where the hell did you get such a fool!”
The assassin twisted the blade he had stuck into his side in shock.
“...Ugh.”
Klima let out a small scream.
“Let go!”
“No...”
He knew that the assassin was about to shoot an arrow. Klima gripped the assassin tighter, determined not to let anything happen to Liene again.
His side hurt terribly, and his vision became blurry. His grip gradually loosened.
“...Hey, who’s there!”
Fortunately, someone had spotted them.
It was Tiwakan, who had been guarding the backyard.
The secretary asked back, thinking that she was talking to him, but Bliny’s gaze was far away.
“You can’t do that?”
“Your Highness...”
“Or, you don’t want to do it?”
“...”
The secretary closed his mouth with a troubled expression.
“What did I do so wrong? I’ve never done that to you.”
“...”
Bliny, who had been mumbling something that only she knew, lowered her body and completely submerged herself in the water.
“I...”
The secretary was startled and tried to move his body, but stopped when he saw a maid shake her head.
Bliny looked like someone who had to be submerged somewhere right now.
Bliny got up just before she could breathe.
Swish!
Water flowed down from her soaking wet hair.
Through her hair, he could see her wet, white skin.
“How do I get to the villa?”
“Yes, Your Highness? ...Ah, that..."
The secretary’s expression hardened.
Bliny was talking about going to the villa to meet someone who had something to say about her child.
She had to sneak in.
She was demanding that he come up with a way to do so.
“It’s very dangerous. If His Majesty finds out...”
“You guys. Get out.”
Before the secretary could finish speaking, Bliny sent the maids out.
The maids who remained in the palace were all those brought from the Principality of Alito. That was why the palace was so secretive.
Thump.
The bathroom door closed.
“Come here.”
Bliny raised her finger and gestured to the secretary.
The secretary bit his lip and approached. When Bliny stopped gesturing and held her hand still, he knelt down and kissed the back of her hand.
“Not right now.”
Bliny said, slowly stroking the secretary’s chin.
“If it’s dangerous, I’ll go at night. After the king is asleep.”
“That is... In that case...”
“I can go, right?”
“...I’ll make it so.”
“Yes.”
Bliny grinned and took her hand away.
“Take off your shirt. And roll up your pants.”
“...”
When the secretary took off his shirt, Bliny pointed to the soap the maids had left behind.
“Since there are no maids, you will take care of my bath. Slowly, gently.”
“...Thank you, Your Highness.”
The secretary swallowed dryly and grabbed the soap.
Bliny smiled faintly as if relieved.
Once the King fell asleep.
Another problem would be falling asleep.
Black had to come on his own, no matter when. She had been making things happen.
But Bliny was wrong.
The king was even less patient than she thought.
***
“His Majesty sent me because he thought it was taking too long to change your clothes. He was worried that there might be a shortage of help at the palace.”
The King sent someone.
It was the chief chamberlain of the main palace with eyes as sharp as a snake.
“Tell him that I am taking a bath.”
If there was no one, she would have just left, but he came all the way to the bathroom and spoke to the closed door.
The secretary pretended not to be there and held his breath, and Bliny made a splashing sound.
“I will tell you. By the way, did the secretary of the main palace come to the Princess’s palace? ”
Bliny stopped and snickered.
“Why are you asking?”
“His Majesty the King is looking for him, but no one has come.”
“Am I the one who finds people?”
“...I am sorry, Your Highness the Princess. Then I will leave.”
The chamberlain moved away.
A maid knocked on the bathroom door to tell her that he had completely left the room.
“Greed at an old age.”
Bliny shook her head.
“He is doing things he never did before. He has never even been in charge of his own government.”
On the other hand, the secretary’s face turned pale.
As Bliny had said, it was something he never did. The King, who changed his concubine once a month, never cared about other people’s indecency.
“I... think it would be best for us to leave now, Your Highness the Princess.”
Bliny made a face that clearly showed her disappointment.
“And now?”
“That is... is Majesty the King...”
Bliny sat up and poked the secretary’s shoulder with her fingernail.
“Do as you wish. But even though you can step out of this bathtub now, you can’t step out of me completely. Don’t forget. Tonight, after the King is asleep.”
“Understood... Your Highness the Princess.”
The secretary trembled with damp hands as he picked up his clothes and put them on.
Bliny stayed in the lukewarm water, regardless of whether he went out or not.
“It’s annoying if you act like that.”
But she couldn’t kill the King because it would make her position even more difficult.
“War is the time to do this.”
War was always a good excuse when the royal family was in disarray. All the internal affairs were swept away by war.
It would be even better if the King went to his parent’s house and died on the road.
“...As expected.”
As expected, the Princess of Nauk should have been killed here.
It wasn’t too late. After all, she was here.
“...”
Bliny closed his eyes and fell into thought.
How could she kill the Princess of Nauk?
***
“I can’t believe it. Klinefelter opened his mouth so easily. I thought he would see worse.”
The deserted beach was covered with a different sunset today.
The colors of the red sun setting on the blue sea were so colorful that Liene stopped walking for a moment.
Black covered Liene with his body heat from behind.
“I agreed to hand over the new soldier to Nauk if he just testified in front of the King. I didn’t know he would do that.”
It would have been a lie if he hadn’t expected such words.
“I thought he would open his mouth quickly if I guaranteed him a reward. He seems to be the type who gives up quickly.”
“Um... Even from what I know, he wasn’t very persistent.”
“That’s fortunate. The King will cut ties with the Grand Princess a little sooner.”
“That’s right. Thanks to that, my return to Nauk might be a little faster.”
The sea breeze was still unfamiliar.
It was cold, humid, and had various smells, and it made Liene feel a sense of longing for some reason.
“Do you miss Nauk already?”
“A little? But it’s still bearable. But if I came here alone without you, I would have wanted to go back.”
Black smiled and stroked Liene’s hair.
“I’m still pretty good. It really feels like I’m traveling.”
“When the water returns to Nauk and I have less to worry about, I want to go to other countries.”
“I’ll do that. I’ll look for a good place.”
“Wow. How can you only say such nice things?”
Liene turned around and hugged Black tightly. That’s why Black couldn’t stop smiling. His lips were stretched out the whole time.
“But to get the ring back, I’ll have to meet the Arch Princess at least once, right?”
“You don’t want to?”
“No way.”
“Then I’ll go through someone else.”
“Hmm... I guess that can’t be possible.”
It didn’t seem like Arch Princess Bliny would give up the ring so easily. If she had, she wouldn’t have come all the way to Sharka.
“The ring is more important than anything else, so I’ll put aside my complaints. Instead, if the situation allows, I’d like to be present when you meet the Grand Duchess.”
“I don’t want that.”
“Why?”
Black briefly covered Liene’s eyes as she raised her head and looked at him.
“You don’t know what she’ll do.”
“So if it’s dangerous, you’re in the same boat.”
“I’m not saying she’ll necessarily try to hurt you. The Grand Duchess...”
Black paused for a moment.
“She’s someone who can easily make others uncomfortable.”
Bliny was the kind of person who made you feel like you were looking at a detailed painting depicting hell.
From a distance, it was a gorgeous painting that caught your eye, but when you got closer, the painting was covered up with color.
Bliny, who had been dazzlingly colorful in Bluewarren, was depicted when they met again in Alito a few years later.
Even if you didn’t believe in hell, looking at a painting like that for a long time would make you feel like something inside you was being crushed.
There was no reason for Liene to feel that way.
Since she was a good person, it would be harder for her to endure than others.
“That sounds like... a terrible person.”
Instead of answering, Black ran his fingers through her hair that was tangled in the sea breeze.
“You don’t necessarily need to know that there are such people.”
As if a living human didn’t necessarily need to see hell.
“Something is quite different from what I thought. I vaguely felt that the Arch Princess was your ex-lover.”
“I won’t deny that we spent time together. However, I would like to keep that fact and the Princess separate.”
“Hmm... If you’re worried that I might get hurt, then it’s okay. Lafitte Kleinfelter is just as bad of a person.”
Black sighed lightly.
“If it were that bad, I wouldn’t say something like that.”
“Ah... That’s why I’m even more worried. Kleinfelter did all sorts of things. He even forced me onto a cart.”
So he suddenly became worried.
Bliny was several times more horrible and tough than Kleinfelter.
“Should we go back? The nights at the beach are cold.”
Black turned Liene around.
There was no sign of people around, but this place was too exposed. If she were hiding somewhere behind the inn walls and fired an arrow, it would be too dark to see well.
“Yes. I’ve lost.”
Black hugged Liene as if he was wrapping his arms around her and left the beach.
And that choice was very appropriate.
It was more like a premonition than a thought, and at this very moment, someone was really hiding behind the inn walls.
With an arrow.
***
“Krrr!”
As soon as Klima saw the arrow-wielding man, she approached him and threw a punch.
He was so impatient that he didn’t think about anything. The punch, thrown without any consideration, broke the opponent’s front teeth.
“Ugh, woof...”
The man, who was probably the assassin, stumbled as he bled. He came to his senses when he saw the arrow that had fallen at his feet. Klima calmly put his arms around the assassin’s neck from behind.
“Ugh!”
“Who are you?”
“Ugh, uh-uh! Ugh!”
“Who sent you?”
“Ugh, uh, uh...”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll break you.”
The assassin struggled. Klima easily held him back using his large body.
However, the assassin had a dagger hidden. As he struggled, he took out the dagger that was tied to the inside of his thigh and stabbed Klima with it.
“...It hurts.”
Klima winced as he was stabbed in the side. The assassin, sensing this was the moment, pushed Klima away with all his might.
“No.”
Klima held on to the assassin, enduring the pain of being stabbed by the sword.
“I let go... and the Princess is gone. Now... never again...”
“Let go! Where the hell did you get such a fool!”
The assassin twisted the blade he had stuck into his side in shock.
“...Ugh.”
Klima let out a small scream.
“Let go!”
“No...”
He knew that the assassin was about to shoot an arrow. Klima gripped the assassin tighter, determined not to let anything happen to Liene again.
His side hurt terribly, and his vision became blurry. His grip gradually loosened.
“...Hey, who’s there!”
Fortunately, someone had spotted them.
It was Tiwakan, who had been guarding the backyard.
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