"There you are."
We arrived at the bridge over the valley in the Kashas Forest, where the knights and Princess Resilia were facing off.
The distance between the bridge and the valley below was quite high.
The bridge crossing the valley had an unusually convex shape, like a horseshoe, at its center.
Because of this, Princess Resilia, standing in the middle of the bridge, was clearly visible from afar.
"Don't come any closer!"
Princess Resilia held Rams's arms in the air, facing the knights.
The unbelievable sight made my stomach turn.
Rams's body swayed like clothes on a clothesline.
"This child is of the royal blood of the Pasha Empire! Do you know what would happen if I were to make a mistake because of you?"
What on earth was going on in that tiny head of hers?
Rams was in danger right now, and why was she uttering such nonsense?
On the other side of the bridge, Commander Macrom stood alone, while the rest of the knights were at a loss at the entrance to the bridge we had arrived at.
My companions and I pushed our way through the knights and stood face to face with Princess Resilia.
“Resilia... you’re really out of your mind...”
“No, Norton?!”
Princess Resilia’s once-arrogant demeanor suddenly shattered when she saw Prince Norton.
“What kind of madness is this! Rams, come down, quickly!”
As Prince Norton moved to approach,
“Right there!”
Princess Resilia suddenly threatened, extending both hands beyond the bridge railing as if to throw Rams off.
“No! Please don’t do this, Princess!”
Rosie was horrified by the sight of Rams’ body swinging like a swing outside the bridge railing.
“I-I beg you! Please put Rams down...!”
Rosie clasped her hands in prayer as she wept and pleaded with Princess Resilia.
Rams, perhaps aware of her feelings, grinned brightly at Rosie and waved a sausage in one hand.
Who gave her the sausage?
Rosie, seeing Rams's bright, unaware face, collapsed to the stone floor, sobbing.
"Rosie, are you okay?"
I supported her and tried to console her.
My legs were weak, but Rosie's whole body was trembling.
"It's all because of you, you little pumpkin! But what? Stop this? Please? Put Rams down?"
Princess Resilia shouted sharply.
"Resilia. You've already lost your right to be. Just seeing you do this will not allow me to raise my son under the likes of you!"
Prince Norton, always cool-headed, lost his composure and burst into rage.
I could completely understand his feelings.
Not many people could remain rational when their own child's life was in danger.
“If not me, who will raise Rams? That pumpkin? Ha, don’t be ridiculous. It’s the child I gave birth to when my stomach ached! It’s in my blood! Norton, let’s go to the Pasha Empire together, yes?”
Princess Lesilia pleaded with a desperate expression, but...
“It’s too late.”
Prince Norton’s response was naturally cold.
“No. It’s not too late. You just have to change your mind. Then the three of us can live happily like before!”
“...Our family of three?”
Prince Norton looked at Princess Resilia with disgust.
“Do you have any concept of family? A person who covers a child who whines for milk with a blanket and goes to sleep in another room because it’s annoying?”
Princess Resilia gaped like a goldfish at Prince Norton’s revelation.
Yet, she showed no intention of putting Rams down.
As if things couldn’t get any worse, rain began to fall from the sky.
‘No... Rams could be in more danger.’
I thought as I looked up at the sky.
Raindrops began to fall one by one, but at some point, the rain became quite heavy.
“Rams is going to catch a cold!”
Rosie forced herself to sit up and said to the Princess in a voice filled with resentment.
“You disgusting bitch... Shut up! Stop pretending to care about Rams just to impress Norton!”
Princess Resilia slowly backed away.
However, Commander Macrom was standing behind her, so she couldn’t dare run away.
However, as if her arms were gaining strength, she briefly placed Rams’ buttocks on the railing.
When Norton flinched and tried to take his footing, Resilia lifted Rams over the railing again and shouted,
“I told you not to come!”
Unlike Princess Resilia, who was completely agitated, Rams... looked calm.
Remarkably, he didn't cry at all, even though he was drenched in rain and looking down at the dizzying heights of the valley below.
Strangely enough, to me, Rams seemed to be enjoying the situation.
Princess Resilia's hands trembled, causing Rams's body outside the railing to sway violently in the air.
But Rams burst into laughter and seemed amused every time.
Perhaps that was a blessing...
However, the constant rain caused Rams, whose immune system was still weak, to sneeze repeatedly.
"Etchu, etchchu-!"
Even as he sneezed, he didn't let go of the sausage he was holding in his small hand.
Did he think the sausage was a baby bottle?
Rams's grip was incredibly strong, hard to believe for a baby only a few months old.
Perhaps he instinctively thought the sausage was his lifeline, clutching it like a rope...
The thought made my heart ache.
If I'm feeling this way, how much more so must Prince Norton be feeling?
Prince Norton and Rosie's anger towards Princess Resilia was clearly visible on their faces.
The anger and contempt belonged to Prince Norton, while the tears and pleading belonged to Rosie.
In contrast, Princess Resilia seemed to possess all the world's stupidity.
"Eh, eh, eh... chwii!"
Princess Resilia sneezed, following Rams.
Just then, Rams yanked Princess Resilia's hair.
The force of his tiny hand drew a cry from Princess Resilia.
"Ah!"
Princess Resilia frowned.
Then, trying to free her hair from Rams' grasp, she twisted her foot on the stone floor, slippery from the pouring rain, her body hunched over like a taffy, and she braced herself against the railing to keep herself from falling.
"...Ouch!!"
The hands that had been holding Rams's armpits just a moment ago shifted positions.
I closed my eyes.
It all happened in an instant.
I could do nothing as Rams disappeared beneath the bridge railing.
The single screams of everyone watching echoed through the forest.
Princess Resilia herself held on desperately to the railing, preventing her fall, but instead, she lost sight of her son.
She had let go of even her maternal love.
“Rams!!”
“No!!”
The only voices that could be heard were Prince Norton's and Rosie's cries for Rams, like echoes.
“...Ah, no. No! Aaaah!”
Princess Resilia, who had been standing there with a blank expression, sank to the ground, her hands trembling.
Realizing reality belatedly, the Princess screamed, clutching at her hair.
The knights all looked down into the valley.
The sound of the rain falling fiercely drowned out the sound of something... falling.
“Your Highness Rosie!”
Eventually, Rosie lost consciousness and fainted.
Prince Norton barely managed to support Rosie's body as she fell to the ground, and we both collapsed on the ground.
"Everyone, go down to the valley and search, now!"
I urgently ordered the knights.
The falling rain muffled my trembling voice.
"Yes!"
The knights ran into the forest path in unison to descend into the valley.
I had to come to my senses for Prince Norton and Rosie, who were lying there in a daze.
Ironically, the rain was getting heavier.
Visibility was poor due to the rain.
The valley water would rise any moment...
I tried to shake off the negative thoughts, but anxiety kept creeping in.
Feeling my pulse quicken, I lowered my head below the bridge railing.
I heard Prince Norton sobbing behind me.
It felt like a piercing wound to my heart.
Tears began to flow unconsciously from my eyes as I felt Prince Norton's unimaginable loss.
I couldn't even let out a sob.
My tears flowed, washed away by the rain.
"I can't see anything!"
A few minutes later, a knight's voice faintly came from down the valley.
At the sound, my legs gave out.
"Zelda!"
My knees buckled, and I turned my head at the familiar voice.
It was Linel.
He lifted me up and held me in his arms without a word.
The tears I'd been holding back poured out at the sight of him.
"...You're here?"
I cried for a while in his arms, then raised my head.
I had no idea what to say to him in this situation.
"Yes. But I'm so...late,"
Linel said with a pained expression.
He lowered his gaze to Prince Norton, who was still slumped on the floor.
Even as the Emperor, he couldn't speak rashly to a Prince who had lost his child.
He took off his raincoat, draped it over my shoulders, and placed the hood on my head.
Then he ordered the knights he'd brought with him to bind Princess Resilia.
Princess Resilia, her arms held by the knights, passed the unconscious Rosie and the distraught, sobbing Prince Norton and approached Linel and me.
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty is a just man, isn't he?"
Princess Resilia pushed my shoulder away and grabbed Linel's arm, crying out in a choked voice.
"...So..."
"You shouldn't judge solely on their words. The knights threatened me too harshly, and Her Highness Zelda screamed so loudly that I lost my mind... I lost my son!"
As I listened to Princess Resilia in silence, I felt the urge to throw her into the fire.
Linel, with a look on her face as if her arm was covered in filth, motioned for the knights holding the Princess to hurry and take her away.
But I couldn't let Princess Resilia go like this.
"You will be punished like your brother,"
I said, stopping the Princess as she passed by and gripping her arm as tightly as I could, almost breaking it.
"Ahhh, it hurts! Let go...!"
Princess Resilia twisted her body with a pained expression.
"It hurts? This much hurts?"
Rams, who had fallen from the bridge!
I swallowed back a curse and glared at Princess Resilia as if I was going to kill her.
I actually wanted to.
“I-It was a mistake!”
“...What?”
“Rams pulled my hair... Uh, it was an unavoidable mistake!”
Princess Resilia whispered in my ear, gritting her teeth.
I knew from the start that she wasn’t worth dealing with.
But to threaten by taking her own child hostage and lose his life so meaninglessly... I really didn’t want to waste even a single ounce of energy on Princess Resilia.
But I couldn’t let her rack her brains the entire way to the palace, like a loach, trying to figure out how to escape this situation.
Slap!
I raised my hand and slapped Princess Resilia hard across the face.
The friction between my wet palm and Princess Resilia’s cheek was quite audible.
“Ugh!”
Princess Resilia fainted with a single slap.
There was no one to help her up from the ground.
“Get out of here.”
Linel looked down at Princess Resilia as if she were some terrible thing and gestured to the knights.
We arrived at the bridge over the valley in the Kashas Forest, where the knights and Princess Resilia were facing off.
The distance between the bridge and the valley below was quite high.
The bridge crossing the valley had an unusually convex shape, like a horseshoe, at its center.
Because of this, Princess Resilia, standing in the middle of the bridge, was clearly visible from afar.
"Don't come any closer!"
Princess Resilia held Rams's arms in the air, facing the knights.
The unbelievable sight made my stomach turn.
Rams's body swayed like clothes on a clothesline.
"This child is of the royal blood of the Pasha Empire! Do you know what would happen if I were to make a mistake because of you?"
What on earth was going on in that tiny head of hers?
Rams was in danger right now, and why was she uttering such nonsense?
On the other side of the bridge, Commander Macrom stood alone, while the rest of the knights were at a loss at the entrance to the bridge we had arrived at.
My companions and I pushed our way through the knights and stood face to face with Princess Resilia.
“Resilia... you’re really out of your mind...”
“No, Norton?!”
Princess Resilia’s once-arrogant demeanor suddenly shattered when she saw Prince Norton.
“What kind of madness is this! Rams, come down, quickly!”
As Prince Norton moved to approach,
“Right there!”
Princess Resilia suddenly threatened, extending both hands beyond the bridge railing as if to throw Rams off.
“No! Please don’t do this, Princess!”
Rosie was horrified by the sight of Rams’ body swinging like a swing outside the bridge railing.
“I-I beg you! Please put Rams down...!”
Rosie clasped her hands in prayer as she wept and pleaded with Princess Resilia.
Rams, perhaps aware of her feelings, grinned brightly at Rosie and waved a sausage in one hand.
Who gave her the sausage?
Rosie, seeing Rams's bright, unaware face, collapsed to the stone floor, sobbing.
"Rosie, are you okay?"
I supported her and tried to console her.
My legs were weak, but Rosie's whole body was trembling.
"It's all because of you, you little pumpkin! But what? Stop this? Please? Put Rams down?"
Princess Resilia shouted sharply.
"Resilia. You've already lost your right to be. Just seeing you do this will not allow me to raise my son under the likes of you!"
Prince Norton, always cool-headed, lost his composure and burst into rage.
I could completely understand his feelings.
Not many people could remain rational when their own child's life was in danger.
“If not me, who will raise Rams? That pumpkin? Ha, don’t be ridiculous. It’s the child I gave birth to when my stomach ached! It’s in my blood! Norton, let’s go to the Pasha Empire together, yes?”
Princess Lesilia pleaded with a desperate expression, but...
“It’s too late.”
Prince Norton’s response was naturally cold.
“No. It’s not too late. You just have to change your mind. Then the three of us can live happily like before!”
“...Our family of three?”
Prince Norton looked at Princess Resilia with disgust.
“Do you have any concept of family? A person who covers a child who whines for milk with a blanket and goes to sleep in another room because it’s annoying?”
Princess Resilia gaped like a goldfish at Prince Norton’s revelation.
Yet, she showed no intention of putting Rams down.
As if things couldn’t get any worse, rain began to fall from the sky.
‘No... Rams could be in more danger.’
I thought as I looked up at the sky.
Raindrops began to fall one by one, but at some point, the rain became quite heavy.
“Rams is going to catch a cold!”
Rosie forced herself to sit up and said to the Princess in a voice filled with resentment.
“You disgusting bitch... Shut up! Stop pretending to care about Rams just to impress Norton!”
Princess Resilia slowly backed away.
However, Commander Macrom was standing behind her, so she couldn’t dare run away.
However, as if her arms were gaining strength, she briefly placed Rams’ buttocks on the railing.
When Norton flinched and tried to take his footing, Resilia lifted Rams over the railing again and shouted,
“I told you not to come!”
Unlike Princess Resilia, who was completely agitated, Rams... looked calm.
Remarkably, he didn't cry at all, even though he was drenched in rain and looking down at the dizzying heights of the valley below.
Strangely enough, to me, Rams seemed to be enjoying the situation.
Princess Resilia's hands trembled, causing Rams's body outside the railing to sway violently in the air.
But Rams burst into laughter and seemed amused every time.
Perhaps that was a blessing...
However, the constant rain caused Rams, whose immune system was still weak, to sneeze repeatedly.
"Etchu, etchchu-!"
Even as he sneezed, he didn't let go of the sausage he was holding in his small hand.
Did he think the sausage was a baby bottle?
Rams's grip was incredibly strong, hard to believe for a baby only a few months old.
Perhaps he instinctively thought the sausage was his lifeline, clutching it like a rope...
The thought made my heart ache.
If I'm feeling this way, how much more so must Prince Norton be feeling?
Prince Norton and Rosie's anger towards Princess Resilia was clearly visible on their faces.
The anger and contempt belonged to Prince Norton, while the tears and pleading belonged to Rosie.
In contrast, Princess Resilia seemed to possess all the world's stupidity.
"Eh, eh, eh... chwii!"
Princess Resilia sneezed, following Rams.
Just then, Rams yanked Princess Resilia's hair.
The force of his tiny hand drew a cry from Princess Resilia.
"Ah!"
Princess Resilia frowned.
Then, trying to free her hair from Rams' grasp, she twisted her foot on the stone floor, slippery from the pouring rain, her body hunched over like a taffy, and she braced herself against the railing to keep herself from falling.
"...Ouch!!"
The hands that had been holding Rams's armpits just a moment ago shifted positions.
I closed my eyes.
It all happened in an instant.
I could do nothing as Rams disappeared beneath the bridge railing.
The single screams of everyone watching echoed through the forest.
Princess Resilia herself held on desperately to the railing, preventing her fall, but instead, she lost sight of her son.
She had let go of even her maternal love.
“Rams!!”
“No!!”
The only voices that could be heard were Prince Norton's and Rosie's cries for Rams, like echoes.
“...Ah, no. No! Aaaah!”
Princess Resilia, who had been standing there with a blank expression, sank to the ground, her hands trembling.
Realizing reality belatedly, the Princess screamed, clutching at her hair.
The knights all looked down into the valley.
The sound of the rain falling fiercely drowned out the sound of something... falling.
“Your Highness Rosie!”
Eventually, Rosie lost consciousness and fainted.
Prince Norton barely managed to support Rosie's body as she fell to the ground, and we both collapsed on the ground.
"Everyone, go down to the valley and search, now!"
I urgently ordered the knights.
The falling rain muffled my trembling voice.
"Yes!"
The knights ran into the forest path in unison to descend into the valley.
I had to come to my senses for Prince Norton and Rosie, who were lying there in a daze.
Ironically, the rain was getting heavier.
Visibility was poor due to the rain.
The valley water would rise any moment...
I tried to shake off the negative thoughts, but anxiety kept creeping in.
Feeling my pulse quicken, I lowered my head below the bridge railing.
I heard Prince Norton sobbing behind me.
It felt like a piercing wound to my heart.
Tears began to flow unconsciously from my eyes as I felt Prince Norton's unimaginable loss.
I couldn't even let out a sob.
My tears flowed, washed away by the rain.
"I can't see anything!"
A few minutes later, a knight's voice faintly came from down the valley.
At the sound, my legs gave out.
"Zelda!"
My knees buckled, and I turned my head at the familiar voice.
It was Linel.
He lifted me up and held me in his arms without a word.
The tears I'd been holding back poured out at the sight of him.
"...You're here?"
I cried for a while in his arms, then raised my head.
I had no idea what to say to him in this situation.
"Yes. But I'm so...late,"
Linel said with a pained expression.
He lowered his gaze to Prince Norton, who was still slumped on the floor.
Even as the Emperor, he couldn't speak rashly to a Prince who had lost his child.
He took off his raincoat, draped it over my shoulders, and placed the hood on my head.
Then he ordered the knights he'd brought with him to bind Princess Resilia.
Princess Resilia, her arms held by the knights, passed the unconscious Rosie and the distraught, sobbing Prince Norton and approached Linel and me.
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty is a just man, isn't he?"
Princess Resilia pushed my shoulder away and grabbed Linel's arm, crying out in a choked voice.
"...So..."
"You shouldn't judge solely on their words. The knights threatened me too harshly, and Her Highness Zelda screamed so loudly that I lost my mind... I lost my son!"
As I listened to Princess Resilia in silence, I felt the urge to throw her into the fire.
Linel, with a look on her face as if her arm was covered in filth, motioned for the knights holding the Princess to hurry and take her away.
But I couldn't let Princess Resilia go like this.
"You will be punished like your brother,"
I said, stopping the Princess as she passed by and gripping her arm as tightly as I could, almost breaking it.
"Ahhh, it hurts! Let go...!"
Princess Resilia twisted her body with a pained expression.
"It hurts? This much hurts?"
Rams, who had fallen from the bridge!
I swallowed back a curse and glared at Princess Resilia as if I was going to kill her.
I actually wanted to.
“I-It was a mistake!”
“...What?”
“Rams pulled my hair... Uh, it was an unavoidable mistake!”
Princess Resilia whispered in my ear, gritting her teeth.
I knew from the start that she wasn’t worth dealing with.
But to threaten by taking her own child hostage and lose his life so meaninglessly... I really didn’t want to waste even a single ounce of energy on Princess Resilia.
But I couldn’t let her rack her brains the entire way to the palace, like a loach, trying to figure out how to escape this situation.
Slap!
I raised my hand and slapped Princess Resilia hard across the face.
The friction between my wet palm and Princess Resilia’s cheek was quite audible.
“Ugh!”
Princess Resilia fainted with a single slap.
There was no one to help her up from the ground.
“Get out of here.”
Linel looked down at Princess Resilia as if she were some terrible thing and gestured to the knights.
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