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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Violence for Violence
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Under the dim lights, I went around asking the nobles sipping on their sticky sodas about the princess’s whereabouts.
“The princess never leaves her private chamber. She takes care of everything in there.”
One of the young lords answered me in a hushed tone when I discreetly asked after the princess.
Takes care of everything? Takes care of what… Ah, are all these capital city folks perverts or what?
Ignoring the man’s peculiar smile, I quickly headed elsewhere.
Ah, damn it.
I’d assumed the notoriously flirtatious princess would naturally be near some handsome men, but it turned out she never left her private chamber.
My mother always said that when you’re trying to catch a man, you have to be proactive and keep moving… I guess people with money and power live differently.
I took a sip of the soda, which was so sweet it tasted bitter, and looked up at the corridor on the upper floor.
There were only two rooms in the corridor. One was for preparing food, and the other was a private chamber concealed by a beaded curtain.
Is that the one?
Just then, a man emerged from that very chamber.
His attire was a bit unusual. Compared to the other men here, whose outfits were as ornate as the women’s, his clothes were so unadorned they could almost be called shabby.
It was also strange how he paid no mind to the subtle glances from the young ladies nearby, focused only on his own path.
*Well, he is the princess’s man… Why would he look at other women?*
With that thought, I quickly walked toward him.
But how do I entice him?
There was something I had overlooked.
While my mother had successfully married five times, I was someone who had never even been in a single relationship.
If I’d known it would come to this, I should have paid more attention to all those weird secret techniques my mother used to tell me about!
The thought only now crossed my mind.
All I could think of were the strange lines Philip used to woo women.
The closest thing I’d ever had to a romance was when a bootblack named Jack, who sometimes loitered around our pub, would give me a piece of bread… He was pretty cute. I wonder what he’s up to these days…?
No, this is no time for such thoughts!
I quickened my pace up the stairs, my mind racing.
What should I say? Let’s think of Philip… Philip…
‘Would you like to get a cup of coffee?’
Cliché. And who drinks coffee here?
‘Let’s have a wild night together!’
Ugh, that’s awful.
‘Was your father a thief? Because he stole gems and put them in your eyes.’
Hmm…
…That’s not bad.
I clapped my hands together as I recalled one of Philip’s go-to lines for women.
Heh, for something I came up with on the spot, it’s pretty good.
*Was your father a thief… Was your father a thief…*
I reached the second-floor corridor, memorizing my planned line.
Then I saw him, the man from before, approaching from the other end.
With his disheveled shirt and messy hair, he looked for all the world like he’d just finished some rough business with the princess.
*I picked the right guy.*
I deliberately rushed toward him.
I was aiming for a collision.
My plan was to bump shoulders, then naturally…
“Your father is a thieeeef!”
…say the line!
The moment our shoulders bumped, I blurted out the memorized words before I could stop myself.
The man’s face hardened.
Aaaaaaah!
I was so nervous that nonsense just slipped out.
I mean, when have I ever talked to a man other than Philip! And for such an impure purpose!
“N-No… W-What I meant… What I meant was…”
As I covered my mouth, my ears burning with shame, the man’s expression suddenly relaxed.
“What’s with you? You’ve been staring at me ever since you started coming up those stairs, haven’t you?”
“Pardon?”
He knew?
I thought I was being subtle.
Seeing my flustered expression, the man spoke with a smug grin.
“Cute, aren’t you…?”
Cute? What did I do…?
It was only then that I caught the strong scent of alcohol on his breath. His eyes were unfocused.
So that’s the situation.
Thinking this was actually for the better, I gently took the man’s arm.
“Th-Thank you. H-Hey, why don’t we go over… over there and…”
I subtly tugged his sleeve, trying to lead him closer to the princess’s room.
To provoke the princess’s jealousy, I had to make a scene right in front of her, right?!
But how do you even make a scene? Should I just mash our lips together or something? Huh?
While I was lost in thought, the man gripped my wrist tightly.
“Ah…!”
A pained gasp escaped my lips at his strong grip.
“Come this way.”
He began to drag me somewhere, completely ignoring my pain.
We started moving farther and farther away from the princess’s private chamber.
*Huh…? This isn’t right.*
“H-Hey… where are we going… No, wait, I’d rather go that way… Ah!”
As the man roughly pulled me toward a secretive-looking staircase, one of my shoes tumbled down the steps.
“…It was new!”
I glared at the man, dumbfounded, as I stared at my now-bare foot.
“I said stop!”
When I shouted, the man scowled and finally stopped walking. So you can hear me now?
“…Stop what? I said let’s go up!”
The man growled menacingly and pulled my wrist even harder toward him. The motion sent a foul stench from his mouth straight to my nose. I gritted my teeth and reached out my hand.
Just then, a dark shadow moved at the bottom of the stairs. I didn’t have time to see who it was.
Because…
“Imeline Wedgwood. Did I not make myself clear? If someone tries to use violence against you…”
As a voice echoed from the bottom of the stairs…
*Sliiide—*
…I had already drawn the dagger from my dress and was holding it to the man’s neck.
With the man trembling before me, his eyes wide with fear, I spoke in an icy voice.
“I told you to stop. Shouldn’t you have stopped when I asked nicely? You’re a real pain, you know that?”
“Uwaaah…”
Without removing the dagger from the terrified man’s neck, I looked down toward the source of the other voice. There stood a man, holding my single glass slipper and looking up at me with a bewildered expression.
Eric Orleans. You again…
I let out a sigh.
Eric gritted his teeth.
I forced an awkward smile and replied.
“Respond to violence with violence. That’s what I was taught, Young Lord Eric.”
Ahahaha…
Can’t we just smooth this over and pretend it was all friendly?
I put all my effort into a bright smile.
“Respond to violence with violence…?”
I flinched and stepped back as Eric’s brow furrowed.
As if seizing the opportunity, the man shoved me away.
“Bringing a weapon into the Rose that Blooms at Night, you crazy…!”
Ah, if that bastard tells the guards, I’m in deep trouble…!
Just as I thought that, Eric hurled the glass slipper he was holding at the man running toward him.
*Thwack!*
A direct hit.
“Ugh…!”
The man, struck squarely in the head, collapsed without even a proper scream.
My jaw dropped. They called it a glass slipper, but it was just made of a translucent, flexible material. To think an adult man could be knocked out by that.
My eyes met the cold, red gaze of Eric Orleans.
He used to be the commander of the Royal Knights, they said.
Is this some kind of Aura Knight thing?
Aura was an energy source similar to ancient mana in its application, but it was infused into weapons, and only those born with the ability could wield it, or something like that.
I didn’t know the specifics, but I’d never seen someone who could use it in person!
I shrank back, feeling as though I had encountered a master whose skills were the stuff of legends and fairy tales in the South.
I, too, had learned to fight through sheer grit and real-world experience, but that was just a last-resort technique for survival. It couldn’t compare to an Aura Knight.
As I stood there, completely frozen, Eric Orleans approached me from the bottom of the stairs, his expression as cold as ever.
“Why are you standing there like that?”
“L-Like what?” I stammered, pressing myself against the wall.
“You’re putting on that act again, trembling like a country bumpkin from the South. Drop the act, Imeline Wedgwood.”
It’s not an act this time either, you know?
I stared at Eric, dumbfounded.
“You just knocked someone out.”
“And you held a knife to someone’s throat.”
Our situations are different, aren’t they? I’m a powerless country girl, and you’re an Aura Knight!
Eric glanced toward the corridor and said, “The princess is here tonight. The guards would have been especially vigilant about weapons. How on earth did you bring a knife in?”
“Uh… well…”
By distracting the guard and sliding the weapon across the floor? I couldn’t say that, so I just darted my eyes around.
Mom always said to carry a weapon when dealing with men
