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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: An Intruder in the Inn
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At that moment, the royal knights and Calius's knights were facing off at the inn.
Calius's knights wanted to search the floor where the princess was staying, but the royal knights took it as an infringement on their territory and grew angry.
“I'm telling you, no one but Her Highness's maids has come up to the fourth floor.”
“Just in case. Please cooperate so we can check.”
“We checked everything when we came in. Are you saying you don't trust us now?”
The royal knights spoke down to Calius's men with an arrogant attitude. It was a blatant show of disrespect.
To make matters worse, Chloe's maids joined in, siding with the royal knights.
“Her Highness the Princess is sleeping, so please stop causing a disturbance and leave. We already checked her room earlier.”
Hearing the maids' words, Alex grew frustrated.
He knew the real princess was hiding in another room, but he couldn't say anything.
Chloe wanted to keep it a secret that she was the one who had seen the suspicious person.
‘What the hell did they check? They don't even know the person lying in the princess's room is an imposter.’
The real princess was behind the door Alex stood guarding.
To keep her secret, Calius's men couldn't pressure the royal knights, despite having the strong justification that the princess herself had seen an intruder and asked for a search.
All they had was the weak pretext that one of Calius's men thought he saw someone suspicious and that it would be best to check.
The royal knights raised their voices.
“We've been watching with our eyes wide open! If anyone had come up to the fourth floor, they wouldn't have escaped our notice!”
Their confident proclamation left two possibilities.
Either the royal knights had been bribed, or Chloe had lied.
Alex heard his colleagues whispering in the same hallway.
“It is strange. We were on the third floor, and none of us saw anyone go up.”
“We had guards posted outside, too. If someone had entered from outside the building, we would've known immediately.”
One of them lowered his voice even further.
“Isn't it a little weird? If what the princess said is true, why would she keep it a secret from her own maids and knights and come to us in secret?”
Alex recalled Chloe's words.
“Do you think I'm crazy, too?”
And why she'd said she had to keep it a secret that she'd seen someone suspicious.
“If you say it was me, none of my attendants will believe you. So please, keep it a secret.”
His colleagues muttered beside him.
“Isn't it some kind of delusion? Has anyone heard the rumors from the palace, the ones saying the princess is crazy? I've heard them a few times.”
“I've heard them, too.”
“Maybe that's it?”
Chloe had asked Calius's men for help, saying her own attendants wouldn't believe her, but now Calius's men were doubting her too.
Andrew, who claimed to have overheard the princess's conversation with her maid in the carriage, sneered.
“Either the princess is crazy and saw things, or she's scheming to stir up conflict between her royal attendants and us.”
“For what reason?”
“How should I know? She must have something to gain.”
“Well, southerners are always scheming, aren't they?”
The general opinion was not good.
Calius's men grew more and more suspicious of Chloe.
Confused, Alex scratched his head vigorously.
‘She didn't seem crazy or like she was scheming to me...!’
Was he just being naive and getting tricked?
‘Really? Is that what's happening?’
But.
‘Whatever the case, her worry for our lord seemed genuine.’
He could still see the urgent, pleading look in Chloe's eyes.
‘Maybe she has some circumstances she can't talk about?’
* * *
While Alex was lost in confusion, Calius arrived at the inn.
Hawick quickly reported the situation.
“...And so, we have yet to find the culprit. I apologize.”
This was the kind of matter that needed to be handled swiftly and discreetly.
Causing such a commotion and fumbling about was just giving the intruder time to escape.
Hawick lowered his head, looking ashamed.
Calius patted Hawick's shoulder.
“As long as Her Highness the Princess is safe, that's all that matters.”
The innkeeper, belatedly spotting Calius, rushed over and pleaded.
“Marquis Rodrian, the people who work at our inn are all of reputable character. They've been working here for a very long time. You've frequented our establishment, so you must know.”
“My apologies for the disturbance.”
“Oh, no, not at all. With such an esteemed guest present, you must be vigilant, of course. It's just... I hope you understand that we have nothing to do with this...”
The innkeeper looked like he was about to cry.
Seeing the innkeeper's fidgeting, Calius realized he had something on his conscience.
“I won't hold anything against you. Speak.”
“Really? I just heard from my staff... they just now discovered that a uniform has gone missing...”
Hawick's face hardened as he bellowed.
“Why are you only telling us this now!”
“J-Just now! I just found out myself. We truly have no idea what happened.”
Calius instructed Hawick.
“Inform the royal knights of this and push through. I will see Her Highness the Princess.”
“Yes, sir!”
* * *
Emboldened by the news of the missing servant's uniform and the arrival of their lord, Calius's men broke through the royal knights' blockade and went up to the fourth floor.
Alex watched the scene, relieved.
‘It wasn't a lie.’
His colleagues, who had been chattering about how the princess must be crazy and talking nonsense or hatching some scheme, just shrugged and went up to the fourth floor with the others.
Their expressions seemed to say, ‘Oh well, if we were wrong, we were wrong,’ as if it were no big deal.
For some reason, Alex felt a surge of anger.
‘After all that trash they talked!’
They were his precious comrades, and Chloe was the daughter of his enemy, so he couldn't understand why he was empathizing with her, feeling indignant and furious on her behalf.
It was right to be wary of Chloe, a member of the Idellian Imperial Family—their long-standing rivals—but blindly suspecting and blaming her out of malice didn't sit well with him.
It seemed everyone's love for Calius was clouding their judgment.
‘Our lord has more than a few nursemaids.’
Alex didn't realize he was the pot calling the kettle black.
* * *
Calius went straight to Chloe.
Chloe, who had been pacing anxiously in the room where she was hiding, brightened upon seeing Calius.
“Marquis! You're safe!”
At the sight of her bright, relieved smile, one of Calius's eyebrows twitched.
“Were you worried about me?”
“I heard you went out alone. Did anything strange happen? Like suspicious people following you...”
Calius recalled the attack by the assassins but shook his head.
“Nothing worth your concern.”
There was no need to make her worry about such clumsy assassins.
The idea that Chloe, who trembled in fear believing he was a cannibal, had been worried about him was so amusing that he leisurely added a joke.
“A pity. If there had been such people, I could have eaten my fill.”
“...!”
Chloe's eyes went wide.
“C-Come to think of it, that might have been... a good opportunity for you, Marquis...”
Chloe mumbled, almost inaudibly.
“Ah, so that's why everyone was so calm!”
“Pardon?”
Calius, not understanding what she was talking about, tilted his head.
But Chloe changed the subject as if it wasn't important, so he couldn't ask for details.
“Marquis, I saw someone suspicious. I know who he is. He's...”
Just then, a sharp scream echoed from the fourth floor. It was a woman's voice.
Chloe's face turned white.
“Lamia!”
* * *
Calius's men heard the scream just as they pushed past the royal knights and maids and entered the fourth floor.
“It's Her Highness's room!”
They all rushed over, but the door was locked.
Using their large frames to their full advantage, Calius's men easily broke down the door and entered.
In the middle of the room stood Lamia, covered in blood. No one else was in sight.
She was supposed to be using magic to pretend to be Chloe, but in her agitation, she had reverted to her original form.
One of the knights asked urgently.
“Where did he go?”
Lamia, with an agitated expression, pointed to the broken window.
“He jumped out the window!”
Hawick pushed past his men and looked out the window.
At the same time, someone shouted from below.
“We got him!”
The men who had been searching outside were waving, pinning a man to the ground.
“Ah, what a relief.”
Hearing that, Lamia also let out a sigh of relief.
“That son of a bitch... Ugh!”
As she cursed, she suddenly collapsed.
Blood streamed down her hand, soaking the carpet.
The area around her was already spattered with blood.
Hawick rushed to Lamia's side, shouting to his men.
“Get a doctor, quickly! We have an injured person here!”
