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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Public Censure
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I found it strange that Viscount Felsus had simply left.
‘To think he’d plot something so audacious, only to turn back so easily.’
He was a man who pursued his own interests with relentless tenacity.
His attempt to kidnap me, a member of the imperial family, was proof enough.
‘He surely wasn’t working alone.’
He must have had someone backing him up to even try taking me.
So isn’t it strange that he just meekly left?
‘But there’s no reason for Calius to lie about Viscount Felsus.’
There had to be a solid reason for his firm declaration that the viscount would never return.
‘I don’t know what happened, but for now, I’m relieved.’
I was so anxious, worried something terrible would happen.
I truly thought I was being dragged back to the hell of my past life.
I closed my eyes, feeling the cool air embrace me.
This cold northern air, seeping through the building’s walls, was a constant reminder that I had escaped that agonizing, fiery hell.
But I couldn’t let my guard down completely yet.
I knew there were still several shackles on my ankles, each capable of dragging me back to that hell.
‘I have to eliminate Cavalla’s lackeys, one by one.’
I decided to turn today’s crisis into an opportunity and begin at once.
* * *
“What do you mean by that, Your Highness?”
The hallway was in an uproar.
Brentian, who had been discussing the next day’s journey with Hawick, wondered what was happening and headed toward the noise.
Chloe was confronting the imperial knights in front of her new room on a different floor.
‘What are they doing? Is this some kind of internal conflict?’
He could have pretended not to notice and walked away, but Brentian deliberately stood in a conspicuous spot, becoming a very present spectator.
He wanted to embarrass those Arental men.
As Brentian watched openly, other men began to gather beside him one by one.
An imperial knight shouted at Chloe.
“Are you questioning our loyalty to the Idellian Imperial Family?”
His tone was so forceful that Brentian expected Chloe, who looked as delicate and fragile as a glass doll, to well up with tears and run back into her room at any moment.
But surprisingly, Chloe’s eyes widened as she stood her ground and faced the knight resolutely.
“Loyalty? Fine. I’ll ask you this, then, in the name of loyalty. What exactly were you doing while an intruder was sneaking into my room?”
“That’s…”
The imperial knights, about to answer, grew angry when they saw Calius’s men gathering on both sides of the hallway to watch.
“What are you staring at? Is this some kind of show? Huh? You think this is a spectacle?”
As he waved his hand to dismiss them, Chloe stopped him.
“They are merely carrying out Marquis Rodrian’s orders to protect me. Leave them be.”
“What? But…”
The imperial knights scowled.
Their faces showed they were dumbfounded that Chloe was defending the Ronheim men.
It was obvious to anyone that the men had gathered to watch them get scolded.
Chloe said coldly.
“If they disperse, who will protect me from intruders now?”
Her words were a clear rebuke for the earlier incident.
An intruder had appeared, carrying food no less, and entered the princess’s room, yet the imperial knights had been completely unaware.
They had been negligent in their duties, failing to notice the intruder who had been hiding on the fourth floor from the start. Worse, while the intruder was openly moving about, they had been distracted, smoking at the corner of the hallway.
The knights refused to admit their fault, their pride getting the better of them.
“Didn’t we already tell you that happened because Marquis Rodrian’s men kept interfering with us?”
Their voices trailed off as they made the claim.
They, too, knew how flimsy their excuse was.
Besides, they didn’t have the courage to say it loudly while surrounded by the very people they were blaming.
Chloe snapped.
“If you can’t speak with confidence, then don’t speak at all!”
Brentian, who had been watching to see what Chloe was plotting, was puzzled.
‘Is this not a plot, but a public execution?’
As he listened to Chloe’s next words, his puzzlement turned to certainty.
“You had one duty. To protect me. And yet, you failed to perform even that single task.”
“…”
“So I ask you: were you bribed, or are you simply incompetent?”
“...!”
Calius’s men exchanged glances, cheering silently.
It couldn’t get any more exciting than this.
The imperial knights, who came from good Arental noble families, bristled as if they couldn’t tolerate such treatment.
“Your Highness! You go too far!”
Chloe concluded.
“Seeing your attitude, I know the answer. You were bribed. Weren’t you?”
“What are you…!”
“Is that why you helped the intruder remain undetected?”
“That’s absurd, Your Highness!”
Brentian was a little surprised to see Chloe pressing so hard.
Chloe looked thoroughly furious.
‘Then again, if the princess had been in that room instead of the maid, who knows what would have happened by now.’
Still, he had expected her to defend the imperial knights and find fault with Calius’s men instead. This was unexpected.
Chloe was relentless.
“I will hold you accountable for the crime of betraying the Idellian Imperial Family, colluding with the enemy, and endangering the life of a royal.”
The imperial knights stared blankly at her, their mouths agape at the enormity of her words.
Then, they quickly snapped out of it and directed their anger at Chloe.
“This is ridiculous!”
“We’ve been wronged! This is nothing but a baseless accusation, Your Highness!”
At the imperial knights’ attitude, Brentian and the other men unknowingly glanced at Chloe.
How could knights be so disrespectful to the one they served? It was unimaginable.
‘I can’t tell if Arental’s military discipline is just that lax, or if they simply look down on the princess.’
When they first started watching, they didn’t care who won or lost, but after seeing the imperial knights’ outrageous behavior, everyone’s sympathies shifted toward Chloe.
Chloe’s words might have been a bit extreme, but they weren’t wrong.
The circumstances were suspicious enough to warrant the accusation of being bought by the enemy.
Moreover, according to what Alex had told them, these knights had never even met Chloe before, making it all the more plausible.
‘They should be on their knees begging for forgiveness, yet they have the gall to act indignant. I pity the princess for having to put up with knights like them.’
The onlookers found themselves inwardly cheering for Chloe.
Chloe didn’t bat an eye at the imperial knights’ protests and issued a command.
“Ah, but before I deliver your punishment, you will apologize to Marquis Rodrian’s knights, who rendered great service in this matter, for your past rudeness.”
“Oh!”
“Whoa!”
Calius’s men couldn’t hold back their cheers.
Brentian realized that Chloe had intentionally chosen this public place to reprimand the imperial knights from the very beginning.
It truly was a public execution. A way to win over the people.
As Chloe instantly won Calius’s men over to her side, the imperial knights could no longer resist.
They clearly understood that the rumors of Chloe being out of her mind were false.
Not just the imperial knights, but everyone present realized it.
No one thought Chloe was mad anymore.
“Ahem!”
“They’re certainly taking their sweet time.”
Calius’s men shot the imperial knights pointed looks and closed in on them.
Trapped in the shadows of the tall Ronheim men, the two imperial knights couldn’t withstand the pressure and finally bowed their heads in apology to Calius’s men.
“We… we apologize for our past rudeness.”
“We are sorry. We were foolish.”
Calius’s men watched the bowing imperial knights with delight.
Their faces showed the satisfaction of a long-held frustration finally being relieved.
Brentian inwardly clicked his tongue as he saw how his comrades’ gazes toward Chloe had changed in an instant.
‘Hmph, you fickle fools.’
It wasn’t a good thing that Cavalla’s spy knew how to use her head.
Brentian decided he needed to observe Chloe more closely.
Just then, Chloe made a request to Hawick.
“Sir Hawick, could you help me carry out a fitting punishment for these men?”
“Of course.”
Hawick ordered his men to take the imperial knights away.
“I-I’ll walk on my own! Let go of me!”
“Where are you taking us? Your Highness! Your Highness!”
The imperial knights were dragged away, struggling.
Watching the imperial knights—who had been acting so high and mighty, as if they were his superiors—being dragged away by his comrades, Brentian thought.
‘Still, seeing them like this is quite satisfying.’
