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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: An Unforeseen Accident
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Backed into a corner, he realized he hadn't managed to cast a single proper attack spell at the Princess today, let alone show her his swordsmanship.
“Damn it! This is so unfair!”
“Kyakakya!” (Mad, aren't you? Surrender, and I'll make it stop!)
Still bound, Jusielia giggled.
“Oh, Your Highness. Are you training?”
“When did the young lord of House Continell arrive?”
A few passing palace staff stopped to watch the scene in the training grounds.
Just then, Claude instinctively sensed that the White Tiger Princess's yelps were a demand for his surrender.
But he didn't want to give up.
He could use a teleportation spell here. Unfortunately, that was a high-level spell only an Archmage could cast.
‘There's not much time.’
Watching the blue flames and the blizzard draw closer, Claude deliberated before finally making a decision.
Claude's silver hair swayed as he landed lightly atop the high wall at the back of the training grounds.
“Shield, Barrier, Reinforce!”
As Claude cast one magic circle after another, his mana was diverted elsewhere, and the binding spell on Jusielia vanished.
“Kyang?” (What? What are you doing?)
Dumbfounded, Jusielia watched what Claude was doing, her eyes widening.
Standing on the training ground wall, Claude simultaneously created an intangible shield and an earthen barrier in front of himself, then proceeded to cast reinforcing spells on them repeatedly.
He was trying to block Jusielia's supernatural attack head-on without surrendering.
The color drained from Jusielia's face.
“Grrrrr!” (That idiot!)
“This is the magic of humans! I can do this!”
Claude continued to cast reinforcing spells, his face full of confidence.
Jusielia belatedly tried to retract the supernatural ability she had used on Claude, but her power wouldn't return.
‘This is insane!’
“Kyang!” (No!)
Jusielia shrieked and ran toward where Claude stood.
Moments later, Jusielia's whirlwind of blue flames and blizzard collided with the shield and barrier Claude had created.
BOOOOM—!
An ear-splitting roar erupted.
Immediately after, an immense cloud of steam, created by the clash of fire and ice, billowed up over the training grounds.
Just then, Jusielia's attendants and the staff of Stella Palace arrived at the training grounds and were horrified by the sight.
“Your Highness!”
“Agh! What is this?! Your Highness, where are you?!”
“Are you alright, Your Highness?!”
“The young lord of House Continell!”
“Young lord!”
The training ground wall was nearly half-demolished, and the cloud of steam and dust grew thicker.
Unable to see even a step ahead, the people desperately called out for the Princess.
“Your Highness, Your Highness!”
“Your Highness!”
“Ugh, just a moment. Just in case, I'll try using my supernatural ability!”
Xaviet sensed that the steam had originated from the Princess's ability and drew upon his own.
Xaviet's ability wouldn't work on ordinary steam or smoke, but if it was miasma, steam, or smoke born from a supernatural ability, he could eliminate it with his power of Annihilation.
As he reached out his hand toward the milky steam and focused, his green eyes began to glow.
The lime-gold power of Annihilation flowing from Xaviet's hand began to absorb the steam that had engulfed the training grounds like a white fog.
Before long, visibility returned, and the people rejoiced.
Uni, who had been standing beside him with her hands clasped as if in prayer, jumped up and down before slapping Xaviet on the back in praise.
“Well done, Sir Xaviet! I knew I could count on you!”
“K-Kugh! I think you broke my spine...”
Xaviet rubbed his back.
It really felt like it was fractured...
He swore he would teach that jaguar beastman swordsmanship before returning to the Penterin Empire.
‘That way, she'll be an asset to the nation. I'm such a patriot... huh?’
Xaviet was looking around with a bright expression as the steam gradually dissipated, but then he saw the situation at the back of the training grounds and ran over in horror.
Good heavens, what was this?
Uni, who was already there, had a face as white as a sheet.
“P-Princess!!!”
“Your Highness?!”
“Lord Continell is here, too!”
The sudden roar had drawn everyone from Stella Palace, nearby courtiers, and even the onlookers.
Everyone rushed in horror toward the back of the training grounds.
Claude and Jusielia were trapped beneath the terribly collapsed wall.
The problem was that while the young lord of House Continell was unharmed, protected by a cocoon of snow, Princess Jusielia was covered in blood, crushed by the full weight of the collapsing wall.
“Your Highness!”
“Oh no! What do we do!”
It was clear that in protecting Claude, Jusielia had failed to protect herself.
Jusielia's attendants were certain of it. They knew full well that her supernatural ability was the blizzard.
“Your Highness!”
Uni and Sophie, tears streaming down their faces, began pulling away the large bricks and stones piled on top of Jusielia with their bare hands.
They had to get the Princess out quickly.
“Please, someone get the Archmage! Or a healing mage!”
“Y-Yes! Right away, please wait!”
A few of the palace staff ran off.
Xaviet gritted his teeth and carefully began to clear the surrounding debris, desperate to free the Princess.
‘Your Highness, you can't die. Please.’
‘Ah...’
Just then, Jusielia managed to flutter her eyes open at the murmuring sounds around her.
Her ears were ringing.
Her body ached, but it wasn't as agonizingly painful as she'd expected.
It felt like something had protected her just before the wall collapsed.
Jusielia glanced to her right.
Thankfully, Claude seemed to be safe, enveloped in her blizzard.
He seemed to have only fainted, which was a relief.
If he got badly hurt while playing with her, she would feel terribly sorry to his parents, Regent Jetar, and especially Ekiel.
To think she had harmed one of her precious subjects.
Claude was quickly rescued by the mages who soon arrived.
‘Thank goodness.’
Seeing this, Jusielia felt a wave of relief and completely lost consciousness.
The full story of how the two ended up crushed by the training ground wall was as follows.
Claude's defensive magic, meant to block Jusielia's blue flames and blizzard, had ultimately failed completely.
-Kyahahng! (Look out!)
-Damn it!
Jusielia had cried out urgently first, and Claude had also sensed the danger.
Neither of them had expected Jusielia's blizzard and blue flames to create such a massive secondary effect when they exploded.
Terrified, Jusielia had dashed toward him, and at the moment of the explosion, Claude's barrier crumbled.
KRA-KOOOOM—!
-Kyahng! (Ugh!)
-Huk!
The two children's screams rang out.
Jusielia and Claude were engulfed in the steam and shockwave from the explosion of the blue flames and blizzard, and they momentarily lost consciousness.
Jusielia was the first to come to.
-‘K-Kugh!’
The wall had collapsed, and she was trapped beneath it.
Panicked, Jusielia gathered her supernatural ability and unleashed a blizzard toward the still-unconscious Claude to protect him.
‘Please!’
She had to protect Claude at all costs. He acted tough, but he was a fragile ‘human’.
If Jusielia hadn't done anything at that moment, Claude would have met his end right there at the age of ten.
Jusielia briefly considered her own condition. She was still breathing, and the pain was less than she'd expected.
I'm alive.
Feeling that she was very lucky, she slowly closed her eyes.
In truth, it wasn't luck.
It was because of the ultimate magical artifact she wore around her neck.
“Uh...?”
Meanwhile, Claude, whose life had been saved thanks to Jusielia, came to his senses after receiving healing magic.
He then took in the current situation and was horrified.
“Kitty, n-no. Princess, Your Highness!”
Claude ran to Jusielia, who was still trapped in the rubble, and screamed as if his throat would tear.
He wasn't injured at all, but the little White Tiger Princess was covered in blood.
“Your Highness! I... no, how! Why!”
Claude's hands trembled violently.
The last thing he remembered was her image, running toward him, seared into his mind.
