CHAPTER 34
Crunch… crack, crackle…
Sounds that should never come from a tree echoed ominously.
Carnivorous Tree.
True to its name, a high-level magical beast in tree form that consumed meat. However, what made this creature high-ranking wasn’t simply its appetite for flesh.
“Damn it… it’s blocked every escape route so I can’t get away…?”
I let out a sigh of despair as I saw myself surrounded on all sides by carnivorous trees, with a stream at my back.
The world clearly hated me. I couldn’t swim—never could.
When I was seven, I almost drowned during a boat ride. Since then, I’d avoided water entirely, save for baths.
And yet, my only escape now was that stream. As I watched the carnivorous trees begin their transformation in earnest, I stomped my feet in panic.
“What do I do, what do I do… how do I survive this…?”
My mind went blank with panic. As I stared at the trees, I saw a huge circular opening appear in one of the trunks—and realized it was its mouth.
Sharp wooden teeth filled the gaping maw like a sewer grate, and countless branches began stretching toward me, their target clear.
Bracing for the agony to come, I clenched my eyes shut. And then—
Puk—!
A sharp, puncturing sound rang out through the forest.
Meanwhile…
Cecile was on the verge of fainting. She’d been watching through the Magic Mirror while Lirien wandered in search of water.
She had seen it: the carnivorous tree carefully stalking the young girl, herding her into a corner.
Cecile wanted nothing more than to grab her sword and armor and rush to the princess’s side. But thanks to Adix Rodburigo, she was trapped in the Tower Master’s office.
With a glare like knives, Cecile hissed at him.
“Damn it, are you really doing this to a ten-year-old girl? You’re a lord—how can you justify this?”
Adix only chuckled.
“You must be naïve. Crueler lords than I are scattered across the Estiean Empire. Perhaps you should rebuke them all first before wagging your finger at me?”
“That girl you just threw into the jaws of death is the Imperial Princess!”
“Tower Master, I believe Sir Cecile has a point,” chimed in Carmen, stepping in front of Adix.
“If Her Highness dies, the consequences will be irreversible. A war with the Empire may be unavoidable.”
Carmen’s cold sweat made his plea obvious—he was trying to coax Adix into changing the terms of their little wager.
But Adix Rodburigo remained unmoved.
He tilted his head, seemingly confused by their concern.
“Then let the princess surrender.”
“She won’t,” Cecile said firmly.
“Then she’s a fool who places no value on her own life. And fools deserve to die.”
“That’s not what I meant—!”
Just as Cecile’s eyes flashed with rage—
Puk…!
A horrific sound pierced through the Magic Mirror. Like a blade stabbing through flesh—something sharp tearing something soft.
Both Carmen and Cecile turned pale and looked at the mirror.
And saw… nothing.
No Lirien, no forest—just total blackness.
Cecile’s lips trembled. Carmen swallowed hard.
There were three main reasons why the Magic Mirror might stop transmitting:
- The attached mirror device—either aerial or body-mounted—was destroyed.
- A temporary surge of magical interference rendered the mirror useless.
- The mirror’s “anchor”—the participant—was dead.
Cecile took a shaky step forward, praying it wasn’t the third option.
Then—
[Gahh—!]
A familiar voice rang out, and the screen flickered back to life.
Lirien, flailing helplessly in the water, swept along by a powerful current.
Relieved that she wasn’t dead, Cecile’s face quickly went pale again.
“She can’t swim…” she whispered.
Adix Rodburigo, having heard her, offered a tone of mock sympathy and a twisted smile.
“Oh dear. Looks like she’ll drown.”
At that moment, somewhere in the Dark Forest…
“Gahh, gahh—!” I gasped, spitting water out of my mouth as the current dragged me mercilessly downstream.
“The current’s getting stronger…!”
The river in the Dark Forest was dangerous.
No one knew what creatures might lurk within, and I’d inhaled who knows how many types of bacteria through my nose and mouth.
I’d escaped the carnivorous trees, yes, but I’d lost the handkerchief I was using as a makeshift gas mask.
A thought hit me.
What if I die like this?
What if I die without getting proper revenge? What then?
As my consciousness faded and my limbs lost strength, my vision blurred and my eyes began to close.
“Found you.”
A familiar voice. Then, the strange sensation of being pulled toward land—just like that time at the lake.
Something—someone—was dragging me ashore.
I forced my eyes open.
There, silhouetted against the bank, someone caught my hand and smiled slightly.
Jet-black hair. Eyes darker than the sky, clearer than sapphire.
He gazed down at me and said:
“Fancy meeting you here, Your Highness.”
Richard.
He stood before me.
I masked my near-death expression behind a calm facade and muttered:
“I almost died pretending I couldn’t swim.”
Back on land, I wrung the water out of my clothes and looked up at Richard and the knights behind him—members of both the Eliet Knight Order and the Royal Guard, clad in white uniforms.
“You found me rather quickly.”
“You sent a signal, didn’t you?” Richard replied, gently draping his coat over my shoulders with a smile.
How is he even here?
Adix Rodburigo must be wondering that.
How did the young duke of Eliet manage to find me with the Royal Guard in tow?
Because it was all staged.
It wasn’t as though I had sent an official support request to the Imperial family—they wouldn’t take it seriously.
After all, as Adix said, I was just “a discarded First Princess.”
That’s why he’d let his guard down. To him, my plea for help seemed like nothing more than a desperate grab for attention.
The official letter I sent five days ago via Cosaren mail to Dmitri only mentioned needing some knights and medical apprentices to collect a rare plant from the Dark Forest to help treat Evgeny’s illness.
But the real support request?
That had gone to Richard, via a quick note through Cecile’s messenger bird.
I looked at Richard with a sly smile.
“It seems I’ve benefited from guiding the young duke once before.”
“I told you—I always repay my debts,” he replied.
I chuckled softly. Richard gently took my hand and led me to a nearby rock to rest, then bowed slightly.
“Is there anything else I can do to help?”
I glanced at him, then at the Magic Mirror, and said:
“Please find me eight Solia fruits. I plan to give them as a gift.”
The Magic Mirror suddenly crackled and shattered into black dust.
Imagining the chaos erupting back at the Tower, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“The mages will be having a rough day.”
I wondered who’d be the target of Adix’s fury.
Watching Richard commanding the knights, I propped my chin on my hand.
As the various knight orders—including the Royal Guard—scattered to search for the Solia fruits, Richard returned and knelt beside me, checking me over carefully.
“Are you injured?”
“Just scraped my knee on a rock when I fell in. Nothing serious.”
“You swallowed some river water. There’s a risk of poisoning or infection. You should expel it.”
There was really only one way to do that.
Vomiting.
But with so many people around—Richard included—I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I shook my head with a grimace.
“I’ll get treatment once we return to the Tower.”
“But I’m worried.”
“Still… I don’t want to.”
When I stubbornly averted my gaze, Richard sighed and extended a hand to my hair.
“…At least let me do this. You’ll catch a cold otherwise.”
Drip…
Water trickled from my hair as he gently wrung it out.
I was surprised. The Richard I knew had never been this gentle.
His fingers, untangling my soaked hair with care, were strangely warm. I curled my toes in my boots.
Meanwhile, the Royal Guards glared daggers—not at me, but at Richard.
“He’s totally flirting with the princess.”
“Isn’t excessive kindness basically a crime? What if she falls for him…?”
“Didn’t His Majesty order us to protect Her Highness with our lives? If an outsider even touches her, we’re supposed to cut off his hand—!”
But of all people, Richard?
The knights under Dmitri’s command were paralyzed.
They could already hear Dmitri’s voice echoing in their heads:
“Why didn’t you stop the duke? Do you want to eat prison gruel for the next three days?”
Oblivious to all this, I blinked as Richard handed me a small red stone.
“What’s this?”
“A warming stone. It holds fire energy. It’ll heat you up quickly.”
“…That’s rare. Thank you.”
I shyly accepted the stone, and sure enough, my freezing body immediately warmed up.
I sighed in relief. Richard remained at my side, attending to me.
Ten minutes passed.
Perhaps fearing the consequences of letting us get too cozy, the Royal Guards scrambled to find eight Solia fruits and offered them to me.
I beamed with a childlike smile.
“Thank you. You all worked hard.”
The knights scratched their heads in embarrassment. Richard leaned in and whispered:
“And what about me?”
“Hm?”
“No praise for me, Your Highness?”
“…Good job.”
“You’re not smiling.”
“Then shall I pat your head, too?”
Joking, I reached out—and Richard, with a sweet smile, bowed his head forward.
I gawked. All eyes were now fixed on us.
The Eliet knights looked startled. The Royal Guards were screaming internally.
“Please don’t pat that tiger’s head, Your Highness!”
“We’ll die…! We’ll be punished…! WE will…!”
But I, oblivious to their silent protests, hesitated—then gently stroked Richard’s soft black hair.
His silky hair slipped between my fingers. As I withdrew my hand, he looked up and smiled radiantly.
“That made me very happy. Please praise me like that often.”
Like a puppy obediently serving its master, he beamed.
I was speechless.
Hidden in the shadows of the forest, no one could tell—
That both our ears had flushed a deep shade of red, like blooming roses.
Later, after issuing the retreat order to his knights, Richard turned away from me.
The mission to protect me was now complete. Yet, beads of sweat had formed on my palm as I clutched the basket.
“Why am I sweating so much…?”
I glanced down and saw the warming stone in my hand.
Was it just this thing making me feel so hot?
As I fidgeted with it, the other knights completed their mission of gathering herbs and escorted me back to the Tower.
Still, I couldn’t shake the lingering warmth in my hand.
“That made me very happy. Please praise me like that often.”
…Maybe falling into the water knocked something loose in my brain.
The memory kept replaying, leaving me flustered.
Hiding my red face with my arm, I muttered quietly:
“This stone… is way too hot.”
Why had that day felt so very warm?
It would be a long time before I realized the answer.
