Chapter 4
“You can’t have grown up in the palace forest anymore, right? So you’re not the daughter of a forester. Then your shoes.”
Richard pointed to my feet with a jerk of his chin.
“You don’t look like you’ve walked across two or three forests in those. That means you must live within at least an hour’s walk. And this is the forest attached to the Opal Palace.”
Mid-sentence, Richard frowned slightly.
“So, hmm… who lives in the Opal Palace again?”
Wait, you were acting like Sherlock Holmes just a second ago—how do you not know my name?!
“The 17th Princess.”
I replied in a tone filled with disbelief. Richard grimaced, then let out a short laugh. He raised a finger and flicked my forehead.
“You don’t even know who I am, do you? Still, even if you don’t know whether I’m a noble or royalty, that’s pretty bold.”
“…Huh?”
I blinked and stared at Richard, dumbfounded.
Something’s not right. Why has he been assuming I’m a servant this whole time?
Sure, he might not recognize my face. Lucillia had never once left the Opal Palace, and unlike Richard, I had ordinary hair and eye colors, so it would be hard to guess.
But even just looking at my clothes…
I looked down at myself.
My dress had been covered in dirt ever since I carried mushrooms in it, and Richard’s explosions had only made it worse.
My bony shoulders and collarbones were showing, my wrists and ankles so thin they looked skeletal.
I definitely looked more like a maid than a princess.
“But you…”
Richard looked at me and said,
“Does the 17th Princess starve you?”
His voice was much calmer than before.
I widened my eyes and looked at him. Puzzle pieces clicked into place in my mind, and I finally understood my situation.
Richard wasn’t planning to kill me. And he didn’t know who I was.
“I…!”
I quickly got to my feet.
“I have to go now!”
“What?”
“Thank you for the jerky!”
Before Richard could grab me, I bowed quickly and bolted toward the Opal Palace.
Of course, if he wanted to, Richard could’ve caught me easily. But I was sure he wouldn’t.
He’d already accomplished what he came to the forest for. He’d dealt with the shadow doll that attacked him, and the child he’d mistaken for an assassin turned out to be a hungry maid.
Why would he bother chasing me in this situation?
The Richard I knew only cared about battles, wars, and killing. His brief kindness had come from a fleeting moment of sympathy or whim.
So I had to disappear before that moment passed.
Even if he pitied me, he wouldn’t go as far as to follow me into someone else’s palace. He’s not the type to get involved in such troublesome things—
…At least, he better not be.
I ran for a long while and then looked back.
Behind me, the forest stretched out just as it always had.
Richard wasn’t there.
“I’m safe.”
I collapsed on the spot, overwhelmed with relief.
It wasn’t just that I had escaped death—I was most relieved that Richard didn’t know who I was.
It would be a long time before we’d cross paths again. By then, he’d surely have forgotten about today.
My plan to live quietly and stay unnoticed for three years was still intact!
I was sure of it.
That night, a strange tension filled the Ruby Palace.
The reason was simple. Richard Khan Esperusa, the lord of the Ruby Palace, was in a foul mood.
Outside the palace, he was called all sorts of names—murderous maniac, rabid dog—but those who served in Ruby Palace still thought he was a decent master.
He was selfish and moody, but he fiercely protected his own, and rewards and punishments were clear. The pay was also far better than in other palaces. As long as you didn’t plan to betray him, it was a decent job.
Granted, the Esperusa Imperial Palace itself wasn’t a great workplace, and the Ruby Palace was particularly bloody.
But hey, nowhere’s perfect! Our prince isn’t so bad!
So what if the room we just cleaned an hour ago is suddenly soaked in blood again? Or if he summons us at midnight just to toss a severed head at us and tell us to clean it up? There’s still no better place to work!
Such teary-eyed self-justification was standard in the Ruby Palace.
But today, the mood was a little different.
“This is bad, Sir Luke.”
Luke Saiten, Richard’s aide and escort knight, paused on his way to the office. A servant with a worried face stopped him.
“What’s wrong?”
Luke replied with a gentle smile. Unlike Richard, he was warm and kind to everyone. The servants of Ruby Palace often turned to Luke in times of trouble.
“His Highness is in a terrible mood, but we don’t know why. We can’t even get near the office.”
“Ah.”
Luke nodded. He had a good idea what it might be.
“I think I know the reason. I’ll talk to him, so don’t worry.”
“Thank you!”
He had just heard from another knight that Richard had been attacked.
That in itself wasn’t surprising. In a palace embroiled in a struggle for the throne, assassinations and ambushes were daily occurrences.
But today’s attack was different. The attacker wasn’t human.
Luke guessed that Richard’s foul mood was because of that.
Richard hated mages. He saw them as cowardly chatterboxes who lacked the guts to step onto the battlefield, and dismissed magic as a sneaky tool.
Of all the mages he despised, the one he hated most was his own brother.
Prince Rudolf Sol, the Fifth Prince. Richard’s nemesis and one of the top three contenders for the throne.
It was almost certainly Rudolf’s doing today. There was no proof, but everyone knew.
Normally, Richard would be in high spirits after a fight, like a puppy after a walk. But whenever he clashed with magic—especially Rudolf’s—he returned seething with rage.
Luke had seen it more than once, so he walked into Richard’s office casually.
“…!”
And nearly drew his sword on instinct.
The air inside the office was thick with bloodlust. Luke almost thought an assassin had slipped in.
But when he gathered his wits, he realized the killing intent wasn’t coming from outside.
It was coming from the man sitting arrogantly at the desk, feet propped up.
Richard turned his gaze toward Luke when he heard footsteps.
The red eyes that landed on Luke sent chills down his spine. Alarms blared in his head.
This definitely wasn’t normal.
Luke slowly opened his mouth.
“Your Highness, you called—”
“Who lives in the Opal Palace?”
Richard cut him off without even a greeting.
“The Opal Palace?”
It wasn’t a name that came up often, so Luke had to think a moment.
“The 17th Princess… Lady Lucillia El. She’s twelve this year.”
“Twelve, huh.”
At that, Richard twisted his lips into a sneer. He let out a growl-like laugh.
“Practically grown, right?”
Luke couldn’t agree with that at all. He thought back to what he’d been doing at twelve.
But from Richard’s point of view, it was different. This monster of a man had already killed an assassin with a wooden sword when he was thirteen.
Richard’s standards were far from normal—but in the Esperusa family, that might be the norm.
“She even knows how to abuse her own maid.”
Luke, lost in thought, snapped back to reality at Richard’s words.
“Abuse…? The 17th Princess?”
“What’s the monthly allowance the palace gives to princes and princesses again?”
The sudden change in topic threw Luke off even more. Richard had never shown interest in such things.
“Uh… I believe it’s about 20,000 Solem every three months…”
Richard’s face grew darker.
He continued asking about Lucillia. Luke answered as best he could but couldn’t grasp the situation.
It wasn’t surprising that Richard didn’t know Lucillia. Even Luke only knew the basics, not even her face.
The 13th Princess, 17th Princess, 19th Prince—all had effectively given up their claim to the throne. Royal children who kept their heads down and stayed out of sight. No threat at all.
Richard respected strength and ignored the weak. To him, those who gave up the fight for the throne weren’t even rivals—they were trash.
So why Lucillia now?
“I see.”
Richard’s face grew even more grim.
Luke thought maybe now was a good time to ask something in return—
“Leave.”
The cold tone slammed the door in his face.
After Luke left, Richard tried to calm himself.
Since he never did that, the effort failed within seconds. His face twisted like an angry beast’s.
20,000 Solem was not a small sum. Enough to hire more than thirty servants, and the Opal Palace was much smaller in scale.
As he did the math, Richard suddenly stopped.
Why am I even thinking about this?
He was irritated. Ever since returning to the palace, he hadn’t been able to concentrate.
He kept thinking of that child. The one who cried, saying she was just there for mushrooms.
That emaciated child. Sunken cheeks, skinny limbs, collarbones sticking out.
The way she scarfed down the jerky in desperation.
All of it kept dragging up unpleasant memories.
A small child locked away in a dark room, surviving on nothing but water.
On lucky days, shoving food into her mouth as fast as possible, afraid someone might steal it. No grace, no dignity. Nothing fit for royalty.
“Richard.”
A piercing headache struck. Cold shivers ran down his body.
A sticky, filthy voice oozed inside his head.
“You must become a useful child.”
Crash.
Richard grabbed his sword and swung wildly.
His desk, loyal for so long, withstood the first blow—but not the second or third.
After smashing the desk, he didn’t stop. With each swing, another piece of furniture shattered.
When there was nothing left to break, he finally lowered his sword.
“Y-Your Highness…?”
Luke Saiten’s trembling voice came from the broken doorway.
Richard looked around at the wreckage he’d created—and then laughed like a savage.
He had to admit it.
This god-awful feeling wasn’t something that would go away on its own.
“Follow me.”
Richard yanked open what was left of the door.
He tossed a sentence at Luke and started walking.
“Huh? Uh, where are we going?”
Luke scrambled to follow. Richard ground his teeth.
“To the Opal Palace.”
