The fake princess hides her scheme

Episode 8

When the year changed and April came, miraculously, Raphael returned.

I no longer believe that the kind and smart kid was abandoned after only half a year, but at the time, I just thought it was lucky he was alive.

I almost committed a great sin against Raphael.

My name has been liked ever since the day the three of us went out secretly to pick wild strawberries.

I don’t know my exact birthday.

So, every year when April came, Milligent celebrated my birthday every day, giving me all kinds of delicious food and small gifts.

He must have been trying to make it so that I would never hate my name again, so that I would never be able to even think about dying out of guilt.

So every day in April became my birthday.

Do you really think I’m going to just sit here and let Milligent die?

you’re welcome.

Even if dirt gets into Wizard A’s eyes, that will never happen.

***

“You’re a wizard.”

At the same time, Calrissian took off his robe and handed it to Marin, saying:

Marin’s eyebrows furrowed at the sentence without a subject.

“……yes?”

“I mean, princess. I mean, a wizard.”

Even though Calrissian went into more detail, Marin’s frown didn’t change.

“Suddenly? Are you talking about the Princess of Bristol?”

Calrissian pursed his lips as if he was relieved.

“You know I don’t like touching other people.”

“Yes, if you are going to make such inhuman remarks about other people’s body temperatures being unpleasant, please refrain from doing so.”

Calrissian snickered as Marin answered hesitantly.

“I hate that sticky feeling. Especially wizards. It’s so hot it’s uncomfortably hot.”

Marin shook her head as if she could not see him.

“… … It’s not just that the princess’s body temperature is a little hotter than others, is it? Maybe she’s not feeling well today.”

“Of course not.”

Calrissian answered confidently, slowly opening and closing his ten fingers one by one.

“Whenever you feel embarrassed, move your fingers. Like this.”

He added:

“It’s like the old man from Matapju.”

Marin asked again, still without smiling.

“The Magic Tower Lord is a fire magician who appears once every few hundred years. Are you saying that the princess is the same?”

Calrissian shook his head slightly.

“no way.”

Then he spoke calmly, as if he was predicting the dinner menu.

“It’s probably a minor ability. But since he does it whenever he feels threatened, it seems likely that he’s a protective type. The important thing is.”

The smile on his lips disappeared without a trace.

“They hid that fact for so long in Bristol. So thoroughly that we couldn’t find it out even after investigating the princess’s background.”

“Are you really sure?”

Marin’s expression darkened at the fact that she did not want to believe.

Isn’t that too deadly a secret for the princess to hide with that innocent face?

It was a very serious problem that the fact that the successor had emerged as a magician in a vassal state was kept hidden for his entire life and that he was not registered in the Imperial Magic Tower.

But Calrissian simply nodded coolly.

Marin opened her mouth heavily.

“… … If Your Majesty had magical powers as you suspected, the princess should have entered the Magic Tower long ago.”

“What I’m saying is.”

Calrissian’s purple eyes gleamed sharply, like those of an animal about to hunt.

“Our princess had every reason to be in pain as much as I did.”

“Maybe he was sick and couldn’t enter the temple.”

Marin furtively considered another possibility, but the Crown Prince was already absorbed in other thoughts.

Could it be that he has come now to confess his identity and ask for forgiveness?

Although it’s somewhat annoying, if that’s the case, I wish the princess had some useful abilities.

Of course, you won’t use it that much, but it’s fun.

It was obvious from the beginning that this banquet had been planned by his uncle, Grand Duke Artsen, in order to formally bring the Prime Minister’s daughter to the Crown Prince.

So it must have been as disconcerting to the Archduke as it was to me when he suddenly announced his intention to attend the banquet in Bristol just ten days before it was to be held.

Things are going so well, how could I not be happy?

Calrissian chuckled as he thought about the puzzle that had been solved in just one day.

“When Your Majesty smiles even when no one is looking, it sends a chill down my spine.”

Marin sighed as she saw her master’s purple eyes sparkle more than necessary. At times like this, tiring things would always happen one after another.

“Even if all of this turns out to be true, His Highness the Duke of Bristol is actually at fault the most, so please take the necessary steps to receive the reward. And gently torment the newly-adult princess.”

Even if she were truly a sorceress, this was the Imperial Palace, an inviolable territory where even the Magic Tower Master would be reduced to a criminal. In Marin’s opinion, the princess was still a weak being.

“You’re bullying me.”

Calrissian’s lips hardened into a smile and he quickly answered.

“If all these speculations turn out to be true, I will marry the princess.”

“yes?”

Marin was shocked, but Calrissian looked serious.

“It wouldn’t be a bad thing, right? I don’t want to marry Hillis, and the princess would want to marry into the royal family, if only to keep the fact that she’s a sorceress a secret.”

“And Bristol is rich?”

Calrissian only pulled at the question once more, neither confirming nor denying.

In Marin’s eyes, the little princess didn’t seem like she could be a great sorceress, so he felt somewhat sorry for her.

Calrissian suggested nonchalantly.

“Then shall we go look at the stars now?”

Marin sighed and asked back, interrupting the secret routine that occasionally came up.

“Aren’t you tired from welcoming guests?”

“What are you talking about? I almost died from sitting in the carriage all this time.”

Marin smiled faintly as she handed her longsword to her lord.

I’m going to be even busier in the next month.

***

The next day, Calrissian escorted me like the day before and brought me straight to Princess Alexandra’s path.

For me, who had never been near the island in my entire life, the splendid and crowded Princess’s Road was a dazzling and fascinating place.

But I reflected on my mistake in the garden the day before and tried hard to fit myself into the princess mold.

A princess should never want to buy cheap trinkets from street vendors or respond to the ridiculous sales pitches of merchants.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the merchant turned out to be Jane, an assistant at the lace workshop across from our guild office.

Jane shouted at the top of her lungs, as she usually did across from our guild office.

“The finest lace from Justinian, with the craftsman’s touch melting into each and every stitch!”

In fact, the day before entering the palace, Raphael came to me, ignoring Clementine, and spoke seriously to me.

“Now that Milligent has been captured, I can’t stand you being tied up in the palace for a month.”

I shook my head firmly at Raphael.

“But I have to go. Millie is my lifesaver. You know that.”

“Yes, I know. But if I go undercover in the palace with you, we’ll all be dragged around by this sinister client.”

Raphael sighed, unfolded the map, and pointed to a straight road running through the center of the castle.

“Here, Princess Alexandra’s Way. The security is as strict as anywhere else in the castle, but anyone who belongs to the Merchant Guild can bid for a spot here by paying rent.”

I tilted my head.

“Raf. I understand how you feel, but right now is not the time… … .”

“If you pay three or four times the premium, you can buy the already bid spot and move in right away. That’s the only way. If I don’t hear anything from you for a month, I… … .”

Raphael continued with a gloomy face.

“I don’t think I can stand it. I can’t stand it, not even a little bit.”

“… … It might be dangerous.”

“The most dangerous person in this mission is you, April. You’re going to the Imperial Palace. In a way, you’re in more danger than Millie.”

After repeating the same nagging that the kid had already done several times, he added:

“I won’t go in. The Princess’s Path also prohibits the bringing in of magical tools, and someone has to stay here and do the remaining work.”

With a reluctant nod, Raphael concluded.

“I will send in anyone who can be a source of information as soon as possible. I will choose someone who knows you, but is not personally close to you, just in case. Excessive interest is dangerous.”

So it seemed like Jane was chosen.