The Hero’s Party Members Treat Me Well for Some Reason

The Struggle for the Imperial Throne (3)

Although it is a palace where there is not a single person to trust.

Even so, there were about two people whom Deila had genuinely trusted.

The commonality is that both of them are dead.

One was the first princess, Aila, who had died long ago, and the other was her guardian knight, Railey.

Railey had died a few hours ago while trying to save her. With a large gash across his chest.

A bright red line was drawn from his left side to his right shoulder blade. It was probably a distant hope for survival.

Deila thought about the first time she met him.

1After the death of the first princess, the lowly squire assigned to him. Not even a knight, just a squire.

At first, he was hardly noticeable. After all, at that time he was young and was more often tasked with menial work than wielding a sword.

But as he faced off against the first prince, and one by one those around him disappeared, he remained.

As time passed, the only one left by his side was him. With the undeserved title of the princess’s escort knight.

In the end, the last one remaining by his side was not a knight, but a squire.

Seeing this, he lamented his own pitiful state, but on the other hand, he felt gratitude for the fact that he stayed until the very end.

Of course, now it was all in vain.

He was dead.

Clatter clatter.

In the shabby carriage’s cargo hold, she quietly shed a single tear.

*

A one-eyed bug.

A creature with excellent stealth, capable of vividly recreating the scene of an incident—a truly helpful little thing.

I was using it quite effectively, but it wasn’t without its drawbacks.

The main issue was its lack of mobility.

It didn’t have wings; all it had were a few thin legs. While it wasn’t very slow, it was undeniably slower compared to flying creatures.

And that meant that if the distance increased, it took a while to return.

That’s precisely why I learned about the third princess’s disappearance nearly 12 hours later.

With a serious expression, I played back the video captured by the one-eyed bug.

The video was very simple.

Three masked assailants had infiltrated Deila’s room while she was sleeping in her own chamber at midnight.

Unfortunately, their faces were obscured by masks, so I couldn’t see them.

As they carefully tried to move Deila, she screamed, and the escort knight rushed in.

A battle ensued between the assailants and the escort knight.

What surprised me was that the escort knight seemed to have improved quite a bit.

What was his level the last time I met him? Was it 29? In any case, he was weaker than an average knight.

From the movements of the assailants, he clearly seemed more seasoned than most knights, yet he was holding his ground. It seemed that training with Belita had paid off.

However, if there was a downside for him, it was that he was up against three opponents.

Even one of them was at least knight-level, and there were three of them. In the end, the escort knight couldn’t hold out for long and had to expose his chest.

– No! Railey!!!

As the knight fell, Deila shouted.

One thing that caught my eye for a moment was that Deila was wearing a negligee. Perhaps due to the thin fabric, her curves were clearly visible. In the midst of it all, I could see the outline of her underwear, whether it was black or white, clearly showing through the negligee.

Damn it, why is this suddenly catching my eye in such a serious situation? Even a princess prefers to wear something comfortable to bed.

I felt a slight twinge of guilt, as if I were peeping.

—Damn it, isn’t it time?

—Ugh, ughhh!

—Shit, this is taking way too long. We don’t have time. Take her right now.

Anyway, since the battle, she had been kidnapped. After watching the entire video, I let out a sigh.

“…Hmm.”

It wasn’t a good situation. The fact that the princess had been kidnapped was a problem, but the timing of the kidnapping was also an issue.

A question popped into my mind.

Why now? Just two days before the execution date, the leader gets kidnapped?

Why on earth did those thugs suddenly decide to kidnap the third princess? The answer quickly came to me.

‘Looks like information leaked.’

There must have been a mole among those who were in the meeting. That person sold information to the first prince, leading to the kidnapping.

Damn it, this is why you have to be careful about who you trust. A wave of irritation washed over me, but the situation had already unfolded.

Still, the silver lining was that it wasn’t all bad.

‘The prince seems a bit hasty.’

That meant the second prince’s situation was a weakness for him.

No matter how close the execution date was, kidnapping royalty was a serious matter.

Of course, if it ended quietly, he wouldn’t suffer much damage, but what if this incident came to light?

He wouldn’t be able to avoid a blow to his status.

Crimes related to royalty are quite severe, after all.

Thinking back, it was impressive that he was willing to attempt this twice.

So anyway, if we could just save the third princess, the turn of attack would come to us.

We could play two cards at once: the kidnapping of the third princess and the assassination of the first prince.

‘But how do I save her?’

Of course, there was a problem.

I only knew that the princess had been kidnapped, but I didn’t know the actual location where she was taken.

It was another problem with the one-eyed bug. It was great that it had a recording function, but it didn’t come with a tracking feature.

Damn, if that’s the case, I should have attached more bugs.

I felt a bit of regret, but it was already spilled water.

So, I decided to come up with another method.

“···for now.”

I murmured.

“Let’s go find the bedroom first.”

There might be some traces left behind.

*

When I entered the princess’s bedroom, surprisingly, there was a visitor.

It was Belita. The girl I had rescued before, now a prospective knight learning the ropes next to the third princess.

She looked quite tired as she guarded the side of the bed, where a man was lying. It was Railey.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but be shocked.

‘What is this? Wasn’t he dead?’

His upper body had clearly been severely slashed. It was a fatal wound, and if left untreated, he could die from excessive bleeding.

Just as I thought that, I noticed bandages tightly wrapped around Railey’s upper body. Next to him, Belita was diligently changing the towels.

‘Did she treat him all night?’

With that thought, the picture of yesterday started to form in my mind.

The assailants, who didn’t want to cause a commotion, hadn’t finished him off, and Belita, who arrived late, discovered him collapsed on the floor.

And she had been nursing him through the night, leading to the current situation.

“Ah, it’s been a while···.”

Belita, upon spotting me, flinched in surprise for a moment, then relaxed and greeted me.

Even though it felt ominous because of the curse, it seemed she recognized me as an ally.

I was grateful for that alone; I almost shed tears.

I asked her.

“What happened?”

“···That idiot Railey got seriously hurt trying to protect the princess all by himself.”

She looked at the guy lying on the bed with a deeply furrowed brow.

“If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have gone out for training last night… No, if my place had been closer to the princess’s quarters, I definitely could have saved him…”

From her murmuring, I could feel a strong sense of self-reproach.

Instead of comforting, I pulled out a potion bottle from the void and tossed it over.

“Use this on him. It’s not a high-grade potion, but it should help with recovery.”

“Ah, thank you.”

She accepted it without hesitation and immediately fed it to Railey.

I was just glad he was still alive. He wasn’t particularly endearing, but I had developed a bit of a fondness for him personally.

After giving the potion, I looked around the princess’s quarters.

I infused mana into the blood scattered on the floor to check for any reactions. There was no significant response.

‘As expected, all traces have been erased.’

Well, if they were going to kidnap a member of the royal family, they wouldn’t leave a mess behind. Even if they couldn’t get rid of Railey, they had certainly cleaned up the evidence.

As I was investigating the room, a sudden curiosity struck me, and I asked Belita.

“…By the way, where are the servants?”

No matter how much of a recluse the Third Princess was, she still had to live. Being royalty, she wouldn’t be doing things like cooking or laundry by herself. So, it was only natural that there would be at least a couple of servants around.

And their usual morning tasks would typically involve tidying up and cleaning the princess’s bedroom.

But why hadn’t there been any mention of them until now? With a growing sense of doubt, I asked Belita again.

“Where have all the servants gone? Why aren’t they around?”

At my question, she let out a hollow laugh and replied.

“I don’t know. They haven’t been around since this morning. It’s strange that they’re still collecting their pay…”

“…Hmm.”

I nodded. It certainly felt unsettling.

The very day the princess was kidnapped, the servants disappeared as well. The reason for their disappearance was obvious. They had likely been bribed by the First Prince. With enough money and threats, he could manipulate just about anyone.

For a moment, I felt a pang of sympathy for Deila.

‘You really have no one on your side…’

Somehow, I felt a sense of kinship, and she seemed pitiful to me.

So, where should I start to resolve this?

The situation was utterly bleak. I didn’t know the face of the assailant, nor did I have any idea where the princess had been taken. To make matters worse, there were no traces left of where they had gone.

But I wasn’t worried. Fortunately, I had quite a few skills related to tracking and investigation.

With just the two tools of deception and puppetry, finding her wasn’t impossible. If that wasn’t enough, I could always call on Adele, who was skilled in tracking.

‘First, let’s look for the servants.’

With that thought, I set my feet in motion.