Chapter 17
The Princess Palace boasted strict security even in the dim night.
No, it should have boasted strict security.
For some reason, all the palace people in the Princess Palace were sleeping as if dead.
The man with a huge build wearing a black mask entered step by step into the deepest part of the Princess Palace.
“Princess Elonia…”
The assassin muttered with eyes flashing with hatred.
It had really taken a long time to get here.
From the day Cheron’s head was cut off, the man had been sharpening his blade.
And finally.
Artius, known for neglecting his daughter, had begun to act in a clingy manner as if he wanted something from the princess, such as assigning her a playmate.
The opportunity had come.
But simply taking revenge was boring.
‘The first to die will be Princess Elonia.’
The hateful emperor’s only daughter who had dared to kill Cheron Heilan, Heilan’s hero and his own, and the empire’s sole successor.
No matter how much they say he neglects her for gobbling up the empress and being born, she is the daughter left behind by his beloved.
If he killed the young princess, even that Artius, the tyrant of the world, would crumble.
He didn’t care about what happened afterward.
Kill the princess, kill the emperor.
After that, he would behead the emperor like Cheron was beheaded and then take his own life.
The assassin slowly opened the door to the bedroom where the princess was sleeping.
* * *
‘An assassin.’
Elonia was the type of princess who didn’t have many assassination attempts.
The security of the Princess Palace boasted strict security where not even an ant could pass through, and although Artius didn’t treat Elonia as a daughter, he treated her as his only successor, so if someone attempted an assassination, they had to be prepared to ruin their family.
It had been said that there was no longer any wealthy and powerful country that would deliberately make a scab in this world where the 10-year war that had finally ended after Cheron had barely died and Artius had barely calmed down, plunging the continent into chaos.
Therefore, Elonia praised the guts of the assassin who had come for her today.
‘But how will they handle the aftermath after killing me?’
Burn the body?
But if they burn it, the other palace people will notice the smell.
She had no thought at all that she would be defeated.
Even if she had been living quietly since becoming Elonia, she was a war demon boasting 10 years of experience.
Unlike when she was a baby, she was past the age of collapsing after using a little magic, meaning there was nothing for Elonia to hesitate about.
‘…But wait, there’s no presence at all outside either. Could it be that this guy did something to them?’
Elonia concentrated and examined the presence inside the Princess Palace.
The entire palace was as quiet as a mouse.
But fortunately, she could feel their faint breathing.
‘Sarah just fell asleep too.’
I was surprised, thinking they were dead.
If Sarah had died, that guy wouldn’t be able to die comfortably.
But the question still remained.
‘Even if the maids don’t notice, the knights of the Princess Palace don’t even flinch at ordinary sleeping pills.’
The knights of the Princess Palace are all trained to develop a tolerance to sleeping pills that can even put elephants to sleep.
But how the hell did he put them to sleep and come in?
‘And the entire Princess Palace at that.’
Honestly, she had looked down on him, but he seemed to be an assassin of a surprisingly high level.
The assassin, who had been glaring at her for a while, finally drew his sword with a slithering sound and raised it above Elonia.
“I have no regrets for you, but die, Princess Elonia.”
‘I don’t know, let’s kill him and see.’
My neck is about to fly off right now, is it time to worry about the aftermath?
In the past, there was a time when she was filled with self-loathing for killing people before they could even speak, but now that she could speak fully, it didn’t matter.
The first time is hard, but the second time is easy.
The sharp tip of the sword approached swiftly, and at the same time, Elonia opened her eyes.
Clang—
Crash!
“…!”
The assassin couldn’t hide his surprise after looking at the sword that had flown far away and then at Elonia, who had already pulled back the blanket, gotten up, and was glaring at him coldly.
“H-how…!”
“That’s what I should be asking. How did you get in here?”
“…!”
“Not going to say? How did you put everyone to sleep?”
“H-how did you…”
The assassin stammered at the unexpected situation.
As expected, the princess should have been sleeping as if dead by now.
No matter how much the assassin hated Ravanta, he didn’t want to kill an innocent young child painfully, so that was the method he had used.
But the young princess who should have been asleep had gotten up unscathed and deflected his sword?
‘It’s dangerous.’
The assassin’s instinct, which had gone between life and death all his life, screamed like that.
The movement of mana was unusual, as if the assassin was trying to run away.
‘Wait, mana?’
Elonia hesitated.
‘I thought he was naturally a swordsman since he uses a longsword?’
But it was also unreasonable to say that guy was a mage.
Mages don’t use swords in the first place.
Could he be a sword mage like herself?
She could feel his skilled swordsmanship and magic.
Sword mages are never common.
There are fewer mages than swordsmen, and there are fewer holy knights than mages.
And what is even rarer than those holy knights are sword mages.
Moreover, if he’s this skilled…
‘Wait, wait.’
Come to think of it, she had heard this voice before.
Moreover, she thought his face looked familiar, could it be!
She guessed the assassin’s identity.
Once she identified his identity, she could also understand how he had put the entire Princess Palace to sleep in an instant.
‘Hypnosis magic is that guy’s specialty.’
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work on her, who is stronger than that guy.
Elonia hurriedly cut off the flow of mana the assassin was moving.
Having his mana blocked, the assassin was flustered and then drew a dagger from his bosom and rushed at Elonia.
It was surprisingly similar to Cheron’s technique.
If it were someone else, they would have been hit without even being able to track it, but Elonia was none other than Cheron.
Naturally, the assassin’s movements were blocked by Elonia’s magic.
“…!?”
The assassin was startled.
The assassin was by no means weak.
Rather, he was a skilled fighter boasting the highest level of skill in the mercenary guild.
But no matter what move he made, it was all seen through by Elonia, and he felt like he was literally being toyed with in the palm of her hand.
But that wasn’t the biggest reason the assassin was surprised.
‘This movement of mana…!’
It was too similar to his own, but more sophisticated.
He knew it was a story that couldn’t possibly be true, but as far as the assassin knew, the only one who could use this kind of magic movement more sophisticatedly than him was “that person”.
The assassin tried to cast that magic “that person” often used on the battlefield, just in case.
But the moment he used the formula, Elonia’s mana disrupted that formula.
“Are you crazy?”
“Kuh-huk!”
That was close.
Elonia wiped her chest, thinking she was about to let that guy burn down the palace because she tried to go easy on him since he seemed to be someone she knew.
It would be troublesome if he burned it down now when everyone was asleep and couldn’t escape, even if it was a different time.
Elonia decided to use a slightly aggressive method for the time being.
Invisible hands restrained the man, and another invisible fist punched the man’s solar plexus to calm him down.
The assassin collapsed on the floor, foaming at the mouth and suffering.
“Ugh, kuh-huk…”
‘Ah, did I hit him too hard?’
Well, it should be fine.
If it was who Elonia thought it was, he would be able to endure being hit this much, and even if it wasn’t him, he was an assassin, so it was cheap even if he died.
‘There’s a 90% chance it’s that guy, but.’
Elonia, sitting nobly on the bed, flicked her finger and removed the assassin’s mask.
The face she had expected was revealed under the mask.
Elonia smiled happily.
“I knew it was you, Rica.”
The assassin who had come for Elonia was none other than Cheron Heilan’s only disciple.
The assassin, no, Cheron’s disciple Ricardo wasn’t as surprised as expected.
Just as Elonia had figured out Ricardo’s identity after a few exchanges, he must have figured it out too.
He still had an arrogant look in his eyes, as if thinking there was no way this tiny baby could be Cheron, even though he had been foaming at the mouth just now.
Elonia hit Ricardo’s head again with an invisible fist.
“Where are you glaring at your teacher like that?”
“Ack!”
It was the love tap Cheron often used when Ricardo acted up.
Feeling the familiar and stinging sensation, Ricardo rubbed his head and asked with an incredulous face,
“…Is it really you, Master?”
“Yeah.”
“Why are you in that state…?”
“It’s a long story if I tell you.”
“…What if I say I can’t believe it?”
Ricardo asked again with fierce eyes.
Elonia gave her bad disciple who dared to doubt his teacher another love tap and began nagging.
“You, I told you to fix that habit of drawing your sword first. Why do you insist on using a sword when you can use magic? I always told you that you’re more useful with magic.”
“That’s!”
“Don’t you dare go around saying you’re my disciple, or I’ll be embarrassed.”
Even as she said that, Elonia untied Ricardo’s restraints.
Ricardo didn’t resist anymore.
He obediently knelt on the floor and looked up at Elonia.
Her appearance had really changed a lot, and her pronunciation had become unbelievably short, but that expression, that way of speaking.
There was no doubt.
“It’s really… It’s really you, Master.”
“Yeah. But why are you here?”
“I came to avenge you, Master.”
“My revenge?”
Elonia’s eyes widened.
And she soon understood.
‘Right… He would come to do that and more.’
She had completely forgotten after being too preoccupied since dying once.
She was sorry for completely forgetting, but she couldn’t hand over Artius’s neck.
Elonia said firmly,
“Go back.”
“But!”
“Go back when I tell you nicely.”
“I refuse. I can’t go back until I cut off that bastard’s neck.”
“Talk sense. I couldn’t kill him and died, so how will you kill him?”
“To be honest, I was going to kill Ravanta’s princess and cut off his neck while the emperor was flustered.”
It was absurd.
If she had been careless, her second life would have almost ended at the hands of her disciple.
Of course, the probability of that was less than the probability of Artius slipping on a banana peel tomorrow.
Elonia sighed heavily.
“You can’t beat him. I couldn’t beat him either.”
“…It’s not that he killed you, Master, but that you let him kill you.”
‘Tsk, sharp guy.’
Elonia clicked her tongue quietly.
She hadn’t breathed a word to Ricardo about “that incident,” but it seemed he had figured it all out.
“How did you know?”
“After you passed away, Master, King Vermon was very angry. He shouted so loudly that it could be heard from far away.”
Vermon and his temper, seriously.
How could he be so unhelpful even after death?
But what’s the point of blaming him now?
Both Cheron and Vermon were already dead.
Getting angry was just a waste of time.
Elonia tried to send Ricardo back quickly.
“Rica, just go back quietly. I’ll let it slide.”
“How can I run away leaving you in the middle of enemy territory, Master?”
“Are your eyes just for decoration? I’m Ravanta’s princess now.”
“If the emperor realizes your identity, there’s no way he’ll sit still. Let’s run away before that bastard figures everything out.”
“Bullshit. I’ve been hiding well so far. Besides, do you think I’ll lose to that measly bastard? I always had the upper hand when I fought Artius.”
“That may be true, but it’s different now. How can you compare yourself in a baby’s body to your prime? Did your brain get younger too?”
“You’re dead.”
That damn bastard.
Elonia took out the invisible hand again and smashed Ricardo’s head.
“Seriously, you’ve gotten even more impudent when I wasn’t looking.”
But suddenly, Ricardo bowed his head deeply.
As Elonia looked at Ricardo closely with a puzzled thought, tears dripped and fell on the floor.
Elonia was flustered.
“…Don’t tell me you’re crying?”