Chapter 24
Why was Alberich here?
Didn’t he leave earlier?
While Elonia was flustered by the unexpected situation, Dolce must have thought he was being interfered with, as he got up with a grim face.
“What the hell, Prince Asta. Why are you here?”
“It is I who brought the princess here. Princess, I’ve been looking for you for a while. Shall we go?”
No matter how big Alberich was compared to his peers, he was small compared to the adult man Dolce. But Alberich calmly extended his hand to Elonia as if he wasn’t afraid of Dolce at all.
But there was no way Dolce would just watch that happen.
“Where are you going? I’m talking to the princess right now.”
“For that, the princess looks troubled. Just watching is vulgar, Prince Dolce.”
“What? Vulgar? Ha.”
The moment Dolce let out a hollow laugh in disbelief, he grabbed Alberich by the collar.
‘This crazy bastard!’
No matter how stupid Dolce was, who would have thought he would dare grab the collar of an imperial prince as a hostage?
Elonia was so startled that she forgot her fear and unknowingly shouted at Dolce.
“What are you doing in front of the princess! Everyone, stop!”
“This little bean dares to raise her voice at who—”
Dolce let go of Alberich’s collar and reached out to Elonia.
That hand lunging at her.
As if the colorless afterimages of the past were rushing in, Elonia reflexively squeezed her eyes shut.
Instead of slicing Dolce’s throat, if that bastard even laid a finger on her, she planned to charge him with the crime of lèse-majesté.
But Alberich interfered again.
“Who do you think you’re reaching out your filthy hand to?”
“Aaack!”
Alberich caught Dolce’s wrist and applied force as if to crush it.
‘That unhelpful bastard!’
Elonia frowned and glared at Alberich.
He had been interfering from earlier, definitely not helping.
Alberich was too busy glaring at Dolce as if to kill him to notice Elonia’s gaze at all.
“Le-let go! Kugh, damn it!”
“Apologize to the princess.”
“Damn it, I got it! I’m sorry! Happy now! Now let go, you bastard!”
Alberich seemed to be asking for permission as he made eye contact with Elonia.
She didn’t care anymore.
Not only would things not go smoothly with Alberich here, but she was also out of time now.
When Elonia nodded, Alberich obediently let go of his wrist.
“Damn it! Such a barbaric bastard.”
“That’s my line.”
Alberich took off his glove and threw it on the ground as if he had touched something dirty.
“Now, Princess. Shall we go back?”
Alberich extended his hand.
‘He had a mysophobia too, but is it okay?’
That wasn’t important right now.
She was really out of time.
If she paid attention to trivial things, the palace would notice that she had disappeared.
Elonia took Alberich’s hand.
Alberich lifted Elonia in his arms and started walking.
‘I’ll just have him take me to where Ricardo is and hurry back.’
Right.
Now that Dolce was out of sight, she had calmed down a bit.
She had been rash earlier.
No matter how angry she was, how could she think of slicing Dolce’s throat in such a public place?
Although it was a place people didn’t frequent, this was still the academy.
Moreover, slicing his throat in one go would be too lenient for what Dolce had done so far.
‘I need some mental preparation.’
Even for Elonia, who had extinguished countless lives, it took great determination to kill her trauma.
The Dolce that remained within Elonia was still a frightening existence that she couldn’t dare lay a hand on.
Elonia vowed to do something about Dolce when the opportunity arose after sufficient mental preparation.
While reassuring herself like that and glancing behind Alberich’s back, her eyes met Dolce’s.
He muttered with the same hateful face as Felix 4 years ago.
“What a wretched wench, acting all high and mighty just because you were born into a good family despite being neglected. A wench who’s only going to serve her husband when she grows up anyway.”
Maybe it was because that muttering was too loud.
It seemed to have reached Alberich’s ears too, as he stopped walking and shouted while turning around.
“Excuse me, Prince Dolce!”
“Oh, my. Princess, that wasn’t about you, did you hear it? Don’t mind it since it’s about my sister. I heard that wench has been very insolent lately—”
Dolce shrugged with an expression asking what misunderstanding he had.
But that was not a good choice.
Bam!
In an instant, it seemed like Dolce was hit by something and flew away, and a huge roar along with a cloud of dust obscured the view.
As the dust slowly cleared, the unfolded scene was spectacular.
Dolce had crashed into the outer wall of the building and collapsed on the floor.
The outer wall of the building cracked from the force of the impact.
“Wh-what is this?”
While Alberich was flustered, Elonia shook him off and approached Dolce.
“Urgh…!”
The impact must have been great, as Dolce was gasping for breath and wheezing.
Far from stopping there, Elonia began mercilessly kicking Dolce’s face with her small foot covered in mana.
Even if it was a child’s kick, with mana infused, blood started gushing from Dolce’s face.
“Aaah! Ku-ugh…! St-stop, urk!”
‘This filthy bastard, there’s a separate name to put in that crude mouth of yours!’
Elonia could now endure insults against herself to some extent. It wasn’t that she wasn’t hurt, but she could ignore them and move on.
But she couldn’t forgive this trash bastard for disparaging not her, but someone else, and her beloved sister Olivia at that, while pretending not to insult herself.
In Heilan’s royal castle, the only ones who didn’t detest the blood-soaked war demon Cheron were Olivia and Simon.
They were the only ones who looked at her straight and reached out their hands to her.
At some point, rather than thinking she fought because she didn’t want to die, she went to war with the thought of wanting Olivia and Simon to grow up in peace.
No matter how much she hated Heilan, no matter how much Vermon, Felix, and Dolce acted like dogs, she reluctantly went to war to protect the young Olivia and Simon.
In the end, she had been too weak and ran away from those children through death, but her love for those children remained unchanged even now.
That was why she had spared only Felix that day.
If Felix died too, it was obvious how Dolce, this maggot-like bastard, would treat his younger siblings.
‘But who the hell are you to…!’
Who are you to curse my siblings?
Elonia’s kicks gradually became more ruthless.
Blood spurted from various places on Dolce’s face, becoming increasingly unsightly.
‘Fortunately, I’ve killed people before.’
Otherwise, Elonia might have killed Dolce in vain, like squashing a bug with her finger, not knowing that killing a person didn’t require much strength.
The memories of going to the battlefield at a young age were helpful for the first time.
“Princess!”
Alberich was startled by Elonia’s abrupt action and was dazed for a moment, then belatedly ran over to stop her.
“What—!”
“Let go.”
Elonia looked up at Alberich coldly and spoke.
Alberich was momentarily overwhelmed by Elonia.
And he was flustered by himself like that.
‘…Is she really four years old?’
Moreover, even after he had separated Elonia from Dolce, Dolce was still being hit by something invisible.
Could it be magic?
That’s when it happened.
“Princess!”
Ricardo came running from afar with Llewellyn in his arms.
He had sensed Elonia’s mana and rushed over, knowing something had happened.
“Elon, what is this… Gasp, brother…!”
“…Llewellyn.”
Llewellyn gasped upon discovering Alberich.
Elonia noticed Llewellyn in Ricardo’s arms and stopped beating Dolce.
Her anger wasn’t fully vented yet, but the sight of Dolce turned into a bloody mess was not something a young child should see.
Dolce was nearly unconscious, and white things, perhaps teeth that had fallen out from being beaten, were scattered around him in a wretched state.
Ricardo noticed Dolce, flinched, pushed Alberich aside, and approached Elonia closely.
“Princess, people will gather soon. We need to go back quickly,”
“What’s this commotion!”
“Gasp, th-that! That collapsed one is from Heilan!”
“What!? Quickly call the doctor!”
But before Ricardo could finish his words, people had already noticed the commotion and gathered.
Someone who seemed to be a professor spotted Alberich and shouted,
“Alberich Asta! Don’t tell me this is your doing!”
“…Damn it.”
Ricardo cursed softly.
It was too late to run away in front of so many people.
Ricardo asked Elonia in a small voice,
“Princess, what should we do?”
“…”
Elonia didn’t answer.
She simply glared at Dolce with murderous eyes.
Elonia’s fists trembled until the doctors arrived and took Dolce away, disappearing into the distance.
In the end, this commotion reached even Artius’s ears.
* * *
“Speak, Princess.”
Those who had been at the scene of Dolce’s assault were all summoned before the emperor.
The audience hall was filled with high-ranking nobles of Ravanta as well as the Duke of Asta.
It was because the nobles of Heilan protested, asking if it was okay to indiscriminately beat up a prince of a nation, even if it was a vassal state.
Of course, it was known that Alberich was the one who had assaulted Dolce, but the princess had not only disobeyed the imperial order and secretly left the palace, but was also found at the center of the disturbance, so Elonia couldn’t avoid interrogation either.
Artius sat on the imperial throne and looked down at Elonia.
“As the princess who was at the center of it, explain why Prince Alberich assaulted Prince Dolce.”
“…”
“You won’t speak? Then can you at least explain why you disobeyed my order and secretly left the Princess Palace?”
Even when a cold voice fell from Artius, Elonia just stood firmly without saying a word.
Unable to watch any longer, Alberich, who was kneeling, lowered his head and spoke.
“The princess is not at fault, Your Majesty. Prince Dolce was the first to act rudely towards the princess.”
“Even so, that doesn’t erase the sin of disobeying my order and sneaking out, does it?”
At Artius’s cold words, this time Ricardo knelt.
“It is my fault. I took the princess to the academy. If you are to punish someone, punish me.”
“M-my fault is greater…! I was the one who first suggested to the princess that we secretly go play at the academy. The princess is not guilty!”
Llewellyn also stepped forward, overcoming his fear, but unfortunately, that action only further offended Artius.
“Then you bastards dared to take the only imperial heir outside without my permission? This can be applied as attempted murder of the imperial family.”
“…!”
At those words, not only Elonia but also the Duchess of Asta, who was watching from the side, flinched.
The Duchess of Asta was about to step forward, but that’s when it happened.
Elonia finally opened her mouth.
“They are not at fault, Your Majesty. It is all because I, as the princess, forgot my duty and was stubborn.”
“Princess!”
The Duchess of Asta almost screamed.
But Elonia continued, looking straight into Artius’s eyes.
“They are my people. No matter how wrong my orders are, they cannot disobey my orders because I am the princess. If you are to punish someone, it is right to punish me.”
“Princess, what are you—”
“Be silent. I did not permit you to speak.”
Artius looked down at the Duchess of Asta who was arguing and spoke coldly.
Elonia was angry that her people had no choice but to kneel before that bastard because of her rashness.
The guilt was also rushing in considerably.
‘It’s all my fault, so why are you kneeling?’
Elonia had lived taking responsibility not only for the things she had done, but also for the things she hadn’t done.
Therefore, she couldn’t let innocent people lose their heads because of her.
But she also couldn’t tell the truth that she was the one who had assaulted Dolce and the one who had first suggested going to the academy.
If she, the princess, said that, those who had tried to cover for her would end up having lied to the emperor.
“Your Majesty. Please punish me for the punishment they should receive as well. It is because I am young that this happened.”
Silence fell upon the surroundings at the princess’s words.
It was in front of none other than Artius.
Even warriors who had faced the brink of death would tremble just by standing in front of him who had transformed into a tyrant, but the young princess was not daunted at all and was rather covering for them.
That spirit was commendable, but the nobles glanced at Artius with calculating eyes.
His expression was not good.
‘As expected, he won’t forgive her.’
‘The princess’s head might fall today.’
‘If that happens, they’ll have to make a new imperial heir.’
Everyone was speculating which family’s who would become the new empress at that moment.
Artius opened his mouth.
“Can the princess truly bear all the punishment they should receive?”