Chapter 25
There was no mockery or anger in Artius’s question.
It was simply dry.
So Elonia answered just as dryly.
“Yes, of course.”
“But their actions cannot be forgiven with a single word from the princess. So this is what I will do.”
Everyone tensed up, not knowing what that crazy bastard would say.
“Prince Alberich Asta and Prince Llewellyn Asta will receive 30 days of suspension from school and confinement at home. The escort knight Ricardo Harriet and Ethan Flang will be imprisoned for 30 days.”
Unexpectedly, the punishment that came out of the emperor’s mouth was much lighter compared to death.
Elonia was inwardly relieved.
And soon, the punishment Elonia would receive was announced.
“The princess will copy The Prince without rest while confined. She is only allowed 4 hours of sleep per day. The duration is until Prince Dolce regains consciousness and makes a proper confession.”
“Your Majesty!”
The Duchess of Asta exclaimed in shock.
It wasn’t the same meaning as the nobles who had been surprised, thinking he might disown the princess.
Does that make sense?
It was too harsh a punishment for a young child.
The expressions of the three men kneeling next to Elonia and Ethan were also wavering the same way.
Yet Elonia bowed her head dryly as if it had nothing to do with her.
“Yes. I will gladly accept it.”
At that calm attitude, Artius frowned.
Of course, Elonia couldn’t see his face.
From that day on, Elonia was confined to her room and began copying The Prince, sleeping only four hours a day.
* * *
“Your Majesty! This is too much, no matter what!”
After everyone had left, the Duchess of Asta requested a private audience with the emperor.
The emperor answered indifferently.
“Your children were spared their lives thanks to the princess. So it’s not for the duchess to make a fuss.”
“How can you say that? The princess is your daughter. How can you give such a cruel punishment to your daughter and still be like that! If Philemia had seen this—”
Bang!
When the forbidden name came out, Artius roughly struck the throne.
Naturally, the Duchess of Asta couldn’t continue speaking.
Artius spat out as if chewing his words.
“The empress is dead. 4 years ago.”
“…Your Majesty.”
“Duchess Asta. There is a limit to the leniency I show you for being blood-related to the empress.”
At the cold words that stabbed down, the Duchess trembled with her fists.
She knew how much he had loved Philemia.
That was why she absolutely could not forgive him treating Elonia recklessly, but there was also nothing the Duchess of Asta could do right now.
“Leave.”
Artius issued an order to the Duchess of Asta who had become quiet.
The Duchess of Asta bit her lips hard as if resentful, then bowed and turned around.
Before completely leaving the audience hall, the Duchess of Asta turned her head and opened her mouth.
“Your Majesty. Please don’t forget. Just because she’s young doesn’t mean she doesn’t know how she’s treated, and just because she’s grown up doesn’t mean she forgets what happened when she was young.”
Leaving those cold words behind, the Duchess of Asta completely withdrew.
Left alone in the audience hall, Artius sighed.
How long had he been like that?
Aaron appeared from behind.
“Your Majesty. I have imprisoned Dolce Heilan in the underground dungeon.”
“I see. When do you think he will wake up?”
“It will probably take at least three days.”
“…We need to send a letter to Heilan.”
Artius clenched his fist with a frown on his brow.
Although he had punished the princess, he had no intention of letting Dolce off the hook since the imperial family had been insulted.
* * *
Since that day, the pleas of the maids, especially Sarah, never ceased in the Princess Palace.
“Princess, please. You’ll harm your health. The people of the Princess Palace are on your side. Please sleep, even if only for a moment…!”
“It’s okay, Sarah. There’s no way I can’t endure this much.”
“Princess…!”
As if it was questionable whether the emperor had really given the punishment, there was not a single surveillance personnel who came down from the main palace.
The only ones watching over Elonia were the knights and maids of the Princess Palace.
Not only the maids, but the knights couldn’t be cruel to Elonia, who had saved their lives the other day.
But no matter how much the palace people offered convenience, Elonia stubbornly carried out the punishment.
Elonia slept only 4 hours a day like clockwork and sat at her desk, continuously copying without letting the ink on her hand dry.
“Princess, please…”
“Sarah, thank you for worrying. But this is the punishment His Majesty has given me.”
“But there is no surveillance from the main palace, Princess. You’ll harm your health like this! You have a fever even now…!”
Finally, Sarah’s eyes brimmed with tears.
There were reasons for Sarah and the palace people’s restlessness.
Elonia was suffering from a cold right now.
It was due to overexerting herself while beating up Dolce.
They had immediately informed the palace physician when they noticed she had a fever and gave her medicine, but Elonia’s fever wouldn’t go down.
It was only natural.
She was only taking medicine without resting, so there was no way she would get better.
Even if Elonia was the war demon who had flown around the battlefield sleeping only two hours a day, she was just a child now.
A child who needed to eat and sleep well.
Her willpower could endure it, but her body couldn’t.
Right now, it was only at the level of a mild fever, but children easily lose their lives to minor illnesses.
That was what everyone, including Sarah, was worried about.
Nevertheless, Elonia’s stubbornness did not waver.
“Sarah. This is a battle of wills between His Majesty and me. If I give up here, it’s obvious how His Majesty will view me.”
Elonia had no intention of being looked down upon by Artius, even if it killed her.
Elonia spoke in a voice hoarse from the fever.
“Don’t say anything reckless to His Majesty, and everyone leave.”
“Princess!”
The maids were driven out of the room like that.
Sarah and the maids were upset.
Why did that little princess never cherish herself?
Every time they saw the young princess who had learned how to become an emperor before learning how to cherish herself, it felt like their hearts would be torn apart.
Now, only the knights of the Princess Palace who were on guard duty remained in Elonia’s room.
Elonia still didn’t rest her hand and apologized to Sarah inwardly.
‘I’m sorry, Sarah.’
It wasn’t that she didn’t understand what Sarah and the others were worried about.
But this was a matter between Artius and herself.
‘Does he think I’ll back down to that bastard?’
She had no intention of losing the battle of wills with Artius.
…That was only her superficial thought, and inside, sadness rushed in like a stormy sea.
No matter how much he doesn’t consider her his daughter, how can he be like this?
Dolce had dared to insult the princess, the successor of Ravanta, and Alberich had testified to it.
And that was a clear fact.
Even putting aside the affection between parent and child, couldn’t he charge him with the crime of lèse-majesté?
But why was he acting as if Elonia was the one at fault?
No matter how much he had forgotten the will, how could he do this as a child’s father?
‘Ha, damn it…’
She didn’t want to cry, but as soon as she thought it was unfair, her eyes finally became hot.
Moreover, perhaps because her body hurt and she became emotional, old memories suddenly came to mind as well.
When Elonia had just been reborn.
That day when the hope of having a good father and a good family was shattered.
She thought she had thrown away all hope that day, but maybe she had only pretended to throw it away.
Otherwise, her current self wouldn’t feel so miserable.
Even if she had pretended to throw away all lingering attachments that day, maybe a glimmer of hope, a “maybe, still, perhaps” had not left her deep inside.
No, it wasn’t that hope hadn’t left.
It was Elonia who hadn’t let go of that glimmer of hope trying to leave.
If Artius saw her current self, still not letting go of hope, how much would he ridicule her?
‘I absolutely won’t cry over this kind of thing. Absolutely…’
There were many times in life when she wanted to cry, but she had endured without crying.
So this time too, she won’t cry.
Elonia focused her eyes and lifted her head straight.
She bit her lips hard and lowered her voice in case the knights noticed.
But in the end, a drop fell and moistened the parchment.
Looking at the tearstain left on the parchment, Elonia repeated it inwardly countless times.
That she wasn’t crying because she was sad.
That she was only crying because her bitten lips hurt, because she had a fever, because her head hurt.
* * *
“You woke up sooner than I thought.”
Meanwhile, as soon as Artius received the report that Dolce had woken up, he set foot in the underground dungeon.
During the three days Dolce had been unconscious, he had not been treated kindly according to Alberich’s testimony that he had insulted the princess.
His face was still a bloody mess and smelled from not being washed.
It was an appearance that could hardly be thought of as a prince of a nation.
Artius sat on a chair placed in front of Dolce and instructed the knights.
“Give him the truth serum.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The knights grabbed Dolce’s hair with merciless hands, forced his mouth open, and made him drink the truth serum.
“Kuh-ack, ugh…!”
The truth serum in the bottle all flowed down Dolce’s throat.
The bottle was emptied, and the knights roughly threw Dolce aside.
Artius crossed his legs arrogantly and said,
“Now speak of what happened that day. What insults did you hurl at the princess that Prince Alberich assaulted you?”
Dolce caught his breath in a daze, then began to laugh unpleasantly, either due to the effects of the truth serum or because he was crazy.
And he testified in a lisping pronunciation with his front teeth and molars missing.
“I really, didn’t say much… Kekek. A wench will become a man’s possession when she grows up anyway… Kuh-heh, I just let her know the truth that even if she’s neglected, a princess is a princess. But she yelled at me for that? So I just let her know her place… That you’re just a wench who will serve your husband when you grow up anyway. Kihihi…”
“…!”
The knights were startled by his filthy words and stiffened their shoulders.
To dare spew such words at the imperial princess of a nation as a mere hostage.
Just looking at the contents he had already said, it was a capital offense, but Dolce’s confession didn’t stop there.
“The one who hit me first was the princess… Of course, the one who fell was also the princess, but? Kuh-huk. Using that as an excuse, I only thought of threatening the princess, hehek. And getting engaged. I absolutely didn’t say it out loud, puh-heup. …Ah, right. The princess’s expression when she froze at that time was really… Worth seeing… Ha, damn it… But then, that crazy bitch suddenly started beating me— Kuh-ack!”
Dolce couldn’t continue speaking.
It was because Artius had gotten up and kicked Dolce in the solar plexus.
Artius had never been this angry in recent times.
His face was full of murderous intent.
“…I wasted time. I should have killed him right away.”
In fact, before getting a confession from Dolce, he had interrogated Ricardo.
Ricardo was undoubtedly a former soldier of Heilan.
He had wondered if Ricardo had taken the princess to the academy with the intention of harming her, but in fact, the one who had suggested going to the academy was the second prince of the Asta family.
Still, he had wondered if there was any connection between Dolce and Ricardo, but it seemed Ricardo was truly innocent.
‘Of course, including the princess.’
Honestly, it was fortunate.
Now that the continent was finally settling down and trying to regain peace, no one wanted to make a scab by scratching it.
But Heilan, the main culprit of the 10-year continental war, was different.
The new king of Heilan, Felix, was persistent and greedy.
On the day he heard about the incident, Artius judged that if the princess’s side had done something to Dolce first while he was just sitting still, Heilan would definitely use this incident as an excuse to demand something from Ravanta.
In the worst case, the possibility of it escalating into war could not be ruled out.
The outcome was obvious.
Heilan had already been defeated twice and was in a miserable state of a ragtag army unable to control the various countries it had swallowed itself.
Moreover, even if it boasted a territory not inferior to Ravanta in size, its military power was so meager in comparison to Ravanta.
However, just because it could be won easily didn’t mean a war could be started easily.
Even if Heilan was completely destroyed and erased from the map, the aftermath would be troublesome.
Ravanta still hadn’t completely washed away the wounds of war and didn’t have the capacity to absorb Heilan, which was as large as its own body.
It would also be troublesome if the Heilanians who lost their country had nowhere to go and invaded Ravanta or came as immigrants.
That was why it had only been made a vassal state 4 years ago, and this time too, in order not to cause unrest, he had given the princess a harsh punishment in consideration of the eyes around him.
‘…But there’s no way she can endure that punishment with a child’s body.’
He had given it knowing that.
Because this much would eliminate any excuse for Heilan to start a war.
Moreover, it had been clearly revealed that Dolce’s side had insulted the princess first.
This much would allow him to put pressure on Heilan instead.
‘Anyway, since I got the confession, I should lift the punishment soon.’
The princess probably wasn’t even carrying out the punishment Artius had given her anyway.
Artius was about to summon an attendant to send a message to the Princess Palace.
But there was a commotion outside.
One of the maids from the Princess Palace had come all the way to the underground dungeon.
Before he could even ask what the commotion was about, the maid reported in a breathless voice.
“Your Majesty! The princess, the princess has collapsed!”
…It was already too late for Artius to withdraw his order.