Chapter 347
Side Story – Memories of an Imperial Princess (63)
I couldn’t hold it in.
“What?”
Looking at my younger sibling who wore an expression as if he had lost everything…
“Kuk…”
Though I tried with all my might to hold it in,
“It’s… It’s a lie, isn’t it, sister?”
Watching those trembling eyes, quivering lips, and face turning deathly pale, I simply couldn’t contain myself anymore.
“Hahaha! Hahaha!”
It was laughter. Explosive laughter, at that.
Even the most renowned jesters of the continent couldn’t make people laugh like this, but recently I’ve discovered several new talents in my youngest sibling.
“Ah… Ast… This is terrible… It hurts… My chest hurts…”
I had laughed so hard that my chest area was starting to ache.
“A…st?”
When I didn’t hear a response from the personal butler who should have been beside me, I raised my head.
And there,
“Are you dead?”
“…I’m not dead yet.”
Was Ast, with a nearly-dead expression, small drops of blood falling from his lips.
“What’s wrong with you?”
After wiping away the tears gathered at my eyes and looking at Ast, he muttered in a small voice while biting his lips firmly.
“Isn’t laughing considered contempt against the royal family?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
I had forgotten because of his usual behavior, but fundamentally, Ast was someone who followed proper etiquette well.
Well, as a commoner who entered the royal family, he must have received thorough training.
Even being selected as a royal servant through tests and interviews wasn’t everything.
I knew that they received rigorous training for at Least several months outside the palace from retired royal butlers or maids.
…Well, Ast doesn’t show such behavior in front of me.
“Is, is it really true? Is that how it is? PLease tell me!”
Seeing my sibling now clutching onto Ast with tears welling up, I couldn’t help but laugh again.
Though the Karan royal family was known for their characteristic of rapid mental development, my sibling was still only 10 years old.
Due to their rapid mental development, they were called a genius by those around them, and must have been full of confidence.
In such a state of overconfidence, a single defeat could cause a greater shock than expected.
Rising again after falling from such a shock was also a talent.
But this time was different.
Hadn’t Ast said it?
My sibling was practically dead now.
The cause of death: death from shame.
It meant he had died from excessive humiliation.
“It… It can’t be…! It can’t be!”
“Y-Your Highness!”
The personal butler quickly caught my sibling who was about to collapse.
My sibling’s appearance, leaning against the butler’s body, was as pale as a corpse.
“How pitiful.”
I couldn’t even laugh anymore.
One of my teachers from childhood said that getting back up after falling was also a talent.
Even geniuses with outstanding abilities make mistakes.
He said there were surprisingly many geniuses who couldn’t get back up and remained fallen at such times.
I knew what that teacher meant to say. Don’t be afraid of falling.
Getting up after falling is also an experience.
But my sibling’s case was different.
The opponent was Duke Raisha.
That fact alone explained everything.
“…”
I couldn’t even offer consolation.
What if I imagined myself being defeated by Duke Raisha? What consolation would be of any use?
None. No matter how I thought about it, there was none.
No words seemed capable of consoling a defeat by Duke Raisha.
Hadn’t I experienced something similar?
Even though Ast had been controlling Ria, I had experienced three consecutive defeats in strategic chess using the same technique.
How embarrassing was it then?
I tried my best to hide my emotions, and even before bed, I buried my face in the pillow, ruminating over the defeats.
It was strategic chess.
Even if I lost, there would be no real damage.
Even in such a situation, I felt so much shame and embarrassment.
My sibling had lost to Duke Raisha, who wasn’t even being directed by someone else.
To Duke Raisha, who was evaluated as far inferior to Ria!
And with 10,000 casualties in reality!
If it were me, I might have seriously considered hanging myself at the military camp.
No, perhaps my sibling hasn’t done so yet because he didn’t know until now.
From what I heard, he thought Duke Raisha was a legendary general who had even defeated my army.
He might still be alive because of those misunderstandings and delusions.
“At this rate…”
As Ast said, he might really commit death from shame.
“Ast, isn’t there any way to handle this?”
“Hmm… In their current state?”
“Yes.”
If he were just a foolish sibling who had lost, I would have left him alone, but seeing that appearance, it seemed he really couldn’t make proper judgments due to his delusions.
Even if I couldn’t console him, I should at least keep him from dying.
“…Why are you asking me such a difficult question?”
Looking at Ast, who didn’t hide his annoyed expression, I sighed.
“As an accomplice in that crazy act?”
“Hah…”
Ast and I looked in the same direction simultaneously.
“It seems he still haven’t come to his senses.”
“This isn’t a shock that can be recovered from quickly.”
There, we could see my sibling still unable to regain his senses, leaning against the butler’s embrace.
“My sibling said it, didn’t he? Who would do such a crazy thing?”
That was the first thing my sibling had said after long contemplation upon hearing about our plans and the truth about Duke Raisha here.
“And didn’t you answer, ‘We would do it’?”
“We actually did it.”
“At that time, you should have said it was a strategy carefully considered and planned to create the best outcome after taking various situations into account.”
“But it was still a crazy act, wasn’t it?”
“Originally, things that appear crazy yield great results when successful.”
“But my sibling became a victim in the process of that success.”
“A regrettable sacrifice indeed.”
“Could you please stop talking about my younger sibling as if he is dead?”
“Even after the defeat by Duke Raisha?”
It does seem difficult to recover from that.
“Hmm… That was a bit… Harsh.”
“They brought it upon themselves.”
“True. Still, being defeated by Duke Raisha was too severe.”
“Indeed. Even Ria could defeat Duke Raisha using strategy and tactics.”
“Strategy and tactics from Ria… I never thought such words could exist together.”
To even hear that they could win with those skills.
It was a moment when I thought the world outside the imperial palace was truly frightening.
“Sister… While I’m glad you seem to get along well with your dedicated butler…”
My sibling, who seemed to have regained consciousness though still staggering, let out a deep sigh while looking at me and Ast.
“Could you please say such things when I’m not present?”
“But it’s Ria. You know that well, don’t you?”
A few months before Ast entered the imperial palace.
At age 19, Ria was defeated by my 6-year-old youngest sibling. And it was a completely devastating defeat.
While my younger sibling’s genius had to be acknowledged, it was still a very serious matter for a 19-year-old formal knight to lose to a 6-year-old child.
I heard that when Marquis Areis heard the news, he collapsed holding his head from a migraine.
After that, Ria was called back to the family, and I heard many teachers from the empire were dispatched… But there wasn’t much effect.
The person responsible for that incident, my sibling who crushed Ria three times in a row, would know well.
That the words âstrategyâ, âtacticsâ, and âvictoryâ do not suit Ria at all!
But there was something I had momentarily forgotten,
“Have you forgotten that I was defeated by someone who could even beat Ria?”
“Ah…”
“You really did forget…”
For a moment, I had forgotten at the mention of Ria’s strategy, tactics, and victory.
“To think this is my sibling…”
“Cough!”
“Your Highness!”
My sibling collapsed on the floor, coughing up blood.
“Your Highness, I’ve heard of feeling like coughing up blood, but I’ve never seen someone actually do it.”
“Well, now you have.”
“Indeed.”
“Imperial Princess! Please stop! Please… Help preserve our lord’s sanity!”
The dedicated butler, holding my collapsed sibling who was coughing up blood, made a tearful plea.
“…”
In contrast,
“What is that look for?”
“Don’t you have any thoughts after seeing that?”
“Are you asking me to share my thoughts on seeing someone collapse and cough up blood from shock for the first time in my life?”
I was momentarily speechless.
I had meant to ask about thoughts on seeing a normal dedicated butler’s behavior, but it turned into something like asking for impressions about my sibling collapsing?
“What’s with that expression?”
Ast’s words and expression matched perfectly.
Making it seem like I regularly ask for such things.
“Y-Your Highness…”
In fact, my sibling’s dedicated butler was holding him and distancing themselves from me.
“Ast…”
Just how far is he planning to drop my reputation?
Is he a spy?
For a moment, I suspected he might be a spy sent by someone to completely destroy my reputation.
If Ast were a spy, he must have been sent by one of my siblings.
“That can’t be.”
There was no one with enough composure to keep such a crazy person around.
“What can’t be, Your Highness?”
The tent door opened.
Currently, only my sibling’s guard knights and my guard Ria were allowed to enter here.
“I’ve completed my mission… Huh…?”
The person who opened the door and entered was my guard Ria, and,
“D-did you do it?”
Ria started spouting nonsense as soon as she entered.
“Hah…”
My head hurts.
Why do I have to hear such things?
“What?”
“You did it. You really did it! I thought something like this might happen someday, but…”
Really… Both Ast and Ria,
“What kind of thoughts do you live with…?”
My strength was draining away.
I wanted to collapse like my sibling, but my dedicated butler and guard were different from my sibling’s dedicated butler.
They would probably just leave me there if they saw me collapse.
“Ugh…”
Since I couldn’t show such an unseemly appearance, I forced strength into my legs to stand.
“Ria, what exactly did you see that made you think I did something?”
“Even I can understand this! The blood on the floor!”
There was indeed blood on the floor that my sibling had just coughed up.
“And Lord Raid, who appears to be the owner of that blood, has collapsed, and Sir Meiran, Lord Raid’s dedicated butler, is looking at the Imperial Princess with fearful eyes!”
Now that you mention it, that’s true.
“Therefore, Your Highness has finally!”
“Finally?”
“Drawn your sword to become Emperor!”
Emperor?
“Why would I even do that…?”
Even if I wasn’t destined to die, I wouldn’t have wanted to become Emperor.
“Even His Majesty, who was once the freest person in the empire, now lives like a bird in a cage.”
Father, who had run away from the imperial palace in his youth and even became the Sword Emperor.
But after becoming Emperor, all that freedom disappeared.
Now, his only pleasure was sneaking into the imperial capital through secretly constructed passages.
Even that was only possible after overcoming numerous hardships and difficulties to sneak out.
“That’s too troublesome.”
I knew I was living a privileged life as a member of the imperial family.
And that was more than enough to achieve what I wanted in life.
I didn’t want to struggle needlessly for more like my other siblings.
“T-then why…”
Seeing my sincerity, Ria showed a confused expression.
“Ria, add Ast to your thinking.”
“You did this, Sir Ast!”
“Sir Ria? That sounds like you’re saying I was planning to do something?”
Ast’s face contorted.
“Sir Ria, what kind of thoughts do you normally have?”
“If it was Sir Ast, I knew you would do something like this!”
The words don’t connect at all.
Ast feeling wronged and Ria demanding punishment.
And my sibling’s dedicated butler not knowing what to say while watching this, along with my unconscious sibling in his arms.
“Hah…”
Really,
“What a mess.”
It was truly a mess.
