A Blend of Romance and Fantasy - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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03.
“Ugh, I’m starving.”
William frowned at Eric’s complaint as he wiped the dark blood from his blade.
Their surroundings were hardly conducive to thoughts of food.
An endless expanse of sand beneath the scorching sun, scattered with the severed corpses of monsters and sticky black blood.
They were in the Lesher Desert, positioned along the route from Blake through Servi to Sincester.
The Lesher Desert—known as the passage of death for its blazing midday heat, bone-chilling nights, and the countless monsters that prowled it—was no place for the ordinary traveler.
Yet the group of large, armored men in full regalia seemed perfectly suited to this desolate landscape.
They were the Blake Delegation and the personal guard of the Sixth Prince Leonard.
“You have quite the appetite, complaining of hunger while surrounded by these blackened monster corpses.”
“But we’ve been wandering this desert like vagabonds for three days now after losing the supply wagons. In this scorching heat, I’d eat anything roasted.”
Eric spoke to the man who sat upon a rock, cleaning his blade.
“What do you think, Your Highness? You eat most things without complaint.”
The man turned his gaze toward Eric.
What first met the eye were eyes burning with pure intensity.
Those two eyes, tempered by battle, blazed like infernos.
Yet more striking than even those eyes was his hair.
Beneath the merciless sun, it burned with such brilliant crimson that it seemed almost golden in its intensity.
The Sixth Prince Leonard.
“If you want to reach Sincester with all your limbs intact in this desert, you’ll eat whatever you can.”
He then picked up a severed scorpion fragment.
“Though this scorpion carries venom, so perhaps not.”
As blood dripped from the scorpion fragment onto the rock with a hiss, the stone began to dissolve. Eric clicked his tongue at the sight.
“Damn Sincester. Cursed place.”
At his adjutant’s curse, Leonard let out a soft laugh.
He rose from his seat and approached where the horses were tethered, retrieving something from within the cloak draped across the saddle.
What Leonard produced was a small scroll, tightly rolled. He grasped it and tossed it to both men.
“Here—what you need to do upon arrival.”
Eric and William each caught the parchment with practiced ease.
The thin parchment bore writing in a rare language unseen anywhere else on the continent.
“Just a little longer. Sincester is within reach.”
* * *
My nineteenth birthday celebration was finally drawing near.
Though it was something I experienced every year, preparing for the celebration involved an overwhelming amount of work.
From preparing the main courses to selecting the wardrobe I’d wear for approximately a month—it was all my responsibility.
Even the color of the curtains in the corridors required my inspection, as I temporarily served as the Kingdom’s mistress of the household.
In novels, celebration preparations are usually glossed over in a single chapter or half-chapter, so why does reality demand months of labor?
“Your Highness, please try on this dress as well!”
“And this one too!!”
I was currently in the Powder Room, conducting final fittings of the dresses I would wear at the celebration.
I’ve lost track of how much time has passed.
Though I felt as though I might collapse at any moment, the attendants continued to dress me while giggling like children playing with a doll.
“The violet gown suits you best, Your Highness. Why not wear it on your first day?”
“Are her eyes broken? The Princess must wear the second golden dress. It’s the most magnificent, and it has the most jewels!”
As the attendants bickered amongst themselves, I clutched my hollow stomach in despair.
Remarkably, this world had fireball magic, yet no spell had been developed for a slimmer waist.
Honestly, mages are utterly useless creatures.
If they’d developed something like zero-calorie chicken instead of thunderstorm magic, they’d have made a fortune.
“Ahem, ahem.”
Consumed by hunger, I surreptitiously glanced around.
Fortunately, there was a three-tiered tray of finger foods behind me.
Just as my hand began to drift toward the tray, I felt a cool presence creeping up from behind and froze.
“Ah, Abigail…”
“Your Highness. Snacks are forbidden until tomorrow.”
I pouted, but Abigail remained unmoved.
She, who had married off three daughters in succession to wealthy, handsome, high-ranking nobles, was equally determined to mold me—whom she had raised since childhood—into an exemplary bride.
“There are more than twenty unmarried gentlemen attending the ball. If your dress doesn’t fit and you’re gasping for breath, it would be most unfortunate if you missed the rhythm of the dance.”
Abigail smiled elegantly and picked up a golden sash embroidered with lilies.
At that menacing smile, I reluctantly withdrew my hand from reaching for the finger foods.
“Now then, let’s fasten the sash.”
Abigail approached with the sash. The golden belt embroidered with lily patterns felt like a noose around a condemned prisoner’s neck.
The sash was then wrapped around my waist and pulled tight.
“Squawk.”
The moment I made a sound like a strangled pig, a knock came from outside the door.
“Your Highness, the Saint has come to visit.”
“Save me, Aurora! Abigail is trying to kill me with this sash!”
Propriety and refinement be damned. Survival comes first. I called out desperately to Aurora, and the door burst open.
“Charlotte? Oh, my goodness!”
Aurora let out a sharp cry and rushed into the room, crumpling her dress in the process.
“Mrs. Everhart, stop trying to kill Charlotte with that sash! It won’t make her waist any smaller anyway!”
What?
Even as I gasped for breath, my eyes widened at Aurora’s words, but sadly, I couldn’t refute them.
Abigail, apparently accepting this truth, released her grip on the sash, and I became even more despondent and cried out.
“Tell the mages to develop a spell for slimming waists this instant!”
“Charlotte. Calm yourself. As a princess, you must show composure before the attendants.”
“I can’t calm down. Is it only you who gets to have a slender waist?”
“That’s why you shouldn’t have taken over the Jayret Shop a month ago. Eating cake there every day—there’s no way you won’t gain weight.”
“That shop uses zero-sugar ingredients. It’s very healthy.”
Muttering indignantly, I quickly moved away from Abigail and clung to Aurora.
If I had to choose, Aurora—who stabbed my heart—was preferable to Abigail, who strangled my waist.
Hidden behind Aurora, I persuaded Abigail.
“Merciful Abigail, don’t you think it’s time we stopped this dress-up game? Whether I wear Madam Everot’s gown or wrap myself in a garbage bag, my beauty remains unchanged.”
“Your Highness. The royal family of the Holy Kingdom must be humble and courteous in proportion to their excellence.”
“So you’re admitting I’m excellent, then?”
“….”
Abigail said nothing more, and I took her silence as affirmation.
Sensing the moment, Aurora stepped forward while shielding me behind her.
“Charlotte’s right, Mrs. Everhart. So let’s leave it at that. Besides, Charlotte needs to visit the Altar of Sacred Blood anyway, doesn’t she?”
“…Very well.”
Abigail’s expression remained displeased, but she soon bowed her head and withdrew with the attendants.
“Charlotte, you’ve been working hard preparing for the banquet?”
Aurora smiled and patted my shoulder. I sighed and collapsed onto the sofa.
“Seriously, why are there so many banquets? The founding festival, birthday celebration, memorial service, prayer ceremony… I thought being a princess meant lounging around doing nothing.”
“Don’t you lounge around doing nothing most of the time anyway?”
“Good heavens, what do you take me for, Aurora? I want to lounge around and do nothing on a much grander scale.”
For instance, my aide would handle all the banquet preparations while I operated as a silent partner in the background.
But unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.
To secure my happy retirement, I had to interfere with the original story to some degree.
It was absolutely not because I wanted to get entangled with those handsome supporting male characters during banquet preparations.
“Honestly, Princess Charlotte….”
Aurora shook her head at my words.
“You’re truly incorrigible. Now hurry off to the Altar of Sacred Blood.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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