The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 65

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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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Chapter 65
“….”
“You are no noble Saint. You are a demon sent to destroy the Elheim Empire, a stain upon this nation!”
With those words, the Maidservant’s throat convulsed violently. As if swallowing something down.
Only seconds later did I grasp the meaning.
I immediately swung my staff and struck the Maidservant’s hand, successfully knocking the dagger from her grip. I rushed forward to pin her down, but—
“Gack, ugh.”
It was already too late.
The Maidservant’s eyes rolled back, whites fully exposed. Her body convulsed left and right before lurching forward. I hastily threw myself aside.
The Maidservant’s limp body crashed to the floor with a dull thud—like a heavy sack dropping onto dirt.
The thick carpet absorbed the impact and muffled the sound…. Did every member of the Imperial Family have such carpeting in their bedchamber?
I stared blankly down at the motionless Maidservant, then slowly bent forward. The woman’s breath, foam still clinging to her lips, had already ceased.
“Hah.”
To die like this. Not some prisoner of war dragged away to a detention camp.
Was survival itself merely a hell worse than death?
Just then, I faintly heard footsteps ascending the stairs from beyond the bedchamber door.
“….”
Only one person again.
I positioned myself where I could face the door, my hand gripping the pistol concealed within my robes. I had to be ready to draw and fire at a moment’s notice.
Soon the bedchamber door opened smoothly. The Maidservant who appeared surveyed the room in bewilderment—but only for an instant.
“…KYAAAAAAAAAA!”
Yes, that was the normal reaction.
“Y-Your Highness, what is, what is this…!”
“Summon the Head Maidservant.”
“Y-yes, yes, yes?”
“There was an Assassin. This Maidservant was complicit. Quickly.”
“Ah, ah…, yes!”
The Maidservant, her face drained of all color, abandoned all pretense of formality and spun around, fleeing the bedchamber.
Her cries of “Head Maidservant, Head Maidservant!” echoed loudly down the stairs, her voice growing fainter with distance.
“…sigh.”
Now, truly now, no one would come to kill me.
Only after the Maidservant had gone did I collapse onto the edge of the bed and catch my breath. I paid no mind to the blood soaking into the hem of my skirt.
I slowly released the grip I’d been maintaining on the pistol. When I withdrew it from my robes and looked down at my hand, it trembled violently, as if seized by palsy.
Trembling hands. Mine.
The me of the past, who could only hit distant targets, would not understand this. No—even when I killed monsters in the Snowy Mountains, I never had such a reaction.
Well, it had been a long time since I killed a person.
“….”
To be precise, this was the second time. The first since I killed Maximilian.
No, wait. In the fifth loop, I set fire to the Grand Cathedral, so there may have been people caught in that. Though I don’t recall clearly.
“And now, as a Saint, I do nothing but kill.”
A hollow laugh escaped me. Was this right? I wanted to ask the heavens themselves.
I understood that this was a choice I had to bear. From the moment I resolved to confront Maximilian, I could no longer claim to be virtuous and pure alone.
‘Had I been able to live that way, I would never have come this far.’
With a heavy heart, I rose slowly from the bed. Now that I thought about it, there was still something I hadn’t verified.
I pulled up the lace canopy and draped it over the bed frame. When I peered beneath, I found a man in dark clothing lying there.
The corpse lay with eyes wide open in death—a stranger to me, of course. In one hand, he gripped an elongated blade.
According to their plan, I would have died by that blade.
Changed into comfortable indoor clothes and lying in bed to catch my breath—then pierced through the heart or abdomen, bleeding out until death claimed me.
Afterward, a Maidservant would have appeared, helped the Assassin escape, and then screamed upon discovering the Crown Prince’s Consort’s corpse. That too was part of the plan.
Whose doing was this?
Who could have seized control of the Princess Consort’s Palace and sent an Assassin into the Crown Prince’s Consort’s bedroom?
The suspects were overwhelmingly numerous. Yet one thing was certain.
Frederike possessed information about the assassination attempt. And she had willingly handed that information to me.
…Why?
I had thought that woman would be the one most eager to see me dead.
At this point, my mind became even clearer.
‘I need to meet with Frederike.’
And I realized it anew.
I knew nothing about that woman—truly nothing at all.
***
The Head Maidservant appeared in the bedroom shortly after, accompanied by the palace guards.
The moment she saw me sitting beside the corpse, drenched in blood, her face went rigid.
“Your Highness, are you unharmed?”
“No.”
Of course I wasn’t injured. But visual impression matters, doesn’t it?
Before the Head Maidservant arrived, I had deliberately rolled through the pools of blood. It would make it seem as though the Crown Prince’s Consort had fought desperately for survival.
“Please, allow me to help you up. I shall escort you to a safe location.”
“I refuse.”
“…Your Highness?”
This way, my demands would be easier to make.
I gazed steadily at the Head Maidservant’s bewildered face and spoke.
“An Assassin was in my bedroom—the one place that should be most secure. And a Maidservant threw herself at me, trying to kill me.”
“Your Highness, that is…”
“Doesn’t that mean you, as Head Maidservant of the Princess Consort’s Palace, have completely lost control of this place? Or perhaps…”
“…?”
“You are an accomplice conspiring with the Assassin.”
The color drained from the Head Maidservant’s face.
She had maintained her composure throughout, but now I felt as though I had finally landed a blow.
The Head Maidservant’s lips trembled for a moment before she forced out her voice.
“Your Highness, I have committed no such crime.”
“Criminals trying to hide their guilt usually say things like that.”
“I speak the truth. If anything were to happen to the Crown Prince’s Consort, I too would not escape unscathed….”
“Enough.”
The unnecessary prattle was growing longer by the moment. It was time to get to the point.
“Where are Clara and Hilda?”
“Pardon?”
“The maidservants I brought with me.”
“Ah, they are still undergoing training….”
“Training be damned. Does the Head Maidservant truly expect me to trust the Crown Prince’s Palace maidservants after what I’ve just endured?”
“….”
“Do I appear a fool to you? Or is it that because I am of common birth, you believe such treatment is acceptable?”
“Your Highness, that is not the case.”
Of course it is.
I picked up the dagger lying beside the maidservant’s corpse. Turning toward the Head Maidservant and the guards, I brandished its blade and issued my warning.
“This is my final warning, Head Maidservant. Bring my maidservants here before this matter escalates further.”
“….”
“I have not the slightest intention of trusting anyone here who is not mine.”
The Head Maidservant studied my expression with a rigid face, then bowed deeply.
“I shall obey your command, Your Highness.”
Clara and Hilda appeared on the third floor within minutes. The moment they saw me drenched in the assassin’s blood, they gasped in shock.
“Your Highness!”
Clara rushed forward and examined my body. Hilda immediately positioned herself in front of me, keeping watch over the Head Maidservant and the guards.
“What on earth has happened, Your Highness!”
“I’m fine, Clara. I’m unharmed.”
Clara’s hands trembled pitifully as they searched across my dress. I grasped her hands firmly while shouting toward the guards.
“You are authorized to enter the Crown Prince’s Consort’s Bedchamber. Collect the bodies of the criminals and begin your investigation!”
The guards’ gazes all turned in unison toward one figure—a silver-haired man with his hair swept back from his forehead, standing at the center of their ranks.
He offered no further words, merely nodding. Several knights immediately entered the bedchamber and carried out the bodies of the assassin and the maidservant from beneath the bed.
I looked up at the silver-haired man. His gaze was fixed upon me as well—regarding the Crown Prince’s Consort drenched in the assassin’s blood with an arrogant expression.
He slowly opened his mouth as the knights moved the bodies.
“Your Most Esteemed Highness, the Crown Prince’s Consort. If I may, I have a question regarding the investigation.”

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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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