The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 77

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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 77
The Imperial Guard’s summons was expected.
I heard that most of the maidservants, including the Head Maidservant, had already finished giving their testimonies. Those remaining were myself and my close attendants. Excluding Hilda, who had stepped away on an errand, we were the last.
“This is my first time visiting the Guard Corps Headquarters!”
Hanna cried out excitedly as she opened the bedroom door.
Yes, you should take a good look around for a decent bachelor among the Imperial Guard knights. And forget about that pot-bellied Kitchen Master.
I muttered my nagging only to myself as I stepped out of the bedroom. It was an official engagement after a long while.
The Guard Corps Headquarters was located near the central gate of the Imperial Palace, at the entrance to the inner palace. True to its nature as a military facility, there were no ornate sculptures or gardens. The space was barren, filled only with a chilling sense of oppression and the metallic sounds of knights training.
“This is rather frightening….”
Where had her excitement gone? Hanna, who had suddenly grown timid, whispered while shrinking back.
“You weren’t at the scene anyway, so there’s not much for you to say.”
Clara, by contrast, approached the Imperial Guard standing watch with her back held rigidly straight.
After a brief exchange, the stern-faced Imperial Guard bowed his head to me and opened his mouth.
“I apologize for the long journey, Your Highness. I will now escort the Crown Prince’s Consort to the First Reception Room.”
Then he naturally blocked Hanna from accompanying me and continued speaking.
“The testimonies will be conducted individually. Please wait a moment, and the maidservants will also be escorted to separate reception rooms.”
“Pardon?”
Hanna let out a sharp cry of protest.
“Since you were in different locations during the same time period, and your memories must not become confused through conversation with one another, we ask for your understanding.”
It was a seemingly reasonable explanation. I had anticipated this would happen anyway.
Clara, showing no surprise, looked at me and asked.
“Will you be alright alone, Your Highness?”
I smiled gently at Clara.
“Don’t worry. Surely the Imperial Guard knights won’t torture me?”
The Imperial Guard showed no particular reaction to my pointed jest. I lightly patted Hanna’s shoulder as she fidgeted nervously, then followed him.
The reception room was located on the first floor of the main building, in an isolated section. A location from which I could escape through the door or window if necessary.
I thought of the rifle hidden beneath the cane in my hand as I watched the reception room door open. And as I stepped inside.
“Welcome, Your Highness.”
A silver-haired handsome man greeted me.
It was Leopold, the Imperial Guard Commander.
‘How predictable, how utterly predictable.’
Composure dripped from his smiling face.
By rank alone, I was superior and he was subordinate. Yet no one within the Imperial Palace would think of it that way.
If the Second Imperial Knight Order Commander Belsh was Maximilian’s right arm, then this man was his son’s left arm.
Everything I said would be conveyed to Maximilian without the slightest filter. I had to speak with that fact in mind.
“I heard you haven’t left the Princess Consort’s Palace recently. Is there something troubling you?”
….
Setting aside various issues, I had no desire to engage in lengthy conversation with this man, so I responded with silence.
“Shall we sit down first?”
Leopold, showing no sign of offense, pointed to the sofa with a smiling face.
I didn’t bother responding and simply shifted my position, collapsing onto the seat with a heavy sigh.
Leopold, sitting across from me, held nothing—no paper, no pen. Recording seemed beneath his concern.
He interlaced his fingers and fixed his gaze upon me as he spoke.
“Your time is precious, so I won’t keep you long. I trust you’ll cooperate.”
“….”
“How exactly did you kill the Assassin?”
He cut straight to the heart of the matter. The atmosphere made clear he had no intention of letting me go easily.
He continued, maintaining his smile.
“Two bodies were discovered in the Crown Prince’s Consort’s bedroom. Let’s exclude the Maidservant who poisoned herself, shall we?”
“Fine by me.”
“The remaining one is a man of unknown identity. Judging by the scars covering his body and the weapons he carried, he was clearly a professional Assassin.”
“I see.”
I reflexively recalled the image of the man lying dead, a long blade in his grasp.
“What’s interesting is his cause of death.”
Leopold never once looked away from my face as he spoke.
“There were multiple puncture wounds where something small and sharp pierced through the living Assassin’s body. The same marks were found on your bed.”
“I see.”
“Yet no such weapon was discovered in the bedroom. As you well know.”
“Is that so? I had no idea.”
I responded while recalling the cane beneath my hand and the revolver concealed in my coat.
Leopold’s smile only brightened at my mechanical reply.
“Your Highness, if you continue in this manner, I’m afraid I cannot let you leave.”
He was masking his irritation beneath a plausible laugh. His words were meant to provoke, and they did.
Of course, I had no intention of wasting more time with meaningless evasions. I’d riddled the corpse with holes and couldn’t possibly conceal my power indefinitely.
I leaned back against the sofa and opened my mouth.
“Leopold. I am the Saint. Surely Pelmira Goddess would not have granted me no abilities whatsoever.”
First, a little bluffing.
Leopold listened intently, his eyes narrowing as though genuinely fascinated.
“However, I’ve only recently discovered this ability, and I haven’t made any official announcement. Allow me to demonstrate.”
I withdrew the revolver from my coat without hesitation. The moment Leopold saw the unfamiliar object, his pupils dilated.
“What is that…?”
“Shh. Just watch. You hook your finger here, like this.”
I raised the gun and aimed it directly at the center of Leopold’s face.
“Three, two, one.”
Bang.
The moment I pulled the trigger, a brilliant white bullet erupted from the muzzle.
Yet Leopold’s face was not pierced through.
“Oh.”
He’d tilted his head at the last instant, dodging the bullet.
“….”
Leopold turned around, his expression completely devoid of amusement.
On the wall of the Reception Room, a small indentation had appeared.
Presumably, it was the same size as the hole Leopold had confirmed in the Assassin’s body.
I spun the gun in my hand as I spoke.
“I counted three seconds for you to dodge. You didn’t avoid it well—you understand that, right?”
“…Ha.”
Leopold let out a short laugh with an expression that suggested nothing was amusing. His eyes looked ready to spill out curses at any moment.
But his true feelings were revealed only briefly. Leopold quickly rearranged his expression.
Seeing him return to his composed demeanor as before, I couldn’t help but admire it.
He extended his hand, wearing that mask-like smile.
“I understand perfectly, Your Highness. Might you lend me that object for investigation purposes?”
I knew it. He wasn’t borrowing it—he was confiscating it.
There was no reason for Leopold to overlook me carrying such a formidable weapon within the Imperial Palace.
“For how long?”
“I’m afraid I cannot specify that precisely.”
And it didn’t look like he had any intention of returning it.
“What if I said I don’t want to give it?”
“Then I would have no choice but to take a somewhat firmer approach, Your Highness.”
“Didn’t you just see? Should I put a hole through you too?”
Since he was going to seize it anyway, I decided to scratch at Leopold’s composure a bit more. It was also a chance to settle old scores.
At this point, cracks finally appeared in Leopold’s mask.
“Second Crown Prince’s Consort, Your Highness.”
It was an expression I knew well.
A face revealing anger and fear. In my previous life, whenever I looked at myself in the mirror, my eyes held that same expression.
Of course, it was an expression Leopold had never shown me before. He had no reason to fear the Emperor’s plaything.
As he watched me endure Maximilian’s abuse, sometimes his eyes gleamed with interest, sometimes with excitement.
And I had never forgotten those eyes that sometimes looked upon me with such contempt and disgust.
Leopold continued in a voice that had grown slightly lower.
“Surely Your Highness is aware that killing me would only complicate matters.”

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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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