The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 82

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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 82
“….”
Did you know I would come this far?
When exactly did you start planning all of this?
I had mountains of questions I wanted to ask, yet the words refused to come.
In the brief silence, Frederike spoke first.
“Even if I’m uneducated, don’t I deserve a word of thanks?”
Her tone was openly barbed.
With that, it became certain. Frederike had not orchestrated all of this out of goodwill toward me.
‘Though I must admit, this is more familiar.’
I lowered the hand I’d been using to shield my eyes and faced Frederike properly.
She was alone. Whether her escort knights waited outside or she had ventured out without any attendants at all remained unclear.
Though I wondered if she had truly come by herself, the commoner’s dress she wore kept drawing my gaze.
“…Thank you. But why the sudden casual speech?”
“A person without ears deserves no courtesy from a baseborn commoner like me.”
“Ah….”
Yet her way of thinking and temperament remained thoroughly aristocratic.
The Second Crown Prince’s Consort showed no hesitation in baring the thorns in her mouth, which made me understand why Clara and Hilda spoke so heatedly of her behind her back.
But why was it? The Empress Frederike in my memories had regarded me with a far more indifferent expression.
The woman before me now displayed emotions far more overt, and therefore far more vivid.
If I were to guess the reason for that difference.
‘…Rotar Eisenrit in this world is still alive?’
A first love who loved no one and died.
Or perhaps, a first love who survived after being abducted into marriage by the woman her husband desired.
I couldn’t say which was better, but the spirited Frederike before me was somehow more pleasant to look upon.
“Oof.”
I sat down on the floor with a dust-covered cane tucked against my side.
My body was already filthy from wandering through the secret passages—there was no point in being choosy about where I sat.
Though it felt wrong to look down on Frederike, my aching legs took priority.
I asked with my head held high.
“What are the odds that Maximilian will chase me this far?”
Having heard him use casual speech, I saw no reason to maintain formality.
“None. At least not for several hours.”
Frederike answered without particular emotion.
“He’s currently with the Emperor discussing ways to find the missing Second Crown Prince’s Consort. It’s almost laughable.”
“…!”
I recalled Maximilian’s words about how the “cleanup” was not yet finished.
Thinking of that shameless face casually participating in a meeting while being the kidnapper himself made my blood boil.
Yet this time, his scheming had become my opportunity.
And what followed from Frederike’s lips completely extinguished the faint doubt that still lingered.
“Still, it’s fortunate we found the passage in time. I was worried you’d be too dense to understand the note and wander about lost.”
“….”
“Just to be safe, I leaked information about the secret passage to Martha as well. You didn’t need that hint too, did you?”
“….”
I did need it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have escaped at all.
Embarrassed, I scratched the bridge of my nose, and Frederike looked down at me with disdain before continuing.
“Well, never mind. Let’s get to the main point.”
“…Main point?”
“Yes. The reason I got you out. You don’t actually think I helped you out of pure sympathy, do you?”
No, I didn’t. Frederike wasn’t Martha, and she wasn’t the type of person to act from such motives.
Then what could Frederike possibly gain from me?
The moment I thought about it, only one answer came to mind.
‘…Rotar?’
The sole existence that Frederike Falkenberg had desperately wanted to obtain by any means necessary.
Perhaps she would demand my divorce from Rotar in exchange for my life.
‘No, it could be even more than that.’
The gossip of Clara and Hilda flashed through my mind.
‘The best thing went to that woman.’
‘Where could her ferocious nature from childhood have gone?’
‘Your Majesty must know the truth of that wicked soul. The fact that Frederike has long dreamed of becoming His Highness Rotar’s woman!’
Frederike might not be satisfied with merely separating me from Rotar.
Perhaps she intended to make Rotar the adoptive father of her child….
“A girl, they say.”
Frederike’s calm voice cut through my confused thoughts.
She was slowly caressing her swollen belly, gazing down at the ‘someone’ within with an expression softer than ever before.
“I want to give her the name Beatrix, because she’ll bring me blessings.”
“Ah, yes. That’s a lovely name.”
“If she inherits Maximilian’s and my beauty, she’ll become the most beautiful princess in history.”
“Mm….”
“As long as Maximilian doesn’t destroy Elheim.”
“…!”
What was she going on about again?
The destruction of Elheim. I was someone who had witnessed that future countless times.
Maximilian had sought absolute power by sacrificing the entire Empire in which he was born and raised.
He didn’t stop at destroying the Empire but even coveted the souls of the continent for greater power.
There was no way the Imperial Family could have maintained any semblance of normalcy through that process.
Think about it. The fourth cycle, when I stayed longest by Maximilian’s side.
The child between Maximilian and Frederike at that time was….
‘…Did she die?’
I had never directly met the princess born then. There was no reason for a young princess to know about her father’s living plaything.
But before even a few years had passed, I recalled hearing a strange story.
It was something the maidservants had whispered while dragging my half-conscious body to the bathroom.
‘Have you heard? His Majesty the Emperor keeps telling the Princess such odd things….’
‘Something about a bride of the Demon Realm? I can’t make heads or tails of it. He’s always saying he needs ever more precious sacrifices….’
‘Shh, everyone be careful with your words! We’ll lose our heads too at this rate.’
Surely not.
…No, if it’s Maximilian, it could very well be true.
I pushed the memory of the past from my mind.
Let me focus on the present. Frederike already knows that Maximilian has become a contractor of a demon god.
To Maximilian, she and the child are merely means—tools to be used whenever and however he sees fit.
Frederike lifted her head and fixed her gaze upon me.
“Elise. The reason I spirited you away was because I had something to ask you.”
“…What is it you want to know?”
“Do you and Rotar Eisenrit have a way to defeat Maximilian? Or is all that remains for us in this Empire an inescapable ruin?”
Frederike’s voice, which had maintained composure throughout, trembled ever so slightly.
Something that the Frederike of the past did not possess, yet now does. I finally understood the source of the desperation she displayed.
She was not dreaming of Rotar Eisenrit—she was dreaming of hope.
Hope that her child might escape the grasp of his mad father and live as ordinary people do.
In this life, Frederike could glimpse that faint possibility in a way the past version could not.
Because Rotar Eisenrit, the only member of the Imperial Family capable of standing against Maximilian, had survived by marrying me.
Perhaps the Empire’s sword might possess some means.
I parted my lips and answered.
“There is. A way to defeat Maximilian.”
“…! Tell me.”
“Only those who carry the blood of Staufen can receive the blessing of Zaikas, the god of war. If we merely receive that blessing in the Southern War, there’s no reason we couldn’t stand against Maximilian, who has contracted with a demon god.”
At those words, Frederike’s expression brightened in an instant. It was an unfamiliar face.
I seized the moment and added,
“But to activate ‘Zaikas’s Blessing,’ I must go to the Southern War as well. There’s an indispensable condition.”
“What is it?”
“‘The death of one’s beloved.'”
Frederike’s brow furrowed sharply in an instant.
“Did I hear that correctly? It sounds like you’re saying you’ll go and die.”
“You heard it right.”
“…You’d go that far? For what?”
I lifted the corners of my mouth in response to Frederike’s question.
“You risked your life for Beatrix too, didn’t you? If Maximilian learns of this, he won’t let it slide. Would he?”
“….”
At my words, Frederike was momentarily at a loss for words.
Then, the door handle outside rattled.

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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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