The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 9

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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 9
If you ask why I didn’t explain earlier, it wasn’t intentional… well, actually it was intentional.
Spelling everything out one by one honestly didn’t suit my temperament. Just today, I’d been rambling on for hours by myself.
I stared up at the dark ceiling and answered.
“For the details, ask the Staufen Margrave directly.”
One thing was certain.
The arduous journey of a Holy Maiden who couldn’t even use holy power and an abandoned prince was only beginning now.
***
Early the next morning. As the snow began to lighten, I left the inn.
‘I’m so damn tired.’
Did I sleep four hours? The moment I climbed into the carriage, my eyes closed.
I was simply exhausted, yet Lothar sitting across from me asked,
“Are you offering prayers to the goddess?”
“You’re the one who should be praying…”
My life turned out like this because of his botched prayers.
I wasn’t someone without religion who just wished upon any god.
“Just sleep. Clear thinking and mental strength come from rest.”
“I see. When did your serious sleep habit start?”
“…”
This bastard.
It was a petty provocation, but my eyes snapped open of their own accord.
“Hey, it only happened once. Do you really hold grudges that long?”
“Are you unaware of your own sleep habits?”
“Why. What. Why. What did I do again?”
“Hmm… never mind.”
There are two ways to infuriate someone.
The first is cutting off your words mid-sentence.
“Speak clearly, won’t you?”
“I’d prefer if you just got angry and kicked me instead.”
“What are you talking about, seriously. Hey!”
This guy was better at getting under my skin than I’d given him credit for.
Even after pressing, threatening, and cajoling, he kept his mouth firmly shut, and my fists began to tremble with frustration.
Even if I hit him, it didn’t seem like it would leave a mark. What was I supposed to do?
That’s when something settled onto my lap.
“Cover yourself and rest.”
A thick, warm garment. It was Lothar’s jacket.
“… We’ll talk about this later.”
The warmth drew back the drowsiness that had scattered moments before.
I glared at Lothar sharply, then pulled his jacket over my head. With my vision blocked, sleep came even more easily.
“Sleep well.”
His soft voice, like a lullaby, was the last thing I heard.
***
It took another week to reach Graupels.
At first, we rented inns, but as time wore on, villages became less frequent. Still, I slept soundly enough in the tent the Knight Order had set up for us.
Lothar? I couldn’t say. He always went to bed later than me and woke earlier.
As we drew closer to the Northern Border Region, the roads grew rougher. This was where one of my body’s few advantages shone through.
I didn’t get motion sickness. I dozed off even as the carriage jolted over the road like it was deliberately hitting every pothole.
The day we arrived at Graupels was no different.
“Halt!”
“Huh?”
I jolted awake at the shout from outside the carriage.
That was strange. It had been early dawn just moments ago.
Peering out the window in confusion, the sun was already high in the sky.
How many hours had I slept? I counted on my fingers.
“Pfft.”
A stifled laugh reached my ears. Looking up, I saw Lothar with his usual expressionless face.
What was he doing? Why was he pretending not to laugh?
I glared at him with wide eyes. Then he slowly raised a finger and pointed at the corner of my mouth.
“What?”
“You were drooling.”
“What?”
“Saliva, ma’am.”
How embarrassing.
I wiped my mouth vigorously with the sleeve of the jacket draped over me. Only a second later did I realize the jacket belonged to Lothar. I’d forgotten since he handed it to me each time I boarded the carriage as a makeshift blanket.
I glanced sideways and saw Lothar’s profile as he turned his head away, staring into empty space.
Hey, your lips are trembling.
As if nothing had happened, Lothar turned his head back and extended his arm. With his thumb, he rubbed the opposite side of my mouth from where I’d wiped. Had I cleaned the wrong spot?
After withdrawing his hand, he spoke in a calm voice.
“After observing you for several days, it seems you have more flaws than I expected.”
“That’s the first I’m hearing of it.”
“Is that so? It appears you lack loyal retainers like myself. Surrounded only by treacherous sycophants, it seems.”
This time, there was no mistaking it. This was one hundred percent mockery.
Exasperated, I glared at him, and a faint smile played at the corners of Lothar’s mouth.
His finger brushed past my lips. A quiet greeting accompanied the gesture.
“Welcome to Graupels.”
Only then did I look out the window again.
Beneath the cascading snow, a towering fortress stood magnificent.
Between the gray walls, a tall spire bore the flag of the Empire. It was where guards kept watch over the border year-round.
It had the grandeur befitting the first gate of the Northern Border Region. Whether foreign races or monsters—any who sought to plunder the Empire’s prosperity had to breach this place first.
And the fortress of Graupels had never been breached. Not once since the Staufen Family established their seat here.
‘A family that only produces terrifying monsters.’
Just looking at Lothar, who had crumpled the carriage door, made my irritation spike.
The city gates slowly opened. The halted carriages began rolling forward once more.
Yet everything around us felt eerily silent.
‘It can’t be helped. The Staufen Family has publicly turned their backs on Lothar.’
But then.
“…There are flowers here.”
At my murmur, Lothar’s expression shifted oddly as he peered out the window. Soon after, he tapped the inner wall of the carriage—a signal to stop.
Lothar descended from the carriage and gazed down at his feet.
A desolate stone path. Along its edge lay star-shaped flowers covered in soft white fur.
…No. It wasn’t just one.
Following Lothar out of the carriage, I looked ahead along the straightened path.
“Edelweiss?”
The flowers were lined up. One by one.
“A resilient flower that can only be found in snow-covered alpine regions.”
Lothar bent at the waist as he spoke. He gathered the edelweiss scattered along his path.
For a prince, it was an excessively humble gesture, yet I found no reason to stop him. I had never seen him smile with such genuine joy before.
‘So the prince was loved in his own way.’
I had never received such heartfelt welcomes even at the Grand Cathedral. Someday, I would make the Archbishop kneel and crawl between my legs.
As I followed Lothar while plotting my grand revenge, something happened.
Whoosh.
The instant I heard a thin whistle of wind, Lothar’s body dropped low.
Thunk.
An object that had passed through where his neck had been moments before embedded itself in the ground.
‘That’s…’
Even with eyes wide open, it was unmistakably an arrow.
Lothar straightened his body smoothly and gazed toward the direction the arrow had come from. His smile was cold and unfamiliar.
“Quite the grand welcome.”
His murmur was utterly frigid.
Had this man been playing harmless in front of me? Though he never felt harmless to begin with.
Where Lothar’s gaze fell was the city wall of the right tower. I let out a hollow laugh watching the figure aiming a bow at him from above.
“Is everyone in this family insane?”
Reddish-brown hair whipped in the wind atop the wall.
A striking tall frame and a muscular body that seemed composed entirely of sinew.
Nothing had changed since I last saw her. That fierce, tiger-like impression remained the same.
‘She does look somewhat similar to Lothar.’
She shouted down at her nephew.
“Lothar, you absolute fool!”
Right. Her personality was certainly different. The Margrave waved the bow in her hand while unleashing endless curses.
“When you were locked away, you should have at least severed Maximilian’s fingers! And you dare call yourself a man of Staufen blood?”
“Ah, what shame upon our house! That your mother doesn’t rise from her grave to witness this spectacle is nothing short of a miracle!”
Even a holiday family gathering wouldn’t reach this level of vitriol. As the barrage of reproach continued, Lothar’s lips twisted further and further. He ignored all the preceding words entirely and offered a greeting.
“It has been a long time, Staufen Margrave.”
Wow.
It was a greeting both courteous and dry—precisely the kind that drew a line between them.
What nephew greets an aunt he hasn’t seen in ages with “How do you do, madam?” as if she were a stranger?
“What?”
The Staufen Margrave’s face flushed crimson in an instant.

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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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