The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 12

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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 12.

“…I’m sorry?”
I blinked stupidly, repeating his words with a vacant expression, and Barcan narrowed his brow with visible annoyance.
A cold droplet fell from the wet tips of his hair with a soft plip.
“Remove it.”
“…”
I looked up at him with wide eyes.
What?
‘Is this Northern Speech Style flirtation?’
So blunt and brazen?!
It was shockingly indecent phrasing.
‘And so abruptly, at that?!’
Just moments ago I’d judged him as a man forced to embrace a woman at the Emperor’s command, and now he says something like this?
Of course, given the times, even if I bore a princess’s title—albeit a false one—I could not refuse the Grand Duke’s command as a hostage.
Evelyn Delmar, the princess, was both a hostage and meant to become the Grand Duchess.
‘From the start, once I was sold to the Grand Duke, I resigned myself to the possibility of spending nights with him.’
And yet…
For a man speaking such scandalous words, his gaze was frozen as though a thousand years of love had turned to ash.
‘Ah.’
That was when I understood.
‘That’s not what he meant at all.’
I felt the biting chill that enveloped my body.
My Cloak, soaked through from cutting through the bitter snowstorm.
Where the bonfire’s warmth met the Cave’s cool air, my Cloak had grown damp and heavy, stealing away my own body heat.
Only then did I understand Barcan’s intention and words.
I met his gaze squarely, eyes narrowing.
‘If the Cloak was wet, he could’ve just said it was better to remove it—why cut his words off like that?’
Getting people to misunderstand.
I clicked my tongue at the Northern Speech Style and shook my head.
“I appreciate your concern about the wet Cloak, but I must respectfully decline. As you can see, being before the bonfire makes it bearable.”
I stretched my wet hands toward the fire, avoiding his gaze.
Then his voice came again, grown even colder.
“I believe I mentioned—”
“…”
“—that I have no desire to dispose of a dead princess in this Grand Duchy.”
“…”
My shoulders flinched at that blade-sharp tone. I glanced up at him. His gaze was precisely as sharp as a drawn sword.
‘Well. Our Grand Duke certainly has a warm and affectionate way with words.’
Before my body temperature could drop and freeze me to death, I’d die first from the icy chill radiating off Barcan.
Just as I thought I should improve our relations, whenever he spoke like this, I couldn’t help but bristle in turn.
With a scowl and a grumble, I finally removed the wet Cloak.
Then I snatched the Military Uniform Jacket he offered and hurriedly draped it over my shoulders.
‘Ugh, it’s heavy…’
It was far larger and heavier than the winter Cloak I’d been wearing. The sleeves extended well past my fingertips and hung loosely, while the hem fell in folds beneath my thighs.
It was a moment that made me acutely aware of Barcan’s overwhelming build.
But what struck me more was the warmth emanating from within the jacket.
As if to prove it had clung to his body just moments before, his body heat lingered intact within the fabric.
His manner was unfriendly, rude, and cold, yet the warmth of the jacket he’d removed was undeniably comforting.
I felt almost relieved I hadn’t stubbornly refused and insisted on keeping it on.
In the meantime, Barcan picked up the wet Cloak I’d removed without fanfare and, along with his own, draped it over a branch propped against the bonfire.
His hands moved with practiced efficiency—this was not his first time doing so.
‘Seeing him like that, he doesn’t seem like such a bad person after all.’
Of course, Barcan had no reason to be kind to me.
The princess of Delmar, thrust upon him by the Emperor. That was all I was in his eyes.
And so I could understand his rough and discourteous behavior.
Only…
‘That’s right. I understand it with my head. I really do.’
Still, a bad feeling is a bad feeling. There was no way to feel good about being treated this way.
‘From the start, he treats me like a servant and expects me to obey meekly—isn’t that even more shameless?’
Breathe in, breathe out.
I swallowed the chaos and rage I couldn’t voice, taking a deep breath from within.
‘Hold it together, Evelyn. Getting worked up means you lose.’
One way or another, I was in a position where I had to appease this rude man to some degree.
‘Right now, between him and the Grand Duke, it’s me who needs his favor.’
So I’ll endure. I’ll bear it.
That’s how I steeled myself.
Crack, crack…
Dry kindling burned with a pleasant sound.
Unlike the blizzard raging outside, the Cave held a strange tranquility and warmth.
The blue light of the Bioluminescent Moss mingled with the red glow of the fire, casting dreamlike shadows.
For a time, we both simply stared at the irregular dance of flames, as though bound by some unspoken agreement.
After a moment, I carefully opened my mouth while idly following the sparks that leapt from the fire.
“Thank you for saving me.”
“…….”
“And I’m sorry for shouting earlier. The snow came so suddenly, I couldn’t see anything ahead. I thought I was going to die. Of course, the Grand Duke was there, but…….”
I spoke honestly.
“The truth is, I didn’t think the Grand Duke would bother saving me when I went up the mountain of my own recklessness.”
“…….”
In my position playing a mad princess, I could have brushed past it without comment.
In fact, that might have been the very attitude I ought to have adopted while playing a mad princess.
“I may be shameless and brazen, but I’m not so ungrateful as to forget a kindness.”
I glanced at Barcan before bowing my head lightly.
“Thank you—.”
“Your Highness.”
It was then.
Barcan, who had been listening to me in silence all this while, broke the quiet and cut me off.
“Digging into the ground, climbing down cliffs. From the start, you never had any intention of climbing the mountain obediently with the knights.”
“…….”
I understood. He had been watching me from the moment I first began climbing the mountain.
‘Could he have seen through my act?’
I stared at Barcan with a trembling heart. He looked down at me with his arms crossed.
Though we sat before the same fire, his large frame meant he naturally loomed over me.
He tilted his head.
“Your Highness, I despise troublesome things.”
“…….”
“Chasing after someone and cleaning up their messes. And that feeling of contempt I have for myself while doing so.”
His voice, low and heavy, scraped through the Cave.
“So much so that there are moments I think it would be better to simply draw my sword.”
Barcan stared at me piercingly and continued coldly.
“Your Highness is a nuisance.”
“…….”
Without meaning to, I swallowed hard.
As though those words were a death sentence passed upon me.
My throat tightened.
All this because I climbed a mountain and wiped some windows.
In truth, the window cleaning was only because that Grand Duke ordered me to do servant’s work.
‘As if anyone wanted to come here…’
Wronged and furious, I pushed those feelings aside and asked with a calm face.
“How do you usually dispose of such troublesome things?”
“I cut them down with my sword and remove them from my sight.”
“Are you saying you’ll do the same to me?”
“…….”
Barcan fell silent at my question. It wasn’t an explicit answer, but looking at his expression, he seemed like someone who might do exactly that at any moment.
Barcan replied after a beat.
“Within the Grand Duchy, you won’t be found as a corpse.”
I stared at him hard and forced one corner of my mouth upward in a smile.
“That’s reassuring. After all, I have no intention of leaving the Grand Duchy anyway.”
Between the Guild’s surveillance and the Helbain in my belly, I have no choice but to remain in the Grand Duchy.
I pressed my question through gritted teeth.
“What if I continue to be troublesome?”
At my words, Barcan’s gaze grew darker still.
“……An uncontrollable dog must be leashed.”
……A leash?
I stared at him in disbelief, and he continued.
“I know the type well enough—people with a mind like a princess. They act as they please, wielding their madness as a shield without ever truly recognizing it. But.”
His gaze sharpened further, as though boring straight through to the depths of my skull.
“It won’t work on me. I’ve weathered enough of such situations to be past the point of surprise.”
“…….”
“When the mind fails, one survives by reading the room, does one not.”
A mind like mine…
What he was saying was this: ‘I know you’re mad, but I won’t tolerate you using that madness as an excuse to cause trouble.’
He was right.
The widely known condition of Princess Evelyn had indeed become my shield, and I’d been freely exploiting the image of a mad princess to act as I pleased.
The one mercy was that he didn’t seem to have noticed I was a fraud—that I was merely acting the part of a madwoman.
I exhaled quietly with relief before answering.
“……I’ll take the warning to heart. I’ve no wish to be leashed, either.”
“…….”
It was in this moment, sitting here, that I truly understood.
He didn’t see me as merely a troublesome burden, but as something he’d gladly dispose of at the first opportunity.
The only thing staying his hand was the knowledge that doing so within the Grand Duchy was an insurmountable obstacle he could not cross.
‘……At least I won’t die inside the Grand Duchy.’
Yes. Just wait and see.
The moment I rid myself of the Helbain, I’ll abandon this Grand Duchy without a second thought—
Then it came.
“In two days’ time, you’ll be summoned to the Imperial Palace.”
“……Pardon?”
“His Majesty has invited us both—you and I—to the Imperial Palace.”
I jolted upright in shock, my body moving of its own accord.
“The I-Imperial Palace?!”
In that same instant, sparks from the campfire crackled upward with a sharp snap.
The sound was like the earth beneath my feet—ground I’d believed safe—suddenly splitting open with a crack.

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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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