The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 26

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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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Episode 26.

***

Tea time melted into lunch.
Eleanor and I mostly questioned and answered each other, while Barkan listened quietly.
After tea, his mood had plummeted so sharply that he wasn’t in a state to be spoken to.
Of course, Eleanor was not the sort of person to mind such things.
She seemed to find something endlessly amusing, her eyes glinting with mischief as she looked back and forth between Barkan and me, giggling to herself throughout.
During the meal, Eleanor asked me questions about the Delmar Kingdom, and each time I felt a small pang of guilt.
Fortunately, the information the Guild had fed me allowed me to answer without hesitation, though there was no escaping the sting of conscience.
At last, leaving the Princess Palace and returning down the corridor toward the Separate Palace, Barkan and I walked side by side.
For just a cup of tea and one meal, I felt as though my soul—not my body—had been wrung dry.
Then, just as we were leaving the Princess Palace.
Eleanor’s low, whispered warning came back to me.
“There’s a person you could call His Majesty’s right hand. The Empire’s Chancellor, Marquis Desior Delkin.”
“His Majesty is frightening, yes, but you should be careful of the Chancellor too. Don’t forget that. He might even be more frightening than His Majesty.”
As a reader of the original work, Marquis Desior Delkin was a loyal retainer who sided with Crown Prince Cain—an ally.
Capable, meticulous, a man who moved for the stability of the imperial house.
But from where I stood now, a false princess sheltering myself in the Northern Region, he was an unwelcome villain’s entrance.
‘The Emperor alone is overwhelming enough, and now the Chancellor who pulls the Emperor’s strings.’
As I shuffled down the corridor with a deep sigh, Barkan, who had been quietly matching my pace beside me, suddenly asked a question.
“Are you disappointed?”
I glanced up at Barkan’s profile as he walked, his gaze fixed ahead without expression.
“Pardon? Disappointed about what?”
“That you couldn’t become Crown Princess.”
What was he talking about all of a sudden?
I let out a scoff and tilted my chin up.
“When the Dukedom becomes a kingdom, I’ll be a queen. What’s a Crown Princess compared to that?”
At that, Barkan’s pace slowed ever so slightly.
“Besides, the Crown Prince isn’t my type. If I’m going to marry anyway, it should be someone who suits my taste.”
For some reason, Barkan came to a complete stop in the middle of the corridor. I stopped as well, looking up at him with wide eyes.
“Why? Did you think I was in a position to be picky, dragged here as a hostage?”
“I never said any such thing.”
I shrugged and gave a small laugh.
“But it’s true. The Crown Prince really isn’t my type. All that gleaming, porcelain-pale perfection—it does nothing for me. In fact…”
I paused and looked at Barkan.
Black hair. Eyes settled into a cool, distant gaze. A blunt mouth, and the solid bearing of someone who trusts easily no one.
Now that I thought about it, this was exactly my type.
I looked up at him and smiled brightly, my eyes crinkling.
“My type is someone like you, Your Grace.”
……
“Of course, you won’t find that pleasing, but I’m grateful for it. It’s a forced marriage, yet the man I’m to marry suits my taste so perfectly it’s almost frightening. I told you, didn’t I? That I was going to make an effort to care for you. Surely you didn’t think I was joking?”
Then silence fell across the cool corridor.
Barkan gave no answer. Only the faintest crease appeared between his brows.
His dark eyes lingered on my face for a moment, then slowly turned toward the great arched window at the corridor’s end, gazing out.
Beyond the glass, the sky had already begun to pour down a deep crimson sunset, staining the Imperial Palace’s spires with its glow.
Barkan held that red sunset in his gaze for a moment, then slowly turned his head back toward me.
His eyes, like obsidian steeped in sunset, felt strangely unfamiliar to me in that moment.
Barkan opened his mouth slowly.
“The sun hasn’t fully set yet.”
“Ah, yes. I suppose not.”
I tilted my head, bewildered. Then Barkan continued, his tone matter-of-fact.
“Would you not care to go now?”
“Go where?”
“Delochianos Lake.”
I stared up at him, my eyes wide.
‘Good heavens. How beautiful can that lake possibly be that he keeps asking me to go since this morning?’
Barkan pressed the invitation again, which was quite unlike him—the lake must truly be breathtakingly beautiful.
Or perhaps…
‘Did my confession attack just now actually work a little?’
I considered for a moment, then nodded.
Yes, we couldn’t go on like this forever, bristling at each other and keeping our blades drawn.
‘I don’t know when I’ll leave the Grand Duke House, but wouldn’t it be better for both of us to get along until then?’
I tilted my chin up slightly and let out a soft, amused laugh.
“All right. Let’s go! I want to see this lake for myself—see just how beautiful it is that you keep insisting we visit.”
And so Barkan and I set out for Delochianos Lake, counted among the Capital’s finest attractions.

***

To state it plainly: Barkan was right.
‘Is this really the world we live in?’
I stood speechless before the lake.
As the sunset vanished entirely and deep darkness descended, the lamps lining the shore ignited in unison.
Countless stars scattered across the night sky poured down upon the vast surface of the water.
It was impossible to tell whether the heavens were reflected in the lake or the lake had swallowed the sky.
Lost in wonder at the sight, I found myself being guided by Barkan onto a small pleasure boat.
He seated me at the bow first, then took his place across from me.
Without a trace of concern, he picked up the oars himself.
‘Good heavens… this really does feel like a date.’
I’d said those things in hopes of smoothing our relationship, it was true—
‘But I didn’t expect it to progress this far!’
I stole a glance at Barkan. His expression remained as stern as always as he rowed steadily onward.
Our small boat cut smoothly through the gentle waters of the lake.
A soft breeze swept across my cheek, as gentle as the ripples around us.
I surrendered to the boat’s sway and gazed unhurriedly at the sights around us.
All around, the water was dotted with small boats carrying whispering lovers, their silhouettes visible in the darkness.
As I watched them, my lips began to tingle, and I couldn’t help but open my mouth.
“You know, it seems like this place really is popular with couples. Look—that pair over there, and that one too. They’re all sweethearts.”
As night deepened, the silhouettes of lovers under the moonlight drifted closer and closer, often intertwining.
Goodness!
“Your Highness! Look there, look!”
They’re kissing! I can see it, even with the fan in the way!
I must be losing my mind!
“…….”
I chattered away in excited whispers only Barkan could hear, but he said nothing.
After a while spent watching these shameless lovers, I looked at Barkan with a smirk.
“See? We look like we’re on a date too. Don’t we?”
“…….”
“Maybe to those people, we look like an ordinary couple. Wouldn’t you say?”
Then Barkan tilted his head as if he’d heard something utterly peculiar, and opened his mouth with a crooked smile.
It was easy to predict that something unpleasant was about to spill out, matching his nature.
As expected. He spoke softly, as if muttering to himself.
“It seems that mouth of yours has no intention of resting, even with this view before us.”
“If not now, when else would I get to say these things? Someone as insensitive as Your Highness needs someone like me to spell everything out.”
“Insensitive about what?”
“This. This is a date. What kind of atmosphere this is, what kind of people come to places like this. That’s how you become aware of it.”
“…….”
“The awareness that you’re on a date with me right now. The awareness that our relationship of enemies might actually be moving toward something rather sweet!”
At my bold declaration, Barkan let out a low scoff.
“Sweet? Is there really such a pointless word in this world?”
“Oh, really! How can you be so utterly lacking in atmosphere? If you felt that way, why did you keep insisting we come here? Hm?”
As I grumbled and continued my complaints, Barkan turned his head away as if my words weren’t worth answering.
It was then.
Just as I was about to say a few more things, I spotted a familiar street beyond Barkan’s shoulder.
‘What?’
Low buildings connected to a promenade across the lake. And the alleyway beyond them.
If I turned that corner and went deeper in, the Herb Shop from two days ago would be there.
‘Now that I think about it, the Herb Shop isn’t far from here.’
I glanced sideways at Barkan.
‘If it weren’t for the Grand Duke, I could have stopped by the Herb Shop while I was out.’
But that wasn’t it.
I might have crossed paths with that masked knight.
It was a risk I couldn’t afford to take.
I lingered for a moment, my eyes straying toward the alley where the Herb Shop stood, before swallowing my disappointment and shaking my head.

***

After spending a considerable amount of time on the lake, we disembarked from the boat.
“That was wonderful! It was truly the perfect date I’ll never forget for the rest of my life, wasn’t it?”
“…….”
Barkan, looking rather weary for some reason, gazed down at the princess with an air of resignation before shaking his head.
This obsession with dates.
One would think a ghost who’d died without ever experiencing a date had attached itself to her.
Throughout the boat ride, the princess had insisted relentlessly that the time they were spending together was indeed a date.
At first, Barkan had dismissed it, but hearing the same refrain over and over began to create a peculiar conviction that this truly was a date, and he’d even found himself second-guessing.
Perhaps she truly did possess some talent for brainwashing.
Not long after we set foot on solid ground again, Roan, Barkan’s aide, approached him.
“Your Highness.”
Barkan told the princess to wait a moment, then moved some distance away with Roan.
“Speak.”
Roan’s expression was peculiar.
“Regarding that commoner Herb Merchant, sir.”
Barkan’s eyes narrowed.
“Thirty minutes ago, she appeared at the Herb Shop and purchased an herb called Lumen.”
“……What?”
In that instant, Barkan’s face hardened and he spun around sharply, his gaze fixing on the platinum-haired princess standing beneath the moonlight, gazing out at the lake.

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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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