The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 4

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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 4.

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“Ah, now I’m actually starting to feel alive!”
I hummed tunelessly while swinging both arms in wide, vigorous arcs.
Squeak-squeak—the sound of cloth against the frozen glass rang out, crisp and bright. Everywhere I wiped, the pane shone clear and transparent, unmarred by a single streak.
Muscles that had stiffened during a week of bed rest stretched and loosened with a pleasant pull. Even that small movement seemed to sweep away old stagnation.
Though really.
‘The Grand Duke wouldn’t have assigned me maid’s work out of consideration, afraid I’d grow bored.’
I tilted my head slightly while scrubbing clean the edges of the window frame.
‘It was definitely to disgrace me.’
The Emperor had thrust upon him a mad princess from an enemy kingdom, and this work—this was his way of making sure she felt plenty of shame.
I shrugged.
‘But here’s the thing.’
Shame and all that—it doesn’t touch me at all.
‘If anything, I’m grateful for this.’
To the household staff of the Grand Duke’s Residence, I’d look like a princess who’d lost her mind. To the Guild’s watchers, I’d appear to be a mad princess throwing myself into her work with dedication.
Either way, it worked in my favor.
Squeak, squeak—.
I scoured the glass more vigorously.
But who was it?
Who was the spy the Guild had planted—the one secretly leaving medicine bottles in my room?
“Princess. Please hand the cloth to me and come inside at once, yes?”
Selin called from below the ladder, wringing her hands. I ignored her and pressed my nose against the window, peering into the corridors.
‘Could it be the stable keeper who glared at me that day in the hallway?’
Or perhaps the gardener who’d smiled so brightly when our eyes met near the bedroom window?
“Your Highness…….”
Could it be the steward who comes to check on me every day?
‘Yes, that steward’s gaze was the sharpest of all.’
Eyes perfectly suited to someone watching.
Squeak-squeak—.
“Princess, please—won’t you at least come down from the ladder?”
Selin’s voice trembled on the edge of tears.
“Ah, Selin.”
I spoke solemnly, never pausing in my window-cleaning.
“Your sister is engaged in a very important deduction at the moment.”
Selin’s eyes went wide.
“S-sister……?!”
“Hush.”
I moved my hands busily, glimpsing this corner and that of the Grand Duke’s Residence.
“Just stay quiet a moment.”
“Your Highness…….”
I soothed the dejected Selin and returned to scrubbing the window with vigor.
Winter’s bitter wind stung the tips of my fingers, but compared to the time I’d spent clawing through frozen earth, this was merely uncomfortable.
The touch of that cold wind suddenly brought to mind a southern village.
‘That’s right. By now the Crobein should have absorbed plenty of venom and grown.’
Had I not been branded a Witch, I’d be climbing the mountain now, harvesting Crobein.
Crobein. A rare medicinal herb obtainable only during the winter season. It wasn’t entirely without toxicity, but it was classified as an herb precisely because of its excellent hemostatic properties.
By good fortune, it grew wild in a specific area of the hills behind Billot Village where I’d lived, and I’d harvested it faithfully every late autumn and harsh winter without fail.
When the blue sap from the Crobein bulb was combined with Velostin Petals, it produced the most powerful Hemostatic Agent—and for someone whose very blood flowed with deadly poison, it was indispensable.
‘Ah, and that Hemostatic Agent is in my bag…….’
I bumped my head against the glass and swallowed a sigh.
“Once you’ve spent a night with the Grand Duke, I’ll return your belongings.”
Damn it.
I ground my teeth.
A night—I haven’t even seen the man’s shadow!
In truth, the contents of the Research Journal were stored in my memory, so that mattered little. But the Hemostatic Agent was another matter entirely.
‘One scratch, and I’d be finished.’
No matter how carefully I moved within the Grand Duke’s Residence, accidents always found their way into the spaces I never expected.
If blood were to flow from even the smallest wound on my body, everyone who came into contact with it would be injured, and I would be branded a Witch who killed through blood—condemned to die once more.
‘Which is why I’m being as careful as I can.’
When I wiped the windows on the outer wall of the Residence, I checked even the smallest splinter on the wooden frame twice over before proceeding with the cloth. I wore long, thick garments and gloves to keep my skin covered, choosing only spots free of anything sharp or jagged.
Moving about with such vigilance only made exhaustion settle in earlier.
I draped the cloth across the windowsill and took a moment to survey the landscape surrounding the Residence.
‘Now that I think about it, this entire Northern Duchy is practically buried in mountains.’
Those forbidding peaks, draped in white snow and radiating a damp, desolate air, looked like they held an abundance of deadly toxins and rare medicinal herbs—a paradise of natural resources.
Somewhere in those mountains, Crobein might exist.
The thought of that fragrant, lethal plant set my heart racing, and an intense, primal urge to climb surged through me.
The thrill of breaking through frozen earth and discovering gem-like poisonous bulbs nestled within!
Then, suddenly.
“Gods, I’m going mad wanting to dig up that soil.”
“……Pardon?!”
My unguarded thought had tumbled right out of my mouth, and Selin, who had been fidgeting at the base of the ladder, flinched and stepped back.
Her eyes were trembling as though the earth itself were shaking.
“Did I really just say that out loud?”
“……Oh, Your Highness.”
Selin’s eyes glistened again.
“Not again.”
I descended the ladder with a soft laugh.
“Has it only been one or two days that I’ve said such nonsense? This is everyday life for me, Selin.”
When I added that surely by the end of a week she ought to accept it as normal, Selin finally burst into tears.
“I’m frightened, Your Highness!”
Dear girl.
Our Selin was still far too innocent and young to cope with me.
Well, it didn’t matter. This was exactly as I’d intended.
I stroked her hair as I spoke.
“Selin, where is the steward at the moment?”
“Yes? I believe he should be in his office on the first floor right now. But why are you asking?”
“I want to tour the Duchy.”
“……Excuse me?!”
With the Hemostatic Agent on my mind, I found myself wanting to venture into the Commercial District and see what it had to offer.
Even as a hostage, I held the title of Princess, and a decent stipend was allocated to me for maintaining my station.
‘I should use it to visit an herb shop and purchase materials for a Hemostatic Agent.’
Common Hemostatic Agents couldn’t stanch the blood flowing from my wounds. So I had no choice but to procure the materials and make it myself.
If fortune favored me, I might even acquire Crobein.
‘But to do that, I’d have to leave this manor…….’
Naturally, the Grand Duke was nowhere to be found.
So who did I need to secure permission from in this residence while he was gone?
Without hesitation, I marched down to the first floor and burst directly into the steward’s office.
“I’d like to go sightseeing in the Duchy!”
To my demand, Hendrick replied with flat indifference.
“That would be difficult without His Grace’s permission.”
Well, that was the answer I’d expected.
But I wasn’t about to back down. I was a mad Princess in this territory, free to say mad things with perfect confidence.
I smiled brightly.
“Is that so? Then I’ll simply have to get permission from the Grand Duke himself.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
The steward adjusted his spectacles and looked at me. I shrugged.
“I’ll go myself. You said he was somewhere in the northern mountains, didn’t you? I’ve been curious what Demon Beasts actually look like anyway, so the timing is perfect. I can do a bit of digging on the way.”
“…….”
“If that’s not allowed either…… well, I suppose I could simply dangle myself from the outer wall windows until the Grand Duke returns. A hostage Princess freezing to death while clinging to the Residence windows would be rather inconvenient for him, wouldn’t it?”
“…….”
My absurd and shameless threat made Hendrick’s brow narrow. He set down the documents he was holding and exhaled a deep sigh.
“……If you agree to bring an escort knight with you, I can grant permission.”
At those words, I broke into a brilliant smile.
“Thank you, Hendrick. You’ll be blessed for this.”
“…….”
Surprised at how easily I’d received permission, I left the office with a grin spreading across my face.

***

Before the steward could change his mind, I hurried through my preparations and slipped out of the Grand Duke’s Residence.
The only regrettable part was…….
“Shall we depart, Your Highness? We’ll provide escort.”
“We’ll see you safely to your destination.”
“……Yes, well. Do as you see fit.”
Not one but two black-clad knights had been assigned to me.
I was already stifled enough, bundled in a thick cloak and a scarf wrapped around my face to hide my distinctive features—and now I had to drag these escort knights along beside me too?
‘What is this, parading a war criminal? I might as well be under arrest.’
All this trouble for nothing, when I’d gone to the effort of leaving Selin behind!
Sighing inwardly, I descended from the carriage and swept my eyes across the Commercial District of the Northern Duchy.
The Commercial District was larger and more magnificent than I’d expected.
I’d thought the harsh weather would lend it a desolate air, but instead it churned with a vitality that seemed to devour even the biting wind itself.
The voices of mercenaries and fur-clad northerners haggling fiercely intermingled with the ring of smiths’ hammers, the cacophony swelling from every direction.
Watching the knights’ expressions carefully, I glanced toward the narrower alleyways.
‘I think I saw a medicinal herb shop sign in that direction when we were in the carriage…….’
But the problem was that even if I found the herb shop, I couldn’t bring these knights along with me.
They’d never allow a Princess with a troubled mind to purchase poisons unsupervised.
‘How do I lose them……?’
I was deep in thought about how to slip away from them when it happened.
Heaven seemed determined to help me, for at that very moment, a commotion erupted from one corner of the marketplace.
“Kyaaaah—!”
“Catch him! A pickpocket! The one in the red vest!”
A loud shout burst out in front of the shop where the crowd was thickest in the Commercial District.
A fruit cart overturned, and from another cart knocked aside by the commotion, sacks that had been stacked tumbled down in a cascade.
People scattered in alarm, screams erupting from all sides. It was pure pandemonium.
“Grab that bastard!”
Then, the man in the red vest—pursued by someone—plowed through the crowd and ran straight toward me.
“Out of the way!”
The man drew his blade and shouted menacingly.
The two knights flanking me reacted instantly, blocking my path and drawing their swords in unison.
Clang—!
Steel met steel with a sharp ring, and the area descended into chaos in a heartbeat.
I realized it in that moment.
‘Now’s my chance!’
Every eye—the knights’, the crowd’s—was fixed on that pandemonium.
I seized that brief opening, pulled my scarf higher to cover my face, and bolted without looking back.
Drawing on my experience running through mountains, I slipped like water into a narrow, shadowed alley. Without hesitation, I scaled a tree that rose two stories above the nearest building.
When harvesting medicinal herbs, I’d often climbed trees like this to escape the wild beasts I’d encounter in the forest.
‘Thank goodness I changed into commoner’s clothes before leaving.’
If I’d worn the cumbersome Princess gown, I’d never have made it into the alley, let alone climbed a tree.
Of course, even in commoner’s clothes, I was bundled from head to toe in a cloak with gloves on my hands, which made climbing a bit cumbersome.
‘But at least all this wrapping means I won’t get scraped up.’
From the top of the tree, I watched the knights in the distance. They’d realized I’d vanished and were searching for me.
“Nothing this way either!”
“Check the other alleys! Hurry!”
The knights searched the nearby alleys, then headed off in the opposite direction.
I crouched in the branches shadowed by the building, watching them disappear into the distance, and suppressed a quiet laugh.
‘They’ll never imagine a Princess would climb a tree.’
At last, I exhaled with relief.
That’s when I felt it—a gaze from somewhere.
‘……Below!’
My instincts, honed in wild places, sensed danger beneath me.
I quickly lowered my head and peered down.
My eyes met a pair of pitch-black ones staring up at me.
The man wore a deep hood and a mask covering his face.
Only his dark eyes were visible—a gaze so unnervingly still that it felt all the more threatening as he looked up at me.
In that instant, my grip on the branch tightened, knuckles whitening.
That gaze, that cold presence.
I swallowed hard, then opened my mouth carefully, my voice guarded.
“What are you staring at.”

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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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