The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 40
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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 40.
***
I brushed the dirt from my cloak and got to my feet.
My spine ached from the impact of my lower back against the cold stone floor.
All night I’d clung to him like he was a piece of furniture, and the moment he came to, he threw me across the room?
This is exactly why no one adopts black-haired beasts.
I shot Balkan a sharp look.
That was when I noticed it.
Balkan’s gaze swept across my neck, arms, and the hem of my cloak with deliberate precision.
His eyes searched—or perhaps inspected—as if hunting for something.
‘What’s he looking at?’
An uneasy feeling crept over me as I spoke.
“Why are you staring like that? What, you don’t actually think I tried to attack Your Highness, do you?!”
Balkan’s brow furrowed sharply as he stepped toward me.
His large frame cast a shadow over me, and I instinctively backed away.
But my retreat proved useless—his hand clamped firmly around my arm.
He gripped my arm and asked, “Are you hurt……?”
“I beg your pardon?”
I stared at him blankly, and as his eyes continued searching my cloak, his voice rose slightly.
“I’m asking if you’re hurt!”
……
Oh.
Only then did I look down at myself.
My gloves and cloak were streaked with dried, dark blood.
It was blood from Balkan’s wounds that had transferred to me during the night.
Having clung to him all those hours, of course it would.
I rubbed at one of the bloodstains on my cloak with my fingertip and glanced up at him.
Did he think this blood was mine and panic for nothing?
‘Afraid my corpse would need to be disposed of inside the Grand Duke’s Residence?’
I brushed off my cloak and answered curtly.
“It’s not my blood. It’s yours, Your Highness.”
……
At that, the faintest hint of relief seemed to wash over Balkan’s eyes.
Even if it weren’t my blood, how could he feel relief upon learning he’d lost this much of his own?
I let out a bitter laugh and spoke again.
“No, this is your blood. Blood from your body!”
Balkan released his grip on my arm and stepped back.
“I see.”
Already, his expression had returned to its usual impassive mask.
I couldn’t believe it and tried again.
“I’m saying you were wounded. Don’t you understand?”
He answered as if it were nothing.
“It’s common enough.”
“Ha!”
At my incredulous expression, Balkan gathered up a fresh set of clothes from a corner of the room and began dressing. Once he’d buttoned up his shirt and turned to face me, he opened his mouth.
“But.”
His gaze turned cold again.
“Why is the Princess here?”
“Ah……”
I let my eyes drift slowly as I considered my answer.
I couldn’t very well tell him the door was open, so I walked in.
That might cause trouble for whoever had been guarding this Tower. Of course, if they’d left the door open deliberately, it would be different—but I still wasn’t certain.
I clutched my forehead suddenly and swayed.
“Ah!”
Balkan rushed over reflexively, caught my arm, and helped steady me.
“Your Highness?!”
I lowered my eyes weakly.
“……It’s just that I’ve been awake all night, and my head feels a little dizzy.”
“…….”
“Someone wouldn’t let go of me, no matter what.”
“…….”
“Maybe it’s from not sleeping—my eyes keep wanting to close, my head feels foggy, there’s a dull ache, and I can barely catch my breath…….”
“…….”
Balkan’s brow furrowed deeply.
After a moment of silence, he exhaled a low breath.
And then it happened.
My body suddenly lifted into the air, and my vision spun.
“What?!”
Balkan had lifted me up and into his arms.
Startled, I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck.
“No, wait! I can walk!”
“With your eyes closing, your head foggy, a headache, and your breath coming short, it seems you can’t.”
“That was just…….”
I’d only said it to escape the situation…….
“I’m fine now, really! Please put me down, all right?!”
As I squirmed, Balkan pulled me closer against his chest.
“It would be best if you remained still.”
“But this is terribly inconvenient!”
“Bear with it. If you keep struggling, I might accidentally drop you.”
“…….”
At the mention of being dropped, I fell obediently silent.
He seemed entirely capable of it.
So Balkan carried me out of the Dungeon.
He climbed the stairs with quick, long strides, yet somehow there was almost no swaying.
I was oddly surprised—his embrace, which I’d expected to be uncomfortable, felt surprisingly stable and reassuring.
‘This smooth a ride…….’
Perhaps I’d grown accustomed to it, having spent the whole night in his arms.
Trapped against his solid, unyielding chest, I breathed quietly.
It was a different feeling from being held in his arms all night.
Strange as it was, it didn’t feel unpleasant.
I tilted my head slightly.
‘Do I actually enjoy being held, after all?’
Suppressing such ridiculous thoughts, I remained still in his arms, and as the tension drained away, the exhaustion of the long night came crashing down.
My eyelids grew heavy, as though weighted with lead.
‘No, I can’t. ……I mustn’t fall asleep.’
Once we reached the top, I’d have to discuss the Lacrion Mountain Range, explain that I wasn’t going mad…….
My mind resisted endlessly, but my body had already reached its limit.
In the end, with that thought, I lost consciousness entirely.
The last thing I remembered was Balkan’s oddly stable embrace and the very soft sigh he exhaled.
***
“Do you know how frightened I was?”
Roan wrapped a bandage around Balkan’s forearm, stifling a sigh.
His hands were practiced, but shock from the dawn still lingered on his face.
“I was certain you had finally killed the Princess.”
“…….”
Balkan said nothing in reply.
He only gazed silently down at his own arm as the bandage wound around it.
In truth, he had no grounds to refute him.
He’d had the exact same thought the moment he opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw upon regaining consciousness at the tail end of his Madness Episode was the Princess lying sprawled across his chest.
When he met those blue eyes gazing at him, draped in a blood-soaked cloak, Balkan felt the blood in his veins freeze.
“The Princess—she wasn’t injured, was she? You’re certain?”
“Yes, Silier confirmed it herself just a moment ago. Not a scratch on you. She said you’d simply fallen asleep from lack of rest.”
Roan secured the bandage’s end firmly.
“And fortunately, the wounds are shallower than usual, Your Highness.”
“You regained consciousness in just one day. That’s likely why.”
Roan’s hands stilled at those words.
“That’s precisely what troubles me, Your Highness. How did you wake after only a day? And then there’s the matter of Monte’s Chains being torn out, and the Princess being unharmed…….”
Roan recalled the chains that had lain twisted on the dungeon floor.
Monte’s Chains.
They were a special Magical Device created by the previous Mage Tower Master Monte at Escar’s request.
They suppressed the uncontrolled, rampant Aura and forcibly bound it in place.
In other words, those chains could only be torn free once reason returned and the Aura within the body grew calm and manageable.
‘Which means His Highness must have torn them out after regaining consciousness…….’
But how?
How had that Madness Episode, which once begun would stretch on for a full week, subsided in merely a day?
That vicious Madness Episode that no drug or magic had ever been able to suppress—how in the world had it been stopped?!
Roan rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
“Could it perhaps be connected to the Princess?”
“I couldn’t say.”
Balkan drew a clean shirt over the bandage and fastened the buttons.
“I’ll ask her once she wakes.”
He moved toward the desk.
Roan hurried after him.
“You should rest a while longer, Your Highness. There are no urgent matters requiring immediate attention, so perhaps it would be better to return to your chambers and sleep a bit more.”
But Balkan sat down in his chair and pulled the stack of documents toward him.
“I know my own body’s condition well. It’s in better shape than usual, so you needn’t worry.”
“But…….”
Roan lowered his eyes.
Yet Balkan’s words were true—his body was in peak condition.
It was hard to believe this was the same body that had suffered convulsions.
Balkan spoke to Roan.
“Move forward the schedules we’ve postponed.”
“But Your Highness, the Two Moons have not yet risen. With the remaining time, perhaps it would be wisest to take rest, in case anything happens.”
“No.”
Balkan spoke firmly and picked up a document.
“Rather, when word spreads that I’m perfectly fine right now, it will cause far greater confusion on their side.”
Roan grasped the meaning immediately.
There were eyes planted in the Grand Duke’s Residence—agents of Balkan’s enemies.
But Balkan had not sought them out.
Instead, he used those living eyes and ears as tools to feed false information to his enemies.
It would have already leaked that the Duke vanishes each time the Two Moons rise.
But Balkan moving about openly during that very period?
That alone would force someone outside to recalculate their plans.
Then, knock-knock.
Someone rapped at the Office door.
“Captain Roan. Are you there? It’s me—Alexis.”
Both Roan and Balkan’s gaze turned toward the door.
“Your Highness, it seems Alexis has returned.”
Balkan nodded and spoke.
“Come in, Alexis.”
The moment Balkan granted permission, the Office door opened and a young knight, dust clinging to him, stepped inside.
Alexis was Balkan’s personal guard knight.
A knight with such exceptional skill that even at his young age he was mentioned as a candidate for Deputy Commander of the Knight Order, he was skilled in infiltration and tracking—the first person Balkan called upon for covert missions.
This time, too, he had infiltrated the Delmar Kingdom under Balkan’s orders and was only now returning.
The moment Alexis stepped into the Office and saw Balkan seated at the head of the desk, he froze in place.
It was the sight of the Duke sitting in his office rather than in the underground chambers during this time of all times.
“Your Highness……?”
Balkan read the question in Alexis’s gaze—why was the person who should be underground standing perfectly fine here?—and spoke quietly.
“No need for alarm. There were circumstances that warranted it. I’m still investigating the cause myself, so don’t press the matter. But your journey to and from Delmar must have been grueling—you took no injuries?”
Alexis bowed his head lightly.
“I’ve completed the orders you gave me and returned. Thanks to your concern, I remain unharmed, as you can see, Your Highness.”
“Yes, welcome back.”
Alexis immediately unslung the long leather cylinder from his back and set it on the desk.
The scent of damp leather, dust, and cold air clung to it.
Alexis lowered his voice.
“This is it, Your Highness.”
Balkan’s gaze fell upon the cylinder.
“So this is what you spoke of…….”
Alexis added carefully.
“It is a portrait of Princess Evelina of the Delmar Kingdom.”
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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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Lyncdtxo
omg is she cooked??? Noo bro hopefully they don’t see any difference between the two princesses for the love of god i cant imagine her getting locked up and questioned whether shes the real Princess