The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 48

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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 48.

‘Why is the ground collapsing all of a sudden—!’
The wind that grazed my body was razor-sharp. Or rather, I was tearing through the air itself as I fell.
‘Oh no…. I’m dying like this?!’
The moment I understood that my body was plummeting downward, bewilderment twisted into raw terror.
With blurred vision, I looked up at the edge where I’d just fallen from.
The sky was receding rapidly.
Even so, the face of Barcan—left standing on the cliff—flashed through my mind.
‘What happens to the Duke if I die?’
Could he even escape this mountain range alive without me?
I’m the one carrying the Potions.
No, wait.
‘Without me as dead weight, that man could certainly make his way out of the mountain range on his own—.’
Then it happened.
“Princess!”
From the edge where I’d fallen, a black silhouette plunged after me.
I suspected it, but it was indeed Barcan.
The moment I confirmed that the shadow was Barcan, my throat tightened.
‘The Duke…!’
The one who should have abandoned this place without hesitation was diving headlong into the abyss instead…!
I wanted to scream that he was insane, but my voice wouldn’t come.
In the meantime, he fell at a speed incomparably faster than mine, snatching me from the air and pulling me into his embrace.
The moment my cheek buried itself against his chest, he twisted his body violently in mid-air.
Crash!
He kicked viciously against the stone wall of the pit we were falling through.
Crackle-crackle-crack! Rock shattered in all directions.
And again—Bang!
Our plummeting speed diminished noticeably.
Barcan held me firmly in his arms, ensuring not a single part of my body would sustain injury, repeatedly launching himself off jutting outcroppings and sliding down the wall to brake our descent.
And at last.
Thud!
With a dull impact so violent my bones rang, Barcan hit the ground.
Rumble-rumble! Patter-patter, crack, pat-pat—.
The stone fragments that had fallen after us rained down around us like hail.
“…….”
“…….”
In the thick darkness, our ragged breathing tangled together.
After a moment of silence, Barcan, still cradling me in his arms, spoke quietly.
“Are you hurt?”
At his composed tone, as though nothing had happened, I finally opened the eyes I’d squeezed shut.
Though I opened them, the darkness prevented me from seeing anything clearly.
But I could feel that the terrifying sensation of falling had stopped.
I asked in a trembling voice.
“……Did we… s… survive?”
From above my head came Barcan’s reply.
“For now.”
Having answered briefly, Barcan gently set me down on the ground.
But the moment my feet touched the earth, the tension drained from my legs.
I collapsed where I stood.
“Haaa……”
A long breath of relief escaped me.
Then suddenly.
‘Right! My Potions!’
I felt for the leather pouch at my waist. Fortunately, the glass bottles inside were intact.
Phew…. Reassured again, I lifted my head and looked up.
The hole we’d fallen through appeared no larger than a pinprick, so far above us it seemed.
It was a dizzying height.
My God. If not for Barcan, I would truly be dead.
The realization sent a clammy chill racing down my spine.
‘I’m alive. I’m alive again.’
How many times in this life have I nearly died and clawed my way back?
I lowered my head, then tried to push myself up.
“Wait, just a moment. My legs—there’s no strength in them.”
“Take your time. There’s no hurry.”
“But I don’t even know where we are, so I need to—”
As I groped at the ground to rise, I stopped short.
My palm had brushed against something that made me pause.
“…What?”
It was warm.
Deep beneath the Northern Mountain Range—impossible to believe we were underground in the Lacrion Mountain Range, shrouded in Poison Fog—the very earth cradled a pleasant, beckoning warmth.
I lifted my head and looked around.
A faint shaft of light filtered through the small opening from which we’d fallen, revealing that this was indeed a cave.
I inhaled carefully, deliberately.
The air carried the musty scent peculiar to underground places, but the acrid, bitter reek of the Poison Fog that had burned my nostrils moments before was gone entirely.
‘The Poison Fog… it’s gone?’
This place was utterly sealed off from the outside world—a completely isolated space.
It was as though, just as Barcan’s Aura had pushed back the Poison Fog, some invisible force here prevented it from approaching at all.
In that instant, my mind blazed.
‘Wait…’
A compass spinning aimlessly as though broken for no reason. The inexplicable heat radiating from the earth of the Northern Mountain Range, famed for its bitter cold. A clean, clear resonance that repelled even the Poison Fog itself.
‘Could it be…?’
I looked up at Barcan and asked.
“Your Highness—can you illuminate the surroundings with your Aura?”
Rather than answer, Barcan raised his right hand and released his Aura.
Whoosh—!
From his palm flowed an Aura of deep violet-blue, beginning to emit a mystical glow.
That light spread outward in all directions, washing across the cave walls.
The darkness shattered—my vision blazed bright in an instant.
And then.
A wonder hidden in that darkness unfurled before us both.
“…Ah.”
“…”
I was left speechless, letting out a hollow laugh.
Barcan, too, went still, his eyes moving slowly across the sight before him.
Deep blue-green minerals were embedded densely in every crevice—along the cave walls, ceiling, and fractured floor.
Like shattered stars. Like jewels freshly drawn from the depths of the sea.
The raw crystals, responding to Barcan’s Aura, had begun to pulse with light as though breathing.
As the blue radiance spread throughout the cavern, I felt the illusion of standing beneath a night sky.
I called out to Barcan, my voice trembling.
“Your Highness…”
Barcan answered quietly.
“Yes. It appears… we’ve found it after all.”
We stood transfixed, gazing at the luminous minerals.
Beneath the mountain range the Crown had dismissed as worthless burden.
A Mana Crystal mine of overwhelming purity and scale lay hidden.

***

That night, in the Bellum Guild Temple of the Capital.
Though the Capital’s night was resplendent, the deepest, most secret prayer chamber of the temple lay submerged in thick darkness and silence, as though devouring light itself.
The flickering glow of sacred flames cast cool shadows upon the marble pillars.
“…What did you just say?”
The head of the Bellum Guild, concealed in shadow, stepped forward.
Before him stood an elderly High Priest, dressed in neat priestly robes, his face serene and both hands clasped together.
“I reported that the Stigma we had recently placed at the border of the Escar Dukedom has shattered once more.”
“…Is that so.”
The Guild head let out an incredulous laugh.
It was less a laugh than a sound born of rage.
“Well then, what excuse will our High Priest offer this time?”
The guild master stepped forward irritably, his words sharp as blades.
“Don’t you dare mention that fake princess again. You saw her yourself at the banquet and told me so—that you sensed nothing from her. No Holy Power, no Magical Power, nothing at all. Just an ordinary woman with no gifts whatsoever. Didn’t you say so with your own lips?”
The High Priest nodded slowly.
“Yes, that is undeniably true.”
“Yet the Stigma has broken again?”
The guild master’s eyes flashed ominously beneath his mask.
“High Priest, how am I to accept this? The Stigmas we buried at the borders of the Escar Dukedom continue to shatter, yet you still insist there is no problem with the sealed Origin?”
But the High Priest answered with unshaken calm.
“If the seal had been broken, the Escar Duke would not remain so docile.”
……
A broken Stigma meant that power had once again burst forth from the Origin that had been forcibly sealed centuries before.
“Then have you discovered why the Stigma broke this time?”
“I cannot say.”
Crash—!
The guild master could contain himself no longer. He drove his gloved fist brutally against the marble wall of the sanctuary.
The impact extinguished the flame dancing in the silver candelabra beside him with a sudden gust.
“All you ever do is say you cannot say!”
……
Before the guild master’s violent fury, the old priest’s expression remained eerily serene.
The master exhaled a long breath, then spoke again.
“When I first heard the Stigma had broken, I thought it possible. Buried so long in the dukedom’s soil, I reasoned the durability might have failed. But to shatter again less than two weeks after we replaced it……”
……
“I do not know how much longer I can endure your incompetence. At this point, I can only conclude this is a failure of your organization’s management of the Stigmas.”
Even as the master’s voice grew heavy with rage, the High Priest shook his head calmly.
“The Stigma was flawless before it was sent to the dukedom.”
“……Naturally. You have always been perfect.”
The High Priest walked silently to the silver candelabra that had just been extinguished and lit it once more, ignoring the master’s sarcasm.
“It seems we must send someone directly into the dukedom to investigate the cause.”
“……Who? You will go yourself?”
“As you know, I cannot afford to leave the temple for long.”
The High Priest turned slowly to face the master.
“Therefore, you must send someone from the guild.”
The master let out a scoff.
“Do you imagine it is so simple to slip someone into the dukedom?”
“Have you not already placed people beside the fake princess?”
“They obey only out of fear of death. I cannot trust them with a matter of such consequence.”
“Then……”
The old priest’s murky eyes glinted like a serpent’s for a single moment.
“Send that person.”
“That person?”
“The substitute you had originally prepared to send to the Duke—the fake princess’s double.”
……
The master’s eyes hardened noticeably.
“The highly trained one, you mean? If I recall, your prized subordinate?”
……
“Of course, I understand what it means to send someone deep into the dukedom. A single misstep, and the Duke’s blade could claim their head. But……”
The old priest stepped closer, his voice turning cold.
“Is it not more important to understand why the Stigmas are breaking than to hold your breath from fear of losing a single prized subordinate?”
……
A heavy silence settled over the sanctuary.
The master, who had been glaring at the High Priest, let out a low growl and asked.
“If the Stigmas are indeed breaking because of the Origin’s power, as you fear, what then?”
At the master’s question, the High Priest—who had been gazing up at the colossal stone statue of a god—let a smile slowly cross his lips.
“If, by some chance, such a thing were truly to occur……”
The High Priest continued to regard the statue with rapturous intensity, then spoke with his gentle smile restored.
“We would have no choice but to seal it again. As our predecessors did, centuries ago.”

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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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