Chapter 19
* * *
The imperial capital was swiftly brought under control. This was all thanks to my leveling up.
Boom!
“Phew.”
I let out a sigh of relief only after defeating the final wyvern.
To avoid seeing blood, I stared into the air and shouted to the captain of the guard.
“It’s done! Are all the royals safe?”
“Yes! Thank you so much, Sir Marion!”
“No problem. Please handle the cleanup!”
“Yes!”
The captain’s voice sounded bright. I could hear the nobles around me murmuring.
“She took down a wyvern with her fists.”
“Good heavens… How is that possible?”
Ignoring their voices, I turned my head toward the window.
The number of wyverns flying over the capital had dwindled to four. It seemed Kaiden was diligently taking them down with the soldiers.
‘Should I go help him?’
I debated whether helping him would be better or if I’d just get in the way.
Unlike usual, when I only infused my sword with aura, enveloping my entire body with it caused significant fatigue.
Moreover, because of my condition of fainting at the sight of blood, I had to move with my eyes closed, which made it doubly exhausting.
But I had an epiphany.
My senses were heightened several times over compared to usual. It was an incredible feeling.
It was similar to the moment I first infused my sword with aura and ascended to the rank of Swordmaster. A sense of exhilaration swept over me.
[…You’re impressive.]
Blade muttered from atop my shoulder.
‘Worship me.’
[Don’t get cocky. Well, it was *slightly* cool.]
Blade made a dismissive gesture. I was glaring at him when—
“Caroline! Where’s our Caroline?!”
The Empress’s piercing voice came from behind.
‘Caroline… That must be the Crown Prince’s younger sister, the Third Princess, right?’
Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen the Third Princess during the banquet today.
Hoping there was no one bleeding, I lowered my gaze from the air and looked around.
I saw nobles who had fled and returned. A bit farther away were Crown Prince Marius, Prince Lucas, and, even farther, Princess Serena.
Thankfully, the royals seemed unharmed, not a scratch on them. Looking up at the dais, I saw the Emperor supporting the Empress, who looked like she might collapse, as he shouted.
“Does anyone know the whereabouts of Caroline?!”
At that moment, a noble stepped forward, trembling violently, toward the Emperor.
“I-I am Caroline’s m-maid.”
“Yes! Where is the princess?! Why isn’t she here?!”
“W-Well… The princess…”
“Speak quickly!”
“She said she wanted to see the festival in the capital…”
“What?!”
I immediately turned to look out the window. There were still two wyverns flying in the sky.
* * *
“Evacuate the citizens!”
“Save us! Aah!”
The city was in chaos.
Wyverns were rampaging, destroying buildings and tossing people around. Screams and wails echoed endlessly.
Caroline was in a state of panic.
Having grown up in the palace without want, she had never witnessed such a scene.
“Your Highness! T-This way…!”
The mage she had brought as an escort led her.
“Is this really the way to safety?!”
When she snapped at him, the mage trembled and looked back.
“W-Well…”
“You don’t even know, yet you dare lead me somewhere…!”
“Grrk.”
A chilling sound came from behind. The mage’s face was visibly filled with despair. Caroline slowly turned around.
“Grrk.”
It was a wyvern.
The massive beast was staring down at her, drooling. She couldn’t react at all.
Overwhelmed.
She was so overwhelmed she couldn’t even make a sound.
“Gyaak!”
The wyvern spread its wings wide and charged at her. Caroline squeezed her eyes shut.
This is the end.
She had only been curious about the festival enjoyed by commoners. To think she’d meet a tragic end as a pitiful princess in the filthy streets—it was infuriating.
At that moment—
Slash!
“Gweaak!”
“Princess Caroline! What are you doing here?!”
At the scolding voice of a man, Caroline opened her eyes.
The wyvern was collapsing, split in two. Between the halves, a black-haired man appeared.
“G-Grand Duke Baltstein…?”
“Are you alright? Evacuate this way for now.”
Her savior had come.
* * *
The palace quickly regained control of the situation.
Kaiden had efficiently dealt with the wyverns in the capital, and while there were some casualties among the citizens, the damage was minor considering ten wyverns had appeared.
The half-destroyed palace was swiftly rebuilt with the help of mages and laborers. Thanks to the mages, the palace was restored to its original state in just three days.
During that time, Kaiden was busy being summoned here and there, investigating why wyverns had appeared in the palace and capital and checking if other regions of the empire were unaffected.
‘He probably won’t find much.’
In the original story, they try to uncover the reason but ultimately come up empty-handed.
And the male lead, Lucas, is sent to investigate various parts of the empire, where he encounters Stella healing an injured person with divine power, marking the start of their fateful story.
‘They’ve probably met by now.’
Though I’m a Swordmaster like Kaiden, I’m of a lower rank, so I lazed around with nothing to do during the chaos.
But once the palace was restored, the Emperor held another banquet, as if the wyvern attack had never happened.
In truth, the Emperor’s birthday celebration and the Founding Festival were only two weeks apart.
To uphold imperial authority, they had to show resilience even in the face of such a beastly attack. So, the nobles enjoyed the banquet as usual.
The only change was that the Crown Prince’s younger sister, the Third Princess Caroline, was clinging to Kaiden and refusing to leave his side.
“Your Grace, dance one song with me!”
“…Your Highness, we danced earlier.”
“This time it’s a waltz. I absolutely must dance this one with you.”
“…Understood.”
I watched the scene with great interest. Kaiden was dragged out by the princess’s insistence.
‘This is different from the original.’
In the original story, there wasn’t much mention of the Third Princess Caroline.
While Lucas and Stella were teaming up to oppose the Crown Prince, she suddenly married a foreign king and left the empire.
Yet here was that same princess, smitten with Kaiden and sticking to him like glue.
“Marion.”
Turning around, I saw Crown Prince Marius extending his hand to me. I stared at him with wide eyes.
“Will you dance one song with me?”
On the first day of the banquet, his dance request had been a command, but now it was an invitation.
‘What’s with this guy? But…’
“I’m wearing trousers right now.”
Since the wyvern attack, I hadn’t worn a dress. Fighting wyverns in a dress had been utterly inconvenient.
So now I was wandering the banquet hall in my uniform.
“That doesn’t matter.”
It matters to me.
“I’m sorry. It might be difficult.”
It was bold to refuse the Crown Prince’s dance request, but letting him dance with a woman in trousers didn’t seem right, no matter how you looked at it.
Yet Marius kept his hand extended, staring at me intensely. His gaze was uncomfortably heavy.
“Your Highness, if you have something to say, I’ll escort you to the terrace.”
When I offered an alternative, the Crown Prince raised an eyebrow but lowered his hand.
‘As I thought, he had something to say to me privately.’
I led the Crown Prince to the terrace. I could feel his piercing gaze on me, but I ignored it and closed the terrace door behind us.
“I wanted to dance with you.”
…What?
The Crown Prince usually enjoyed belittling and ignoring me.
What was with that regretful attitude? I was utterly confused but tried not to show it.
“I’m sorry. Since I’m wearing trousers…”
“I know your true feelings now.”
“What?”
I looked at the Crown Prince, bewildered. He gazed at me with an understanding expression and a faint smile.
“You must have been upset with me all this time, haven’t you?”
What kind of nonsense is this? The nonsense continued.
“Pretending to say things you didn’t mean must have been hard on you too.”
“W-Wait a minute. What are you talking about?”
I hurriedly interrupted him. Completely baffled and demanding an explanation, I watched as Marius chuckled and continued.
“Someone who claims to have no interest in me went all out to save me. That doesn’t add up, does it? Stop being coy.”
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By Anna 💓
