Chapter 31
“Why are you stopping me, my lady? This man tried to harm you.”
His face was rigidly set, and it somehow looked oddly angry as well.
“……Surely, you’re not thinking of protecting this wretch? If that’s the case, it might be better to just discard—”
I reacted with a startle to Axel’s question.
“Protect him? As if I would do that, Your Highness!”
“Then why did you intervene?”
“My ears hurt. It’s too noisy to keep listening to. And it’s not exactly pleasant to hear, either.”
As if he hadn’t considered that, Axel’s stiff expression softened slightly. He nodded in agreement with my words.
“You’re right about that.”
“See?”
The one who was relatively quiet compared to the bald guy next to him rolled his eyes, assessing the situation. As he listened to our conversation, his face grew progressively paler.
“M-My lady? Did you say Your Highness……?”
“Can’t you hear me?! I’m asking who the hell you are! You think you can mess up my arm like this and get away with it?!”
Unlike the idiot who was still yelling with whatever energy he had left, this one seemed to have grasped the situation. He tried to hush the guy while glancing around nervously, but it was no use.
“Hey, hey…… Stop it, you lunatic……!”
“What do you mean stop?! Ah, let go of this, I said let go! I’m gonna report all of you. Huh? I said I’m reporting you!”
Just as I was about to frown at the renewed racket, Axel swiftly drew his sword.
In an instant, the sharp blade was pointed at the man’s throat. The mouth that had been noisily chattering shut in a heartbeat.
“H-Hik……!”
“Report us…… Sure. That sounds fun. Go ahead and try, if you can. Report.”
Axel stared at the wretch with icy eyes.
“I’m curious to see what’s faster—your report, or my summary execution.”
In the empire, only two people held the authority for summary execution. One was, of course, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, and the other was……
Hearing those words, the man’s face turned ashen. Only then did he realize who was standing before him.
“I-I’m sorry! I failed to recognize your noble presence and acted rudely……!”
Overwhelmed by immense terror, the man instantly changed his attitude and dropped to his knees. But Axel didn’t so much as blink at the man’s apology.
“So, is that all you have to say for your last words? How cliché.”
Sensing that if he stayed silent, his head would roll, the man pulled out his final card. He slammed his head against the ground with a thud. His mouth moved nonstop. It was a desperate last struggle to save his life.
“……I admit I was rude for not recognizing Your Grace the Grand Duke. However, I think summary execution is too harsh a punishment for that.”
“Too harsh, you say.”
Judging that there was a chance since Axel was listening without swinging the sword right away, the man quickly opened his mouth again.
“Y-Yes! I just had a minor altercation with that common wench.”
“Explain.”
Gaining confidence from Axel’s words, the man spouted lies fluently without even pausing to wet his lips.
“The truth is, that wench approached us first. She came over and suggested we hang out, so we just said sure.”
“Then what about raising your hand at the end?”
“T-That was…… That cunning bitch suddenly said she didn’t like us and started cursing. So, in a fit of anger, I raised my hand just to scare her a bit. I absolutely, absolutely didn’t intend to hit her.”
After a brief silence, Axel asked him.
“Can you take responsibility for the words you’ve just spoken?”
“Of course! If this is a lie, you can take my life!”
“Is that so……”
Thinking the situation had turned in his favor, the man shouted loudly to drive the final nail in. It was right as he sensed victory, bowing his head with a sinister smile creeping onto his face.
A voice like a bolt from the blue rang out.
“Then, as per your responsibility, I suppose I have no choice but to take your life.”
“What? W-What do you mean—!”
The startled man finally lifted his bowed head. When his eyes met Axel’s, he felt as if his breath had stopped.
Eyes filled with murderous intent, as if ready to tear him apart at any moment. When had he started looking at him like that?
A low, sunken voice echoed.
“Not only did you attempt to lay hands on a noble, but you dare to add insult and lies on top of it. Your guts must be spilling out.”
The wretch stammered with disbelieving eyes.
“A-A noble? You don’t mean……!”
At that moment, I peeked out from where I’d been hiding behind Axel. I smiled with crinkled eyes at the man, who wore a dazed expression, and waved my hand.
“Yep, that’s right. I’m from a noble family.”
As I hammered the nail into his guess, I could see the man’s face gradually dyeing with despair.
Watching that, I held back the wicked smile trying to burst onto my lips. Ah, who knew it would feel this satisfying. Seeing how much I wanted to torment him more, I must have a knack for being a villainess.
The man who’d been keeping quiet and watching until now dropped to his knees and pointed at the guy next to him, shouting.
“I-I’m not involved with that guy at all! This has nothing to do with me!”
“Hey……!”
While I was watching their tear-jerking display of friendship, a certain movement suddenly caught my eye.
I tugged on Axel’s arm and said.
“Your Highness, besides these guys, there are similar ones over there. They were trying to drag away a woman who was alone.”
Perhaps sensing the ominous atmosphere, I saw them stealthily trying to slip away.
I smiled brightly at the fleeing figures.
Go on, taste a bit of justice being served.
In the end, even the ones trying to escape were all captured by the knights and dragged away.
“Then, we’ll take our leave now, Your Highness.”
With that final greeting to Axel, everyone around us disappeared. Peace had finally arrived.
I glanced up at Axel subtly.
I hadn’t gotten a good look earlier because I was distracted, but seeing him after so long, Axel was boasting his top-tier looks today as well.
No, he seemed even more handsome……
I was so entranced staring at him that I forgot to speak, when a soft voice came from him.
“I want to apologize to you for the unpleasant experience you went through. I’m sorry, my lady.”
Snapping back at the sincere apology, I asked him with a surprised face.
“What? Why are you apologizing, Your Highness?”
“I focused only on the crowded areas, which allowed this to happen. I should have considered that security here might be lax, but I didn’t. It’s all my oversight.”
For some reason, his expression seemed a bit darkened, and to think he was feeling such guilt. He truly was a man perfect even in character.
“I’m fine, Your Highness. You have nothing to apologize for. It’s the bad guys’ fault for doing bad things! What wrong did you do?”
As I stepped up energetically to defend him, Axel saw it and let out a ‘pfft’ laugh.
More than that, I hadn’t expected Axel to appear out of nowhere like that.
‘It must be that……’
With a deeply serious face, I called out to him.
“Your Highness……”
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”
“No, that’s not it. I was just thinking. It seems like we’re destined for each other.”
“……Out of the blue?”
“Otherwise, there’s no way Your Highness could have saved me at such perfect timing! You weren’t watching me the whole time, after all!”
See, this has to be fate, right?
