Chapter 180

“How dare you insult Her Highness by putting an imposter in her place!”

Naturally, the knight was even more enraged.

The knights, who were in charge of the princess’ official schedule by the emperor’s strict orders, were furious. The guard’s cry sounded like nothing more than an absurd claim.

“This is strange.”

“Indeed.”

Siervian tilted her head in wonder as she blankly held Karmen’s hand and moved forward.

She cast her gaze far up the wall. When her eyes met the guard above, she saw him flinch in surprise.

[Thought: Black hair, the princess…? No, that can’t be right. It wasn’t that long ago that she came and went. There’s no way the count wouldn’t have told me if the princess were visiting again.]

She suspected that there might be some other plot afoot, but the guard genuinely believed that the princess had visited a few days ago.

“Is the lord who governs this city a count?”

“Yes. Count Lair.”

He was a count with enough power to have such a large city as his territory.

However, it was said that he had no ambition to become a central noble and therefore mostly stayed in his own territory.

[Thought: Hmm, the more I look at her, the more she looks like a princess. The real princess always covered her face with a hood….]

‘She covered her face?’

After seeing through the guard’s mind, she seemed to have a rough idea of what was going on.

Whoever it was, it seemed that someone impersonating Siervian had come and gone with their face covered.

[Thought: Well, the count did say that the princess shouldn’t show her face to lowly people….]

‘The count said that the princess shouldn’t show her face to lowly people….’

He had even heard a plausible reason, so the guard seemed to believe it wholeheartedly.

‘Count Lair is suspicious.’

With that in mind, the most suspicious person was the count, the lord of this city.

“I was wondering why I hadn’t received any requests to check the magic circle.”

The nobles often saw the imperial family’s inspection of the magic circle as a means of maintaining power.

As a result, whenever it was a city’s turn for inspection, there were always unnecessary greetings and gifts.

She had rejected them all, though.

“Whew… I thought this city was good because there were no problems with requests, but it seems there are other issues.”

“….”

Karmen remained silent at Siervian’s grumbling voice.

Unlike his heavy silence, his eyes glaring at the wall were quite intimidating.

[Karmen Kasselov]
Thoughts: They finally managed to comfort her, but for whatever reason, they’re like this.

‘Yikes.’

In an instant, Siervian felt sorry for Count Lair, who had earned the wrath of the mage.’

In any case, if the count was the one who had certified the impostor as the princess, it was a serious matter.

“Can’t you see the flag of the imperial palace!”

The knight continued to shout, his expression suggesting that he could not be any more angry.

He was referring to the flag on top of the carriage that indicated the royal status.

However, this time as well, the guard proudly came out with a piece of paper in one hand.

“You’ve shown up with a fake flag! The count said that the real flag of Her Highness the Princess looks like this!”

It was quite courageous of him to confront them, even though there were a large number of people who appeared to be knights and mages.

[Thought: Some of them might be real ma, mages. But- but my mission is to protect the city…!]

It was important that he was acting like this, even though he was clearly terrified.

‘It’s not easy to do your duty while you’re scared. He’s a great man.’

The guard’s trembling hand revealed a drawing that was similar to the flag of the imperial palace, but subtly different.

[Karmen Kasselov]
Thoughts: Why don’t I just smash the wall…

Karmen had a blank expression on his face as he contemplated a horrifying thought because the other person wasn’t making any sense.

“Your Highness. I have sent a communication to Count Lair. There must be some kind of mistake.”

The senior mage, who was a little more rational than Karmen, approached Siervian.

It seemed that he had quickly cast a communication spell while the knight was talking to the guard.

“You did well.”

“However, Your Highness.”

“Do you have something to say?”

“That is… Count Lair seemed very flustered.”

As if he found this fact very strange, the senior mage added a detailed explanation.

He said that the count’s face had looked as if his eyes were about to pop out when he heard that the princess was at the gate.

‘What the hell is going on?’

First of all, impersonating a member of the royal family was a serious crime.

So, if the count was even slightly involved in this, he would surely be punished.

However, why would he resort to such a flimsy trick, especially when the magic circle inspection was scheduled?

“He’s playing a strange game.”

“Is that so? What could he possibly gain by impersonating me?”

Siervian asked Karmen out of pure curiosity.

She didn’t think there was much one could do while disguised as the princess, even if one was a mage.

At that, Karmen looked at Siervian with an expression that suggested he had seen something very strange.

[Karmen Kasselov]
Thought: Is she serious? Well, knowing Siervian, she probably is.

‘What! What does that mean!’

Siervian puffed out her cheeks slightly in displeasure, as it was something she could not bring herself to ask.

A little more time passed, and suddenly there was a commotion at the top of the wall.

“What, what are you doing? Open the gate right now!”

A nobleman in splendid attire was now standing on the wall.

His face was so red with anger that his voice could be heard all the way down to the bottom of the wall.

“But, Count!”

“You damn fool! Can’t you shut up!”

The guards, who had been diligently preventing the suspicious group from entering, were bewildered and called for the Count. The Count, without hesitation, slapped the guard, who had only been faithfully carrying out his duty, across the face.

“Open the gate immediately!”

The guard disappeared from view, presumably having fallen to the ground. Soon after, the tightly closed gate began to open.

“What should we do?”

“Hmm, I need to see their faces first.”

“Right.”

Karmen nodded calmly, as if implying that Siervian had the ability to identify bad guys just by looking at their faces.

‘That’s true, but….’

Siervian stood firm in front of the gate, her shoulders burdened with a growing sense of responsibility.

The knights and mages, seemingly in protest, began to line up around Siervian, as if they believed that the princess was deeply offended.

“I- I present myself to Your Highness. I am Uso Lair.”

“….”

Instead of acknowledging his greeting, Siervian simply stared at his face.

The knights, who had been shouting at the guards until now, were also silent.

The guards, who were present in larger numbers than usual, also looked at Count Lair in silence.

[Uso Lair]
Thoughts: Oh, damn it! How did I get into this mess….

Despite his oily face and cringing demeanor, he seemed to have an aggressive inner self.

Meanwhile, Siervian looked back and forth from the Count’s flashy attire to the guard’s uniform, which seemed to have been issued a long time ago.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, Your Highness. I did not know that you were coming….”

[Uso Lair]
Thoughts: Why the hell is the imperial family suddenly here! I was having a good time, damn it! I haven’t even prepared a bribe yet!

“….”

Siervian remained silent for several reasons.

First, she was disillusioned by the man’s incredibly low character.

And then there was the sense of disappointment that the Count before her had completely failed to understand her intention in deliberately announcing the patrol schedule of the magic circle.

‘I made a point of publishing the schedule for the whole year so that there wouldn’t be any bribery or corruption….’

It was nothing less than a declaration of her will that the entire empire would be safe even without graft.

The fact that the Count before her did not even understand this made her angry.

‘No matter how I think about it, it’s not my fault, is it?’

Siervian felt anger burning within her rather than frustration.

Wasn’t it all the fault of the shadowy figures who were threatening the safety of the empire?

“I- I will personally punish the one who has offended Your Highness.”

Count Lair was visibly nervous as the princess continued to remain silent and made a drastic move.

At his gesture, the guard who had been faithfully carrying out his duty was dragged over.

“C- Count!”

“You dare not recognize Her Highness the Princess!”

“B, But clearly a few days…!”

Just as the guard naively tried to say that the princess had arrived and left a few days before, Count Lair shouted hysterically.

“Shut that wicked man’s mouth!”

[Uso Lair]
Thought: Oh, this crazy bastard! If he talks about the fake princess, we’re all doomed!

“Ga, Gag, Uuup!”

Men who appeared to be the Count’s personal knights roughly covered the guard’s mouth with a dirty piece of cloth.

Unable to breathe in this tense atmosphere, the other guards pressed their heads to the ground.

[Uso Lair]
Thoughts: What the hell is going on! Of all times, why did it have to be just a few days after I put the fake princess out there!

…According to that bastard, the princess shouldn’t have been able to come!

‘That bastard did the thing. But who is he?’

It seemed like there were multiple conspiracies at play.

Just as she was about to sort out the situation, the Count suddenly drew his sword, looking even more cautious.

“I- I will personally behead this wicked man and offer him to you!”

[Thoughts: I have done nothing but my duty…!]

Siervian’s face hardened coldly at the sudden turn of events.

The Count before her was now trying to kill someone without a second thought to cover up his own wrongdoing.

‘Why are there so many bad people?’

Suddenly, she felt an intense dislike for the countless cases of corruption and false accusations scattered throughout the empire, starting with the Count before her.

The world would be a much better place without them.

‘If the problem is that there are too many bad people, wouldn’t it be right to get rid of them all?’

Siervian raised one eyebrow slightly, mirroring the Emperor, as Karmen, who was standing nearby, could see.

“Get rid of this bastard right now…!”

“Stop.”

—