Apparently, Her Highness Princess wants to keep her relationship with me a secret (what does she even mean by 'her relationship with me'?) - 2-12

2-12 

Number Nine (Emma Princess POV)

Several carriages silently departed from the city of Roman.

The carriages bore the emblem of a doe—a symbol of House Greyjoy, one of the great noble families supporting the Roman Republic. No soldier would dare inspect a carriage marked with the Greyjoy family crest.

—How miserable. Truly, utterly miserable.

Emma Satie Roman was a composed princess, not one to cause a fuss without reason.

Despite the grotesque nature of the situation, she was well aware of Marquis Greyjoy’s efficiency. If the marquis himself was involved, then everything had been meticulously planned. Raising a commotion would do nothing to alter the outcome—Emma knew that all too well.

Her fiancé, the handsome Julius Greyjoy, was the son of Marquis Greyjoy.

The marquis wielded enough power that even violating the unwritten rule of producing no conflict within Mimosa would not result in any consequences whatsoever.

“…”

Inside the carriage, Emma was not alone.

The person sitting across from her—a mere employee of Mimosa, the establishment they had just left. He was an unfortunate soul who had been delivering food to their room and happened to witness something he should not have. Now, he had been dragged into this mess and cursing his luck for that.

His face was pale, teeth chattering uncontrollably. He must have cursed his own misfortune for being caught up in this affair.

—This person, …can’t use him.

This person’s absolutely unreliable, but perhaps that is not so surprising. Emma thought bitterly.

He had been threatened at knifepoint by Greyjoy’s men and ordered to accompany Emma. His knowledge of Mimosa’s layout had helped them slip away unnoticed as well.

“Listen well boy, your name is not even worth knowing. You saw nothing. We’ll pay you handsomely—just stay by the princess’s side for a while. She’ll feel safer with a fellow countryman nearby. Unless, you want to learn the true terror behind the name of Greyjoy, do as asked off you.”

He too was a victim—forced into this role against his will. Princess Emma, ​​who was being taken from a foreign country, might feel lonely by herself, thus he was threatened by Marquis Greyjoy, and taken into a carriage going out of the country’s borders.

—My heart is made of iron. This little misfortune won’t break me.

The carriage windows were covered by cloth from outside, blocking any view of the outside completely. Emma suspected they were headed to Riverpain, a neighboring country where she would likely be exiled.

The carriage windows are all locked shut and covered very sharply, which makes it impossible to know what’s going on outside. Sometimes it would get on a stone, lifting Emma’s butt, yet the carriage continues to move. Unable to even get a wink of sleep at all.

Yet she continued to endure.

—My heart is already cold as iron, I never expected anything from the start.

A life of a princess born without a magic quirk. From the very beginning, she had never hoped for happiness throughout her life.

“Close your eyes.”

When suddenly a voice interrupted Emma’s thoughts.

“…You, so you can talk?”

It was the same man drowned in despair until now, sitting across from her—had just spoken up.

“You’re better with your mouth shut.”

“At the very least, that’s no way to talk to—kyahhhh!”

With that the carriage came to an abrupt halt, throwing Emma into the air.

The carriage had overturned.

Before Emma could process what had happened, shouts erupted from outside the carriage and she was thrown out of her seat. She hit her head on the floor, yet the fact that she didn’t get hurt at all, was because of her physique being naturally strong.

“… Just what is happening!”

Did her royal guards arrive—no they wouldn’t have arrived so quickly.

“Just what’s going on!?”

It wasn’t like Princess Emma was expecting an answer—after all, there was no one in the carriage but her and the extremely terrified man.

Yet, surprisingly, unknown to her, a reply came.

“The wheels has gone off. The preparations were already set in place—all that was left, was just the timing of it.”

He watched Emma lying down on the floor, with an inexpressive mysterious look. As if he had the composure from already knowing this was about to happen.

“Don’t tell me… You did something!?”

She shouted facing him. And on doing so, on what seemed like just another staff of Mimosa, he ignored Emma’s questioning altogether and reached his chin with his right hand.

“If you’d explained the reality of the job properly from the start, I could have handled it more smartly. Next time onwards, please use simpler, easy-to-understand words—like the other madams do.”

Emma was speechless.

As, the man in front of her just now peeled away his own skin, —at least, that’s how it appeared to Emma.

“Kyaaaaaaaa!”

Emma almost went half-crazy thinking what he did was crazy, but the face that emerged from under the peeled off skin startled and surprised Emma even further. To a degree, even forgetting how she breathed, Emma stared at him.

“My request is still far from complete.”

The face that emerged from beneath the rubbery, elastic skin was someone familiar to Emma.

After all, he was the same boy who had recently piqued Emma’s complete interest—Venting about him like a child, about all the rumours that goes around him among the fellow childrens; about Her fellow Classmate.

“Isn’t that right, Ms. Iron Princess.”

Because he was the same guy, who was being whispered as “The White GrimReaper,” among all the girls of Westminster Academy.

Itose Orgot.