Apparently, Her Highness Princess wants to keep her relationship with me a secret (what does she even mean by 'her relationship with me'?) - 2-14

2-14

A Week-Long Lover

“…Marquis Greyjoy! That bastard, what part of this is a perfect plan! No one said anything about combat mercenaries getting in the way!”

What’s with that week-long lover role? Emma Princess should have just said from the start that she wanted to break off the engagement.

After all, she must have hated it—so much that she couldn’t stop crying about it.

She was so devastated that she didn’t even realize she was crying. Even though I had been watching her intently from inside the carriage, Emma Princess didn’t seem to notice my gaze at all. Just how is that an Iron Princess? More like a princess just putting on a brave front from my perspective.

“We were supposed to be just couriers, doing the easy job of escorting the princess. Mercenary, this is where you’re supposed to step in! Why the hell do couriers like us have to deal with someone like that!”

A princess without a magical quirk.

She’s been obedient, playing the perfect princess role all this time. She must have lived exactly as her family dictated. While being a royal, but without a magic quirk is a fatal setback. Life must have been incredibly stifling for her without a doubt.

She probably enrolled at Westminster Academy seeking power outside of magic. But that decision only crushed her further. Only nobles with immense talent would willingly enroll there. Watching her classmates wield powerful magic quirk must have inflicted a deep sense of inferiority complex in her without a doubt.

“You! Aren’t you’re getting paid way more than us, do your goddamn job!”

“Shut it, idiot. Here—just work out what magic quirk that guy’s got.”

Already hours had passed since we’d left the city.

The couriers were trying to rectify the overturned carriage amid jagged rocks, their faces looking pale in doing so.

They must have been blinded by the silvers, falling for Greyjoy’s smooth talk. Even if the kidnapping succeeded, Greyjoy’s own men would silence them eventually.

“P-Please, spare us! We also just found out that it’s the princess we were carrying with us!”

One after one.

The mercenary cut down the couriers, who didn’t even come close to matching him. They came at him with weapons, but without any combat training, a normal person, they were no match—even a Westminster student could easily subdue them.

“Alright… That guy’s got visual enhancement magic quirk.”

But of course, there was always one tough opponent.

He’d been leaning against the rocks, egging on the couriers while observing my fighting style.

A mercenary hired by Greyjoy.

With long black hair like a rock musician, he scratched his head as he approached.

After casting a suspicious glance at me, then at the couriers who were sprawled at my feet.

“Well, we’re messing with the princess, huh? I figured someone would show up… but who the hell are you? You’re not a royal guard nor a mercenary hired by Roman. And there’s no word of the princess hiring her own bodyguard. Earth magic—right arm armor.”

Mercenaries were those with combat-oriented magic quirk, and then trained to perfection.

This guy was clearly one of the mercenaries Greyjoy had bought with money.

His right arm swelled as hard earth clung to it from the ground. It seems that he’s definitely a mercenary specializing in destroying stuff huh.

Princess Emma was also watching from the carriage. So, I’d rather not resort to violence if I could avoid it. It’d be nice if the mercenary was a reasonable man.

“…What’s this, thing?”

As I had hoped, the mercenary abruptly halted.

The man was a mercenary.

Being continued to be employed by Greyjoy for large sums for years, he participated in countless misdeeds as his combatant.

Because of that trust, he had been entrusted with the high-profile job of kidnapping Emma Satie Roman, Greyjoy’s son’s fiancée.

But, I wonder what was the case?

The man suddenly stopped.

“…Is this for real, you gotta be kidding me.”

He’d thought it would be an easy job.

Every carriage was overturned, and until when that young man stepped out from the carriage where Princess Emma was held.

An expressionless pale-haired man—thin and lethargic in appearance, but there was something about him that couldn’t be measured by looks alone. From the way he carried himself, he was clearly used to tough situations.

The mercenary was trained and raised to fight powerful enemies with strong magic quirk.

Yet he couldn’t move an inch. No, he can’t. Cause if he did, he understood what would happen to him.

“…Magic threads… I’d only ever heard rumors about it, but could they really be this agile and sharp when trained?”

The reason he’d stopped walking was because he could see them.

Faintly glowing lines wove around his body, as if binding him in place.

They were as thin as strings. When he stretched out his earth-reinforced right arm, the threads sliced into it without any effort. The dull pain made him grimace.

If he moved even a step, the pain would turn into hellish agony.

The mercenary could do nothing but laugh.

“Visual enhancement and magic threads… Guess you are loved by the heavens; a dual-quirk holder, huh?”

The terrifying speed and strength of the magic threads.

Only because he’s a combatant, that he could understand their true danger. Magic threads were never supposed to be this strong.

Magic lines are a convenient power. Their strength scales with the user’s skill. A seasoned expert could sharpen them into deadly blades, but mine was beyond abnormal.

The pale-haired youth simply waited, expressionless.

“…Fine then. Take Emma Sati Roman with you.”

Sweating from the tension, the mercenary gave up without even a fight.

Then as it must have been the answer the youth wanted.

He quietly instructed the remaining couriers to leave and returned to the carriage where the princess awaited.

“…Greyjoy’s stepped on a tiger’s tail this time. There’s no winning against that.”

To the mercenary, the youth’s retreating figure felt like a White GrimReaper.