My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 009: The Princess's Destiny

“Do you understand now? You would’ve died from that.”

He coldly threw words at the Princess, who stood in blank amazement, unable to move from that spot.

The final moment of the duel. The instant opening he’d obtained through trickery, that moment without interference—if Kishō had been serious then, there would’ve been plenty of time to draw out his full power. If he’d been serious at that moment, her head would’ve been split in two along with the sword she’d raised in defense.

“Even if it had been a practice sword duel, the result would be the same.”

The world’s hardest mineral— black dragon stone. Though originally a practice sword without lethal power, it wasn’t hard to imagine it could cut through even dragonkin’s robust bodies.

The sword slipped from the Princess’s hand and rolled across the stone pavement.

“Yes, I’ve lost.”

To the Princess hanging her head meekly, Kishō’s anger still didn’t subside. Of course not, since he’d been forced into a life-or-death battle without any explanation or reason. He could’ve easily died.

He twisted the Princess’s hand upward angrily.

“You must keep the duel’s terms. You said you’d obey any order. You did say that, didn’t you?”

He twisted the captured hand further. The Princess let out a faint groan of pain.

“Then you’re going to become mine. You understand what that means?”

“To become your wife.”

Kishō tried to form a cruel smile. He spoke arrogantly, as if pushing her away.

“Wrong. You’ll become my slave.”

For the first time, astonishment colored the Princess’s expression, which had shown little change until now. From that shock, her eyes widened greatly, and the breathing from her small mouth grew ragged.

“Wha… sl… ave?”

As if symbolizing that confusion, her unfocused eyeballs swayed left and right.

He forcibly pulled the restrained wrist, drawing the Princess into his embrace, and buried his face in the slender white neck visible from the dragon robe’s collar. A woman’s scent invaded through his nose and filled his lungs.

He whispered into her ear just like that.

“Then let’s have you become my plaything right away.”

To an underage girl, that demand equal to a death sentence made the Princess resist faintly by turning her face away. But she endured stoically.

“Do as you please.”

For an instant, pitch-black emotion coursed through Kishō’s entire body.

—I want to thoroughly defile this woman.

“Tch.”

He clicked his tongue and released the hand restraining the Princess.

Freed from restraint, the Princess staggered backward weakly and plopped down on the ground. Perhaps in shock, her eyes sank dimly.

“Why don’t you refuse? How can you throw yourself away to such an extent? Why don’t you value yourself! Even if it was the duel’s terms, at least struggle!”

She devalued herself, throwing herself away as if worthless. Offering herself up easily as if she were some cheap trinket. Despite being such a wonderful woman, despite being the most capable woman he’d ever met, how valuable she was—even Kishō, who barely knew her, understood her value correctly.

“You’re different from me, who only has swordsmanship! Your value is genuine!”

Every student at this academy knew it. So why did this woman sell herself short? He couldn’t understand that sensation, and more than anything, he couldn’t forgive it.

“Answer me. Hey, Princess!”

The Princess, who’d been in shock, suddenly looked up.

Gently placing her hand on her chest, the Princess closed her eyes peacefully.

“If it’s a fate I carved open myself, I can accept it. So I don’t mind being a slave.”

“There’s no way being a slave is okay! Object at least a little!”

At the angry roar echoing through the night garden, the Princess made a blank face.

“You’re the one who ordered me to become a slave.”

Kishō started to accept “Oh, that’s right…” then immediately shook his head and retorted with full force.

“No, that’s not it?! That was just a bluff to make you feel a sense of danger for being so defenseless. You should’ve figured that out from our exchange!”

Breathing hard, Kishō extended his hand.

“How long are you going to sit there with your butt on the ground? Your ass’ll start hurting.”

He pulled up the slender arm extended hesitantly, raising the Princess to her feet. Fatigue showed on that beautiful face, but her complexion wasn’t bad.

From one head lower, the Princess’s moist eyes looked up at him. Jet-black eyes that captivated and wouldn’t release those who saw them. He felt like he might be sucked into their depths.

There should’ve been so much he wanted to ask, but facing her in person, it all dissipated like mist. Was it because of some mysterious magic dwelling in those eyes? He felt he should say something, but nothing came to mind.

Upper and Lower School students were incompatible.

Tomorrow, they’d walk separate paths again.

Maybe they’d never meet again. Thinking that way made him panic, which only made his thoughts spin emptier, leaving his mind blank. And so.

“Why did we need to duel?”

In the end, that was all he could squeeze out after a long time. There should’ve been more important questions. Higher priority inquiries.

The Princess answered quietly.

“I wanted to fall in love.”

◇◇◇◇◇

A lukewarm wind blew, swaying the sleeping plants and trees.

The rustling of trees, disturbed from sleep, vibrated her eardrums as if voicing complaints.

Blown by the wind, the Princess’s black hair melded into and dissolved with the darkness.

“A Princess is destined to marry as a concubine to someone of Dragon Duke rank or higher.”

The Princess sat on a garden bench, head down, explaining the circumstances.

According to the Princess, Dragon Duke was a title granted to dragonkin males, corresponding to third from the top.

Titles existed in nine ranks: Dragon Emperor, Dragon King, Dragon Duke, Dragon Saint, Dragon Sky, Dragon Flash, Dragon Knight, Dragon Might, Dragon Warrior—with Dragon Saint and above called nobility. And Dragon Duke corresponded to high nobility.

“In other words, marrying into high nobility was my destiny from birth.”

Political marriage.

This was political matrimony practiced among nobles and royalty in human society too.

Kishō knew it as knowledge.

But knowing didn’t mean accepting it. Marrying someone you love—that was the form of happiness Kishō believed in, raised in an ordinary family, the goal he should aim for. And the basis for thinking the Princess of different status felt the same. He had an inkling.

“You said it that day.”

Among falling red flowers from the Dragon King Tree, at a distance closer than first meetings should allow, jet-black eyes peered up at him. Thinking back now, those eyes were a bit sad.

“Accept your fate.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

It had seemed like words seeing through disheartened Kishō’s innermost thoughts.

But in reality, they must’ve been words directed at herself. Now he could be certain.

“That I should fight. In other words, you don’t want to marry someone you don’t love.”

The Princess dropped her gaze to her hands folded on her knees and nodded weakly. That fragile, puppy-like appearance made Kishō’s heart ache. The Princess clenched both hands tightly. Her pale pink lips twisted in frustration.

“Dragon Dukes are all mature dragonkin men who already hold large packs. The age gap is too great. I can’t develop romantic feelings.”

Mature dragonkin referred to dragonkin over 100 years old.

Dragonkin at 100 were equivalent to twenty years old in human terms, still youthful in appearance, but sensibility-wise, romantic feelings seemed impossible. Kishō agreed.

“A hundred years old—sensibility-wise, it’s like marrying a grandpa.”

That was purely human sensibility.

The Princess apparently took it as humorous joke and giggled softly.

“So I persuaded Father. That I wanted to marry someone I love. And that was institutionally possible too. There are two conditions for a Princess to marry. One is marrying as a concubine to Dragon Duke or above. The other is marrying as primary wife to someone equivalent to Upper School top rank. I need to satisfy either. But to satisfy the latter condition, there were two problems.”

Primary wife. That referred to the first wife welcomed into the pack, and the primary wife’s rank was always highest. He remembered Ōka explaining something like that.

Simultaneously, he felt he understood the problems she was getting at. Dragonkin basically formed packs with men and women of the same generation. Kishō shook his head as if dispelling unpleasant thoughts swirling in his chest.

“‘Upper School top rank equivalent’… the only one in that position in a year is—”

“Yes, me.”

“So basically, no man less excellent than you can marry you.”

“Correct. And the other problem also comes down to that.”

—I wanted to fall in love.

Suddenly, that one phrase the Princess had quietly let slip floated in his mind.

“Dragonkin women fall in love with strong men. But there wasn’t a single man in the nearby generations stronger than me. So I’d never fallen in love.”

Kishō couldn’t understand dragonkin women’s sensibilities. But he could imagine her feelings.

Being too excellent to love anyone. Wasn’t that incredibly lonely and isolating? Just as half-dragonkin Kishō couldn’t have anyone understand his human sensibilities, her loneliness couldn’t be understood or empathized with by anyone.

Wasn’t that painful in a completely opposite vector from Kishō?

And without being able to love anyone, the dream of marrying someone she loved could never come true.

“So I searched. For a man who could defeat me. If he could defeat me, I could call him top rank equivalent. If he could defeat me, maybe I could finally know love. So I…”

The Princess’s shoulders trembled and she lost her words.

“You were fully prepared. Staking everything, in other words…”

And the only man who could defeat the Princess was Kishō. To her, that must’ve seemed like a ray of hope, like a savior. The result of desperately wishing to be saved somehow connected to accepting slavery.

But how cruel reality was. Kishō’s ability fell far short of top rank. After all, he was bottom of the bottom. A miraculous dropout just managing to stay enrolled. He didn’t have even a fragment of qualification to marry the Princess.

Moreover, the Princess herself didn’t know that.

And Kishō didn’t have the courage to convey that cruel truth.

Frustrated with the inescapable unreasonable fate and his own pathetic self, his heart constricted unbearably painfully.

“How can this be…”

He couldn’t put the rest into words.

(The ray of hope she finally found was a dropout like me.)

He clenched his fist tight. Even as nails dug into his own flesh, he showed no mercy, gripping his fist to the limit. Even that pain was nothing compared to the pain Kishō felt in his heart.

“Hey, won’t a third option work?”

“A third…? Do you have another idea?”

He took a deep breath. Once he said it, he couldn’t have half-hearted feelings.

The Princess’s beautiful face looked at him. He gulped and proposed:

“Throw everything away and live in a human city.”

The Princess’s mouth fell open blankly. She stayed frozen like that in silence. Then suddenly, she covered her mouth and giggled.

“Don’t laugh. That’s harsh. I’m making a serious proposal.”

After laughing heartily, the Princess wiped her eyes and smiled in distress.

“How do you plan to live in a human city?”

“I was raised in a human city. So I’m familiar with human society too. My family home is in Algant too. So—”

His heart pounded like a drum.

He took a deep breath and rattled off rapidly:

“If you have the resolve to abandon your Princess status, and if you can make the decision to live as a human, I’ll go with you. If you’re anxious about living in a human city, I’ll live with you. If you’d rather become a slave than marry someone you don’t want… this is definitely better.”

It was like proposing they elope.

He felt like he’d used up a lifetime’s worth of courage.

However, the Princess apparently thought it was a joke again. She was laughing hard enough to cough. He wanted to crawl into a hole. As Kishō shrank, the Princess placed her right hand on her chest and said:

“Then just order it. Order me to live together in a human city. You have the right to command me.”

“That’s different. I—”

Ordering her to be together.

That wasn’t the form of happiness Kishō envisioned.

Even if that was the Princess’s wish.

“I see. Our fundamental values really are different.”

Human and dragonkin. Between them lay cultural differences, environmental differences, differences in thinking. And instinct as species. An enormous gulf called values composed of various elements.

‘(No, that’s not it. Maybe I was just tactfully rejected.)

Elopement couldn’t happen without her consent.

Though he’d been prepared to abandon everything, part of him felt relieved at being rejected.

He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. Then dispelled distracting thoughts. A surprisingly calm voice emerged.

“I’ve wanted to thank you for so long.”

The Princess tilted her head curiously.

“You gave me courage beneath the Dragon King Tree. That’s why I can still attend the academy like this. Without that trigger, I couldn’t be talking with you like this. So—”

What kind of face am I making right now, Kishō wondered. Was he smiling gently? Was he properly conveying his feelings?

He bowed his head with sincerity.

“Thank you.”