My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 052: Diabolical Deed

“Eleshia Ignosius is alive.”

The Princess, her entire body wrapped in bandages from severe injuries, stared at the canopy ceiling while lying on a simple bed.

After escaping Beast King Forest and racing the sail wagon toward base camp.

Beneath a sky piercing blue, the stone-paved highway stretched straight to the horizon. Peaceful plains spread left and right, and the distance from Beast King Forest had grown. The threat had passed, and Kishō, relieved at returning to normalcy, responded carefreely without stopping his feet pulling the wagon.

“Alive? No way she survived that.”

Eleshia Ignosius, calling herself the merchant’s daughter Alice, had been cut down with a single stroke by Kishō’s own hands. Though he’d had no time to confirm her death while treating the Princess’s life-threatening injuries, he’d felt certain of an instant kill.

“Yeah yeah, I agree with Shō-kun. Even dragonkin wouldn’t survive that. Fragile humans even less, I think.”

Inside the sail wagon, Ōka agreed while sewing replacement dragon robes for the Princess to wear. The fabric was silk borrowed from the cargo.

Sunlight hit his face, warm and pleasant. Kishō pulled the wagon with light steps that showed no fatigue.

“If she survived that, she’s not even a living thing anymore. I’d believe it if you said she’s a ghost though.”

“A ghost. Yes, that resonates aptly.”

Having his words— meant as a joke— immediately affirmed made Kishō’s face cloud with suspicion. Internally he wanted to laugh it off, but remembering his folly of not properly listening to the Princess’s words, he reconsidered. In the previous incident in Beast King Forest, hadn’t she been the only one who’d seen through Alice’s true identity and acted appropriately?

“What do you mean?”

Naturally, his tone hardened.

A brief interval passed. Only the rattling sound of wheels treading stone echoed around them.

“I can analyze magic formulas by touching them.”

“Whaat!?”

At the Princess’s matter-of-fact statement, Ōka raised a shocked voice.

However, Kishō who had no magical aptitude couldn’t imagine what kind of extraordinary feat this represented. Pulling the wagon while looking up at the sky, he asked in a light tone:

“Is it that surprising?”

“Of course it is! It’s nothing like running your finger over tactile paving!”

Ōka’s voice flew from inside the sail wagon as if criticizing Kishō’s underwhelming reaction. Understanding only that it was an extremely abnormal feat, Kishō urged her to continue.

“So how does that connect to Eleshia Ignosius?”

“That woman’s body had magic formulas running throughout it. Through skin contact, I reverse-analyzed and discovered—”

Then the Princess stated her conclusion bluntly:

“That wasn’t Eleshia Ignosius’s real body.”

He nearly stopped pulling the sail wagon. The sudden deceleration made the wagon lurch violently. A short scream rang out.

“Hey, Shō-kun! The needle stuck in my finger!”

“Sorry. No, more importantly. What do you mean it wasn’t her real body?”

Ōka who’d been sewing complained, but Kishō had no room for that. The back of his neck prickled. He had a bad feeling about this.

The Princess’s calm, clear voice said:

“Two magic formulas had been applied to Alice. One was a formula to synchronize with darkness. You know about this, Kishō. Slashes didn’t work because she’d synchronized with darkness.”

“Synchronize with darkness… Right, that black mist floating around.”

“Correct. And the second was curse magic for mental manipulation. I couldn’t analyze all of it, but it’s probably the type that forcibly transplants the caster’s soul.”

—Curse magic.

That was the collective term for techniques considered heretical within the dark attribute magic lineage. In the dragonkin nation, due to its extremely despicable nature, curse magic was classified as forbidden, with its study and use strictly prohibited. Even Kishō, ignorant of dragonkin society’s rules, at least knew that much. However, the issue now wasn’t Eleshia Ignosius’s life or death. Anxiety made his speech quicken.

“Meaning Alice was just being controlled?”

“Correct. She was a pitiful girl used as Eleshia Ignosius’s puppet. Considering the circumstances, the title of merchant’s daughter was probably genuine. She fell into that creature’s hands after wandering into Beast King Forest.”

The wheels groaned to a halt. The sail wagon stopped completely, and Kishō stood rooted in place, gripping his chest tightly.

“So I killed an innocent girl.”

“That’s incorrect. The moment curse magic was applied, Alice’s soul was altered and her ego had likely already vanished. That was one of Eleshia Ignosius’s many bodies. Therefore the correct expression is that she was already dead.”

At the Princess’s consideration, Kishō shook his head while standing frozen.

Even if her ego had vanished, Kishō himself had delivered the finishing blow to an innocent girl. Though it was to protect the Princess, it felt deeply sinful.

Yet did he regret it? No, that was different. Even if the same situation arose again, Kishō would still cut the girl down. Knowing full well how sinful that was.

Caught between that conflict, fury began bubbling up. Hijacking another’s body to make it one’s own. His entire body heated at that demonic deed. Truly a forbidden curse. There was a good reason it was considered heretical. This could never be forgiven.

“Where is Eleshia Ignosius’s real body?”

Steeling himself to hear the story properly, he climbed into the cargo bed and sat beside the simple bed where the Princess lay. Diagonally across from there, Ōka sat at the Princess’s bedside devoting herself to sewing, throwing him a troubled glance without stopping her hands.

When the Princess recognized Kishō’s indignant figure in her peripheral vision, she said while still gazing at the ceiling:

“Probably an academy affiliate.”

At this completely unexpected answer, Kishō received an impact like being punched in the face.

Ōka’s hand threading silk also stopped dead.

“W-wait wait. That’s too much of a leap. How did you reach that conclusion?”

“That’s right, Yō-chan. There’s no one named Eleshia Ignosius at the academy.”

“Ōka’s right. It doesn’t match dragonkin naming conventions either. That’s a name common among Westerners. Plus dragonkin are a species that lives in packs, so family names don’t exist, right?”

At the rapid-fire rebuttals, the Princess smiled fearlessly.

“The body that creature normally uses is dragonkin. This is certain. Think back— why did she say the tropical fly agaric was delicious?”

Beast King Forest. Fourth night.

Alice, who’d procured dinner ingredients, proudly showed them a basket full of mushrooms. Then when Ōka peeked in from the side and showed delight at the tropical fly agaric, perhaps carried away by that carefree energy, she’d blurted out “It’s delicious.”

The contradiction of calling a poisonous mushroom delicious. That became the decisive factor, and the Princess took drastic measures. Conversely, without that slip of the tongue, she might have been fooled completely.

So why had she slipped up?

Considering the Princess’s statement, the highest probability was—

“…Don’t tell me, because she’s accustomed to eating it.”

“Correct. Eating poison is natural. Because you had that recognition, you were slow to notice the slip. And because Eleshia Ignosius had the same recognition, she carelessly blurted out ‘delicious.'”

Until the Princess pointed it out, Alice hadn’t noticed her slip. That flustered reaction was unnatural for a murderer who’d cunningly hidden her true identity until then. Wasn’t that bewilderment precisely because it was an unexpected failure caused by the unconscious?

Finding this convincing, Kishō nodded.

“I see. Thinking she’s dragonkin is most natural. But isn’t it premature to conclude she’s an academy affiliate? That was Dragon Saint Ragō’s territory.”

“Her target was me.”

The Princess said with unwavering, absolute confidence.

“Though I say it myself, I’m called a genius seen once in a thousand years and am that excellent. In appearance, ability, and status, no one surpasses me. If hijacking a body to use as a pawn, don’t you think there’s no better talent than this?”

The Princess lying on the simple bed turned only her jet-black eyes toward him, asking if he had any objections. Seeing the swell at her chest rise and fall painfully through the thin blanket, Kishō’s heart grew impossibly restless.

“One wrong step and Kuroyō’s body might have been hijacked, your ego lost. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Correct.”

A short but powerful answer.

Losing the Princess. Unlike Kishō who couldn’t hide his agitation from that sense of loss and despair, her expression as the person in question showed no change. He could read nothing from her usual meager face.

“The information that I, the Princess, would visit Beast King Forest. Without knowing this in advance, pulling off that timing would be nearly impossible.”

Gradually Kishō began grasping the situation.

Dragonkin packs had high independence, with information management systems on par with nations. Just as a nation’s high ministers wouldn’t leak state secrets to other countries, female dragonkin belonging to packs likewise wouldn’t pass information to other packs. Also, students being unable to leave the academy was a measure from the perspective of information control. Even for an academy event, learning the details from outside would be extremely difficult.

“Meaning only academy affiliates could have known that information.”

However, simultaneous with acceptance came doubt. If an academy affiliate, there should have been countless chances during daily academy life. Why the need to commit the atrocity specifically in Beast King Forest? The Princess answered this question thus:

“If openly harming me as Princess, Father and Mother wouldn’t stay silent. Therefore attacking at the academy carried too much risk. In that respect, using a human to attack means even if it fails, she can claim ignorance. For that creature, this summer special training was an opportunity of a lifetime.”

When no longer needed, pin all the crimes on Alice and bury her in darkness. With the real body separate, Eleshia Ignosius wouldn’t feel a thing.

Certainly, it made sense. But it violated all humanity.

Kishō absolutely could not accept that diabolical deed.

“I absolutely can’t let her live. I’ll find her and kill her.”

It must be done without fail. The complete annihilation of Eleshia Ignosius.