My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~

Kishō clenched his fist tightly.

His most beloved person, looking up at him, had her usually expressionless face twisted in sorrow.

His heart ached sharply.

How wonderful it would have been if this were some mistake. But this was unmistakably reality, and the one he loved was already gone. The academy’s most beautiful girl before his eyes was a completely different, alien existence. Her true identity was a bloodless killer.

His face grew hot.

Whether his voice would reach her, he didn’t know.

But this was a once-in-a-lifetime gamble. He had to pour all of Kishō’s feelings into these words and convey them. He couldn’t hold back. Of course, this wasn’t the time for embarrassment; he could only confront her with his true feelings. Just as she’d shown him before, now Kishō had to show his seriousness. Because that was the promise with the Princess, and the only thing left Kishō could do.

He inhaled deeply.

Toward the person who had been most beloved, now staggering and unable to move.

“Kuroyō! These may be trite words, but listen! I—you—”

And he shouted his love to the Princess.

◇◇◇◇◇

“Soul Transfer cannot inherit memories.”

Thinking back now, the Princess’s foresight was so accurate it was as if she’d seen the future, and he even thought that if he just acted as she guided, everything would have worked out.

That day. In the sail wagon after returning from the Beast King Forest, the Princess predicted that Elesia Ignosis lurked among the teachers. And the talk didn’t end there. The continuation connected to the opening line.

“I haven’t analyzed everything about the Soul Transfer formula. Therefore, much of it remains a black box, but one thing I can assert.”

Back then, he still didn’t know about the Princess’s super-recovery power, so Kishō couldn’t help worrying about her lying on the simple bed in that painful-looking state, wrapped in bandages. Still, the Princess continued speaking, saying it was necessary.

“Try remembering. Why did we conclude Alice wasn’t a merchant’s daughter?”

Kishō considered briefly and answered that question.

“Despite loading Lakre specialties on the wagon, Alice answered they were heading toward Lakre. This story clearly contradicted.”

“Correct. But if memories could be stolen along with Alice’s body, this mistake shouldn’t have been possible. She just had to read Alice’s memories and state they were returning from Lakre.”

The Princess’s opinion was always logical and, like her beauty, perfect without a single flaw. Objecting seemed presumptuous, and Kishō just gazed vacantly at that beautiful face.

“So I think we should decide on a password just in case.”

As if discussing someone else’s business, the Princess stated that she herself was Elesia Ignosis’s target. And she also predicted that Ōka, with her Light affinity attribute, likely wouldn’t be targeted. On top of that, knowing she’d be targeted, the Princess said:

“But though I say password, actually exchanging words isn’t good. Elesia Ignosis has a cunning and cautious personality. If I make even slightly suspicious statements, our aim might be seen through. So that should be avoided.”

What the Princess then proposed was a signal through gesture—secretly conveying she was safe by touching her bangs. And she also said:

“This signal is only when Kishō and I are alone. And limited to cases when no one’s around. Because you never know where the cunning killer is watching from.”

To hijack a body required meticulously observing that person’s habits. If she was witnessed touching her bangs, it would be recognized as the Princess’s “habit” and traced. So the Princess came to perform the secret ritual of “touching bangs” only when no one was around and only when alone with Kishō.

For example, when alone with the Princess in the shack. When the Princess visited night practice. And afterward, when they met secretly at the boys’ dormitory too. Or even that day they got engaged, she touched her bangs to tell him she was safe.

The Princess’s ingenious plan had been alive since then, and precisely because of that, now he could expose the killer’s identity so easily.

In the closed room called the clock tower, the situation was one of being alone. Though just wiping wet bangs would be fine, she showed no such gesture. So he immediately knew she was fake.

“I disrupted the Ki flow to your energy center. Even with that high-spec body, you won’t get up for half a day.”

With his beloved lover’s face, the killer looked up with moist eyes. Caught between hatred and affection, Kishō spat out as if shaking off hesitation.

With unbearable feelings, he looked up at the heavens, seeing lamplight spiraling along the spiral stairs, continuing upward.

Consciousness flew to recollection again.

◇◇◇◇◇

“At that time, make me swoon.”

“Huh?”

“At that time, make me swoon.”

“Why!?”

Though it should have been a serious discussion, the Princess’s statement sounded only like a joke. At that statement, too sudden as always, Kishō, still not engaged at the time, screamed without understanding the meaning.

“I’m talking about the hypothetical case where my body is hijacked.”

“No, that’s not supplementary explanation!? The ‘make me swoon’ part is too incomprehensible.”

“The picture book I read as a child wrote so.”

“What kind of picture book!? Is that truly a children’s picture book in the first place? I’m unfamiliar with the word ‘swoon,’ but it smells incredibly indecent somehow.”

The Princess groaned “Muu” dissatisfiedly.

Amid awkward silence descending in the wagon interior, Ōka, diligently working on sewing, threw a lifeline.

“She wakes up from the beloved prince’s kiss. Don’t you know?”

He laughed off Ōka’s half-lidded, exasperated face, but however, what the Princess meant was essentially that.

◇◇◇◇◇

“I intend to develop a formula breaking Soul Transfer.”

According to the Princess, Soul Transfer was a complex formula, and analyzing everything in just the instant she touched Elesia Ignosis was impossible.

However, she’d successfully analyzed about forty percent of the formula, and though imperfect, constructing an anti-Soul Transfer formula was theoretically possible.

The mechanism was thus:

When the Soul Transfer formula activated, the target’s soul was compressed to the limit, crushed, and processed into a vessel. To prevent this, she’d create a soul evacuation shelter beforehand, evacuate the Princess’s soul to the shelter simultaneously with Soul Transfer activation, and leave a dummy pseudo-soul in its place. The Soul Transfer formula would change the pseudo-soul into a vessel, but this functioned as a trap for catching Elesia’s soul.

“Meaning, the vessel for fixing Elesia Ignosis’s soul transforms into a prison binding and restraining her own soul. And this method is also the only way to completely extinguish the immortal killer.”

But one problem existed. Because many unknown formulas she couldn’t decode existed in Soul Transfer, the anti-formula wouldn’t necessarily operate normally. Though evacuating to the shelter was fine, the soul might enter a dormant state and not awaken.

So the key became:

“Kishō’s words. If you shout love, my heart will be greatly shaken, and I’ll absolutely awaken. So make me swoon.”

Back then they weren’t engaged yet, so Kishō returned an ambiguous answer as he hid his embarrassment. But moreover, incomprehensible parts existed beforehand.

Listening to the explanation, this could also be interpreted as: without taking this method, completely extinguishing Elesia Ignosis was impossible. At the time, he wasn’t thinking that seriously, but after Elesia Ignosis’s existence became solid, anxiety that the Princess would use her own body as bait grew daily stronger.

Though natural human psychology, he didn’t want his fiancée crossing such dangerous bridges.

So Kishō intended to discover Elesia Ignosis before the Princess and settle everything. Even with justification, laying hands on a female teacher wouldn’t end well. Even while premonition told him so.

“But in the end, she beat me to it. As expected, in mental rotation I can’t win even standing on my head. Seems my wife is tremendously excellent.”

And with things having become this way, only one thing Kishō could do existed. Looking down at the former lover whose energy center Ki was disrupted and couldn’t move, he steeled his resolve.

Saying “don’t be embarrassed” was impossible.

But he had to do it. The confession target was a bloodless killer, and whether words would even reach the one he truly wanted to tell was unknown. But only one choice existed. He had to properly verbalize and convey this feeling, aching enough to burst from losing the Princess.

He clenched his fist tightly. His face was flushed.

He inhaled deeply.

Toward the person who had been most beloved, now staggering and unable to move.

“Kuroyō! These may be trite words, but listen! I’ve loved you all along. Frankly, I think it was love at first sight. From when we met under the Dragon King Tree, you’ve been on my mind constantly!”

Kishō’s shout echoed through the vertically long tower interior.

Dizziness made his head spin, and whether he saw an illusion from fever, the Princess who should be unable to move stood up unsteadily.

At first, he nearly rejoiced that the Princess had awakened, but:

“No, impossible. Even hypothetically if Kuroyō awakened, damage to the body isn’t nullified.”

He’d disrupted Ki flow to the energy center. He’d inflicted damage enough that ordinary people couldn’t move one finger for a full day, neutralizing her. But as a matter of fact, the Princess stood on two feet straightly, and an evil smile was stuck on that mouth corner. Madness completely unlike her, with her few emotional fluctuations, existed there.

“No way. Just how high-spec is the Princess?”

From easy mode where things proceeded without resistance to hell mode where he had to face the Princess wearing magic amplification accessories, even stalwart Kishō’s smile cramped as the difficulty shifted.

His most beloved lover floated a triumphant mad laugh, then slowly held out her palm and released dark breath.