My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 117: Lost Peace

Chapter 117: Lost Peace

She wanted him to love only her, with all his heart.

He was the one who had granted that modest wish.

Kirin met him one day more than a decade after she had washed ashore in Algant. By then, life in seclusion had become second nature to her, and she had begun to think that perhaps it would not be so bad to be buried here in the end. It was around that time.

As a remnant of her days as an adventurer, Kirin mainly supported herself by hunting monsters.

She sold the materials and ate the meat.

That said, no dangerous monsters appeared near Algant, so the materials sold for next to nothing. Her real purpose was securing food.

Her hunting grounds were the forest on the outskirts of town.

With a handmade bow in one hand, she climbed the trees, found her prey from above, and launched surprise attacks.

She did not bother with the tedious business of holding her breath and waiting. She was always on the move, and the moment prey entered her sight, she closed the distance in a burst and loosed an arrow.

It was not a skill she could boast about, but she was good enough to kill the monsters around here without difficulty.

That day as well, she was springing from branch to branch through the trees, searching for prey.

For Kirin, who could read the flow of [Ki] in the air, locating prey was not especially hard. If she followed the [Youki] given off by monsters, the distance between her and her quarry naturally closed.

She lightly stirred the leaves and branches as she moved from landing to leap.

Bending a branch, she glided onward.

Then, suddenly sensing something strange in the lingering traces of [Youki] drifting through the forest, Kirin came to a stop atop the branch where she had landed. She tilted her head.

She heard a scream.

Five jumps away. After she crossed to a giant tree, she spotted three magical beasts and a young man menacing them with a longsword. Looking closer, she saw a little girl sheltering behind his back.

With Kirin’s skill, she likely could have shot through all three magical beasts. However, the only thing she truly trusted was her own fists. So she chose to wipe them out in hand-to-hand combat.

Kicking off the branch, she launched herself diagonally downward like a bullet, then landed between the magical beasts and the young man with an explosive impact that sent dirt flying.

Shielding the wide-eyed young man and little girl behind her, Kirin gave a short warning.

“Do not move. No matter what.”

The young man reached for her shoulder and tried to say, “Wait,” but what he touched was an afterimage.

Her real body was already gone, and one of the magical beasts let out a feeble little cry of “Kyawn” as it was blasted into the undergrowth beyond the thicket.

The stunned young man’s eyes could not keep up with Kirin’s movements. To him, it must have looked as though all three magical beasts had been blown away at once. Swift as lightning. That was how fast her counters were, and there was not a trace of wasted motion in the way she moved.

Turning back, she licked the blood spatter from the corner of her mouth.

“The outskirts of Algant are a monster warning zone. Out here, farther beyond that, is monster territory. Nothing too serious appears, but even so, this is no place for amateurs with no combat experience.”

Judging from the crude path of the sword he had been swinging about and his neat, well-kept clothes, Kirin concluded that the young man was not an adventurer. As for the girl with him, she was wearing a pink dress.

Perhaps offended by the way Kirin spoke, the girl who had been hiding behind the young man stepped forward and spat abuse.

“How rude. Even if a woman like you hadn’t saved us, Michel could’ve handled trash like this all by himself.”

She was a girl with long copper-coloured hair.

From the way she spoke, they seemed close. Since the young man had the same copper-coloured hair, Kirin assumed they were probably brother and sister.

That bold, discourteous tone was proof she had been raised with too much freedom. Concluding that she was some ignorant young lady, Kirin turned on her heel without a word. Then the young man called out to her back.

“I’m sorry. My little sister Charlotte was rude. I’d very much like to thank you for saving us. May I ask your name, and where you live?”

“There is no need.”

Answering him as curtly as Charlotte had spoken to her, Kirin left the scene.

What became of the siblings after that, she did not know. The forest had a low encounter rate to begin with, so she assumed they must have made it home safely.

◇◇◇◇◇

“The young master wishes to thank you. He would very much like to request your company.”

An elderly gentleman in immaculate butler’s attire placed a hand on his chest and bowed deeply and respectfully.

A hut stood quietly on the outskirts of Algant.

It was a misshapen house full of patches and repairs. Parked before the entrance to that shack, which looked as though it might collapse in a strong wind, was an opulent carriage utterly out of place.

Judging by the deep wrinkles carved into his face, the white-haired old butler looked to be over seventy, and yet the straightness of his back and the crispness of his movements made one forget his age.

“And who is this young master?”

“Young Master Michel, of course.”

“Ah.”

Kirin vaguely remembered that the young man she had saved in the forest the other day had been called that. Reaching that conclusion from her faint memory, she gave the butler, whose etiquette was beyond reproach, a flat reply.

“I refuse.”

Humans.

They were an inferior race without strength.

Kirin loathed the shameless way they resorted to underhanded methods.

That said, during the forty years she had spent wandering the world, she had come to learn through contact with many races as an adventurer that there were good humans too, and that disgust had gradually begun to fade. Even so, her trust had not recovered enough for her to place faith in a human she had only just met.

No matter what, her thoughts returned to it. To those bitter memories of the past. To the tragedy of Casteria.

That was why she had made her home like this, far from human habitation.

“Please tell him not to summon me, but to come here on his own two feet.”

She gave that order gently, and yet with solemn dignity.

Kirin had once been a princess and was now the Head Consort of the current Dragon Emperor. For a dragonkin, there was no status higher than that. However, in Algant, she was no more than an ordinary village girl.

She was not even allowed to live in town. She was nothing more than a poor woman who had settled on her own at the very edge of the outskirts.

And from a woman in such circumstances, this butler had just heard what amounted to, “Tell your master to get himself over here.” Though surely he could not have found that amusing inwardly, the old butler did not show a single unpleasant expression. He bowed politely and left.

That should mean they would never meet again. Kirin had been wrong to think so.

Early the next morning.

When she woke to the sound of knocking, the young man, Michel, was standing in front of her door.

If he wished to meet her, then he should come on his own two feet. She had certainly said that, but she had not truly expected him to do it, and Kirin could not fully hide her surprise.

All the more so because he had come without even a single attendant, dressed in shabby clothes hardly different from a commoner’s.

To the astonished Kirin, he said,

“I thought if I dressed like this, you wouldn’t feel the need to hold back around me.”

His voice was so innocent and gentle it was enough to take the poison out of her. Michel’s soft smile succeeded in easing Kirin’s guard, just a little.

When she asked what he wanted, Michel said this:

“I want to thank you for saving me. Is there anything you want?”

To begin with, Kirin had no material desires.

On top of that, she was such an unconventional woman that she had easily cast aside the title of Head Consort to the Dragon Emperor, the highest honour in dragonkin society. There was no reason she would have any interest in the jewels and ornaments or luxurious dresses favoured by noble young ladies. If she had wanted them, she could have gotten as many as she pleased. If there was nothing in her hands now, it was because Kirin had not wanted such things.

Naturally, her answer was no. All she gave him was a curt, “Nothing.”

On hearing that answer, Michel said, “I understand,” and obediently withdrew. Kirin had just felt relieved by how reasonable he was when he came again the next day.

“I took the liberty of selecting something myself.”

Michel arrived with ten cows and thirty sheep, and on top of that, he had hired carpenters and brought them with him. Then, while Kirin stared in astonishment, he gave the carpenters their instructions and had them build a ranch and a large stable behind her hut.

“I’m sure beautiful dresses would suit you, and the jewels adorning your lovely figure would no doubt shine just as beautifully. But I figured you would have no interest in such things, so I arranged matters so your daily life might become just a little more comfortable.”

It was a great nuisance.

His affected line also made her recoil a little.

And yet, for some reason, she did not feel like rejecting his goodwill. That was probably because he had looked directly at what made Kirin different from ordinary girls, and on top of that, had tried to understand her and meet her halfway. That feeling made her happy.

Building such a large stable took a fair amount of time.

Until it was complete, Michel began stopping by regularly to check on the progress. Each time, the two of them lay in the grass on the hill and chatted.

Apparently, he was the son of the local lord, and his full name was Michel Algant.

The reason he had been in the forest that day was to obtain a rare medicinal herb called Moon’s Drop. He had gone out to search for it for the sake of his ailing mother, only to be attacked by magical beasts.

“I heard the rumours from some adventurers, and then I just headed in without thinking too hard about it… you know. It was a miscalculation that my little sister Charlotte trailed after me. We nearly ended up as magical beast feed, the both of us.”

Michel said that with a wry smile, but he was labouring under a major misunderstanding.

Moon’s Drop, the herb said to be a panacea, could not be found near Algant. It could only be gathered in a far northern country where the snow never melted.

However, Kirin did not tell Michel that fact. Instead, she left home for several days and went on a long journey. Then she gathered Moon’s Drop, returned with it, and handed it over to Michel, falsely claiming she had been lucky enough to find it growing in the forest.

Kirin was fond of Michel.

Because he was earnest and straightforward.

As if speaking of a dream, he would let passion fill his eyes and declare it over and over.

“I have a fiancée I love. I love her, Elisabeth, with all my heart. Even if we can’t have children, I do not intend to take a concubine.”

To swear lifelong love to one woman.

That was something one would never, ever see in dragonkin society.

And that very value system of theirs, which held monogamy to be right, was also the ideal form of love that Kirin had pursued for many years. That was why she felt affection. And a small measure of envy as well.

“I am a little envious of your fiancée. To be loved this much.”

And because his love was so precious, it had to be protected so that its flame would not go out.

So when the stable was complete and the time for parting came, Kirin said this.

“You must not come here anymore. I know you do not have ulterior motives, but that does not mean your fiancée will take it the same way. Please be happy together.”

Michel looked a little lonely, but in the end he seemed to accept it, and when they parted, he promised, “I won’t come again.”

Michel left, and she returned to being all alone. Then, after moving the livestock into the stable he had left behind, Kirin began engaging in livestock farming in earnest.

The milk she got from the cows and sheep she mainly processed into cheese and butter, which she sold in town. In winter, wool sold for a good price as well, and that too greatly helped her household finances.

Once she had more money to spare, she next made a field near the ranch. She could eat colourful vegetables year-round. There was no question that her table had become far richer than in the days when she relied on hunting alone. It was all thanks to Michel.

Then about a year passed, and nearly a second was about to do the same.

Just as Kirin had begun to get used to her new self-sufficient life, Michel visited her again.

“Hey, this is amazing. You’ve built more than enough of a self-sufficient life here.”

Never to meet again. Kirin frowned at the promise having been broken.

However, the reason she could not bring herself to blame Michel was probably because the soft smile had vanished from his face. That dark, gloomy air did not suit him.

Sensing at once that something had happened, Kirin, just as before, brought him out to the gentle rolling hills. The two of them lay in the grass side by side and looked up at the sky. Michel muttered quietly,

“I got dumped.”

Apparently, after the engagement gifts had already been exchanged and all that remained was the wedding itself, the other side had one-sidedly declared the engagement broken off.

“There was another man she loved, and she said she couldn’t go through with marrying me after all.”

If the engagement gifts had already been exchanged, then preparations for the marriage must have been underway at the family level. Breaking the engagement in that way was a vicious betrayal that made fools not only of Michel, but of his family as well. Kirin did not know how the lord of Algant had responded to the matter. However, there was no way it had ended peacefully, and political friction was surely inevitable.

For that reason, Michel had every right to hate his former fiancée and condemn her as wicked.

And yet Michel only let his scarlet eyes waver sadly toward empty space, without saying a single word in condemnation of his former fiancée. It made Kirin feel that even this consideration spoke of the depth of his love.

Silent, Kirin simply followed a white cloud drifting on the wind with her eyes.

“You still cannot forget her?”

“I can’t sort it out that easily.”

At that, Kirin raised her upper body and turned her gaze to Michel at her side. Wearing a broad smile as if she had just thought of a brilliant plan, and while the downcast Michel frowned, Kirin shamelessly made her proposal.

“In that case, let us do this. You will love only me.”

“Huh? Why!?”

Perhaps thrown into confusion by the utterly random proposal, Michel’s eyes widened and his voice cracked. Michel, through and through, was the very picture of a refined young nobleman. It felt as though Kirin had caught her first glimpse of the unguarded side of him then, and that freshness was so endearing that she covered her mouth and laughed softly.

“Because I have decided so.”

“That’s absurd! What happened to my own will?”

“I am selfish, you see. My little-sister figure has already given me her seal of approval on that.”

“D-don’t just brazen it out. More importantly, we’re friends, and love and all that… that wasn’t supposed to be the kind of relationship we had, right?”

“I am interested in the wholehearted love humans possess. Michel has lost the one he loved. In that case, I shall take over as the object of that love.”

“I think that’d make it not wholehearted love, but one-sided love…”

“Would you be dissatisfied with me, Michel?”

“…………”

Michel blushed and lowered his head.

Feeling encouraged by that reaction, Kirin pressed the attack.

“If you make me your partner, it comes with a special bonus.”

“W-what kind of…?”

“I shall make Algant the royal capital. You will become the king of this country.”

“How!?”

“We simply overthrow the current royal family. It is easy, is it not?”

“Pff! Ahahahahahahaha!”

Perhaps he thought it was some stylish joke, because Michel suddenly burst out laughing.

Kirin continued with a perfectly serious face.

“However, I will not permit cheating. Love only me.”

“And if I break that rule?”

“I will be angry.”

“How angry?”

“Violently enough that the heavens themselves might fall.”

“That’s some metaphor.”

“It is not a metaphor.”

The frequency with which Michel visited Kirin’s hut increased even more than before.

The two of them milked the cows together and tilled the field.

She served him home-cooked meals, clumsy though they were, and he told her they were delicious.

They walked together into town and enjoyed shopping side by side.

Before long, the two of them truly became deeply in love with each other.

◇◇◇◇◇

“I came to love the Algant that he loved. To me, the people of Algant were no different from family. And yet…”

Her furious straight punch slammed savagely into Anraku’s abdomen.

An ugly groan echoed through the throne room, and blood-mixed vomit sprayed out.

Clad in black, Kirin slipped into his blind spot as though melting into the darkness and dealt the Dragon King’s giant body another blow.

A heavy strike. Loading her fist with hatred, she branded the sinful Dragon King Anraku’s entire body with the mark of his sins. Strike, strike, strike. Iron fists rained down in rapid succession. Unable to endure the savage assault, he let out a beastlike groan.

She flayed skin, gouged flesh, and made bone creak, yet the wild barrage did not stop.

The Dragon King’s lavish dragon robes were being dyed in blood.

“You people burned my home. You killed my family. And then…”

You killed the husband I loved.

“On that day, he had an important matter to report to his parents. That is why he went ahead to Algant first. To properly explain things to his parents and make arrangements to welcome me into their family.”

The son of the lord and a commoner girl.

There had been an undeniable difference in status between them.

Naturally, Michel’s parents had opposed the marriage.

Even so, the two of them had continued living together despite that opposition. That report had also been a hope that might break through the stagnation they had been trapped in.

“If I had gone with him, he would not have had to die. But how was I supposed to foresee it? That dragonkin would suddenly come swarming in great numbers from a neighbouring country with which there had been no conflict at all, from my own homeland?”

The city of Algant, engulfed in flames.

Dragonkin exhilarated by battle and delighting in slaughter.

By the time she noticed the disturbance and rushed over, Algant had already fallen.

Swords crossed in the city, and the garrison was putting up a desperate fight, but even that was little more than a candle in the wind. Kirin swiftly joined the battle and suppressed the entire area, then heard the circumstances from her old friend Ordo.

“We do not know the reason. But the king of the dragonkin has attacked the city.”

Kirin ran.

Casually slaughtering the invaders who came into view, she kept running through the burning city.

Along the way she joined up with the lord’s knight order, and while cooperating with them to wipe out the enemy, she kept searching for her husband.

“In the end, he had died buried under rubble. He shielded a child from a collapsing house, and he himself was trapped beneath it. It was a fitting end for someone as kind as he was.”

That cruel reality sent Kirin’s emotions into a rampage.

Hatred welled up without end.

To annihilate the ones responsible for her husband’s death.

Driven by fury, she swung her fists.

Even when the enemy began to retreat, she pursued them with her Ground Crossing technique and made sure not a single one of them escaped alive.

As for those she still could not finish off, from atop the city wall she brought heavenly lightning down from the sky upon the retreating army and burned them all together.

“However, Dragon King Anraku, you alone I will not kill so easily. Twice now, not once but twice, you have taken from me those precious to me. You must pay for that sin.”

Koharu had believed the slave soldiers who fought beside her were her comrades, and she had kept cutting into her precious sleeping time to mourn them. Koharu only wanted them to rest in peace. To make that wish into a crime and sentence her to flogging was already an outrage beyond forgiveness. And yet Anraku had committed two even greater sins than that.

As supreme commander of the Thirteen Nobles, he bore the sin of driving many slaves, and by extension Koharu, to their deaths.

And he bore the sin of invading Algant and killing her husband, Michel.

Both were capital crimes worthy of ten thousand deaths.

To let him die easily would be too lenient.

Torment him, brutalise him, and make him suffer thoroughly.

Make him fully aware of how sinful he is, and then let him die.

“Do not get carried away, little girl.”

The Dragon King Anraku, who had been taking a one-sided beating, steadied his sinking giant frame and, seizing an opening in her barrage of fists, swept his longsword sideways.

The timing made it impossible to dodge. The path of the slash would surely cut her head off.

The silver blade, adorned with the overwhelming [Sword Aura] of one on the level of a Dragon King, closed in on her neck.

And yet, facing that certain kill, Kirin for some reason spread both arms as if welcoming it and twisted the corner of her lips into a cruel smile.

“That is what will make you worth defeating. Despair.”

In that instant, [Fighting Ki] crackling with lightning erupted from her entire body.