The Invincible Aloof Yandere Princess Falls in Love with Her Younger Court Mage's Fatherly Warmth! ~She Clung to Him So Much That the King Fired Him. When He Made Marriage His Official Reason for Resigning Under Royal Order, the Light Vanished from the Princess's Eyes~ - Volume 1 - Chapter 12-13

Chapter 12: The Sealing Move

The surroundings, which had been buzzing just moments ago, suddenly fell silent because of the princess’s release of magical power.

The magical power rising from her was nothing like what she had shown when facing Karen and the others. Besides, there probably weren’t many people who had seen the princess fight seriously.

…But still. If she showed any sign of wanting to fight herself, then probably—

“—Your Highness. Please, Your Highness, step back…! Let us handle that insolent fellow!”

“That’s right, Your Highness. It would be a waste to use Your Highness’s power on someone like him…!”

As expected.

The knights and mages surrounding the princess shifted into battle stances while directing looks of contempt toward me. The figures dressed all in black silently radiated killing intent.

From their point of view… the princess’s earlier words were puzzling, but since she had shown willingness to fight, I must now be an enemy who needed to be taken down.

Of course, I had fully expected this kind of development. Besides, what I really needed to worry about wasn’t this.

“—All of you, do not move until I say so.”

After firmly warning those around her, the princess looked straight at me and spoke.

“Albert. I told you earlier. If you get in my way—”

The princess paused, and then…

—just as she had done a little while ago, she took a dagger from her pocket and brought it close to her own throat again.

“This isn’t a threat. If you don’t listen, I’ll really do it. Of course, I know you won’t move because you care about me, Albert. But that’s exactly why this isn’t a bluff—”

So.

Without letting the princess finish speaking,

I cast a spell.

“—[Wind]”

What I created was a small vacuum blade. And

the place it headed toward was

“Eh?”

—Blood sprayed violently from my own neck.

Fresh blood poured out in heavy pulses from the deeply severed artery, matching the beat of my heart.

The silence that felt like time had stopped was shattered in an instant.

“—Nooooooo!”

Oh… The pain and blood loss made my consciousness start to fade.

Even so, I could clearly see the princess desperately running toward me.

Looking at that frantic face—on the verge of tears, actually already crying—I guess my goal was accomplished well enough?

Ah, the princess’s magical power is fluctuating because of her emotional turmoil… I’ll have to give her some advice later, but it’s getting tough for me now.

Before I passed out, I gathered my magical power.

“[…]—Universal Regression”

A dazzling golden flash of light. The spell activated.

—Its effect was unlimited recovery from any external injury. If used right after receiving the wound, even a fatal injury would heal in the blink of an eye.

But “right after” really meant within a few seconds. I had only started using this spell a few days ago, so I wasn’t very skilled with it yet.

Even so, healing my own injuries was no problem.

…Well then. How about this.

—With this, will the princess stop trying to hurt herself?

“—Hah, hah, hah…”

She seemed to be hyperventilating a little.

And this… my cheeks, probably. She was staring at me with an intense expression. Oh, some of the blood spray from earlier had splattered on my face. No handkerchief, so I wiped it with my hand.

Yeah. Everyone had fallen completely silent again.

“…I surprised you, didn’t I? But what the princess was about to do was the same thing. —So, playing pranks like that isn’t allowed.”

“Uh, uu. I’m sorry…”

My heart ached seeing the princess spill tears one after another.

But with this, the unhealthy negotiation using self-harm was over. Neither the princess nor I could use that tactic against each other anymore.

“I’m sorry too. But as long as the princess doesn’t do something like this, this will be the last time for me as well. From here on, it’s purely a contest of strength. Right?”

“…I-I understand. I won’t do it anymore, I won’t. So Albert, you absolutely mustn’t… ever do that again…!”

“Yes.”

If the princess promised that, then from now on I would only think about fighting her and the others fairly.

Karen and the others had been captured, so it was an extreme one-against-many situation, but something like this was fine.

—After all, sweeping away a reasonable number of enemies at once is one of magic’s strong points, isn’t it?

—

Chapter 13: Preparations for the Dance

“—Hey, hold on. What the hell is that guy? Just now, blood definitely sprayed from his neck—and then… A healing mage? I’ve heard there are only a few users of that even in the kingdom.”

“No. I know that brat. He’s the youngest court mage, but he’s supposed to be an ordinary person who can’t even use unique magic. There’s no way he can use healing magic…!”

As expected, everyone was confused. There were even court mage colleagues who knew me, so that made it worse.

Heh heh heh. I only learned this healing-like magic very recently, after His Majesty fired me and I started trying all sorts of things.

Of course, the princess couldn’t have known about it either, and that’s exactly why my action earlier was effective.

…Well then. It was about time to— Just as I tried to slowly gather my magical power.

The princess, who had wiped away her tears with her sleeve, desperately tried to compose herself and shouted.

“Everyone, get ready…! But absolutely do not hurt him! Capture him unharmed!”

“Your Highness, however. Even if he’s a child, asking for no injuries against a motivated court mage is a bit unreasonable…!”

“No, it’ll be fine! As I said earlier, he doesn’t even have unique magic—he’s a half-baked nobody. If we mages defend and you knights attack… putting him unconscious will be easy!”

Good, good. As expected, with the princess’s command, the situation turned in my favor. Even with the numbers difference, if they couldn’t fight seriously, it was okay.

Then, let’s cast some magic right away.

The moment I thought that and gathered my magical power, the one who reacted was a single knight—

“! Everyone, be on guard! I feel some strange magical power…! Mage-dono, I can count on you for defense, right!?”

“It’s fine, knight-dono. The magical power I sense from him is extremely weak! At that level, basic magic can easily block it…!”

“Is that so? Well, if a court mage like you says so, then it must be…”

Heh heh heh, is that really true? I was careful not to leak my magical power outward… Should I ignore that knight who noticed something?

Then, let’s have you test it out.

From the depths of my stomach, I tightly compressed the surging magical power to about five times normal. I repeated this over and over, refining the magical power.

Just by flowing it into the magic circuit I had built in midair—that is, the magic circle—the spell would activate.

Even in that situation, the two of them still casually raised their voices.

“—…To begin with, I’m curious why Her Highness is so obsessed with him. From how upset she was earlier, could it be that he has some kind of hold over her…?”

“No. It doesn’t feel like a weakness. …Both earlier and now, isn’t it because she likes the guy? Plain and simple.”

“Idiot! Her Highness is the noble successor to King Atlas! To someone like that… a brat who only got a tutoring position because he’s young in the court…!”

“That’s probably the reason. He’s close in age to Her Highness, and he has the talent to become a court mage. …In this environment, even Her Highness would want something to cling to.”

Hmm. Come to think of it, I had no idea why the princess was so attached to me in the first place.

Most people here looked at me suspiciously, but that knight seemed to have some thoughts about it, so I’d like to hear the details sometime.

But that would be after I got through this situation first.

In this short time, several mages, knights, and shadows had already started moving.

The princess had even stopped hiding the traces of her tears and was desperately weaving barrier magic with a frantic expression on her face. Yeah, she was properly putting my teachings into practice—good girl…

…With that strength, the princess could protect herself alone just fine. Then.

A greeting shot.

I poured the refined magical power into the magic circle that was already somewhat at critical.

And then.

“—[Wind], Downforce”

Right after I chanted it.

The woven magic activated with a white light. Its effect was extremely simple.

—It just dropped wind from above downward.

“Hahaha, and here I wondered what you’d use! Not only is it not unique magic, it’s just a spell to blow wind! At this level, I don’t even need to defend, but I’ll easily swat it away—”

However, its force gradually increased.

And in the end…

“Uh, wh? It hur…”

—It could easily dent armor.

“…Hah, ka…!”

“Guu aaaaah! It huuurts!”

“Fuuuuh, guu…! Ca, n’t…”

Heh heh heh. Everyone underestimated it. That court mage guy was the first to get flattened.

Of course, I didn’t make it lethal, but a few bones might be broken.

“—Carelessness is the greatest enemy. I did teach everyone properly. If you conceal your magical power, you can catch them off guard.”

The number of people lying on the ground kept increasing. Soon, it reached about ninety percent of the dozens deployed in this hall.

“…Hey, no way! Us knights are wearing anti-magic steel armor, you know? This scale, this power… with such a small magic circle!?”

“—But the knight big brother isn’t crushed, huh. The armor and chi reinforcement help, but… purely, your raw physical ability is high. Knights are amazing.”

“That’s what the guy who’s currently trying to crush us says!? Wai, bad, bad, my legs are about to break…!”

“If you pass out, I’ll evacuate you to a safe zone, so don’t worry. Okay?”

“Okay my ass! Hey, can’t someone do something about this!? A, and is Her Highness safe!?”

The knight big brother suddenly gasped, threw away his slightly casual attitude from earlier, and started seriously worrying about the princess’s safety.

He had real skill and properly thought about the princess. I wanted someone like him to stay by her side forever. Then, even if I were gone, I could rest easy.

…If I thought about that, the princess would scold me again. Anyway, right now, the priority was to make the princess stop the coup.

Then, princess.

With the unnecessary outsiders unable to move.

“Come on, princess. How was my escort?”

“Al, bert…!”