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 17

Chapter 17: Resurrection

Knight Maguire swung his sword to sweep away the lingering black flames and shouted.

“Anyone who can still move, watch out for the ones behind His Majesty! I’ll stay by Her Highness’s side!”

The elite knights—subordinates of Maguire—who had withstood Albert’s magic nodded, drew their swords, and formed a formation despite their small numbers.

Seeing this, a vein throbbed visibly on the king’s forehead, but he forced a calm voice and said.

“—Who exactly are you pointing your swords at? Was I mistaken in thinking that loyalty was directed toward me?”

“…Your Majesty, please forgive me. I, Maguire, did indeed once pledge my sword to the king. …But the recent chaos in the kingdom and how it has been handled… many knights among my subordinates feel pained by it as well.”

“Are you seriously going to claim that this was my failure too?”

Maguire looked at the king, whose veins were bulging, and realized that any further appeals would be pointless. Despite all the damage the kingdom had suffered, no effective measures had been taken yet, and the people remained in danger.

—Lately, remnants of the old royal faction from the neighboring country had been carrying out sporadic terrorist attacks across the Atlas Kingdom. They destroyed people and buildings, and ruined crops.

On top of that, this year the Atlas Kingdom had suffered terrible weather, leading to poor harvests. Rural villages that already had little margin were in severe hardship.

And yet. The king had only ordered the minimum deployment of troops, directing most resources toward compensation negotiations with the new government of the neighboring country. To gain the upper hand in those talks, he had stationed many soldiers along the border.

This could easily be seen as neglecting domestic stability and the citizens actually suffering harm. Killriera, who had issued orders to steadily root out the rebel elements that had infiltrated the kingdom, had unintentionally gained more favor as a result.

Perhaps those feelings had shown in his accusing gaze. …The king now glared at Maguire with open hatred.

“I am the ruler of this nation. I must approach politics from a higher perspective. Yes, the affected citizens certainly need some form of aid, but…! Where will the funds for that come from? How do we prevent the same thing from happening again? …What must be done to turn this disaster into a blessing!? Thinking about and carrying out those things is what it means to be king!”

“…That may be true, but does that mean we abandon lives that could be saved without much risk? Your sense of priorities is wrong… To me, it only looks like you’re desperate to achieve some grand accomplishment that will go down in history…”

The words Maguire muttered did not reach the king’s ears. He was merely trying to act with what he believed was a just cause, surrounded by praise from the Court Mage Commander and others.

And the just cause that existed only in the king’s mind had swollen to the point where it even justified raising a hand against his own daughter.

The king pointed confidently at Killriera, who was probing Albert, and said.

“—That girl, Killriera Atlas, is a traitor. She had long shown signs of actions that could shake the monarchy, and now she has finally taken real steps.”

The forces on the king’s side, starting with the Court Mage Commander, listened to those words.

Maguire did not relax his combat stance and kept thinking about how to protect Killriera.

“Investigations revealed that the one pulling the strings behind my daughter was the young court mage we just executed. A survivor of Cole Village, which sank into tragedy during the war… I feel sad that his misplaced resentment ended up directed at me.”

“…Your Majesty, I am truly sorry about that. He was forcefully recommended by the previous Court Mage Commander, and I had no choice but to accept him into the court. …But in hindsight, I should have refused him then. That young-looking mage no longer had any real power in the court.”

“Yes, but there’s no helping what is already done. Even if it weren’t you, anyone would have accepted him at least once if requested by the former Court Mage Commander, who was also the head of the magic academy. As for her crime of recommending such a dangerous person to the court, that will be dealt with later.”

“…Heh. Yes, I would appreciate it if you could handle that kindly…! But for now—”

“Yes, first things first. Though she was incited, my daughter committed the grave sin of baring her fangs at the king and took actions that could plunge the kingdom into great turmoil.”

By now, there was likely no chance the king and his side would go back on their words. Maguire glanced briefly behind him.

There was a single girl with a painfully small back. She was digging through the rubble of the extensively collapsed wall, crying as she searched for a boy who was surely no longer alive.

If possible, Maguire thought to himself, he would have liked to exchange words with that rare mage who had softened Killriera’s stubborn heart.

No matter how skilled he was at healing magic, no one could survive being hit with that much firepower. The moment he lost consciousness, any chance of using magic was completely gone, and that was the end.

…Anyway, he had to take some kind of action. Overcoming the Court Mage Commander and the other forces with such few men would be extremely difficult.

“Her Highness probably isn’t in a state to listen to me right now… It would be bad for my subordinates, but the best option might be for them to act as decoys while I take Her Highness and escape.”

There was no more time to hesitate. He had no choice but to do it.

They were excellent subordinates; they would understand his intent without him saying anything. To increase the chances of escape, they would seize an opening in the enemy and leave the area all at once.

When his subordinates moved to block attacks aimed at Killriera—that would be the opportunity. Maguire focused his attention on that.

Ahead of his gaze, the king pointed at them and opened his mouth.

And finally.

“Now. My daughter, take—”

It was just before the king could finish issuing the royal command.

—As if an explosion had gone off behind them.

An unbelievable amount of wild magic power overflowed from beneath the rubble.

“!?”

It was enough to make everyone freeze. Maguire instinctively turned around and saw it.

At the source of the magic power, the rubble melted away as if decomposing. Perhaps due to the overwhelmingly intense magic, fragments of the wall turned into fine particles inside the pure white light and eventually vanished completely.

In place of the vanished pile of rubble, there was only dazzling light illuminating the surroundings. That too gradually faded.

And what appeared was.

“—Papa…!!”

“—Sorry to keep you waiting… princess.”

Maguire stared in shock. There stood Albert, with burns in places but clearly not in a fatally wounded state.

“I had it set to automatically activate universal regression on death, but it couldn’t heal everything…”

He was saying something outrageous. Maguire frowned.

Automatically? Healing magic? If that were possible, mages wouldn’t die in battle. Was he hearing things?

…But it seemed even that couldn’t restore his lost arm.

“Ah, princess. You held onto that arm for me. Thank you, even though it was all dirty…”

“…!!”

Just as he thought that, Albert took the pitch-black arm that the princess had been clutching preciously and casually pressed the severed end against where it had been cut off.

“Ouch. 【…】—Replenish Plea.”

When he chanted, white light scattered, and in the next instant… the charred severed ends somehow reattached. From a distance, it even looked like the “carbonized arm” had improved to just “an arm covered in burns.”

Maguire rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was dreaming.

“For now, this will do in a pinch. …Anyway, princess—”

“—Aaaah, it’s good…! As expected, as expected, you didn’t disappear…! Because if Papa wasn’t here, I couldn’t live either! You wouldn’t leave me behind!”

“…Yeah, that’s right. I swear I won’t ever leave you irresponsibly again. Sorry for worrying you. It’s okay now.”

And while everyone present stared in stunned silence.

Clinging tightly to him as Killriera sobbed loudly, Albert gently brushed back her slightly singed silver hair and peered closely at her crying face.

“You’re a little burned… I couldn’t fully protect you. …Then, it’s okay now, right?”

And he said.

“—They’re all… enemies, aren’t they?”

—

The king’s distorted actions stem from his lack of talent. His complex grew worse precisely because his daughter is a genius, but he’s done things that can’t be excused by that…