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 2 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Training and a Parent-Child (?) Bathing

Inside the royal palace of the Atlas Kingdom, there were training grounds prepared for each military force.

The knight orders had their main headquarters outside the palace, so the training areas inside the palace weren’t very large. On the other hand, the magic training grounds were quite impressive, and there were several of them.

This was partly because the Atlas royal family had always produced many excellent mages, and also because the headquarters of the Court Mages was located inside the palace. For teaching magic to the princess, having such facilities within the palace was a great help.

And right now, the place where I was together with the princess was one of those training grounds.

“Nnngh…! …No, no good! I can’t do it, Papa!”

“Still can’t manage it? Hmm… I wonder. Maybe it needs a little trick to it?”

“I don’t understand… Surely the only reason anyone can do this is because Papa is amazing.”

Hmm, is that really the case…?

While I tilted my head in thought, the princess scattered silvery-white light — star power — in front of me. This time I called forth golden star power instead.

“Like this… you probably shouldn’t focus on it too hard. If you just build the basic framework of the magic circle and give it a direction—”

The moment I pointed my finger upward, a rough, low-resolution magic circle appeared in golden light at the tip.

Right after that,

the world filled in the details itself.

“—See? Just don’t think too much and let the star power flow freely, and this is what you get.”

When I poured star power straight into the small completed magic circle,

a golden pillar of flame rose up, tall enough to almost reach the ceiling.

“Wow… so pretty…”

The sparks that popped and scattered looked just like someone sprinkling gold dust. Exactly as I had pictured it — heatless flames that couldn’t hurt anyone.

The variety of things you could do with it, and the sheer output, were completely different from normal magic. Star power really was on another level. If I wanted, I could probably even create flames that only burned a specific target and never went out until that target was completely consumed.

For the princess’s own safety, I really wanted her to learn how to use this…

“But for me, just making the basic framework is already so hard… Is this even right? This thing?”

What appeared in front of the princess as she tried again was… something distorted that barely looked like the most basic light sphere magic circle. It was certainly incomplete as a framework, but if it got roughly filled in—

“Nghhh… ah. See, I knew it, no good…”

The princess let out a tired sigh as she watched the magic circle burst apart.

Hmm. It seemed the princess should still focus on practicing the basic handling of star power. Since she could already manage the simplest application of body reinforcement, we could just build up step by step…

That was what I was thinking when, in the next moment,

“Hey, Papa. More importantly—”

The princess, who didn’t seem particularly discouraged, suddenly brought her face very close to mine.

She bent her waist slightly, looked up at me with those beautiful deep-purple eyes, using an upward glance.

“Hey, it’s already this late. You promised, didn’t you? This is my request!”

And then she said it in a spoiled, coaxing voice.

“…Let’s go in together? ———A bath.”

And so.

In the royal family’s private bathhouse, guarded outside by Karen-san and the other shadows, along with knights from the “Sword of the Tail”,

“—Haa… Training after a bath feels so good, Papa.”

“Yeah, well… it does feel nice, I guess.”

Right in front of me, the princess was boldly showing off her pure white skin in the large bathtub. When she stretched with a big “guuh,” droplets slid down her glossy arms and dripped into the hollow of her armpit.

Hmm. This really is… not okay, is it?

“What’s wrong, Papa? You’re making such a gloomy face. Still worried?”

“Of course I’m worried. What kind of court mage takes a bath with the princess — and a man at that?”

“You don’t have to worry! Because Papa is my Papa. Taking a bath together is totally normal!”

“Even if I’m Papa… normally you don’t bathe with a daughter at this age…”

Right now, beneath the milky white water I couldn’t see… well, of course I begged her to at least wear a swimsuit.

Ever since we came back from Zikil, the princess had become even more clingy than before. She asked for baths every single day, saying “I’ll train even harder,” and I couldn’t help but nod reluctantly.

But Karen-san and the others made incredibly scary faces. After this, it wouldn’t be strange if I got killed.

“Look! They even have bath toys like this, see? Things that float on the water…”

The princess floated a little water bird model on the surface and laughed happily.

Her expression was completely different from the exhausted look she had when I first returned to the kingdom. Now she looked exactly like a girl fully enjoying ordinary happiness.

Still, I was really glad she was feeling better. Right after we came back, the princess had been extremely unstable and irritable.

Both Zikil and the Church of the Supreme Star inside the country — she wanted to destroy everything as quickly as possible…

Of course we investigated the Church of the Supreme Star facilities in the royal capital and elsewhere, but nothing suspicious turned up.

Since it was true that they had abducted citizens of the kingdom to Zikil and done terrible things, we lodged a protest… but we got no response at all. It’ll probably take a bit more time.

And when the princess’s tantrums flared up, they were mostly directed at… Karen-san, or Suu-san. Especially Suu-san got it the worst.

From the princess’s point of view, Suu-san apparently looked like a dangerous person who dragged me away from my duties for personal desires and put me in extreme danger.

I tried explaining that it was a misunderstanding, but for some reason Suu-san got extremely confrontational too, which made things really tense.

Thankfully Maguire-san stepped in to mediate, so it somehow worked out… By the way, it seems this kind of thing happened quite often while I was away, and Maguire-san’s princess-calming skills have apparently improved a lot. I felt kind of bad about that.

Anyway, putting those side notes aside.

“…For the time being, the priority is protecting users of qi and star power within the country. Especially star power… Strengthening the princess’s protection and self-defense skills is urgent.”

“Are you thinking about difficult things again? Paaapa.”

“If we’re talking difficult things, you’re always the one thinking about much harder stuff. What I think doesn’t even come close to your level.”

“Muu…”

“? What’s wrong?”

For some reason the princess puffed out her cheeks and started splashing water at me. Splash splash.

“Papa… there’s no one else here. Can you stop talking like that? You know… the usual way…”

“Hm.”

Come to think of it, ever since we got back there’s been nonstop cleanup work, and I haven’t really had much time alone with the princess. Maybe that’s part of why she’s been having so many tantrums.

…Okay then.

“—I’ve been thinking nonstop about your safety, Killriera. That’s why I’ve got this serious look on my face.”

“Hau…!”

“Come here. Get in the water up to your shoulders? Count to one hundred, then we’ll get out of the bath.”

“Un…!”

With flushed cheeks, the princess came splashing over. She slipped right between my knees, looking completely satisfied, even humming a little tune.

With this, I could satisfy the princess and still manage to get out of the bath.

Truthfully, I still had paperwork left for the Court Mages side. Becoming a squad leader comes with these kinds of annoying tasks… so after the bath, I’d have to finish that up…

While I was quietly calculating, I watched the nicely shaped head with her long silver hair tied up sway happily from side to side.

Heh. Somehow or other, it seemed I was enjoying this time too.

I let a small smile slip, thinking I’d relax just a little longer before tackling the rest of the work.

Feeling the princess’s soft weight against me, I slowly closed my eyes.

And then, after that.

We left the bath together, steam still rising from our bodies as we walked through the palace.

At the same time, from far away, a single shadowy figure watched us.

“—That thieving cat gets everything… so unfair… While I’m… all alone…!”

Grit.

A painful creaking sound melted and vanished into the palace…